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Yuuki Kuran Yuuki Kuran had been scheming with James Flint across a handful of nights about the finer points of simplistic civics. Yuuki, delighted with this chance to play an isekai fixfic villainess story about making sad dads and strong men into kings and champions all loyal to her, had gone so far as to begin 'arranging meetings' herself. Nothing like the ones organized by her secretary, Yuuki would simply appear in places in Nassau and politely ask if anyone had seen Charles Vane, and then smile at the response, and disappear again. These daytime hauntings were sure to catch the ear of the captain of the Ranger!

After a few days of it, Yuuki 'held court' in a re-pillowed corner of the islands main tavern establishment owned by the Guthries, sprawled out nibbling on English cheeses and little tavern biscuits. Though she used local drinkware, a crate of wine and spirits sat at the foot of her table, inviting any to swing by and take their fill of her wealth.

Since she had been here since morning, the novelty had worn off and the most lush among the tavern had long since passed out or had their eigth bottle and toddled off to their own corner. The 'drinks on me' flex Yuuki had made at the Guthrie's benefit was as broadly intentioned as the Director's good graces.
Zero Kiryu Zero Kiryu has been in and out. As is usual, he is a constant presence around Yuuki without necessarily being physically evident at all times. Usually when he wanders in it's to review papers that he found for whatever reason to be easier to deliver to Nassau Yuuki than to the Other Yuuki who is almost assuredly in circumstances that are otherwise more convenient to access.

Somebody knowing that one of you being busy doesn't mean you can't get at the other yourself is the price you pay for being able to mess around while you mess around.

Even so, despite his periodic absences they've never been long enough as to forget that he is Most Definitely there.

It wasn't until the last few minutes that he finally settled in beside Nassau Yuuki, grudgingly consenting to Exist Among The Pillows before appearing to... go to sleep. Probably not, but at the very least he's got his eyes closed and isn't focused heavily on his body just now.
Captain Flint      A man enters the tavern. His skin is tanned from a life at sea, his brown hair resting at his shoulders where it isn't pulled back to keep it from his piercing blue eyes. Six feet of musclebound pirate, clad in a green cotton shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal leather bracers bearing nicks from the swords and sabers of unfortunate foes. A hand-rolled cigar smolders between his lips. Without a word, Charles Vane helps himself to a bottle of Yuuki's rum, thumbing the cork free. He removes the cigar and takes a generous swig.

     With one hand, he turns a chair around and takes a seat opposite her. It's only after the clink of the bottle on the table that he deigns to speak up. His voice is like a growl even when he shows no hostile intent. Charles Vane in his 'neutral' state is rather like being aroud some jungle predator, sizing up all that he sees. "The woman from the Georgia colony raid. You ask for me by name," says Vane to Yuuki, after a puff of his cigar.

     "Why?" Zero is beside her. His eyes flick towards him. He knows this one, too. The man who came and went as he pleased, who always brought food with him. This one is popular with the crew. As for the captain... he isn't disliked. There is even a measure of goodwill, having taken a prize together. But there is some suspicion mixed in with the curiosity. Men like Zero, who come with gifts and no apparent motive, often are distrusted here, where everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Yuuki Kuran "Because, Charles, I'd like to gain a bit more of your measure." Yuuki explains to the deeply tanned man as he settles in and speaks. She had expected him to come, expected him to take, and at his leisure, ask.

This is how you showed respect to predators. You laid out the red meat, stepped back, and let them move at their own pace.

"I've decided that the captains of Nassau are a better investment than the English or Spanish crowns, and their colonies in the New World, the Orient, and beyond, undervalue and under-utilize your skills and services. I think you're better than you recieve, and I am courting the island as a whole, and its captains specifically, to make them a better offer."

Yuuki sits up from her full-out sprawl, favoring Vane's eyes and the flash of his teeth with her attention, fully willing to meet eyes with his sapphire intensity, and staring back with calm and warm red-browns.

"More than an investment in the sense of business, as labor, a thing you can sell - I want to invest in strong men, capable men, free men who will choose to work for me. Because I make a better offer. The strongest bonds are the ones you choose yourself, aren't they? You know this in your bones, Charles. It's why you are so incredibly strong: your choice is to be powerful, and violent, and take from those whose goods and things make rich a pitiful and weak fake elite. They're not worthy of praise beyond being born to wear a wig. You were born to wear a sword, and it shows."

She smiles, her teeth shiny-white like moonlight. "I like simple things, because everyone can understand them. It's easier, living simply."
Zero Kiryu "My interest is Yuuki's interest. Yuuki's interest is the Concord. And the First is a close friend who shares our longevity. That's all." Zero explains to Captain Vane, allowing his eyes to half-open. Despite his relative clarity there's a drowsiness to him. Probably because it's daytime.

He doesn't seem concerned with transparently responding to the flow of thought rather than what was actually said to him-- particularly considering that all 'business' was directed towards Yuuki.
Yuuki Kuran MEANWHILE, EARLIER:

Yuuki in the Elysium Apex sighs at Zero. "Zero, right now I'm relaxing just off the coast in a pile of pillows and listening to the water. They have tiny crackers and cheese, just like concierge brings! It's the exact same, except here is all work-work-work and there it's fun! Swing by!"

She bullies Zero, like this.

AT THE TAVERN:

While she talks, Yuuki gently strokes Zero's hair as he grows quiet in her pile, stealing moments to smile fondly down at him away from paying attention to Charles.

"That's right. Though, not everything I do is 'Concord business', I'm aware that where I move the Concord follows. In this case: What I am working on is offering to Nassau the open hand of the Concord."

She looks up to Charles. "Wouldn't I like to meet the men worth meeting, and speak to them in a plain way?"
Captain Flint      Zero's answer is enough for him, and he nods. Loyalty is something he understands and respects.

     It always pays to be wary of those who come with Offers, however. "So speak plainly, then," says Vane. Yuuki is perceptive enough to notice a few things about him. He isn't like Flint--not an intellectual, not accustomed to or desirous of gently brushing off social gestures. This is a man who spurns subtlety and nuance. "Show me that better offer. Put it in my hand." His expression hasn't changed, and though his words are blunt, he's still seated at the table. Still drinking her rum.
Yuuki Kuran "Ah. I didn't make myself clear."

Yuuki gestures around. "This place is supported by the ships and captains that bring in cargo - prizes. They sell them to sneering merchants and argue over handfuls of coins. You're better than that. The merchants are better than that. Everyone is better than that."

Yuuki picks up a cracker, gesturing outside a window to the peeking-through rays of brilliant sun, and the air of soft ocean sounds that are muddied by the raucous cries of Nassau.

"I said I wished to replace the crowns of England and Spain 'for Nassau'. You are purveyors of goods and cargo and do so at the--" Yuuki pauses, an oddly nondramatic pause.

MEANWHILE:

Elysium Yuuki looks up something on her computer. It takes her a moment.

Elysium Yuuki makes a face. "That's not good at all. If I have to look it up--"

BACK AT THE INN, Nassau Yuuki smiles. "Cost of people I dispise. Working with James has made me more fully aware of how disgusting the English Crown is. I like you better. I think the reasons are obvious! I don't like the way the Royal Navy speaks to titles instead of freedoms, and wages instead of rich rewards for the time and danger. That's foolishness."

"Do you know what our Concord stands for?"
Zero Kiryu     EARLIER

"I'm working," Zero says, carrying on without even really breaking his stride. "You're working."

    NOW

Zero shuts his eyes again and reclines properly. "My own offers... I could make them, but I don't think what you're looking for yet. Perhaps in a little while. In the meantime, I'll let Yuuki handle things. However... though it is not resting in your palm at this very moment, you have witnessed the better deal already. The caveat is that Concord helps Concord."
Captain Flint      Vane's expression--an expectant stare, a slight frown around that cigar--shows that he doesn't know what the Concord stands for. Zero's assertion that Concord Helps Concord gives him only a faint idea. But... "I know that Flint's been a part of it for a while. I know that in that time, his crew has gone from barely tolerating him to something resembling loyalty." He takes a pull. Exhale. Grey tendrils of smoke dance across the table.

ONE WEEK AGO

     "I beg your pardon?" Jack Rackham looks utterly perplexed, squinting at the Walrus' quartermaster. "You want our help taking a prize that could drastically upset the balance of power in the New World, and in exchange, you'll not only allow Charles stewardship of that prize, but of the fort your Concord spent weeks renovating and reinforcing?"

     "Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Silver smiles amiably. The two of them have met in one of the tents on the beach--the Guthrie Tavern wouldn't be a good spot for a discussion like this. The Walrus quartermaster steps closer, puts a hand on Rackham's shoulder. Rackham looks at Silver like he's just grown a second head. "Sorry," Silver says, removing his hand. "But--listen. Flint wants someone he can trust in that fort, someone he knows will have the island's best interests at heart. Hornigold isn't *like* us. He's well liked, yes," says Silver. With a conspiratory tone, "But he was a privateer. He's guarding the bay because it's something that makes him feel relevant, not because he really cares about the island. Captain Vane, however... there's no amount of money, no promise of prestige in the world that would make him turn his back on this place. Isn't that the kind of person who *should* be in that fort?"

NOW

     Vane takes a swig of rum. The system they have now... it is, indeed, in a way, beholden to England and Spain. The Guthries act as go-betweens so that the rich men who buy these stolen goods never have to set eyes on men like him. "You're offering a Nassau that doesn't have to do what it does in secret."
Yuuki Kuran She can see the gears turning. The way this works. Making a better offer, always, requires you to place a value in care, in trust, in bonds and loyalty. Letting everyone live simply and on terms they set, settle, and use as foundations.

"I'm offering Nassau nationhood. Independence from any crown but the one they forge, and the hands they choose to shake. Because everyone that comes here, lives here, truly belongs here, are the people that society could not contain but yet longed to feast on. Pure-blooded men who themselves rose up and became more whole by their own choices, own merits, the flag they flew and the colors they chose to wear."

Her smile continues its moonlight radiance, different than the harsh and tanning light of the sun outside. Hers is a light that draws in attention, guides it gently towards an inevitable end.

"I love Nassau. I love James, and I love Charles. Jack and John and all the rest. I love you all because you are alive. It is a choice you make, a vibrance to your existance that I cherish."

She places her hand over her heart, fingers held together, entreating. "You don't want me to just give you a giant sack of gold. You'd be a fool to refuse it, and so you'd not were I to leave one on the table, but I know your heart. The plunder, the riches, you see through the wealth to what it really is. Things. Pleasures. High moments, and spendable coins to buy what you cannot take. You do not drip with gold, because you are not gold. You are a man who is alive."

Her fingers leave her heart and pat the table.

"I want to offer Charles Vane his choice of the fattest bounties and the most daring assaults. I want his ship to be crewed by well-fed and well-trained sailors who all wish to shine among his glory. I want his guns to roar the resounding sound of his life, and his enemy's death. And then, I want his home to be here, the place he puts his boots up, turns his prizes into pleasures, and votes with his coin on how he'd like to improve his world. His life."

She sits back, among her pillows, and bites her cracker finall, munching softly.

"That's what my Concord is. A family of people who are alive. I collect the living, because they are the most interesting people, and I want to live the most interesting life - one I never want to sleep through."

"James was the one who took the first step, and for it, I'll make him a king in his own right. Those that take a chance on uncertain waters should be richly rewarded. Still: That's what I'm offering. Plain, isn't it?"
Zero Kiryu Zero makes an acknowledging noise but doesn't move to clarify precisely what the Concord is. He's certainly not the talker between the two of them by any stretch of the imagination. The truth is, though, that what it is to him is too personal to meaningfully convey what it is to a prospective member, and he isn't particularly inclined to elaborate any further.

He supposes he could just inject thoughts, if he needed to. But that has drawbacks.

Drawbacks that would be less useful when trying to make real contacts and alliances.

The remark Yuuki makes about a life she doesn't want to sleep through, though, elicits a snort.

At last, he says, "When we first came to the Multiverse we were joined with a faction of mismatched ideology tearing itself apart while strongarming everything around it. A monolith that had monopolized certain resources, and destroyed itself with them in the end. To 'do good', well... that's not a concrete foundation for anything. 'Family is what you choose', and 'this is our family', though..."

"I think that's better." He muses.
Captain Flint      "James." He says it flatly, but not without a shred of amusement. There are few people who would call Flint by his first name. Few people, Vane reasons, that would get close enough to him to bother learning it. He removes the cigar from between his lips, holding it in the space between two fingers. "I don't like Flint. He's arrogant. Thinks his way is the only way," growls the captain neutrally.

     "Been that way since he came to this island ten years ago. Used to despise him. But even he knew well enough to steer clear of that faction," continues the grizzled captain, nodding towards Zero. There's a pause. His attention shifts back to Yuuki.

     "Flint told Miss Guthrie about his ambitions. The same as yours." A nation of thieves. "There's been a change in him. Somewhere. Somehow. Besides just the fort and his men." He pushes the rum aside, lays his hand flat across the table.

     "If I supported your cause, joined my strength to yours, what would you ask of me?" He doesn't seem to believe that all she wants is for him to live freely. "What would be expected of me and my men?"
Yuuki Kuran "James!" Yuuki agrees, with good cheer. "I told him he should love himself. That I was not asking him to die for me, but to live for me. That his men shouldn't charge towards a prize out of fear of reprisal, but because they want it too. At least, they should want James to succeed, and he should want them to succeed."

Yuuki's snorting laughter earns him a roll of the hip to bonk the top of his head. "Quiet, you. I really mean it. It's what I want. I want it for you, too."

"Charles, I'm not here with contracts and lettered things. I am giving you what I think you'll need, to think about, and come to a decision. I don't want you to rush to a decision: Unless you're willing to follow me without question tonight, I'd encourage you to think and talk and explore the idea."

"Charles, I would like you to become the warlord of Nassau, and command the fleets of the island. You are the strongest-minded and most brilliant attacker, and men would easily take a willing place on your ship. What James wants is to be the king he thinks men need - that offer, that material interest that exists to excuse a caring world. What I offer you is to become an immortal hero, a living exemplar of your own creed. You'd deal directly with the Concord for your goods, be paid up front or have it appraised by our agents who wish for the highest prize for you as their work, and have access to any of our member worlds for spending and pleasures. And that is just if you stay right where you are."

"I also offer you, Charles Vane, singular, as Captain of the Ranger, membership into the Concord, and all that entails. Know that you would be James Flint's brother, if you accepted -- but I'm fine with a 'distance' in your brotherly love. I'm sure you'd be too busy siezing victories to care. James and I have schemed up some plots to show love to all of Nassau's choosing people." She says 'choosing', not chosen.

"To sign on is to agree that I will decide where half of every ten reales go, being very simple. But half and half is fair, when you see the fullness of my simple plans."
Zero Kiryu "Most people think that. They just don't say it," Zero says, distantly. "People don't always get along. We've had some vicious internal fights. The rules are simple: Don't finish off your internal rivals. Make sure the Concord is invested in both sides. The better idea will be the one that rides, in the end. I don't get the impression that Flint's ideas always win against yours, if you're unfriendly. You seem to be thriving."

As almost an afterthought, he adds, "The Union WAS best avoided. Even getting caught in its bloated corpse falling over would finish most people."

Whatever else he might have thought to say is derailed by a hip bonk. Zero glances up at Yuuki, not quite reproachful but definitely with a 'be careful' sort of warning glance. It's less hostile than a random stranger would probably interpret it as, though.
Captain Flint      It's clear that Vane doesn't like the idea of Flint as a king. The downward twitch of his lips. The backwards lean in his seat. The grunt. But does he dislike that idea more than he likes the idea of getting more for less? No man is rich who could have that. His brow furrows, his eyes narrow as he studies the two of them.

     This Concord... is it so different from Nassau? "Your cut is steep," he says. "My rate with Miss Guthrie is better. But you wouldn't mention it up front if you didn't think I'd somehow find it favorable." He hasn't agreed. Not yet. But it's something to think about. As a member of the Concord he'd have the assistance of others, in taking prizes worlds away from Nassau, if he wanted. The take would be higher, but the income might be far more than what he could take working solely from Nassau. ...and there might be less pissing and moaning about his way of doing things, too.

     "I'll think about it."
Yuuki Kuran "My rate is steep, yes. But you asked yourself! 'What do you get out of it?'. The answer, Charles, is that I want to *decide* how you spend half of what you gain, because you gain it through our union. I would not have a strong captain, as much as you'd lack other things. You can sail out of a few ports, or make your own, I know. I don't have the sole power. It's because I want you to choose me. It's important you choose, because that's what family is. Who you choose."

Settling back into the sprawl of pillows, Yuuki crosses her arms against her chest and settles in, like someone preparing for a nap.

"James Flint competes with you because he is sharp, and smart, and cunning in ways that you aren't. The prizes you take aren't the prizes he'd take. The seas all over are always fat with cheap merchants and people who think chance will stop the wolves."

"Please, drink my rum and enjoy yourself. I'll be here for the rest of the day. Think about what you'd want, too, Charles. What you could support, what you could become. We'll come to terms your way. I have the power to let others choose! I'm excited to learn what you pick."
Zero Kiryu "If our cut wasn't steep you wouldn't believe that we're selling what we're selling at all," Zero observes.

"Am I right?" He asks, to indicate that he wasn't just pulling the answer from Vane's mind this time.
Captain Flint      Vane's expression again changes, when Zero makes that read. It isn't a mind-read. But it doesn't have to be. He's right--that Vane believes that they have the product they're selling. His expression is a small, impressed smile, accompanied by a slight nod. He pushes the chair back, stands up, and takes the bottle. With the other hand, he slips the cigar back between his lips.

     "Like I said," he says. "I'll think about it." This is a decision that'd affect the whole crew. They deserve to know. But he doesn't *dislike* the offer. Not in the slightest. No man is rich who could have more for less. "Yuuki. Zero." He's turned and on his way out, after another slight nod.
Yuuki Kuran "Take some drinks back! I'm sure Jack will love to hear all about it. Knowing John Silver, he probably already has." Yuuki laughs, waving while closing her eyes and leaning against Zero.

"It was wonderful talking to you, Charles." She murmurs, in that 'drifting off to sleep' air of wistfulness.
Zero Kiryu "Captain," Zero says in parting, raising a hand to wave loosely. The very moment that Vane has gone he vanishes, leaving behind a twist of flowering vines.

    MEANWHILE, AT ELYSIUM APEX...

Zero leans over the back of Dorado Yuuki's chair, drapes one arm over her shoulders, and proceeds to absolutely annihilate her hair by mussing it up rapidly.

"Even if it was amusing," he says, "I'm glad you're thinking like that."