They're On A Boat - Part One: The Storm

They're On A Boat - Part One: The Storm
Date of Scene:	02 December 2012
Location:	World of Ruin Ocean, between Costa Del Sol and Bevelle
Synopsis:	After Faris procured a ship, she transports Jasmine, Angantyr, Avira and Maira to Bevelle. At first the trip is pleasant, but a devastating storm rises, and something waits for them in the foggy 'calm', afterwards... (GMed by Jasmine)
Cast of Characters:	Angantyr Vespar, Avira, Faris Scherwiz, Jasmine, Maira

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Jasmine has posed:
After forty-eight hours of jello-boned, aching-stomached, spinning-headed seasick misery, the next three days of fair weather and calm seas rank highly among the best of Jasmine's life. She loves the ocean with the same dazzling exuberance that she loves anything, and embraces every aspect of shipboard life, throwing herself into scrubbing the poop deck as gladly as untangling fishing lines or hauling ropes. Her hands blister and bleed more severely than they ever did at Garden, and she endures it without a single complaint. The rigging becomes something of an obsession of hers, and she's utterly fearless up there, swinging from mast to mast, perching on the spars, and especially, spending long hours in the crow's nest, the breeze sweeping her hair behind her, just staring at the many faces and moods of the endless, wonderful sea, and its mate, the far-horizoned sky. Gazing up at the dancing stars, she can feel them looking back, beaming at her. And in those moments, she is on her balcony, surrounded by her family, home at last. Home.

She's abandoned her robes and veil after the first couple days, and seems subtly more comfortable without them, her steps even lighter, her breathing more relaxed, as though she's shed some burden far more massive than a few pounds of ratty brown fabric. It's the Heartless, of course, or more accurately the lack thereof. For the first time since she fled the Palace, she actually feels... free.

One night, she's sitting on the deck of the ship, her hands doing an inadequate job of weaving herself a hat to keep the sun off, out of dried chocobo greens that were waiting in the hold for feathered beasts who aren't here to eat them. Her expression is patiently amused, her grin set with a stubborn edge as the brim falls apart -- again. She watches the sailor next to her work on his basket, studying his hands carefully, then starts over for the sixth time. A sigh escapes her, the sound of utter contentment.

Maira has posed:
Maira really wants to love the ocean. She does, really, but it is highly stressful being on a boat made of wood and canvas, surrounded miles around by water when you can't swim, and you occasionally set yourself on fire during your sleep.

Thus, Maira has just sort of not really slept, unless someone is watching her. Since she's not sleeping, she comes up on deck, thinking the breeze will help her stay awake. She smiles over to Jasmine, waving. "Oh hi! A Sailor's life for you hmm?" she says with a grin.

At least Maira isn't seasick! That would really suck!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr had been coming and going, his ability to use coordiors of darkness helps with gathering supplies on the run, with the added benifit of not having to stop. It's disconcerting for the crew, but it's something he's grown used to by those who do not use or have darkness in one's heart. However, more than once Angantyr came back rather injured...the last time he came back, however, not only was he injured, he hasn't come out of his quarters for a while. Something shook him up good, and he wasn't up for speaking with /anyone/.

However, on this night, Angantyr has decided to leave his quarters and has done so by resting against one of the ledges looking over the dark water. The moon was high in the sky at this point, casuing him to take a long breath in of sea air. Angantyr, wonders, what would have happened if he had instead went into sailing. He was fairly good at map making, a skill he has had to let die over the years to work on his marshall training...but...

He always did have a love of the sea. Avira and he had talked about it frequently, and one of their meeting places was an ocean. It also shows that he hasn't been sea sick once during the entire trip, for the little he's been on the ship initially.

Avira has posed:
Fun fact. Avira's not much of a fan of rough seas either. She spent most of those days above deck for it seemed that every time she went into a cabin during those times, she would get even more and more sick. The effect seemed to lessen the worst when she holed herself up in the crow's nest for an hour or two. Failing that, she'd try to keep herself busy to keep her mind off the misery.

As a member of a clan, Avira's no stranger to work. Spending time not working would feel even wierder to her. Seems she's spent more than a moment talking to Angantyr, threatening to make the supply stops instead of him because he had this nasty tendency of picking fights with everyone!

For a little while tonight, Avira spent it going through a book that she borrowed from Jasmine, who had in turn borrowed it from SeeD. It was some sort of guide to the extradimensional horrors and the like of the world-important, as they were heading for Sin's territory. But for now, she's finished studying.

Unable to sleep in light of what she's been reading, she exits her cabin and heads out into the night. From there, it doesn't take long for her to spot that certain dark knight. For a few seconds, she considers sneaking up on him but quickly realizes that could end badly. Like with her thrown overboard. Instead, she approaches him from an angle that'll make sure he can spot her coming. "Hey. Also couldn't sleep much, hm?"

Jasmine has posed:
Each time Angantyr's returned, Jasmine has gently tended his wounds -- or offered to -- without hesitation, question or judgement. Her worry is of the silent, supportive variety, the serene kind that has all of time for him to decide to open up to them, or not ever do so at all. She'd be there, all the same.

She glances over at him, placing her terrible hat on her head and letting it fall to pieces in her hair, trying to make him, and the others, smile. "I'd like that," she murmurs to Maira, her voice a soft descant over the music of dark waves and silver moonlight. "If you want to sleep, I can watch over you." The other girl's predilection towards accidental fiery destruction is undisturbing to her, and there are plenty of buckets and plenty of sea.

Take seven on the hat starts up, but her attention is no longer fully on her weaving. Rising gracefully, she picks at the greens with her fingers while crossing the deck in a rolling gait as steady as any pirate's, towards the night watch's hotpot. As she passes Avira and Angantyr, her greeting is dark-eyed and wordless, to avoid interrupting them further, but warm as the deserts of her birth.

Maira has posed:
Maira can't deny that she is tired. It takes her energy just to not release her magic accidentally, not to mention all the travel. She's never exactly been hardy either. "Really....? Maybe I should..." she replies.

She looks over toward Avira and Angantyr, her head tilted slightly. She looks a bit puzzled. Her thoughts are obvious.

"Ugh," she says, reaching up to rub her eyes. "Alright. Yeah. I'll try to rest..." she says, then lays down on deck, pillowing her head on some coiled rope. Better to be outside and closer to the water so she can, you know, be extinguished if necessary.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Hmm?" Angantyr asks her, and shrugs. "No, not really. Something is...keeping me up. I can't tell if it's just something that happened recently or something is putting me on edge." he comments a bit before turning away from the open sea to face Avira which gets him in line to see Jasmine put the hat on her head, which fails spectacularly at being a hat. However, it was a wonderful joke because Angantyr immediately is trying not to laugh, putting a hand over his mouth and trying to look grim and imposing. It is failing horribly.

Coughing after a minute he turns back to Avira, "What about you? Still sea sick?" he asks her, but the question is fairly generally open to both Jasmine and Avira. He glances at Maira not understanding her question and instead bids her good night. "Don't worry, if any heartless show up we'll point your sleeping at them." he says, with a grin. Luckily his UMP is very high. That's Use Magic Person.

"We shouldn't be too much farther to the port. After that I guess we'll not have to be on the run for a little bit. Assuming everything goes according to plan and nothing unforseen or something ignored comes up."

Avira has posed:
"Is it your-" Avira is literally THIS CLOSE to actually saying 'Spider Sense' but aborts the reference altogether. Angantyr would not understand it and would, in fact, make him quite suspicious. Not that there wasn't a good deal of suspicion around her circumstances of joining the Clan. Besides, real spiders don't actually have any sort of sense like that. "-intuition?" she quickly fills in, which sounds far more reasonable and a good deal more flattering.

He turns to face her then starts making this strage look...as if he's trying to not laugh at something. Avira looks downright confused-she wasn't looking seasick today and her color has returned, so what is he...?

Glancing over her shoulder, she notes the approach of the princess and the homemade hat she is wearing. "Good evening, Jasmine. Nice hat." A grin follows.

Looking beyond the princess, she spies Maira curling up on the deck to sleep. While she'd rather the mage sleep in a bed, she's pretty aware of the reasons for Maira to do that. Mentally, she makes a note of her location so she can check up on her friend every now and then. "That makes me wonder, Angantyr, if sleep-casting is possible. What a danger /that/ would be."

Avira gives both Jasmine and Angantyr an embarassed smile. "Noooo, the seasickness is gone now. And thank Faram for that."

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine's grave poker face makes up for Angantyr's lack of one; she makes a great straightwoman, apparently. One eye closes and reopens in an agonizingly well-controlled, marvelously slow, solemn wink towards the both of them, as she saunters by. "It's the latest fashion," she quips, bits of straw sticking out of her hair in all possible directions.

She disappears into the forecastle, and re-emerges moments later with a tray of hot drinks balanced on one upstretched hand, and some bedding under the other. The drinks she leaves on a ledge near the Dagda folk. "We can always buy more, and there's water nearby," she justifies quietly of the bedding, placing the pillow near Maira's head, where she can perhaps roll onto it on her own, the blanket within snuggle-distance.

The princess was terribly seasick as well, but is as unashamed of it as Avira seems to be embarassed. "I'm glad too," she agrees simply. "There's too much to see and do, to spend this journey below decks."

Angantyr's promise of not having to run elicits a longing look and no objections, but it's somewhat unlikely she really believes anything will be that easy.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr is trying to be positive!

It's a work in progress, but hey. "Yeah. Call it that." Angantyr rumbles after a few moments after observing Maira and shakes his head. "Well, she'll be nice and stiff in the morning...if not wet." he quips. However, he considers the hot drinks next, and takes one, taking a sip for a moment before speaking again. "I also had a run in with a kid who could weild darkness too, Avira. Very powerful too.." he pauses, "And had a death wish." he says, and turns away, as if that is all that needed to be said.

"It could be what is setting me on edge, I'll admit." he closes his eyes. "Still, I can't shake the feeling easily." he takes another sip. Needs more rum, he observes to himself.

A lot more rum.

Avira has posed:
Jasmine's deadpan reaction to Angantyr's amusement is what finally tips it for Avira. She openly barks out a laugh now befoer quieting herself. "I dunno Angantyr, I think I need one too." she says as Jasmine briefly leaves them to procure some drinks and bedding for Maira.

She nudges Angantyr, "Eh, it'll build character. But seriously, Maira's actually been homeless most her life so I think she's got experience sleeping in odd places." Of course, Avira seems a little sad about this-there were a lot of things about Maira's life that made her kind of sad. "-Oh, thank you."

She'll happily accept one of the drinks. "More fights, then?" Avira tsks, "You get all the fun Angantyr. I'm telling you, you need to let me make supply runs. Did you get a name for this one?"

Avira turns herself so she's leaning her back against the ship's railing, that way she can see both her dark knight and the princess. "Other than Angantyr being...well, Angantyr, this trip has been fairly smooth. Metaphorically. I say the rough seas earlier do not count, no matter how sick it's made us."

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine is unfailingly optimistic about the long-term big picture, but tends to not underestimate the challenges of the road to that happy ending. They're so much a part of her life, now, that she'd be a fool to forget them entirely. The core of her belief in the others comes down to the expectation of great strife, and complete faith in their ability to overcome it, to rise above.

As she looks between the laughing Avira and now more serious Angantyr, who to her embody a great deal of the hope for the future -- people with complicated problems, difficult lives, who get knocked down and stand back up again and again -- a soft glow kindles in her eyes. She takes her own drink and wraps her chilled, cracked palms around the mug; steam rises from it to envelop her face. Maira draws out her protective instincts, and the half an eye she keeps on the girl is fond, and unrelated to any threat she poses to the ship. She watches over her peace, not her peril.

"It's been marvelous. But there's a storm coming," she whispers, craning her head back on her neck to look up at the endless diamond sky, entirely lacking in clouds. It isn't a premonition of doom, from her lips, but a promise of change. "Don't worry, though... the dawn is brightest, afterwards."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr makes a noice at Jasmine's words, non-commental, but he silently agrees with her. It's going to be rough, but after that...well who knows. Bright or not, Angantyr has no intention of not facing the storm. Bullheadedness or shear determination, one or the other really and perhaps both. Despite Jasmine's hopes for him, there is a long dark road he'll have to walk. However, it is looking less and less likely it will be the road he has to walk alone. He has not entirely been able to decide what he thinks about this.

Angantyr shrugs, he did not get a name from Riku, just a kid who had a death wish and a lot of power. Both these things don't boad well, assuming he lived. He wasn't sure, he wasn't sure at all and he kindof worries if that was something else that will weigh on his souls.

"I did not know that." he speaks to Avira about Maira. "I really don't know her very well, besides her crazy nature," which Angantyr seems to like that. "I guess we all have dark spots to our pasts."

Avira has posed:
A faint noise of contemplation escapes Avira when Angantyr shrugs off the question of names. So he clearly didn't get a name. Maybe that Leida character had an older brother wandering around wreaking havoc because this certainly doesn't sound like anybody Avira knows. Riku had done a good job of avoiding the huntress ever since she voiced suspicion about his magic that one time. Altogether, she was unaware of the darkness inside the silver-haired teenager.

"Well...we are fellow VALKYRI." Avira explains to Angantyr, "She was one of the founding members, in fact. We do a lot of work together so you're bound to see more of Maira." Especially if Angantyr keeps popping up around her while Avira is outside of Ivalice. "Ah...yes...dark spots."

The huntress goes silent for a moment, watching Angantyr, thinking. He was probably already suspicious about where she came from. Maybe she should just /tell/ him before he figures out she was lying on her own, like Mercade and Skoll did. But at the same time...

...nah, it didn't matter, right?

"A storm...?" Avira murmurs, looking up to the sky. There are no clouds and the stars are out, quite beautifully tonight, in fact. She looks to Jasmine, concerned, but comforted by her words about the following dawn. "Then...we'll just have to weather it, right?"

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine watches Angantyr ruminate. He is troubled, and so she is troubled. One hand reaches out to clasp his shoulder reassuringly, strikingly warmed from the mug of tea.

His description, and the timing and nature of the fight itself, leave little doubt in her mind as to what's bothering him. "He lives," she announces, abruptly but gently, the words quietly mingling with the ship creaking from one tack to another. Absolute surety rings in her voice. "You love to fight," it's just another matter-of-fact statement, and accepting, "But I think you do not love to kill. I'm glad."

Shifting her weight onto one hip, she watches Avira watch Angantyr, and there's a moment of thoughtful silence. "We will," she affirms when addressed, with quiet conviction. No qualifications, no explanations or excuses. We'll weather it. Together.

Then her expression dissolves into a yawn, but she sets her chin stubbornly; she offered to watch Maira sleep, and that means she needs to stay up. She takes another long draught of that very black tea.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr nods to Avira as she speaks about her friend. There was pause in her words, but Angantyr doesn't push her on what it is. Eventually it will come out, eventually she'll speak her mind, but until then he isn't going to press her on it. He has his own secrets, why would he question others about their own without reason? It's really as simple as that!

"Well, Maira, is a good kid. Spontaneous nudity asside." he grins for a minute. Of course, Jasmine touches base on what is troubling him, and he raises an eyebrow...gosh, the Princess gets around? They might have put off somewhere while he was out...it actually made sense. Faris did mention the possibility...then the kids power over the portals was amazingly strong...stronger than his own. That was a bit concerning to say the least.

"I do not take pleasure in it, no. It is something that happens when you fight, those who think they can save everyone with battle are only deluding themselves." he pauses then continues, "Kids even more so...what really got to me was just...how..." he shrugs, "Hopeless he seemed. Kids shouldn't be like that. It kind of touched a chord in my own past."

Avira has posed:
When Jasmine announces that the boy Angantyr fought lives, Avira does feel a bit of relief. Though she knows Angantyr is not opposed to killing and has done so in the past, it's actually quite comforting for her when he abstains from doing so further. At the same time she had to wonder...it wasn't really her business, was it? Then why did she care so much?

She turns away to look at the sleeping Maira. "Yeah." Avira smiles. "She is."

Now Avira is silent, listening to Angantyr talk, a small smile on her face. There was /that/ side of him again. That 'softy' side of his that she hoped he'd never lose. "It's hard to imagine you as hopeless, Angantyr." she says softly, taking a long drink of tea.

Maira has posed:
Maira sure would hate to be called a kid by Angantyr. Luckily, she's asleep! Maira has been sleeping peacefully through the conversations it would seem, at least until recently. She begins to twitch in her sleep, followed not long after by a distressed moan. Ah, the nightmares.

Luckily, she wakes up /before/ she sleep-casts. She jolts upright suddenly, throwing her arms above her head as if trying to stop the sky from falling on her head. "HUNAMUNGAFRA!" .... say what? Sleep nonsense, that's what.

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine endures the raised eyebrow with a lissome shrug; normally she might raise her own right back, but she's feeling more solemn than fiesty. "His name is Riku." From inside her mug of tea, eyes on his while she drinks, she listens intently to his philosophy, and his observation. Afterwards, she nods, fractionally. She can easily see him feeling a connection; had thought of similarities between them before, in fact.

"I trust him, too," she says softly, and leaves it at that.

***

On the sixth day, the storm comes.

It blows up out of nowhere. Sky meets sea in a cataclysmic crash that drowns the horizon behind impenetrable sheets of cutting ice, screaming wind, and torrential rain. The little ship crests mountain-sized waves, to tumble down avalanches of surf into abyssal trenches. It is not the piece of masterful craftsmanship and engineering that Faris may have once enjoyed; it creaks and moans, tossed to and fro by the impersonal but no less terrifying hands of fate.

The crew is doing their best to react, but they're made sloppy by fear. It will take all of Faris' skill, not only in seamanship but leadership, to get everyone through this intact.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris was never one to hide down in her cabin. Of course, it helps when there's a epic-level storm out, and she no longer has a water dragon to help balance the ship.

She's a pirate, arrr, and she'll see things through.

Bellowing orders in a voice that has taken fifteen years to prime, the crew is not so sloppy by fear, but the sheer winds and the rain. Of course, when you're wrestling with the ship's wheel as it creaks underneath you, people tend to listen to you.

"Get yerself down below or tied to something if you insist on being on deck!" She also bellows at her dear travelling guests... especially Jasmine, since who wants a nice, pretty lady tossed overboard?

Not Faris - she's already been a overboard princess, herself!

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr walks on deck, even for someone of his MASSIVE GIANT MAN self, this was hard to stand. He grabs the mast as he walks by, aiming to get near Faris. "Captain," he yells over the storm and because he is technically captain, and that is just respect right there, "What do you want me to do?" he asks. He's really strong, which is a boon, and despite his weight, he seems to be doing alright balancing himself. "I think you're going to need all the hands on deck that you can get!" he shouts again over the winds and rain. He is already soaked to the bone, armor or no, and he's going to regret these life choices in the morning.

"Of course we hit a storm and are almost there! What kind of trip would this be without some sort of disaster!" he complains, but with a grin to the Pirate.

Avira has posed:
Avira had been hoping for a metaphorical storm.

This is just downright terrifying. The first few days of rough seas had made her thoroughly sick. By the time the storm has reached its height, Avira has already emptied the contents of her stomach somewhere on the deck in a very ungraceful manner. Any further attempts to vomit are met by dry heaves.

For some time, she actually ties to make herself useful above deck, tying herself down and lending what strength she had to managing the sails as the wind picks up. What she ultimately does is follow Angantyr's lead, as he did seem to have some knowledge about how to handle himself around a ship.

She too looks like a drowned rat. A miserable drowned rat really trying to prove herself not just to Angantyr, but to the whole world. "Tell us what we can help with!" she calls out, her voice barely audiable over the rain.

Maira has posed:
Maira is below deck because she's not so stupid that she would stand around on deck getting in the way or falling over board while the sailors are doing useful things. Maira is considering however, trying to go out, tie herself to something and attempt to help them weather the storm with her magic. She's pretty sure she could do /something/ and she's tired of being tossed around below deck, feeling useless.

Alright. She has an idea. Maira gets to her feet and stumbles toward the door, only to be thrown bodily against the wall as the ship leans heavily starboard. She smashes her shoulder hard, crying out as she does so, but immediately gets back to her feet and makes a run for the door. Nearby, there is a coil of rope which she swiftly ties around herself before going up on deck.

Immediately she is assaulted by the wind and rain. The storm roars like a hungry beast, the ocean flinging herself against the ship like a child throwing a tantrum. Maira takes a deep breath, looking over to see the captain and her companions gathering to, likely, either see what they can do to help or discuss their imminent watery graves. Maira scrambles across the deck, rope around her waist, and slides across the slippery surface until she can latch onto something solid.

"I can maybe try to counteract the wind! Shelter the ship!" she cries, hoping she can be heard over the din. She's not /sure/ she can do it of course, but she is sure willing to try.

Jasmine has posed:
Jasmine has nothing to prove.

Okay, that's a giantic lie; Jasmine has a great deal to prove, she despises her past of being taken care of while others put themselves on the line. But she's no fool -- this is a crisis situation, and this isn't about her issues, it's about Angantyr's very accurate assessment that everyone's needed.

There are good storms for learning how to sail in a storm. This is not one of them, and instinctively she understands the seriousness of the situation, the very real peril they're in. Rather than challenging the howling winds with her comparably mellow voice, she simply raises an arm to Faris in a confident salute, expressing her belief in the captain's abilities before binding herself fast to the ship in a series of surprisingly impressive knots. She's been paying attention, the last few days.

And a good thing, too, as the next wave isn't so much ridden out as crashed into; a gray-white wall of crushing water that sweeps absolutely everything that isn't tied or weighted down off the deck. There was a decent chess set that came with the ship, and the only one who's going to play on it now is Davy Jones.

Perhaps literally... these are strange seas.

Jasmine's vomit joins Avira's down in the locker, their shared ignominy eliciting a grimly amused grin that banishes the last of the fear from her eyes. Then she sets about reclearing pathways across the deck, the way she's seen the sailors do. Her tiny frame fights to keep the rough, sea-soaked lines clear of each other, so that the people who really know how to /use/ them can do so as quickly and cleanly as possible.

The next wave rises, the wind snapping in an unexpected new direction; there's not much time.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris points at Ang. "Get on the mainsail rope!" The captain points at a length of wire where men are trying to hold it, but the waves continually are sending them backwards. Ang's strength can be used very well there.

She then ducks her head to peer around the deck she sees Jasmine clearing the top deck, and Faris thanks whatever goddess of winds and seas and sails there are for -smart- travelers.

"WATCH THE SAILS!" The poor shipmate up in the crows' nest, for the record, looks /absolutely miserable/.

To Maira: "Do what you can, but do it quick - if this keeps up, we're going to be royall screwed!" Oh, Faris.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr doesn't pause, he runs for the mainsail roap. His hands move, grabbing the thing with his massive strength, and digs his heels into the deck as he starts to help hold it. Angantyr's giant size and boon of strength will make this easier (though not completely easy...this was daunting even by his standards) but with the help from the other guys on deck it was going to keep things steady.

"Hey, in hinesight, that's a great name for a ship!" he yells at Faris, who might not be able to hear him.

"Royally Screwed." he yells to the other Pirates about him, trying to get a chuckle out of them. No need to be grim when facing death, that comes later.

Avira has posed:
It was a darn good thing Avira elected to tie herself down. She's a small person. As the water sweeps over the deck, she immediately loses her footing and slides over the boards until the rope jerks tight and stops her abruptly. Scrambling and flailing, she pushes herself back up onto her feet and stops suddenly, spotting not only Jasmine up here, but Maira.

She was seriously contemplating retreating to below deck until she spies those two up here too.

She rushes for the rail where she tied herself down and undoes the rope so she can move to elsewhere on the ship, following after Angantyr. She diverges to lash herself to the mast, quickly securing her lifeline before the next deck-sweeping wave strikes. From there, she takes hold of one of the lines to the sails. She didn't have Angantyr's raw strength, but it was something. Her fingerless gloves at least make the ropework slightly more bareable, but the strength of the winds begins to even wear away the thick leather on her palms.

Maira has posed:
When the wave crashes toward them, Maira is unable to stay on her feet. Even though she's tied herself down, it sweeps her from her feet and slams her against the side of the ship. It is not a good feeling to be flung around like a rag doll. When the wave passes she gets to her feet, coughing and wiping salt water from her eyes. Yes. She has to do something about this.

"I will do what I can!" she cries to Faris, then struggled against her mind to get her magic in order. A very difficult feat on a ship being tossed around violently on deadly seas. Deep breathes. Uist is there to help her. A glow surrounds the mage, a bubble of swirling air that forms something of a forcefield around her. Slowly, it begins to expand as she pours her willpower and her energy into it.

She looks might she be able to do this, but it is going to take her a bit of time, and if she loosed her concentration? The magic weave of air will spiral out of control.

Jasmine has posed:
The storm lasts for what feels like days and is actually hours. It isn't a sprint of work, but a marathon, though this isn't really obvious until afterwards, for the inexperienced; there are flashes of memory of critical moments, though all moments were critical.

Angantyr anchoring the mainsail rope, steadfast amid chaos, when every other man on the line has to be called away to handle a loose sail.
Avira anchoring /him/, when a plank of railing snaps off and bashes him off-balance.
Maira mastering her fear and her magic, creating a tiny area of calm around herself, a place for brief but extraordinarily precious respite, where one can hear themselves think.
And Faris shouting orders, spotting problems before they start. Up in the rigging, swinging from a rope, snatching the crows-nest crewman from certain doom, when he's falling.

No one escapes unscathed. It's like being pounded, ground up and spat out by the elements, for hours, and hours, and hours. But through strength of arm, will, and heart, the ship and its occupants emerge relatively intact, not a single hand lost.

The ceasing of the wind is as sudden as it began, ears popping in the desperately loud silence. The ship slows to a crawl, the ocean flat as a mirror, and the fog, extending seemingly infinitely in all directions, muffles shouts to whispers and makes visibility more than five feet away quite impossible. There is an ethereal quality to everything, enhancing tiny details even as the largest views are obscured.

It is rather similar to waking up from a long nightmare to find oneself still dreaming.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr's head is a bit red from where the piece of the ship hit him. It wasn't much, ususally it wouldn't have phased him at all, but it was like a avalanche, there is just that little bit of energy that turns into a wave of death. That wave of death would have been his own, and the possibly the crews' if not for Avira's timely grab, managing to keep him balance and allow him to reget his grip. This takes longer...it's a storm, a windy one, and even for his power it takes a feet of strength.

But Avira's help makes it possible. Finally, the calm comes and Angantyr looks down at the woman still holding him still. A grin comes to his lips as he finally dares to make a crack at the situation. "If it wasn't for the fact that you probably just saved all of our butts, I'd say you were just looking for an excuse." he quips. However, he aches...the effort needed to do what he did was tolling, his legs and arms feel like jello, but he still manages to stand taking a look at the area around him.

"We're probably way off course..."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Most of the crew members are picking themselves up - the man that was saved from the crow's nest is doing a utterly admirable job of not throwing up over the side of the ship. Most of the others are slowly getting back into action, trying to take advantage of what little wind there is.

"Storms do that." Faris says to Ang, shaking her head, her wettened-to-dark purple hair plastered to her head. "I'll get us back on course as soon as they've got the sails up."

Then, in a rare moment, Faris looks at the crew and her guests, and praises them all. "You did wonderfully; I'm sure that moment of calm helped all of us get what wits we had left together, Maira. Jasmine, you're a solid rock in a moment of panic, Ang, Avira... we desperately needed your help."

"Thank you all."

Maira has posed:
Maira is pretty shaken up. Every breath causes pain, and there is some blood from her scalp oozing down to her forehead and approaching her eye.

When the storm suddenly passes, Maira's magic flickers out, falling apart now that she isn't there to maintain it. She is exhausted. More tired than she has ever been in her life. So tired she's up and come around the other side of tired, and couldn't sleep if she wanted to.

She climbs weakly to her feet, looking around. "Is...is everyone alright?" she asks. Maira looks to Faris, nodding a little. She's disappointed that she couldn't have done more. She'd been hoping to extend it over the entire ship.

She looks over to Ang and Avira then, the pair of them clinging to each other. Maira blinks. Hard. Ooooooh.

Avira has posed:
Avira comes out of this doubly glad she had her self anchored the whole time. How else could she, being a bit on the "runty" side.

Then there was that one terrifying moment she saw the piece of sail come down. Angantyr's footing started to slip and in that second, despite the soreness and misery, she sprung into action, grabbing onto Angantyr tightly with both of her hands. Her grip held firm, even in spite of the wet and shredded gloves clinging to her hands.

Still holding on when the calm comes, her arms are stiff and aching. When Angantyr teases her over it, the exhausted huntress actually looks a little flustered. "I dunno what you're talkin' about." she mutters hastily in an...odd-sounding accent.

Coughing, she pulls away and slumps to her knees. Her head was pounding and her throat was dry-symptoms she clearly recognized as dehydration. "Ugh...I need water."

Faris's thanks get a weak smile from Avira, "Well we did promise to pull our weight for this passage." The accent is gone. Struggling, Avira forces herself to stand and staggers over to Maira, reaching out a hand for her forehead, "Maira, you're bleeding."

Jasmine has posed:
"The fog be thicker than the head after lentil stew night, and the wind be... false, cap'n," announces one of the more sturdy crew members, after a trip up and back from what's left of the crow's neck made under slippery conditions in record time. He has the easy grace of a dancer and the build of a linebacker, with his controlled fall back to the deck heartstopping yet completely within his means.

The little ship tattooed on his adam's apple bobs up and down, his rattled nerves creating another storm on his surface, reflecting the man within. In all their years of sailing together, that piece of ink has never so much as wavered. "It ain't the air that's movin' us, in truth." His biceps bulge as he shrugs his mystified answer to the obvious response: 'what is?'

The big ship rocks a bit to the left, as though there's something shifting underneath the invisible sea, which is itself currently hidden within those endless, rolling banks of fog.

Then the man stumbles forward, his sudden, dramatic lunge quite at odds with the relatively sedate bobbing of the deck. He sways in perfect silence, then falls on his face... with a long, slender, black throwing knife piercing him in the shoulder blade and emerging in his gut.

At that angle, it would have taken Faris in the heart, had he not jumped in its path.

The knife explodes into spiraling swirls of black smoke.

And /then/ all hell breaks loose, as a hail of knives, mixed with the occasional much less subtle black powder bomb, descend upon the boat... from above. Eerie yellow eyes wink in and out, difficult to see at a distance but unmistakably Heartless, and unmistakably crawling all over the masts and sails...

Maira has posed:
Maira reaches up to wipe what she thought was water from her brow, only to find that it was blood. "Oh. Well...that'll happen," she replies, rather non-chalant about it. She may be in shock. This is likely the case. "I'm okay..." she replies, getting to her feet, only for all hell to break loose. She's expended all her energy. She is quite simply spent....and faints.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris grits her teeth. "That's what I was afraid of." She informs her shipmate, and then she braces herself as the ship lurches - and her dear kinsman takes a knife to the shoulder, and then the gut.

"... heartless."

Maira faints, and before Faris can question it, two crew members are helping to shuffle the girl below deck. She withdraws her blade, the mythril shining in the gloom, even as her hand digs into her long coat, a mythril ring shining in her hand as she launches it at the higher-up heartless.

"ATTACK!"

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
"Yes. Heartless." Angantyr says, he can hear them...his blade moves, swinging in a massive arch as blades fly down at him.

Angantyr AUTO-DEFLECTS one...straight to the shoulder! It stings! However, the massive mace swings upwards, sending a few of the blades right back towards the heartless jerkasses. He can portal, but the visibility thing is not on his side. Angantyr doesn't waste time, "I don't think you needed to tell me that. captain!" he speaks, before starting to start going up the side of the mast, up towards the heartless...or at least get closer to them. Getting closer allows him greater visibility, a cooridor opens up, and he slips through, getting towards the main part of the sails. Angantyr isn't fast, but he's steady, his mace moving to swing at anything within his reach. "Heartless or not, you all still die the same!" he shouts to them.

Avira has posed:
"Maira, you don't look okay..." Avira says, concerned. She reaches out to touch the girl's forehead, ready to call upon some good ol' Ivalician first aid. But before she can administer such healing, Maira faints against her. Thankfully, two of Faris's crew members are there to take her to the safety of the cabin.

Just as she moves, one of Faris's crewmates bites it and shadow knives rain from the skies. "#&(*!" Avira expresses in an unladylike manner and whirls, looking upward, but seeing absolutely nothing by the occasional flash of yellow eyes above.

Pushing past her soreness and thirst, Avira springs into action, scrambling up the rope rigging to the masts. Thankfully, her small size makes her pretty agile.

Jasmine has posed:
Faris' crew responds to her call with a vengeful roar, and are the first into the breach, skillfully clambering up the masts into... total silence. That moisture in the air makes it very difficult to tell what's going on more than a few feet away.

These Heartless pirates aren't ninja, but they've definitely got terrain on their side -- infuriating, considering that this isn't even their ship. But suckers on the bottoms of their feet allow them to commit shenanigans against reason like hanging upside-down from the boom to slice at Angantyr from below, just as he exits his Corridor; Darkness may provide him passage, but against these foes, it does not provide surprise. Another pair wait until Avira's pretty high up her line, then start slicing through it like gigantic jerks. Still others are badly rattled by Faris' Moonrings -- one even explodes into the tiny green, blue, and yellow orbs of victory, which float in midair, eerily remaining at exactly their point in space relative to the ship as it continues to yawn a slow, syrupy course through the fog.

They respond to this insult with more knives, reasonably enough, then they and all their buddies blink out of sight, repositioning themselves higher up the masts. One rips down his inky black trousers and moons the crew for good measure.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr gets nailed, it is a brutal assault as he's surrounded by the heartless, taking brutal amounts of pain from sword and claw...

Before the dark knight falls off the side of the mast and smashes into the deck below. He bounces once, and rolls to the side coughing up blood and growling in pain. He does not get up right away, slowly pushing himself to his hands and feet...

And then the darkness starts to pour out from him. He hasn't done this infront of the crew yet...but...

The darkness pours out of his body, connecting itself to his armor. The armor itself changes dramatically, shifting into plate instead of the standard armor he wares. It all becaomes a solid mass of darkness, tendrills leaping off of it. The worst part is that looking directly at the armor was like staring into the abyss itself.

The armor continues up till it covers his head. The full plate helmet claps on, leaving absolutely nothing in the terms of skin visible, as a crimson light seems to come behind the mask, giving the eye slits a glow.

Slowly, he looks up, right at the heartless...

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris masterfully dodges out of the way, her lithe frame dashing around. She smoothly pulls out a small lance, pausing for a moment as she runs her hands over one half - it burning a bright red - and the second half, turning a icy blue.

She then smiles.

And -- doesn't attack? Instead she turns and smoothly claps her hands together, her magic being used in a swift motion as green light swirls around Avira and Ang, her eyes glowing as she does so in a moment of brief concentration.

Any little bit helps, aye?

Avira has posed:
Avira gets up pretty far and looks up, seeing the Heartless ahead cutting through the ropes she was climbing. Panic surges through her and she climbs faster, leaping up for that final dangling rung as the ropes are severed.

The good news is, she makes it!

The bad news is, with no bottom to anchor the rope ladder, the top swings free, with Avira on it. To make matters worse, it swings her right into the main mast of the ship and she smashes into it heavily. Desperate, she claws and clings to the mast so she doesn't plummet to the deck of the ship.

"Rgrrrgh..." Her strength of heart pushes through and she claws her way up, reaching the main horizontal mast and pulling herself up to stand.

Steadying herself with one hand, Avira draws the Spine with the other, magic immediately shooting down the length of the blade, encasing it in ice. With a grand swipe of the weapon, she directs this magic, which peels off the blade, at the pair of Heartless that had cut her rope ladder.

Jasmine has posed:
With Faris and Angantyr both back down on the deck and thus relatively easy targets (as compared to many of the sailors, who are at this point flying through the air, in and out of sight, on ropes, or engaged in duels with other Heartless high on the masts), the Heartless reward this with a terrible bombardment of knives -- obviously being summoned from nothing, they disappear as quickly as they strike -- and rum bombs. Sweet-smelling black smoke mixes with the ghastly white fog. It would be rather lovely if it wasn't making it SO DARN HARD TO SEE. It's like being back in that storm, with blades replacing shards of hail, and concussive force replacing winds.

Their one saving grace is that the Heartless are /so far up/, now, quite invisibly so, that their accuracy is pretty terrible. They're trying to compensate with quantity over quality.

Meanwhile, Avira casts 'transform Heartless to health orbs' in one second flat; her non-metaphorical ice shards encase them utterly, and they fall off their perch. They disappear soundlessly below, but one cannot imagine they ended well, whether it was being shattered on some other part of the deck, or tossed into the drink.

A more impressive specimen, every inch of his lithely sinuous black form tattooed in white (possibly including the parts hidden by his breeches), salutes her tauntingly with his cutlass from the next level up the mast. Like a gymnast on a balance beam, including the pointed toes, he awaits his opponent...

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Blade's rain down on Angantyr's new armor. The armor shatters and breaks under the attack, he flinches, and blood can be seen dripping through his various wounds...he's exhausted from the days activities, and he's barely standing now...but somehow...

He still stands.

Then he was gone, the Cooridors opening again, and this time he leaves the portal, right over the heartless with a mighty roar.

The claws move, aiming to grab one unlucky Heartless, aiming to lift it into the air and start litterally draining the essence from it...

Before his own blood and darkness mix together, creating a dark wave of energy, aiming to consume the heartless that get too close to him, hundreds of claws ripping from the shadows to consume whatever they can!

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris stares at the Heartless as they approach her.

There was a pirate here, she's gone now - in a blurring burst of speed that would make -anyone-, ninja, warrior, racer proud, she manages to shift around the heartless attacks. She then smiles, an ... oddly dark one.

She turns around, the twin lance, burning ice and glowing fire swishing through the air as she makes her way back into melee range as she attacks.

Avira has posed:
Like a pirate, it'd be pretty awesome for Avira to stick her sword between her teeth and keep climbing. Except the Spine is too big and too oddly shaped for Avira to get her mouth around it. With the rest of her prey now residing on the higher levels, she resorts to sheathing the spine behind her, she looks up and...spots that /different/ looking pirate-type Heartless.

Avira's eyes narrow and she crouches, one hand bracing herself against the mast. Mustering her strength again and driving her battered body even harder, she leaps upward, catches the next level of horizontal mast with both hands, and swings herself up.

With a flourish, out comes the Spine once more, and the huntress charges forward, leading with the pointy tip. Were she not be dehydrated, she'd be sweating profusely from the exertion right now. "THEY'RE UP HERE!" she calls down, "THEY'RE ALL UP HERE!"

Jasmine has posed:
The battle rages on. The rest of Faris' sailors seem to be acquitting themselves not honorably (yarr... u.u), but effectively (yarr! >:B), to the extent that they're visible; a pair of pirates unsheet one of the sails, loosening the lines so that they can use them as lassos to yank Heartless right off the masts and into the sea. Others have started to pull pistols, now that the Heartless at the top of the ship have no 'up' left to run to. Since nobody else has three adjectives and took a hit for the Cap'n, the ones that fall -- and very occasionally one does fall -- land with the solid thuds of knockouts, but it's not like they're bleeding out or anything.

The Heartless assuredly did not approach Faris, but she approaches them with a vengeance; the antipode of ice and fire make quick work of one, two, three, six Heartless, blasted into the fog and out of the fight or poofing into more orbs. There's a virtual constellation of those grim little lights in the sky, now, more yellow than green or blue, which bodes poorly for the long-term viability of this fight if it goes on, but very well for the reward. These Heartless pirates were /loaded/ with munny. Desperately, they try to beat her back, throwing everything they have at her: knives, cutlasses, each other. They seem to be running low on bombs; thank god for small mercies.

Angantyr feels the Darkness pour into himself, and the Heartless respond; some even hesitate for a critical moment, confused by the authority that his aura implies. That's right before they get totally wiped out by the wave of his void, by the dozens. From the tip-top of the crow's nest, where his corridor ultimately dropped him onto, he can JUST BARELY spot, through the fog, the shadowy sails of another ship, far enough away to explain why Heartless aren't swinging over in additional waves -- it's no longer in range for that -- close enough to explain where they came from.

Then he may be distracted by Heartless swinging into the tiny, enclosed Nest with him, the whipcrack of their abused ropes heralding their almost vertical leaps. There isn't room for their swords, but claws are another matter...

Avira may be fighting a single opponent rather than a large group, but he seems like their leader; many other Heartless pause in their fights to watch the duel with as keen an interest such seemingly mindless creatures can express, and are easy pickings for passing sailors, who swing onwards, saluting the warrior woman as they go by. The duelist lets her close, then in a trick of spiraling movement deflects the Spine at the last possible instant, sending it -- and her -- past him, despite the fact that this entire bar is less than a foot wide. He follows up by trying to plunge his cutlass into her back repeatedly.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr can barely spot the ship as he swings the weapon around himself. More knives and blades aim for him, and he just barely manages to stay alive. Energy flowing into him as he looks down towards Avira who is fighting the leader...

He leaps from his spot and aims to litterally drop ontop of it as it swing's it's weapon towards Avira.

"Captain! We got a ship off the bow! I think it's where the Heartless are coming from! It's still too far away for them to swing across!" he points it out for her, so that she can get orders sent out.

The mace moves viciously, litterally aiming to just simply smash the thing out of existance with brutality.

Avira has posed:
Strange how this fight Avira's involved in is attracting a Heartless audience. Avira's too focused on her own fight to actually notice the watchers-and for good reason too. This struggle had already pushed her to her limit-she was beyond it now, running on her willpower alone. Her blade might have struck true had she not endured that storm previously. Instead, she lunges past the lead Heartless, the spine sticking into the mast behind it.

Her back is wide open. It's easy pickings for the Heartless to jab his cutlass repeatedly into her semi-bare back. A yelp of pain escapes her and she lifts a foot, kicking backwards behind her to knock the Heartless away.

Once she has some space, she yanks her weapon free and turns. Angantyr comes in with a vengence, much to her surprise, and Avira waits a beat until she thinks she has an opening.

Then, with two mighty swings of the Spine, she unleashes to scything waves of sharp force for the leader Heartless that travel beyond the reach of her blade.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris moves - she is a fast person, as normal - she puts her strengths in evasion and skill, rather than strength; she prefers to sruvive and take awhile, than just bash them down and potentially lose an arm - and makes her way through the heartless.

She tosses her twin lance at one of the crew members, who promptly uses it to try to slaughter some Heartless as Faris takes a few dangerous moves - she dashes up to the top of the main deck, where the wheel is, and launches herself off of it, landing half-way up the rigging.

Once she's up there, she whirls her frame around it, climbing into the mass of heartless - at the last moment, withdrawing a shining mythril blade from her side.

"Nothing we can do about it now! If we don't get the rest of these guys killed, we're the ones going to visit Davy Jones locker... permanently!"

Then she promptly dives into the nearest group of Heartless she can see.

Jasmine has posed:
Faris plunges down through the fog, back down to the deck. She finds no Heartless to fight there, but once she gets to the opposite side of the ship, she does nearly trip over a veritable ball pit of orbs -- SO MUCH MUNNY, YARR -- which is interesting, since when defeated Heartless have been exploding into these leftovers in the main fight in the rigging, they've remained floating up there. It's like a night sky up in the sails, in fact, all those orbs.

Getting up there again, she makes some more, leading her sailors to rally against every Heartless they can see. Which remains tricky, with the fog, but there's a definite sense of momentum... fewer and fewer remain unvanquished.

Angantyr ditches the Heartless in the crow's nest, and left unaccosted, we'll never know what happened to them. Instead, he falls through the fog -- it makes it difficult to aim, and he nearly falls entirely past Avira's duel. On his way past, he smacks the duelist on the toe with a backswing. Then it's his turn to land in the ball pit on the top deck.

And Avira, Spine in hand, draws an X in pure force, with two swings across the tattooed Heartless' entire body. The X glows brilliantly white, dims to purple, and when the dust clears, there's nothing less but more of those little balls, hanging in the air.

It's very, very quiet, even taking into account that with the fog muffling noise, it's been hard to hear. So quiet that the fight must be over, and a dimly audible ragged cheer goes up as the sailors start failing to find Heartless to hit.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr hits the bottom deck...the armor starts to fade away as darkness whisps off him in greater chunks as he wills it to go away.

He finally falls to a knee, the wounds starting to look dangerous now as he slowly starts to try and pull himself together. He took a beating in that engagement, more so than he normally does...but then again, Dark Knight's are known for their full offense, instead of their defense.

He doesn't get up immediately either, he's nursing some pretty raw wounds, letting people cheer, and get money...and hoping nobody got spooked enough to try and finish him off.

Avira has posed:
Breathing hard from the exertion, Avira braces herself with a hand against the mast, smiling at their handiwork. She actually reaches out, experimentally, to touch one of those curious little balls these Heartless kept leaving behind. She knew what the munny ones looked like, but this was different.

With no further Heartless to fight in the vicinity, Avira puts her weapon away, then looks down at the deck to Angantyr with concern. That darkness, that armor, it was what she'd fought that one day and it's surprising to see it again. Especially out here...did it mean something?

Shakily, she starts to climb her way down, "Is everyone alright?" she calls out breathlessly, her body threatening to shut down from exhaustion at any moment.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Faris slides down to the main deck, tossing Ang a flask. It contains some sort of healing grog, that is undeniably liqour filled, but good at what it does. She then goes to check on Avira, a second flask on her.

"I'm fine." The captain says briskly. "Maira fainted at the start, but she should be okay... has anyone seen or heard from Jasmine? I think she went with Maira, but..."

Faris doesn't even look tired, even though he is.

Jasmine has posed:
To recap:

There was a storm, then the calm of impenetrable fog, and suddenly the Heartless showed up, swinging onto the masts and into the sails. They fought in the rigging virtually to the exclusion of all else, forcing the sailors to come to them, and retreating further upwards when pressed.

But there are a bunch of the equivalent of Heartless corpses on the deck on the far end of the ship.

Now the Heartless ship is leaving.

<OOC> Avira says, "Oh fudgebuckets."

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr takes the grog and downs it without much of a response. He does, however, cough a bit roughly after finally getting it all down and tosses the flask somewhere. Slowly, very slowly, he considers the heartless ship...

Wait...why is it leaving? That's...

He squints, letting the gears turn in his head for a minute.

"Where is Jasmine?" he asks Avira suddenly.

Avira has posed:
"...I didn't see her follow those guys that took Maira into the cabin." Avira says slowly, reconsidering the past few minutes. She looks around deck, plenty of guys, nearly passed out Angantyr, no Jasmine. "...one second."

She rushes off to the cabin where Maira was taken and shoves through the door. Some commotion follows and Avira emerges, now looking rather frantic.

"She's not here! She's not inside!"

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"..." Faris has a sort of look on her face. The one that reads, /damn it all/.

"Fuck."

She'll apologize for languages later, instead she does two things - she gets up to the wheel and casts Aero straight into the sails, and wheels the ship around to start a chase. (She's done this before.)

Jasmine has posed:
There is time to collect some of those blue and green spheres, which sink into passing bodies, knitting wounds and rejuvenating energy; banishing the exhaustion of the storm, and the battle in its aftercalm fog. Between that and sheer adrenaline, it's a pretty heady brew right now. The sailors snap to, fixing up the chaotically strewn lines and sails so that their captain can get anything like mobility.

The fog lifts as abruptly as it arrived as the ship simply finds its way out of it, propelled by Aero -- the bank remains, behind them. The sky is blue, the sea is bluer, the wind isn't blue but it's nice and gusty. Bracing.

And an increasingly transluscent second ship is full speed ahead, straight into that wind, and making excellent time. Its planks are all of black, as are its sails, which are little more than ragged, rotting scraps of fabric.

Ragged sails... what did that one brave sailor say, before he died? 'It isn't the wind.' Something's funny about the shape of the ship, too, though it takes a second look to really get it. It isn't full speed /ahead/... it's full speed /behind/. It is in full reverse, somehow, implying that all is not as it seems.

Mounted on its prow is a very distinctive figurehead. By now its transformation has been going on for quite some time, flesh and fabric gradually transforming into beautifully 'carved' alabaster. Struggling against the spell, and the chains that bind her, with all her might, Jasmine spots Faris' ship finally coming out of the fog, and reaches towards it with arms outstretched.

Then they're frozen that way, and the enchantment creeps up her dark canopy of hair. It's closing in on her face.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr watches with a horrified expression what happens next. Yes, horrified...

He hasn't seen something like this before, he isn't a mage or knowledgable with whatever this is. His eyes narrow, there is just...something...

Then darkness starts to spill out of him wildly. Darkness thrives on emotions...the darker the more it can thrive. Right now, there was just one emotion Angantyr was feeling. It was very simple, one of the basic primal emotions.

Anger

Pure, unrefined hatred. The darkness rumbles again, before he looks towards Faris, "Get me closer to that ship." he demands, pretense of civility gone. He doesn't even care about his own wounds.

He doesn't even fully understand WHY he is so angry. A week ago she was just another face in the crowd, a week ago even if she were a friend, shit happens and people die...

Now he was angry. Garland would be disappointed.

Avira has posed:
For a few moments, Avira has disappeared below deck. It's not to mope or anything, because there will be plenty of time for THAT later. "Note to self, stick to hunting marks, bounty hunting and bodyguarding are right out." she mutters to herself as she picks through the chaotic wreck of detrius that now comprises blowdecks, everything having been jostled about due to the storm.

She finally locates what she's looking for, water aside, and grabs what she needs before rushing above.

Looped over her shoulder is a rope. There's a grappling hook on the end. It's at least good to see the ship speeding ahead and catching up. She heads to the fore of the ship to watch the chase, squinting ahead at that ship that had been causing so much trouble. She barely spots Jasmine before she's melted into the figurehead and her stomach turns.

"...I've heard a thing or two about ships at sea with black sails..." Avira says. "..if they're true, we gotta catch that thing, and fast."

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
Anger also boils up in Faris' throat. She barely knows Jasmine, but all she has to do is think about Lenna in that situation -h er dearest sister, her lands Princess, the heart that they depend on, and well...

She looks over at Avira. "... most of those stories don't end well." She says, gravely. She does gesture to her crew though, who, no matter how injured, dive into work so they start to get up to speed.

Jasmine has posed:
It's a good thing Faris is also cheating with magic, or this would be hopeless. Clearly as aware of its pursuit as its prisoner, the ship sluices back and forth through the water, on an impossible zig-zag course that has nothing to do with how ships are supposed to work. It uses the actual natural wind to its full advantage, forcing Faris and her crew to balance opposing forces; they can push with Aero, but not /directly/, because if they aren't very careful the winds will interfere with each other in a way that could end either in a) full calm or b) capsize.

It's a question of angles. Faris is probably an excellent pool shark, because against all odds her little stolen ship continues to close, gaining inches, then feet. It's a choppy ride over the waves, swell-CRASH!, swell-CRASH!

They're within range -- grappling hook, shadow jump, both -- just as the enchantment closes over Jasmine's face. Her expression, they discover as they approach, is permanently frozen into... a fierce, welcoming smile.

She believes.

Angantyr Vespar has posed:
Angantyr moves. "Faris, support us." he says, and then he moves, aiming to litterally scoop Avira, who is easily portable given his size and strength.

"Sorry, but this is the fastest way." he says, and then opens up a corridor of darkness infront of them. He turns, giving the crew a salute, and then Jumps through...

There isn't enough time to finese this...which isn't something Angantyr is good at anyway, a he would no doubt end up somewhere on the deck. He immediately drops Avira to her feet and moves to pick up his mace. "So we just gota kill whatever is running this ship right?"

Avira has posed:
Watching the chase is...interesting to say the least. Avira's not well versed in ships, especially the tall ships they're sailing and chasing right now. But she's pretty sure that they're not supposed to move as the one with the black sails is right now. Those rumors she's heard about this ship's sorcerous ways MUST BE TRUE.

She's all ready to try the whole grappling hook thing for the -first time ever- when Angantyr wraps an arm around her waist and lifts her. "Wait, are you-" Her eyes widen as he opens the corridor. Cringing, she steels herself.

She didn't like these corridors. It felt like she lost a small part of herself every time she went through one.

Fortunately, it's over quickly and Avira lands on her feet, hand already reaching for her weapon. "You make it sound so easy." The usually brave Avira actually sounds a little nervous right now.

Faris Scherwiz has posed:
"Crew?"

"Captain?" Her best man asks, staring at her.

"It's that time again." Every single one of them salutes her at her words. They know that there's a risk of no captain left after that sort of statement, and she gives them all a nod.

The crew continues guiding the ship - Faris herself is only on it til she gets close nough to jump.

Jasmine has posed:
It only takes a touch: when the first boots hit deck, they pass right through. Shimmering like the mirage it is, the black ship disappears entirely.

Everyone lands on something smooth and slippery, but it's not wood; the 'thump' is all wrong, too sharp-sounding. This is a far tougher material, still black, but glossy with vitality. It gives a little bit underfoot, flexible in its strength, and here and there, there's a little bit of actual color; veins of electric blue. Jasmine remains a white statue, but is now suspended by dark chains that simply melt directly into a pair of towering spikes, the only two around.

The wind of rapid, disorienting acceleration catches at cloaks and hair as everyone rises, higher and higher. Far, far below, Faris' ship starts resembling more of a toy boat, shrinking with distance. Its occupants stare up at one of the more impressive sea monsters they've seen in an active career of nautical freedom fighting.

Behind everyone, black plates twitch, then shift backwards, revealing an elephantine orb of absolute Darkness, a pulsing void. It blinks again, and the eye begins to fill with crimson light.

An ear-splitting screech shatters the air.

Welcome to the head of the snake.