Nic & Elke

Alistair looked at her and laughed at her face. She did not look too pleased with his other option. Oh well... That would just be a matter of time before she really learned to enjoy sexual encounters with men. He looked over his shoulder at her words and shook his head.
‘Cyran does also happen to be the most sensitive one. But I think Eldrin has the worst temper so perhaps he will hit you. To be honest, it would not surprise me. I mean you don’t really hold back on anyone.’ He chuckled and poured her a glass of wine. Calmly he walked towards her and put it in front of her, just before Eldrin and Roland barged in.
He walked away from her with a bright smile and asked the men what they wanted to drink after he greeted them. He urged them to take a seat and did not pay much attention to Zori. She could have all his and their attention later, but right now it was just the boys. Alistair gave the men some rum and soon after them Marley and Cyran followed in. They nodded to Zori after they took their places but continued their conversation in hushed tones. It was not for her to hear this part of it, nor any part really.
‘Well… Now that we are all complete the food will be here any minute. I hope you will enjoy yourself and don’t forget to take some time out of your dinner to have some smalltalk with our guest Zori. We never had a princess at our table, so for everything a first I guess.’ Alistair laughed, a warm and catching sound. He raised his glass and said his praises after he gave the others some room for their prayers. The door opened again and their dinner was served.
Marley drank some of her wine and ended her conversation with Cyran. She had chosen a seat next to Zori and smiled a bit. ‘So, you are going to be my new roommate.’ She came a bit closer, leaning on her hand and looking at the girl. ‘I heard some things about you from Cyran and of course the other gossip about the royal bitch did spread a bit here and there.’ Marley raised an eyebrow in a challenge and smiled. After that she leaned back again and drank some more wine. ‘And I mean... Since you angered Cyran perhaps you are a bitch? Or perhaps you are just so vastly different, that us commoners can’t even grasp the fact that you might be very polite.’ She chuckled and Cyran put some food on her plate. Marley smiled and looked at Zori. 'Or are you just acting like any caged animal? Which I of course can't blame you for.'

She wasn’t particularly thrilled that Alistair decided to laugh in her face. Oh, she knew why he was laughing, but she also knew it wouldn’t stop him from raping her and she wasn’t too happy with the fact that it amused him. She wasn’t here to be his entertainment. Or, well, maybe she was, but she didn’t want to be.
‘I guess we’ll see,’ she shrugged when he said Eldrin might feel like hitting her. He could if he wanted to. They all could if they wanted to really, but if they did, they would never hear the end of it. All of them had visible muscles, where she had none. What was she going to do against them? It was merely pathetic if they felt the need to hit her, simply meant they couldn’t keep up with the way she spoke against them and they then decided hitting her was more fruitful. As if that would shut her up. There was very little that could get her to quiet down, but they would soon figure out that part of her character.
She did take the wine from him, but she wasn’t sure if she would be drinking it tonight. Partly she knew she was going to need it to get through everything, but she also didn’t trust Alistair and she didn’t yet know if she wanted to cross the line and eat or drink whatever it was he gave her. While she was debating what would be smart, the others entered the room and were talking amongst themselves. Clearly they didn’t want her to hear what it was they were saying, which made her want to hear it even more, but she decided not to let her interest show. As long as they thought she was some kind of idiot, she could use that in her favor when she tried to get away from here. That was never going to happen while they were at sea, which meant she had to keep up the rouse until there was shore ahead.
Zori did sip the wine, but she didn’t touch the food. She wasn’t interested in it. Besides, Marley already started to give her attention by making a few well placed remarks about her personality.
‘No, everybody is right, I am a bitch, got called that the first time before I turned ten and it never truly went away. It’s not my fault other people have feelings.’ Which, to be fair, it really wasn’t. If they couldn’t handle her being around them and speaking up, they shouldn’t have brought her. ‘But I guess I could be worse. I could’ve made sure Alistair’s head got separated from his body when I had him kicked out of the tournament. In hindsight that would’ve been a better choice for me, but see, I’m not that bad.’

Marley smiled a bit. 'That is good, we could use another bitch on this ship. It gets boring with all these men here.' Ze drank from her wine and for a moment looked down from Zori to her plate. 'Eat. You are not here to be poisoned and even if you were, it would be in your wine and not your food.' She said calmly before eating something herself. 'Yeah.. I think in hindsight letting him survive was not the best choice but who knows.. You may think otherwise in a few years. You never know what life might bring you.' Marley calmly said. She was interested in Zori, in who this princess was and why she was so cold. She wanted to know about her life before this ship and what it was like. Marley liked information, she wanted it badly.
Cyran gavere a little nudge, she should leave Zori alone. He had learned his lesson and did not pay her much attention anymore. Marley waved him away with her hand. 'I'm old enough to decide for myself if I want to give the girl some attention or not. Don't worry, I know Alistair fancies her, I won't steal her.' She chuckled and looked back at Zori. Marley gave her a grin. 'Except if she prefers me of course. Then there is nothing to do about it. I know I just am irresistible.'
The other men in the room laughed but had to agree. Marley grinned and looked at Zori. 'How about that little princess. You get to decide who takes your virginity and don't worry, I have the things to do it as well.' She laughed for a moment. Marley was the only woman on this ship but not a man laid a hand on her. In the early days some had tried but after a few warnings she had chopped off his hand and eventually they had to throw him overboard. The message for the others had been quite clear, she was not open for their advances. If she wanted something, she would come to them and it was an honor.
'Fine..' It was Alistair this time and he looked Zori in the eyes. 'She can decide who takes it.. But it can only be one of us five.' He smiled at her. She would not walk away intact. 'And it has to happen in the coming...' For a moment he thought about it, he wanted her before Clew Bay. 'In the coming two weeks.' If she had lost her virginity by then, he could have some time with her as well.

Zori somehow doubted boring was the right word for whatever went on in this ship, especially if Marley was involved.
The problem wasn’t as much with the food, as it was with eating it. She didn’t eat the way they did. Zori was used to everything being perfectly proportioned to the point where she didn’t even have to cut anything to eat it, because that had been done for her. She hated everything about eating like that, because it had been another invention of her father to keep his girls under control and to decide what they could or couldn’t do, but it was still what she was used to. This setting couldn’t have been farther from her life in the palace. They were eating with their hands and she wouldn’t be surprised if at some point they would start throwing the food around. It didn’t make her uncomfortable, but it made her unsure of how to act. She had walls up to keep anybody from getting too close, but she also always analyzed social situations to keep from making major mistakes. With royals there were rules. With pirates, it seemed, there were none, but she knew looks could be deceiving. There might be rules she hadn’t yet noticed and she wasn’t keen on them pointing it out to her. But, like the good little princess or animal or whatever they wanted to call her, she did eat something after Marley ordered her to. It was a piece of bread, but it was better than nothing.
She looked up when the conversation shifted to her virginity - again - and sighed loudly to make sure they all knew she wasn’t keen on this subject. Sighing wasn’t naturally one of the things she did, but it felt appropriate for her current situation.
‘Are you for fucking real? Is my virginity all you guys think about or what?’ It was creepy and weird and she didn’t like that the topic was somehow brought up every single time. However, it became a lot worse when they started making some kind of fucking game out of it.
‘All of you are disgusting.’ The words left her lips before she could stop herself from speaking them. She did mean it, she simply hadn’t meant to say it out loud. She was right though, it was disgusting to make somebody chose who would be the first to rape her. Unless she would try and work with them and then it might not hurt as much, but that would mean letting go of her pride and she wasn’t sure she could do that.
‘I’ll think about it,’ her voice was still as calm as ever, as was to be expected from a princess, but the fire in her eyes was clearly visible.

Her reaction made the group laugh and Alistair looked at her. 'It is not the only thing we care about but you are not giving us much else to talk about since you just want to sit there and pout.' He raised an eyebrow. 'Or am I wrong and do you want to enter or conversations?' He was no idiot, he knew she did not want to mingle with them. They were all below her and even though she pretended she cared about some people who were not royalty, he knew she did not care about them.
'I mean we all know you blame everyone on this for you being her. Everyone except yourself of course, because how could we be such ruthless and evil pirates. To kidnap a princess and talk about her virginity.' He rolled his eyes her and drank some more wine. After that he ignored her by talking to Eldrin and Roland.
Cyran sighed and for a moment he looked at Zori. He had tried to be polite with her but Alistair was right. She did not care for any of them and in her eyes everyone was to blame for the decisions Alistair made. He had thought she would've understood, choosing between whoring himself or listening to Alistair... it was an easy decision to make.
Marley looked at the girl and sighed. 'Don't even bother.It is not as if your virginity is something nobody talks about. We know that you know that it is your only worth in the eyes of your father. Is he really the person you still want to please? Why not take advantage of this situation? Why not learn what we could teach you and just make him disappear when you get back?' She took a sip. 'You just want to be sad and lonely and claim you are such a bitch but you're not. You're just a scared little girl who thinks she could rule and be cruel. If you were, you would've made sure Alistair lost his head. But you're not. Except we both know that you need that cruelty if you ever want to get rid of your father because that bastard just won't die. So perhaps you should think about changing your mindset towards us and learn something, it might come in handy some day.'
Marley emptied her glass and got up to fill it again. Cyran sight and looked back at Zori. Marley was right, there was so much the girl could learn. And it was so easy to get her angry or annoyed. If she would just try to think about things differently their problem was solved in no time.

She raised her eyebrows at Alistair when he talked down to her like she was some child that needed reprimanding. Asshole.
‘I don’t blame you for taking me,’ she shrugged, ‘I’m not particularly happy about it as you might’ve noticed, but I don’t blame you for it. There are many people I can blame, myself being the main problem considering I like to get rid of my guards, although I doubt it would’ve mattered if there were guards present when you came for me or not. No, I don’t blame you, because from your perspective it was a smart move. I can be mad about it, but that’s different.’ She was done with this whole shitshow and if they wanted her to talk, they could listen.
‘And you’re right, I’m not interested in your conversations, considering so far there was nothing for me to be interested in. How am I supposed to react when I’m trying to adjust to a ship full of pirates and one of them starts telling me his life story? Or when another one calls me an animal? Honestly, never in my life have I had the kind of conversations that have been thrown my way today, so excuse me if I need to adjust. And excuse me for not caring about how that comes across to any of you.’ It wasn’t as if any of them truly cared about what she thought about them, so she wasn’t going to extend the favor either.
Zori couldn’t help but smile at Marley when the woman decided to speak to her. She took a sip from her wine and then laughed softly.
‘Perhaps I’m not as cruel as I should be, that’s possible, but at least I’m not as stupid as you are.’ Alistair already said she wasn’t one to hold back and he was right. ‘Connect the dots here for me, darlings, whatever need would my father have to suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, find me a husband within a month by hosting a tournament every men in our country can enter? Do tell, what would prompt him to be so reckless about finding his eldest daughter, the one who stands to inherit the throne, a husband?’ Usually kings were a bit more selective in what they wanted as their successors. Hosting a tournament everybody could enter? Didn’t happen often -if ever- and the pirates should’ve realized by now it had something to do with the lifespan of her father. She did. She could never be sure about it, but she was good enough at figuring things out and the tournament in combination with everything she’d seen going on at home, made her believe her father was sick and not quickly getting better.

'So what.. Did you really believe that you would get rid of your husband after that and rule on your own? I admire your confidence and dreams little princess but this is a world of men. Some people might listen to you, but do you think kings will? Do you think the army or the navy will listen to some girl? And if you did not get rid of your husband, did you really believe he would not have his own agenda and love the power?' Marley looked at her and shook her head. 'If you truly believe you could've quietly ruled as a queen then this might be a good thing. Because you'll get some real life experience.' She stood up, her glance was cold towards Zori. 'And I really believe you need some of it.' After those words she walked away. She had eaten something and was done for. She did not want to keep talking to the men and since Zori did not seem very eager to get to know anyone, Marley decided it would be best for her to leave.
Cyran did not like Zori's outburst any more than the others. But it felt like a personal attack. He shot her a look, nothing more than disdain. She had accomplished whatever she wanted, he would keep his distance from her. After Marley left he also got up and looked at Alistair for a moment but left without saying anything after that.
'So.. You really are the light of the party.' Alistair chuckled and looked at Zori. 'I'm glad you don't blame me and we both see what a fantastic opportunity this was.' He smiled and leaned back in his chair. 'And I mean.. if you did not want to get kidnapped, would you not have tried to lose your guards as often as you did? I guess there was just a part of you longing for an adventure and here it is. Right in front of you and all you have to do is work with us for a little bit. If you keep yourself locked up from everybody you won't get to learn any new things.' Alistair looked at her. 'But do take your time to get to know everything. I don't think anybody wanted for you to not adjust, but whether you like it or not. It is safer to adjust with one of us close to you, especially if you want to leave your room Zori.'