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Rhian finally looked away. Her hands were settled in her lap, absentmindedly fidgeting with a ring on her right index finger. “I don’t want to go back home.” She doubted that would mean anything to a pirate who just wanted money in her pocket. “That doesn’t matter to you, does it?”
Selena shook her head. "I just want yah for the bounty. Yer going home, though I am sorry that you don't want to be there." She replied, studying Rhian. "Yah can always run away again, though I don't know how well that'd work out for yah."
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Rhian resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The bounty. She’d seen a paper nailed to a board in town, and while she couldn’t remember the exact number, it must have been a hefty amount. “Right. My father would probably just send out another bounty,” she muttered. Rhian looked over Selena again. A standard pirate—save for the obvious—and in stark contrast to her own high-society skirts and rouged cheeks. And everything Rhian wanted to be. “A coincidence, really. I ran away looking for you.”
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh? And what do you mean by that?" She queried, frowning faintly as she studied Rhian. "You ran away to find me?" She shifted, uncertain about what that meant. No one came looking for her. Not for good reasons, anyway.
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Rhian perked up again, noticing Selena’s interest. Maybe this was her chance to plant the seeds of a far-fetched request. “Your reputation proceeds you, Captain. I heard of how you ran your ship, granted some of those rumors were spoken in contempt, but I liked what I heard. You’re…nothing less than incredible.”
Selena hummed. "Compliments will not change your status as a prisoner." She said. "But they are appreciated." She adjusted her hat, watching Rhian through slightly narrowed eyes. "And I am aware that I am incredible. How could I be otherwise?"
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Rhian dipped her chin to the appreciation. “I figured they wouldn’t. I meant it as an objective fact. As far as I’m aware you’re the only one who would let a woman join your crew.” It would take some effort to work her way out of a prisoner’s status, specifically within the time it took for Selena to get her back home.
"That is because I am one of the few women who are captains." She replied dryly. "I do not, however, generally accept runaway noblewomen. As a rule, it brings far more trouble than it's worth." She blinked slowly down at Rhian, poker faced.
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Rhian did not have a poker face. Her nose wrinkled up, and all the tension in her body seemed to illustrate her thoughts on her face. “To think I’d want to be part of your crew after this is just preposterous.” Selena’s glib, unbothered, attitude grated on Rhian’s nerves. A faint flush rising on her cheeks, a tone just slightly warmer than the rest of her neutral skin.
She hummed for a moment. "Not, of course, that you have a choice in the matter." she replied. "How lucky for you, not having to make a decision about that." her mouth pulled into the faintest smirk as she looked down at Rhian. "You'll just go back to your father, and this shall be a happy adventure."
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Rhian pursed her lips and decided not to answer that. She was just digging herself a deeper hole with every retort. Bristling at the smirk on Selena’s face, which, out of context anyone would find the slightest bit attractive no matter how aggravating. Objectively, of course. Rhian scoffed and fixed her gaze to the floor of her cell.
Puck soon returned with the blanket, pillow, and chamber pot, slipping them through the bars to Rhian. "She causin' yah any trouble, captain?" he asked Selena, looking over at his captain.
"No, none at all." Selena said with a faint smile, looking up at Puck. "She's been quite pleasant company, so it's quite alright."
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Rhian blinked, looking up at Selena’s answer. Pleasant company? She hadn’t been expecting that, considering she was a prisoner. A well-received prisoner, but one nonetheless. Rhian couldn’t help but let a short laugh escape her lips as she reached to take the items—pillow and blanket in one hand, chamber pot in the other. “I must say the same for you, Captain. It has indeed been a pleasure.”
Selena smiled just a little bit. "Of course. Now, we'll leave you be. After all, it's shore leave for the rest of us. You'll be fed at some point tonight, and it should be edible." She turned away, heading towards the exit so she could go up the stairs and back out on deck. Puck followed his captain with a faint nod to Rhian.
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“Enjoy yourself, I suppose.” Rhian watched the two leave, then when they disappeared from view, turned to the blanket and pillow Puck had brought her. She adjusted them on some less-uncomfortable looking space on the floor, and pushed the chamber pot away with her foot as she settled in.
(timeskip?)
Selena laughed as she headed out on deck, adjusting her hat and tipping her face towards the setting sun. She enjoyed her shore leave, but she enjoyed being on the sea more. It was her home, the Red Tide out on the sea. She loved the salt air and the fish and the treasures of merchant ships fat with cargo.
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(timeskip sounds good to me! How far? When they get back on the sea and Rhian is let out for a bit?)
(yeah, that's what I was thinking. Do you want me to do that?)
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(If you could, please!)
(alright!)
They had set sail early that morning, and were now far out on the ocean. The Red Tide had sailed with the tide, and land was just a faint blur on the horizon, growing dimmer by the moment, as they sailed onward. Selena came down to the hold to let Rhian out. Now that they were out on the sea, Selena had put on trousers instead of a skirt, and she held the key to the cell in one hand. "Good morning." she greeted as she unlocked the door. "You remember the rules?"
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(thanks!)
Rhian, in an attempt to make her sleep the slightest bit more comfortable, slept on top of the provided blanket rather than under it. She’d taken off her dress for use of a makeshift blanket instead, left only in a shift that at the very least resembled a nightgown. Rhian pulled on the jacket from her dress, and hooked one of the skirts around her waist for modesty at best. “Mnh, yes, I remember,” she replied, reaching up to tame some of tangles in her hair. All the pins from her previous updo laying in a pile some ways off to the side.
"Good." Selena swung the door open, eyes flickering over Rhian and her clothes or lack thereof. "And we can get you a nightgown, if you would like." She didn't comment as Rhian got dressed again, until she said, "I'll take you up on deck when you're ready."
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It didn’t take long for Rhian to redress; the individual buttons took the majority of time. “I’m ready,” she said after a handful of moments, stepping to the door. Her hair was pulled back again, now in a ponytail rather than her elaborate bun from the past day. A few flyaway curls framing her face and dislodged from the fabric tie. “Oh. I meant to ask before. If one of your crew approaches me, I can talk to them, right?”
She studied Rhian. "Yes, though they should not be approaching you." She replied, shaking her head a little bit. "Come." She led the other woman out the door and up onto the deck. The ship moved and swayed beneath them, and she moved quite easily over the bobbing deck beneath their feet. The wind blew, buffeting them and whipping around their hair.
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Rhian squinted against the sunlight. While the window in her cell had let in a little brightness, it wasn’t so brash as this. Her hair, being tied back, wasn’t half as bothersome in the wind as it might have been otherwise. She could be grateful for that. Her balance wavered unnaturally on the uneven floor, one hand reaching aimlessly for a wall to steady herself. It was all so disorienting. And yet…nice, in a way. “So the only person I can converse with on this ship is you?” she scoffed. Though despite her tone, Rhian supposed Selena wasn’t so terrible to talk to.
"Or Puck, though he'll be busy." Selena replied. "You understand, I don't want you distracting them or trying to turn them against me. Neither is an option that I shall condone or allow to happen." Her own hair was loose for now, red strands blowing about in the breeze, each breath of wind sending her hair moving again.
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Rhian murmured in agreement, though her attention was elsewhere. It was surreal, almost, to be here on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the ground moving beneath her feet. It would have made her sick had her plan not been to end up on a ship in the first place. The process went horribly awry, but at least… She let the thought trail off as her attention turned back to Selena. “I’m not planning on turning your crew against you.”
She arched an eyebrow. "And you think I can just trust your word? When you're being held prisoner?" She asked. "Because that's what I would do, if I were being held prisoner. Turn the crew against the captain, throw the captain to the sharks, and be on my way."
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Rhian considered that. Scheming wasn’t her greatest strength; growing up in fine ribbons and satin dresses never gave her a need to be adept at it. Her hand came up to scratch her upper lip with a dual purpose to subtly hide her self-consciousness. It was gradually becoming clear just how much she didn’t belong here. “I see your point.”
Selena nodded slightly. "Good. Now then, I shall be getting to work." she said. The sun overhead was stil bright, and she headed up and over to the wheel, speaking quietly with Puck. She didn't seem to care what Rhian was doing right now, not anymore.
