The Eternal Voyage: Chapter One

The Eternal Voyage: Chapter One
Date of Scene:	17 July 2014
Location:	A Quiet World
Synopsis:	Leviathan done got whipped, and a certain girl and her seagull butler(?) found a home. Doesn't get much better than that.
Thanks to:	Faruja, Staren, Arthur, Kirika, Kotone, Allyn, Rosamarie, and a surprise visit from Twilight! You guys are amazing thank you so much for being there aaahhh
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, Arthur Lowell, Staren, 152, 183, 307, 411, 438, 481

---

Mizuki (183) has posed:
It's a rather dreary night outside, what with the constant deluge and the somewhat horrific thunder. It might make some visitors happy, then, that the night's proceedings will be taking place inside.

Yes, welcome to the aptly name 'Silent Night'. This is the physical manifestation of all of Mizuki's memories, but it doubles as a catalogue of all of the novels, short stories, and poems that she has ever written. It's unclear which group is larger, but one thing is glaringly obvious: this place is massive. I know, I know, the roomdesc already said so, but just so that it's communicated as well as it needs to be. At the very least, this place is a true testament to the stunning power of boredom to spur one to engage in their pastimes. But tonight, it's more than that. It's a place to travel into the past.

Well, okay, not really. But as people meander in from the outside, they would notice Miss Mizuki sitting casually on the edge of the water fountain. True to her word, she has a book with a cerulean cover in her hands, and... a radiant smile on her face. She's been looking forward to this, clearly! Ah, but any performance or presentation is nothing without excellent service. Callia, Palora, and even the resident librarian are all present, and seem to have laid out a small collection of tea and treats. There are some chairs pulled around the ornate centerpiece that Mimi has chosen to read from, too! The local service is always prepared and never complacent, at least in theory.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn makes his way to where they were told to gathered, seems his current large saber toothed cat form has been his preferred one lately, as that is what he makes his way about as. He tilts his head to Mizuki and goes over to the fountain a moment, stares down at the water and laps some up. He then finds a comfortable looking spot on the ground, lowers himself to the ground and lays his head on his paws, ears perked to listen to the story.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja might be actually pouting a little at the fact they're not having this shindig in the rain. Then, he remembers where he is. Dressed in simple robes today, he thinks, and suddenly there's refreshing rain falling on his head...as well as the gentle tune of the Burmecian national anthem playing as he walks around.

"...I love this world." Mutters the rat happily.

The group of maids and Mizu herself are treated with a tired Burmecian's usual pleasantries, before he simply flumps into a chair and devours tea and treats alike. The rain, oddly, doesn't seem to stop him in the slightest. So too does it seem to avoid books!

Staren has posed:
Staren steps out of the warpgate, and considers. Apparently, teleporting to unknown locations is risky, according to the person who made this world. So he'll need to find another means of transport.

Staren flies through the air over the city. It's just a hard transport method to beat, you know? Sometimes he does aileron rolls or loop-de-loops. Then he speeds up on his way to the city, flying over it and looking around. "Wow." At last he flies around the library and comes in for a landing... way too fast! He lands anyway, coming to a stop in front of the door with a tire-screeching sound effect.

He waves to Mizuki and walks over, "Hi! Huh... I'm a little surprised. Why write books, when you can create...?" he gestures at the world they're in.

Staren blinks at Faruja's personal raincloud. "Um... is everything alright?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
The weather's taken a turn for the worse, and Kirika has come prepared this time around. Her cloak trails behind her in the winds as she approaches the house itself after a trip via the warpgate. Upon reaching the doorstep, she first knocks upon the door, before she enters and removes her boots once the door itself is open.

The half-kitsune has dressed a bit more modern than usual, at the least for the sake of blending in on her travels. The new clothes are considerably more comfortable too, and also practical for travel even if it makes Kinugiri and the fox-features just a bit more conspicuous. Oh well, glamors can fix that and Mizuki's already seen her before anyways.

As she recognizes the two assistants of Mizuki, the scythe-wielding terrors, Kirika gives them a wary nod before she smiles warmly and bows to Mizuki, kneeling before the young lady seiza-style with her sword at her side. "Well met, Mizuki. I trust your night has been adequate?"

Faruja and Allyn both get nods of recognition as well, the former receiving an amused smirk as Faruja goes through the books with glee.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
ARTHUR LOWELL arrives in his usual way, which is to say, with swaggering confidence and a striding gait, bearing a big grin as he heads through the entryway. Boy I sure hope "silent night" doesn't mean he has to be quiet. "'Ey! Miz!" He calls out enthusiastically. He snaps his fingers and immediately disperses the water on him before whooshing his way straight to one of those chairs, seating himself in a way that he's calculated to be the most casual and cool that he can while still keeping respectful. It also, as usual, doesn't show much of how he's impressed by the local setting.

Dude's already sipping on some tea by the time he's in the chair, and sets about nibbling on the treats while he does. Dude's got kind of a sweet tooth from the look of it. He keeps his eyes on the orator of the day, though, clearly eager to attentively listen to her story.

"Shit, yo, I gotta SAY, you're WAY goddamn braver than I am, callin' up this LONG PAST shit. FIRST BOOK? I got a friend that if ya asked t'see any of the FIRST STORIES she wrote, she'd goddamn PUNCH ya." A brief laugh.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has had some cautious fun the last time she was still she wans't sure what to expect as the cybor arrived. She looks over toe Faruja for a moment looking at him tilting her head a little bit.

"Hello."

She then turns to Mizuki for a momentand says.

"Hello, its good to see you again Mizuki."

Kotone did enjoy herself the last time even if she was hestant on certain things here. She also pauses at Arthur as he enters.

"So Arthur we meet face to face. Your a bit taller than I thought you'd be."

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
Rosamarie didn't speak up on the radio to secure an invitation. This is her own time off, and part of her's afraid that if she showed open interest in attending a storytelling session someone would take note and order her to do something combat-related instead. Not the Union, of course, but her own Fleet superiors. Enough sailors resent and disparage Maidens without her announcing her leisure on broadband.

Better perhaps for Rosa to do what she's best at. Appear from nowhere, unexpected. She comes through the warpgate, looking around, drawing up her jacket hood to shield her somewhat from the pounding rain. Coming in, seeing a few familiar faces, she offers a faint grin and wave of the fingers. "I hope no one minds me joining uninvited." she asks in a quiet voice.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Mizuki gives Allyn a gentle, friendly pat of the head, her way of greeting the shapeshifter without words. Immediately afterwards, she looks up to the gathering crowd with a smile... and exhales. Then she notices Faruja, the anthem, and the raincloud... and she can't keep a straight face anymore. While he doesn't get a loud laugh out of her - more like an 'elegant' snort, honestly - it's abundantly clear that she's amused. Once she's 'recovered', she quietly adds, "Charming as always, my friend. Good evening."

And then there's the boy feline genius, as inquisitive as ever. Frankly, she's surprised that she recognizes him. Can't always know what he'll show up looking like, but... hey, that's what <indigo>imagination</indigo> is all about, right? She smiles and respectfully bows her head in greeting, proceeding to answer his question almost immediately. "Because," Her eyes narrow with all due mysteriosity, "to me, writing and creating are one and the same. And in my world, what I say goes. For the most part." She widens her grin just slightly, thinking that enough of an answer to tell him everything. Then... Kirika? Her eyes grow a little wide as she kneels in front of her. A cultural thing? She hides her expression with one of her sleeves. Even if she is kinda God here, she's not used to receiving that kind of a respectful greeting. She'll certainly take it, though! "Well met indeed. And my evening has been just lovely, thank you~."

Her head swivels over toward the one voice she knows that could probably bring this entire cavernous abyss of literature out of the Twilight Zone of ominousness. Her grin just gets wider and wider, and again she has to fight to stifle a giggle. "Evening, Arthur." She bows her head. "And yes, it is... a trifle embarrassing. But it's been so long at this point that it hardly feels like something I wrote at all. That makes this a bit less terrifying, you know?" Kotone receives yet another nod. "Greetings, Miss Yamakawa. Always so good to see you." Rosamrie's rather subtle entrance receives a rather emphatic return from Mizuki, though. "Oh, Miss Alba~! I invited the entire Multiverse! You need not worry about such trivialities. Relax, enjoy your break~." She complements this miniature speech with a raise of her free hand... before she clears her throat and flips open the book.

"This evening," Mizuki begins, her voice taking on a 'narrative tone', "I shall share with you all the story of the Eternal Voyage. The sojourn of a little girl across the endless azure oceans of her world, the twists and turns on her journey..." The book begins... to glow. Then, suddenly, Mizuki drops it to the floor. It grows in size... and some variety of bizarre vortex opens up across its binding.

... book portal?

Mizuki puts her hands on her hips and turns up her nose in pride. "I told you that my reading methods were unconventional. Now, not a moment to waste! All of you get in there~! I'll remain outside so that I can extract you when the night's adventure is complete~."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn butts his head against Mizuki carefully as she pats his head and gives her a purr of greeting. Faruja, Kirika, Kotone and Staren get a purr in greeting as well, since he knows them at least. Otherwise he stays rather quiet. He blinks a moment and eyes the vortex, then gets back to his feet and wanders off into it, after giving it a good sniff anyway.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja smiles lightly to Kotone. "M'Lady Yamakawa. Hail to thee! Ye look well. Come to hear our dear Lady Mizuki's story?"

Allyn and hthose he knows generally get nods and bows, the rodent all smiles and hidden yawns. Allyn gets headpets too.

Mimi, a smile. "Good evening my dear! Lord's blessings upon thee!" Cue thunder at dramatic points in the national anthem. Now he's just teasing.

Faruja sends it all away as Mizu speaks, letting the woman take up the reigns of drama. He smiles the entire time. Then, book portal.

Faruja stares. "...Ye never fail to to impress. Well then." A bow to Mizuki and in he steps.

Staren has posed:
Staren listens to Mizuki attentively. He smiles to her, Arthur, and Faruja -- the others get more neutral looks.

And then she announces they'll be going /into/ the book. He stares for a moment, then shrugs. Sure, why not! He rezzes his Alfheim adventuring clothes -- wait, no, that's not quite right. He looks over himself. His coat changes to a more pirate-period one, his undershirt and pants poof out slightly, his boots grow taller and slightly slimmer, his goggles disappear as he ties a sea-green bandana around his head. The crossbow slung over his back is replaced with a flintlock musket, he draws his daggers and runs up to the portal. "To ADVENTUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE!" He leaps in!

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika seems o relax, grabbing some tea to drink as things get settled in. Glancing with a raised brow at Arthur, the boy's odd speech patterns certainly get a surprised look out of Kirika. People in the multiverse are so /weird/...

And her stance on how weird things are is reinforced as she spots the portal, glancing at Mizuki with a wary 'Are you sure?' look before she sighs, shrugging as she rises and goes back to retrieve her cloak and boots. With that, she makes her way to the portal, walking in and expecting...things.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa smiles a little bit at Mizuki she also gives a look over to Allyn as it takes her a bit to catch on to whom it is.

"Hello to you again as wel."

She looks back to Mizuki as she greets everyone.

"So a world of endless sea? Curious."

She looks at the portal, she takes a deep breath and follows everyone else in!

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"REALLY?" Arthur says to Kotone, blinking. Man, she must have expected him to be really short! "Well HEYA, we done some WORK together on the fuckin' GIANT ROBOT shit and all, but YEAH, nice t'MEETCHA. You know, outside of FIGHTS." He's pretty sure they met before, but just didn't talk much. And then, portals!

"Awwww shit, this is ALREADY lookin' GREAT. Wish I could make STORIES like THIS shit, yo." Arthur says, eagerly looking at the portal. "I don't think it's POSSIBLE for some MINI-UNIVERSE shit to be a BAD STORY." And with that, he jumps up and over the table he was at, landing just before the portal, then strides on in without any hesitation or hurry. He is READY to go! "So let's get to CHECKIN' OUT this VOYAGE!"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Mizuki smiles and even laughs a few times at everyone's reactions to the appearance of the portal. Staren especially gets some chuckles. Of course, she couldn't have said anything about this before they were all gathered here already. There would be no suspense! No surprise~! Sure, they would've known what to expect, but where's the fun in that? She smirks as the portal closes and the book shrinks down to a more manageable size. No, this was absolutely -perfect-.

Meanwhile, everyone falls down... a bizarre, twisting tunnel of black, white, and purple. This trippy imagery is accompanied by something that sounds disturbingly similar to the first 40 seconds of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi0pZyOYsxI. But... that's not entirely consequential, mainly because it doesn't last but a few seconds.

Soon, they will find themselves... on a boat, probably laying on their backs. Or sides. Or other such things. Mainly, though, it's unlikely that they would find themselves standing upright. But what they do find is... a surprisingly modern atmosphere. They appear to be on a large yacht with multiple floors and plenty of indoor areas. That's... not all that they find, though. This next thing isn't a what, but a who: a red-haired girl with her hair tied down with a blue bandanna that matches the color of her eyes. She looks as bewildered for the first few moments as the rest of you probably feel, but before long, she's shaking her head vigorously and holding out a rather (un)intimidating wooden sword in their direction.

"A-Ar...!" There's an obvious quiver in her voice. "Y-Ye all are on Captain Avery's ship! A-And if you all don't tell me what you're... um... YER doin' here, I'll... keelhaul YE all!" Oh, God, is she shivering? Yes, yes she is. Soon, though, some sort of bird - a seagull it looks like - alights on her shoulder. "Calm down, Avery..."

Wait, did that bird just speak? Intelligibly? Gah, too much weird crap at once. Unless you're already desensitized to it, that is.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
Rosa's grin broadens, but only for a moment. "I'm not much for talking on that radio, admittedly." she claims. This is true at least. She'll talk on the Union channel on occasion, but almost never on public broadband. "I do like stories though." she adds. Well, books at least. Actual spoken stories are something she has little experience with, except perhaps when she was a child being read to by her parents.

As people scramble to jump into the portal, Rosa stares at it in fascination, and perhaps a bit of worry. She's not one to do things because of peer pressure. Still, she's no coward. She's capable, and so are those who are here with her. They seem willing if not eager to experience this, and they're clearly more familiar with Mizuki than she is. She's already come through one portal to get a story, why not enter one more?

Remaining somewhat indrawn, Rosamarie enters the portal... to adventure.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn blinks and lies there on his side for a few moments and then after a short bit gets to his feet and gives himself a good shaking of his fur. He tilts his head at the woman and then again at the gull. Well, he's not surprised when an animal talks, because he does that as well. The large cat peers at the pair, "We want to be hired?"

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja grins. "Ye look dashing Ser Staren! Most roguish!" Offers the rat to Staren before they're on their way.

Faruja turns to Rosa. "Thine experience shall be invaliable, Lady Alba!" Thank Faram for a shipgirl on a world of oceans.

Faruja winds up hanging from the ship's sails, his tail tangled in it! Dangle dangle dangle. Faruja frowns severely.

"Hail to thee honored Captain! Erm...we art...erm. Visitors. Lost ones! Mine apologies for our sudden intrusion!"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
What is he doing here? "Well, ME, I'm mostly CHILLIN' here." Arthur Lowell says, still on his back on not really moving. "I mean, C'MON, what's it LOOK like I'm doin'? And KEELHAULIN' would be HELLA COUNTERPRODUCTIVE on that." He gives a quick grin, making finger-guns at the girl briefly. "YO, Avery, right? Sweet BOAT." Arthur looks around, but still stays on his back. "And cool BIRD too. HEYA, bro." A quick, friendly wave to the gull.

"So HEY, what's goin on in THIS boat? You been OUT TO SEA for LONG?" Arthur casually links both hands behind his head while he pulls his hood up to keep the sun out of his eyes and acting as if he's supposed to be here. He's completely uncertain of how you're supposed to act here, obviously, and still heavily disoriented from that strange trans-spatial tunnel, but he's nothing if not practiced in pretending to be a cool guy who is wherever he's supposed to be.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa soons fins her self falling into a book, she has heard the expression used before? Yet This wasn't what she expcted. She laying on her back. The young cyborg makes to get back to her feet. She was not expecting this but she finds it's pretty swanky here.

"Err er're not hear to hurt yo... wait that bird?! It's talking!?"

Allyn would know animals just don't do that on Kotone's world, some things are harder to get used to than not. It's also a seagull the nemesis of all car owners, bearers of a dozen very unflattering names. It's talking to them and she just kinda looks on in shock for a moment longer before she finally snaps out of it.

"Err I'm sorry! I'm Kotone Yamakawa! It's good to meet you Captain!"

She bows a little bit as she attempts to recover from bungling her introduction.

Staren has posed:
Staren flashes Faruja a smile for his compliment, and then... "Wooooooah what is thiiiiiiis?!" they tumble through SPACE AND TIIIIIME or maybe just space. I mean spaaaaaaaaaace...

Staren's on a boat. He looks around... and then when he sees the girl, he quick-stands by crossing his legs, and sheaths his daggers. "Captain Avery, huh?" Staren extends an empty hand to her. "I am Staren of Lazlo, and me and my companions are here to help you on your quest!" He smiles.

Kirika (481) has posed:
As Kirika wanders down into the portal, she doesn't look back even as she hears it close behind her. THere's no point in stopping now, only moving on to carry this adventure out. She continues down the path until she feels her footing give away, and she yelps in surprise as she falls into a void of nothingness.

It lasts for but a second or more, and Kirika awakens on the ground, lying facedown and dazed. Groaning for a moment, the half-fox rolls onto her back before she rises to her feet, shaking off the dizziness she feels as she looks around. Her nostrils fill with what seems like salt water. They're on a yact, in the midst of the ocean.

Greeted by a young lady playing pirate, Kirika feels safe enough in the face of a wooden sword and an untrained child to not bother reaching for her sword on reflex. A glance at the bird confirms this world is not exactly 'normal'. Good enough.

Hikage, a shadowy black-gold fox, emerges out of Kirika's shadow after her neck glows with a pale light. The familiar may help put the child at ease, in a 'I have one too' way. ~Hello there, little one.~ The fox intones warmly enough, purring as Kirika reaches up to scritch her familiar and companion's ears. ~It seems you've yourself a crew, as it were.~ She 'chuckles', purring at the scritching.

"Yes, indeed." Kirika comments, deciding to roll with it too. "What do you seek aboard this vessel, if I may ask? I am Kirika, this is my familiar Hikage. These are our friends." SHe motions to herself, the fox, then the group in order with a smile.

Rosamarie Alba (438) has posed:
Rosa sees no reason to answer the 'captain' as others do so admirably. Her own name isn't going to add much, at least not until and unless there's a need for more active communication. Blame the tunnel perhaps, or the ocean. Ah, the ocean. She lives beside it, works within it... Faruja's right. Her experience is substantial. Not that she knows a thing about SAILING. But if there's trouble, she can surely do something.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
The girl tilts her head at Allyn in kind, and the aforementioned gull... flips the crap out. With a screechy 'SQUWAK!', he bolts off of the girl's shoulder and hides behind her head, peeking its own head out a bit later, carefully holding on to Avery's cheek as it does so. "W-Well we don't want any help!" It makes 'shoo' gestures with one of its wings. "So go on! Scram! I-If you could get here you can get back...! Uh... I hope!" Avery just... kinda... pats the bird's head. "D-Didn't you just tell me to chill, Breeze?" The girl nervously glances around at the group... before looking up and promptly laughing out loud.

"O-Oh my God, Breeze! Look!" She points at Faruja. "Dude, there's this oversized rat guy hanging up there!" She waves at him. "Hey, Mister Rat Guy! What are you doing up there? You look totally ridiculous!" She turns to the group, suddenly much more calm than she had been just moments ago. "Hey, one of you might wanna help him out before he goes overboard or something." But soon, her expression goes... completely... blank. Arthur gets a long, vacant stare from the bird and the girl alike.

"Uhhhhh, thanks. Yeah, this boat is pretty sweet, I know." She tilts her head, narrowing her eyes and raising her sword in his direction again. "B-But I'm not gonna tell you anything until you tell me how you got here! And why! You're..." Her eyes blink... and she pauses another moment before clearing her throat. Her cheeks are completely red. "... w-what I MEANT to say was, yer not 'er to steal my... ME treasure, are you? YE?"

Breeze folds his wings behind his back handsomely and addresses Kotone. "Of -course- I am talking. I am a learned gull, and that is precisely what learned gulls do. Speak, I mean." He nods, shutting his eyes in just the most dignified manner that a little bird can. Avery seems to appreciate being called captain, at least. "Arrr, it ain't good to meet me! I'm the scourge o' the seventy-seven seas, ye nitwit!" Cough. "Er, I mean, ye scallywag!"

Staren... kinda surprises her. She doesn't stay silent as long as she did with Arthur, but she still has some trouble coming up with a reply. Eventually, she just takes his hand... and lightly shakes it. Quietly, she says, "... you mean you came all this way just to help me? How did you know I was here? And why? That's... kinda amazing, though, pirate guy..." But then something else catches her eye. It's...

OhMyGod, a freaking fox!

Avery completely drops the pirate captain facade and squees, clapsing her hands tight. "I-Is that a fox??" She looks at Kirika, beaming. "C-Can I pet it? Geez, it's SO ~ CUTE!" Eventually, though, she shakes her head, eliciting a swish of her amber hair. After another meek 'Um', she says, "W-We're, uh... looking for treasure! And... maybe... a place to live." Eventually, though, she turns to face everyone, a hand rubbing along the length of the opposite arm.

"H-Hey, everybody. Um... I'm Avery. And this is Sea Breeze. I call him Breeze for short." She gestures to the bird, who snaps back into an official, stiff position like he did with Kotone. She forces a smile. "I'm, um... not really a pirate captain. And I'm not looking for treasure. But to answer somebody else's question, we've been out here a loooong time..." She lowers her gaze, and taps her fingers together. "... and we're... kinnnda looking for an island to call home." She looks up again, hopefully. "I-Is that why you guys are here? To help us find dry land?"

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja dangle dangle. Faruja goes limp as Avery speaks. A deep sigh runs through him.

"Hail to thee, my Child. Mine name is Father Senra. I am a nezumi, not a rat. Well met to ye both." Dry land. Well, it's good as any other excuse.

"So it seems we art! Alongside ye olde 'adventure upon yonder high seas.'" Pause.

"Yes, please, could someoe kindly get me down? Where art we, Lady Avery, Ser Breeze?

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn would give a chuckle if animals could, amused by the gull's response to a talking cat, well at least the girl doesn't seem to disturbed by it. He glances up towards Faruja and blinks, "You need help down from there? I'll come up and help if you do." he offers. He pads over towards Kotone and nudges her arm carefully with his head, "Takes some getting used to, doesn't it?" of course, he's still not quite used to Kotone, but well, he's always curious of things he doesn't know about.

When Faruja asks for help down, he shifts form, becoming a large winged serpent and flies up to where his friend is, "Climb on and hold on tight."

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja clings to Allyn. His tail, noticably, is in a knot. "My tail Ser! Can ye undo it?"

Staren has posed:
Hmm. The NPCs aren't supposed to be so suspicious of you during the in medias res intro sequence, Staren thinks, they're supposed to be providing exposition. Staren thinks this to himself as Avery asks where they're all from. He's not sure whether to make something up, or break the 4th wall and see what happens. But her reaction to him is a little more positive, and he continues smiling. "Because someone's gotta do it! I said: We're here to help with your quest, and if finding a home is it, then that's what we're here to do!" Staren blinks. "Umm... so what have we got to work with here? Do you have any idea where you are?" He jumps, about to fly up and look, then thinks better of revealing abilities so soon. So instead he looks up to Faruja. "HEY! DO YOU SEE ANYTHING FROM UP THERE, FARUJA?"

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn ponders a few moments over Faruja's question, "Well, I don't really have hands like this, but I guess I can do this." he shifts the end of his tail into fingers and raises it to work on unknoting the rat's tail. "Better?" then once Staren asks if Faruja if he can see anything from up there, it has him glancing around as well.

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika and Hikage exchange a look, observing as the pirate act disappears and the kid...well, acts like a kid would when they see a lady with fox-like features form a shadowy fox thing.

"I-Absolutely no-!"

A soft laugh escapes Hikage. ~You were like that once, come now.~ Hikage says, practically guessing Kirika's denial of the pets. Being mind-linked to your master will do that. ~You may pet me, but be gentle, please.~

Kirika sighs, shaking her head as she lowers down to let the girl pet the fox.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"SHIT YEAH, let's get to findin' some fuckin' LAND, yo." Arthur says brightly, hopping to his feet by springing straight off of his hands! With a bit of dramatic flair, Arthur presents his own hand, offering a quick, firm, enthusiastic handshake to Avery. "I'm ARTHUR LOWELL, ROCKET-POWERED JERK." He also offers a finger for Breeze to shake in one webbed foot.

Then, with little consideration to the others, he starts pacing around with wide strides, clearly eager to be taken to somewhere. "SO, let's see. Any MAPS y'got out here?" He peers up at the sky, attempting to gauge the time. While he might not be a SEER OF SPACE, as a MAGE OF SPACE he should be able to do at least some navigation by stars! That is, assuming Avery there has any maps to work with!

For now he refrains from his urge to use his more relevant Mage of Space ability, which is to act as a human warp core for vessels like this.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Avery's eyes widen a little bit. "Wooow... I didn't know rats could talk!" This coming from the girl with a freaking sapient seagull for a best friend. She giggles. "... you sound kinda funny. And I'm preeettyy sure you aren't my -dad-, but I'll call you Senra or whatever. Senra the nezumi, right?" She puts a hand on her hip, looking proud~. Breeze looks a little skeptical, and... actually finds a way to arch an eyebrow. Once he sees Allyn transform, though, he goes right back to his hiding place behind Avery. Meanwhile, the girl in question's eyes light back up again.

"Wooooow...! Man, you can ~SHAPESHIFT~? What are you, some kinda superhero?" It looks like someone just gained a fan. Breeze, on the other hand, just rolls his eyes. "Please, my dear, don't be naive. It was surely just some variety of magic trick. Besides, if they were superheroes, certainly one of them would not appear dangling upside down like so many bats before sundown!" It clears its throat. "/Certainly/." Staren gets a hopeful look... and a subsequent shake of the head in lamentation. "No..." Avery sighs. "We don't have any idea. Dad knew, but he got sick and hasn't been out of his cabin in a while. But I think he said we were pretty close the last time we talked..."

Her eyes bulge yet again when he raises his voice to talk to Faruja, and almost instinctively she looks up to the rat... er... nezumi. In a small voice, she inquires, "F-Faruja?" Headtilt. "... but I thought he said his name was Senra-whatever?" Then the fox calls attention to itself again, and Avery is instantly mesmerized. She rushes Kirika and looks ready to give the fox and the woman both a BIG HUG, but... luckily, she settles down at the last second and pets gently as instructed. "Cuuute...~" She coos~. And so yet another person gains a fan.

Avery takes Arthur's hand and snickers... but suddenly, Breeze rushes out from behind her and pokes Arthur's chest with an indignant wing. "Now SEE HERE, lout!" Somebody's feathers are ruffled. "Your loudness is acceptable, and your demeanor is enough to make the lady SMILE, but I will not - I repeat, I -WILL- -NOT- have you corrupt her virgin ears with your filthy language!" Avery laughs again. "What the hell ever, Breeze. I'm not 9." The bird deflates, a little erect strand of hair on its head falling down to compliment his feelings of defeat. Then he meanders back to Avery's shoulder, folds his wings, and goes entirely silent. A bit later, he sighs a 'what's a guy to do' kinda sigh. The things he does for love.

After finishing her laugh, she nods to Arthur. "Yeah, dad's got a map. But, uh... one teeny, tiny problem." Her expression dips a bit. "The door's locked, so we kinda can't get in there right now." Luckily, though, it looks like sunset is fast approaching, so in just a little while Arthur may indeed have an astral map to work from. Just gotta be patient.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks at Breeze for a moment tilging her head and looks up to see Faruja as he gets stuck there. She takes a moment to think about how she can help. Then again she might be too heavy to get up there too.

"So a Seagull with an education? That's something I can say I never seen before. I did not mean"

She smiles a little bit as she looks the bird over for a moment nodidng once.

"We have indeed come ot help you if we're able."

Staren has posed:
Staren listens, and looks... a bit worried at word of the sick dad. He considers revealing that he's a shapeshifter, but, no need yet.

At last, he hears a problem he can solve: "Locked door? I think we can fix that! So, where is it?"

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja deep sigh. "My thanks Ser Allyn!" With that, he casts a float spell, peering out with his one eye.

Wince! Faruja rubs his ears. "Volume please, dear Staren! Mine ears art sensitive! Let us see here...." Peeeeeer!

Earperk. "Ye art a navigator, Ser Lowell?" Who knew!

Sigh. Faruja shakes his head. "Nay, nay. I am a priest my dear. 'Father' is a title indicating such. My full name is Faruja Senra." Explains the rat patiently.

"Tell me, how didst ye come to be here?" He asks of avery as he plays lookout.

After a while of squinting, Faruja frowns. "Ser Allyn? Might thine superior eyesight replace mine?" Then down the rat goes.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn watches Faruja as he floats down, just to make sure his friend is alright and he nods. "I'll change into something with better eyesight and see. I'll go scoutting if you like?" he then peers down at Avery and shakes his head, "I do not know what a superhero is, but I can shapeshift, yes." with that of course, he shifts again, changing into a falcon and lands on Kotone's shoulder, at least until he's told they'd want him to go scout.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur laughs a bit at the poking. "Yeah yeah! Okay! Shesh." Arthur shrugs plaintively. "Don't wanna get my CORRUPTIN' on up in some dude's TERRITORY I guess. Now, LOUT, that's a good one. ROCKET-POWERED LOUT. Hmm, nah, not the same RING to it." He jauntily starts moving in. "SO, locked himself up in the CABIN huh? Well HELL, I can probably handle THAT! You the kinda FOLKS that do the CASUAL FAMILY STRIFE thing? I gotta know AHEAD OF TIME."

He actually was paying attention here, and is aware of the... Probable implications of this scenario, but he'd rather not make it obvious. "But I'm GREAT with gettin' into PLACES, and I'll make sure not to BOTHER yer DAD, y'know? Can y'take me down to the CABIN?" He does some jaunty walking towards the interior of the yacht now! He's prompting someone to give him directions at least, and he intends to abuse GATES to get in... Assuming the fabric of the story allows, anyway.

Arthur grins to Faruja. "YO, gettin' LOST ain't cool, so since I'm ALWAYS COOL, I make sure I'm NEVER LOST, get it? This'll be GREAT. Just gimmie some TIME, gotta have the SUN go down."

Technically he could try using his command of celestial processes to block out the sun's light locally for a moment, but "turning off the sun" usually makes a bad impression. NOT COOL.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Avery's mouth forms a small 'o' at Kotone's kindness. Not knowing quite how to respond to that either, she gives her a little two finger salute... and a radiant smile. That alone is enough to make anyone feel inclined to help. But her eyes light up a bit when Staren and Arthur say that they might be able to ~ open the door ~! Squee~~! Without a word, she dashes off down the deck and leads any who follow to a fairly large cabin door on the other side of the ship. It's... completely dark inside, and all of the blinds are pulled down. Is her dad a vampire or something? Let's hope not.

As Faruja explains the meaning of 'father', though, it seems to click. "Ooohhh, okay..." She chuckles. "Yeah, I was gonna say. Do you come from some place where anyone older than someone else is the 'father' or something? If there's one thing I've learned traveling around with dad, it's that culture is weeiiirrrddd." Breeze looks to Allyn and gives a small sigh. "I... don't quite know if that would do any good. We're surrounded on all sides by ocean, and we've not seen land in weeks. Possibly a month, even. If you'd like to scout ahead, be my guest, but as you can imagine, I... have done so quite a few times already."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Also, Avery adds, "And... uh... nope! There's no 'strife' between dad and I. We get along really well! Uh... most of that time."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn tilts his head and he nods to Breeze, "I didn't think that you had, seeing as you'd already found land by now if there was any near." he ponders for a little bit. "Scouting might not be the best idea and I do not know my way around here and there is the chance of getting lost. How far out have you gone looking Breeze?"

Faruja (152) has posed:
Faruja gives a nod to Allyn. "Please! If the Lady seeks land, they thine senses aught be able to assist."

Faruja smiles, but gives a flick of his tail in worry. "I see. Careful, Ser. 'Tis known as 'dead reckoning' for a reason."

A chuckle avery's way. "The Lady speaks the truth! Confusing, hmm?"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Breeze rests a wing on his chin in contemplation. "Hrrrmmmm..." Please wait. Your question is very important to -- "... I would say about a few yards, maximum. Regrettably, I cannot venture too far from the ship. I must watch over the young lady, you see? It would be tremendous folly on my part to leave her unattended for too long." Suddenly, his eyes light up, and he brazenly flies in front of the cabin door. "B-BUT! CEASE and DESIST!" The bird huffs. "W-We shouldn't interrupt the well-needed rest of the poor sailor! H-He surely needs it, especially if he is ill...!" His eyes are... pleading, and his words have a disturbing sense of urgency to them. "P-Please, we'd best... not... enter the cabin."

Staren has posed:
Staren follows down after Avery... "Woah! Dark..." He reaches for his flashlight, then realizes it's not on his game character's belt. D'oh. Well, there was concern about light sources before, so he's prepared: He reaches into his everpresent magic bag (he didn't get rid of /that/) and pulls out a little LED wired to a switch and tiny battery and switches it on.

Staren blinks at the seagull. "We can be quiet! Like she said, we're superheroes with all sorts of crazy powers!"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur puts a hand on Staren's shoulder. "Hey. Shush a sec." He makes a plaintive gesture to the gull. "Right, yeah. I understand. I understand a lot of this, 'kay?" He gestures at the cabin door. "Not only is this guy needing rest, but he's probably got private stuff in the cabin, right?" He makes a placating gesture. "Here, lemme promise you. We'll get in, we won't look too hard at anything unpleasant, and then we'll make sure the place stays locked so nobody else," A sidelong glance to Avery, one that she probably won't notice, but the gull will. "Can get in."

"I have to respect people's privacy, right? And let them rest. So, that's what we'll do in here, no trouble with the dad." What Arthur is ACTUALLY saying here is that Arthur can handle whatever's in there - Vampire Dad, Dead Dad, or whatever it may be - and doesn't intend to get Avery into much distress about it, which means he intends to keep it sealed afterwards, whatever's in there.

"Then we get a map, get our boating on, and get onto land, and I'm sure thing's will be a lot less trouble there, right?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa smiles a bit back at Avery and looks about the boat, she knows she can be some use, a lookout? That is something she can very much. So she starts looking about incase there is anything, she doe snot expect something but you never know, it would be sad if she missed it becuase she made an assumption. She seeme dot be in good spirits she did live near the water before her disfigurment after all.

"Hummm I doubt there's a GPS so we're going to have to do this the hard way won't we?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika blinks in surprise as she's almost bowled over from a near-hug experience, before she awkwardly chuckles and gives Avery a pat on the head in return, scratching the kid's scalp gently before she rises up after she's done petting Hikage. "Well, I suppose we could help-"

Her train of thought is stopped as the bird protests loudly, and Hikage and Kirika both stare in confusion for a moment.

"If you insist, then we may in fact be better off not risking ourselves here..."

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn tilts his head, "a few yards? Well understandable. I will go scout around a little ways, I'll try to keep you all in sight then so I don't get lost." squawk he launches off Kotone's shoulder and flies upwards to catch the thermals so he can soar around and see what he cans ee out there.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Breeze shakes his head vigorously. "N-No, sir, you do not understand. Avery's father is a very light sleeper, and --" He glances in the direction of Avery, who has her hands in her pockets and her head tilted. Suddenly, Breeze falls silent, handing off the conversational baton to Avery. "... what are you talkin' about, Breeze? Dad sleeps like a rock, like, all the time. And you heard him." She glances to Staren, smiling. "They're superheroes! They can figure this stuff out, right?" The bird floats in place a few more moments before settling on the ground in front of the door and sighing. "I-I..." His voice is... weak. "... if you must..." His feet click along the surface of the yacht, clearing the path in front of the door. He looks to the group again and adds, "... but I warned you. Just remember that. I warned you...!" Geez, so much fuss over going into a freaking room! This bird is an A-grade worrywort.

But Arthur... gets his attention. The bird's eyes go glassy, and he nods vigorously to the boy. Breeze doesn't say anything in reply, but that was a pretty clear 'message received'. Avery's expression dips a little further, and she gives Arthur and Breeze alike looks, but she doesn't say anything. Either she's just confused, or she's one sharp little girl. Either way, she glances over to Kotone after a few, long minutes of silence. A bit flatly, she asks, "... GPS? The heck's a GPS?"

Breeze has taken to the air again when Kirika speaks, and he glides over to her. "... on second thought," In a tone of perhaps too overt insinuation, "the excitable boy is right. You all have powers, correct? Perhaps... I can agree to sending one of you in there. Just... retrieve the map, quickly, and return here." With a bit more energy, he adds, "A-And don't tamper with any of sir's things! I'm a very observant bird, and I will know if you do...!" That sounded pretty forced, but hey, he's trying. He gives a final nod to Allyn before floating over to Arthur and whispering, "Do what you must."

Disturbingly, Avery has gone dead silent.

Staren has posed:
Staren was all hype to pick the lock, but when Arthur asks to handle it he nods a little glumly and steps back. He looks to Avery, whispering... "A GPS is... do you know what a sattelite is? Or a computer?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"Gonna touch NONE of his stuff but the MAP!" Arthur says, nodding firmly. Hey, it worked! Arthur notes to himself to not do that too much, there were a lot of people looking at him and he doesn't want them to think he's a nerd.

There's a tweak of Arthur's head to the door. "SORRY BRO. This means it stays LOCKED while we're IN, right?" He tries to emphasize it specifically so Staren realizes they need to do this privately.

With a quick, swirling gesture, he summons up a Gate, trying to put the other end of the Gate on the other side of the door. The spinning, spirographic bright-green circle doesn't let one see through it (thus, it preserves privacy) but it does let one walk through it; Arthur attempts to open the exit inside the cabin, and beckon the others into it.

Staren has posed:
Oh, they're all going! Staren becomes a cat. He picks up the LED in his mouth so they can see, and pads through the portal.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn soars in circles around the ship for a bit, looking this way and that and then flaps off to check out off to the west a little ways.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa says "GPS? Just something from my home, it seems given what you siad it won't work here Captain."
%R She smiles a bit hey it didn'thurt to ask about it right? She now start tyring to make herself useful about the ship. She pauses for a moment at Arthur and she looks to Staren.

"I don't think she does know"

Kotone will go to follow Arthur she can at least redord the map, right? That should be useful if they need to do it. Thus it can say there, but for now? Away she goes into the portal! Unaware of what might await within.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
When Twilight Sparkle appears, it is a few feet above the deck. She blinks before letting out a little yelp as she falls, then an oof when she lands. "Well...that was unexpected." she says, then stands and looks around. "Hello?" she calls out before her ears perk at the sounds of voices. She trots quickly toward them while using her magic to ensure her saddlebags haven't come undone during the fall.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Avery jumps a little as Staren addresses her. She mumbles a 'Huh...?' before processing his words. Eventually, she properly replies: "No clue what a satellite is, but I think dad has a com-pu-ter in his room. He used to write stuff on it." Pause. "Computers are those funny boxes with clacking letter pads, right?" She stares intently as Arthur creates his gate, as does Sea Breeze. Both look a little confused, but Avery is the first to call attention to it. "... what's that thing? Is that gonna let us in there?" The bird glances back and forth between Arthur and Avery. He's totally sweating bullets.

There would be no question or suspense anymore once they had entered the cabin - the smell in here is absolutely horrific.

It's also as dark inside as it is outside. Staren would likely be able to scope out a number of things with his LED light, though. There's a computer on the desk alright, but it looks ancient. Its monitor is large and bulky like an analog television. There are some cans of food, some scattered papers... and... oh. There's the bed. There's clearly someone, or something there, but it isn't moving. The narrator is going to go out on a limb and assume that the light wouldn't remain there for very long for reasons, and instead point out there there, on a desk right in front of said bed, is a map tacked to a corkboard.

Get in, get out. Right? I mean, there's probably a lot of things someone could learn if they poked around, but...

Zooming out of the cabin, we see Allyn soaring through the sky. The sun has almost gone down completely by now, but in the final orange spark of the setting sun, he may catch... something. It's faint, but that could be land. But... did he just hear thunder? And he can see clouds off in the distance too. There's going to be a storm soon, he could probably deduce.

Don't forget, this story was written by the grandmaster of melodrama.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
"Just let us handle it, okay? You stay out here and make sure nothing weird goes inside." Arthu says as he slips through the portal, aside to Avery. "We'll be back in a bit." He nods a gives her a grin.

The grin falters a little as he slips through. The dark space plays on his nerves a moment and he bites his lip, following Staren's light until it gets to the bed. The smell hits him and he gets dry heaves just breathing it, stepping to one side and to one corner of the cabin. "Uu-uuugh... Okay, someone grab the map, I'm just gonna - guh - go investigate this corner." He leans on one wall and goes pale in the darkness while he tries to choke down the nausea that comes from both the stench and the implied circumstances of this situation.

Staren has posed:
HIS POOR KITTY NOSE OH MORG WHY

Staren drops his light as he makes a disgusted sound, hops backwards through the portal, and starts to run for some fresh air -- he pauses for half a second to consider grabbing the light but -- Arthur can probably get it! He bounds up the stairs, stares at Twi, then takes a deep breath, and then another, and then returns to his normal form. "Twilight! You made it..." he sounds less enthusiastic than usual. "Umm... how much do you know about what's going on here?" When she says /nothing/, he explains: "We're in a story Mizuki wrote, about a girl sailing the ocean to find her home. She has a talking seagull, and she was traveling with her dad, but..." he lowers his voice to a whisper, 'I think he got sick and died awhile ago. Noone opened his cabin door until just now... The others are retrieving a map from his room.'

Staren's catboy form is dressed vaguely piratey -- his bandanna is on his head, no goggles, and he's wearing taller boots and a long, piratey-style coat and leather vest over poofy shirt and pants, with a musket strapped to his back.

Allyn (307) has posed:
Seeing as the sun is going down and he's not an owl, at least not at the moment he circles around and starts flying back towards the ship that the others are on. Well, he saw something out there at least. He circles around the ship, peering about for somewhere to perch. Well Kotone doesn't seem to be there visible on the deck, so he picks someone new to perch on. He flies down and lands on top of Twilight's head and perches there, "I found something that looked kind of like land, to the west. More important though, there is a storm coming."

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
Twilight Sparkle blinks as Staren-cat bounds up the stairs, then indeed responds with 'nothing' when the question is asked. When Staren explains the situation, Twilight's ears droop. Another sad story from out in the Multiverse. "So, what are we trying t-" Twilight is interrupted by her own little 'meep!' as Allyn lands on her head. Her ears perk up a second before lying down again. "Do I know you?" she asks the bird before she looks at Staren again. "Um...so what are we trying to do?" she asks, then looks at the stairs. "Oh dear...and they only just now found him?" Twilight might not come across it often, but she does know what decomposition does to someone. "Is the girl here? She shouldn't see her father if he is...if he has been down there for a while."

Twilight pauses a moment after that, then motions with a hoof toward Staren. "Why are you dressed like a pirate?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa pauses at the smell even with being a cyborg? It's sent she can not forget, it's like a plague god barfed into this place. This is not a good thing at all as the smell hints at something horrible. She looks toward the bead heading for it, but noving to touch it. She looks about.

"Wait there's the map."

She's got a really aweful feeling after seeing the bed,m she's got a really aweful feeling.

"I got it."

She makes to get the map and carefully remove it from where it's been posted.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Storms, you say? Well, yes. Yes indeed storms.

No sooner has Allyn said that than have dark, daunting clouds begun to roll over the boat. But as any meteorologically astute people would realize, this storm is moving a bit... quickly. Far too quickly to be natural. Of course, in light of the unfortunate situation in the cabin, this may go largely unnoticed, but it may still be a bit difficult to miss the big bobs of the ship. Things rock back and forth just a bit violently, and those without their 'sea legs' may briefly lose their balance. Breeze takes to the sky and looks around. He mutters a 'What on Earth...?' before he's interrupted by a loud crack of lightning, and promptly dashes back to hide on Avery. The girl holds the bird and gently strokes his head... and droplets begin to fall, as if one cue.

And then there's a groan, accompanied by a particularly strong wave. You guessed it -- there's something down there. As if it wasn't bad enough being stranded at sea, now there might just be monsters to contend with. Avery seems surprisingly collected considering the situation, though, and she addresses any around to hear: "Something's coming, guys."

But at least Kotone was able to get the map. Score~!

Staren has posed:
"Presumably, we're seeing the story through to its end. If there's land nearby, maybe we just need to get through this storm and sail to it." Staren nods. "She's downstairs. The others..." He looks back at the door to belowdecks, "Think the same, I think. They'll keep her from seeing." He looks back to Twilight. "Uhh... when Mizuki said we were doing into a story about sailing I figured this was the appropriate attire. Seems I was a few centuries off, though." He shrugs, and with a dramatic wave of his hand, tries to return it to modern clothing.

Nothing happens.

Staren blinks. He tries again. "We can't warp reality in here!" he notes, with some alarm... as the rain comes down and there's the sound of... /something/ in the water. "Oh great." Staren reflexively reaches for his laser pistol which /pirates don't have/ and then grumbles at himself. He looks around for the seagull, since he seems knowledgeable: "What /is/ that, Sea Breeze?!"

Allyn (307) has posed:
Allyn blinks his eyes, then peers down at Twilight, "Oh, no you don't sorry, I didn't mean to perch on you, but it looked a little more steady than a railing or anything on this ship." he blinks and looks to Avery as she says something is coming and he hops down from Twilight's head and flutters off a little ways, so he can shiftonce more, no longer a falcon, but a dire wolf. To Twilight he says, "I do apologize for perching without permission though."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Sea Breeze meanders away from Avery long enough to shout back to Staren, "A CORAL!" He emits several worried squawks. "In layman's terms, TERRIBLE, DREADFUL news!" He soars to Staren and looks him in the eyes, his words just as pleading and desperate as they were earlier... but much more urgent. "You said you have powers, yes?" He -slaps- his wings together and bows his head, "Then I IMPLORE you! Please, save this vessel from what lurks below! Please!" He bows his head several more times for emphasis... before he is knocked aside by another powerful wake.

The source of that wake, it would seem, has finally seen fit to make itself known.

From the water leaps a massive horror certainly worthy of the suspenseful atmosphere it has generated: a colossal, horribly unhealthy looking 'fish' with a bloated center that looks like a disc. It's covered with rigid, plantlike growths - probably the origin of its pseudonym - and its head is little more than a half-spherical bulb lined with teeth. Seriously, it just doesn't get any more Cthulu Mythos than this. Unless you're, you know, talking to Hastur.

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika seems to have kept silent through most of this, remaining on guard and occasionally peeking around the ship idly, perusing the varied bits and bobs with a curiosity that matches that of a child wandering new surroundings.

Tail swishing, she suddenly tenses up and frowns, her jaw tightening as she grasps her sword's sheath and glancing towards the water with a narrowed gaze. "We are not alone." She announces at last, drawing her sword just as a horrific creature from the depths appears.

Hikage is quick to return to her hiding place, remaining on her mistress's neck as always as a tattoo, while Kirika lowers her hood to get a clear look at the sea monster.

"To battle! We must slay this beast, immediately!" Sword raised, she gets into gear while rallying the group to action, before forming lightning from a fist and flinging a bolt at the monster.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
Twilight is knocked down by the sudden surge of waves, and it takes her several moments to find enough balance to stand again, despite having four legs. Then...that creature leaps from the depths, and her eyes widen like saucers. "...C-celestia help us..." she says softly before she stands tall again. "Yes, we have powers, and we won't let that creature destroy this ship if we can at all prevent it!" she says.

Twilight's horn sparks, and the circlet she has started wearing glows before it sends a flow of sparkles down her body, which form into her Harmony Armor. Although it is more cloth than armor, it does give her more power for her spells. Beside her, an oricalcum-clad book forms, twirls in place, then opens. "Let's see...maybe I can redirect the wind to blow us toward land! ...if we knew where land was." She looks around quickly, then decides where land is isn't as important as not simply sitting around and waiting for a creature to smash them. Her horn glows brightly, her book spins with its pages open and facing into the air, as she attempts to steer the wind into the sails. Or, if the yacht has no sails, she tries to concentrate the wind onto the stern of the boat to force it forward.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur Lowell is so nauseous and miserable at this smell - this is all completely fictional but he's still a big softie - and it's intense enough that he feels unbalanced, like this room's moving around on its own.

Wait.

"Shit fuck god damn it." Arthur mutters under his breath as he covers his mouth and stumbles back out of the portal, immediately asserting his COOLKID mannerisms as soon as he's out. "Somethin' COMING? Rad. That's... Yeah, that's just diesel." His forced grin gets a bit wider. "We got yer MAP! Didn't wake up DAD. Here, let's make SURE he doesn't get WOKEN UP, yeah?"

He heads to the edge of the yacht, looking over the edge and down to the murky depths below, trying to peer down and see what awful sea-beast is doing that moving. And then, FISH.

"FUCK." Sorry, Breeze!

"Okay let's get this poppin'." Arthur dashes back to the center of the ship, planting both hands down onto it and flooding it with warp energy. "Someone get the HELM, get this STEERING NOW!" He calls out. He's saturating the craft with enough gravity power that it should be able to maneuver MUCH faster, competitively with the fish itself!

And then he casts his hands to the side, brilliant bright white light blasting out of them, slamming into the edge railings and forming... What look like tiny sun in the shapes of heft cannon-barrels - actually fission-magic constructs - with handles and triggers on the sides. It looks like Arthur has snap-formed some STARLIGHT CANNONS for the ship! They shoot heavy blasts of star-magic packaged in gravity! Too bad Arthur do any combat himself while he's acting as the HUMAN WARP CORE for the ship, but this is the closest he CAN do!

"HEY, AVERY." Arthur yells out. "You're a PIRATE, right? You ready to get our BROADSIDES goin' on?" Arthur figures that, in a storybook world, using previous events as foreshadowing probably draws a bit of a buff. Of course, the four or so turret-cannon things are also accessible to the other "readers", if Avery is the one who takes the helm instead of anyone else! They're simple and easy to shoot, and while they're not very rapid, they do pack a punch and the recoil and noise won't hurt even an untrained user!

Staren has posed:
Staren remembers that he /has/ a ranged wrapon, and readies his musket. His eyes widen at Sea Breeze's imploring. "I..." he doesn't suually fight in /water/! But, well... he'll have to come up with something! Not like he's not /still/ a walking arsenal and utility belt...

And then the monster rears its ugly self. Staren sights the musket over the side of the boat and fires.

And then he realizes he doesn't actually know how to reload it. Heck, he didn't even bother to imagine spare ammo for it! He sighs and flings it below decks, in case it might somehow be useful later, and reaches into his bag again. This time he pulls out a sort of futuristic looking pistol... It looks like a bullpup design with a particularly bulky magazine and an awfully wide barrel. The reason why becomes apparent after he aims it over the side, focusing his vision on the beast, and then he pulls the trigger -- a missile the size of a magic marker is pneumatically ejected, then its thrusters kick on and drive it straight into the beast before exploding! But, at such short distance, it couldn't accelerate to full speed, so its ability to penetrate the thick hide may have been rather limited. If he has time, Staren tries again, this time aiming /up/, programming a missile to soar high into the sky then dive down towards the monster at about mach 2!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets the ship is rtocking as she tries to steady herself as she gets the map. She looks over to Arthur for a moment and she make sure to carefully secure it before she turns to Arthur to get moving to get out og here.

"Wait aren't you a god?"

Wouldn't that be me damn it? O h well she moves to follow Arhur and she nods to Arthur as she looks about to see if she can see just what they got to contend with. She's making for one of the turrets and mans it getting ready to open fire the moment they see something they can shoot.

"Aye aye!"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
There's another loud crack of lightning, and the suddenly savage waters punish the sides of the boat. But there is one bolt that is on their side: Kirika's. Electricity jets toward the disclike core of the creature, striking it hard before its body can come back down and hit the water. It leaves a pretty significant burn mark, and prompts another agonizing groan, but otherwise... it doesn't seem like it did much good. What's more, when the DEADLY CORAL does come back down to the ocean, the waves it makes... are even more terrifying than the monster itself. Water rains on the group and the boat rocks even more violenetly than before, some water sneaking on to the decks.

Thankfully, though, not everyone went with the 'assault' path. Twilight pours her energy into the back of the ship and gets it moving... before Arthur gives it a massive JOLT that sends the entire yacht rocketing to the west. Then, in every way true to Avery's innocent fantasies, turrets appear on the side of the ship. Without a word, the still amazingly cool-headed girl nods to Arthur, dashing up the steps off to the side of dad's cabin, and then swinging around to a ladder. Facing Arthur, she gives another salute... before picking up a handheld device and speaking into it.

"ALL HANDS!" A megaphone near the top of the ship bellows, "We got trouble on ar' hands! Man the canons! Batten down the hatches! This is gonna be a bumpy ride!" With that, she pushes forward a lever to start the boat's engine. It may not add as much push as Twilight, and it doesn't add anywhere near as much as Arthur's little stunts, but it's still something.

And then the dread Leviathan returns! ... directly underneath the ship's bow! Charged with the energy given to it by Arthur and Twilight, the boat uses the monster's head like a ramp, rocketing into the sky! And speaking of rockets, its re-emergence is cut short by two swift blasts from Staren! With the first, its head and thrown to the side, and with the second, its entire body is made to swivel around in mid-air like a snake from a nightmare.

Last but not least, Kotone jumps on a turret. The fire isn't enough to do a lot of damage, but thankfully, Staren's shots turned it around enough to expose its (slightly) more vulnerable areas. A barrage of bullets collides with the bottom of the DREADED LEVIATHAN'S disk-stomach, causing even more, loud, 'zombie dad' groans.

Staren has posed:
"Aaaaaah!" Staren tumbles down the deck as the ship just about takes /flight/! He activates his wings, tries to stabilize himself, fires the remaining micromissiles -- there were only four in the magazine -- and then stuffs it back in his bag, and flies down to any unoccupied turret to open fire on the beast. If there are no more turrets he hangs onto a railing somewhere.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
Twilight, standing near the front of the boat, is bucked upward when they suddenly ramp off of the marine beast. "Eeek! Aaaaaaaah!!" She goes flying through the air, most likely left behind by the speeding, flying boat. Her spell comes to a stop as she goes flying, so her contribution to the ship's speed goes to naught. And a few moments later, SPLASH! Twilight lands in the water. The choppy, rolling, monster-filled water.

She surfaces quickly enough, and starts to cast another spell, but with the water splashing over her, keeping her from breathing properly, she can't quite finish the spell she is trying to cast. "W-wait!" she coughs out as she tries to paddle toward the boat.

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika lets out a yelp as the ship takes flight, before she stabs her sword into the deck deep enough to remain in place for the time being. Muttering something under her breath, she grunts when the ship returns to the oceans.

And suddenly she notices Twilight in the water. "...no." A look of horror washes over her face spotting the mare, before she suddenly rips her sword free and grabs a floating ring after some rumaging, sheathing Kinugiri and tossing the preserver out towards Twilight. "Grab onto that!" She yells, grabbing onto the attached rope as she removes her cloak and readies herself to dive in if she needs to.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is at the gun's control and ling it up with hte horirble monster, she opens fire agian sendin several mroe bursts into the thing. She pauses as sh hear the groans of zombie dad that sends a chill down her, spine. Well methaporially as her real spine ... is long gone. She keep shooting and wonders about the horror they might have to deal with in the aftermath.

"Come on you over grown creature! I'll either make Sushui out of you or Deep fry you!"

She keeps shooting the monster, it's just going to be one of those days right?

Mizuki (183) has posed:
So maybe this thing isn't as slow as it looks like it should be... underwater, at least. A dark shadow rushes along the side of the ship - barely able to catch up with everyone's ridiculous speed boosts, but still able - and rams the side of the ship a number of times. Now, if this were -ANY- other ship, it would be in the air by now. But this is a ship powered by a battery from a literal sun. So instead, not much happens... until fish satan leaps once again. It soars over the ship, making an arch that blots out what little remains of the sun.

... and then Twilight goes overboard.

Breeze comes back to life and SQUWAKS to beat the proverbial band, flapping his wings like there ain't no tomorrow (because there very probably won't be). "S-SOMEONE FELL!" He screeches. "S-Stop the boat, Avery! Stop the boat!!" Avery somehow hears him over the crashing waves and falling rains - or maybe she just notices Twilight herself - and turns the wheel as fast as she can. Just in time for the beast to leap out of the water again. And just in time for Staren's rockets to take a few shots. It leaps in another arch... but Staren's missles knock it off course. Its arch falls apart, and its mouth ends up -directly in front of the bow of the ship-. The last of Kotone's shots from the turret are just enough to keep the ship from flying into its mouth, but there's still the matter of thick, gigantic monster head to worry about.

As loud as she can, Avery shouts, "B-Brace for impact!!"

Within moments, the entire yacht - still probably going somewhere at or around Mach 2 - collides with the may-or-may-not-be skull of the monstrosity. Pieces - as well as people - go flying.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
The life ring lands near Twilight, and she rushes to grab onto it. This gives her the stability she needs to cast the spell, but...she's too late! Her eyes lay down flat when she sees the boat shatter. She promised she'd keep that boat from being destroyed, and now...it is just splinters. Not to mention all her friends and comrades are in the water, too! Or flying through the air. Or, possibly just flying, depending on the person. "Hang on everyone!" Twilight calls out, then her horn glows and her book emerges from the water. It's magical glow permeates the area, and pieces of the boat start to float toward each other.

It's a reconstruction spell! But, there's no telling how well it will work, if it works at all. She may just get a big piece of driftwood that at least everyone can cling to. Then, she starts trying to round up people, using her magic as lifelines.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur twists both arms and shifts the warp field as the boat suddenly slams into the skull, his body still rooted to the deck. "HaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!" He yells, blasting black and white light up and down the thing as the wrecked boat bounces, arcs up, and then back down.

Arthur floods the whole thing with an antigravity enchantment, trying to keep its broken body from slamming back into the sea, where it might take on water. As it arcs lower to the ground, his hot-blooded yelling gets more and more intense!

Even if this does actually work, it'll only work at later than the last second, the bow of the ship dipping in, skimming the water before the boat rights itself and will wind up floating - glowing with an alternating black-and-white energy - just inches above.

This will all only work if it doesn't take on too much water in the splash at the end of the arc, so let's hope Twilight Sparkle's spot-repairs work, assuming Arthur's efforts even work out!

Staren has posed:
Staren sees a pony go overboard! "TWILIGHT!" Can she swim? He doesn't know! He immediately reactivates his wings and flies over to her. "Twilight!" he shouts over the storm. "Can you teleport?!" Assuming she'll do so if she can, if she /doesn't/ he flies towards her -- and then someone throws a life preserver, and it turns out it wasn't /Twilight/ he had to worry about, since the water turned out to be the /safer/ place to be. "Ah, shit." Staren stares at the boat, then flies around looking for OH HELL KOTONE he tries to think of a way to save her if she fell in...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is trying to brace fo the impact she stops firing at this point the boat is coming to a stop however? Kotone's going to keep moving. She's still not used to her actual mass and weight. She loses her grip as she does so? She loses her footing as well. What happens miss cyborg goes over the railing with a terrifed cry as afte rall she's going to sink like a stone!

Staren has posed:
Staren has a plan! He pulls a a staff and some kind of bundle of fabric or plastic from his bag and flies towards Kotone! If he can reach her in time, he grabs her and sinks with her, and activates the teleporter... If he can't... then he finds that flying underwater probably doesn't work very well :/

Mizuki (183) has posed:
The lifeless - or at least unconscious - body of the coral slams into the water a final time, and a rush of water crashes over the shattered ship. But, but... something's going on here. As Avery cartwheels through the sky, she sees something. Pieces of the boat are enveloped by a gentle lavender, and jet back together. People are held aloft by the same magic, and... the ship... slowly begins to regain its shape. To her, it looks like a jigsaw puzzle being completed. Slowly but surely, the jittering pieces come back together to form something that makes rational sense... as she, too, is held in the air by the glow. Naturally, she's way too shocked for words, but she's probably pretty grateful.

And then Arthur starts screaming. Sea Breeze, too, is woken up once more by the Godly HOWL that only a shounen protagonist can muster. Amid the winds, he rights himself, flying to avery... as the pieces that weren't saved by Twilight stop falling. The ship glitters monochrome. It looks like poorly done paper mache, but damn it, it's there. The whole ship is there. Intact, save for a couple pieces in a few places. At the last second, Staren LEAPS for Kotone! And he's able to grab her hand, barely. She was just a few feet from water, but thanks to Arthur's anti-gravity and Twilight's levitation, she didn't get there before Staren could reach her. The teleportation goes off without a hitch, landing them both on the surface of the rebuilt ship... kinda hard. It was a rough landing, but at least they're alive. And dry.

At this point, the not quite Sea God is probably sinking to the bottom of the ocean... and the skies are clearing up again. The calm light of the moon filters in through the parting clouds, and... wait. Is that... land?

The boat is suspended in the air about a mile from a beach.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
Once the ship is rebuilt, Twilight teleports herself back onto the deck. It is much easier with a floaty ring and calm seas. "Did...did we win?" she asks, peering over the edge of the deck and into the water before blinking at how the boat looks. "Oh my. I think I missed a few pieces." she says, noticing holes in the boat. Then, she goes over to Twilight and Kotone. "Are you two alright?" she asks before looking for the others. She helps guide Avery back down onto the ship, and anyone else that needs help getting back aboard.

Twilight makes sure to find Kirika and thank her for the life preserver, even giving the half-kitsune a hug in thanks. Which might seem a little unusual to Kirika. Being hugged by a little purple pony. "Is everyone alright? Is anyone hurt?" Twilight asks once everyone is back on board.

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika lets Staren be the hero for his girlfriend-pone before she herself braces herself for another flight through the air. The boat shatters, and she grabs onto something as Twilight works to piece the ship back together just as things direct Kirika's attention towards land. "...huh."

She takes the hug from Twilight in stride, returning it as she takes a deep breath and stumbles to her knees. "I think I will...lie down for a while. I'm beginning to lose my taste for the sea." She murmurs, patting Twilight's side softly before she leans against something.

"Avery? Avery?" she calls out once her strength returns, climbing to her feet as she glances around for the girl with worry. In all the excitement, she forgot all about her. Oh crap.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is trying to swim but to no avail the body that kept her alive? May doom her now, she's however grabbed by Staren and he pulls upon her before she hits the water. She's pulled back and then the world blinks. She finds out she's on the ship and slams into it pretty roughly but is alive. She shakes her head a little bit a she tries to get back to her feet.

"...you know I used to be able to swim pretty well once... and what.. just happened?"

Staren has posed:
The teleporter's not instant. It takes a few seconds to power up and activate. Still, Staren just needs to hold on to Kotone until then, and since they met in the air his wings can slow her fall... and they appear on the deck, dry!

Staren takes a deep breath. "PHEW." He shakes off the plastic bundle he grabbed and stuffs it back in his bag, then collapses his staff and puts it away too. "Magic." Staren replies to her with a hint of a smile, then runs over to hug Twilight, glad she's alright. He just holds the hug for a moment, then: "I'm glad reading isn't usually this dangerous, huh?" And then he notices the distant land and points. "LAND HO!" Still right near Twilight's ears. "Err, sorry. Land ho, though." he grins sheepishly.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur's energy sort of flares out a moment after he stops the boat, and... Then he just sorta flips back onto his ass, laughing a bit. "See, now THAT'S a fuckin' story." He chuckles. "AVERY! Our CROWS NEST - or would it be CATS NEST? - says LAND HO, let's get movin', CAPTAIN! Heehahahahaha!" He splays back and resumes the relaxed position he started this whole thing in, the turrets and suchlike dispersing, the boat remaining floating.

The whole Dad issue hangs ominously over his head, but he'll get it figured out later. Maybe in the next chapter? Who knows. Arthur's gonna relax for now and wait for the landing, or for the chapter to end.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "This is what I call interactive enterainment..."

Books can bring a world to life, sure but like this? This was not what she was expecting. She does notice the land and looks out to it. She knows about the dad problem but now isn't the time to deal with it, right?

"It's going to be good for you to get off the boat, right captain?"

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Avery slowly rises from where she lands on the ship, rubbing her head and looking to the others. A certain seagull hovers over her, clamoring with worry. Oh, and he's probably crying too. Because learned seagulls do that. "You... you had me so terribly, horribly WORRIED!" The bird dashes to her and hugs her face, tears flowing down his beak. "N-Never do this again, Avery! N-Never make Old Sea Breeze fret for your safety like you did this evening!" He fetches a handkerchief from somewhere in his down and dabs at his eyes. "Undue strain shaves off years of my life that I don't have to spare, you know...!" Avery is largely silent, but she pats the bird on the head. She lost her sword somewhere along the line, but her bandanna is still there, against all odds.

Her feathered friend in tow, the little girl walks over to the group and gives them a deep - and extremely out of character - bow. Her eyes are bright, wide, and clear as the sky. Her grin widens.

"Thank you all so much." She gives another bow. "Really. Honestly. I don't know what Breeze and I would've done without you." Mizuki might, but let's not break the fourth wall just yet. The sunset-haired girl's eyes well with tears... and Sea Breeze feverishly tries to wipe them away with his feathers. "N-Nononono! Please don't cry, Avery! Please, my heart can only take so much...!" But both of them are interrupted by Staren's and Arthur's announcements. 'Land ho' is something she had been waiting to say in her pirate accent for many years. Sure, she wasn't the one to say it now, but that doesn't make it any less meaningful. As the boat floats on in the milky white trail of moonlight --

Freeze.

The world turns monochrome, and a certain lifelessness fills the world. Beautiful, calligraphic letters appear in the sky, sending messages. 'Congratulations, all,' The words radiate Mizuki's familiar energy, 'and thank you for reading this far. Please step through the black circle near where you first found yourselves on the ship. That will return you to the waking world.' There's a pause in the writing before the sky adds, 'Ah, and as always, thank you for being my guests this evening. And as is tradition, allow me to quote a legendary human author: If we shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended. That you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear, and this weak and idle theme no more yielding but a dream.' There's a pregnant silence that feels as though it should be filled with one of Mimi's haughty giggles. 'See you all on the other side.'

True to the writing, a black 'abyss' has appeared toward the back of the ship.

Twilight Sparkle (411) has posed:
Twilight hugs Staren firmly when he hugs her, then eeks and giggles when he yells right near her ears. She listens to Avery and Sea Breeze a moment, smiling warmly as the girl and bird are finally safe, within reach of land. She can only imagine how Avery's father's death might affect Avery, if she even actually knows about it.

Then, the abyss opens, and Twilight blinks at the sky writing. She giggles happily at the message, then takes Staren's hand in a hoof and smiles to the others. "Let's return. I'm sure Avery will have a wonderful life now." She is used to fairy-tale endings, after all. She moves to help Kirika up, since the kitsune girl seems a bit unstead. "Here, lean on me." she says to Kirika before she heads toward the exit of this story. "Not a bad story, overall. Although, living out a story like this makes me wonder...is Avery real? Can we come back and visit? ...can she come visit us?"

Twilight asks all this right before stepping through the portal.

Staren has posed:
Staren looks out towards the island, smiling with an arm around Twilight, wondering what they'll see next... and then everything freezes. "...Guess we reached a save point." He looks up at the words. "This has certainly been... one of the most interesting experiences I've ever had with a book." He was wonderfing some of the same things as Twilight, but she's the first to put voice to them. He walks into the black with the lavender pony.

Kirika (481) has posed:
Kirika's eyes widen as she sees Avery one last time, and the sorrow the girl displays. She bows her head, a frown all over her face as the story 'ends' as it were. It hits Kirika like a brick to the face, and she realizes that the story was basically...that. A story.

Twilight takes the words out of her mouth, and she glances at the unicorn for a moment as she staggers towards the exit, one last glance towards Avery and the bird being shot from Kirika until she finally leaves.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
Arthur looks up and around. "Well HELL, I dunno about YOU guys, but I'm sure not OFFENDED." He says, to the others, as he looks up to the sky. Instead of standing up, his body lifts off, as if weightless, and drifts on over towards the portal like he was carried by wind, Arthur still retaining his relaxed lying-down position.

He flits on over to the portal and out of the story without much said to the others! Arthur isn't concerned about whether or not the girl is "real"; he's been around Mizuki and her thought-form-things enough that he doesn't stress about it anymore!

Mizuki (183) has posed:
All of those exiting travel through the same trippy tunnel that they initially came through, but when they open their eyes, they're on... chairs. The very chairs that Mizuki set out at the onset, in fact. So one of the most pressing an suspenseful questions of the night - whether the chairs would be put to any use at all - has been answered. My applause, everyone, for reaching that thrilling conclusion. Ah, but that's not what anyone is really concerned with, is it? That's just the narrator's exhaustion-fueled(drained?) imagination speaking. Rather... no, I'll just let Mizuki handle this. As soon as everyone arrives and opens their eyes, Mizuki turns to face Twilight. She holds up a finger and speaks as though they were already engaged in conversation.

"One. Yes, certainly; Avery is every bit as real as I am. Two, of course you can visit, though she can not yet visit you." Smirk~. "There must be a reward for completing the story, you see? You've only read the first chapter~." She picks up the book and flips through the pages idly. "Though my -goodness-, how you all have changed things already...~"