Wayward Storms

The Captain
Name: Nymerium (Meri) Silver
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Hair Colour: Silver
Eye Colour: Mercury Blue
Short Bio: Lived aboard ships all her adult life and a little before that. Ran away from home when she was ten and never looked back. She's a street smart individual that desn't take any shit and is proud of that. Generally she is not a nice person and is not afraid to tell you that but if you gain her trust she will never abandon you.


The Deck Hand
Name: Karyan Garret
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Eye colour: light grey
Hair colour: black
Short Bio: Lived with his family until he was fifteen. His father was overbearing to Karyan and his siblings, all seven of them. His father wished for Karyan to enlist in the millitary but that was not what his son wanted and so, before the old man could do anything about it, Karyan had snuck away and joined the first ship he could fine that was willing to take him.


Plot Summary
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Newbie
Name: Rika Dodds
Apperiance:
Age: 20
Bio: Rika ran away from home at the age of 12, She felt like burden on everyone. She met up with a group that showed her how to shoot. She became good at it and wanted to do more. She just recently joined her first pirate ship. She is really clumsy, but she would help anyone out.

Loutenent
Name: kayto massauri
Age: 26
Apperiance:
Bio: kayto is rather a short tempered person, but its also a big strong point, he won't back out of a fight. The captain is the only one on board that know his past, she helped save him many years back. He would give up his life to protect her. Kayto is a good navigator as well.

Nymerium, captain of the Wyvern's tail, strode accross the deck, eyeing her crew speculatively as she passed. The last few months had been rather umproffitable, fewer merchant ships had passed their way and the shipping season would be ending soon. The storms were not far away and soon the trade routes would slow to an almost complete hault. The wind blew accross the deck causing her hair to fly into her face. With an irritated hiss she brushed it out of her face, mentally making a note to get a tye or something to keep it out of her face. She'd been letting it grow out and now it was becoming a hinderance.

Her sharp, quicksilver blue eyes flashed as she studied the crew. They were all hard at work, readying the ship for a large storm that was approaching from the north. If the calculations were correct then they should doge the main bulk of the storm and only take a light battering but she'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Garret!" she barkedstriding towards the young deck hand. He scrambled to finish what he was doing, tying a knot to seccure something on the deck, before standing to attention before her.

"Yes Ma'am?" he asked, brushing some sweat from his forehead before it had a chance to drip into his eyes. His eyes darted about nervously, jumping from his work to the captain, wondering if he'd done something wrong. He didn't think so; he'd finally managed to perfect the knot. Surely she couldn't find a fault with it.....

"[I] want you in charge of the new sailors," Meri replied briskly, deciding to get straight to the point. "We picked up a few while in the last port as you know but some of their work has been...unsatisfactory. Keep an eye on them and, while you're at it, see if you can actually teach them something about living aboard a ship. I don't have time to deal with children playing make-believe. This is a real vessel and I will not have my ship damaged because of some newcomer's sloppy work. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!" he replied snapping a quick salute before hurrying away to find the new crew members. A few had joined while they docked at the last port and they'd all been grouped together under one of the slightly more experienced crew members but still.....there were a few and the other man couldn't keep an eye on them all at once after all. He'd take one or two and work with them. That should keep the captain happy.

Meri watched the younger man hurry away and mentally smriked to herself. She took a sort of peverse pleasure out of scaring her crew. Oh most of them knew that she wouldn't hurt them, even the less experienced, but every now and then it was fun to see them run. Humming a little tune under her breath she turned and began making her way towards set of stairs that would take her below deck. She needed to speak to her second in comand and navigator before the storm hit. Everything needed to be ready before the wind hit.

Kayto was up by the wheel as he stood next to the driver. There was a table close that had a map pinned to it. "Keep on course. Don't want you running the ship into the rocks." He snapped at the driver, he was new and had to get into shape fast. He looked around as the care did their thing.

Ria was trying her best to mp part of the deck. It wasnt the best job, but she was going to make whoever proud, so she hopped. she was started seeing someone rushing Towards her group. She started scrubbing harder not watching and slammed the mop into the water bucket, spilling it everywhere. She went to get the bucket and slipped, landing on her back in the map water. Cursing to herself she looked at the man. " I'm sorry sir. I'll clean it right up" he said getting to he feet and brushed herself off, she started mopping her mess up.

Kayto say the commotion and slapped his forehead. "Come on rookie! Watch what your doing" he yelled and looked down at the map. They were headed toward an island. " you need to go around the land ahead." He said to the one steering. He spotted the captain walking towards him. " no offence mam, but when we upgrading this ship. We can't loot that from down here" he said pointing up and one of the new floating ships. "We are grounded here and its getting hard" he added. She was a close friend of his so she knew he wasn't trying to be mean.

Karyan made his way towards the new recruits, studying them as he went. They seemed alright. His mind began to wander though, drifting to the excitement he felt at knowing that, soon, they would have to stop at a port and that meant shore leave. As he was thinking about this he didn't notice the large puddle of slippery, soapy liquid on the deck and suddenly he found himself on his back, his feet slipping out from under him. He let out a startled shout, wincing as he pulled himself to his feet and stared around half wildly for the one that had caused this. His eyes landed on the newest member of the crew...what was her name again?

"You!" he pointed at her, gesturing to himself and then back to the girl. "Captain's orders, you'll be working under me from now on." He glanced to the side at the one taht was meant to be watching the new recruits. He gave an eye roll before gesturing back to the girl. "Well come on then, we don't have all cay and clearly I've got a lot to teach you. The first thing, I think, is how to properly mop. I'll give you a hint, the water isn't meant to all go in one place."

Meri saw the incident but chose to ignore it. She'd told the boy to look after the recruits and it seemed he'd made his selection. Hopefully the girl would improve and even if she didn't there would be someone keeping a closer eye on her so she wasn't likely to cause as much trouble. If left to her own devices Meri was quite sure she would cause quite a bit of trouble, not intentionally but it was bound to happen. She turned and headed towards her second, raising an eyebrow at his last statement.

"As soon as we catch a ship that has enough cargo to pay for an upgrade," she replied, coming to stand beside her second and staring at the map. She traced a known shipping lane, a thoughtful look on her face. She did a quick mental calculation, estimating that it would take them aproximately two days to reach the intercept point. "There's a rumour flying about that a merchant ship is making its way to Kyria from Devune. We haven't been having much luck recently...I think it's about time we change that, don't you?"

"I'm sorry sir" Rika looked down and picked up as much water as she could, there was a lot. She started to get the hang of doing it right, more of the floor was starting to look a bit cleaner than before. "Better, Sir?" Rika said as she was quiet pleased with her work. The breeze was nice, flowing through her short gray hair. 'Better than being on land' She thought to herself.

"Well about time, good news." Kayto said looking down at the maps. he followed the past that she was saying, they would cross them soon. "Turn towards the left! We can cut them off in a few days" he yelled to the wheel man. "Lets get this one Captain" He said with a smile. 'About time with the upgrades' He said to himself. That was the goal.

The ship lent to far in one direction for Rika, and she stumbled over and hit the ground again. "I don't have sea legs" She yell mad at herself. This was what she wanted, to get away from everything. She became a pirate, not afraid of any challenges. She grabbed her mop bucket and started mopping the floor again a bit further down the deck.

Karyan sighed to himself as he watched the rookie work. She was trying, that much was obvious, but she clearly wasn't very good at keeping her balance on a moving vessel like this one. Well she'd get used to it eventually, either that or the captain would toss her ashore at the next available port. She would either improve or be cut lose.

"Can you spare one?" he called to the overseer. The man gave a noncommital grunt which Karyan took for assent. Even if it wasn't the captain had given him orders so if the guy had a problem he could take it up with her. "Rookie," he called. "You'll be working with me for a while. Drop the mop and bucket and get over here ASAP. We've got a lot of prep to do before this storm hits and captain wants everything stowed away before we hit critical." He'd show her how to properly stow away the equipment on deck, that should be easy enough and it was one of the things he knew how to do the best.

"Good," Meri agreed, turning and looking accross the wide expanse before her. She could see the dark clouds in the distance, indicating that the approaching storm was much closer than it had been mere hours ago. "As soon as we're out of the path of this thing we're going full steam ahead towards the shipping lane and I mean full steam." The crew would be uneasy after a storm like this she was sure. Even the most experienced sailor was nervous when it came to storms the like of that dark cloud but with some careful steering Meri was confident that the ship would pull through. She had survived worse and they wouldn't be passing through the main bulk of the clouds if the wind stayed in their favour.

"Massauri," she called, turning back to her second in command. "Finish overseeing the preperations up here while I go below deck. Once you're done meet me in my quarters to discuss strategy and, after this is all over, a destination where we can put ashore for a few days. You know this area better than me after all so I'd rather not take chances with the local law enforcement if you know what I mean." Over the years they had had a few close calls when it came to the land based law enforcement agencies. Oh sure they had been clever and outwitted the landbound fools but there was always the chance that this raid would be their last. Meri was not one to take chances lightly.

Rika looked up as the man spoke. She sighed and placed the mop down. "Ah, sir" she said softly. There had to be improvement in her actions soon. She knew what would happen if she could do anything right, she would be let go at next port. Rika didn't want this dream to end so fast, she would do things better to stay on. She followed the man through a door and below deck where boxes needed to be stacked, this looked easy enough.

Not many people were actually below deck where she was now at. The wind was gone and a cooped up smell filled the air. There were hooks and nets covering the walls, where boxes were being fit behind them so they would stay. After letting the man explain, she started stacking them in the right places. "Will do sir" she said. Rika was good at packing this she knew of, so it waning much of a problem as mopping. The ship seemed to feel more sound down there as well, so she wasn't falling all over.

Kayto smirked and nodded. "We have managed worse, we can do this. The cargo ship may be a problem though.. we need to have a few men that can shoot as well. I will keep things going here" he said and nodded at her. "Ah captain" he added and turned his attention to the shipmates around him. "Keep busy, the storms going to hit soon" he added.

"Not bad," Karyan stated, inspecting the rookie's work. She was clearly doing better down here, probably because she wasn't being buffeted so badly as when she aws out in the open. Until you were used to these sorts of conditions you couldn't properly be of use to the crew. He critically inspected the stacking, making sure all was in the correct place before lifting a rope and beginning to tie down the boxes, lifting the covers for the storage ports and securing them with sailor's knots, carefully making sure to do it slowly so that the rookie could see hwat movements his hands were making.

"Pay attetion," he instructed her, finishing the sailor's knot and making sure that the rope was looped correctly around the necessary area. "When you've secured something always give the rope a firm tug. If it gives you know you've done it wrong and you need to take it appart and start again. The last thing we need is cargo crashing down on some poor sod's head." He'd seen it happen once or twice and it was never pretty. Usually the individual in question ended up with at least a few bruises or broken bones or, at worst, a serious disability or death.

Meri inspected the work of the crew as she came below deck. The hallways were crowded with sailors rushing about in an almost desperate flurry of activity. They were trained well enough not to do this ramdomly thankfully. Every sailor had a job and they were all doing them. She nodded to the sailor she'd instructed to teach the new recruits, noticing that he was showing the girl how to die a proper sailor's knot and how to store cargo. That was good. Hopefully if this next run was successful they'd have a lot ore cargo that would need stowing away.

Continuing on her way Meri reached her quarters. These consisted of an outer office and, on the other side of the room, a door that lead to her personal cabin. No one was allowed in either room without her express permission. Walking around to her desk she began to tidy away the instruments she had left around the room, putting them in specially designed cabnets around the room built for just such a purpose. There were also many books in cases with hardened glass doors which she securely shut and bolted. She loved her books nad it had taken her a long time to buidl up this collection. Meri had no intention of losing all that work by carelessly leaving a door open. There was no telling how a ship would behave when hit by heavy wind and rain. It could list, tip, even sink if they were not careful and although the goal was to avoid the worst of the beast some battering was inevitable. Finally the only thing out of storage in either of her rooms was the map pinned to her desk which was secure anyway so there was no need to move it.

Rika stood over the man, and watched as he made the knot. This looked like it was going to be hard, twisting and pulling the rope back through. She went to the end of the next rope and knelt down close so she could see what she was doing. "Over and through, finish with a pull." Rika pulled on her knot, first try and it was holding. The know pulled lose not long after, making the top small boxed fall down at her.

'Damm' She thought to herself, as she placed her hands over her head. There was an expected crash and pain, glad she protected her face. "I am sorry sir." Rika added with a wince as she stood up. Placing the boxes back in the small spots wasn't hard, making the knot again was the hard part. She got back down the the end of the rope, following the same directions making the know stay this time. Pain throbbed through her arm, but she did her best to not show it, she needed to toughen up.

Kayto looked around and pointed at one crew member. "Lower the mass, we need to go straight through the storm." He yellowed over the wind that was picking up. Turning to the table that was near the wheel, Kayto rolled the map up plasing it back into the white sleeve that it was stored in. Placing the map on his back, he made sure that his sword was still able to unsheathe, never knew what was going to come out of a storm. "Must find shooters after the storm." he said outloud more as a mental memory.

As the wind picked up the ship started to sway a little more. "Every one, Get ready for stations. We need to keep the ship afloat." He screamed so most of the crew could hear. Watching as the news was passed to the crew on the other side of the ship. "Keep it straight, I'll be back" Kayto walked past some of the men that were rushing past with ropes and buckets. Opening the main door he was headed toward the captain. Knocking on the door, "Storm hits soon, raining now" he added filling her in. He turned as saw the new crew mate from before. "Doing any better there Karyan? No more baths with the new sprout?" He asked with a laugh as he put an hand up as the ship tilted a bit to the left.

Karyan winced as he saw the box hit the girl on the arm. At least she had the good sense to cover her ead otherwise that blow could and would have knocked her out. He barely resisted the urge to rub his temples in annoyance before going over and inspecting the new knot. It was better than the other and he gave it a tug himself and found it secure.

"I am fine, thank you Lieutenant," he replied, turning to the second in comand and favouring him with an annoyed glare. Really, did the other man have to act so superior? Oh well. He supposed the other had skill otherwise the captain wouldn't have him aboard and in such a position of power. "She's working as well as can be expected from a new recruit if a bit unsteady on her feet." The storm probably wasn't helping and he winced as the boat gave a sudden violent jerk to the left, tilting slightly so that suddenly everything was at an odd angle for a moment before everything righted itself.

Oh joy...

Meri had just finished putting her books away when her second stuck his head around the door and informed her of the ship's approach to the storm. It looked like the wind was arriving early. Wind and rain were not a sailor's friend, often blinding him or her and making it difficult to see what you were doing on deck. She was glad her crew was experienced. Well...most of them.

Striding out into the corridor, intending to go back up top to the deck Meri came accross her second, one of the crewmen and one of the new recruits, one of only three other females on this boat if hse recalled correctly. It appeared that they were working on tying the supplies down. The other crewman must have taken her down here so she could adjust to the rough weather out of the rain and wind. It was always better to get the rookies acustomed to the strange, jerky movements of a boat below deck at first efore letting them up on deck during a storm. That was just asking for trouble.

"Everything going smoothly?" she enquired of the three mildly.

Rika cough her balance enough as the boat jerked to the left. When the boat flattened back out, Rika lost her footing and thats when she hit the deck thudding loudly. She held herself as she laid on the ground, getting up, she dusted herself off. "Damm I was doing good" she said Looking over and saw another guy, and not long after another lady showed up as well. "I am sorry sirs." She said with a bow.

As the ship swayed a bit more, Rika stayed on her feet. She listened as the others talked. The guy looking like he was of a high rank, just by the way he was dressed. She shifted her eyes toward the lady, she looked elegant on a ship like this. She recalled seeing her on the deck before, 'Who is she?' Her mind kept wandering.

Kayto chuckled at the rookie "I see what you mean by that." He kept his arm up on the wall, "Besides Karyan, call me Kayto. You have been on this ship long enough" He added as he looked backwards and saw Meri walk out. "Looks good out here, squirt is helping the guppy out." He let out a chuckle. "Storms brewing up, Hey Guppy, you may want to stay under the boat. Dont want to lose you." He said again with a chuckle, he turned and walked up the stairs and outside where the rain was coming down hard.