Hello! Tis I! Liked FBAWTFT, wrote a little thing. Here's a story featuring an oc no one asked for but hopefully people don't hate.

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Sylph was the name of the ship that was leaving the port in the south of England that morning. She was a beauty, large enough to hold a thousand people, with a royal blue hull and several tall pipes that billowed with steam. The decks were chestnut and polished to a rich shine. The click of the passengers' shoes on the floor was satisfying and clean, just like the ship itself. Many of these passengers were boring, mundane folk, but for two people, our heroes.

A young woman of about eighteen, clad in boy's clothing, sat on one of the beams supporting the ceiling. A simple rucksack sat beside her, leaning against her side. A dark braid sat on her shoulder, her face hidden by the newsboy cap pulled low on her forehead. She wore a white button down under a dark red vest and somewhat puffy charcoal trousers. Her feet were in tall black riding boots.

Everything about her was a little mismatched, her expensive-looking vest clashing with the dirt smudged around her shirtcuffs and face. Likewise, her regal posture clashed with the casualness of the whole ensemble.

Her legs swung easily over the empty hallway, and she observed as a rare passenger strode obliviously to their rooms. Two young girls, an old man, a wife and her husband, and a little dog, were the only beings she had seen so far. She was just about to climb down and sidle off, when she caught sight of person of interest through the window.

A good-looking young man in the dark blue coat rushed up the gangplank to Sylph, and strode down the boat's corridor to his quarters. He was in an awful hurry, and looked about to be in his early twenties.

Her silver eyes, like liquid moonlight, followed him as he slammed the door and the lock clicked shut. Her naturally curious nature couldn't resist wondering what was waiting for him.

Perhaps he had a lady friend waiting in there? Or maybe he was being chased down by spies? She paused, as the sound of yelling seemed to come from the room. It seemed he really did have a lady friend waiting for him, after all, who else could be in there? She couldn't make out exactly what he was saying, so she slung her rucksack over her shoulder and climbed down the hidden ladder on the back of a pillar. She crept silently up to the door, pressing her ear to the crack.

"-Jackaby Manor, and you thought you could just snuffle around and rob them of the money? What on earth were you thinking?" The man scolded someone, who didn't seem to be replying. His snuffling lady friend must have debts to pay off or something.

"Don't you look at me like that, you're lucky I was there!" Still no reply from the lady friend. The dark-haired girl hesitated for a second, before looking in through the keyhole.

The young man had taken off his coat and stood in a gold vest with the sleeves rolled up. His forearms were heavily scarred, making her stomach turn, but that wasn't her focus. He appeared to be holding onto a- rodent of some sort? Marsupial? She honestly couldn't make heads or tails of what it was, but it sure wasn't a lady friend. It was something she had never seen before, and appeared to pull gold coins out of its pouch. Her eyes flicked to the gold, and her attention flared. She could definitely use some of that.

Her attention was stolen by the man as he moved. He shook his head and clucked his tongue, before opening his suitcase and dropping the rodent in. Now that could not be humane.

To her surprise the rodent didn't crawl out, and she frowned. Where had it gone? As if she wasn't surprised enough, the man then stepped into the suitcase, and disappeared within its depths!

And she thought what she could do was incredible.

An inner struggle began in her mind as she debated whether or not to look inside the suitcase. On the one hand it was none of her business, but on the other hand she was wildly curious.

After all, if he caught her, what would he do? He couldn't get her thrown off the boat until they reached destination and it wasn't like she had any family to be returned to. She had nothing to lose. With that thought, she set her jaw in stern determination.

Ultimately, she used a hairpin to pick the cheap lock, and eased the door open slowly, careful not to let it creak at all. She shut the door, and locked it again, before padding cautiously towards the mysterious suitcase.

She crouched down and retrieved some of the gold coins, tucking them away in the pockets of her trousers. It wasn't stealing, after all, these had been the rodent's. And she had a feeling if the man had needed them, he'd have picked them up. This would teach him not to leave his gold lying about. Bearing that logic in mind, she let go of any guilt she was holding onto. She needed this more anyway.

Gold safely stowed, she lifted up the suitcase and checked underneath it: nothing. So where had the man gone? She had a very strong feeling about what he had done, but there was only one way to find out.

With a deep breath, she flicked the fixtures on the case open, and peered inside. There appeared to be some sort of ladder that disappeared into the shadows.

Last chance to back out, she thought.

Steeling her nerves, she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt and secured the newsboy cap snug on her head. With a deep breath, she carefully lowered her self onto the mysterious ladder and proceeded to climb down. Once she had both feet on solid ground, she surveyed her surroundings, primarily to look for a hiding place.

She was standing in some sort of cramped workshop, stocked to the ceilings with herbs, ingredients, papers, crates, jars, and assorted mess. She picked her way through the mess to the only door in sight and found herself somehow standing...outdoors?

Forgetting her cautiousness, she ran outside, and looked out at the sprawling landscape before her.

All sorts of animals the girl had never seen before roamed freely in this incredible eutopia. Sunny skies were above, and a twisted tree spiralled upwards at the bottom of the hill. And right in the middle of it all, was Mr. Gold Vest himself, stroking the nose of some sort of enormous bird with six wings.

The bird's bright amber eyes flicked to the slim girl at the door of the workshop, and let out a screeching sound. Apparently understanding the beast, the man spun around and she felt her heart stop.

Oh dear, this had been a bad idea.

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