Fifth Tide Turning ☠ Action | Voice

[lists_to_port]

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[abidinglaw]

Wagers then.

My choice of wager.

[lists_to_port]

Your choice, eh?

Right. I accept.

[abidinglaw]

Good Spirits then. I will be there presently.

[And presently, he was.]

[lists_to_port]

[Jack is there waiting, tapping his fingers impatiently on the countertop and ordering yet another round of rum. He is clearly not altogether sober when Norrington arrives. Not as bad as he'd been the week Buffy had left him, but definitely not good.]

Hallo, mate! I've been due for a friendly wager today!

[abidinglaw]

I'll bet.

[The admiral had taken his seat beside the pirate without so much as a moment's pause at the door. Locating him was no trouble, what with the distinctive appearance and the yelled greeting. He did make a brief detour to the bar though. He'd ordered a whiskey. A large whiskey.]

I hope I do not disappoint you in that regard. Shall we begin at once?

[He clapped his hands. He was not about to be fooled by Jack's accustomed ploy, however. He knew well enough to know that the appearence of intoxication was a strategy -- or else that the pirate actually functioned better under the influence of alcohol. Even he didn't know quite which. Even now.]

[lists_to_port]

[He eyes that whiskey and nods. Such a large whiskey, sir.]

I see no point in dallying. What had you in mind, Admiral?

[abidinglaw]

The next person to walk through that door.

[He smiles, gesture toward the entrance to the bar:]

Masculine or feminine? And a forfeit to the loser - and you may not leave your seat, nor carry your seat to the door or the window or any other such tomfoolery.

[Surely this is a game that the pirate cannot cheat at. Meanwhile, the admiral will think of what they will bet upon next.]

[lists_to_port]

Covering all angles, are we? What if it's one of those chaps who looks like a girl?

[There were a LOT of those in Luceti, for some reason.]

[abidinglaw]

[Blast, he's right. James is not about to alter the terms of the wager though. His pride prevents him.]

Why then we should have to discover the truth of the matter by some means.

[lists_to_port]

Oi! I'm not about to do THAT, mate. Whateveritis you're thinking I would do in that situation.

[abidinglaw]

I had rather presumed that we might ask Miss Summers. I expect that she is familiar with the patrons of this bar.

[A pause while he considers this, though. Buffy has frequently proven to have her own agendas in such matters - and to serve them shamelessly.]

Perhaps a different wager altogether.

[lists_to_port]

Awfully fickle tonight, aren't we. But very well: next person who walks in that door? You've got to snog 'em.

[abidinglaw]

[A high price to stake on a 50/50 bet. He risks humiliation not only of himself, but worse, the humiliation of whosoever he may be forced to- ... To place his lips upon. The very idea of it.

Could he possibly imagine a similarly degrading forfeit for the pirate? To demand the hair shaved from his head perhaps? No, Buffy would never forgive him that.]

"Only presuming that I lose, Jack.

And as for your forfeit - the next person who passes through that door gains posession of your hat to do with as they please. You are to give it to them without comment, and from the moment that they touch it you may not touch it again for the span of one month. Do we have an accord?"

just.....suproses you.

[lists_to_port]

"No!" Forfeit his HAT? Did Norrington not understand that some things were just too valuable for wagering?

[abidinglaw]

Such as dignity, and the dignity of others.

"And here I thought that the exchange of valuables was the soul of a pirate's enterprise."

[lists_to_port]

Fie upon your damned dirty dignity, sir!

"This hat, mate, falls outside the common system of barter and exchange what you are speaking of."

In other words, Norrington only has it partly right: the exchange, lamentably, only moves in one direction. Pirateward.