Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wincing against the winds, Rhiannon glanced through barely open eyes around the deck. She nearly turned to go right back down the stairs, but when she caught Nerissa's voice she changed her mind. Looking back up as best she could, Rhiannon took hold of her friends outstretched hand and hoisted herself up the rest of the way.

"Call me a lunatic, Nerissa, but I couldn't stand being locked up down there. I had to come see what we're in for with this storm." She stood upright, clinging to Nerissa's arm to steady herself against the winds, and finally got a good look at the approaching clouds. Actually, they were nearly ontop of them already, the ferocious gale bringing it quickly nearer.

"Damn these Elven waters. Why do they always bring such trouble?" Rhiannon spoke vaguely, still staring out at the storm. Just then, a deckhand approached the ladder. He was deep in thought, but when Rhiannon moved over so he could get down, he looked up at her. With the light of recognition in his eyes, he gave a muttering bow and stopped. "Milady Rhiannon, the Captain Zeiser has asked of me to summon your ladyship if I were to see you. An' well, I sees you now, and the Captain would dear like to have you see him. He was by the helm when I left him." He gave another hasty bow and retreated below deck, off to find Rosette and Chrono as well.

Rhiannon nodded to him and watched him go, then she brought her squinting gaze back to Nerissa. The Captain could wait a moment or two. "I've never seen such a great tempest, Iss... yet you don't look the least bit fearful. Even the most weathered sailors have anxiety in their eyes, but not you." She gave a worried smile.
"I've heard about the serpents of the deep that come to the surface, attracted to the rain and the waves. Some say they love to dance in the storms, weaving amidst the waves. Could you imagine such a thing, Iss?" There was a strange wonder in her voice, and an uncommon tremble even as she spoke louder to be heard. Truthfully, Rhiannon thought it would be a magnificent sight, but also terrible. She shivered beneath her heavy coat.

((At the helm, actually, which is located upon the quarter deck. Not the captain's quarters. Just want to dispel any confusion there may be.))

((No problem. Glad I could help.))

"I know what you mean." Tanyeera said feelingly. "I love the wind and I love riding it... but not even the most reckless of us would consider surfing on the winds of such a ship-killer. Our clan knows its limits... we are creatures of earth and fire and wind, but primarily of fire. When the other elements rage, we know better than to cross them, only in fire are we truly safe. I believe we have distant cousins who are creatures of wind and water, but they are few and far between and it is not always guaranteed we can find them to intercede for us in such a storm."

Luft listens with her feathered ear tufts perked to inwardly listen to the dragoness.
"Wind and waterrr drragonssss? That would be verrry new to me, even the herrtasssi."
A sudden sharp, jolting wave causes the female gryphon rolling to the far side of her stall only to slam into the wall thanks to the short distance, the slam itself causes Luft to screech slightly. The gray predator ruffles up her feathers in annoyance and flips onto her belly. Her right wing has a dull throbbing sensation in the joint but she dismisses this and moodily runs her beak through her plumage, vainly fixing a few bent feathers. A dull blush on her nares, [the skin connecting her beak to her face that also holds her nostrils], is seen as she feels embarrassed.
"Going ssssso long with little rrred meat hasss made me too light..."
The thunder blares softly outside and it is still hard to tell if it is raining. Luft tilts her beaked head and spies two nosing rats in the corner nearest, no doubt wanting some of the straw on the stall floor. She chirps and lurches her head forward, snapping one of the rats and launching a talon to trap the other. The gryphon swiftly clamps her beak down to further injure the trapped rat, tilting her head back and swallowing it whole. With her talon she clasps the squirming rat to hold it over the wall separating her stall from Tanyeera's.
"Want ssssome? At the next town, I will convince Gessssten to get cowsss for usssss."

The sails have been secured. With a flicker of his strong tail, Gesten mills for a bit to survey the decks. Everything had been secured and a few deckhands behind him focus on keeping the shipment crates together. The hertasi gives a soft hiss of satisfaction, the ship would hold out just fine during the journey's first storm. He walks slowly to stand near one of the main masts, kneeling to inspect a smaller bunch of crates, testing the taut rope and shrewdly glancing over the thin wood. Surrounding the ship the angry sea tosses the crew on one side. An odd, swift-paced shuffling noise can be heard over the din. Someone cries out to him and the hertasi looks over with a questioning growl. A towering crate hurls straight at Gesten, crashing into his side and pressing him against the crate he had so been inspecting. The hertasi emits a strangled, reptilian cry as a rib within his torso snaps. Hans is the first deckhand to bolt over and struggle to push the large crate of weapons away from Gesten. Roger finds his way over as well, kneeling to help lie the hertasi down, not knowing how bad any injury might be. Peter goes off to try and find one of the mages, knowing they must have healing powers or at least some knowledge of injury. The lizardman is lying carefully on his back, breathing shallowly due to the jabbing pain in his side. Roger has his hands on the hertasi's shoulders to help keep him stabilized as the storm brewed. By now rain has begun to coat the crew and the Seraphim.

(Sorry for my adsence as well.)

The duo had once again left the sanctuary that was their room to joing the many others that were up and about during this storm. Rosette was there to make sure things held up around the ship, and hopefully not to ward of any serpent's ready to shake it during the wild weather. Chrono, being the navigator, had to be there to try his best to make sure they didn't stray too far from their preferred path.

"You're alright Chrono?" Rosette called out over the winds. She'd choosen to stick close to him during the storm, and was with him and the Captain. With such horrible weather, it was had to use any of his paper maps.

"I'm fine, you concentrate on your own job!" Was the irritated reply. Chrono had finally pulled his hood off his head, seeing that the wind had blown it off every time he tried to keep it on. His hair was now heavy and matted down against his head, making him feel more top-heavy than ever.

Rosette sighed and kept a firm hand on top her head to keep the hood on. All this bad stuff happening to them, one after another? She was starting to think this voyage was cursed from the beginning.

She hears her friend's polite decline of the offered rat and so the female gryphon gobbles it down herself. The rodent is placed down before herself, she lowers her head to swiftly peck at it to make it panic. At one point her beak snaps one of it's hind legs. Watching it squirm around, Luft ruffles up her crest and clucks as a hungry hen might, but much more loudly of course. She now opens her beak wider to trap the rat between each beak half, raising her head to gobble it down. The gryphon tilts her head back since it is a bit difficult for her, being somewhat of a bird, to swallow. Although the first rat went down her gullet decently, the second one proved to have more energy.
"I hope I will not crrave rrrratsss when we next get on land...if anything, I will surrrely tirrrrre of them."
Tanyeera's sudden movement and hissing causes Luft's crest to flatten in surprise. Her tail fans out slightly and her wings flare as much as they can in the stall, which is only enough to open them to the point that they arch forth at her sides. Such an abrupt occurrence made the flying hunter give thought to possible alarm for danger. Being requested of chains that would not be missed, Luft pauses to tilt her head and click her beak in thought. After a few moments she nods her beak with her wings stretching as though to confirm her own thought.
"Yesss...I ssssspotted a few in the hall. I will get them for you."
Warbling softly the gray gryphon pushes out of her stall, forced to flare her wings out as the ship lurches from side to side. Her talons make a soft, clacking noise on the wood. Now she is walking down the dark hall, head swiveling slightly as it usually does. The monstrous bird emits an indignified squawk as a chain thwacks against the right side of her beak. Chittering curses softly Luft collects the long chains with her beak and drags them back to the stalls. She drops it before the dragoness' to present it.
"Will thissss do?"

He feels dizzy. The cold rain splattering his face to slide and tickle at his scales do not help. Gesten tries in vain to hear what Roger and Hans are so urgently telling him. His reptile tongue slathers over his snout in humble confusion. By now a flustered Peter has shouldered his way through other working deckhands. He sees the Captain vaguely and two cloaked figures whom he assumes are mages of sorts. Peter approaches the girl, seeing that the boy is busy with maps or so. He nods to his Captain first and taps the girl, shouting slightly over the shrieking wind.
"If ye be some sort of healer miss, please help my friend! He is Gesten the lizardman, a crate got loose and smashed into him!"