Horrors and Hangovers (Erik and Auldwin)

[Cassidy Undertow]

Timestamp: 39th of Fall, 511 AV Time: Morning Cassidy slept like a rock all night long. In fact, she didn’t wake up until far past her normal sunrise routine. The only reason she woke up before the sun’s apex was because she fell out of bed and smacked her head on her clothing chest. Even if she hadn’t hit her head it would still feel like it was ready to split in two. She groggily pulled herself up using the chest for leverage, her head was still swimming and her eyes didn’t want to focus right. Whatever had happened last night at the tavern had been spectacular for sure. But her memory wasn’t complying so she had no way to verify the events. It was lucky she’d actually got back to her boat and into her bed, Cassidy suspected Erik had something to do with it. She’d need to remember to thank him, unless of course he starting mocking her about it, then he’d never get thanks. “Ughh” She grunted and wobbled towards the door, she felt instantly better and worse when she got out on deck. The fresh air helped clear her head a little but the bright sunlight felt like someone stabbed a fish hook through her eyes. She let herself lean over Tide Herald’s railing where she took time to rest and settle her head. She barely gave a moment to wonder about the strange traveler they’d be taking on, hoping he hadn’t dropped by already and found her incapacitated.

[Auldwin]

Even as Cassidy left, her cabin was anything but unoccupied. Within the confines of her small ship Auldwin had lingered, awaiting the time when the woman would finally come to her senses. Detecting a Ghost was difficult, as they could literally be hidden almost anywhere, but that unsettling feeling was always there. The feeling that something was watching. The fall winds blew just a little bit colder that morning, mirroring the icy stare that followed Cassidy up and out onto the deck.

First thing was to cause confusion. Inside Cassidy's sleeping quarters Auldwin began to move everything he could manage, putting it all out of place. Her items, her clothing, her bedding, all of it needed to be in disarray. That chaos was just an ingredient in a freshly baked breakfast of catastrophe. Flipping open the top to her clothing chest he tossed out it's contents, the various bits of fabric fluttering all around as his Soulmist hurled them haphazardly. It was raining inside that cabin as worldly possessions came cascading down to the floor, landing into rumpled heaps.

Next he needed to draw the Svefra into a more enclosed area, so that the phenomena of his supernatural existence could more abley be felt. Floating over toward the door to her cabin he began to move it back and forth with his Soulmist, slowly at first. If Cassidy looked, all she would see was that entryway panning inward and outward, at first it was difficult to see if it was indeed moving, save for the creak of the wood as it pushed upon it's hinges. Finally, after a short time Auldwin pushed everything he had against that door, slamming it shut with a thunderous bang. Using that Soulmist, interacting with the world...it was a dangerous thing. It felt so good to cause a reaction, the feeling was almost addicting. What an ironic punishment to have to burn part of himself away in the process.

[Erik Windsea]

Erik was never one to wake up early, especially after a night of drinking. Today was no different. It had been quite a night and he had drunken about half as much as Cassidy. Erik remembered guiding Cassidy back to her ship and getting her to her cabin. Right after that he threw up over the railing of the ship. Getting on the Gale's Burden had been another story all together. Once on the ship he quickly fell asleep, not even taking the time to crawl into his cabin. He would have slept straight through the day, until someone came around and woke him. As it happened he was awoken, by a loud bang. Jumping up suddenly he pulled his cutlass from it's sheath, swinging wildly at the now imaginary robbers that he assumed made the noise and shouting in Fratava at the fools who beleive they could attack Erik Windsea in his sleep. Erik's awkward stumbling and shouting also awoke Squall, the returning squawking quickly ended Erik's battle with the invisible enemies. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Erik glanced around, seeing only Cassidy on Tide's Herald. Sheathing his cutlass he grinned sheepishly and waved towards her. After making sure he hadn't hit anything important Erik slipped over the side of his ship and was on his way to see if Cassidy was sober yet. Hopefully she hadn't slept like him nor awoken like he had, his back was killing him from sleeping on the deck.

[Cassidy Undertow]

Urchin popped her head above the surface to give her Svefra a once over. This wasn't a state the otter was unused to finding her companion in. Cassidy completely failed to notice her Tavan, too entranced watching the water lap against the side of Tide Herald, and when the clam shell flew from the creature and hit her in the head Cassidy was momentarily confused. Loosing a few choice phrases in Fratava the sailor bent down and pulled her otter on to deck. Urchin immediately let out a warning bark and Cassidy spun around to see what could have alarmed her Tavan. The first thought she had was that the wind was acting strangely, but a hand trailed through her hair which was ignoring any such breeze. The sailor in her kicked in though assuming the wind would cause that was as good as ignoring the tide, something was going on. Normally the otter would be running all over deck getting into mischief instead Urchin was focused on the pathway to the living quarters. Cassidy wished she had a sword, like the one Erik had, but she was never much good with them anyways. As she approached the door it slammed shut in front of her. Viciously tearing the door open Cassidy stalked inside. Whoever was messing around in the pirate woman's ship had really picked a poor morning to do it. When her eyes lit upon the chaos of her room the Svefra's irritated was momentarily abated. Something didn't quite fit, she had only been on deck for a few moments and none of her goods seemed to be missing only in complete disarray. Fratava curses slipped from her lips almost automatically, "Who the petch. . .?". Why was the skin along her arms shivering into goose bumps? She slowly began to pick up the nearest of the articles strewn across the floor warily watching for any movement inside her home.

[Auldwin]

Auldwin watched carefully, most of his body phased through the floor of Cassidy's ship cabin. His incorporeal nature made it easy to move to and from the scene of his mayhem. From his spot upon the floor he could see the confusion, he could sense it, he knew exactly what it looked like, and how it felt when he himself was rattled by the nearby presence of a Ghost, back during the days he was alive. With some focus he calmed his Soulmist and made sure it didn't flutter outward too far. He moved along the outer edge of the room. Loud creaking followed his movement, but seemed not to emanate from any one point in particular. Much like many Ghosts, when Auldwin was in close proximity inside of a small room, the sounds of his Ghostly presence could be more easily distinguished.

Did Cassidy know what a Ghostly presence felt like? Auldwin couldn't have known. Most of the living knew when something was wrong, and animals seemed to have quite the sense for the supernatural as well, but one couldn't really get an idea of another person's interaction with the dead until they really got pushed to the edge. "Cassidy..." Auldwin whispered into the air. At this tone his voice sounded nothing like it had when he had met the two Svefra. It was a low hiss, much as anyone's voice might sound if they spoke in a hushed tone. Auldwin's seemed difficult to track however, as if it simply projected from the very air compared to one particular source. This was a benefit, as well as a boon for a Ghost. Learning to force your voice to come from the correct place, namely your mouth, was a task accomplished only through Materialization. When in his un-Materialized form he could very well have kept his mouth closed, but his words would have still reached their target.

"...you don't belong here, Cassidy. No one wants you here. No one...wants you here." he continued, picking up one of the trinkets about Cassidy's room and hurling it at her quickly with his Soulmist. Experiencing the supernatural was all about first impressions, and Auldwin was determined to make sure that Cassidy's first impression was a memorable one. He had places to go, and he had to get there quick. He needed Cassidy to get on his schedule, so he could arrive at Black Rock, and then afterward Endrykas in time for the many plans he had.

[Erik Windsea]

Erik paused by the edge of ‘Tide’s Herald’ waiting to see if Cassidy or Urchin would appear to say hello. Guessing she had gone back into her cabin Erik silently pulled himself up onto the deck and glanced around. “Cassidy?” Then he heard cursing. Of course that’s how she would wake up. Swearing and cursing at everything slightly annoying that happened. Erik smiled, Cassidy was definitely sober, at least enough to think things through. He knocked on the door to her room, comepletely oblivious to what was going on behind it. He started to think about what Squall was doing. “Probably sleeping in my bed…”