cahooted | [PSL] The Devil's Dubloons (for slapthelibrarian)

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[PSL] The Devil's Dubloons (for slapthelibrarian)

He didn't know where he was.

That was the first realization Flynn had when he woke up. Granted, it wasn't exactly the first time that he came to in an unknown place with no recollection how he got there but this time was different. This time he had no recollection of where he had been before. No memory of a mission, of a struggle, nothing that would help him connect the dots.

With a groan he sat up and held his head. Where was he? How did he get here? What happened? He searched his memory and when nothing came to him, a mild panic set in because he always remembered everything. "Okay. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all this," he muttered, trying to both calm himself and gather his thoughts. Yes, there was an explanation somewhere. He just had to find it.

He sat up and squinted into the penumbra, trying to get an idea of his whereabouts. It was hard to see and for some reason the ground seemed to be shifting underneath. Deep, low creaking sounds filled the air, like something big and heavy moving around, followed by a dull slushing. When Flynn touched the nearest wall it felt moist but rapping his knuckles against it told him that it was wood – massive and sturdy, but wood.

Further up ahead he could see light coming in from the ceiling but it fell on the ground weirdly, evenly split into tiny rectangles. He licked his lips, pointing to the pattern. "Alright. There's probably bars up there. So we got a moving, wooden room, a barred hatch on the ceiling and that is definitely the ocean out there. Which means this is..." He put his hand down, looking around. "... a ship?"

It made no sense. How on Earth had he ended up on a ship? His body felt light and tingly, like it was charged with static electricity and when he put his hand on his head he could feel his damp hair sticking up wildly. Why couldn't he remember? His head didn't hurt and he didn't feel nauseous so he hadn't been knocked unconscious.

"Hello?" Trying to shake off the dizziness he stumbled deeper into the ship's belly, trying to see. For some reason he kept his voice hushed, just barely above a whisper. "Is anybody there?"

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Flynn wasn't the only one who didn't know where he was. Nicole had been in similar states of unawareness prior to waking up, and when she did, she realized she had no memory of how she got here. She also didn't know where Flynn was, which was troublesome to say the least.

One thing led to another, and she began slowly, cautiously exploring the bowels of the ship. The last thing she wanted to do was stumble on some unfriendly inhabitants of said ship and start a fight before she located Flynn and figured out exactly what was going on. Luckily for her, her sharp ears picked up on the sound of someone stumbling around and calling out- well, calling out wasn't the right word. Their tone was hushed, but Nicole still heard it.

"Flynn? Is that you?" At least she could now cross finding Flynn off her list.

"Nicole?"

When he heard his Guardian's response relief washed over him and Flynn immediately felt more at ease. So she was here, too. That made it more than likely that they had been out on a mission together. Not that they didn't spend time together outside of work, but time outside of work almost never happened. And the chances of them randomly ending up on a ship while spending the evening on the couch together seemed rather slim.

Flynn followed the sound of her voice until he found her in the dark and pulled her in for a quick hug before looking her over. "Am I glad to see you. ... Well, sort of see you, it's really dark. Which of course you can see. Not see." He shook his head. "Are you alright? What happened?" Maybe she knew more than he did. Maybe he did hit his head after all, even if nothing indicated it. "How did we get here?"

"Yes, it's me."

The relief in her voice is all too evident. For awhile there, she was fearing the worst. Not that she really wanted to, but Flynn's safety is always at the forefront of her thoughts. But right now, the issue at hand was that the mission they were on had clearly taken an unexpected turn.

For the moment, though, she allows the quick hug, because it's every bit as reassuring for her as it is for him. "Right. It's very dark, and I don't suppose we've been left with anything remotely useful for lighting up this place." She's already searched her immediate person, and there's nothing useful left like matches or flint or anything. "I'm alright, what about you? And as for how we got here, your guess is as good as mine."

"Fine, I'm fine. We're on a ship, by the way, in case you didn't..." It's like he could feel her eyes in the dark on him and he snapped his mouth shut. "You probably figured that out. With the ocean outside and everything."

Flynn started pacing, bringing his hand up to draw a couple of circles into the air close to his temple. "But something's wrong, I can't remember how we got here. Or where we were before? It's like a big chunk is missing, it's all blank. No, that's not right, it's not blank, it's just not there, it should be? It should be there."

Not remembering something was unnerving to him. It felt alien and wrong and made him uncomfortable in his own skin. It also messed with his focus because it was the only thing he could concentrate on, digging through the empty spot in his head and trying to bring up something. Anything.

"Right, of course. The sound of waves splashing outside didn't give that away at all. The bigger question is, what are we going to do now that we're here? Standard reconnaissance and information gathering, of course, since we don't even know when 'here' is." Since pirate ships have mostly gone the way of the dodo, Nicole's willing to bet there's something a little bit slippery going on here.

"You and me both, but the thing to do is have a good look around, see what there is to observe, and maybe then we'll start to gradually remember." Or perhaps they won't, but Nicole prefers to lean towards optimism right now than anything else.

Reconnaissance. Looking around. Of course. Flynn's pacing slowed and he nodded, trying to push past the discomfort of their strange situation. He could be frustrated about his memory loss later. Maybe read up on the different forms of magic that caused such a loss once they were back in the safety of the Library. "Let's check out the rest of the belly. Maybe we'll find something useful. Maybe you'll find a weapon."

He would feel better if Nicole had a weapon. Not that she couldn't do a considerable amount of damage with her bare hands, but still.

Turning around in a half-circle he pointed back towards the front of the ship where the dim light lingered. "There's a hatch back there. I didn't see a ladder but once we're done here we can maybe try to climb out."

"Right now, I could use a clue just as much as I'd like to have a weapon." Being unarmed feels wrong, like the odds are stacking against them with every passing minute. She can fight unarmed, but there's added security in having any kind of weapon at all.

"Sounds good. Let's keep looking. Who knows what we might find?" She walks forward a few paces when something catches her eye. "What's that?" She changes directions and heads for what looks like an ordinary wooden box, except for the tiny bit of folded up paper stuck into a crack in said box. In the dark, it's very easily missed, but the white of the paper contrasted with the dark finish of the box.

"What? What did you find? Did you find anything?"

Flynn hurried after her excitedly, craning his neck and looking over her shoulder to see if he can spot what they're heading towards. At the same time the ship lurched when a particularly strong wave crashed into its side and Flynn stumbled, quickly steadying himself on Nicole's shoulders until he regained his balance. "Sorry."

But now that he was here he leaned forward against her back and rested his chin on her shoulder, regarding the box in front of them. "What is it? A letter?"

She nearly stumbled forward too, narrowly missing smashing her knees into the box. But she's used to Flynn and his occasional moments of overexcitement that lead to clumsiness, so it doesn't get much of a reaction out of her, except for a cursory glance to make sure he's all right.

"It's a piece of paper. It could be a letter, or a map, or something else. The key is getting it out of there without tearing it."

"Let me take a look."

He let go of her (albeit reluctantly) and squatted down to inspect the chest from up close. It was hard to see in the dark and he squinted at the tiny slip sticking out. "Hmm. It's old. Definitely affected by the moisture. It might rip easily if we're not careful."

"What we need is a tool of some kind, something thin enough to get into that space without damaging it." A knife blade isn't thin enough, and Nicole doesn't have one of those on her person anyway. "I suppose we could take our chances with removing it by hand, but it would have to be very slowly."

And having said that, she realizes she's not that optimistic about their ability to remove it without tearing it.

Flynn patted down his body several times but if Nicole didn't have a tool the chances that he did were even smaller. He glanced up at her with an apologetic shrug. "I don't think I have anything that's going to help us either."

But his gaze lingered on her and he looked some more, tilting his face. Then got to his feet, stepping into her personal space and gently slipping his fingers into her hair.

Rather than look too concerned at their proper lack of tools in their possession, Nicole decided the next thing to do was search the environment for something that might help in a pinch. It was a long shot, but it wasn't as though they were swimming in options here.

She didn't have time to take more than one step before she caught sight of Flynn's gaze. "What's that look for?" Suddenly his fingers were in her hair, and she fought the urge to step away or to slap at his hands. "What are you doing?"

There had been a time where Flynn wouldn't have dared to do what he did now. And there were situations where he would never dare to do what he did now - namely if anyone had been around to witness what he was doing (and then the potential him getting murdered by Nicole after).

"I was just thinking... You use hairpins to put up your hair, don't you? Maybe we can use that." Because of course this wasn't something he could have just asked. He might also be searching a little longer than necessary.

If it were anyone else, Nicole wouldn't hesitate. But she knows how Flynn's mind works (somewhat), and so she allows it. "You're lucky I wore them today." She shoots him a look, but there's no heat behind it. She uses hairpins more often than not, so it's all a bluff.

"You know, that does feel good." She's teasing him, now, but there's some truth to it. "You could become a masseuse."

"Ah." Flynn's breath caught in his throat a little and his fingers stopped when the tease brought a little heat to his face. His fingers had found a pin but he let them linger for another moment, enjoying the feeling or Nicole's hair between them, before he pulled it out.

He cleared his throat, a little flustered but grinning, too. "Well, I suppose? I've never given it much thought, but I guess with a little practice..."

The thought of running his hands through Nicole's hair for the rest of the day held a lot of appeal and he made a mental note that this would be the ideal end of the day once they took care of this whole amnesia-kidnapping situation.

Her smile widens; she does rather enjoy seeing Flynn flustered. Not from any sort of sick or inappropriate nature, of course. He's just very cute when he's nervous.

"Well, you can practice all you like on me. It's a win-win situation, isn't it?" But soon enough, her teasing is tempered by the reality of the situation. "All right, now that you have your pin, shall we move on?" She'd rather they get out of here sooner rather than later, not that she isn't enjoying his company as she always does.

If that wasn't motivation he didn't know what was.

However, at Nicole's return to pragmatism and the indication that playtime was over he (reluctantly) snapped back to attention, holding up the pin before squatting down in front of the chest. He carefully wedged it into the crack, trying to trap the piece of paper in between the two ends.

"Let's see if we can pry it loose..."

If he was worried about not having any further chances to banter with her, he needn't have. They had the entire ship still ahead of them, although she had no idea what could potentially be waiting for them. Still, she was willing to bet that the chance for fun, or at least, a little levity, would present itself soon.

While Flynn worked with the pin, Nicole tried to make herself useful by surveying their surroundings in case there was anything else of note to be spotted. As it was, there was nothing remarkable aside from the chest, so after just a few minutes, she returned her attention to Flynn.

"How's it coming?"

It's a daunting task because Flynn is afraid if he works too fast the paper might rip. "Almost... got it..."

It slips out bit by bit. He takes a break in between so he won't get too impatient and looks back over his shoulder, grinning at her. "Maybe it's a treasure map."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She smiles, a teasing glint in her eye as she watches him working on the paper. "What would you do if you found a treasure worth a million dollars, or perhaps more?"

"You know me SO well."

Not even for the million potential dollars but a map leading to treasure? Those missions are his favorites. Well, next to the mummies of course. God, he loves mummies.

"A million dollars? Pay for flight, hotel and vehicle upgrades for all of our next trips. You know, just once I'd like to reach our destinations well-rested."

"I might not be as smart as you, and I certainly haven't memorized the earth and the known universe, but I do know a few things about you."

She gives him a bit of a cheeky smile, enjoying the banter that comes so easily to them.

"I suppose if we don't find a million dollars here, there's always the lottery."

"And skip all the traps, mercenaries, rivers, cliffs and campfires?"

He grins back, eyes shining with thirst for adventure. "Where's the fun in that?"

"How quickly things change. It used to be you hated it when we ran into something dangerous." Or when she did something dangerous and forced him to come along, such as jumping off cliffs.

"I knew you'd come to like it." Well, she didn't always, but a part of her hoped he would.

"Well, I had good company." His smile widens before he turns his attention back towards the paper.

A little more careful wiggling and it slips out, clamped in between the two sides of the bobby pin. "And voilà! Treasure, here we come!"

"Of course. I'd never let it be said that I was anything less than a good travel companion." She gives him a cheeky grin, because she knows most people wouldn't see the entirety of her actions as being a prime example of a good companion to travel with.

"Excellent, now let's take a look at it. Spread it out over here." She points to another nearby chest with a flat surface that seems almost too conveniently placed.

Flynn puts the scroll on the chest carefully, with the care and knowledge of handling old paper. It would be a tragedy if it ripped or crumbled just because he got impatient.

When the geographical outlines and the compass sign become visible, a big boyish grin lights up his face.

"That is definitely a treasure map."

"Is it? Are you able to recognize any landmarks on it?" He's the one who memorized the earth, after all. If anyone can recognize anything on a map, it's Flynn.

She tries not to crowd him in her eagerness, but her curiosity has gotten the better of her.

Please do crowd him, Nicole. He has no problem with a little crowding. No problem at all.

Flynn leans over, holding out the paper for her to see and traces the drawing. "I remember that coastline, see how it slopes up a bit and then falls? Yes, no doubt about it. That Bay is on an isle in the Caribbeans."

This is exciting! With his sense of adventure tickled he puts his arm around her waist, pulling her in a little. "Sooo, what do you say? Treasure hunts and margaritas on the beach?"

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[PSL] The Devil's Dubloons (for slapthelibrarian)

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