chamomileess
Gely sighed. He was cold, wet, and very hungry. They had been going through this forced march for nearly a day. They had stopped the previous evening for a few hours to catch up on sleep, but it started to rain in the middle of the night. Here, of all places. Rain. He would have at least expected snow, but no. Various examples of this strange weather included their first day here in this timeline, when they were hit with a mind and body numbing combination of hail and wind. A few days after that, the sun was so intense that everywhere you looked, you would be blinded, and yet it was still too cold outside for even Emi to bear. And now this. The rain that fell on them that night was about the temperature of a warm bath. The warmth was welcome, but after the rain stopped, the cold air soon seeped through their soaked clothing and nearly gave them one hell of a cold. Sisily had dried them off with a quick blast of Firey Flowers, although she had miscalculated the mana required, and accidentally singed Gely's hair a bit. He was not amused, although Nera simply laughed at him. , he thought. . Gely kept this all this inside, though. He didn't want Nera to get the wrong idea if he all of a sudden burst out like that. Instead, he just looked ahead and kept walking. “We're almost there,” Emi said. “It should be only a few more hours from here.” “Yay!” shouted Sisi. She skipped out from behind Nera up to Emi's side. “Will there be time to eat when we get there?” “Of course,” “What kind of food do you guys have here? I've seen the bread that you guys eat, and it's already pretty funky. Oh, and what kind of juice do you guys drink? Mom and Dad drink 'juice' at home. Do you guys have that here? And I don't see many animals around, so what do you do for meat? Do you hunt? Do you raise animals? Do you...” Emi cut her off. “Let's just say, when we get there, it's my treat, okay?” Sisi blinked. “Oh. Okay Emi-.” The group walked for a little longer in silence. Step after step they trod through the ankle-high snow. As with everything here, the snow was actually quite comfortable. It was almost like an entire field of cotton wadding, except you got wet if you stood in it for too long. The group walked on, leaving hundreds of small footprints trailing into azure distance...-- Hirst swung Skylar with deadly precision, slashing at unseen enemies. The double-bladed pole-arm flashed crimson and silver, its red ribbon flapped in the wind. Hirst knew that he should keep chasing his prey, but he didn't want to get rusty. He pulled the weapon close, blocking the imaginary attacks from his enemies before sending Skylar in a lunge, spinning on its axis. Hirst held this stance for a minute, maintaining this balance. To be a Polearm Master was no small title, and it came at the cost of constant discipline. He closed his eyes, relishing the perfection of his balance with Skylar. The smoothness of the wood after years of use, the gentle flapping of the ribbon in the wind, the near weightlessness of the blade. After a full minute, Hirst returned to his ready stance. Hirst's stomach growled. He realized that he hadn't eaten in a couple hours. Walking back out of the clearing in which he was practising, he found his pack sitting on a stump. He reached into it and grabbed a small bun out of a plastic container. Before he left, he had raided Reciful's fridge and found these strange white buns. They felt heavier than they would be if they were simply bread, so he assumed that there must be something in them. Hirst sniffed tentatively at the bun, not sure whether or not to trust what was in them. His stomach growled again. . And with that, he took a bite. He spat that mouthful out. “What the hell...?” he said, wiping his mouth. “Nutella?” Hirst had, unknowingly, picked up one of the Nutella buns that Madelaine made for Reciful. It wasn't so much that it tasted bad, it was just that Hirst was a bit shocked at the taste. He was expecting meat. , he thought. Hirst picked up Skylar and walked on, munching on the overly-sweet bun. The city of Vanagard loomed on the horizon. -- The town port loomed up in the fading sunlight. The dock, stained with salt and cracked with old age offered a familiar home for seafaring vessels. The ancient wood creaked as soon as you looked at it, and the boats tied up on the dock looked just as old as the dock. The old, tired ships were losing their colour; the once vivid blues and yellows now only a shadow of their former glory. All this was perfectly offset by Errant Venture's pristine paint coat and perfectly streamlined hull. The waves broke over the ship's prow silently. Errant Venture pulled up next to the dock and drifted to a stop. A pair of ropes were flung out of the side, followed by a screaming Jack, who landed on his rump. “Ow,” he said. Rubbing the spot where he landed, he turned his head down into the ship. “You didn't have to throw me after the ropes, you know. I have nerves, they do not.” “It wouldn't be fun if I didn't,” Kayla replied cheerily. “Besides, that's payback for whacking me with that bat.” Jack rolled his eyes. “I said it then, and I'll say it now: you deserved it.” “How?” “You poured rum down the barrels of my pistols.” “Because you left them in the cup-holders. I thought they were cups!” “They're pistols, for Tosl's sake! How could they be cups!? Their barrels are a hell of a lot narrower than the brims of cups!” Kayla clapped her hands over her ears. “Lalala, I can't hear you and your logic. Lalala...” Jack seriously thought whether he should just shove his sister overboard. He sighed, and tied the two ropes to the empty peg on the dock. Jumping back down into Errant Venture, Jack shuffled past his sister as she was climbing up onto the dock and went straight to his cabin to pack. Despite being a small ship, Errant Venture had an unusually large cabin space that comprised of four separate quarters for deck-hands. Since they only needed two, Jack and Kayla used one of the rooms for storage of weapons. The other room was used for their private rum stash. Kevin had argued against this, saying that there was no need to keep the rum this close to the cabins because he and Kayla were the only ones who were ever on board. Kayla had, as usual, irrationally stated that the stash had to be a secret stash of rum. When asked why it had to be secret, she simply replied, “Because we're pirates”. Jack was not impressed. The rest of Errant Venture was just as unusual. Having a total of three masts on a 40 ft. ship meant that they could achieve amazing speeds, even when the weather was calm. The ship was just wide enough for four people to walk side by side. The only reason Errant Venture didn't tip over was because of the two pairs of out-riggers attached to the side, providing better stability for the ship. With two separate decks, the ship could hold twice as much cargo as others of comparable size. The hull was painted a deep aphoristic blue, making it blend into the water and sky at night. At the top of the mainmast, two jolly rogers flew, one with crossed pistols and one with crossed knives. Jack strode to the back of the ship, walked into the cabin area and entered the first door on the left. The familiar smell of the old Bl'or Ash wood calmed his nerves a bit. Breathing in the cinnamon-like scent, he closed his eyes. It was always a sort of mental battle when dealing with his sister. Her carefree attitude combined with her stubborn stick-to-it attitude make her impossible to reason with when she decides to do something, whether it's actually intelligent or just amazingly stupid. Like the time when she decided it would be a good idea to try and cook calamari in their galley. Jack had spent the better part of the next week cleaning dried up bits of exploded octopus off the galley walls while Kayla was off doing other things. Kevin snorted as he pushed the memory out of his mind. Yes, Kayla was a handful at times. Truth be told, however, he really couldn't live without her. Although he may not seem like it, Jack knew that he depended on his sister whenever he could. Jack opened his eyes and got back to packing for their time on shore. Pulling out a rough burlap sack, Jack tossed in a pair of trousers, a beige shirt and a sack of Auradium coins. He then tied the sack to his belt, making sure that the knots were tight. Being a thief had taught him how to protect against pickpockets. Finally, Jack holstered his two pistols into two holsters in his boots. The guns fit perfectly in their customized holsters, and remained concealed from sight. Satisfied that he had packed all he needed, he stepped back out of his cramped cabin and walked off to join Kayla, who was waiting for him patiently at the dock.-- “Nera, I'm !” wailed Sisily. Nera tried to ignore Sisily for the third time in a row. Sisily's Greek Tragedy wails had been going on for about fifteen minutes now, and it was seriously starting to get her nerves a bit. Nera walked a little faster, trying to distance herself from Sisi. Sensing that Nera was trying to ignore her, Sisily turned her attention to the closest victim. “Gely, I'm!” When this attempt at attention was thwarted as well, Sisi turned to her last resort. “Emi, I'm !” Emi nodded calmly, a small smile spreading across her face. “I understand, Sisily. We've been walking for a while, haven't we?” “Yes. Yes we have, and I wanna rest.” Sisi put on her best pouting face. “We only have a little farther to go before we get there, so if you hang in there, I'll buy you something tasty to eat, okay?” Sisi's face brightened up. “Yay! Thank you Emi-jie!” “But you can't complain anymore, alright?” Sisi snapped off a sharp salute and replied, “Yes ma'am.” Nera breathed a sigh of relief. They were saved from dealing with Sisi's whining for at least another thirty minutes, and, according to Emi, that would be enough time for them to get to town. The walked on. The landscape was slowly changing around them. The snow became thinner, and the trees grew more numerous. A slightly warm, salty breeze washed over them as the passed a grove of dead Voorak trees. The sky grew clearer as the evening approached, the white clouds slowly fading into the darkening sky. The lower of the two suns kissed the horizon, sending rays of blue light bouncing off the mountaintops.-- They reached the town just after the sun fully set. Tired and sore, the weary foursome trudged towards the nearest building. Exhaustion was beginning to set into their limbs, and they needed a place to stay the night. Although Sisi insisted that they find a big fancy hotel, everyone else overruled her and decided to find the smallest inn available, since they didn't want to attract attention. “I have enough Auraudium on me to pay for our night here,” Emi started. “But...” “But what?” asked Sisily. Emi hesitated. A slight shadow of doubt flickered over her face before she said tentatively, “I may be unable to pay for food at the same time.” Nera clamped her hand over Sisily's mouth before the Greek-Tragedy wails could start. Emi continued, “If I had a little bit more Auraudium, I could buy us a small meal.” Sisi's eyes widened, and she tried to speak through Nera's hand. When that didn't work, she tried something else. “Ow!” Nera flung her hand off of Sisi's face. “You bit me!” Sisi stuck out her tongue. “You hand wasn't too tasty, either. You should wash them.” “Well, I'm sorry I haven't been able to while we were going through our little forced march.” Ignoring Nera completely, Sisily took the piece of Auraudium that she had been playing with out of her pocket and held it up to Emi. “Will this do?” she asked. “Nera said she found it in one of the Cloudhopper nests, and she gave it to me to shut me up for a bit.” Emi smiled and flicked her eyes towards Nera. Nera was still ranting to Gely about how sore and tired she was, and Gely was desperately trying to calm her down. A lost cause, really. Nera would finish ranting when she got all of her feelings out. “Yes, Sisily,” she said. “That will do just fine. In fact, I think we can get a little bit more than a small meal. I might be able to get us a full course, as well as provisions for a few days.” Confident that she had satisfied Sisily's immediate desires, Emi turned to lead the others through the town. She looked around at the tired and strange faces. She looked into their eyes and saw fatigue, emptiness and lethargy. All around them, buildings made of chunks of snow and ice stood and glistened in the sunlight, but the eyes of the villagers had no life, no spark of youthful energy at all. It was sad; the recent harvests of Phantasia were not as bountiful as the previous years, and the results were seen drawn on the faces of the villagers. There, a man wrapped himself in a threadbare blanket, trying to sell his coat to the passerbys who hadn't a coat themselves. At the other end of the street, a girl tried to feed a piece of bread to her half-conscious brother, her own cheeks drawn taught against her jaw. And all around, the lifeless aura given off by the people unsettled her. Emi touched the small jewel on her hair-tie, and silently prayed, -- “What in the name of all things Holy are you saying?” Kayla looked at the source of her voice, her reverie having been rudely interrupted. What she found was Jack looking at her, not with eyes of envy, but with the look of someone who was truly confused. Or frightened. Or maybe both. “I wasn't saying anything,” Kayla replied nonchalantly. “Were there words coming out of my mouth? If not, then I wasn't talking.” Still not impressed, Jack chided, “You were doing it again.” “What?” “What do you mean, what? 'Lone pirate maiden', 'stunning twin daggers', 'fading evening sun'?” Jack looked at Kayla with a smirk. “You were narrating yourself again.” “You said THAT out loud too...” Jack sighed. A bit shocked and embarrassed, Kayla blushed and said, “So what if I want to be a beautiful pirate maiden? It fits me doesn't it? Plus, I am beautiful, fair and gentle.” It looked like he really tried. His face contorted, scrunched up, and his eyes screwed shut as he slapped his hands over his mouth, but try as he might, Jack could not suppress the laugh that shook his body from head to toe. “You... fair and gentle? Oh gods...spare me!” Jack panted between laughs and coughs. Kayla's face turned beet red. For some reason, it was always like this. She would be off dreaming about her life as it should have been, or some other idealized scenario, and Jack would barge in only to interrupt, disturb and make fun of it all. Plus, his laughing was not helping her mood. Turning her back to him, Kayla said over he shoulder, “I couldn't care less what you think about what I think about myself. I know I'm a beautiful pirate maiden who's destiny is to sail the fifteen seas, pillaging where I want, stealing from who I want, taking what I want...” Kayla's words fell on deaf ears, as Jack was still laughing. He was now curled up on the deck, tears streaming down his face as the laughter would not stop. Kayla's face turned beet red with embarrassment, and turned away from Jack and stomped off towards the Bow of Errant Venture. She stood on the worn deck, and sighed. She breathed in the clear, salty air. She closed her eyes and relished the warm breeze, the gentle flapping sound of the canvas sails, murmur of creaking wood below. She stood there and enjoyed this perfect moment for what seemed an eternity, letting the stress tension drain out of her body.They had left the last port, an intermediate stop between them and Vanagard, a day and a half ago, and Vanagard was still nowhere in sight. The port should have at least been visible by now. They had unloaded much of their illegal cargo and left it with a friend who had a way of distributing some of the sketchier goods to all the right people. As for the payment they received, it was just enough to cover the food, ammunition and powder for the next week and a half. Not a bad haul for a couple sacks of Voorak bark. Kayla didn't like involving her brother in this business. As much of a joke as she and Jack made out of it, it was by no means a safe job option. Every day they were out there stealing, they ran the risk of being stabbed, shot, crushed, drowned, hung, bludgeoned, and all sorts of other ways to die. Even so, running Errant Venture by herself was no fun, and it would have been very hard to do so. Trimming the masts alone take at least two people, and with her skinny arms it would be impossible to lug in the outriggers for their frequent repairs. Plus, she couldn't just leave Jack alone, could she? As an older sister, she had a duty to watch over her younger sibling, even if it bugged the hell out of her to do so. So, Kayla just had to swallow her bile a bit, and take comfort in the fact that she was able to share this time with her own brother. She opened her eyes and saw a green-blue haze on the horizon. Pulling her watch-glass out of her pocket, she extended the telescope-like object and aimed it at the haze. A small port came into sharp focus, and the little pictures etched into the glass for size reference told her that the port was about 2 miles away. Closing the watch-glass, Kayla walked back over to Jack, where he was getting up on his hands and knees, panting heavily from having laughed for so hard and so long. His eyes, still watery from his convulsive laughter, flitted upwards, and when he saw Kayla, he managed to say, “Oh look, it's the pirate maiden...” before he broke down, clutching his sides laughing. Mildly annoyed, Kayla gave Jack a swift bonk on the head, saying, “We're a couple miles from Vanagard. Get ready to dock.” Jack's laughing calmed down enough to him to say, “ Yes, my pirate maiden. Are we sailing off into the fading evening sun? Oh good gods! It's too much! Ahaha!” Kayla's brow furrowed with irritation, and she smacked her brother on the head one more time before stomping off to her cabin, slamming the door and locking it, muffling Jack's uproarious laughter.-----I will add more to this.... This is about 60% of the chapter. Writer's block is an annoying son-of-a-monkey's-uncle.-