Vincent kept one eye open on his ship and the other on his rum while overseeing the repairs and remodeling at the cove. The Fellshield didn’t seem to fit theme of his new life and things felt like they needed a change. Of course he would still stand for his morals and such but he would have to change from the man he was back at the Academy. For weeks, his nice clean cut appearance had been etched out, replaced by a more rugged and unkempt look. His hair was longer and messer and his face was lightly stubbled. Hell, if people from Egjora were to look at the once captain of the guard, then they would surely be shocked and appalled.

“So, what’s the new ship’s name?”,  one of the crew members inquired. Vincent downed a shot of rum before giving it some thought. “The Kingfisher” Some of them stop the renovations and started laughing it up but then saw the seldom look across his face as he poured his drink and fell quiet. “Think you could have picked a more…fearsome-soundin’ name?”

“Apparently you don’t know too much about them then…the kingfisher maybe be a small bird, but they hunt, kill, and feed off of a wide variety of prey, typically by dislodging and breaking bones. Spines are a particular favorite to break.” Downing the drink again, he moved over to kill against the side of his ship. “Like a kingfisher, we will hunt down various scum that seek to bring ruin and trouble to others. Think of it as starting a new and let our enemies underestimate us… that will be their mistake in the end.”   

“Make sure to get some black and gold paint for it, and don’t forget to even the coats too.” Everything should be ready by the next day or so and he would have to give his report as soon as possible to Furtuna on it. Speaking of which, he hadn’t seen too much of her lately late they took off from Arri. Everything still felt a bit weird to him after learning about her and her mother and everything. He was unsure what swam through her mind ever since and he wondered how it was going to be the next time they saw each other.
 

She had been hiding out and not really sure of her feelings all that much. With all the drugs and alcohol out of her system now it was hard for her to think. So she had stayed away from Vincent. He had other things to deal with besides her crazy ass anyways. Besides the captain looked like shit after a hard detox. Her head was so light as she drank the stupid potion her mother had mixed for her.

“You should go talk to him. I’ve never seen you actually beat yourself up over someone before. It’s not like he wouldn’t listen to you if you did go to him.” Xeria sat up high and was braiding parts of Furtuna’s hair.

“It ain’t that easy and you know it. It’s complicated.”

“It’s complicated because you make it complicated. He understands what you went through and he took care of you when most would have left you alone. He’s not like the others…” Xeria gave her a playful smile. “Besides from what you told me he is a keeper.”

Furtuna smirked and rolled her eyes. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“I know enough. You need to talk to him.” Xeria made Furtuna groan as she put down the bottle. “You ain’t suppose to drink a lot of alcohol now so you can’t hide the way you feel. See how he feels and if he don’t feel then don’t mess with him anymore. You are old enough to know that.”

Furtuna grumbled a bit and put her head between her legs and Xeria sighed a bit. “Really? I was working on something. What’s really bothering you about it?”

“He’s human. He’s gonna die.” Furtuna’s words made Xeria flinch a bit. “He ain’t like us.”

“So fix it. Yer mom can fix it. Nothing in this world has rules that can’t be broken. Everything can be broken. You prove it all the time. If that’s really stopping you then you are stupid.” Xeria gave a smile. “Furtuna I know isn’t stupid.”

“Fine, I’ll go talk to him.”

“Good, because you hiding here makes you seem weak and pathetic. That isn’t like you.”

“Thanks for the kind words…” Furtuna laughed a bit as she got up and changed out of her pajamas finally and into her regular clothes.

“Lest let me finish what I started dammit Furtuna.” Groaning the pirate captain went back over and let the fairy finish her braiding work.

It didn’t take long for her to take one of her airships and find out where Vincent was. She steadied it next to his and came aboard his ship. “The Kingfisher is a good name.” She had heard just bits and pieces of it being talked about with the crew.

She slinked over to Vincent and coughed a bit. “Furtuna wants to talk to you Vincent before she dares forget.” Xeria was right there behind her.

“GOD DAMNIT. I was getting to that.”

“You were going to avoid it.” Xeria crossed her arms and smirked.

“Fine, I need to talk to you. Can we just… go someplace where the little bitch can’t hear?”

Xeria whistled. “You need new insults Furtuna your age is showing.”

Furtuna made motions at Vincent to get her out of the situation. “Come on now.”

Hell, it was ages since Vincent had last saw her and when he spotted the incoming ship. “Damn”, he muttered to himself as he took another shot from his rum. “Look alive, gentlemen! The captain’s coming!” The crew not only continued their efforts, but double them as Fortuna was coming their way. “Would be glad to offer you some, but you know you can’t have too much of the stuff…anyway it took me nearly forever to come up with another name for the ship. I’m utterly terrible at them to be honest.” His eyes moved from her to Xeria, knowing that whatever she had to speak to him about was something very important. A part of him was sure he knew what she wanted to speak him about but he would let her speak it out instead of playing the guessing game.

“Well put, Xeria. And sure, where you want to go?” Talking things out wasn’t exactly her strong suit; that much he figured out a while ago and he wouldn’t want her to deal with any other stressors, especially Xeria and his crew. He thought for a few moments while Furtuna and Xeria continued with their banter and dismissed his crew, telling them to go on break for a while. “Come on, we can speak in my quarters.” He lead her down to his room and shut the door before heading over to his private collection and brought up a pair of glasses. “Don’t know if you can’t completely be sober or not, but a drink can’t really hurt all that much… “

He flashed a ghost of a smile as he poured some of the whiskey he got from Arri into the glasses and handed her one if she wanted it. “So what’s going on? Haven’t seen you around in days.” He downed his rum and leaned against the bar. “Was afraid you were hiding from me or something.” His tone was joking about it but his eyes did little to mask the truth that he was sure she was doing just that.

“Name is good. I actually didn’t name Sacab my father did. He told me it was the name he had for me if Furtuna wasn’t a good fit. I’m terrible at names.” She pointed to her ship. “The name of that ship translates to Sapphire Rose. I got it the year my sister Sapphire Rose was born so I named it after her. We all are terrible at names.”

She was going to answer before the banter but got distracted. Soon she came over to him and nodded. “That works for me, Vincent.” She walked around the room. “Haven’t been in here since we first met.” She smirked at him and went over to take the glass of whiskey.

Her fingers tapped on the glass. “I…” She looked away from him. “Was hiding from you…” She took to a chair and took a heavy drink of her whiskey before closing her eyes. “What do you think of me, Vincent?”

There was no point in attempting to hide it. “We’re not exactly on the fuck and go type of relationship… Ever since Arri, it has been bothering me. Especially since I can’t drink and I can’t smoke to hide from things. So I want to know what the hell we’re trying to achieve.” She guessed she was saying she had feelings for him without saying it. It hurt a bit being that honest with someone and the unpleasantness was on her face.

At least he felt comfortable that he wasn’t the only one that struggled with names. It was something they could at least share and it eased the tension. But the pleasantries aside, they would have to discuss whatever it was that was obviously bothering her and on some level, him as well. “Yeah, been remodeling it ever since I joined up. Most of it is still the same, but I’m getting a few additions onto it. The bar’s the latest. Besides, I want it to have more of a pirate-y feel.”

He paced around, seeing where he could swing the conversation when Furtuna spoke up. The captain stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. “Well, a part of me knew that. I take it our trip to Sularia got you thinking about a lot lately?” He went back to refill her glass. Her question left him quiet for a bit; Vincent had to search for a honest answer to tell her. His own feelings had been trippy when it came down to her, but there was no denying what her mother had sensed. Though he wouldn’t have been as vulgar as she had been.

“I think you have a past and it haunts you so.” Taking a deep breath, he drew closer to her and down his drink. “You are vulnerable and you try to hide it the best you can. But it made you’re a strong and nigh fearless woman that would rather charge into a fight for no reason than to let someone inside and know your feelings.”

Vincent joined right beside her and scratched the back of his head. She was a wild spirit but he knew that deep down she wanted something stable but was afraid of it. He was the only one that she allowed to know so much of her that wasn’t her mother or Xeria. That had meant something to her, at least he thought so. “Oh? I’m thought that was exactly the sort of relationship we…” Vincent stopped midway and grew more serious; now wasn’t the time to play around with this. He couldn’t pretend that there wasn’t anything going on besides the time they spent in her chamber. “What is it that you want, Fortuna? You got me as one of your captains, have partial ownership of my ship and my crew.” He paused and paced around, hands on his hips as his mind contemplated what to do. An awkward silence lingered for but a moment before he couldn’t take it anymore. “What if what I want is simply…you? I’m talking about you as just someone to warm my bed at night…what if I want more than that?” He gave her little time to consider it as he moved quickly over to her and pressed his lips against hers. He had been wanting to do that for a long time now, ever since Arri. The kiss was tender and soft but he pulled away before it lingered too long and he went back to retrieve his rum. “It’s not a hard choice for me, not now. I’ve been struggling and thinking about for a while now. In the end, I don’t care if you just want to bed me and leave it at that. But I will be honest with you and thought the truth would be best. I’m not going to force you into anything you don’t want to, Fortuna.” 

“You certainly look more pirate-y. I like it. Scruffy look sort of suits your personality.”

She nodded a bit to him when he asked her about how her thinking process worked. She didn’t really need to answer it now. Things moved on and he came closer to her. “I’m not afraid of the things that can touch me or physically hurt me. It’s the things I can’t see or stop.” Furtuna let him in just a bit more. “The shit that shields and walls can’t stop. Your own head or love.”

She grew quieter as he went to joke and gave him a smile when he stopped and got serious. It was just like him to be serious in this way from the moment she had met him.

The genasi was going to answer him but when he got close to her she froze up and kissed him back. It was the softest kiss she had ever had. Not that she gave others much choice on the matter before. She offered him a smile and struggled with her feelings though him speaking first helped her a lot.

“I just want you, Vincent. All of you. You’ve taken care of me and shown me something that I’ve never quite gotten before. Everyone has always run off when the nightmares started and I just started to throw people out… You stayed though and then you took me to see my mom and you helped me there too.”

Getting up from her chair she kissed him softly and smiled. “You are what I want… I mean if that’s what you want to then I don’t know where to go from here. I wasn’t expecting you to want someone like me. Not after all the tormenting, I did to you.” She put her forehead against his. "You can have me all to yourself if you think you can handle it."

She was afraid to let another person in, that much was certain. He had been around her enough to know that and he knew that if anything, it was the intangible things that she couldn’t handle. Not that he could blame her for it. It was a difficult thing to deal with especially when it’s like you have no control over those sort of things. “It’s hard, but not impossible. That same strength and courage you have, they can get you through it. I know you well enough to see that.”

Things got heavy and serious between them; the joking and the small talk ceased as they kissed. It wasn’t the other times when it was rough and lustful. No, this time there was feeling put into it from not only his part, but hers as well. He felt it as plain as day as she returned it. Hearing that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her made his heart stop. Vincent felt his cheek flushed as he listened to her. “I wanted to make sure you were alright. I wasn’t going to leave you in that state, even if you threw me out.” That was certainly the truth that rang from his voice- he wasn’t the sort of man to leave someone in the state she was in. That much she could see and it made her see him in a different light.

Furtuna moved over to him and kissed him again. His hands fell onto her; they first came onto the side of her face and pulled her closer to him and then moved down to her hips. His fingers danced around her form and he smiled. “A little bit of torture here and then never hurt. I just thought of it as you liking me, even back then. Then again, I mostly thought you were just screwing with me.” One arm circled to her back and he pulled her against him with some force. He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck. “Can I handle the great pirate queen? Well, I can see if I can try” His smile grew wider as he continued to kiss up her neck and onto her lips, this time a more lingering and deeper kiss.

Their heated moment was so nice that it made her forget that she had been so scared to even tell him about it. “You are a good man Vincent. Someone will truly be lucky to be your wife someday.” She joked with him for a few moments before they began to kiss again.

Furtuna wrapped her arms around his shoulders as his fingers moved around her. “Remind me to remember to torture you now and again since its so good for you.” A laugh left her lips as she grunted when she came against him. She tilted the side of her head to let him onto her neck easier. “Well if you are going to be with the Great Pirate Queen that makes you her king. Soo…” She kissed him back just as deep.

“So show her what her king can do.” She moved her hands to his shirt and began to kiss his neck and feel the skin of his chest beneath her fingertips. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come and see you… I missed you.”

In-between kisses, Vincent smirked a bit. “I guess. Don’t think too many women would put up with this lifestyle. Not too many that I could see myself with, aside from the one right here with me.” He didn’t want to rush things with her just as they were getting closer now. There was no point in masking how they felt about each other, not that they were thinking about that. He was too wrapped up in holding and caressing her, too caught up in kissing her skin and lips.

The warmth of her body against him put his mind into a blissful haze as they embraced. There was a lot of pent-up feelings being unleashed now. It wasn’t about lust, there was more so desire that seeped in them. “Pirate King? Well that’s something new I’ve been called…” His words were cut off and drowned as they got more intense. “Very well…my queen”, he managed to slip out before he picked her up by her thighs and held onto her tightly as he moved them over to the bed. Vincent lowered her onto it with him on top of her, his lips gracing the top of her chest. “Missed you too. Let’s not waste time regretting the time wasted…” He moved up just enough to create some distance as he took off his shirt and descend back down to her. His hands slipped beneath her shirt, caressing her smooth skin as they traveled up to her breasts and roughly grasped them. He kissed her passionately and fiercely before lifting her enough to expose her chest and smirked.

“Damn piercings are my weakness.” He moved over to lick at her nipples nice and slowly, constantly shifting from one to the another before he took one of the piercings with his teeth and tauntingly pulled a bit at them while his tongue continued its work.

Her blue cheeks flushed with red as he spoke. “Aye, just like I don’t think there are many men who could deal with me besides the one here with me right now.” There wasn’t a need to rush but his humanity scared her. How fragile he was. How he would age and die with a drop of sand. She knew her heart would hurt from that.

“Oh, I do like being your queen.” She chuckled as he picked her up. Her legs went around his as she held onto him around his neck. Tilting her head as he laid them on the bed she nodded. There was no point in regretting her not being there with him. It only stole time away from them and she was already so fearful of blinking.

Her green eyes studied him as he leaned away and got rid of the shirt she had been playing with. He was so nimble as she wiggled under him as he slipped up under her shirt. Gasping she wiggled more and laughed as he kissed her and got her shirt up expertly.

“Are they now? I thought I was a little rebellious when I got them.” She about jumped and moaned as he tugged on her ring. He certainly did know what to do with them that much was for sure. She let a low growl leave her lips as she tugged at him to leave her ring alone she expected a fight from him but got him on his back either way. Fight or no fight it was going to happen as she straddled his waist and smirked down at him.

“You know for a once virtuous captain something tells me you have always sort of being the naughty type… Eh?” She took his hands and pressed them to her breasts. “You know a bit much about how to play with me for someone with that much honor.” She was teasing him now like back when they meant. Her hips slowly rocked on his to tease. She could feel him even through her own pants so she wondered just how much he could as well.

She ran his hands down the sides of her before leaning down and picking back up where their last kiss had left off. Trailing her lips from his to his neck she suckled for a few moments before running her hands down his chest and the rest of her following suit. She left little suckle marks over his chest and stomach before sitting up and moving her rear so she could undo his belt and pants. She didn’t so much take it off as she did push it down.

Giving gently pinches along his sides and stomach she took him into her mouth to repay him for the kindness he had been showing her. Sure their relationship was unconventional and weird at times but he was a good man. She let him know just how much by giving him and his all the attention he could want. Her tongue trailed down him and she applied gentle kisses after a bit before crawling back up him and kissing his neck fiercely. “Rewards are earned after all…” She whispered in his ear before biting it playfully.