Welcome to Gaia! ::

Evelyn smiled approvingly. The girl was a quick study.

"Just secure the line in the cleat--that toothy looking thing," she advised. "Good job. You can relax for a few minutes."

"See? Sailing is easy. We'll hold this course for another 10 minutes amd then we'll tack--that means turn into the wind. We will tack back and forth until lunch time when we should be out of sight of land, and then we'll jibe--or turn down wind. At that point we can hoist the spinnaker and really pick up speed. We'll stop for the night at a reef I know and make our first delivery tomorrow." Evelyn outlined the day. "This job is a quiet one, for the most part. I'll teach you all the sailing terms. Your job is to basically follow orders. Trimming the sails--adjusting them so they catch the most wind--and keeping the ship clean will be the majority of your responsiblities. You'll have pleanty of free time in between tacks and jibes and sinks of dishes. I probably should have asked you this on shore, but do you have any hobbies? Anything to pass the time? Because things will get pretty boring unless we run into an unseasonal storm or a sea monster."

Evelyn watched the girl. "Interesting...hobby...Just don't let them get close to the sails," she cautioned. "Or the lines. I don't fancy re-rigging the ship in open water."

Evi started to think more about this girl. She knew her Japanese mythology pretty well--she had sailed those waters before--so she had a small idea of what Seinaru was. Part of her wondered if it was wise to keep a powerful mythical creature on board; her customers already wondered about her sanity, but this might tip the scale out of her favor. On the other hand, the open sea was probably the best place for her; no one to hurt, nothing to destroy, and miles and miles of peace and quiet with no distractions.

"We're going to jibe now--so watch the boom. It's going to swing across rather quickly and I don't want any head injuries," Evi instructed. "You man the jib sheets. Ready? Jibe ho!"

Evi spun the wheel and the ship turned almosr 270 degrees until they were heading down wind. The boom swung across the deck and the jib waved wildly until Seinaru trimmed the sheets.

"Well done!" Evelyn called. "Now hoist the spinnaker--it's in the blue canvas bag!"

Soon the large, colorful sail was hauled to the top of the mast. The wind caught it and the boat surged forward with new speed.

"Wonderful," Evi affirmed. She held the wheel steady as the boat skipped across the waves and the wind blew her short brown hair in a million directions. This was the life! Free from everything and everyone. "You ready for lunch? If you want to take the wheel, I can whip together something tasty."

Evelyn laughed--she was more like a monkey than a kitsune.

"You do like to snuggle, don't you?" she observed. "Alright, let me get lunch on. I'll bring it up to you. Does a hot grilled sandwich sound good? I found the recipe in Italy."

Evi ducked out of the girl's embrace and went below decks. She put together two panini sandwiches, grilled with sliced meat, savory cheese, fresh tomatoes and spinach inside. She brought up the two steaming sandwiches on plates with mugs of hot cocoa.

"Here we are. Dig in, love," she said, presenting her with a plate and mug.

((No worries--that's scary stuff! Hope she's going to be alright!))

"You've been snooping?" Evi said seriously. Questions, questions, always the questions...but she was a fox, and she couldn't actually talk, and if Evi could be certain the girl wouldn't betray her even with idle gossip...we,, the, it couldn't be too bad. "Well, yes. We're delivering a lot of things stashed around the ship. Just don't open anything. I have a don't-ask-don't-tell policy about what we transport, so long as it's legal."