calicoat | 🏴‍☠️ IC contact; Duplicity

My...I beg your pardon?

[ He'd liken Vane more to a wolf, personally. ]

Charles Vane.

[She sounds like she's walking and talking, which is because she is. Yes, a latte she says, and comes back to the phone.]

He makes me think of a lion.

[ Well, he's not Jack's, first of all, but that sounds too defensive, too personal. He's home, getting the hang of this modern kitchen business, chopping up vegetables, holding the phone against his shoulder. ]

What do you want to know? He and I worked together for a long time. He captained a ship, I managed the crew. He's a good man, if that's your concern.

He says he considers Billy a friend, and I'd ask Billy first, but I'm gathering a wide variety of takes.

You trust him?

With my life. Without hesitation or conditions. We have bloodied our hands on each others' accounts so many times, I couldn't possibly tell you about all of them.

Why so much interest?

I met him. He's interesting. He told me you're all planning a bigger ship.

He thinks we can sail out of here. You looking for a spot on the crew?

I don't know if that's possible, but I'm not letting you take Billy without me.

[A pause.]

I'm happy to finance, but I don't take orders well.

Neither do I. But, I've seen the man do the impossible before.

...you'd finance the building of a ship, even if you don't believe it would get very far?

I said I don't know, not I don't think.

I like challenging projects.

Oh, I don't doubt that you do.

Do you think Billy would do it? I had the impression he was trying to stay out of trouble, now.

I think Billy will have to make that particular decision.

But I suspect he could be convinced. I'm rather persuasive. So the trick is: persuade me, Mr. Rackham.

I don't think I need to persuade you. You're a smart woman, you and I both know that if there's anything out beyond that water, finding it is in the best interests of each and every sorry fuck that's been kidnapped, displaced, branded, and God knows what else in this place. It shows they can be defied, that their oppressive, degrading sense of order isn't all there could be here.

[ He sounds like he believes it, much more than he truly does. Not the first time he's had to sell something that even he knows is insane. Usually, he ends up convincing himself by the end of it. ]

You brought the idea to me, darling, I think you want to know what's out there as much as I do. If it's possible to find it, you're in with the group most capable of doing so. Strong fighters, skilled tacticians, expert navigators. We've got that, and can recruit the rest. Granted, of course, that the finances are in order.

Edited 2022-01-24 01:08 (UTC)

[She hums a little, but she's not arguing.]

What else are we going to need?

You're not wrong, is what I'm saying.

Have you signed a contract?

I have. Mr. Hickey, he's a caulker, we'll need that.

[ Caulker's mate, but that's no matter. He seems like a man who can rise to a challenge. ]

The bigger the ship, the more we'd need. Raw material to build the thing, the labor to do it. We can sail with just a handful of people, but if anyone gives chase we'll need the manpower to fend them off, and there's always the chance that whatever we find out there is even less friendly than Duplicity. You'd need someone on the main tack, someone on the helm, a doctor, a cook, carpenters.

Too big, I think, and it will be too easy for them to hinder our departure. A sloop should be fine. I don't expect to see any other ships out there, so we wouldn't need the guns or bodies to man them that we might otherwise.

Are you going to let me look at your contract?

Honestly, what people will sign without a lawyer looking at it is baffling to me.

[She hums again. She doesn't know what a caulker is but she can guess from the name.]

So. Something relatively small. I'm looking for land, now, out of the Dominant housing. I was thinking something close to the water. I'll keep an eye on something more remote.

I've read it, it's simple, everything in good order. You're welcome to have a look, though, if you want to.

Remote enough to evade suspicion, but close enough to the water that we can get it there. Might be a difficult ask.

I do.

[She doesn't trust the standard stuff. She likes to have her eyes on it.]

It might be. But I'm determined. I can't live in that monitored housing anymore.

At your convenience, then.

They're monitoring us everywhere, aren't they? If they can tell how many times we get off in a month, there's got to be precious little they don't see.

[ Not that he...has any idea how that works. But there is a convenience to it, being one floor down from Anne and Charles. Dominants aren't to cohabitate, apparently, but sneaking around is easier when under the same roof, anyway. ]

Do you know anyone else, who might support us in this...righteous endeavor?