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"To all that can read this, Draco of ‘The Vicious Disgrace’ be'hireing crew!” [Open for all pirates]


Dusty

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‘For most they have looked back, pondered what they have done and try to explain some worth in it. They did it for some just aim, some just hope. Just. Yet I never did. I wanted anarchy. No flags, no governments. Be it one based on blood or some voting. Well I have lived this life for about a year and a half it was nothing short of eye opening. Yes I’d have joy and loss before and during this time. But when I looked at his ship, my crew, I felt something more. It was not just a ship. Not just some crew. This was home and they are family. All had a voice, all had a say. This freedom they all took with me and love it. Nothing may judge them but there own souls and much to a cold chuckle, many of them found that soul very dark. When one strips away the fears of government laws and punishments even the most timid of souls may uncover new found joy. Be it rum, gold, wenches or the lust of battle. Well I was never timid I found my own soule very willing to go places I’d never dream of without even a hint of regret or pity. 

 

Like Rose told me, I found freedom and did not regret what I am becoming. What shame can I put on myself when it all felt so good? Decks full of gold, family singing and cheering with rum and mares aplenty! If this life was one of sin and darkness than I have no wish nor ragrets for the other side-’ “Ahoy cap'n! Got th' notes o'hirin' put out'n done, by all th'bars. Even got some callers t'poke heads in'n let it be known ye be hirin'.” Draco shifted the ink quill between his clawed fingers as he looked down at the unfinished page of his book. A biography on his life. With luck he’d live to add many more chapters. Leaving the pages open to dry he put his quill away and got up from his desk. Well he did not sleep in the captain's quarters it was his room to think, read and store maps, books and more. And of course it was open to all his crew. For many of them that can’t read he’s taken to having times of book reading for them. It really did help the crew all bound with one’a other. 

 

Looking over at one such mate he nodded his head. “Good work, with luck it will not take too long for some to make way. The day is yet young and I have not visited one establishment of drinking yet!” He says laughing. “Do give whatever comes here a good welcome. We have room for plenty more and I do not think we’d be so lucky as to staff up 30 souls before the sun falls.” Making his way to the door he gave his crewmate a slap on the back. “Now get going, we are at the ports of ports for are kin. Go get em tiger!” The pegasus nodded his head, a younger pony he picked up not to long ago from a ship he boraded. A fine lad, he’s taken to the crew and life well. “Aye cappten! thank ye!” Watching the young soul rush off to get in to some good troubles Draco followed him out to the ships deck. He’d be here all day, as the notes and callers all told, he was hiring for one day only. Well he loved Puerto Aguila, she was the port cities to end all port cirts for his walk of life, she was one giant sinkhole for gold. So it was best to keep trips short and he was already here a week. Stay a week longer and he’d be out of gold. 

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“Skellige winds a’wild, a’wild, skellige winds a’wild! Borne through the storms on the weather to weave, waves a’roaring, kindred of the sea!” A voice more belted out than sung, and poorly at that. Probably due to the bottle she kept swinging around in her magic as she made her way back towards her home. 

 

Seabreezer was clearly drunk, barely staying upright as she swayed and sauntered down the road. Nobody dared get in her way, probably due to the combination of the large weapon strapped to her back and her generally large size. Thankfully, by the time she made it back to the ship, she was sober enough not to fall off the gangplank. 

 

Either way, she smiled as she caught sight of her captain, sauntering over to clap him on the back, though a bit harder than she intended.

 

“Excited for the new crew, Joka? Know I am.” She said, slipping into her other language briefly. If there was one thing her parents really instilled in her was making her hybridization more than skin-deep. Chuckling to herself, she took another swig from the bottle and gave a satisfied sigh. 

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By the time Seabreezer reached the captain Draco was leaning on the rails looking out over the busy docks. A free port like this for all its risk drew many far and wide. Even merchants came this far out to sell goods they can’t at other places. As such the city grew and grew, only to be washed away come the next storm. It came and went like the seasons and he found that rather charming. Looking over at Seabreezer he snorted at a hoof hit his back and repaid it by snapping open a wing in to her face with some force as well. 

 

Well she recovered from a face full of wing he looked back at the docks. “We need some more skilled crew, we got plenty of hard working hooves and claws but I need some brains.” He remarked. “I can only hope I can get some. If all fails I will just have to put in a request with the Diamond Dog merchants and I'd rather not take that path. Maybe we need too try some luck on a more well off merchant ships and see if we can press gang one of their more highly educated crew to join us.” He explained strecheing out like a cat with a yawn, not at all put off or bothered by the acts he was explaining or thinking of. 

 

“Now I hope you got me something to drink, you have been eating up my bank partying well I have been doing paperwork and buying goods. You will be happy to know the hardtack I got does not have weevils in it! So best enjoy it before they do.” He chuckles looking at the half zebra. “Added flavor if you ask me.”

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Seabreezer took the wing to the face in stride, only taking a moment to spit out a feather. She’d been hit by worse, after all, she could take a wing. She sighed slightly at his words, however true they were. They really did need more people to fill in the more advanced positions, they had enough general crew. 

 

“Yeah, we could use more. Hard being the only two really in charge. Rather pick em up here, usually seem to be better if they want to be aboard.” She shrugged, leaning against the railing too as she took another swig. When he started up again, she froze for a second before starting to look herself over. By the time he finished talking, she had managed to find the extra bottle she brought with her, and she handed it over to him. 

 

“Kweli? Well, it’s working out for me so far. And hey, I may as well make use of it while it’s available. Besides, I only started after running out of my pesa.” She chuckled a bit, looking over at him with a wink. 

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  • 5 months later...

Draco took the bottle in his talons. Taping their tips on the glass before ripping the top off and taking a few hearty chugs with a blissful sigh as he leans on the side rails of his ship. “Worst comes we can keep this ship going strong by are lonesome.” He says with a chuckle. “Between the two of us we have the skills of more than half a crew. But I shall hold on too the hope we don’t need to. I’d rather like to have the freedom to get at least a nap in.” With more swig of booze he pushed away from the railing and walked along the deck of his ship. “Come next morning I want us out and hunting, we need to keep the gold flowing and with my stock drying up it must be fixed. I have on good word some merchant ships heading down south will soon be passing a few days sail from here. They will be full of coins to buy up zebra goods down south. If we can strike good are holds will be happy and full again in no time and we will turn about and dock before the week is over.”

 

He starts laughing and shakes his head. “If we are so lucky. Never was one too trust lady luck so much.”He looks over at the town and leans his head to the side. “Now, I think I earned myself some fun of my own.” Looking down at the bottle he takes it to his beak and chugs down the rest before tossing it overboard. With a smug grin he nudges Seabreezer. “Well let's get at it shall we? Can’t let all my crew have the fun off ship.”

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Coming down the gangplank, Draco would have met an unusual figure coming up towards the ship.  Not that those in Puerto Aguila were in any properly speaking sense normal, but they were a particular kind of abnormal.  Piratical, freebooting, and black marketeering, either dressed in frankly ragged sea-gear or stolen and affected finery, this ragtag bunch formed an aesthetic at once coherent and instantly recognizable.

 

But the kirin currently approaching the Pirate?  She stuck out like a sore hoof.  Dressed in an old, salt-stained Neighponese school uniform, wearing a hat in the style of the delinquents that terrorized the timid teachers of a high school in that eastern land.  Rather than a cutlass, she carried a metal cudgel that was one a baseball bat before it got a few dents.  It was now, thanks to an unknown adhesive, shell encrusted, making it a somewhat more terrifying prospect of being hit by.  But most remarkable were her eyes, burning jade through green scales under a ragged, spiky pink mane.  They weren't the sopped eyes of a drunk, or the flinty eyes of a hardened thief, or the naive gaze of the newbie freebooter.  There was a fire inside, a drive that could lead one to glory... or down in flames.

Currently, they were filled with irritation.  "*Hai, Kaizoku senchō!* " Akairo Hoshi snapped out at Draco.  "You're the wakou who's looking for a crew?"

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“Aye, we have been, so we can keep going.” She nodded, watching the sky while she listened to him continue talking. The mare gave a lazy mock salute at his order/plan, tossing her own bottle nonchalantly before Draco suggested they head out for some more fun. 
 

“Sounds good to me, nahodha.” She smiled, standing fully again and following the stallion off the ship. They really didn’t get far before another mare showed up though. Seabreezer tilted her head, looking over the kirin as she spoke. “Who’s asking, mtoto? Looking for trouble, or looking to join?”

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Draco arched an eyebrow as the mare called out at him. She looked… so out of place. In every single way. What was a kirin doing this far south? And why was she dressed up like… like… oh what did they call them? Magna? Well she looked like the mare you’d see on the cover one one of them weird eastern comics. Even her mane was outlandish! And was that a baseball bat? But he knew the look in her eyes, a fire untamed and a spirit crying out for something just out of reach. They were the eyes of a somepony willing to give everything they had for a dream. Maybe that is why she’s so far from home. 

 

With a roll of his shoulders he pushed Seabreezer to the side, partying shall be put on hold for now it seems… “I’m captain Draco Silvanus and yes I am. We are in need of crew and hopefully some that can read and even better, saw the inside of a school. Tell me dragen-blood why are you here? What leads one of you so far east to this dot of freedom? Normally I don’t much care for where one comes from or why. We are all criminals after all. No innocent soul walks this dock. But you… You are nothing like the lot that calls this free-port home.” He explained walking closer before circling the mare like a shark, his sharp eyes glaring down at her for even the smallest detail. He did not think she was some law pony. That’d be suicide to setp hoof on this port. But one he’s seen many things in his life and one look told him she was hardly normal as well. An outcast like all here but very different. And that made her worth investigating. Let alone the fact she was so brave as to snap at him with such force at the greeting. A brave mare… or was she just foolish? Soon he’d learn what makes her tick.

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"Akairo Hoshi."  The kirin sharply introduced herself to the zebra hybrid.  "And I don't look for trouble, gaijin, I make it for the deserving."  She'd drawn herself up, and little curls of smoke were coming out of her nostrils.  Her mood was clearly not a reconciliatory one today, though that was more due to the kind of day it had been for her so far than her present company.  Hence, why Draco's own pitch caused her to relax a bit, even crack a smile.

 

"Well you're in luck senchō, because you're talking to a certified dropout of the Neighpon Imperial Naval Academy; I'm trained in naval and guerrilla tactics, stellar and instrumental navigation, maritime and island survivalism, personal combat, and political rhetoric."  She smirked.  "As you might expect, the Shogun and I didn't exactly see eye to eye in matters of policy.  He thinks the best use for a fleet of ships is to keep archipelagos of rightfully sovereign nations under exploitative control, and I say he should take them all and shove it.  I came here to recruit for the cause of liberation... turns out there's precious few souls here that can so much as follow an argument, let alone understand the righteousness of a mission." 

She huffed, smoke once again escaping from her muzzle. "And it's not like I wasn't willing to meet their philosophy halfway; I fully agree there's a lot of treasure in the world that ought to be liberated as well as nations.  I've liberated quite a few coins myself, but... I'm kind of out of them right now.  So, uh, you got a place for me?"

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Seabreezer shrugged at the name, though the follow-up brought forth a small chuckle. She liked this girl's fire, and it seemed Draco did too, judging by how he decided to just take over and push her aside a bit. Oh well, there was nothing else to really add at the moment anyways, so she listened to the two speak. She hummed slightly as the mare spoke of why she was here, eventually revealing she was indeed looking to join up, if just for the money. That was as fine a reason as any to join a pirate crew, she supposed, she wasn't gonna complain about that.

 

"Sounds good to me, we could use more crew that know what they're doing in the more advanced departments." She nodded, smiling slightly. "I'd welcome you aboard, but not the captain, so not my call in the end, really." She added with a shrug, glancing over towards Draco. 

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“Academy trained are you?” Draco says with that so famed grin marking his face. He stopped his circling in front of the mare, looking her up and down a few times. “And you tossed it all away on masses that wish not for the liberation you offer. You have the fire that I can see. It glimmers in your eyes for all to see. But as you seemed to have learned that ember shall not set the woods ablaze..” He leans his head to the side and clicks his beak in thinking, not breaking his gaze on her as if passing a judgement. 

 

 

Flicking his ears he broke that hard pressing gaze to look at Seabreezer. “You think so? I don’t know. She may be far too soft for us. She has the fire yes but she sounds so idealistic…” He clicks his beak again and looks back at the kirin. “Why set free nations when all you will see is the replacement of power with another? The head of a king may roll and it shall stop at the hooves of the next tyrant. Don't think I will help you replace one tyrant for another nor shall I let you put my family at risk. You join me and you are part of the family. We rise and fall together as one. Be it riches or staveing. We all suffer as one or celebrate as one. And if you must leave us… Then so be it. I will not stop you. But if you betray me for whatever idealistic fancy you had…” He looks away from her, aiming a claw at a cannon on his ship. “I will tie you to the muzzle of that gun and set a flame to fuse myself.”

 

Looking back at her he holds an open claw out. “So I hope you understand the deal you are making. I shall see your pockets full of coins. But I do not care about whatever mission you believe in and my crew is the same. The only laws at sea are the laws we give ourselves. So… with that clear.” He wiggles his talons. “I think it's fair.”

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Akairo gave Draco a hard look up and down.  About the only thing that could be read in her attitude was consideration, though it had to be said that Draco had a fair few summers of dissipated naivete on her.  Whatever she was weighing in her mind, the chances that it reflected the true gravity of the situation before her were slim at best.  Still, if there was one piece of wisdom the kirin had absorbed during her fewer years, it was 'fake it 'till you make it.'  With undiminished confidence, she stuck out her own hoof.  "Granted, I will accept the offer, with the understanding that you understand that you have brought on board a professional rabble-rouser.  I'm going to spend every spare moment I can trying to get into your head, and will probably end up just getting under your skin."

 

With a bold grin, she fell into step beside Draco, flanking the other side where Seabreezer was not.  True to her word, the political rhetoric was not slow in coming.  "And I must correct your understanding of the nature of my problem.  The masses actually under oppression are grateful enough, but not in a material position to offer more than thanks.  Those already liberated have the means, but ultimately lack the will.  Perhaps it is the nature of piracy; parasites are as dependent upon the system as the cogs.  I will concede your point, though, that one must choose for oneself to live free; otherwise, one is only free in name.  If I exchange a foreign tyrant for a native one in the many islands of the seas, what of it?  I will have at least broken the power that makes those of my homeland complicit in the crimes of its government.  I can only give the rest a fair chance, and if they will accept more than that from me, or less, I shall be there to accept that offer."  She spoke rapidly but clearly, managing to enunciate every syllable.  It seemed that among the unlisted classes she had taken at the academy, speech and debate were among them.

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“Well, it’s a lot easier to unlearn that softness than to learn passion, I feel. A bit of work, and she’d be fitting in just fine.” Seabreezer shrugged, watching as they came to an agreement and the mare joined up with the crew. And of course she immediately jumped into a little speech. 
 

“You wanna get going for that fun? Or should she get the tour beforehand?” The hybrid asked Draco, looking over at her captain. 

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Draco took her hoof in a very strong grip, letting his talons push hard on her skin but not letting them break it. Yet. It was easy for her to feel how easy it may be for him to dig them deep in to her soft skin. But with this unspoken show of force done and a soft shake of the hoof he let's it go, turns about and walks down the docks as if nothing stopped him on his way too get to a bar. “That is very true Sea.” He says, just speaking over the chatter box of a kirin. “She shall be set free or break apart. One or the other is always how it goes. A shame as it is. I hate seeing one of the family breakdown like that. But I’m hopeful about her. With some work she shall see the real freedom just in reach.” He says with a click of his beak, then without missing a beat he snaps a wing open and nails Akairo in the back of the head to shut her up. 

 

“But the real shame is if she tested my patience so soon…” He says, still acting as if she was not there next too him… and he hoped she’d get the hint to shut her muzzle up before he found a way to do it himself. Well he was not one to shy away from debates he was not in the mood to deal with one from some fresh blood. She had to earn that respect first. Then he’d let her have her fun. Until then he had to reinforce some basic command structure in the mare. He let a lot of things go fast and loose on his ship but even they had to follow some structure in the chain of command. “Now about this fun. Before you stopped us Akairo, me and Sea were about to go partake in some much needed drink and fun. I plan on still doing this, I have not gotten to do one spot of that at all yet well my crew had all the fun… So, I shall get at least one evening's worth of it in before I get back to working my flank off.” He explained to the mare as he looked about the shanty city they were walking in to. 

 

Puerto Aguila had no shortage of bars, pubs and other fine pits of sin where one may waste all the gold they have ‘earned’ in drink and pleasures of the flesh. And if you asked Draco it was heaven. There was no government to speak of in this city with no laws in stone. Law was mostly up to the one enforcing it and that was done almost always at the end of a blade. And in all the chaos one can hear music and song as crews sing together in a brand of harmony only found in Puerto Aguila. “let's see…” Draco looks about, leaning his head to the side. “Ohh, smell that? I smell meat!” He chirps before rushing off to one of the countless pubs. This one stands out thanks to signage marking it as being run by six Griffins and having meat for their fellow carnivores.

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"Awp!"  The feathered blow to the back of the head caused Akairo to stumble in her walk, but didn't do much to dampen her desire to talk.  "Was it really that irritating for me to point out that I'm not as naive as you think?  Or do you simply dislike your subordinates correcting your misconceptions?"  One didn't get thrown out of the Imperial Naval Academy for having a subordinate temperament, that was for sure.  To be fair, though, the Kirin had enough tactical sense to not push the issue any further, slowing up her pace to fall behind Draco.  This also gave him less opportunity to nail her like that again, to speak of tactics.

 

"You won't have any complaints from me about that, Captain."  A sentence unlikely to be uttered often, but Akairo was a hungry mare who had to go dry for far too long as well.  Being of draconic heritage, she was also much more open to carnivorous meals than a normal pony.  She followed her captain, her own mouth watering as they entered the griffon-run pub.  "Ah, they know how to do a roast right, unless my nose deceives me."

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  • 1 month later...

Seabreezer chuckled as they came upon the bar serving meat, smirking a bit as Draco seemed to find a kindred spirit in his love of meat. She had no problem with others eating meat, as long as it wasn't her meat. To be honest, she could enjoy herself a bit of meat every now and then, but being a hybrid of a zebra and pony didn't make meat all that appealing as a meal. At any rate, she simply followed the two into the pub, looking around the joint. Even if she didn't want the meat, there was still plenty of booze she could drink with the two.

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  • 2 months later...

“Six drinks! Let slip the dogs of war!” Soon as they walked in it was show, pony, giffin and more all drinking side by side as one unicorn mare stood on a table with a dozen mugs floating about her as she drank and sang. “I’m gonna start a buckin' riot til I’m tossed out the front door! Eight drinks! Maybe I’ve lost count?! I can’t remember what I drank, or the amount!” She then fits three mugs to her muzzle and chugs all three as the onlookers go nuts cheering. “Twelve drinks!” She yells before falling off the table.

 

Draco just walked over her as he looked for a table, but he did flip her a coin. “Make it Thirteen lass.” He says before sitting down at the table she just fell off and slams his fist down two times. “HAY! THREE ROUNDS UP AND TWO ROASTS!” He had too scream over all the sound of the bar for the female giffin to hear him. She nods and runs off to fill the order. “Ah, smell that?” He asked, sniffing the air. Ever all the smells of a dozen or more unwashed sailers one can pick up the scent of roasting meat. “Mm, smells like duck?” He wonders before looking over at his two crew mates as they sit down. “And Akairo you eat meat? Got a favorite prey?” He asked with a grin and a click of his beak.

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Akairo slid in behind, not joining in the general revelry just yet.  Her hot blood wouldn't start boiling until she had a fuller belly, the fuel tanks had been running on fumes for a little too long.  Nonetheless, she kept a watchful set of eyes and ears about.  Especially on the tune being sung.  Once she felt up to it, she might join in the chorus!

"Eh, seafood mostly, there's not much to hunt on the island's terrain.  Especially not when all the prime hunting ground is the Property of the Shogunate."  The kirin spat, aiming for a spot on the floor that already looked wet, a telling instinct for one who had learned to conceal illicit activities.  "Prime cuts of beef, though?  Big weakness.  Also, if you find a ship with them in the refrigerator cargo, they sell for big money, if you can keep em from going rotten.  I've only tasted the primest cuts of Kobe once in my life, but... by the kami, I'll never forget it."

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Seabreezer looked at the mare as they made their way inside, giving her a pat after Draco deposited the coin. 
 

“Twelve? Well, that’s a good start.” She chuckled before taking her seat at the table. Seeing as she really had nothing to contribute to the conversation on favorite meats, she busied herself by stacking empty mugs in various positions. Talk of royals though... 

 

“Who needs ‘em anyways? You shouldn’t be in charge just cuz your parents were. Royals are dumb.” The mare spoke, finishing a pyramid of mugs and taking a moment to admire the accomplishment. 

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  • 8 months later...

“Beef?” Draco raised an eyebrow at such a thing. “Well, be careful speaking of such things on my ship. We have six bovines on the crew and none of them take well too such things even in joking.” He says with a stern look of a warning but leaves the topic on that note. He leans back in his seat, looking at his claws and taping them together. “And not all with the blood of leaders are bad. Look at me, born from nobles and raised with the best schooling they can. I think I’m making good use of it.” He chuckled. “Maybe I can be the king of the seas some day. If I’m really lucky I will live longer than a few weeks as well!” He chuckled deeper and grins like a wolf. “I heard far overseas is a kingdom of the free, like this town but bigger. Richer. Led by seven sea kings. May just be a heap of dung but fun dreams all the same.”

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Akairo raised a hoof as if to swear upon her honor.  "I won't needle a comrade unless they sell us out to the Navy.  I'll keep to fish and fowl, you have my word."  The drinks were not slow in coming, nor the cuts of poultry, which the kirin attacked with the alacrity of a marooned sailor.  "GRoff, chrunch, gulp, slurp, Ah.... Heh, keep me fed like this and I'll forgive any number of noble ancestors.  Heck, most of them probably used to be pirates, till they decided to swap out sailing and stealin' for staying and taxing.  Wouldn't surprise me in the least.  No offense to present company, mind, but you have to admit that most folks in your profession don't really hold to much of what I would call an ideal."

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