((WOW, I wrote this a long time ago. Annnd this is the unedited version, since the final version - with not all that much changeed - is on my MIA jump drive. Ah well. UPLOADED FOR EILEEN, sry about the massacre that was my characterizing Rihaku. D: ))
Chapter 5: Ships and Things
A flying ship was a funny thing to look at, in its own right.
Great billowing sails filled in by an imaginary wind, a hull that on any other ship would be crusted in barnacles was, on the flying vessel, quite spotlessly clean, weathered only by the wind and rain of decades. That and all those laws of physics it defied left one impressive craft – one that would have been all the more so, had a shouting, redheaded street urchin not been trying to scramble aboard on a stray rope, then excitedly trying to swing above the water and skim it with his heels.
Unfortunately, the ship was 'docking' – which meant the hull crashed into the water with a great splash that sent the excited Nattie tumbling back onto the dock in the big wave, soaked and exhilarated (rather than the more likely fate, which was swept under the docks and into the barnacles to cut up any exposed skin into mince meat – when it came to life-threatening situations, Nattie always seemed to have some sort of unholy luck, though to anyone else's eye it'd seem that at least once he'd suffered some mild brain damage).
Coughing and sputtering sea water, the cabin boy grinned up at the ship, glancing back over his shoulder as his comrades came tumbling out of the house. Rihaku held Rosa tucked up under one arm, a rather unconventional way to hold a precious gift from above, but the little cat girl didn't seem to mind, her pudgy fingers still trying to hold all the little magnetized letters that spelled 'penis' without losing any on the rickety old dock.
The ex-cabin boy beamed as he saw Rihaku's face – ha! The picture of shock! He'd nearly dropped the cat-kid! Nat had to admit that it wasn't all that out of line to be in dumbfounded alarm, really, since this little town in the middle of nowhere wasn't really a docking area. Or a port area. Or...anything but a little hick village in the middle of nowhere with their own stupid little manmade lake. An insult to all pirates, Nattie kept repeating, until someone reminded him he wasn't actually a pirate (and, though only Rihaku was kind enough to never pointed this out, never really was) and made the boy pout.
This rotting little pier jutted out over the fishing pond, a big hole in the ground only used nowadays for old men to catch slow-moving crabs and fish and pretend they had great skills – ab-so-lutely pathetic, Nattie reminded them all the more often, but quite useful for a certain freckle-faced menace to torment a certain irritable vampire. Who said a scum-coated crab in his pillowcase wasn't a thoughtful Valentines Day gift? He'd even gotten a matching one for Ulrich (though he got more of a leaky, squiddy thing) and tied it with a little "Love, Soran" and a heart! Soran had forgotten his gift! He'd needed to do something for the left-out German, and humbly taken the huge brawl that resulted the next morning as his own V-Day gift. He was just a considerate soul like that.
Baggy clothes seeming even baggier under the weight of the sopping sea water, Nattie wobbled to his feet, saluting his friends and trying to pry a starfish off his head.
"'Haku, come look at this thing!! You think we can steal it? Looks like a ghost ship to me, no blokes swingin' off those sails like they oughta be – it's such a waste! No real pirate would let that rigging go un-swung-off-of! Let's take 'er!" he grinned, a new excitement dancing in his eyes that might have just been sunstroke or crazed madness.
Nattie loved the sea – but that was only because he'd never seen the air! Flying in airplanes was expensive, and after a little problem he'd caused after the orphanage was allowed a free flight for the kiddies' fun, was banned from most airports that could pinpoint him by face. No one had ever told him that liquids were bad for machinery! And a five-year-old Nattie had assumed that if a plane was working hard all day, it needed his soda way more than he did! Those screaming pilots were just jealous that they hadn't thought of it first.
In short, a flying pirate ship was perfect. Finally ripping the rather affectionate starfish from his skull and slapping in on Rihaku's, Nattie patted the even-more-shocked man on the shoulder and dashed off towards the ship, ignoring the shout of warning from the starfish'd actuary. The ship had come out of nowhere – and his cabin boy was just dashing towards it like it was all a big adventure! Which...was sort of exciting, but who knew what sort of vile creatures could be on that ship? Ones that could poke out Nattie's eyes or rip off his arms or peel off his freckles or anything. Disgruntled, Rihaku finally set Rosa down, trying to concentrate as a crustacean sucked at his head.
Well, in all fairness, both Rihaku and Rosa could see that Nattie was right – the ship was deserted! The sails seemed to unfurl themselves, the rudder moved (totally useless in midair, but it did make the ship look more like a ship) without anyone at the wheel...
"Can't be that dangerous," muttered Rihaku aloud, refusing to acknowledge that the idea that it could be was more exciting than this conclusion.
"S'probably haunted!" announced Rosa with glee, tossing her hands up in the air and scattering letters P through S all over the dock. Rihaku gave her an odd look, not expecting a small girl to be so...joyful at the thought big scary spirits, but judging by her eyes she seemed just as ready as the rest of them to get a move on, ghosts or no!
"Well...if it is haunted, at least we'll rest assured that Nattie got there first. If worse comes to worst, he can always just talk the ghost into a second grave..."
Reassured, Rihaku and Rosa both took a step to jog after the excited boy – but a second bout of shock had it that they didn't get far. Fortunately for Rihaku, there was only one vile, disgusting creature aboard the flying pirate ship.
Unfortunately, it seemed to be one Nattie was familiar with.
"Cap'n...?!"
---
Calico Bridgeman – Captain Calico Bridgeman to anyone under his command. But as it was soon found out, the captain let this stern addressing slide when it was Nattie – "cap'n!" or "Cal!" or even "Hey, ugly!" seemed just fine when used by his ex-cabin boy. Having seen Nattie, he'd happily obliged to let everyone aboard his shortly-manned vessel, smiling a Hollywood smile that grew even wider when it spotted Soran. Luckily for the vampire's head staying a part of the rest of him, Nattie waved a limp hand and muttered something about him being a bodyguard and all, so Cal couldn't really skewer him or tie him to the mast. ...unless he really, really wanted to.
Things were shortly explained – they'd come here for fuel, but realizing this was a little hillbilly cove in the middle of the boonies, would be shipping out – and as Nattie excitedly told them all with much waving of hands and grinning, they oughta come along! They needed to get a move on – and what better place than the skies?! No one could find them up here, and if anyone got annoying – just chuck 'em over the side and be done with it! Not...himself, he reminded, but anyone who wasn't the Captain's favorite was fair game.
With everyone settled on the ship as the ropes were cast to let the massive ship float up into the heavens once more, time could be taken to finally get a look around – unfortunately, it was much like a regular pirate ship, no special features besides the whole flying bit. As if that didn't help, he tall, elegantly dressed blond captain would have usually cut an impressive figure, tall enough to tower over his shipmates and strong enough to pick most of them up by the scruffs of their neck when scrabbles arose...but this intimidating image fell a little short when he twirled a seventeen-year-old boy around under the arms and laughed, Nattie cursing affectionately and trying to kick him off.
Rihaku was left hanging awkwardly, forced by Nattie to observe the several inches Calico had on him – and, as Nattie pointed out happily, the muscles! The teenager had been quick to introduce everyone – even, reluctantly, Soran, who upon stage-whispered request was swiftly stuffed in the brig by some helpful crewmates. As Nattie put it, they couldn't have anyone dangerous on the ship, threatening the welfare of those poor little bloodthirsty pirates! It just wasn't right! Soran would understand.
Of pirates, though, there were only a handful. As Nattie tackled the captain and laughed and cursed him for leaving him behind (an accident, Calico claimed, but Nattie knew he was lying! Most of the crew of yesteryear had gotten sick of their personal freckled poltergeist pretty damn fast and Nattie just knew Cal'd given in to peer pressure, the bastard) it was gotten out of the captain that soon after Nattie was left snoozing on an old sack of laundry on a dock somewhere, their fair ship had been attacked – and though the poor Atlantis (Nat always teased Cal for that name – bloody lame and unoriginal, even for a pirate captain) was demolished, they'd managed to steal this ship from under the armada's noses.
--
"Funny thing, we found it can fly." Calico said with a small smirk as he gathered the ragtag little group of four in front of him, Nattie having jostled everyone (barring Soran, who was still screaming his voice hoarse from the brig, the big silly) down into the ship, Rosa popped right up onto his shoulders per usual, cat's tail curling and bouncing out behind them in glee.
It was her first time on a ship – and this was a pirate ship! And not only that, a flying pirate ship! Nattie figured, Rosa being the closest to him in spirit and maturity levels, she deserved the royal tour – he'd show her everything; the best way to chuck fish heads at friends, how to swing off the rigging without falling but make it look like you could've and scare everyone silly, and even how to fence without jabbing your own eye out! The last was skill Nattie'd mastered only the other day, with the nicks in his eyebrow to prove it, but nonetheless he was determined to turn Rosa into a vicious, squinting little scalawag. Together, they'd give Rihaku that ulcer yet.
"Hey! Hey, Cal! Why don'tcha tell us about the time you fought that sea monster, huh?" Nattie demanded once they were all comfortable, blowing bubbles in the water he pretended was grog. Rosa, having plopped down on a splintering wooden bench beside the freckle-faced teen, watched him intently before following suit with her milk.
"How many times've you fought a sea monster, 'haku? Bet it's never! It's never, innit 'haku?!" Nattie teased with a broad grin, spinning about on his stool as though drunk off the imaginary grog.
Rosa tried to mimic and nearly toppled backwards with her milk cup in hand – luckily for her little pink sun dress, Ulrich's pale hand shot out, clenching on the pastel fabric and hiking her unceremoniously back on the bench with a small mutter. Rosa clapped her hands happily and smiled in thanks – Ulrich drowned himself in more grog. Not the most conventional "you're welcome", but at least he hadn't asked for money like the last time...
Rihaku, sadly, was enjoying himself far less than his freckled partner in crime. Spinning his pen in the probably-poisonous alcohol, he rested his cheek on his fist as he stared off into the distance, blocking out Nattie's jokes with a mature sort of sulk. Nattie kept jostling him with his shoulder, trying to make him join in the fun, starting to sulk a little himself as the Japanese man just simply refused to enjoy himself. On a big, flying boat, for Chrissakes!
"Aw, c'mon, 'haku! Soooo you're a whole lot shorter than the cap'n! No one's poking fun at your shrimpy little body! And who cares if you're a whole lot weaker and a whole lot less tough and a whole lot less pirate-y, huh? You're – uh..." Nattie searched for something, confused little frown on his lips.
"You're – real attractive to starfish! See, every guy gets their time to shine." he said wisely, tapping the pink crustacean still suckered to poor Rihaku's head. Sure, he'd pay a little more attention to the guy later, but now he'd bask in the glow of his idol – his idol that'd left him shipwrecked, but still! He'd taught him how to (sort-of) swordfight, and that was always pretty damn cool.
Giving up on Rihaku, Nattie sighed dramatically and shoved himself away, hopping up on the table and snatching Calico's sword from its slot in the wood – it took a couple tugs that nearly sent the boy flying, but with an uneasy wobble he had it free, the teen grinning as he raised the weapon high in the air.
"Okay! Enough dilly-dallyin'! We need to head this ship in the direction of saving the world – uh, 'haku, you pro'lly know where that is, so, uh, you chart the ship 'n stuff – so let's hop to it! What say you, cap'n? Let us off at the next port!"
Calico seemed a little confused, barely blinking as his own blade flitted around his aristocratic nose. "Nattie – you know we don't pirate anymore, don't you?"
Nattie's face falling would've been comical had he not been truly devastated, the sword drooping in his grip – no pirating?! But sensing his distress, Calico continued with, "But! But, we do do something exciting. After our ship wrecked, we needed to find a new way to make money...no one can pirate from the skies when they're the only ship up in the clouds, so we found a new venue. Look at this."
Before the group, Calico spread out a slew of worn, yellowing papers, each printed with a large black-and-white photo or sketch of some dirty-looking scoundrel.
"Bounty-hunting?" Ulrich said with curiosity, his interest finally piqued as he peeled a poster from the pile. Nattie couldn't have been happier, snatching as many up as he could to get a good look at each criminal and boggle himself with the excitement of it all – and the pay! He could buy himself a whole army of pirates with this sort of cash!
Rosa was tossing the papers up in the air in excitement, cackling with childish glee – only Rihaku seemed to be able to keep his head, and with good reason. He'd found a certain wanted poster near the top of the pile, and adjusting his glasses, pulled it towards himself – in all the commotion of an excited Nattie and Rosa, Ulrich was the first to notice something amiss about their financier's expression. "What's with you?"
Nattie had been swinging a giggling Rosa around under the arms and nearly toppled over as he skidded to a stop, a snow of wanted posters fluttering down around their heads as he stared at Rihaku and Ulrich, both adults' faces suddenly grave.
"C'mon, 'haku – you can't still be all pissy! Didn't I tell you to have fun?" he sighed, hiking Rosa back up on his shoulders as he trotted over to the pair, nudging himself into Rihaku's personal space bubble to peek over his shoulder and peer at the wanted poster clutched in his hands.
It took them all a few seconds to really react.
"It's...Rosa." Ulrich said finally.
"Rosa? What would anyone want with her? She's just a little kitty!"
Nattie stared with the rest of them, dumbfounded by the cute little cat-girl's photo beaming out at them from the yellowed paper, the reward scrawled beneath it more than double that of the criminals' he'd seen earlier. He was as shocked as the rest of them, but had to break the silence by adding a stolid, "Er. Well. S'a good picture of her, at least."
Rosa smiled and clapped her hands.
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Eehee!
Bwahah XD
nostalgic
laaaaaame
ANIME DORK TIEM
X3
sleepy
I mean yeah she was cute before but look at that confident pose and *PANTS*! No more schoolgirl skirt, even! OH EMA, you make me so excited for the fourth game!! <333 YOU BETTER BRING YOUR LUMINOL, WOMAN.
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