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The Lost (30k Primarch Quest)

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Caihong
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    • Scheduled vote count started by HalfTangible on Aug 15, 2022 at 10:59 PM, finished with 32 posts and 29 votes.
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    V. An Affair of Corsairs
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    • V. An Affair of Corsairs

    Caihong

    The Rude Awakening has three decks. The children are currently in the sickbay at the bow of the vessel, with at least one of your crew with them always. Caihong has taken up semi-permanent residence in the captain's quarters. Technically you could demand she move and take them for yourself, but the lot of you are only going to be on board for a few days anyway. The Queen will want the ship for her own fleet.

    When you find her, she's looking over various papers and making notes, muttering to herself about wind direction and currents.

    "You're writing reports?" You ask. "The Queen doesn't seem like the type for formal documentation."

    "You'd be wrong, but these aren't my reports." She holds up the paper. "I'm looking through the captain's papers for any reference to the kids' homes, where they're finding this many 'witches' or where they're dropping them off." She looks down. "Lot of references to 'the island' which isn't helpful. But his letters reference the Dajufeng as a landmark a few times, so that narrows it down."

    "Good to hear. Keep at it." You nod. The Dajufeng is an eternal hurricane that rages in the seas of Tabgach. It's unknown precisely why or how, but the storm has not moved in millennia, or if it has it's too slowly for anyone to notice. The storm is impossible to sail through, and many who have gone close have never returned. There were only so many islands around the storm, so that narrowed things down quite a bit.

    "… how're the kids doing?" she asks.

    "Better. They're still avoiding Fan, but they're not running from everyone who goes down to sickbay."

    "Which one's Fan?"

    "The blonde one."

    "Right. The antiwitch." Caihong doesn't look up from the papers.

    You fold your arms, tapping your finger as she continues poring over the letters. After a minute or so, she sighs and sets them down.

    "… no disrespect meant shanwei, but was there another reason you were here?"

    "Yes." You say. "It's clear there's some bad blood here and I want to clear it from the air before it becomes a real problem."

    Caihong keeps her eyes on her paper. "What makes you think I don't like you?"

    "Well I'm not an idiot and you're not very subtle."

    "Yeah, that'd do it." She growls. "I don't like you, no. Why does it matter? I'll be your first mate regardless."

    "Because I don't need a first mate that hates my guts."

    "Do you have a problem with any of the orders I gave?"

    "Well no, but-"

    "But nothing." She scowls. "That was my job and I did it like the Queen asked. Go talk to Eun if you want someone who likes y-"

    You grab the desk she's sitting at and lift it over your head, shoving her back to the wall. She looks up, backing into the wall as she glares furiously at the sudden hostility. She's hiding it well, but you can hear the sudden spike in her heart rate, even as her hand drops to her pistol.

    "Sail or sink, we're on the same boat," you growl as you press her desk into the ceiling, "You can like me, you can love me, you can be indifferent to me, you can fantasize about where you're gonna put the bullet. But I am shanwei, and you are my first mate. While we're on the same boat, on the same sea, you are going to show me respect. And if you can't manage that, then I at least need to know why, and either get you off my ship or fix it." You the desk down, glaring at her. "Now explain it to me before I come up with a threat that might actually intimidate you."

    Caihong's hand is still on her pistol as the other hand goes up to her eyepatch, and her glare remains. You briefly consider throwing her out the window and into the icy sea below. Maybe in her next life she'd have a better attitude. You bet she'd end up as a military girl even then. But she doesn't strike you as the bloody berserker type. She seems more of the cautious, kill 'em harshly but quietly type. Like a spy.

    You're halfway through fleshing out her first mission as a ninja before she sighs and lets her hand fall from her eyepatch. "Because you're a blueblood. You've been handed everything from your parent."

    You raise an eyebrow because that wasn't the response you were expecting. A lot of things could be said about you both noble and horrible, but 'incapable' wasn't on the list.

    "You're gonna have to explain that one."

    "Your mother burned out my eye." She growls.

    "Boo hoo." You snap. "You tried to kill me twice. You deserved it."

    "I deserved to have you take my eye." She growls. "But mama handled it for you, didn't she? Like everything else since your pod fell."

    "What, seriously?" Your mouth falls open. "You're mad because I didn't pluck out your eye?!"

    She laughs. "The eye's not the main problem, I can do without it. I'm not figuratively blind, Sun-sin. You could've beaten me to captain by your own power, easily. But you didn't and we both know it. You're the prince, and that's all that matters." She snarls, disgust in her voice. "We all like to talk like we're different from the samurai and their noble masters. But no. It goes to the Queen's favorite. As always!"

    She stands up, slamming her hands onto the desk. "The worst part is that you didn't even need it! You stand taller than every man, woman and mutant in the fleet! And yet you still get propped up like any blueblood brat on the mainland!! It doesn't matter if you're good. All that matters is that you're the one the Queen likes."

    Silence hangs in the air a moment, broken only by the creaking of the massive ship.

    "…No wonder she didn't give you your own command." You growl.

    "The fuck did you say?"

    "You're not just jealous, you're an idiot." You growl, disbelief at what she's said and saying. "You think the Queen favors me over you because she 'adopted' me? To the degree you're more than willing to bite at my heels the entire raid?"

    She grips her eyepatch, and for a moment you think she might rip it off. "Try and deny it, ki-"

    "Shut up before I make you choke on that eyepatch."

    Thunder rumbles around you both, shaking the ship. She's suddenly very still.

    "You can't even bring yourself to say you're better than me and you question my right to be here?" You growl, voice low and bubbling. "You doubt for a single instant that I would be captain of this vessel had the Queen not 'adopted' me? Let me remind you, Caihong, that you took a shot at me (twice) not because I ever came for you, but because you thought I'd be a threat one day. Well, here's 'one day'. I'm not good, I'm not even great, I am the best damn sailor in this fleet and the next doesn't even come close. That's why I'm shanwei and you're not. I am better than you. Not a damn thing was handed to me."

    "Is that so?" She asks. "Remind me, 'shanwei', who took my eye? Was it you, the person I'd 'wronged'? Or was it your mother because I dared attack her boy?"

    You don't answer. Because you both know the answer.

    "You'll get your first mate. Best in the fleet." She pokes your chest and glares right into your eyes. "I will never give you cause to doubt my competence. I will do my job to the best of my ability. And in front of the men, I'll be more professional from now on." She growls. "But don't you ever talk to me like you earned your way here. You could have. But you didn't. Your mother built the boat you sailed in on and I'll never forget it. Now get out."

    "No." You growl. "This is my ship, and this room was yours because I gave it to you. Well, I'm taking it back. You get out."

    Her nostrils flare. "… yes, shanwei." She leaves.

    It was petty to kick her out of her room and you know it.

    Right at that moment, you don't care.

    -

    The Cutting Dagger sails ahead to let Shang know there's a new ship coming. Fortunately you do not have to change the flag, because Yamato seems to have been a stickler for details and got it right on his first go.

    Your ship finds its way to an island with no landmarks, a place that can't be found unless you chance across it, or already know where it is. Your ship pulls into a cove. You imagine that, to anyone else's eye, Shang looks slightly less inviting than getting shanghaied. It looks like someone took a ramshackle set of shipwrecks and flotsam and nailed them together in the shape of a port, but had no idea what a port actually looked like. The cove's walls are dotted with wooden structures that serve as homes and taverns, including ramps and ladders to get from place to place.

    There's a slaughtered whale in the harbor getting bits of meat torn out of it. It wasn't there when you left, but your mouth waters at the sight of it. Whale meat is a rare treat anywhere, but especially around these parts; they're hard to kill and tougher to cook, but the taste is something unique and chewy. They don't taste anything like fish.

    One of the kids – the quiet one – came up onto the deck earlier. He's looking at the dock, openly apprehensive.

    You put a hand on his shoulder. "It's the ugliest place I know, but when I'm not on a ship, it's home. You'll learn to love it. Like a wife, eh?"

    The boy shudders.

    "Aw come on, I'm kidding." You sigh, taking your hand off. "Look. We're gonna figure out a way to get you all home."

    He shrinks away, and you notice Fan coming up on your other side.

    "What if we've got no home to go to?" Fan asks.

    You stare at her. It occurs to you that someone who makes others sick just by being around them wouldn't have many friends. You have a hard time believing that anyone could abandon their child, but… perhaps she just thinks her family would be better off without her?

    Or hell, maybe they were just dead.

    "Well." You say, holding a hand out to her. "Welcome home, then."

    Fan takes your hand, and you ignore the icy chill running through it. To your surprise, nobleboy hasn't left. He's staring out at the port with a new fascination.

    -

    You pull up to dock and leap from the boat, landing on the wood with the light grace of a swan.

    Caihong gets off the ship without saying a word to you or anyone else. After your talk with her you find it hard to care.

    When you make your way off of the pier, you find Oda waiting for you. He's been with the Queen for a long time, before you met her.

    "… ya know," Oda says, as he watches the children being brought off the boat, "Generally when you're sent out to plunder, the kids are left in the port ya made 'em."

    "Oh sod off, I was gone for a week tops." You jab your thumb back towards the Rude Awakening. "We caught a slaver's vessel. They took a bunch of kids they thought were witches. The cages they were in might sell, or we can use them. It was some weird black material."

    Oda raised an eyebrow. "… So, you're gone for less than a week, and you not only find a slaver vessel…" He waves to the Rude Awakening "but a new ship of the line, plunder, and a bundle of witches? Damn kid and I thought my first raid was lucky."

    "What'd you find on yours?"

    "A ton of gold…" He grins. "Plus a redhead for one arm, a brunette for the other and a rich old bastard to steal it all from."

    You snort. Bullshit, of course. Oda has something new every time you ask about any of his raids. Part of you is hoping to catch him repeating himself one day, but he never does. Last time he told you that his first raid ended with killing a whale and taming its calf.

    "So what do you plan to do with 'em?" He asks, stepping back a bit as Fan comes up the dock. "Can't imagine the families will want 'em back."

    "Not so loud," You frown. "What makes you say that?"

    He sighs. "Look, it ain't fair, but… well they have that witchery stuff to them, right?" He nods his head towards Fan, who is looking less and less sure as she glances around the dock. "There's a pretty good chance their families abandoned them."

    Your frown deepens. "I'm not going to assume that."

    Oda shrugs but drops the matter.

    The thought crossed your mind on the voyage back, too. It's unlikely that slavers could find this many witches without any help and kidnap all of them. Some, surely, but witches were rare. You'd be lucky to find a dozen in a major city, let alone in the cargo hold of a single ship.

    "Can you do me a favor?"

    Oda tilts his head. "You know I'm up for it, kid. What do you need?"

    You grab nobleboy and pull him nearer to Oda. "This kid doesn't talk, but his clothes look like nobility. If you could find what House he's from, that'd be a good start for him. The rest… we'll figure it out."

    Oda nods and takes the boy's hand. "Sure. Don't let them wander off, Sun; you know what the docks are like."

    "Aye-aye." You mutter, going over to grab Fan before she wanders off.

    -

    Voting


    You've got some time in the port before you need to meet up with the Queen. You're going to find the kids somewhere safe (or at least as safe as you can ask for in this town). But once that's done, what do you do for shore leave?

    [] – Drink Rum

    You're pretty sure you can't get drunk. But you still enjoy the rowdy atmosphere, the drinking, the singing, the dancing, the occasional barfight that you always win… it's a good time.

    [] – Gamble

    Games of chance are one of very few things you don't automatically beat everyone at, and as such they're the only kind of games you enjoy. You love the chips, the excitement, the crashes from highs and rising up from the lows.

    [] – Whale cookout

    Come the deep or the storm, there's no way you're missing out on the whale meat.

    [] – Write in; can't believe I said "write up" first time I typed this.

    Submitted by @yannoshka
    [] Write-in: Check up on fermenting and curing of sharkmeat
     
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    • [X] – Drink Rum

    Camaraderie with the crew is good, drinking them all under the table is better still. I'm thinking either this or the whale meat, because fresh seafood is to die for.
     
    [X] – Whale cookout

    Unless we have something like Fenrisian Ale, our boy is not getting drunk, best enjoy the meat of the Sea with our people.
     
    Tabascoheath said:
    [X] – Drink Rum

    Camaraderie with the crew is good, drinking them all under the table is better still. I'm thinking either this or the whale meat, because fresh seafood is to die for.
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    I looked it up when I was writing it and apparently whale tastes closer to moose or cow than a fish.

    Thank you internet, for answering questions I never would've asked if I didn't need to know for writing purposes.
     
    [X] – Whale cookout

    Cooking is one skill most Primarchs or astartes learn. It is also a skill that connects with humanity more than most others. The way to a someone's heart is through their stomach.
     
    HalfTangible said:
    I looked it up when I was writing it and apparently whale tastes closer to moose or cow than a fish.

    Thank you internet, for answering questions I never would've asked if I didn't need to know for writing purposes.
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    Moose tastes like cow tastes like whale, now that a comparison I can appreciate, seafood gumbo that tastes like gamey beef, very interesting indeed.
     
    We'll never be able to get Caihong on our side, we don't even know why she hate our guts and what we need to do to make it up to her-
    HalfTangible said:
    "Is that so?" She asks. "Remind me, 'shanwei', who took my eye? Was it you, the person I'd 'wronged'? Or was it your mother because I dared attack her boy?"
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    Oh! Nevermind, we can correct this easily! After all, she does have another eye left :V
     
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    [x] – Drink Rum

    We are a pirate so to drink

    🎶what do we do with a drunken sailor🎶
     
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