[We Interrupt Your Usual RP to Bring You... International Talk Like a Pirate Day!]

[kirktastic]

It was morning on the Enterprise, and it came with the slow creaking of wood deck around him, swelling in the heat of the morning, the sound of waves against the sides of the ship. Definitely a damn good way to wake up.

Even better was waking up between two warm bodies, one pressed to either side of him. On one side was his cabin boy, a young buck with a foolish head but a pleasing face and tongue. On the other, his first mate, a smug, stoic, uptight, ridiculously intelligent bastard who he had finally talked into ...sharing his bed. At least in the physical sense. He'd won the argument that the captain's bed was the most comfortable place on the ship, but anything beyond that was met with a pointed look and a reach for the sword hilt.

It was a damn good life here on the Enterprise.

He was Captain James T. Kirk of the pirate ship Enterprise, the most feared name on the open seas. He ran his crew with a mixture of charm, command, and the point of his sword. He was a good swordsman, a better brawler, and decent with a flint lock.

[OOC: This will be the ONLY pirate thread everyone, no multiple posts on multiple journals! Post just in here for this! Today only!]

Comments

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He lowered his rapier, and his gaze only left the man long enough to locate his flintlock on the shelf by the door. But once they were outside, alone, amongst moist tropical air and dim street lamps (clouds blocked out the moon overhead), Spock rounded on him again, rapier raised for the attack. The calm facade dropped into something more stern. "T'var'eth. ()" The amount of coin in those pockets right now, the quantity he had palmed, would be enough for some fruit, at least.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk held up his hands, offering a lazy grin in return to the man's insult. "Come on now. Fair's fair, we both cheated. We got 'way unscathed. In fact..." His tone changed, all charm and sunshine, "Was wonderin' if ye didn't have other 'rangements, maybe ye'd be lookin' fer employment. Need good hands fer me ship..."

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The essence of brightness inherent to him, especially amongst their surroundings and their company, the dregs of society...it annoyed him more than anything else in this city. He did-and-didn't belong here as much as Spock did, but he seemed much more pleased with the arrangement.

And now he was talking about ships. A captain? It hardly mattered now. He wouldn't accept employment from this free radical of a pirate, for his own sake. "I must refuse." He had been offered similar positions before, and similarly turned them down. "There are other places you can recruit cabin boys for your sailed row boat, and I personally do not enjoy entertaining children in their reveries of grandeur."

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Oh no, he didn't. This stranger did not just only refuse his offer, which would have been fine, but insulted his lady!? All the brightness fled from Kirk's face as it turned into a mask of cold anger.

"Ye'll pay fer the insult to my lady, stranger." The cutlass was in his hand a moment later, feet shifting apart into an easy fighting stance.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

So this young captain had nothing better to do than puff up his chest and defend the honour of his inanimate ship. Very well. He was at a slight disadvantage, working on an empty stomach and the fatigue of a long day, but he hoped that alcohol and sloppy footwork on his opponent's part would make up for it. After all, most pirates learned their skills on the job, technique that could not match the training he had received on Vulcan.

He lunged with the blade.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk growled as the other man jerked forward in a skillful lunge, no doubt hoping to catch him off guard with speed. The rapier was a fast blade, meant for quick work and a stab through the heart - the blade of Vulcans. The cutlass was a beautiful thing in its practicality and brutality, but it was not made for speed.

Luckily, the man wielding it was.

Kirk brought up his own blade swiftly and parried the lunge off to the side, using the strength of the parry to come in straight at the stranger's shoulder in a downward chop.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Most people he tried to kill in this manner were dead by the first lunge through his agility alone; obviously this man did not want to follow precedent.

Once he saw the cutlass coming straight for his shoulder, he used the momentum from the parry to step to the side, just out of the way. Less grace than he would have liked, and with the blade too close for comfort. He quickly shifted his footing back a little, now no longer directly facing the other man. Another lunge, deeper, to go under where he had been parried before.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk hissed as he realized he had underestimated the other's ability for a lunge. Few men could practically do a split in a lunge, getting parallel to the ground and coming upwards under his guard. He let out a grunt of pain as the sharp tip pierced his clothing and sliced through skin, skirting off his ribs as he turned.

Kirk roared and brought his cutlass down as hard as he could on the enemy's blade, using sheer brute force to force the rapier down, then getting into the other's guard and instead of bringing his sword in, twisted his body and came up with a sucker punch aimed for the jaw.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The punch sent him back onto the ground, which was now damp with a faint drizzle that had started up. Pain blossoming along his jaw but ignoring it for the time being, Spock rolled aside and then to his feet, keeping some distance between them now. Wary. He could have been killed in that moment, and Spock wanted to focus on hurting him sufficiently to take the stranger's money rather than be distracted on the question of why that particular move had been avoided.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

The rain would make it harder for them both, but even harder for Spock. A lunge could slip easily and they used fancy footwork that would work less well on slick footing. He circled Spock slowly - fencers were all forward. They wanted to work going forward, though he was no fool. They were fast.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

It rained wherever he went, so he had become used to the conditions as much as he could. But in this still moment of no action, he took in the environment they had stepped into, with uneven cobblestone beneath their feet, puddles beginning to pool along the street, random boxes and burlap sacks aligned along buildings. Obstacles.

He stepped as Kirk stepped, waiting, not allowing him to catch him where he couldn't parry.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

My turn. Kirk slipped in fast, blade coming free arm coming around his stomach as his other arm crossed above it. He used the down swing of his blade to try and hide the draw of his dagger on the other side.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Out of muscle memory, he brought the rapier up in a parry, even as he saw the hand reach across for supposedly another weapon. The cutlass would do more damage in its present form. But he could try to parry it with his own, yes--

A little too late. His own dagger drawn from his right hip, he pushed Kirk's off to the side, but it glanced his side, cutting through his shirt and skin. Spock leapt back, putting distance between them once more as green blood began to spread along the shirt from his wound. Silent, hearing the rain begin to fall harder around them.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Vulcans. Strange people from the north with their thick, green blood that made people whisper prayers of protection and curse them as demons from the deep. He pressed his advantage immediately, his own thin blood staining his shirt and creeping along his side. The pain was ignorable - for now. He just hoped it wasn't too deep. He came swinging in, refusing to give the stranger any refuge.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Kirk rushed far too much swinging the cutlass like that. The true edge of his rapier caught the broad steel, and slid with the grating sound of metal against metal until only the wire hilt of the rapier protected his hand from the cutlass. The same happened with the daggers, clashing together, practically grinding--

And then the rain became a real factor. His footing slipped on the wet stones, cutting down what advantage he had in strength. As Spock attempted to regain his stability and stance, he was forced back. Until he met a wall.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Kirk forced his greater weight against Spock, their bodies almost touching as he forced his arms to press against steel. One slip either one and one of them could be dead...

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Spock shoved back against him, adrenaline and indignity fueling his already superior strength. Getting him away--always needed more distance--and disengaging their blades, he took the opportunity to thrust the rapier forward towards Kirk's chest.

They needed to end this soon, now. He was hungry, tired, wet, and bleeding. Generally not how he wanted to end his evening.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

It took every bit of speed to whip the dagger up and bring the point of the rapier just past him, enough that it sliced his shirt but didn't skin. Kirk growled and jumped back, moving just out beyond a pool of light, standing in almost complete shadow - watching.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The rain was a downpour, now, falling over the port city in a thick sheet, isolating them from the rest of the town, dimming the already faint light from the evening lamps. The rush in his ears had to be more than his own heart pumping.

Spock shifted his stance, took a small step forward, and thrust the the blade once, twice, though less to kill him and more to investigate.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Step. Step. Steps hushed by the down pour as he dodged the thrusts. He circled slowly, determined to get behind the Vulcan or at least to his blind-side. He had every plan in his mind to knock the bastard out and take every thing from him, including that pretty rapier.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He could see and hear him just barely, but sharpening his senses anymore than they were was out of the question. The rain was deafening with distant thunder and light reflected off all the wrong places because of the water, muddling his awareness of the surroundings. His grip tightened on both his weapons as he watched, waited.

He couldn't wait for him forever, though. Neither could he turn around and walk away.

A chance lunge.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

A foolish chance.

Kirk was in there a second later, kicking out Spock's knee even as the cutlass came swinging in and curving around the rapier, pulling it from Spock's hand and sending it to the side.

Within a split second, the end of that cutlass was at Spock's face, its golden haired owner panting, glaring darkly at the man at his feet.

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

From his position, held still on one knee by the blade so close, Spock returned to the glare.

The dagger was still gripped tight in his hand. The man was going to kill him anyway, so what harm was there in one last move? He brought it up to clash with the cutlass, to push it away. If he could get rid of the other dagger somehow, maybe get his hand around that delicate human throat...

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

The movement of the dagger made him twitch and he jerked forward, the edge of the point of the cutlass slashing through Spock's cheek as he keeps moving forward, the tip of his dagger going for Spock's throat. "YIELD!"

Re: Two Sharks and Spilled Blood [Flashback]

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

The slash across his cheek made him inhale sharply, the ice cold pain of the cut emphasized by his defeat. Spock said nothing to his demand, but simply tossed the dagger aside. His gaze dropped to the ground.