⌜ the red sea | ophelia & evelyn ⌟
Aug 27, 2017 11:02:00 GMT -5
Post by eulalie blake 1a 🍒 tris on Aug 27, 2017 11:02:00 GMT -5
Ophelia has learned not to underestimate sailors.
A seemingly milder breed than pirates, the lot of them are truly good men at their cores — even if they have mouths so foul that their own mothers refuse to kiss them. Still, it’s not their rugged sense of charm that catches the swashbuckler's eye when she leans back in her chair to examine the bigger picture. What really counts are the secrets that they have locked behind their rotting teeth. Admittedly, such objects are an easy steal; just as easily bought with a couple of purred words and soft fingers traced down a rough jawline. Not that Lia has ever enjoyed taking the easy way around any task, but let’s at least humour the thought.
The benefits of a good secret are an invaluable treasure, and while the girl’s too proud to just sneak one into her pocket for quiet safekeeping, she’s also never been willing to sell herself short with the tactic of seduction. A valid form of conning, certainly, but not her forte of choice. The jolly men who welcome her among their company at the dockside pubs call her the Pirate Queen, and they know that they cannot touch her. They’ve learned better than to try. ( You can’t leash a siren, so why bother with Leviathan? ) Ophelia believes in fair chances; decking it out until the better man is left standing. Like with a game of poker, for example.“Come on, mates
— who wants to go all or nothing?
Your secrets for mine.”
It’s not like they ever win, but at least they’re given a shot. She snickers to herself, propping her legs up on the playing table after a long tournament and laughing shrilly at hersuspectedvictory. It’s a simple trick, really. The oldest in the game. She keeps cards up her hat and tucked under her sleeves, but the fishermen are gullible enough to trust her. They write her many triumphs off as simple talent; as a beast to conquer another day when luck is finally on their sides. It never will be, she warns them in her mind. You can’t best a liar. Captain Sparrow is as dangerous as she is dishonest. It’s on them for thinking otherwise.( She’s mastered the art of murder;
she knows how to keep blood off her hands. )
She yawns, picking at her teeth with the sharpest of her nails. “Eugene, by Ripred, you almost had me. I was nearly gutted like a cod when you pulled out that ace.” It’s better to ease information out than to force it. “Remember our deal, mates. I wanna know what’s been going on around here lately. You miss so much living at sea.” A man with blistered cheeks laughs, to which she turns in his direction and tilts her head. A red wave rushes down her shoulder, but all attention is on the beady eyes across from her.
“You seem to be missing things no matter where you are. We're all shocked that we haven't seen you chasing yer kin down the coastline with a switch by now.” Her eyebrow quirks into an arch that rises somewhere between offense and confusion, but he goes on before she can order him to clarify. “Have you not noticed how that sister of yours is always running around? We see her by the shore all the time; darting to and from the docks. With that boy at her side, o' course.” Ophelia purses her lips, bile creeping up her throat, and she hates how she already knows the identity in question.
Artemis would never come to land without being dragged; Aurora would have already spilled everything in the form of fairy-tale; Gracie wouldn’t waste time on chasing a lad; and Liliana? Good luck prying her nose out of a book long enough to plot treason. Is that what this is? Treachery? Ophelia isn’t sure, but she feels quite certain that what she feels toward Evelyn in that moment isn’t pleasant. “Don’t look so sour, Lia. She’s at that age. Leave her be.” But she ignores the calm and chases the storm. She rises up from her seat and pulls on her buckled jacket with a dramatic flair, waving off the cries to stay and have another drink.
“I have some family business to deal with.
Use this time and learn how to play your cards correctly next match, eh?”
She makes herself at home in Evelyn’s room as she waits, lying on her younger sister’s cot without taking the care to kick off her muddy boots. Dirty sheets are the least of the girl’s worries. A lamp flickers dimly in the corner of the cabin, orange and red streaks of a fading sun slipping through a hatch at the left side of the nearly vacant space, and the scene has been set much to Ophelia’s approval. When footsteps approach, she leans up from her resting position and twists her torso, back pressing firmly against the wall and feet now on the creaking floorboards. “Hey, sis’ — what’ve you been up to?” The tone of her voice comes across almost as a motherly mocking, though that’s not her intention.
Lia cares about her family; she wouldn’t be at the head of them if she didn’t. There’s just nothing she hates more than secrets that aren’t hers to keep. How shameful is it for a sailor to know more about her flesh and blood than she does? Her own mistake, surely, but she’s too prideful to admit such a thing. She has to keep her sister safe, and if prying her away from a harmless thing means scarring her from ever approaching something cruel, then so be it. Ophelia has never been above brutality.
“I’ve been hearing stories. Aye, mighty fine ones. Absolutely riveting. About a pirate and a peasant boy and their lovely little adventures.” She stands, crossing her arms and clenching her jaw; less offended by the thought of her sister potentially dating than the realization that something had been kept from her. Is this what’s been stopping Evelyn from doing her duties on the ship as of recent? The deck has been looking rather dingy, Ophelia recalls with an inward growl. She leans in, shark teeth on full display.“Care to fill me in on all the details?
Or should I go ask the other source?”[ rave ]
