Markus Redsail's Story

It was night, the ship was docked, and Markus was on the deck, looking over the edge. They had docked yesterday, and Markus had decided to stay and rest for a while, despite his words to the crew, Markus couldn't sleep no matter how much he tried, so he went out on the deck. "This city seems interesting, I should look around tomorrow" Markus said to himself. He laughed, they had docked at the infamous "Black City" it's reputation for the nickname came from it's huge black market on the lower levels of the city. Markus knew some of the jobs here might be illegal, so they had to be careful. Markus sighed and continued to look at the night waters far below them.

Durzog came out on the dock, deep brown eyes looking out from underneath the shelf of his brows. He was unsure of this city. He heard from the others about the city and what lay beneath it. It was not exactly his cup of tea, but he had come here to travel and that was what he intended to do. Scared, he decided to finally make it to the edge of the ship, looking down and out at the city before them. A sigh and a large finger reached up to scratch his thick head. "Not tonight. Bad things here." Head turned to look out across the ship he now lived on. It had been awhile since coming and it seemed as if he still did not know the lay of the land. He had not often talked to the others, as his position was not prominent enough to push it.

He did notice Captain was atop, not sleeping as he had mentioned he would do. Eyes quickly darted away from the male, thinking he did not want to be seen. Durzog decided to grab a bucket and a dirty cloth, beginning to wash one of the masts he had washed the day before, and the day before that. Can't be too clean, he had always been taught. If you were bored, you could be cleaning. Not that he was bored, he was just too scared to venture out at night, and was not tired enough to be sleeping in his quarters. Why not clean? He didn't see a reason why he shouldn't.

From the galley came the silhouette of Rueben. He was too restless to sleep and had hoped a couple of walks around the ship would tire him out. He quietly walked to the opposite side of Markus, careful not to disturb him. He gazed around calmly, waving hello to Durzog. Excitement of being in a new city made him grin. Despite all the speculation he had heard of Black City, Rueben was fascinated by its black market and the items that were said to be sold there. Aside from the excitement, he was nervous and, frankly, quiet scared.

It was dark. It was chilly. It was quiet. There are so many ways to describe the night, but none of them mattered to Chiru. She had been up all night. Why? Well, Chiru never needed to sleep as long as her motivation was still high. Fairies tended to have energy depending on their motivation. What motivated Chiru exactly? Well, she'd only gotten a beating thrice the day before, and of course, there was a hope of being able to play in the city that night. Every night, when everybody else was finally asleep, Chiru would sneak onto the deck of the ship and play around, and though she occasionally got caught and harshly punished, that never stopped her from doing it. Nighttime seemed to be the only time she'd ever get a chance to play, and if she didn't get to see this city that night, she'd never be able to, as she wasn't able to go anywhere without being noticed during the day.

So that entire night, Chiru was just entertaining herself with thoughts of what the new city would look like at night, and though she had no real plans but to just look into people's homes and whatnot, Chiru wasn't much of a planner, and any elaborate plans she would come up with would be soon forgotten. She was more of a plan-as-you-go type person, or rather, just a do-as-you-go person. Of course, some say it'd be wrong to refer to Chiru as a person, as fairies shouldn't be put in the same league as other creatures. But being a person or not didn't matter for Chiru, as long as she was the strongest, she could do anything!

Tip-toeing on her bare tippy-toes, she made her way quietly to the hatch ladder. She didn't take her coat with her, as she thought people would know who she was if she wore it outside, and if she was caught by one of the crewmembers, they may not recognize her. Of course, three things were wrong with her plan. One, she hadn't accounted the fact that nobody would be able to recognize the fairy anyway, two, if a crewmember caught her, they would know who she was anyway, and three, if somebody happened to wake up and find the half-coat on the floor (of where she slept), they would know she was missing. Though, other than these three major flaws, Chiru's plan was absolutely fool-proof. Though, because Chiru was a fool, the plan wouldn't work for her for that reason. Though, because Chiru was the smartest, she'd find some way out of it anyhow.

Carefully making her way up the ladder, her head hit the hatch grate. Using both her hands, she pushed up on the grate and leaned backwards, her head turned upside-down, her wings fluttering to support her in the air so she didn't fall right off the ladder. She only got to open up a crack with her childish hand, but for her, it was enough to scout out the area ahead. Despite only opening a crack, it made a creaking noise as it was opened, but to Chiru, it was completely silent and stealthy. She looked around, expecting it to be empty, when she saw two figures. A big plump figure near one of the 'big wood pole thingies' (she still hadn't received enough punishment to learn it was called a 'mast'), who Chiru determined was Dur. Though he was somewhat scary looking, Chiru liked him, as he wasn't all that mean at all, and was actually pretty soft. Also, there was another, skinnier figure, a short person who Chiru recognized as the cook. He probably was Chiru's favorite person, as he made all the food and he was really nice to her, unlike many others. And then, by the side, though she barely saw him at first due to it being dark, and he seemed to be hiding behind the edge, was a skinnier figure. At first, she didn't realize it, but soon, she recognized the cat figure as the Captain.

This was not a good situation. Maybe Dur would have let her go, but this was the Captain she was looking at. She's almost never interacted with the Captain, and almost as rarely saw him directly. Just by being awake and seeing him, she felt she was going to be caught and punished very soon. However, due to Chiru's vast intellect, she knew, after careful planning, what she was to do. Run as quietly as possible. Of course, it was a multi-part plan, but that was the jest of it, and really, the only part she could remember. So, that's exactly what she did, she ran as fast as possible...

... And fell right off the ladder and onto the wooden floor, causing her to go, "Oof". Chiru had forgotten that she had to actually get onto the deck before running. This wasn't too different than the many times she forgot to lie down before falling asleep, but even geniuses made mistakes. Chiru got up, climbed back up the ladder, and tried again. She stood on a rung of the ladder, place both of her hands on the hatch grate and pushed upward with all her might, and then her head emerged. Although, she only managed to push it up about a foot high, so as soon as she popped her head up, she got a hard clonk on the head by the grate returning to it's original closed position by invisible forces Chiru couldn't name. Once again, she dropped to the floor with a clunk, although her vision blurred as she moaned in pain while lying in a ridiculous pose on the ground, facing upward. Rather than getting up again, she felt she was unable to, and due to such a failure, she had lost all motivation to try again, so she just lay there until she regained her vision.

Markus heard everything, he sighed, he just wanted ONE moment of peace, but alas, The Phoenix isn't a place of peace. He walked over to Chiru and the old lizard, crouching down and offering his hand to help her up, he said: "What are you doing up so late? You need some rest if want to come into the city with us". Markus barely saw Chiru, her being th cabin girl, but that didn't mean he had to be rude. He looked up at the old lizard "I suspect you are helping? You always do" Markus sighed and continued to hold his hand out fr Chiru.

"Yes, I am." Gamut said flatly. "And I'd be able to help her better if I didn't have people crowding around my patient!" He slapped Markus's hand away. "And I could ask what you're doing up at this hour myself. Both of you." He shot a look to Rueben as well. "You brats need sleep for this doomed trek into town tomorrow."

Gamut returned his attention to the dazed fairy and shun the lantern light closer to her eyes. The pupils looked dilated. The girl was probably experiencing a temporary blindness but she should recover soon. If it had been anyone else then he would be more worried about head injury. However the fairies natural recovery abilities meant he wouldn't have to be as concerned with this one.

"I still don't know why in Terreth you'd want to come to this stink hole of a city." The old lizard grumbled. "Mark my words boy nothing good will come of this venture."

"The reason I came to this 'stink hole' of a city is because someone requested us for a job, with a payment of one hundred thousand credits" Markus let that sink in. "Well" Markus yawned "I'm off to bed now" he headed off to the captain's quarters "And please do make sure Chiru is alright". Markus honestly cared about every member of his crew, so he was being sincere about wanting Chiru to be ok. "If you don't want to come in the city old lizard, you can stay here and beat the crap out of looters" Markus laughed and walked into the captain's quarters. "I do hope that taking this job was the right choice" Markus sighed and lay down on his bed, a few seconds later he was curled up, asleep.

Rueben crouched down beside Chiru and affectionately ruffled her hair. "I'll bring you a treat tomorrow, okay? You poor girl..."
He began to walk towards his cabin when he stopped and looked back at Gamut. "Isn't the danger all part of the adventure?" He smiled, hiding the fear of being scolded or hit behind the head by the lizard.

Mitch stood atop the mast, twirling a small thread of fire through his fingers. He looked out over the city, surveying its people and structures with interest.

"Now THIS looks like a city I could have some fun with," he mused.

As he looked down at the main deck of the Phoenix, he saw Markus cross to his quarters and go inside, presumably to sleep for the night.

"Markus probably has the right idea," thought Mitch, "Who knows what kind of trouble we could run into out there tomorrow?"

Mitch nimbly leaped out from the mast and grabbed one of the many ropes extending down to the deck. He used this rope to climb down and land softly on his feet beside Gamut.

"I see you've got your hands full here," Mitch chuckled, motioning towards Chiru and Rueben.

"Need any help with them? Or would you rather I just stay out of this one?" Mitch's eyes flashed as he winked at the old lizard.

In the darkness of the map room to the ship, Zaed's eyes opened slowly as some loud banging, and the sound of a door being flung open at the speed of a sharp kick awoke him. He had fallen asleep in the Phoenix's navigation quarters, as he often does whilst studying maps of the places he has yet to be. It seems he had been burning the midnight oil for weeks, and the Phoenix had not deterred him from his habits. It was a bit surprising, hearing this noise; despite this city's reputation, he hadn't quite figured their would be an intrusion on the first night. Switching his goggles from high-light lenses to low-light, the room around him seemed to show itself a bit more. A body was half stomping, half walking down the side path of the ship. The body stopped, and he made out the voice of Gamut, as his chastising was unmistakable. Surely it was in good faith, Zaed believed, for the elder seemed to have a good heart. Who wouldn't be annoyed by a motley crew like this, and so young at that.

Zaed lifted his body from his place at the table littered with cold candle wax and old maps. The air in the cabin felt a bit nippy, but being already fully clothed allowed him to easily rebound into a regular temperature. Standing, and listening to each clop of his boots as they made contact with the wooden floor beneath him, Zaed made his way to the door. The cane in his hand was more for concealing purposes rather than actual walking: the hilt of the black can can be pulled at, and at the end is a long Rapier blade. The cane makes for a great sheath. As he opened the door to the room, he allowed his newly awakened eyes to roll left and right across the path. It was quiet, and dark, except for the lantern held in Gamut's hand down the way. Gamut's back was to him, shrouded in shadow. He could also see the chef, Rueben; the captain, Markus; and the loveable handy-orc, Durzog. He knew all of their nicknames, but he generally called them all by their full name.

Zaed made his way down the path quietly, and arrived around 10 yards away from them, only catching a few words from Gamut.

"...in Terreth you'd want to come to this stink hole of a city." It seemed as if the city's descriptive words were spat. Not that Zaed disagreed. "Mark my words..." The rest of the sentence trailed into the night sky, seemingly floating away with the steam that left his lips as he spoke into the frigid air.

Zaed took a few steps forward, and found that the fairy-woman, Chiru, was sprawled along the ground, in some sort of confusion. Zaed's brows furrowed, and he took another few steps. Making sure not to crowd them, Zaed stood off to Gamut's left side and spoke: "Is miss Chiru alright?" Zaed's brows furrowed further. His eyes were worried, although he probably appeared fairly docile beneath his red top hat, and his narrow, round black goggles over his eyes. He allowed his weight to shift slightly onto his cane, as he awaited any sort of instructions or information on the health of miss Chiru. Gamut now had the young fairy in his arms, and the man Mitch had appeared. It seemed that they may have the situation under control, so he took another step back, and waited.

While Durzog was cleaning, his eyes decided to glance back up at the Captain, then back down to his clean cloth. It took a moment, but he realized there was a second figure beside the Captain. Eyes looked back up to him, noticing the Cook. The Cook was more than likely his favorite. Not for his personality, but for the fact he made food. It wasn't exactly great tasting, but it was food that could make him feel good about the day. His tiny lips smiled lightly, wondering what they were speaking about. It was then suddenly he heard a slight bang. Eyes darted around the dock, finally coming upon the tiny Chiru. He didn't much like being around Her for he always felt like he would squish her. A flattened fairy was not a happy fairy. Soon after the poor creature looked like she was not moving. Brow raised in curiosity, but just before he could lift his leg, a few others swarmed around her. He recognized most of them. In particular, Gamut. That lizard, although smaller than He, scared him. He was grumpy and always mean. Durzog made the particular attempt to never get hurt specifically so he would not have to visit the Lizard. Finally some of the others began to leave, to their quarters it seemed. All that was left was Gambut, Chiru, and Zaed. He liked Zaed. He seemed like a pleasant person, but more so he was the reason they went to particular places. That was a job Durzog liked.

Soon everyone had disappeared , or was on their way off the dock. His dark eyes looked around to see he was left alone. Not just left alone but completely ignored. For being the largest thing upon this ship, he felt easily ignored. Brows lowered, lips following suit in a frown. ears too even seemed to lower a bit, much like an abandoned feline. He grabbed the bucket and cloth, then stood to his complete height. With a sigh he slowly slumped back to his quarters. Fitting in was not always easy when you were the biggest and stupidest. Well, that's what he thought. "Nigh' Night" he mumbled to himself. Making his way to his over sized quarters he lay upon his bed. Eyes may have closed, but he never drifted into sleep.

Zaed was not particularly offended when the group broke with little word to him. He knew they were tired, contradictory to how most of them had been acting. His senses allowed him to almost feel the blood flow of those around him, and it made him a decent judge of how people were feeling or how they behaved. Most had the blood of tired individuals who would not get a wink of sleep that night. Zaed took another step back, and allowed a shadow to fall over him. Monitoring out of curiosity more than anything, Zaed watched the others as they broke apart. The lizard Gamut went to Chiru's sleeping area, where he assumed he would place the young fairy in her bed. Mitch had went the opposite direction, allowing his flame to guide the path. Rueben had been gone already, and Markus was heading up the path. Zaed did not know whether he would take his own advice, or continue to stand on deck. He did not mind either way.

Zaed was just about to turn, when he noticed Durzog had not left his standing place. The orc stood hunched slightly, and looked worried. More than likely for Chiru. Durzog seemed to be a very caring creature, which was very against any other orc he had seen. Zaed pondered approaching him now, but the large built creature seemingly sighed, and turned to go to his chamber.

Zaed turned around, and allowed his gaze to traverse the city-scape, what little was visible at this hour. He had already slept his time tonight, and would greet the morning sun this day, ready and awake on deck.

In the depths of the sea, Calypso was swimming peacefully until she noticed a dark figure. It had two big threatening eyes, hundreds of teeth sharper than needles and massive strength that could be felt with the ripping bite in Calypso's left leg. This is what happened around a month before she joined the crew. This is what happened in her nightmare.

She had a dream about this misfortune. Calypso had this nightmare for the first time, but it felt so real, even lucid dreaming couldn't help her turn this into something peaceful. She could feel the pain in her left leg even if she didn't have it any more. She was screaming both in her dream and reality. "GET AWAY FROM ME! LET ME GO! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW! DAMN SHARK!" her voice invaded the ship. "TAKE THAT!" She threw a punch in the air while still sleeping. Afterwards Calypso fell off the bed, but that didn't wake her up. She was peacefully sleeping on the floor. However this probably interrupted most of the others', if not everyone's sleep.

Markus opened his eyes suddenly, even though he was separated from the regular sleeping quarters of the ship his cat ears could easily pick up the scream, he got up and rubbed his eyes, he was wide awake from that little cat nap (OOC:hehehe). It took him a while to get below decks, but the problem seemed to be solved by the time he got there. Markus's sensitive nose picked up the smell from the kitchen "As if I haven't had enough distractions" he sighed. Markus walked into the kitchen, Durzog was watching Rueben cook, Anne and Mitch were helping, and it smelled delicious. "What are you cooking up this time Rueben? It smells great!" Considering Markus's cat nose was as sensitive as it was, that could of been a five star critic review.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me..." Calypso muttered in her sleep with a goofy smile. Part of her pillow was soaked by drool. She suddenly woke up. "Great... now I can't sleep!" Calypso thought with annoyance. Maybe she should go on a walk around the ship. This might help her to sleep later.

Calypso was passing by the kitchen and her smell sensed the delicious meal. "Rueben is cooking so early!" The sea creature thought. She entered in the kitchen and noticed that the cook had company. "Morning, everyone! I can't tell if it's too early or too late, but never mind. What's up?" Anne and Mitch were helping for the food preparing, Durzog and the Captain were watching the process. "Let me help you, people!" Joyfully, she started cutting some tomatoes. "These tomatoes are so bright, if I cut my finger and blood is poured all over them, nobody would notice!"

Markus smelled the meal one last time and then turned to Durzog "Alright, it's getting closer to the time we need to meet with the client, so I want you to tell everyone to meet on the deck, ok?" Markus trusted the Orc to get the job done, he turned back to Rueben "If you can spare a couple minutes, I want you up there too, if not, I'll repeat what I say to the others to you" Markus walked out of the kitchen and onto the upper deck, where the wheel was. He leaned against the fence and waited for his crew to come up.

Rueben saluted. "Yes, Captain!"

He hurriedly finished cooking, not bothering to clean up the mess he had made while doing so. Nodding thanks to the shipmates that helped him, he rushed onto the deck. In his arms, he managed to balance plates of breakfast which he generously handed to the crew that were up and awake.

He gave a small smile to Ari'wyn, waving hello and handing him a plate of food. "Eat up. We're about to head off soon!"

Anne cleaned herself off as her crew mates began to leave the kitchen. The food smelled heavenly but it would have to wait, she had left some things in her cabin that she didn't feel whole without. Her door was still open from before but it looked as if nothing had been touched. Walking in she picked up a pair of long fingerless gloves and slipped them on. Next to them lay two large bracelets once of which had a long chain attached to it, the other end was attached two her sword. She put them on, the one attached to her sword on her right hand, then placed the sword into a hilt sown into her dress. Lastly she grabbed her hat, it had been a gift from the captain of the previous ship she had been on and was a valued treasure in her eyes. She couldn't start her day without it.

After finishing up her outfit she made her way to the deck to see some of the crew had already made it up there. Giving a nod to Markus she took a plate from the Dwarf smith with her thanks and began eating as she waited for the rest of the crew to show up so the meeting could start. On the outside Anne looked calm but on the inside she was actually very excited to go to the city. Shaking her head she tried to calm herself, this was not like the old days. She couldn't be rowdy and all pirate like here, she had a job to do after all but once that was done a little sightseeing wouldn't hurt. It wouldn't it hurt if something shiny and valuable found it's way into her possession either.

The beautiful dreams about flying together with members of her own race were interrupted by her ringing timer. The screaming above her had been faint, due to how deep she was below deck and not to mention her tired, sleep had sent her into a 'coma'.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she tapped the timer, making it quite. She removed her top and stretched, letting her tiny wings have some breathing time as they pulled their joints, stretching in unison to their owner's hands. When that was done, she donned her top back on, her wings folding beneath, giving her back a small bulge. After buckling on her signature mechanic's belt, filled with the equipment that she needed, some of which were an oiling can, different sizes of wrenches and a tapping hammer, Ria picked up one of the many empty bags in the workshop and slung it across her bag before tottering off down below to run her daily 'Phoenix Checks'. Noting that most of the mechanisms were moving the way they should and those that weren't were oiled to perfection, she hummed, giving a few parts of the ship some taps, to see if anything had gone hollow. Feeding more coal into the furnaces was part of this routine as well, and not just one, but several furnaces that ran the power around here.

Satisfied, she pulled her hair into a ponytail to let off some of the heat that was growing between her locks and made her way upstairs. Through the door and out she went, breathing in the welcoming fresh air. The smile on her face was filled with innocent joy and pure warmth as she enjoyed the scenery around, not knowing that they were to disembark in a 'black' island.

An eagle perched nearby the edge of the ship, to which Ria waved at before it took off. One of her friends of the sky had came to say hi. Turning around, she realized that their captain had been standing up at the wheel, so she quickly averted her eyes. For some reason, she was afraid of looking at the werecat in the eye. She did a quick and flustered bow before trotting down to the main hall, where most of the crew mates slept in, other than Siv and her, if she recalled correctly. She slept in the workshop, while Siv took her bed to the smith's.

Immediately, she was buffeted by the smell of fresh breakfast. A faint trickle of drool had flowed down from one side of her lip as she swallowed with a look of longing.

"Oh Reuben... the things you make." she crowed, before making her way to the dining hall, where it seemed everyone was present. Gun-toting Anne(Which she was a little afraid of), gentle orc Durzog(which she was also afraid of), their wondrous cook Rueben, Calypso(Another one she was afraid of), Ari'wyn(who had past her in the hall) and Mitch.

"H-hi everyone." she greeted quietly, entering the dining hall. "B-breakast?"

She held out her hands for a plate, which might have been taken for a rude gesture, but with the look that she had on her face... She was just more frightened out of her wits than a trapped brown bird.

Markus heard the shout before anyone else, so he walked down the stairs and said to everybody on deck "Finish your breakfast, this won't take long" Markus walked down the gangplank and saw a 25 woman clad in robes "Hello" Markus said "and who are you to board my ship? Without permission?" Markus asked her questioningly. If she was planning to stowaway he would send her away, but he did want to hear her out on why she boarded the ship. But after all, if she was skilled enough in a certain field he would consider letting her join the famous crew of The Phoenix.