Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel

[Arreksu]

Tom floundered for a moment under the girl's stare. He'd found out his name was Lianna or Lena or something along those lines from the crewman who'd stopped him from breaking the cupboard with his face, but that bit of familiarity didn't help him muster up the courage to face her again with confidence.

Still, nothing gained, nothing dared. Or... the other way around. "REEEEP--" he tried, his voice cracking, an unusual thing for a boy that (probably) wasn't hitting puberty for at least another year, and even more so because his voice was so high anyway. He cleared his throat again as he wavered in the doorway. "Uhm, yes, I'd done some work on the engines, y'know, miss, with the oil and the wheels and cogs and such," he trailed off into an awkward laugh that didn't sound as casual as he'd hoped. "Never... never reaped the thing, though, miss, I think, uhm, I think maybe Yuri's the only with any experience reaping, but that was long ago and he's very sorry and apologised to the girl and her family, I think."

There was a horrified silence as everyone turned to the individual in question, broken only by a low, menacing growl that began emanating from Katie. Yuri, a large, swarthy crewman cleared his throat. "Uhm, uh, eet not hwat hyoo theenk. Hwas harvest taime. Mahtheer hwas seeck. Needed to get hwheat for bread. Stole a beet. Accidental knocked over leetle girl. Too small, couldn't see leetle girl over top of wheat bale."

"But not to worry, miss! Me an' Rip'll show you 'ow it's done, you'll be right as rain in no time!" Tom puffed out his chest. He'd done pretty good, he thought. Then he realised he'd just assumed he was competent enough to teach someone. That wasn't shivulrus, and girls wanted shivulrus boys wearing shiny trash cans, according to the stories. He considered going to get a trashcan, for a moment, but then remembered the last time he'd fallen into the trash cans and nearly gotten thrown overboard. Tom was beginning to suspect the stories weren't all true.

"Uhm, so, shall we go? Miss Katie'll get angry if we don't do our job."

[Graybeard]

Rip nodded approvingly as the two youngsters talked. "You'll do just fine without me," he reassured them. "The engines are in pretty good shape anyway, after some repairs I made earlier." He didn't think it necessary to go into details about the monkey wrench that the Queen A's saboteurs had tossed into the gears; it was all fixed now. (Wasn't it?) "Just work with Yuri and keep an eye on things. I'm going to go check the weaponry, make sure it's all in working order; sounds like we might need it shortly."

He'd made it about half way to the forward gun positions when a loud voice came over the horn from the bridge. "Attention all hands! Prepare to come about!" Well, nice of Wrackham to give us some warning, he thought; it didn't always work that way, and sharp turns (by airship standards) could make unsecured things -- and people -- go flying. It sounded like the skipper was setting up an intercept course. Fun times could be in the offing. He was whistling to himself as he continued on toward the guns ...

... Unaware that as the ship started to turn, the sticky magic's adhesive grip on the loose bolt was becoming more -- tenuous.

[Sareth]

As the airship began its turn, Katie gave the crew a meaningful look. The crew, knowing that look, scattered off to the various parts of the ship to ready for the attack. Satisfied, Katie hurried to the bridge.

The ship made a powerful (for an airship) turn, arcing about lazily through the air. The experienced crewmen leaned into the turn, readying ropes and grappling hooks. The inexperienced crewmen ended up falling into the ropes and hooks, ending up looking like a horrid case of shibari gone terribly, awfully comedic. Rip managed to avoid the worst of this and so made it to the guns and the crews readying them just as the ship began straightening back out. And to the rear of the cabin, Tom and Leana managed to make it to the engines with only a few minor mishaps of the sort that would legally require marriage in several regions on the Southern Continent.

On the bridge, Katie slid up next to Captain Rakham. "Ready, sir?"

"Oh! Katie! How splendid. Do take over, won't you? I think I left the kettle on." Without waiting for any acknowledgment, Captain Wrackham wandered off the bridge, muttering about cheese and flower arrangements made with shoe leather.

Katie gave a sigh. She took a quick look at the chart, and the compass. "Ready as we're ever going to be," she muttered. She leaned over to a speaking tube. "Engine room! Give me everything you have!"

[liefone]

''Is lightning compatible with this things energy source, or would it cause damage to this thing?''

[Sareth]

Up on the bridge, Katie looked surprised. "Well... I... honestly have no idea. Just... do whatever you have to do to give us everything you got."

[Graybeard]

''Is lightning compatible with this things energy source, or would it cause damage to this thing?''

Afterward, Rip would give thanks for the fact that sound carried well through the voice tubes, although at the moment, it seemed like a mixed blessing.

Rip looked at Thurston.

Thurston looked at Rip.

"DUCK!!" they chorused, and obeyed each others' commands ... momentarily forgetting that the field piece they were sheltering under was the single largest piece of metal on board, apart from the engines.

Fortunately, what happened next was almost confined to the engine room, so it really didn't matter.

[liefone]

''Dammit, why does no one know how lightning reacts to anything, lightning should not be that uncommon with all the bloody mages in this world!'' Leana exclaims agitated.

''Seriously.''

''Rip, you know magic, how common are lightning mages, or at least anyone who puts some time in to learning lightning magic?'' She shouts.

[Graybeard]

OOC:

''Rip, you know magic, how common are lightning mages, or at least anyone who puts some time in to learning lightning magic?'' She says pointing at Rip.

Um, minor continuity issue here. I believe Leana and Tom are in the engine room, right? While Rip has gone forward to check out the artillery before the big fight. So they're about half an airship apart (which is why he reacted so strongly to what he heard over the tube). Can we clarify, please?

[liefone]

OOC: oops, sorry, fixed it.

[Sareth]

[OOC]So is Leana about to apply a little current to the engines? Muwahahahahaha![/OOC]