Sailing Away RPG

[Nurumaiel]

As Sondo moved to join the others, Falco stepped in his way and gestured for him to sit down. Falco sat down as well, and he was silent for a few moments. Every so often he would glance at Sondo, or at Sassy, or down at the water. At last he spoke, slowly and quietly, but with a very clear ring of annoyance in his voice.

"Look here, Sondo, I thought this was a good idea to start with," he said, "and I still think it has some promise. But you can't deny that things haven't come off to a wonderful start. Mind you, I'm not questioning your leadership, but I am saying that there are some things that should, and need to, be improved." He glanced over his shoulder at the other boys. "First, you need to get a better hold on the other boys. The raft tipping wasn't a good thing, as I'm sure I don't need to tell you. You really need to sharpen up, Sondo."

Falco realised, of course, that it was not Sondo's fault that the raft had tipped, but he had a vague idea that the leader was responsible for all under his command, and what was laid to blame upon them should also be laid to blame upon the leader. Anyway, Sondo had to be told that the adventure wasn't starting well. Falco did not break it gently, but told it exactly as he saw it. Sondo appeared annoyed and perhaps slightly angry, but he was too used to Falco's manner of suggesting improvement and giving advice to fly into a great rage.

"The raft was bad enough," said Falco. "Everyone was scared ('Except me,' he thought). Sam thanked me very humbly when I fished him out. If that's not a sure signal that they were scared, nothing is. Besides losing morale and running the risk of mutiny - " whereupon Falco drew himself up a little with pride for using such exceptional words " - we've also lost some supples ('I think,' he added to himself... he wasn't sure if they had our not... he hadn't exactly been paying attention). But I was willing to put up with that because we're not a bad set of boys and I think we can re-coop-i-ate well and trudge on. But this business about your little sister is going much too far."

"I spoke to her," said Sondo, through slightly tight lips. "She won't cause any trouble if she knows what's good for her."

"I don't care if she causes trouble or not! Her mere presence is trouble. Do you think she's going to keep quiet when Sammy starts saying sharp and grumpy things? Eh? Mind you, I'm not trying to insult your sister. I think she's a fine little girl in her place... but this isn't her place."

"I can't send her back," said Sondo. "Unless you want to be caught... and whipped..."

Falco pondered over this for a moment. "Very well," he conceded. "I suppose we can't send her back. But things have come off to a bad start, Sondo. Really they have."

"Do you think I'm not capable of being leader?"

"No, no, I wouldn't say that," said Falco, after some hesitation. "You're capable of it. But, like I said before, you need to sharpen up. And you need to keep an eye on that sister of yours." He paused for a moment, and then smiled in a comradely way. "I'm not trying to stir up trouble," he said, "and I'm not thinking of mutiny myself. I just wanted to give you a little advice... before the other boys started giving their opinions by deserting and... and... mutiny-ing."

[Primrose Bolger]

Sassy swatted at one, or most probably more, of the little gnats that hung in clouds along the riverbank this time of day. They were buzzing near her ear, threatening to chew on the tender parts. And really the sound of them was becoming more annoying than the buzz and hum of Sondo’s words as he scolded her. She hadn’t really been listening to Sondo as he talked. In fact, she had tuned him out as soon as he started his declaration. ‘First of all, I am the leader of this expedition . . .,’ he had begun. ‘Well of course you are,’ she thought to herself, squinting up at him in the sunlight. ‘You’re Sondo. You’re always the leader.’

She kept her attentive face on as he went on. It was a well practiced face, used mostly for times when her Ma or Aunty or one of the twins felt it was time to ‘take the young lass in hand’ for something. She opened her eyes wide and looked toward the person speaking, a look of sincere attention on her face. Then she’d let her mind wander, being careful to keep one ear tuned to the scolder’s voice. This time she was looking at the pools and eddies that lay along the river’s bank, thinking about what her Gammer had taught her about fishing. The gnats were hatching and she could just see where fish were rising to the surface to feed.

‘. . . and being my sister will afford you no special favors. I won’t be taking any sass from you. Now, come on.’ She caught the change in the pattern of his speech and brought her attention fully back to him. He’d shoved her a little, toward the boat, and she trotted aboard eagerly, glad that he was done talking. She was on the raft, out in the open, with the others! A part of the adventure!

The others on board seemed to ignore her, for the most part. But she was used to that, that’s how it was at home, too. Though . . . she looked slyly at two of the younger boys, Reggie and Marroc. They weren’t exactly overly friendly, but at least they weren’t grumbling about ‘girl’ and ‘little sister’. Maybe she could be pals with them. She looked toward her brother who seemed to be cornered by that Falco fellow. He looked sneaky, Falco did, to her. And some of the things he was saying sounded pretty darned whiney, though truth be told she couldn’t hear all his words. Sondo had that set look on his face. ‘Not gonna get anything by MY big brother,’ she muttered smugly, thinking to herself this was one of those people you didn’t want to be around too much. He looked like trouble to her.

With a shrug, she shouldered her pack and walked carefully to one side of the moving raft. The gnats she noted, were less bothersome now that they were on the move. 'Just like Gammer said,' she thought to herself. For a few moments she stood looking at the water. Sassy poked about in her pack, looking to find the fishing line she’d brought. Once found, she measured out several arms length, and taking her little scissors from her vest pocket, she snipped off the length. One of her uncle’s hooks was soon deftly tied on, and a bit of linty apple from her breeches pocket stuck on the sharp point. She plopped herself down on the edge of the raft, tucking her feet beneath her. Reggie’s brother was there, curled in a ball, and she could hear his stomach rumbling quite loudly. Tying her line onto the handle of her spoon, she trailed it out into one of the eddies as they passed near it. No luck with the first one, or the second, but the third cast was luckier, and a plump little trout caught the apple with its hidden hook and was soon pulled aboard, wriggling and slapping against the wooden surface of the raft.

‘Hey!’ cried Sassy, delighted with her catch. ‘Any one fancy some nice crispy fish for supper?’ She looked round with a grin on her face. ‘I’ve more line and hooks if you want to give it a try.’ Sassy cast her little line out again, not really expecting an answer . . .

[Boromir88]

Rory was usually the foolishly optimistic, slightly ridiculous, member of the hobbit lads, but he doesn't understand why Sassy was allowed to join. Just her name spelt trouble. Rory had his own tattling sister, and if Sassy was anything like Mirabella, he was going to have an awful time; he just knew it.

When the cookies got to him, Rory didn't want to attract attention, so he decided to pull one out. He gave it to Reggie, "Here you can have it, I'm not that hungry." somehow Reggie wasn't convinced. He could hear Rory's stomach grumble. Reggie still took the cookie and munched it down.

Rory went and sat down staired into the murky water. Why did he come? He was having no fun, not only that, but he was going to be in serious trouble when he got home. Rory didn't get depressed very often, and when he did, he always got out of it rather quick, but it's hard to be cheerful when everyone around him is moping around, with frowns on their faces. The only ones that were happy, were the ones congradulating Sassy for the cookies, and that only made things worse.

Then when Sassy caught a fish, Rory only grumbled more. Eventhough he didn't know Sassy very well, he kept thinking of his spoiled brat sister, Mirabella, and how much trouble she's gotten him into in the past. He just thought of Sassy as a show off, trying to win all the hobbits' affection. "She isn't gonna win me over, I don't care how many fish she catches." He said, then he thought he might have stated it rather loud, and was afraid some of the hobbits heard him....

[Encaitare]

"She isn't gonna win me over, I don't care how many fish she catches," Reggie heard Rory grumble. Then he fell quite silent, as though worried that everyone else could hear him. It was likely, since few secrets could be kept for long within the confines of a raft. Reggie looked around at his mostly morose friends. Sassy kept on fishing, her cheery words hving fallen dead in the air.

He quietly edged over to where Rory was sitting. The other hobbit glanced up at him, and then let out a small derisive snort. "D'you think the whole raft heard?"

Reggie shrugged. "I don't think they care, anyways." There was a minute of silence, broken only by low grumbling and the sounds of the river. He thought about the situation. If she wanted to be the one to take care of getting food and things, then what was the harm in that? Of course, a few things would have to be set straight with the young girl: there was no way that the older boys would be taking any orders from her.

"If she wants to help us find food, I guess that's a good thing," Reggie said, looking to see the other lad's expression. It remained grim.

"It's nothing but bribery," Rory returned, staring out at the riverbank. Reggie felt momentarily guilty, like the time when he and his cousins disobeyed Aunt Hilda, sneaked into the kitchens, and ate half a cake they found there, only to discover later that it was to be a surprise for a wedding anniversary. His full stomach almost made him feel traitorous. But at least he wasn't going to go hungry...

"I guess it's like in those real adventure stories," Reggie mused. "With the corsairs and their big ships and everything. You know, so far we've capsized, and we've found a stowaway..." From the other side of the raft, Falco's conversation with Sondo drifted over. "deserting and... and... mutiny-ing." Reggie wasn't sure what mutinying was, but he thought he remembered it had something to do with pirates and adventure. "I wonder if we'll be fightin' any pirates next."