With the Anna Bella docked for a night, the crew excitedly exited for port, I too make my way down the plank to land. We have had a long few months at sea, but they were lucrative. Not every trip is as lucrative, but that's a pirate's life for you, it's all a roll of the dice. I know we will be gone by morning, but I find myself to be a bit giddy.
The prospect of spending some of our new coin, and maybe a few drinks in my favorite port is a happy one. I can hear the familiar wooden clank of my heeled boots turn to a soft crunch as they hit the sand scattered streets of the beautiful seaside town on the largest of the Pearl Islands.
I look up as I walk under the old wooden sign welcoming me back to Port Ahitia, and I smile. With a sigh at my own foolish happiness, I walk towards the Tavern. I don't know why I like this town so much, my favorite place to be is on the Anna Bella at sea. This is really the only port that I enjoy coming into.
It may be because here I can drop my walls, and enjoy myself. As a half-orc that isn't easy to come by. My emerald green skin, and dark eyes put people off. When I was young, I was so bothered by what other people thought I filed down my tusks. They grew back eventually, but when they did I found it hard to talk, so now I keep them short and sharp.
I walk through town, and people smile at me, and are decent to my crew, I am guessing that has a lot to do with it. Soon, I approach the Tavern. It is old, and like most other buildings on the seashore, water worn. The wood smells vaguely of the salt water that is carried inland on the breeze.
Something is different this time though. The building looks the same, the green shutters, and the sign made from reclaimed wood off of ships, welcoming passers by to the Swaying Sandy. It sounded the same. The same band plays it's same songs, but something was different. Something wasn't the same.
I grab the handle of the door, which is the old cut off knob from a ship's cannon, and walk inside. As I take off my red captains hat, and let my black curls bounce, I walk into the tavern. I smile at those locals that greet me, and try to keep an eye out for what has changed.
I go over to my usual corner table by the hearth, and hang my hat on my hook. The fire feels good, and my table a pleasant sight. I let my long red studded jacket hang over the back of the chair next to mine. I sit in my seat, and the band's fiddle player starts to play my favorite tune. Soon the whole band is playing my song. I tap my foot along, and look towards the bar. I need to get Neomi's attention so I can get my first round of many started.
I look around, and instead of Neomi behind the bar I find a strange man's backside. A fine backside to be sure, but not the one I am looking for. The man reaches for a bottle on the top shelf, his rear flexes in his black worn pants, and I forget entirely why I am even sitting here. I would love to just walk right up to him, and get a handful of that tight posterior! He turns around to give me a perfect view of the front, and those pants leave nothing to the imagination. His mast is long, thick, and prominent.
I follow the line of his tight body up, until I reach the opening of his white shirt. Shock over takes me as his chest is green, like mine. I flash quick to his face, and find a half-orc like myself staring back at me. He too is missing his tusks, I wonder why for a moment. Only a moment, as I regain my composure.
I raise my hand as if we both don't know I am staring. "Rum here if you don't mind." Back straight as an arrow, as the man jumps at the sound of my voice.
His face is handsome, and his eyes are so blue. Like the sea itself following a storm. Those eyes could sink a thousand ships if they had a mind. His face is so well defined. Every muscle is on the top, and every thought he has moves them. He turns away, and breaks my gaze.
Slightly embarrassed, I look back at the fire next to me. As if the answer I seek to those cool eyes, was in the flames of the fire.
A moment later a cup is set down in front of me, and I instinctively toss a few coin on the table. A deep, husky, sexy voice replies.
"It's on the house." I look up, and see the man from behind the bar. He brought me my drink.
"Why?" I ask while looking at the rum in front of me.
"First time captains get a free round on me." He replies to me as if I was new to this.
I immediately take offense. "I am not a first time captain!" I bring my legs up, and cross the left over the right with flourish, landing them on the seat across from me. "I have been captain of my ship for longer than you have been a barback!"
He looks over at my boots peaking over the edge of the table, and lets a half smile slip. "I meant, first time at my place sweetheart, I wasn't questioning your abilities."
I am a little taken aback by my mistake, and by his nickname for me, but mostly the fact that he called this his place. I quickly stand, and am toe to toe with him. My heeled boots meant I could look him square in the eye, and I made my eyes as cold as I could.
"Firstly, I am no one's sweetheart. Secondly, no one can question my abilities. I am the ocean. Thirdly, last I checked this Tavern was owned by Neomi, not some landlubber fresh off the tenement." Shoulders back, and acid in every word that I spoke. I need this man to know that I am no mere woman on the sea, I am the captain of it!
He leans in close to me, and his voice gets deeper. "If I knew your name I would have used it, and as I am a lover of the ocean, I'm very glad you choose my place." He winks, and looks at my lips as he speaks, licking his own. "Lastly, I bought the Sway from Neomi a few months ago, so it is in fact my place, Captain."
We are so close that I can smell him. Unlike most he smells clean, but not only clean, he smells of oak planks. Everything about this man is sexy as hell.
I realize the room is silent, and that we have become the evening entertainment. "Well, congrats be to you then. I will find myself a new place to tie one on." I start to turn to get my things, when he puts his hand on the table, and leans into my ear.
"You don't have to do that. How about I trade you the drink for something, so it won't be free?" His voice is thick with sex. It had been so long since a man's hot breath was so close to my neck.
"A trade? For what?" Showing no signs of anticipation, but wanting so much for him to hand me a room key. Could I let down my walls enough to let someone in even for a night?
Turning his head slightly, and gently breathing on the lobe of my ear, causing a slight shiver up my abdomen, he intimately breaths two words. "Your name."
Thordash didn't know what had come over him, but the second this sexy half-orc walked into his tavern, he knew he had to have her. Now standing here, he knew if he didn't do something she was going to leave his tavern, and his life. He at least needed to know her name, and now that he had gotten away with being this close to her he wasn't going to back off.
She had one hand across her body on her cutlass, and he knew that any moment he could get stabbed. This could be the end of his life, but this was the most amazing woman he had ever seen. She smiled warmly at the locals, and the way her curls fell around her face when she took off her coat was mesmerizing. Thor knows he felt her shiver when he blew on her ear, and he wasn't dead yet.
I lean in to press my lips against her neck. I am so close, but she turns to face me once more. I put on my most charming smile. 'Please, beautiful Captain give me your name, and I can die a happy man.' He thinks to himself.
"Rasisha. Captain Rasisha of The Anna Bella." She stands with her back straight, and that makes her perfect breasts stare at him. His mouth goes dry. "And your name is?"
I can't even talk for a minute. My mouth is a wasteland. A quick swallow. "Thordash." I smile at her.
