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Shipwreck [Job/Private]

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1Shipwreck [Job/Private] Empty Shipwreck [Job/Private] 14/10/15, 01:35 am

Diego Namez

Diego Namez
A-Tier
A-Tier

Spoiler:



A furry, white speck in the middle of a vast sea, Zanzibar struggled to stay afloat. Not only was the arachnid completely out of his element, but he had to deal with a great weight threatening to drag him beneath the churning waves. Using his webs as a net, Zanzibar carried an unconscious Diego behind him, doing his best to keep the Fanatiga’s head out of the water. The fuzzy spider didn’t know where he was heading, but he knew if he didn’t keep paddling, both he and Diego would probably die.

Just when Zanzibar thought he could swim no further, he noticed a large shadow passing over the water. A shout pierced the air and he turned around to see a ship coming towards him. Squee~ Zanzibar let out a panicked warble, both as a cry for help and out of fear of being run over. Thankfully, the shout from the crow’s nest had alerted the rest of the crew to the unfortunate pair stuck in the water.

A few moments later, a splash could be heard as one of the crew jumped overboard, clutching a rope in her hand. With the speed of a skilled swimmer, she quickly reached the stranded duo and wrapped the rope around them, before signaling to someone back on the ship. In his exhausted state, Zanzibar hardly noticed when he was hauled through the icy water towards the vessel. By the time he was pulled onto the deck, the fuzzy spider had fallen into a deep slumber.




The Rusty Spoon:

”Is he going to make it?”

”I h-h-hope so...I’ve never healed anyone with this many injuries before…”

”Keep trying, Azaelea. If anyone can do it, you can. You’re one of the best life magicians I know.”

Diego stirred from his slumber, distantly aware of the hushed whispers echoing in his ears. Before opening his eyes, to survey his surroundings, he sent his consciousness throughout his body, noting various aches and sharp pains. Diego groaned at the sudden sensations and to distract himself from the agony, he tried to recall his last memory. Like wading through a thick, murky swamp, the memories were slow to submerge. When the haze cleared and they finally came rushing back, Diego sat up with a jolt, his face colliding into something soft.

Diego gasped and his eyes flicked open to see that he was face first in the cleavage of a young girl with pink pig-tails. Blinking in confusion, he looked up to see their owner staring at him, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. ”Wha?!”


The girl’s pink pig-tails bounced as she stood-up straight, ”I-I-I’m sorry!” She had been adjusting the Fanatiga’s pillows when he woke up and bruied his face into her bosom. Mortified, she ran from the room, slamming the door behind her.

”Oh, look. You scared Azaelea…” Diego looked over to see a girl sitting in a chair with her feet propped up on the edge of his bed. Tucking her grey hair behind an ear, her brown eyes met Diego’s orange hues. ”The name is Celese. I pulled you and that spider out of the sea a few days back.” She motioned to Zanzibar who was curled up against Diego’s side.

While she spoke, Diego took the time to take in his surroundings. By the cramped quarters and the gentle swaying motion, he guessed that he was still at sea. He reached down to stroke Zanzibar’s soft fur and laid his head back against the pillow. ”Thank you...,” he whispered softly, with a hint of doubt in his tone. Diego had been sure Neo’s spells were going to be the death of him, however it seemed Fate had intervened.

Celese frowned, expecting the Fanatiga to have shown more gratitude or given his name, at the very least. Shifting in her seat, Celese leaned forward and folded her hands in her lap. ”How did you end up in such a precarious situation?”

Diego sighed, annoyed by the presence of the woman and her questions. ”A magician.”

Celese watched Diego carefully, waiting to see if he would explain any further, but he didn’t. Taking the hint, she stood up and walked to the door. Pausing for a moment, she spared Diego a parting glance before leaving Diego alone.

Once she was gone, Diego slid back the sheets to see how much damage Neo had done. To his surprise, most of his wounds had healed, including the scars from Jagang’s torture, though he still had a deep gash across his chest from the ice sword. Besides that, it looked like even his fur was starting to grow back. Given a few more weeks, he might actually look normal again. At least, as normal as a were-tiger could appear.




The next morning, Diego noticed that most of the pain had subsided. Getting out of bed, he found his belongings stored in a cabinet. Once he had strapped his gear in their respective places, he nudged Zanzibar awake. ”Come on, Zanz. Time to go.”

The fuzzy arachnid made a disgruntled warbling noise but got up, stretching out his limbs. As Diego stepped out of the room to search for one of the younger women he had met the day before, Zanzibar skittered after him. The two made their way through the vessel, albeit slowly, since Diego still had not gotten used to his re-wired nerves accompanied with the swaying of the ship, till they reached a staircase that led up to the deck.

There they came across a dark haired woman, wearing an ornate eye-patch over her left eye. Her attire reminded Diego of the pirates he had heard about in Jagang’s stories. She gave off an authoritative aura, her very presence commanding his respect and attention. Stoic, she watched Diego approach as she descended the staircase, stopping on the bottom-step.

”You appear to be feeling better.” Her tone was gruff, though not unpleasant.

Diego nodded, shifting the position of the bow hanging from his shoulder. ”Yes, I do.” Her piercing gaze made him feel uncomfortable, as if she were staring into his soul and judging what she saw. From how she held herself, Diego assumed she was the Captain of the ship. ”It is all thanks to you and you crew. I appreciate the hospitality, but I’m sure I’ve been enough of a bother. If you could just drop me off at the nearest port, I’d be on my way…”

Holding up her hand, the Captain cut him off. ”I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” Before he could protest, she gestured for him to follow. Climbing the stairs, she threw open the doors to the deck. As soon as she did, a blast of icy wind blew into the ship, nipping at his exposed flesh.

Diego shivered, wrapping his arms around his body in a vain effort to keep the cold out. Once he was on the deck, he instantly understood why it wouldn’t be possible to stop at port. Along one side of the ship, the sea stretched clear out into the horizon. On the opposite side, Diego saw several floating masses of ice floating past and beyond that, sharp, jagged mountains that pierced the heavens. They were further North than Diego had ever been. ”Where are we?”

”Imuchakk,” she replied simply.

Diego stared at the scenery in awe, finding it beautiful in a cold and deadly way. ”What are we doing here? I was on my way to Balbadd.”

”You’re a long way from Balbadd.” A masculine voice pipped in behind Diego.

The Fanatiga spun around to see a white-haired man adjusting the sails. He was watching Diego out of the corner of his eye with an unhappy expression. ”And it’s none of your business why we are out here. You’re lucky to be alive, kitten.”

A quick glance from the Captain was all that was needed for the man to get back to his work in silence. ”Jayce speaks the truth, you are lucky to be alive.”

Diego snorted, not sharing their sentiments. ”Depends on what you mean by lucky…,” he mumbled under his breath.

The Captain gave him a stern look, ”For saving your life, the law of the sea says you owe us a blood-debt. While you are on this vessel, you will pay off that debt with hard work. Useless bodies have wasteful mouths.”

’Useless...but I am useless…’ That thought triggered the repetitive mantra Diego had been forced to recant for days, while receiving jolts of electricity directly to his brain. The concept of the blood-debt resonated with Diego and he stared at the Captain with a strange look on his face. ’I exist to serve my master..without her I am useless…’ Dropping to his knees, Diego bowed down before her. ”As you wish, master.” In the back of his mind he thought, ’At least she seems better than Jagang…’

The Captain arched her brow and turned to Jayce, who simply shrugged at her confused expression. ”I don’t know why you are calling me master. I didn’t save you. Celese did. We would have continued past you if she hadn’t dived in to save her new pet kitty. Much bigger kitty than she expected, I must say.” Shaking her head she walked away to check their course.

Sucking on his teeth in distaste, the white-haired man halted his work to study Diego as the strange Fanatiga tried to comprehend the immediate rejection of his choice in master. ”Have you ever worked on a ship before?” When Diego shook his head, Jayce grumbled under his breath. ”Curse Ceres’ bloody tits! An amateur, with no muscles to boot. Do you at least know what starboard is?”

Diego narrowed his eyes, not fond of Jayce’s attitude. Looking around, Diego looked around for something that might resemble a ‘starboard’. His eyes fell upon a long board leaning against the railing along the left-hand side of the ship. Pointing to it, Diego confidently proclaimed, ”That is starboard!”

Jayce rolled his eyes, ”No that is Port. If you are facing fore, port is on your left and starboard is on your right.” By his response, it was clear that the white-haired man didn’t notice what Diego had actually been pointing to. Before he could call Diego a few choice words, the ship jerked forward, violently, as a loud crunch filled the air.

Diego lost his footing and felt himself sail through the air. He froze up as he felt the icy sea swallow him and gasped for air as his head sunk beneath the surface. Receiving a mouthful of salty water, he coughed, choking on even more water as he tried to inhale out of reflex. Limbs flailing, his vision began to darken, until he managed to get ahold of himself. With all his will, he pumped his legs until his upper body submerged and he could get a breath of fresh air.

As cool air filled his lungs, a sharp bite accompanied it. Once he was able to stop retching up water, Diego looked at the ship to see the front of it impaled by an iceberg. The ship slowly began to sink as water flooded into the hull. With so much damage taken, the ship was doomed so the crew had jumped into the sea with Diego. The temperature shift initially affected them too, but they had prepared for it by taking a deep breath and holding it just before hitting the water. As the crew reached the Fanatiga, he noticed a drenched Zanzibar slowly following behind them.

It took everyone’s energy just to reach shore and pull themselves out of the water. They lay shivering on the ground for some time before Azaelea unhooked her staff from her belt loop. Through the chattering of her teeth, she stuttered out a few commands to the Ruhk, which caused a vine to grow from the tip of her staff. The vine rapidly grew into a thick network of roots that covered everyone on the shoreline.

Diego noticed what she was doing and panicked, finally understanding how Azaelea had been able to heal his wounds--with magic. He was tainted by her sorcery and it made him want to vomit. While he assumed the worst, the life magician had actually cast a spell that created a plant that absorbed moisture rapidly. As the crew’s healer, her first concern was getting them dry before hypothermia could set in. When Diego noticed that his striped fur was dry, he arched a brow at Azaelea, taken aback by the kind gesture.

Suddenly, he felt a shiver run up along his spine. When it reached his brain stem, the sensation felt like icy cold fingers prodding different regions of his brain. Diego rubbed his temples and grit his teeth, not liking the harsh tundra weather. ’It’s too cold…’ he thought, turning to his human companions. ’We’re going to need to get out of the wind and make a fire.’

An image of a cave quickly flashed in his mind, followed by an image of a mountain, which he recognized as a nearby one. Startled, Diego was suspicious by this seemingly instinctual draw towards the mountain. He wondered if it was related to the chilly fingers in his brain, which felt oddly like Wart’s. However, he realized that the piercing wind that swept across the tundra was harsher on the furless humans than himself, they weren’t even dressed for the climate. ”Come on, let’s head for that mountain. We need to get out of the wind.”




Trudging through thick snow, the group traveled closer towards the base of the mountain. They grew accustomed to the chatter of their teeth drowned out by the howl of the bitter wind. After an hour of their journey, they came across a forest. The trees within had jagged, sharp branches void of leaves, yet they managed to block out the worst of the wind.

Finally, they reached a clearing, just as the ground started sloping upwards. Before them, they found the entrance to the cave that Diego had seen. Finding it didn’t put Diego at ease, who thought the whole experience eerie. Setting aside his feelings for now, he ushered the pirate crew and Zanzibar into the cave. Once everyone else was inside and safe from the elements, Diego traveled into the forest with his bow.

Firing off series of explosive arrows, Diego managed to fell a few trees with the ensuing Micro-Booms and a Bodda-Boom. Dragging them back to camp, he began breaking off the smaller branches. Calling out to Zanzibar with his Wildman’s Charm, Diego had the furry spider assist by carrying back the branches and placing them in a pile near the mouth of the cave. After stripping the smaller branches from the trees, Diego used his claws to tear into the thicker ones.

After he had a satisfactory amount of wood, Diego walked to the pile Zanzibar had built. Rearranging the logs, he built a structure that would serve for a healthy fire, using his experience as a Ranger. He then used some flint and struck it against a stone, aiming the sparks over the smaller branches. After a few tries, Diego was successful in starting a small flame, which quickly grew into a modest fire. Diego let the pirates huddle around the fire, while he sat with his back against the cave wall and dozed off.

[1500+/1500]
[190/250]

Spoiler:


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