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Perchance, Tess would have slept the afternoon away there on the docks, had not the significant other brooding near her resting spot believed otherwise. As Sera approached with a mind set to wake her, the girl laid relatively motionless... slumbering, with only a lid's flutter here, a finger's twitch there, and the constant, gentle rise and fall of her breathing chest.

"Er... 'scuse me?"

The words startled the girl, at first. She had only heard them subconsciously, but she had heard them clearly, for the effects of the words quickly began the process of awaking the sleeper. Without immediate waking, however, Tess' tired facial expression tensed slightly. She let out an inner, subdued groan that signified disturbance, and took in a deep breath as all her senses slowly became aroused.

And the eyes opened.

This, of course, would have been like every other time she had awaken. She had done it a thousand times: open the eyes, stretch, perhaps lie for a few minutes, and then rise to greet the day. Surely, this would have been like every other time, if... there was not a bright-eyed, blonde woman standing before her, gently jostling her shoulder.

Alarmed, Tess shot herself upright. She put one foot on the opposite side of the crate in order to stand, and in fact, rose with such haste that her clothing snagged, and thus caused her to ungracefully topple onto the dock, face first.

Sera had barely caught herself in time to stifle a laugh. In fact, it wuld have been quite apparant to anyone with any social experience whatsoever that, with even an iota less restraint, she would have actually done so with a good bit of enthusiasm. But... she tried, and that's what mattered, right?

"You okay?" Sera asked the unfortunate woman, cocking an eyebrow and looking too amused to appear genuinely concerned. It didn't look as if she had hurt herself, anyway; it was simply a tumble. Nothing injured besides pride, and pride tended to recover quickly.

"Sera, that wasn't funny. Poor girl," interjected Kersi, causing Sera to roll her eyes. "The very least you could do is help her."

The captain, apparantly, put great weight into the Spirit's opinion (however begrudginly), and offered a hand to Tess, accompanying that with: "Here, lemme help."

"...And... the most you could do is leave her alone afterwards. Maybe not take the cargo?"

Yeah. As if that's going to happen.

Eronus collapsed in one of the vacated chairs on the bridge of the Excelsior and let out an exhausted sigh. To put it mildly, he'd had a pretty rough day. To put it more accurately, he'd just spent two hours being chewed out for very nearly destroying a ship that wasn't actually under his command, and that was only after incurring such massive damage that half the crew had to forego shore leave to assist dockworkers with repairs. Out the main window, Eronus could see workers erecting makeshift masts and sails for the Excelsior (one of the primary engines was among the casualties of battle) so that it might limp home for a proper refit and resupply. He also saw a small ship he hadn't noticed when they were docking, and let out another sigh. He'd probably slowed their resupply as well, having bogarted nearly all the dockworkers for the task of repairing his near dead vessel. He dreamed for a moment of being a pirate, not a captain, but just a sailing hand that went from crew to crew, never having to worry about the logistics of operating a ship, or the politics in dealing with a massive crew. When he snapped from his brief daydream, Eronus glanced at his pocketwatch, then strode off the bridge. He was still on break, and what he really needed was a hug, but since he wouldn't be able to get that, he opted for the next best thing: Alcohol.

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((Are you ready for holes in time and space and plot? I know I am!))

When Eronus next found himself awake and in full control of his facilities, he found himself somewhere very dark and cramped. A moment of groping about revealed that he still had his sword with him, as well an empty bottle of some sort (presumably liquor), and that more importantly, he appeared to be inside a cargo crate. "This is going to be one hell of a story I won't remember..." he muttered, still pressing against the crates sides. He could see daylight coming in through cracks in the box, so he knew he wasn't unconcious for long, but being placed inside a cargo crate is still a very awkward situation to be in. After a few more moments groping around inside the box and Eronus braced his legs against one of the sides before violently kicking it out. When the sunlight came pouring in, Eronus had to shield his eyes so they could adjust, but he could still make out two female figures in conversation standing not far down the dock. He muttered "Well now I know I missed a great story..." as he went to crawl out of the crate.

(( Soloist, you have great posts and I love to read them, but... the writing is just so small. It's hard to concentrate on what you're writing when it is in such small text. crying ))


Sera, was it?

Since when do Merchants give introductions?

Tess' thoughts were nothing but cynical over the formalities used by the stranger. She had been greeted by many ship masters, yes...but never, ever had she encountered something like this. This Sera's kindness, however refreshing, was baffling. Tess had known strict, cold, business-like conversation in the past. Never a name. Never concern for the other. Never direct eye contact. And definitely no apologies.

Out of courtesy, Tess vaguely considered introducing herself to the oddly kind merchant -- but quickly ruled against it. She had best get on with business; she had already been delayed long enough. No doubt, her master was already wondering if Tess herself had rebelliously hopped a ship, and taken the payment traded for the crates of goods. He always was one to expect the worst, especially when dealing with such large orders as the sea of crates that Tess was guarding happened to be. He was a man of little trust.

"No, no, I haven't been waiting long," she lied, as a congenial smile slowly began to take form. It took all restraint within her to not burst into laughter then and there herself; for the woman was apologizing -- laughable! And not only that, but most merchants would be angry about the whole falling asleep on the job thing. But all in all, Tess managed to keep a straight face, and simply replied with a toss of the hair and a wink, "No worries, mate."

"As for cargo..." she continued, breaking mid-thought, and leaving an almost eerie pause to puncuate the sentence, "We'll need to go through all the regular procedures, which I'm sure you're familiar with." She made a one-eighty turn towards the cargo in order to quicken the pace, and was ungracefully greeted with an more notable scene than she had expected: a stow away. It took a moment to soak it all in. There was a crate smashed open, with all supposed supplies vanished, and lying right next to it was a man, half-drunk; and by the look of it, half out of his wits.

Forgeting Sera momentarily, Tess trudged all five-feet-three-inches of herself towards the man, and grabbed him the collar of his shirt, fuming. And instinctively, in the quickness of the anger, small wings covered top to bottom with the glinting of scales and a mixture of green and blue color began to materialize on the back of the girl encompassing the man dressed in some kind of officer's clothing. But she didn't care who it was. Whoever he was, he was up for a tongue lashing. Whoever he was, he had better have a good excuse for breaking into her precious commodities.

"Thief!" she snapped out coldly, as her members stiffened. "What you got?"

(( Hoyes, that's wonderful. ^^ Sorry, my laptop just has really small resolution. Maybe that's why size 9 font was so difficult for me to read. ))

Keeping hold on his collar once he began to stand fully erect was ackward to say the least; but Tess, with white-knuckled fists and shadowy green eyes, to put it simply... refused to let go. She held tight, fighting for any authority over him that she could obtain.

But before long, he had straightened himself into full stature, leaving Tess' power pretty much redundant. He dwarfed her, seemingly even taking pleasure in it... judging by the particular way he stood, the way he let his shadow cover her, and the way he gawked down; Tess thought it almost despicable. It was enough to make her freckle-dusted nose wrinkle in resentment. It was not until he, with stiff movements, took the pleasure of removing all foreign touch from his body and released her grip from his neck.

And then he spoke. Tess' ears ticced slightly as she listened, and then finally focused in on the tone of his few last words. Was that an accusation? Was he assumming that she had put him there? She pointed a censuring finger a few inches away from his nose. "I don't know what you're talking about," Tess recanted with fresh coldness, all the while trying to be taken seriously by this man that already was beginning to show signs of caring little about what she had to say.

She gave him a pleading glance. "Do you even realize what kind of trouble I could get in? Do you even realize that if I lose one, even one...?" She did not finish the sentence, however, but instead left the rest to his imagination. She lowered her hand, and her glinting wings disappeared. "What...what is your name?"

(( She recognizes you as a pirate now! Wooo. ))

Forgetting her present duties thanks to a certain, (and in her opinion) very tall man, Tess considered his answer while entwining her fingers with a lock of her wind-tangled hair. He was the Vicecaptain? He could be lying, of course, but...no. Unlikely. His very demeanor suggested it; he reeked of the rugged arrogance common to most sailors of high rank. Ugh.

The girl merely blinked and sighed expressively, giving off a sign that she was satisfied with his answer. "--the Excelsior," she replied, continuing the thought which Eronus had cut off with a curse, and apparently gaining sudden amusement from the situation unfolding before her, "I'm familiar with it."

Although, that was only a half-truth. Tess was not merely familiar, but extremely cognizant with the vessel, just as she was with countless others. Three years of employment at the docks, and it was not hard to know such detail; it was her job to study the ships, and have a good, level mind about what was going on about them. Her job was not for simpletons. Not only was she required to make reports to her employer, but was also to be familiar with the ship's crew, and the reputations of their captains. Indeed, even this Eronus.

Tess smiled.

Of course, the instant he had told his name and rank, she had recognized it. Eronus, she repeated in thought, Eronus of the Excelsior. This could be no one other than the Excelsior Pirate. What with rumors, rampant throughout the coast, being told among the masses with the rage of a wild fire... who wouldn't know of him? They maliciously spoke of his turning pirate -- oh, gravest of sins. And to add to his guilt, it was further spoken of his being a bit friendly with the Excelsior's lady captain for his own selfish purposes. Needless to say, the name of Vicecaptain was in infamy among the people of Sadal Suud, and not thought upon with much affection. And this was he before her, in the flesh, the man-whore pirate!

The girl took on a guise of playfulness. She couldn't help but harass, and remark with a mocking smile, "And I'm familiar with you. I hear you're quite the noble soul, yes?"

Upon the random scaffoldings set up around the nearly-complete framework of the Ascension, Marcos zipped to and fro, his wings providing small impulses from their fossil-fueled jets that were nested in the bottom of the feather-like patterns of steel.

He aided the workers in whatever they needed; tools, paint, water, nails, whatever they needed. After all, it was the least he could do. Such a large workforce left him little to do, save attempt to find some engine parts. He would need a good many, possibly more than a single ship could offer...

He turned to the landscape around him, wiping the sweat from his brow as he mounted a scaffold that was empty, its former occupant on a short break.

"Spirits bless these people..." He thought as he saw them toil for him. They had done so much. He would be sure to repay them... or at least try.

He continued to look around, wondering what would be of interest.

Strangely, the sun reflected off of his steel replacement wings, reflecting precisely into a young lady sitting on the ground, staring in disbelief at the semi-repaired ship in the dock.

(Ha... yeah... ... not my day -_-; )