Furry-Within

"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..