Work Text:
The pirates laughed and jeered as the final crewmembers of the HMS Moonsliver were unceremoniously tossed onto a lifeboat, a minor solace as their ship floated in pieces over the waters below. The defeated sailors stared back sheepishly at the vicious pirates, having been stripped down to naught but their skivvies and robbed of any valuables. Then with one last uproarious cheer the boat was cut free and sent plumetting to the open waters below. Only their captain, Lady Alina Thranduire of the Royal Elvish Navy, remained captive aboard the pirate vessel but unlike the rest of her crew she remained relatively untouched, getting away with only a slash across her shirt that still left her more exposed than she would normally like. But she still stood stoic, head held high with all the poise she could muster whilst she had her hands and legs each bound together. She made sure to give the crew no satisfaction or reaction as they danced around her while making crude jokes at her expense. Likely the best attempt at wit they can manage, she thought to herself.
A sharp whistle broke through the noise and the crew turned to face the source as a hush fell over them. One unattentive halfling continued his raucous laughter but was quickly silenced by a jab to the chest. Alina too turned to face the source of the noise. Looming over the deck balanced on the taffrail of the ship was the pirate captain herself; a tall orcish woman looking to be a living cliché of swashbuckling piracy, complete with long coat, hat, parrot, and eyepatch. The captain cast her gaze over the ship and their spoils, lingering a while longer as hers and the captive elf's eyes met. Alina felt the pirate's eye burn deep into her, but they were turned away before too long as she began to address her crew.
"Listen up swabs!" The captain shrieked, "I'm very disappointed in you all." Every member of the crew looked around at each other with confusion, wondering what they'd done wrong. A tension hung in the air as they anxiously awaited the captain's next words.
Despite her size, she hopped gracefully down off her perch and strode through the crowd. The crew parted the way for her, retreating like a nervous tide until she stopped next to Alina. This time she gave the elf a long look up and down. Alina stared back blankly, trying not to give anything away. So the Orc turned back to her crew who were standing attentively at a safe distance, awkwardly shuffling, until she broke the silence. "Not one of you has offered me a drink!" It took a moment, but as a grin broke across the captain’s face laughter and relief spread throughout the crew.
Several crew members rushed to offer up their bottles or flagons to her and after a moment of faux deliberation she plucked one at random. "Thank you Ducky. Now I want you all to know I'm very proud of the lot of you. I dare say I couldn't ask for a more vile, ruthless and downright 'orrible crew." She paused to allow for further cheering and to sift her fingers through a pile of gold and jewellery before continuing, "This might well be our best haul yet not least because we are graced with the presence of our old friend; Captain Alina of the Royal Elvish Navy. How nice of you to join us again." The crew snickered as the elf in question glared silently at her Orcish nemesis before spitting on the pirate's boot and smirking up at her.
The captain didn’t seem to take kindly to this slight and in a flash was brandishing a knife to the elf's cheek, much to the joy of her crew, but still no reaction came from the captive elf. The pirate captain scoffed. "As talkative as ever I see, don't worry I'll remedy that. Take her to my cabin, I want to interrogate her... personally." The pirates whooped and hollered as Alina was hoisted over the shoulder of one brutish pirate and then "escorted" below deck. It was hard to remain elegant and proper while being manhandled as such but Alina tried anyway, unaware she actually looked even more ridiculous in trying.
As she was carried below deck the sounds of the crew and their captain's victory speech grew fainter until they arrived at a large cabin deep in the underbelly of the ship. Her escort used his free hand to open the door then squeezed through with Alina, bumping her head on the frame as he did. "Oops" he said with all the sincerity of... well, a pirate.
Once inside the pirate dumped Alina onto a bed in the corner of the room and began to take his leave, pausing at the door to grin at her, Alina sneered back petulantly and stuck her tongue out, all pretence of dignity now gone. "The cap'n will be wiv you shortly." He said, chuckling to himself as he closed the door behind him leaving the elf on her own. She listened as the oaf's footsteps retreated above deck and once she was sure she was in the clear Alina began to scan the room.
The room was heavily cluttered with plenty of ill-gotten trinkets, relics, tapestries and even a few of Alina's old keepsakes from some of their previous encounters. But unfortunately nothing sharp or pointy with which to cut herself free. Alina's eyes eventually landed on a large bottle of whiskey, sitting on a desk at the far side of the room and with some amount of effort managed to hop her way over to the desk. She picked the bottle up by the neck and made to smash it on the desk but stopped when she noticed the label, "Not a bad vintage...” She muttered to herself. She wrestled between two thoughts; 1: She could smash the bottle and use the shards to cut herself free, wasting a perfectly good bottle of fine whiskey or 2: She could drink it.
After some fumbling with the cork, unable to properly use her hands with her wrists still being tied together and all, she elected to use her teeth, ripping the cork out with a satisfying pop before spitting it across the room. She gave it a tentative sniff. “Down the hatch.”
Alina was mid swig when she heard the door open and close behind her. She didn’t bother turning around as her captor began another tedious monologue. "Well well well, what do we have here. An annoying little fly has been caught in my web. I must admit you fought valiantly my darling, though not valiantly enough clearly. Now I have to wonder what I should do with you. Were the tables turned I wonder what you would do to a dastardly pirate such as myself, hm?" It was at this point the pirate captain wandered into the elf's vision, walking slowly but purposefully as if playing with her food and absent mindedly twirling a garishly jewelled knife between her fingers, it was most likely pilfered from some obnoxious noble. "Would you keep me captive? Or toss me overboard? Maybe you'd just kill me on the spot for crimes against-"
"Oh shove off Gaelug, I'm not in the mood." Alina snapped. This threw Gaelug off her carefully planned out rhythm and she tripped, clumsily dropping her knife on the floor.
The pirate bent down to reclaim the weapon before responding. "Come on Ali, you always love to play this game. I had this whole thing planned out with the knife, you trying to wrestle it from me, bit of banter back and forth, the works!" The elf shot her a look before taking another sip of whisky. Gaelug sighed as she hung her hat and coat over the back of her chair before sitting down and lodging the knife into a well worn groove in the desk. It was now apparent Alina wasn’t going to play along. "Alright, fine. What’s the matter then Ali?"
"What's the matter? That's the third ship of mine you've sunk this month! After the last time they threatened to demote me and give my command to Admiral Levos, abhorrent creature that he is. I've worked too hard for this command to just throw it away for some stupid orc pirate with a pretty face." Gaelug began opening her mouth to speak but couldn’t get a word out as Alina continued her exasperated tirade. "They even gave me the most incompetent bloody crew this time as if they wanted me to fail, one of them didn't even know which way port was. Port! Port of all bloody things. You work as a sailor and you don't know which direction port is. I almost threw him off the ship myself." Alina was breathing angrily through her nose now as her composure melted away.
"Well-"
"And not least one of your fucking pirates managed to slice open one of my best shirts. Cost me a fortune this did and you had me standing out there with my tits practically on display to your whole filthy crew. Do you know how embarrassing that is?"
Gaelug was momentarily distracted by the aforementioned tear before she realised Alina was staring directly at her, waiting for a response. "Oh, sorry..." The pirate looked dejected for a moment, "Third, really? That's a shame. I thought it was more than that." She quipped giving the elf her best cheeky smile.
Alina really wanted to remain angry, but she felt the slightest tug at the corner of her lips as she stifled a smile. Gaelug didn’t miss that and they both relaxed a little bit. "Don't make me laugh, I'm still mad at you." Alina said, finally sitting down across the desk from the Orc. Gaelug tried to reach for some whisky but the bottle was snatched away. Alina took another long drag before passing the now nearly empty bottle over. "The least you could do is get me out of these binds."
Gaelug smiled and nodded as she stood up and dislodged the knife, first draining the bottle before walking around the desk to assist as instructed. "You know if they do fire you, you could always become a pirate." Gaelug said as she bent down to cut at the ropes holding her captive’s ankles together. Alina looked down at the orc with a stern face, doing her best to feign unamusement. "I mean it you know, you're far too good to be in some stuffy Navy. Hell, with your wits, skill and not to mention beauty, I think you'd make an incredible swabbie."
Unsure whether it was genuine or just the whisky; this did finally elicit a giggle from the elf and as an act of peace Alina wordlessly held out her wrist binds for Gaelug to cut. Gaelug moved as if to help but stopped just shy. With the knife so close Alina moved forward from her seat to try and cut herself free but Gaelug simply moved it away, flashing a sly smile as she did. "Doesn't this situation feel awfully familiar to you Ali? Hands in binds, begging to be free, key to freedom just out of reach. Though then the binds were chains, it was an actual key and the roles were reversed, but the point still stands."
"I don't recall begging, if memory serves that's more your strong suit." Alina said, refusing to give into the game for now.
"Oh well I suppose you'll just have to remain like that then, I can't think of any other possible way you might get your hands on this key." Gaelug taunted, letting the knife dangle loosely between two fingers as it swung like a pendulum. Alina for her part pretended not to be playing along as she sat back in her seat and failing in an attempt to cross her arms nonchalantly.
However, out of the corner of her eye she watched the orc closely. Gaelug just smirked, happy to maintain this stalemate, until a thud above deck distracted her as she instinctively glanced up at the ceiling. Not wasting any time; Alina leapt out of her seat to grab the knife. But once again the pirate proved faster and kept it away. Again. And Again. Until they were standing so close. The orc, being a good head above the elf, held the knife high so she couldn’t possibly reach, but she knew the game was over now. Alina wasn’t watching the knife anymore, her gaze now locked on the lips in front of her.
"There you are, my love..." Gaelug whispered as she leant down to kiss the lips awaiting her, closing her eyes to indulge in the sensation. But right before the climactic moment she instead found herself falling. Her legs having been swept out from under her as she went crashing to the cabin floor. Alina deftly caught the knife as it spun through the air and sliced her bindings free in one smooth action. Gaelug grinned as Alina stepped over her and straddled her hips on the floor. She gently pressed the knife to her pirate lover’s throat with one hand and lifted the eyepatch with the other.
"I wish you wouldn't wear this ridiculous thing; you know how much I love your eyes." Alina spoke softly as she discarded the offending accessory while Gaelug moved to rest her hands on her partner's thighs, making slow gentle strokes with her thumbs. Alina continued. "So is this what you were imagining we would end up like?"
"I was hoping for a few more torn clothes, scattered buttons… but this was about what I expected, yes." In response Alina dragged the blade down, cutting open the thin blouse protecting the pirate's decency. "I suppose that's only fair. Did you get a look at who ruined your shirt?"
"It was some overenthusiastic tiefling girl, who incidentally now has a broken nose." Alina stated proudly.
Gaelug chuckled heartily. "She'll be overboard by morning for daring to upset you."
"Oh, you're such a romantic. Next time I’m capturing you though." Alina murmured as she allowed their lips to join at last.