tushanshu_logs | I still would be your shelter; [closed]

[ Continued from here

It's Anne's place they've been staying in, beyond the first exploration of the suite. Convenience, reassurance, even plain old habit and an unease for the size and unfamiliarity of the rooms have all combined to leave her quarters in cheerful disarray. And it's Anne that answers the door, too, and her hand that rests against Edward's arm to pull him inside, but that's just as much a matter of habit. Supporting him as a friend rather than as her captain.

She'd have handed him a strong drink, but that's one thing they've not gotten around to yet. ]

[Mary looks a sight paler than the consoles would have lead one to believe, but there's a strength to her too, in the way she holds herself as she stands. She's on the mend, all things considered, whatever that 'mend' may be. The local medicines aren't much meant for humans, but it's brought the fever down, and she's eaten and slept some.

But she knows dyin', now, and this ain't it. This place may make as little sense as a sailboat in a storm, but she's never been one to turn down second chances.

Which is why, despite everything, Edward gets pulled into a hug when he comes through the door. He carried her, damn the man, and she's always had more faith in him than even what he had in himself.]

Bloody hell, Kenway.

[It's a curse and a greeting both as she curls her fingers in the fabric of his coat. She's questions enough for him, but they can wait. Right now, she's glad and grateful to see him again, the bastard. It was either this or hit him, and she's not trusting to the strength of her arms much right now.]

[Edward's dazed enough to let himself get pulled into that hug, wrapping his arms around her in turn. He might even be burying his face into her shoulder a little, because damn him, getting to see her again means so much.]

I should be the one to curse you, giving us both a fright like that, Mary. [He sounds a little watery and shaky even as he says it, not that he'll admit it. For so long he'd wondered things might have been like had things gone differently, had he set aside his greed a little earlier and not let Roberts toss him in that damned gibbet. If he'd escaped sooner. If he'd been with them before they were captured...

But blame leads to nowhere, just as it does for Caroline. He's glad to have even this moment with her.]

[ Anne'd thought she'll be fine staying back, but when they embrace and Edward's voice shakes, the emotion coming of the both of them isn't something she can ignore; she laughs light, hands on a shoulders each now to anchor them. They'll go back to that moment otherwise, because she knows them too well to doubt it and because she's done the same each day since waking in that damned pool.

And she rests her forehead over her hand on Edward's sleeve, laughing again to hear their voices together. Damn, she'd said her goodbyes to him, and all. ]

[Not just a fright. She left them both, those she loved best. Death is final, or meant to be, and there's some unsettled feeling in the pit of her gut that she knows she'll have to address some dark day in the future. The dead walking amongst the living. It ain't right, proper or true. But perhaps she can be selfish, for a time. Enjoy it, even.

Something aches in her at Anne's laugh, but she lifts an arm and pulls her in, too, pressing her forehead against the girl's red hair as she keeps Edward drawn close with her other hand.]

Fine sentimentality, from us vagabonds and thieves.

[She's had more practice than Edward has at keeping her emotion in check. Her tone, by contrast, is even. Half playful, a matched set to Anne's bright laughter.]

[Edward shifts -- and he might've surreptitiously wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve, but you saw nothing -- and pulls out of the hug, enough to look Mary in the eye.]

Hey now, I'm moving on from all that. Leastwise I was, before the Emperor brought me here. [He glances to Anne for affirmation, wondering just how much she had divulged to Mary in the space of their two days here. Had she told her everything, or held off mentioning any kind of future that Mary wasn't a part of?]

[ she catches his eye as he straightens up, and her grin lilts instead of the nod that would have dislodged Mary early. She's told some of his story for him, but that's the danger of up and leaving a legacy behind you. Did he really expect Mary to sit idle and patient ~~or Anne to respect the space-time continuum~~ ]

Aye, but it's surely not manners or pleasant company the Emperor wants. Might need to linger a while longer with us vagabonds, Edward.

[ The man could have picked anybody he liked. That he chose them means it's pirates he's needing. ]

[She lets her hands fall away from him, easy enough. Though she keeps close to Anne for a time, darkness drawn to light. Oh, she ain't so poetic as that, mind. Mary's seen darkness aplenty, but she's hardly the thing herself most days. This, now. This is different. Everything's heavier, weighing their triumvirate down like shot tied to their ankles as some cruel hand pitches them overboard.]

Anne has the right of it, I suspect, Edward. Reckon we'll need all our skills before too long.

[She claps a hand to his shoulder with energy conjured up from King and Country knows where.]

You've got your blades, I see.

[A more blatant hint there never was.]

Edited (I tried to /mall that tag, oops.) 2013-12-31 06:26 (UTC)

[Seeing Mary's without her own blades, Edward doesn't need much more of a hint, and unfastens one of his bracers. He knits his eyebrows and looks between them, disgruntled.] And why do you two give a monkey's toss what this or that Emperor wants? I've had enough of being pressganged into the service of crowns and empires.

[Slipping off the hidden blade, he holds it out to Mary to take.]

I've only two blades, so you'll have to cope with the one for a time.

You don't think we're obliged to the man? [ Her answer to that's standing beside him and her disbelieving expression says as much, but she puts off actually saying it. Better things to do, like going over to the table and pulling chairs out as an invitation, and keeping an eye on Mary's overexerting herself. But the blades are a reminder that there's things they'll want to discuss that she's no right to, and after a moment's consideration - area, time, how much of their funds she's used up yet - she weaves around them to get to the door. ]

Sit yourselves down, and I'll get us something stronger to drink than water. [ Door click! And given that it's her apartment, neither of them are going anywhere until she's back. ]

[Damn, she's a perceptive girl. Always has been. Mary nods to her as she leaves, and eases herself into a chair as she straps the blade to her wrist, cinching down the straps to adjust it proper. Edward doesn't keep his equipment in the same shape she does, but tinkering with it will give her something to busy her mind and hands over he next few days. It eases her mind to have it, and she's grateful to him for its use regardless.

She settles her elbows on the table, laces her hands. Then,]

I'm not beholden to the Emperor. Neither are you, nor Anne. Bringin' me back ain't something I'm grateful for.

[It's unnatural. She don't mind living, always liked it plenty and proper, but no one needs the power over life and death, suchlike this implies. She'll fight to keep it now it's hers, same as any prize, but she has misgivings aplenty.]

But neutrality, Edward, has never been my lot in life. I'll not sit idle while the world spins on around me. And I won't ignore a fight if it lands on my stoop.

Edited 2013-12-31 20:45 (UTC)

[Anne, you're a saint. The patron saint of parched sailors. Edward likewise takes a seat, giving Mary's point due consideration.]

And I'd be shocked to hear you say otherwise, Mary. Alls I'm thinking is... that perhaps it's better I wait things out, for a time. Get information and find where others stand. [He sits back, and crosses his arms.] Rushing in on something I knew nothing about and cocking it all up was how that mess with the Observatory began in the first place. I won't do that again.

[And as much as he doesn't like to admit it, he agrees. Mary's returning to life here is unnatural; it goes against God Himself. Edward doubts he'd feel any different if it were Thatch getting prised away from the jaws of the Devil, or Caroline restored to life, God rest her soul. Everyone has an appointed end.]

Suppose Ah Tabai and the other Assassins were here -- what do you think their angle would be? Same as yours, fight the good fight where one's to be found? [He's still the student here when it comes to how the Assassins think and act. But for once, he wants to hear what Mary has to say on the subject, rather than scoffing at it.]

[Wow, did she stumble into some alternate universe twilight zone where Edward Kenway has a scrap more sense than what God gave twittering birds? Mary is silent for a moment, she leans back in her chair and just studies him, keen and speculative, as if seeing him perhaps for the first of all possible times.]

Bloody Hell, Edward. You've done some growing, since I saw you last.

[Is that faint pride in her voice? You bet it is, and her smile is crooked and warm with that same sentiment.]

They'd do the same, aye. Protect those who can't protect themselves. Suffer no loss to liberty. Being here is a loss to it, no matter that they call us free. We aren't meant to be here, and we've no right to remain.

[Getting Edward and Anne back is a priority, definitely, and she is. Not going to think too closely about what that will mean for her down the bowline.]

This place-- does it seem strange to you, Edward? Like the Observatory was a queer thing to behold? Not quite the same, but cousins, morelike.

I needed to do some growing up, like you always warned me. After all what happened at the prison, it... it laid me low for a time. [An understatement, to be sure. But he doesn't need to spell it out for her when he'd been so desperate to get her out of that prison alive. How he'd refused to leave her behind.] I realised I wanted to do right by you. Not disregard your memory by carrying on how I always did, caring for no one and nothing but riches. Even Adé wound up leaving me behind for the Assassins, and that was when I knew things needed changing.

[Edward reaches to take her hand, briefly, and squeezes it in affection.] I still have a long ways to go, and a great deal to learn. But I couldn't have even began on this new path without all that faith you had in me. So I suppose... what I want to say is thank you.

[He pauses, looking down at the table, sheepish but humbled. She was right, years ago he'd sooner throw himself overboard to Davy Jones than to admit she spoke sense all along, but things between them have changed. As to her question...]

This place isn't the same as the Observatory, far from it. But they've both wonders and terrors beyond our knowing, aye. No doubt there are secret things here the Templars would be eager to sink their dirty claws into just the same.

[The Emperor's power over life and death being just one of them. And he can scarce wrap his mind around what they might do with things like magic...]

[Christ, he really has changed. For the better, it seems, and Mary tips her head to one side in acknowledgement of that fact. When he takes her hand, she returns the pressure given. It feels a little like having come to the end of a road only to find another buried beneath overgrowth, and she's glad of it in a way. At least her death meant something, then. Cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless.]

I didn't mean in what it does Edward. But you can't tell me those black palace walls don't hearken back to another time and place.

[At first she'd considered this some Templar plot, but that suspicion's abated some. She'd have heard tell of it by now, some dark whisper, and yet all the avenues she generally plies for information have remained silent and still. It's a point of frustration, to be true, she feels a little like a bird with clipped wings. A petty metaphor, if a poignant one.]

I still would be your shelter; [closed]

[cont.]

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