Mission Adrift - Chapter 4

Eyes as impossibly blue as the ocean.

That was what she first noticed about the wolf staring back at her from behind the table. One arm stretched out along the wooden surface with a glass in hand, the other draped around his chair.

From what she’d heard about pirates from this world, he sure matched the rugged, tough appearance she’d expected. But something else entirely different, intriguing and dark about this man struck her.

He was gorgeous.

His untamed fur was a mixture of golden-brown and black hues. He didn’t look messy though, but somewhere between well-groomed and untidy; the perfect combination of scruffy and sophisticated. Thick, dark fur poked out through the low neck line in his tanned, gold buttoned vest, which was all brought together by the long black leather jacket he wore, with an extravagant collar that framed his neck.

He lifted his head up to get a clear look at her, eyes slowly wondering over her entire physique. He brought his arm up from behind his chair to take a puff of his cigar before he began to speak.

“What is a magnificent creature like yourself doing here, m’lady?”

“You’re a pirate captain, aren’t you?” She asked, though she very much knew the answer.

“Aye,” his voice was rugged and his eyes were still wandering over her. “That I am.” He gave her a charming grin as he rose to his feet. “Question is, darling, what is it that you’ve come to me for?”

She had a pretty good idea of what he thought her intentions would be, but felt herself unsure as to how to approach the situation. Play along? Be demanding? Whatever she did, she had to make sure it worked. She already had his attention, clearly. Now all she had to do was make an impression.

As if gravity-defying breasts hadn’t done that already.

Kudos Sansa.

“Depends,” She replied, leaning over the table slightly, intentionally giving the Captain a good view of her chest. “What are you offering?”

He watched her curiously with one eyebrow twitched skywards and that grin still perking the comers of his mouth, but now seemingly more suggestive. “I could offer a great deal of pleasurable things, if you’d like that.” He said, and Destiny didn’t fail to notice his tongue quickly dart out along his bottom lip and disappear again. “But first, how about I buy you a drink?”

Perhaps she was imagining things, but she could’ve sworn the temperature was rising in the space between them. She could feel her heart speed up with the amount of tension in the air.

Oh boy.

Suddenly the urge to pull her dress a bit lower was becoming unbearable as his eyes travelled over her, studied her, admired her. She felt just as uncomfortable as she did lured to this man. She had to do something.

She shook her head and leaned back from the table, trying to look as unaffected as possible by his seductive dallying. “Not happening-“

 “I insist.“

She shot him a serious look with the tilt of her head, but didn’t pursue disputing the matter. He briefly broke eye contact to gesture for someone to bring them some drinks. The way his focus remained so intrigued and fixated on her made her begin to wonder whether he was analysing her body or her motives. Either way, at least she had his prompt attention.

“So, pirate. I take it you only boarded here in the last few days, am I correct?”

The drinks arrived in moments, and once they were handed to them, he spoke again.

“You know,” he said looming over the table, hands flat against it and leaning all too close to her for comfort. “Most people wouldn’t dare to confront a pirate, a captain at that, in such a manner as you have just demonstrated.”

“Well, Captain, I’m not most people.”

He stared at her, reading her over. His mouth curled up into another devilish smirk before he broke the stare and moved around the table towards her. “No you’re not.” He said as he put his cigar out on an ash tray. “You don’t strike me as the type of person who just comes in here purely looking for, how shall we say it…fun?”

She eyeballed him, not at all faltering or moving away from the tall canine as he invaded her personal space. He looked at her studiously, running his fingers lightly up her left arm before speaking again.

“I know,” he said knowingly and in an almost comical manner. “You want information, don’t you?”

“Well I’m all out of fun I’m afraid.” She teased, taking a sip from her drink - whatever it was. She looked him straight in the eyes. “Especially considering you haven’t even told me what to call you yet, Captain.”

He placed his drink down abruptly and seemed rather courteous all of a sudden. “Apologies, lass. My manners seem to have escaped me. Captain Jeremy Hunter.” He answered, giving her a little bow. When he rose to look at her again, she noticed the transition on his face from a genuine smile to a look she read as ‘your turn’.

“Destiny.” She replied with a simple half smile, being unable to bow or curtsey in the tight, fitted dress she was reluctantly wearing.

His eyes were on hers again, powerful and blue. He smiled genuinely, “What a fitting name.”

She felt her cheeks burn red at the compliment. This is not how this was supposed to go.

He reached for his drink and quickly downed a mouthful. She went to pick up her own glass, still clueless as to what it was she was drinking. Out of sheer curiosity, she decided to ask. “What is this?”

Swallowing his down, he then looked at her baffled and amused. “Never had rum before, darling?”

“Can’t say I have.” She said honestly.

He grinned amusingly, taking in another mouthful of his drink before talking again. “So darling, what can I do for you?”

Destiny took a moment to take another sip before she answered. “I’m looking for someone. Someone who boarded passage here recently.”

“And you think they came by my ship?”

“Precisely.”

“Well lass, what’s his name?”

With a shake of her head, she answered, “Her name is Akura.”

She noticed the subtle change in his expression, the slight drop in the corners of his mouth and the unease in his eyes. Though he did a good job to quickly mask it, Destiny already knew.

“You know her.”

“Aye, perhaps I may know of her.” He admitted.

Reluctance.

But she needed his help.

“Can you help me?” She asked, a little too much pleading visible in her voice.

She saw the smirk grow on his face again, and he moved closer to her, so close she swore she felt the heat of his breath dance on her cheek. “Depends, darling. How are you going to help me out?”

The tension between the two was growing increasingly thicker and Destiny soon found herself losing her inhibitions. This wasn’t her. She wasn’t sure anymore whether to keep up with the game or abort it altogether, but the pull this pirate was having on her was like a magnet pulling her in.

Her eyes fluttered lightly as she edged forward the slightest bit and brushed his arm with her fingers, as if her body were now acting in the absence of her thoughts and decisions which were failing her.

“What is it you want, Captain?”

What the hell was wrong with her?

She swore she heard him make a low growl before he lurched forward. Before he could attack her lips though, there was an urgent voice that cracked through the room.

Jumping back slightly, Destiny leant back against the wooden table with her palms gripping the edge, feeling mighty grateful for the interference as she tried to hold on to whatever little self-control she had.

Dammit! You have a job to do!

Hunter turned around to face the smaller Mobian slowly, looking more than unimpressed by the man’s well-timed interruption. “What is it Loch?” He bit out, all but amused. “This better be worth disrupting my privacy.”

Destiny noticed the little shudder run through the otter at his Captain’s remark, but managed to remain mostly unaffected by the statement. “The authorities are comin’ sir, and half the crew are still here and absolutely wrecked.”

“What the bloody hell are they still doing here? Get them out, now!”

“They’re…preoccupied, Captain. It appears you’re not the only one drawn to a woman…” He paused, turning his gaze from her and the Captain back in the direction he’d come in from, “Or two.”

Destiny’s grip tightened on the table and she couldn’t help but bite her lip trying to hide the amusement from what she’d just realised. Of course she could trust the twins to be out there reeling in the men, getting up to no good.

Hunter brought his hand up to rub his chin in contemplation, turning slightly and noticing Destiny’s change in expression. His brows furrowed at her curiously and when she met his gaze she still couldn’t make the features on her face look any more neutral.

“What’s so amusing?” He asked, sounding both curious and frustrated.

“They’re with me.” Was all she could get out, before walking past the two men who looked to one another questioningly before following behind her.

Once she was back in the main part of the tavern she was to be met with the sight of men filled with laughter and drunken banter, and not to her surprise, the twins half sitting on two men’s laps. The girls were engrossed in a game of poker, but also managing to apparently tease and flirt with the many jolly and drunken men in their immediate company.

Sansa gave a knowing look at her sister before slamming a fist down onto the table in excitement as Tasha flailed her cards out, sparking both victory cheers and angered barks from the many men. Both their arms went up as the two were lifted into the air, obviously too far absorbed in their win and a bit too drunk to realise the way the men were holding them was way too inappropriate.

Sasha made eye contact with Destiny and suddenly lit up with overwhelming delight.

“Leeba! Leeba!” Sansa squealed, pointing right at the princess, drawing on her sister’s attention. Tasha merely flailed her arms about and managed to make a loud “Wooooo!” Before losing track of Destiny again.

Apart from the silent decision she made to herself  that she was never to bring them back to the tavern, or any bar for that matter, Destiny felt incredibly unsure in that moment of how to get out of this situation right now. The authorities…whoever they were, could be here any moment and surely finding out what happens to those who are at all associated with pirates was not really on her agenda.

She saw no point trying to gain their attention while the two were so intoxicated and oblivious to the fact that Destiny wasn’t just waving ‘hello’ at them.

“Everybody out!” A voice bellowed from behind. Before she could even turn to see who, a gunshot was fired into the air, blasting through the roof and sending everyone running in all directions to flee. Amidst the rush of the crowd, she was able to find the twins who rushed to her immediately. When she looked back though, Hunter and his crew were already nowhere in sight.

---

“Why do I feel so awful?”

The morning was hazy, or at least Destiny thought it was, and Solah found the scenario they were in utterly side-splitting. Well how could she not?

It was still early morning when Destiny woke up feeling unwell, and having her friend help her outside of the ship only brought on the nausea more. Once the two were outside, Destiny practically flung herself down and lay on the grass, resting her back against a log. Solah had gone into the ship, reappearing shortly after with a bowl and damp cloth which she immediately started using to dab and wipe Destiny’s hot forehead with.

“You should drink the brew I made for you. I reckon it’ll help.” Solah said with amusement, as well as care written all over her glistening face. Destiny simply groaned at the comments, knowing fully that her scaled friend was never going to let her live this one down.

“And to think, I’m usually the one with the hangover.” Solah added, lifting the bowl up into Destiny’s view, enticing her to take it.

She reached an arm out to take the bowl from the chameleon’s hand. “Don’t get used to it.” She mumbled, before downing the concoction in one quick swig.

Solah chuckled, taking the empty bowl and moving it aside before resuming the process of gently dabbing her with the washcloth in a soothing manner. “So, apart from you and the twins coming back and those two being hysterically drunk, what did I miss?”

And of course, there it was. It had almost gone right over her head that she hadn’t filled Solah in on anything as of yet. After a morning of playing nurse for her teammates, more reluctantly so for the twins than for Destiny, she’d been waiting on an explanation as to what had happened the previous night. Solah couldn’t blame her. After all, getting to witness your best friend hungover for the second time in a week was definitely unusual, as well as something she could hold against her for a very long time.

Trying to sit up, Destiny squinted her eyes shut briefly and sheltered her eyes from the sun with a hand as the growing light was making her feel more nauseous. She tried clearing her throat, realising she had yet to answer the question.

“In the tavern last night, we think we may have found someone who can help us.”

That comment seemed to make Solah forget what she was doing, suddenly pulling away the washcloth and focusing her attention towards what Destiny had to say. She tilted her head slightly, which Destiny took as a cue to continue talking.

“There were pirates in the tavern, so I went and found the Captain. I didn’t get the chance to get anything out of him, besides the fact that he might know Akura.”

Solah remained motionless, completely fixated and contemplating everything that her friends was telling her. Destiny could almost see the swarm of thoughts swimming in her eyes. After a few moments, Solah’s expression softened again and she smiled genuinely, something that was a rare sight these days.

“And I take it you shared a few drinks with this Captain.” Solah teased, an eyebrow arched up in question. Destiny just rolled her eyes, but the slight blush on her cheeks didn’t escape the chameleon’s notice.

“Well I’m pleased you didn’t get wasted like the other two.”

“Hmm?”

Solah’s lips curled up and she bit down on her lip, holding back the laughter that threatened to escape her mouth. Destiny hadn’t known what kind of condition that the other two were in, nor did she need to right now. “Just rest up today and I’ll keep searching.”

Wait a minute.

She couldn’t be serious could she? Immediately at Solah’s words Destiny’s eyes blew wide open, staring at the reptile with a serious look. She looked for a sign that it was a joke, but when she noticed the concerned look on the chameleon’s face she knew she wasn’t kidding.

“You’re not going on your own.” Destiny exclaimed, not with the usual control and confidence she usually had.

Solah just looked at her, a small smile plastered on her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll be taking Jet along.”

And then she seemed frozen in place for a moment, before easing back against the rock. She really hadn’t expected that. “And you’re okay with that? Really?”

Solah nodded, bringing the washcloth back up to her friend’s forehead and dabbing her with it in a relaxing way. It might have been funny to see the princess in this state after a night out, but she couldn’t help but be tentative toward her either, having known the exact state she was in and how she probably felt.

If she was going to be of assistance, then she would listen to Destiny’s requests and stand by her decisions, even if she didn’t completely agree. If she didn’t want her doing this alone, then she’d make sure to have company.

Well, at least most of the time.

“So who is this mysterious pirate captain I should go look for?”

Destiny paused for a few moments, obviously trying to recover the memory from her aching brain. “Hunter,” she said, and before Solah could try to tease and joke with her more she added, “His name was Jeremy Hunter. Now I think you should be off.”

Solah nodded, gathering the cloth and bowl in her hands and slowly getting to her feet. She gave one last reassuring smile towards the tired princess, who was still somehow wearing last night’s bold number much to Solah’s amusement, and headed back inside the ship.