steepwithdead | Folkmore

[Fellas is it homoerotic if your captain is absorbing balls into his body-]

Dare I ask, or is this best to leave be? [The turtle can at least respect privacy, even if he loves a good story.] What kind of chaos did you all get into?

I'm not sure how I'd begin to explain it, so best let it be for now. [Or maybe forever. It's another "this is not my story" thing, that happens a lot. Because lots of things happen to the other members of the Nein, unfortunately.] We stole our first ship, got captured and allied with another pirate, mutineered against her because she was mutineering against the Plank King - king of pirates, that's a thing - were banished from their secret pirate island in under a day...

[Just to list a few.]

[He's distracted from the first part fairly easily. Fjord and his balls are free from turtle curiosity.] Okay, I can't ever underestimate what you get into now.

Why did you guys steal a ship? You worked with someone who captured you...? Secret Pirate island?

Edited 2025-11-04 04:29 (UTC)

I'm not entirely clear on the ship-stealing part, I was out of earshot for a lot of it. We were following some pirates, and were spotted, and peaceful negotiation failed. Then the fight drew the attention of some guards, and things got very out of hand... the best escape route was to just sail away on their ship. It wasn't a very good night, admittedly. Poor choices were made.

[One thing at a time.]

[One at a time is for the best, given the layers present.] I... yeah, a lot of poor choices.

[The out of earshot aspect does make Leonardo pause for a second.] Please tell me you were on the ship when they left? Not like captured by guards?

[Oh, Leonardo. Oh no. You scratched his ocean salt.

Dryly:]

Neither of those are true.

[Little did he know-]

....Wait, you weren't on the ship? [He just needs a second to parse that out.]

I wasn't. I had to swim to catch up.

Excuse me? [His flabbers have been ghasted. Leonardo needs a second to pull his thoughts together.] They didn't even try to slow the ship to get you or...?

I was new to the group, and things happened very quickly. I'm not sure they remembered where I was.

[It was... a very weird day.]

In fairness to them, it does take a while for a ship to pick up speed. They weren't too far from the harbour before I reached it.

[There is a little judgment there, but Leonardo can amend he doesn't know the circumstances to say much.]

Fair enough. I'm not exactly a boat-faring guy, but, yeesh. The situation sounds messy. I'm glad you caught up. If it were me, I would've had a couple of thoughts about going home by then.

Oh, I had a couple. And then a couple more. But we were too far out to sea to turn back and drop me off again, so I had some time to settle.

[He releases a little laugh at that, arching an eye ridge at Caduceus.] Ah, the cope or else method. Not my favorite method, but, it does the trick when you have nothing else.

"Cope or else" is the acclimation method for the Mighty Nein, I'm afraid.

No offense meant, but that is a little funny and a little sad. [There is no derision or mockery in his voice. Just an easy kind of amusement.]

It can be both of those without offense. Although since I'm one of them, that means you need to cope or else here, too.

Oh, I can absolutely cope, or else. One of my main skills. [Joke about his trauma? Never, who do you think he is??]

Good to have that confirmed.

[The good news is Caduceus is the least messy one to cope with. Which is great because it's not like he has a wide spread of friends here, either.]

You're one of my favorite people so far, so, coping is working out here. [He is just casually saying that now. Given the situation he's found himself in, it rings all the truer.

Caduceus had come when Leonardo asked, and was cooking food for him, for them to eat together. He invited Leo into his home.

It was hard not to be fond of that.]

I guess... after we eat, I can pack a bag for when I go back with you. Not like I have too much yet.

Edited 2025-11-10 23:59 (UTC)

Ah, thanks. [Always nice to be liked. He can't deny that he greatly enjoys Leonardo's company too, so.] The feeling is mutual. And bring as much or as little as you like. It isn't as if that house lacks room.

[It does in fact have... lots of room. Rooms. MANY.

Always, speaking of food, it's done, so he'll rise, serve, and bring the plates over, one with just the pasta-veggie mix, the other with Leo's chicken.]

[The sentiment absolutely does make his heart do a little flutter, but he tries to not let that show, beyond his smile shifting to something pleased and a little shy all at once.] It's more like I don't have much. Slowly been buying things for myself, but this is mostly Casey's space we inherited.

[Leonardo makes a point to adjust his seat so it's actually properly facing the table. Glad he set utensils out already, even with the gentle disapproval he got from the other man earlier.]

Well, that just means everything will still be here, for whenever you and Donatello are ready to move back again. The other bedrooms in my place are fully furnished.

[And he made sure the guest room would be set up just-in-case, so he didn't have to give away any of the Nein's claimed rooms if he happened to have someone else staying a while.]

Okay, good point. [He offers back with a bit of a smile.] It's not really leaving as much as... taking a break for a bit and being able to come back all the same.

An extended visit. It's not like I'm forcing you to call my place home or anything.

[The Xhorhaus was kind of an extended visit for all of them- and even for him, here, it isn't home the way the temple is. It's where he lives.]

We'll call it the world's longest sleepover. [The joke is juvenile, a little silly- but it feels right. Better.] Probably with slightly less pillow forts than what I'd usually prefer.

I'd say 'maybe I should clean', but, I'm pretty sure that's when you'd throttle me. [He does actually dig into the food in front of him. Leonardo quickly learns, yes, he is very hungry. Damn.]

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