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soartfullydone · 1 year ago

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You and big fat papa Argenti, then. Delethil and Cobalt. And I want to hear about the new pirate ot3 you've joined unwillingly, if possible

grumble grumble grumble

(I've been batting around creating a more Sharte-sounding name, so let's test run an idea.)

Bastion is the one that introduces Arsynic to William Argenti, Sr. The meeting was more happenstance than planned, a touchpoint about any potentially interesting rumors in Durlyne. It wasn't supposed to mean anything or become anything. Bastion wanted to get this Sharte-disguised-as-a-Jet away from intent scrutiny as quickly as possible.

But Arsynic likes the look of this distinguished lord, with his brown skin, long silver hair, and striking blue eyes. She likes how he holds himself with a cane, refusing to bow even with age and gravity itself exerting their forces onto him. Most of all, she likes how rich he looks, like he's a man who still has plenty to lose.

Since Bastion prefers to travel via Offsetting, he leaves Syn behind more often than not, and it's not like she's going to stay put. After probing Bastion for information and poking around, Syn finds the Argenti manor. She scopes it out, learns the routine of the staff, notes Argenti’s comings and goings, notices the unhappy blond soldier who visits every now and then. She sees the gentleman Argenti’s wife entertains in his absence.

So she thinks she’s armed with plenty of blackmail by the time she steals inside. Bastion believes she’s been chasing down leads on Beadman’s shipment of first silver the pair of them lost, and sure, she’ll get to that. But this country moves so slow compared to Sharteshane. What’s a little detour?

It’s likely only her pymary knowledge and new face that saves her. Argenti, Sr. is a career soldier and politician. He knows the limitations posed by his aging body and doesn’t hesitate to take her down. He won’t be blackmailed (and nothing she has on him is unknown to him or a threat).

As an assassin, Syn is competent in Sharteshane but abysmal compared to those trained in Alderode. Her pymaric signature isn’t even masked, as it’s a process she hasn’t been able to afford. Argenti knew she wasn’t a Jet when they met, but whether she was a Gold or something else, he wasn’t certain until he heard her speak.

Which means she’s utterly expendable. The only protection she had was being at Bastion’s side. Without it, she spills why Bastion is traveling with a Sharte to begin with, and Argenti sees opportunity.

He wants a reason to remain politically relevant in Alderode. He wants to rage at how much is left for him to accomplish and how little time he has left. Bastion would no doubt use Beadman’s silver for frivolous ends, but Argenti could use it to topple his enemies, to be the savior the Ssaelit need.

Argenti blackmails Syn. Every lead she has on the silver in exchange for her life. Misleading Bastion on any new findings in exchange for not torturing her in the town square. He could call the Lions down on her at any time. He could make it impossible for her to survive in Alderode, which was already a tall order. There’s no choice but to accept.

But Argenti doesn’t miss the way Syn looks at him. The appreciative interest, which only grows sharper as he bests her. It disgusts him, at first. Shartes are filthy creatures, and women who can lethally cast and stab others are worse than shameful. But Syn looks fetching as a Jet. She is young and supple and near hanging on his every word with fascinated intent. Argenti craves regard, craves relevance, craves the due respect he deserves. So what if his wife defiles their marriage and spreads her legs for a parade of men? He takes a Sharte murderess to his bed even once, and it proves what he’s known all along, that his whore wife is worth less than salt air and sea brine.

After all, there’s nothing more alluring than the forbidden.

———

Delethil and Cobalt, oh boy.

Two men approaching their immortal lives very differently. Aside from the use of tools and thralls, Cobalt works alone, without camaraderie or confidant. He's seeking to end the world and enjoy himself thoroughly along the way.

Delethil, meanwhile, forges relationships with enough of his fellow wood elves that last decades, commiserating often with them over a bottle of ale. He has to, to get this revolution to truly work. Even if his men only know him on the surface level, he's learned much of their private lives. He knows what drives them and what will motivate them to act when the time comes. Throughout it all, he still has Eravin.

Cobalt has seen would-be revolutionaries before. He's seen idealists before. He's seen endless self-serving politicians. But it's kind of funny, to see all of those traits tangled up inside a fellow smirking, conniving immortal. He knows the bargain the Minister of Engineering extended to the moon elves (after all, it was his idea) and is delighted when Delethil secures the weapons for his side instead. Cobalt wanted to distract Aeranth with oppression, with keeping a tight grip on itself. Now, he gets a potential civil war and an untested new government? My, my, you shouldn't have~

The vampire lord was already going to interfere. Delethil's takeover shouldn't be too easy (and it won't matter in the end, anyway). But Cobalt is impressed, learning Delethil manipulated a member of his favorite adventuring party to see it done. The rose-haired elf can't quite disguise the turmoil of her thoughts, how much Delethil's lies have shaken her faith in him and broken her heart, how worried she is for her home. Cobalt still sends Zaresh to assassinate the remaining Circle members, but he starts making thralls of Del's people, too. A web of betrayal to make Delethil increasingly paranoid and unable to trust those he thought he could.

Of course, Cobalt appears in Lunhaven to congratulate Delethil for his success. He's a man who enjoys seeing what his investment has secured, after all, and he respects the appetites of a hungry man. Del wasn't born yesterday, however; he knows a snake when he sees one and Cobalt doesn't do much to hide what he is. Fortunately, Cobalt makes the right play to put a chink in Del's armor. He mentions how Riven took the truth behind the trade for Aya's Touch.

And Del's expression turns starved. Because he knows from her letter how she reacted and has heard nothing since. She hasn't come home. She's seemed to have forgotten him entirely. And it pisses him off. He's plagued with thoughts about Riven and Eravin conspiring against him. He wants to see her. He wants all of this to work the way it was supposed to.

So, wondering if he can drive Del mad with it, Cobalt offers a temporary panacea: all the memories and insights he has on that cheeky rosé elf. All Delethil has to do to see what Cobalt has is to let Cobalt drink from him.

And let me tell you, that's the only way outside of a fight that a lvl 6 Delethil willingly allows a ??? lvl vampire lord to bite him.

Also something something Circle members start being murdered something something one of Del's own tries to assassinate him something something Del pushes Eravin away despite how worried the latter is because Del's suspicion is growing worse by the day something something Cobalt offering the only reprieve Del wants with visions of Riven that are increasingly fabricated

———

Unless I can come up with some plausible AU that is pre-Treasure Island, then we're assuming that all that happened, plus Mel being delivered back to her father, plus the wedding that Silver crashed, stealing the bride-to-be.

For a time, Mel is content sailing with Silver aboard his ship. Silver doesn't give her the position of first mate, and she doesn't ask for it. She learns the difference between manning a ship like a navy sailor and manning it as a pirate, much of it a difference of social etiquette.

But eventually, despite all she learns about sailing and herself at his side, despite their mutual attraction, it's not enough. Mel's ambition is to be her own captain, commanding her own crew, sailing where she wishes at the whim of no one else. One day, they dock at the Republic of Pirates, and she never comes back.

Silver waits, but only as a courtesy before setting sail without her. It cuts, but he knows her restless heart, knows she won't truly be satisfied until she tests her ambitions, and even then, satisfaction will be fleeting. In that way, they are far too similar.

It's in her absence that Silver meets Izzy, that he actively seduces him away from Blackbeard to serve as his first mate. It's a hard-won fight because Izzy is so singularly loyal. Silver basks in the victory, as confident in it as he is that Izzy's newfound loyalty in him is genuine. Amazing, what genuine praise can do for a man. A shame it hadn't been enough to keep Mel; together, the three of them could've been unstoppable.

Izzy, of course, isn't blind to the ambition in Silver. He knows he sails with a shark out of water. But Silver leads his crew with the confidence, discipline, and sense of adventure that had slowly leeched away from Blackbeard's ship. Silver is a man to follow, with a vision that instills belief in the crew and a genuine love for pirating. If he should sell any of them out, well, Izzy can deal with that, so long as he remains invaluable to the wily cook.

So Izzy understandably hates it when Silver commands their ship to interfere with a British man-of-war attacking another pirate vessel, but he follows orders. He doesn't question Silver in front of the crew when they fish a raging, spitting, injured hellcat out of the water, not when they need to make their own escape.

But he does ask, later and point-blank, what they're doing with a navy brat on board the ship if not to ransom her. Is consternated when Silver only laughs and admits he's tried that already and paid for it. Is confused when the woman hops to the schedule of the ship like she's familiar with it and is every inch the biting bastard when she ignores his orders as first mate and only seems to answer to Silver.

Mel, much the same way, is wondering who the hell Izzy is and what he's doing here. How is a man so short getting by with so much authority?

It becomes a game of competency. Who can anticipate Silver's, I mean, the ship's needs the most? Who can complete their tasks better and quicker than the other? Who can garner the most favor with the crew? Who does Silver appreciate more?

Meanwhile, Silver attempts to woo Mel back permanently. She's just lost her ship and her crew. She has nothing left but disgrace. And maybe it's partly a trap. Maybe he's bitter and jealous that she found something seemingly better than what he had offered her and wants to demonstrate how wrong she was. If he found what could tempt Izzy Hands to his side, he could do the same here.

Izzy could bite through a plank when Silver tempts her with co-captainship. This little strumpet isn't his captain, and doesn't get to strut around pretending anymore than she already does. And sure, Mel considers it, but she wisely asks, "And if we should give contradicting orders? Won't the ones Mr. Hand's and the crew follow prove who the real captain is?"

As amused as Silver is by the whole thing, there's clear distrust and tension between Mel and Izzy for a long time. Neither of them appreciates Silver's "bonding" methods with the pair of them. They both dislike yet begrudgingly respect how competent the other is, but Mel often feels disadvantaged compared to Izzy's experience. It's both grating and alluring how commanding he is, so of course, she tests his patience whenever she can. Meanwhile, Izzy is aware that he is a surly ball of piss shaped like a man and Mel might as well be a bloody siren, the way Silver fawns over her. What are they?

It's Silver who learns that Mel's father is the one who obliterated her ship and her crew. Her father, who Mel managed to get right where she wanted yet couldn't find the will to kill him, despite her hatred, despite her anger. All she had was a moment, and she lost it to hesitation, a weakness her father didn't have when he stabbed her. All she can take solace in is what he lost due to Silver's attack. She tells him she hopes he left a mark on her father the way Blackbeard once did, the scar still so prominent it had almost been a deathblow. She hopes she runs into Blackbeard again, to thank him, to perhaps learn something from another pirate legend she admires.

Silver casually asks Izzy later about Blackbeard's encounter with a certain English admiral. "Where the fook did ya hear that?" Izzy says. "Ed was doin' fuck-all belowdeck. That was me."

#this is so much and it's dumb i'm sorry #ship prompts #Big Fat Papa #oc: delethil aismere #A SNACC #john silver #izzy hands

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