Furry-Within

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?