leticia

Leti says "As the rest of the Circle took off for the eastern camp to rescue any remaining captives, Shai headed back to town to check on her crew, who haven't actually seen her since she left the ship yesterday morning. The walk back to the town is quiet; without the company of the various Really Obvious People, Shai herself garners little attention, though once she reaches the town proper, she gets a few startled glances that indicate people remember her from the company she was keeping. The docks are busy with the loading of the town's produce, and the unloading of various imported goods. Shai's ship is still there, tied up soundly; despite the fact that they have leave, most the crew seems to be on board still, gathered on the deck, or nearby on the docks. Jay is talking to the dock workers' foreman near the ship."

Shai winces inwardly at the glances, but makes her way over to the Water Strider without comment. She flashes grins and waves at her crew as she passes them, making her way over to Jay; when she sees that he's talking to someone, she pauses to listen in before interrupting.

When Shai approaches the ship, there's a certain breath of relief from the crew, who scurry various directions as if they've been busy all along; Jay is apparently making small talk about the long voyage from the West. The foreman - who's probably never been further away from the town than Nexus, seems most impressed.

Shai stifles an amused grin, and heads over to catch Jay's eye and gesture toward the ship. (Specifically, in the approximate direction of her cabin, but mostly toward the ship.)

Jay nods his head to the foreman, and winds up with, "Captain wants me. Gotta go." He turns towards Shai, and walks towards the ship with her.

Shai murmurs to him, once he's in earshot, "We need to talk, I think." She leads the way toward her cabin, asking at a more normal volume, "Everything going well?"

The first mate nods. "Got the cargo unloaded and delivered fine. Been talking around though, and it doesn't look much there's any call for cargoes going back west." He glances sideways at Shai, questioningly, but doesn't say anything else yet.

Shai purses her lips. "Well, there's always heading northward and trying our luck up there. Or spending some time here; Strider's better on the open ocean, but..." She shakes her head, and flashes a reassuring smile. "We'll find something. Always do, mm?" And dodges dockworkers and crewmen till they're back on board, the cabin door shut behind them, when she asks, "Picked up anything else while talking to the locals?"

Jay's voice is incredibly non-committal. "Lots of talk about there being some kind of Exalts in the town. And not the kind the Realm's brain-washers like." He leans against the wall to one side of the door. "What's up, Captain?"

Shai grimaces at the first sentence. "Check." She considers, then sighs, drops onto a chair, and pulls off her headband. The golden ringed-disc on her forehead doesn't gleam with Essence, but is still rather . . . hard to mistake. Especially when Shai says, calmly, "For once, the gossip's right."

Jay whistles quietly, but doesn't look precisely ...surprised - or alarmed. "I dunno about that, Captain. I have to say, you don't much fit the description of a giant golden suit of armor the gossip's most involved with. Or a girl with a tiger, but..." He trails off, watching his boss.

<<OOC>> Jay .oO(I do know a girl with a tiger. Funny thing, she helped the captain fight these tentacle things off.)

<<OOC>> Shai snickers a lot. And ICly fistshakes at Circlemates who don't go in for Subtly Unsubtle. Bah! (^_^)

<<OOC>> Leti says "Come now. You're the normal one. :p This means while everyone's staring at THEM, you can get work done. ;)"

<<OOC>> Shai says "This is true! [laughs]"

<<OOC>> Shai .oO(Eclipse job description: Be The Normal One. Or at least fast-talk everyone into _thinking_ you're the Normal One.)

Shai chuckles quietly. "But you know the girl anyway. And the suit of armor's with us, and so're another pair." She pauses to consider her words, winding the strip of silk around her hands. "...I don't want to put the Strider in danger, and I certainly don't want to put us out of work. But we...were brought together for a _reason_, Jay. I can't leave them till I know what that reason is, and for right now, that reason's _here_." She sighs, "Which makes it a damn sight harder for _us_," making a gesture that seems to encompass the whole ship, "if and _when_ somebody does the math and backtracks me to you. Unless that reason turns all nice and convenient and lets us head back west."

Jay grimaces, but shrugs. "Hey, captain, I figure things'll be okay." He jerks a thumb towards the door. "You know the crew's behind you, right? Will be, too."

Shai's serious expression blossoms into a grin. "I'm glad. And I _hope_ they'll be fine, but no harm in a little contingency planning, mm? Specifically--" --she lifts the silk-wrapped hand to point at Jay-- "--if something _does_ go wrong and you can't get to me in time, consider yourself the Strider's new captain. With a first priority of keeping our people alive, even if that means sailing out of here without me. Clear?"

Jay scowls. "Sure, captain... but if we sail out of here without you, you better be planing on catching back up with us elsewhere."

Shai sobers again. "I'll do what I can. But it might take time, and I don't want you waiting on me when you could be picking up jobs. And staying mobile; I'm overshadowed by our Zenith and Cove, on the rumor mill, but there's still a chance of getting identified, and I'd hate to make it _easy_ for anyone to get to you before me." She drums her fingertips on her thigh, absently. "Speaking of jobs, how long d'you think we have before we _have_ to pick up another cargo?"

Jay shrugs. "Crew's all paid up for the trip and we've got free funds to pay a few weeks more in dock easily. Even after that, I don't think you're likely to lose anyone to the brown-water tubs that frequent this port. We're all real sailors, and I don't think they see too many real ships this far upriver. Docking fees ...I don't know if they'll become a problem." He peers at Shai. "Anyhow, I can't see what good chasing us would do anyone. We're just sailors, you know?"

"Sailors with a 'Deceiver' for a captain," Shai says, lips twisting, and shrugs. "My old captain used to tell us to plan for the worst; made for a happier surprise if the worst didn't hit after all." She laughs. "Anyway. Few weeks? Plan for..." She looks considering. "Oh, plan for one, with the possibility of cutting out faster. Shore leave stands, but try not to have too many people off the ship at any given time, mm? If we're staying a little more than a week and no jobs turn up, we can scout north and south a ways, see if we can keep working in the area; if we're staying a _lot_ more than that... Well, cross that bridge if we get to it." She waves, blinks at the silk still wrapped around her hand, and starts unwinding it to tie her headband back into place. "And if we get lucky and can sail from here, I'll tell the giant suit of armor to be careful on deck, mm?" An amused look.

"So we've been deceived." Jay shrugs, with something close to an attempt at a pious look. "Are we going to be taking them all when we leave, then?" he asks. "I should probably see to getting some more provisions on board."

Shai laughs! "Good boy." And pushes herself to her feet, tying the headband on. "My money's on it, yeah. Ah--it's Cove, her tiger, and three boys. One of 'em's short, white hair, has a cat with him; other's tallish, wears lots of black, carries a chain; third's the one in the armor, not that hard to ID." She snickers -- then sobers again. "Check out our stores, and while you're at it, might not be a bad idea to scout for _other_ places to dock in an emergency. More private than here."

"Know the white haired kid," Jay comments. "He took passage with us upriver. I'll poke around tomorrow, unless you think I need to keep the ship ready to run."

Shai says "That's the one, yeah. And, mm." She considers, then shakes her head. "Doubt a day'll hurt, when the town owes us, though I'm not inclined to gamble on much more than that if we don't have to. Tomorrow's good. I should catch up with the others; if I'm not back tonight, don't worry till the night after, 'kay?"

Jay nods. "Gotcha, captain." He pauses briefly. "What do you want me to tell the crew?"

Shai looks abstracted for a long moment, gazing at her map. "...If they were Dragon-blinded, I wouldn't've taken them on board," she says, finally. "Safer if I could've kept it quiet, but that decision's out of my hands now. Tell them the truth, Jay, and if they've got a problem with it, they can talk to me."

"They won't," Jay says with conviction. "We'll follow you, captain, don't you worry about that." He grins briefly. "None of them stupid, either, Captain, and they've all seen you... doing things."

Shai laughs. "Wouldn't take 'em if they were that either. Still, plausible deniability never hurt anyone, did it? But." She smiles at Jay, sincerely. "I owe you all for your faith in me. Thank you."

Jay looks aside. "Nah, you don't. You make a damn fine captain, no matter what else you are." He straightens up. "Think I can handle things here, then. We'll get some more provisions on and I'll look around for some other places to tie up if needed."

Shai looks pleased. "Good. I'll head out, then, and check back in as soon as I can." She pauses, and adds, "If something comes up, Zahen Buer -- in town -- should be able to find us, or at least have a clue about where we are. One way or another."

As Shai leaves the ship, Jay begins drifting around to speak quietly with the crew - gathered curiously outside the cabin door.