The Drunk Elf Pirates and the Quest for the Wine-thieves

[Grey_Wolf]

Meanwhile Avery went down to the newly restored kitchens and began preparing for the crew's chowder.

[klatukatt]

Bob: Yes mam the ship miss captian mam is there that way.

*Bob pointed in a northwesterly direction.*

Exk: Good. Can you guide through those waters?

Bob: There is nothing there is nothing there will be nothing in the way no obstacles nothing to worry over just go?

Exk: All right then. How far away is she?

Bob: Three hours.

Exk: With the wind?

Bob: Does it really matter at this point?

*Bob did not look well. She was a bit fuzzy around the edges.*

Exk: I'm afraid it does matter. The safety of this ship matters a great deal.

Bob: It will be three hours, wind or no. Trust me. No harm will come to your ship in that time. Three-- hours--

[Butterbeer]

Down in the deepest shabbiest hold, that not even Avery had managed to find and hence clean -

Jack was smouldering and tearing the place apart in a frenzy.

What dreadful purpose drove him?

The pale wraiths of those long lost on the seas of immortal woe, shrank back at the naked fires of lust raging in his eyes...

A solitary bead of sweat glistened in the candlelight, as it timidly caressed Jack's eyebrow -

It may have been a trick of the flickering shadows but ethereal magpie-like forms appeared cast on the hold's dimly lit wall.

Strange almost reed-like sounds echoed in melancholy dirge inside jack's head, haunting lilting refrains coalesced into short sharp notes ...

[The last sane person]

*Kor came from out of his bunk and went down to the hold to rummage about for nails when he spotted Jack in a tizzy*

Kor: Hoy mate, what you lookin for?

Jack: *putting his hands in and out of crates moving around the contents, like a curious monkey* Nah, canna be a proper bo'sun wi'out one!

Kor: Er...right. With out a what?

*Jack looks at Kor as through striken*

Jack: With out a wot' he says! Why, are you off yer mainmast? A whistle! Tis bad luck for a bo'sun not to have a whistle! *goes back to sorting through crates and barrels as if in a trance*

Kor: Oh alright, no need to get up in arms about it...Hmm. I think I have just the thing.

*walks back up to his room and finds Flannery in it. Kor starts a search of his own through his tools*

Kor: Hmm...not there...*looks in a box* not there....

Flannery: *eyes him* What on earth are you looking for?

Kor: *looks over to where Flannery is* Aha! I know where it is! You, up please.

*Flannery obligingly, if some what confusedly, stands up and repeats his question as Kor lifts the lid on his seaman's trunk*

Flannery: *almost laughing as Kor pulls out interesting stuff out of his trunk and stuffs it aside* What, I repeat, are you looking for? You resemble a dog searching for his bone!

Kor: *truimpahnt* Aha! This, my dear man. *takes out a strange looking whistle and pipes a few notes* A bo'sun's whistle, for that superstitious newcomer who is to be our bo'sun. He wont stop rummaging through our hold disorganizing everything till he gets his mits on one.

Flannery: Heh, I see. More than likely you wont see it again, even if he finds another one.

Kor: *is heading back to the hold* So long as it keeps him out of my carpentry tools and what not, its a small price to pay!

*Kor gets down into the hold and finds Jack more or less where he left him.*

Kor: Hoy! Would this do? *holds up the shiney whistle and jack looks like he is hypnotized*

[Willow Oran]

Aboard Cera's ship, Aodhfin watches his mother scrying. She's been at it for hours, but finally looks up, she seems pleased.

Aodhfin: You know, I've been observing these so-called conflicts between you and Wilow since I was barely out of swaddling, and while I won't claim to know the rules either of you play by, I was rather certian that scrying had been mutually agreed upon as unreliable, rude, and cheating.

Maeve: *raises eyebrow* Your point?

Aodhfin: It this really a good time to start cheating?

Maeve: *stares at him blankly* We always cheat... I'd thought you'd have noticed that.

She beckons, and he follows her to the helm.

Maeve: Turn the ship in a southeasterly direction. Our quarry lies not too long away.

The helmsman complies

Aodhfin: What if we miss them?

Maeve: We won't.

Aodhfin: You seem awfully certain.

Maeve: I am. Three hours to the southeast there happens to be an uninhabited island, which, thanks to the fact that it lies directly between us and them will actually be uninhabited. Due to the laws of coincidence which govern the interdimensional seas. We are sure to land on it directly opposite of the beach of which they will land, after which they and we will put in motion whichever improvised excuse for a plan has been decided on.

Aodhfin:We haven't got a plan...

Maeve: Don't worry about that dear. Neither have they.

Aodhfin: Isn't it rather necessary to have a plan if you intend to put one in motion?

Maeve: Normally. In this case a plan would, as they realized, be entirely superfluous. Whatever happens will happen in the presence of what currently amounts to a minor deity of chaos and any plan would immediately be thrown off course anyway.

Aodhfin: ... I'll go warn the rest of the retrieval party.

[Butterbeer]

Jack heard a noise behind him, eyes suddenly darting as his nose scented something silver -

and, with the hairs on his neck raising and his heart beating wildly - sudden avian like shadows leaped and formed into clear lines on the far wall behind jack as the candle flamed and the shadows leapt in a phalanx of wings -

an unearthly cry rent jack's lips

Spinning, as if torn by chaos herself, Jack for the briefest second saw Kor - then eyes wide and shining, something small, beautiful, and shiny, pierced his heart...

[The last sane person]

*Kor grins and moves the whistle to and fro, watching with amusement as Jack's head swiveled with every move of the whistle.*

Kor: Wow, you really are on sommat strong mate. Here's the whistle, go on and ware yourself out.

*He hands the other pirate the bo'sun's whistle and laughed. Jack looked as if he had the sun and the moon in his keeping.*

Kor: You really are a nut.

*Kor leaves to go find Flannery and the Captian*

[Grey_Wolf]

As the ship sailed on Avery reached out for the special kitchen bell he had installed and gave the chain a couple of hard yanks - DANG! DANG! DANG!
"Fellow sailers, chowder's ready! Come and have yer chowder!" He shouted thru a horn he'd found on that island they had just left.

[Butterbeer]

The bells! The bells!

The bells were ringing.

Heads turned on deck and then - from the deeps, as it seemed, came a mighty blast!

Sweet sharp notes trilled through the salty air-

-Avery, a frying pan in one hand and a bottle of grog in the other, being an experienced Seaman and officer, listened to the sweep -

slowly, he put down the frying pan and wrote down the notes:

" Ware! ... Be ... careful!! .... NO egg with me chowder mate!"

[Grey_Wolf]

The crew tramped down the stairs to the kitchen in an orderly row.

"Ok, mates, line up!" Avery said.

Plates and cutlery were laid out on a small table nearby.

[Willow Oran]

Willow wanders into the galley alongside the Captain and first mate, it has, after all, been sometime since they ate. They take a moment to stop, and consider the scene before them with mildly bemused expressions.

Earniel: I must say... they did a nice job repairing things. I could've sworn that table had been destroyed in the Great Cheesecake incident.

The three of them hang their heads in mourning, recalling the baking disaster that had finally driven the Nal's first cook past the limit of acceptable insanity.

Willow: Where'd we pick up the cutlery? We blew the last lot out the cannons.

Exk: *shrugs*We have food requiring spoons, cutlery appears. Probably accumulates in the loot somewhere. *pauses awkwardly* Odd though how it all seems to be of the spoon persuasion...

Earniel: Eh. Whatever, spoons go well with chocol- I mean chowder. *shifty look*

Willow: Uh-huh. We all know you hid the chocolate.

Earniel: *frantically motions for Willow to shush and whispers innocently* What chocolate?

Willow: *Realizes her mistake for having mentioned it near the crew* Right, right, I forgot, it all got eaten before we set sail. Silly of me to forget that... I wonder what he put in the chowder. Do you think it's edible?

[Butterbeer]

As Willow said this, there was a gentle whoosh by the galley porthole, and out in the sky a Seagull swooped past.

Taking one look at the Chowder, the Seagull swept into the air with a croak ... and circling high above the Galley ...

Did what Seagulls do.

*with a frown, The Seagull vaguely worried about getting typecast, before rolling it's Rrrr's as it swept away scene left*

[Elfmaster XK]

EXK eyed the porthole, hearing the seagull's screech, then turns to Willow.

EXK: you know I swear that seagull is following us. Does Maeve employ annoying birds as spies?

Willow: Who knows who she employs these days.

Eärniel: I might shoot it if it comes back. EXK and Willow both look at her. What? It might...you know. Get into places it shouldn't. And eat things.

EXK: Of course.

They wander forwards to sit down on a long wooden bench. It has many burn marks and scratches, but had otherwise survived the battles successfully. EXK gives Jack a slight nudge, as he was sitting right in the middle, ignoring his plate of food.

EXK: Alright mate?

JAck: .......

EXK: Er...JAck? *Pokes*

At that moment Kor walked in, and laughed.

Kor: Don't bother Cap'n. *Shoves Jack along the bench* See, sommat wrong with the guy.

EXK: Ah well. Leave him be. Stranger things have happened. Especially here.

Avery placed plates into front of them all. It was some kind of yellow mush. EXK picked up her spoon - which had a weird elongated handle and was possible meant to be used for stirring lattes - and gave the food a poke. It moved and she looked at Eärniel.

Eärniel: Might turn out we've never eaten anything stranger. *Looks at her spoon - which is about the size of her middle finger.* If I can eat anything at all.

[Grey_Wolf]

"In case you're wondering, Captain." Avery said, seeing the questioning look on the the captain's face."It's vitamin-C rich orange/banana cream. And that's only for starters. Barbequed gull and breadfruit comes next. Bon apetite!" Then he places knives and forks from his personal 48-set on the table."So that you won't have to eat like slovely barbarians."

[Elfmaster XK]

EXK takes a fork, turning the silver treasure over in her hands. Then she gives it back to Avery.

EXK: Thanks mate, but I quite like this spoon. And wouldn't want to ruin yer nice silverware. Ye should save that for guests.

Willow: Guests?

Eärniel: We get them. Sometimes. picks up her spoon and tries to get some of the orange mush.

EXK: Though they tend to be prisoners.

Pensive looks cross the faces of all three, and they tuck in with their mismatched spoons.

(OOC: I liked the image of Eärniel eating with a tiny boiled egg spoon. )

[Willow Oran]

Willow pokes suspiciously at the fruit gunk, finally scooping a bit up (and it is quite a large bit as she has somehow gotten stuck with an outsized serving spoon) and watching as it promptly drops through the slots in thick, creamy globs.

Willow: *thinking aloud* Just when did we manage to devise a method for preserving cream on board a ship in a *she quickly glances outsides* more or less tropical climate?

Earniel: *pauses and looks uneasily at the miniscule orange lump resting in her spoon* Erm...

Willow: *sniffs at the stuff and continues to talk under her breath after cautiously tasting the orange stuff* Huh! Weird... think I'll wait for the breadfruit.

[Butterbeer]

Jack's head whipped up, and glaring at Avery he slowly rose. He seemed to almost glide round the table towards the 'Chef'. Knives appeared from somewhere into his hands and were slowly, menacingly twirled-

In a cat-like blur Jack pinned the chef against the wall, knife at his neck - eyes blazing, Jack's head slowly came right up to Avery's-

"Tell me you were joking about the Barbecued Gull, mate!"

[Grey_Wolf]

"No need to get all riled up, Jack buddy. It's not your precious gull Ive barbuqued. Its quite another." said Avery easing the knife's edge away from his throat.

[The last sane person]

*kor sets down next to jack and Earniel and looks bemusedly at his 'spoon'.*

Kor: How the blazes did I get stuck with a soup laddel? *attempts to dip the 'spoon' in to retrieve some fruit mush but finds that he has to pick up the plate and pour it into the giant spoon.*

*at the mention of Barbequed Gull Jack snaps to attention and nearly snaps Avery's neck*

Earniel: Hoy! Cut it out you two! Jack, we still need him to cook dinner.

*Jack doesn't seem to relent at first, but Kor held up the whistle that was on the table*

Kor: Come on, ye just got this. Act like that an yer in the brig and this shiny little thing with probably be flung to sea. Ya ken?

*like lightning, jack was back in his seat, tucking in, now with a laddel since Kor switched spoons. If you had blinked you missed it.*

[Grey_Wolf]

"Willow, I heard you wondering about the cream. Well, its not "milk" cream, its a combination of mashed banana and orange. And, Jack, my buddy. There was no call for that outburst. Of course, I wouldn't kill your pet gull."