(no subject)

[lucky_jack]

The door swings open, letting in a great gust of air that smells of salt, sea and gunpowder. Anyone who glances through will find themselves looking out onto the deck of a sloop, rolling in the sea and at close quarters with another ship. They'll also see the back of a tall blond man, and possibly have their eardrums rattled by his enormous roar of, 'fire!'

Cannons fire, muskets spit, and the air fills with smoke. A great cheer goes up, and the man takes a step back, then turns. The door closes behind him, and Jack Aubrey finds his next order dying on his lips. 

His confusion is probably understandable, not only because everyone is confused by Milliways when they first encounter it, but because the ground is damnably steady under his feet all of a sudden, and he doesn't look all that secure. Also, because blood is pouring from a nick on his ear, and the disappearance of the wind means he's trying to stop it spilling on to his new epaulette. 

'I am brought by the lee,' he mutters to himself, staring about. 'Quite broached-to.'



[OOC: Here all evening and most of the weekend, so open for new threads through Saturday! Please forgive any navy speak I get wrong, there's a whole lot of it to learn in these books. A brief note on physical appearance here. ETA: now updated with pertinent age info! <3

ETA II: I am become spelling mistake central, so it's definitely time to crash. You lot are crazy awesome, thanks so much for tagging! Will be around tomorrow/Saturday/Sunday to continue. <3 <3 <3]

Comments

[electro_kinetic]

Noriko had been--operative word there had--been looking through makeup tutorials on a tablet, when the door slammed itself open and the really acrid smell of gunpowder came with it. And a blonde dude.

"Do you need a bandage?" she asks, carefully worded and louder than normal in case the shouting was because he's going deaf. With all that noise, she wouldn't be surprised.

[lucky_jack]

'Oh. Ah-'

A woman. A woman? Yes, a woman. Jack blinks, extends a leg and bows, but does it while trying not to stop covering his epaulette. The whole affair is a rather poor show.

'That is, a bandage. Yes indeed, thank you. A bandage would be most welcome, should you have one about your person.'

[electro_kinetic]

"I pretty much always have bandaids and alcohol wipes." Her friend--and she herself--are walking disaster zones a fair amount of the time.

"Come here, I'll put it on," she says, tossing her hair back. "Should I be worried? 'Cause you look like you're gonna faint. Or throw up, neither of which is good."

[lucky_jack]

'No no, I am quite well, I assure you,' he says, hastily, not wishing to appear unmanned no matter how strange the situation.

'It is only that the ground is steady, that is all.'

It should be explanation enough he feels - he is in uniform, and surely there is no place in the world where a captain of the Royal Navy is not instantly recognisable as such.

Having had this thought, he is obliged to admit that he has no idea what she is wearing, or what has happened to her hair, but is far too polite to say so. He rolls on his legs towards her, trying to compensate for waves that do not exist.

[electro_kinetic]

Well, the clothes are pretty standard; they're jeans and a kimono top in cherry-pink and black. The hair is another matter altogether, given hers is half-up in a sort of topknot, leaving her bangs loose.

"Huh. Not a lot of time on land?" Or sober, she'd think, but that assumes kind of a lot about the guy and as much as she tries to put out the perception that she does not study anything historical, she does recognize the uniform. (It's hard to miss.) Noriko holds out the prepackaged wipe and the bandaid for him, leaning her chair back onto two legs until her feet don't touch the floor.

[hecu_marine]

Some smells you just can't help but recognize. Granted, Shephard doesn't do a whole lot with old school black-powder weapons these days, but it's the kind of thing you only need a whiff of once in order to remember forever. He closes the engineering text he'd been trying to slug his way through and comes to his feet.

"You all right there, sir?"

(He's not currently up on the marks of rank in older military uniforms other than the Marine Corps, but he sure as hell knows an officer when he sees one."

[lucky_jack]

'Oh. Yes, yes, it is only a passing flick, I thank you.'

But it will bleed so, and this epaulette is not only new, he finds himself rather attached to it. To make the best of a bad job, he shugs the coat off altogether. Killick can deal with blood on the shirt later.

'Though if you are of a mind to explain what this...room, is doing on my sloop, I should be most obliged to you, sir.'

He is quite sure it was not here before, and therefore madness seems a likely option. He will not countenance being dead, because one does not die from a little skin taken off the ear.

[hecu_marine]

Shephard nods. A man says his injury isn't worth bothering with, you listen to what he tells you, long as he isn't passing out.

"Long story," he says. "Short version is, this ain't quite your sloop just at the moment, and I reckon there ain't a whole lot I c'n tell you just now that ain't gonna sound like some kind of fairy story or fever dream. I'll try, if you want, but I reckon you deserve the warning first."

[lucky_jack]

'Then indeed sir, consider me warned.'

He sounds wary, but it does not stop him drawing himself up. Danger is always faced head-on, and he has his sword buckled at his belt. If there is to be a fight for freedom, so be it. There has been no surrender, so it would be justified.

[scourgeofpiracy]

"Not in the least", drawls the man wearing the coat that - was a good one, once, before its owner spent some time as a drunk in Tortuga. At least it's cleaner than it was then. "You've only been waylaid."

[lucky_jack]

Jack takes in this sight - this rather sorry sight - and confused as he is, does not fail to notice this man is not of his crew. He is well acquainted with his officers by now...and besides, none of them would dare to appear dressed in such a way on his ship.

'Oh?' he says, torn between wanting to stop covering his epaulette so that his rank may be clear, and not wanting to get blood on it.

'Are you suggesting I am lost on my own sloop, sir?'

[scourgeofpiracy]

"I'm suggesting", he returns ironically, "that you're no longer on your sloop, sir. Welcome to Milliways."

[lucky_jack]

This is an awkward situation. The man's uniform suggests rank, and possibly one higher than Jack's own. On the other hand, he does not recognise it as current. It looks rather older than he is used to. And in such a state!

Perhaps the man has fallen on hard times. Jack's demeanour softens a touch, though he is still wary.

'My apologies,' he says, a little stiffly. 'I find I do not quite understand you.'

[ostro_goth]

There is a tall man with an axe, grim and all in black, sitting at a table with a small black cat on his shoulder, he is doing something with a glowing thing on which letters and pictures are moving and which will, otherwise, defy Jack's understanding.

He turns his head at the sound of cannon-fire, and calmly says, "Greetings!"

[lucky_jack]

Everything is currently defying Jack's understanding. While this is something that happens occasionally on shore, it is not something he is accustomed to while at sea.

'Good day, sir,' he says, cautiously. But there is no sign of fear in him, and if the axe is somewhat prominent, Jack is comforted by the knowledge that his own sword is just as visible.

[ostro_goth]

"One would assume you are new to this place," the axe-man with the cat says.

[lucky_jack]

'I am fairly recent aboard my ship, sir,' he says, still cautious, still polite, still without fear.

'If that is what you mean.'

[astrangebell]

[ooc: feel free to assume this is a bit later, if you don't want him fussed over ten different times.]

Now that, at last, is a familiar style of dress. And for that reason, Mrs Strange does not greet the gentleman with the easy informality that she has almost grown used to in this place-- but as he is so plainly English, so plainly of something very near to her own time, she cannot help but offer a nod when he happens to look in her direction.

[lucky_jack]

[OOC: Yes, thank you! :D]

Jack had, eventually, seated himself at the bar, and has passed the time in pondering this exceedingly odd turn of events. He is not at all sure what to make of them, and has a glass of port on hand to help in his contemplation.

He returns the nod by finding his (still somewhat awkward) feet, and proffering a bow. She is dressed as women should be, and it would be just his luck to discover she was an Admiral's wife, or similar. He is not about to be brought any further by the lee, if it can be avoided.

[astrangebell]

"Oh--" She curtseys in return, of course. "Pardon me! I did not mean to make you stand."

[lucky_jack]

'Why, it is no hardship ma'am, not a bit of it.'

He grins broadly - perhaps this is not his first glass of port - and is very glad the bandages pressed on him on arrival have stopped the unseemly flow of blood with minimal damage to his uniform.

'I trust I find you well?'

[thewidewideworld]

The roar of cannon fire is enough to frighten Sinric half out of his skin, dropping his books and sending loose pages scattering.

He kneels, one hand over his heart and his golden hair falling over his face as he tries to stave off a wave of panic.

Androgynous as he is and dressed in a fitted silk tunic that hugs his slender form, Sinric is very easy to mistake for a woman.

[lucky_jack]

Jack stumbles a bit on entering the place, his head ringing from the noise and thrown by the way the floor refuses to move. He latches on to the nearest point of normality - a lady fallen to the flo...a lady? But there are no women aboard Sophie, he made sure of it.

'Up you get, lad,' he says gruffly, holding his hand to his bleeding ear.

'No need to go down 'til they bring the grape out, and they're in no position for that. Stand tall, show 'em you're an Englishman.'

[thewidewideworld]

Sinric looks up, soft brown eyes wide with fright. The man's words startle and confuse him but the sight of blood is enough to startle him out of his panic.

"Sir, you're hurt." He pulls a clean linen kerchief from the inner lining of his sleeve and offers it to the man. "Sit, I'll fetch you some water to clean the wound."

[lucky_jack]

''Tis nothing, nothing at all. Just a scratch.'

He takes the handkerchief anyway, useful as it will be to save his poor epaulette from getting covered.

'The doctor will have it stitched up in a flash. Which one are you, seaman?'

Though even as the words come out, he registers that this young...man, for want of a better word, not only seems entirely unfamiliar, but is not dressed for any kind of ship. And this room is...well, he is not sure what it is, but it was certainly not part of the Sophie a few hours ago.