William Brand

A fine outfit, Jon. We look forward to seeing you baptise it in blood at PIP.

All Baconfests should begin no later than 7:00 pm local time. I will post the times for each of the Baconfests once I have spoken with the various participants. For now...a gentle reminder...

August 2, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog Between two and three bells of the Mid Watch Eric dhad not seem inclined to make much conversation so William had obliged with casual silence. The time had passed with them watching the dark for nothing in particular and they eventually had parted one another's company. William retired later than he had expected and he found sleep easily. Those recruits who had come aboard from the prison went to their duties and their hammocks respectively as easily as one might return to eating after a long day's work. though many of them had been imprisoned for some time, the routine of sea was not forgotten. Even Ned, only a guest for the present, fell asleep on the galley floor near one of the cooling cook stoves, having eaten a fair share of cold biscuits and hot broth. Jenny too, was fast asleep, too weary from flight not to escape into slumber. Night aboard the frigate at anchor was quiet, and for the time being, uneventful.

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog The formalities of parting were both genuine and awkward as William saw them to the door. He was grateful to be alone then, for he was weary from the matters of that day, and he would have retired if not for another matter yet to be resolved. He considered fetching a clean glass, but grabbed up a used one along with his own and headed topside to the quarterdeck where he found Eric staring into the dark. Eric turned about when he arrived and William pressed a glass into his hand and filled it before the man could do little but acknowledge him. Then, raising his own glass William proposed a toast in the simplest of terms. "To the Master-at-Arms of the Watch Dog." he said, and drained it dry. Tudor Smith, who was standing hard by, smiled, though she only thought that she understood the toast.

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog William sipped his drink a moment and then set the glass aside. The idea that this woman should ask him to set the price, knowing who and what they all were, was a telling thing which spoke volumes. He smiled then and wondered who was the more dangerous passenger. The outspoken thief who seemed to confess all or this woman with her unspoken truths. And Murin's added information only gave William pause, for the idea of a 'man of means' sending payed men, even mercenaries looking for Miss Ashcombe did not advance her cause. Such men might beat any one of his men or women ashore in the pursuit of information leading to her return. What might they not do to get what they wanted if rewarded handsomely enough? He drained the last of his glass. "We have no place for passengers, but the surgery, Miss Ashcombe. Miss McDonough will see you comfortably stowed there for the night. I will consider on the matter. For now, you are a guest aboard the Watch Dog and you may consider yourself such."

William lifted the bottle and poured three drinks, but not before asking each if they would imbibe. When the glasses were filled a third full and passed to his guests, he leaned a little in his chair and waited while they sipped before he continued. "We are bound for colonies only after we have gone to Trinidad, which takes you further from them first. It is likely that we will be employed, and thereby contracted to that course, so our interests aside...we cannot go to the colonies first." William waited while this information settled upon Miss Ashcombe before continuing. "There are women in my employ, or rather, there are women aboard ship in their own employ, as it is with every able bodied man aboard ship, but we are not a merchant vessel. We are not a ship of war. We are a privateer filled with some men who were before now desperate, dangerous and sought by governments for their crimes. Myself included. You might purchase passage aboard the Watch Dog only to discover yourself hunted by navies of every nation in time. The courts are not kind, even to women."

William sat once again, but this time his expression was softer. Gentle. He smiled friendly enough, but his countenance was still little more than business and trade. "Miss Ashcombe, you will pardon my curiosity, but you have arrived in men's clothing with enough money to pay for passage to the colonies, so I must ask. Will I regret taking you aboard the 'Dog? Will some reprisal follow hard upon if I take you aboard?"

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog William listened to all of this with the flat expression of one who has seen ships afire, seas clogged with flotsam and jetsom and a prison or two. He had heard similar pleas, some more fervent and some less. "What's your name, lad?" "Edward O'Flaherty, sah." There it was. William had heard it. It was subtle, but it was there. Something in the response itself. Most liars would have paused a split second too long before answering, but Edward responded almost too fast. Even so, William wasn't sure what to make of it. "Bu' people call m', Ned." Edward added at once. "What people would there be to call you Ned I wonder, seeing that you are a scarecrow." William pondered aloud, and there followed a long pause. Long enough that everyone wondered what William might ask next, but before Murin, Jenny or even Ned could fill in the silence, William stood up and looked the young vagabond in the face. "Make yourself known to the cook." Six bells of First Watch

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog "You wish to come aboard as a passenger, Miss Ashcombe?" William asked, his tone removed. "Yes, sir." She returned, simply. He turned to her then and narrowed his eyes a little. Whatever distraction might have been there before was gone in a moment. He looked at her for a long time. Long enough to make her fidget. He let this same look fall on the scrawny sneak-thief that Murin had brought along with her. "I would like to believe that I fell asleep hours ago." he said aloud. No one seemed to know what to say to this, so Murin spoke up. "Sah?" William looked back and forth between Jenny and the stranger, his eyes stopping on the would be lad. "This one here is three weeks removed from a meal and two days removed from a grave..." he began again, then turned to Jenny. "...and yet...you seem well fed, healthy, clothed, but for a departure from the fashion, and you must have some specie about you to pay for passage aboard a privateer." He paused, and again no one seemed to know what to say to this. William took a seat and leaned in on one elbow. He fixed the two guests with a searching look and pressed on. "The men I hired today came from the prison, so there may very well be some thieves among the lot. I understood that it might be so when I took them aboard. Am I now being asked to take thieves which might be sailors?" he asked, looking at the younger guest.

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog Eric's entrance unbidden and departure without dismissal left William at a bit of a loss, not that such protocols had ever been gospel aboard the 'Dog. He shook his head slowly from side to side and perused the letter a fourth time, temporarily forgetting his present company. He folded the letter and looked at the closed door again before turning once more to his guests. "Miss Ashcombe." he prompted, though his thoughts were now elsewhere.

You heard him, men. Have Captain Lasseter cleared away! A mob of burly sailors carts of the cussing captain.

Thwarted.

August 1, 1704 - Ward room of the Watch Dog William could not remember anyone ever rushing into the ward room unbidden. Even Tudor, who shared the almost equal right of access to the place, had never entered in a rush. to counterpoint this, tudor arrived a second later. She looked irritated and William simply gave her a solitary nod and she closed the door. William took the letter and unfolded it, stepping to a lantern at the corner of the room. There he read the letter, not once, but twice. When he looked up from the folded paper he regarded Mister Franklin with a quiet look laced with questions. "Mister Franklin..." William began, but he stopped again to read the letter a third time. He passed his finger over it and began shaking his head. "Perhaps you can explain the urgency of this letter, for apart from your arrival, I can find none within it. Is there perhaps some message within that I am meant to decipher apart from the words themselves?" The room was very quiet.

Updated. The list does not reflect everyone who is considering joining us at PIP, so we may see a few additions very soon. We may of course see a few departures, but that is expected.

William regarded Jenny, but said nothing. Instead, he gestured with one hand to the waiting chairs not taken. He did not draw back his hand until this silent command was followed by all present. What followed was an awkward, unrehearsed dance. William moved only enough to draw out a chair for Miss Ashcombe before pacing once across the room to the stern bench. Here, he fetched out a bottle and three glasses. He placed all of these on the table. He did not fill them. "Miss Ashcombe. Perhaps you would be so kind to explain your business in its entirety." There was a knock at the door then and Miss Smith put her head in to ask if she was needed at present. Eric's voice was heard off the Watch Dog and William assured her that she was only needed above at present, and thanked her. "Please." he said, gesturing to Miss Ashcombe.

William was half way out of his oilskins when he turned to find his three guests crowed on the topmost step outside the Ward Room door. He paused and smiled, bemused. "Please do come in..." he said, pushing away his smile, but he only exceeded in hiding half of it. "Please." he insisted, gesturing to the chairs about the table as he dropped the wet coat over the back of his chair. When they still hesitated, his smile faded a bit and his expression altered to one of business. "Miss McDonough, would you be so kind as to introduce our guests."

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog William was surprised to hear that the longboat was on return. He had not expected to see it before noon the following day and he went down into the waist to receive Claude, Cobus or both. Instead he was greeted by the other four men who had gone ashore with the boat, the ship's tailor and two strangers. The first was a woman dressed in the working clothes of an able seaman. This was not surprising to William by itself, except that he had assured himself that he would never see a woman outside of the 'Dog's crew in such attire. The other stranger was either a lad or scrawny lass, and given the tendency of the light frigate to attract either sex, he chose not to care for the present. "What news, Luigi?" "Miss McDonough...and these two here have business with you, Captain. I thought it best to bring them all along," the able seaman explained. "Very good." Murin and the two passengers came up and over the rail, either of their own accord or by assistance. William stood at the rail as they came over, his hands behind his back. When the last of them was aboard, William leaned out and called the rest up. "You lads best come aboard for the present. See yourselves to the larder for cold biscuits and rum." "Thank you, cap'n." they chimed together as they tied off and made their way up. "Miss McDonough..." William said, gesturing aft to the Ward Room.

August 1, 1704 - On the Cul du Sac Royal After five bells of First Watch Murin explained as much as she thought she dared or should, while Luigi looked the lad up and down three or four times, the whole time popping the knuckles of his right hand. He even walked around the lad once before stopping again in front of him. "He's no meat on him." he said, as if the observation had escaped everyone else's attention. "He is too small to be a threat." Brenton offered, and Luigi nodded, and he was looking at Jenny now. He could see that she was nervous, even in the dark, to be out in the open. Finally he nodded and gestured to the boat and they piled aboard even as Brenton untied it from the docks. Luigi put Murin on an oar while he sat facing the lad. Luigi himself was armed with a pistol, but he never drew it out. Instead, he sat facing the prisoner for the duration of the trip, looking at almost nothing else, until the lad looked nervous enough to go swimming in the bay.

When I think 'period piece' I think 'make it modern, mixed with contemporary ideology'. Wait a minute...no I don't.

Moved below.

In the words of Long Tom... "We seem to have created pirate flag tinkertoys".

Is this why we never see you anymore?

Aye, but the stores are kept against a famine of rum, should ever such a thing arise.

August 1, 1704 - Aboard the Watch Dog Rummy lay in her hammock for several bells playing music quietly in the dark. She was tired from the work of the day, but her thoughts kept drifting ashore and to the possibilities of laying down roots on Martinique. Jonathan had offered to partner with her and the prospect of opening a shop with their combined trades held the promise of a very comfortable future. The uncertainties of food and shelter would soon be replaced by a steady commerce of wood, iron and coin. Her thoughts turned to Jonathan and his oft times curt behavior, but she didn't mind that he was short. There was a certain hard honesty in his gruffness that forced one to view the world in a more pragmatic scope. He spoke his mind without mincing words. What many took for tactlessness, she admired as forthright frankness. Everything he said was simple and free of misleading discourse. She laughed then in the dark alone. "We'll keep his honesty to ourselves or we shall have few customers." she noted aloud. Then she returned to her music one last time before sleeping.

We'll have a rum boat bring us fresh stores and we'll fetch another fiddler or two and cause that they should work watches.