i’m afraid i do not quite have the most joyful tale to share. born of a poor family in the dutch republic, with many of my relatives dying to hunger or to the franco-dutch war.
( he pauses briefly, breath filling his lungs as he recalls the death-plagued youth before ...
( the offer of a gamble clasps onto him, too, an easy target for such delight. gaze follows the shape of the other, allowing his body to align towards them. )
well, then. i wonder if i am a lucky man today.
and what will keep you from draining me?
( a fool’s gold is still shiny, and willem cannot help but linger in some edge of caution, even if the man before him is the most alluring soul he has ever come across. )
( the tallon digging into his skin makes willem sigh, the sharp pain subduing in no time. it makes his head tilt aside, involuntarily, as he reveals his throat to the other.
a man of desires, he has always been. seduction is his great weakness. )
is that so?
pirates, for one. sea creatures. the long voyage itself. sickness.
( goosebumps trickle downwards across his body, making the captain inhale softly — their touch is incredibly cold. )
keep me?
“i do not fear you bring us any harm, dame death.”
as the ropes sit in their respective spot in the deck, his frame leans against the banister of the ship, lower back resting upon the curve as his arms loosely cross upon his chest.
no, stepping foot into the seat has ...
... always been the equivalent of accepting one’s fate ; saint nicolas may have been a patron of his ship for as long as he has become captain, but mother nature’s fury is still one no saint can wrangle.
“i have come to terms with your presence since my first voyage, ...
( willem did not have much proper education besides the craft of being a sailor, but he has always had been a rather fast learner.
vocabulary picked from his contracts with aristocrats, street smarts from surviving in amsterdam as an orphan, he found ways to survive. ) ...
to some, it could be the same. terrors have different faces, after all.
( the captain gently crosses his arms, resting back on his heels before a small smile tugs on his lips. )
i have been in the sea since i was eighteen. i have seen things the church would deny.















