Assassin of the Black Flag(open)

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

By the time she had hidden her ring, it was too late. Samuel had seen the ring and had refused to shake her hand as a result. His face was hard and when the Templar spoke to him in such a way, he shoved his boot hard into Dosset's stomach. "Silence dog," he snarled hotly, turning his cold hard gaze to Elizabeth. "And you. The Creed prevents me from killing you, as you have done no wrong. But know that you will never have my trust until you prove to me that you are not a Templar, as that ring tells." His eyes narrowed harder at the woman. This was why he never returned to his bureau.

He knew there were Assassins with mixed ties. His own brother had been born an Assassin and yet had chosen the Templars. He looked to the Templar prisoner and he waved a hand. "Take him back below deck. My superior wants him alive. But keep him sedated. I don't want another racket from him." The crew nodded and scurried to carry out their Captain's orders.

A fire burned inside of Elizabeth when she saw the assassin kick Dosset with such force that the templar's skin broke. The fact that the assassin had called Dosset a dog did nothing but fuel the rage inside of her. The way Samuel treated Dosset reminded Elizabeth of how she was treated by the assassins at Tulum. When Ah Tabai was gone, the assassins took to tearing off her robes and flogging her mercilessly.

"And you. The Creed prevents me from killing you, as you have done no wrong. But know that you will never have my trust until you prove to me that you are not a Templar, as that ring tells" Samuel snarled as his eyes narrowed harder at Elizabeth. His words cut through her like a knife. Elizabeth was used to the harsh words that the assassins often threw at her but the pain never got any easier. She never asked to be born to a templar, at times she wished she had never been born at all. Elizabeth clenched her fists, her white knuckles signified that she had finally had enough. She tried to remain calm, she tried to quell the pure rage growing inside of her, but she could not hold back any longer.

"You are all the same! Prancing around as if you own the world, acting as judge and executioner. I wear my father's ring because it's the only thing I have to my name! Yes I bare the templar cross, but I bare the creed's emblem too, together as one! It is my way of honouring my parents who died at the hands of the Grand Master of the templar order, Governor Loreano Torres! My father freed the slaves he was tasked with trading during his time in the order, he left the templars to marry my mother, an assassin" Elizabeth shouted as she glared at the assassin. Elizabeth removed her belt and her robes, she had a white cloth tightly wound around her chest so the men were not able to see her breasts. The fair skin on Elizabeth's back was so marred with scars from the floggings she had received at the hands of the assassins, her tattoo could barely be seen. There were fresh wounds too, three days old by the looks of it, and they were still bleeding.

"This is all the assassins have ever given me, yet I still remain loyal. I fought for years for an inkling of respect or, at the very lest, some trust. Even after I was granted the title of "Master Assassin" by Ah Tabai himself, I was still treated like the scum of the earth. The templars have a saying: "May the father of understanding guide us." I believe it is a saying that we, as assassins, should come to acknowledge. You all fail to understand me, I did not choose to be born to a templar. The assassins do not understand that their ridicule towards me may one day drive me into the arms of the templars! However, I will never leave the brotherhood nor betray them." Elizabeth put her robes back on and slid her father's ring back onto her finger, next to her master assassin's ring.

"You said you needed to take Dosset back to your superior, alive. Judging by his wounds, that is something that will not happen" Elizabeth said as she looked at the templar with concern, "I will tend to his wounds, so that you will not fail your mission. When I return, you may fight me to test my mettle and my allegiance to the brotherhood. If I loose, then you and the other assassins will get your wish, you will no longer have to deal with the demon spawn of a templar and an assassin. You'll also get to brag about how you killed a master assassin." Elizabeth shouted to her quartermaster to bring her her medicine chest.
"I will be finished in an hour" Elizabeth snarled coldly.

"When will they learn that I am not the threat I appear to be? For once I would like to meet another assassin who will see me as a sister of the brotherhood, not as a templar" Elizabeth thought to herself as she rummaged through her medicine chest.
"I wish we had met under better circumstances, Dante. Do not worry, friend, I will have you fixed up as soon as possible" Elizabeth whispered softly to the templar. A smile crept onto her face, "Fancy that, a templar showing more kindness to his enemy than an assassin shows to his ally."

"Thank you, friend" Her voice resonated through Dosset's ears like a stroke of serendipity. She made him feel so calm even when death was staring right at his face. "I guess it's true, moments of beauty sustain us through hours of ugliness." Dosset thought to himself, his eyes fixated on Elizabeth who was kneeling right beside him. He wished that they had met under different circumstances, that they had met without the ways of the Creed or the rules of the Order restricting them. But reality is hard and flat and unjust, so it's better to adjust to what really is than to complain that it isn't what you wished for.

THWACK!

Dosset felt a surge of pain rushing through him. The male Assassin had kicked him directly at his stomach, tearing a part of his skin and preventing him from breathing properly. "Silence, dog." the Assassin snarled vehemently before turning his gaze at Elizabeth. "And you. The Creed prevents me from killing you, as you have done no wrong. But know that you will never have my trust until you prove to me that you are not a Templar, as that ring tells." She could barely take it all in, her hands were already cuffed in a fist of rage. Dosset couldn't do anything to stop her, he was still in pain from the kick before.

"You assassins are all the same! Prancing around as if you own the world, acting as judge and executioner. I wear my father's ring because it's the only thing I have to my name! Yes I bare the templar cross, but I bare the creed's emblem too, together as one! It is my way of honouring my parents who died at the hands of the Grand Master of the templar order, Governor Loreano Torres! My father freed the slaves he was tasked with trading during his time in the order, he left the templars to marry my mother, an assassin" Elizabeth bellowed at the male Assassin before proceeding to take off her clothes. Her breasts were concealed by a white cloth, but her fresh wounds were as clear as day. "What vile beings had done this to her?" Dosset quietly asked himself, his pain slowly waning into a hint of anger.

"This is all the assassins have ever given me, yet I still remain loyal. I fought for years for an inkling of respect or, at the very lest, some trust. Even after I was granted the title of "Master Assassin" by Ah Tabai himself, I was still treated like the scum of the earth. The templars have a saying: "May the father of understanding guide us." I believe it is a saying that we, as assassins, should come to acknowledge. You all fail to understand me, I did not choose to be born to a templar. The assassins do not understand that their ridicule towards me may one day drive me into the arms of the templars! However, I will never leave the brotherhood nor betray them." Her own Creed had tortured her for being the daughter of a Templar. Dossen't couldn't help but question the Creed's ideals in his mind because of this. "If they truly believe in freedom, if they truly believe in the decisions that we make, then why couldn't they understand the path that she had chosen? She was born a Templar, but she had chosen to be an Assasin and shouldn't that be enough of an excuse to trust her?" If the answer is no then the Assassins were truly misguided.

Elizabeth had put her clothes back on, she had decided not to hide her ring anymore and slid it right back on to her finger. "You said you needed to take Dosset back to your master, alive. Judging by his wounds, that is something that will not happen" she said as he looked at him with a pure concern. Dosset had never met an Assassin like her, she still had traits that made her seem human, not a natural born Assassin who kills because she must. "I will tend to his wounds, so that you will not fail your mission. When I return, you may fight me to test my mettle and my allegiance to the brotherhood. If I loose, then you and the other assassins will get your wish, you will no longer have to deal with the demon spawn of a templar and an assassin. You'll also get to brag about how you killed a master assassin."  

After the brief banter between her and the male Assassin, she called out the quartermaster to bring her the medicine chest. Dosset examined her face as she was rummaging through it. Her expression showed that something was troubling her. "I wish we had met under better circumstances, Dante. Do not worry, friend, I will have you fixed up as soon as possible" Elizabeth whispered to him with a tender voice. he can see a smile creeping onto her face, a smile that could change someone's whole life around. Dosset knows that if he moved he might risk making his wound bigger, but he forced himself to sit up straight and put a hand on her shoulder. He wanted to let her know that there's still some hope left to be found in this world.

"I'm just glad that we met at all. Hey, I'm sorry about those wounds of yours. I wish I can take care of them just like what you're about to do with mine. Elizabeth, I can see your pain. To some extent, I even understand your pain. I am just sorry that I can't feel your pain. But you should always remember that God gives simpler problems to lesser people. Now I believe that you can handle anything that life throws at you, but it doesn't mean that you have to do it alone. You don't have to always stay in the shadows, because tell me, how can one love the light and live in darkness? If you ever need help, I'm here for you. Not as a Templar, but as a fellow human being”

"I'm just glad that we met at all. Hey, I'm sorry about those wounds of yours. I wish I can take care of them just like what you're about to do with mine. Elizabeth, I can see your pain. To some extent, I even understand your pain. I am just sorry that I can't feel your pain. But you should always remember that God gives simpler problems to lesser people. Now I believe that you can handle anything that life throws at you, but it doesn't mean that you have to do it alone. You don't have to always stay in the shadows, because tell me, how can one love the light and live in darkness? If you ever need help, I'm here for you. Not as a Templar, but as a fellow human being." A sense of joy washed over Elizabeth, very few people had ever spoken kindly to her. Ah Tabai, Mary Read, and the pirates were the only people who accepted her. Of course, the pirates didn't care for assassins and templars, only their rum and freedom.

His faith in her was kind, but with a heart as dark as hers, it was misplaced.
"Don't be sorry, Dante, my pain is something I have come to accept. My wounds will heal in time, just like all wounds do" Elizabeth said with a smile as she found the vials she was looking for as well as a needle and thread, "This is going to sting, badly." Elizabeth poured some rum over the tear in Dosset's skin before she began to stitch up the wound. "I love the darkness, that is why I live in it. In the darkness, people think there is no reason to hide, so they take off their masks and reveal who they really are" she explained as she emptied the contents of the vials onto a swatch of cloth and gently placed the fabric on Dosset's wound. Elizabeth moved her head close to the templar's ear as she wound a bandage around his torso, "Should I fall today, and if you ever manage to escape again, find Hornigold" Elizabeth whispered before she drank the contents of a vial and turned away to close the chest.

Elizabeth made sure she spoke loud enough for the assassins to hear, "I will never need your help, even if you claim to offer it as a fellow human being." Elizabeth ordered her crew to return to the Tiger Shark, the quartermaster collected the chest before he raced off with the rest of the men. Elizabeth stood up and turned to face the assassins, "I will fight for my honour, even if it leads to my death" she growled as she released her twin boarding axes from their holsters. "Do you still wish to fight me" Elizabeth asked coldly as she glared at "Snakefang".

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

What she was saying had enraged him enough to recock his pistol. "You speak of pain," he rumbled, his voice fighting hard to keep sadness at bay. "But you do not know the pain of a sibling. My brother left for the Templars and he was born an Assassin. That is pain. That's why I don't trust you." He turned around and shot a round. It struck a barrel and sent water flying.

He was truly annoyed and frustrated. "The Templars took everything from me," he continued. "My parents, my brother...my honor! They're the reason I never go back to my bureau. They're infesting it like rats on a ship." He turned around. "So don't lecture me on pain."

Elizabeth tightened her grip on her boarding axes when the assassin cocked his pistol, she could hear the crack of pain in the assassin's voice when he spoke, "You speak of pain." Intrigued by what the assassin had to say, Elizabeth delayed her attack. "But you do not know the pain of a sibling. My brother left for the Templars and he was born an Assassin. That is pain. That's why I don't trust you." Elizabeth watched as the assassin turned around and fired a shot at a nearby barrel sending its contents flying across the deck. Alerted by the gunshot and realising the danger their captain's life was in, Elizabeth's men lined the larboard side of the Tiger Shark, their weapons hidden from the assassin's sight.
"Hornigold, Thatch, Vane, I could really use your help right now. Hell, I'd even take Kenway's help if he were here" Elizabeth thought to herself as she looked out onto the ocean with pleading eyes.
"The Templars took everything from me. My parents, my brother...my honor! They're the reason I never go back to my bureau. They're infesting it like rats on a ship" Donnelly said, clearly frustrated.
"So they took everything from him too? At least he was accepted by the assassins" Elizabeth thought to herself. She looked at her crew and nodded her head, they lowered their weapons and headed below deck.
"So don't lecture me on pain" Donnelly said as he turned around. Elizabeth didn't know what to do so she returned one of her boarding axes back to its holster and put her now free hand into her pocket.
"I did not mean to offend you, Samuel, I was merely answering Dante. You are right, I do not know the pain of a sibling, but I do know the pain of innocent child. I understand how you feel, I know what it is like to have your life destroyed by templars. I was only seven when Torres killed my family, I was forced to live on the streets because of him. You have no idea what it is like for a young girl to live on the streets of Nassau, having to fight off drunken men wishing to do sordid things to you. They never had their way with me but it was traumatising none the less.
I mean no offence and I understand that the memory of your brother's betrayal pains you, but he chose to join the templars, I did not. I was born of both templar and assassin blood, but I chose to join the assassins. I could have joined the templars, but Torres would have killed me as soon as saw me. You were accepted, I wasn't. If anything, I should be having this argument with Dante, not you."
Elizabeth looked at the pistol held tightly in Donnelly's hand, "Look, if we are going to fight, let us do it fairly. No axes, guns, or swords. Only the blades and daggers, of course punching and kicking would be allowed too."

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

He shook his head. "I was born to the Assassins," he returned. "Born, not accepted." He growled and let his pistol drop to the dock, along with his sword. "You're a sister," he added softly. "A sister who knows what it's like for the Templars to destroy something you love." He looked to Dosset and growled. "One thing you have to be sure of is to never trust a Templar!" He waved a hand for the Templar to be taken below deck. "Prepare to move out."

He looked to Elizabeth and dipped his head. "You may come along. This place we're going to isn't my bureau. I've long since abandoned that place."

"I was born to the Assassins. Born, not accepted" Donnelly said as he dropped his weapons. "You're a sister. A sister who knows what it's like for the Templars to destroy something you love" the assassin said softly before he glared at Dosset "One thing you have to be sure of is to never trust a Templar!"
Elizabeth was lost in the assassin's words, "You're a sister". Donnelly's words almost seemed foreign to her.
"Have I finally earned the trust of a peer, a brother" Elizabeth mused as she watched Donnelly send Dosset below deck.
"Prepare to move out" Donnelly said to his crew.
Elizabeth was confused when Donnelly looked at her and dipped his head, "You may come along. This place we're going to isn't my bureau. I've long since abandoned that place."
"Very well, I will fetch some supplies and sail with you on the Soul Wave. If any of your men are injured, I will tend to their wounds. I will also watch over the templar to ensure he does not escape again, this way, you may carry on with your business as usual. Just allow me a few minutes to make the necessary arrangements with my crew."

"Should I fall today, and if you ever manage to escape again, find Hornigold"

The name Benjamin Hornigold wasn't a stranger to Dosset's ears. He once helped him dispatched a group of pirates who refused to take the King's pardon near the coast of Belize. They sank twenty two pirate ships within three days before their own ship got wrecked in the Bay of Honduras by an unforeseen watersprout. It took the Royal Navy a couple of weeks to finally found them. People still doubt on what had truly happened that day, some still asks how they managed to survive for that long. The answer was simple, it was all about managing a parade of overlapping disasters. Survival is a necessity and necessity is the mother of invention. They were creative, that's why they survived. If Elizabeth knew about Hornigold, then she knows more about the Order than he had thought.

Elizabeth drank the content of the vials she had used to treat Dosset's wounds before turning away to close the chest. He can feel his pain slowly easing away as time lingered on. Whatever it was inside those vials, it was very effective. "I will never need your help, even if you claim to offer it as a fellow human being." She said loud enough for the other Assassins to hear, showing them an expression of sheer determination. Dosset didn't understand her unwilting loyalty to the Creed. After all that they had done to her, it just didn't make any sense to him. But her personal choices were none of his business, she had made her decision and he should respect it innately.

Elizabeth stood up and turned around to face the Assassins, "I will fight for my honour, even if it leads to my death" she growled, releasing her twin boarding axes from their holsters. "Do you still wish to fight me" Elizabeth asked coldly as she glared at the Assassin. Her words had seem to struck a nerve on the opponent. He's beginning to rant about how his brother had betrayed him to join the Order and how it had left him with nothing but pain and moments of sadness. Dosset saw a fraction of who he once was in the Assassin. He once genuinely believed that only the loss of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause. But he was wrong.

Dosset had realized that the feud between Templars and Assassins were nothing but a waste of time. Both sides crave for peace but in their wake lay only remains of war and destruction. Truth is, Dosset had also walked on the path of revenge. The Assassins had killed his parents and that had motivated him to join the Templars. He dedicated most of his life to finding the men responsible for the murder. Then once he had finally killed them, it brought him no consolation. Dosset found out that they were only aiming for the Piece of Eden that his parents were guarding, they never meant to kill them. However, something had happened the night of the incident. The Piece of Eden was activated. It sent the Assassins and both of his parents into a state of bloodrage which stopped only after his parents let the Assassins kill them on purpose as an act of sacrifice. The Piece of Eden, as it turned out, could only be deactivated by draining a person's blood. That's why they called it ''The Bloodseeker". From that very moment, he found a new motivation. He wanted to save the human race by warning them about the dangers of the Pieces of Eden and that they would all be better left off undisturbed or destroyed.

"The Templars took everything from me, my parents, my brother...my honor! They're the reason I never go back to my bureau. They're infesting it like rats on a ship. So don't lecture me on pain." the Assassin blustered on. The two Assassins conversed about their past and found something in common. They had both lost everything. Dosset can relate to them. Truly, he can. But he was all too familiar with the feeling. Familiar to the point that sometime visions of the past came to haunt him, like he's reliving the nightmarish moment all over again. The death of his parents, the death of his wife, the death of himself. Dosset had tried to surpress those horrid visions of his, but they just keep on coming back, and perhaps they will forever be.

"One thing you have to be sure of is to never trust a Templar!" the Assassin growled. He had ordered his crew to take Dosset back below deck. "A prisoner once more." he thought to himself as two of the Assassin's men approached him and urged him forward with their steel swords. Ironic really. The Assassin had told Elizabeth to never trust a Templar when he himself didn't trust her when she had offered her help. Labile prick. As Dosset was about to descend back into his prison, he decided to stop and give the male Assassin a few words for him to think about. "Oh I see now. There's some twat sitting somewhere with a pair of scales is there? Measuring good and evil in ounces or a cross branded in my ring? That's your problem mate. The whole bloody lot of you just wander about like a pack of wankers, seeing everything in black and white." he gibed before continuing his descent in silence. He had nothing more to say to him.

Elizabeth didn't wait for a reply from Donnelly as she had already returned to her brig, the Tiger Shark.
"Johnson!"
"Aye, captain" the quartermaster asked as he joined his captain on the deck.
"I will be sailing with an acquaintance on the Soul Wave so I'll need you to look after the Tiger Shark for me. You'll be following us to port."
"Are you sure, captain? The captain of the Soul Wave did not seem to take kindly to you."
"Aye, Johnson, I'll be fine" Elizabeth said before she headed to her quarters.

Elizabeth closed the doors behind her and headed to her chest, it was the same chest she took with her when she sailed with other captains. She opened her chest and unpacked it to make sure that she had everything she needed.
"Let's see what we have here, spare robe, box of darts, powder, shot, medicine box, rum and... Strange, this isn't mine" Elizabeth thought to herself as she pulled a brown parcel with an attached letter from the depths of the chest. Elizabeth opened the letter and she began to read the familiar handwriting:

"My dearest Elizabeth,
Something to keep you warm on those cold nights, when you are away.
There's something hidden in the pocket for those days when life becomes too difficult, sorry it's not the Spanish stuff.
I'll see you soon.
- H"

Elizabeth let out a small smile before she closed the letter and put it in her pocket. She opened the package and examined the familiar blue coat and sure enough, there was something in the pocket, a case of Jamaican Funk. Elizabeth checked the contents of the medicine chest, this one much larger than the first. She examined the vials, Belladonna, Skullcap, Yarrow, and everything in between, they were all there. There were three large unlabelled bottles, one of the bottles contained the same pale elixir that Elizabeth had drunk from a vial earlier. She was sure to not confuse her elixir with the medicine she had applied to Dosset's dressing. The effects of the elixir still lingered, by her calculations, the effects would not wear off for another six hours. Elizabeth returned all her herbs, oils, potions and tinctures to the medicine chest and hid the coat at the bottom of the chest before she returned everything to their original positions. Elizabeth picked up the large chest, propped it on her shoulder, and grabbed a bottle of rum before she left her quarters.

"Stay close, Johnson, and look after the Tiger Shark for me."
"Aye, captain. She's my home, I can promise you that no harm will come to her under my watch."
"Good," Elizabeth said as she took a swig of her rum, "I'll see you as soon as we reach port, wherever that is."
"For your privacy" Johnson said as he put a sheet of canvas on top of the chest, "We don't want any dogs to watch you while you sleep."
Elizabeth looked at her quartermaster and smiled before she headed back to the Soul Wave.
"Be careful, captain" Johnson shouted after his captain.

The assassin was still standing on the deck, he seemed to be in the process of sharpening his sword.
"I will be staying in the cells if you need me. I may trust you, but I don't trust your men. I'm sure you will understand my decision, and respect my wishes" Elizabeth told the assassin as she headed below deck. Whether Donnelly liked it or not, Elizabeth had made her choice.

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

He watched her go before shoving his sword back into its sheath. "Jackson," he called, turning to the Quartemaster. Jackson dipped his head to his Captain. "Aye,"
"Tonight," Sam began. "I want a patrol below deck."
"I thought you found someone to trust from your Brotherhood Captain," Samuel nodded slowly, dropping his voice. "It's the Templar I don't trust," he admitted and took a breath. "I don't want no harm coming to my Sister Assassin."

"Understood sir," Samuel nodded and began to assess their wares. They had a few ocelot pelts, some iguana skins and too few slabs of meat to trade with. "Jackson,"
"Aye,"
"How far are we from the nearest hunt spot,"
"Ocean hunting Captain," asked Jackson. "Or I land hunting?"
"Whichever is closer," responded the Captain. Jackson remained silent for a while before he answered. "Harpooning hunting just several notches to the west, Captain,"
"Then we're going hunting," grinned Samuel as he pushed into his cabin to change. "You heard him you dogs," called Jackson. "We're going hunting!" Samuel grinned as the crew gave an excited yell.

Calmly, Samuel began to change, unbundling the familiar belt from around his waist and laying it carefully on his bed. Then he worked on his hidden blades, laying them aside only after he had buckled them. He kicked off his boot before he undid his robe, carefully arranging it on the manacin(can't spell real well with that) that sat beside his bed against the wall. He smiled in pride when he saw it and fixed a few things before he made sure his hunting trunks were on good. Then he slid on leather boots, not the ones that went with his outfit, but ones that would ensure he wouldn't slip out of the boat. Only after he was ready did he make his way onto the deck. "We've arrived captain," called Jackson. Samuel nodded and looked off the starboard side, a grin spreading on his face as the fin of a large shark surfaced. "Its a great white boys," he called, excitement rising. "Ready the boat!! It's hunting time!"

"Strange, we seem to have stopped" Elizabeth thought, "Better go see what's happening." Elizabeth checked Dosset's chains and quickly ran topside.
"Why have we stopped" Elizabeth asked one of the men.
"Captain's doing some hunting."
"So he's decided to take on the white death" Elizabeth laughed. Samuel seemed to be doing a good job of taking on the great white, his aim was true and the shark was starting to turn the water red, so Elizabeth headed back to the cells.

"My god this is going to be a long voyage" Elizabeth moaned as she returned to her cell. Stuck on ideas for what to do so she would not go insane from boredom, Elizabeth decided to hang the canvas from the bars.

"It's not entertaining, but it's something to do. At least I'll have some privacy after, so there's that." It didn't take long for her to hang the canvas and secure it tightly with rope. "And now I'm back to square one. Now what?" Elizabeth sat on her chest and sipped at her rum. She wondered where Vane and the others were, and she laughed, she couldn't help but think of how Rackham was probably tormenting Vane with his drunken shenanigans. Rackham was a lively man, the kind of man who always left you in a fit of laughter which ended in an aching stomach.

While reminiscing was good fun, it could only cure her boredom for so long, so Elizabeth took out a small leather cord and began to tie a chain sinnet. When that was done, she pulled the working end of the cord and started from scratch. She repeated this for what seemed like an eternity to her, she almost felt like she was about to fall asleep. Elizabeth grabbed the key for her cell and locked herself in.
"I know it's the middle of the day, but the canvas is up and I am far too tired to care" Elizabeth thought to herself as she opened her chest and pulled out the blue coat. She gently folded the coat, one could even say she folded it lovingly, before she put it on the floor. Elizabeth drew her hood and rested her head on the coat, it wasn't a pillow but it was close enough.

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

He gave an excited yell when the last harpoon struck its mark and the great white slowed until it was floating in the water, dead. "Haul it in boys," he called as Jackson tossed him a rope. Sam grabbed it and tied it around the shark's fin. "Pull it up!" Every man on board yelled excitedly as they pulled the shark on board. "It's a monster this one," cried one man in delight as their captain pulled himself on board. "This ought to give us meat to trade," he observed, his eyes now scanning the damaged ship. "Now we need some things to patch this old girl up."
"Nearest island is just up ahead captain," informed Jackson. Samuel nodded and returned to his cabin to dry off.

He returned later, fully clothed and fixing his hidden blades. He took a deep breath of sea air and smiled as his crew broke into song.

"If they're going to keep throwing me into this same bloody cell, the least they could do is put my name on it." Dosset thought as he touched the wooden surface of his prison cell wall and let his fingertips drift over the roughness he found there. Nothing too ostentatious, he amended, just a simple plaque. In gold, perhaps. 'Dante Lewis Dosset was here -- again.'

He hadn't mean to participate in this voyage into the unknown, truly. Dosset had much more important matters to attend to. He was supposed to meet another Templar by the name of Jing Lang on the Cayman Islands the day the Assassin attacked his ship. They were tasked to pilfer a few items from a pirate convoy that would fetch a lot of money in resale, which will then be used as anonymous fundings for the Royal Navy. With a small finder's fee for himself, of course.  A smuggler couldn't live on good deeds alone, after all.

Dosset heard sounds coming not far from his position. The sound of someone's boots clicking at their heels as it came closer. He glanced over without turning his head and recognized the prepossessing sight that had treated his wounds moments before. "A bit of sympathy for the devil." he mumbled to himself lightly.

Elizabeth was merely there to check on him. She made sure that he was perfectly chained before making her way back topside as the ship went into a halt. The security was a little bit tighter than before. Two armed guards were patrolling his cell, the Captain was obviously taking no chances. Dosset nearly made a comment about overkill since his wrists were still in irons, but considering he'd made one of his last escapes in the same position, he decided against it. Besides, he was intrigued. Where was the Assassin taking him?

He didn't bother asking the men guarding his cell those questions, no one told lackeys anything. So instead he regaled them with his favorite off-colour joke in order to vex them for his own amusement.

"Captain Dosset," one of the guards finally snapped, he was using same tone someone might use to say 'whale shit.'

"One more word out of ya and I swear I'll cut that tongue of yours out.” Despite the shackles, Dosset fixed his bowtie and managed a sweeping bow before finally taking a seat on the floor of his cell. He put on a smirk and crossed his legs. "Imagine my delight upon hearing that you will certainly try, mate. But I am not a Captain nor a pirate, I'm way worse."

The guards were ready to open his cell and make a beating out of him, just like Dosset knew they would. But fortunately for him, the reapperance of the female Assassin had stopped them from going any further. Their attentions were now focused at the beauty upon them, they stood awkwardly still as she made her way pass them and into her cell on the corner of the chamber.

Dosset studied the personage carefully. Elizabeth was a mass of contradictions. She was an Assassin pirate, but was as unlikely a pirate as one could imagine. Pirates swaggered, Elizabeth swayed. She spoke with her hands as much as with her mouth, her whole persona was charismatic and flagrantly expressive. Pirates were not supposed to be charming.

Elizabeth slept on the floor, using her blue coat as a pillow. She needed the rest, Dosset could tell that she hadn't slept in days. He figured he should probably do the same, the grim atmosphere below deck was starting to bore him. The flickering lanterns, the pestering rats, the urine odored guards. All of them were shrouded with dullness beyond compare. Dosset needed a temporary escape from all of them, so he closed his eyes and wandered off into the dreamscape.

A flash of golden light.

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE ASSASSINS. KILL US NOW OR WE'D ALL BE DEAD."

A husky voice rang through his head. Father?

"Please, we don't want our son to get hurt. If not for us, do this for him."

A woman pleaded. Her voice seemed familiar. Was that... It can't be... Mother?

Dosset's vision was blurred. He could hear the sound of steel meeting flesh. He could see blood. But the figures were hazed abruptly from him. Where was he? Was he dreaming? No, he wasn't in a dream. He was in a nightmare.

"Only six hours of sleep, christ" Elizabeth mumbled when she finally awoke, she looked at the sleeping templar, some conversation with him would have been nice. Elizabeth pushed past the guards, "I see your captain still doesn't trust me."
"Actually, miss Shay. It's him he don't trust" one of the guards said as he tilted his head towards Dosset.
"He's alright" Elizabeth said with a smile as she looked at the sleeping templar before she turned her steely gaze back to the guards, "And it's mistress Shay to you, I worked hard for that title. I'll be heading topside for an hour. Watch Dosset for me and I'll give you and the rest of the crew two heads of rum when we reach port."

There were a few men on deck, most of them were minding their own business and mucking about. One of the men was scrubbing the floor in front of the captain's quarters and another was scrubbing the shark's blood off the deck.
"So the hunt was successful?"
"Aye, and that shark was a monster." Elizabeth laughed, she always loved hunting the sharks, they always put up a fight, and a fair one at that.

Elizabeth climbed up the ropes, sat on the mainsail, packed her corn cob pipe with the Jamaican Funk and lit it. The night air was cool and the spray fell softly on her skin, it reminded her why she took to the seas; everything was calm and it made her think of simpler days. The Tiger Shark was not far behind, most of the lights were out as she had a rule on her brig: Lights out at 20h30.
"It would have been nice to get in some training but I don't think Sam would take kindly to me destroying some wood or the masts" Elizabeth laughed quietly. Once she had finished her pipe, Elizabeth took the hook down to the deck and headed back to her cell.

When Elizabeth returned, Dosset was still asleep but it seemed as if he was in the slings of a nightmare. Elizabeth shook Dosset gently to wake him from his slumber, "Sorry to wake you, but you didn't seem to be having a good time." Elizabeth handed Dosset some tack, junk, and a glass of rum, "It's not much, but at least it's something to eat." Elizabeth turned to her chest to fetch a bottle of rum. "Sometimes, we forget that our enemies are humans too, we are trained only to see people as good or evil. Black and white. But you, Dante, are an enigma, you are one of the few who reside in the grey of life, neither good nor completely evil. You may be a templar, but you are still a good man. Not many people would have helped me like you did" Elizabeth said as she put on the blue coat. " Thank you" she said quietly as she turned around, the red trimmings of the coat took on a deeper hue from the light of the torches.

Dosset had finally surrendered to sleep. In his nightmare, he heard voices. They were whispering, but in the wooden environs of his cell, every whisper carried.

"I heard he's a Grand Master in the Templar Order."

"If we all take him, it doesn't matter. Look how skinny he is!"

"Probably, quiet now. The Captain's not paying us too talk." someone said. Dosset knew he should move, should check the guards, should wake up, but he was trapped. He couldn't force himself to wake up. It was too hard.

He thought he heard a woman's voice, screaming. A man's voice followed afterwards. There was a sound of metal meeting flesh and the screams stopped. Then there was only silence. He couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what was just a dream.

A gentle shook had awoken him from his slumber. Everything had faded back into the darkest parts of his mind. The voices, the lights, the visions, all gone. Dosset was finally awake.

In front of him stood a girl he barely knew, but as she talked in his prison cell, as frightened as he was, he felt sudden joy blossomed in his heart. This girl was a woman he enjoyed being with, and inexplicably, he wanted her to stay.

"Sorry to wake you, but you didn't seem to be having a good time." Elizabeth handed him some tack, junk, and a glass of rum, "It's not much, but at least it's something to eat."

For a moment, everything was better and Dosset thought that she would keep him company for the night. He took a sip of the rum and cleared his throat. "Thank you." Dosset said in a raspy voice, he had not drank anything for hours.

Elizabeth turned to her chest to fetch a bottle of rum. He saw in her someone he could trust, that their relationship won't be limited by their allignment, but boundless like the skies above them. His eyes claimed her---not arrogantly, but confidently, gently, accepting her and rejoicing in her beauty---and whe she turned back around, Dosset blushed. His mouth slightly agaped.

"Sometimes, we forget that our enemies are humans too, we are trained only to see people as good or evil. Black and white. But you, Dante, are an enigma, you are one of the few who reside in the grey of life, neither good nor completely evil. You may be a templar, but you are still a good man. Not many people would have helped me like you did" she said as she put on her blue coat. "Thank you"

Dosset appreciated her compliment, but it was far from the truth. He's not a good man. Or at least, he never thought he was. There were things that he did for the Order that he was certainly not proud of. The important thing was that he's trying to be a good person, that's all that mattered to him.

"You need a broader experience to understand who people really are and what they're fighting for -- how the patterns of the past inform the future. Me? I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness." Dosset stopped and took another sip of his rum. He licked his chapped lips before continuing.

"I treat the Order's rules as suggestions. I'm not bounded by them and I will never be bounded by them. I have bigger ambitions than the Order's piece through order or the Assassin's peace through freedom. Some may despise me for it, some may even brand me a traitor. But that's why I walk my path alone because who would be crazy enough to walk it with me?" Dosset made sure his voice was loud enough for Elizabeth to hear him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Templar, I just don't quite agree with their ideals. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily on the Assassin's side either. I fight for myself, for what I think is right. Do you understand now?"

( Could only write in short paragraphs. Been a very hectic day here, sorry )

(It's okay I just woke up so yea lol)

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

The Assassin had ordered the ship to remain in the shallows as well as the security to be tight until he returned. He was going hunting, though he didn't want to hunt alone, so he dropped below deck to extend the offer to Elizabeth. "Mistress," he called with a small bow. "Would you like to join me on a hunt? I need to gather things to fix this old girl until we reach our port. I would appreciate the company."

(Hey, we all have days like that. No need to apologise   )

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still a Templar, I just don't quite agree with their ideals. That doesn't mean I'm necessarily on the Assassin's side either. I fight for myself, for what I think is right. Do you understand now?"

Elizabeth nodded her head, "There are many who walk the same path as you, Dante. We all fight for what we believe in, but at what cost? I have seen good men die in the names of order and freedom, none of them were part of our petty war. There were those who died in the war of succession, and fellow pirates who died defending their freedom. What we do, it robs us of our humanity." Elizabeth watched as a rat wondered into the cell.
"There are two kinds of people in this world, Dante. There are those that seek to love and nurture, and live their lives in peace. They have their humanity intact and even when they have hit rockbottom, they have nothing but love to offer" Elizabeth said as she placed a piece of junk on the floor near her foot. The rat crept up to the junk cautiously.
"Then there are people, like me, that either lost their humanity or never had any to begin with; cold, blooded, killers" Elizabeth said coldly as she stomped on the rat.
"Life and death, templars and assassins, smugglers and pirates, complete opposites, yet equally dangerous." Elizabeth handed Dosset a coin, "There are two sides to every coin, Dante." It was getting hot so Elizabeth removed her coat and dusted it off before she returned it to the chest and straightened her robes.

The door swung open and Samuel glided in along with the fresh air, which Elizabeth thought was much needed in the musty chamber. Elizabeth smiled when he bowed and addressed her as "Mistress".
"Would you like to join me on a hunt? I need to gather things to fix this old girl until we reach our port. I would appreciate the company."
"It would be an honour," Elizabeth said as returned the bow, "It would seem that I'm also in need of some supplies." Elizabeth quickly opened her chest, grabbed her flintlocks along with some powder, shot, and two empty bags.
"And Sam, you don't need to address me as mistress, Elizabeth will do just fine. Everybody else, well, that's a different story." Elizabeth picked up the rat (or rather, what was left of it) by its tail, "They may be disgusting vermin that wreak havoc on ships, but they work wonders as bait."

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

The pirate nodded and led the way up top before taking a deep breath and exhaling. It felt good to have the wind in his hair again. "After you," he said, motioning to the side of the ship. This would also give them a chance to talk. He knew he was an Assassin, however a life on the sea made him a pirate, especially when his crew attacked other ships for supplies and fleet ready ships.

"Life and death, templars and assassins, smugglers and pirates, complete opposites, yet equally dangerous. There are two sides to every coin, Dante."

Dosset looked at her with a long face. When you ask somebody how many sides a coin has, the most probable answer you will get is 'Two'. But that's not true, as there is no coin with only two sides.

The disk shaped coins have two faces, head and tail; and an edge. Edge is not the right word for it, but there was no other suitable word that Dosset could think of at the moment. The point is, people always ignore this third side of the coin.

Further more, not all coins are disk shaped. There are triangular ones like the ones from Philliphines, rectangular ones like the ones from Spain, and pentagonal and hexagonal ones. Although such coins are rare, most people, including Dosset himself, knew about them. But people often ignore the fact, and likes to say that every coin has only two sides.

Why do people like to ignore this so called 'third' side of the coin? Dosset's personal answer was that most of the time we do not think and like to copy blindly. An example of how people prefer to ignore the realities and generalize the things. We do not want to think and just speak according to what we have heard.

Elizabeth should consider all of the sides to everything, material and immaterial. This could help her find a different path to follow and to find serendipity. It could help her come to the realization that she doesn't always have to be a cold blooded killer, that there's always an alternative if she just looked for it.

Amidst his pondering. the male Assassin, or 'Sam' had asked Elizabeth to accompany him in his hunt. She accepted the offer and they both go on their merry way, leaving Dosset alone in his cell, with his two faithful guards.

Dosset looked up at one of the holes in his cell. He was floating languidly through fields of countless clouds in the midday blue that had enveloped the earth. The centre of each cloud was nothing but a brilliant soft white, surrounded by an aura of ever-shifting breeze. They appeared close enough to touch, but he merely gazed at them contentedly, aware that they were still beyond his reach.

Directly above him flew a bird that he knew from his childhood - the magpie. Seen from his tiny cell, the magpie looked no larger than any other type of birds; but there in the sky, it was an angel.

Dosset gazed at the magpie, who was gliding along the azure, free from any burden. He wished he could join him up there. But reality had frozen him in this moment of peril.

His thoughts drifted onward, like a swimmer in placid waters, but the clouds above him was starting to move and darken, and Dosset was seized with a violent, ominous intuition. A storm was coming. He shouted a warning to the guards, begging them to tell their Captain and Elizabeth to go back. But to the guards, Dosset was merely a dog barking wildly. Idiots.

(I know it's much shorter than usual, sorry. DDossett, I know there are more than two sides to a coin but I'll have Elizabeth explain her reasoning when she returns to the Soul Wave.)

"It's not often someone invites me to join them on a hunt, thank you, Sam." Elizabeth knelt down and examined the tracks, "Keep your wits about you, there's a jaguar around here." Not wanting to attract the attention of the predator, Elizabeth quickly ditched the dead rat.
"I know you're eager to start hunting, but how about we have a quick race" Elizabeth asked as she climbed a tree. A chase was as good as a hunt, but racing before a hunt what the best. Freerunning was something Elizabeth loved to do and she would look for any excuse to do it.

OOC: I know that you knew. My last post consisted mostly of my character's line of thought, it's his way to pass the time. He's in a cell, there's not a lot of things he can do in there. Oh and he's a cynical guy, so yeah. I'll try to write something up tomorrow night

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

A sort of rumble escape his throat and a smile spread on his face. He, too, enjoyed freerunning. Howeve he had been unable to do much of it, as his work kept him on the sea much of the time. "Of course," he rumbled and jumped up into the nearest tree, positioning himself to leap to the next in an instant. "Ready when you are, Liz." He hoped shedding mind the nickname. Perhaps, he thought, gazing ahead as he waited for her to say go. I have finally found a worthy ally.

"Ready when you are, Liz." Elizabeth looked at Samuel and smiled. Only Mary Read had ever shortened Elizabeth's name to Liz, of course, when they were younger, Mary used to call her "Lizzie". Elizabeth looked around for a finishing point for the race, "Well, come on then. Let's go" she laughed, "Last one to the view point is a bilge rat."
Elizabeth set off and glided through the trees with ease.

Samuel was faster than Elizabeth had thought, he even managed to overtake her a few times.
"Not bad, Sam," Elizabeth laughed as they neared the viewpoint , "but how's your climbing?"

Samuel "Snakefang" Donnelly

He couldn't help but laugh and shot himself up onto the wood structure as they neared it. "You're about to see," he called, throwing himself up with the momentum from his run. This felt like a dream and yet he knew it was real. He hadn't done this in a long time, probably since his childhood.