01-10-2016, 06:56 PM
The beach seems about as lively as any beach is. As much as I'd like to go swimming or play beach volleyball or make sandcastles or something, Histy'd kill me if I went sidequesting again.
...Well, kill is a stretch, but...
I look around the beach for a dock. My eyes land on a slab of concrete maybe six meters across with enough length to show compensation issues in its maker. A pair of boats - a long, trusty wooden sailboat and a sleek, metallic motorboat are anchored on either side. Nobody's near either of the boats, and since stealing doesn't sound like too great an idea, I ask myself one question: whose example should I follow?
"I know you're above stealing, Neptune," goes Histy, "but in case you thought you weren't... don't."
"Relax, relax! I'll just make a new boat from Omdeediddlydum. No problem, right?" I say, dusting my palms against each other as I step towards the shores. I'll just let this stuff make the choice for me, I think. I need a way to get across the water quickly. I need some kind of boat. Something like...
I leave the thought hanging. I open my eyes and see a white metal sailboat with the Planeptune logo on its sail. It has a deep purple underglow, so I can see into the water a little, with a similar glow running in horizontal lines down the sides of the ship. It's about ten meters across, from the looks of things, or at least that's the best guess I can offer at a moment's notice. For a second I wonder if I can sail this thing all on my own, but the thought's immediately brushed under the rug by holy crap I just made a boat this cool out of thin air.
"Okay. Real talk, Histy?" I say, and feel Histy nod against my neck. "I love this place."
The ship has already floated out to the water. I leap on board, trying to be careful not to wake Histy in the progress. I survey the boat, first looking for somewhere to set her down, since my shoulder isn't exactly the most stable place for her to sleep, as I've proven. I see a metal table with a pair of chairs next to it embedded in the deck, which I guess is because they'd sway around if they weren't embedded in the deck. I put Histy down on the table with her tome beside her. "Please be careful, Neptune," she says airily.
"I got this," I respond, giving her a thumbs up. How do I get this?
On top of what I'm assuming is a captain's quarters - a very humble captain's quarters, at that - is some kind of steering wheel. Small indents on the saily-post-thingy act as a ladder to the top, where a lookout would go if I had enough of a crew for that.
A crew. I sound like a pirate. On that thought, I summon an eyepatch and put it on. It doesn't take too long, since it's a pretty small thing to summon, I guess.
I jump up to the steering wheel, where upon closer examination, I also see a lever and a few buttons. All the buttons glow a shade of purple, the lever is tipped with a plush purple ball, and the steering wheel as the same purple glow as the underside of the boat. Following the typical trend, I once again whistle in approval.
The lever has nine increments, from the looks of things: Zero through eight. I immediately assume zero miles per hour, ten miles per hour, so on, so on, and push the lever to the "2" mark. I hear the engine rev into action somewhere under the boat. I almost trip under the sudden movement and in response strengthen my grip on the wheel. A smile spreads across my face as I reach back over to the speed lever and push it up one notch each second. I stop around sixty miles per hour - the wind whistles past my ears, brushing my hair backwards and pushing my sleeves up against my wrists.
This is the feeling of a new adventure!
"Fallen Angel, here we come!" I shout over the rushing winds. The sails billow in front of me - the motor's probably doing most of the work, I think, but the sails look nice enough that I'll keep them around. I just hope Histy's not having a problem with how fast we're going. On the thought of speed, I kick the lever up to the "8" notch. "We'll be there before we know it!"
"Uh, which way are we going again?" I ask. Histy's sitting on the lever now, which is resting comfortably at the "1" setting. We've been sailing for what's easily been an hour or so, probably a lot more, and we've had little luck finding much of anything.
"Southeast," Histy answers, "but right now we're heading south-southeast. Remember? I recommended we start at a farther west point and sweep east from there?"
I blink. "Er, yeah. Right."
"You haven't been listening, have you?" says Histy irritably, then she exhales softly. "I can't exactly blame you. We haven't found anything that even remotely matches what we were told about, and even aside from the Fallen Angel, we haven't seen any islands that could handle being airborne."
I yawn. "Maybe we should get some sleep," I suggest, looking up at the sky. It's getting dark already, which feels jarring - it doesn't feel like it was that long ago I was complaining about it being dark already.
"That sounds like a good idea," she replies. "Just make sure you anchor the boat. We can't let ourselves get lost." Histy floats off to go to sleep where I had last left her with her napkin and tome. I pull the lever down to the "0" notch and the boat comes to a total stop. I search the sides of the boat and find an anchor tied to a long, thick, white cord. I make sure the cord's tied to the boat well enough, then drop the anchor overboard.
I count the seconds. "One, two, three," I start, watching the cord fly over the boat's edge. "Four, five, six," I continue, the incredibly large coil feeding off into the depths. "Seven... eight... nine?" I keep going, watching the cord continue to sink into the ocean. "Ten? Eleven? Twelve? ARE WE FEEDING OUR ANCHOR TO A SEA MONSTER?" I ask worriedly, then rush over to the wheel again. I press a button labeled Underglow and run back over to where I dropped the anchor.
Thunk goes the cord against the edge of the boat - it's stopped. I can't see much other than the cord underneath the boat since it's so deep and dark. "I guess it was nothing, but the water here's really deep. You can swim, can't you, Histy? Or do I need to give you water wi--"
CRASH. The earth - er, ocean - shakes beneath the boat. Tremors threaten to double the boat over, making Histy and I both fall over onto the deck. Water explodes out from its place onto the deck from the right, drenching everything in seawater. I shake myself dry, quickly summon a towel and wipe my eyes dry. Histy blindly fumbles over to me and I give her a towel to roll around in. She, too, wipes her eyes dry. I count my blessings, remembering she was going to sleep in the captain's quarters, so her tome was spared the rain of saltwater.
The peak of a mountain meets our eyes. "Histy? Is this..."
"It's what we were looking for, Neptune," she answers. "It's the Fallen Angel."
...Well, kill is a stretch, but...
I look around the beach for a dock. My eyes land on a slab of concrete maybe six meters across with enough length to show compensation issues in its maker. A pair of boats - a long, trusty wooden sailboat and a sleek, metallic motorboat are anchored on either side. Nobody's near either of the boats, and since stealing doesn't sound like too great an idea, I ask myself one question: whose example should I follow?
"I know you're above stealing, Neptune," goes Histy, "but in case you thought you weren't... don't."
"Relax, relax! I'll just make a new boat from Omdeediddlydum. No problem, right?" I say, dusting my palms against each other as I step towards the shores. I'll just let this stuff make the choice for me, I think. I need a way to get across the water quickly. I need some kind of boat. Something like...
I leave the thought hanging. I open my eyes and see a white metal sailboat with the Planeptune logo on its sail. It has a deep purple underglow, so I can see into the water a little, with a similar glow running in horizontal lines down the sides of the ship. It's about ten meters across, from the looks of things, or at least that's the best guess I can offer at a moment's notice. For a second I wonder if I can sail this thing all on my own, but the thought's immediately brushed under the rug by holy crap I just made a boat this cool out of thin air.
"Okay. Real talk, Histy?" I say, and feel Histy nod against my neck. "I love this place."
The ship has already floated out to the water. I leap on board, trying to be careful not to wake Histy in the progress. I survey the boat, first looking for somewhere to set her down, since my shoulder isn't exactly the most stable place for her to sleep, as I've proven. I see a metal table with a pair of chairs next to it embedded in the deck, which I guess is because they'd sway around if they weren't embedded in the deck. I put Histy down on the table with her tome beside her. "Please be careful, Neptune," she says airily.
"I got this," I respond, giving her a thumbs up. How do I get this?
On top of what I'm assuming is a captain's quarters - a very humble captain's quarters, at that - is some kind of steering wheel. Small indents on the saily-post-thingy act as a ladder to the top, where a lookout would go if I had enough of a crew for that.
A crew. I sound like a pirate. On that thought, I summon an eyepatch and put it on. It doesn't take too long, since it's a pretty small thing to summon, I guess.
I jump up to the steering wheel, where upon closer examination, I also see a lever and a few buttons. All the buttons glow a shade of purple, the lever is tipped with a plush purple ball, and the steering wheel as the same purple glow as the underside of the boat. Following the typical trend, I once again whistle in approval.
The lever has nine increments, from the looks of things: Zero through eight. I immediately assume zero miles per hour, ten miles per hour, so on, so on, and push the lever to the "2" mark. I hear the engine rev into action somewhere under the boat. I almost trip under the sudden movement and in response strengthen my grip on the wheel. A smile spreads across my face as I reach back over to the speed lever and push it up one notch each second. I stop around sixty miles per hour - the wind whistles past my ears, brushing my hair backwards and pushing my sleeves up against my wrists.
This is the feeling of a new adventure!
"Fallen Angel, here we come!" I shout over the rushing winds. The sails billow in front of me - the motor's probably doing most of the work, I think, but the sails look nice enough that I'll keep them around. I just hope Histy's not having a problem with how fast we're going. On the thought of speed, I kick the lever up to the "8" notch. "We'll be there before we know it!"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Uh, which way are we going again?" I ask. Histy's sitting on the lever now, which is resting comfortably at the "1" setting. We've been sailing for what's easily been an hour or so, probably a lot more, and we've had little luck finding much of anything.
"Southeast," Histy answers, "but right now we're heading south-southeast. Remember? I recommended we start at a farther west point and sweep east from there?"
I blink. "Er, yeah. Right."
"You haven't been listening, have you?" says Histy irritably, then she exhales softly. "I can't exactly blame you. We haven't found anything that even remotely matches what we were told about, and even aside from the Fallen Angel, we haven't seen any islands that could handle being airborne."
I yawn. "Maybe we should get some sleep," I suggest, looking up at the sky. It's getting dark already, which feels jarring - it doesn't feel like it was that long ago I was complaining about it being dark already.
"That sounds like a good idea," she replies. "Just make sure you anchor the boat. We can't let ourselves get lost." Histy floats off to go to sleep where I had last left her with her napkin and tome. I pull the lever down to the "0" notch and the boat comes to a total stop. I search the sides of the boat and find an anchor tied to a long, thick, white cord. I make sure the cord's tied to the boat well enough, then drop the anchor overboard.
I count the seconds. "One, two, three," I start, watching the cord fly over the boat's edge. "Four, five, six," I continue, the incredibly large coil feeding off into the depths. "Seven... eight... nine?" I keep going, watching the cord continue to sink into the ocean. "Ten? Eleven? Twelve? ARE WE FEEDING OUR ANCHOR TO A SEA MONSTER?" I ask worriedly, then rush over to the wheel again. I press a button labeled Underglow and run back over to where I dropped the anchor.
Thunk goes the cord against the edge of the boat - it's stopped. I can't see much other than the cord underneath the boat since it's so deep and dark. "I guess it was nothing, but the water here's really deep. You can swim, can't you, Histy? Or do I need to give you water wi--"
CRASH. The earth - er, ocean - shakes beneath the boat. Tremors threaten to double the boat over, making Histy and I both fall over onto the deck. Water explodes out from its place onto the deck from the right, drenching everything in seawater. I shake myself dry, quickly summon a towel and wipe my eyes dry. Histy blindly fumbles over to me and I give her a towel to roll around in. She, too, wipes her eyes dry. I count my blessings, remembering she was going to sleep in the captain's quarters, so her tome was spared the rain of saltwater.
The peak of a mountain meets our eyes. "Histy? Is this..."
"It's what we were looking for, Neptune," she answers. "It's the Fallen Angel."
![[Image: KBSao70.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/KBSao70.jpg)