When Women Rule the Sea

Status
Not open for further replies.
P

Psysnail

Guest
Original poster
Bloody. Freaking. Pirates. Ransacking the coasts, pilfering spoils, raiding warehouses, total disregard to everything orderly. Scoundrels, thieves, murderers! How Penelope hated pirates. Grabbing her father's old musket and sword that sat in the den on their respective placard, she hiked up the hem of her skirt, marching towards the front door. A servant bustled along side of her, "Miss Walters, please!" she pleaded, "Your father would be furious if you take action! Just let the guards handle this!"

The young woman glared at the mousey servant girl, "My father is half way across the sea, what he doesn't know will hardly hurt him!" she snapped, bursting through the double doors, musket in hand and at the ready. She took careful aim at one of the pirates that had been ransacking the port, firing when the moment was right.
 
Jessie scowled at her surrounding crew as she helped them clear out a warehouse. They were taking far too long. "Hurry up you worthless scoundrels! We need to get out of here before the great and mighty captain returns!" Jessie's tone was sarcastic but she was serious about the warning. The last thing they needed was a naval ship from this country returning when the majority of them were on land. The crew raiding the warehouse redoubled their efforts and Jessie nodded in pleasure before adding her load to one of the men heading back to the ship while she moved on to find any valuables. Technically they were doing this for Antion but there was nothing wrong with her picking up a little extra cash on the side. She didn't get paid enough anyway.

She was just getting ready to enter a tavern when she heard a gunshot nearby and felt a stinging on her left arm. "Damn it! That hurt!" She growled and whirled around, looking for the one who had shot her before pausing briefly in surprise. It was a proper lady standing over there shooting like she was a proper guard. "Well, aren't you a feisty one." She grinned and darted down the street at her would-be attacker. "That was a pretty good shot lady, too bad you can't reload that in time to save you!" Jessie's own pistol seemed to leap to her hand and she stopped a few feet away, pointing the gun towards her head. "So pretty lady, what's a fancy gal like you doin' wandering around in this mess?"
 
"Damn muskets. They never fire where I aim." she hissed, tossing the musket to the maid, "Bring me my father's pistol." she yelled, the maid scurried away frightened. Penelope was feeling horribly open with out something to shoot in her hands. Her right hand still stayed on the hilt of her sword. That woman she shot was making a mad dash up to the manor, and she had nothing to fire still, "come on." he began to repeat under her breath, wishing for her servant to hurry up. It was too late. There she was, only a few feet from her, and there was Penelope staring straight down the barrel of her pistol. Raising an eyebrow, Penelope cocked her head to the side, "I'm hardly wandering." she retorted, her hand tightening on the hilt of her sword, "And to answer your question, I'm protecting my home." she said flatly, as she said that her servant returned, throwing the pistol from the door way. In one quick movement she had reached forward, catching the pistol with her left hand and drawing her sword with the other. If it weren't for how low she had to go in order to catch it, she would have been able to recover more smoothly. As it stood she had to stumble a bit to get back into a fighting position.

Sword drawn behind her, and pistol straight ahead to her assailant. She glared at the woman and nodded her head politely, "Now I believe we're on more even playing ground." she huffed.
 
"Nice recovery." Jessie grinned at the other woman, no more deterred by having a pistol in her face than Penelope had been. "But if you think that's going to help you against me then clearly you don't know who you're dealing with." As amused as Jessie was, she wasn't going to stand around chatting while the other girl tried to kill her again. She'd have to finish this soon and they could continue their conversation somewhere more comfortable. Such a wild thing was wasted as a fancy lady anyway. Her grin died suddenly and she dodged to the side, slashing out with her own sword to knock the pistol away from her while she brought up her pistol to catch the sword she knew was going to be coming her way. She smoothly changed her sword slash to a pommel strike to the side of the other woman's head, getting up close enough where weapons would be all but useless.
 
It all happened too fast for her eyes to catch, one moment the woman was standing in front of her and then all she could see was a grin. Next thing she knew her head hurt and everything was dark. Like a sack of rocks, she hit the floor, her servant yelling for her before running back inside to barricade herself in. Penelope faded in and out of consciousness able to give the woman a final hazy glare before losing it completely and slipping into unconsciousness.
 
Jessie took a step back and watched the other woman hit the floor with a wince. She would have tried to catch her but between the sword in one hand and the gun in the other, one or both of them probably would have gotten hurt in that endeavor. "Sorry Lady." She put away her weapons and spotted her first mate making his way up the road. By the way he was looking at her someone had gotten concerned when she'd disappeared. She smiled at him reassuringly and waved. "Come George, carry this lovely lady back to the ship for me would you?"

George came up next to her and raised an eyebrow curiously. "Are you sure that's the best idea?" He gestured pointedly towards the large house she had emerged from.

"Oh come now George, live a little! We need not fear anyone once we get to sea." The first mate rolled his eyes and sighed but picked up the unconscious woman nonetheless. They trooped back to the ship, picking up more and more members of the crew along the way. Within a few minutes everyone had been rounded up and they were safely back in their ship. Jessie had George put Penelope down in her bed, the only real bed on the ship. "Lovely, thank you George." She smiled at him brightly from her position at her desk. "Do have cook send up some food for the both of us when he's done cooking okay? Perhaps some fine wine for the ladies refined palate as well." It would help with the pounding in her head as well. The man nodded and slipped out while Jessie settled down charting their course while she waited for her new 'friend' to wake up.
 
She didn't know how long she was out for, but when she awoke it wasn't what she had expected. The smell of the sea, combined with the rocking of the waves and the throbbing in her head made her nauseous. She sat up slowly to be sure not to trigger herself into throwing up, looking around carefully. Her eyes were unfocused as she took a look around, until her eyes fell on the pirate woman, where they immediately snapped and she was back to her original glare. "You-!" she shouted, wilting at the pain in her head, gently placing a hand over the bruise that had surely formed there.
 
"Hmmm?" Jessie looked up from her maps and grinned at her now awake companion. "Ah yes, me. Sorry I had to hit you so hard but you seemed to be a rather hard headed sort and I didn't really feel like letting you get another chance to shoot me." She stood up and grabbed a glass of wine, along with some pills. "Now then, take some of these and you might be feeling half human shortly. You can even try some food after that, cook made a special dinner since we have a bunch of fresh stuff." Jessie smiled cheerily and held out the wine and tablets.
 
Penelope continued to glare taking the tablets from the woman's hand, "So why kidnap me?" she asked, taking the glass of wine and cautiously taking the tablets, "Was it just out of necessity to get me out of the way or was there something else behind it? Money perhaps?" she slid her legs off the bed and crossed her arms, keeping her glass of wine close to her.
 
Jessie returned to her chair and sat in it backwards so she had a good view of her guest. Now that they weren't in battle she seemed rather nice and cheerful, not violent at all. "A little bit of everything perhaps. Are you worth much?" She flashed Penelope a cheeky grin. "You interest me besides. You remind me of me a few years ago, somewhat. Seemed a waste to leave you there to rot in that fancy mansion."
 
Penelope only scowled at her, sipping her wine with the same unamused, angry look. Resting her glass on her knee she straightened out her shoulders, "I'm likely worth at least something, assuming my father doesn't decide to just blast you and this ship away into a smouldering pile on the sea." Tucking a bit of hair behind her ear she continued her glare, "Why would you take interest in a woman who only wants to kill you? The threat doesn't pay off much. You must realize that I will attempt to murder you at every chance I have, correct?"
 
"Oh certainly!" Jessie leaned her head back and laughed heartily. "That's part of the attraction! It will be a game between you and I until you realize I'm really not that bad." Or until she got bored, but she had the feeling that wasn't going to be a problem. Penelope seemed to be the type that had quite a bit of fire in her. "Also, no need to worry about your father blowing us out of the water. First he would have to find us, which is no easy task, and then he would actually have to defeat us, which many a man has tried and failed." She smiled arrogantly at the other girl. "I've been living the buccaneer way for a long time now. My country didn't decide to pay me to do this for no reason."
 
Somehow Penelope managed to scowl even harder, "I think you under estimate my father. He's a navy commander. Don't think that he would give up his youngest daughter so easily." she said with every ounce of venom in her. Slamming the glass of wine onto a stable surface she leaned forward, "And do not take my comfortable living as a sign of carelessness. You have seen me fight. Do not think that I will make this easy for you."
 
Jessie shook her head, chuckling softly. "Ah Penelope aren't you listening? I want you to fight. I want to see what else you can do, how clever you can be! Believe me, I know as well as you not to underestimate a lady." She grinned at some personal joke. "That being said, your father can sail the high seas forever without ever actually running into us. So don't get your hopes up princess." Jessie leaned back and grabbed a bowl of vegetable laden pasta. "You should eat. You won't keep your strength up if you do anything silly like trying to starve yourself." Jessie rolled her eyes. The stupid things some girls did.
 
"So what? Will we just play cat and mouse then until you're bored of me?" she asked, taking the bowl cautiously. She sat back on the bed her glare softening slightly with the distraction of a meal. Her hard exterior slipped on occasions, and the softer underbelly of who she was would occasionally peek through.
 
Jessie shrugged and laid her head on the back of her chair, looking at Penelope with an odd look. If one were to try and categorize it they might say it's something akin to wistfulness, or a puppy dog look. "I suppose if that's the way you want it to go." She sighed lightly and gave a small smile. "You never know though, you might like it out here."
 
Penelope sighed, "This is going to be a very interesting time in my life." she said delicately biting into a fork full of pasta. There was an incomprehensible sense of dread that she was not familiar with. For the first time in her life she was alone. Completely alone. No one she knew, no one to keep her safe, though safety wasn't much of a priority. There was nothing of her comfortable life on this ship. It was all foreign and strange, and she hated every bit of it. Looking at Jessie she sighed, "Penelope Walters." she stated out of the blue, "if you're so hell bent on keeping me on this ship, you should at least know my name."
 
Jessie brightened immediately, like some excited kid. "That's the plan!" It was hard to say whether she was saying that in response to the first or last thing Penelope said. "Ah watching you is making me all hungry now." She pulled another bowl to her and took a happy bite. "Oh and the names Jessie. People tend to add boring honorifics like 'The vicious lady pirate Jessie' or 'The blond shadow of the sea Jessie' but those are terrible mouthfuls don't you think?" She smiled at Penelope conspiratorially and giggled like a little girl at a sleep over.
 
Again Penelope scowled and sighed, "I don't think much of it. They're impressive titles but they mean nothing to me." she said bitterly biting into her pasta. She was very unimpressed with everything the pirate presented to her, so far she was just a woman with a ship and a few fancy titles. Whether she was deserving of those titles would be seen.
 
Jessie nodded with a laugh, it was pretty much exactly what she had expected. "Well, you'll see. Though honestly I feel the first one is a bit unnecessary." She was after all trying to convince the woman that she wasn't actually all that bad, their countries just happened to have a few issues with each other. "Anyway, we've got a couple stops before we go to my lovely hide away so you should probably get some more sleep once you're done with that."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back