William Brand

Divine. I should like very much to sit and eat and do little else but watch the tide come and go. It has been ever too hot here for June.

This is a highly loaded question and the answers could vary, but the sutler in question would do well to research Captain Twill and Plunder and spend the next few months asking a lot of questions here on the pub. The short answer...? Period stuff. The long answer? He needs to learn what stuff is period over time and in the short term, here on the pub.

Thank you. It has been too long.

Ajayi Abiodun sat in the quiet of the Watch Dog's sick ward contemplating the drudgery of yet another past and unremarkable day. It had been as the days prior to it. Comfortable. Private, but for Meg. He had little or anything to complain about, but the boredom of it was beginning to leak through his seams. Every part of his brain was now in danger of that scuttling which comes to the restless who cannot be bothered with slow recoveries. Days had passed in this silence, but for the tide of humanity which came and went to the 'Dog. Meg was too removed, even when she was present, to be company enough, and she was a language apart from him, both in gender and nativity. Both the ship's surgeon and her companion had been gone from the place. The few visitors he had known were less frequent and he now knew only visits from the ship's cook. To make matters worse, he had learned by what little English he possessed, and by no small supposition on his part, that Mister Pew had been removed ashore under circumstances most mortal. This bothered Ajayi to no end, having found a mutual approbation in the outspoken officer. He recognized a mutual restlessness of spirit, and it didn't hurt that Mister Pew had demonstrated nothing but casual equality to both him and others. Mister Gage came in with a hearty supper of local fish and flora. He laid it out and gave Ajayi a warm smile. "There you go, mate. Shall I fetch up a match for the lantern?" Always these same two phrases, Ajayi thought. 'There you go, mate' and "Shall I fetch up a match for the lantern?'. His brain ached to hear so few phrases every day. "No." Ajayi said firmly, and with conviction, having learned all of the proper affirmatives and negatives early on. Mister Gage was surprised, but not shocked. "Prefer the dark for a change?" the cook offered. Ajay stood up, and while he winced a little, there was no real pain in his side. Most of his ache came from the seated idleness of too man days spent bent over in the small space. His back popped audibly and he grinned to be upright a little. "Out for a stroll then...?" Lazarus asked, not surprised to see the man wanting more than for space. Ajayi nodded, though he had understood the question not one bit. He went out into the world, releasing himself from the care of the ship's surgeon for the moment, though in time he would come into the care of another.

For some reason I always score high on Batman.

If you got it, flaunt it.

But of course, and a round for all.

Welcome again, mate.

And you could always switch sides when the favorable outcome looks better for another encampment during battle. After all, we're pirates.

Silkie is right in answering with a solitary yes, for as it stands, you can do as much or as little as you would like. There are several different encampments, i.e., buccaneer, privateer, smuggler and british, so you can join up with any of them. You can also bring an entire existing crew and camp in any one of the encampments. You are welcome to join in anywhere and you are encouraged to ask as many questions as you wish.

From one William to another, welcome aboard.

I'm down 34 pounds and falling. It feels good to be lighter on my feet.

William and his two chosen companions arrived at Maeve's humble shop only minutes after Dorian's departure. William was anxious enough to by then that he stepped from the carriage before it had come to a complete halt. He allowed the momentum of his departure to carry him past the small group of men waiting in the street, passing into the confines of the shop without a knock or utterance. Once inside, he made his way quickly to Mister Pew, while maintaining the distance of one who has read of disease. He was torn by an understanding that not all causes of life and death, as they touched disease, were agreed upon. Many knowledgable men of science still argued the finer aspects of disease regarding proximity and contagions. "Captain Brand..." Maeve began, but seeing that the man took no notice of her in his concern for the Master-at-Arms, she let him be for the moment. William had already set aside his reservations in order to test the heat of Preston's forehead with the back of his hand. William's face furrowed a bit, and he muttered something that no one heard but himself and the angel of death. In truth, no one would have understood it anyway, for it was some half forgotten counter-curse which was part prayer and part cliche. Also, it was in a dialect and language that William had learned in his youth, removed by some several decades and seven thousand miles. "How is it with him?" William asked, forgetting to address Maeve formally or informally. "Well sir, I'm afraid he's not so good. However, I'm more hopeful of his condition improving now that we know his illness is Malaria, rather than the Fever of Siam." William nodded, and again he was alone by himself, turning from the chirurgeon to his own thoughts. He drew up a chair to sit, but then remained by it for so long, that Maeve a invited him to sit. William obliged her with a nod, sitting slowly and saying nothing. "Have you what you need, Miss O'Treasaigh?" Maeve looked at him a moment, guaging her answer. "There are a few herbs we could use to help him, items that Briar..." William passed a small purse brimming with coin before she had finished, and the look on his face, though turned to the Master-at-Arms, spoke volumes. Briar and Maeve were moved several times to say something, but failed. William broke the long silence when he ordered Preston to recover with a quiet forcefullness before he stood and went from the room with more formality then he had entered with. Outside, he nodded to the waiting crew members with a look that said little more than 'Time will tell'.

Don't worry. If you are anywhere near me and my brother at PIP, you'll have an album of photos of yourself alone. We tend to shoot a great many pictures.

Tonight's special is a light, angel hair pasta with browned butter and mizithra cheese.

How odd. I thought I was signed in.

July 30, 1704 - At Martinique Cobus and Luigi had covered the whole of St. Louis in almost equal parts to Captain Brand and his companions, only to learn once more that the Captain had proceeded them in their course. Everywhere they went they were but a stragglers traveling in the wake of the man and the marines in his company. Their arrival at the Particular Governor's House was no exception. They were there barely a quarter of an hour before being told that Captain Brand, papers in hand, had returned once more to Fort Royal Prison. Luigi and Cobus were gracious within the Governor's House, but once on the road again, Luigi let loose a steady report of hand crafted curses. Much of this was in his own language, but Cobus translated the tone of it. Still, the two men made haste, moved by urgency and the momentum of their task. They flew threw streets now familiar by repetition, making excellent time on their return to the fortress. So quick was their course, that they arrived ahead of the Captain by several minutes, for William and the others had stopped to sup at a small establishment along the way. Luigi planted himself in front of the Captain and reported all that had befallen the Master-at-Arms. He spared no gruesome detail as he remembered it, mentioning the particulars of Mister Pew's symptoms, and the diagnosis of Miss O'Treasaigh. As he spoke, William's face went first sober and then grave. He did not interrupt Luigi once, and even when the man was finished speaking, he said nothing. He stood a long time while the four men waited for him to ask or offer some remark. He turned once to look out over St.Louis spread below, focusing on that part of town where the young doctor's shop lay. When he spoke again, his voice was low. "Is Miss Fitzgerald come again to the 'Dog." "No, Sah. She was not aboard when we departed." William stood again awhile in silence. His brow knitted once or twice in thought. "Has any word of her come again to the 'Dog." "No, Sah. None that I've heard." Apart from his immediate concern for his friend and fellow officer of the Watch Dog, William's emotions were of two camps. The ship's Doctor had gone ashore on leave some two days now without word or explanation. This had never bothered him before, since her freedom of movement had always been a prerogative of her place aboard the frigate, but now he was moved to both concern and anger simultaneously. He wondered, and not for the first time today, if her shadowed past had caught up with her in some secreted place here on Martinique. She might even now be within the prison itself, and he turned and regarded the gates of the place a moment as he thought this. This possibility gave him no comfort, but he found the idea better than the alternative. Justified or no, he did not like the idea of her sipping and drinking French delicacies while the Master-at-Arms perished in blood and fever. He had no real cause to be angry with her, but the news of Mister Pew had caught him unprepared. "Have any others these...symptoms?" "Not that I have witnessed, Sah." William began pacing his usual course as he pondered on the matter. He stopped once to look up at the fort walls, sucking air through his teeth in a kind of silent profanity that could not find words suitable enough. Finally he nodded, in answer to some conversation within, and he ordered the men back aboard the carriage for one more journey in a day of journeys. Third bell of First Watch ~Larboard Watches on Duty~

I think I just might.

I'm craving a good shepherds pie, myself.

It's my pleasure. I'm an advocate of pie.

Are you bringing the small one for sale?

I agree. Straw would be a nice addition. Could someone who is driving bring a few straw bales. I'm not sure how accessible it would be in Key West. I seem to recall the subject of straw coming up once before.

We should begin the checklist of clothing, starting with shirts. Who has period shirts, and do you have enough for the camp? I have two linen shirts and I shall probably have a third made.

And something with meat...

Perhaps a week of pie is in order. We'll run the gambit of deep dish baked goods. We'll start with a boysenberry...