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Toula boarded her ship, tired and feeling rather disgusting. As soon as she was behind the safety of the ships walls, she had seemingly shrunk in size, hunched over as if it took too much energy to stand up straight, her face quite visibly tired, and she even managed to exude a tired aura all around her. The night had been a bloody success.

And she couldn't wait to leave it all behind.

Victor had played his part to perfection, and Toula had managed to keep up with his act, both of them knowing what their parents would expect and neither all too inclined to make their parents angry. But she hated it. Oh dear lord, how she hated it whenever he had touched her. Whenever he had made her smile or laugh, or otherwise been near her.

It tore her to pieces, these mental games. This world where nothing meant anything and a kiss seemingly of passion was but a promise of future misery. She hated how these games toyed with the emotions of the emotionally naive, but how could she help it? To act like she cared to that extent evoked the same feelings within, but at the same time she knew she couldn't get close. She shouldn't.

It was arrangements like this that made her want to scream and run away from such a life. Where she was made to feel like trash at the end of the night, and all she could do was curl up alone in bed and wonder why her pillow was so wet upon waking.

Trudging over to her room, as she did so various pieces of her outfit seemed to melt away from her. First the shoes, then the fan, the jewellery, the upheld hair, until she was only in the dress. At which point, she found herself in her room and so close to her bed she could simply fall forward and try to erase the feeling of his arm around her waist, the feel of his breath against her neck. Inside, she felt like running and screaming just as fast as she could to the middle of nowhere, to the middle of her fears which oozed with frustration and indignity.

Closing her eyes slowly, she wondered what it would have been like, to live a simple life. Where she would have been free to make her own choices, to experience what it was everyone else did. To have freedom over her studies, her friends, her pass times, even who she would spend her life with....at this rate, considering the multitude of emotional scarring she had been victim to because of the high class life style, she very much doubted if she'd ever spend her life any way but alone. And with that thought, she snuggled in closer to her blankets, wanting to forget.

Marcos, now testing the waters of this ship, so to speak, decided to see just how easy it would be to wander around the ship unnoticed. Though he hadn't gotten a good look at the areas surrounding the engine room, he was still relatively unafraid of being located and attacked.

That was, of course, until he noticed there were a few things wrong with the picture.

One, he was carrying a saber, which was a big no-no when you are a stranger on someone else's ship who requires bodyguards to keep her safe.

Two, he was still shirtless, though that didn't bother Marcos much.

Three, he had a rather strange, shieldlike object on his back, which was, of course, the shape his metal wings made whenever he folded them up.

All of these would probably throw red flags up into a bodyguard's mind.

So Marcos decided to wait until he heard from Toula, or until they landed, whichever came first...

When the girl finally spoke, after a long pause of what Sera took to be regaining composure, she was a little startled. The words seemed to be far more intimiate than they first sounded, and Sera was almost embarassed to be hearing them. And considering the fact that Sera appeared to have little sense shame, that was something.

She could have turned and left with the magnus during the pause. There was no doubt in her mind that she could get away with the liquor if she wanted to... but she didn't want to. Not after that--something bothered her about taking advantage of this girl.

"I--" She broke off into a long hesitation, for the first time she could remember finding that no words or ideas came to mind. I have no money and no means of getting any. I need this. I'm a pirate, not a nun. I... "I..."

Setting her expression as if she was about to do something very difficult, Sera marched up to the girl, pulled out the magnus, and held it out. Her eyes were almost sympathetic.

"... Here." She shook her head and laughed. "I shouldn't be doing this... I don't even know your name."

Toula, as it were, was having a rather troubled dream. She had wanted just to lay down for a minute or two, just so her eyes wouldn't be so damned sore anymore from those cursed tears, but instead had fallen off into that strange realm where one is half awake and half asleep. At any rate, when she opened her eyes again she knew a good half hour or hour had gone by instead of the proposed minute, and Toula struggled with herself, forcing herself to get up instead of resting huddled in the warm security of her blankets. She had almost forgotten about Marcos!

Not caring that her hair was currently in some what messy tassles with some stray silver leaves in it still, and forgetting that she was still in the magnificent dress although barefoot, Toula sprung up from the bed and charged at her door before remembering that it would probably be better to not attract the attention of those others on the ship at the moment. Forcing herself to slow down, she took a deep breath or two, and when she was convinced she had herself composed she stepped out into the hallway, starting her little quest to try and figure out where on her ship that worriesome Marcos could possibly be.

As Toula began to search the ship for Marcos, it should be noted here that the heir to the Charneau empire couldn't tell the difference between a chainsaw and a bolt and couldn't be happier. As she searched, she knew enough to know that she was now hearing a sound that hadn't been there before, but did not know, however, that it was supposed to be a particularily distinct sound, as that of a ratchet. However, a sound that mysteriously started up and didn't stop was of course a good cause for curiosity and Toula was not one to let curiosity go unsatisfied.

Pausing for a moment to get a better idea as to where it was the sound was coming from, she first took a few tentative steps this way and that before getting a better idea in mind as to where it was she was supposed to go. From a few more minutes of aimless wondering, she determined that the general way to go would be some where that she hadn't payed all too much attention to before: The engine room.

A long walk later, Toula could swear that this would be just about as loud as the sound could possibly get and so she looked around for some sort of door. When she finally found it, she poked her head in and her body followed soon after.

"Hello?"

Sera was more than a little surprised at Tess' (finally, there was a name) open response after the stern expression. Heck, her own compliance surprised her. She almost laughed. Today had been simply full of delightful surprises, hadn't it?

Working at the docks. So Tess was full time, hm? Not just some errand girl, but a person who received wages and hours on at least a semi-regular basis. Sera knew that this was how the majority lived, but she still awed at how some people could live with, even thrive on, such tedium. Then again, her life consisted of a personal Guardian Spirit, running from the law, frequent pillaging and even more frequent swordfights, so perhaps her point of view was a little skewed.

"I was starting t'think you didn't have a name." Sera grinned. "So, Tess, now--"

"Now what do you plan on doing for money?" Kersi's voice interrupted Sera's train of thought, causing the pirate to halt mid-sentence. The Spirit, who apparently hadn't been playing much attention to the conversation, took the hint and shut up.

"Ah. Sorry," Sera fumbled. She continued, trying to hide the disappointment and annoyance that she felt (and doing very well). "Now that you've got the cargo--" and the money for your trouble, and a new Magnus "--now what're you going to do?"

Sera seriously considered trying to get the money from Tess, since she felt she'd been somehow cheated out of it. Taking it forcefully from the slight girl probably wouldn't be too difficult, but it would cancel out her previous good deed and basically reverse everything that she had just done. Hey, while I'm at it, I might as well take back the Magnus and punch her in the neck.

Plus, Kersi wouldn't approve.

"Even I... I think you're entitled to at least something..."

Ah hah! So I can punch her in the neck.

"... but today's the nicest I've ever seen you, Ser, and I don't want to see you break the streak. Maybe just... talk to her a bit."

... Damn.

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