Stranger in a strange land

[Xero Mikael Hiroshi]

Xero came floating on a large piece of driftwood, his immense sword stabbed cautiously into the center on the make-shift raft with his long leather coat draped across the blade hilt, taking the place of a sail...poorly. He laid across the slab of water-logging wood, his jeans tattered and his long dark blue hair messily thrown over the edge, asleep.

Bouncing off the ship, the pitiful excuse of a raft's sudden stop roused Xero into a half conscious stir.

"What the..?" He looked around, only one eye partially open, "Who puts a boat in the middle of the damned water!?" He threw himself backward making a loud 'thud' as his head hit the deck. "Inconsiderate..."He mumbled, "Can't they understand when a man is trying to float around uninterrupted?" He flung his hands at his sides hopelessly trying to push the water past his raft and continue his drifting along the water's edge.

[indy]

Indy heard the captain bellowing. This did not mean she was in trouble. The vessel was a loud one; shouting was effective. She dreaded what the captain might want. Surely no one was injured. If it was the elf then he could do it himself. Her tools weren’t hidden. As for the . . . thing: it was barely humanoid. She wouldn’t know where to begin.

This is where gambling got a person, she decided, and it was her own fault. There was nothing for it. She was hired to do a job to the best of her ability and now she had to, regardless of how she felt about it. That is the true meaning of contract: bad things abound.

A little over-dramatic, her job was fun. The occasional elf couldn’t ruin it no matter how hard he tried. Indy was paid fairly for the work she did, ate solid meals and slept in comfort. It was a luxury cruise more than employment. And it gave her plenty of time to work on her tan.

Releasing the railing and taking one more deep breath of fresh air, she manoeuvred her way across the ship to stand before the captain.

[Bob]

“GRYAH!” Azhi roared as he snatched and swiped at what he could only assume was a flying sea rat. The creature weaved and buzzed out of his reach, and he was growing increasingly infuriated at the lack of room he had to swing his maul at the flying vermin. The little creature evaded him into a group of crates, where he’d have enough trouble getting into without the weapon.

Azhi looked around, gripping the handle of his maul just below the weapon head, and forced the spike hammer side into the wooden wall of the ship, checking to make sure it was secure. Confident that no one aboard the ship but him could remove it, Azhi stalked toward the barrels and crates that concealed the mutant flying fish that seemed intent on annoying him.

“Get out here you little flying rodent…” Azhi effortlessly moved the heavy crates and barrels aside as he dug around for the source of that infuriating cackling sound. The fairy like creature buzzed out in front of him once more, taunting him too close for him to grasp at, so instead he snapped at it, his teeth clamping down less than an inch from the creature’s wing before it disappeared again.

A thought occurred to him, and his tongue ran over his sharp teeth. His mind focused on pondering the taste of flying sea rat as he continued his search.

[BlackAngelYume]

Elysia smiled at Indy, which could have possibly been perceived as general kindness if one didn't know better, "So Indy, I got something I wanted to ask you. When we get to our destination, we may need you to come with us in the off chance that we'd need some mending. What do you think about that?"

She would have stood there with the same attempt at kindness on her face when she thought she heard something bounce off the ship. Normally this wouldn't phase her that much, but a simple sound as this could be the precursor for something much, much worst. She held her finger up to Indy to signal 'I'll be right back' and walked over to where she thought she'd heard the thump. The thump itself could have been from inside the ship, and she was aware of this, that would be something she'd check after she peered over the side.

Peering over is exactly what she did, fully expecting to see that a barrel or something of the like had bumped into her ship... instead, she saw a make-shift raft with an apparently insane man mumbling to himself on top of it.

"Oy! Don't be hitting my ship with your... whatever that is," she shouted down to him, "Now go, be on your way!" She emphasized the last thing said with a shooing motion of her hand. With what needed to be said being said she turned to return to Indy.

"So sorry about that. Now, what say you? You'd be rewarded for your accompaniment."

The mephit that was currently harassing Azhi cackled manically at the half dragon. He hopped up onto a barrel and grinned. The winged, miniature fish-man that was the water mephit Gurges stood with his fists on his hips, as if he was important in some way. Two very peculiar things stood out about this creature.

One, he was much, much smaller than he should have been. Normally he would stand about four feet tall, but a nasty run in with the ship's on-board mage landed a shrink spell on his head, so instead he stood half his height.

Secondly, the mephit was dressed like a sailor, and a rich sailor at that. His clothes were finely made and buttoned in a most fashionable way. As he stood there, the big goofy grin on his face, more laughing and giggling could be heard from all around Azhi.

"You can't be thinkin' about hurtin' me now dragon-man! I'm Gurges, the first mate of this ship!"

Slowly, the bulbous eyes of other mephits could be seen staring at Azhi from behind crates and barrels, all accompanied with giggles and grins.

[royaleagleofthor]

"If I ever did leave then I'd only worry that you'd get yourself killed," remarked the drow.

He could tell this conversation was going nowhere fast, not that he had really had high expectations for it anyhow. Even at that it appeared that Tempest had been correct as simply voicing his concerns began to ease the rangers mind, although he merely began to scathe the surface of the issues in his mind. Perhaps some things were best left unspoken, at least for the moment.

As Elysia gently squeezed his hand the dark elf forced a half-hearted smile.

"If it is your wish to have that abomination aboard your ship that is your concern, however I will not tolerate it's attitude toward me any longer. I suggest you teach that thing to hold it's tongue in my presence before I cut it off," responded the drow at the pirates explaination.

Raising the half-elfs hand Azzron gently kissed it before she stepped out onto the ships deck. He then followed the captain out of her quarters leaning against the door frame arms crossed listening to what she had to say.

Upon Elysia's proposition to the ships doctor the drow spoke up once more, "Just how many people do you plan on taking?

"May I speak now Master Azzron," inquired Tempest timidly.

"What is it," snapped the drow.

"Well Master, it's just that not everyone can mend themselves like you can perhaps it would be wise to take Indy along as well," the scimitar explained.

"Ever the fountain of wisdom aren't we Tempest," said Azzron sarcastically.

"We don't need more people to..." began Ignis before the drow cut him off.

"Noone asked you Ignis, and at any rate you will remain in silence and think on when to hold your tongue," scolded the dark-elf.

When Elysia returned from yelling at the moron that managed to crash into the ship Azzron shot her a questioning glance and awaited further explaination not wanting to interrupt the pirate again.

[Xero Mikael Hiroshi]

Xero, only able to make out a woman leaning over the ship, yelling at him, and shooing him away, raised his left hand to cover her face from his vision. He shook it furiously thinking he saw the pestering colors that, from time to time, popped him to nag him endlessly. He held out his pointer and middle finger, each lit in a variation of red light, toward where the woman was and yelled 'Bang!' at the top of his lungs. Before any of the other people on that boat could have made any motion to figure out what he was screaming about, he would make sure he wasn't there. The two ghostly red lights on his fingers turned into light and a shield, seemingly made of fire, and he threw himself into the water, creating a large amount of steam. Knowing he couldn't be seen, he stuck his left pinky in his mouth and began to blow bubbles under the surface.

[indy]

Indy considered. The elf was a nuisance. The . . . thing was frightening and staying in the orlop rendered her somewhat unfit. Three reasons why not togo along, which is precisely why she decided to. It wasn’t every day a girl got a proposition like this: adventure, treasure, a dash of swashbuckling with a hint of danger. Fantastic. Dwarves were not the most entertaining of company.

Indy did not have any weapons. Smart move. She didn’t know how to use any. She could poke a mean needle though. A mean needle. She was a right terror and one day she would make the elf cry for his spider-queen-loving mother. If he hadn’t killed her. He probably had.

Drow were an interesting lot. She’d not met many of them but they appeared to be bred for machinations and betrayal. If she thought the elf aboard this vessel were going to attempt something sinister she’d give him what for. A dose of chloroform and a toss overboard. The other sharks would eat him if they liked spoilt meat.

“Sure” she said to the captain, with genuine excitement. “Just keep that filthy sword away from me or I’m going to wash his mouth out with a very big hole and a lot of dirt.”

[Bob]

“What?!” Azhi questioned, staring down at the fish-rat. “This Captain Redriver has a flying fish-rodent as her first mate?” Grinning momentarily, Azhi reached after the creature again. “She’ll reward me for ridding her ship of a weak little creature like you…”

He trailed off as he noticed the multitude of eyes staring at him from the shadows and giggling and cackling, more annoying than the voices of those damned swords echoed in his ears. Growling, he began to look around, his draconic eyes picking out the mephits in their hiding spots. “Well? Who’s going to be the appetizer?” He challenged.

[BlackAngelYume]

"Glad to have you aboard, I wouldn't worry about the sword, Azzron will take care of it, his responsibility," was all Elysia managed to say to Indy before something similar to a loud bang from the side of her ship caused her to spin and run back to where she had looked over and shooed the man away. He was no longer there, but his raft was. She stared at the side of the ship, no apparent damage was done to the ship itself, but the water around the crazy man's raft was steaming and bubbling. Elysia muttered to herself and turned back around to take the wheel of the ship. She stopped when she noticed the look that Azzron gave her.

"Some bloody madman on a raft of some sort making a ruckus. No damage to the ship, so nothing I have to worry about," Elysia replied with a shrug, moving on to take her place at the wheel.

Gurges quickly weaved out of the way of Azhi, shrieking and cackling like a mad man, the other mephits following suite, and ran between the halfdragon's legs and toward the entrance into the cargo hold, all of the other mephits following after him. The group of them still shrieked, even as they erupted out of the cargo hold and onto the deck of the ship. They then ran to the edges of the ship and over into the water. All but one, that is, as Gurges passed the captain, she snatched him out of the air and held him at arm's reach away from her.

"What in the blazing hell are you doing?! I've told you before none of that! If you want to stay on the ship, then you have to obey the rules, you bloody mephit!"

"I'm sorry captain! I was just playing with your newest member!" Gurges sputtered to the halfelf.

Elysia rolled her eyes at him, "You and your "friends" better leave him alone or I'll let him eat you. Now get." She tossed him at this point and he fluttered over the side of the ship and into the water.

"Bloody hell, it's like a damned circus around here lately," Elysia grumbled, moving up the stairs to the steering wheel.

[Bob]

The half dragon snatched and clawed and whipped his tail, but the shrieking little bastards managed to avoid his grasp, though many times just barely. With some difficulty, he turned his massive frame to give chase to the annoying creatures whilst considering whether to devour the first of them raw or to find an open flame with which to cook them.

Try as he might, Azhi couldn’t fit through the door out of the cargo hold anymore than he could have fit through the door above deck that would have taken him below. From the direction the fish rats were running, however, he could tell they were moving to the upper levels of the ship, so rather than try to demolish the door frame into a hallway too narrow for his wide form, he turned to the cargo hatch from which he had originally entered the hold.

He climbed onto the deck just in time to see the flying fish being scolded by the captain. He smiled as she said the words ‘let him eat you’, and gave the little pest a hungry smile as it fluttered away. Hearing once again the growling in his stomach, he decided that he had postponed his original plan to go fishing for long enough, and made his way to the edge of the ship, so lost in his thoughts of hunger that he failed to notice the cloud of steam rising from the water.

Diving overboard into the water without looking first, Azhi Dahaki had a few seconds to realize that he was about to collide with a piece of drift wood, and didn’t have enough time to spread his wings to alter his course. With luck, he was able to avoid the sword planted in the makeshift raft, which probably would have only caused him a minor scrape since it was blade down, but that was still a minor scrape he didn’t want to deal with. The piece of wood sank and snapped in half as he dived through it, and once in the water, he found himself face to face with a bubble blowing, finger glowing, blue-haired human.