Raleigh couldn’t help but laugh quietly when Raines mentioned that Hale was now unfortunately going to find himself on his captain’s shit list. She watched him fasten the buckles on his pants again, biting gently on her own lower lip as she took the moment to think about where things would have gone if the pair of them had not been interrupted. Moments later she stepped out behind Raines as they exited the cabin, the crew none the wiser about what had just almost transpired between their captain and their quartermaster.
She watched Raines with amusement in her eyes as he made his way to Hale, taking the bottle of rum and damned near wringing the man’s neck in the process. On one hand, she felt a bit bad for him, as he had most likely had no intention of interrupting them in the way he had. On the other hand, she was still thinking about how she would have much rather been back in the cabin, pressed against the door in the fashion Raines had her just minutes ago. Her cheeks reddened faintly at the thought, though she found herself feeling rather peeved with Hale as well, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the confused expression on his face.
With a bottle of rum already in hand, Raleigh joined the crew in salute of the captain and the ship, having stayed somewhat off to the side as Raines had made his way into the crowd. She caught his eye as she took a long pull off the bottle, pulling it away from her lips slowly as she gave him a half smile. Within moments, she had been commandeered by a few of the crew members, who had come up with a half assed rendition of a song in which they had replaced several words with her name - verses that made no sense nor did the rhyme, but the thought was appreciated nevertheless. Throughout the rest of the evening, though she had never really found a moment to be alone with him again, she found herself watching Raines out of the corner of her eye, until everyone had retired for the evening.
That night as she lay in her bed, she stared at the ceiling, her thoughts completely fixated on what she was going to say to Raines the next time the pair found themselves alone.
——-
Three days later, the Misery’s End was well out to sea, travelling back toward Canelux in search of port. Raleigh had suggested a journey to Adeluna so that some of the men could spend some of their share of the coin they had taken in the last raid. It would also give them an opportunity to replenish some of their supplies, and Raleigh fully intended on finding some very expensive rum to give Raines, as she had drank quite a bit of his private stash as of late.
The quartermaster sat at the small desk in the makeshift private quarters she had been given, scrawling what seemed to be a shopping list of sorts on some parchment. It was a list of the items she wanted the crew to obtain while at port in Adeluna to replenish the stores, and since it would require tapping into the ship’s gold stores rather than the individual members, she was going to take it to have Raines approve the coin being spent.
Of course, she could have done it without getting his approval - he had been clear that he trusted her judgment when it came to that kind of thing - but over the last few days she had been looking for an opportunity to speak with him alone, and it just had yet to happen. This was going to give her the perfect opportunity, though he would see right through the ruse the moment she shut the door behind her.
She finished scrawling the last item on the parchment and stood up, moving to pull her boots on. She had been a bit sad when the climate had changed as they travelled, but refused to change into her warmer clothing yet. She still wore her favorite pair of shorts along with her favorite sleeveless shirt, though she had pulled an overcoat on as well. It had been a bit laughable when she had commissioned the coat from a tailor - those overcoats were generally only wore by men, and even the women who did occasionally purchase them were not as short as Raleigh. She had to have one custom made for her, but she loved it nevertheless. Around her thigh just below the hem of the shorts she had a small sheath strapped in which a dagger was kept, as she felt much better always having a weapon on her.
She grabbed the parchment and headed out of her quarters, making her way up to the main deck and to where Raines’ cabin was located. The crew had already eaten breakfast, but it was still mid morning - she knew it was her best chance to find Raines in there at that time.
As her boots clicked across the deck, she began rehearsing in her head what she was going to say to Raines. Of course, she was going to try to talk to him about the list she had made, but she knew damn well the second the door was shut and the two were in private, she was going to say something else, something regarding what had transpired and remained unfinished the other night - she just wasn’t quite sure what that was going to be. She also was rather unsure where things stood between the pair now, and that bothered her immensely. She hoped she would soon find out if it had been a fluke, just something to shut her up, or if there was perhaps something there between the two of them after all - either way, she knew she needed to find out.
She had made it about two thirds of the way to the captain’s cabin when she heard someone call out to her. ”Oy, Redhall! Got a min’?” She stopped and cringed slightly, for she knew who owned the voice - Hale. She spun around on her heels to face the direction that Hale had called from.
She walked toward him. ”What is it, Hale?” she asked, sounding rather annoyed. The crewman was leaning up against one of the posts on deck. ”I need to get to the captain to have him approve some purchases for our stores,” she explained, hoping the doltish crewman would understand the urgency of what she was doing.
Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. ”You’ve got the cap’ns ear most days,” he said. His statement was merely just that - a statement - there were no underlying connotations. ”What’s his probl’m with me ‘ese days?” he asked. ”Keeps lookin’ at me like I’m ta be ‘is nex’ kill,” he added, and the man’s voice mirrored his concern.
Raleigh let out an annoyed breath. ”You stopped me for that?” she asked, sounding as annoyed as she looked. ”I don’t know, Hale. Perhaps he’s sick of you interrupting him for insignificant things,” she said. In her mind, she was indicating a few nights previous when Hale had all but metaphorically ripped the two of them from one another - but she tried to make it sound like she was talking about Hale stopping her.
”Guess you’d know, wouldn’ ya?” he said. ”You sure spend a good amoun’ o’ yer time in there with ‘im,” he continued, to which Raleigh narrowed her eyes. ”You and the cap’n wouldn’ happen to be sl-” Just as Hale was about to accuse Raleigh of something that was almost true, the quartermaster moved quickly. She drew the dagger from the sheath on her thigh and lunged forward, holding her arm up pinning her forearm underneath Hale’s neck. She edged the blade against the side of his throat.
”I’d watch your fucking tongue,” she hissed at him. A few other crew members were near enough to see what was going on, but not to hear their conversation. ”If there was anything between the captain and I - and that is an if” she began. ”It would be none of your business. Say another word, to me, to anyone… and I’ll kill you,” she breathed. Just then, from the corner of her eye, she could make out Raines standing in the doorway to his cabin, watching her threaten the crewman. She couldn’t make out his expression.
She cleared her throat and let her forearm down, to which Hale took a breath. ”Are we clear?” she asked him, to which he nodded. ”Good,” she said, and turned on her heel, walking towards Raines with as stoic an expression on her face as she could manage as she moved past him and into the cabin.
”I’ve brought a list of items I’d like to buy for the ship when we make port,” she called to him after she entered, for the captain was still standing in the doorway. She lay the parchment on the desk and turned to face him, waiting for him to come back in.
