❀ 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'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.]

[toyboat]

Maybe once or twice, from the sailors when I was coming to meet Father. But they didn't talk much about it.

[unmanned]

Nassau was a place governed by pirates. Men were free to do as they pleased, without rule of no king.

[It was a lot of filth and misery, but it sure was something. A shame what became of it.]

Your father helped the place find its legs.

[toyboat]

[This causes Jenny to fall silent, her face slowly breaking into a frown as she thinks. After a moment, she gently draws her hand from James's, and turns to look up at him.]

But that would make Father a pirate. He isn't a pirate. He left to be a privateer, not a pirate.

[unmanned]

[Whoops. See, this is why James doesn't deal with children.]

And what's the difference between a pirate and a privateer, love?

[toyboat]

Pirates... pirates... [Jenny doesn't seem to be able to explain it, and that clearly frustrates her, but she knows that she grew up knowing pirates to be bad men and privateers to be good ones. She looks a bit like she might cry.] I don't know! But Father isn't a pirate!

[unmanned]

[CHRIST ALMIGHTY not crying children.]

I never said your father was a pirate, did I? [Nor did he outright deny it, either...] Is it that bad, to be a pirate? You think I'm something to cry over?

[toyboat]

No, but... it's wrong, pirates steal and kill and are scary, and if Father knows pirates and helps pirates, then he is a pirate, and it's bad!

[She's speaking really quickly, in that rambling sort of childish way, and very very clearly on the brink of tears now. Father can't be bad, he has to be good, because she doesn't have anyone else left.]

[unmanned]

[James bites back a sigh before crouching in front of the girl. Those are all crimes Edward and himself have committed, some tens, hundreds of times over, but the child doesn't need to know.]

Listen to me, Jenny. Your father is a good man. One of the best I've met. There ain't even the smallest speck of bad in his soul. You know me now, aye? Doesn't make you bad. If I were needing aid of some sort, you'd try to help me, wouldn't you? That wouldn't make you bad, either.

Don't fret.

[toyboat]

[Nope, that does not stop the big fat tears from rolling down her round little porcelain doll face, and her lip quivers when she whispers.]

But he isn't supposed to be a pirate. Mother loved him.

[unmanned]

[Hang him now. Please.]

And he loves your mother with all his heart, even still. It's a good heart he has in his chest, nothing worth messing up that pretty face of yours with tears over. He's better than any pirate or scoundrel.

[If Jenny allows him, he'll reach a hand out to dab at her face with his sleeve.]

[toyboat]

[Jenny lets him wipe her tears, though they don't exactly stop as she keeps her eyes locked on James's face.]

Then what is he?

[unmanned]

[He keeps a finger under her chin.]

He's not one or the other. He'll explain it all to you, in time. [Sorry, Edward.] He's worthy of all the affection you can muster for him, and he'll keep you safe. He's your father first and foremost. Understand that?