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rainbowfic2012-05-29 12:12 am
shadowsong26) wrote in rainbowfic2012-05-29 12:12 am
Bone Black #12, TARDIS Blue #4, Scarlet #5
Story: The Artwick Captain
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Bone Black #12. Memorial, TARDIS Blue #4. Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left., Scarlet #5. Perhaps - I want the old days back again and they'll never come back, and I am haunted by the memory of them and of the world falling about my ears.
Supplies and Materials: brush (accoutrement), feathers, fabric, modeling clay
Word Count: 552
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Taz Hantree, Kit Artwick
Warnings: Character death
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. I really really wish this wasn't canon, but it is.
She shouldn't have been doing this.
She certainly didn't want to--but someone had to, and no one else was likely to.
The Artwick Captain had answered her message immediately, agreeing to meet. He'd done some slave-runs, too, (though in his second ship, since his primary was a Great Lady and couldn't fit on the rivers), but she'd never actually met him, and Mel had never said much about him.
Not even why he'd run away.
So, when she reached the tavern in Asendar, she wasn't quite sure what to expect. She had a rough description--the man she was looking for was taller than his brother, with long hair he wore in several braids, currently one of the higher-ranking Artwick Captains, likely to become the next Clan Head. He'd have all the badges and accoutrements and weapons a man of his rank demanded--especially in one of the more formal Clans like Artwick. He'd carry himself with grace, pride, and--judging by the reputation he had among some other captains, particularly from Clan Lefret--a certain amount of violence.
She found a man who fit those rough details at a corner table, going over a map. "Captain Kit Artwick?"
He looked up. "You must be Captain Taz Hantree, then."
She nodded. "Yeah. I can sit?"
"Sure." He watched her as she did. "What were you wantin' to talk to me about, then? You weren't exactly clear in your letter."
"This kinda thing ain't for letters." She spread her hands on the table unconsciously--a universal gesture for 'I-mean-no-harm' that had gotten her out of all manner of sticky messes over her years with the Glory. No telling how the Artwick Captain would react, best to do everything she could to make sure he didn't go into shoot-the-messenger mode.
"Yeah?" He silently offered her a shot from his liquor bottle, and she shook his head.
She searched for a place to start for a few seconds, then sighed. "Y'know I worked with your brother, durin' the War?"
The Artwick Captain's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Guess he told you why he left me? That why you're here?"
She blinked. That wasn't the reaction she'd been expecting. "No. Never a word about it." Other'n you crossed a line somewhere, but he wouldn't say what. "Don't s'pose you'd mind sharin'?"
He laughed, a little ugly laugh. "Hell if I know. Never left no note or nothin'."
She bowed her head. "Right. Sorry. Must be a...bad memory."
"You could say that."
She took a deep breath. Now or never. "It's on account of Mel I came here."
"Yeah? He want somethin' from me?"
"He's dead."
The Artwick Captain said nothing.
She quietly went on. "He died. Just before the end of the War. You're his only close kin, and no one else wanted to tell you--'cept Isshiri, but I told him it'd prob'ly be better comin' from a Captain than a total stranger. He didn't leave anythin' I know of, but..."
The Artwick Captain stood up and walked past her. She closed her eyes, listening to the faint clinking of his money and jewelry and weapons as he disappeared into the smoky bar, then quietly rose and made her own way out.
Gods willing, she'd never have to do anything quite that horrible again.
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Bone Black #12. Memorial, TARDIS Blue #4. Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left., Scarlet #5. Perhaps - I want the old days back again and they'll never come back, and I am haunted by the memory of them and of the world falling about my ears.
Supplies and Materials: brush (accoutrement), feathers, fabric, modeling clay
Word Count: 552
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Taz Hantree, Kit Artwick
Warnings: Character death
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. I really really wish this wasn't canon, but it is.
She shouldn't have been doing this.
She certainly didn't want to--but someone had to, and no one else was likely to.
The Artwick Captain had answered her message immediately, agreeing to meet. He'd done some slave-runs, too, (though in his second ship, since his primary was a Great Lady and couldn't fit on the rivers), but she'd never actually met him, and Mel had never said much about him.
Not even why he'd run away.
So, when she reached the tavern in Asendar, she wasn't quite sure what to expect. She had a rough description--the man she was looking for was taller than his brother, with long hair he wore in several braids, currently one of the higher-ranking Artwick Captains, likely to become the next Clan Head. He'd have all the badges and accoutrements and weapons a man of his rank demanded--especially in one of the more formal Clans like Artwick. He'd carry himself with grace, pride, and--judging by the reputation he had among some other captains, particularly from Clan Lefret--a certain amount of violence.
She found a man who fit those rough details at a corner table, going over a map. "Captain Kit Artwick?"
He looked up. "You must be Captain Taz Hantree, then."
She nodded. "Yeah. I can sit?"
"Sure." He watched her as she did. "What were you wantin' to talk to me about, then? You weren't exactly clear in your letter."
"This kinda thing ain't for letters." She spread her hands on the table unconsciously--a universal gesture for 'I-mean-no-harm' that had gotten her out of all manner of sticky messes over her years with the Glory. No telling how the Artwick Captain would react, best to do everything she could to make sure he didn't go into shoot-the-messenger mode.
"Yeah?" He silently offered her a shot from his liquor bottle, and she shook his head.
She searched for a place to start for a few seconds, then sighed. "Y'know I worked with your brother, durin' the War?"
The Artwick Captain's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Guess he told you why he left me? That why you're here?"
She blinked. That wasn't the reaction she'd been expecting. "No. Never a word about it." Other'n you crossed a line somewhere, but he wouldn't say what. "Don't s'pose you'd mind sharin'?"
He laughed, a little ugly laugh. "Hell if I know. Never left no note or nothin'."
She bowed her head. "Right. Sorry. Must be a...bad memory."
"You could say that."
She took a deep breath. Now or never. "It's on account of Mel I came here."
"Yeah? He want somethin' from me?"
"He's dead."
The Artwick Captain said nothing.
She quietly went on. "He died. Just before the end of the War. You're his only close kin, and no one else wanted to tell you--'cept Isshiri, but I told him it'd prob'ly be better comin' from a Captain than a total stranger. He didn't leave anythin' I know of, but..."
The Artwick Captain stood up and walked past her. She closed her eyes, listening to the faint clinking of his money and jewelry and weapons as he disappeared into the smoky bar, then quietly rose and made her own way out.
Gods willing, she'd never have to do anything quite that horrible again.
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(and Kit, do not kill folk. God. Grow up.)
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(Kit will never stop killing folk until someone stops him, sadly :< The world is not a happy place with him as Lord of the Islands in a decade or so.)
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Yeah, Taz is very lucky to have gotten out the way she did.
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On another note, love how you've written in the accent--it's practically audible.
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Especially about the dialect note. I try really hard at that, and it's nice to know when it works. ^_^
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No, no it wasn't.
He probably does go out and kill someone, though. :/