| abstract
| - OOC Note: Lines in red are whispered. Harbor Walk - Port Poxy - Rogue's Isle Tall, gently swaying palm trees form a perimeter around about three-fourths of the ramshackle town of Port Poxy, with its motley mix of whitewashed stone construction, thatched roofs, and cobblestone roads. The main street, known as Harbor Walk, leads from the moorings at Scurvy Wharf to the looming Fort Amalgado. A winding path leads down toward Creepy Cove, on the shore of the harbor. Blake stands at the Poseidon's Sorrow's prow, Al at the wheel. The pirates are loading the last few crates and barrels of supplies onto the ship. Shafi strides to the port, grinning widely and waving on her way in. "Evening, Captain," the Elf calls brightly, "Your men need any help or are we pretty much set to go? A swooping silver shape descends toward the ship, Ravus calling cheerily, "I'm heeere! Sorry!" Eloise, unfamiliar with the pirates and their ship, redirects her meandering walk to eye it with open curiosity from a closer vantage point. Linnael strides in with a soft sigh and a goofy smile as he ambles over to the Poseidon's Sorrow. "Evening, Captain," he says. "Shafi, Eloise, Ravus." "Aye, we be all but set to sail," Blake replies to Shafi, nodding, "Ye be welcome to come aboard, we shall be leaving shortly," he states. He nods to Linn, "Aye matey, a fine evening for exploring," he smiles, waving at them all with his hook hand. "Great," the Elf nods and makes to board the ship, heading to lean within a comfortable distance of the prow. Shafi scratches her chin and says, "If it's all right with you, Captain, I'd like to try something if we run into any more undead. Something that didn't cross my mind last time with the ghouls." Ravus touches down on the ship's deck, with surprising lightness for his armored bulk. Dusting himself off, he beams all around at the others. "Okay! Where're we going today?" Eloise nods to Linnael in greeting and goes right back to peering at the ship and the cargoes loading on to it. "What, if I migh' ask, is goin' on here?" She asks aimlessly. "We're exploring," Linnael says to Eloise, before walking up the ramp. "Aye, the mage speaks true, we be exploring. If ye want to come I bet Al could use the company, come aboard!" Blake calls to El, before turning to Shaif "Aye, and what be that?" he asks, turning his one good eye to look at her. Al points in a general North East direction for Ravus, the mute Tauroid making no noise. For those perceptive, and for that matter counting, Al's got an additional ring on his back, making for 28. And there's our good old friend Mr. Rum coming out from putting his supplies below decks, and the man's got a fedora on now, too. "Well, undead used to be normal at one point, right?" Shafi asks of the Captain, "And they've been corrupted. They're not in their original state, so... I want to see what might happen if I try to heal them. I might be able to lift the taint that made them undead." She peers over at Mr. Rum and smirks. "Nice hat. Do we have enough rum for this trip?" "Oooh, hey..." Ravus nods his thanks Al's way, but then turns his attention to Shafi. "You think that's possible? I can do a bit of... taint-cleansing, so to speak." Eloise narrows her eyes infinitesimally, but shrugs her shoulders high. "Sure, if you need a hand." She checks a mysterious back pocket for something and nods to herself, starting for the gangplank. Linnael snickers, then walks to the front of the ship. "You be careful," he says to Mr. Rum as he passes by. "Aye, ye can try it, but me and me crew will be ready to fight incase it doesn't work, aye?" Blake replies with a nod, "Alright mateys, lets be off!" he calls out to the crew, who begin to make the ship ready to sail, bringing up the gangplank once El's on. "Aye," Mr. Rum replies, pulling out a flask of what one could assume to be Rum, and taking a drink from it. He doesn't reply to Linn, just drinks. "Of course," Shafi nods, "I wouldn't expect you not to defend yourselves." She looks back to Mr. Rum and his fedora thoughtfully. There is a moment of thought, before her leather helmet morphs into one of her own. "Anyone have a mirror?" the redhead asks of the group as a whole, taking off the hat and compating it to her bullwhip to get a color that matches. "Look at my chest, it's shiny," Ravus suggests, turning his well-polished steel breastplate towards Shafi. "You can see yourself in it, right?" "Or I could conjure up a mirror for you," Linnael calls. "Look at my chest, it's shiny, sounds odd, Ravus." And as soon as El is safely on board, the pirates drop sails and hoist the anchor. Al at the helm, steering the ship. Blake nods to Shaif, but stays out of the conversation. "Your breastplate's too round, Rav, the reflection's warped," Shafi remarks to the angel, not commenting on the weirdness of anything he said. The Elf puts her fedora back on and smiles over to Linnael, "Would you, please? I want to see how this hat looks on me." "Oh, sorry," Ravus observes with a sigh, glancing down. "You've got a point. But it's not -odd-, Linnael, my chest -is- shiny." Linnael nods, then holds a hand up, conjuring a mirror in midair. "Mmhmm," he says. "It is shiny." Blake smirks as Linn conjures up that mirror, taking his spyglass out and looking outwards to sea as the ship begins to pick up speed, the wind catching in the sails. Shafi plucks that mirror up to take a look. She tilts the fedora down over her eyes a little bit and smirks, "Oh, I like that. This is definitely a look I'm keeping..." She plays with the coloring of the hat a bit more - various shades of brown and black mostly. "Linnael's talking about the wording," the Elf points out to Ravus passively, "Of course, it would be funnier if a woman said it." She settles on saddle brown with a black band and then hands the mirror back to the mage. "Thanks, Linn." "It's a nice hat," Ravus agrees serenely, before turning his gaze out to sea. "Hm, I wonder what we'll find this time..." "Atlantis," Linnael says with a firm nod, waving a hand to disperse the mirror. "Which will then take off to a galaxy full of half-bug vampires. Shafi peers at the human, "Linnael... you've got a weird imagination." The Elf leaves it at that, striding over to the side of the boat and looking over. "Ugh...," she starts to turn green and pulls out a little vial to fight off her seasickness. Ravus yawns softly and stretches, murmuring to Linnael, "Nothing could be a surprise anymore, right?" He flexes his wings, then calls, "I'll play lookout!" A jump upward and a beat of his wings, and the angel soars to circle the ship up above. Linnael grins at Shafi. "Hey, someone else thought of it first," he says. "I'm just not going to ask," the Elf replies simply, downing he vial and cringing at its taste. "Remind me to work on making these potions palatable." Up above, Ravus seems to have removed himself from the conversation- but he's clearly visible, repeating those loops again and again. "Make them more palatable," Linnael says cheerfully. After a couple of hours or so of sea, and no real sight of anything else but water. The Sorrow has been gradually slowing for the past half hour or so, until now it is fully at a stop, even the waves have stopped. The most likely explaination is that the wind has just completely died, not even a breeze. Blake is wearing a frown and after a full minute of no movement, he calls out, "Mateys, ye best come up on deck," The redheaded Elf peers up from where she's settled on the deck, standing and approaching the prow. Shafi lets out a sigh, wetting a finger and holding it up as she peers at the water. "Well, that's... not natural," she remarks of the stillness. "Uh oh..." The angel's been straining hard as the wind decreases, and now as it dies, he peers out into the sky before letting himself sink back to the desk. "Guys? I think we've got a really big storm on the way." Linnael grimaces, then moves for the middle of the deck. "How big?" he asks. "I'm not complaining," Eloise remarks to Shafi, a little bit green around the gills, so to speak, and looking greatly pleased that the world has stopped rocking...until...Ravus lands. Her expression grows grim. A dark splotch grows on the horizon, from the north, and Blake pulls out his spyglass to take a look, "Aye, how big matey?" he asks. The pirate crew are all coming back on deck, and not all of them seem to have heard Ravus's comment. Mr. Rum goes to the side of the ship, peering over, "No wind?" he asks aloud, murmurs come from the rest of "A storm?" keen elven eyes look to that dark spot in the sky as Shafi frowns, "Wonderful. And we can't get out of its way. Unless we've got a lot of oars stowed away somewhere that I'm not aware of..." She looks over to Eloise, then, and smirks, pulling out another vial of her nasty-tasting seasickness prevention potion for the tauroid. "You could have said something earlier." "-Really- big. A really big storm," Ravus reiterates quite loudly to everyone around. "It's coming in fast so you might want to... do whatever you do in the case of a really big storm." "Get away from the edges," Linnael calls out. "Stand near the center, near something you can hold. Or get below deck." He himself is standing near the mast, and rope conjured out of air wraps around him and the mast, fastening him down. Eloise takes the vial gratefully. "It wasn' that bad 'till just up to a few minutes ago," Eloise explains. "Now that we /aren't/ moving, it's worse." She drinks it and pulls a face, but offers a heartfelt thanks. Straightening up with reserve for a preiously tender stomach, El waits for orders. Blake steps into action, "Fold the sails, secure the rudder, make sure everything is lashed down!" he calls out, and the pirates go to work, some climbing up the rigging to fold the sails up, others moving below decks with ropes, following out the Captain's orders. The storm is meanwhile getting close, and fast, flashes of lighting appear in that dark area. Shafi /peers/ at Linnael. "You just tied yourself to the tallest bit of the ship, which is floating in the middle of a huge body of water... You /do/ know how lightning works, right?" the Elf asks of him with a tinge of amusement. She herself merely finds a nice solid place to sit and hang on, while still being able to watch that approaching storm. Linnael blinks, then dissipates the rope. "That makes sense," he realizes, stepping away for another spot further away from the lightning rod, and sits down, keeping himself low. "Mm. Wonder if I can do anything." If a one-time ranch hand can do anything well, she can handle rope. Eloise obediently clops below deck to tie down whatever isn't bolted down, and make sure what is bolted down stays that way. The pirates continue their work. Blake, for his part, moves towards aft from the prow, still calling out to his pirates. Mr. Rum is among those on the mast, securing the sails. The storm is still fast approaching, and now some waves pick up, rocking the boat from the storm, which is closing in on the group. "How about some wind to steer us away from the storm?" Shafi suggests, before letting out a sigh and closing her eyes. Perhaps foolishly, the Elf lets go of the ship and raises her arms at her sides, beginning to murmur a soft prayer to the Light as her hands glow and crackle with blue-white sparks of electricity. Linnael nods, before reaching up to start drawing in the air. Light blue runes, and he starts chanting in a strange tongue as he does so. The runes fly up and start into the sails as a breeze, trying to push the ship away from the storm. Eloise is...tying down cargo belowdecks. Exciting. It's a little bit hard to balance on a rocking ship on a pair of narrow hooves, but manageable. A cheer goes up from the pirates as the wind hits what sails are left, pushing the Sorrow away from the storm, and the pirates halt their sail raising activies. ...and then the impossible happens, which puts a look of dismay, and in some case fear, on the pirate's faces. The storm speeds up, moving faster towards the ship, eventually matching it's speed and then once again gaining. Shafi, oblivious to the reasons for the cheering and dismay, merely continues to pray. That crackling lightning in her hands grows more chaotic and powerful, arcing out from the redhead and striking harmlessly on the ship around her. Blue-white sparks crawl out over the entirety of the ship, then gather together to all crawl up the mast. From the top, the electricity rains down around the boat and into the water, faster and faster, before forming into a thin and barely visible bubble of energy that encases the boat and its occupants to hopefully provide protection from the storm's wrath. "Holy..." Ravus stares at the storm as it speeds up, sucking in a breath. "I think this is -intentional-. Do you think there's somebody in there?" Linnael licks his lips. "I'm not sure," he says, before lifting a hand. "Okay, blowing our sails isn't working. Let's see what's in those clouds." And a strong gale shoots the /other/ way, straight into the storm in an attempt to break apart the cloud cover. Eloise finishes helping to rig items down safely and stumbles up on deck, frowning. She bumbles over to Shafi and plunks down nearby. "What's going on, now?" Eloise asks pointlessly, too busy watching to really listen for an answer. The clouds do blow away, just seconds before the storm hits the ship, revealing clear sky above and nothing else. The clouds force their way back in after a moment, and two bolts of lightning arc towards the ship. They stop just before contacting the shield, just crackling in the air, before forming two eyes of electricity. They're simply, looking like cat's eyes in the fact that they have a verticle slit for the 'iris'. More pirates get that look of fear on their faces, those on the mast moving as fast as they can to secure the rigging. The Elf opens her eyes and peers around, taking in the changes around her as she grasps the boat. "It...," Shafi starts, staring up at those electrical eyes in disbelief, "It's alive...?" The redhead blinks a few times, no fear in her features. Instead it's curiosity and wonder. Not that she's going to let go of the boat or stand anytime soon. "Or somebody's controlling it, with a whole lot of power," Ravus remarks grimly, setting his jaw. "Hey!" he yells up at the eyes, marching toward them. "What do you want!" Linnael just watches for now, frowning a bit. "Don't attack until you know it's trying to hurt you," he murmurs to himself. Eloise frowns thoughtfully and digs a small, glittering item out of her back pocket. She centers the item in her plam and focuses intently on it, her lips moving slightly as she builds the basis for a spell in the amulet's depths. The storm sends out a shot of lightning at the ship, which strikes the shield. The eyes pull back as the two forces connect, widening a bit. The shield fails at that, exposing the crew to the elements, torrential rain and highwinds at the moment. The eyes come back to where they had been before, narrowing a bit at the ship. The pirates on the mast have finished their job, but now cling on for dear life (or death) from the high winds. The redhead gasps lightly as her shield is demolished, turning her head away as the rain and winds whip around them. Shafi looks back up, then, and stands, reaching out her whip as she works to maintain her balance. "You know better than this, Shafi," she murmurs to herself as she pulls out that whip, "Hawk's Aerie all over again..." Her eyes take up a violent smokey shift as she glares defiantly through the rain into those electrical ones and shouts, "IF YOU WANT TO HURT US, COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" "Hey, really, what do you want?!" Ravus yells up at the eyes, flinching at the bolt of lightning. "C'mon Shafi, calm down! They -want- something, or they wouldn't be doing this. There's a better way to communicate than lightning, though," he turns to yell back up at the eyes. "Stop this storm and we can actually -talk-!" Linnael closes his eyes a moment, then slowly reopens them. As they do, his eyes glow a bright blue, and a flickering red aura builds up around his body. "And do not try to bring harm to this ship," he calls out. Eloise ignores the procession of events as she prepares a shielding spell of her own. Hasty, perhaps, but she preps it up and judges the distance between her and the mast and the mysterious agressor above. Oddly enough she shrugs in resignation and hauls herself to her hooves and across the deck, where she plants her palm on the mast amulet facedown.: Leaving lots to be desired in the way of presentation, a simple white shimmer skims up the mast to the desperately clinging pirates on the rigging, offering them some modicum of endurance and comfort. The eyes just watch the group, still narrowed, before a gust of harsh wind blows from port, tipping the ship to the side. Multiple pirates are flung overboard, either from the wind itself or from the sudden tipping of the ship. Those on the mast are safe thanks to the shield, the eyes pulling back, wide again as the wind hits the shield, before narrowing further. The shield doesn't break as of yet. The Elf drops to the deck and clings onto the nearest solid something for dear life as the ship is tilted. Shafi frowns, then, and looks around. "What...?" she murmurs, before raising her voice, "Stop what? What's hurting you?" The redhead's hat flies off and she doesn't even notice, the fedora whipping through the air and being cast into the sea. She's too busy being confused and concerned. "It's saying something!" Ravus hollers, hitting the deck as well to cling on. "Whooooah! What'd you say, Shafi?" He glances around the deck, looking to try and find anybody who seems to barely be hanging on and help them out. Linnael blinks as he looks up to the ship, stopping his glow. "Stop /what/?" he calls out. "You attacked us!" He taps the deck with his staff, and wood comes up to brace him. Eloise wraps one arm firmly around the mast as far as it can reach, lightning rod or no, and offers a thick-fingered hand to the nearest struggler with a displeased grunt. Another gust of wind comes, this time from the other side. The same reaction occurs when the wind contacts the shield, but this time it fails, flinging pirates off. Mr. Rum has managed to climb down onto the deck, but a spar breaks off from the side of the mast, sails through the air and impales the man on it's broken side, flinging him over the side with it and a scream that's quickly lost to the wind. The ship groans as it tilts to the other side now, spilling more pirates over. This time Shafi is caught off guard by the lurch of the ship, and is cast about with a surprised squeak. "LIGHT!" she exclaims, and her body moves before she can think. With a deafening -CRACK-, the redhead brings her whip around in an attempt to catch the nearest solid /something/ in hopes of keeping herself onboard, or at least out of the water... That whip catches on one of the hooks used to tie down /something/, and Shafi hangs on for dear life OFF THE SIDE OF THE BOAT. "WE DON'T LIKE HOW YOU PLAY! GO PLAY WITH SOMEONE ELSE!!!" "We can't all play with you, it's you hurting us!" Ravus shouts up at the storm, gauntleted fingernails digging at the deck. "Hold on, Shafi!" He tries to grab the whip and haul her up by it, yelling at the sky all the time, "If somebody comes and plays with you will you leave everyone else alone?" Linnael growls, closing his eyes as he tries to strengthen his bracing, but the wind is too strong. Distracting him, apparently. Eloise frowns at the others, apparently utterly confused as she stands there with the mast practically grafted to her arm. "What'n hellfire are you shouting at!" She starts, but her expression falters as she adds. "An' what is that terrible sound?" The eyes take on a bit of a gleeful look now that all the shields are down, and bolts of lighting arc at the ship, a few pirates getting fried as bolt after bolt strikes. Fortunately, it's much too wet to start any fires. It's acting almost as if it didn't hear what was being said to it. "Thank you," Shafi says to Ravus gratefully as she's hauled back up, the Elf immediately ducking to avoid lightning. She frowns at something she hears and looks up to the lightning eyes thoughtfully, before standing to her full height, putting a hand on her hip, and brandishing her whip at the lightning eyes in a motherly scolding wort of manner. "Stop it this instant!" she calls up commandingly, "You should be ashamed of yourself, playing such rough games! Go back to where you came from and think about all of the bad things you've done, you bad, bad storm!" Ravus whoahs loudly, rolling out of the way of the lightning barely in time. He starts laughing helplessly at Shafi's lecture, shaking his head. "What'd it -say-," he yells to the elf. The sea water swells up all around the ship forming a net that catches the lightning bolts, carrying the current through the saltwater to the ground. "You bad, bad storm," he growls. "You've had your warning! Now, fall into the ocean!" He holds up his hand and squeezes. Bright blue energy bursts out and up - a condensation spell. Eloise finally puts all of those pieces in order and gives a huge huff of disgruntlement. "REALLY!" She bellows -- loudly might be an understatement -- above even a torrent of water. "Playing with other peoples' well being! It is not your game to play!" The eyes widen again as Linn's spell is cast, and the storm shrinks dramatically in size and power, the wind less powerful and strong, but if anything, the rain picks up, no lightning or torential gusts anymore. Shafi lets out a sigh. "See?! This is what happens when you play such rough games! People get hurt and then they hurt you back for being mean to them! Now stop crying and go think about why you shouldn't play mean games that hurt people!" "She sounds like my mom," Ravus says blankly, blinking as the water plasters his hair to his face. "Way, way too much like my mom." Clearing his throat, he adds loudly, "Yeah! If you want people to play with you, YOU have to be nice!" Linnael lets out a soft sigh, then points to the sails. A breeze picks up, starting to push the ship along. "Let's get going," he says quietly. Eloise grouses out the last of her partially verbal tirade and lets go at the mast and whatever poor sailor she forgot was in her grasp. "Oh." She blinks a moment. "Oh dear. Let me fix that." And the amulet comes out of her pocket once more. The storm doesn't attack more, but seems to follow after the ship, still pouring rain down on them. Some hatches for cannons have come off, exposing the guns to the elements, and the wind seems to use that to speak now, able to be heard easily, "No. No leaving, want to play." it says, "No one ever plays, you play." as demanding as the tone is, it sounds a bit odd coming from being blown over the holes in cannons. The few pirates left on deck are sopping wet, among them are Blake and Al, there are a good deal of pirates floating in the water, most face down, but a few are treading water and alive. That fedora is floating on a wave too. "We're not going anywhere just yet," Shafi calls up to the storm, "But we can't play yet, all right? We need to fish our friends out of the water first." She peers at Linnael, "We're not leaving without the pirates that survived. Stop the boat and help save who we can." With that, the Elf heads for the middle of the boat and lets out a sigh. Her entire being glows a vibrant, fiery orange as the healer is lifted a small ways from the deck of the ship, those healing energies flowing in a slow circle about her being. Ravus glances to the right and left, and with a shrug dives off the edge of the boat, braving the weather to try and haul people out of the water. "Working on it...!" Linnael nods, and the wind just stops, letting the ship slow down. "We'll play," he calls up. "Just stop raining on us, please, and let me get a doll to help out." He starts drawing in midair... and slowly, a mannequin starts to form, shaped like a human child, and hollow with a hole in the top. Eloise leans over the edge of the boat and watches Ravus skeptically. "Wunner how he's gonna get out," she say swith a dry smile. And, seeing Shafi handling healing perfectly fine, she nabs a spare line to cast off the ship and haul other survivors out of the water. The other pirates are helping to bring people back onboard as well, those alive that is. Those eyes however, drop down to peer down at Linn and the doll, "What's that?" the wind over the cannons asks. The rain does stop. Shafi continues to float, lips beginning to move as she vocalizes her prayer to the Light. The Elf begins to turn with those shimmering orange energies, which are spinning about more and spreading out. Faster the flames and healer turn, further the power spreads, until the redhead is completely lost within her own spell. That ball os swirling flame then stops, suddenly, as though time has frozen. It remains that way for a full two seconds, before a massive explosion of those healing flames expands and washes over the ship and the water surrounding it to try and save all of those that she can. "It's a doll," Linnael says. "And hollow. You are made of water and air. Slip into it a bit, and you can move it around and play." He smiles. "Now, I need to go to bed. Good night." Hauling isn't really that interesting, honestly. Throw the line, nab a swimmer, haul him in. It would be tedious, if Eloise weren't in such a rush to bring in as many as she can. Those eyes peer at the doll for a moment, before the storm dives into the hole in the top of the doll's head eyes first. There's a lot of storm to fit in, so this creates a bit of a whirlwind from the top of the doll's head all the way up to the clouds. The suction is enough to lift that fedora up, and plunk it on top of the doll's head when the storm is all inside. The doll's eyes glow blue with that electricity. The little thing proceeds to run around the deck, waving it's arms. An 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' sound of giddiness emits from the hole under the hat. In other news, the pirates are still hauling people aboard. Now that Shafi has done her healing bit, she stops spinning and drops back to the deck, landing on hands and knees. "Holy Light," she remarks, eyes wide and breathing rather strained. She stands, slowly, and retrieves a bright blue vial from her pocket, downing it with a cringe. "Right... palatable," she reminds herself as steely eyes fix on the storm doll... wearing her hat. The redhead smiles and looks about, determining that the others have the hauling bit handled, before slowly heading over to see if she can't play with the fedora-wearing doll. Eloise is still hauling, but Eloise is starting to look tired. It could be the copious amounts of seaspray and rainwater still dripping from her short, coarse fur that have soured her expression, but it's hard to tell. Almost all of the living pirates have clambered aboard, and that's when Blake says, "Alrighty mateys, let's get back to port," and the dripping pirates go about turning the ship back towards Port Poxy while Blake rings out his hat. The storm-doll-thing is still running around and 'EEEEEEE'ing, apparently taking delight in it's new form, bouncing up and down sometimes, if it notices Shafi, it's already having fun, but would probably welcome more. "Hey, Stormy," Shafi calls over to the doll brightly, "Would you like to play a game called 'Hide and Go Seek'?" The redhead is still tired, but is smiling cheerfully as she watches the little thing run around. Eloise shakes her head with a quiet laugh, stretching by pulling one arm across her chest for a moment, and then the other. "You're getting quite a collection of energetic, happy little critters, arent'cha?" She says to Shafi. "What's hide and go seek?" the Storm asks through that hole in it's head, the voice sounding rather odd. The storm doesn't wait for an answer, and starts running circles around Shafi, 'EEEEEEEE'ing again. "Yeah, tell me about it," the elf says to Eloise, "Remind me not to introduce Stormy and Little Auggie. My house has been torn apart before, but something tells me this way wouldn't be nearly as much fun as last time." Shafi giggles at the silly storm, watching it run around her before reaching out to pluck her hat from its head. "Hide and Go Seek is a game. I'll pick a spot on the ship to hide in while you count to twenty. You're not allowed to watch me, though, because that's cheating. Once you get to twenty, you can come looking for me. If you find me before I make it back to the mast-" she points to the mast to make sure that he knows what she's talking about- "then you win and it'll be your turn to hide and my turn to seek. Would you like to play it?" Eloise chuckles and nods agreeably, before she leans against a wall of the ship with a tired sigh. "Play!" Stormy replies excitedly, the glow in the eyes flickering and disappearing as the doll stands there. "All right, I'll go hide," Shafi says brightly, putting her sopping wet fedora on her sopping wet head and then running off to hide. She heads below deck and looks around for a good hiding spot, carefully avoiding things like the barrels of magic exploding powder. A thought strikes Eloise, and she asks whoever (excepting Stormy, of course) might be listening. "Hold on, does it even know how to count?" Whether it does or doesn't, the eyes glow again in a moment, and Stormy takes off running, 'EEEEEEE'ing and waving it's arms around as it just runs /everywhere/ searching for Shafi, not seeming to care about the pirates or the fact that it's not found Shafi yet, it's /playing/, that's what it seems to like. The 'EEE'ing makes it pretty easy to tell where Stormy is at, so Shafi adjusts accordingly. She doesn't hide /too/ well. After all, children sometimes get fussy if they don't win, so what's the harm in throwing a game or two? The Elf does, however, put a little bit of effort into it. Enough to make it seem like she's trying. Eloise settles a palm over her eyes in an exasperated gesture. "Somethin' tells me the trip back to port will be much longer this time." She mourns the loss of peace. Stormy eventually finds Shafi, and just runs around her hiding place 'EEEEEEEEEE'ing with glee. Shafi giggles merrily. "You found me!" she says brightly, "Now it's your turn to go and hide. And you'll have to be quiet about it, or I'll be able to find you faster. Will you be able to hide quietly, Stormy?" Seems the redhead has experience in dealing with children from a few different angles. After all that pirate-hauling, Ravus seems to have decided to take a brief rest. Now he's stirring with a resigned groan, mantling his wings. Eloise remains patiently silent, and very very still. "Yes!" Stormy replies excitedly, running off. It's not making noise, but it waves it's hands around excitedly as it runs to hide...right behind Ravus. Oh, and things seem to get rather...staticy in very close proximity to the doll. Shafi closes her eyes and counts before opening them and starting her search. The Elf doesn't try very hard at it, but... well, honestly, Ravus may be armor-plated and all, but it's pretty east to see someone hiding behind someone else. Especially when the first someone is waing their arms arouns and the second someone probably has his hair standing up, among other effects. Yes, Ravus's hair is definitely standing up, and his feathers are bristling. This seems to delight the angle, though. "Woooow," he says softly, staring at his arm as silvery armhair stands up. "Heh, -neat-..!" Eloise looks down at her mace with a perpelexed frown, still hitched to her belt, as it twitches weakly. The healer elf smirks a bit and approaches slowly. "I found you, Stormy!" she declares cheerfully, trying not to laugh at Ravus as she remarks, "Wow, Rav, you look... interesting..." The metal links of her banded-mail start pulling her towards the angel and she frowns, trying to pull away. "What the...?" "Are you helplessly attracted to me, or is it just something in the air," Ravus deadpans. Eloise's mace twitches again, and - perhaps stupidly - she follows the direction of the tug a step. And another. And a third. "What in the..." She trails, following the growing jerk. "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Stormy replies to that, running circles and figure eights around both Ravus and Shafi, "Play!" it exclaims excitedly. The ship is nearing Port Poxy, too. "What can I say? You've got a magnetic personality," Shafi replies without missing a beat. She continues trying to fight the magnetism, but her feet are slipping on the deck. She eventually gives up and stops fighting it, and her armor's links -tink- in several spots as she is magnetted to Ravus's plate, "I've always thought our friendship was pretty close, but this is ridiculous." Ravus laughs a little, telling Stormy, "Uh, sure, I'd love to, but I'm kinda- hi, Shafi..." He keeps his hands poltiely at his side. "Wow, this is kind of like my mortal life..." Step...step...step. Now give her some credit, El eventually figures out what's going on. She eeeeeeyes Ravus and Shafi and then gives a worried glance down at her mace. "Godamnit." She mutters, trying the resist the pull. "Physics again." Stormy doesn't seem to care about the attraction between Shafi and Ravus, and it probably doesn't understand it anyways. It does look at them though, pausing for a moment, before 'EEEE'ing again and running up to stand there with the two of them, giggling as it stands on one side, just like them. Oh, and when it touches metal, there's probably some static electric shocks. The ship pulls up to Port Poxy now too. The Elf peers over at Eloise and eyes her mace with a nervous frown. "El... do me a favor and make sure that doesn't come /flying/ at us...," she says. Her own arms don't just stay at her sides, though. Shafi embraces the angel in a hug. You know, since they're there anyway, she might as well show her appreciation. "I'll ask what you mean by that later. Sounds like an interesting sto-ow!" Shocking! "Stormy, why don't you go play with one of the pirates?" she asks sweetly, before lowering her voice so that only the nearest people can hear her, "You should go play with Al. He's that big cow man up there with all the metal on him..." Ravus yelps as he's shocked, but after a moment, goes ahead and hugs Shafi back warmly as well. "Maybe I should... I don't know, there's got to be something I can do about this..." Eloise frowns, and one hand hovers on her belt buckle. "I'll try," Eloise says, deciding against that option and moving steadily if slowly towards them. She shakes her head apologetically. Stormy 'EEEEEEE's and runs off to Al, who doesn't seem to mind the shocks in the slightest. And The Sorrow gets in to port and the anchor is thrown overboard. Shafi lets out a sigh as the magnetic pull lessens. "Just needed to get Stormy away," she remarks, "I used to conjure lightning in life, so I have a... very basic understanding of what it can do." She smiles, lets go of the angel, and heads towards the portal to Necromundus. "Another interesting trip, Blake! I look forward to the next. Take care of yourselves, all of you." "You too!" Ravus calls after Shafi, smiling and waving. He dusts himself off with a relieved sigh as well as the magnetism and static dies, and then leaps into the air to soar off to parts unknown.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)