Why The F*** Are Pirates So Damn Attractive (Theyna)

The Girl In Stone

 Thalia can't see. Truly, that shouldn't be her first problem given she's aboard a fucking Hunter ship, but it's frustrating nonetheless. She can barely feel her arms, they ache so much. Actually, she takes it back, everything hurts. Her entire body feels like the distinct sensation of being deep fried alive. Her head especially, which is so hot Thalia swears that her eyes are emitting steam. Not that she can negate that fact given she still can't see. Part of her wonders if the Hunters are cannibals.

Cannibals, of all places why does her brain always automatically go there. She's never truly met a cannibal, for all she knows Cannibals could be perfectly reasonable people with a certain lifestyle, like vegans. However, Thalia has not met any cannibals, so she wouldn't know that.

"Alright, confirmed fever..." she hears a voice mutter and takes a full ten seconds to register that it's her own voice and not someone she doesn't recognize. "Jesus, my brain is fucked." Her mind is a palace, swirling unceremoniously in and out of tangible thought. It's like it's disconnected from her body somehow, which continues throbbing unhelpfully.

With an inconvenient amount of effort, Thalia manages to get a hand to her face and feel for what's blocking her vision. The blindfold is rough against her fingers, like reptile skin. She swallows her own gag and instead dumps the blindfold onto the floor so she can make out her surroundings.

It's... well, it's a captain's quarters, which alone is confusing since she's supposed to be a prisoner. Worse, thalia's in the captain's bed, which doesn't boost her morale as she attempts to lift herself up. Her arms shake, they look weak and pale in the lantern light, covered in bandages and a shirt that's not her own. Thalia lays back down because the floor is moving beneath her and she's not, which isn't a good sign.

"Fuck..." her voice is a rasp, barely recognizable to her own ears. She hates it, hates how it sounds like she's a child again, lying on Luke's couch because she couldn't do anything else. She had no money, no food, no protection besides the older boy who only bothered to drop his raincoat over her shoulders before he trudged out into the cobblestone streets.

Thalia sighs heavily, it's been too long to even think about that, it's been nearly nine years, she doesn't need shit like that in her brain anymore. She guesses it really drives home the fact that she's got a concussion. The ceiling is changing colors, which definitely isn't supposed to happen, and there's a throbbing pain shooting down her spine with every breath she takes. It's pathetic really.

The movement of the door eventually brings her out of the fevered haze. The person who enters just makes things worse because it's the fucking Captain. Artemis, but just like she'd somehow done on the ship she's older now. She looks like a young woman, twenty-two at the very least, with her hair braided much the same way that Reyna usually does hers, but the auburn locks have a circlet of silver resting atop the braids instead of a hat. She looks exhausted as if she hasn't rested since the attack and that alone is cause for unease in Thalia's bones. How long has she been here?

"I see you're awake," She murmurs, setting herself down next to Thalia on the bed. Thalia winces when the mattress moves and her body shifts to compensate. Her bones feel like broken glass, stabbing into her muscle from the inside.

"What the hell am I doing here?" Thalia means for it to sound more demanding, but her rasping voice won't even make it to a whisper. Artemis cocks her head, a motion that is incredibly doglike.

"Healing, obviously, I may need you for a trade, but we aren't barbarians. I'm not about to let you bleed out in the brig," she mutters and stands to walk to the nightstand. Thalia winces again when the mattress moves.

"But why the heck would you need me to trade for anything?" thalia hisses, her breath is hot and smells vaguely of rum. Artemis bends over a set of drawers and draws out a sponge. She then turns and walks to the Nightstand, taking a bucket from it Thalia had not previously noticed.