Aether Shanties RP (PM if interested/Started)

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Wilhelmena

The last days she had been going over the inventory, and made herself acquainted with the crew members she would probably be working with. At the moment she was sitting in her cabin, drinking tea with DT. He may be a machine who was supposed to have no personality or much intelligence, but he had proven himself interesting. She tried to stop thinking of him as an automaton, and tried to think of as more of a friend, since she thought it was unlikely she would be able to make many friends among the crew.

"Pirates! 5:30 at -45!" She heard a voice over the communication system, and soon running could be heard in the corridor outside her cabin, as the crew hurried to their posts or the deck.

"Lovely day for a fight." She put down her cup on the desk, and unsheathed her saber. "I was afraid I'd get bored, or worse, rusty."

DT chuckled at the pun, and sipped on his tea. "Quite."

She opened the door, but DT didn't make a move. Wilhelmena hadn't actually seen him fight yet. He was built for it, as he would have made a mediocre bodyguard otherwise. "Come on."

He put the cup down, and then they both headed towards the top deck.

Beth

The captain stood with a bottle in one hand, while keeping the other on the wheel. Beth was singing an old song to herself, even though she wasn't particularly drunk yet. She was just in a good mood. "And dream of a girl I used to know. I closed my eyes and she slipped away. She slipped away."

She drank from the bottle, as the sun caressed her face. "More than a feeling..."

Her moment was interrupted, as she noticed the passengers, who she had brought on the Mermaid early that morning while most of the crew slept, making their way up the stairs.

The Mermaid may be on a mission to the north, but it didn't bring in much gold. She had asked around yesterday, for people or goods that needed to be transported in the same direction she was flying. She hadn't had much luck at first, until a man told her about the mystic and the hunter. Apparently they had been stuck in Helium City for a couple of months, as no one wanted to deal with them. There was a rumor that they had brought bad luck and worse things to the ship they had arrived with. They were also foreigners, even if the way they dressed reminded her of the Neobeduin,

Beth had sought them out, and asked where they wanted to go. They seemed to just want to get away from the city, and had offered her exquisite jewelry as payment. It was more than enough to pay for two passengers, but she would have preferred if they had stayed in their cabin. She had spent a few hours with them herself, and thought it may have been better if the crew hadn't found out about them.

They were drawing attention to themselves just by crossing the deck, and of course, they were heading towards her.

"Carya, the stars shines upon you."

"Name's Beth. I told you that." She muttered to the misbegotten mystic. The woman's ears and eyes were too unique for her to be anything else than a misbegotten, but she had denied it herself. "What are you doing up here anyway? I told you it'd be better if you stayed in your cabin."

The hunter had her lizard skull pulled down over her head, but she was keeping an eye on the crew and a hand on a knife at her waist.

"I wanted to warn you."

Beth eyed her, and drank some more. "About what."

"Our pursuers fears the walls and population of a city, but now that we've finally left it behind they will surely be on us."

She was surprised about how honest the woman was about how she had tricked her. Beth opened her mouth to complain, but the woman removed another bracelet from her wrist and handed it to her. She kept her mouth shut, and looked at the sky, but there was no other ship in sight.

"We want passage to the closest port, with ships that can carry us across the sea." The hunter said. Beth could only look at the hollow eyes of the skull and nod.

"Do you mind if I keep you company?"

Beth shook her head, and handed the bottle to her in a gesture of friendship. The hunter left with a hand on her knife. The other one took the bottle, smelled it, and drank.

Well, it seemed that there was no point in making them stay in their cabin anymore. Hopefully the rumours and talk about pursuers would prove harmless.

<spoiler=Mystic>

<spoiler=Hunter>

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Pirates! 5:30 at -45!" Garrett heard being called out down below on the main deck, looking down he saw Exeter was the one to send the order. Immediately the crew went into action with acquiring arms and getting into battle formation. A moment later Adrianna stormed out of her cabin and took to the wheel with her spyglass in tow.

"Hard to port and load those cannons!" Garrett then turned to the crewman who was with him.

"You heard the Admiral, get down there and get those cannons loaded." He said with a sense of authority. Not needing to respond, the crewman grabbed his rifle and rushed down to the lower deck to join the others. Garrett proceeded to make sure his weapons were clean and ready to fight, before joining the assembled crew.

"Your orders Admiral?"

 

[hiei82]

[HEADING=2]Adrianna[/HEADING]

"Your orders Admiral?" Garrett said, drawing her from her planning. She could see the crew getting ready; a good sign. As she was about to answer, Exeter arrived - a good thing for once. "Garrett; gather a boarding team to take their ship. They won't expect us to counter-board." she said, clearing up the plan. "Exeter; gather a group to repel boarders."

Exeter made to argue, but Adrianna cut him off. "Mr. St. John; we don't have time to discuss this. We caught the pirates too late to set up a proper defense. I need my First Mate giving orders to protect the ship. Besides; Garrett is more than capable of leading a party and has the respect of the crew. Now do your duty." she said flatly, before turning to the navigator to provide more commands.

Exeter paused for a moment, wanting to say something, but bit his lip and instead saluted; saying "Yes Ma'am" before going off to shore up the defense.

[HEADING=2]Captain Christopher "Ironskin" Harris[/HEADING]

Spoiler: Captain Christopher "Ironskin" Harris

Captain Christopher "Ironskin" Harris - a man so evil hell itself spit him back out. Like Annis, he wears a mask all the time. His face was burned "in the fires of hell" and so he wears the mask. He's mostly automaton (arms and legs) at this point, and uses a rapier in one hand and a pistol in the other. He's a juggernaut of a man.

Captain Ironskin Harris watched in mild amusement as the Imperial vessel came about, trying to bring its guns to bear against his mighty vessel - Hell's Harbinger. It was well within expectation - his vessel was too large to conceal forever. Pushing forward the boat forward, he made to get beneath the Imperial Frigate before the guns became a problem. He didn't need the Harbinger to take the vessel - that's what the boarding party and the skiffs were for.

Still; it didn't hurt to be prepared. "Load those guns maggots" he said through the the iron mask over his face "or your fate will be the same as their's" he finished, pointing at the so called "Invincible"

[HEADING=2]1st Mate Jacob Allerson[/HEADING]

Spoiler: 1st Mate Jacob Allerson

The first mate of Hell's Harbinger is Jacob Allerson; a misbegotten. He looks mostly normal, save a greenish, scaly skin. He has the smile of a used car salesman. When he's angry (or when he wants to), he can unhinge his jaw and extend forward a pair of venomous fangs. He also has a lizard frill (think Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park). The venom is a neuro-toxin that causes horrible pain.

Jacob smiled toothily as his skiffs came free from the clouds above; two more in two. With the invincible so focused on the Harbinger; they'd never see their death coming. "Alright everyone; get ready." he said, lighting up a firebomb. he couldn't wait for the party to begin.

When the time was just right, he threw the bomb free and watched it fall. He loved it when it rained Hellfire.

Spoiler: OOC

Yes, you have a chance to notice the skiffs before it happens and act on that info.

 

[Ruedyn]

James managed to get to the deck before the shit began aiming at the fan. He looked over the edge of the ship, and saw the mighty pirate ship. If anyone cared to look at the wayward beast dancer, they'd see a toothy, malicious grin spreading from ear to ear. He took a few steps back, and looked up to see the skiffs.

"Crap... oh, can you take care of it?" James looked to his shoulder, a small spider drone had climbed there. They both looked up, and James grabbed the spider. "Godspeed. James threw the spider at the crows nest, and it began climbing higher. It noticed the bomb, and began climbing faster, and faster. When the bomb fell far enough, the drone jumped into it's way, causing both to explode in fire as they rained down onto the ship, mostly harmless.

James grin widened, and he gave a small salute. Now, James turn for suicadal heroics. He took two more large steps back, before beginning his dash, leaping over the railings gracefully. He dove through the air, ready to tuck, roll and thin the pirate population.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Inconspicuously positioned, leaning on the port-side rail precisely 55 feet from the bridge, Zach eavesdropped on the conversation the two new faces, passengers most like, had with Captain Beth. While he did so, he set about carving his trademark signature into his newly purchased throwing knives. Without looking in the trio's direction, Zach shut out all other ambient noise so that he could better hear what was being said. The sound of footfalls on the deck, of the wind rushing past, and the scraping of Talon's razor-sharp point as it cut the feather-like channels into its new sisters, were all muted as Zach's mind eliminated them from his senses, as he had been trained to do when listening out for minute sounds that could save you life if an enemy was near.

As if they didn't have enough to worry about already, it would appear that now The Mermaid was at risk from whoever was after these two! Zach allowed himself a brief moment of uplift. At least a detour to drop the new blood would fulfill Zach's wish of changing course. Still, if in the unlikely event anyone asked him for his input, Zach would advise against heading straight for the "closest port". In Zach's experience, if someone is after you the first place they'll try to cut you off is at the closest port. Better to skip straight to the third closest, just to be safe.

He had taken them both for Neobedouin at a distance, but as the one of the two who looked like a fighter left the conversation and walked by him, he realised that wasn't the case. Had she been one of his kind, their would have been a tribal marking or crest that he could recognise, as Zach had learned them all. This one wore no such identification that Zach could see. He supposed that it was always possible for her to have removed or covered it, if it existed, but why? Zach had cut away the skin that bore his own mark, the one tattoo the elders had allowed him. The bare minimum of acknowledgement that Zach belonged with the tribe. It had been a small sign, and he would always burn with jealousy when he saw his peers, most having not even done a third of what he had for the tribe, adorned from head to foot with badges of honour. Nonetheless, Zach had cherished his one token of acceptance... until the day they had taken his son from him. On that day, Zach had taken Talon to his own face, to the elegant swirl of ink that ran down past his left eye, and cut the offending mark away from his flesh. The scar that remained was his new badge of honour.

Putting the bad memories back where they belonged, deep at the back of his mind, Zach turned his attention instead to the other of the pair, who had remained on deck. He was careful to remain discreet, not staring for too long in case he attracted attention. Again, Zach saw no markings he recognised. What's more, this one had eyes to orb-like, and ears too long and pointed to be a regular human. Of course, he'd seen far more bizarre traits in many of the Misbegotten he'd met, but some intuition told him there was more to it than that. For one thing; Tribals, Neobedouin or not, stayed away from the Imperial cities that caused the deformities, and while it was far from unheard of for escaped Misbegotten to travel with Neobedouin caravans, Zach had never heard of one going full native and dressing like their new companions. Zach was far from repelled by the woman's appearance or the mystery surrounding her. In fact, Zach found an urge to get to know this one particularly well.

Now though, Zach hadn't the time. if it was true what these new arrivals were saying about their pursuers, then Zach job as lookout had just got a lot more interesting.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

+Santiago+​

Spoiler: Father Santiago

Name: Father Santiago Bautista (The Spaniard)

Age: 34

Gender: Male

Culture: Clergyman

Background: Neovictorian

Ship: HMS Invincible

Spoiler: Appearance

Father Santiago stands at a lean 6 feet 2 inches, his frame lanky but showing some muscle, with lightly tanned skin and long limbs. His face is narrow with a strong jaw, slightly pointed chin a long nose and dark, narrow eyes just beneath thick eyebrows. His hair is long and black, usually tied back into a simple tail, and he has facial hair in the form of a trim, narrow mustache and a small, pointed beard. Very occasionally, he can be seen wearing a pair of small reading glasses, though usually this is only when he happens to be studying.

He has three prominent scars on his torso: A long sweeping one across his upper chest, running from his right shoulder to just underneath his left armpit, and two that are evidence of stab wounds, on either side of his belly button.

His clothes consist of a simple short-sleeved white shirt, a worn and faded pair of black trousers as well as a matching waistcoat, a pair of somewhat dingy brown leather boots, and a fraying black overcoat. He is rarely seen without his copy of the Holy Bible, which is heavily scarred and beat up, the small, feminine silver cross that he wears at all times, or the short knife tucked away inside his right boot.

Spoiler: Personality

Santiago is at once both an open, as well as a guarded individual. While he is more than willing to discuss a mans personal problems and help them overcome their demons, usually giving friendly practical advice as well as spiritual, he is very mum about his own background, usually preferring to play it off with a smile and change of subject. This is due to both the pain of his past, and the lingering guilt of the death of his love and the murders he committed.

He is a very patient and even-tempered person, even towards those that would ridicule his lifestyle and religion, preferring to let people come to him if and when they are ready for guidance, but if he feels the need, he will go to any troubled individual that he feels he can help. When he does manage to become extremely angry, he will start to show his Iron Skull side, swearing often and becoming much more confrontational and threatening. Thankfully, he often snaps himself out of it and will apologize immediately after.

Though he dislikes conflict, by no means is Santiago a pacifist. He is fully capable of solving a problem through violence if absolutely necessary, and will defend his life as well as the lives of others with a blade if need be. Due to his compassionate nature, however, death of any kind saddens him, and he refuses to kill unless it is absolutely necessary to defend his life, or the life of another.

Spoiler: Biography

Santiago grew up in the slums of Desolation as an orphan, becoming a ward of the state after his mother, the widow of a fallen Imperial Marine, died soon after childbirth, having had just enough time to name him. Due to the abundance of orphans in that particular part of the city, he ended up staying as a ward of the state with little to no chance of being taken in by a foster family. So at a young age, he began to wander away from the orphanage at any chance he had, often picking fights with anyone he came across.

He quickly began to make a name for himself as a problem child, and earned the nickname 'Spaniard' from the other kids, despite the fact that his family hadn't set foot on Spain for more than a century. He embraced the nickname as well as his reputation, and at the age of 12, he was quickly sought out by a local gang, the Iron Skulls, in hopes he would join their ranks. It didn't take him long to think about it, joining eagerly out of a sense of arrogance and adventure.

While he started off as a simple errand runner and pickpocket, managing to just avoid getting caught by the skin of his teeth several times, he worked his way up the gangs ranks before becoming one of the top Lieutenants, alongside four of his closest friends, as well as becoming rather handy with a knife. They often caused the most trouble against the upper classes, railing against the Empire, and those that served it as oppressive lap-dogs, though Santiago occasionally disagreed.

It was shortly after his 19th birthday that he met the girl that he would come to love: Sophia Lange, the daughter of one of the Priests that held mass in the upper districts in Desolation. He met her while wandering the markets, having gotten into a particularly drawn out brawl the day before, and she took notice of his bruises as he passed by. Since she was both kind and pretty, Santiago didn't begrudge her a bit when she insisted that he be treated. As she bandaged him, they spoke, and while she had her suspicions about him, he had managed to charm her enough to get her to agree to dinner. For a few weeks they would have a get together, be it dinner, lunch, or simply spending time in the classier parts of the city, with Santiago becoming more and more infatuated with her after every meeting, though he kept his relationship with her a secret from the gang, while at the same time keeping what he did as an Iron Skull as much of a secret from her as he could.

It wasn't long before she found out, and confronted him about it. When she did, he didn't deny it, and told her everything. She was disappointed, saddened, and angry, then told him that if they were going to be together, he would have to move away from his life in the slums and become an honest, hard-working man, because she wouldn't be able to justify being in a relationship with a thug and a thief.

It was after a few moments that he agreed, and decided to cut all ties with his friends, and the 'family' he had made with his fellow Skulls. He applied for a job in one of the local clinics, knowing that they were often overworked and could afford all the help they could get. While times had gotten harder for him, he decided it was worth it so long as he was still together with Sophia. For almost a year, he was happy, despite the terror of having to meet her father, the Priest, and the looks of betrayal from his former friends whenever they rarely passed him on the street. He bought her what gifts her could, including a small, silver cross using several weeks of his saved wages, and he knew it was worth it by the look on her face.

Then Sophia had gone missing. After the first day, Santiago was only concerned, but after the second, he started to panic, going to her father in hopes that he would know what happened to her, and where she was. She was found the third day, naked, bloodied and brutalized in a filthy alley, still wearing the small silver cross he had given her. She had been raped, and murdered.

For two weeks, he mourned with her father, clutching at the cross all the while. When he finally left their house to return to the clinic where he worked, he was approached by his closest friends, the other Lieutenants of the Iron Skulls. They told him what they did to her, in detail, telling him that he shouldn't have abandoned his real friends for some Christian whore. Santiago couldn't control himself when he abruptly took one of their own knives from them, and brutally cut them all down, while earning himself a few nasty wounds of his own. As they lay dead on the street, he was rapidly bleeding out himself before one of his co-workers noticed him and dragged him inside to be treated. It didn't take long for Sophia's father to get word of his wounds before rushing over to see what had happened. When Santiago regained consciousness, a combination of guilt from both his murders, and the feeling of responsibility behind Sophia's death had him telling her father everything.

Despite the fact that he hadn't known him long, her father knew that Santiago had been in love with his daughter, and had tried to turn around. He could understand why Santiago had killed those men, and he felt responsible for him, seeing as Santiago was all he had, so he took him in in the hopes of nursing him back to health, in both body and spirit.

Due to his guilt, Santiago had little will to keep going, but it was thanks to Sophia's father that he did. It was his determination, kindness, and conviction in doing what was right that inspired him to truly turn his life around, so he had asked him to help teach him, to guide him into being a Priest, in the hopes of both redemption, and becoming a better man. The Priest was taken aback, and it took a week of insistence before he finally gave an answer. At the age of 21, he had finally recovered and was flung headfirst into study, with Sophia's father being a surprisingly hard teacher. But he learned. And he changed.

He embraced the lifestyle of a priest surprisingly well, seeing it not only as personal improvement, but also as a form of penance for his myriad of crimes, and to soothe the hard ball of guilt in his belly. It took several years before he was finally made a member of the Clergy, and his first step after that was to help Sophia's Father in his own church. It wasn't long after that that he decided to go his own way. Since churches in the Change Cage cities were becoming more and more unpopular, members of the Clergy had to go where they were needed, and he had heard rumors that there was a surprising few that would volunteer to go aboard Imperial Ships-of-the-Line to minister to Naval Officers and Marines.

After telling the Priest of his plans, he had wished him luck, before Santiago went to apply for a position on a ship. Some time later, he had been accepted, specifically aboard the HMS Kingmaker. For the next 9 years, he would spend time aboard IAN Vessels, getting to know their crews and doing what work he could to help them, either spiritually or simply with shipboard duties, before transferring to the next.

But it was aboard the HMS Dauntless that put a stop to that cycle. He had been stationed aboard it for several months, and during that time it had been attacked by pirates twice as often as any other ship he had been on. It was on the way for repairs and refitting when it was attacked once more by the pirate vessel Hell's Harbinger. In the attack, he had been captured along with several other officers while the rest of the crew were slaughtered, and the ship blown to pieces due to being too damaged to be worth salvage. Hell's Harbinger hadn't even taken much in the way of damage. After he was captured, he was promptly hogtied and tossed into the brig, likely to be left to rot unless they found a use for him.

As the saying went, God worked in mysterious ways, Father Santiago thought as he sat in the filthy brig of the Hell's Harbinger. He knew that pirates were greedy for gold and blood, but he hadn't known they would be attacked by, or attacking, another ship less than a week after felling the HMS Dauntless. Though, that poor ship had been crippled by two attacks before, so the Dauntless couldn't have put up much of a fight, spirited though it had been.

Regardless, the few crew members that were keeping watch on him and the other captives left to help their friends in either a raid, or to defend the ship. Either way, there was some hope.

He spared a glance to the two surviving officers that had been tied up along with him, and nodded once before shifting his weight to one side. The First Mate, a very charming misbegotten, had had them tied up with their hands behind their back and their feet bound as well around the ankles. Thankfully, this made what he was about to attempt a little easier. He changed his position so that he sat on his knees with his feet just below his hands, and he struggled to work up the fabric of his right trouser leg.

As soon as it was pushed up, he took hold of the small but sharp knife that he kept inside his boot at all times, slipped it out, and started to saw at the ropes binding his hands. It didn't take long for him to realize that it was easier said than done, particularly after he managed to give himself a few shallow cuts for his own trouble.

 

[Arcanist]

Jason was helping his team touch up one of the last seams in the engine with a welding stick when Roy entered the engine room. Jason acknowledged Roy's arrival with a brief nod before turning to the rest of his team. "Take five, boys. I'm gonna be busy for a bit, and we all need to be together for this last one." Relieved, the men in the room dispersed. Jason then turned to address Roy with his full attention, cocking an amused brow at his full arms. "Been busy, have we? Good. An idle engineer isn't worth the air they breathe."

He accepted the documents from the boy and leafed through them. Though he maintained his usual air of grumpy disinterest with a half-lidded frown, his eyes dashed wildly across each page in turn, taking each one in with dizzying speed. A moment later he set them down on his workbench and sat down, with a contemplative look. A few seconds later, he turn to Roy, his mood seeming to have improved a great deal. "Color me impressed, kid. Not many people can cook up such a plausible design on their first try." He offered the plans back, with a small smile. "I do have one thing to say, though - this draft adds lots of moving parts. Avoid those unless it's absolutely necessary - I don't want another maintenance nightmare on this ship."

He took a cigarette from his coat pocket and lit it, placing it in his mouth. "That'll conclude this test. I already have an idea of how I wanted to refit Sheska's arm - I just wanted to see if you could do it. Turns out, you can. So you're worth my time." Taking another look at the material in Roy's arms, he spotted some freshly machined parts - many of which would fit in with his refit plans. He smiled again - smart and driven? He was liking this one more and more. "I see you've already made some new parts. Some of those will be redundant with my plans, but most of them are still serviceable. Seeing as how Sheska's back on board, let's fit them in, eh? It won't be long before she comes askin' for it."

 

[blaze96]

Samuel had already laid out all the tools he was sure he would need and would like to have just in case things went wrong. He was preparing two syringes one with a sedative and one with a painkiller. He spoke as he took a seat near the table so that he was at a perfect angle to work with the stump from all sides easily.

"Well Sheska you have a choice to make now as a patient. I can either give you a sedative that will basically put you into a deep sleep for the duration of the surgery and then use painkillers to keep your pulse down, or I can simply use the painkiller. The question is basically if you are comfortable being largely unconscious for the duration of the surgery and probably a few hours afterward as well."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

-Sheska-​

When she stepped in, she nudged the door of his cabin closed with her foot, all while pulling her coat off with little difficulty. She hung it up, then sat down on one of the exam beds that Samuel kept in his cabin at almost all times. Really, she had no memory of them not being their while he had been in the crew.

"Well Sheska you have a choice to make now as a patient. I can either give you a sedative that will basically put you into a deep sleep for the duration of the surgery and then use painkillers to keep your pulse down, or I can simply use the painkiller. The question is basically if you are comfortable being largely unconscious for the duration of the surgery and probably a few hours afterward as well.".

Sheska blinked, then narrowed her eyes as she leaned back. "I was under the impression that you two were going to connect this thing to the nerves in my shoulder, and that I needed to be awake and without painkillers to really judge if the connections were made.", she told him before sighing.

"Look, I can appreciate you wanting to spare me more pain, but if I need to be awake and in pain for this to be done right the first time, I can take it. Just do whatever will work best, alright?", she said, smiling just slightly.

 

[blaze96]

"Fair enough, and it does work best that way but it also means I can't exactly dull the pain as much as I could otherwise have were you unconscious. I'm just in a rare position where I can actually manage the feat and so I figured I would offer."

Samuel then picked up the syringe containing the sedative and injected it back into the bottle. He then got up handed her a sleeveless one size fits all shirt.

"I'll need you to put that on while I go get Jason. Can't have any dirt or cloth getting into the area. Or else we'll be back here again with you having a nasty infection or constant pain." With that he left to go to Jason's stomping ground in the engine room. He entered and found the man.

"If you are ready with Sheska's new arm I am ready to perform the surgery."

 

[Cybele]

Roy held his breath as the head engineer went through his plans. What if he'd screwed up somehow and they'd leave him in some small unnamed port or worse? He was a gunsmith damn it, not an engineer.

"Color me impressed, kid. Not many people can cook up such a plausible design on their first try. I do have one thing to say, though - this draft adds lots of moving parts. Avoid those unless it's absolutely necessary - I don't want another maintenance nightmare on this ship."

"Right, I'll try and keep that in mind," Roy said, taking his plans back. He had figured as much but hadn't, for the life of him, been actually able to come up with a plausible design that used less gears and cylinders. Luckily it didn't matter in the end.

"I see you've already made some new parts. Some of those will be redundant with my plans, but most of them are still serviceable. Seeing as how Sheska's back on board, let's fit them in, eh? It won't be long before she comes askin' for it."

"I'll start making the rest of the parts then," Roy said, still not trusting himself to work on the actually work on the arm itself yet.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Garrett; gather a boarding team to take their ship. They won't expect us to counter-board." Adrianna said, it wasn't long before Exeter arrived. "Exeter; gather a group to repel boarders." The arduous first mate tried to argue, but Adrianna soon cut him off.

"Mr. St. John; we don't have time to discuss this. We caught the pirates too late to set up a proper defense... Garrett is more than capable of leading a party and has the respect of the crew. Now do your duty."

Exeter went silent for a moment, no doubt perturbed by what had been said. "Yes Ma'am." Was all he said before leaving to prepare the defenses. Garrett snickered, enjoying the sight of Exeter getting all worked up.

"Well, someone looks upset. Anyway Ma'am, I shall go gather the boarding party; I have a feeling this is going to be fun." Garrett remarked with a grin, before leaving the Admiral to carry on with her navigation work. As he headed towards the communication tubes, he could hear a small explosion above, looking to the skies, he could just catch a brief glimpse of one of Ciel's spider drones colliding with what looked like some kind of bomb. He then arrived at the communication tube.

"Alright, listen up men, boarding party to report to the upper deck on the double."

 

[Arcanist]

The work was hard, but Jason and Roy managed to get the arm in working order. While it lacked the posh finish most Neovictorian automata arms sported, it was a marvel of form - a near-perfect recreation of a human hand and arm in intricate clockwork. The armoring could come later - what mattered at the moment was that it functioned properly. As he finished testing it, Sam walked into the engine room, informing Jason the surgery was set to begin.

"You have an excellent sense of timing, Sam. Roy and I just finished working it up." Jason presented the arm to the ship's doctor, before slipping it into his satchel. "Let's head to your quarters and have this done." He lit another cigarette, trying to calm his nerves. This was the first time one of his inventions would be used so... intimately. On a friend, no less. "I don't relish what we're about to put Sheska through, but progress demands pain, I suppose." He turned to his new protege before he left, shooting him a tired look. "You can come if you want. I'd recommend against it if you're squeamish, though."

 

[Texas Joker 52]

[REDACTED]

I am incredibly sorry, but I am no longer involved in this rp.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Wilhelmena

They stepped onto the top deck, as orders were shouted across the communication system. She figured that she was too important to be among the boarding party, and so she decided to stay back with Exeter and those who were gathered to form a defense.

She walked up to him. "Reporting for defense duty, sir!" Wilhelmena said and saluted. DT saluted as well, when he came up behind her with his imposing form.

Beth

She spent a couple of hours talking with Natalia. Screams could faintly be heard from below deck, but the guest didn't comment on it. Beth didn't learn much more about the woman, other than her name and the cardinal direction she had come from. South of Helium City, further south than Beth had ever been, but she didn't say if she had been born down there or if she had been traveling for a longer period of time.

Natalia didn't want to talk about herself. It was made pretty clear. The few times she tried to push the topic, Natalia asked her a question about the ship, where they were going, or where they had been. Though she didn't ask Beth any personal questions either, so eventually she stopped doing it, as it may be rude.

They shared a bottle of rum, and that was good enough for her to consider someone alright. Unless they fucked her over later, but that also depended on if they did it in a figurative or literal sense. Fuck over may sound odd in that context though. Fuck.

Blues

She tried to avoid drawing too much attention to herself. There were some people that didn't look much different from her. Neo-something. She had listened to people talk about them before. They were not the same. Appearance was one thing, what lay beneath was another. However, she could blend in.

Blues had chased the escapee for a few years, before actually catching her. She had been responsible for them, so when one escaped she lost her position and her honour. The only way to get it back was through suicide or death in battle, but first she had been tasked with bringing back the woman. A task that could just as well have meant her own death. Maybe she didn't believe in the supernatural, but spending time around their kind for too long could drive someone mad. Now Hina had agreed to return with her, even sworn to do so.

She heard screams coming from a part of the ship, and headed in that direction out of curiosity. What she discovered caught her attention, and she stayed outside the door, glancing in at the scene of someone getting a prostetic arm.

It reminded her of a verse. One that was used among her people, but not in her profession. It was closer to who she was now, than who she had been before. "I realize my world of demise, and the poisonous sky that's stinging my eyes. I clench my fist. I spill my blood. I am a tool." She whispered to herself, and looked at the mark on her hand they had branded her with. She longed to return home, to a place she had not seen for so long. Hopefully it was still there when she returned.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Zach tried to zone out the screams coming from the Med Bay down below, just as he could make himself deaf to all other distractions. This time however, he was finding it more difficult. He turned away, staring out across the blue sky, drumming his fingers on the wooden handrail, grinding his teeth.

'Screw it!'

"Cover for me will you." He said to Oswin, still perched on his shoulder. "You'll know where to find me if you need anything."

The Parrot chirped happily as Zach stroked his fringe, and then took flight. Zach went down below.

He wasn't the only one to have been compelled by the noise. When he got down the the Med Bay, Zach found the terse looking foreigner who had passed him by before waiting by the door. She appeared to be reciting some kind of poem, or prayer, to herself.

"I clench my fist. I spill my blood. I am a tool."

"If you say so." Zach interjected "You look more like a person to me though."

He paused at the door, debating whether or not he should go in.

 

[Arcanist]

As they bolted on the arm, nerve by nerve, Jason tried to keep his composure as he asked Sheska to move each new appendage through her screams of pain. Arm. Forearm. Wrist, both to the left and right. Palm. Thumb. Each finger in turn. With each nerve came another scream of agony. And with each scream he winced, trying to ignore the pain he was causing. Soon, it was done, with Jason drenched in sweat and panting slightly.

"Let... let me know if you have any problems." He excused himself, shakily pulling out a cigarette and fumbling a bit as he tried to light it. It wasn't the blood and gore that disturbed him - industrial accidents abound in his profession. It wasn't even the screaming itself that caused such a reaction. It was that he was directly, intimately responsible for her suffering - that he was not only party to it, but that he was all but deliberately causing it.

He eventually managed to light one, stuffing it in his mouth and taking in a draught. He felt his nerves lower, if only by a little. More cognizant, he looked around a bit to see one of the new recruits from Helium chatting with... someone. He didn't feel much like initiating a conversation, so he kept quiet, almost hoping they'd ignore him.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Beth

She glared at Zach, as he left his post. Wasn't he supposed to be the new lookout? Who had given him permission to leave the job? Where was Sheska so she could get her to punish him?

"We have such fucking luck with these lookouts." Beth spat to the side, over the woman sitting on the floor. She didn't care if she was being rude. "The last one got shot to death, and this one skips out on his duties."

Though Jessie had never skipped out on her duties, and would have been up for promotion, if she hadn't been killed in battle by the fucking imps. She made a sharp gesture for the bottle in Natalia's hand, and drank a toast to her fallen comrade. "I suppose this is what happens when you don't do the recruiting yourself."

"Where I come from it is punishable by death to fail, especially if you have an important task to do." Natalia said, and stood up next to her.

"I am too lenient at times, but hey, if your pursuers attack at least they'll have an advantage now."

Natalia looked puzzled, as if she was about to ask the obvious question.

Blues

One of the crew felt the need to butt in, and she was startled. He was one of the Neo-something. Neobeduin. She didn't know why he had interrupted her. "A person." Blues tasted the word in her mouth. No, not a person. It was too common, too inclusive. She was a lot of things, and would gladly wear some of the labels, but not that one. It would put her on the same level as the common man, as the average grunt, like this one.

She was a hunter, until she had returned the mystic Hina, and then she could restore her old title by killing herself. "No, I am not a person."

However, she didn't expect any of these persons to understand. They were from a different part of the world, but they may as well have been from a different planet.

 

[Cybele]

"You can come if you want. I'd recommend against it if you're squeamish, though."

"I think I'd be better off starting work on the armor," Roy replied. From what he understood from the plans, the arm connected directly to the users nerve endings which sounded painful so Roy'd rather not be around when the arm got attached.

He started to cut out parts for the armor but after a few moments stopped. Damn but it seemed like a real waste to have an automata arm and then just leave it so plain. Still, adding any serious modifications to the arm without Sheska's consent sounded...unhealthy.

After considering this for a few minutes, Roy decided to add a few small modifications that would make attaching any extras like weapon easier in the future and were simple enough to hide should they not be needed.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"Really?" Zach replied "Then how come that look on your face is so familiar?"

Aside from his ever latent curiosity, Zach didn't really care what this woman's creed was. He found it slightly humorous though. You'd expect someone to reject their denomination out of shame, not out of pride. She was a fugitive skulking behind the protection of murderers and thieves. What use was pride here? Pride was for The Empire, for his tribal Elders, for hypocrites, cowards and old men, who send braver and better than the likes of them off to die for the petty gifts they offer.

"I don't know who you are, or who you think you are," he said to her "but I know what you look like. You look like someone who believes in something bigger than themselves. Personally, I've never known that to work out too well for anyone concerned. If I were you I'd focus on looking out for number one, because at the end of the day, you're all you can rely on. Just some friendly advice..."

I was at that moment Jason appeared, clearly not in any kind of mood to talk. Zach chose to let him go, not trying to engage him. He took it as an encouraging sign that Jason was taking his leave. He decided that he wouldn't take this opportunity to see how things were going. Sheska was most likely in no mood to receive visitors, and he didn't want to be getting under Samuel's feet. At least that was how he justified it to himself. He'd come back later when it was more appropriate.

Back on the top deck, Zach walked up the steps towards the stern of the ship. He inclined his head with a courteous smile towards the strange looking woman drinking with the Captain. Beth herself looked none too pleased with him.

"Relax Captain." he said wearily, taking out his telescope and scanning the skies. "If there's any ship within an hour of us, Oswin will find it. He might even find us a present if you're in the mood for a good raid."