Yar Har Fiddlydee
IC date: Spring 11, 1007
OOC date: April 1, 2012
PCs: Lavender, Siyana, Captain Mwai
NPCs: Mayani
GM: None

Lavender gallops at top speed! Jumps onto the boardwalk! Slides with perfect balance along it for quite a while. She kicks off the boardwalk and jumps onto the sand, then gallops down along the line of frozen boats. "Where is it where is it where is it…" Then, anyone behind her sees a sudden spray of sand and a toppling, rolling, flying Lavender as surprise overcomes her normal grace. "IT'S A BOAT!!" she yells, causing surprise and some confusion in anypony nearby. Of course it's a boat. There are boats here, yes.

No duh, Sherclop! Siyana runs after, head tilted to try to keep her stoppered vial from somehow breaking or spilling or something. "Oat! Oat!" she cheers, running in dizzy zig zags after Lavender.

Down at the far end of the line, alongside a rarely-used pier, it's…well, it's not quite the size of the Destiny. But it's a darn sight bigger than a rowboat! The brand new pirate ship looks big enough for a crew of maybe a dozen ponies. The fore and aft of this vessel are pointed upwards in an almost-but-not-quite comical fashion, and it has six cannon ports along each side, open, with said cannons on display! There's a gangplank leading right onto it already, and the whole ship looks to be in excellent repair. Surprisingly enough, there are actually ponies moving around on-deck…but the most surprising thing of all, the thing that makes Lavender's grin and eyes go about three times their normal size…is that it's flying the Jolly Roger.

Siyana gasps around the vial, eyes widening too, and she lifts up to elbow her in the side. "ooooowwwww!!" she gasps, in amazement (not pain). "Zo gool!"

Lavender nods rapidly, eyes still wide, "Is…Is it really mine? Who're all /those/ ponies?" She gets back up and runs along that slippery dock, skids as she reaches the gangplank, then leaps up onto it. The ship itself is completely un-iced, though it is certainly stuck regardless, and looks like it just arrived. Or was just built. Or something. She leaps from the top of the gangplank onto the deck, and shouts "Ahooooy!" The other ponies—actually, a mix of ponies and zebras, looking like young adults and wearing various nautical gear (bandanas, eyepatches) stare at her for a moment…then all break into a cheer: "Ahoy! Captain Lavender! Welcome aboard!"

Siyana scrambles after her, and up the gangplank, to sprawl face first on the deck. Glancing around, she frowns around her vial. "Any'un 'ab a 'addle'ag?" she asks hopefully of the extremely nautical crew.

Lavender stands up proud, then leaps behind the ship's wheel. "Crew! This is your first mate Siyana!" The crew cheers again, and stomps their hooves on the deck to make a terrible, wonderful racket. A parrot sitting on a random box goes "Squawk!". The crew does seem to be lacking saddlebags, but Lavender has some at least. "Eh, in here?"

Siyana nods quickly, shaking her vial as she does, and then finally spits it into Lavender's saddlebags. "Whew! I just wanted to make sure I didn't lose it." She beams, and then blushes. "I get to be a first mate??" she gasps.

Lavender nods rapidly, "Yeah! And I think they're all taking it just fine!" While she talks to Siyana, the other pirate ponies just stand there, moving only slightly, in an awkward kind of idle animation. "Where do you want to go, First Mate Siyana?" She rears up on her hindlegs, and awkwardly grips the wheel. Very awkwardly, since A) she's never done this before and B) it's kinda too big. Oh well, she'll manage. If the ice magically disappears, that is…but stranger things literally just happened, so!

"Um! Let's … let's … Let's go to the griffon kingdom and see if we can…get a flower!" Siyana pipes up, rearing up to just barely be able to fit her hooves over the rail, peeeeeking over.

The littlest pirate captain, /made/ of eagerness, yells "Weigh anchor!" and spins the wheel! It doesn't particularly matter that she forgot about the ropes and gangplank, though. The wheel only gets a little ways before a grinding, crunching sound comes from the rudder, then it judders to a stop and she can't move it anymore. "Uh…I guess there /is/ all that ice."

The other pirates just kind of stand there, except for the nearest one who steps forwards: "Sorry, Cap'n, we can't go anywhere until spring."

The /saddest/ little pirate captain.

Siyana hops happily… and then droops. "Aww… I wonder what dumb pegasus made all this ice?" she huffs. "It's Spring! It's not time for ice!"

Lavender gives a little huff. "Awww… Yeah. We need to go whine at someone and make them fix it…That's just not fair, I'm a pirate for real and I can't even sail!" Siiigh. "Oh I know, let's go see what's belowdecks!" She romps over thataway, tosses open the hatch and leaps down.

Siyana scrambles down from her leaning against the bannister, and clip-clops after Lavender excitedly. "It's so exciting you have your own ship! Do you think my dad will let me quit the Destiny to join your ship?"

Down below…it's still clean! How /weird/. At one end, there's hammocks and stuff but they don't look at all lived in. There's a mess that looks like it's never been used. Along the length of the ship are cannons!!, along with small stacks of cannonballs and a couple barrels of gunpowder. Oh dear. Lavender opens up a barrel and sniffs, then sneezes. "I don't see why not. I mean it's a /real/ pirate ship and everything! Nothing could possibly go wrong." Is that irony? Confidence? Obliviousness?

Siyana beams! "This is so exciting. I'm so happy for you, Lav! You always struck me as very piratey, you know." She rears up to poke the nearest cannon appraisingly. "I think our cannons are a bit heavier duty though…"
Lavender giggles a little bit…then looks up at it consideringly. "I guess I wouldn't know. I don't know much about cannons. But…Dont'cha think this will be enough for merchants? You know, put a couple holes in the side, swing in on ropes and tie them up, take their stuff and drink…uh." She has a sudden flashback. "Drink cider…"

"Yep, it'll work plenty fine! They'll fire just fine but you might gotta repair them sometimes." Siyana shrugs and then cants her head. "Cider? Oh. Cider! Yeah. Did you have the fizzy chocolate at the New Years Celebration?"
Lavender stamps her feet and whines, "Nooo~! I didn't~. Now I'm really sad, who made it?"

Siyana shakes her head. "I dunno! It was getting passed around though, and it was sooooo good! It was like, a fizzy drink, but it was hot cocoa! Well, warm cocoa. And it made me REALLY awake! And— hey do you know how to tie knots with rope?"

Lavender blinks, "Erm, I know a few! Sort of. You know a lot more than I do which is why I'd be really glad if you'd come with me…" Her expression droops a little and she says, silently, just in case any of the 'NPCs' might hear, "I don't really know very much about sailing…"

Somepony walking down the beach might see something a little out of the ordinary today. That thing is another ship, a ship that wasn't there yesterday. Of course, they might not realize that it was out of the ordinary, just looking at it… there's just a little bit of fuzz around the reality of the ship, a vague sense that it belongs. Somepony who thinks about it a little, though, might realize that as a matter of fact this ship is brand new. This smallish ship, sized for a crew of maybe a dozen on a good day, with almost-but-not-quite comically tall bow and stern, doesn't quite belong. And neither does its Jolly Roger flag. Nevertheless, it's stuck in the ice with all the rest of them…the brand-new and pristine gangplank is down, and there are ponies and zebras on deck. No fillies, though.

Siyana, belowdecks with Lavender, shrugs and grins. "Well, looks like you don't gotta know much about sailing, if you have a crew! You just gotta shout orders and … and say batten down the hatches, and … y'know. Captain stuff!"
Siyana adds, "And anyway, practice makes perfect, right?"

Lavender nods rapidly down below, "Yeah! And we've got all these other…weird magic ponies to do all the stuff for us. I bet they know how to swashbuckle, too! We'll get the hang of it, and before long, we'll be pirating chocolate and sugar and…uh, gold! Yes, lots and lots of gold. My whole family will be rich! Yours too!"

Mwai sits on the bank and stares at the Jolly Roger. The thing about the Jolly Roger is that you don't fly it while in port. Of course, the Jolly Roger flying was not the oddest thing about today, which also seemed to feature a solid-frozen saltwater harbor. In Spring, well /north/ of anywhere the sea freezes even in the dead of winter.
Mwai says "Clearly, it's going to be one of those days."

Siyana bounces happily. "Oh yay! Chocolate! And gold! We can buy SO MUCH CANDY! How many bits is a gold?" She pauses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Ya know, for all that gold, we don't got a lotta money, my dad and me. Maybe Cap'n Mwai's not very good at pirating, or something?" She blinks, not quite sure what to think of that.

Lavender frowns a little, "Naw, it's more…there's a lot of them, ya know? A lot of zebras on that ship! So there's only so much loot to go around, I bet. But! On ours, it'll just be… us and the ponies up top! We'll each get a lot more." She scratches her head, "And I don't know how much /exactly/ gold is in bits, but I think they use it in other places that aren't Equestria or Zebrica."

Mwai walks cautiously up the gangplank, trying to size up the crew. "Just who are these ponies?"

Siyana nods thoughtfully… and then freezes. "Oh — horseapples!" she curses, sliiiinking down as she hears her Captain's — her former captain's? — voice. "Ponyfeathers horseknuckles feathermolt! Lavenderrrr! He's gonna find us!" she squeaks.

Lavender looks up and instinctively ducks down a little…then stands up straight again, tall and proud. "So let him find us," she whispers, "it's our ship!" The other ponies and zebras, for their part, just mill around up top, swabbing the deck, tying and untying knots, and saying "Yarrr". The hatch to belowdecks is open though, and yes, fillies can be heard.

Mwai waves a hoof in front of one of the zebras swabbing the deck. "Dear stars, are you actually muttering "yarr"?" The deck hand, who looks exactly like what a child who had never been at sea would imagine a pirate looked like, ignored him. Add that to the two panicked foals belowdecks… "Definitely one of those days."

Siyana bounces a little, though her exuberance is less than usual. "Yeah! Our ship!" She is, after all, still QUITE trained to her very fiber to listen to Captain Mwai. Because, geez, if you don't listen to the captain at sea, you will probably /die/. So. She still shrinks a little, scooooting behind the taller filly. "You go first, Captain Lavender!" she whispers.

Lavender nods a little. It's not like she has NO trepidation, just only a little. So she trots up the steps to the deck in her most carefree possible manner and looks around, seeing Mwai, gaze resting upon him like she doesn't /really/ care. A parrot lands on her shoulder out of nowhere. "Ah! Mwai. How good of you to come to our ship, welcome aboard!"

Siyana slinks after Lavender, just barely peeking over the edge of the stairs at her former? current? captain. Her captains! Both of them! Biiiig blue eyes watch the goings on with immense trepidation, ears flat. She's going to get in /so much trouble/.

Mwai looks around, not especially phased given the overall weirdness level today has already achieved. "Oh! You were, um, Siyana's friend right? The on that got the aft mess fit for only nearly dying of food poisoning in?"

Lavender clears her throat and tries to look quite dignified. It sort of works, a little, except that she's still much shorter than him. "Yes. Yes I am. And I must inform you that I've just recruited her as my own First Mate, onboard the, uhm." She mumbles something as she realizes she hasn't /named/ the /ship/…

Mwai tries VERY hard not to moosh Lavender's cheeks together, tell her she's adorable, and then give her his spare eye patch.

"Jolly Jimmy!" Siyana hisses, citing, of course, sprinkles. "The boat should be called the Jolly Jimmy!" Huge eyes still flick between the two, and she makes nooo move to jump on deck and involve herself.

Lavender coughs a little. "The ship which is not named the Jolly Jimmy, but instead, something much more respectable and fearsome. Anyway. You don't…uh, mind, do you, sir?"

Mwai cocks his head, the confusion taking a *little* of the edge off the adorableness. "And, why would I mind your mysterious acquisition of a mysterious ship filled with mysterious sea-faring types who only say "Arrr"?"

Siyana narrows her eyes at Lavender in a pout. "Jolly Jimmy /is/ fearsome!" she hisses sotto voce. "It's… it's a giant laughing sprinkle! If that's not nightmare fuel, I don't know what is." She even pokes her head up now, for arguing, though she stiffens and ducks back down again.

Lavender looks back at the hatch and huffs a little. "No, we need something scarier, like…the Plunderer, or the Marauder, or the S.S.Davy Pones. But…Um, that's not what I meant. I meant you don't mind if I take…Siyana, do you?"

Mwai trots smartly over to the side of the ship closest to the Destiny, and bellows, "HEY MAYANI! YOUR DAUGHTER'S JOINING THIS SHIP FOR SOME REASON. YOU WANT TO THROW HER A PARTY OR SHOULD WE JUST SKIP RIGHT TO PLUNDERING THEIR GALLEY?"

Siyana squeaks in fear and falls down the stairs with echoing THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMPs, until she hits the bottom. "Wagh!!!" On the nearby ship, Mayani's head pokes up from belowdecks. "…WHAT??"

Lavender shrieks! "Siyana! Siyana! They're going to plunder us! W-we need swords and cannons!" The ship, still comfortably tied up in port and icebound, rocks a little as pirate ponies suddenly scrabble to get cutlasses and to load said cannons on both sides.

Mwai becomes aware that these imaginary pirates are holding pretty capable-looking, if unnecessarily ornate, swords. "I imagine this is going to come down to how Siyana's father reacts to things. He's probably the one you want to talk to."

And sure enough, the muscled, bespectacled zebra is climbing aboard in confusions. "Lavender? Cap'n? What's going on here? Where's Siyana?" The filly in question has splatted herself on the bottom deck, and is a little afraid to move. Sniffle.

Lavender gives an unhappy petulant huff. "This is YOUR fault," she says to Mwai with frustration. When Mayani addresses the two of them though, she /clearly/ assumes that 'Cap'n' refers to herself. What with it being her boat and all. "Your daughter's down belowdecks. She wishes to join my crew, do we have your permission?" Her hooves wobble a little. She's putting on /such/ a brave face with all of this and it is just /barely/ keeping together.

Mwai leans over to Mayani "Word of note, these pirates appear to be entirely too dense to be dealt with in any of the usual ways…"

Mayani blinks once, twice. Three times. "Your ship? This is your ship? Where on /earth/ did you get a ship, Lavender? … You didn't steal it did you?" His concern, of course, stems not exactly from the theft, but from the very likely scenario that it was theft done poorly. Y'know, in port. With no way to escape. Like, when is the real owner going to come back and kick you out, Lav? But he doesn't voice this; instead he bellows: "SIYANA. ABOVE DECK NOW." And to his own captain, he lifts a brow. "Is that so? Do you know whose ship this is, sir?"

And a zebra filly, who wishes she was /very small/ right about now slinks up the steps, wilted and floppy as she makes her way toward her pop. "Yes, Daddy…" she mumbles. "…I mean, sir…"

Lavender trots up to Mayani and wishes she had a proper hat as she looks pointedly up at him. "It's my ship fair and square and I didn't steal it. It was /magic/ because I am a /pirate captain/, and you can tell because I have a ship. And a crew that looks up to me!" The non-player-ponies nod in silent smug agreement.

Mwai sits down and looks Lavender suddenly a bit solemnly in the eye. "Okay then. You will need this." Mwai reaches into his sachel and pulls out a small, dogeared black book. He puts it on the deck and noses it towards Lavendar. "This, is the Pirate's Handbook. They are rules that will keep you from ending up like, well, the Mayor."

(OOC) Mwai: Rules like, "Pillage, THEN burn," which Salty always took as clever irony.

Siyana is just about belly to the ground at this point. Mayani looks down at his spawn, very seriously, and then looks over at Lavender. Then out at the harbor. "You have a week to prove to me that you will be a decent enough captain to keep my little girl safe."

Lavender 's eyes widen at the book. They widen more. They widen MORE, like, there's some aye-aye stuff going on here, which is awesomely appropriate. Then she gingerly slips it into her saddlebag and looks back to her first mate's father. "O-okay…How do I do that exactly, sir?" Whoops, back into filly-mode.

Mwai exchanges knowing looks with Mayani. "Presumably, by not needing us to rescue you."

Mayani nods to Mwai. "You get care of Siyana for the week. Keep her fed and safe. Keep your crew, er…" He eyes them. "Busy, I don't know. And then when the ice thaws, show me you know how to sail." He pauses. "You can, by the way, ask for lessons."

Lavender gives a big grin, "Well of course we w" It becomes a very nervous grin as she remembers that whole incident in the mountains, "on't need rescuing… Aheh… Well, okay." She mumbles under her breath, "I hadn't thought about that part, I hope they don't go into town." Then looking back up again she chews on her lip and looks between Mayani and Mwai, back and forth, back and forth, before settling on Mayani; "I uh…I might need a few lessons even if my /crew/ knows how to sail just fine…"

Mwai looks around at the pirates a little skeptically. "Keep an eye on your crew, Captain Lavendar. They look like the sort that could take things too literally."

Mayani smirks, and pats Lavender. "Well, the first step to being a good captain is admitting when you need help. Hop aboard the Destiny any time and we'll teach you good. In the meantime… I've got chores to do. SIyana?" The filly peeeeeeks up at him. "You be good and don't give your new captain too hard a time." And she squeals! "Okay! Thank you, da— sir! I will!"

Lavender breathes in a deep gasp, though it's functionally the same as a sigh of relief. "Oh Celestia thank you! Eeee, we…we actually pulled it off!" She starts bouncing in a circle around Mwai, then Mayani, then Siyana. The other pirates stare off into the sunset and say "Yarrr."

Mwai turns to Mayani, and somewhere between acceptance and alarm says, "Well, I mean, the world survived Salty, right?"