Furry-Within

The moon was rising high over the small coastal town, at the docks a great swath of ships were docked and anchored. A great black Galley was docked at one of the central stations, two boards leading from it's top most deck down to the dock itself, a skeleton crew were moving cargo off of the ship and moving sundries and similar supplies onto the vessel. It's wood was lacquered black, it's sails the same, and across the back of the vessel was a wooden vine of roses wrought in silver and black wood, silver paint named her "The Black Rose" and her captain was well known as "The White Diamond" many people had their own rumors about why that was his name but they varied so much it was hard to tell which was true.


There was a small tavern near the docks themselves, known as a dive that attracted sailors and briggands and all manner of other vagrants. Within it were several vessels entire crews, including The Black Rose. The captain was at the bar itself, listening to the stories of two of his men and drinking from a horn of ale.

"Ugh," she grunted as she pushed through the heavy double doors of the tavern open, looking weary and weathered, the cloak she wore obscuring her from all prying eyes. She panted heavily, having walked from from the next town over, hoping to start anew. She was running from her past, again. This was the third town in a month.

The lithe form pressed her way though a throng of people before she took her seat at the bar in the farthest corner she could find, her back to the wall and her eyes front. A comfort thing, she told herself. It was really to keep her escape routes open, but she'd never admit that.

"A beer," She managed, waving down the barkeep. Upon first glance, this seemed like every other tavern she'd been in. Rough looking crowd, thieves, pirates, the usual lot. She dropped the hood of her cloak and took a sip of her beer, grunting as her horns caught the fabric.

The bartender handed the horn of beer to the girl and quickly came back to wiping down his counter as various people smeared grease, dirt, salt etc. over it. One of the pirates nearby her turned around as the horn was given and looked her up and down. "Bit young t' be drinkin' beer ain't ya lad?"

Another man near him put a hand on his shoulder and said "oh leave the boy alone, he's trying to run from something, clear as sunrise . . . much like you when you joined my crew, remember?" The first man gave a frown and shook his head. "Nah, ain't t' same at'll! this one's jus tryn'a get his first sideways wakeup!" The other man, a tall wolf in black long coat with dark red vest and black beneath shook his head smacked the first man across the back. "Oy! why ya got'ta be such a stern fuck eh? Comeon White Diamond . . ."

"It's Captain to you . . . now shut up, come dawn we're setting out whether you've managed to crawl back to the shit or not, so careful of your OWN drinking Willem."

At first glance, she was always mistaken for a boy. It always worked well in her favor, too and frankly, she didnt give a damn whether she was called a lad. It kept her safe. And, lucky for her, she wasn't gifted with large breasts like her sisters.

With her hair kept short, the light grey hair ruffled lightly, sticking up in various places. She wore trousers instead of dresses and a pair of boots she swiped off of some poor drunk made her look the par of "boy" really well. A loose buttonup short, smattering with dirt completed the ensemble.

Kar, the dragon was super skilled at hiding in plain sight...

"I'm old enough to drink, trust me," she grunted, slamming the rest of the beer back into her open maw.  Ignoring the comments and speculation of her being a runaway, she set back to watching the room, sort of eavesdropping in on conversations...

One caught her attention... it might just be the out she needed.

She narrowed her eyes, listening. At dawn, she mused to herself... she had to find her way onto that ship. With a grin, she set out how to stow away...

Willem was shaking his head as he kept talking to the wolf in the black coat, there was a hat on his head that coverd most of his forehead, but there was a small triangle of white that could be seen poking out from under it. He clearly was in charge, but it was unclear how many of the people in the bar were his.

A few hours went by before he finally stood, and gave a loud whistle, around 15 of the people in the bar turned and looked. He said very loudly to all of them around "Like I told Willem, remember lads, we sail at Dawn, so make damn sure you're back by then." Then he turned to the bar, drained the last of a horn then turned, facing toward Willem and the girl, he lifted the hat, a rough diamond shape of white was on his forehead, and he scratched it eagerly, the sound however was louder than it should have been, and almsot sounded like he was scraping his claws on something hard. He put the hat back down and walked out of the bar.

She wasn't aware of how many people were on his crew, but she could see a few here and there that looked like they might be seaworthy.

Kar was content to drink a few beers and people watch; ordinarily she'd be scoping out people to pickpocket, but this group was way to aware of their surroundings to even attempt that... So, she sat.

She might have dozed off for a short period of time while propped up against the wall because she was startled awake by a sharp whistle. The captain, again, it seemed, informing his crew of their leave in the morning.. She wrinkled her nose and fiddled with the rings on her hand. How in the hell was she going to make this work?

"So," she spoke, keeping her voice low in an attempt to keep the feminine lilt out of her tone. "What's his deal?" She poked a finger in the Capitan's general direction while speaking to Willem.

Willem eyed her hard after that, though, whether he knew what she was or not was unclear. "Him? he's the captain o' the ship, and don't think of trying to pull anything over on HIM . . . he sees scams and treachery coming from miles off." He leaned closer to her, the smell of ale and stronger things thick on his breath. "That's how he got the name . . . the one time he didn't see it comin . . . heh." He gave a yellowed, crooked grin.

The Captain was walking through the bar and as he did a young woman passed by him, leaning on him in a clear attempt to catch his attenion, as she did, he turned, grinning at her and looking down her dress, which she didn't seem to mind, but he also reached to his side, grabbing a man passing him on the other side by the throat. When he turned to the man he put his hand out. "Hand it over . . ." The man argued at first about what he meant, then finally handed over a small pouch that jingled with coins. He leaned up close to the man, and while it seemed like he might be trying to whisper, it was clearly audible when he said, with a growl under his words "The next time you try to filch my plunder from me . . . it'll be your beating heart in this hand, not my pouch . . . am I being perfectly clear?" The man nodded and was clearly nervous, and when the captain let go, he dropped to the ground, crawling back from him.

Several others around started laughing loudly, Willem among them, and he leaned forward, laughing till he was coughing, and smacked Kar on the back hard in his guffawing.

Shit. She raised her eyebrow at him, hoping that she didn't just give herself away. She was genuinely curious about him too, though. She didn't mean it in anyway. Though, now it was perfectly clear that she wasn't going to just 'stow away' on this ship. Getting killed would probably be the only outcome of this and by the looks of it, the Capitan wouldn't hesitate to take her head for any infraction. And, she was quite fond of her head.

She was about to get up and slink out the back door but was stopped by Willem slapping her on the back. She grunted at him. "Wha... Oh." And with a laugh and a raise of her glass she fell in with the energy of the room, still plotting her way onto that ship and watching the poor sap slink away from the incident.

As things settled down, she decided that Willem was going to be her best bet on to that godforsaken ship. Getting close to him might prove difficult, though...

"So... Uh. I didn't get your name?" She questioned, handing him a horn of ale. "I'm Kar," she offed him her hand.

He took the hand and shook it roughly, up and down and toward himself as he was already quite drunk, and grabbing another horn from her to drink. "The name's Willem, and if you call me wee'um or willy, I'll chop YOURS off!" he started laughing again, his statement clearly being meant to emulate the Captain's own harsh demeanor, and clearly he didn't see what she was really doing at all.

"Ye said your name is Kar? the hell is that short fer anyway? Karmen? Karthas?" He started coughing in his laughter again, and tried to drink, spilling almost as much of it on his face and chest as in his mouth. The captain stayed to linger near the door, talking to another woman, this one however was much more plain than the first, and much younger too, his hand slowly went up and down her arm, and she blushed while talking to him. A moment later, he was leaving, the girl under his arm, and several of his crew members were screaming frankly disgusting suggestions to him, one or two of which he replied to with cheers or agreements.

She felt like Willem was going to tear her arm from its socket if he kept this up. It was clear now that he was trying to follow in his captians footsteps with how he carried himself. She filed that away for later use. She tossed her head back and laughed at Willem's joke.

"Nope, just Kar. It isn't really short for anything.." She trailed off, gritting her teeth and wishing she chose a whole new name instead of shortening her given name, Karrah. Too late now...

"So...," she prodded, taking in to consideration now that the captian left, that she could probe him for some more information. "How long have you been in the captians company?"


She was really grasping at straws here... she still hadn't come up with a plan, and she was quickly losing the evening.

Willem stopped smiling and started looking proud and stern instead, leaning slightly from one side to the other as he spoke. "Lad, yer' lookin' at tah FIRST MATE o' the Black Rose!" Several other men in the tavern started speaking up, one or two gave mocking cheers, one of them said "Sit down ya bloody dog, it's only cuz ye don't question him! and because yer' too damn big to knock over!" He immediately threw his horn of ale at the one that said it, and he started laughing after he finished getting back up.

Willem shook his head and ordered another ale, turning to face Kar as he sat down. "Been on that ship 12 years now, serving proud under Captain White Diamond!" The name he all but screamed, and a chorus of "HERE HERE!" came echoing through the tavern, Willem clearly wasn't, but the captain appeared to be popular among his men. "And let me guess, yer' wantin' ta run away from yer shit life by joinin' up with a bunch o' brigands eh? every little boy's dream, be a pirate, go to strange places, bed strage lass' and gather all manner o' plunder . . . HA."

She took a step back as his expression changed, but quickly realized he was just getting super excited when proudly exclaimed who he was. The first mate, she felt her stomach fall into her gut. Shit. She swallowed hard, waved the bar tender down and then took her seat again. She was just about to figure away out of this god awful, dead end of a conversation when he spoke again. Something told her to sit tight.

And you're wanting to run away. The words slammed into her like a freight train and all she could do was nod.. Maybe this could go right?

She narrowed her eyes at him over the rim of her now half empty horn. "Eh..," she started, setting the horn down. "That's half right. I do want to get away. Nothin' here for me. Ma's dead, Pa ran off with some whore. S'jus' me.." She gave him the saddest look she could possibly muster without over doing it. Hopefully he'd take pity on her? Ah, who was she kidding.

She shrugged, "I'm quite useful.. Good at shit work that n'one wants.."

Willem started coughing again from all the laughing and screaming and looked her up and down again. "Yer mom's dead and yer' daddy's a beast who don't care what you turn out to eh? Heh, heard that one before." He laughed hard and then turned and threw up, most of it was ale, a little bit of it was bread or meat he'd clearly been eating earlier. Then he wiped his mouth off with the back of his arm and looked at Kar again "Runnin from somethin', runnin' to a new life, just wantin' to get a new outlook . . . it doesn't fuckin' matter boy . . . if you REALLY think you can handle it, even the shit jobs, sloppin out privies and scrubbin' down the bunks, I guess we might could find a barrel or some shit fer' ye to sleep in, ye don't look like ya take up that much space."

All she could do at this point was nod at him. She hadn't taken into account that he would have heard all of this before... She took a step back as he threw up. She idly fiddled with the hem of her shirt, looking up at him.

"I don't take up much space," she muttered. "You'll never even know I'm there.."

At this point, she'd almost worn the hem of the shirt down by playing with it. Her nerves were shot..

"Does that mean you're taking me with you?"

He gave a drunken laugh before he finally answered. "You don't get it do ye Lad? 's not up tah ME." He laughed again and finally fell over, passing out on the floor. The barkeep shook his head leaning over the bar to yell at the unconscious man. "OI! get up ya bloody mongrel!" He growled down at the lump and threw an empty horn at him, which did nothing but illicit a few laughs from other members of the crew. "Oh, fine then boys, YOU deal with him!" Then he turned around and went back to wiping down used horns and flaggons and filling orders. A few men came around to pull him out toward the street. One came back to the bar, putting a small pouch of coins on it "That's the stool." The barkeep took the pouch, weighing it in his hand, and grumbled as he went back to work.

The one that paid the barkeep turned to look the girl up and down. "If you really do think you could cut it as a crewman . . . be at the dock at dawn. The captain makes that choice, not a one of us." Then he turned and left out to the street, following his comrades.

Oh god...what have I gotten myself into.. The little voice in her head screamed at her. What was she thinking! She couldn't hang with pirates like these... She just sat idly and watched them drag him out, her knuckles turning white as she held onto her horn for dear life. Why did she think that Willem could get her in all by himself. Now she'd have to actually talk to the captain...

The guy that paid the barkeep was speaking to her and she was barely listening, but she heard the words 'dock' and 'dawn.' She blinked, nodding at the guy.

In a few more hours the sun would be up.

She sighed, staring out the window. She hopped off her chair and pulled the cloak over her head again, fixing her shirt. She guessed she better get a head start on finding the docks then.

After mindlessly wandering because talking to someone would be way to easy, she spotted the huge sails of the boat caressing the sky. Just in time, too because the pastel colors of sunrise were washing over the hillside. She was on wits end and she felt like she could throw up all over her boots.. She had to keep it together. In the distance she could see a mess of people, most of them the ones she met last night at the tavern. In the crowd, she spotted Willem and she crept up to his side.

"Mornin'," she started.

Willem was busy throwing orders at various people bringing crates, cases, barrels and other things onto the ship, the last bits of sundry and clean water and other things that had been purchased for their next voyage out onto the open sea. When she spoke to him, he finally realized she was there and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Gods be damned lad! you can't sneak up on a man like that!" He took a deep breath and shook his head. "What are ye doin' here anyway huh? I'm not the captain, you want to be on his crew, talk to HIM." He pointed up onto the ship itself, the captain was there, in all his glory once more.

The captain was walking among his men, watching them move the supplies in silence. In the light of morning it was clear he was as black as the hull of his ship, all shining leather and black cloth. His coat came down to gently caress the ground as he walked, big, heavy boots echoing each time they hit the planks under him. His chest however, instead of having a luxurious surcoat or jerkin, had a black leather breast plate, studded with small silvery bits of steel, He had a blade at his hip, and 4 pistols at his hips and peeking out from within the coat. His fur was dark as ink and the red of his eyes seemed a bright spear of color in the otherwise almost monocrhome pattern.

When he saw Kar, he stared down at her, the sun coming up directly behind him and shadowing his face in the morning light. "Didn't expect to see you here this morning lad. Willem and the rest didn't scare you off? Have to admit, I'm a little concerned about your ability for self preservation." But when he moved the hat to scratch at the white diamond shape on hsi forehead, the light got to his head again and she could easily see he was grinning.

She didn't expect to be able to sneak up on Willem, but when he jumped she cracked a smile at him. "Yeah.. I know, not you. I was just looking for a familair face..that's all." She looked over at the massive ship, commanding all the attention in the harbor and she swallowed. Why was she so nervous over all of this?

Kar decided that it was now or never and she started off at a brisk pace. She snuck in and around the crowd making her way to the ship. She all but ran into him, grinding to a halt before she bumped into him. He was MASSIVE and towered over her and all clad in black everything. She chewed her lip gently.

When he spoke she all but jumped.. It wasn't what she was expecting.

"I... well, it takes a lot to get rid of me.." she trailed off. "I'm persistent and when i want something nothing will keep me from it. I'm running from some serious demons, here.." She chewed her words, thinking the best way to approach this man... He wasn't exactly terrifying, but she didn't really know him well. "As well as self preservation... Ain't got none of that." She grinned up at him.


After a moment, with the wind whistling around them, she decided to get ballsy and ask the questing that has been burning her since the first time she'd heard him name.

"Say... Why do they call you 'The Diamond." She took a step back, not sure how he was going to answer this..

He directed a man with a large case on his shoulder as to where it belonged, then turned to Kar once more. "Why do they call me "The Diamond" . . . they don't. They call me "White Diamond." And as for the reason why . . ." He gave a soft chuckle, so quiet it almost couldn't be heard, and then he took the hat off of his head, along the top of his muzzle, where his forehead met it, there was a diamond shaped color to his pelt, and he leaned closer to her, letting her see the fineness of the fur. When he leaned down so that his head was close to her own, his black hair framing the downward pointed face, it became clear what the diamond was. It was not fur, not some old stain from a poison or chemical, not a birth mark. It was bone. On his forehead there was a diamond shaped piece of his own skull exposed.

As he stood again, he scratched at it, the dull scraping sound just like it was last night, but now easier to hear without the loudness of a tavern surrounding them. He put the hat back on it, hiding all but a small downward triangle of the diamond shape. "As it happens, long years ago, before even Willem, I was captain of this ship. Had us heading to a little known spot, a place might not have even existed. As it happens it did, and my first mate sought to own the plunder there . . . own it for himself." He grinned once more, this time his fangs showing, giving it a visceral and deadly glimmer. "He tried to mutiny me ship." He gave a dark chuckle and cracked his neck. "Got as far as convincing most of the men to join his cause, then I challenged him to a duel to finish it."

He lifted the hat again, scratching at the piece of exposed skull, like the memory chafed him. "He cheated . . . we were dueling with swords out, and he pulls his pistol with machinations of exterminating my person in a single strike . . . left me with a pretty scar instead." One of the men who'd finished his job before pushing off came by "Oi, Cap'n, why don't ye tell the boy what ye did with him." The Captain gave him a withering look and he turned and left.

"He was guilty of mutiny. And the deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers . . . and mutineers." He stared Kar in the eye, stepping closer to the small dragon girl. "So I tied an old broken anchor to his legs, put him in a crate nearly big enough to fit him, and threw him overboard to starve in the crushing black." Then the captain walked past her, to the edge of his vessel, and screamed down at Willem, it was time to make ready.

She stared up at him, eyeing the bone rather intently. She was rather interested in how he didn't die but she figured that would be a question for another day, if she had the chance to ask him. She nodded here and there, completely enthralled into his story. Despite her tough exterior, being amongst pirates was really new territory to her and she was honestly just winging though this.

Mutiny... She gulped, hoping she'd never have to experience anything like this. With the group she was tagging along with, who the hell knows what would happen. She could see right now though, that ass-kissing and getting super close to White Diamond would be a really good idea.

When he finished telling her his tale and left her standing there she shivered, a foreign feeling that washed over her. Why was she shivering?

After he left she realized she hadn't asked him if she was allowed to stay.

She rolled her shoulder, trying to stave off the odd feeling and went to go seek out Willem. He wasn't hard to find as she could hear his hacking cough of a laugh from here. She decided to scoot close to him hoping he would freak out. She did get a kick out of spooking him, though..

"Hey there, Willem. He didn't tell me no. In fact, he didn't really tell me anything regarding me tagging along.." She blinked at him, hoping he'd have something to add to this really odd situation.

Willem was laughing at something another of the pirates was saying, holding what seemed to be the remains of a woman's underskirt and telling a bawdy story about the night before and how he came to possess the garment. When Kar spoke to him, he turned around making a rough, gravely noise. "Gods be damned boy, ye gotta stop doing that, or ye'll break me heart in half from shock." He shook his head. "He don't like tellin much, plays er'ry game close ta his chest."

Another hour passed at most, the gang plank was pulled up, as was the anchor and the oars came down, pulling them out into the water and eventually turning them. Willem went back to ignoring Kar as he barked orders to various men, getting the sails down and billowing in the wind.

Exactly as proclaimed in the rumors, The Black Rose really did have sails black as pitch, a silvery rose carved out in dye over the major sail from the center mast. Once the wind caught, the ship was off and running. Shifting and swaying side to side and forward to back with the currents and swells of the water. The captain could be seen at the wheel, guiding the ship through the rough waters and around the large rocks that surrounded the perimeter of the island.

The Captain seemed to instinctively know when to turn the wheel and dodge things, rushing out on the wind and following it's strange and twisting whims.

Willem, satisfied that things were in order finally came to find Kar again, and handed her a bucket and a rough brush. "Here, go follow the rest and get to work, start on the low deck, and work yer way up."

She was starting to get the biggest kick out of sneaking up on Willem. She'd have to remember to tone it down, though. Didn't want to give the poor guy a heart attack.

"I noticed that..." She mused, chewing her cheek lightly.

She hung around for an hour, give or take, really taking in the sight that was The Black Rose. She marveled at her sails: totally jet black in color. She looked up, her maw gaping. She must have stood like that lord only knew how long. She hadn't ever been this close to a ship like this before. Hell, she wasn't even sure if she was able to get her 'sea-legs'. She could see a lot of nausea in her life in the future.

Kar could see Willem making his way back to her, holding something. When he thrust a bucket and a brush into her hands she cocked an eye at him. She hadn't expected things to move this quickly. She did adapt better to situations this way, but...

"Low..deck?" She blinked at him. "I thought the top was a deck...?" She just stared at him, looking between the bucket and his face. "Oh.. I guess I'll figure it out." She loped in with the masses, heading onto the Black Rose.

The rest of the masses directed her to the back section of the ship where the wheel was, where the Captain was. If she gave a look up to where he stood, it could be seen that he was watching her, he'd clearly worked with the rest of the crew for some time, at least longer than her.

They opened a large door to one side of a set of double doors in the massive deck's architecture. The door lead to a set of wooden stairs that creaked under foot, and the rope that was meant as a railing swayed with the ship itself. The lower decks were each made of the same black wood, some surfaces looked lacquered, others, like the floor were worn down to matte surfaces but still looked very dark black and very sturdy.

However, the lower one went, the fewer lanterns there were to light the way and light the space one was in. The lowest deck, where one of the others directed her to to start, had only a few lanterns, and spanned the entire huge length of the ship. Oddly, as well, there were crates and caskes and such around, but the sound was like something rubbed against the walls from the outside, giving one the sensation of being within a living thing. Like the ship itself was was breathing around her.

A while after she began, as the deck was massive and had lots of cramped spaces, a door could be heard opening, and a pair of men entering. They could be heard arguing, one began "No, it's not how that goes, he thinks he can bring us out on some years long journey after some MAGICAL treasure and not give up anything about where we're goin' or what the HELL is waiting for us there! it's not right!"

The other man was giving a hard sigh and replied "You know what that sounds like, right? that sounds like mutineering talk, you know how he deals with that."

"Oy, right, I know how he SAYS he did. Willem says it too sure, about 10 different ways when he's in his cups, and about 16 more even when he's not. I don't believe for a goddamn second that scar's from someone tryin' ta kill him." He kicked at a barrel, and it turned and creaked and stopped.

The first man came again "Come on now, you can't be talkin' like this, men'll think ye mean tah mutiny."

". . . . Maybe I do. Wouldn't be like one man can mutiny a ship, less the rest don't disagree with him."

She could see the Captain looking down at her as she followed the group into the bowels of the ship. He stood motionless, commanding all the attention around him. She could tell he'd been doing this for a long time.

As Kar made her way down, She felt mildly claustrophobic in the boats lower decks and the way the boat moved and groaned around her didn't help her cause at all, either.. The lack of light wasn't an issue for her, though. Her eyesight was sharp and she could make out the walls and the cargo. Near her was a group of men working. They hadn't seen her come down with them and she would bet on it that they had no idea she was even here.

She was deep into her work of scrubbing muck off the walls when she heard voices. Really angry, gruff voices. No one she knew currently, but given a few weeks around them, she'd know them all. She listened intently and after a few minutes she realized she probably shouldn't be listening to this conversation.

The talk of mutiny crept through the interior of the boat and she continued to scrub the wall, taking care to not make much noise. Whether or not they were going to actually do it, wasn't anything she cared to know about. Best to keep your nose clean. She was just about to drop the brush back into the bucket to rinse the grim off when the boat rocked,  sending the brush past the bucket and sliding out of the corner.

The two men were done arguing and about to leave, when the brush flew from her hand, it's wooden back hitting the floor and making an almost echoing noise. The second man, who had been first to talk, and spoke of mutiny, stopped and turned back toward the cargo hold where Kar was. He looked around, his eyes seeming to almost glow in the lantern light as he tried to pierce the darkness around them both.

A moment later the first man came back, and smacked his shoulder. "What's wrong? suddenly afraid of the Captain? hmm?" The second man gave a gruff sound and kept glaring at the dark cargo hold. "Oh cut it, ya bastard . . . I heard something. Something fell . . ." The First man started laughing. "You have any idea . . . ANY idea how much shit is down here? how much of it's been stacked on top of other things and just thrown in where we could? gods, we barely got out of the dock fast enough to get past them Redcoats without being figured out for the Briggands we all are." The Second man glared into the darkness still. "Damnit . . . you're right . . . but I'm telling you, something just fell . . . I don't trust this bloody ship. Captain claims he built it fair n' square . . . but I never seen a ship with wood like this . . . it's black all through every board, it's not right."

The first man started laughing again and walked through the door to go back to the upper decks, the second man soon following. In the quiet and darkness that they left Kar in, it once more sounded like the ship itself was breathing, like she was within the belly of some massive creature. Not helping, was the way the flames danced in the few lanterns down here that were burning, making it appear as though the ship was growing and shrinking as well.

If one looked just at the right time, it would seem like maybe a barrel moved or turned, like a box wasn't facing the same way it had been earlier, and the sounds coming from some of the boxes was wrong, what the crew had talked about carrying was supplies of food and fresh water, and a lot of boxes and barrels sounded like other things, stones, or metals, or glass.

There were also more than one large, long crates that had a strange look to them, like the light got darker next to them, despite at least one of them being directly under a lantern.

Kar inhaled sharply and stood still. Shit, shit, shit, she mentally chastised herself. And now they were going to hang her from the fucking sails because she was eavesdropping if they caught her. Thankfully, where she was was shrouded in darkness and she hoped that it was just dark enough to keep her hidden.

She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, stepping back to press her body against the oddly black wood. The rest of her crew-mates where pushing off now, idly talking about things she wasn't sure she under stood. She did gather, however that the Captain's men didn't really trust him... or maybe it was just this group that was full of doubt, either way, she decided to hang onto this knowledge for later use. Who knows, it might come in handy. Too bad she didn't have names to go with faces.

What she did managed to hear was something about the ship being 'black through every board' and that it wasn't right. She pressed her hand to the wall behind her as the men filed out. It...did seem a little odd that the wood was this dark. Hm..

She was just about to make her way out of the hull when something shifted in the corner. She barely caught it out of her peripheral vision; a crate shifting and moving. She narrowed her eyes at it and the shadows in the space around the wooden box seemed to shift. She wrinkled her nose and she figured the space down her was messing with her. It wasn't making sense. And, instead of leaving like she planned, she made her way over to the crate.

"What..." she whispered. The way the lantern light filtered around it should have illuminated it, instead it washed out, leaving a little edge of shadow. She reached out to tough the box, but quickly put her hand back in her pocket.

Somethings are better left alone... But...  Kar grit her teeth and put her hand to the box. She couldn't help herself and it was going to drive her nuts if she didn't figure out what was up with this thing.

When she came toward the box, the sounds of the ship seemed to mute themselves, almost completely, leaving Kar in a space that was only her, and the crate.

It's wood was long boards of a darkish stained finish, no knots could be seen in the boards themselves, and oddly, there were small marks all over it, studs, like the boards had been nailed to the crate, but there were so many. The ammount of tiny studs would seem excessive if there were half as many as on this crate.

When she finally touched it, she would feel a movement, almost imperceptible, but something moved, the box itself, or something inside, moved. Along with the movement was a quiet, tiny, distant sound like chains rattling or being pulled against.

The case was only one of several that could be seen in this section of the cargo hold. And the case itself felt cold, and ever so slightly moist, like it had been wet and dried almost completely before she touched it.

The torches in the cargo hold were starting to sputter out one by one, leaving only a few, far fewer than there had been before, and leaving the space Kar was now in, drenched in shadow and darkness. Then the ship creaked, and voices could be heard echoing down from the decks above, laughter, cheers and bare bits of a bawdy song.

She had heard magic was a thing, but the realization that it was actually here is what bothered her. She blinked, letting it set in. Wait... She spun around with an air of confusion. Where... This was odd. She was no longer in the hull of the ship.

"Too weird," she whispered as she glanced down at the box.  It wasn't too overly ornate, however it looked to be studded to an almost excessive amount. This whole situation was just weird. Why would something like this be in the cargo hold in plain view... Or maybe she was the only one that could see it and it was inconspicuous to the rest of the crew?

Her fingers twitched at her side and she knew she had to touch it and as her fingers brushed the wooden crate, she felt movement. With a gasp she pulled it back, cradling her hand to her chest. She quickly decided that she didn't belong here and that this was something she really shouldn't be messing with but the lingering curiosity kept her here.

There seemed to be more and though her interest was piqued she decided that this was best left for another time.

She was just about to leave when the torches went out, plunging her into darkness. She blinked, trying to will away the spots in her vision as the ink of the dark took over the last embers of the torches. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Leave it to Kar to find the weird, witchy, magical thing in the hull of a boat. She wrapped her arms around herself and backed out of the ominous corner with the boxes and made her way back up to the upper deck.

She was greeted with singing and the smell of food and she quickly blended in with the rest of her crew mates.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she shouldn't have found that box and she hoped that no one knew she had found it, either.

Up in the galley deck, the crew was mostly in attendance, eating at dried pork and stew, ale was spilling and sloshing. The only one noticeably not present was the Captain. His absence could be felt in the air. No one noticed Kar, or rather, if they did, they didn't make a point of it. Soon, Willem, who was among those drinking and singing the bawdy songs, started to silence his voice, just enough and just slowly enough that no one quite noticed, then he carefully slipped out of the galley.

If she followed him, he stalked quietly and carefully through the deck, toward the stairs, up to the main deck checking side to side and ocassionally behind himself. He went up to the top deck, to the sails and wheel and the sea. Up at the Wheel was the Captain, he was carefully turning the ship, the sails billowing and flapping. The ship turned toward the rising moon. Willem came up the stairs to the Captain. "I don't know about that new one . . . something about him, he's . . . I don't know."

The Captain didn't bother to look at him, just kept steering the ship. "He's harmless . . . I've scented him myself. You don't need to worry about that one." Something in his eye gleamed in the moon light. "I've got a plan for that one, I see some . . . potential in him. As long as he doesn't mess with our Precious Cargo."

Willem shook hard and went to the rail, his legs shaking. "Gods be damned, you never should have taken that cargo on this ship in the first place." He shook again and looked down at the sea below them. "Something about that . . . it just ain't right. The lads lit up extra lanterns, and they keep going out! you seen how big that hold is, there's plenty and more enough air for them, and they still die! it's not right!"

She had taken up residence in a corner of the galley deck, stuffing some sort of stew into her maw, keeping a steady eye on the rest of the crew. She didn't see they guys from the lower decks and even if they were here she only knew voices and that didn't help her any. She was lost in the myriad of drinking and food, no one noticed her. Good, that was how she preferred it. Kar the wallflower. The watcher. She chuckled to herself and stuffed a piece of stew soaked bread into her mouth.

As she sat and ate, she scanned the galley, noticing Willem off to the side. "Hmm," she whispered, watching him as he slipped off.

She quickly slide off of her chair and followed. Curiosity killed the cat and in this case, the dragon. She really needed to stop being so damn nosey, but that was for another day.

She crept through, keeping a safe distance. Her movements couldn't be traced, she was as silent as the fog that would roll in early in the morning. She cocked her head, twitching an ear in Willem's general direction. The wind carried their voices well so she didn't' have to strain too much to hear them. 

Ah, the Captain.

She listened intently, keeping her body pressed against the wall, wedged between a barrel and knotted wooden boards. What she heard threw her for a loop. They were talking about her. Even though they were talking about a him, she knew it was her. Who else could it be? She was really the only new one of the bunch.

Again, the pit in her stomach told her "Kar, you idiot, you shouldn't be here!" But she couldn't help herself. One of these days her curiosity was going to get her killed. What was that idiom? Curiosity killed the cat? She rolled her eyes.

The talk of 'mysterious cargo' brought her back to attention. So...there was something odd about that box. She knew it wasn't just her imagination. For gods sakes, it snuffed out NUMEROUS candles.

Precious cargo, huh?

She figured she'd better leave, but when she turned to go the toe of her boots caught a barrel. With a resounding THUD, she winced.

Shit.

How was she going to explain her way out of this one?

Willem pulled his pistol and pointed it at the barrel Kar had just bumped. "OI! SPRING OUT YE WEE BASTARD!" The captain could be heard sighing and locked the wheel. "Willem, I swear to the gods, old and new, if you shoot one more barrel of fine mead open just to kill a damnable RAT."

Willem turned, glaring at the wolf and and pulled back the hammer before glaring at the barrel again. "That wasn't a rat . . . never met one, could knock a damned BARREL." The Captain stepped down the stairs, and pulled his pistol down. "And as long as you keep your damned mouth shut, the rats will be fine . . ." The way he spoke made it seem that he wasn't truly talking of rats. Then he pulled the pistol from the man's hand, pushing it's hammer forward, careful to keep it from firing. "No one knows what's in the cargo that doesn't need to know. You, and I . . . and the rats that chew on our crumbs and our boxes. None other."

Willem was glaring at him "it was folley putting something so foul and dread on this ship, on ANY ship . . . where in the hells below did you even find . . ." he looked toward the stairs again, and then back to the Captain. "No, I don't want to know . . . you probably pulled it from the cold burning claws of the Dark One himself." He shook visibly and came to the rail again, coughing over it and puking up his hastily eaten dinner and drinks. The Captain came past the barrel, looking directly at Kar and saying nothing, but the eyes that stared down at her burned red even in the darkness of the night around them, the stars vanishing with that look, withering everything, even the wood seemed to smell rotted for that moment, then things moved back to normal again. Before he turned away, he lifted the hat, scratching his diamond, then putting the hat back down and turning in freezing silence.

He came to smack Willem on the back. "Stop retching and take the wheel . . . I've a mind to check the cargo, make sure nothing's . . . broken." He turned back to the stairs, walking slowly "The men should like to see their captain among them . . . I should spend less time confined in my cabin, I know they grow leery of my absence."

She was pretty sure that she heard a pistol being pulled, the sound of metal on fabric and that's one sound she'd never forget. She sighed, hung her head and pressed herself further between the walls, willing herself invisible. She could hear the captain fuss at Willem and he was right, it wasn't a rat. It was a very nosey dragon who was going to get herself killed if she didn't keep her nose out of things.

She pulled her hood tight around her head as she listened to the conversation. Kar couldn't move from this spot until they left, she had gotten herself effectively trapped and she had no choice but to stay put and pray to the Gods that she wasn't found. She thought she was in the clear until the captain came sauntering by, locking eyes with her directly. She paled and swallowed hard as her stomach plummeted to her feet. She'd been caught.

She was about to open her mouth to make up some bullshit excuse as to why she was lurking around but the look on his face told her to keep her mouth shut. Everything seemed to change in the instant his eyes changed color. Red.

She felt like she was going to vomit and she clutched her stomach doubling over... The wind changed... did she smell something rotting... This whole encounter was unsettling.

She watched him as he lifted his hat and scratched his forehead and she could hear the rasp of his fingers against his diamond. As he moved off he said something about checking the cargo and she wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. He was a man of little words, apparently.

As the captain left, leaving Willem at the helm of the ship she slid down the wall, gagging softly.

Her options at this point were heavily limited, she could effectively try to blend back in with the crew and hope for the best but even then with her being found out the possibility of the this going under the rug, so to speak, was slim to none.

She decided it was best to pull herself together and make her way back to the Galley. If he was going to have her killed, or removed, he would have done it by now.

When she came to the galley, there was a small note on the door, held in place with a dagger that was stabbed into the door. The elaborate hilt was ebony with silver filigree, and a pale grey stone at the very end. A dagger the Captain kept on his left leg, a dagger he was frequently fingering and rubbing the stone of idly.

The note itself said only 3 words. "Kar. Captain's Cabin." in the twisting elegant hand of the captain. There was a strange coldness to the air around the door, inside the voices could clearly be heard still singing and telling tales, drinking and throwing things.

As Kar crept down the hallway to the galley she couldn't shake this feeling of dread. She shuffled along until she got to the door. She was just about to put her hand to the door when she noticed a note, written in beautiful, silver filigree.

She wished her stomach would stop doing somersaults.

She gritted her teeth and snatched the note. "Kar. Captain's Cabin." was all the note said, three words that made her utterly sick to her stomach. With a sigh Kar pocketed his dagger, figuring he'd wanted it back and stuffed the note into the hidden pocket in her right sleeve. Why she kept it, was unknown, even to her.

The little dragon really wished she could get something into her stomach before she did the walk of shame, but there wasn't time for that. She could hear the rest of the crew, things being thrown and the clink of silverware on plates and bowls, but she didn't want to keep him waiting or prolong what ever punishment he was going to dish out on her.


With a grumble of her stomach she made her way towards the captain's cabin. She wracked her brain with all kinds of scenarios , many of which that had a high probability of never happening. He'd probably hang her from her toes and beat her, or something. She laughed, fiddling with the hem of her shirt, making the edge really raw. This part of the ship was eerily quiet and her boots made soft thumping noises as she crossed the hallway.

She finally came to his door and with a pit of dread in her stomach, she knocked.

There was no reply to the knock, but the door softly creaked open toward the inside of the room. The cabin was massive, it spanned the back section of the ship from the top deck down to the lowest one, divided from the rest of the vessel with a thick wall of wood.

The door opened into a section that showed a large desk, a map rolled out over it showing the open sea, various nations and islands and things marked across it. In one corner was a suit the captain clearly wore from time to time, very regal and well decorated.

Across the walls there were stuffed fish and animal skulls, with a large set of jaws at the wall Kar had just come throguh, making her step over the lower set, the teeth clearly razor sharp. The whole room was lit with small lanterns, candles, and small oil sconces.

The captain was standing over the map, his back to her, brooding over what seemed to be an empty space. As she came in, he stayed silent, not even looking up or turning toward her.

You know, Kar was getting a little sick of all this "odd happenings" stuff that just seemed to follow her everywhere. Weird ass boxes, doors that open by themselves, spaces that snuffed out candles. She just rolled her eyes and stepped through the door, being careful to step over what seemed like a massive set of jaws.

She was honestly surprised by the size of this cabin as she scanned the room, taking in the space while noting skulls, bottles and the sort. She spotted the Captain leaning over what seemed to be a map of sorts.

"Sir," she started, not sure if he'd noticed she came in. "You requested to see me?" She rocked back and forth on her heels, extremely nervous now. She half expected the door to slam shut.

The door stayed open, but a raven could be heard squawking and flapping. Then the bird flew into the room, and somehow, in a storm of feathers there was suddenly a tall thin woman standing where the raven had been flying earlier. She wore a low cut dress that sat below her shoulders, dark black material that shimmered in the flickering fire light. The edges of her dress were trimmed with black feathers, she was clearly human, her head lacking any hair, but her eyes were black as obsidian, a pair of shining coals like holes in the white of her eyes. She smelled like salt, and herbs and perfume.

The woman closed the door behind herself, walking up toward Kar. Mikkaddo suddenly spoke "Sayoko . . . you need to stop entering unannounced, I'm sure the poor boy's terrified." She stepped directly up behind Kar, moving her hands to the girl's shoulders. "It would be hard to do that since she's not a boy." She gave a lilting laugh that seemed to have a cold edge to it.

The captain stood tall, turning to face them, and looked at Kar again, squinting and staring hard. "You heard something you shouldn't have you know little one." The woman, silent behind Kar moved a hand around to Kar's throat, her nails were long and ink black and shined like the feathers of her dress. When the nails touched her throat it was clear they were very sharp.

"I can't risk you telling the crew . . ." The woman smiled though, her other hand pulling down Kar's hood, and she leaned forward to bite at the dragon's ear lightly. "Mmm, leave her alone . . . she doesn't know what she heard, it was just talk . . . not like she's been down to the hold to see them." Mikkaddo glared straight at the woman and gave a soft growl. "She didn't need to know there were more than one either."

He stared at Kar again, locking eyes with her. "I hear a single word from anyone other than Willem about them . . . I'm coming straight to you."

A raven? Before she could even process this new development the raven transformed into a woman. As if things couldn't get any weirder there was a shapeshifting woman to add to the mix and she was extremely beautiful. Everything about her held the color of raven's feathers and Kar was completely taken aback by her choice of wardrobe, too. Not to mention her perfume was extremely intoxicating.

The click of the door shutting brought Kar back to attention. Something about this whole situation was extremely odd.

Kar took a step to the side, trying to move out of the other woman's way when the Captain spoke. She swung her attention back to him, still brooding, it seemed?

Sayoko, eh? She looked back at the woman- who looked like she was going to eat Kar alive- and shivered. Terrified was an understatement. Weirded the fuck out would be more apt.

She was just about to open her maw to speak when the Raven woman dropped a bombshell by outing her to the captain, laying her close kept secret out for all to see. How'd she figure it out? It wasn't that obvious, though...

Fuck.

She gulped and was about to plead her case when the raven leaned down and nipped her ear. With a moan that betrayed her body, she took a step back. She liked to toy with people, apparently.

She listened to them talk amongst themselves while going on about the cargo and how she wasn't supposed to know there was more... But the thing was that she knew all about it..

"I..." she started, her voice had all but failed her now. So much for that extremely tough exterior. She couldn't tell what was sapping her courage. She'd always felt weird around the captain, but this was new and she didn't like it.

"I won't tell a soul. I promise.."

The Captain was silent, all but glaring at her, and the woman gave a laugh that almost sounded more like she was purring, and whispered to the girl "Mmm, that's an understatement, if you do, I'll know even if he doesn't." She bit the dragon's ear again, making a soft moan herself, her hand gripping the girl's throat, the other moving down from her shoulder to grab one of her small breasts.

The Captain, seemingly satisfied with that answer turned back to his map again, using some tools to mark out a path on the map, a small model of a ship out in the open ocean itself. The woman licked along her ear slowly and then backed up, moving around her to lean on the back of the Captain. Her hands running up his back and down his arms. "You still aren't sure where to find it? I've told you what I saw . . ." The Captain growled and looked back at Kar. "Now . . . is not . . . the time."

She gave another laugh and kissed his neck, moving to nip his ear the same way, then looked back to Kar, her pale white skin a stark contrast to the black feathers of her dress, and the black of her eyes. "She won't tell . . . besides, you already told me, if she does . . . I get to have a special feast." The Captain growled again. "Oh hush, it's fine if she knows . . . it might motivate her." She grinned at Kar, making a kissing motion to her, and then licking her lips.

Kar shivered at the nip to her ear, again. What was her game here? Turning her on? She hoped not, she didn't need the captain scenting her out that way. She was about to protest to her ear being nibbled on when the raven woman grabbed her by the neck and pulled her head back. Not rough, but just enough to get the girl to moan, long and loud. Oh god. She wriggled in her grasp when her breast was grabbed.

"Hnn... D-don't." She mewled.

Obviously satisfied, Sayoko moved off to turn her attentions to the captain and left Kar hanging there, mildly hot and bothered. what was with her?

She kind of stood there with a deer in the headlights look when she started bothering the captain, who didn't seem all that interested in her attentions. Was is because of Kar?

She locked eyes with the captain and shivered. She took a few steps back and pressed her body against the wall.

"I really won't tell... I'd rather not... well. I'd rather not be subject to whatever she," Kar pointed at the Raven Woman. "Has in mind, personally..."

She idly played with the hem of her shirt, just listening.

"Motivate me...to do what?"

The Captain was quiet, and tight lipped at that, almost looking carved out of stone. The woman however, was grinning and came up to Kar, tracing a single sharp claw up along the center of her chest, to her throat, moving her hand to hold the girl's throat again. "To keep our secrets, and your silence. A few days from now, we'll be at our destination . . . and you'll get to find out what we're after." She turned to the Captain, who was growling again.

"Let her leave, she's not yours unless she can't hold her tongue." The woman gave a frown and pulled Kar toward her, looking her in the eye, and licking her lips again. "Feel free to call on me . . . when you get lonely." Her smile was wide, but the look in those black eyes said volumes. She slowly walked around behind Kar, trailing her sharp nails along the girl's throat, then opened the door behind her. Only the flapping of wings gave the clue that she was gone.

The Captain was still there, brooding over his maps and then looked up. "Remember what we said . . . there's a few days until we reach where we're going, get back to your work, and before you know it we'll be at our destination. Then . . . then I will have a use for you again."

She really needed Sayoko to leave her alone, but that wasn't going to happen by the looks of it. She just had to take this unwanted affection and with another moan her body betrayed her again and she felt weak in the knees. By no means was Kar a lesbian, but this was her first encounter with a woman. She grunted, she was a virgin for gods sakes, so she wasn't even 100% sure herself of what she liked.

"Hn.." She mewled, feeling the other woman's hands at her throat again, feeling utterly helpless. Well, check that off the list of things she liked.

At this point all Kar could do was nod and take in what they were saying. A destination of sorts, no matter how vague it was she could tell it was extremely important to The Captain.

The instructions were clear enough, though. Keep your mouth shut and you're golden. That was easy enough. Who did she have to talk to? Willem? She laughed to herself. He was already aware of what ever was going on here.

As quick as the Raven Woman came, she left, but not before molesting Kar on the way out, talking about seeing her if she's ever lonely. Kar just shivered.

A use for her. "Yes, sir," she managed, finally finding her voice as she quickly turned on her heels and all but ran back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

The next week or so would pass mostly uneventfully, sometimes Willem or the Captain would be seen coming out of the cargo hold at the bottom of the ship, and often she would see the Raven on a railing, sitting in the frame of a port hole, always watching her, and if the Captain is around, squawking and making sure he looked to see her. For his part, he stayed mostly silent, rarely if ever talking.

The ship ran up and down through swells, which seemed to get worse each day and night that they traveled, the men started joking that the ocean was trying to throw the ship into the sky. Then, one afternoon a pair of men passed by Kar, seeming to not notice her. "I'll say it one last time . . . I saw it, meself . . . the Green Horizon, it's real!" The other man gave a long sigh "Gods be damned, there's no such thing!" The first one refused to listen.

"I tells you, it's REAL, ask the Captain if you don't believe ME." The other man laughed "Aye, and have him looking at me like I've asked if water is wet for me trouble." The first man was not through arguing though. "OI, it's true, he's seen one himself, Will-"

"Yeah, Willem said so, I'm sure he did . . . just like the Captain got his Diamond from a Narwhall, just like Willem and the Captain was on a crew fought a ship crewed by the damned that was burnin in the water as it sailed, just as he was captured by Davey Jones hisself and SOMEHOW escaped alive." The men kept arguing as they passed Kar by, never noticing he was around and soon vanishing into another deck.

As the time passed, Kar mostly kept to herself. Out of site and out of mind was the best course of action here. She laughed to herself, thinking at one point that she actually thought she could stowaway on this ship; though to give her credit that was before she noticed the hyper-sexual raven lady.

The rocking and falling of the boat didn't bother her as much as she thought it was going to and she seemed to rather enjoy the movements the longer she was on the ship and the transition to land was going to be rather interesting. And, speaking of land? She wondered where they were really going...

And, as usual, the crew was bickering amongst themselves. Despite being on the boat with them for a while now, she still hadn't made any friends. Not that it truly bothered her, but sometimes she wished she had someone to talk to.

The ability to be invisible was great, but she knew there was one person who'd always see through her cloak. The captain and the Raven. With a shrug she pushed her way though the men arguing about something that probably happened, but they refused to believe. Half of the tales Kar had heard, although farfetched, most likely happened. She shook her head, for gods sakes, a raven turned into a woman. She wouldn't be surprised if they all were true.

With a sigh she made her way to the other deck to get away from the noise and the crowd. Over head, the Raven watched her and she casually rolled her eyes at her before leaning over the edge of the railing to look down as the waves crashed and broke over the hull.

As she watched the water, a shadow darkened behind her. "What I hear, half the crew thinks you've gone and disappeared from the ship . . ." after his voice, the sound of a claw scraping bone proved it was indeed the Captain. "Part of me thought I had seen the last of you after all, maybe you'd jumped off the ship and decided to swim for land, maybe you'd tied a stone to yourself and decided to breathe sea water . . . but here you are."

There was a squawking from behind her as well. The Raven was on his shoulder. He had a small smile, just a bare turn at the edge of his lips, and only on one side. He was staring down at her, standing within only a foot or two from her. Making the difference between them more clear than ever. The crew was behind both of them, milling about doing their daily work, setting things right, tying things off, and scrubbing the deck.

"You told me to keep my mouth shut," she spoke as she turned around to face the Captain who she hadn't hear creep up on her. She really needed to stop spacing out. She huffed and pressed her back to the railing of the ship, feeling the warm wood work into her lower back. "I figured what better way to keep out of trouble than to disappear completely? I've still been doing my work, though." She waved her hand around. "Don't think I've been slacking and being dead weight. I'm just really good at blending in. Served me well as a pick pocket." She grinned at him.

She hadn't realized how tall he was and that he towered over her, she had to tilt her head up to look him in the eyes.

"Did you need me for something or have you come to let your little Raven there have her way with me? I do have to get back to work, you know." She sassed him, pushing off from the worn wood and taking a step further, closing the space in between them.

"Well?" She looked up at him, squaring her shoulders. She wasn't quite challenging him. This was more of a way to show that she wasn't scared of him.

When she stepped forward, not exactly challenging but asserting her own dominance, he couldn't help but grin down at her, not a full grin but more of a turn on his lips than before. "Mm, if the Raven were to have her way, you would know . . . she wouldn't do that in publiv on the deck here . . ." He chuckled, and the Raven squawked at them both.

He stared her down and gave a small chuckle. "I have a use for you, once we get to land . . . before then, there's something else I want you to see, tonight around midnight, come up to the deck, you needn't worry about the rest of the crew, they'll be asleep by then."

She stood her ground as she stared up at him and she grinned right back.

"That's good to know," she said, "I'll just have to worry about her following me back to my room." She shot a look to the Raven before stuffing her hands into her pockets an extremely uncomfortable feeling washing over her. What a touchy woman...

Judging by the look he shot back at her, it seemed the Captain found her amusing, though that wasn't her intentions, but it worked and at this point, she'd just roll with it.

"Scandalous," she mused. "Meeting the Captain on the deck at midnight." She laughed, nodding in his direction as she passed by him. "I'll be there." She called back to him as she went to go make quick work of the rest of her chores and went to retire to her cabin.

The rest of that day was mostly calm, the sea was still throwing the ship back and forth, and nearly threw the ship into the air. Once midnight came, the crew was asleep and the ship had quieted, men could be heard snoring in all directions, all but the fewest lanterns snuffed and cold.

On the top deck, when she came out from the stairs, she could see the Captain waiting, the wheel had been locked to keep the ship going in the same direction, a storm brewing off the side of the vessel to the south. He was at the rail, watching the storm build and flow, as it creeped closer to them. The Raven was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Time went by rather quickly as midnight fast approached. Kar wasn't sure what she was getting herself into tonight. She got up and ate a few mouthfuls of bread. Better to have something in your stomach, she figured.

She silently slid her boots on, grabbing the Captain's dagger and stuffing it into the waistband of her pants, the metal feeling cool against her skin. She had almost forgotten that she had it. It was a beautiful dagger and she secretly hoped to keep it, but knew that returning it was the right thing.

She donned her cloak and slipped out down the corridor, her boots thumping slightly as she walked. An eerie calm crept over the deck at this hour and it made her extremely uncomfortable. She spied the Captain waiting near the wheel. She smiled and stood watching him for a while before getting the nerve to go over to him.

She silently crossed the deck and came to stand at his side.

"So..." she started, treading carefully, wondering what tonight would bring. "What's the plan for me?"

The ship swayed a little and Kar looked off to the side and wrinkled her face, seeing the huge storm brewing. This whole situation made her extremely uncomfortable.

He was watching a storm off near the horizon, in the dark blue of the night sky, speckled with stars and a large full moon shining down, there was a contrast of pitch black clouds. Only occassionally lit up with lightning that either ran across the billowing black of the clouds or straight down to the water like a striking snake.

The Captain was watching it intently, the wheel already locked in place to keep the ship straight and narrow on it's bearing. "The plan . . . depends on you." He turned to face her, taking 3 steps and looking down into her eyes, maybe a foot apart fro her. "You've made yourself mostly useful thus far, but there's difficult waters ahead . . . that storm, it could break this ship . . . if we stay on course and on time, we should out run it to our destination . . . but if it should catch us . . . well." He shook his head. "In the future, you may need to fight, and I worry about you fighting with only that dagger, it's a very fine one to be sure . . . but have you ever even used one of these?" He reached into his coat, and pulled out a pistol.

A crack of thunder shook the air around Kar and a strike of lightening made her skin prickle as it charged the air around them. She sighed and pulled her cloak close to her. It pulsed on the horizon, swirling.. It looked deadly and the Captain didn't seem to worried about it.

Of course the plan depended on her, why would anything be easy. She chewed the inside of her lip as she listened to him talk, absorbing all of the information he threw at her. It was odd, though, that The Raven wasn't anywhere near...

"Are you saying I can keep the dagger?" She said, running her hand around the hem of her trousers and pulling free the ornate blade.  "I'm aware that there are... times that this won't be useful." She ran her finger down the edge of the blade, marveling at how sharp it truly was. "

She mused and slid the dagger back into her trousers, wondering if she could have a sheath made for it when the Captain pulled a pistol. She narrowed her eyes at it. Use it?

"Maybe... I've never actually shot one before but I'm familiar with their workings and mechanisms, though..." She wrinkled her nose at it, "I'm a rather quick study and should be able to pick it up given some time.."

He watched her carefully. "Staring down a gun, without a flinch or a face . . . fascinating, since after all, guns are extremely dangerous things . . . the hammer is pulled back, all that's keeping you from your fate is a single trigger, and a small ammount of pressure." He reached into his coat, the gun pointed at her, between her eyes. Then pulled out a black leather scabbard, beautifully decorated with silver vines and small metal roses. "Here, if you have the dagger, best to keep that as well." Then he put the gun away, looking straight down the ship, "a few more days . . . and we'll be at our destination, when that happens . . . I'll have a use for you. But you have to understand the gravity of working for me lad."

He looked at Kar again. "If you don't think you can keep up, you may as well warn me now . . . it'll be easier on both of us if you do, I refuse to accept betrayal."

Kar had been staring down the barrel of many a pistol. People don't take to kindly to a 'freak' as they liked to put it. Her own father even pulled a pistol on her in his drunken rage and she's long since accepted that if it'll happen, it'll happen. With a shrug she looked up at him, "It's not my first time having a pistol pulled on me."

With wide eyes she accepted the scabbard and slipped the blade into with. It settled in with a nice click noise. "Thank you..."

"I can keep up. I promise." She winked at him. "That's one of my qualities. Adaptability. I'm good at being a pawn and you can mold me as you wish." She clipped the dagger to her right hip, her fingers playing over the ornate leather, stopping to finger a rose.

With a nod in his direction she turned on her heel, waving her right hand up at him. "I'll be good to go, Sir." She laughed and made her way back to her cabin, hoping to get a few winks before her day had to actually start.

He nodded and stepped closer to her, looking almost directly down to match her eyes. "Careful for the next few days, and once we get to our destination, talk to Willem, he'll get you a pistol . . . it'll be old and rusty, but it'll shoot when you pull it's trigger." He looked out over the ship again, at the storm. The raven was still no where to be seen, but the storm was ever present, following them, and seeming to either grow larger, or get closer, or possibly even both. "Best you get back to bed before anyone notices you're gone . . . could be dangerous for someone young as you to be found alone in the middle of a ship at night."

She made her way back to her cabin in just enough to get a little bit of sleep even though nightmares kept eating away at the edges of her dreams.

She woke a few hours later, dressed, donning her usual binder and her cloak. And now, adding the dagger that the Captain let her keep. She idly stroked the ornate leather as she stuffed a hug of sour dough bread into her maw. Chewing loudly Kar threw on her boots and made her way out the door.

Her task today was to look for Willem and request a pistol, which shouldn't be too hard of a task seeing as you could hear Willem barking orders across the deck. She waved at him, hoping to catch his attention and not spook him.

"Hey, Willem..." she called, hoping that he heard her this time. "When you get a chance I need to speak to you... In, uh, regards to the captain. He wants me to get something from you." She said, rocking on the heels of her feet.

Willem was barking orders and men left and right, and when she called to him he looked, turning left and right and seemed to not notice her at all. Then he started barking orders again and finally looked down and nearly jumped. "Gods lad, make some fucking NOISE next time. I nearly croaked!"

He shook his head and then smacked another crewman on the back and berated him for dropping the bucket in his hands, spilling fresh water over the deck, which made it now useless.

The Captain was present too, he seemed just as alert as the night before, another crewman was on the wheel, while the Captain was at the aft railing, watching the storm they were trying to outrun. He was dead silent and still as stone, almost seeming to not sway or tilt from the motion of the ship. Standing straight and still, like a statue.

She gave a fully belly laugh and wrapped her arms around herself, doubling over as she tried to regain her footing. "Shit, Willem," she wheeze. "You didn't hear me? I called out to you!"

Kar took a step back, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before straightening herself out. She had to get back to her task at hand, which meant pulling Willem to a quieter spot to ask him about a pistol.

She sighed and looked around, the crew didn't seem to pay her any mind and that was a good start. She noticed the Captain off at the aft railing standing there. She figured he was watching her like a hawk.

"Willem, " she called. "When you get a moment of free time the Capitan has asked me to speak with you regarding something that will come in handy when we make landfall." She spoke calmly and softly, but loud enough for Willem to hear. She didn't want the rest of the deck hearing her.

Willem looked at the Captain long and hard. The Captain turned from the storm and looked right back at him, almost like he heard Kar as well. He stared into Willem's eyes, the two were locked to one another until finally Willem turned and looked at Kar again "Fine, in about an hour I should be free, come talk to me belowdeck and be quick about it you hear me?"

He sighed and went back to barking orders, occasionally looking back to the captain and then quickly back to his men. The Captain having turned to watch the storm once more, keeping a keen eye on it as it followed them. Seeming to not move, but somehow creeping closer.

With that storm swelling just off behind them, the air was super charged with electricity and Kar could feel it. The sparks practically crawled over her skin and she ran her right hand over her left arm, rocking impatiently.

With a rock of the ship, Kar was yanked from her musings to catch a glimpse of the weird-almost-telepathic shenanigans between Willem and the Captain.

An hour seemed like four or more to Kar and she wasn't sure why that was, though she suspected it had something to do with their 'cargo', but... It felt like time on this vessel was at a snails crawl most days.

"I can do that," she said, looking up to the Captain's
figure on the deck-- it seemed like he could see right through her...

---

Kar made quick work of the rest of her chores with a few minutes to spare to grab something to eat. With a hunk of bread in her right hand she made her way down the halls to belowdeck, idly chewing here and there.

Before she made it to Willem she quickly scarfed down the remaining bites of bread, wiping crumbs from her blouse.

She was about to cross the threshold when she remembered to knock, giving two loud, hard raps against the frame. So Willem could hear her, naturally.

"Willem?" She called, adding to he knocking. She really didn't want to get shot..

Willem opened the door and went back to the other end of the room, rummaging through a large crate and muttering to himself. It was mostly gibberish, but there was clearly something about the Captain in there.

Finally he stood again, turning and handing her a tarnished old flint lock pistol, by the barrel, the handle pointed toward her. "Let me implore to you, lad, the importance of this machine in my hand." He pushed it toward her "a gun, is death in yer hand . . ." he looked side to side like he thought someone else might hear them. "And there's nothing more important than understandin that. Never point that at me, the Captain, or t' others, and gods forbid you even NEED it on this trip."

He pushed past her "once we make land we'll see about gettin' ye some powder and shot too, can't believe that rat bastard is givin a damned boy a gun and expectin' nothin' wrong ta happen." He scoffed and slammed the door open, walking out, grumbling again.

It seemed that Willem was rather unhappy with this new development-- he probably thought she was an incompetent whelp that couldn't handle a firearm. He'd be surprised, though.

She watched as the big guy rummaged around in a crate and came back with the most abused pistol she'd ever seen... Oh boy.

She nodded at him, "This isn't my first time with a weapon, sir," she said, taking the old, battered thing from him and stuffing it into the waistband of her trousers, into the small of her back where it would most likely go unnoticed on her small frame. The metal was cold and heavy against her skin, unlike the feel of the dagger, she didn't like the way this felt. She reminded herself to get a holster for it, or something... "I understand, Willem. I really do.."

Before she could even think to ask him another question or respond to his remarks about the Captain being a 'rat bastard' he slammed the door and Kar was left there with nothing but her thoughts.

With a shrug she adjusted her tunic top and belt, finagling the weapon to sit more comfortable and remain hidden.

She couldn't even begin to shake this feeling of dread as she trudged back to her cabin, making sure to avoid her crewmates, like that was even an issue...

The ship had an uneasy silence for the last day, everyone could feel it. The entire crew was unsettled about something. When one was quiet and listened, especially at lower decks, it was possible to hear it.

The sound started as a creaking, like any other moment on a ship settling in the calm on the open sea. But, as one listened for it, or as the silence settled on the ship, it grew, slowly, almost imperceptibly, until the "creaking" was clearly not wood, or steel, it was organic. Something in the ship was speaking . . . somewhere, deep down, hidden in shadow and behind something. But the sound was there, and each hour the ship got closer to it's unknown destination, the sound got slowly and unsettlingly louder."

The atmosphere on this vessel was almost smothering her. The dragoness gently tugged at the neck of her tunic. Oddly enough, the rest of the crew seemed to  sense their "impending doom", so to speak.

Kar had spent some time on boats before, obviously not ones of this caliber, but something was honestly off with the way this one moved and sounded. She still had a hunch it had something to do with their "cargo", but, unfortunately she had to keep her head down.

Out of sight.

Out of mind.

Those six words became a personal mantra to her and she'd catch herself muttering it frequently.

Continuing on with her chores, Kar repeatedly tried to keep the "voices" out of her head. The groaning and creaking of the ship below almost... nah, couldn't be? Too long and hit sea had fried her brain.

She stuffed her brush back into her bucket and made haste back to her quarters. A quick meal and then lights out. But... that noise?

Of course, she knew better, but she had a way of finding herself in places she shouldn't be. The mystery too good to pass up. The unknown needing to be pulled into the light. Those voices couldn't possibly be the "cargo"?

And that's how she found herself making her way to the lower decks...

Everyone was getting more and more unsettled as the days continued. Words would die on one's tongue when he wanted to speak to someone, men would look at each other, silently, then look away, unsettled at each creak.

People were startled by every minor motion and sound of the ship creaking or settling. People seemed to ignore Kar even more than usual, almost as much as they seemed to ignore one another, avoiding each other and trying to get things done quickly and quietly.

Meals more and more became quick affairs, the crewmembers trying to get through things and get away. Men began sleeping on higher decks, even up on top deck. Under the stairs, in the shade under sails, even out in the open. Anything to get away from the lower levels. Away from the sound . . . The captain, however, remained different. He was barely ever seen, and if he was, it was briefly, and he was even more silent than usual, as hard as it might be to believe.

When Kar got down to the lower decks, there was no sign of man, a thick layer of dust had settled on things, as no one had been around to clean in days, things had moved out of their normal place from the motion of the ship, no one there to right them. And the creaking, whining was getting louder. The sconces were almost all out.

However, there was light in the cargo space, the massive lowest deck at the bottom of the vessel. Where the box was.

There was a voice echoing through the halls too, over the creaking, a voice, clearly a man's voice, deep and strong, the words were almost all impossible to discern. Only a few could be told. "Soon now . . . . old Broad . . . . shallows . . . . sacrifice.

There was a feeling at the last word, like a silent, invisible bolt shot across the ship, the wood shook and Kar's body vibrated with it. Only once, so quick if you blinked you'd miss it, or even think it was a swell in the sea.