❀ 01

[toyboat]

Who: Jenny Scott and y o u
What: New arrivals~
When: This evening!
Where: In the lobby
Rating: G for "little girl"

[In the lobby tonight, there is a small girl who looks like she belongs in a castle this grand. Her blue dress matches the decoration style better than most residents' clothing, her long skirts and stay intricate and befitting a higher class daughter.

This girl, however, looks extremely confused, cautiously wandering through the grand entrance and seeming for all the world like she has no idea what's going on.

Because she doesn't.

Last she recalls, she was on a ship, heading home, and this place is like nowhere on The Jackdaw at all, not that she's seen.

She takes a cursory pass around the lobby, then takes a seat on a sofa and clutches her doll to her chest.]

It'll be all right, Dolly. Father is with us now, this must just be part of the adventure.

Comments

[unmanned]

[He crosses his arms. A little smartass, just like her father. :') ]

I bet you couldn't do any better.

[toyboat]

I could so!

[She stomps her foot, but then extends her arms and forms her hands into claws. It's with a big step towards James that she howls]

ARRRRRRRRRRR!

[unmanned]

[If James knew better how to entertain children, he'd take a step back, but as it is he just chuckles.

Lord help you, Edward Kenway...]

Very fearsome. Blackbeard himself would cower behind the furniture.

[toyboat]

[Jenny looks extremely proud of herself, if perhaps a bit falsely humble.]

It wasn't that good... but it was quite good!

[unmanned]

Your father know he's raising a pirate-to-be?

[toyboat]

Well, we've only just met, really. But he's taking me back to England, and I think it would be much harder to be a pirate there.

[unmanned]

I see. [He sighs, scratching the side of his neck.] Would you be sad to have that trip delayed?

[toyboat]

What do you mean?

[unmanned]

England is very far from this place. I don't think your father will be able to get you there anytime soon.

[Please don't... cry... or whatever.]

[toyboat]

[Jenny furrows her brow and bites her lip, looking worried, but perhaps more thoughtful than anything else.]

But then where will we go? I should still like to have letters from my grandparents and friends, and they won't know where to find us.

[unmanned]

[In true fashion...]

Your father will know what to do. In the meanwhile, you'll stay here, with him.

[And, so that's not so bleak--]

He'll be the happiest man in this castle to have you with him, Jenny. Know that.

[toyboat]

[Excuse the very long moment of silence. Jenny is only nine, and needs some time to actually process through this.

Finally she peers up at James, brow still knit, her hand tighter around her doll's arm.]

Do you know where Father is? Now, I mean?

[unmanned]

He's around here somewhere. [As well as your brother and nephew. Christ. In an ideal world, Edward would have some warning, but leaving a child alone here doesn't seem like a good idea.]

Shall we look for him?

[toyboat]

Yes, please. I would like that.

[And then she holds her hand out for James's.]

[unmanned]

[He hesitates for half a moment before taking the girl's small hand. It feels too soft for his calloused ones.]

Has your father told you of any of his adventures?

[toyboat]

Not really. But I know that he sailed all over the place, so much that it was hard to ever find him.

[unmanned]

[James leads her to the stairs.]

Aye. He was a busy man, hoping to make a good life for your mother.

[toyboat]

That's what he said. He told me he would have come home if he'd known about me, but I think it was better that he got to finish his work, he was very busy.

[Jenny hesitates at the foot of the stairs.]

What's up there?

[unmanned]

[Understanding little thing, she is.]

Your father's room. And the rooms of the rest of the residents. Nothing to be wary of.

[toyboat]

[She is! It probably has something to do with living mostly alone for several years at this point, with only servants for real company.]

Why do so many people live here, Mr. Kidd? Whose castle is this, anyway?

[unmanned]

We don't know. Magic, is what they say. The castle likes to bring in those of us from all walks of life. Little girls, pirates, queens, and people from hundreds of years ago.

[Kids... ugh.]

Sure there's a few your age around here somewhere.

[toyboat]

Hmm, a magical castle. It's like a fairytale then, isn't it? Are there dragons and unicorns and princesses, like in stories? Maybe the other children will know, they can show me.

[unmanned]

[Kenway's girl never stops talking, just like her papa. Annoying and endearing all at once.]

I'm sure there's all three, but you'll have to check with the other children, aye. Mayhaps you'll have your own special adventures in these lands.

[toyboat]

[It's true, she has a lot to say. But to be fair, she was just informed she's in a magical castle, and most children would have some comments about that.

Jenny's hand tightens around James's, and she smiles at him.]

How do you know Father?

[unmanned]

Crossed paths with him in a place called Nassau. Ever heard of it?

[It's been a long time since he'd been in England. God only knows how much a child would pick up on the general displeasure the king has with pirates, not to mention learn about their republic.]