-Aki Lightingfall: Cyrill and the rain-

The first thing that went through her mind was “What the hell is that” as a pair of glowing eyes showed up beneath her. It was unusual since the rain was cold and wet and this new thing just happened to appear in front of her. Instinctively she moved away from the glowing eyes and allowed what remaining sunlight to shine directly into the eyes.

Moving quickly away with a hand hovering near her throwing knives she walked down the street and ducked into a store that was still open. Across the other side a restaurant with large windows. Several people were eating and drinking, completely oblivious to the current danger now poised to the strange creatures now showing up.

“Hellu. Wut du you want?” the elderly store clerk called out as she stepped inside.

“Just looking” was the reply. Aki was in no mood for a talk. Something inside of her mind screamed danger. Danger was afoot. Danger was nearby. Placing herself near a stack of books and merchandise she kept a wary eye on both the front door and the clerk who seemed to be dozing off.

_________________
- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541

-Leo-
=Taking refuge from the rain=

It was very strange, that was all that Leo could make of this current situation. There was just something about this rain that seemed so very odd and unsettling. Not only didn't he want to get himself drenched in the water, but something in the back of his mind made him feel on edge. The suddenness of the rain itself alone was certainly enough to gain the man's interest in the situation. He had ducked inside an open store to prevent himself from getting wet the moment it had started, wearily watching the rain as it continued to pour. The store he had taken refuge into was amongst several others, including a nearby restaurant that had people going about their business. For the most part they seemed uninterested in this sudden turn of events, however Leo was somewhat intrigued.

He stood at the edge of the store, his eyes peering out into the rain as puddles of liquid began to form. Leo himself couldn't quite put his finger on it just yet, however the puddles seemed to have a life of their own it seemed. It was around this time that Leo noticed a woman rushing into the safety of a store across the street from him, seeming somewhat aware that there was something amiss with the rain. Leo also noticed a lone barrel that stood on the street, getting filled with the rain as the downpour continued. A slight smile formed on Leo's face as he left the shelter of his store for a moment to walk to the restaurant that was next door to his location. He approached a table with two men that were drinking beers, working class men who seemed like they'd be willing to earn a few coins for a chore.

"Ah, excuse me good sirs but could you perhaps lend me a hand? I need to have that barrel over there moved, however I can't seem to do it on my own. For a few silver pieces would you gentlemen carry it to the safety of this establishment? I wouldn't want the contents to become soaked more than they already have been." Leo asked the two men politely, who seemed to almost jump at the chance to earn a few bucks. They stood up from the table and headed out into the rain to pick up the barrel full of rain water while Leo stayed behind in the safety of the restaurant.

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Outside the restaurant, the creatures ignored everything inside the building, their body shrinking away from the light coming from the windows. They moved on in search of more easy prey. Moving slowly, they slinked into the shadows and grabbed at the wildlife that they found, either out in the rain or under some sort of open shelter. Time would tell if they would be permanently sensitive to light or not.

One of the creatures, freshly 'hatched', had followed Ragah, and crawled up to the restaurant where Regah was taking shelter, and looked inside the window. As the light touched upon the creature, it gave an unearthly high pitched scream that spoke of torment beyond comprehension (think of a nazgul), and it's previously semi-solid form returned to it's liquid state, muddying the otherwise clean rainwater, turning it into a brackish mess.

Near Aki, the creature that had looked into her eyes blinked, the lights temporarily going out until the lids opened again, walked a few steps towards her before gliding to the back of the building and climbing noisily up the building to get to the roof. It would wait.

At the restaurant where Leo found the men drinking, another creature was killed by the light, another echoing scream filling the otherwise peaceful-sounding evening. The men heard the death-cries after they had already left the safety of the restaurant and looked at the distance between themselves and the barrel. It seemed to them as if the space had suddenly grown exponentially and the taller of the two looked back at the shorter, as if asking if it was worth it. The shorter kept his eyes on the barrel and walked further into the rain, out of the rays of light coming from the open door of the restaurant. He continued his walk to the barrel and called out to his companion, "Hurry up, man!" The taller looked around quickly before following his friend into the rain and was halfway to the barrel when he heard his companion give a bellow in pain, ad if he had stubbed his foot, then a screech that no man should ever make. Torn between running to his friend and running back, he paused a moment, which was his final mistake. From the restaurant doorway, it would be difficult to see the shorter man and what was happening to him, but the taller man was closer, and anyone could clearly see what was happening. Though the rain was falling thick and hard, Leo could easily see one of the black creatures grow out of the rain and begin to feast on the man; first engulfing his leg in its distorted mouth, and as others joined in, even his cries were silenced.

Akaine Omorrow: Deck

Akaine had just been considering going to the library in the ship when she noticed there was something in the rain. She squinted very slightly and tilted her head to the ground, chin pointing directly to her feet. Her ears were straining to hear what had caught her attention, but the rain was drowning out all of her senses, and it was a little unnerving, even she had to admit. She then saw some eyes reflecting back at her that quickly closed and were once again hidden to her, almost as if they knew that invisibility was possible if only they closed their eyes. She walked back into the rain, pulling out a dusagge: a sword made by a race now dead that has a a serrated edge to half of the sword, and a scallop hand-guard that also served as something to divert blood and other miscellaneous fluids away from the handgrip. She wasn't one to underestimate an opponent, and though she doubted that the navy had caught on to her so swiftly, she did know that she had enemies, particularly other pirate captains that thought that pirating was a man's job. She stopped herself short before she began an internal tirade on women's rights, and returned her attention back to the possible danger at hand. She took a few more steps out on the deck, her white hair and skin soaked in the rain made her almost look like some kind of strange ghost or spirit. She held the sword loosely, but not so loosely that someone could surprise her and knock the sword out of her grasp. She noticed a figure on the edge of her enhanced vision once her eyes got used to the darkness, and continued to walk towards it, her figure looking even more ghostly in the lamp-lit rain. She called out, not raising her pitch, but only the volume,"Come closer." She didn't mince around with words, as she had begun to get an oppressive feeling about the rain. Her instincts told her to either run back into the ship or to fight, and she was prepared for either. She could see dark shadows beginning to grow larger and closer.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

- Morgan -

The First Mate had gone below almost an hour ago, leaving the Captain to keep watch. If she didn't mind getting soaked, more power to her, she could stay above deck. Morgan was seated in the kitchen with his booted feet resting on the table, a mug of ale at hand. He had stoked up the stove and hung his jacket over the back of his chair to dry. [i]Bloody unnatural rain, coming outta bloody nowhere. He thought testily as he took a swig of ale, finishing it off and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Morgan sighed and slapped his hat back on his head, he figured he should go check on Akaine. Swirling his coat off the chair and shrugging into it, he made his way above deck. He arrived just in time to hear the Captain talk to the rain. The pirate quirked an eyebrow.

"Jumpin' at shadows are ye?"

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❀Yuuki Whitefang - In Cyrill❀

Yuuki looked up as the clouds rolled over, and the rain really began to pour. She frowned, and crinkled her nose up. Something about the rain didn't smell right. Odds were good she shouldn't stay out much longer. But as she looked down again, she saw little blobs of something grey splattered around her. They stayed away from the buildings for some reason, which meant they were rather close to her, since she was almost in the middle of the square. Some of them slithered off, but a few turned to look at her. Thinking quickly, Yuuki started moving, darting forward, her boots thudding on cobblestone. She only had a few moments to act before whatever those things were reacted to her, and she had no doubt that if they were the reason the rain smelled bad, then they weren't something friendly. But there were way too many of them for her to try and fight when she didn't have anyone to watch her back.

Breaking for the tavern, she jumped up over the top of one of them, tucking her legs up under her torso like she was jumping some kind of hurdle. She didn't want to find out what that blob could possibly do do her. Skidding on the slick ground, she had to whip her wet tail out towards the right in order to keep her balance. She quickly recomposed herself, and dashed for the nearest building, a restaurant. Having no room to hit the brakes, she crashed into the door with a loud bang, rattling it on it's hinges. Short of breath from the impact, she scrabbled at the door handle for a moment before turning it the right way and opening the door so she could slip inside. She didn't look behind her to see how far behind her the things were.

Closing the door firmly behind her, she sighed and relaxed a bit, before looking up and realizing she was not far from a man watching something out in the rain. He had clearly managed to avoid being caught out in the rain, and for a fleeting moment, she thought about how she might look. Her cream-colored shirt was sticking to her, and her white hair was plastered to her skin from the wet. Her ears had flattened automatically, to keep water out of the ear canal, so she righted them with a flick. Stopping for a moment, she experimentally flicked each one individually, it wouldn't do to get an ear infection. Above all else though, the man(Leo) would notice the distinct scent of wet dog.

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Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.
Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.
Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.
Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

-Regah, one of the Restaurants-

A hot, delicious potato was just about to find it's way to Regah's maw so that he could forget about the moisture surrounding him when an unearthly shrill tore through the restaurant. It would have been an unmissable sound normally but given that it could be heard over the sound of the heavy rain it became even more noticeable. Everyone in the room froze for a moment as though bewitched by the sound but it didn't take long for a small panic to arise. Very few of the customers remained in their seats, many rushing about the room to harass the staff about what that sound was. There were also the adventurous few who insisted that the wisest course of action was to fling open the door and proceed to investigate the hellish screech.

Regah was among those who remained seated, nibbling at a potato as he watched the panic ensue. Of course he was unnerved by the sound but running about in every direction the way these people were doing was a privilege that could get a person killed if this wasn't the cozy inside of a restaurant in Cyrill. 'Then again people might get killed even if this is the cozy inside of a restaurant in Cyrill' Thought Regah as he dropped his fork at the sight of people rushing out of the building like lambs looking for a wolf. Not wasting a moment he flung a lasso, pulling one of the thrill seekers straight off their feet as they tried to exit the door.

He himself was quickly at the door, catching another man who'd stopped before getting too far with a second lasso but others had already gone beyond his reach and he could do nothing for them at this point. He stood guard at the door after he'd gotten the two men inside and bound them up so they wouldn't cause problems, hoping the other fools would return. "This is completely the wrong situation for anyone to be acting as live bait." He muttered a few minutes later, after the others had failed to return, finally closing the door to prevent anything from getting in and returning to his table. There was no choice but to wait out the storm in the safety of the building.

Dol'ior
The docks

In the middle of scanning the shipyard for the Pine Marten and mulling over his situation, Dol noticed a lantern bobbing towards him from the direction of a ship to his right. I wonder what a sailor could be about in this unpopular weather? he mused, as the figure continued walking forward. When it was still a good distance away from him, it stopped and called out in a measured tone. "Come closer," a distinctly female voice said, standing still in the rain as more of the blots he could not see through gathered in a loose circle around them.

Is she talking to me, or the dark shapes, or something else entirely? It would be impossible for many creatures to see, hear, or smell me in these conditions from this great a distance. Even for Dol, with his vision unhindered and his preternatural sense of hearing, detecting another person from this range would be no sure thing if the other had not been holding a source of light. Curiosity piqued, Dol lowered his goggles back onto his face and calmly approached the lantern.

Speaking in his strange mix of book-learned archaic common and the bits of less formal speech he had picked up in the last couple of months, Dol waved at the stranger when he judged himself close enough and called out "Hail, stranger. What're you doing out in such foul conditions?"

Akaine Omorrow: Ship Deck

She heard Morgan behind her but did not stir. "Shadows? I think we have more than shadows and rain here. It's always better to be cautious when jumping into the unknown, right?" She chuckled slightly, her body loose but ready for an attack. As she took in her next breath, she heard the person speak. "Apparently waiting for one such as yourself" She bantered quickly. "I should be asking you that question, especially finding you on my ship." Her tone changed slightly in the last sentence. It grew harder, a little more serious and determined for an answer. As a particularly large rain drop fell into her ear, she shuddered and growled slightly. "You might as well come inside to continue our chat until this rain stops." She gestured to the door where Morgan was standing and waited for their guest to come closer to close the door behind him. What she did forget was that her sword was still in hand and that a person might not find her invitation welcoming given the circumstances. A foreigner on a foreign ship inviting a stranger inside after only a few moments of conversation without even knowing a name? Highly unusual, if not suspicious, but it was getting to be quite dangerous outside, and it was getting quite late. Most people would be falling asleep at this hour to be awake in time to start their morning chores.

Outside:
As the night continued on, the rain continued as if it was trying to drown all those individuals that thought themselves safe in their beds. For those outside, there was thunder and lightening to contend with, along with the rain. The hour is now 11pm, and the raid shows no sign of stopping. The creatures are slowly working their way into the shadows, with the exception of those that were killed. One odd thing was still occurring: from the residue left from the bodies, there was a resonating sound, a whisper of the previously loud death cries.

Those who had a place to stay for the night would remain there and those without quickly found a place to stay or would elsewise be attacked by the creatures roaming for a hiding place before dawn.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Dol'ior
Deck of the Pine Marten

The stranger (a kitsune, Dol realized with some surprise now that he was closer) turned to speak some words to another person somewhere behind her. Shortly after, Dol was mortified to realize that he was no longer on the docks, and that he had unknowingly followed the light of the lantern right up onto the deck of a stranger's ship without permission. Even worse, having picked up the implications of the kitsune saying "my ship", Dol realized it was the captain herself whom he had offended. Embarrassed at his own lack of courtesy, he was about to apologize when the kitsune shrugged the matter off and welcomed him inside. Strangely, though, she put her weapon away before doing so.

Do those who carry arms on the surface not unsheathe and lightly touch blades upon meeting? Dol wondered. He shrugged his own weapon back into place, which he had been preparing to grab for the customary greeting when the captain had sheathed her blade. Perhaps she just forgot; after all, merchants don't seem keen on standing on tradition, and whatever kind of merchant a "pirate" is, doubtless they don't either. As he stepped into the cabin of the ship, closing the door behind him, he decided to quickly change the course of the conversation. "This is a very worthy vessel, Miss Captain. May I know the name of the ship I am standing in? My name is Dol'ior by the way," Dol hurriedly added, slightly over-enunciating the overland speech he was still unfamiliar with. He was squinting as his eyes behind the welder's goggles adjusted to the relatively brighter interior of the cabin.

-Leo-
=One of the restaurants=

Leo's eyes were focused upon the two men as they walked out into the darkness . It was a rather cold thing for the man to do, using these people as bait for one of his hunches. That was the kind of man that Leo was though, someone who wouldn't hesitate to put someone else in danger in order to save his own life. The death-cries filled the air, causing the man's eyes to narrow slightly as his interest in this new situation deepened. Something was definitely off and Leo had a feeling that if he continued to watch the two men outside he would be able to piece a few things together. Leo's eyes widened a bit as the scene unfolded before him, creatures rising up from the darkness and devouring the two men he had sent to their deaths. He slowly took a step backwards, expression serious as he continued to stare out into the darkness of the street.

"Very interesting..." the man muttered under his breath as he looked down at the silver that he was holding in his hand, then over to the table that the two men were sitting at before.
"Sorry gentlemen... but it seems you won't be needing this anymore." the man said in a cool tone of voice before placing the money back into his coat.
"At least your lives weren't a complete waste..." Leo said with a slight smirk rising onto his face before turning away from the street to walk deeper into the building. It was at this moment that there was a loud bang on the side door to the restaurant, prompting the man to quickly reach back inside his coat. He brandished a simple pistol moments before the door finally opened, however once he saw that it was only a woman at the door he immediately re-holstered the weapon. From her drenched appearance it was apparent that she had spent some time outside, likely long enough to have at least seen the creatures that were now rising out of the darkness. Leo smiled kindly at the woman and tipped his hat towards her.

"Good evening miss... such a dreadful night don't you think? Having just come from out in this terrible downpour I must ask you... did you happen to run into any of... those things?" the man was polite and kind as he spoke to the woman, any useful information he could get out of her would help in this kind of situation.

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Akaine Omorrow: All Aboard!

Akaine smiled a little at the guy's formal speech, and responded," Well, Dol'ior, you just so happen to be on the Pine Marten. C'mon in before the bogeyman gets us." She was making a joke, but she didn't look like she was. After ushering Dol'ior inside, she made sure he was comfortable in a guest room in one of the main halls, and showed him the bathroom and kitchen, etc before leaving him to his own devices. Standing by one of the windows in her own room after mentioning to Morgan that she would be keeping watch from her room, she looked out the window at the dark murky weather with a frown. She would act carefree to her crew, but in moments like this, she looked almost frightening in her serious manner, as if her piercing stare could see through the rain and dark.

Everywhere else
Everyone was hunkered down for the night. Some sleeplessly, some like a log. Sadly, some wouldn't make the night but for those who did, many trials and tribulations would come their way quickly.

Tiiime waaaaarp~ :9:20am, thirty minutes before the 'recruitment meeting' is due to start.

It is a bright an sunny day, the air heavy with humidity and the ground slightly damp with the excess moisture from the previous night. Some puddles on the cobblestone streets reflected the bright blue sky. There were barely any signs of the terror that occurred overnight: an overturned empty barrel, a mysterious blackened spot on the cobblestones that smelled of mold and fire, and a body in the shadows here or there bloated with bodily fluids. Most of the residents stayed inside and hid from the atrocities outside while any foreigner who didn't know what was going on, would most likely venture into the beautiful weather. In ten minutes, a small gathering of those foreigners would meet and possibly join forces.

On the Pine Marten: Akaine Omorrow: Good morning~

Stretching her back so that the joints cracked in a ghastly manner, Akaine wandered around the ship, finally getting to the kitchen. She went to the breadbox and cut herself a slice to nibble on while she rapped on all of the doors, calling to those who were inside to wake up and eat breakfast. She included their guest in her usual morning 'wake up call'. "C'mon you! Rise and shine! We have recruits to nab...I mean, hire?" She chuckled a little bit as she nibbled on the large slice of braided sesame loaf, savoring the flavor. She finally ended up on the deck and finished the slice of bread with a decisive crunch that might remind some of a shark.

The possible new recruits had ten minutes to arrive, and she was ready for them! Her stomach growled softly, the generous slice of bread not even dampening the waves of hunger rolling in her stomach. She'd wait till after the meeting to eat. Of course, if food as brought to her, who was she to say no? She hoped for a good turnout before heading off to sea in a new direction and away from the mysterious bad weather. From the ship she could see some of the devastation left over from last night. Not even one resident was cleaning up the mess, apparently too scared. This must have happened before. It was odd that she hadn't heard of it until she viewed the damage herself. She would make a note of it in her journal and keep an eye open.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Regah: On the docks

That the weather finally broke was a great relief to Regah, partly it brought an end to the strange events of the night before. The real reason was that he couldn't stand the thought of reloading the ship in the rain, though with the state the port city was in currently the events of last night were a very close second. He had paid a visit to the shop from the day before to make sure there were no problems with the delivery, the merchant there wanted to stay in until later in the day but Regah was able to convince him otherwise in a mostly diplomatic manner. The man said nothing more about what had happened the night before but it was obvious that he was deeply disturbed, rushing back to his home after the delivery had been made.

So it was that now Regah found himself loading the ship, since they lacked a full crew. He wasn't completely adverse to labor but there was a lot of cargo, since they expected to gain quite a few people from this port. He'd already made over a dozen trips, with about a dozen to go, by the time Akaine came on deck. "Good morning to you Captain!" Regah said in a loud voice, shifting a barrel in his 'arms'.

-Aki Lightingfall: Cyrill and the Meeting Spot-

Aki arrived at the designate spot a bit earlier than specified on the flyer. Given that there was no one else nearby struck a chord of worry in her. Perhaps she was the only one who was interested? Or it was some joke flyer that some charlatan spread across town. She gave her pack a slight adjustment as she looked around the area. Nothing but embers and wreckage from last night’s calamity.

Nope. No one else.

Something caught her eye. A ship to be exact. Shifting her pack again Aki concentrated on the two figures on the ship’s decks. One was obviously a Kitsune while the other one was something…or someone. The Kitsune was definitely the leader. Obviously Alpha leader material.

_________________
- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541

Dol'ior
Spare cabin, the Pine Marten

Dol paused in his task at the sound of the morning's summons. He was still marveling at his luck the night before in inadvertently finding himself aboard the ship he had hoped to scope out that night. In the way of his race, he only required a couple of hours of rest at a time. After the heavy rains of the previous evening, and anticipating a voyage at sea, he had spent the better part of the late hours carefully waterproofing the inside of his traveling bag with a strong paper coated in a curious waxy substance. He worked quickly to finish the smallest flap of the last pocket left to proof.

"Pirates" are certainly a casual group he thought, and not for the first time since stepping aboard the Pine Marten. He didn't mind, but was afraid that his host might find his comparatively stiff behavior to be rude in its own way. An act of spontaneity was definitely in order, to hopefully offset any impression he had left of being aloof or offensive. Hefting his (presumably) airtight bag, he was struck with a doubly effective way to show off his fun side.

Dashing full-tilt out onto the ship's deck, Dol whisked past the ship's captain and dove headfirst into the rolling waves of the ocean, weapon, bag and all. It was the perfect way to test his wax seal's effectiveness, and the fact that he had to swim weighted down with clothes and all of his equipment was an excellent morning workout.

After a brief swim around the ship, Dol hauled himself onto the wharf with shoulder and arm muscles developed from a decade of lifting heavy stone to construct subterranean buildings. He ineffectually wiped his soaked sleeve across the front of his goggles, turned back to the captain, and called out lightheartedly, "I'm ready whenever you are, Miss Akaine!"

- Morgan -

The sound of Dol sprinting past his door woke Morgan. The first mate jolted awake, dropping the bottle he had been keeping a precarious hold on since passing out. Fortunately, it was empty. He went over to the small table built into the wall of his quarters. He leant over the basin that stood on the table he plunged his face in before taking off his bandana and soaking it as well. Morgan could already feel the humidity in the air. He left his heavy coat hanging in his quarters, along with his heavy pistols, as he grabbed his hat from its peg and closed the door. Morgan emerged on deck, squinting against the sun and in a foul mood because of it. He looked towards the wharf in time to see Dol swimming about.

"Who the blazes is that, and what's the fool trying to do, drown hisself?" he muttered sourly, sauntering over to Akaine.

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Akaine Omorrow: Deck

"Well good morning to you too!" She responded cheerfully, tilting her hear slightly, her ears twitching as she heard the mumblings and grumblings of Morgan dragging his feet across the deck. She was a bit excited for any new recruits, and her eyes searched the horizon despite knowing that they were lucky if their fliers had made it as far as a mile away from the ship itself. She noticed a few solitary people outside, but not any of the usuals. A Dol dove into the waters she blinked a bit, startled by the sudden movement, but chuckled a bit. "Now that's enthusiasm!" She commented to herself and Morgan, almost giving her first mate a nudge. She heard his question and laughed a little bit "Just how hungover are you?" She asked before answering his question. "That, my 'matey', is Dol'ior, the drowned rat I brought in last night. Energetic, ey?" She liked to tease him on his 'piratey' language from time to time. Since he was crotchety in the mornings particularly, she usually poked him in a weak spot then.
Her long white hair was tied up in a sleep ponytail that was placed at the point where the scalp begins to curve to the top of the head. She was wearing tight black pants and a pair of large brown boots and the usual flowing loose long-sleeved v-neck with the puffy sleeves. Those sleeves were rolled up to her bicep and held there by a strap with a white mother of pearl button. The tasteful amount of cleavage shown in the v-neck is accentuated by a circular pendant of green jade, just a slightly different shade than her eyes that nevertheless brought out her eyes on her pale visage.

The ship was in 'ship shape' today. The deck was clean, the sails were still wet, but decently clean as well, and the barnacles were chipped off of the hull. Nothing looked worse than a ship covered in barnacles!

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

- Morgan: Deck with the Cap'n -

Morgan grunted at her first question, without looking at her, as he rested his elbows on the gunwales. Her mimicry made him turn and look up at her, offering a scowl. His heart wasn't completely in it though, it was almost a caricature of a scowl. Morgan knew she liked to nip at him, like a young pup, and he indulged her. A bit. "Ye got the drowned part right" he grumbled "Although I s'pose 'e is at that. He gonna join our band of 'merry men'?" he asked, moving his eyes down her face, across her body and then out to see, quickly. He studied the horizon, but didn't spot anything bigger than a few fishing dinghies setting out for the day.

_________________

Regah: Loading the ship

The enormous hairy entity was at a loss for words in amazement as he watched an unfamiliar individual swan dive off the ship. Regah had known many people who had a perplexing love of swimming but this was the first one who willingly took the plunge from high up on the deck. Fortunately Morgan took the liberties of voicing the dismay at the spectacle, though that was quickly push aside with Akaine's explanation making it was clear at least that Dol'lor, the Baby Seal, hadn't snuck on board.

Regah was hard at work though; having placed his barrel on deck with the others he'd brought on, he'd fastened a rope around the whole lot of them, run it over and around railings and the once around the mast. The other end was connected to the remaining barrels, fastened in such a way that they could roll freely but couldn't escape the ropes. All it took was one great tug for them to start moving, Regah walking along the deck as barrel after barrel rolled up along a smooth plank. In no time he'd finished and was cleaning up the mesh of ropes. Not a moment too soon either since new arrivals would be showing up hopefully. "I'll have this cleaned up in just a moment, everyone watch where you walk for the time being."

-Leo-
=On the street=

The man took a few casual steps outside of the restaurant for the first time since the last evening. He didn't seem tired, or nervous, the man seemed calm and collected despite seeing what sort of monsters were lurking outside the night before. His eyes scanned the immediate area, it didn't look like he was very surprised to see that there weren't any more of those creatures around. Leo noticed that the creatures seemed to avoid contact with the light, daytime must have been their natural enemy if that were the case. The man lifted his hat off the top of his head and wiped his forehead down with a silk cloth that he pulled out from a pocket. He felt absolutely filthy that moment, he wanted nothing more but to head back to their ship so that he could freshen up and change into a new set of clothing.

"Well... back to the ship for now..." the man said to himself before turning back to look inside at the other people who had remained inside of the building along side of him. The locals were certainly acting very strange, they still showed the kind of fear that anyone in this situation would have but at the same time it seemed like they knew something. This piqued Leo's interest slightly, however for the moment any further inquiry into the matter would need to wait.
"I forgot to mention this before... but my captain is looking for able bodied crewmembers, anyone who wishes to meet with her is more than welcome to follow me back to the ship." Leo said in a confident fashion, after last night it was hard to say if any of his fliers had reached the hands of anyone interested in a position.

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- Jacques Desmarais - Wading Back before dark

Jacques waddled along the path towards the docks, letting the rain wash over him without a care.
He was proud of the rarities he had purchased and was sure that the captain would find the juice he could make from the bottled water refreshing.

The chef made it halfway to the docks before the the storm worsened. He made a choice to stay at one of the local taverns for the night instead of being caught in the whirling chaos that continued to plague the coast. He spent the evening chatting to the other patrons about recipes and local gossip, while drinking glass after glass of red wine. Before he knew it he was in a drunken sleep upon his bed, completely oblivious to what was happening outside.

~Marfan Babayev: Aching Pains~


"Terrible" she had uttered bitterly during breakfast that morning. "Jahst terrible."

The nightmare from the day before was long gone. But evidence of it's existence still lingered about the town they were docked at. While she was glad that the ship managed to stay (for the most part) neat and tidy throughout the storm, she could see that the town wasn't so lucky. It infuriated her, to see such a thing being allowed to take place. But just who was to blame? She knew there were terrible monsters lurking about. If only she could catch one of them red handed...oh, the punishments she would bestow upon them!

Still bitter about the existence of the icky black goo, Marfan quietly slipped away onto the deck. It was roll call time, and the new recruits should be arriving any second now. There was already a new crewmate on board and from the looks of it, he was a trouble maker. As the lad dived into the ocean she gave a low growl. She was not looking forward to cleaning up after him. Thankfully not everyone was being completely useless that morning as she spotted a crew member hard at work cleaning the deck of fallen ropes.

She gave him a slight nod of approval, glad to see that at least the crew wasn't lazy in the wake of near-disaster. Before anyone could say anything, the domovoi silently knelt down to pick up a couple of spare ropes. "Dah naht carry too many at once." she said as if she was talking to a child, perhaps as a force of habit. She did not look at the boatswain as she said it. Her commands were entirely practical, and her movements sluggish but entirely full of focus on the task at hand.

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Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

Regah: On deck

Regah soon had the ropes he was using cleaned up, despite the elaborate web of them he'd made out of since it all slid freely he only had to pull it a little as he wound it up into a compact bundle. He noticed the housekeep had emerged from the depths of the ship, tidying the deck of some extra ropes the not attached to his. It occurred to him that Marfan probably thought the ropes were just strewn about the deck, though it since it was healthier to let her think that he didn't correct her. Now that he'd gotten the cargo on deck where no one would run off with it he was in much less of a hurry and thought about getting other people to help out. Aside from himself, the housekeep, the captain, and first mate Regah it occured to him that he hadn't seen anyone else from the original crew. "So no one else returned last night either?" He asked of those on deck, briefly considering that they might not return at all after last night.

- Jacques Desmarais - Hoppin' with a Hangover-

Jacques slept like a log, completely stretched out over the bed he had rented for the night. An empty wine glass dangled from his right hand, while a dripping wine bottle lay on the floor. He yawned and opened his bulging wonky eyes that began to dart around the room.

"M-Merde" he said in a dry voice as he sat up. He stroked his bristly chin and then it suddenly dawned on him.

"Ze ship! She's gonna leave without Jacques!"

He sprang out of bed, leaving the sheets strewn across the floor and began to noisily gather up his belongings. He dashed out the door and down the stairs while frantically zipping up his pants.
Jacques didn't want to give the captain any reason to fire him and he knew tardiness was not acceptable in this line of work. He leapt here and there down the path to the dockside and once he had arrived at the shore he scrambled along the pier towards the ship. With his last bit of strength he climbed up the gangplank and collapsed from exhaustion on the main deck.

"J-Jacques D-Demarias at y-your service!" he said between breaths.

- Morgan: Main deck with Cap'n, frog and spirit -

"On yer feet hop-a-long," Morgan said grinning as he pulled the Chef to his feet and slapped him on the back. "Goodhustlin', I dunno if Cap'n ate yet, might wanna ask her." Morgan looked past Jacques, down the pier, to the shore, and spotted someone, or something. He whipped out his telescope. It was a canine-human, as evidenced by a large tail. Morgan scratched the back of his head. This side of the world had changed since he'd been away, there didn't used to be near as many odd creatures running around. He tapped the captain on the shoulder and jerked his thumb toward the new dogman. "I'm gonna go round that guy up an' see if there are any other hopefuls hangin about."

Morgan made his way down the gangplank and onto the pier. He readjusted some of his effects as he went, settling his hat comfortably as clomped towards the shore. As he drew nearer he noticed that it was carrying a helluva sword, a buckler and a couple other blades. As he got closer still he saw that it wasn't a male, it was a female. He shrugged inwardly. Closing the last 10 or so feet he looked over his shoulder at the ship and then back to the cano-human. "Quite a ship, ain't she? That there's the Pine Marten."

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-Aki Lightingfall: Meeting place-

Strange people were walking about on the ship nearby. A couple people talking and one of them took out something to look at something. She watched one of them walk down from the ship and come towards her. Strange person, strange smell and strange aura. "Quite a ship, ain't she? That there's the Pine Marten" he said.

Aki gave a wordless shrug, flickered her ears and raised her hand. Clutching in her hand was a crispy, formerly soggy recruitment poster. She pointed at the poster then at the ship and waited for a response.

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- Join the HUMP LEGION. Leading the Humping and Bumping since time began...*humpa humpa humpa* -

Note to self. Pg541