Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts

[Daggertail]

(Closed)

Eris Sat on her stool as she looked to the various people and deciding if they would be any help to her. Her tail lightly fidgeted in a way if anyone noticed it would get her kicked out for ruining the furniture but no one’s eyes would be on her since the fight was about to begin.

The tavern was fairly crowded but luckily it was quite large since it had a rather unique form of combat entertainment, something that was fairly successful since mean could drink and watch the fight and since the citadel never served drinks except for water since it was run by monks.

Eris didn’t much care for the fight though since she had a scheme in mind and needed someone to help her and Kozo in carrying it out. The hybrid was damn sure that she could carry it out but she needed one more, her target needed 3 people to sail properly and so one person was needed.

One man had promise; he had some intelligence in his eyes. Too weak. Eris thought as she looked at his slight frame, also a bit of a jerk too. She listened to him talk about how smart he is and how he knew who was going to win. He had a big strong buddy but Eris could only think, Too dumb! This is getting no where.

Eris took another look around and shrugged, maybe if she took both of the two she listened to and they would cancel each other out, but then shook her head. That would mean I would have to split up more treasure and they’re not the kind I would want to deal with. The big one was ugly and actually so was the little one as well, covered in pimples that he looked poxed and Eris would want more fun if she was going to get less treasure and these two weren’t going to be any fun at all. Someone has to show up. Eris took a big burning gulp of her drink, hoping that something would show up after the fight.

[The Cinderella Man]

((All bunnies in this quest approved by both participants.))

Victor was never much of a gambling man. In fact, most of the experiences he had with wagers and sweaty-palmed bookies were unpleasant enough to make him feel that he was jinxed when it came to betting. When he would put his money on the favorite in a horse race, the underdog won. When he tried to pick the underdog, he picked the wrong one. The list went on. But the bets he’s been placing on the bouts in the Smashed Pumpkin Inn were easy money.

It was easy to pick a winner when you had two completely different fighters in the boxing ring. If one was big and slow and the other was small and wiry, you put the money on the small fry. If one had imposing physique, but shorter reach, he was the probable loser. But when the two opponents were so evenly matched that most people flipped a coin to decide which one would win, it took an attentive, skillful eye. And even though Victor wasn’t the fastest fish in the sea when it came to thinking, years and years spent in the ring taught him how to notice the details. Faulty defensive techniques, useless combos that wasted energy, slightly lowered guard that protected the bruised ribs, momentarily lack of focus, he noticed it all because most of the time those details were the very thing that made the difference between taking home the purse or getting left with scraps. Today though, he was a mere spectator as the third boxing match was about to start, and a gambler.

The local bookie was a scrawny knavish looking bastard with rotten teeth and sunburnt skin, and twice already Victor’s wager cost him more money then he liked to part with. The third one was supposed to even it all up. Victor went for double or nothing, placing his bet on Vannay “The Blockhead” Sears, a chubby looking fellow with one eye and a cannon in his left. He was slow, he was old and he was half-blind, but there was stubbornness in him, combined with experience. Compared to him, the younger challenger – “Vicious” Carth Beelin, the new hope coming all the way from Salvar – seemed like a definite favorite.

As it turned out, the bout was a bloody slugfest that lasted nine rounds. In the ninth, Vannay’s smashing uppercut sent Carth out of the ring and into the dreamland, bringing Victor some five hundred gold pieces. It wasn’t much compared to what some of the big fishes wagered around here, but Victor was in the coastal Corone town for weeks now, unable to nail a good job or find a good fight, and the five hundred were a small fortune to him. He worked on the docks for a while, loading and unloading days on end, and all he got from that job was a bad back and a shiv that narrowly missed his kidneys. Apparently somebody thought that it would be easier to just steal his hard earned money then try to earn it themselves. So once he recovered from that run-in, the prizefighter scoured the taverns for some new employment. He didn’t find one in the Smashed Pumpkin Inn, but he found a way to earn some quick cash.

“That’s three out of three. I think I’ll retire while I’m ahead.” he said to the gray-haired bookie, walking up to him confidently and waiting for the payout. The substantially shorter man looked up with a frown, the yellow remnants of his teeth clenched sulkily.

“You’ve been lucky, Padre. Too lucky.” the man replied, clearly implying foul play in the whole deal. Victor paid no heed to these insinuations. They were the common tool of those that lost. It was always the ref’s fault, the god’s fault, everybody’s but theirs.

“Luck has nothing to do with it. Now pay up.”

“I don’t think so. This smells like a setup to me.” the bookie replied, then snapped his fingers. A pair of shirtless brutes, almost half a foot taller then Victor, flanked the scrawny man instantly. “Boys, kick him out.”

The pair of muscle-bound pirate rejects made a step forwards, but by the time they made the second one, Victor’s revolver was out of the holster and pointed at the weak man in the middle. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Not if you want your boss splattered all over the wall.”

The commotion of the tavern came to an abrupt halt, all eyes turning what was bound to be a beginning of a common bar fight. The bookie started at the black abyss in the barrel of the gun, eyed the flintlock pistol on his hip, and ultimately decided against trying to draw it. “Back off! Back off, you buggers!” he shouted at his lackeys before taking one of the money bags and throwing it towards Victor.

“There, that wasn’t so difficult.” Victor said, snatching the pouch in midair and pocketing it swiftly. “I believe our business is done.”

“You believe what you want. I’ll make you pay... with interests.” the knave hissed.

“Oh really?” Victor asked, took a step forwards, bringing the six-shooter even closer to the sallow-skinned face. Instead of blasting it away though, the boxer whipped the barrel of his gun across the man’s face rather forcefully, sending him off his chair. The pair of gorillas reacted, but before they managed to even put their hands on Victor, the pistol was once again pointed at them. “Do we have a problem, gentlemen?”

No, no problem. The pair moved away once again, enabling the boxer to walk away precariously, lowering his gun only when there was almost half of the common room between him and the bookie with a freshly broken nose. The regular ruckus of the common room grew proportionally with the distance and by the time Victor reached his table in the corner, the murmurs and the drunken blabbering was back at full power.

[Daggertail]

There were a lot of people and yet none stood out from each other as someone that would and could help her out. Usually in a crowd there was someone there that if she looked hard enough, would be the perfect choice. But finding that right someone was getting to be tougher than it should be.

Eris sighed for a moment. And this play fight wasn’t going to help her much. It was nothing but a distraction and the two participants didn’t seem to be the right type or if the fight were over they’d still be silly from beating each other. Eris waited patiently for them to stop and her patience would be rewarded.

And it was. Eris looked to see an athletic looking man cause some trouble for a skinny man and his goons. He was fast to pull out some object, strong to send the skinny guy back with a swat and smart to keep the threat up and thus stop the goons.

Eris smiled widely as her tail danced and she wanted to join it with the rest of her but instead opted to act fast and meet the man. He went to be alone at a table, perfect spot since Eris would have to chase anyone off. She just had to move to him and make her offer.

The demon girl skipped to the table and sat down with her tail wrapped around her leg to keep it from doing any trouble. “Hi!” She happily greeted and grinned in hopes to have a good first impression. “I saw what you did back there and thought you’d be perfect. Also I think you could use a little adventure…” She moved an inch closer and looked into his eyes with smirk. “…With a little romance too. I’m Eris and I found this smuggler cave and a runner ship inside. I really need a ship but don’t have the money so I figured I could take it and put a dent in these bottom feeders’ business.”

Eris waited and hoped he would bite she really needed someone and couldn’t wait and this man was the best she could find, and what a find too. Eris liked tough men with soft core but rough edges and this man seemed to be the type, true he did attack the bookie but that was provoked and many men would do worse and get killed for it. This man was perfect and Eris had to have him. “Of coarse you will be rewarded better than this gambling games, only really make money if you cheat and are good at it.” Eris couldn’t help but show an impish smile at the last part.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was just done ordering a glass of red wine and settled in the comfortless backrest of his chair when a genuine firecracker fell right into his lap. The lass that approached his table and doggedly sat on the opposite side of him was an intriguing sight if the boxer ever saw one. Her hair was fiery red, an obvious compliment to her rather straightforward demeanor that took him by surprise, leaving him speechless for a couple of seconds. More then enough for him to try to get a complete picture. His eyes skimmed over her lithe body attired in a dark set of clothes that clung around her gentle curves invitingly, and even though she wasn’t one of those busty skirts that pranced around in search for the new acquisition, there was an alien air of charm around her. Combined with her dazzling, slightly knavish smile, Eris was certainly something worth looking at.

When there was finally enough blood in the larger of the two heads, the prizefighter’s brain acknowledged the proposition that the redhead presented to him. And he had to admit, he had some quarrel with the basics of her offer. Even though he couldn’t tell for sure, the “taking” of the ship that she mentioned smelled a lot like stealing to him and all this “sailing to a hidden cave” sounded like genuine pirate work. And Victor wasn’t a pirate. A lousy boxer yes, a brainless muscle for grunt work sometimes, a crummy sailor once, but never on the other side of the law. In fact, his recent venture that involved a failed slave rescue earned him a letter of recommendation that allowed him to enlist with the local law enforcers. And while he didn’t like that line of work, he most certainly considered it and that was something completely opposite to what Eris had in mind.

He would’ve probably said no if it weren’t for the gleam in those reddish eyes that looked at him in a rather ruttish manner. As if that wasn’t enough, the hint of a “little romance” was certainly one motherlode of a weight that tipped the scales towards the affirmative answer. She was probably just yanking his chain – all women were, after all, rather flirtatious by nature, and that went double if they wanted something from you. But the possibility of this actually occurring was something that tickled Victor in more ways then one.

“Well, miss... Eris, was it?” he finally spoke once he got a chance to and his mind processed some of the initial impressions. “I’m Victor, and I have to say that I’m flattered by this offer, I really am. But I’ve rushed into something headlong far too many times and usually the trouble started with a pretty little thing like yourself.”

The waitress – a tired looking blonde in her late thirties in an excessively short skirt – approached the table and placed a tall glass filled with crimson liquid in front of the boxer. She eyed Eris, recognizing her as one of the patrons that she already served, and once Victor dropped a couple of gold pieces from his newly acquired gold pouch on her tray, she made herself scarce wordlessly. The prizefighter pulled on the strings of the money sack, then turned his attention to both the wine and the girl with the eyes that matched his brew.

However, even as he took a sip and decided to ask some more information about this endeavor, something in the other corner of the room captured his attention. The bookie and his lackeys were still there, still sulking, only now half-a-dozen rather muscular brutes huddled around them. There was no way to hear what the scrawny double-crossing bastard was speaking, but the malicious eye and the finger pointed towards the boxer that sat on the other side of the room was enough of a warning for Victor. There was trouble stirring in here and it would erupt soon if he remained in the proximity. He could probably take one or two of them with his pistol if they came at him, but then they would be all over him and pounding him into the floorboards.

“On the other hand...” he spoke again, his voice rather distant. His eyes moved from the unsightly goons to the much more pleasurable scenery in front of him. He sipped on his wine again, giving himself a couple of more seconds to deliberate. He was in trouble either way. Only if he accepted Eris’ offer, he would be in trouble with one seriously attractive girl. True, she came out as somewhat of a floozie when she walked towards him and just offered him an adventure in more ways then one, but she was also right. Victor needed a bit of hazard in his humdrum life. The voice in the back of his mind, the same one that always warned him about the girls and the troubles that they brought in tow, spoke: “You know you’re going to regret this.”

There was a good possibility, yes. But there was also a good possibility to get beaten to a pulp if he stuck around. “Why the hell not? I can’t ride my lucky streak in gambling forever. You got yourself a partner, miss.” Victor said, his lips now allowing a smile before he downed the wine and offered a handshake to the redhead.

[Daggertail]

Great I put out my whole hand and he’s being reluctant. Eris held her sigh in and simply looked at her potential partner with the same smile though it twitched slightly without the demon girl knowing it.

“who said we’d rush headlong into this, I have a plan and am taking my time too, we’ll be fine.” Eris’ face regained some composure as she spoke with a bit more confidence. And thankfully the fighter changed his mind, though it was not thanks to her words but the angry bookie had recruited more goons. Still she got her man. “I’m glad you changed your mind, I don’t think I could steal a ship with only my big friend.” ?Eris smiled as she shook his hand.

“Um, I’m not sure if we should leave those guys alone, they’ll complicate things if not nipped in the bud.”

Eris smiled and winked while motioning for Victor to stay. She was going to deal with them alone. One idea was to make a quick approach and take the leader by surprise and put a threatening wound in him with a whispered threat to put more fear into him.

No that was a dump idea, might just make them mad. Eris had a better idea as she moved up to the men and smiled. “Hey I see you taking interest in my friend, well it’s private so please don’t follow.” She said this with a face of innocence, or well they thought that way at least. She probably looked stupid for a moment bait it was the bait. “And don’t listen to him, he’s not going to pay you and he wants this guy because he owes him money that my friend won fair and square, ask anyone.”

The hybrid walked away with pride and her tail swaying to accent the movement of her hips. She had them whit a brute asking about money and another asking about the fight earlier. The bookie might get pummeled or get the brutes’ loyalty back but once that was done she and Victor would be long gone and not one of them could track a wounded dragon.

“There, now we won’t have to deal with those idiots mucking things up.” Eris giggled a bit as she went towards the door and led her new companion out of the tavern and out of town. “The plan it simple, we sneak on the boat while it’s empty and send the guards overboard or whatever then sail away. But I need two assistance for getting the hip ready fast enough.”

Eris smiled as the coast came into view, the azure beauty was something Eris loved, she always loved the endless blue and she loved to see the contrast of browns and greens of land against it. And the ship promised freedom.

“Hey Kozo?” Eris called out in a hiss. “Has the ship left?”

“No Captain.” The deep voice echoed as the blue demon emerged from the bushes.

Eris grinned as she introduced her friend to Victor. “This is Kozo, my loyal friend and crewmember. He’s a little dull but you can always count on him.”

“Hey I’m not dull.”

Eris laughed a little. “Alright you’re not dull.” Though she still believed the strong demon to be boring company. He always resisted her antics when she felt like laying her charms on him though he really wasn’t her type anyways do it was probably for the better for them both.

[The Cinderella Man]

I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave...

It wasn’t completely true, but there was some substance to it. Victor had to admit that the second part was mostly true; the girl had quite a nice backside. His sister Yavannha – who was growing up to be quite a philosopher and a genuine bitch – would probably call him a shallow-minded pig, but the boxer saw nothing wrong in observing the scenery when it was offered. And there was certainly something sweet in watching Eris walk away, her hips swaying ever so slightly in a rhythm that her wagging tail followed. The way he saw it, women wear tight, scandalous clothes for a reason and it sure as hell wasn’t comfort.

However, while he cast a glimpse at Eris’ tail, his thoughts weren’t that shallow. A girl fighting his battle was a major impact on his pride and the only reason why he didn’t stop her from doing so was because she was halfway across the room by the time he even considered stopping her. It was a foolish move, he thought. What the hell could she do to sway the bookie and his thugs away from the bashing-Vic’s-skull business? The prizefighter – that was obviously soon to become a pirate – pulled out his revolver, snapped it open to check the chambers, and swung the cylinder back in once he was satisfied. The redhead was bound to get in trouble and he would have to rescue his new employer.

As it turned out, Eris was more resourceful then he assumed. In less then a minute she was back, smiling that dazzling, half-mischievous smile at him, leaving the cheating bastard and his troops in disarray. Whatever she said clearly shifted the interest of the lackeys from one washed out boxer to one crooked bookie. Though he didn’t say it or reveal it with any part of his demeanor, Victor was impressed. Maybe this mission wouldn’t be as much of a disaster as he predicted. So he followed wordlessly, keeping an attentive ear to her rather simplistic, uncouth plan. It seemed easy enough, but easy plans always seemed like a walk in the park. And they were put in action and shit started to fly in ten different directions.

The day outside was in direct conflict with his gloomy state of mind though. The sun was dominating the endless faint azure dome above, provoking the seagulls to creak ceaselessly and do their circular spin above the portions of the docks where the fish was being unloaded. The bustle around them caused a constant sound of mild chaos, fishermen docking and undocking, massive merchant barques tying their sails and unloading their cargo. To an outsider, the sight might’ve been a pleasant one, but Victor grew to loathe it. Because he was behind the scenes more then once, he was the everyman that lumbered those heavy crates, carried fish guts, sorted out the different species of sea creatures in the water cold enough that made his fingers numb, and all of that for a fistful of shinnies that allowed him to make the ends meet. Luckily, today he would get his hands dirty in a more metaphoric way.

“Hey, whoa, hey there!” was Victor’s reaction at the appearance of Kozo. The man – if he could be called that – was huge and coming from the boxer who was not a weak man, that meant he was a bloody mountain of muscles. A blue mountain of muscles. That jumped from the bushes. “I’m Victor, big guy.”

The blue-skinned man accepted a handshake, his face confirming that what Eris said was partially true. Victor didn’t like to classify people according to their exterior, but Kozo looked like the kind of a guy who had the lights on in his head, but there was scarcely somebody home. The prizefighter didn’t mind though, especially given the fact that he himself wasn’t really a scientist. Beside, people like Kozo got the job done with very few questions asked, and that efficiency even the lack of intelligence couldn’t dispute.

“I have to warn you, Eris. I only served on a ship once and...” he paused, recollecting the beardless captain of a ship called Deadalus that wound up overtaken by smugglers that made the crew walk the plank. “Well, let’s just say that we undocked by ship, but docked on foot. Those of us who managed to swim to the shore anyways. Though, if it’s any consolation, it was the captain that misguided us, leading us straight into the three pirate ships.”

“But if you need somebody to do some hard working, I’m your guy.”

[Daggertail]

It was good that Victor seemed to get along with Kozo. The big blue guy was pretty intimidating though a decent person by Eris’ standards and a quiet fella that didn’t speak unless there was a need. To her he was smarter than most demons and humans that ran their mouths on and on without stopping. Of coarse Eris talked a bit too but she was an exception in her book.

Victor seemed to be selling his self short by speaking of serving on a doomed ship. Eris didn’t mind that at all, she knew how an incompetent captain was really at fault and that this man wasn’t the captain. “That’s great we don’t have to go over the basics!” Eris said happily. “Though you should know that if the captains an idiot you’re supposed to relieve him of command and throw him overboard…” She put a finger on her chin for thought. “…Or was it you flogged him until dead. Eh doesn’t matter, we’re not the navy or some rule abiding merchants.” Eris giggled a bit. “So there won’t be any of that on my ship.”

“Umm Eris shouldn’t we get moving while they’re still taking their day nap?” Kozo interrupted Eris who looked annoyed for a second before realizing her partner was right.

“Um yeah lets get moving the cave’s pretty close to town.” Eris led the way with a casual walk, not much was around save a few trees and bushes before coming to a cove with a few crags and cave on the shore and a cave in the water with two men sitting outside and playing some gambling game using stones and a circle drawn in the sand.

Eris moved in to hide behind a tree and motioned for Kozo and Victor to follow. Her face was aglow with anticipation for her knew ship. “The ship’s in the caves, it’s a runner so it’ll be really fast.” Eris smiled with her whisper and if she had any more excitement she’d be drooling.

“Well, why don’t you do the honors with the guards?” Eris offered to Victor giving him a chance to redeem his self for the bar. Not that she thought any less of him for letting her solve the problem but it would do wonders for his mind. “Just don’t make too much noise and wake up the others.”

[The Cinderella Man]

There was something strangely enchanting in confident women that Victor found downright irresistible. The way they moved and talked and acted was so overwhelming, giving you assurance that it was them that held the reins and that they wouldn’t have it any other way. Some men... Well, actually most men found this kind of demeanor degrading and an open attack to their pride and a part of Victor acceded to that typical male thinking. The other, substantially larger part of him, found that kind of female dominance quite intriguing. Somebody smarter and better educated then him would probably successfully track the origin of this peculiar affection down to the fact that he grew up with only a mother and two sisters which ultimately instilled respect for women in him. But the boxer didn’t care about the psychological baloney. He was perfectly content with acknowledging that he liked bossy women and that Eris was definitely one of those.

So when the tailed redhead led the way into the outskirts and away from the docks, Victor followed her with his thoughts bent on the words that she spoke. He wasn’t really at terms with all this flogging to death that she mentioned and he really wouldn’t know what would he do if he relieved a ship captain of duty. But then again, he was new in this whole bad boy pirate business so it wasn’t a surprise that he had several issues. Issues he would get over and on the double. Not because of the money, not because it would be easy, but because Eris walked in front of him and it was hard not to cast an occasional glance at the surefooted girl.

As soon as the town came to an end and they left the last homestead behind them, they turned from the main road and into a small grove of olive trees that seemed to be at least a century old. The bumpy leaning trunks combined with the undergrowth served as an efficient natural camouflage that shrouded them from any onlookers as they looked down towards their destination. The coastline before them was slightly concave, allowing them a good look at the cave entrance and the posted sentries that were supposed to prevent any unwanted entry by foot. The pair seemed rather distracted though, raucously commenting on the results of whatever game they were playing and greeting every victory (and defeat) with a draught from the nearby grog bottle. Given the nature of the game, that required good hand-eye coordination, that didn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, but then again, pirates weren’t the smartest folk around. Victor should know; he joined them after all.

When Eris asked him to do the honors, Victor’s affirmative nod seemed somewhat overly enthusiastic. However, it reflected his inner state perfectly. He wanted to dispose of these guards, desired to prove himself worthy in Eris’ eyes and more importantly, to execute her order. It was a male thing, his pride that got scolded and thrown into the corner back in the tavern now reemerging and craving for some atonement. It made Victor want not just to do the job, but impress the redhead as well, and as it usually happened when men overextend themselves, they made asses out of themselves.

Victor crept forward like a stalking animal, keeping his steps measured and his knees bent. In front of him, the bigger of the two slammed his hand against the nearby crate, cursed the gods and the mother of his companion, and gulped the contents of the brownish bottle once again. The boxer paused, waited for the pair to restart their game, and then advanced once again. He didn’t want to kill them though. He was alright with roleplaying for the time being, being the bad boy for a while, but that didn’t include killing people just because they were in his way. So while he did pull out his revolver, he held it by the barrel, turning the insanely expensive weapon into a mere club. The plan was already blueprinted in his head, and once he was close enough he executed it.

The prizefighter swung the pistol fiercely, conking the back of the head of the larger brute with the handle of his gun. He fell like a sack of flour, pulling an open bottle of grog after him and spilling it over the dirt. His pal recoiled instantly, but Victor was already on top of him. Or at least, he should’ve been on top of him. The boxer’s plan was to toss his revolver in the air, make it spin once so that the handle fell right into his palm, and then, once the flashy display of finesse was done, he would threaten the pirate. It was a sound plan too. If Victor hadn’t fumbled the gun. The damn thing hit his fingers, then slipped right past them and fell on his foot. The pirate looked at him with a look of strange bewilderment for a second, but then his instincts kicked in and his hand fled to the cutlass at his hip.

Luckily, even with all this commotion, Victor’s pugilism was up to par. He disregarded the pain in his foot and leapt at the scallywag, firing a shattering hook at his jaw. The man’s face snapped sideways and by the time it returned to the natural position, the lights in those squinted eyes were out. The boxer sighed in relief, picked up his revolver and signaled to Eris and Kozo to join him.

[Daggertail]

Eris couldn’t help but look amused as she watched her new ally take out the guards. It looked like he had a plan and an impressive one with a little flash. “It looks like he’s trying to impress someone.” The demoness giggled at the thought, that he was doing that unnecessary move for her; it just warmed her heart to see a guy go all out for her. And the little bit where he dropped the gun on his foot was cute.

Still he was successful at removing the guard’s threat despite his plans going awry. Now that was something that Eris respected. He was able to improvise despite having his plans thwarted and the gun landing on his foot. “Great work, I knew I picked the right man for the job!” Eris bounded out of her hiding spot and over to Victor so show a real face of gratitude. My ship, my ship, My Shi-ip! Her mind sung with excitement.

But there was still going into the smugglers’ cave and getting the ship. There would be more guards and they might not be as easy to take out. “Hey Victor, you said you swam to shore from that ship, right. How about we go for a swim now? Follow me!”

The hybrid scampered to the water making playful splashes with her feet before diving in the ocean. This action would not give Vic much of a chance to say no but he probably could follow her as she swam though the sea towards the cave.

Eris wasn’t a bad swimmer and though the saline water stung her eyes a little she kept them open to find her way. Even the underwater was pretty with all kinds of fish swimming around and some strange flowers that grew on the rock of the cave as she swam through an underwater opening, her body touched one of the strange plant like creatures, it felt really sticky before it retreated from her touch. Once through the girl surfaced right next to her future ship.

The demon girl quickly swam to the anchor and climbed up as fast as she could. There was one more smuggler on the deck but Eris was quick to sneak up on him, he was dozing while leaning against the railing and so it was pretty easy of a task. Eris looked him over before deciding to draw his cutlass, and thus woke him up with a snort.

“Hey, what… What are you doing?” Thud, Eris had smacked him in the head with the blunt side of the cutlass, sending him back to sleep but over the rail as well.

“Make sure you float face up.” Eris smiled as she went to look for her mates. “Hey you two, hurry up, I want to get out of here before anybody else wake up.” The soaking wet demon girl went to lean on the mast while she hoped that those two didn’t get lost in the sea.

“I’m here Captain.” Kozo said as he pulled his large body on board and went strait to work to see if everything in the ship was in order but Eris continued to laze about while waiting for Victor.

[The Cinderella Man]

It was true that he swam to the shore after a rather untheatrical dive he took off the plank of Deadalus some months ago, but that most certainly didn’t mean that he liked swimming. In fact, one of his theories – that he reveled very much in – was a piece of quasi-wisdom that said that if gods wanted people to swim, they would give them the necessary apparel. Like fins and gills and aerodynamic bodies that would cut through the water more easily. So yes, Victor could swim, and no, he didn’t find any particular joy in it.

However, just like the last time he took a swim, this was bound to be a part of the job, and a crucial part as well. Approaching the anchored ship through the water was a guileful move, not particularly surprising and definitely better then gung-hoeing an entire ship and its crew. And even if it wasn’t, Victor didn’t exactly feel like he could either reject or oppose Eris at this point - latter because even though he was a rather callous man on the outside, he felt the redhead’s charm chiseling on him, and the former because he really couldn’t think of a better plan. So when the redhead made her way into the water enthusiastically and dove below its surface, Victor waited for the Big Blue to do the same, took off his leather coat and followed her lead.

The distance to the ship – though seemingly short and straightforward – was everything but easy for the boxer. Though he dispatched of his coat – the very thought of how much he paid for it almost made him reconsider, but while he wasn’t the smartest guy around, he wasn’t that dumb to try and swim in it – his clothes were still obstructing his movements. The fact that he could barely peer through the unsalty waters didn’t help him in a much more aggressive environment either. And then there was a fact that he wasn’t exactly a good swimmer. Swimming in a random direction, praying for mercy of whatever gods might be watching, was considerably more different then swimming in a straight line and underwater. So while Eris and Kozo managed to make their way to the anchor chain rather easily, it took Victor nearly a minute longer to emerge above the surface and grab the rusty chain. He took a breather, hearing some hushed words from up above and seeing one of the pirates pass by him as he freefell into the water below.

“Eris!” he thought. “She might be in trouble.”

Victor didn’t know why he cared so much, but all the same, one hand over the other, he climbed onboard and pulled out his pistol as soon as there was firm ground beneath his feet. However, instead of a dozen of rum-guzzlers that he expected, only Eris and Kozo stood before him, and the redhead was much easier on the eyes. With her already snug clothes sopped, her figure was clearly discernable to the boxer. He hated the archetype where the good girl always fell for the bad guy. But the more he looked at Eris, the more he was certain that he didn’t mind if the roles in that hypothetical occurrence were reversed.

She was right though; there was no time for any kind of tarrying, ogling included. While the three were probably mere sentries and the rest of the crew was doing a bit of R&R on shore - hitting the taverns and the rum bottles hard - they shouldn’t be pushing their luck too much. Some of them might return sooner, possibly to replace the guards of their posts, and there was always a chance that there was a good number of them getting some beauty sleep on the lower decks. And that was a surprise that they couldn’t afford, not when there was only three of them.

“There might be some left on the lower decks, possibly in sleeping quarters. I’ll go check it out.” Victor said, cocking his gun, finally breaking his eyes from Eris and making his way to the stairs that led deeper into the bowels of the ship. The interior smelled rather repulsively, a faint stench of unwashed feet and food went bad hitting the prizefighter as soon as he descended on the first level below the main deck. He did his best not to make a sound, moving precariously as he diligently checking every hall and room with both his gun muzzle and his eyes. The illumination was dim and almost weary looking, creeping in dull tones of faded gray through the small windows in the outer hull. On two of the three decks he found not a soul. On the lowest deck, huddled around a rather sturdy looking iron chest, stood four unremarkable figures.

“Cap will’ave our eads for dis.” one of them spoke, standing a bit to the side, rubbing his palms. The pirate closest to him, a rather rotund man in a white apron that might’ve been the ship’s chef, hit him in the shoulder and shushed him.

“The captain won’t even know that there’s some treasure missing.” the fat man said, leaning closer to a boyish figure that knelt before the chest, doing his best to pick the lock on the last of the four padlocks that held the metal thing latched.

“Shut up, ye old farts, or none of us will get a wooden nickel. I can’t work with all this racket.” the pipsqueak spoke, his voice on that strange line between a boy and a man. Victor wanted to wait until the tyke was done with his lockpicking, but the fourth figure – an elderly looking geezer with a bald, scarred head and a filthy outfit that might’ve been an officers uniform once, noticed his presence. His hand went for the dagger on his belt, but the boxer’s reaction was faster.

“Hold it, gramps, or I’ll make a corpse out of you.” Victor said, taking a step into the room and coming into the shimmering light of the torches. The other three recoiled, expecting to see the captain or the first mate, but even though it was neither of their superiors, the revolver seemed impressive enough to prevent any kind of retribution. The boy though, a blonde-haired, beardless lad that didn’t seem old enough to buy himself a beer, let alone a woman, wasn’t about to give up his prize.

“Come on, we can take him.” he murmured. Victor decided to give him a lesson. He pointed a gun above the boy’s head, aiming for the wooden beam above and pulling the trigger. But instead of a thundering crash, the pistol let out a feeble, dry click. Vic’s face changed into an expression of surprise, the four visages before him instantly grinning maliciously. He lowered the gun, pointed it at the boy that now made a step forward, but all that the trigger movement managed to produce was another hapless click.

“The water. The swim. DAMNIT!!! The shells are wet!” was all that the boxer’s mind managed to ascertain before the four came at him, drawing out their blades. Victor knew he had no chance against them, not with a nonoperational six-shooter and no melee weapons. So he turned around and ran. He ran as fast as he could, the frantic sound of the footsteps behind his back more then enough of an incentive for him to accelerate even further. He scurried up the stairs, taking two-three at the same time, before he remerged on the main deck.

“We have company!” he shouted to his two companions.

[Daggertail]

“The ship is mine!” Eris cheered, though held her self back to keep from drawing attention, still had to be quiet until the ship is ready to leave. But victor volunteered to go below and see if anyone’s left. “Good idea, don’t want any surprises once we get to open water.” If there was a few smugglers sleeping down below it could be bad if they realized the ship was stolen.

Now I can be a real pirate. Eris found herself not helping much as she daydreamed her future as a pirate of Althanas instead of helping Kozo out, but the blue demon didn’t mid because he knew what to do.

“We just need to score that secret treasure.” Eris smiled, she knew the treasure from a dream, an island off the coast but no one lives there and it is topped by a rock that looks like crab. “And we’ll once again…”

“…Have company.”

It was victor’s voice and made Eris’ happily swishing tail went stiff as a board for a moment. Company wasn’t good. “Kozo, make the preparations double. I’ll help Victor.”

The demon girl dashed down to the entrance to the lower decks to see Vic burst out in a rushed manor that had Eris fall on her butt. But she recovered to her feet and get to the side before the perusing smugglers could get out.

“Watch it lady. Ye don’t want to get in the way of our guttin’ this bloke. Mebe we have some fun afterwards.”

Eris shook her head and drew her short blade with a wicked grin. “No we won’t be having fun but I will have some fun kicking your stupid asses or maybe you’ll be smart and jump overboard while you can still swim away.”

The cross scared man that poorly flirted with Eris felt his fuse run out and he went strait for the girl while forgetting any rule that mother taught him about hitting girls. The slash was a wicked stroke at the bally with the power behind it to end Eris life and it wasn’t the easiest to dodge either. Still Eris put her blade in the way and stepped back, the force of the blow shook her arm but she didn’t take a scratch and the old swordsman had over swung, Eris counted with her shaken arm and dealt a grievous diagonal wound that the grizzled smuggler would not recover, it was too deep.

But while Eris fought with the ‘too old to be that experienced’ swordsman the skinny kid was sneaking up on the poor girl with a knife ready to be stuck in the back. He was as quiet as he could be before he sent the dagger forward. Eris caught the sound just in time and spun, catching the iron blade in her left hand as it was about to piece her chest.

“Damn!” Eris hissed as flicked her tail. “It hurts, you damn sneak, it hurts.” Eris shivered a little but her tail struck the thief in the chest as well, and went much deeper than his, which when the backstabber fell down and Eris released the knife did not go through her wet shirt. The demon girl couldn’t help but laugh as the sneak was tricked so easily. They really were not that smart at all.

[The Cinderella Man]

Given the fact that she traveled with a lug that seemed like he was born for brawls, Victor expected Kozo to face the rattled pirates while Eris took care of the preparations for departure. That was how these partnerships usually worked; the big half took care of the messy part, the smaller one tied up loose ends and dealt with the intricate details that took some brain work. However, the confident redhead had steel in her, the do-or-die kind that made people score big or fail miserably in their life. She was a risk taker, something that the boxer wasn’t for years now, and seeing her jumping into the fray was both a surprise and an inspiration. Together they could take down these ne'er-do-wells.

The flabby-gutted cook and his ancient looking seaman begged the differ. The chef dipped one of his meaty hands beneath his tainted apron, brandishing a chipped, semi-rusty meat cleaver while his elderly companion already tossed his cutlass from one hand to the other, eager to gut the intruders and get back to nicking some of the loot below. The bald oldie took several steps to the side, moving with a gimp and trying to get a better position for the attack. Victor, having only a revolver in his hands and no melee weapons save for his fists, was at a disadvantage. He couldn’t rush them, not when their weapons were out and ready to respond to whatever threat stood before them.

“Come on, ye rascal. Drop tha pea shoota and we kill ya nice and fast.” the cue ball spoke, now steadying the light sword in his right and stopping at Victor’s flank. The rounded cook grinned mischievously, his sweaty palms starting to become mighty itchy. It was rather clear that if the prizefighter didn’t do something, he’d be fish food regardless of how well Eris preformed on her end.

“Vic!” came from above, a loud, somewhat familiar voice. Victor’s eyes shot upwards and it was hard not to notice a rather voluminous Kozo hanging from the ropes that descended around the main mast. He threw a rather long pole towards the boxer. “Catch!”

Victor did. His left caught the wooden shaft – that on the far end actually had a rather sharp hook – his right placing the gun back in the holster and by the time he had both hands on the new weapons, the two pirates around him knew they were suddenly at a disadvantage. That was why they acted before the boxer could get better acquainted with his weapon. The old man, despite his obvious age, was still significantly more spry then the corpulent chef and moved first, doing his best to push the hooked pole out of his way with his cutlass. While he succeeded in doing this – mostly due to Victor’s lack of deftness with the weapon – the prizefighter managed to sidestep his thrust rather easily. But even as he took a step back to reestablish the safe distance, the heap of lard that was the cook came at him, growling and swinging the chopper like a lunatic. Victor had just enough time to put the shaft of his makeshift weapon in front of his face to block the attack. The cleaver, though swung fairly hard, got stuck in the polearm.

The boxer didn’t exactly plan any of what happened after this point. With the fat man pushing him towards the bulwark and the old geezer getting ready to gut him, Victor spun sideways, snatching the weapon away from the locked position and swinging it horizontally. The hook caught the cook in the lower back and the pressure that Vic added on his end of the shaft sped up the momentum that the man already had. His knee hit the wooden fence, sending the massive man overboard with Victor’s only weapon still poking at his back.

Victor had no time to celebrate the victory though. The bald buccaneer was on top of him already, swinging his cutlass in a fierce overhead strike that was bound to cleave whatever it touched. The boxer-turned-pirate lifted his hands just in time to grab the man’s wrist and prevent the attack from connecting. The pirate’s sunburnt, wrinkly face was now close to his own, the found breath slipping past the tombstone-looking teeth and reaching Victor’s nostrils. There was hatred in those eyes, decades of hatred and rough life on the seas in that gaze. The man took one of his hands off the hilt of his blade and made a move towards the dagger on his hip. The prizefighter couldn’t stop that, so he reached for the only weapon he had on his body.

BLAM!!!

Before the knife was brandished by the old man, Victor’s gun made a thunder out of the shot. The bullet caught the man in the gut, blowing some of his intestines out the back. And suddenly, the hatred that seemed adamant in those blue eyes was effaced, replaced by an empty, unfocused look. The pirate dropped both of his blades, stumbled backwards and fell over the bulwark and into the sea below.

Victor didn’t move instantly. Death was not something he took lightly because death was not something that should be taken lightly. Killing somebody, regardless of how obnoxious and evil they were, was a moment of loss for both the murderer and the murdered. The latter lost everything he ever had. The former lost a piece of himself in that final gaze. The old pirate was only the third man that Victor ever killed and he still wasn’t at terms with that. In a way, he hoped that he would never take death lightly. But the moment of silence that the last time lasted half a minute now lasted less then fifteen seconds. “He was a bad man.” his mind said and for the moment it sufficed. The boxer leant forward, picked up the rather unremarkable cutlass, and pushed it behind his belt.

The sight of Eris alive and well enough to laugh was enough to chase away the brooding from his facial lines. “You alright there, Eris? That was a close call.” he said, approaching her with a smirk. His eyes didn’t fail to notice the tear in her shirt that revealed a glimpse of her pale skin beyond, but he didn’t let them linger there long enough for his gaze to be noticed. “So now that we dealt with these scallywags, what do you need me to do so we can finally get this thing out of the cave?”

[Daggertail]

Victory oh sweet victory

“I’m better than alright, I’m great!” Eris felt light on her feet as she watched the ship smoothly go into motion as the wind that piped through the cave filled the sails. Kozo had done his job and so had victor. “Nope, Kozo did his job and we’ll be out of the cave in a tails shake.” The demon girl replied with a rather chipper attitude for ending the life of four men She giggled and stuck her tongue out in a raspberry at the smugglers that just noticed that there ship was going missing.

“Well too bad they’re a little late. Only these four could have stopped us.” Eris knew the smugglers couldn’t catch her now. Swimming humans or rowboats couldn’t catch a battleship in a zephyr so this runner ship would lose them no sweat. “Though we should do something with the bodies. I suggest throwing them over unless you want and try to eat them at some point, though only if we’re starving, too dirty for a casual meal.” The hybrid sniffed them. “Just throw ‘em overboard they’re to dirty to think of consuming.”

But soon they were out in Open Ocean and the demon girl had regrets about suggesting that they eat the humans, it wasn’t cannibalism to her or Kozo but there was Victor to think about. “Um sorry. I forgot you were the same species.” Eris blushed at her over site. “But we’ll have to send them overboard since they’ll stink the place up and cause sickness. You do that while I get our boat pointed in the right destination to get us some coin to finance our new ship. These guys could at least put a ballista on this thing.”

The half succubus bounded towards the wheel so she could guide the boat. Our treasure lies in the storm clouds. The dark horizon will take us there. Eris thought as she sent the ship to turn towards the destination. I hope this dream is right. She smiled sure that there was something to it. And if worst came to worst they might have a nice little island vacation, though the dark clouds would rain on them. Eris was sure that it would be fine. She loved through worse.

[The Cinderella Man]

“She’s sweet, she’s sexy, and she’s a goddamn cannibal.”

Truth be told, this little piece of info would’ve probably been more then enough to snap him from his irrational affection towards Eris and make him abandon ship as if it was going under. He could handle prissy elves and their antics. He could even handle dwarves and their utter lack of manners. But when a girl measured you up in the same way you measure up a well-done steak, it’s a guarantee that something about the whole shebang had gone terribly awry. Eating people?! The flabbergasted boxer didn’t even know that there were people that still practiced that specific form of brutality. And yet this sweet little redhead was speaking of it as if it was a rather trivial thing. Suffice to say, Victor was appalled.

And then she apologized. It was a rather coy apology, making Eris blush and display her embarrassment about the whole deal, and suddenly the shock wasn’t so terrible. There was very little a smile of a sweet girl couldn’t remedy, and that went twice for Victor who was easy when it came to confident women... and redheads... and exotic women with bestial characteristic... Well, easy when it came to women in general.

“Eh, you win some you lose some, Padre.” he said to himself. “Nobody’s perfect anyways. So what if she likes to gnaw on femur bones in her spare time? Just make sure it’s not your own.”

And it wasn’t like he had a choice anyways. The ship already left the cave and the only choices he got left were either staying on board or swim for the shore where about fifty very pissed off buccaneers just noticed they became sailors without a ship. So Victor decided to take it in stride, do what he was commanded by the new ship captain and do his best not to turn his back on either Eris or her blue-skinned comrade that could probably munch him for breakfast. They were, after all, pirates now, and while there was some code of honor in that line of work, the prizefighter was pretty certain it wasn’t exactly ironclad.

So when the cannibalistic fox went up to the command deck, Victor did what he was hired to do; muscle work. He first attended to the old man with a hole in his stomach, pulling his lifeless body up and dragging it towards the edge of the main deck. His mind briefly deliberated, thinking about how even the most vicious men deserved a grave of some sort, but this oldie was a sailor, and the ocean seemed like an appropriate burial site. So he dumped the old man overboard, then returned to where Eris disposed of her two foes. The larger of the two cadavers didn’t seem to deviate from the typical, sunburnt pirate archetype, so Victor relocated him in the sea below with little pondering. The young rogue, however, caught Victor’s attention. Not because he was young and prematurely dead, but because a rather sizeable money pouch that hung from his belt. The boxer eyed it, looked around to see are there any inspective eyes on him, then shamelessly stuffed the pouch in his pocket. He was a pirate after all. It was time to start acting like one.

With all the fresh corpses sleeping with the fishes and crabs and Kozo leaping from one mast to the other, climbing the ropes with beastlike dexterity, Victor was left with idle hands. The ship was sailing like a dream, cutting through the sea so azure that he could see shoals of various fish trying and failing to keep the pace with the newly procured vessel of captain Eris. Captain Eris. The two words were almost like an aphrodisiac for the pugilist. He let go of the picturesque sea and made his way up to the command deck, where the redhead stood behind the large helm. Victor took a seat a bit to the side, then decided to keep himself busy with something other then looking at her tail side. He took out his revolver and decided to attend to it.

“So, what are you going to call your new ship, captain?” he spoke, not looking up at the demonic girl, but keeping his eyes focused on the dismantled weapon in his lap. He didn’t know much about firearms, but he fiddled around with it enough to know how to disassemble one and common sense told him that if he kept it wet, it was bound to rust and never fire again. So he cleaned the pieces diligently, threw away the duds that nearly cost him his life, and then added: “And where exactly are we going, if you don’t mind me asking? I don’t see you using any charts or maps, but then again, seafaring isn’t exactly my specialty.”

[Daggertail]

A name for the ship It was a good question that while Eris thought it was important she didn’t think of it until now since she was more worried about stealing it. Now it was her ship and it needed a name. It was a fast ship and that would mean something and she wanted it to have meaning. “How about um…” Eris paused to make sure the name would be perfect.

“The Shadow’s Imp, something to remind me of Daddy.” Eris moved and leaned on the helm and gave Victor a smile of victory. She had a ship and it had a name and all that was left was to get some weapons for navel combat.

Victor then asked how Eris was navigating without charts and other seafarer’s tools. “Ell I don’t have any charts but I know where we’re going and also I learned that the huge day star rises in the east and sets in the west so I can use that for now. Though there is a storm where we’re headed.” The mirth left Eris’ face as she looked to the darkening sky. A storm with a small ship and only two crewmembers is going to be tough.

And speaking of the devil the wind picked up and the sky clad itself in gray while making the world a shade darker. The boat was rocking harder with each passing moment, the storm was going to be pretty bad.

“Victor, quick, tie a rope around my waist and then to something that’s a part of the ship and do the same for yourself.” Eris yelled as she hoped he would hurry the storm got worse and her voice had trouble fighting with the wind and occasional thunder. “If anyone falls overboard they’re fish food.” Eris hoped that her new crewmember would do what he’s told, it would not be a good if she lost anyone so early in the life of her new ship. “Kozo, make sure you’re tied down than trim the sails and then take the helm.” Eris knew that she couldn’t control this boat once it got to full strength but thankfully Kozo was a hard worker when it came to sailing and there was not sailor that Eris could trust more for competence and loyalty.

Eris then turned to victor and looked him in the eye with all seriousness. “When Kozo’s done we go below deck and close the hatch. Kozo can keep the ship going strait and he’ll follow if it gets too rough.” Eris hoped her blue friend would make it out all right.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor preferred the land over the sea for a multitude of reasons. The most important of them was probably the fact that the shore wasn’t azure and endless and ready to make you disappear if you fell into it like a rock. Coming up close second to that blatantly obvious reason was the weather stability. Sure, Corone had its days when it went from sun to rain and then back to sun within the hour, but nothing was as frivolous as the open sea. The boxer didn’t know this from his rather short experience at seafaring, but rather from the endless yammering of the sailors in coastal towns. However, the implausible stories - that were usually spoken with quite a bit of alcohol running through the veins of the narrator - of the ocean that had a mind of its own or of the weather that stubbornly defied a certain ship captain started to look awfully true to Victor.

“Shadow’s Imp indeed...” the cultivated pirate thought as the dreamy sea around them transformed as if somebody threw a canvas over their heads on which the painter had a bit too much fun with the gray shades. The clouds seemed to gather from nowhere, merging together to form an overcast that threw a shadow on the ship and its proximity. The wind that was a mere breeze that filled their sails now defiantly turned against them, slapping their faces like a scorned mistress. By the time Victor assembled his revolver again, the thunder rumbled to the right, announcing that they are not getting through without a fight. The prizefighter wanted to propose maybe some maneuvering to evade these ominous skies, but Eris was pretty determined to ride straight into the storm. She took the necessary precautions though, ordering him to tie them both down to something solid.

Victor showed the gun into its holster, then proceeded to prospect for a rope that wasn’t already attached to some thingamajig that connected to the sails above. By the time he found two that seemed long enough to enable them some liberty at movement, Shadow’s Imp was already hitting the waves hard, ascending over their foamy peaks and crashing down into the watery valleys beyond. He scurried across the deck washed by the salty waters, bringing out his best sea legs and approaching Eris from behind. The thunder preceded by a flash of lightning nearly erased his voice from existence completely.

“Are you sure this is the storm we need to go through?” he asked, half in jest as he embraced her in order to secure a rope around her slim waist before tying a tight double knot at the small of her back. “Maybe there’s another one that doesn’t look like a hurricane.”

With a teasing smile on his face, Victor moved back to the stern cabin in search for something solid enough to anchor Eris. With the masts being in front, there was nothing that looked sturdy enough to sustain some serious tugging. Finally, he opened the door of the cabin, entered with the rope in his hand, then threw it out the nearby window, securing it around the doorframe and a section of a wall.

“Alright, this should hold!” he shouted over the splash of the waves and the whistle of the wind that threw salty, damp air in their faces. He was about to tie himself down as well, but a ginormous wave struck their side, making the entire ship lean dangerously to one side. Luckily, Victor was inside the cabin when they were struck so instead of being thrown overboard, he finished in the captain’s personal closet that reeked of rum and sweaty clothes. Unluckily, once the ship returned to a relatively horizontal position, the closet crashed on top of his fallen body. It took an almost inhuman effort to push the wooden wardrobe off of his back and crawl away from it. He struggled to his feet, did with his rope what he did with Eris’ and exited the cabin.

Outside, the sea seemed ready to open its maw and swallow them entirely. The waves now regularly swept over the main deck, climbing over the bulwarks and washing away everything that wasn’t nailed down. The wind turned from bad to worse, threatening to tear their sails like toilet papers. Kozo was on top of it though. He bounded from one rope to the other, tying down the unnecessary sails and then climbing down like a spider.

“Where in the world did you find that guy?” he struggled to speak over the swoosh of the wind before another wave struck them. Victor lost his footing, his hand instinctively grasping Eris’ rope and suddenly both of them slid down the slanted surface of the deck. The ropes, however, unwound to the fullest, then became taut and stopped them from falling overboard. Instead the pair wound up on the deck edge, Victor’s bulky body standing over the redhead with only inches between them.

“I think we should get down below.” he managed to say, and as if to confirm this another wave splashed over them, soaking them to the bone. Above them, Kozo did one of his acrobatics, jumping down in front of the helm to steady it.

“I got it. You two get below.” the demon said to the two and to Victor is was the smartest thing he heard all day. He got back to his feet, offered Eris a hand before they made they way down the stairs and through the hatch. Compared to the raucous noise of the enraged sea, the interior seemed unfathomably more comfy despite the rather stale stench and the lack of illumination. Still, it was enough to make the boxer sigh.

“Phew, that was intense. Are you sure Kozo will be alright out there?” he spoke, shaking his hands in order to get some of the dampness out of his sleeves.

[Daggertail]

Eris could help but have a mischievous smile as Victor held her to tie the rope on. “This isn’t that bad a storm and it’s in the way of the treasure. I don’t want to wait any longer or someone else might get it. Don’t worry I’ve sailed in worse.”

Of coarse he had good timing since the Ship rocked in a rather horrid manor, knocking the demon girl and fighter about While Kozo held on the ropes and kept moving. The blue guy could really be crazy sometimes but he was the one with the strength to handle the mad helm in the tempest and he was brave enough to send them down below and Eris didn’t mind, she knew that she couldn’t do anything now since it was strength that mattered in the storm.

Below deck was a little reprieve as the storm weakened the wind and rocking for a little bit giving Eris and Vic some time to talk. Though it was about the demoness’ blue companion. “He’ll be fine, he’s strong enough to hold on to the helm even in this weather. And for the previous answer, we were friends from way back. Both of us were half breeds so we sorta connected from early on.” Eris felt her smile disappear. Early life wasn’t much fun when her bloodline was concerned but at least there wasn’t much time to think about it as the Ship made a loud grinding sound and Eris was pushed into Victor who was pushed into a wall. During the moment the demon girl moved her head to peck at Vic’s lips, making it seem like it was a result of the fall then she blushed before recovering.

“What the hell was that?” Eris asked before she realized that the ship was no longer rocking back and forth and still as a stone. Her tail made an angry swished as she dragged Victor above deck, the storm was over or at least they were in the eye. “Kozo!” She screamed angrily. “You ran my ship aground, you damn dirty ape!”

Kozo came down with his eyes looking down; his expression was like a puppy that was hit with a newspaper. “I’m sorry Eris, the wind was too much and I couldn’t see the island, but I avoided the rocks once I saw them.”

Eris nodded her tail still quivering as she looked to see the last bit of sunlight drown itself out. “Well nothing we can do now.” She said with a twinge of unhappiness. She now had to get the ship back out to sea.

Kozo wanted to apologize again but instead he decided to do something to cheer his captain up. “There’s probably some drink and it should have survived. I’ll go make a fire.”

“Yeah fine, I’ll just go lay down on the beach until the storm comes back. Vic would you mind searching the hold for any drink.” The lethargy of failure was taking it’s toll on the little fireball now that she had done something that no pirate captain would ever do, run her ship aground. She might as well give up.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was miserable. He was drenched with salty water for the second time in several hours, the ship was rocking like a cradle gone around the bend and he was currently in the smelly lower decks that were probably going to be his coffin. And in such a state of mind, he pondered on why was he doing all of this. And then the ship rocked once again and Eris pressed her lips against his own and reminded him. And even though it seemed like a perfectly accidental occurrence, it was more then enough to chase away any traces of gloominess from the prizefighter. She smiled and he smiled and neither of them was the least bit sorry or embarrassed that the “accident” happened.

“A strange time to pick up on that romance offer...”

But before either of them got a chance to elaborate on the kiss caused by the shifting momentum of the Shadow’s Imp, the perpetual rocking stopped and the storm that only minutes ago ravaged their ship seemed to finally slacken and give them a break. Eris wasn’t terribly happy with it though. She moved back up to the main deck as if nothing happened, pulling him by the sleeve and forcing him to follow her. After what just transpired – regardless of how inadvertent it might’ve been – Victor was not really in a position to oppose her. He followed the energetic wildcat, doing his best to keep up with her agility as she moved up the flight of stairs and back on the main deck. To the boxer – who in all truth knew little of the fickle nature of weather on open seas – what stood outside was a goddamn miracle.

Several minutes ago he was willing to bet every single coin in his rather shallow money pouch that the waves would overturn them and stuff them down the throat of the ever-hungry ocean. And yet once he and Eris emerged on the afterdeck, all that was left of the storm was a fading grayish outline that stood behind their backs. The wind that moments ago whipped them like a sadist with a mean drunk on him turned into a rather chilly breeze, reminding him that he was still sopped. To add to the astonishing shift in the weather, far in the west skyline, a huge golden orb was dipping below the clouds and slowly sunk into the relatively tranquil sea. The ship was high-and-dry though, the hull of the prow plowed deep into the soft sand of a rather sizeable island. That was the detail Victor wrapped his head around for several moments, while Eris argued with her friend. You had to be a blind man not to see something this big, storm or no storm. It wasn’t like the island was a set of keys that you could easily overlook. There was something fishy here and it had nothing to do with the ship’s pantry.

Captain Redhead however, didn’t seem too worried. A bit irked and disappointed, mostly in her old comrade, but she was more of a doer and there was nothing they could do until the morning – or at least Victor reckoned that tide rises in the morning, but it was more of a hit-or-miss guess. So instead of wallowing in the misery because of this rather irritating setback, Eris decided to kick back for the time being. It’s not like the three of them could push the ship back in the water. Seemed appealing enough to the boxer. Between swimming underwater, fighting pirates and fighting a hurricane, he reckoned it was time for some serious repose. Maybe another accident or three could happen despite the fact that they were on solid ground.

“Alright. I’ll go see what the former owners courteously left for us.” he said, scurrying down below again. The truth was, Victor was never a boozer. In fact, he never quite fancied liquor, regardless of the type. It was all poison that numbed your wit, slowed your reaction time and regularly made you do something you regretted once you woke up in the brick with a lump on your head and black eye. But today Eris was in a mood for some drinking and that consequently meant that he was to develop a liking for alcohol. After all, he was a pirate now and pirates drunk until they either dropped or got into a fight. True, he was a bit more refined pirate, but drinking with a girl certainly didn’t seem like a terrible thing.

It took him several minutes to scour the lower decks, locating the kitchen that smelled like something crawled in there, died and turned into humus. Still, the pantry had an ample supply of rum and even a pair of bottles of what seemed like a poor man’s vintage, meaning it was labeled and bottled, but it was the same crap that was in those large barrels beside it. Victor picked two large jugs of rum, each one heavy enough for him to lumber it through the halls and up to the main deck. Getting it off the main deck and on shore below would’ve been a rather difficult task, but Kozo was nearby, catching both jugs with his meaty hands. The prizefighter made his way down the ladder made out of rope, leaving one jug to the huge demon and taking the other to Eris.

“So, what do you want? We have rum and rum!” he jested, approaching the bestial girl that lay sprawled on the warm sand. He sat beside her – not discourteously close though – and lowered the large vessel filled with the liquor. “I don’t know how you can do this all the time. You must have nerves of steel, wrestling storms like that. I’d take a boxing bout with the champion of Corone over that ordeal any day.”

He uncorked the jug with some difficulty, felt the rather pungent scent of alcohol but took a deep draught anyways. With the fire crackling at his side and the rum sliding down his throat, suddenly the chill of the zephyr wasn’t such a terrible thing anymore. Handing over the booze to Eris, he spoke again his voice a bit husky from the inebriation: “I’m guessing we’re waiting for the tide, right? Or maybe that cave you’re looking for might be on this island? Maybe we should explore it in the morning or something.”

[Daggertail]

Eris smiled when she saw that her crew did what they were told Kozo beachside fire to keep warm at least until the wind picked up and Vic had brought the draught to allow Eris to entertain them with chemically subdued minds.

The trio sat around the fire quietly as Vic sat beside the demoness and Eris laid back in a semi sprawl of laziness and comfort in the sand with nothing on her mind except to get drunk and lose herself. She grabbed the container of rum for that purpose and went to drink but Victor’s question gave her pause. The hybrid thought for a moment before sighing. “Not like I do this every day. I’m desperate, I was shipless and with only Kozo here as company while in a place that while easy to figure out was not the most friendly to my kind.” The demoness finished as she took a swig of the bottle and passed it on.

The brew tasted bitter as expected for cheap rum but the alcohol warmed it’s way down, giving the succubus girl some minor comfort. But it didn’t do much for her, the brain could be addled but she thought more of the ship on the beach and that it was her fault in reality and not her mate’s. “I’m sorry Kozo, it’s not your fault the ship’s grounded. Shouldn’t have challenged the storm so late in the day.” The blue sailor nodded with a slight smile, he was always a person who enjoyed the lack of words.

Eris went to take another swallow of the drink and let it warm her belly, torment the liver and fog the mind. There was just nothing she could do and she couldn’t sleep or ignore the fact that she may be on this island awhile and that her dream was squashed. She looked to her new friend victor and wondered how his face would regard her. He seemed to not mind the demoness’ mistakes and had put up with a lot from her. Would his friendship last.

However looking at the fighter next to her sent her heart to flutter and her blood to boil, her heritage had gone long enough with the platonic relationship. The bladed tail twitched a little as her cheeks blushed. The hybrid noticed the real beauty of her new companion. He was a human lacking tails, horns or wings that her demon kin did but he had the body of person that worked for a living. He was the kind of honest men that were rare and even rarer he had the strength to be honest and survive. The face was not some pretty boy noble but the rough edges were for strength and he was far from ugly, more about a flawed gem, the flaw proving it was a real gem.

The succubus/imp couldn’t resist anymore. “K, Kozo, could you Um please to check the ship for any real damage and please be thorough.”

“Alright Captain, we should go to sleep soon but not on the beech in case the storm picks up again.”

Eris smiled as she watched the big blue ogre go into the ship. Now that Kozo was gone and won’t make her feel guilty over what her body wanted she was free to move. She only had a little bit of rum, just enough to make her small body tipsy. Now that the two were alone, Eris scooted closer to Victor and giggled. She didn’t give him much time to react before slipping off her shirt to reveal her feminine feature while reaching back to loosen the button that held her shorts on her tail and slithered out of them as she crawled towards the fighter. “Vic, I’m sorry about this night’s been shitty for us both so please let me have it end in your arms.” She crawled up and moved to kiss; she wanted to feel him against her naked body, to spend a night of love, to appease her hungry blood.

(feel free to bunny if you need)

[The Cinderella Man]

Alcohol and infatuations never worked well. A man in love with a bottle of hard liquor was an equivalent to a four year old with a wizard’s wand: you just couldn’t predict what would come out of it. And though Victor’s encounters with drinking didn’t occur very often, he hit the bottle enough times to know what usually happened. If it was a desperate inebriation, you bitched and moaned about that one lost lass that you just knew was The One. Capital letters too. If it was a merry inebriation, you wound up saying and doing things you didn’t mean, or things you meant but kept suppressed, or just things that were total nonsense. Either way, there was nothing to gain from getting tipsy and that was a thesis that he clung to almost religiously. He reckoned he would down a sip or two, just to keep himself warm and maybe gain enough courage to flirt a little bit with his Captain, but ultimately maintain a cool head.

And then Eris took the helm.

At first it was just her eyes inspecting him, her giddy little face gazing at his profile with a pinkish hue on her cheeks and a devastatingly cute smirk on her lips. And as phlegmatic as he was, there was no way to keep his cool against those crimson eyes. There was something bestial in them, as if they saw him as both the prey and the hunter. Victor, never the fastest ship on the sea when it came to reading female signs, did his best to keep his eyes on the fire and try to douse this pleasurable anxiety within him that Eris provoked. The rum, of course, did completely the opposite. His lips picked up the taste of her saliva from the bottle mouth and it was like a spark that enlightened the liquor that slid down his throat and exploded in his stomach.

He was about to say something to break the uncomfortable silence and maybe avert her studious eyes, but then she dropped a bomb straight into his lap. Literally. The redhead instructed her burly companion – in a rather reluctant, not-so-commanding tone – to return to the ship and once Kozo did so, she seemed to let loose of every bit of chastity she might’ve had. She moved closer to Victor and once again he tried to silence this growing tension with a sip of rum. No dice. Her shirt went flying off her diminutive body and the fact that she had nothing beside it – which the boxer realized by firing a skimming glance towards her – made the rum go down the wrong way, making him cough. Eris wasn’t dissuaded by this. By the time he managed to stop his coughing, her scandalous shorts joined her top and her naked figure crawled into his lap, her smiling lips kissing his own.

“Damn! That’s some apology!”

Victor returned her kiss, couldn’t restrain himself in order not to. She was offering herself to him so willingly, so unrestrainedly, so out of the blue. He reckoned that the romance offer from before was either a ruse or another carrot that would dance in front of his eyes but remain out of his reach. With his rotten luck with women, it wouldn’t be the first time. But Eris was so straightforward, as if she had no misgivings whatsoever. Maybe that did make her come out a bit easy, but Victor broke so many scruples on this endeavor that he wasn’t about to pass on the sweetest one. His hands embraced her naked body, leaning it against his own and fulfilling her desire. The rum was still prominent in the taste of her lips as was the salt on her skin, but the alcohol and the pent up sexual tension did the trick, turning it into the sweetest savor.

However, there was a tiny thing in Victor’s head that intervened in situations like this one. This tiny thing jumped in between Feru and him, stopping him from making love to the lovely catgirl. This tiny thing jumped between him and Kitty the Callgirl that worked in Saddle Ablaze back in Radasanth. This tiny thing commandeered almost every decision in his life. That tiny thing was his conscience. A curse and a bless.

“Whoa, wait, wait!” he mumbled at first, breaking the contact with her dainty lips that instantly called him back with their rosy moist and the taste that still lingered on his tongue. He moved his back backwards slightly, his eyes irrevocably sliding down to her cleavage, tracing the lissome yet curvy outline of her pale body that was within his grasp. He swallowed audibly, blinking once before reestablishing the contact with her scarlet irises. “Don’t you think we’re going a bit fast? I mean, don’t get me wrong. You’re an incredibly beautiful girl, Eris. But is this the right time and place for this?”

The tiny part of him said a determinate ‘no’. The rest of him was kicking the shit out of the tiny part, screaming at him that he was a dumbass if he didn’t adhere to the desires of his Captain.

[Daggertail]

Eris reveled in every caress and every touch. The fact that Vic returned her kiss made her lightheaded. She wanted it to last but even more she wanted to move on, there was better just up ahead for the demon girl. The closer Eris got to end the fore play the more she needed it and wanted it. There was no need to rush.

But then like the wind dying at sea, Vic got cold feet. Eris was stunned by the words, she all of a sudden felt naked on what was her potential lover. Why did her new friend all of a sudden want to stop this mess?

He must think I’m a whore! Eris shivered at the thought. Of coarse being a whore wasn’t that bad a thing when Eris was also a thief, a liar, murderer and vagabond. All these things were the hybrid and she could feel ashamed. Maybe it was the fact she was so clumsy. Sure she could get an A for Effort but her seduction was not even amateur and that was the reason. The lil’ fireball moved to cover herself, the thought of fleeing on her mid was her tail thrashed about in the sand.

But her blood boiled with the need for Vic, the sex demon had charged her libido to a point where it had to be sated. The demon vixen regained her composer with a smile and a little thinking. “Oh come on we’re not going to fast. Lets stop dipping our toes in the sea of love and dive right in. I’ll even help you swim if you can’t.” She felt a little bit more composed and was ready to take control. “And that wasn’t a suggestion.”

Eris moved to kiss with a quick peck as she looked into his eyes once more while her claw gently caressed his cheek, The pirates was careful not to cut with her mutant arm while the blade of her tail worked at cutting the buttons of Vic’s shirt. He was going to join her in nakedness. Once the shirt was off, Eris kissed Victor’s chest and giggled moving down to work off the novice pirate’s pants. Though through all this the demon pirate kept it in her mind to stop if Vic really didn’t want to go trough with it. Though her heart pounded with apprehension if her lover should prove to truly not want her.

(Sory for the lateness and hope you like it^^)

[The Cinderella Man]

It was apparent that his question stunned the redhead a little bit, making her squinch minutely in what seemed like disappointment. It consequently made Victor feel guilty, made him think that he should apologize for making her feel unwanted and elaborate on his reasons. Because despite the common belief and the usual, archetype demeanor of males who generally thought with their smaller head, the boxer actually allowed blood to come to his brain. Promiscuity and one-night stands that seemed to plague Althanas were not something that he wanted to take a part in. Because deep below his bitter and phlegmatic outsides there was and always would be a romantic that believed in commitment and relationships whose gist wasn’t the sporadic nookie with a wide assortment of partners.

So there was righteousness and integrity on one side of the scale. On the other, Eris refused to give up, kissing him again and assuring him in her irresistible voice packed with passion that this was a natural development. Her ominous-looking clawed hand touched his face gently, her bladed tail dexterously creeping to the hem of his linen shirt and slicing the buttons clean off. And while his mind deliberated on rightness (or wrongness) of this act, the bestial lass took off his shirt and started her lustful descent. She kissed his chest tenderly, her warm lips caressing his skin as her hands worked on undoing his pants.

It was a point of no return, even Victor knew that much. But after he looked down and saw her sweet face smiling mischievously at him, saw her large scarlet eyes ablaze with flames of passion and felt her warmth against his own body, the scale was tipped in the only direction that it could be tipped. To hell with scruples and moral qualms and all the sanctimonious dung that he tried to upheld. He wanted Eris, he wanted her right there and then, on the cool sand of an unknown island, with only the stars as witnesses to their union. He wanted to let go of the tension that was bottling up inside him from the moment he saw her cute little tailed ass swing as she walked through the tavern. And she undoubtedly wanted him as well, which given her rather unlucky streak wasn’t something that happened very often.

Once there were no clothes between them to constrain their foreplay, Victor embraced the redhead, pulling her naked, petite body against his own and kissing her full, rosy lips with a lengthy kiss. He repeated the juicy collision of their lips several times, feeling a sublime jolt of passion every time they touched. He broke contact to look her in the eyes with a soft smile. “Yes, Captain.” was all he said before he necked her again, this time lowering their embraced bodies to the smooth sand.

Looming over her now, Victor allowed his lips to trail away from her own. The inviting taste of her mouth and tongue he replaced with her suave skin. He kissed her neck, starting just below her pointy ear and descending slowly downwards, licking and grazing her skin with her teeth teasingly. The salty water that drenched them both during the storm left a prominent sign on her skin, in both taste and scent, but it was by no means uninviting to the prizefighter. He picked it up from her pale skin as he showered her body with kisses, his breath and his heart both accelerated as he descended down her cleavage. His hands fondled her body tenderly, embracing her buttocks as his lips licked and nibbled and kissed her perky breasts that rose and fell with every audible breath she took.

He was intoxicated by her, every detail of her body suddenly becoming a depiction of perfection. Perhaps it was the alcohol that made it so, perhaps it was the fact that it was a while that Victor had a woman, or perhaps it was because Eris was simply everything a man could want, but he couldn’t remember why in the world he even deliberated on this. His lips backtracked to her own diligently, picking up the very essence of their joint fire before he lowered his body against her own and entered her cautiously, stifling her moan with a fervent kiss.

[Daggertail]

Finally the demon girl had won out over Victor’s sexual inhibitions that had tried to stop her from satisfying the wants of her blood. She knew she wasn’t forcing him since he used his power to force her to the cold sand to take the bottom. Eris hardly minded, as her new lover may not have the experience he was quite eager to please and with the strength and warmth he would make a fantastic lover.

The sounds of lovemaking joined the crashing waves and lightning of the storm that was near and yet far. Eris squirmed and cried out with joy and ecstasy while wrapping her tail lightly around Victor’s leg and her claw slid over his back as to cause some scratches. Such motions were common to Eris in her sex and often defeated a relationship as no one would really want seconds but the hybrid didn’t much care since there would always be plenty of nice fish in the ocean.

Still Victor was one of the better ones; he was giving Eris feelings that made her lose any conscious control of her body. The sensations that flooded her were too much and she couldn’t help but scream out from the sensations before she lost all feeling.

Something wasn’t right. Eris felt something beyond the sensations of lovemaking; for there was something else a strange presence, no there were two of them great and powerful, spirit voyeurs who couldn’t help but watch the two. No one was joining in with its own means, feeding off the power that flowed between Eris and Victor. Something was not right.

When the love cooled down Eris looked at victor in the eyes and tried to smile but couldn’t. Something was wrong here and her little game had become a part of it. The demoness blushed feeling embarrassed. “Vic, get dressed. Something’s wrong,” was All Eris could say as she looked out to sea and the storm that was so close but wouldn’t touch the island. “I felt a presence just now, something great and powerful.” Eris said looking down. “I can’t believe it watched us like that.” The demon pirate picked up her clothes and started to dress. That’s all she could do since the ship was stranded like this and Eris couldn’t feel what ever it was now.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was alive once again and all was good with the world that he cursed so many times before. He didn’t have a woman for... Well, he couldn’t exactly say for how long and that fact alone made it clear that it was too damn long. His abstinence was a direct consequence of his beliefs, of the stubborn integrity that clung to the strict rule that sex without love is just mechanics, just friction and exchange of bodily fluids. And yet with Eris he felt like he was reborn, like his callous insides were combusted more and more with each joyful moan of the redhead, with each kiss of her lips, with each touch of her sizzling body against his own. And when her claws inadvertently dug into the skin of his back in a mere passion-fueled outburst, Victor embraced her even more tightly, reveling in the pain mixed with lust.

After what seemed both mere minutes and hours of ferocious love making, the pair withered on the sand, still holding onto each other and still exchanging calm caresses as their breathing normalized. With the departure of the storm further downwind, the sky above their heads was sprinkled with a myriad of stars, but the only manner in which Victor could see them was as a reflection in Eris’ crimson eyes. He didn’t know what exactly she was, half-breed for certain, but of what breed he couldn’t say and didn’t really care about. She was something special, a dynamite in a small package and right now he was suicidal, clinging to that stick of explosive for as long as possible. They didn’t even reach the cave yet, but the prizefighter – that right now, still under effect of both alcohol and the post-sex delight, considered to become an ex-prizefighter for good – already found the treasure.

He was about to kiss her again, but suddenly Eris started as if something spooked her. Victor’s first reaction was a confused, if not a disappointed frown. When a girl told you something was wrong immediately after lovemaking, you obviously didn’t do something right and that was a kick in the nuts. Her second sentence assured him that wasn’t so. She felt something great and powerful? Victor put an unctuous smile on his face. Well, he did his best. He leant towards her to kiss her and ask her if she would like to feel it again, but she nearly pushed him away as she jumped to her feet and started to get dressed. The boxer, still a bit fuddled with both the alcohol and the redhead, didn’t instantly comprehend what she was speaking about. Some sort of a presence that watched them?

He pushed himself up to his elbows and did a quick survey, but the thing he focused most was Eris pulling her sweet little ass in those tight shorts. “Are you sure? I don’t see anything. Maybe you’re just imagining it. The storm is gone and-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!”

It was just a shadow in the corner of his eye, past the tailed backside of the redhead, but even under the faint moonlight and even though his vision was still a bit hazy from the inebriation, there was no doubt. The horizon was coming at them, black and ominous, growing higher with each second. At first there was only a shimmer here, a faint silvery reflection there, but after several seconds it was clear that a tsunami is coming right at them. Even the stars seemed to ail in front of something of this magnitude, their twinkles lessening somehow as if this natural phenomenon had a hold over them.

“Talk about fickle sea...” was all that he muttered before the big red flashing “DANGER” sign inside of his head told him to do what Eris said; get dressed and... Well, there wasn’t much that he could do with such a humongous wave coming at him, nothing but meet his fate with some pants on. He jumped back to his feet, skimming over the beachside in a fleet search for the attire they discarded so carelessly at the beginning of their night of pleasure. He found a shirt first, putting it on hastily, before he picked up both of his boots. The pants – that Eris discarded some ten feet away in the heat of passion – were the last he found and he tried to jump into them as fast as possible. Meanwhile, the air grew colder and the sea seemed to withdraw in the further from the shore as the wave approached, the gigantic thing drawing in all the nearby water. The wind picked up as well, blowing into their faces vehemently, as if it wanted to blow them away before the watery death even approached.

“Maybe we should look for some cover.” he suggested, finally donning his pants and jumping into both of his boots. But it was too late. Several hundred feet tall, the tsunami charged at them, slowly blocking out the starry sky above. It consumed so much water that it seemed to Victor that he and Eris and their ship stood on a ridge of some high mountain on the seashore. Their fire was extinguished by the wind, the embers blown away into dark nothingness around them. And only then the novice pirate could see something riding on the wave. It was a huge scaly, serpentine creature, seemingly defying the laws of physics as it hovered in front of the wave, making the water follow. This leviathan had a head of a dragon, with two set of azure eyes that seemed almost white from the moonlight that seemed to seep into them. The sea beast was tremendous in both the way it looked and the sheer girth that made their ship seem like a mere toy. Victor approached Eris, embracing her from behind and pulling her against his own body as the wave was about to hit. At least neither of them would die alone.

Only the leviathan and its tsunami weren’t to be their undoing. Even as the wave came so close that it was like a watery fortification in front of them and the sea god that rode it stood some hundred feet from the pair, everything stopped with a sonic boom. The tsunami was paused in mid motion, the water still flowing in the tall wave but not advancing as the serpent peered down at them. “Eris... Uhm, what the hell is going on here?” was the only thing Vic’s quaky voice was able to utter.

[Daggertail]

The state of the world must truly be dreadful since a god thought it appropriate to interrupt Eris’ lovemaking. It wasn’t like some ignorant fool walks in because she forgot to close the door. This was the kind of thing that shouldn’t happen at all. And yet Eris was still looking at the wall of water that the serpent god sat on like a king.

The beast could control the water however it wished and almost crushed Eris and Victor in its raging tower of liquid and yet it stopped close enough for the demon girl to touch the wall.

“I wonder if he’ll help me out?” Eris asked herself out loud. This creature could easily get her boat on water again and it did show up, maybe it wanted to help such a beauty as Eris. Still it was unlikely.

But then again what harm would it come to ask, Eris looked up at the guardian serpent and opened her mouth, the beast looked right at her, eyes filled with anger but it stayed unmoving. The creature was scolding her in its own way. “Then again I think we should take the high ground.” Eris said to victor as she grabbed his arm.

Yet things weren’t going great at the high ground either. The monolithic mountain that dominated the island began shaking and soon Eris fell to the ground having lost her balance. The peak broke away and most the mountain gave way, as a large jagged crab claw broke free. Another great and powerful monster was around, a huge crab that took up a large section of the island, and still only slightly bigger than the serpent.

It didn’t seem this was a situation that anyone could survive. Today really just couldn’t get any worse.

[The Cinderella Man]

“Do some pirating, you said. A walk in the park, you said. What a load of crock.”

He was jinxed; there was no doubt about it anymore. He suspected that there was some sort of hex on him for a while now. Every time he was in an easy bout, his opponent turned up to be as tough as nails. Every time he failed to bring his leather coat while taking a stroll, it would rain. Every time there was an easy job, it turned up to be a disaster that threatened to rob him of his life. True, his life wasn’t a real treasure and the robber wouldn’t earn a whole lot by taking it, but damnit! he was still quite fond of it. And yet, given the current situation, he was about to lose it to a pair of... things that he couldn’t even describe with his vocabulary. They were behemoths, titans, monsters, gods, both of them as large as a small Corone city and both obviously irked by the intrusions of the puny pirates who bit more then they could chew. To die from severe head trauma was a death he could handle. To die from a heart seizure during sex was a death he hoped for. To die in the digestive tract of some ancient demon was a death he couldn’t foresee even in his wildest dreams. Or rather, nightmares.

“Eris, what’s going on here? What are these devil spawns?” Victor repeated his question more sternly this time, his voice an exclamation painted with a touch of panic. He held to her forearm tightly, peering into her crimson eyes in an attempt to procure some sort of an answer. “Please don’t tell me that these THINGS are what you were looking for!”

A terrible, resounding shriek ripped through the night, preventing her from giving him an answer. The crab creature that shook off the mountain top off of its back was the source of the outcry, and it seemed that it managed to draw attention of the looming leviathan that snapped its dragon head towards the massive behemoth that advanced through the landscape, flattening palm trees as if they were wheat. Paying no heed to the puny couple, the serpent made a move further down the shore and the massive wave followed, the water wall readjusting itself, standing solid as if something held it in place with telekinesis. The sea demon returned the favor, uttering a deafening, high-pitched scream that made Victor cover his ears just in time to stop them from bleeding. And even as the mind-shattering sound evanesced into nothing but faint echo, the tsunami wave was on the move, enveloping the leviathan before proceeding towards the shelled fiend. The entire segment of the shore was devoured by the wave, the ocean deity using the force of nature to erase the foliage and slam the crab monster down.

But after the water passed and returned to its bed, the behemoth that looked like an oversized pebble with legs to the boxer pushed itself up to its six scaly legs and continued its advance towards the shore. Luckily, Victor, Eris and their ship were standing on a sandy cape that was so far untouched by this clash of titans, but it was little consolation. Whichever colossus won was probably going to claim them as a midnight snack. The arthropod monstrosity reached the shore now, dipping its column-thick legs into the shoals and lunging at the serpent with one of its claws that seemed large enough to snap a ship in half effortlessly. The leviathan refused to be lured too close to the land, dipping below the sea surface and moving back before launching another wave at its foe, making it crumble once again.

“This is too unreal.” Victor mumbled, his tone awed and his eyes wide open as he observed the fight of unfathomable magnitude. So focused on these titans, he never even noticed a handful of creatures emerging from the water and advancing onto the shore. They looked like vipers, only their bodies were completely made out of constantly flowing water. They had no eyes, no tail, no head, no distinguishable feature, looking like a translucent worms that moved like cobras. From what was probably the head of these water elementals a jet of water was launched, strong enough to send the bulky prizefighter tumbling over the sand and pinning him to the hull of Eris’ ship. The spurt kept him pinned to the wood for half a minute at the very least, hosing his body, filling his mouth and lungs with salty water before letting him slump to the ground, coughing frantically and trying to draw in a solid breath inside his lungs.

“Goddamn! It seems we have some company again, captain!”

[Daggertail]

Ok so why did Victor have to ask Eris what was up with the two duking monsters, as if she knew. “Well one’s a big eel and one’s a big crab and they’re well fighting. Guess they wanted to watch and caught wind of the other so they got upset.” Well it was a stupid answer but the demon girl wasn’t quite in the mood to go I dunno… though his asking if she was searching for these freakish beasts was not the kind of thing to make her happy. “Of coarse not, I wanted treasure and not overgrown seafood.” Though the sex after you ate some of the serpent would probably be to die for! Eris giggled as the dirty side of her mind lightened the stage. But still staying here to be squashed by a tsunami or crab legs was not acceptable.

“Kozo, get your blue butt out here! We have trouble!” Eris screamed at the ship. But she was not aware of the further trouble with strange being made out of water attacking Victor and soon the little demon.

The water creature lashed out at Eris who stepped to the side to dodged and lunged her bladed tail right through the monster but she might as well have lanced the ocean, the elemental cared nothing for the poke and didn’t react except to pounce and force Eris to the ground. The piratess struggled under the pressure as the creature tried to force it’s way into her mouth. She was going to drown in a few moments if she could do nothing. Still she struggled hard and dug into the sand while flipping her self over and pushing up. The water lost its hold allowing Eris to run out as she coughed up a bit of water.

“Ok that’s it, I’m done with these interruptions. I’m going to…” Eris thought about what cruel things she could do but all of them would fail. “Run away.” The demon thief ran at Victor and lunged at him and hoped to get free. “You alright, we’re going to run into the jungle and hopefully lose these guy while the big one fight each other, hopefully something comes up.”

“Kozo, get out and follow us, I’m not waiting anymore!” Eris yelled out again, her hands were full keeping Vic alive and Kozo better be able to take care of himself since her wasn’t a pirate newbie. With that she grabbed victors hand and rushed from the sandy beach to the dead leaves of the jungle floor. Something had to come up but hopefully the plant life would slow down the water creatures.

[The Cinderella Man]

Eris and Victor must’ve preformed extremely well in their sexual escapade when it attracted the attention of the two mammoth creatures. That was, at least, one explanation. The other, much more plausible explanation was that they were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, something that happened to the boxer quite often. Still, neither of these interpretations of the incredible events that took place before their very eyes was terribly comforting. He was once again soaking wet, his eyes were once again twinged by the salty water and he was once again outnumbered, this time by watery somethings that were no doubt minions of the serpentine creature that commanded the sea. If Eris wasn’t as sweet as white chocolate and if he didn’t make love to her minutes ago, the prizefighter would’ve been genuinely pissed off by now. It seemed that pirate work consisted of being sopped and in a pickle all the time and he liked being neither.

But as it was, the redhead pirate captain was at his side seconds after the damn sea beast stopped squirting him down, and her advice seemed good enough for Victor. Fighting something made out of water on a seaside seemed as pointless as fighting the sand from getting in your eyes in Fallien desert. But even as he regained his footing and started running clumsily towards the nearby jungle with his hand holding Eris’, Kozo the Blue Dude shouted from the deck of their beached ship.

“Vic!” the deep rumbling voice stopped him in his tracks. The muscled demon was standing on the very edge of the main deck, holding a huge barrel on one shoulder and something that looked like a bunch of leather straps in the other. When Kozo shouted the second time and threw him the smaller of the two items he carried, Victor realized both what the leather belt was and what was he supposed to do with it. “Use the gun. I’ll throw the barrel.”

For a guy who seemed more then a handful of cards shy of a full deck, the blue-skinned demon seemed to have a simple and effective plan, in accord with his demeanor no doubt. The barrel obviously contained something flammable – Victor hoped it was gunpowder, but it was a long shot – and once he flung it in the middle of the water elemental congregation, it turned out to be the oil that was usually used in lamps. Of course, it only seemed like a plausible plan. The translucent serpents were splashed by the brownish oil, the liquid making their crystal bodies mix with the oil, but a gunshot couldn’t ignite the flammable liquid. A bullet was a piece of lead, hot after it was expelled out of the barrel and deadly once it struck it target, but utterly useless in a situation such as this one. What they needed was a real live spark, a torch or a fire or...

“...or a gun blast!”

Of course. Victor didn’t fire his revolver often, but when he did, he couldn’t fail to notice the fiery muzzle flash that such a large caliber spat out after he pulled the trigger. But he needed to get close and that didn’t seem like an easy task, especially since the water serpents seemed ready for another volley of jets. “Eris, get behind some cover!” he commanded the redhead, taking the role of the leader for a short while as he tore away from her hand and picked up his revolver from where Kozo threw it. He charged at the conjured beasts and just as they were all about to send him flying back with their spurts, he threw himself in a forwards roll and under their attacks. He had just enough time to point his gun to the ground below and fire a single round before the bastards repositioned and sent him flying backwards once again, their jets making his twist and turn in mid air before he crashed into some underbrush next to Eris with a dull thud. But it seemed that his risk paid off. The oil wasn’t burning as fast as some more refined types of fuel, but because of it was lighter then water, it floated on top of the elementals’ body, enabling the flames to envelop them completely. Luckily, the beasts seemed to have no intelligence to use their water attacks to hose each other down, so after several gurgling shrieks, they turned into nothing but puffs of vapor.

“Did it work?” Victor asked, extracting himself from the bushes with a painful groan that make him sound like a man thrice his age. Once he saw nothing but several oil marks smoldering on the sandy beach, he allowed an almost cocky smile. “It worked! Kozo, you’re a genius.” he said to the blue demon as he descended from the ship and came jogging to where Victor and Eris now stood with a wide smile on his simple face.

A little distance from them, a pair of behemoths still fought fiercely, exchanging strike after strike, each causing a miniature earthquake, each shriek deafening. The boxer thought it would be a good plan to run away from these things as far as possible, but then their problems started to multiply. Literally. Where several human-sized water elementals were exterminated momnets ago, a dozen of them started to form from the ocean water, growing slowly one drop at the time and gaining the serpentine form. Of course. How could he be so shortsighted to think they would give up that easily? There was unlimited construction material mere feet away and the eel god didn’t seem like something that had trouble conjuring several minions. Eris was right all along; they had only one option.

“Goddamn! Let’s hightail out of here before they are fully... uhm, grown... or whatever.” Victor said in a rather exasperated tone, taking off through the massive fern leaves and entering the tropical jungle. At first their striding through the benighted environment filled with rich flora didn’t seem that arduous but soon enough they came to the area that was first flattened by the crab thing and then flooded repeatedly by his equally impressive adversary. The soil beneath their feet became soggy and uneven, making each step a possible misstep that could cause a sprained ankle at the very least. Eris seemed to have no problems with it though, her unnatural agility making her maneuver through there traps like a wildcat. Even Kozo who, despite his size and bulk, was more springy then the prizefighter had trouble following his captain. This ultimately made Victor pose a rather good question.

“So, where are we going exactly? Between those things behind us and those two giants in front of us, it seems like a lose-lose situation to me.”

[Daggertail]

Damn sometimes men could be lucky idiots. Both Kozo and Vic had conspired to cover the water elementals with burning oil and Eris knew that when you put burning oil on the water it makes a nice fire on the surface of the water and would likely make these elementals even worse. Lucky for them, Eris was wrong before she even opened her mouth, the fire was just the thing to hurt the elementals and a boneheaded move was actually a stroke of genius.

Vic finally got his brain back and suggested hightailing it. “Good, now we’re done showing off.” Eris said flicking her tail, “But it did buy some time.” Of coarse she would stand around and started running, really glad that Kozo joined in the flight.

The jungle was rather annoying to run, the plants were constantly brushing against the party and no one would escape without a few scratches from the vegetation and not to mention the two titans were fiercely fighting. The serpent had the crab in a lock and was trying to crush the shell of the large Arthropod but was doing as much damage to itself on the spiked shell. The guardian snake cried out as it retreated and tried some hit and run strikes that shook the island but annoyed the crab who was two slow to pinch the snake’s head off.

The elementals were close behind but hadn’t quite caught the trio. Vic spoke his hopelessness and Eris couldn’t help but shrug in agreement. Maybe she was just prolonging the inevitable demise. “I guess, we can go anywhere on the island and be caught and I doubt the two giants would grant us sanctuary.” Eris looked at the two fiercely fighting monsters. The crab would be pretty steady and it was the only thing Eris didn’t think of. “Let’s run up the crab. I don’t know of anywhere else to go.” Eris tried to smile but still looked nervous, it was still crazy.

“You got to be kidding.” Kozo sighed as he looked at the beast that could crush them without a thought.

“Well were little enough that he won’t mind and we’re dead anyways so might as well gamble anyways.” Eris ran towards the shelled monstrosity, the spikes on the legs made good hand holds though they were constantly moving and it threatened to throw her off. “Hurry up, he might leave at any time!” Eris felt the beast jar from a hit and almost threw her off but she held on with her normal hand. Maybe it wasn’t going to be too easy.

[The Cinderella Man]

“We’re gonna do WHAT?!?!”

Victor was familiar with the proverb which said you should keep your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer, more so because it had a practical use in the boxing ring. If you were one hit shy of being kayoed, an enemy at a distance could punch your lights out. But if you got real close and in a clinch, you were safe at least for a few seconds before the ref broke up the manly embrace. So when looked from that angle, the proverb worked like a charm. If it was looked from a different angle though, one closely connected to the here and the now, it seemed like something people always said but never did. Keeping an enemy close was one thing, but taking a piggyback ride on the shell of a crab monster that ate ships for breakfast and shat small hillocks in the afternoon was another, much more ludicrous thing.

But Eris seemed determined that it was their only option. The redhead seemed somewhat flippant about the whole issue, commenting how they were dead either way, and while Victor could agree with that to a certain extent, he didn’t agree with it enough to walk straight into the maw of a sea monster. It was starting to become apparent to him now that being a pirate didn’t just require seafaring skills. In fact, it seemed that navigation and all the ship work held a shaky third spot when it came to importance, right behind being insane and being ready to go against the usual morals and scruples. And while he let go of his morals a little while ago when he succumbed to the charms of the red-haired demon girl, Victor was pretty certain that there was still enough gray matter in his head that wasn’t ineffective mush and was actually able to form coherent, reasonable thoughts. One of them was mouthed as they reached the site where the two behemoths fought.

“I am not climbing on top of that...”

He didn’t get a chance to say ‘monster’. While Eris and Kozo started their ascend up one of the spiked legs that looked like something that belonged in a torture chamber, Victor’s deliberating enabled the water elementals to catch up him. A spurt of water struck him in the back almost like a strike of a flail, forcing him to stumble forwards and shoving his head into the sand. His hands pushed against the wet sand instantly, his neck craning his head out of the ground, but the water jets held the pressure constant, disabling any movement. He would’ve drowned probably if the crab creature didn’t take a step backwards, one if its legs stomping on the squadron of elementals, squashing at least four of them. By the time the novice pirate pulled himself out of the sand, the rest of the serpentine creatures realigned around the new obstacle, ready to squirt him down again.

“Ah, bloody hell!” Victor muttered, willing his soaked self back up. But before the watery things got a chance to gun him down, he followed Eris and Kozo. Running up to the jointed limb that was a good ally several seconds ago, Victor started climbing after the pair that was already halfway to the brim of the main shell. Two times the water guns fired from below, soaking his pants and pushing him against the leg of the titan creature, but by the time they tried it the third time, he was out of range. It offered little relief though; the climb was everything but easy. Every time the beast moved or the sea serpent attacked, the arthropod shook so hard it nearly knocked all three of them off. Not to mention the fact that the spikes that protruded from the thing’s skin weren’t exactly climber friendly, their ends sharp enough to skewer a bison.

But somehow, despite all these difficulties, the trio managed to get safely up to the shell that covered the top of the crab creature. What stood before them looked like a hillock made out of jagged stone with a forest of spikes as tall as the highest Corone trees. A number of them were coated with translucent, blush slime and scales of the sea serpent, both remnants of the battle that was occurring before their very eyes. Holding one of the smaller spikes in a tight embrace with his right arm, Victor did his best to amortize all the jerks and quakes as the beast beneath him moved.

“Let me just say that this was a very bad idea!!!” he shouted, his voice lost in the shrieks of the sea serpent that suddenly paused its attacks. After a similar response from the crab, the pair of gigantic freaks of nature finally paused their battle, looking as if they were measuring each other. The serpent bled, its long azure body perforated on numerous places, and its draconic face looked at its foe with furious eyes. The arthropod didn’t come out of the fight unscathed either, its shell cracked on several places, revealing the bleeding rosy flesh below. Victor thought they were catching their breaths, preparing for one last hurrah that would finish this face-off of tremendous magnitude. As it turned out, these monsters had some brain in them after all.

The crab – that now had three stowaways on its back – took a single step back, letting out a rumbling sound from somewhere below. The sea serpent responded accordingly, drifting a bit deeper into the ocean. This tiptoeing game seemed to last for minutes, both creatures gradually backing off from each other until the eel was completely submerged and the crab backed up into the jungle. Victor sighed and shook his head. This wasn’t what he signed up for.

“Let’s hope this thing doesn’t get a bright idea to follow that leviathan underwater.” he said, an uneasy smirk appearing on his face as he looked towards Eris.

[Daggertail]

“You’re doing a lot of Complaining for an idea that’s working.” Eris said while leaning against one of the larger spikes on the shell. She was sure her idea was perfect or at least as good as it was going to get. It wasn’t like there was a great hiding place or any way to get the ship sea born again. Though that would’ve been nice to have a ship but it was better to keep you skin.

“See they’re retreating and we’re safe, therefore my idea was good.” Eris made a cheeky grin, as she looked at Vic and Kozo. The blue ogre smiled back and nodded, because he always listened to her, wasn’t his place to go against his captain no matter how bad things got.

The ride seemed much calmer once the two fighters backed away from each other. It would be perfect to enjoy the strange ride, not everyday that a person gets to ride on a giant crab. Still the failure ached at Eris, she had no ship or treasure and was stuck in the middle of the ocean. “I guess we have to figure out something to do while we wait for him to get close to mainland.”

The crab was heading out to sea and floated away. The crazy plan was working and Eris felt safer than she was on the island. But something was wrong; it seemed too easy and too lucky. Why did the two leave each other alone and why was the crab staying afloat like a moving island to keep the stowaways from drowning. Maybe her idea was rather stupid.

But things just weren’t over yet; their ride shook violently as the Serpent surfaced nearby. It was an ambush for the crab to put it at a disadvantage in open water but the beast fought back causing the platform to rock, making Eris fall low to the ground and held on to whatever she could to keep from falling overboard. “Ok maybe it was a bad idea!” The demon girl admitted

[The Cinderella Man]

For a minute there, when all suddenly became silent and the only sound was the sloshing of the benighted sea below against the shell of the crab giant, Victor was ready to admit that his complaining was without foundation and that Eris’ ludicrous idea was indeed a good decision. Sure, they were still stranded on a shell of a sea monster which could put a stop to this uncanny benevolence any time it wanted, but ever since the serpent disappeared beneath the surface and the arthropod left the ravaged island, it seemed to be smooth sailing. So smooth, in fact, that the ex-boxer actually let go of the spike that he held on to so tightly during the colossal battle and started walking through the forest made out scabrous extremities that protruded above the main shell. On one of them, reflecting the faint silver of the moonlight, was an aquamarine scale that must’ve belonged to the sea eel. He was about to reach for it... when the whole deal went sour once again.

It seemed that the retreat of the leviathan was just a diversion, a cunning tactic that the monster used to lure the crab thing out in the open sea. Because just when Victor was about the claim a sparkly, scaly fragment of the husk, the aqua snake reemerged from the sea, its monstrous dragon-head appearing at the flank of their carrier. The arthropod reacted instantly, uttering another one of the queer clacking shrieks in response to the roar of its opponent. It moved with an abrupt jerk, turning sideways to face the serpent and sending all three stowaways tumbling on the ground. Vic’s hands flailed around in search for something firm, but instead his leg caught one of the sharp spike edges that tore through both his pants and his skin, leaving a wide-open gash. Luckily, the next spike caught him head on, Victor slamming into its dull side before grabbing a good hold of it.

“Hold fast! We’re in for one bumpy ride!!” he managed to exclaim, looking around in an attempt to locate his two companions and failing to do so with moon as the only light source. But seconds after his shout, even that light source was quenched as the serpent approached the crab, swiveling through the water and approaching from the flank. Without any warning, the snake dove beneath the surface, its draconic head appearing on the other side. The rest of the lengthy body coiled itself around the shell of the crab, tightening the grasp despite the spikes that perforated the azure skin of the leviathan. Both beasts screamed. Both beasts bled. Victor was feet away from where the muscles of the serpent made the thick hide of the crab crunch and moan. He hoped that Kozo and Eris weren’t caught below the deadly grasp.

But that wasn’t the end of the leviathan’s attack. Once it was completely wrapped around the arthropod, the sea colossus dived bellow the surface once again, taking both its foe and the three passengers below the water surface. Sea water, as black as ink, engulfed them, taking them into the endless abyss. Vic held what little breath he managed to catch before the immersion, his clutch around the spike desperate. Eris and Kozo and Deliliah and Scara Brae and water filling his ears and even the open wound ravaged by the salt in the water, it all became irrelevant in front of sheer survival. He didn’t know what went on around him. He didn’t care what went on around him. The only thing that mattered was his breath and the leprose spike that he held on to.

After half a minute of the ‘joyride’ through the blackness, it became apparent to Victor that he would have to let go. His self-preservation instincts were insisting on renewal of oxygen in his lungs, urging him to open his mouth and inhale despite the fact that the only thing to inhale was sea water. But when he finally let go and started to frantically paddle for the surface, the hard scaly surface of the crab shell struck him from below, taking him back up and above the water. And once he could see the stars once again and the moon shone on his soaked, weary body and the air filled his lungs in hasty, shallow breaths, Victor could see that the sea serpent was gone, its massive body no longer curled around the gigantic crab creature. And once again they were sailing smoothly.

What Vic didn’t see and couldn’t possibly know was that during this underwater clash of the titans, the arthropod managed to twist one of his pincers just enough to snap them at the neck of the leviathan. While not a mortal wound, it was enough of a warning for the eel monster to understand a draw was the best outcome it could get out of the entire ordeal. So it pulled back to lick its wounds and prepare for the next intruder in its domain, leaving the crab and its three ‘riders’ to the open sea.

“Eris!” Victor called, his voice suddenly sounding so loud in the silence of the aftermath that it almost seemed unwelcome. He was struggling to walk steadily, the wound on his leg bringing back the pain with a vengeance as he trudged over the curved surface, supporting himself on the spikes as he advanced. He could see neither the feisty redhead nor her blue-skinned friend, but he hoped they didn’t fall overboard during the battle. Being marooned on the back of a peculiar creature wasn’t something that he wanted to go through alone. “Eris, Kozo! You two alive?!”

[The Cinderella Man]

When he finally located Eris, the limping boxer nearly stumbled over her lithe body sprawled next one of the gigantic spikes. Her hands still held to the scaly extremity, but after he bent down to touch her face, Victor realized it could’ve been the death cramp that made her cling to the only available leverage. The redhead wasn’t moving, her modest chest wasn’t rising and falling the way it ought to and the rosy lips that seemed so succulent back at the beach side were slowly losing their vibrant hue to the deadly purple-blue tones.

“No, no, no, no! Eris! Eris, stay with me!” he shouted, his frantic mind failing to realize that the tailed lass couldn’t hear him even if he screamed from the top of his lungs. He untangled her hands from their tight hold around the foot of the spike, but when he paused to search for the pulse on her wrist, all he got was in return was the coldness of her smooth skin. Victor didn’t know if the suffocation did her in or did the accursed sea serpent crush her with its enormous body, but at this point he didn’t even care. He liked the sassy pirate lass, liked the bossy way she dealt with things, liked her carelessness, her vivacious spirit, liked the way she scratched at his back when they made love. And now, because of this unfathomable turn of events, he only got to like her for a day.

“Stop your sniveling! You can still save her. Remember! Kiss of Life. Touch of Life!” a voice that Victor liked to call the reality reminder screamed at him. Usually, that voice was a caustic whisper, scorning and scowling, putting him back in the pit of wallowing where he belonged. But right now it snapped the despairing prizefighter out of his reverie, reminding him of an afternoon on the sea shore of Scara Brae over ten years ago. And he remembered his cousin Mariah daring him to swim farther then their parents usually allowed them. And he remembered the wave that collapsed on top of the teen lass. And he remembered a man that swam out to collect her and drag her lifeless body on the shore. And he remembered the Kiss and the Touch of Life. And he remembered how he envied the man that saved his lovely cousin.

Now, he had a chance to save somebody just as lovely. If only he remembered how to do it right. He leant towards Eris’ alabaster visage, parting her lips and opening her mouth just enough so his lips covered hers. With the other hand closing her nostrils, he exhaled, dismayed by the cold touch of once so hot lips. Nothing. Her chest rose slightly, but as soon as he moved away, the redhead exhaled involuntarily. His hand touched between her breasts next, the spot that he caressed with his lips what seemed like mere minutes later. He applied pressure, again and again, whispering pleas and prayers over the sloshing of the waves. Still nothing. He repeated the process, altering between the Kiss and the Touch, each time a bit more desperate.

After a minute – that seemed at least an hour long – Victor thought that it was hopeless and decided to stop worrying her dead body. Luckily for him, it was then that Eris finally came to, coughing water out of her breathing canals so weakly that it could barely be classified as a cough. The bulky novice pirate helped her into a sitting position.

“H-hey.” she said in a voice as thin as a sheet of silk. “Y-You’re not... trying to... take advantage of me... while I was out?” Her mischievous smirk was bleary, but it was there, decorating her pretty face. Victor could do naught but chuckle in return, stifling the urge to embrace the tiny redhead.

“I thought I lost you there.” he said, his fingers running gently through the dampness of her crimson locks.

“Kozo...” Eris added, clearly exasperated. It was only then that Victor spared a thought on the big blue demon, and the thought was about him having to perform both the Kiss and the Touch on him. And Kozo wasn’t nearly as pretty as the lithe pirate. Luckily for him, the blue-skinned oaf came careening moments after his name was spoken. If that wasn’t a cause for a relieving sigh, the boxer didn’t know what would be. He lowered himself next to Eris, grunting audibly at the sting in his leg, but deciding to treat it later. He was too tired to think, too soaked to move. The red-haired girl leant on his shoulder, wrapping her hands around his arm.

“So... What happened? Where are we going?” she asked, her breath normalizing, but her voice still weak and raspy.

Victor closed his eyes and leant his head against the scaly spike. The sea around them was like hammered obsidian, reflecting the silver of the moonlight, and the crab colossus cut through it almost without a sound. And the three on his back were just glad to be alive. “I have no idea. But we’re bound to find it out together.”


((SPOILS:

Sea Serpent Scale – Victor found this impaled on one of the spikes on the crab’s back. There is enough of it to form a scale mail, but Victor has to pay the Bazaar forgers to make the mail for him. It provides good protection against piercing and projectile damage (about as good as damascus), but it vulnerable to bludgeon damage. Because of the water element of the sea serpent, the scales are also resistant to fire (soaking 50% of fire damage).))

[Elrundir]

All's well that ends well, eh? Sorry for the delay on this. Sometimes I feel like my life is one big Victor & Eris Pirate Adventure, with even fewer spoils at the end. :p

Story

Continuity: 7/10 - While TCM provided good insight into what makes Victor tick and some of the things he's done before, I felt that Eris' was much more up in the air. Why was she at the tavern? What is this treasure she's seeking? I even needed to look at your profile to find out who Kozo was at first. While you don't need to write a novel in each quest about your character's background, a few hints at where they're coming from help keep the flow for the reader. The less they have to ask themselves those kinds of questions, the better.

Setting: 8/10 - This is one area Daggertail could also improve upon. Don't be afraid to go into more detail about the area around your character, the people she comes into contact with, the landscape, things like that. TCM, yours was brilliant in general, right from the obvious to the most seemingly-minor details, so I tip the score higher on this one.

Pacing: 6/10 - Not bad on the whole. For such a piratey adventure you might almost expect more mishaps and swashbuckling than occurred, but I think the big leviathan battle makes up for it to some extent. Do try to be careful about sudden jumps in setting though. For example, the transition from tavern to coast near the beginning happened in about one sentence that's easily passed over.

Character

Dialogue: 6/10 - Again pretty good. Nothing special but nothing I would comment against, per se. Both characters stayed true to themselves, as I'll say below.

Action: 7/10 - Done quite well, I think. I like Victor's vulnerability that was displayed a few times over the course of the quest, such that even he is prone to mistakes. There was one part when Eris used the sun to guide her despite describing in the same post that there was a heavy storm, but it's not a major thing. I also question the sanity of leaping on top of the back of a giant, violent crab locked in a death battle with an even larger leviathan, but maybe that's just me. :p The only thing I would make mention of is how easily the pirate ship was stolen from the pirates. It seems to me like they would guard it at least a little better than they did, and it would be a little tricky for three people to sail it away, wouldn't it?

Persona: 9/10 - Probably the best part of this quest. Eris always had her confident, seductive streak (typical of a succubus) mixed with mischievousness (typical of an imp). Victor was very much a typical guy: dragged along by a pretty girl, ready to ask "How high?" when she says jump, and yet questioning the sanity of his decision at every other moment. Very nice.

Writing Style

Technique: 6/10 - Again, nothing overly special, but nothing detrimental either. I think TCM's technique shone in particular though. Your use of metaphors and such add to the immersion of the quest.

Mechanics: 7/10 - Naturally TCM does very well in this category. The only thing I have to mention is regarding dialogue: at the end of a line of dialogue, there should generally be a comma instead of a period (exclamation and question marks stay as they are though) when it’s followed by an attributive phrase (such as he said). So just to take your first line of dialogue as an example, it should read: “That’s three out of three. I think I’ll retire while I’m ahead,” he said to the gray-haired bookie …

As for Daggertail, try to avoid run-on sentences and the like. For the most part your grammar isn't bad, but things like that can harm the quality of the post overall quite severely.

Clarity: 7/10 - Again, my suggestion here is for Daggertail. Don't be afraid to proof-read your posts before putting them up in order to avoid run-on sentences, typos, etc. I know that typos are unavoidable sometimes but there are quite a few in some of your posts that (if obvious enough to get caught) disrupt the flow of the reading.

Miscellaneous

Wild Card - 6/10 - I feel like tilting you up a little bit. It was a solid little quest regardless of anything else, and a nice little thing to read.

TOTAL: 69/100

REWARDS
The Cinderella Man receives 2,376 EXP and a Sea Serpent Scale! It has physical properties similar to Damascus but is not easily enchanted like the metal is.
Daggertail receives 913 EXP!

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP added. Padre levels up.