[Closed] Lipstick on a Pig (Sunner)

[Matty Morvay]

Intas 34, 2720

Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

It had been almost a week since Matty Morvay had left his entire life behind to run off with a man he’d met exactly twice, mostly because that man had some idea of a plan that would take him far, far away from it. Far away from the Gilded Lily and all the people he knew before. Part of him regretted it, if he was being honest with himself. He missed the other whores — well, some of them. Some of them he hoped would choke and die, but some of them were alright. He also missed his bed. Gods, that bed was nice. Soft and warm and silent as the grave. He would have smuggled it out the window too if he thought he could have gotten away with it.

Alas, no. The bed was left behind. As were most of his things, aside from some of his favourite outfits and the pile of expensive trinkets that he had taken and sold to pay for the rinky little boat that he lived on now. He was starting to get used to the small, lumpy mattress that he had swore to replace as soon as he had more than two hats to rub together.

The bed was only really small because he had to share it, but he was getting used to that as well. It wasn’t like he hadn’t made a living out of sharing his bed for the last however many years. It was just one more challenge that came with finally forging his own way in the world. Speaking of challenges, he was beginning to think that he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew with the latest one he had taken on. Seated on the lumpy mattress, comb and hair brush in hand, staring at the back of the head of his shiny new business partner, trying to figure out how to tackle the absolute rat’s nest that the man’s hair had wound itself into.

After several washes and more than a generous amount of soap, it was finally a proper, mostly uniform blonde colour again, but the washing had only made the tangles worse. Matty was determined, however. He would conquer this mountain of knots and get himself a presentable partner, even if it meant holding him down and shaving his head.

[Sunner Baywhite]

Bethas 34, 2720
Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Sunner was sulking, he had far more important things to be doing than playing dress up, he had an engine to build, a boat to repair, he had to find a way to write a note to his sisters to make sure they were alright. "Are we done yet?" He grumbled, he'd already let his... what was Matty, his assistant? No, not really, but he'd let him-- or rather been forced to-- wash his hair, something he hadn't done in... weeks? Months? He was bored, and Matty didn't let him drink while this charade was going on. "Y'know, the sooner I get back to work fixin' this tub up, the sooner we can start makin' some real money."

He was slouched over, somewhat, Matty was shorter, and with his hair being the current subject of distaste from the former prostitute, he had to hunch over to let the him comb... or attempt to comb it. Indeed, the mechanics blonde hair had never been quite so... blonde, and while it now no longer smelled like he'd rolled in a garbage pile, it was knotted together impressively. Sunner would have just given up, and tied it up in a ponytail to keep the mess out of his face, getting on with his work, but suddenly he was no longer fully in charge of his rather unkempt appearance.

He could only imagine what his sisters would have said, Marianne would have laughed herself near to death if she could see him now, but Dorothy would have been insisting on helping Matty with the task at hand. Maybe he should have brought them along.

"Kinda hard t'make some coin when yer insistin' I sit here like some sorta girls plaything." He scratched his still rather unkempt beard, or rather the scruff he called a beard. Fortunately for Matty, having washed the filthy mechanic meant there was no grease he could smear around on his face while he scratched. "Don't think nobody cares 'bout how I look anyhow, long as I can get the job done." Which was probably true, but being a good sport as he was, Sunner sat, patiently, and waited for Matty to give up instead of insisting on trying to detangle the rats nest of hair that would no doubt end up just as dirty and tangled as it had previously been in just a few short days.

He needed a drink, on top of all this pressure to look presentable.

[Matty Morvay]

Intas 34, 2720

Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Matty was busy working through one particularly stubborn knot as Sunner once again began to complain. He furrowed his brow, the bracelets on his wrist clinking together as he picked away at it. For a grown man, Sunner did do an awful lot of whining. It was a good thing he had a decent head on his shoulders when he wasn’t drunk. There were other parts of him that were worth putting up with him being an overgrown baby, too, but that wasn’t something Matty was going to tell him.

“No, we’re not done yet,” he said, in the same tone of voice one might use speaking to a child. “Sit still. The boat’s still floating, so the repairs can wait.”

He had so far managed to get at least one section of Sunner’s hair untangled. It sat draped over his shoulder as a testament to the fact that this was not entirely a futile pursuit. Sunner really did have nice hair. Matty liked the colour he had found once the grease and dirt had been stripped away. Sort of a light honey tone, and it was quite soft when it was clean. If it was better taken care of, it would almost be enviable. Matty hated the dull, dark brown tone of his own hair. That was why it was currently dyed a soft pink.

He rolled his eyes as Sunner continued to whine, and gave his hair a deliberate, but not overly hard, yank. “I care,” he said, “I care. I’m the one that has to sleep next to you. It’s bad enough that your breath smells like stale beer most of the time, I don’t want to also smell whatever kind of slop you’ve dragged your head through in the last two months on top of it.”

He set another piece of brushed out hair with the part from earlier. Slowly but surely, he was working his way through. “Looking presentable makes you look capable. No one is going to trust you to look after their precious and highly illegal contraband if you don’t look like you can take care of yourself. You're lucky I listened when you practically begged me not to just cut it all off.”

[Sunner Baywhite]

Bethas 34, 2720
Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Sunner winced, perhaps he should have let Marianne comb his hair before he'd left... He picked at a bit of stubborn dirt under one of his fingernails, despite the bath, he still had plenty of evidence of his lack of particular care when it came to the cleanliness of his own body. He did sit still, to his credit, he was still a good sport despite all his whinging, and as Matty combed out small section after small section of hair, he was a little impressed that it wasn't nearly as bad as he was making it out to be.

"Fer now." He grumbled, regarding the boat. Not that there were any large leaks, but some of the bulkhead panelling on the very lowest levels needed some repairs if they wanted it to stay floating long term. Sure, it could probably make it to the important spots along the Arova, but if they wanted to attempt moving anywhere else, Sunner wasn't sure how long the tub would last. "Don't blame me fer th' stale beer, go yell at some of the tavernkeeps fer that!" He grunted, flicking a bit of picked-out dirt from his fingers. Which was true, he bitched to them just as much as Matty bitched about his breath, who in their right mind thought it was acceptable to charge multiple tallies for beer that tasted more like piss than beer? At least it still got him good and drunk with enough of it.

Even if he had a point, this was still precious time he could be using to work, but being reminded that he could have ended up bald was enough to get him to shut his mouth for the moment, and just mutter a few ow's here and there as Matty detangled his hair. "I guess." He admitted, pouting at the floor of the makeshift bedroom, he would put up with it once, he decided, but if Matty insisted on doing this every time his hair got messy, he... well, he wasn't sure, but perhaps he'd go look for a hat and start wearing that, or something.

Though, the more he thought about that, the less practical it seemed. He couldn't sleep in a hat, defeated, Sunner would have hung his head, if not for the fact that it was being yanked about as his hair got more and more detangled.

[Matty Morvay]

Intas 34, 2720

Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

"I should go in and tell them all not to serve you,” Matty snapped.

He wouldn’t, but he liked Sunner to think that he might. He made it very clear that he disapproved of Sunner’s drinking. While he partook himself occasionally, Sunner drank to excess. It was a problem. What little money they had left after Matty bought the boat had mostly gone to booze before Matty took it all and hid it somewhere Sunner wouldn’t look. He continued brushing out Sunner’s hair in a sort of petulant silence, before he spoke again.

“We won’t have any money if you don’t fix the boat, sure,” he said, “we also won’t have any money if you spend it all on liquor. How are you supposed to help your girls if you piss away every tally we make?”

He was right, and he knew that Sunner was sober enough to also see that. Using the girls as leverage was a dirty trick, but in the time they had known each other, Matty had found out it was one of the only ways to get the man to listen to reason. Sunner had told Matty about his sisters, who were waiting on him back in the Rose. He knew they meant the world to him. He kept brushing, working past tangle after tangle, using his annoyance as fuel. He got a decent chunk of it done this way, before he had to stop. He set the comb aside and rested his hands on Sunner’s shoulders.

“My wrist hurts,” he explained, “I’m going to stop for a little bit. That doesn’t mean you can run off, though. You look ridiculous with half your hair in a rat's nest. You've got to let me finish, now.”

[Sunner Baywhite]

Bethas 34, 2720
Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Sunner made some kind of annoyed sound, first about Matty threatening to tell the tavern keeps not to serve him, and then about the threat to his sisters wellbeings. He did have a point, but Sunner had... work and booze, and nothing else to keep the fear of turning into his father out of his mind, it was taking a lot not to think about that right now. When was the last time he had a drink? Probably the day before, maybe? He wasn't quite sure, and knew that was because he spent more time drunk than sober, but... "Hrmf." He grumbled, shifting so he could rest his chin on his hands, slumping over.

That was fair enough, looking half brushed wouldn't do him any favors anyhow. "Alright." He muttered, and huffed. Eventually Sunner shifted away from Matty so he could lay down on the mattress, stretching until his spine popped in a few places. "Remind me t' keep an eye out fer a better mattress." He said, eyes closed, remembering that Matty had complained at least once about the one that had come with the cramped captains quarters on their boat.

Sunner was quiet after that, thinking about his sisters, wondering if Dorothy was getting on alright without him there, Marianne had taken over his business, she had a better eye for the complexities of clock mechanisms than he did, so she was probably making a killing, at least that's what he hoped. He wondered how they'd react when he came back to Old Rose, with a ship, and with Matty. There wasn't really enough room on the boat for all four of them, he'd have to figure something out if he wanted to take his sisters with them next time.

"Hmm... you gettin' hungry at all?" He opened one eye to ask, he was really just looking for an excuse to drink, but surely dinner was close enough now, and at least it was a bit more acceptable for him to drink if he also ate a proper meal.

[Matty Morvay]

Intas 34, 2720

Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Matty was thankful that his barb about the girls had finally gotten Sunner to stop whining and sit still for more than ten seconds. He still regretted using them as ammunition, but he couldn’t argue with the results. He was actually looking forward to meeting them, especially Dorothy. They sounded lovely, from what Sunner had told him. He wasn’t sure how well he would go over with them, though. He was a stranger, and he was a little worried that they would mistrust him.

Matty’s face scrunched up in a frown for a moment as Sunner laid down on the terrible mattress and threatened to ruin all his hard work by laying down. “That’s the first thing we’re doing once we get some actual spending money,” Matty replied.

He reached down and brushed a bit of hair out of Sunner’s face, tucking it behind his ear. As he did, he regarded the man he’d thrown his lot in with. A terrible drunk with a heart of gold, Sunner had all but leapt at the opportunity to help Matty leave the Gilded Lily behind. After Matty said that he would buy Sunner a boat, at least. They each got what they wanted, in the end. Matty got his freedom and Sunner got his transport. The dinghy was in desperate need of refurbishing, but it was theirs and theirs alone.

Matty gave a shake of his head when Sunner asked if he was getting hungry. “No,” he said, “not really. I think we might still have some food laying around if you are, though. Tide you over until I’m done with you, and then we can see if we can get some more food. We have a bit of money left for it.”

He folded his hands in his lap and looked out towards the window in the cabin they were in, which offered a view of the road leading back into Vienda. He was quiet for a bit, just watching the view rock as the boat bobbed on the river.

“Will you teach me some signs?” he asked, looking down at Sunner. “For your sister.”

[Sunner Baywhite]

Bethas 34, 2720
Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Sunner grunted in the affirmative regarding the mattress, the way he was laying on it wasn't exactly comfortable, but that didn't last as Matty mentioned food. He sat up, about to get up to go find himself a snack, that would at least be fine until he got a real dinner and some booze with it.

"Mmhm." He nodded, "Jus' hold on a bit." He quickly hurried off to what constituted the mess on the ship, hardly enough room to store a couple of basic pots, let alone use them to cook a meal, not that they really had much food stocked. He found an end of bread, it was dry, and probably wasn't far off stale, but it was good enough for now. He ripped a chunk off it, and went back to the captain's quarters, crossing his legs as he sat down on the bed.

Chewing, thankfully with his mouth closed, he held up his hands, and then unfortunately spoke with his mouth full. "Pleef." He did the sign, rubbing one hand in a circle over his heart. He swallowed the bite of bread, "And, course," He lifted his hand up to his chin, "Thank you." then pulled the hand away, palm still facing his chin. He took another bite of the chunk of bread he'd acquired, chewing while he thought, "I don't know much 'bout it, t' be honest, Marianne can teach ya more complicated stuff."

Sunner crammed the last bit of the bread chunk into his mouth, and showed Matty the sign for help, as well as hungry and sleep, explaining each. There were other signs, of course, that Sunner knew, but figured he'd save those for another time, maybe once Matty had met his sisters, and once they-- hopefully-- got used to him being around and part of the family. "S'all y'really need to know fer basics, I guess, she can still kinda hear. Marianne has full conversations with'er hands, weird when y' walk in an' see'em sittin' there flappin' their fingers at one another in total silence." He shook his head, amused by the memory.

[Matty Morvay]

Intas 34, 2720

Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Matty had grown used to Sunner doing things like talking with his mouth full, and had actually gotten pretty good at interpreting what he was saying both in those instances and while he was falling down drunk. It was an odd skill to have picked up, but it proved useful from time to time. He watched intently as Sunner demonstrated the signs that he knew, and mentioned that the older of the two sisters would be able to teach him more.

“I’d like that,” he said, nodding. “I’ll have to ask her.”

He wouldn’t admit it, but he was honestly concerned about what Sunner’s sisters would make of him. He normally didn’t give a fraction of a shit about what other people thought of him. However, since he was going to be stuck to Sunner for the time being, he found himself a little worried in this particular, isolated case. He hoped that girls would at least like him. He’d probably stay on the boat when they got back to the Rose all the same. Someone would have to keep an eye on it, and Sunner couldn’t watch it and the girls at the same time.

He watched as Sunner showed him a few more signs, nodding along. Help, hungry, sleep… it was all simple enough. He’d have to practice, but there was time for that. He couldn't help but smile as Sunner reminisced. He couldn't relate to having fond memories of a family, but it was still good to see Sunner happy. His smile was contagious.

“My wrist feels better,” Matty said, “turn around again. I want to finish getting those knots out.”

[Sunner Baywhite]

Bethas 34, 2720
Outskirts of Vienda, a boat moored on the Arova, afternoon.

Sunner shuffled a bit so he was in a position that would make it easier for Matty to continue the fools errand of brushing his hair once more. He still didn't see the point, it would just get tangled up again anyhow, so why bother? At least he figured after this he wouldn't have to deal with it again, Matty would see reason and just leave his hair to tangle itself up.

"I'm sure she'll be happy t' do it, once we get back I'll prob'ly get an earful 'bout the... uh, 'shop.'" Although it wasn't really much of a shop, it was a corner of a two room home, with handmade or scavenged tools, on a bench that was half rotten, but it was still where Sunner had worked for most of his adult life. "Assumin' it's still there." He scratched his chin, perhaps Marianne would just toss the whole thing and do something else for money.

He didn't consider anything else out loud, he hoped Marianne would be able to find enough work. Sunner would have put his face in his hands, giving himself a headache from all this thinking, but the brushing would have eventually tugged his head back up, instead, he just cast a morose look at the floor.

Sunner missed drinking, he didn't have to worry about overthinking when he was consuming enough booze to drown a small community. Now he had to sit there and worry about his sisters, was Marianne finding enough work? Dorothy wasn't begging on the streets was she? Were they eating enough? He hoped none of the people he owed money to had turned up and harassed them so far, hopefully Marianne still had that old pipe lying around to threaten them with. Did he still even owe those people money? He couldn't remember, maybe he'd paid off his debts before he'd left. He hoped he had done that much, they were mostly just tavern and barkeeps anyway. Sunner opened his mouth for a moment to voice a concern or two, but realized there wasn't much he could do from where he was at the moment, he couldn't remember the addresses of those taverns and bars anyhow, so he closed his mouth.

"Are we done yet?" He whined instead.