City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

And here's the first Nov chappy...probably going to have to last you most of the month unless I finish Nano in record time. Enjoy!
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Chapter Eight- The Soul of the Ship

Cobalt chewed her lip as her brain turned over many nefarious plots that would allow her to get back at Angelo. Slip him a knockout drink? Nah, he'd probably just shrug the effects off. Accuse him of trying to have his way with her? Nah, with a med bay like that there had to be any number of bio-scanners on this ship that would blow that idea to hell. No...she had to make him angery some how.

Suddenly the light went on in her brain as her roving eyes crossed the sleeping form of Ambrois. Jealousy always worked. Maybe if Angelo saw her with a younger Arcex it would wound whatever pride he possessed into passion. And then SHE could spurn HIM. Oh yes, that was a perfect idea except for one thing. "He likes Jade...well I suppose he doesn't have to like me, I just have to get caught with him." She smiled nastily as she snuggled into the thin blankets on her bunk, drifting off as she imagined the hurt look on Angelo's face.
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Angelo woke as light from a brilliant yellow star pried into his eyes through the cabin windows. He rose gracefully from the chair, stretching, to smile warmly at the statue. "Morning beautiful. Anything eventful happen last night?" A chime made him turn to look at his desk, the top of which had suddenly become liquid-like. An image formed on it, the image of Ambrois and Jade's linked fingers. He chuckled a bit and gently bound his hair in a long tail. "Young love."

He looked back at the still statue. "Now don't go getting worked up over it. He seems like a gentleman, certainly he's got the best manners of the bunch. Unlike that pluni...can you imagine? I may be a pirate beautiful but I've got my honor...and standards." He walked over to the statue, looking at the carved, lifeless features with deep sorrow in his platinum silver eyes. "High standards."

He turned away, then turned back as if someone had called his name although he was the only one in the room. He stood for a moment, listening, until he softly inquired, "Are you sure?" Silence filled the room, a silence that spoke volumes to the single occupant. He sighed. "Alright then, I'll make sure the systems are ready. Then I'll bring the boy."
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Angelo found Ambrois and the others finishing breakfast. For a moment he lingered in the hall, observing them. Without his usual fog in his brain he took time to simply observe things as they were, using the interest of the present to ward of the pain of the past instead of an alcoholic beverage. Besides, he was out of booze anyway. So he leaned against the wall and watched as Saul and Donovan took over the mealtime conversation.

"We're planning to explore the ship today, any of you guys care to come?" Saul was all elbows as he nearly dove across the table for the last bit of butter on the plate, slathering it on his toast. "I mean, this is The Bloody Muse, we'd be passing up the opportunity of a lifetime if we didn't do some poking around. This place must have all sorts of hidden spots where Angelo hides his loot so's he can smuggle it in all unnoticed and stuff."

Donovan's tail thumped against his chair. "I wish you all had noses like mine! This place is full of amazing scents. I walked past the hatch to the hold the other day and almost fainted, there's the lingering traces off all those spices down there. I've probably never heard of more than a few of them but if I ever smell them again then I'll know what they are. And Angelo's smell is all over the ship too...creepy that." The Canin's ears flicked back for a second.

Saul glanced over at his friend, stealing the sausage from right off Donovan's plate faster than you could blink. Donovan growled at him good naturedly while Ambrois and the Twins laughed. Cobalt, however, only gave a small chuckle and grinned at Ambrois. Angelo noticed her hand snaking down from the table top and decided it was time to put in an entrance. He pushed off from the wall and strode through the doorway, hazed expression on his face.

Instantly the banter died and everyone looked slightly nervous, save Cobalt who gave the slim man one glance of blue fury. Angelo noted with some frustration that her hand had continued down until a jump from Ambrois signaled she'd brushed him. Cobalt withdrew her hand with a slight smile and bit of a shrug. Angelo pretended to ignore it, and suck his head into a cupboard for a strange looking fruit none of the orphans had been brave enough to touch.

He looked at them, fuzzy brown orb held in one hand. "Anyone for coconut?"

Jasper looked first at the slim man, then at the strange object he was holding toward them. "Is it alcoholic?" He remembered the last edible thing the pirate had offered him had nearly put him in a liquor induced coma.

The slim man laughed, eliciting a nervous chuckle from the orphans. However, it was Ambrois who answered. "No. A coconut is a fruit from Earth famed for it's hard shell." He got up and took the coconut then promptly smacked it hard on the counter. Ambrois grinned at the looks of shock on their faces and Angelo had to put a hand over his mouth to stop the laughter.

"Well if you really want to see a trick." They all watch in amazment as the slim man plucked the coconut from Ambrois's hand and, with two fingers of his opposite hand, sent them straight through the thick outer shell of it.

"Holy Shit!" Saul blurted it out before he could sensor his words. He blushed furiously as the others around the table laughed. "Well hey! Let's see one of you do that." He said this last with a hint of indignation although he too burst out laughing a moment later. While they laughed Angelo got out some glasses and poured a little of the milky fluid from the coconut into each glass.

"Here, taste it mates. It's a vital ingrediant to several mixers I know." The laughter echoed again and as Angelo slid into a space Saul made for him at the table he totally missed the apprasing gaze Ambrois shot over him.
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Breakfast was long over when the pirate approached his son that afternoon. Donovan and Saul were off in the hold, a list of 'odiferous' cargos Angelo had once hauled in had so that they might make a game of figuring out which scent went with which name. Jade was tending to Jasper, the two of them spending some much needed time together. And at the bow of the ship Cobalt had been making her move on Ambrois.

So it was with great relife the young Arcex greeted the apperance of his father. "Ambrois, you seem...smart. I've got something in the way of a job for you to do since it seems I've got to make a crew of you lot. You'll excuse us, won't you Cobalt."

"Do I have a choice?" She hissed through clenched teeth, politely venomous.

"Let me think....no." He smiled at her as he wrapped his arm around Ambrois's shoulders and led him away, muttering about sustaining fields and the like while Cobalt sputtered at the insult.

Waiting until they were some distance away she stood and resolved to follow them. Mabye the pirate would take Ambrois somewhere secluded and leave him alone for a bit...just enought time to work her magic.
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"So where are you taking me?" This was the fifth tight, uncomfortable space Angelo had led him through. Frankly Ambrois was surprised the slim man could fit through some of the areas they'd passed but he'd proven that he wasn't just slim but flexible as well. Now he looked back, hard to do when there was barely enough room to turn his skull.

"I cannot really explain only to say that I've never taken anyone else down here. Well...almost." And with that cryptic explaination he continued on, forcing Ambrois to follow. After what seemed like eternity they emerged into a resonably sized room that was somewhere below and between the engines. A soft blue luminance radiated from a single spark of light that floated in the center of the room. Ambrois felt oddly drawn to it, this sapphire sphere the size of a large marble.

He looked from it to Angelo then back. "Wha..." His words were cut off as the blue glow suddenly became and eye searing brilliance that formed into the shape of a woman, a femal arcex that, had Ambrois known, looked exactly like the statue in Angelo's cabin. She was etched like a negative, inverted and superimposed upon reality. Blue power burned from every inch of her, dimming as she reached out a hand to him, her lips moving soundlessly as a look of joy infused her features.

She spoke again, this time as worry began to steal across her face. "He can't hear you." Her head whipped around at Angelo's words, agony taking place of the joy that had existed only moments before. Her lips moved rapidly as she spoke, gesturing with dimming hands that seemed to vanish into midnight light. Angelo's own face going from impassive to embattled, his words merely fragments as he tried to break into the pleas of the glowing woman. Finally he snapped. "Fine! I warned you Cele but when did you ever listen to me!"

He looked at Ambrois and shrugged. "This might sting a bit but trust me, it's going to hurt much worse later." With that one of his hands sized Ambrois's shoulder in a steel grip, the other extending to curl fingers with the glowing woman. Almost instantly the gap was bridged and the beautiful voice of the glowing woman filled Ambrois's mind. As soon as the connection was established, Angelo let go and retreated to the back of the room to sit on an exposed duct.

"Ambrois...how you've grown. Come, let me look at you." She opened her arms and Ambrois felt almost compelled to step into them.

"Who are you?" He asked even though he had a feeling he knew. The glowing woman looked from Angelo to Ambrois, tears of blue power forming in her eyes and running down her face.

"He doesn't remember me. Angelo?"

"You expected a different reaction beautiful? He hasn't seen you since he was what...a week old? And you must admit, you looked considerably different then." The slim man was looking haggard, not yet strained but far from vigorus. "I warned you Cele."

She smiled ruefully. "You did indeed. Perhaps I should have waited till we were safely onplanet...but I just couldn't. You understand, don't you?" She turned back to Ambrois. "Afterall...isn't it proper for a woman to want to see her son?"

Ambrois couldn't help his reaction. Though he'd logically seen it coming it was still a visceral blow when it it. "Mother?"

In the shadows that still clung to the corridor, several feet from the entrance, Cobalt stifled a gasp as she heard Ambrois's startled exclamation. What the hell was going on!
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What happens now? Will Cobalt go running back to tell the others. Does she stay and listen. What might she hear if she does?
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Hopefully this has given some of you things to ponder. Had to leave out the letter as it would have made the chappy too long. Next time.

[Mephistopheles]

well, being the nasty wench that she is, she stays to hear what she can use, then runs to tell the others some slightly false tales that touch on the truth of matters.

oh, saul needs to censor his comment, not sensor. there was something else too, but it seems to have faded from memory already. Nicely written rai. becoming much more emotional though. At least there are still hints of humor.

[Rune]

*sobs* And hey, we all know that Mephy feels one and only one thing. :-p

Anyway, I like the emo. Emo is good. Yes, yay for emo.

Cobalt..man, I'd say she changes but that doesn't flow as well with using DP's since it would negate the last one. But storywise a change of heart would make a lot of sense right about now depending on how emo everything gets.

I'd say, besides that, that she keeps up with the evilness and so I agree with Mephy...for some reason. Strange day.

[Chinaren]

I made an effort to catch up on this, as it won SGotM and was going to possibly be critted in Lebs service. Apparently you aren't going to go for that service now, which is a shame, so I'll put over my 2 farthings here...

I was rather suprised to find this in HEM. I'd have put it in sci-fi, as it is far more that than humor, if you'll forgive me Rai.

~Sighs~ Perhaps it's just we don't have compatible styles, but I struggled through the latter chapters. Your grammar and English has improved over time Rai, I'm happy to say, but I don't find a great deal to interest me.

It seems to be mainly kids* chatting back and forth. This idle banter is fine (and perhaps I need more of it in my stories) but I found myself 'drifting off' and, I have to admit, thinking this seems very similar to some of your others.

Maybe I'm just an action freak, I know my works lack some slower moments, but I think there are too many slower moments in this one now. Breakfast and coconuts don't really interest me too much.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I think the light has faded from the earlier chapters.

Anyway, DP. Well, stay and hear what is said! Why run off now? :?

As for what's said. MMmm. Some deep dark secret I'll be bound, but my brain's fried atm, let me think on it...


*Bear in mind I'm an old doddering rambling fogey. Rambling I hear you say? Maybe, but in my day, oranges were green, and we used them as liferafts, tied together with twin taken from around our PJs, which caused some fuss down at the school, let me tell you especially that time I was walking along... etc etc.

[The White Blacksmith]

Excellent! I've finally caught up on this, and I say well done! I completely disagree with your comments by the way, ex-mayor.

As for the dp? I say she goes in and starts attacking Cele. She doesn't seem like the sort to sneak away and tell everyone- she'll be insanely jelous when she finds out that this-this!- is the nobject of Angelo's emotions.

[Chinaren]

Quote: I completely disagree with your comments by the way, ex-mayor.

Hey, I wasn't saying it was bad. Just giving my feedback, which is purely my opinion.

[tramp in a storm]

I like it! It's gone a bit emoish but nothing beats abit of emotion. It's getting very interesting, as if some big fight is gonna come up between the crew.
*thinks*....hhhmmm...If I was her (I'm glad I'm not because she's mean) I'd be kind of scared that there is a woman's soul trapped on the ship. But I'm not too sure about what she should do yet...

[Lilith]

Rai..... What's with the emo, my friend? Are you sure your the same person who wrote Underdark and Blood for Blood?

No offense intended, but this taking quite a different feel from your previous works that I have read.....

But, that being said...

She would probably stick around, if it weren't for Angelo knowing that she followed them and hence, he gets up and tosses Cobalt overboard... or in the brig if you so choose.

[Crunchyfrog]

A good chapter, although I miss the humour now. The emotive stuff is good for the plot, but for a work that is primarily advertised as humourous, you need to find a better balance between the two. A suggestion might be to strategically place serious plot stuff in a way so that it forms occasional abrupt breaks in the comedy. If you use the emo stuff more sparsely within a humourous story it will enhance the impact; the contrast between the two would be interesting, I think.

Alternatively you could just do the emotional plot development in a humourous way...

To the DP - Having seen that revelation, she's going to stick around to learn more. :)

[Kalanna Rai]

Gar! I've already figured out that this is getting way too emotional simply because of the way the DP's have been going!

However, all you people looking for a most excellent laugh, have no fear! The next chapter, without fail, will have several of you in stitches simply because I for one have had enough of sailing on the good ship emo.

So don't worry. This will be the last slow stretch for quite some time. Things will pick way up once they hit land because then, at last, the plotting and talk of treasure can begin.

And everyone knows what happens when pirates start talking treasure....

[The White Blacksmith]

Just a note? Was Angelo based on Captain Jack from PotC?

Also, you can break tension by doing anything randomly. That will remove much of the emo.

[Kalanna Rai]

Strangely my earliest notes on Angelo predate PotC by about two years. I was rather amused when I first saw the movie and also had a 'drat' moment because Disney beat me to the punch.

But no. When Angelo's backstory is revealed you'll figure out he's about as different from Jack Sparrow as Whiskey is from Rum.

[Sea Siren]

well Rai, another smashing chapter! i agree, it is a bit emotional compared to the others, but frankly, i like to see that part with Ambrois and his mother. that was indeed a nice touch, as was the pic *winks* also, it's good to see Angelo being a bit less of a superhero, and more *searches for right word, runs outta brain power * vulnerable.(if you will) dont show too much of that, but this one time was good for us i think. can't wait to be able to vote!

[Kalanna Rai]

Okay all...the poll is up. Time to be voting...

[Mephistopheles]

cool! double the options! YAY!

[Mother Goose]

I voted for hanging around, but I want to add that in doing so, she runs a great risk of discovery, especially by the mother (who is understandably distracted just now, but will soon sense Cobalt's presence outside the door).

[Lilith]

WHOOT! TREASURE MATEY'S TREASURE! Muahaha!

*walks off with a bottle of rum singing "A pirate's life for me.."*

[The White Blacksmith]

I seem to be the only one who has voted for the last one. Oh well.

And Rai? Underage, therefore not particularly sure how different Whiskey is from Rum.

[Kalanna Rai]

Okay peoples. Hanging around won out but, as you will see, things will be moving along in the next chappy.

Which I'll write as soon as I've gotten another 10k words or so done on Nano....

[Rune]

Wisky, rum, beer, wine? It's all alcohol and therefor *******((insert Runelike opinion here)*******.

Well, as I have already said, I like the emo. I will miss it when it is gone.