There it was, a nice and large ship just ripe for the taking. Inigo felt his back pocket and felt no coins in it at all, he had to do it if he wanted to eat. He was sure that most, if not all of the men had left to the tavern for a drink. The perfect cover for Inigo to sneak in and try and find something of value. The boy quickly ran through the sands and into the water as he began to slowly climb up the hull and soon was on the ship.
Inigo looked around in confusion, where could he go? He looked down at his bare feet and saw a small hatch. He quickly found a way to open it and slipped down into the depths of the ship and looked around in the storage. There were barrels of water, rum, and a few other things here and there but Inigo just wanted to find some food or money. He then came across a small crate and quickly opened it to find a small pile of coins. Inigo smiled at his luck and took as many of the coins as possible and shoved them into his pocket, but dropped some on the ground making a soft 'clink' sound every-time one fell onto the ground.
Inigo had finally finished stuffing his pockets and slowly began to climb back out. He couldn't see if anyone was already above him, but he carefully pushed the top open and began to walk out only to see...
Chris thought he saw a shadow pass. He was stationed in the Crow's Nest, an hour into his shift. The Reaper's Chalice had switched its colors to a civilian merchant flag, and most of the men were at ease. Still, it was Chris' duty to make sure security was tight, and he preferred to stay on ship, anyway, at least tonight. He had seen a shadow. It could have been anything, but to be on the safe side, he scanned the ship, using his magic eye to sense every living and magical thing on board. It didn't glow under his eyepatch, but he could see all the same.
There was someone directly below him, in the storage. They had magic, too. Chris tried to quickly think of whom it could be, but any being that fit those two requirements were on shore.
Thief, Chris thoughht, gritting his teeth.
He wasted no time in loading a pistol. Quicker than a squirrel, he scrambled from his post down and down the ladder when the thief emerged from plundering.
Chris narrowed his good eye, gray as a storm, as he aimed the pistol squarely for the culpret's chest. He was taller than Chris was, but scrawnier.
And much dirtier, he thought with almost a grimace. He did't know what he was more replused by, the thiefry or the grime.
"Don't move or you die," he demanded sharply.
Inigo was about to make his escape until he heard someone shout for him to stay still or die. He instantly froze and whispered, "Samson, help." But the answer Inigo received was something that made Inigo's stomach drop. He heard the ghostly voice of his companion, but he didn't seem to be at all supportive "I warned you of the consequences child! Now you must face them," He heard the ghastly whisper say. Inigo bit his tongue and looked back at the stranger before shouting over to stranger,"Please, I'll put all the stuff back, just let me go sir!"
Chris furrowed his brow, even more annoyed by the child's behavior. But something else troubled him too. That magic glow was there again, only Chris couldn't make out where exactly what hte magic was doing. Its aura was around the boy, like a figure of it's own.
He's surely planning a trap, he thought, refusing to lower his arm.
"Enough. I'll tell you when you may move, and that time is not present," he snapped. "Kindly put the goods on the ground now, boy. Now."
Inigo quickly nodded and took the coins out of his pocket and dropped the onto the ground. He then held up his hands and shouted back,"That's all I took, swear on my life!" The odd formation Chris had seen earlier had seemed to stop wrapping around Inigo and instead moved off to the side and clearly formed what appeared to be the upper half of a man and had both of its arms cross and seemed to be staring directly at Inigo.
Chris continued to scowl at the thief but just as he was about to bark another order, a ghostly figure materialized before Chris. The pirate faltered, his good eye widening.
"Kia protect me," he muttered.
He could feel his heart pounding through his ears. Gods, he had expected something but not THAT.
I have to warn the crew, he thought, a littel nanoyed there wasn't ANYBODY ELSE on deck. Whoever left is on board.
"What conjuring is this?!" he asked the boy.
Inigo, pointing in Samson's direction, said, "Him? This is Samson, I didn't think you'd be able to see him. Only people who can see spirits like me, or have another way of seeing his presence. He's a companion of mine, claims he was a warrior who perished and used some form of magic to keep himself from "truly" perishing." He then sighed a little and said,"Now that you know that he won't hurt you, may I please go now?"
chis tensed, refusing to lower the gun. The description horrified him. that thing was clearly cursed and damned, and he would certainlly not allow it on this ship! he was planning on locking Up the boy, but this... the lad was lucky he wasnt about to deal with local authoritizes.
"Get off the ship or youll be joining your friend," he growled.
Inigo sighed as he hopped off of the ship and right onto the beach bellow. He could only begin walking at this point, and had to hear the familiar scolding tone of Samson saying, "See child? I warned you of your punishment, now that you almost died, I suggest we go and try to find a way to earn coins instead of stealing from others!" Inigo sat down in the beach, keeping his distance from the ship, and said, "Well you don't think I've tried? No one wants to hire a beggar! I look like trash, and everyone sees me as worthless! Even though I have skills and the willingness to learn, but that doesn't matter Samson. The truth is, I just need to find a way to keep myself alive."
chris watched the boy Go, unallowing himself to relax until tthe lad was a safe distance away. Chris placed rhe gun back into the hoister with a shutter.
An honest, real life, ghost, he thought as he promptly began to gather coins. It would not due to leave them scattered about. He never speculated he could see them, and chris thought he wasnt keen on the idea.
I best tell morgan and the captain, he thought, imaginig the earful that would await him.
The next afternoon, he stood smartly in front of the ship, his good eye scanning for potential recruits. They were down a few hands from a recent battle with a rival ship. Though many had already approached chris about earning their keep on the seemingly merchant ship, he only welcomed four of them. even though chris was careful with whom he extended an inventation aboard to, he pocketed a memory eraser spell just in case a recruit decided the life of crime on hugh seas was not for tben
Inigo was back at the beach the next day, sometime during the afternoon and saw that the ship was still there. He stopped and saw that man from earlier standing in front of the ship and Inigo could only assume that he was looking for potential crew members after watching him allow a person onto the ship. Inigo was about to head back to his usual begging spot, but Samson stopped him and said,"Inigo, this could be your chance to make some coins so you don't starve anymore." Inigo shook his head and said,"No, no you're absolutely mad." Samson continued to bug Inigo, but Inigo wouldn't budge a inch and stayed put no matter how much Samson pleaded.
As he started to get bored, Chris scanned the market.
Fashion's changed again, he thought in approval as a woman walked by in a shapely outfit. None of the local ships seemed suspicious of the Reaper. In fact, some captains and mates of neighboring ships came and asked him about its interprise. Each time, Chris gave the same prompted response on the ship belonging to a rich merchant who specialized in exotic goods and magic. In the middle of launching into their benefactor's history, Chris' eyes landed on the thief who had tresspassed on the ship the night before. Chris quickly used his magic again, and, sure enough, the same sentient glow was around him, again.
"If you'll excuse me, sir," Chris said with his most charming smile and bow before marching straight towards Inigo with frightful speed.
"You, boy!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here, again?"
Inigo continued to argue with Samson until he saw the man from yesterday rush up to him and had asked him why he was here. Inigo raised a eyebrow and said,"I was hoping that you had left, but clearly I was wrong. Just because you are here, doesn't mean that I'm stripped of being able to stay at this beach." He then turned around and began to walk to the farther edge of the beach and plumped himself onto the sand. Samson on the other hand, was constantly shouting at Inigo to go and inquire about becoming part of the crew, and would constantly point and shake his finger at Inigo like any father would to his child.
Chris scowled at the boy's rudeness.
"Thieves get no rights," he snapped back, ignoring the hypcrocity of his own words.
He let the boy storm off, though, nwilling to pursue the ignorant child. That, and, well, the ghost was still trailling him, clearly large and upset about something, though Chris didn't care to know what about. He stopped using his glass eye in fear of straining it, and the ghost disappeared. Wholly unsettling, Chris thought before he decided to return to his duties, a bit mro short tempereted than before.
Inigo growled and shouted back to the man,"Up yours!" and put his head in between his knees. Samson had given up on Inigo and said,"Fine, but don't expect anymore help from me child!" Inigo finally snapped and said,"Fine, I'll do it!" He then stood up straight and walked over to Chris and asked,"Are you...accepting...crew members?" Just asking made Inigo want to scream, but he had no choice in his current situation.
Chris humphed at the boy's question.
"Yes, but not you," he said flatly. "Insolence is not tolerated on this ship."
Inigo sighed and said,"Please! I need to find a way to make a honest earning and this may as well be my best bet! I can assure you that I'm not cursed!"
:'(chirs had to chuckle at the 'onest living' bIt. He almost felt sorry foe rhe pitiful lad.
"this isnt just a matter of awearing whats cursed and what isnt, boy," the pirate pointed out. No men were approching him now so he had no choice but to deal with theTall child.
Chris folded his arns behind his back.
"First off, straighten your back and address me as sir properly," he demanded. "introduce yourself. you can do that properly atleast?"
"Yes sir," Inigo said trying to act the way Chris had instructed,"My name is Inigo Roschmann." He then tried to straighten himself up and waited for the next question. Samson was nearby, clearly impressed that Inigo had actually listened to him for once.
"humph," Chris muttered. "Better."
Better, but he still wasn't impressed.
"Right, Mr. Roschmann," Chris continued. "What makes you think you can last a week upon our ship?"
Inigo bit his tongue a little at the question of how he could help and quickly said,"I could try to create shields around the boat. That's not much else that I'm skilled with on a ship."
That perked Chris' interest. They could always do with extra defense on the ship.
Just how efficent though, he wondered.
And the kid DID have the gull to steal from a ship, even though he had no idea what real danger he was in, clearly. Niave, and foolish, Chris didn't have much time for himself or anyone else to baby sit, but the boy did look like he needed some meat on his bones.
Damnit you've gone soft, he thought.
"You'll do as a scullary boy for now," Chris said with a hard edge to his voice. "You could do with some manners."
In neat script he wrote "Inigo Roschmann - scullary (trial)" on a piece of paper and pointed to the ship.
"Get your things and report in the evening," he instructed. "By eight o clock tonight, or I'm not letting you on board. We'll see how you last the week before we dump you at the next port."
Inigo nodded and said,"Well I don't have anything...and it's barely in the afternoon." He shrugged and plumped himself down onto the ground, killing time by sketching into the sand.
Chris watched the boy just sit to the ground and doodle in the sand in dumb confusion.
"What are you doing?" he asked, his face turning red.
He didn't want to be a babysitter!
What have I done? he thought, already starting to regreat his decision. Not to mention the boy had that ghost latched onto him.
I'll have to spin it so that the crew will find it favorable, he thought.
"To your feet, boy," Chris commanded. "If you've nothing better to do, as you say, than I don't see any reason why not to put you to work! On deck you'll find a blue haired lad named Rouge. He thinks he's clever."
It was at that point Chris realizing he hadn't introduced himself.
"You best tell him the watchkeeper, Cateye sent you," he instructed. "That's Mr. Chris Walker to you, mind."
Half the crew seemed to have forgotten THAT, Chris thought to himself.
Inigo nodded as he got up and went up to the deck and found the blue haired lad and asked,"Uh, watchkeeper,...cat...Cateye sent me? So, what's my first task?"
"Ol' Cateye, ya say?" the young man replied. He was short and thin, his dark brown skin shiny in sweat from the sun. A very visible scar ran from his left shoulder towards his left nipple.
"Name's Rouge," the youth said as he pulled his hair back from his face. "I don't got a surname. Gave that up before this ship. You don't look like much, so I'll be guessin' you don't have much to leave behind. That's good. Makes it easier, for this life. Here."
He thrusted out his left hand, which held a long, dull knife.
"Come with me to port side. There's still a few barnicles to scrape off, and Capt'n said we ain't leaving until this ship's in top shape. You excited?"
He chuckled at his little joke.
Inigo took up the knife and as a response to Rouge's question he said (with a obvious hint of sarcasm),"I'm absolutely thrilled to dig a knife into the side of a ship!" He then looked over the side of the ship and forced himself to pry one of the suckers off, it was hard work just to get one off! He then began to slowly lower himself from a rope as he continued prying them off one by one, occasionally murmuring,"You couldn't of given me anything longer? Or sharpened for that matter?"
As the sun started to sink, about to kiss the sea horizon as the tide began to rise, the captain gave the order to prepare to take for departure. Rogue tugged gently on Inigo's rope.
"Hey," he said with a smile. "I've got you some food and drink. She's looking beautiful."
He held up a flask of rum to show he wasn't lying.
"Finish up, now," he advised. "I'm going to pull you up. The Cap'n wants the recruits all lined up!"
Inigo finally finished getting rid of those horrid barnacles. He looked upwards and shouted,"Alright, you can pull me up now Rogue." He silently cursed at himself for hanging for so long just to pull some barnacles off the side of a ship. He only hated it more that he could of sworn that the sun had cooked him a bright shade of red.
OOC: sorry it took me a month ^^; finals and then graduation and then i vacayed for a bit. im still vacay-ing but i have a little time now hahaha
IC:
"Aye!" Rogue replied cheerfuly and hullled away. Once he pulld the rope all the way up, he skillfully reached for Inigo and helped him back on board the ship. On deck, veterins of the ship were preparing to launch from the harbor. Chris himself was half way up the crow's nest ladder shouting orders before using a rope to slide down and greet the recruits.
"Now," he said, "As most of you- all of you- should know, this is a pirate's vessal. If anyone has any qualms about it speak your piece now and we shall drop you off at the next town over. Without your memories, of course. We like to cover our trail neatly, thank you."
Inigo was happy to be back on the ship and tossed the dull knife onto the wooden ground before walking over to where everyone was. He rolled his eyes at Chris' statement about this being a pirate vessle and didn't really care. He just needed something to do to make a living, somewhere to sleep instead of alleyways or low life taverns.
((OOC: Don't worry, real life is way more important))
As Chris suspected, all the men knew what they were in for. Spotting Inigo and his inattentive behavior casted an inkling of annoyance within him, but Chris tried to ignore it. He continued on with his speech before dismissing the recruits to enjoy the evening. The moment he was through, the cook howled at everyone to get in line for food. On his way to the line, Chris paused by Inigo.
"You'll report to me tomorrow afternoon immedately after lunch," he instructed.
Inigo was about to go get something to eat until he heard Chris tell him to meet him in the morning "Aye sir," said Inigo, clearly trying to copy some of the "pirate speak" he's heard before. He then headed towards the line and stopped as he waited for the rest of the crew to get their meal. The line was slow moving, but who would decline free food! Normally Inigo would have to beg, or steal to get food, this was the dream to Inigo.