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weathervane tyrant // oxo // closed

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Below deck, while Svierk busies Finn with conversation and sunrises, Gidror awakes with a shout, his head dripping wet as Mazirax stands above him with an empty–also dripping–water bucket. Or… well, there's no guarantee that it is actually water, but Gidror assumes that Mazirax has more dignity than that. Esteban on the other hand… Well, there's a reason the tabaxi and the half-orc no longer share any sort of quarters. Mazirax huffs, his breath warming the air, and he approaches his wardrobe to choose his attire for the day. It's all the exact same shirt in just slightly varying shades of brown with wide trousers to accommodate his massive and scaled thighs. He accessorizes with an ungodly amount of gold, polished to shine in any light, no matter how small.

Gidror gets up with a grumble and orkish swears. His hammock is as damp as his sopping mohawk. His grimey shirt gains the same condition as Gidror pulls it over his head. His routine is done much faster than Mazirax's, the half-orc having no need for accessories or face washing. If his god made him this way, Gidror certainly isn't about to disrespect them by altering it. Esteban would blatantly disagree, but he's too busy applying various plundered conditioners and whisker oil to bother lecturing his half-orc crewmate. Billi only takes a few minutes to gather their instrument and change into more adequate day clothes. Ivanca disappears and reappears, ready for the day, in only a few seconds. Nobody knows how she does it, nobody cares all too much to ask.

"Mmm!" Esteban hums as he stretches his arms high above his head. He smacks his tongue a few times, chasing away the taste of sleep. He could go for some raspberry muffins right about now. Perhaps he'll ask Mazirax to make some for the crew tomorrow morning. "Ready for another lovely day, Billi?"

The satyr scowls and pushes open the ajar cabin door. "It looks like sunshine decided to take a morning walk." Of course, there's nobody the bard could be referring to other than the new warlock. Almost as soon as they finish grumbling their sentence, footsteps sound and the warlock descends the staircase. "Manage to sleep well?" Billi asks, but their words are clearly not interested in conversing.

"I hope you didn't mind the floor much. We haven't swept in a little while, but I'm sure you won't catch any deadly diseases." Esteban, quite the opposite of Billi, is willing to converse all morning with the newcomer.

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Finn blinks as they are greeted with the now-familiar faces, still not fully used to being apart of a crew. It is a weird feeling for them to wake up in the morning with the same people they spent the night with. The satyr, Billi, looks a bit suspicious, or possibly just annoyed, with Finn, though Esteban looks as cheery as ever. Finn has to resist taking a liking to the chatty tabaxi. They can't imagine how someone, especially a pirate, can be that cheerful all the time. It must be exhausting.

"I slept fine, thank you," Finn says, looking at Billi before sliding their gaze to Esteban. "Well, as long as I don't catch any diseases." They shrug, moving past the two to get their meager amount of things to change. Finn is a fairly light packer, not caring as much about fancy jewelry or accessories, though they do like to look nice, don't get them wrong. They just think that in the grand scheme of things, there are far more important issues than dressing fancy. As long as they are clean and look presentable, Finn is happy with their appearance, maybe even a little vain about it at times. They look good as is, not needing the fancy baubles (or that is what they like to tell themself anyway, and they are a very good liar).

(sorry it's short i have class soon)

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"I'm glad," Esteban chirps, fixing his whiskers and face tufts in a mirror propped against the side of the wall. There's a large crack down the center of it, but none of the crew pay it any mind. It's difficult to keep a large mirror intact when they're constantly upon the high seas. After his appearance is satisfactory, Esteban clears his throat and does a few brief movements with his hands. Runes form from his fingers, detaching from his claws and floating to the ceiling. When they hit the wood, it fizzles into golden dust that fades quickly. Esteban claps, smiling at the others and striding to the door. "Well, my morning preparation is done. It's time to bother Mazirax."

A grumble is already heard from the dragonborn next door. Something about muffins and pancakes and syrup that makes Billi gag. "Sorry if Esteban's… a lot," Billi apologizes, but there really is no apology in their tone. They look incredibly tired, the dark bags beneath their dark eyes not lightened with sleep. "Odds are breakfast will be some sort of lukewarm porridge again. The Captain plans on stopping at the next port to get groceries." Billi fixes their shirt and crosses their arms over their chest. It's been a while since they've had proper bacon and ham with a good hash. Their food supplies have been… sparse, especially with Svierk's reputation and the tendency to be chased away as soon as they dock. Billi's never had any qualms with killing when necessary, but god do the consequences get annoying. You killed my uncle's wife's friend's neighbor's dogsitter's brother's wife! Okay? Billi really could not care less. However, they do care if somebody gets an anaphylaxis attack, because that means that they're responsible for nursing god's worst patients back to health. "Do you have any food allergies that'll kill you?"

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Finn watched Esteban go with the beginnings of a smirk. God, that tabaxi really was social. Finn wasn't sure if they had seen him ever not talking to someone, and wouldn't be surprised if that kept up throughout the entirety of their journey with this crew. The journey that would end with Finn taking his life.

No. Finn could not get attached. This was only their second day here; they could care about any of these people. About these monsters. Finn only had one job, and it was for the good of the people. Though, of course, it wasn't as if Finn was pure of heart or anything either. But befriending those they were supposed to kill in order to gain their trust was a first for them, and already they knew it would difficult. Good thing Finn had been running from any sort of feelings–platonic or otherwise–for a long time and was getting quite skilled at it.

Finn snapped back to the present as Billi spoke, shrugging at the apology. They didn't mind Esteban's constant stream of energy…mostly. At the mention of allergies, Finn thought for a moment. They doubted there would be pollen in whatever food Billi made, and that didn't kill them, just gave them a stuffy nose and made them sneeze occasionally. So Finn should be fine unless the food was poisoned. Actually, that would be a smart way to kill them all that wouldn't require any sort of battle. Finn filed it away for later.

"No, I don't," Finn responded. "And thank the gods for that. I really like food." That much was true. They remembered bragging about it as a kid. "What kind of stuff do you usually make, anyway? I'm not terrible at cooking myself, if you want some help from time to time."

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Billi narrows their eyes, rectangular pupils slightly dilated in the low light of the sleeping quarters. "Food," they answer simply. "If you want to know the details, bring it up with Mazirax. He's the one who knows the difference between spices and salts and different dishes." It's true; Billi could just eat garbage if worse came to worse. Before they went aboard the Iron Zeppelin, Billi was indeed on the streets and eating wanted posters from the inn-side bulletin boards. The guards had always been upset, but it was never technically illegal. "I just eat whatever's put in front of me."

They sigh and find their crocheted cap, tucking it over their head of curly hair and small horns. The horns could be larger, if not for the intense filing their mother insisted on throughout their short childhood. Eugh, a sneer forms on the satyr's face as they think of it. "C'mon, it'll be best to be out of the lower decks sooner than later. Who knows how Mazirax will react to Esteban's pestering this morning." Even as they speak, low grumblings from the dragonborn can be heard through the thin wooden walls. Last week, they had to repair said thin, wooden walls because the tabaxi went through it after being "shoved" by the coxswain. The week before that, Esteban sprinted through the halls screaming, chased by both of the twin masses.

Billi's tried to bring up these particular morning shenanigans with their captain, but Svierk only smiles and waves her hand, dismissing it as nothing but fun among crewmates. While the Captain may be correct, it's still agitating to Billi. Ivanca doesn't seem to mind, but she doesn't seem to mind anything that happens around the ship. Gidror either giggles along with Esteban's antics, or is entirely on Mazirax's side. Gidror the damn centrist. Depending on how the dragonborn sleeps, he either pays the tabaxi no mind at all, or has thrown him through the wall within moments–or somewhere in between. Billi tries not to care, but the longer Esteban keeps their resident chef busy, the longer they have to wait for breakfast.

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Fair enough. Finn supposed that they usually just ate whatever was put in front of them too. They weren't the most picky or discerning of eaters, though they could appreciate good food when they were lucky enough to eat it. Their skill in the kitchen was limited, but not nonexistent. Plus, if they got in good with the cook, poisoning the crew would be much easier if that was the route they wanted to go. It was beginning to sound very appealing to Finn. There was a much higher likelihood of Finn killing them that way rather than an all-out brawl. Even fighting some of them one on one would prove to be challenging, so Finn certainly couldn't take them all on at once. They were powerful, but not that powerful. Therefore, something completely different from combat would be more effective, they determined.

As they blinked back to reality, they realized that Billi was once again talking. Something about getting out of the lower decks. Finn wondered what exactly Esteban and Mazirax were doing, and what Billi meant by their words, but Finn supposed they would just have to see. So there was some infighting among the crew, though it was hard to tell if it was more playful or something that Finn could use. Perhaps they could try to manipulate the crew into distrusting one another, though with that strategy that required the crew's trust in each other to already be shaky, and it appeared that these people held each other in high regard. Today would be another day of information gathering and plotting, as would several days to come, most likely. This sort of complicated mission would be taken out in just a day or two. This required learning, plotting, working. And Finn would see this through to the bitter end.

Finn realized that they could hear a low grumbling through the walls. They really were very thin, weren't they? Finn wasn't very surprised, since they were more than used to dealing with thin walls or buildings or dubious quality. When one was a mercenary for a living, they couldn't exactly be too choosy. Finn really appreciated anything warm and somewhat soft at this point.

"Sounds good to me," Finn said, realizing they needed to reply to Billi. "Let's go, then."

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Billi nods quickly, leading the way out of the sleeping quarters and to the stairs. Since Finn's last presence on the deck, the sun has risen fairly quickly. It now sits half-exposed on the horizon, made of beautiful pink fire to contrast the blooming lavender of the ocean. The skies are mainly clear, just a few long, dark clouds streaking in the sky. Svierk is still below deck in her own cabin. Ivanca and Gidror are sitting next to each other on the quaterdeck, comfortable in silence as they sharpen their large supply of cutlasses and daggers.

Mazirax is right Billi's heels, the large mammoth of a dragonborn huffing out of irritation more than exertion. Esteban is chatting merrily, very calm for their precarious situation. The coxswain has the sorcerer slung over his shoulder like a limp bag of potatoes. Once to the center of the main deck, Mazirax listlessly drops Esteban right onto his plump ass. "To be honest," Mazirax grumbles, wiping his palms against each other. "I really don't care about the affairs of the royal family."

Esteban's jaw drops. "You let me ramble on and on and you weren't listening?"

"No, no, I was," Mazirax corrects. "The only thing I learned from it was that I could not care less about Prince Murph or whatever."

Esteban is quick to stand up, following the dragonborn to the kitchen with a cry of *"his name is Prince Murnh and you should understand the importance of his arranged marriage with Princess–" the tabaxi's voice fades away as the kitchen door closes behind him.

Billi sighs, rubbing their temples. "It's too early for this, I'm sorry." They turn to the warlock. "Is there anything you might need to know before the Captain gets up? As soon as we all eat breakfast, she'll have us all working until we port in the evening."

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(sorry it's kinda shit)

Finn watched the scene before them with a bit of intrigue. They weren't really interested in the affairs of the royal family either, but they knew a little about it due to the highly political nature of some of their jobs. It was almost humorous to see someone who genuinely seemed to care what was going on with the royal family right now. As a sort-of pirate, Finn assumed that the others had bigger things to worry about than the arranged marriage of Prince Murnh. Honestly, they were with Mazirax on this one.

As Billi turned to face Finn, they glanced back at the satyr. Finn couldn't think of anything that wouldn't sound suspicious coming from a new recruit, and they definitely didn't want to raise suspicion before they could even put their plan in motion. Perhaps they could try to get some information about where the ship was headed next and what Svierk's plan was, exactly.

"Do you know where we're headed next?" Finn asked after a moment.

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Billi shrugs. "That's always up to the coxswain and the captain. We can suggest places, but they only really listen to us occasionally." Billi smiles a little bit at that, but quickly hides it behind their hand. "Esteban still has a bucket list of kingdoms to visit, but we've been exiled from them all. Haven't even stepped foot in most of them." The guard and military generals had all gone off of rumor, following the next kingdom over like a domino chain to plaster their faces across cork boards and tack them to trees.

The door to the kitchen swings open and Esteban exits, still chatting merrily. Mazirax nods from his place in the doorframe. "Very fascinating, Esteban," he states before slamming the kitchen door shut.

"Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes!" Esteban says with a clap of his hands. His following tone holds no malice, heavily contradicting the words. "It would've been twenty but I've been told I'm a distraction." Billi nods. The tabaxi laughs and approaches the warlock and the bard. "After that, I heard that we're going grocery shopping!" He sings the last two words, doing a small jig in his place. "I can't wait to eat vegetables again. It's a salty, bland, miserable life here at sea." At that, the sorcerer pouts softly, his cat eyes almost widening in size as he wallows.

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Finn hadn't really considered the lack of vegetables when initially deciding to take the job and therefore, join the crew for a bit. They supposed it didn't really bother them too much; they'd never had a balanced diet by any means. But after eating much of the same food they supposed vegetables might make them as excited as Esteban was now. The tabaxi was always so lively; it really must be exhausting. He had clearly had a ball chatting up Mazirax instead of allowing the man to make them all breakfast, and while it annoyed Finn, a part of them was a tad endeared as well. They supposed that was just the tone that Esteban's personality evoked from them. Annoyance with a side of endearment. Though it was just the beginning of Finn's time on the ship. Maybe–hopefully–the annoyance would outgrow anything else. It wasn't as if it hadn't before.

Just watching the dynamic between the other crew members was honestly a pretty good way to pass the time. Not only was it insightful to their personalities–any information about the characters onboard this ship would help–it was also entertaining. Though boredom was the least of Finn's problems. They could always practice their magic or something in their spare time. Well, the more harmless spells, anyway. They couldn't imagine what Svierk's response would be if they accidentally blew up part of the ship. No, they would avoid that sort of thing entirely. Finn wasn't completely careless when practicing. At least, not anymore.

Still, Finn was curious as to where exactly these pirates would go grocery shopping. There couldn't be too many ports who would welcome them with open arms, not to mention sell them food. Perhaps they stole it? Finn would just have to wait and see. Though they supposed asking where exactly the groceries came from wasn't overly suspicious. Finn did want food that would be safe to eat, after all.

"Where do you get groceries from, exactly?" they asked, raising an eyebrow.

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"Esteban, Ivanca, and the Captain are the ones who usually go get them for us while we mill about. Go sightseeing, pickpocket, strike up a few conversations–" Billi shrugs. "Esteban disguises himself and Ivanca while the Captain follows, just barely out of sight. She's good at that." The swashbuckling rogue of a captain knows her way around nearly every port–they all look the same! She would say as she disappears into the shadow of the nearest stall. Esteban loves a good chat, but isn't always strong enough to control himself–hence where Ivanca comes into play. Her silent, terrifying demeanor is enough to get even Esteban back on track.

"I've gotten especially good at that spell," Esteban gloats, a smug expression crossing his face. "It's helped me get out of… plenty of sticky situations." Billi rolls their eyes as if to say trust us, we know.

Only a moment later, the door to the Captain's Quarters flips open and Svierk–now ready for the day–steps out. Her long maroon hair has been braided down her back, she's wearing full captain attire–including the hat, and the bags beneath her eyes have been hidden with some cosmetic. The Captain pauses for a brief second to take in the sunrise before approaching Billi, Esteban, and Finn. "Mornin' mates," she says, her eyes lingering on Finn only a fraction longer than the others. "Anything you all need from the market?"