Few times had Farra Island seen such a big crowd sit on its docks, no, that was wrong, there were crowds like this every morning and night but those were sailors and taskmasters and merchants. But now? Now there were beggars, bakers, butchers, and people that worked in every piece of the industry except the port. And they were all here for two youngsters that were leaving their home of a month to sail the seas, many ignored what was that they were pursuing but still they liked them. Liked the confident, young woman that always had a dirty joke in her mouth, a coin for a drink from a beggar, and a smile like a cat for children and elders. She who had visited every bar and skimmed the bill by giving songs and tales to the drunk customers, enrapturing the scarred and tough with innocent little things they had turned their backs to years ago. She was a breath of air where she passed, lightening the mood and spreading laughs like a sickness.
Then there was her brother, a man that was as soft as he was big. Always too willing to lend a hand to those struggling or in hard spots, the children loved him as the bear that threw them into the air and filled them with treats until they were sick of the stuff. More than one mother had tried to reprimand him, only to falter when he gave them a smile that was sweet as the treats he produced from his pockets. Butcheries and Liquor Stores and Bakeries knew him as the man that cleared their business for the day and thanked him for gifting them with such welcomed holidays.
In the small time they had been there they had drawn people to them, there was something about their exaggerated gestures that just couldn't be faulted. And now the young woman was standing with her family as they looked at her brother. Martina stood next to Itse giving Nicolas a nod of approval as he sweet talked a young woman who was crying at his departure.
"Never thought he had a lover. I was sure his only love was the spoon he used for the mix,"
"I saw him a couple times. The boy always left that bakery with a shine to his smile,"
"Well, I must congratulate him then. And meet my sister in law I guess,"
"Don't go bother him now, girl. Let him enjoy it,"
"You know I wouldn't dare bother them,"
The older woman looked at her from the corner of her eye and snorted in good humour. Looking down Martina found Itse's grandchildren crowding around her, making a barrier of soft meat and bird bones that held the beggars she knew she had given more than a coin to and the owners of some bars that were gesturing for her.
"Lass! The people from the Wave pooled together some money and bought you a casket of our wine. God forbids you go thirsty in your first voyage,"
"Make it two with the Psyren',"
"Shush you. I am a virgin to alcohol,"
There was a mixture of laughter and mocking gestures as the words crossed the crowd, and then there were catcalls and whistling as her brother planted a kiss in the dainty girl, making her blush deep and hard. Much to everyone's amusement.
"You done, lover boy? We can't wait for you two to come from the hotel,"
He gave her a look that could have cut milk but the crowd loved it as they slapped his back and told him not to take it personal. She was sure that if he didn't love every plate he produced as much as he did, he would spit her next meal. Or every other he had cooked for her.
"Aunty, why would they go to a hotel? Its early for a nap,"
Oh, she had forgotten the children. Itse stepped away from her as her son and daughter in law gave her a whittling look, at least she had the decency of looking ashamed for them. She wasn't about to start giving a sexual education in a port, no matter how much some of the sailors around might need it. Why did her [Critical eye] thought she might need to know who had the cock rot or not was beyond her and she prayed every night the system would turn it into a toggleable ability instead of a passive.
"Where is that whore! Where is she. I will cut her teats off!"
A shout cut through the good mood and reached them, every eye turned to look at the newcomers and were surprised to see a man barely restraining an infuriated woman with a carving knife. She looked at the face of the man and a drop of recognition fell into her mind.
"Nico, get to unfurling the sails. We are leaving,"
"Are you the one she is speaking about?"
"Might be. No, most definitely. Come on she got a knife on her!"
"God damn it. We both have knives!"
He hurried up the ship and set to working on the ropes that held everything neatly in place while she kicked the knots back into the deck, there was enough time to put them were they were meant to be at sea. She kissed Itse and everyone else in the cheek as she hurriedly pushed the side of the ship away from the port, escaping the lover of her lover. God damn her if she didn't have a bad eye for men. Itse laughed loud and clear as she watched the mess she got herself in and waved them off with the rest of her family.
"We will call at every port!"
"For your own good you better do it!"
They both screamed over the noise and the ruckus, it wasn't how she wanted to say goodbye but it was still better than talking and breaking in front of everyone. No, this was better, having everyone they had met shout their goodbyes was good enough. And now that she thought about it, it was hilarious to have to make their escape for such a thing. From one of the many ships that dotted the sides of the port Martina saw someone waving at her, asking for her attention until she turned.
"Ana! Ana Martina please take me with you. I can't live without you,"
Ah, there was another. It felt so strange to have these men calling for her, but in that she felt sinful for feeling good at the attention they asked of her. Surely they would never find a woman quite like her, and that brought a smile to her face as she steered their ship, a smile that was soon followed by her dad's favourite song. A song about how difficult it was to be good.
You knew me shameless, naughty, and adventurous
A romantic scoundrel with a bad name to give,
Her brother from the side tied the sail's rope to a bollard and joined the singing while working on getting that knot right with clever hands.
And despite my past of suspicious stories
You fell for me, and look how we ended up
Puma looked up from his spot over her shoulders, his draped down her chest and using it as pillow. He wondered what the noise was about and why they had dared disturbed him, those were the thoughts he had sent her through their bond.
And I gave you my heart for your innocent eyes
And your way of life of a different kind
They sang hard and loud as they left the island, their voices challenging the waves to sing higher and making them both feel home sick and at the same time impatient to start again. But that was what life was about, to make the most of what little they gave you and keep walking with your head held high.
Least that was what their family would want them to do, and she would happily oblige.
(O.o)
It was already the third day of their trip and Martina had to admit that they had gotten used to life at sea pretty quickly for being a pair of land lubbers. She thought contentedly as she steered them away from an outcropping of jagged stones that was barely hidden by the froth of the sea. They had studied this region well enough to know that there were several reefs and rocks that might cut them, it was one of the several spots Itse had marked in red across their map of North Blue. Or at least the piece of it they had, there was simply no way to chart the whole damn place even after all the years these people had spent trying.
Martina dragged her head up when she heard the mess of pot and pans falling or banging against each other and felt the flare of feelings Nicolas was going through in her mind. Peering at the door that led to the cabins, kitchen, and map room she saw Puma running like all hells from a carving knife that sunk itself in the deck when he threw himself to the side. He saw her looking at her and held his head high, still biting a piece of fish and preening over his prize as a commander over a hard-earned victory. She snorted at the ridiculous creature and almost laughed when she saw Nicolas coming out red in the face and with murder all about him.
"Where is that vermin! Its going into a pot right now,"
She rolled her eyes at his exaggerated outburst and winked at Puma who was already tearing the meat apart he held tightly in his paws, he almost looked like a squirrel. One with too sharp a tooth and a short tail.
"Don't make such a drama and don't come bother Puma, he is calm now that he is eating,"
And he almost jumped from the deck to the ceiling of the cabins where she was steering but he decided against it as he seemed to remember he left something in the oven or some such.
All was well and in order with her at the helm.
Just as the words formed in her head they were shoved aside by the blaring alarm of her Observation catching something, the blots and dregs of massive hunger showed themselves like ashes blown from a pyre. They drowned the side of the ship with abandoned growth, the smoke coming out of the sea in tongues and tails that tasted the wood of the rails and deck and quivered in elation, in satisfaction at finding prey. Martina cursed loud and clear, called for Nicolas and had him bursting out of the cabin once more, he broke out confused but with all the steel and fight he could muster.
"We have a Sea King to our larboard!"
That got him out of his confusion and got him to take the wheel, freeing her and letting her ready the small cannons on the port. There three of them, long as an arm and thick as a leg, Cafra had said it was meant to give them more space to rifle it and she had taken the offer with a smile after realizing that her [Steady Aim] didn't correct the trajectory of a bullet all that much if the gun had the habit of spitting it in a wild cone. So here she was now, pumping at the mouth of the cannon with a stick to get her home-made round as far in as she could. Her hands were sweating, and she licked her lips a couple times because of her dry mouth, first times were always nerve wracking.
"Light!"
Nico handed her his lighter and she removed the brass of the wick before feeding it to the flames for a second and blowing the fire. She could feel the bastard growing closer, swimming lazily around them, deciding where to begin biting. It would not do for the big fucker to come up at their starboard when she had readied everything for it on the other side. That was bad manners, her brother would say. So she went back into the kitchen and pulled the bag of wastes to the deck.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't you know how to fish? We need bait,"
"I was going to use that! That thing better be edible,"
She tuned him out as she threw a fish tail and a head and guts of all size over the board. One at a time, waiting for the first to sink some before the next. And she could almost see the pieces disappear in a blink as a shadow crossed the waters below, its attention was now away from the ship and was more concerned with this opening they were gifting it with. When the bag was empty it remained there, that tail of smoke swirling right where she wanted it. And not a second a later it broke the water.
Maws thin as her hips reached out the waves, the rest of its head barely even changed as a beast that looked like the child between a bird and a moray showed itself. Its body had scales red as a good wine and flippers that sat uselessly along its body like an afterthought in its design but it was the eyes that caught her. All six of them were perfect circles of black, as if hollow crevices that showed the abyss it had from and she smiled, wild and wide. This thing, big as legends, might have been a right predator in the deep sea, agile and with sharp teeth, but this wasn't the deep. Here, she was at the top.
She put the mouth of the gun right where the head joined the body as the fish somehow managed to roar, loud and reverberating as the sound of a bell in a cave. Bringing the wick to the breech she let a breath she didn't know she was holding and activated her [Piercing Shot] with another keyword.
"BrujerÃa: "
The gun let out a voice of smoke and fury as it spat the metal ball in a show of rage. It cracked the scales that had held by their lonesome storms of gunfire at bay, the muscles that had allowed it to take the battering and punishment of its competitors failed him as it punched through, and it was only when it tensed at the pain and strength of the blow that its mad race was finally stopped.
"La Hoguera,"
As her words dropped like the blade of a guillotine flames flickered from the round and burned in a conflagration of magical blue fires. Tongues of bright hunger raced across its insides like a scorching army, its screams turned into miserable gurgles as its throat was punched through by the upsurge and its lungs were boiled over in the sudden heat. The stamina and powerful strength of its life now played against it as it extended the suffering he could not fight, and thus came the pitiful end of one of the Sea's Monarchs.
The siblings looked at smoking carcass with very different expressions, Martina looked surprised that her explosive rounds would have such big firepower, pun intended, and looked positively pleased with the results. While Nicolas could only pray that it had a better life the next time, having felt sorry that it had to suffer so.
"That was animal cruelty,"
"We wanted it dead. It did the job, so don't complain,"
"Doesn't change it was cruel,"
"Shut up. Give me the wheel and start dicing it before we have to dispense more cruelty around,"
And Nicolas followed her instructions, jumping onto its floating body and praying once more to the Saints and Gods he knew so that it may rest in peace as he pulled his carving knives from their sheathes. After all, it would be adding salt to injury to let its meat waste away.
I just couldn't wait another day to post day cause it is one of my favourites. Here I get to finally start using technique names and show what happened in the background
