The Eagle and the Sailor (Lucy, Daske)

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

A few hours later the Black Lady was again cutting through the unsettled sea. Ahead lay bands of deep reds and oranges on the horizon as Syna prepared to surrender the skies to Leth. “Red sky at night, sailor's delight,” he said. “Red sky in morning, sailor's take warning. It ain't a sure-fire way to predict the weather, but it'll be right more often than not. Probably be a fine day tomorrow.” Daske had Lucy at the tiller so she could get used to the rhythm of the boat moving against wind and water. He had walked her through a few tacks, with him handling the sails since she was effectively one-handed. She seemed to catch on quickly enough. He busied himself setting up the wind vane self-steering mechanism. “The wind vane controls the tiller,” he explained. “It keeps the boat on a constant point of sail. If the wind changes direction, the wind vane will change direction with it and that'll make the Lady to turn with the wind. Go ahead and let go of the tiller.” The wind vane took over and the Black Lady was sailing herself. “We should get some sleep.” Below deck he said, “I sleep in the V-berth.” He pointed toward the bow of the boat, where a small V-shaped doorless cabin could be seen. It was entirely occupied by a V-shaped bed. “You can have the aft berth.” He pointed to an opening on the left side of the steps leading up to the cockpit, where another small doorless cabin could be seen. It was strewn with clothes, blankets, three bedrolls, a pair of boots and other miscellaneous items. “Just shove all that stuff to one side and there'll be room enough to sleep.”

[Lucy]

OOCSorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm an idiot. *blushes to death* Lucy got used to sailing after couple of hours. Maybe she wasn't seasick after all. But it still didn't feel right. She spent most of her life on dry, she grew up in mountains. But she was sure she could get used to anything, so couple of days on the boat served her right. She was happy when Daske started teaching her some basics in sailing. She found it useful. She was maybe immune to getting stuck on a boat - oh, wait - but she might have to help out someone else. Humans usually traveled by boat, since it was easier and faster than dangerous roads of Mizahar. She was also immune to dangers on the roads, but she had to run away from weird predators quiet a few times. Luckily, she was fast. She decided to repeat the little rhyme until she remembers it. It could be useful even while flying. Red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in morning, sailors take warning. She was not a studious type, so it took her a while to memorize it, by repeating it every once in a while in her head. She was able to understand tacks he showed her. It took her a while of imagining wind routes and similar, but it was quiet a simple process. He showed her few more, telling her how should she act in different weather while they were at it. It was much easier to remember than a rhyme from before, since everything was logical and she could come to the same conclusion even if she forgets the rule. When they came to the tiller she got a bit confused. She lift it and it was just as the man said, little casinor was sailing with no aid. "But what if it goes in a wrong direction while you sleep?", she asked, still examining the system she just activated. When she showed her where she was supposed to sleep she just rolled her eyes. There will surely be enough room for her. She wasn't planning on sleeping in human form. She very rarely did that, even in human companion. When it came to sleeping she felt much more comfortable in the other form. She made her way trough clothes and sat before she shifted, so her new clothes would stay on the pile. For a moment she couldn't breath stuck in fabric, but she found opening soon enough and laid down on the clothes, closing her eyes.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Two days later they sited the Anchorage Flotilla. They reached it early the next morning. Daske let Lucy bring them in on a broad reach, while he fired off instructions. They hit another boat pretty solidly, but the Svefra family – a man, a woman, and two little girls – didn't seem to mind. Daske tossed a line to them and they pulled the Lady in and tied her up to their own boat. “Thanks,” Daske said. “Our pleasure,” the man replied. He swept a feathered broad-brimmed hat off his head and performed an exaggerated bow. “Welcome to the Flotilla,” the woman said. “I'm Janine and the bad actor is Marcus.” The two little girls, who Daske now realized were identical twins, stormed the Lady and disappeared below deck as though they owned the boat. “And that would be Serena and Selena,” Janine said. They looked to be about eight years old. Daske stifled the urge to run after them and drag them back up topside. He had had enough encounters with Svefra to have figured out that they operated under the “what's yours is mine” theory of private ownership. “I need a sail maker,” Daske said. “You'll want Jeffrey,” the man said. He pointed and provided directions of a sort. “Lucy, you wanna come along? We gotta find you some clothes that fit better.” He headed off in the direction the man had pointed, hopping from boat to boat, pausing briefly to exchange greetings with the boat owners. The Anchorage Flotilla was nothing but a large collection of boats rafted together. Daske was appalled by the extent of the damage the Djed storm had done to the Flotilla. Where there had once been hundreds of boats, now there were scores. And many of those were in various states of disrepair. He knew that entire Pods had been wiped out by the storm. He was glad to see that a sizable remnant of the Flotilla had survived. OOC : We'll just make up some NPC shop keepers. Oh, and if you don't mind I'm going to create some "interesting" situations for your character to see what she does. I think we can get you some XP in several skills.

[Lucy]

OOCOf course I don't, I should be thanking you, I really need to develop Lucy a bit further, I'm somewhat misleading her..

Two days later, Kelvics wing wasn't getting better. Or at least she claimed so. It was a bit better and in less pain, but she wasn't capable of long flight just yet. However, she was getting used to pain, so she could use her wing and, thus, arm, a bit.

When Daske offered her to bring them on the broad reach she was frightened. She kept saying she might hit The Black Lady somehow or do something dangerous and that she should get some more experience at the open sea, but Daske insisted this was her 'more experience'. In the end, she had to agree. Next few minutes, she was running around, reducing the sails and adjusting direction, while Daske helped out telling her what to do and, sometimes, how. Despite her effort they ended up hitting another boat severely. She decided to protest harder next time the man makes such an offer.

When they finally arrived Lucy had no particular opinion on Anchorage Flotilla. She didn't see it earlier, but it certainly looked like something humans would think of. It was pretty big and she would have changed routes in her head deciding to drop by when flying over Suvan if there were no Svefra everywhere.

Later on, when they were tied to another boat and Daske started to talk to people, she kept her distance. Daske might be an exception, but she still didn't trust Svefra. She picked up names and directions, only partially listening to the conversation, keeping the two girl's on eye. One of them approached.

"What are you doing?", she asked.

"Standing", Lucy replied fighting the urge to back up.

"Why don't you do something useful?"

"I have no better job than to watch over you", she replied when Daske called out for her. Although she didn't know about Svefra stealing nature she didn't want to leave those brats alone with The Black Lady. And she thought she doesn't need clothes, anyways. She was to leave as soon as her arm recovers. But something in her crawled out, some part which was desperate to be obedient. It was against all logic in Kelvic's opinion, but she simply replied with "Sure", hurrying to catch up with him. At least her good sense of direction could help out.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

They reached a place where the boats we separated by water with a single narrow plank serving as a bridge. Daske made his way gingerly across. Lucy followed without apparent difficulty. Must be a Kelvic thing, he thought. One of the boats was a Casinor the same size as the Black Lady and was a dirty white color with a sky blue strip along the top edge of the hull and a red strip starting just above the water line and disappearing into the water. The sails were bright yellow, although they were both tied to the deck. The other boat was a Palivar with a solid green hull. The occupants of both boats wore clothing that was just a brightly colored and varied. The women seemed to favor brightly colored ribbons in their hair. The men, oddly enough, seemed to like jewelry almost as much as the women. Eventually their boat hopping brought them to a market place of sorts comprised of about twenty boats, each functioning as a shop in its own right. Fruits, clothing, furniture, bowls and plates and cups, jewelry, wooden carvings of sea creatures … and a sail maker. Daske left Lucy at the clothing boat while he struck up a conversation with the sail maker. “I'm Daske Baggywrinkle,” he said. “Are you Jeffrey the sail maker?” “That's who I was yesterday,” the old man said. “Most likely it's who I am today.” He took a moment to look Daske over. “Baggywrinkle. Hmm … as in Sable Baggywrinkle's Pod?” “Yes sir.” “Haven't seen her fer a while, but Baggywrinkles are a well known Pod. What can I do for ya?” “I need a new set of sails for my Casinor,” Daske said. The old man considered this for a moment and then said, “Well that's gonna be a bit of a challenge 'cuz I'm real short on canvas.” “I brought my own,” Daske said. “Enough for maybe three sets of sails. You can have the whole lot if you'll make me a set and teach me how to do it.” The old man considered this. “Making a sail is not easy matter,” he said. “How about I throw in an iron skillet?” The old man laughed. “Bring your canvas and your skillet and we'll get started right away.” Daske looked around for Lucy and spotted her looking through some brightly colored clothing items being sold by a Svefra girl who couldn't have been more than twelve years old. He also noticed two men in their thirties standing behind Lucy leering at her. They weren't Svefra. Daske had noticed them earlier coming off a merchant ship tied up near the marketplace. One of them stepped up close behind Lucy, reached around her and placed a hand over one of her breasts. He said something but Daske was too far away to make it out.

[Lucy]

As Daske left for the sail maker's boat Lucy began to feel extremely anxious. The shopkeeper girl got on at her about her high quality and beautiful robes, convincing her that all of her products were the best to be found. Kelvic knew it was a lie, but girl's attitude made Lucy really nervous. It was enough to look at some shirt for her to start convincing Lu it would suit her really well.

"Could you let me look around for a bit? Alone?"

She suspiciously looked at woman's yellow, allowing her to browse products by herself in the end. She could steal one of them so easily. Just take it, morph and fly away. But she assumed Daske wanted good reputation in those circles for whatever reason. She picked some plain black and white and blue and white short sleeved shirts and two pairs of breeches. It would probably be enough for a while, if she doesn't fly away.

She remembered she had no money on herself, so she mumbled apology and turned to look for Daske, when somebody grabbed her, touching her breast.

"What could a little Kelvic do on Flotilla?", the man mumbled in her ear. She lived in Sunberth long enough to recognize alcohol in his breath. She was Kelvic long enough to recognize a slaver too. Drunk slaver who apparently thought she was attractive wasn't exactly her taste.

Lucy could hardly move, but she tried to punch him in the stomach by her elbow. The punch would be strong if he wasn't holding her tightly. She didn't even begin to think about morphing when he caught her around her neck with his other hand. Tightly. He was, no doubt, experienced. Such a thinking in drunk state.

She tried morphing, however. His hand followed her transformation, getting around her tighter neck. He held her only with two fingers or so and she couldn't escape. She was getting angry and afraid at the same time. Her claws searched for meat on his hand, while she lift weak tweets, barely able to breath. Lucy was never a slave, but she knew few of those who freed themselves and she didn't even want to begin thinking about such a life. Somewhere in the corner of her mind was also the fact that she was going to be made to morph back into human and obviously get raped, but escape was the only thing she could think about.

She couldn't see the girl that sold clothes, but she assumed she would be afraid to try anything. If slavery was legal among Svefra, Daske was her only hope now.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

The girl struggled against the man's grip and then vanished. Or at least it seemed that way until Daske realized she had transformed. Unfortunately the baggy clothes she was wearing trapped her long enough for the sailor to get hold of her by the neck. He appeared to be strangling her. Daske was not much of a brawler. In fact he had been in very few hand-to-hand fights. But he was a large man. And he was strong. And he was a frightening looking man with his deeply scarred face and close-cut hair and stern, unsmiling face. To quick steps brought him up behind the sailor. He grabbed the man by the shoulder and yanked, spinning him around. He dropped the eagle, who flopped to the ground. Then Daske punched him in the face. Hard. The man went down. But he was up right away, obviously ready to fight. “That's my woman,” Daske said in a quiet, steady voice. He pulled his cutlass from its scabbard and assumed a fighting stance with his right foot pointing at the sailor, his left foot a step back pointing ninety degrees away, and his body turned mostly to the left, minimizing the amount of body area exposed to his opponent. He held the cutlass high, pointing at the man's head. Then he did a quick step-step toward the sailor, putting his within striking distance. The man instinctively backed up a step. Daske noticed that he simply stepped back, rather than using a two-step shuffle. That meant he was not experienced in sword fighting. He did, however, pull out a knife of his own. Daske continued in the same quiet, controlled voice. “If you touch her again, I will kill you.” The sailor's companion moved in Daske's direction from the right. Daske did a double-step toward the man and executed a left-to-right slash that missed the man's chest by several inches but probably seemed a lot closer than that. He backed away, looking unsure about what to do. Daske pivoted back to the sailor. “It's your call.” There was a long silence. Daske was vaguely aware that a small crowd had gathered, forming a circle around the combatants. No one moved. No one spoke. Eventually the sailor's companion found his voice. “Come on, Jake,” he said. “She ain't worth it.” The sailor hesitated, clearly not wanting to back down but just as clearly wishing he were someplace else. “Let's go,” he finally said. The two men made a quick retreat up the gang plank and on to the merchant ship from which they had embarked. Daske noticed an older, bearded man standing on the poop deck watching the show. He nodded slightly in Daske's direction and turned away. Daske guessed he was the ship's captain. Daske turned around to look for Lucy.