✔ Masquerade | England [EDITING]

o n e

Lackey

"I hate to sail on this rotten tub. Leave her, Johnny, leave her! No grog allowed and rotten grub, and it's time for us to leave her..."

An old shanty broke the silence of the salty air as the little boat, bobbing along the hot afternoon seas, carried you, a restless, frail, and starved sailing woman.

You were on a mission but so far, it was all a failure. You laid down and faced the azure skies, contemplating life, feeling it was nearing its end. 

"Oh, father," you murmured, "Will I never see you again?" 

You closed your eyes.

----

You opened your eyes. The salty smell of the sea was still there, and you found yourself in inky darkness, feeling gentle bobbing up and down, as if on a boat. 

Am I dead?

As if in response to that question, your heart started to pound against your chest. You were very much alive. You felt whatever you were lying on. It seemed like a blanket laid on a wooden floor. 

I'm in a room... on a boat? A ship? 

You managed to sit up and look out of the nearest window. You could see nothing but pitch-black darkness. Your heart started beating faster than before. 

Suddenly, you heard the door creak open and a visitor come in with a lighted lamp. In the dimness of the light, you managed to make out that it was a young man with wavy brown hair, olive-colored skin, and green eyes. 

"How was your nap?" He asked.

You would have answered, but fear had gripped your heart and your vocal cords. You weren't bound in chains or ropes, but you were sure cornered in a room, most definitely on a ship floating on the ocean, probably miles away from the shore. There was definitely no way to escape.

The man noticed your lack of response, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it. Instead, he waited quietly for a reply. You noticed that he was quite patient, and it was surprising, considering that any sailor (you assumed him to be one) would usually be boorish and impatient. 

Just as soon as you gathered up the courage to answer, you were interrupted.

The door slammed open loudly, and someone else came in. You couldn't see who it was in the dark.

"What the f*ck are you doing?" hissed the newcomer, who sounded like a man.

"I just came to see if the girl was awake," the brown-haired man responded. 

"Tch! It's too dark in here. Get the torch!" the newcomer ordered and the other fellow went out and promptly came in with the said item. 

The torch was passed to the gruff sounding man and he stood in front of you. In the light of the flame, you saw a green-eyed blond, looking down at you. 

"So, this is the random sailor girl you picked up, eh Toni?" The blond scrutinized you from head to toe, "When you told me that she is a sailor girl, I expected some buff woman, but darn, look at how flimsy she is. 'Bout as flimsy as a rag,"

The brunet shrugged and the blond started mumbling something under his breath while he continued to look at you like you were the lowest creature on Earth, something you were accustomed to being seen as, being a woman.

"What am I doing here?" you asked, managing to muster up some courage while ignoring all the insults the blond was spitting about you in secret.

"We found you lying in your little boat in the middle of the sea. It sure looked like you were lying in a casket," The brunet replied, leaning on the wall behind him, "One of us jumped down to your boat and found that you were unconscious, so we took you in and now we're trying to figure out what to do with you,"