Back again. fell free to review and all that.
this chapter is starting off with a time skip, get used to it because i will be doing this more than just a little bit Life is long and boring at sea and months can pass with nothing happening. this will become less the case as the other characters start showing up and things actually start happening but for now we'll just be skipping along.
so enjoy.
-6 months later -
John sat in the crow's nest of a rather large merchant vessel. His adventure in the tiny fishing boat he started out in had not lasted very long but he was still on an adventure none the less. For the past six months he had been sailing back and forth across the seas on various merchant vessels but not many of them were willing to venture beyond the boundaries of this plane. He was having fun but he felt like there was more and once again found himself being called out to sea. It seemed like it was impossible for him to remain in one place for any length of time. Rose would one day liken his condition to a mild form of ADHD. But John does not know who this rose person is yet so whatever she has to say about him can wait for another time.
Regardless of John's thirst for adventure no vessel would take him to one of the other planes and he had no idea why. John would have to wait to get his chance at further exploits, for now he was stuck in relatively familiar waters.
He had found it easy to find work however. He had a reputation with the merchant captains as an able bodied sailor, and among the captains that he had worked under he was almost seen as a lucky charm. John didn't understand that last one but apparently ships don't usually sail through hurricanes unharmed, he personally didn't see anything wrong with it but whatever. As a result he was hired quite easily and crews and captains alike were saddened to see him go.
For the Moment John just sat up high, letting the wind play through his hair. It was a peaceful day. John was not on watch he merely felt like sitting in the crow's nest. He was not the only one; another sailor was also present keeping an active eye on the horizon. John decided to take a nap and closed his eyes in preparation for a long relaxing cat nap.
His dreams were filled with whispers, he identified them as the voices of the wind but didn't really have anything to base this assumption on. He supposed it was just a mysterious dreamy thing. As always they were filled with mirth and playfulness. Innumerable voices whispering all at once like puppies clambering over each other to say hello. Which incidentally is what they were saying
Hey
Heeeey
He
HEY
Hey hey
Heeeeeeeeeeey
Hi.
Heeeeey
Hey listen!
Hey
Hey listen!
It was starting to get annoying…
Hey hey!
GUESTS!
'Guests?' John thought.
Guests!
What…
Suddenly John was woken by a cry. "PIRATES!" the other occupant of the crow's nest called down to those on the deck. Considering that he was right next to John it was unpleasantly loud. He was pretty panicked. John was about to go back to sleep when his comrades words sank in.
Pirates. That's a pretty good reason to freak out I suppose. PIRATES!
John scrambles to his feet looking to his comrade to see him practically shitting himself.
He looked down at the other crew members as they scurried about. As large as the ship was the waters in these parts were peaceful and calm, the ship was not at all equipped to take on pirates. The most they could hope to do was out run them.
Out of curiosity John looked in the direction the lookout was frantically waving and saw a Blue ship flying a jolly roger with eight eyes.
Oh
Guests
The other ship was large for a pirate ship, usually they choose ships for speed but this one was definitely built for fire power. Despite this however it was still faster than the ship john was currently on. And to top it off he knew that ship didn't have to be fast to catch them.
On that note…
John turns to look down at the helmsman who seems unusually calm, like he is spacing out. The helmsman starts angling the ship into the current, slowing the ship to a crawl. Several other sailors seem to be coming to after cutting lines or slashing sails. The deck was in chaos as some of the crew frantically tried to undo the damages and others committed unwilling acts of sabotage.
John jumps out of the crow's nest grabbing a rope on his way down. He swings from rope to rope before coming to rest on deck his feet making a loud BANG as he lands.
A few sailors who aren't trying to keep their companions from getting them all jump at his arrival. They seemed fairly surprised by his display of acrobatics Most would have expected him to hit the deck with a sickening splat and not a commanding boom. John has to admit he thought it was awesome as well.
John ignores their shock as he goes downstairs to find his bunk. He had some things to grab. And his hammer hadn't been used in a while…
-o0O0o-
A young pirate gazes hungrily at the fat and lazy merchant ship before them. She disappointedly reminded herself that they most likely didn't have anything really valuable like gold but it was always nice to get their hands on rum and spices without having to pay for them.
She wished she was more useful. She glanced over at her mother, the feared Marquis Spinnerette Mindfang, who was currently looking towards their prey with a hand to her temple and a vicious smirk on her face. The young pirate was disappointed that she could not affect the ship at this range. Her current range was something close to a couple hundred meters her mother could affect people a full kilometer away far more than enough for their current quarry. She couldn't match up to her mother currently but she was eagerly waiting on the day that she would, then she could sow the seeds of chaos herself. It was a lot for a young woman to look forward to.
Their prey had come to almost a complete stop all that was left was to frighten them into surrendering, not that they had to do much more than they already did but it never hurt to be flashy. That being said…
The 'Mind Fang' opened fire with its main guns heavily damaging the defenceless ship and scaring the shit out of its crew. That done 'The Mind Fang' pulled up to the ship and a couple dozen members of her crew boarded without resistance. The crew of the merchant vessel all got down on their knees and put their hands on their heads, they had given up. The pirates were almost disappointed, but looking at the sailors before them it probably wouldn't have been a very good fight anyway. Some of the crew were muttering about deviants under their breath, the young pirate and several of her crew mates were angry at this and were tempted to just execute them all.
Deviant was a word used for anyone who wasn't entirely human like the Mer and the Djinn. In the case of the young pirate and her mother they were called ash-skins, blue-bloods, or Ice-hearts, but the name they would have preferred to go by Jotenn or High-Northerner. The young pirate was not tall by human standards perhaps a full head taller than most human women, but to her own she was not all that imposing, she was still growing though. Her skin was a pale grey with a slightly blue tone to it anywhere that would have been pink on a human was a light blue on her, her features were obviously those of a woman coming out of puberty. Her mother on the other hand was statuesque, easily standing tall over most of her crew, her skin was so dark it appeared to be the blue-black of the night sky and her lips intensely blue lips framed a wicked fanged smirk. The younger pirate really looked forward to inheriting her mother's figure, she wouldn't even need her powers to control some people then.
Spinerette's face did not show any sign of her anger but she did stab one of the more chatty prisoners multiple times in the face, the whispers quickly stopped. She then turned to an exceptionally tall and muscled Jotenn "Equius get below and check to make sure the crew is secured."
"yes, mistress." He said. Spinerette opted to ignore the mistress part it was just something the young man did. The young pirate found the form of address disconcerting.
He wasn't even gone for two minutes before he came back. It was not this alone that was surprising rather it was how he had returned. He had come flying… through the deck before landing in a heap a little to the left of the young Pirate. There were only two people who had ever handled equius like that. One of them was insane so he couldn't be here so the only other person would be…
A cheery voice spoke as its owner leap out of the hole left in equius's wake. "Hey Vriska, Long-time no see"
-o0 Flashback time! 6 months ago. 0o-
The crew of the Mind fang were bored they had been in the overly calm waters preying on easily captured merchant ships for a few days now, they made quite a profit but it was too easy. There were no storms to throw them off or naval officers looking to see them hang, the waters in this plane were too peaceful. They wouldn't have a chance to leave for their next destination for almost half a year so they were stuck for the time the entire crew just laid around on the deck watching clouds drift by
Vriska was entertaining herself with gambling, as always she won. That was literally all there was to say about that, every game, she won.
The only way someone could beat her was by cheating but she always caught cheaters and she jumped at any excuse to practice her dueling skills. So unfortunately for her no one ever cheated.
A cry went out that a ship had been sighted getting everyone's attention; there wasn't anything else for them to pay attention to anyway. The crew looked it in the direction the lookout was gesturing which happened to be behind them, the ship was tiny and surprisingly close, the lookout should have seen it before it got that close. It kept getting closer and closer with incredible speed, REALY incredible speed. The lookout had only announced its approach not even a minute ago and it had gone from a speck in the distance to a fishing vessel only a few hundred meters away.
Most of the crew were flabbergasted for a variety of reasons. First was the obvious issue with its speed, no ship should move that fast regardless of its size or weight, the fact that it did meant something about the little boat or its pilot. The other issue was the fact that the ship was APROACHING THEM, a pirate ship with the jolly roger and everything.
The boat came up alongside the 'Mind Fang' giving Vriska and the crew their first look at the ship and its occupant. It was a well-tanned Human with black hair. From what Vriska could see he only wore a pair of khaki shorts but didn't make out much more as the boy continued to sail forward before looping around the other side of the Mind Fang were it slowed down to matching her speed.
The crew rushed to the other side some with weapons at the read.
As Vriska and the crew arrived at the side they were surprised to be hailed by a cheery voice. She could hear the grin in the young man's voice. "Ahoy there! I thought I would never find another ship, I realy should have figured out where I was going before I set sail. I was almost out of water I thought I was going to die or something. (Shrug) oh well."
'Shrug?' the whole crew thought in unison. 'Almost died… and 'shrug''? The crew didn't know what to do about the lad, they had all come to the conclusion that he wasn't dangerous (as far as they could tell) but they didn't really have any point with witch to begin communicating with him.
"Permission to come aboard?" the young man in the boat asked "I've got some fish I caught this morning if you want some."
The crew once again had a shared thought. 'Did he just offer a group of pirates… fish?' The lad was way too laid back...
"um… yes?" an older pirate said, almost asked
"Oh good!" the man then leaned down and picked up a Marlin that was several times larger than he was. I usually don't keep Blue Marlin but I hadn't caught anything else besides so I kept one of the smaller ones."
The crew were baffled 'smaller ones? Did he catch that massive thing and that tiny boat… and where was he keeping the damn thing?' the crew all thought as they looked at the boat that clearly didn't have enough space to hind the massive fish
The man stood up with the fish over one shoulder and a rope in his other hand attached to the boat which surprisingly didn't tip before LEAPING onto the deck of the Mind Fang. As the Lad righted himself again Vriska got her first good look at him. He was very tall dwarfed only by Equips but was not as bulky as he was. The Young man had a lean frame and broad shoulders he did not appear weak in the slightest but by no means did he looked strong enough to have made that jump. His hair was black and wild as if it had been wiped about in a hurricane. Quickly securing the rope to the railing he turned to the crew of the Mind Fang. His eyes were blue like the sky, and seemed to have a mirthful shine to them, Vriska blushed slightly. This impression was only strengthened by the huge shit eating grin that adorned his face showcasing slightly larger than average front teeth.
"So your pirates eh?" the man asked his grin never leaving his face
'Oh so he DID know, that was a relief'
"I'm John"
-o0Flashback over.0o-
"John?" Vriska asked surprised to see the goofy adventurer again. It had been Half a year and literally nothing had changed about him, except his hammer which was bigger a good bit bigger than his last one. "What are you doing here?"
"I was having a nap." John said with his bucktoothed grin in place.
"A nap?"
"A nap." He affirmed
"OoooooooK. Why'd you send Equius flying this time?" Vriska queried
"He tried to grab me and he was really sweaty. So I punched him." John said his face scrunching up slightly with something like disgust. "Oh! Hi Vriska's mom." He said with his smile back in place as he saw Spinnerette. Most of the crew were baffled at this form of address.
"Good day John. But please call me Captain Marquis Spinnerette Mind-fang or just Captain Mind-fang." She said with a voice laced with both amusement and irritation at the same time. "Been well I hope?"
"Yep! Been sailing around with the merchants for a while, its kinda boring though."
"Oh I know what you mean." Vriska said "This pl8n is SOOOOOOOO Boooooooooring. I can't w8 to leave." Spinnerette nodded in agreement with her daughter's words
"Your Leaving this plain?"
"Of COOOOOOOOURSE we are." Spinnerette stated. "You didn't think pirates of our calibre would stay in this kitty pool did you?"
"Oh yeah." He said as if he had just remembered something very important. "Can I come?"
The rather blunt question threw the pirates off guard. John's crew mates, who were all confused by his familiarity with the pirates were absolutely floored.
"Fine you'll come aboard and we'll kill these whelps." Spinnerette said with a small smile gracing her lips. They would pay for their insults.
"I'll come aboard and you'll take the cargo but leave the people." John said.
"Oh?" Spinnerette asked "how about we take you aboard and I kill half the people and take three quarters of the loot by volume."
"A third of the people and half the loot by weight." John countered. His once crew mates were looking at him with frightened eyes.
"A third of the people and three fifths of the cargo by volume." Spinnerette shot back. A smirk gracing her lips.
"I go with you, you kill only three people however you take half the cargo by volume and I'll show you were the captain keeps the wages."
Spinnerette stood there with a thoughtful look on her face before making a decision. "It's a deal. Welcome aboard John" She said with a smirk, she did so enjoy haggling. John's previous crew mates had mixed feelings about one of their own bartering with a pirate, with their lives no less. On the one hand they were happy that they would most likely live on the other they had to feel more than just a little betrayed that John did not reduce the death toll to zero and seemed fine with it.
"I'm surprised. You put up more of a fuss about killing the last time Captain ordered ex8cutions. I thought you would deb8 " Vriska said as she came up alongside John. She would not call her mom 'mom'. To her it didn't show enough respect, she was her captain first and foremost.
"Yeah… And she killed them all anyway. I don't like it much but its than better than the alternative." John said with his smile still in place but it didn't quite have the same innocent mirth it usually held. "anyways… the wages. I'm pretty sure their inside one of the log books on the shelf. Let's go grab it so we can depart."
"fiiiiiiiine. Hey John wanna wager your share on a game of cards. I'll wipe the floor with you this time."
"wanna bet?" John challenged in return.
"It's gambling, Of coooooooourse I do." Vriska shot back "Of course there isn't much chance involved, what with you cheating all the time." She accused
"You never told me why you think I'm cheating." Their conversation faded as they went below deck.
-o0O0o-
Several hours later and the Mind Fang was a hive of activity. The crew on watch were busy maintaining the ships full speed, they wanted to get away from these waters, they had spent too long idle. Those not on watch were drinking the rum they had stolen from John's old crew or sleeping in preparation for their own shift. Two people in particular were sitting down for a game of poker.
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Vriska shouted after 3 consecutive loses, her share of the gold stolen from their last hit was quickly dwindling. "I JUST KNOOOOOOOOW YOUR CHEATING!"
"I am not" John said back in good humour. "I don't have any sleeves to hold cards and you even shuffled this time."
"YOU JUST ARE! I don't know how but you are defin8ly cheating!"
"I'm not cheating. Its magic." He said with one of the world's largest shit eating grins plastered cross his face.
"TH8'S THE SAME FUCKING THING!" Vriska shouted, her face flushing a deep blue with anger "And Magic is make believe fakey bullshit."
"Oh yeah? what about alchemy? I find some of the things they do too crazy to explain with science."
"They use big ass machines and fancy eq8sions an' shit, that outomatically disqual8fies them from the magic thing."
"they can make boats move without sails or oars or anything though! Tell me that doesn't sound like magic."
"They use these things called engines for that! They, like, burn shit and it makes these weird as metal things spin and THAT moves the ship."
"how does burning things make something else spin? And why would they light a fire on a ship?" Fire at sea was a very dangerous thing.
"Hell if I know! it's stupid but it's NOT MAGIC!"
"Hmmmm. I'm not terribly convinced." John said skeptically "What about the ships that they can sail underwater?" he looked at her as she tried to come up with a rebuttal "can't explain that can you?"
"Egbert if you don't stop I will make you jump overboard." Vriska said bringing a hand to her temple and narrowing her eyes at John
"Your mind thingy didn't work on me last time though." John said simply, obviously unaffected by Vriska's attempts.
Vriska put more effort into her attempt, her eyes narrowed almost to the point of being squeezed shut and a vein was pulsing violently in her temple. John still didn't seem affected. John grew worried about her when her face started a bright blue but before he could he suddenly fell face first onto the deck sound asleep.
Vriska blinked, her eyes tearing up with all the blood flowing to her head, and as it left her head all at once she suddenly became dizzy and fell on her ass. She Rounded on john expecting the big goof ball to be laughing at her but was surprised to find that he was face down on the deck snoring. Not the effect she was hopping for but it would do.
She quickly took back everything john won from her and then some and left deliberately stepping on him as she made her way to her cabin.
Served the cheater right. No one gets one up on her. Now she just needed to figure out how he did it.
NA:
Just to clarify.
The 'world' this story takes place in is a collection of smaller worlds (all of which are more or less ocean themed) called planes each existing in the same 'solar system' but at different positions throughout it. no, there is no space travel but there is a 'void' that acts as a divider between them. it will be explained more in depth in the next chapter. Each Plane will be named after the lands the kids go to in the session. the current plane has no name, at least none of importance its just a starting point, think of it as the boonies if you want.
As for alchemy it is not FMA alchemy it is still alchemy of the MSPA variety requiring machines and such. they will still do some weird ans mostly pointless bullshit but your not gonna come across someone clapping their hands together.
magic will play its role. but most of the bullshit that appens will have a non-magical explanation.
yup. looks like that's everything. got to go.