(Sorry, guys, I've been little busy lately - I had work all day today, and it was finals week last week. I will update in the morning. Thank you for your patience!)
Natalia squinted over the edge of the ship. "We're going to try to flee the ships," she called. "Normally, I would appreciate the chance to attack, but our enemy is unknown, and there are more of them than there are of us." Jack groaned inwardly, but he saluted Natalia, and with a 'Yes, Cap'n!', he went below deck. "Sorry, Avice," he said, "Looks like we won't be attacking, but fleeing. That doesn't mean we'll not use the cannons, though." (WAKE UP, WE'RE BACK! HOPEFULLY! @Starlight Speedster , @AzureBlitz (?) @Proxy @Stuffy McPatch)
Jared was down in the kitchen preparing some potatoes. "Are you sure about that captain?" He said to himself.
Avice frowned a bit, and padded over to her beloved weaponry. "But the cannons..." she said, mostly joking.
"She seemed a little distracted," Jack admitted. "But maybe we'll be using the cannons as a type of warning shot." He gave Avice a sly smile. "If they get too close for comfort, perhaps?" (lol. Avice x Cannons 5ever)
Avice shot him a mischievous and somewhat admiring smile before glancing at the cannons. "Sounds like a plan."
Cobiah wiped some sweat off his brow and sighed. "Can do, sir." He replied dryly, swabbing the inside of the cannon's barrel.
(I'm going to let @Proxy handle the ships reaction, and Cobiah's communication with said ships. He can decide if they attack, or disappear.) "Preparing to launch the cannons, Cap'n!" Jack called up to Natalia. Natalia looked grimly across the water to the nearby ships. The sails were being released, and she frowned. That flag seemed so familiar, but she couldn't seem to identify it, every time she thought she got it, it flew away from her. "Hold on, Jack!" she called. "We want this shot to delay them, not just scare them!"
Avice scrambled around for the box of matches. Once she found them, she simply held them, waiting for the word. "I wonder why they're following us..."
Cobiah quickly scrambled to the stern of the ship, and opened a window on the lower viewing deck. He used the lense of his telescope to signal the ships. Two flashes. They signalled back, and lowered their sails, disengaging pursuit. Cobiah sighed in relief, assuring his cover was my blown, and bellowed up to the top decks. "They appear to be slowing down! They might have realized who we are!"
Natalia frowned. "That's suspicious," she muttered. She weighed the options in her head. 1. Pursue. Find out who the flag stands for. Possibly get captured. 2. Attack. Probably get beaten. Get captured. Might not find out who the ships belong to. 3. Flee. Don't get answers, but get safe. She sighed in frustration. She was curious, but the safety of the crew was the most important part of the journey. Besides, there was a treasure waiting for them. "Pick up the speed!" Natalia swung up onto the sails. "We need to lose them before they change their minds!" She felt cowardly, and it stung the inside of her belly like a physical pain, but they couldn't afford to be reckless on their ship. It was all they had.
Cobiah walked into the crew's quarters uttering swears under his breath. He had to stop the pursuit, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.
Avice made her way to the main deck, leaning slightly overboard to see. She sighed, somewhat disappointed that they couldn't fight. "That's a shame."
Jack patted Avice on the back jovially. "Don't despair, my cannon-obsessed friend," he said, peeking above deck. "Their time will come." The ship was now making decent headway from the two ships. It cut through the water as smoothly as ever, and while Natalia was in love with the ship, her admiration was overshadowed by her annoyance. She was frustrated, certainly. Running away put a nasty taste in her mouth. She walked across the wooden deck in four steps, and approached Rhys, a delicate eyebrow lifted critically. "Do you recognize that flag?" she asked. "Is it from Norlure?" Natalia had studied flags intensively in her time as a pirate. She felt ashamed, in a way. She was almost certain that Norlure's flag had a beaver on it, and it was decorated with blue and grey, but she was hesitating. This feeling did not sit well with her. She racked her brain to remember the flag that the ship displayed; she knew her head contained the information, but it was being stingy, and if she could, Natalia would have glared at it. Rhys shook his head thoughtfully, rubbing the stubble on his chin. "No," he said, frowning. "Norlure's flag has a beaver." Natalia nodded to herself, satisfied momentarily. It didn't last long, however, and she sighed. She turned and addressed her crew. "Attention, everyone!" Natalia called. "If anyone has any identification on that flag, speak up now. We know the ship doesn't belong to Norlure, or the Corps."
"Cannon obsessed? I wouldn't say that... maybe cannon enthusiast." Avice chuckled lightly. Although the fact that the ships had began to retreat has brought her hopes down, she couldn't stay that way for long and returned to her humorous self.
Jared heard Cobiah go by. He put the potatoes to boil and looked outside the door. "What's gotten you down? Unhappy that we're not being chased?"
"No. Those ships didn't look to be a life endangering threat to us, I'm more disappointed that we didn't learn their origins." Cobiah said curtly. "If we had found out where they sailed from, we could have went to whoever sent them and teach them a lesson."
Natalia pursed her lips, and sighed when no response came. "Fine," she said, brushing her hands of imaginary dirt. She put her hands on her hips, and touched her fingers to her thumb in various patterns, as if placing fingers on a violin. She cleared her throat, and addressed the crew. "Continue as normal then." She turned on her heel, and returned to her quarters. The door closed behind her, and she bit her lip in anger as she leaned against the door. That flag was distinct, one she had seen before. Where? Where?! She straightened up, and crossed the room in two steps, approaching a bookshelf. She pulled out a thick notebook, and skimmed it, her eyes darting across pages that were plagued with her own writing. Flags.. flags.. flags.. She closed the journal in frustration and threw it on the floor, and grabbed the next one. Surely, the flag was in here somewhere. Her notes were created meticulously, with drawings, and profiles. She paused on Jade's profile. Name: Jade Eloquence Age of Joining Crew: 16 Day of Birth: October 27th Weapon of Choice: Rapier Hometown: Terlo Background: Runaway Negligent Parents Bilingual Natalia frowned, and flipped the page. Cobiah.. Jared... Avice... Jack.. She passed familiar names, and closed the book again. Nothing. * * * Ellia swung down from the crow's nest, her thin frame slipping down the ropes with practiced ease. She hugged herself against the chilly air, and gazed at the setting sun. With a frown, she sat on the edge of the ship, her legs swinging over the sea. This ship was not her home, no matter how long she stayed. Her memories flashed behind her eyes. Grubby hands, sticky cheeks, delighted giggles. She closed her eyes against the spray of the water, and her shoulders relaxed. A small bump from behind caused her to yelp, and only her quick reflexes kept her from falling into the water below. She turned with a stubbornly annoyed expression on her face, and saw a bearded man, rolling a barrel across the deck. She wasn't sure about the sailor; she only knew that he had been here longer than she had. She hadn't talked to him much; the occasional 'excuse me,' or 'thank you'. Natalia referred to him as Mr. Elliott, and as Ellia frowned at his back, he turned to her and chuckled from his throat, the noise sounding lighter than she had expected. "Careful, there, girlie," he said. "Don't lean too far off the edge, now." He turned back to his work, and continued rolling the barrel to storage, leaving Ellia in his wake.
"You know. Don't you." Jared said, surely. "You know who they were." Jared's lip curled into a small smile on one side of his mouth.
