Land, Ho!

[Firr Marie]

Firr gave Johannes a look that floated somewhere between sadness and confusion. He didn't look too pleased to be wet, which was understandable, but she had an inkling that it wasn't why he was scowling. Lightly she touched the frown lines with her fingertips as he talked, trying to figure out what they were stemming from. "Expendable? No!" she said happily, smiling cluelessly at him. "You're my partner now." Firr lay her head on Johannes' shoulder and traced the water droplets running down his neck. "So I won't have to be alone when I go to Africa. I'm sure I could get a man to buy me something, and when he does I'll bring it back and then we'll eat. I didn't mean to bring you back, but that wasn't so bad in the end." She raised her head and gave him a look when he spoke of him not letting her pillage. Firr opened her mouth to protest but was forced to wait. Then she scowled as he did. "But I have to pillage, Johannes. If I don't pillage I won't be a pirate! And if I'm not a pirate then I'm just a drunkard and a wastling, and those aren't good things to be. Perhaps you don't know what it's like wearing clothes you found in a garbage disposal or selling your socks for rum, but I do. You steal, or you die. That's just the bottom line"

As they rose and fell with the steadily increasing waves, Firr abruptly let go of him and took his hand to tow him back to the boat. She was having a hard enough time towing herself but it seemed natural to take him back when it was she who'd put him in there in the first place. She stopped at the rusty ladder that dipped into the water from the deck and looked at him. "Don't you steal for your kids? Your wife?" she asked.

 

[Johannes Engel]

Johannes felt that whatever understanding he had of her a moment ago, it was dwindling quickly. It was almost as though once more, she was completely alien to her again. It was just that he didn't understand the way she lived. He'd been brought up - not happily, but relatively comfortably - in a well-off family, a well-off pureblood family. He'd attended Durmstrang, been friends with some of those who held the most power in the school, after which he'd studied and found his way in to a good job. He had, of course, only had to worry about himself after graduation, but he could always provide for himself. And his job was good for his own mental health - he could completely ignore his own problems in favour of everyone else's. All in all, his life was rather comfortable, if not much of a life. It was more of an existance, if he were to be honest. "Have you ever...I don't know. Don't be mad at me, but...well, have you ever thought that you could ever be so much more?" She wasn't stupid, she had potential. Surely she could do something better with herself. At least, that was what Johannes believed.

Kicking gently, he swam alongside her to the boat, and looked at her quizzically as she asked him a question. "If only I were so unfortunate," Johannes stated, dryly. "Perhaps I would have to, if I had children or a wife. But I just look after myself, and I am quite content with that." He didn't want to flaunt his more favourable financial conditions, after all, that would probably offend her. But there was no denying that he was much better off than she was. That wasn't hard - she was rather pitiful (not that he would say such a thing out loud). Still, there was just something about her. Despite the craziness the brash behaviour...Johannes couldn't help but feel that there might have been something more that he just couldn't see.

 

[Firr Marie]

She really didn't understand. What did he mean 'so much more'? "More than Firr?" she asked, no comprehension shining in her eyes but wide-eyed puzzlement. "What would I have to be, then ... a centaur? I can't change, I'm just Firr!" said Firr to Johannes as she sloshed around awkwardly which was her version of tredding water. What he didn't understand was that to Firr, there was nothing more than what she was. There were no job opportunities for an unqualified witch or even an unqualified muggle. She knew about drinking, stealing and men, in her own child-like way, and to be someone like Johannes was an impossibility. She did not even dream of such things.

So. Johannes was not married and had no children like people of his status usually did. "You and I, Jo, we are not so different as I had first thought." said Firr cheekily, wrinkling her nose as she grinned. "So you're all alone like I am! Yippee!". Firr took a hold of Johannes' hand and began to drag him up the ladder with her, despite the fact that he could climb just fine. When she tugged him over the edge and they hit the deck with a thump, she turned towards him and placed her hands on his chest as if it was a map to an uncharted island, tracing over the skin and simply feeling for the sake of contact with another human being. "You and I, me and you," she said softly. "Maybe you're not, but I'm glad I stole your wallet." There was a pause where Firr smiled and leaned forward to kiss his breastbone. "But maybe you don't want to Africa. So I'll take you to France tomorrow instead. Now, you could go home with some firewhiskey." She looked up, something dark and hot lurking in her eyes. "Unless you want to stay just a little bit longer..."

 

[Johannes Engel]

"That's not really what I meant..." Johannes started, but sighed in defeat. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. Really, what was he even doing, trying to meddle? He barely even knew her, didn't know a thing about her past. Perhaps this was her lot in life. But to him, she seemed somewhat...special. Like she could do more than pillage and steal and play with hearts. What that was, Johannes didn't know. Regardless, he knew his way of thought was foolish. It wasn't as though he was trying to think like that. It was just happening. He never expected her to be someone like him but...well, Johannes was at a loss, really. Firr was the greatest mystery he had ever come across, and no doubt he would not be solving it any time soon.

He had to give a slight chuckle when she turned his own statement against him. "So it would seem," he replied, with a slight smirk. Johannes had, although he was thirty, never really thought himself ready to marry. He supposed he just hadn't found a suitable match yet. He had met a few women, but really, their relationships were so...cold. And while Johannes came across as a cold person, really, all he wanted was to be loved. To care for someone and be cared for in return. It was hard for him to fathom, for he didn't have the slightest idea of how to go about attaining it, but that was what he wanted in life. To love someone and be loved in return, to have happiness that would make up for past misery.

"I...I..." Her hands were distracting him. But it wasn't only that, what was he supposed to say? Johannes hadn't the faintest idea. "I am...glad to have met you, Firr." Though he struggled to say it, that was the truth. She seemed so alien, so different...but she lived life, as opposed to just surviving. She showed him a whole new side of the world, for which he was grateful. And he found himself rather drawn to the crazy pirate. It was inexplicable, impractical, and highly irresponsible of his emotions, but he simply couldn't help himself. "I would be very happy to stay a little longer with you," he said, his face as stony as always, but his eyes lighting up with excitement at what was to come if he were to stay.

 

[Firr Marie]

Firr grinned her pixie-ish grin at him and began to tug him by the shirt into the lower cabin. There was something about Johannes that made her want to bury herself into his skin and stay there forever. Rather than questioning that urge like most people would, Firr just rolled with it and decided to make him stay somehow. She knew she could attract when she wanted to, and he seemed more than eager to oblige her. But the one thing she didn't know was how to keep him coming back for more. That was something to do with feelings, a thing she had no idea how to control, manipulate or even suppress in herself. Little did she know that it was this unrestrained expression of her soul that had him entranced. Littler yet did she know about why she herself wanted him back here. He was ridiculously uptight and from an entirely different world to what she was from. He was handsome, older, well-established and entirely out of her league. Yet he would tolerate such crude behaviour from her, if begrudgingly, as if he had no other choice than to accept her as she was. It was somehow invigorating.

The door to the cabin swung open but Firr ignored it til the backs of her knees hit the bed and she brought Johannes down on top of her. With his chest against hers and their legs entwined above the sheets, Firr only had eyes for him, their faces so close that their noses touched every so often. She didn't even notice when the smile on her face shifted from devious to tender, but there was little time to ponder it when she leaned in and kissed him softly. His fingers ran over his jaw and stroked his light stubble. Stay with me, thought Firr. He would.

 

[Johannes Engel]

She was completely the wrong person for him, but maybe that was what made being with her so much better. He couldn't understand why he wanted to be with her so much. Maybe there was just no point in arguing. Maybe the best option was to simply give in. Johannes didn't like to be the one to give in, he didn't like to be taken advantage of, but maybe it was better not to care. Still. She'd be gone tomorrow, most likely, and he'd be back to his horribly dull, boring, average lifestyle. It was different with Firr. She made him feel alive, and he'd never forget her for that. Perhaps never forgive her either, but maybe it was a good thing. Maybe. For now, he had no complaints.

...

A tender smile on his face, Johannes stroked Firr's hair, feeling relaxed for the first time in what felt like forever. Even being with Firr, which seemed to be terrible for his blood pressure, he felt quite calm. There was nothing he wanted more than to stay with Firr now, as much as he would say he wanted to go home, back to his safety blanket, back to his job...he may have felt completely out of his depth with her, but it was invigorating. Sometimes, you needed to be cast out in to the depths without a life jacket. "So," he began, gently. "Do you still want me to stay?" Right now, he was more than willing to.