#Raise the Flag and Let's Set Sail ll Red Hair Cassie

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

|| Continued from ~ X ~ with @burikubato

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are such a shameless flirt." Cassie giggled, returning the kiss, his large hand holding her up with ease as their lips met. In spite of everything, all the war and chaos plaguing the four blues, the one constant was the warmth of Moria's embrace. She leaned her head against his chest, letting his heart beat soothe her weary mind. After a moment, she looked up at him and smiled, the faintest dusting of pink gracing her cheeks.

"It's been too long since I've heard you say that. I love you too." She smiled, running her finger along his collar.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

“The world looks different through a smiling face and a crying face, you know? That is, if you have the power to smile through difficult times, then you have nothing to fear. Even hell becomes heaven for you.”

Cassie was on her knees, having been crying heavily when she heard Chopper's familiar voice. Her heart eased, and she looked to the reindeer as he had his own tears in his eyes. She paused a moment before smiling and pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you, Chopper. I needed to hear that." She said, wiping her own tears away. She'd spent so long in hiding after the last two years, she'd forgotten that all the bad and difficult things in life often overshadowed the good. Even as Onigashima struggled, there was always a silver lining.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Go A storm is coming The cold is mind numbing Darkness is Descending Death There's no escaping We're all anticipating smashing your brains tonight Firing the cannons and raising the flag This is the piratical way Under the sign of the storm of ale Soon with your lives you will pay

Rum, beer, quests, and mead These are things that a pirate needs Raise the flag, and let's set sail Under the sign of the storm of ale Rum, beer, quests, and mead These are things that a pirate needs Raise the flag, and let's set sail Under the sign of the storm of ale

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Continued from ~ X ~

"The sun can't hide forever. Just like the clouds can't always stay heavy." Cassie said rubbing soothing circles on his back as he teared up. "Something Pops always told me..." She continued, thinking back to when Whitebeard was still alive. "The heart, like the sea, is impossible to know. You just gotta take in in stride and know that eventually, it'll be." She explained.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

This wasn’t what Cassandra had expected. The woman seemed far softer than her exterior appeared, but at the same time, something told her that she was harder than her appearance. Offering a signature Red Hair grin, she held out one of the few bottles she’d ‘acquired’ from Shanks and chuckled. 

“You could say that.” She mused opening the bottle in her other hand with her teeth, spitting the cork aside. “I don’t think we’ve met before though. I’m Cas.” 

"I've got sake, and no one to drink it with. This seems like a problem." (Cassie for whomever feels like chilling ;) )

“Ah, you need help?” The woman looks sweet. Cute. Long brown hair and gloves on her hand. Mercy had cleaned up for that evening, rubbing the grease from her face and putting on some decent clothes instead of her normal overalls. Though she had promised herself to behave like a lady, she definitely was here for a drink. Especially with this person, “Ah think I can be of assistance if we’re drinkin’! You know the Captain?”

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

(Cassandra) “Life is hard, you know.” (Shanks)

This is the Meme: Aceepting @musedbyalli

~~*~~*~~*~~

While she'd been working, going through ropes and ensuring they were useable, Cassandra had mistepped and was now on the floor. A good chunk of rope was tangled around her foot and the rehead was laying there, staring up at the sky wondering just how else things could have gone wrong that day. Coffee had been spilt, breakfast burned, her hammock had ripped.

Just when she thought things couldn't get much worse, the universe decided to throw her another curve ball. While she didn't hate her brother, his timing had made things interesting over the years.

"And it just keeps getting harder..." She muttered. With a huff, Cassie hoisted herself into a sitting position. Her hair was a bit mussed, but it wasn't unusual for her to be a hot mess some days.

"Did you come to give me a hand or just tease me as usual?" Her tone was that of an annoyed sister would be while deft fingers began untying the rope tangled on her foot.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

“I may or may not have a dead person in my basement.”

“A dea... Ok...” Cassie had been enjoying a cup of coffee on her porch when her boyfriend appeared with the news that there may, OR MAY NOT, be a dead person in his basement. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe him, the expression of confusion on her face was more of the questioning of the phrasing. 

“So... First... Sit down.” Cassie stood up, took his hand and sat Moria down before putting her hands on her hips. “Start from the beginning and we’ll go form there, alright?”

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Like For A Starter From Red Hair Cassandra

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Cassie: Rest in peace Pops, you're always King of The Pirates to me

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

@chillin-at-partys-bar​ continued from {~X~}

This wasn’t what Cassandra had expected. The woman seemed far softer than her exterior appeared, but at the same time, something told her that she was harder than her appearance. Offering a signature Red Hair grin, she held out one of the few bottles she’d ‘acquired’ from Shanks and chuckled.

“You could say that.” She mused opening the bottle in her other hand with her teeth, spitting the cork aside. “I don’t think we’ve met before though. I’m Cas.”

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

So I Updated Cassie’s Backstory

I mostly updated her backstory to match more of the current events of OP, I also made a massive change to what set her on her path. And before you complain I did the math and checked the timelines, so Doflamingo would’ve been a pirate when her family was killed. It made more sense in the longrun and since Shanks’ parents are never referenced, ever, I played with the idea that her father was a pirate with the Donquixote pirates that left the crew after realizing that Doflamingo was a monster. The rest is written below. 

Cassandra grew up in the West Blue with her parents and her older brother Shanks who was about nine when she was born. The two were thick as thieves as they grew up, always causing trouble together and being all around little terrors. As far as Cassandra knew their father was a fisherman who left on long trips for work, and their mother was a stay at home mother. Their father loved music too. He always taught Shanks and Cassandra the songs he’d learn from the other fishermen and such. Though Shanks didn’t show much interest, Cassandra went the extra step and even learned to play the instruments he had lying around. 

Unfortunately, by the time Cassandra was about 6, Shanks left to become a pirate, leaving her and her parents alone. She never forgave him for it, all she wanted was to know why he left her behind. For years she held that anger and grudge towards him, even going so far as to say he was no longer her brother. 

One day, after turning 14 though, Cassandra’s world was turned upside down. A pirate ship came into port, which wasn’t unusual but this one brought with it a foreboding. Cassandra pleaded with her parents to leave before whomever was on the ship showed themselves but her father simply told her over and over it was going to be okay. The man that had gotten off the ship was a tall man with a twisted grin that nearly split his face and a feathered pink coat that hung to his knees.  

There was a moment where her father went up and started talking to him before he laughed and yelled something to the crew. Everything happened so fast, gunshots rang out, swords clashed, it was almost like a terrible nightmare. Cassandra’s mother pleaded with her child to run as the man approached her and killed her with a flick of his wrists. Cassandra grew furious and took up  a sword one of the villagers had dropped, trying to run the man through despite the obvious height and size difference. When he made no move to defend himself, Cassandra dared hope she had gotten the upper hand until she felt the blade connect. Instead of blood, or even a connection of steel to flesh, Cassandra found herself frozen in place.  

Doflamingo cackled and instead of killing her, used her body against her to strike down the people in her village.  He made it a point to tell her she wouldn’t die, that he’d let her live as a reminder to anyone she met that they weren’t to cross Doflamingo ever. As a last momento to the girl, he waved his fingers and brought Cassandra to stand just behind her father who was mourning his dead wife. He let out a sickening cackle and flicked his wrist, causing Cassandra to burry the sword in his heart. After the villagers were slain, Doflamingo’s men set the village ablaze and left. Cassandra managed to escape on a small dingy that had escaped the pirate’s wrath. She was destroyed. Her mother was dead, and she had killed her father.

She ended up drifting at sea for days until she was found by some marines and taken to the nearest island. She was sent to a hospital where she was treated for her wounds, dehydration and exposure before they made plans to send her to an orphanage. Instead one of the nurses caring for her, an older woman, offered to take her in. Her husband and her never could have children, and they had means to take care of the girl. 

Cassandra lived with them till she was 19, helping as much as she could. Since she wasn’t very good at fishing or gardening, she made a little money here and there playing her father’s ocarina he’d given to her before he passed away. One day, a man told her he loved her music but couldn’t afford to pay her, so he gave her a strange looking fruit saying it was worth more than anything he could’ve given her. She took it as just some old man taking pity on her, but said nothing and simply thanked him. About halfway through the day, she realized she was really hungry and hadn’t taken a lunch with her. Remembering that the man had given her that fruit, Cassandra quickly ate it, ignoring the fact that it tasted gross. 

The old woman that had taken her in saw Cassandra eat the strange fruit as she had been out shopping, and was just a bit too late in stopping her. After rushing her home, the woman explained that Cassandra had just eaten a devil fruit and that she was now cursed. She’d never be able to swim again and would have stange powers for the rest of her life. After doing some experiments, Cassandra had given up trying to figure out her new power. One day, she had been carrying water to the house when she almost fell and out of nowhere a rope of water wrapped around her waist and kept her from falling. After doing even MORE research, she found out she had eaten the Splash Splash Fruit, granting her the power to manipulate water to a point. Per the older couples request, she didn’t use these powers very often though. 

After turning 19, Cassandra decided she was going to leave and find the man with the Devil’s Grin and make him pay for what he did. Only six months after she began her journey, disaster struck. The ship she had been traveling on was caught by some Marines who decided to sink the ship rather than take prisoners. Cassandra had managed to cling to some driftwood for a short period of time but because of the curse of the Devil Fruit, she soon began sinking into the murky depths.

Just when she’d given up all hope, she found herself being saved by a man wearing a white chef’s uniform with a giant brown pompadour. He introduced himself as Thatch, 4th Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. At first, Cassandra was freaked out, after all, the Whitebeard Pirates were one of THE most notorious crews in the world. After he started tending to her wounds and making sure she was alright though, Cassandra didn’t feel as fearful of him. Thatch made sure she was alright before taking her to meet Whitebeard himself.

After meeting the famous man and telling him her story of how her brother left, her village was destroyed and she’d been looking for the man with the Devil's own smile, Whitebeard decided to make her a member of his crew. Though she was hesitant to the idea at first, after a few months aboard the Moby Dick, she found herself becoming pretty at home. She even became good friends with Marco, Ace and Thatch, especially Thatch since he was the one that saved her from her watery demise. 

Thatch even took her into the 4th Division to make sure he could keep an eye on her. During her years of service aboard the Moby, she made friends with everyone. Well, everyone except Marshal D. Teach. She could never figure out what it was, but something about the man terrified her to the core. Much to her dismay, her fears were soon realized. One night, she’d gone to give Thatch a hand in the kitchen when she saw it. 

Thatch was lying face down, a knife in his back, in a pool of his own blood. Upon confirming that Teach was the one who killed her commander, Cassie begged Whitebeard to let her join the hunt for the traitor with Ace. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed to let her go. Their travels took them all overand eventually they found Blackbeard on Banaro Island. WHile the fight didn't go as either of the Commander's planned, Ace bought enough time for Cassandra to escape. She ended up meeting up with her crew, emotionally destroyed and barely standing.

She recovered with her crew before they set sail for Marineford after the anouncment of Ace's execution. Just before they arrived, Whitebeard took Cassandra aside and spoke with her. He revealed that not only did he know her parents, he and her mother had been intimate after a fight she'd had with her husband. When Cassie was born, it didn't take much for her father to put two and two together about the time of conception as he was away on a voyage for three months at that point. Cassie was shocked at this news. In her shock and anger, she snapped and told him she couldn't deal with the news in that moment.

What she didn't realize was that she wouldn't get another chance. After the battle of Marineford, not only did she lose her brother, Cassandra watched as the man that had taken her brother in arms and his crew murdered Whitebeard as he stood there. After suffering the loss of their brother and father, Cassie saw Shanks appear to put an end to the war. She hated him for it, wanted to scream and curse his name but she could only bring herself to leave with her crewmates in tow.

After their burial, Cassandra remained with her crew, seeking out revenge on Teach and his crew whilst trying to keep the already broken family together.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Like For A Starter From Red Hair Cassie

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

“The world looks different through a smiling face and a crying face, you know? That is, if you have the power to smile through difficult times, then you have nothing to fear. Even hell becomes heaven for you.”

She hadn't known what to expect when she saw the reindeer. It certainly wasn't something so profound though. A sad smile crossed her lips and a gentle hand came to rest atop his hat as she knelt down in front of him.

"You know, you're wise beyond your years, Reindeer-chan. What brought this on?" Cassie asked, her smile widening a bit.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

chopperpirate liked your post “Like For A Starter From Red Hair Cassandra”

“Upon one summer’s morning... I carefully did stray...” Cassandra strolled down the road, humming to herself as she did. She’d made a stop on the island for supplies while her crew made repairs and tended to the Moby. In her right hand was a bag of apples and oranges, and in her left was a bunch of paper receipts for supplies to be delivered to her ship. 

“Now, I just have to find a pharmacy and we should be goo-Ack!” She had been so lost in thought the redhead tripped and face planted to the ground, her fruit and papers going everywhere. This was just how she wanted the day to go. First her coffee had ended up all over her charts, then the ship’s supplies had been damaged, and now this. 

“Can the powers that be please just stop?” 

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Tag Dump

.

[an-unkindness-of-muses]

Plot Wishlist: Cassie

Modern AU: Cassie being a bartender at Whitebeard’s bar, often works the late shifts. It turns into her becoming a wokraholic, barely having time for friends and family. Someone, brothers, friends, Whitebeard, becomes concerned and tries to push her to have fun with life again. 

Dark/Yandere/Angsty: Cassie falling victim to some dark twisted plot. I enjoy writing dark themes and would really love the chance to explore plot that takes a darker turn.