Elani felt the world fade away, starting with the wooden floor she was lying against. In that brief moment of dreamy clarity, she felt her entire body begin to float. Her mousy brown hair rose up and around her head, her heart moved slightly against the foamy membranes of her lungs. That little zen moment was smashed, quite literally, when she landed on the floor again with a sharp smack, rousing her attention. She scrabbled at the planks for a second, and pulled herself to her feet. Around her, several people stood, sat, or lay on the ground in various states of conscious. The girl she'd met on the dock (Aniseed? Anita? Something vaguely flemish like that.) was rocking back and forth, being comforted by the Caxeri swordswoman. Little miss sniper was pointing her weapon upward, where a cursory glance demonstrated that even with her miraculous blunderbuss, she'd be out of range of her aggressors. The dwarf seemed to have slunk off, possibly to the plane of existence servants and slaves came from. Firehead seemed to be gone, too. Some youth seemed to be locked in an argument with the captain and his well-aged assistant, but apart from that, nobody was dying, or shrieking in pain, or even complaining They'd survived, somehow. A grin spread across Elani's face, and she slumped against a cabin wall. She looked around for something, but the scalpel had landed blade-first into the deck and embedded itself, and for some reason that simple image was the funnyest thing she'd ever seen in her life. A small part of her, the part that watched and criticised and hated the rest of her, told her that she was going mad in that one little second, but it was overrun with waves of pink sticky post-adrenaline haze, and right now they were calling all the shots right now.

If anyone cared to look her way, they'd see a young, adult elf, shoulders shaking, face in a grinning rictus, making small notches in the floor with some kind of tiny knife, and completely lost to the world.

Anisa desperately tried to get her thoughts into one piece, and bit her lip, nodding at Ren's offer to teach her to fight. In a slightly combative moment, she pulled away from Ren,"I'm not a child, thank you very much." She mumbled, sniffling, and the snapped her head back down. She thought she had seen something off with Ren, and slowly looked back up, to notice that part of her ear was missing."I can help you with your ear." She offered quietly, embarassed about her previous outburst,"It's not a nice wound, but I can at least help prow t it from infection."

Just then, the ship began to fall and she squealed a bit- so this was how it ended for her? As it caught itself she was relieved and let out a sigh- only to look near her and see a man. He hadn't been there before, had he? Things were getting curiouser and curiouser, and it didn't calm her any, but she had realized that she had made a fool of herself and she needed to keep composure. She gave herself points for offering to help Ren with her ear- at least she was slightly good for something, if not much. She looked over to see Elani carving into the ship with a knife- maybe she wasn't the only one already breaking down over everything.

Simnia grasped Aria's hand, gave a heave, and soon found herself safe and thankful on the deck of the ship. She continued to grip Aria for a moment afterward to be sure that she was indeed in no danger of toppling off again, what with the sway and dip the vessel was making. "Thank you," she responded, patting Aria on the arm, "I never woulda made it."

But what, exactly, had she just gotten herself into? She found a foothold and pushed herself up enough to look over the edge again, where the bold and witless captain was limping toward the ship with a rabble of bandits close on his heels. Simnia clambered a little higher and leaned over the rail; the captain leaped and slammed against the rail beside her, and she grasped a handful of his jacket while he swung one leg and then the other to safety. Simnia heaved a sigh of relief, and she pulled herself up to the rail again to look over: the bandits were still swarming, and the ship was still tethered by one obstinate cord to the dock.

She was shocked out of her thoughts by a gunshot beside her. The dwarf nearly tripped over the captain in her surprise, and saw that the culprit was a pretty young blonde with a rifle on her shoulder, aimed at the violent thugs on the dock. So she was the source of those bullets from before!

There was a cry from above, Simnia looked up, and was horrifed to see that a homeless-looking elf had ripped a hole in the balloon! The ship was sinking, the dock rose up beyond the rail of the deck, the city cast a shadow over their doomed vessel, and suddenly Simnia realized she might've had a better chance with those bandits than with these insane, incompetent, inconceivably irrational --

A falling body rolled onto the deck and Simnia squeaked and stumbled back while the deck rolled and tipped and threw her on her face; she grabbed a rigging for balance, and she was sure the bandits were trying to board now -- though why they would deign to board a sinking ship was anyone's guess! They were all crazy! Meanwhile, the one cord still attached to the dock was ripping wood out of the deck with a great cracking and splintering, the captain was roaring about insanity, the falling man was blathering, the blonde was still taking pot-shots, and that beardy elf who'd condemned them all to death was sauntering about as if nothing were wrong at all!

At least the captain had the presence of mind to cut them loose from the dock, and the ship lurched and swung and tipped and -- somehow straightened out and stopped falling.

By this time, Simnia's hair was frizzed in all directions and she looked more like a crazed lunatic than any of the actual crazed lunatics onboard. The deck leveled serenely, and she clambered up the rail and leaned over to look up at that hole that should be the end of them all, only to find that it had been patched with remarkable, imppossible speed. She was, apparently, losing her mind.

But the ship still wasn't moving forward.

"Dariq!" Simnia called automatically, remembering the name the captain had mentioned. "I'm looking for Dariq!" She caught the eye of the raggedy elf, and her own eyes widened in horror. Was this Dariq? The one that had decided it was a good idea to rip a hole in the ship? This was the oddball in charge of making sure they all didn't end up crumpled in the bottom of a ravine? Granted, he had somehow kept control over the situation, but the thought was still nauseating.

"I'm a mechanic!" she called firmly to Dariq, who was impossibly taller than she was and much better armed -- but Simnia could roar like a lion. "I'll help you get us moving!" Granted, she'd never set eyes on an airship engine before, but it couldn't be much different or more complicated than a train engine, right?

Giving a huff, Maithien holstered his pistol. "You have the right ship lad, though I request that you do your best not to maim yourself on any future occasions." Readjusting his jacket and straightening out his shirt, Maithien continued. "Until we make it to the nearest town or port you're part of the crew I suppose. When we make it me and Dariq will decide what what to do with you.." At this Maithien limped to one of the small boxes strewn about the ship, first making sure it was not another box of cursed apricots, and then sitting down so he didn't have to stand any longer.

The rest of his crew were in various different states. The short little lady had been burting with tears, only just now starting to calm down. The Caxerion wasn't that far from crying herself either it seemed.. That dwarven woman was yelling at Dariq, telling him that she could pilot the ship. She really wants that job doesn't she? Meanwhile Elani was- 'Is she stabbing my ship!?' He thought shocked, and slightly offended. As if Dariq stabbing one of the balloons wasn't bad enough, now people were carving on it for stress relief! At the end of this trip Maithien imagined The Compass wasn't going to be anything more than a bag of splinters and a frayed banner.

"Right! You, dwarf lady!" He yelled, snapping his finger and then pointing towards her just in case his yelling didn't keep her attention. "Go ahead and head down to the engines, see what you can figure out. Don't have much to lose." Maithien then faced the rest of his small crew. "For those of you that are injured head below deck.. We have some medical supplies packed in some of the crates for you to use, we just haven't gotten around to opening them."

"And Mister Dariq, I feel you would agree that we need to talk."

The lancet finally came away from the deck with a ghastly shclick. She felt the edge with one finger. Not blunted, but it might need a couple of passes with the redstone later. The wood... Eh, it'd last. Worse things happened at sea. Did someone say "Medical supplies?"

Elani glanced up, eyes shifting into focus and alighting back on her captain. Yes, he he had said medical supplies. Wasn't that her job, in some respects? Or at least what she'd signed on that piece of paper she'd left on the docks three hundred metres above their heads? Yeah, it had been. Elani placed a hand on the splintery woods, and lifted herself upright with care. Standing on an airship was tough, as her ears kept insisting down was a completely different direction to where her legs were pointing at. The disparity made her feel dizzy, and she tightened her grip on her own fingers and balled them into little fists, as she took a few tentative steps. Medical supplies. She should probably go get them by now. She could do a big show of handing them out, lie and tell people she'd been a nurse in her previous life. Would that work? Or would she collapse in a gibbering pile of tears the moment anyone showed her blood? Only one way to find out, she guessed...

Rena suddenly gathered herself. Her eyes dried and her face steeled itself in a soft smile. Ladies did not cry. Ladies did not complain or push their burdens onto others. And she was raised as a lady! A sword fighting one… but still. She pulled her hand back from Anisa, the girl obviously didn’t want to be treated like a child. Rena’s soft expression vanished before she stared at the girl for a moment. “You heard the Capitan… Medic supplies is down below. I’m going to get it ready for whoever needs it. Come if you want, or stay in this mess.”

Rena looked around her for a moment, frowning to herself. Everyone was running around with their heads cut off, and she would have no part in it. Standing, she grabbed a pair of white gloves from her pocket and slipped them on. Without checking to see if Anisa followed, she turned on her heels and marched towards where the Capitan had said. Her sword swung from her hip, still red with blood.

Rucks smile faded as the captains decision dawned in him, sure he could stay in this ship for now but the next port? He could be tossed aside! Like a mackerel smaller than the rest of the catch! Or a catfish which the fisherman couldn't be bothered preparing! The thought put Rucks on edge, he had to prove himself loyal to the mission. But hadn't he done that already? He very much doubted any of these people had throw themselves off a dock to near certain doom for this mission.

He needed something with a bit more pizazz. But that could wait for later, he pushed against the barrel supporting his weight and knocked it over stumbling to the deck, he wheezed due to the stress on his newly broken ribs Andries to push himself back up to little avail. What to do? Wait until someone helped him? Wait until he got kicked off the ship? No, he couldn't show weakness if he wanted to get to that treasure. Of course standing was too difficult, the stumble had made sure of that so instead Rucks hatched an ingenious plan! By that of course I mean he crawled to the stair leading down to the deck, every once in a while clutching at his chest.

The stairs were certainly the trickiest part. It's not really something he did often enough to have practice, so Rucks ended up hauling himself down half clinging to the banister. No wonder by the down he'd gotten to the bottom he was slumped against a wall panting heavily.

((sorry about this, internet hates me and made me double post))

Anisa followed Rena- she had had some experience with helping medically, but not much. She thought about how- oh no, she wasn't going to allow her mind to go there. She refrained from thinking, because she would turn into a mess again. She reminded herself that this was supposed to be a fresh start- and that she was going to be alright, the past had to be put behind her so she could face a brave new future.

When they reached the medical supplies, Anisa ran out in front of Rena, and picked up some gauze, tape, cotton balls, and antiseptic. She then turned and looked at Rena, her eyes wide."Trust me, I am not a fool- I know how to do this." She then pointed at the burn scars on her arms, and bit her lip,"I..uh.. I guess thats how I learned, even though if I would've figured it out quicker, they wouldn't be so ugly.." She looked down.

What? What? Had she heard correctly? Go down to the engines and see what she could figure out without Dariq? "Uh -- ah, uhm ..." She lifted a finger, her mouth open to speak, but she wasn't sure what to say. Maybe I was a bit too hasty. She couldn't figure out a ship on her own. Could she? Suddenly she was very, very sorry for thinking ill of Dariq. He was probably a genius to have known the ship would be fine following his precise cut of the balloon. Simnia was about to make a fool of herself.

"Yes ... sir," she responded, and though there was determination in her eyes, her voice was halfhearted and frightened of failure. She saluted -- did sailors salute? -- and she bustled off across the deck to the stairwell.

That daredevil black-haired boy was hobbling down the dim stairs ahead of her, swaying and hunched and bruised after his soaring fall from the dock. Any moment now he'd slip and break the rest of his bones. "Don't move another inch, Blackbird," she called, thumping her way down the stairs after him. He was a good deal taller than she was, but in that case it was all right. "Lean on me, then, come on. You took a leap of faith back there."

Up ahead, a bit farther down the stairs, she spotted a familiar face. "Elani, dear," she called, for the moment ignoring her grudge while someone needed help. "How are you with broken bones? Did you say you're a nurse?"

She needed to get to the engines -- but the broken Blackbird was a new priority.

Aria groaned, picking herself up from the deck. She remembered helping Simnia up, and then the ship had jolted and she fell... Wait, was the captain on board?! She quickly looked around, leaning against the wall, and was relieved when she spotted him. Her relief was interrupted when something, someone? Whatever it was, fell from the sky and onto the deck. She was surprised, but determined that it was a human, and he didn't look like a thug.

She watched the others gather themselves, still leaning against the railing. They had stopped falling, at least for now. Her usual grin returned, and she turned around to look out across the sky. It was beautiful. She had never been on a flying ship before, and a giddy feeling rose up from her stomach, turning her smile into an earsplitting grin. Her hand reached out, feeling the air blow around her.

She turned as others left, some going for medical help, while others remained on deck and Simnia and flying boy went below deck. She looked herself up and down. She only had a few scrapes and cuts, and Rena seemed to need more help, so she avoided medical help, instead opting to follow Simnia and see how this contraption flew. After a fews steps down, Simnia was in sight, along with the boy who had decided to jump off the dock. Aria went on the other side of the boy, helping him down the stairs.

"'Ello Simnia. I see we've made a new friend. Do you have a name, or should I just call crazy?" She ginned at him, using her free hand to wipe a bleeding cut on her cheek.

"A name? Of course I have a name! Who doesn't?" Rucks exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm for the situation at hand, he turned his read to the one who asked him the question, her eyes were blue, much like the sky they were sailing through right now. His mind wandered back to his thought on the dock and he played with the idea of whether her eyes were more like the ocean of sky or sea in terms of buoyancy. He quickly dismissed it, if did happen to be trapped in her eyes he assumed his floating would be the least of his worries. His mind snapped back to the conversation, and he'd been silent for a few seconds now. It wasn't so long that it had brought up an uncomfortable silence but long enough to provoke some form of thought that he had phased out. He chose his next word carefully before speaking, "Either way people call me Rucks, I assume you have a name? Or were your parents really that spiteful?"

His attention then turned to the other person helping him down the stairs, she was incredibly short in stature. In fact, the other girl was shorter the Rucks also. This was probably the source of the discomfort in his back right now being at shoulder height with the two people cause him to be at a far lower position than hew as used to. Glancing again at the shorter of the two helpers - Ruck believed that she had been called Simnia by the one who wasn't quite so short - had nothing particularly interesting about her appearance. Nothing though provoking at the very least. The only comment Rucks could possibly make was about her sandy blonde hair and even then the most intellectual hing he cold say would be that it was "nice".

Katewyn had not stayed to see Rucks fall. After packaging up her rifle again, she headed down the stairs to once again scout the cabins. They were ugly things, very sparse of decoration, yet they would do. She had lived in worse places, where only a fire brought comfort.

Promptly selecting the largest cabin ( She had thrown her satchel hastily inside. Did that count as marking it? ) she continued to explore the rooms. Each was furnished with a dresser and a bed, nothing more. The fleeting thought of "Where are the latrines?" flashed in her mind, but she quickly forgot it as she noticed a curious sight near the end of the hall - It was a sloth.

She had no idea of what the creature was, despite her knowledge. Sloths are certainly not something you hunt. It was hanging on to a rafter below, and as she passed under it, it latched on to her shoulder. A very interesting creature - Perhaps they made good eating? It seemed to be docile, though incredibly sleepy. With the sloth now hanging on her shoulder, she turned around and began to walk back towards the upper-deck.

(( Sorry for inactivity. sloths r good luck, right? ))

Aria clocked an eyebrow at Rucks , chuckling with a smile on her face. He seemed dazed, and didn't finish responding for a minute, causing her to tilt her head curiously.

"Either way people call me Rucks, I assume you have a name? Or were your parents really that spiteful?"

Aria pondered over what he had said. Do some people really have parents so terrible they didn't name their own children? She herself wasn't even supposed to have a name. Her name was her mother's, the only reminder she had of her. She shuddered slightly, wondering what kind of cruel name she would have been given if her father wasn't there, if it was one of the so called 'masters' who had given her a name. Would she have had to live believing that she was to be called pet for the rest of her life?

She shook the thoughts out, focussing back on the boy in front of her. He was sharply dress, and rather handsome for someone around these parts. Aria chuckled again. He had a good sense of humor, she could give him that.

"My name's Aria. That's what my pa told me." She continued down the stairs, being careful as so not to harm the boy any further than he already was. "May I ask, why you felt that jumping off the docks was a good idea? Or did you just think you were a bird, lost in flight?" She shifted, trying to make it so she wasn't pressed against her sword hilt. A blunt object jutting in her hip was not what she needed.

"Oh, Simnia, why are we headed down here?" She turned her gaze back down to the short woman, grinning. She knew nothing about these two, and she already liked them. This was going to be an interesting journey.

She stopped momentarily to nod slightly to the group on the stairs. She couldn't determine if they were looking for privacy in a cabin, or doing the captains bidding. Perhaps both her guesses were wrong. As she stepped by the already cramped stairwell, her foot landed solidly on Aria's. It was too late to apologize, for the dear sloth had started to stir from her shoulder. Now she was on deck, looking around. An interesting crew, to say the least. The redhead, was her name Aria - She had not caught it in the brief words exchanged- was decent enough at the blade. Katewyn hoped they would not have to be in combat again. A hunt? Splendid. It wouldn't do if that shivering girl melted down more. Perhaps she could be set adrift near a port? That would suit Katewyn much better.

"Captain, I have found a sloth in the cabins, and he is mine now." She stated, addressing the man above her on the quarterdeck. "Now, do you mind explaining who that lot was? They seemed to be after you."

Dariq walked to the edge of the ship and looked over, they were still a fair distance up, in fact they weren't that far below the dock. Giving a chuckle as he strolled purposefully to Garrett. "Aye sir, here or in yoor' quarters?" asked as he steadied himself for the engines to cut in and the ship to begin off on its journey. Dariq knew that who ever that dwarf was she probably would a better job then him, after all he had just got some pointers from someone who claimed to know what they were doing and then guessed the rest, luckily he had been right so far. "Lets get outta here an' den we can woory aboot the future, eh?" he said as gazed over into the hole in the balloon.

Rena stared at the medical supplies for a moment. It was good that Aniso spoke up, because Ren knew next to nothing regarding health and safety. In this state she probably would have ended up freaking out or fainting. Rena didn’t mind it when someone else was bleeding, but when half her own bleeping ear was off, she tended to freak out a bit. Collecting herself a bit, Rena turned towards the girl. A smooth smile spread across her face and she nodded.

“Yea I could really use the help actually.” Rena sat down on the nearest crate and tilted her head towards the girl. Looking at her arms for a moment, Rena didn’t say anything. She figured that if the Anisa wanted to share her past, she would do so on her own.

Simnia had just been struggling her way down another step when Aria appeared and offered another shoulder to help with the boy's weight. "Strawberry," the dwarf piped, "thanks for the hand. This one's more than a little off kilter, and it doesn't help that the ship's unstable. C'mon, Blackbird, down another, there ya go. We're headed down to the --" she paused, and couldn't think of a word because none had been offered. "Well, the captain said something about medical supplies down below, so it looks like we're on our own to hunt for 'em. I'll drop off this birdie and head on to the engines." She gave a keen look to Aria. "You wouldn't be interested in helping me get this ship moving, would you?"

As they rounded a corner toward a light and voices, she noticed that Anisa was there, tending to the furry one's ear. She paused in the doorway, and though she smiled and waved at Anisa in greeting, she didn't move any closer to where Ren was sitting. Already, Simnia could feel a tickle in her nose.

"Now let's just sit you down over here..." she told Rucks, sidling over to a bench that was as far away from Rena as possible. "I can't say I know much about broken bones, though, and I'm sorry for that." She scratched her head. "Anisa! Do you know what to do for broken ribs? There's setting and splinting, isn't there?" She'd be willing to try her hand at it -- but she was quite sure that Rucks would not at all enjoy the experience. "I may have to leave you in some more capable hands," she admitted to Rucks. "If the ship doesn't get moving there may be more injured. Anisa or Elani or ..." she waved a hand in a confused gesture at Rena, "someone should know what to do. Don't worry. You'll be fine."

She patted Rucks' hand encouragingly, and she bustled off to the door again. "Anyone who knows a little about machines might as well come with me; I'm not sure how well I can get us moving, but we're gonna move one way or another!"

Anisa began to quietly tend to Rena's ear. She figured it would scar badly, and probably wouldn't grow back, but Rena would survive. Blood didn't scare her, and that was a good thing as she gently cleansed the wound and then wrapped it up with much care.

Just as she was finishing, she saw Simina wave at her, and smiled and waved back. Just as she finished, she heard Simina ask if she knew anything about broken ribs, of which she didn't. She scurried over to them,"I- uh- I.." She stammered looking at the man,"I'm afraid I don't, really. But I'd be willing to try and help, if you'd let me."

A sloth? What on earth was a sloth doing on board his ship? Had Dariq bought the thing while he was drunk? Wouldn't be the first time the elf had done something as odd as this. 'Though I can't say the idea of buying one doesn't intrigue even me, sober as I am, I suppose.' Or maybe the odd little thing had wondered off from another one of the few ships that had managed to dock before they departed. Though Maithien doubted that something as slow as a sloth was capable of making it from one ship to his. Whatever the case Maithien really didn't see the point in arguing over Katewyn's choice in pets, especially after seeing how quick she is to fire her gun.

"That lot eh? Well they have been pestering Dariq and I about the details of this expedition for the last few weeks. At first they just asked about what the treasure was, what the history was with it, that stuff." Maithien grimaced "Then they got a bit more aggressive with their questioning. I made it clear that they weren't aloud on our trip, and never heard from 'em again. Well until today that is.." At this he grinned, and began to laugh lightly beneath his breath. "Sounds like the books you would read when you were a child right? Cooped up and felt the need for freedom."

Maithien stood up, groaning as his ankle screamed for rest. "One problem, I fear you just killed one of the Antagonists. I could be wrong, we probably will never see these men again. I just, kind of have a bad feeling. Just promise to be careful on this journey, I may not like the way you handle yourself with a gun, but I don't want anymore blood lost. Even if none of it has been ours so far. " He finished sternly.

Maithien didn't wait to hear Katewyn respond, honestly he didn't expect her to take kindly to what he said but he felt he had to say it. He began limping towards the stairs, doing his best not to cause himself pain. "Meet me in my quarters Dariq!" He called back. Maithien really didn't feel like standing around or sitting on crates anymore. He was tired and just wanted to get out of the sun and sit in his nice captain's chair he had gotten himself for this trip. 'I can't wait until we just get to Braelv.' Now at the stairs he began his descent.

Once at the bottom of the stairs Maithien was happy to find that the crew was starting to work together.. Sort of.. Maybe we won't all die after al-' Maithien's cheery mood was butchered when he accidentally hit his bad foot on a small box in the ship. For the second time today he began cursing in ways he normally felt he shouldn't.