Poppy
"To Freedom-resu..."
Poppy reluctantly replied. The tavern roared in unison, drowning her out by orders of magnitude. Poppy meekly held her thimble of mead aloft, barely higher her brow, and gazed up at the sorry company she'd found herself with. She glugged her drink with everyone else, to help take the edge off this miserable set back, and sat back down on the door wedge she'd rescued. She studied the faces around her; mostly tired, battleworn mugs, many of whom seemed to be sussing each other out as well. Some eyes were filled with the fires of vengeance, others lost and a couple completely illegible. She didn't know much about them except they were Sea Reavers, they could be trusted and must have been thinking the same thing she was.
Imagine forgetting your bloomin' hat...
She knew where her hat was at all times. At the moment it was off for the stealth bonus, nobody would recognise famous pirate of infamy, Poppy, without her signature hat, making blending in with the locals seemless. Currently, it was up in the rafters with Pi-po who, after dodging the broom a few times, had made peace with the barmaid by tending to her exotic pet collection. He was content enough reloading himself for the next phase in Maggie's masterplan. Her tricorne would be safe up there until it was time for the Sea Reavers to make their presense known, a moment Poppy was very much looking forward to.
A cloaked man descended on the table, heads turned to assess his intentions. Poppy's instincts kicked in immediately and bolted for the nearest tankard, hat or no hat she was still a Tontattan. Safely out of view she could eavesdrop in determine his threat level, strategise and then call in the bird strike.
"It's good to see you."
As it turned out he was pretty friendly, his voice had a strange, familiar quality to it, and the other Sea Reavers seemed pretty accepting of him. Tactical bird combat wouldn't be required, this time. Poppy poked her head out from behind the drink to get a better look at the man but this didn't help as his disguise was impeccable. Perhaps speechcraft was the answer. Convinced it was safe, she stepped out of the shadow of the beer stein and back towards her makeshift stool.
"It's good to see you're safe too,"
she said as she smiled, even if she wasn't entirely sure who "you" was, it was reassuring to find more allies so deep in enemy territory.
"Any word from the Captain-resu?"