Lookin' ta share a pint er two

[Monterey Jack]

Welcome aboard. I'm sick with the flu or I'd take you up on that drinnnn....thud.

Welcome, sez I! <trims over William and crashes headlong inta th' bar>

I'll have wot he had...less'n its the plague.....

[Mad Matt]

It looks t' be like yer becoming well-acquainted with our strange crew. Let me be next t' welcome ye aboard. Tharrrr be plenty o' rogues 'ere fer ye t' start tantalizin'! If I look hard enough, I could probably find at least one fer ye.

As fer me drynk, I'll be taking whatever gets me lightheaded th' quickest, luv.

My sincere welcome to ye.

[Blackfoot]

Hello again Miss. Silkey Smooth.

So, how how do ye mean smooth wi' me? Blackfoot th' Pyrate smooth? I consider myself....defined. A hopeless romantic m`lady. Me words be nay smooth..... but more sacred t' th' soul.

I think all pyrates be smooth an' savvy in their talk and personality. Here I stand before you m`lady as a true humble pyrate that I really be.

[Silkie McDonough]

I consider myself....defined. A hopeless romantic m`lady. Me words be nay smooth..... but more sacred t' th' soul.

I think all pyrates be smooth an' savvy in their talk and personality. Here I stand before you m`lady as a true humble pyrate that I really be.

Ye' words be' smoot'er than many, or is it yer honesty? Honesty in a pyrate? May well be. We'll ye' words warm'd me' 'art an m' glad t be so well met!

[Bunnycutlass]

Silkie, how ye be at dancin?

Wanna Table hop a jig o' two wit me? Kick up a skirt or two? :)

[Silkie McDonough]

Bunny m' lass, uv always loved t' dance. Here at the pub I feel I dance ferever wit only an accasional need t' wet m' wisail or breathn' heavy! :) ...course, d'pendin on who I mey b' breathin' heavy wit it may take a bit longer! A reel ms' Bunny!

[Bunnycutlass]

Shall we then?

:Bunny signals the fiddler. Takes Silkies hand and helps her atop the table.:

All right then, now the object o' this dance is every time there be a change in the chorus, we jig t' another table, till they all be danc'd upon!

What say ye, up fer the challenge?

[Silkie McDonough]

she tighetens the lace of her shoe and tugs her bodice straight, smiling broadly

You lead! 'll keep up!

[Silkie McDonough]

...ye jest pull up a stool an we'll share a tale or two.....

Scarlet m' lady, we never did have an opportunity to talk wit all these fine people greetin' m'. Now det tings have calmed a bit round here, what might ye b'wantin to hear?

[Bunnycutlass]

Strange Silkie, me dancin post didnt POST!

It said sumthin' like: Bunny hops up onto the neighborin table and the fiddler begins. She gives a few kicks, a quick turn and hops to her legs apart on the table and signals Silkie t' copy:

Come on Lass ye can do it!

[Silkie McDonough]

Pardon me' scarlet I was confused for a moment, I'll be gettin back t' ya later.

Well Bunny m' use t floors. Nil av I ever don tis. Here's hopin' d tabels here be strong!

Silkie jumps to the next table top, copies Bunnies pose and looks quizzically at Bunny.

[Bunnycutlass]

Next one....

:Bunny taps a foot behind her, steps forward and kicks back a step:

Gettin a wee bit more complicated....

[Silkie McDonough]

follows easily, wondering if perhaps she's had a bit too much cider fo this table top thing.

[Bunnycutlass]

Ye did that one t' easily.... how bouts this one on fer size...

:Hops to another nearby table. Kicks her feet out into Russian splits and comes down into a crouch. Comes up fer a spin and bows....without even shaking the table to a wobble!:

[Silkie McDonough]

Silkie hops to the next table, deftly repeats the previous step, not even trying whatever that was that Bunny just did adds a cut step followed by double high kicks a smooth jump turn, hops to the next table, and yes the table does wobble a bit.

[Bunnycutlass]

That's me girl! Whoooo hoo!

Ye jig sweetly Lass!

Let's do a few more!

:Bunny copies Silkie and both girls flop into a chair breathin hard and chests heaving:

That was good fun!

Drynkin tyme?

[Sam Flint]

Well if that ain't swell timin...I walk in to Drinkin time and Chests heavin'

[Bunnycutlass]

Aye Sam, comes sits betwix'd us both! Ye could...ummm cool us down!

[Sam Flint]

I'd love to cool ya down and warm ye up

:::takes a seat between the two:::

Do you ladies need anything I can get ye?

[Silkie McDonough]

Silkie, draped in the chair,

Ah' Bunny, twas surin a fine time t b' stoppin t' steppin! Almost took a spill on thet last one. I'twas afeared I' lund spralled o'r one o' tees lads.

Why'd ya stop m'?!

Sam m'lad, indeed a'do need somtin from ya, but fer now I'll take a drink to cool me down. ya can quench m' tirst later!

[Bunnycutlass]

I needs t' go Lass....Twas fun, but me ship be last callin'!

Ye and Sam have yerselves a grand tyme!

Anon!

[Silkie McDonough]

...ye jest pull up a stool an we'll share a tale or two.....

Scarlet m' lady, we never did have an opportunity to talk wit all these fine people greetin' m'. Now det tings have calmed a bit round here, what might ye b'wantin to hear?

NOW, Scarlet, what tale av'ya ta share wit us?

Silkie drinks deeply from the tankare that Sam has handed her.

[Silkie McDonough]

Silkie begins to recite

Part Thee and Me

for the children of Lochlann

by Beth Winegarner

I

Last thing I remember before washing up on this shore

Was the bright, jutting pain of the harpoon.

Our blood has stained these seas before,

Birth-blood and death-blood, salt mingling

With the bracken of storm-tossed shallows

And our falling numbers.

We lose our skins here. Sometimes to the trappers

Who hunt for their own greed,

Sometimes to lovers who take us whole

And hide our cloaks so that we must remain.

Among them there are few who know who we are,

But we are.

II

His arms, like liquid gold and just as hot,

Lifted me to the sky. He took me to the woods,

Tried to bury me in blankets inside his blood-red

House. He took me in.

The air was thin, but heavy with white caresses

Of fog wrapped around the dark, pointed trees.

I walked among them, watching the sky,

Which looked like the sea after a storm,

While his eyes, like the sea from below on a sunny morning,

Watched me.

I could go no further than his leash allowed,

Not even when I met the unicorn on the path,

Or the old woman who turned us inside out

And told me he was not the One. But I could not go

Back until I found my skin. The one he stole.

III

One night, high on mushrooms, he walked down

To where the town begins, then returned. "You can hear

The lighthouse out there at night," he explained.

"Do you really need to hear that awful sound?"

I asked. "Every time it blows, it means another

Boat reaches shore safely, while another of my clan

Bleeds to death on its splintered deck

In the dark."

He turned, away from the direction of the sea,

Salt water staining his cheeks. "I don't know why you

Brought me here," I continued. "You rescued me from

Nothing."

I was dying, drying out on his shore, thirsty for greater waters

Than those beneath his eyes.

IV

"I don't know where your skin is," he snarled for the seventh

Time. Sometimes he wished me away.

But I was his prize, won at the edge of the world,

As if in a great battle. His victory. So I walked

Out of that dying red house, and I took the unicorn with me.

Silkie pauses, drinking solemnly from the tankard that she has been gazing into

[Silkie McDonough]

He chased me to the waterline, lungs heaving,

Arms flapping, but I discovered my coat under

Sharp and heavy rocks. "Don't go," he begged, watching

As the tide turned the unicorn to a narwhal and set her free.

"I am not yours," I replied.

"She was not yours. We are water through your hands.

We are sand in your mouth."

His hand touched mine, and for a moment he was

True. The wind came and blew him away,

A piece of dry paper, ink already fading the

Promises he'd made. And I slipped into my skin,

Went to the sea, felt her embrace,

And dove under again.

V

Sometimes I return to this shore,

Or shores just like it, and imagine I am looking for him.

But I think the wind stole his name,

Or his memory; either one is

Death to his kind.

My name is forever here, never spoken and always asked

My belly is against these stones,

The cold water sliding off my back.

My heart races with the advancing fog; I linger

As another boat is shipwrecked

In the tide.

Silkie finishes with a sigh.

[Silkie McDonough]

Well, enuf o'tet. M'here fer d'cheer.

Where b'd'Callenish Gunner? Man I know yer busy but can ya' take a bit o'time fer a dance wit da lass ya' introduced to d'pub?