The Thief and the Stowaway

[Sal]

The sun had set; The moon was now hovering above the sleeping inhabitants of this country. Yet those who were awake knew nothing of what was happening - at least, they wouldn't know until it was over. It was, by chance, a stealthy theft. As stealthy as stealing a boat could be, at least. This was no ordinary heist, however. It was simply lifting the water-locked vehicle off of the hands of the Aerugese...temporarily. Of course the culprit didn't speak a word of Aerugese, but it wasn't necessary since he had already figured out what he was going to do. Down by the docks, there were a few small fishing boats as well as other, larger ones, ranging from passenger and cargo ships to more moderately-sized ones. It was the latter that were on the list of potential targets. The lucky winner would be commandeered by the one and only, the Pirate King, Captain Sal.

Despite his bright white hair, which he had tied into a bun, he was quite good at sneaking. It was possible that this was the fox in him, or of course the dominance of cat. Either way, he was skilled enough to make it through the country these past few days solely on stolen food and water, without getting caught at all. Though he mostly slept on the roofs or in the basements of people's houses during the day (he traveled by night), he made good progress. Now that he had arrived, it was time for the final step of this operation. The purpose? To finally see the ocean and to sail on it. He wasn't very fond of water, or getting wet for that matter, but that was no longer of any consequence. This was something that he had to do.

Approaching the nearest of the aforementioned moderately-sized boats, he stuck to hiding behind the large crates that were certainly going to be loaded onto the cargo ships in the morning. There were a few guards around, mostly due to the cargo, but Sal knew he wouldn't have too much trouble with them. He was a pirate, but that didn't mean he had to run around wildly, swinging a sword or a gun at every person in his path. In fact, he felt that he was a much better pirate by doing it this way. After all, he was by himself, likely to the dismay of his crew members (he'd left a note saying he'd be back, but he didn't specify a location).

Two of the guards began to patrol in opposite directions, leaving one on the other side of the cargo where Sal was hiding. The small captain grabbed a pebble and threw it with as much force as possible at a street light that was a good ways away to distract the guard that was left. Once he got up to inspect the area, Sal sprinted across to the dock and quietly went onto the deck of the ship. He checked to make sure it was clear before cutting the rope that kept it anchored to the dock - without any extra effort on his part, the boat began to drift away from the pier. Sal lay on a pile of fabric - most likely for whatever was inside the boat - and fell asleep, despite the sound of the guards confused voices. He had a feeling this was going to be a LONG trip to nowhere.

[Guest]

Osamu was asleep in the dark recesses of the cupboards next to the flour when she heard the execution of the guards and then a sudden lurch as the boat drifted off into the night. It must be someone stealing the ship. She thought as she went back to sleep. She cared nothing of who was stealing she ship. The only concern for her is that whether she would be able to travel with that person. Though she would figure something out when she woke up. Plus, not many people would go looking in the flour cabinet unless docked at a port. Her purple eye closed as she fell into darkness.

Three hours.The maximum she could ever sleep in such a place. A small ray of grey light washed in between the boards as she blinked away the cracks in her eyes. After that, she crawled out and pulled an apple from a barrel as she checked the bottom decks. Osamu pulled out a notebook filled with characters and whipped out a pencil stub. Needed a new coat of sealant for the kitchen decks, new pots for boiling water and a few new cats to keep the rats out of the produce. As she stared out the porthole she remembered that there was someone that had stolen the boat. Oh yeah. That happened. She casually put the pieces of literature away and started to undress all the way past her knickers. She closed her eyes and sat on a chair.

Osamu then melded into the background. Her hair changing dark black in the same pattern as the pot behind her and her body changing colors to fit the chair that she was sitting on. If the person was here to steal it and just ride, they would get hungry. If they were here to sell the boat, then they would check the inventory. Either way they would come downstairs, she would kick their ass and use it as an excuse to keep the ship.

[Sal]

It was the soft light of morning that awoke the small chimera from his slumber. With a long, groan-accompanied stretch, Sal looked around at the surrounding waters. There really wasn't anything in sight at all, which startled him a little bit, but he was quite used to scenery like this. Well, except that the water was snow...but other than that, the lack of anything but the snow (or water, in this case) wasn't anything new. The cry of a seagull caused him to look up at the passing bird with a smile. It was a nice change of pace, that much was certain. A small gurgle in his stomach alerted him of the hunger that was likely there hours before he woke up. Putting a hand over it, he walked over to the door that led into the main room of the boat, and went inside.

"Food, food...where would the food be..." He glanced around the room that was rather luxuriously furnished, and once he was certain it wouldn't be there, he resorted to sniffing it out. All the way on the other end, there was a door that led down into a cellar-like room. There were barrels and cupboards and drawers...it was like a kitchen. Sniffing, he noticed something odd. Aside from the scent of various foodstuffs and the ever-lingering smell of the sea water, there was something else. "It smells like....someone's in here..." and on further observation, he noticed some clothing piled on the floor in near a table and some chairs. With a frown, he walked over and lifted a piece of clothing off of the floor. It looked like....a bathing suit top? What were they called again... "...Bikini?" He reluctantly smelled the article and noted that it smelled as though someone had just taken it off...it was a tad warm, too...

Walking over to a barrel with apples, he held the strange object in his hand and began to munch on a rather sweet apple, looking around the room. His asymmetrical eyes then focused on the clothes. It certainly seemed that there was someone here, but...why couldn't he see her? Was she in a different room, perhaps? Then why did she leave her bathing suit and her clothes here? Wait...if it was a bathing suit and recently worn, then why was it dry? This made absolutely no sense and caused his ears to twitch as wildly as his tail, his head cocked to the side.

[Guest]

Osamu quietly observed this young thing. He had white hair and red eyes...but tan skin. An Ishvalin. She had seen plenty, but none with ears as silky as his. He was shorter than herself, smaller in strength but his senses were spot on. Osamu blinked. He picked up her bra and was fiddling with the padding. She wanted to shift so badly and yank it from his hands, but she stayed stone still, not even cupping her exposed front. The boy then began to munch on an apple just as she did a few hours ago.

Apparently, this boy was an Ishvalin Chimera that is part cat due to his unique eyes. Not the color, but the pupil shape. His senses would be sharp and reflexes polished, but in matters of strength would be a bit low. Though, who needed strength to win a fight? Osamu concluded that there was no one else on the ship and that the boy was alone. If he was strong enough to beat up huge sailors, then he was quite formidable; but they made a sound as he knocked them out, so she knew for a fact she was stronger no matter what he did. Her eyes softened. He was just a kid and already knew how to steal ships? Maybe hanging around him wouldn't be so bad after all as long as she could reach her objective.

Osamu used her ninja skills to slowly move out of his vision. Knowing the creaks of the ship, she avoided without a sound. As she moved, the chair imprint stayed on her body as she got up and walked to the side of the door that was made of blackened wood. Much better camouflage than the chair in which the boy might have sat on her. She leaned against the grain and a minute later, she was blended into the corner. She would be able to observe him even more, but if he got too close or when she knew that he wasn't too much of a threat she would make herself known. After all, she would have a hankering for fish soon.

She thought back of all of the chimera children that was over in the community she had lived in since birth. How determined they were, their eyes as hard as nails and their determination could bend steel. They would sooner tear her throat out as soon as the word was given. She smiled. She wasn't any different. Though, she had to adapt to the world as she went into it. Her heart and determination has turned from steel to water. Shaky, but ready to change and adapt as soon as steel hits it, wearing away others in hope to continue it's flow. This boy looked as if this boy was just the same as her. Adapting with opportunity and changing whenever the chance. Even so, the boy could sniff her out but since she moved, her scent would expand and be even harder to configure. Lovely.

Though, might as well just toss a rock down the well and see how deep it is. Osamu took a breath and spoke in Amestrian. " You have good senses, but you lack the refinement. Example, that's called a bra. Something women wear everyday to keep their front from hurting." Osamu's voice was smooth and sharp with her "t's" and "p's" but her accent replaced her "ls" with "r's". The true accent of an Aerugese woman.

[Sal]

Sal made short work of the apple with the help of his sharper-than-normal teeth, not to mention he hadn't had anything to eat in about 24 hours. Finding his way to the pier was too confusing for him to stop for food. Then again, after losing Gluttony, his appetite shrunk until it was almost non-existent. It was improving, since he needed to eat to keep up his strength, but it still wasn't quite at a healthy level. He debated eating the core as well, but then he remembered something about the seeds being dangerous to eat. This was one of the few times that he thought he might actually miss that red stone in his stomach. Wherever it was now, he hoped that it was doing some good, though he knew that it was difficult for any good to come out of something like that. He'd only really met one homunculus, and that was Xan, but from what he'd read and heard, they were beings to be feared due to their antagonistic nature.

Turning on his heel, he tried to find somewhere to dispose of his garbage. There was a barrel in the opposite corner of the room that looked fairly empty, so he walked over to it, tossing the piece of clothing back onto the pile. The smell seemed to have filled the room more than before, but he figured that was pretty normal since the clothes were in here for a good amount of time. Glancing into the wooden container, he noted that there was nothing else in it. It seemed like a pretty good trash barrel to him, so he dropped the core into it and then turned to look back at the apple barrel. Around it there were a few other barrels, mostly with other kinds of fruits. A piece of paper on the counter top caught his attention, so the small chimera made his way over to it and was about to read it when he heard a voice. Startled, he turned around into the direction that the voice originated from.

"Who?" His ears wiggled and focused on the doorway, where he thought he heard the voice. Approaching it carefully, he responded, hoping that the person would speak again. "Re-fine-ment? I don't know that word," he retorted, casting a quick glance at the article of clothing he had examined, "and a 'bra' is a new word for me too...but if it keeps women's fronts from hurting, that's pretty cool. I don't know why their fronts would be hurting, though. Why aren't you wearing it? It's yours, right?" He continued to walk until he was standing in the doorway sidled against the frame (opposite of Osamu, not that he realized it) and looked into the other room before staring straight ahead.

"Why can't I see her?" He whispered to himself as his frown deepened. This was definitely something he would have to learn to detect. What if there were other people that could do this? What if he happened to encounter another? Aside from that, he just didn't like not being able to see. Even though his other senses were superb, his sight was very important to him. He didn't know what he would do had he been blind.

[Guest]

Osamu grinned. The boy was a problem solver. Nice. He knew where his head was and where to put it, though that wasn't the right thing to think of, whereas his face was inches away from her front. She could feel his wet breath on her collarbone and was very unnerving. She walked to the side in front of the more brown door and the boy would see a perfectly camouflaged woman shape shift out of place. It looked like one of those mind twists that mess with the human mind. " I wanted to see who stole my captain's boat." She said in a simple tone. She wasn't much for explaining what she was going to do or why. She opened her eyes fully and the kid would see two purple eyes staring at him. She shifted her black smoky hair into pure white and let a strip of her real skin show off around her eyes. As if she was wearing a ninja outfit that slipped over her skin. "Then I found out it was just a kid."

She walked to the pile of clothes and put on her bra, her underpants and proceeded to put on her single toed socks. She would expect a few questions by now as she put on her pants, metal braces, long sleeve metal chain mail, her tank over it, gloves, metal straps and finally her mask and scarf. Now that she had her clothes on, she looked more like a man than a woman. Though she looked a lot more like a ninja.

[Sal]

Just as Sal was about to move into the other room, something very interesting happened in front of him. It was the shape of a woman, perfectly camouflaged to match its previous backdrop, and it moved sideways in front of the door. It was definitely very, very confusing and it sent chills down the boy's spine. Not only was it the first time he'd ever seen anything like that, but it made him feel as though his vision were off due to some unnerving, unnatural phenomenon. He rubbed his eyes before squinting at the figure as purple eyes were exposed, then the skin around her eyes. With a sigh, Sal thought about what had been said.

"Your captain's boat? Just a kid?" Sal shook his head. "If you think I'm just a kid, then you're mistaken. But I guess I can't be surprised because I'm here in this foreign country talking to you." He scratched his head and watched her walk over to the clothes and start to get dressed. As was polite, he looked away, realizing that this meant she was...naked. This was embarrassing for him, of course, as he was definitely not used to being around anyone that was naked (or if he was naked himself). "Actually...I'm not sure where we are right now." With a bit of a laugh, he cast a quick glance to check if she was finished, and saw that she appeared a lot more masculine fully clothed. Not only that, but her attire...it seemed like clothing that a ninja would wear. At least, that's how it seemed from what Sal had seen and read about.

"Umm.....nevermind," He muttered with a wave of his hand, "I'm going to go on deck and try to figure out where we are..." Sal turned on his heel to go up the stairs. What the woman would do now wasn't trivial, but he wanted to see how she reacted to his decision to just leave without any proper introductions. Normally he would have introduced himself by now, but under these circumstances, he wasn't sure if he should behave normally. He couldn't trust this woman.

[Guest]

It was interesting how the boy's behavior changed as she presented
herself. Beforehand he was a lot more open and slightly happy when he
knew no one was there. As if being isolated as within his element. Well,
she could imagine that due to his appearance he wouldn't be able to
just go down to the local shop without having a few stares on his ears
and a few stones in his head. She didn't say much as he started talking,
she liked having someone else say what was on their mind then have her
sully it with her own. For some reason, she jumped so far into the
conversation that people couldn't keep up. She also despised small talk
and would only do it unless it was necessary. She watched him leave
without explaining who he was and a question he felt not to ask. She
went to the desk and pocketed her notebook. No need in checking
inventory anyway.

She sat down on the chair and closed her violet
eyes, her short hair cascading down over her right orb. What have we
learned? A child that says he's not a child has stolen a ship while she
was still in it. She had already shown her powers to him, though to no
effect meaning he's seen other chimeras before and not just himself. It
could also mean that he's well traveled but how he kept the boat
drifting about without anchoring it. Well, lets just say that that's
just a stretch of the imagination. She wondered if he could even tell
where they were.

Osamu distinctly remembers not long ago that
she took a rest in the main steer room to catch her breath and dry out
her clothes before going back in to help with the crab catch, and
figured out that they used a gps locating system on themselves to figure
out where they were. This was a crabbing boat after all. The sturdiest
piece of small watercraft ever to hit the water, but after the catch, it
was in need of some high maintenance. After making sure she had enough
rope, she began to walk up on deck. Now was not the time to figure
things out with each other. Things could get dicey out on the hi sgheas
if you didn't know the coordinates of where you were, or the mood of the
sea.

[Sal]

Sal made it out of the room without any sort of unpleasant confrontation by the woman whose name he still didn't know. It was all of little consequence to him, since his goal had just been to finally experience what it was like sailing on the ocean. Considering they'd been drifting rather than actually sailing or moving in any motorized fashion, they couldn't have gone very far. Of course, he wasn't the best navigator in the world, especially when he had slept for so many hours without any crew around to make sure that the vehicle stayed on course. Then again, they had no course to speak of. He'd just have to change that.

Walking into the main lobby, he paid closer attention to the way it was furnished. It looked more like a yacht on the inside than someone's transport ship, but at least it was comfortable. With a shrug of his shoulders, the small captain made his way to the inner parts of the boat. He moved cautiously to avoid any more surprises like the last one. The main hall led to an assortment of rooms, and from the looks of it most of them would be for housing anyone that was traveling on the boat itself. At the back of a hall was a door more ornate than the others, and it seemed to be a captain's cabin - which was a welcoming sight - so Sal made his way to the door and turned the shiny, gold-coated handle.

Inside there was a massive oak desk that was artistically carved, and it looked almost Victorian. A grin made its way onto the Ishvallan's face as he walked over to it, tracing its contours with his gloved hands. That's when he found a large map spread on the eastern wall of the room. It had numerous pins in it as well as a few lines of thread, likely to indicate the intended course. Sal laughed almost apologetically, but then removed the pins and the thread, placing them in the designated storage bins in the corner. Looking at the map, he noted the closest continent if they left from Aerugo. Tracing the amount of finger steps it took, he decided that the closest place to sail to would be...

Kamahen? He'd never even heard of the place before. Of course there were a lot of places he'd never heard of, but something about Kamahen made him want to turn tail and leave. Since he was too stubborn to turn back now, though, he traced the map the second-closest location on the map. Carraig? He'd seen it mentioned a good few times before and heard very little about it. Apparently they had a king, or something like that. Seemed like a nice enough place to visit, so he figured he'd set the course for Carraig.

Before that, though, he had to find a way of navigating properly. Turning back to face the desk, he saw a set of keys awkwardly jutting out of one of the drawers. With a mischievous grin, he snatched them up and went back into the main room. Turning to the storage / kitchen area, he cupped his hands and shouted. "We're gonna set sail for Carraig!! Unless you have a problem with that, I mean!"

[Guest]

OOC: ( You DO realize that a fishing yacht would have nothing of the sort? It's not of luxury, its of pulling in the catch. You would realize this if you read the rest of my previous post.)

Spoiler:

IC: Osamu saw the boy run back into the area as she went up the stairs to go onto the main deck. He seemed a little more joyous. With the sudden volume she gripped the rope as a flash went over her eyes. What was that shine? Oh, it was the keys.

She paused for a time while staring at him. Just after if got uncomfortable she walked up the rest of the metal steps and looked around. The clouds were few and none in the distance nor any land or even a gull. It was a fair wind but she couldn't tell which compass direction. She looked back at the boy. " Please go get a cup. Cup is top right cabinet. I'll go disable the GPS." She didn't wait for him. If he felt better in being isolated, at least she could direct him in the right way. Though she didn't know if he knew what she meant.

She walked across the deck and into the control room. She pulled down the main board and took off the locator. After a bit of fiddling with wires she put back up the main board and tossed the locator into the ocean. She turned to the boy. She still thought of him as a boy due to his small size. She wondered what he was thinking as she did all of this. Was he angry? Sad? Or simply puzzled. I guess there was only one way to find out. " I can drive." She treated him differently from before. Before she was playful and sarcastic, but now she was calm and direct to fit the needs of this kid. This kid who stole this ship and her off to sea. "Do you have the cup yet?"

[Csilla Angelis]

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