William Brand

Armand seemed about to speak when the Quartermaster interrupted him with questions regarding his borrowed covering. William tried to suppress a smile and failed. If he had been required to describe Mister Lasseter in a word, that word would not have been 'perfumed'. Vigilant. Reliable. Not 'perfumed'. Still, the crew presented the very air of dignity and grace and he was pleased to see each of them falling into step with the occasion presented to them. Miss Smith was composed and both fair of voice and carriage. Tempest was as she ever was, a woman of many contradictions which she traded occasion for occasion. Mister St. Anthony looked at once comfortable and uncomfortable in his skin and attire, but bore himself with an aspect that betrayed experience in such matters. Mister Badger was as sober and well managed as he ever was. He was a chameleon in mixed company, blending in wherever and whenever he was asked to blend. And Mister Lasseter was proving to be a man of many hats. Perfumed or no. He might have said such to them, but the cutter passed then under the eyes of the dockyard hands and the waiting carriages.

We do need to get together and decide a name soon. We might start by eliminating a few off of a very long list. Perhaps we should have everybody choose their favorite 5 from the following list and see where the popular repeats are found. Yes? No? Did I get them all? The Age of Discovery The Rub a Dub Dub Pyrates Long Stockings long shoremen Pirates in Fun Pants Pippi's Pirates Rummy's rum-runners Pirates of the Black Spot Caribbean Rum Runners The Misfiteers. The Jolly Roger-Dodgers. The Faire Weather Fiends. The Beachcombers. The Festivalians. The Able Seamen The Barnacle Brute Mob The Longshoremen. Sparrow's Flock Tortuga Trouble The Old Way Inn The Pyrate's Hand The Pirate's Pub nova albions pyrates of the charred sail the library pyrates of the charred sail The High Risk Merchant Seaman Brethren o' the Free Souls Brethren o' the Dark Mysts Brethren o' the Dancin' Pub The Whydah Wanderers The Three Arrrrrrrrs Pyrates Play Cyber Pyrates of the First Order: The Stowaways Sentanced Traders of Works Already Writen About Your Seas Barbados Brats Tortuga Tarts Caribean Castaways Buckeneers o the Black Sail Davey Jones Rejects The Independents. The Independence. The Shipmasters The Free Mariners Dockyard Dogs Watch Dogs The scurvy dogs of the piracy pub The Crows Nest The Portside Players or the Starboard Players Davey Jones Locker Treasure Cove or Cave Pirate's (or Pirate/Pyrate) Treasures Red Tail Dawgs The Devil's Deckhands Stormchasers Freelooters The Thugery Dockyard Devils The Clan Cutlass Sea Rovers Yarn Spinners The Beachcombers The Sea Monsters The Ghost Shipmen Golden Age Actors The Planksters Marauders The Lookouts The Gangplank Gang The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything Hounds of the High Seas High Seas Historians High Seas Historical Society The Seven Seas Society

My cat comes running when I call.

My cat brings offerings in the form of dismembered crickets. Sacrifices to the redheaded God who provides sustanence.

You should learn the drum and find your local belly dancing group. Belly dancers are all around you, but drummers are in short supply. Dancers love a good drummer because live drumming is always more fun and easier for improvisation.

I plan to write a children's book.

I know a plethora of belly dancers so an Oud is very practical.

Very close. This is an Oud. It is the Arabic equivalent to the lute.

This should help.

Soooooon.

Because. Cats are Karma batteries.

I plan to take the book's ISBN number to the library and have them order it. It is a very inexpensive way to read all the books you want.

The boat made quick progress over the water under the direction of the apt and able crew. Oars gave over to sail and it unfurled at once and the sleek craft bore out over the bay. The boat seemed heavy with life, not that it was any more filled than it had been at any other time. Yet it overspilled with excitement both voiced and unvoiced. Armand seemed distracted and the object of his distraction seemed to mind not at all. In fact, she was relishing the attentions she had received since she stepped into the world bearing all her blush as a woman of beauty. Her youth was a evening star and more than one of the cutter crew took notice of it. Even Mister Lasseter took note of her, though his greater attention was bound up elsewhere. He was neither too forward in his regard of Tempest, nor was he far removed. Instead, the control that he took to be not too much of either just went to show how tightly the good Doctor had gripped him with her charm. She was a subtle creature of grace and power. William thought that no man would ever call her delicate without adding that she was as strong as an anchor cable, all of her strength and power hidden below a surface of clear blue. This analogy was only furthered by the choice of hue she had chosen to drape herself in this evening.

Only the Captain was left without anyone to escort and he sighed a bemused sigh and shook his head. "A rook indeed. Give me a church spire and a bawdy book of verse and I shall make blasphemies alone." He walked to the gun deck, wending his way among the sailors who leapt to answer the call to lower the cutter. Many hands made short work of the task and it was soon over the side, followed after by the hand picked men who would row her away. Armand assisted a somewhat flustered, but well borne Tudor, and Mister Lasseter lead Tempest to her place in the boat. they were followed by a dapper Mister Badger and a smartly dressed Master at Arms. William reiterated his orders regarding the passage of anyone who would wish admittance to the Watch Dog, adding that the share of grog meant for all those who would not be aboard this evening could be divided amongst the crew. "Please keep the watches sober and the powder dry." With that, he joined the bachelors at their end of the cutter and it was ordered away to the docks.

Thank you, Hurricane. I shall add that to my list of must read reading.

hmmm...we also need some coconut curry rice with prawns.

"Too stately...and perhaps...elderly." William continued, a wry smile on his face. "With respect, Cap'n." Mister Lasseter said, watching the new interchange between Armand and Miss Smith. "I 'spect yer not much older than I...and I'm not old at all." They both nodded in tandem, each of them willing to agree that a man's prime was a matter of a man's choice. Meanwhile, all eyes that had followed Miss Smith, now watched her and Armand. William offered them some respite from prying eyes by barking out orders for the cutter to be lowered away.

They were in the midst of idle conversation when the ship's Steward arrived on deck. There could be no mistaking the alteration to herself and the alteration her presence made on the crew, but when she stopped before the Captain she altered him almost at once, for he faltered midsentence and his hat was off before he noticed that he had removed it. It came off of his head in a quick, but somewhat clumsy fashion. Still, he recovered a bit in the grace of his bow as he doubled over effortlessly with a long, slow sweep of arm. "Miss Smith." As he returned to his full height, he brandished a smile both quiet and generous. He turned to Mister Lasseter who was also smiling. "As I said before, Mister Lasseter, we are too stately a pair of birds for the company we keep. See here, our own Steward is a bird of paradise."

William smiled and regarded Mister Lasseter by stepping back a pace or two. He looked him up and down, raising an eyebrow as he did so. "That will do, Mister Lasseter. That will do. We shall present ourselves as mismatched state birds among so many peacocks tonight." Then William removed his own hat and looked down at his finery, simple as it was. "It appears that I am to play the Rook in the aviary."

The head of lettuce was like unto an elephant's head. To say nothing of the chicken.

The quarterdeck of the Watch Dog. William was on the quarterdeck within minutes of his last orders wearing the dark brushed coat that had recently been gifted to him. The buttons were highly polished and he his left hand rested on the guard of the mortuary sword at his hip. He noted the carriages, even without the aid of a spyglass. His eyes had even been keen in regards to great distances. A smile played about his lips as he noted the arrival of each officer in their finery.

In preparation for his departure, William sent for his Steward. When she arrived he sent orders to each of his officers to be certain that the passing invitiations he had made before were more formally given in regards to his visit to shore. He requested that the ship's Bosun, Master-at-Arms and Doctor join the Quartermaster and himself ashore in their meeting with the Don. He also reminded his Steward of her evening there and asked her to be certain to ask Armand to join them as well. He then sent word that Mister Warren and Mister Youngblood should have the keeping of the ship in their absence and that they should be under the strictest of orders not to allow anyone to have admittance to the ship without penned orders from either himself or Mister Lasseter while the two of them were gone from the Watch Dog.

Excellent, Captain Warren. A fine show.

The mortuary sword lay on the ward room table along with a baldric, pistol and wickedly curved knife that the Mahdi had given him years before. Each of these items was polished to a high gleam as William waited out the day. He had no doubt that his "officers", if such a word could be used by an almost pirate like himself, were presently spit polishing boots and buffing their coats just as he was. Each of them had a pride that they displayed with skill when it came to affairs of court. They were a mismatched, but marvelously grand cross-section of the great empires and cultures of the day. He had no doubt that they would be a strange and eclectic topic of conversation for days to come in the Don's court.