when skyler put her hands up, lulu swayed a little and then raised a hand, holding her fingers in a ‘gun’ shape and ‘shooting’, mouthing ‘pew pew’. “i don’ take any prissners.” she slurred theatrically. when skyler reached for the booze again, lulu's face turned into a drunken pout. she took another swig and handed it over.

lulu stood up, challenging herself for no reason and losing her footing, falling a bit into the wall of the boat but righting herself. “do you even have a plank?” she hassled. she continued to wander across the boat, one foot carefully in front of the other. the ground was moving. she turned, ready to ask what privateer meant, before her eyes homed in on the harpoon gun.

“wooahh.” she managed appreciatively, the word running a little long. “that’s better than a plank.” she wobbled over, putting her hands out to touch it, examining it as best she could with double vision. she found skyler’s eyes again. “can i shoot it?” her bloodshot eyes were pleading. she poked at the sharp end of the harpoon like a four year old who couldn’t keep their hands off of a friend’s toy.

lulu bit her lip a little at the gun, feeling mischievous, until skyler stepped in between them. lulu looked up at her disappointedly, hearing the sternness in her voice, but then she picked up her hand, and the world spun for a moment. she felt something she wasn’t used to, a warmth in her cheeks and her ears. the captain leaned in, and lulu only realized after skyler pulled away that she’d been holding her breath the whole time.

at skyler’s suggestion, lulu smirked toothily. “ok, fine.” this sounded like fun, and she had zero concern about the dangers of it. she reached in her strap and pulled out one of the sword cutlass pistols, handing it to her. she then went to grab skyler’s hands again, moving her fingers into place. “waait wait… what hand do you use?” the words were slurred and very confused. meaning, which was her dominant hand? she held the sailor’s hand in hers still, and idly stroked it once, totally piloted by alcohol and forgetting where she was for a moment.

lulu was taken aback by the captain’s response. she was also ambidextrous. it was the reason she was able to wield two pistols at once with such accuracy. they were like two drunken unicorns at sea. deciding on the right side and maneuvering her hands into place, lulu let go and watched the woman struggle to stay upright. seeing the gun almost slip, lulu suddenly reacted with a lightning quickness to catch it, her instincts firing through the alcohol. when it was back in hand, she slouched drunkenly once more, as though it hadn’t happened.

then, at the woman’s shifting stance, she shook her head. “no, no, no.” then, going around back of skyler, she unabashedly put her arms under hers, around her torso, to hold the gun over top of skyler’s hands. she looked around her shoulder at her finger placement and moved them around some. “there. that’s it.. loosen up your wrists.” but as she was doing this, the warmth of skyler’s body and her scent was distracting. she was fading from her focus. using her strength to support skyler’s arms at a straight angle, she nudged her index finger to the trigger. “nothing really.” with that, she squeezed skyler’s finger over the trigger. a loud bang, and the gun popped up a little in their hands, lulu making sure to guide them through the kickback, her body instinctively knowing what to do despite her inebriation. the bullet ricocheted across the water a distance away like a skipping stone.

“now,” she slurred in her ear, “since ya got two hands..” a hand fell from around skyler and she reached into her other strap and pulled out the gun’s twin, holding it up again from underneath the captain’s arm, gesturing for her to grab ahold of it with her other hand. before she got any further, however, her body seemed to do something else.

something lulu didn’t typically do.

something lulu hadn’t done in years, actually.

she hadn’t been this close to someone by choice in such a long time, and the warmth of another body was enough to make her own crave more in its drunken state, despite her typical nature. she leaned in and her lips lightly brushed the back of skyler’s neck. though she continued to hold the guns up, her arms slackened, and her night was quickly fading into blackout territory.

she could feel him. he stood in front of her, facing away, looking out across the factory rooftops. her lips glided across the beautiful dark skin that was left exposed out of his loose black t-shirt. she felt happy. a breeze rolled through motostoke, and tousled her long hair around them both. it was oddly salty, she noticed. the unnatural sky turned from its chemical rainbow into speckled dark as the sun suddenly set in an instant, and her hands were not where they had been moments ago.

when reality hit, her arms fell to her side as though they’d only suddenly realized the weight they were baring. she stumbled back a step and assessed the situation as best she could. “fuck.” was all she said, before she messily shoved her guns away after a couple tries. her face was unreadable as she reached for the bottle near them, and took a generous swig. she eyed all three of skyler from a short distance, swaying, her eyelids heavy. then, she took out another cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag and blowing out an opaque cloud before speaking again.

“sorry. uh..” grace wasn’t with her this evening. “i dunno.” her head was swimming with nonsensical emotions and none of them could accurately portray themselves on her face. the result was something like uncertainty.
she'd forgotten about the harpoon gun.

she was about past any sober moments, but her mood had decidedly gone south and dark rather quickly. it had been well over a year that she'd drank so much, and it was waking up a few demons.

her eyes were doing something between dead and thousand-yard-stare at skyler while she looked out over the water.

then, the captain's comment made her heart skip a beat and sink. why had she done that? things felt suddenly complicated and weird and the world was still spinning, only it wasn't as fun now. the water looked inky and sinister, and so did the sky. skyler registered as a stranger in her shifted state of mind, and nothing more.

she watched her with heavy eyes as she made her way to sit close to her. at the mention of the harpoon gun, she quirked a brow. she decided she wanted to shoot something. familiar, simple. happy thoughts.

wobbling over, she reached for it, dragging it out from under its place and bringing it back over to sit next to skyler. she was careful not to brush skin, and looked entirely distracted from the other woman, as though she'd done a complete one-eighty. the alcohol and the situation had rendered her wordless, and she was barely there. she held the steel of the gun like hands on a teddy, waiting to be instructed, or perhaps she just felt contented by the comfort of holding it.

lulu’s drowning amber eyes didn’t follow the captain until she took the gun from her hands, at which point her stare was merely glued to the weapon as it traveled away from her.

she watched skyler with a still dead expression as she shot the harpoon out into the water, reeling it back in after. it was reminiscent of a shotgun. Having worked in a weapons smuggling ring for years, there were few things she hadn’t seen or shot yet. A harpoon gun wasn’t one of them; she just liked to shoot things.

comfort washed through her with the gun back in her hands, and she looked skyler in the eyes again, finally speaking. “no problem.” she slowly pushed to her feet and slowly made her way across the boat, in the direction of a buoy. then, instead of shooting it the correct way, she hoisted up the heavy gun with a single hand, centered it, and pulled the trigger.





a clang sounded as the harpoon sailed into the buoy. she stood still for a moment, lowering the gun. the wind blew her hair.

finally, she turned and stepped back towards skyler. her hand reached out to hand the gun to her, and she continued walking past across the deck, eventually pushing herself up towards the dock, with parting words, “keep your harpoon, capt’n.”