In the moonlight, the vast expanse seemed a mirror, if a living, breathing one that heaved with breath. The eerie traces of the orange harvest moon rippled like spilling wine through the green and blue of the waters below, and the massive ships seemed truly tiny specks against the grandness of forever. Although many of the docks had closed for the day, some of the larger carnival and cruise ships were still loading up for their voyages, and some of the fishing vessels had come back with their plunders. Or lack thereof.
The scene was fairly lost, frankly, on the yellow eyed men, quietly seeking merely a means of transit after traveling half the country to this point.
Eva hurried on her way, but she could already see their ship casting off the shore and beginning her voyage. They hadn't bought tickets, but the plan to stow away had still sunk before it had begun. She heaved a sigh before dejectedly walking back the way she'd come, her head down and her hands in her pockets.
She bought a box of popcorn and sat on the edge of the pier; Scylla had been following her from the depths, and now she broke the surface to look up at her curiously. Eva pecked at a handful, and then tossed some down to her friend.
"Perhaps this would work better if you boarded first, and opened a window for me." She mused, adjusting the glasses she was wearing. Her hair was currently brunette, and even without a false face, she looked different from her norm.
"May be. We can do it?" Scylla agreed haltingly, popping some of the white bugs into her mouth. It had been around a week, but her English had improved rapidly once Eva had introduced her to TV. Eva was very nice; If she'd hunted for her own food, Scylla would've hunted with her.
Watching the figures at the end of the pier for want of a method to leave, the trio were soon given to understand that there would be no easy egress from the docks before sunrise. That was unacceptable. There was a time frame to maintain; it had already taken this long by foot and horse to come from Las Vegas to Florida.
"I told you we should have tried those locomotive things."
Stop snarking the narration. An errant seagull very nearly hit the more impudent of the three as it relieved itself and went diving back into the waters. As one, though they hadn't heard the ladies talking, the three, something of one mind and certainly looking like one body if not for the scars, formulated a plan to do the same, though they were already rather tired.
The Killer Whale potion would allow for better eyesight and breath maintenance underwater. If they could make it to a ship within the three and a half minutes more of air it offered, stowing away would expedite getting off this continent and begin across the great seas. Well... at least if they weren't caught to boot, but with the speed of that wake's departure, getting -to- the ship would be the more immediate concern.
Mirit was all but halfway to taking his dose with Hrol and Names when he picked out a detail his more preoccupied siblings hadn't, in that of Scylla's tendrils.
The swordsman had, of course, never seen any such thing, either in person or in the texts his progenitor and Grandmaster drew up; and he, in turn, approached the creature with cautious curiosity, since she seemed to be eating and talking with what seemed to be a human without any sort of malice. His siblings, already mid water, pulled out of sight.
"-and the rest are flattened cargo carriers, which means quarters will be cramped. I'd have to infiltrate into the ballast to let you in, unless you swam alongside us the whole trip, which simply won't do-"
Scylla slowly blinked as Eva chattered, picking up the general gist of the half-plans and cautionary warnings. She'd seen her do this when faced with a problem, eventually finding a solution amidst the words. For her part, the abyssal squid thought with her body; if she could study a puzzle with her hands, she could usually solve it.
"Maybe Ebien? Metal birds?" She suggested, pointing up. Eva looked to the sky, while Scylla spotted the seagull bobbing on top of the water. She waved her hands at Eva and widened her eyes before sinking from sight.
The seagull went under the drink without a sound, barely even a ripple. Yellow lights circled around it, going wide until they disappeared. When Scylla popped back up, she pulled a feather out of her teeth and smiled up at Eva, who smiled right back.
"Can you make it ultraviolet and in-far red, now?"
Scylla nodded before the lights on her cycled through the spectrum, before they became Blacklight and illuminated plankton around her, then seeming to disappear. Many creatures in the deep sea couldn't see certain wavelengths of light or colors; she used them like an invisible flashlight to hunt prey.
"Eva? Will be okay." She chirped, before turning and looking towards Mirit's approach. She blanched, and would've fled to stand on the bottom, except Eva looked reassuringly at her and leaned over the water.
"Gute nacht." Scylla said uncertainly, cycling through the colors again.
"Pleasing evening," he replied, and inclined his head. "Nice night for swimming. Couldn't quite help but notice."
"I don't suppose you might be willing to help with something? I need to reach that ship over there, and I fear I'm not nearly so good in the sea as you appear to be."
He kept himself as calm and reasonable sounding as he could with the boiling curiosity and the awareness that time was ticking, while his siblings went quite out of his view.
"Oh." Scylla said, after staring at him silently for a few seconds. She turned to look at the vessel. "Swim strong! We can make it."
"Wait-" Eva said, squabbling over the edge of the pier and hanging on, before she grabbed a pillar with her legs and shimmied down. Hands on her hips and a projected smile on once her feet were solid, she nodded her head quickly.
"My name is Rick, and this is-"
"Scylla." She said, smiling shyly. Eva pursed her lips and continued. "-and we happen to be seeking a ship as well. Where are you traveling, sir? We may seek the same goal... Can you swim well enough, then? Lead on- it sails further by the moment!"
"Kuwahawi," he replied, hoping the short answer would be enough, for Scylla spoke the truth in this regard. It would serve him right to be stranded on North American shores while his siblings got there first if he spent too long dawdling, but, at least for now, he'd satisfied himself that Scylla and Rick were not inclined to harm. He still wanted to see more of what they could do, but the one's athletic abilities and the other's curious oceanic inclinations already showed more than enough to explain to the Grandmaster what had kept him even if he -did- miss the ship. "You?" he asked, when he'd swum a minute's worth closer and farther to the ship and broke for air.
"The very same." Eva croaked. Scylla had turned and swam towards the ship, while Eva darted further under the pier before a crow flew out following after the two. Scylla had only stayed on the surface for awhile before submerging, blinking white lights under the waves. She moved in long bursts underwater, while Eva flapped her wings and did her level best to keep up.
"You seem a man at arms, though few I know would be ready for a swim like this. I suppose... If I can land on deck, I can open a door or window, or let down a rope. Have you done this before?" The bird asked him in her voice.
"Never," he admitted. "We trained in many affairs, but transforming into a crow has not been one of them, and I've only practiced at swimming to and seizing a ship. Most of them didn't have motors nearly this large. ... or at all."
When they reached the ship, a stony faced brother offering a hand up to breathe on side rigging before the other slapped him half playfully with a cod that that been trying to escape the sleeve it found itself swimming in quite suddenly. He kept an eye out for Eva while taking gratitude for Scylla's lights in the otherwise largely inscrutable fathoms below, to see if any other denizens cared to scrape a bit of meat off the ship sides. Most seemed to be turned off by the wake and its mass.
"What is it used for? How are there so many?"
"Transport, mostly. Overland travel takes too long and too much, and so people here found routes through the water." The crow muttered. Eva adjusted herself by fluttering her wings and alighting on his shoulder, safe from the waves below. She looked askance at Mirit's face, then his brother's forms, and then the surface of the ship. She couldn't tell it's purpose... It wasn't a passenger-cruise ship, but otherwise she wasn't sure. "People or provisions, the only thing quicker than water is air. Most prefer to fly-" it was probably a little weird to hear a crow giggle-"but sailing is fine for their bulk. I may just take poke about and see what this scow holds in it's... Well, it's Holds." She said, perking up at the thought of plunder.
Scylla's tentacles seized the bottom of the rigging before she appeared, being pulled in the ship's wake. By hefting herself forward and up, she reached the others, her lights off entirely to avoid detection. It was... She'd never realized how big the metal whales humans had built were, or how different they were in motion rather than dead on the bottom. Her heart felt fluttery, and she smiled around her hesitantly- this was an Adventure, like Eva had talked about, and now they were past the point of no return.
"Let us see... We'll need maps and perhaps a schedule of their active crew... I'd like a ship manifest as well... Some food, too, I think." Eva considered. "I'm adept at skulking and sneaking- when we're a bit further from land, I'll go up and scout."
"Handy," he remarked quietly, and thought on it. "Your magics rather seem to be as well. I don't suppose you have a few years and a willingness to teach them, do you?"
One of the other Witchers tapped the side and slipped upward after drying his hands, but not enough so to actually reach the deck or one of the sub deck portholes. The other closed his eyes as best he might with the salty spray and the ripping waves, and meditated, looking for all the world as though he slept. For most intents and purposes he might as well have been, save that he still heard and processed the world around him as one awake.
Regaining their energy after a swim like that was to be expected, and Eva was more than right about there being a particular time to engage at actually boarding.
"A few years, perhaps, but the teaching bit isn't much promising. I myself was taught, home-schooled, and then tutored, but, ah, well... I myself am not all that experienced or good with magic. If not for my arcane lineage, like enough I'd have no talents but quick fingers and quiet feet." Eva said, glancing away. "That said, I know a few cantrips and General purpose works- I'll show you a trick or two on the voyage, if you'll repay me in kind."
"I'm a sneaky witch thief, you see. My family trained me in stealth, magic, and combat, because-" Much as she was warming up, Eva couldn't tell a relative stranger that it was because she was mediocre to average at all three."-well, so I would always have the best tools and options at my disposal. Truthfully, Scylla is the true Mage between us."
The squid girl didn't look up at her name; she was eyeing the horizon and every now and then glancing at the Brother sleeping while clinging to the netting. If he fell off, she was going to snatch him back.
"I never asked your name, did I? Er, many apologies are in order. It's a reflex of mine to give false names at the first... I am Eva, not Rick. At this point, I feel-and hope- we can trust one another." She joked, bobbing up and down in place for emphasis. "So... What sort of men are you? Adventurers or Soldiers, I would guess. Maybe assassins, but I don't see enough blades." She winked.
"I suppose I can only take your word as to whether you are Eva and she is Scylla, as is, Rick," Mirit answered with quiet good humor. "You can call us Primus, Secondus, and Tertiary. Or Nose scar, Eye Twitch, and Stares Too Long, if you prefer. Could just use mutant, or contractor, or swordsman, or monster. I suppose you could even use our names if you saw fit."
"Mirit, Hrol, and Na-mes, all of us to a man mostly what you'd call hunters more than soldiers. Uniforms chafe and we don't have enough blades to be hitmen, you hit that right on the nose," he continued, and, despite the reputation for his kind being emotionally dead, offered a bit of a smile. "Mostly, we track and research magic, but we specialize in fighting and killing the sort of monsters that actively prey on people. So long as we don't find due cause and the pay is good at least."
"Sometimes people misunderstand that bit. Your friend there, for instance, isn't someone we'd be a threat to in the slightest right now, so we can clarify that right now and hopefully not have any drama about it. She's not hurting anyone, least of all us."
"You could call him blabbermouth instead," said the brother with his eyes closed, and clicked his tongue. "Honestly doubt we could learn your magics, sadly. We're not so much what you'd call the mage type, though we do have a few useful tricks."
"Your names, I think, until we're stowed away true and proper. In the field, such as it is, the codes will do." Eva said, bobbing her head. "Scholars and monster slayers! I do rather like the sound of that. Is that- well, of course, I suppose Kobberhari will be full of possibilities for you lot. We're the same in that, really. It's very nice to meet you all! I'm so happy you ran into us."
"Oh- I hadn't thought even about Scylla..." Eva muttered, glancing down at her. "I trust your words. Besides, this would be a truly terrible time to fight a sea monster for no coin!" Eva chortled. Scylla had finally stopped getting ready to catch the meditating brother once he'd spoken, and instead was trawling their wake for fish. "I know she's not a human, but she's still a friend of mine. I've not found her like in this world's books, but from her telling, she came from the true floor of the sea. It would be unsurprising if her kind remained unnoticed."
"I don't believe she's a threat to others, but more than a few of our bedfellows lost their pets before I found out how she was hunting while staying with me." Eva admitted darkly, before hopping off Mirit's shoulder and clutching hard to the rigging. With a small puff of smoke, a girl was hanging where the crow had been. She rolled up her blonde wig and took off the glasses, stowing both in her jacket's pocket.
"Ah. Not to worry- I have a few things I can do that aren't quite spells in any case. My own magic is in my blood, so I understand... Have any of you three heard of Crows?" She asked, looking at Mirit and smiling back at him now that she wasn't a bird. She pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and looked down, framing her features. "Although, considering all the sneaking about we do, I suppose it would be better if you hadn't..." She muttered, putting away the mirror. She wouldn't need a false face for this.
"In a few senses. There's an assassin's guild to the name. Birds, and myths to them. Some crows and ravens serve as familiars to Leshens, in dark and older forests of the world. Which Crows were you hoping to recall? We have... very much to learn," Mirit admitted, but smiled back. It was a motion that could have definitely used some practice, if serviceable. "You are not of any particular relation to that one that devours sun deities, are you?"
"Not that I know of, but she could be a cousin to the fifteenth degree. I don't remember seeing anyone such as that at the last few family reunions... My aunt Lynda swallowed a salamander once, but that wasn't impressive, only rather gross." Eva said frankly. She pulled her hoodie off and looped the hood around some rope, holding it in place while she prestidigitized it into a crew man's jumpsuit with flickers of her fingers.
"You see, I come from a pedigree of Crows. Valkyries, nature spirits, that sort of thing. Obviously I'm a human rather than bird, but it's more a matter of arcane pedigree then exacting lineage." She said, gathering up her hair and jamming it under the hat she pulled from her pocket before slipping on the grey coveralls.
"Now... Was there anything you three wished me to pilfer or seek while I sneak and scout? I'll hunt a hide-hole first, but I'll like enough have my run of the ship as long as I'm careful."
"Information, mostly, if you can. We know the ship is bound for our ultimate destination, but not anything about the intermittent ones along the way, or what the vessel is hauling. Any place to stow away and, ah, commandeer supplies without being caught is a must, as well. If necessary, how we might best incapacitate the crew and work the ship, but that's a last resort..." he looked to his kinsman.
"Pudding," said the meditating Witcher. "Discover if they should have any pudding."
"Oh, I'll see your pudding, and soon as, take it." Eva said jauntily, rolling her shoulders and looking focussed. Her excitement made her eyes sparkle. "Mark my words, by day's dawn, we'll be secreted within this ship, knowing more about it than the crew. I'll go up, sneak inboard, enter in the shadows, and then full ghost out. From now until my return, there should be no real change of state aboard the vessel, if I'm successful. If there is..."
Eva considered it, quirking her head and looking upward before shaking it dismissively. "If I'm caught, it may be best to remain here. I'll path them away from you until I can hide as a bird and lose any pursuers. Once I'm unnoticed, I'll rejoin you all again. I'll be back." She said, before climbing up higher, to a point she could look onto the deck. She braced upward and snuck a peak; cargo containers and empty dark space-
Eva swung off the roped edge, caught the lip of metal at the top, pulled herself up, and was gone.
Scylla looked up after her; she knew Eva would find a way to sneak into the metal wh- ship. It was what she was best at, she'd seen herself. That left her with the group of other predators like her. It was less of a problem then she'd expected; there was more than enough food up here for them all. Pudding sounded good, along with whatever else Eva managed to fit in her jacket pocket. Scylla had once watched her quickly sneak six basketballs inside, one after the other before they'd run away. She had high hopes for her return.
For now, the silence was nice; she almost didn't want to break it. Without her lights active, she felt almost like she-they?-should have been hunting. Instead, she just stared up at the moon. Her squid-eyes ate it. Every time she saw it... A rock? Really?
"Do you know much? About the islands?" She asked, labored, looking at each of the three. Her accent was still heavy, but her voice was bubbly and quiet. She wished she could've just strobed blue lights toward them instead, but she liked their new friends all the same. They reminded her of a pack of wolves, the Sharks of the land.
She'd picked up bits and pieces of the conversation; Eva was right, her English had to get better. She mulled over it before looking back up, towards Mirit.
"Want to see some magic?"
"Certainly. It'd be good to know what you can do, Madame Scylla. I'm fairly sure we've seen nowhere near the extent of what this world's magics have to offer, either," Mirit answered with some small excitement escaping. "How about you? We know a few Signs, if it'd please you to see them after you're done."
"I know my magic, but not others. I haven't seen them." She said simply. Eva had shown her some stone mountain called Hogwarts on TV, but Scylla hadn't been able to make heads or tails of anything else in the movie. Her own powers came naturally, not from books. They also worked better with her lights on...
Scylla kept hold of the bottom of the ropes with her tentacles, raising her hands and making a shoving motion; in front of her, a ten foot wave boomed up and swept out and forward. She looked up again at Mirit, before focusing on the Meditating brother; a sweep of her hands later, and shimmery, near-incorporeal Mage armor slotted over his own gear, the plates a translucent blue.
She turned back to the ocean sweeping by them and raised her hands again, palms in the wake of their ship. She paused, before a small patch of ocean briefly glowed in a yellow shimmer.
"I blessed that water."
The next patch of sea darkened, turning coal-black.
"I cursed that water." Scylla echoed herself placidly, waiting for it to pass. She knew they'd like this next one, everyone but Eva seemed to.
The final square of ocean turned a deep, bloody red for ten feet around them; it wasn't salty, but it was full-bodied-
"This is wine! I can make others too!" She said happily, watching the alcohol pass by in their wake. "I would show more, but the humans here would see... What can you do? Pleasee?" She asked, blinking quickly upward.
Opening his eyes and slowly moving, testing the function of the strange but functional apparition, the young Witcher thumped his chest and looked at Mirit. "Found some very interesting folk."
"Don't leave a lady begging," returned his brother back, "let's have at some signs. See how her armor plays against ours."
He cast a Sign, going slowly so that she could see the movements of his fingertips. "This is Quen, one of the Signs of Earth. It's used for shielding, although if you become very proficient with it, it can provide other bonuses. Revert wounds, repair tools. It's extremely useful and one of the first ones our Order instills, because not being hurt is one of the best ways to survive a fight."
Both brothers drew their swords and had a stroke at one another, then another, not holding back in the slightest. Quen vanished, but Mirit and his apparel were unscathed. His brother observed Scylla's armor impassively... it still seemed to be functioning, as well as undamaged. "Good stuff."
"The thing about Signs other than being very basic useful things, is," Mirit recast Quen, "they're not exactly something you run low on, unless you break your hands or lose a limb. There's a lot of magics that will wear out a proper mage or take a very long time in the casting. Signs are nigh on infinitely repeatable as necessary, barring the Witcher being exhausted from, say, other combats."
"Axii is a mind altering one, but much trickier to see and to use," he showed her next, then, "Igni is one of the main two for combat, but throwing fire at one another would definitely make the humans see."
They sniffed at the wine in the saltwater a bit wistfully. "Aarde, though, we could show you."
A blast of force sent both reeling toward the edges after they signed it both ways. "Your try!" Mirit encouraged at her. "Just push your magic into your limbs and make the shapes. It works better if you learn the philosophies and all, of course, but it really is made to be quick to pick up."
"Quen, Axii, Igni, Aarde..." Scylla murmured, looking down at her hands. She'd watched the shapes Mirit had made carefully, and watching how he'd done it. Put her magic in her limbs and make the shapes... Like channeling energy through her metal staff.
(3)
Her first attempt was not so good; she thought she'd perfectly done it, but nothing happened. Scylla shrank a little and tried again, following the movements as she remembered and willing her own power out through the sign.
Scylla's lights crept on, a dark purple that gathered around her limbs rather than her core; when she once more tried to cast Aarde, there was some force that emanated from her gesture.
"Aaaah!" She sang, before happily looking at Mirit and the other two. "Thank you! I will practice, and I will learn." Her lights dimmed and went away, even while she slowly went through the motions of the movement piece by piece.
"Who made the signs? They are good! Are you hungry? We can hunt together? What's pudding-" she chattered excitedly, putting a tentacle onto the water and lifting out of it a twelve foot long spar of ice. She aimed (when she did, it looked a little like Aarde- magic she could do through movement and not purely her own energy was a new concept and a new plaything both) before the spear tiled and she sent it down, straight underwater with naught but a fizz of bubbles.
"-are you wolves of the land? You are hunters of beasts. What have you hunted? Did you eat it when done? I fought a shark." Scylla said happily, lighting up figuratively.
With an amused look that some would claim they were incapable of, Mirit crossed his legs and watched with what would actually be a fair amount of impressed curiosity below the humor and his cheer at her genial, if not adorable, nature mixed with the strange but fascinating capabilities. It would be his brother that answered first, however. "Pudding is a flavored grain, of sorts. I don't know enough about cooking to explain how, but what could have turned out as bread winds up being a soft liquid with enough solid consistency to feel like wet sand, or mud, but it tastes considerably better. Than, uh, wet sand or mud, but also better than breads and such. It's very sweet, and it has many different forms and tastes."
"He's fond of it," Mirit added, as though such weren't clear. "The Signs were made by sorcerers long ago, who practiced, and who learned, and found more complicated things to do that held more power but took more learnings. The Signs are useful, so they remained, too."
"We are wolves of land and hunters of beasts, but the wolves call us cats," the first nodded to her questions. "We have slain the terrible Werevulture of Kansas City and zombies on the road to Canada, but we are still learning our calling. We ate the Iron Turkey of Georgia when it marauded in Kentucky, and we even got it fried by the Colonel who is known for chickens there."
"Sadly, a lot of what we hunt is not so nice to eat as that iron turkey or a shark," Mirit tacked on. "Instead we use them for decoctions, and potions, and things, so it's not a total waste, but it would be nice to eat more deer or minnow now and again. Zombie tastes awful, Scylla, never try it, trust me on that."
"I hunt the seas. I'm a predator! Watch-" she dipped down under the water, before her inky black cloud roiled out of the ship's wake. She resurfaced and watched it flow by. "I eat what fits my mouth. Fish and things. But I won't eat Zombies. If you say it's so. All my food went away, so I came Up. All the way from the bottom... It was different there. You wouldn't like it."
"I fought a shark! He attacked me. They always want to eat before I do. My arms are strong." Scylla said, her tentacles briefly waving her side-to-side in the water. "I casted spells and bit him until he died, but I couldn't eat him. It was a waste. I have some of his teeth. Do you want them? For showing me Signs?"
She tried to cast Quen; on her first try, it almost- almost- worked. Scylla burbled in delight before looking over and opening her palm towards the third brother. His sword would be glowing a pearlescent robin blue; the power she'd put in it had made it keener and deadlier.
"What's cooking? Do you have Signs for that too? I wish I could show you what I can do..." Scylla said sadly, her white hair floating around her downcast face before she brightened back up. "One day, I will! We are friends now. Pudding sounds good! Like the fish Eva told me about, from Sweden. Made of red sugar."
"Red sugar that is become a new shape, of gelatinous makeup, a... candy, I think it were?" asked the brother with the sweet tooth, and all pretense of meditation or relaxation wafted away. "Those were delightful, those Swedish fish. I hope you might try some."
"There's is a fifth sign, Yrden, which is used for trapping, but that is mostly for containing magics and such. It's not good for shark wrestling," Mirit considered. "We could cook with Igni if we were careful about turning it and heating. Cooking is using heat to change food, Scylla. Sometimes it's to make foods like this pudding or those fish you two are on about, and sometimes it's to make sure that meat isn't wasted, because humans often can't eat meat right off the kill. They call it 'raw' and it makes them sick, so they heat it until it's safe for them."
"I should be happy to cook some shark and see if you like it, or either, if you keep those lovely enchantments going," the third brother grinned away. "But I warn you, these two could make a fine steak taste like grimy boot. Everyone has their different gifts in life, but the culinary arts are not theirs, friend."
"Just so," Mirit admitted, although he stuck his tongue out at him. "I, on the other hand, am better at trying to meet new people and see if they like casting spells and talking together as friends. He's a bit -shy- until it's already going."
The three identical men beamed at her and her white hair. "I think you might like cooking, but there's a charm to raw and rare meat if you can handle it," the cook pondered. "What happened to yours at the bottom, dear?"
"Oh! That's why, Eva did not believe I ate fish wriggling... Cooking is with fire? Like the sun? Or is the sun not fire? I thought it was an explosion. I like the dark better than day." She blinked for emphasis. At the question, she sadly wilted.
"I don't know... It always came and went with tides. Then it went and never came. Down at the bottom, there's no light. No sound. No time. When there's prey, I eat. When there isn't, I wait. I waited and waited, but there was nothing to eat for a long long time." Scylla said, looking up. "I had to leave. My home was a metal whale- the humans call them Sub-marines! I learned about Glorious Germany there. It was a nice lair and haunt."
"I came all the way up! From the bottom, to the shelf, to the surface. There was food south, so I went south. And when I came to Florida... The surface world scared me, but I knew I needed to go there. To find out why the fish had gone away. Eva helped me! She's my best friend. "
"Cooking... Well- well- okay! I'll find fish, or another shark, for you to cook. I won't nibble at it before then. How did you learn to cook?... Is there a lot to learn on the surface world? Many things, people aren't born with?" Scylla asked, tilting her head. "Do... Are many people like you drei?"
"Yes," "No," and "Somewhat," came out at exactly the same time from nigh identical throats to the last of her questions, and they paused to think it over.
"There are many people on the surface world, with a lot to learn, a lot to learn from, and many things people aren't born with but help improve their lives. You will meet many friends up here, and many predators that might try to prey on -you-, too," Mirit answered first. "We are like you and many people. We talk, we think, we play, we work, and we hunt for what we want."
"We are not like many people, as well. We are what they call mutants. We are not Human the way the Humans are, and we are not even mutants like most of the mutants, because we were all -manufactured-. We are made from the same seed for the same purpose," contended another. "We bear different skills than most, different priorities than most, different bodies than most. Some would call us Witchers unnatural monsters, and especially Witcher clones."
"The sun is a great and eternal explosion, far, far from here that brings the surfaces light. Lesser fires fade, both the explosions and the lights, and the lesser flames we will show you to cook with in time. You might dislike them at first. They are very bright, and hot," the one that had answered with the somewhat answered, attempting to distract her from the question. "Sometimes, there are many answers to a question to learn, and all of them are a little true, and all of them are a little false. Did Glorious Germany teach you to speak so well in your metal whale?"
"Yes and no... I thought I learned Common, but I learned to speak German. Now my Common sounds funny. I picked it all up from TV. Eva let me stay in her bathed tub, and we watched it together. A lot happened. I don't think Germany was as glorious as they believed. They lost the war?"
"Mutant? Alike and not alike? I'm not human either. You aren't monsters to me. A sperm whale is a monster... There is much to learn, up here. I hope to learn it all! And improve many lives! For now, I am happy. The signs, and cooking, and the meeting you three. This was a good night. If only I had a fish in my hand..."
"Are there many, many Witchers? Do Cats hunt in packs? I don't have a pack. I haven't seen any other Scylla's for a long time... Can I be in your pack, one night?" Scylla asked curiously.
Mirit began to nod firmly before his sibling got up and lightly cuffed him with a whisper in his ear, when he looked crestfallen for a moment, but still extended his hand in a friendly fashion. "We... recently tried letting someone into the pack and it turned out badly. Three of our cubs were burnt out badly by the experience. I would be happy to try again, myself, but the others might want a bit of caution before we hunt together. If we get to know each other well enough on the way to the island, maybe they'll listen if we try to let you in the den!"
"We mostly hunt alone for small affairs or investigating, but we work in two or threes for big ones to, ah, heard and trap better. In the interest of improving many lives," he added, and considered her other questions. "I- I don't know anything about Glorious Germany or a war, though. We were only starting to explore this world more recently... there's not many more of us right now, though. That tuna fleet going by right now has more individuals than all of us on the planet."
He watched the predator rather than the fish as he pointed down. "Do Scyllas hunt together if you do meet?"
Scylla blinked and eyed the hand before she smiled up at Mirit. She was partly copying the motion she'd seen him and Eva make, but it was genuine. His answer made sense; turtles swam with turtles, and eels with eels. Friends or not, she would have to prove herself first, it was only right.
"No... We're lonely hunters. Deep, deep down, unless you're the hungriest, everything eats everything else. Prey eats prey. Too many of us would empty the dark." She said, lashing out with a tentacle before drawing back and holding a flopping tuna triumphantly upward to Mirit. "I sneak and stalk! Or I use my lights. They trick the prey. I wish I could turn them on..." Scylla murmured uneasily again. She'd rarely kept her bioluminescence off for this long in the wild.
"But... Up here, there's food! Lots of food. People have their own snacks- they call them pets!" She said, hoping Mirit was as surprised as she was at the idea. "Other predators work together up here. It makes the hunt easier. Everyone eats at the end. I like your pack, Mirit, Na-mes, Hrol. You seem deadly like me!"
"I don't... The sub-marine had bones of glass that taught me German. I learned quick!... I'm learning Common quick." She said, before biting the fish. For a moment, her mouth seemed to shudder before the tuna was gone and Scylla was wiping her lips. She didn't want to show them her dentistry; for some reason, she thought those little teeth might be their actual teeth, and not just the first layer. "But there's so much I don't know... The sun? And, and, the white rocks around when it's out are water? I don't understand... We can explore the Islands together! It will be new for me too!" She squeaked, popping out of her confusion to beam up at Mirit and the others again. This time she didn't need to copy them.
Not entirely subtly in the process, Na-mes was already carefully sketching her down and describing her movements and properties in a small book that had rested in a tight waterproofed bag. It was both nature and profession to study the new and curious, and leave that information in the codexes for others to learn. Mirit, on the other hand, gave her a grin already tinging on fondness and a thumbsup alongside his more involved live observations, although he did make a slight brush at his chin to hint at her that there was still a tiny bit of blood on her own. "That we can. And perhaps show your lights to a good bit more prey when we arrive."
"Although first, we should probably get within the ship. The ocean, I am told, is a very, very big place," he blinked. "I can easily believe it, just looking at the horizon. It'll take some time to get there."
"You won't have any troubles, will you? You seemed to fare alright on the docks and in your sub-marine, you said."
Scylla crooked her head and wiped at her chin; when her black hand came back bloody, she dipped under the water and scrubbed her face. When she resurfaced, she hauled herself out of the water, using her tentacles to climb and her arms to secure herself before she was right beneath them instead of on the surface. She smiled gleefully up at Mirit; her eyes briefly sparked light, pale blue.
Up close, it was more obvious that the thing atop her head wasn't actually alive, though it was still seemingly a part of her. Her skin was very white under the moonlight.
"Nope!.... Yes. When I only wanted food, it was simple. Eat, roam, sleep. But things aren't so easy up here. It's all a stranger to me. But I will learn! My troubles will have troubles with me~" she said brightly.
There was a scuffing sound before Eva slipped over the parapet and grabbed for the ropes, hurriedly monkeying her way back down to them. Her face was sheened with sweat, but she looked satisfied.
"Ha! In and out like a breeze of wind. They never once saw-"
"Eva!"
Eva double-took at Scylla out of the water before smiling at her. Her eyes suddenly widened and she dug into the pockets of her jacket.
"I found a manifest, a boarding order, and made copies of the captain's log. Seems this ship will be porting somewhere within Southern America... Oh, and I've somethings for you as well!" She croaked, before putting the papers aside and beginning to pull out Snack Pack pudding cups like rabbits from a hat.
With a sense of gravity, the cat eyed man handed her a heavy coin for each of them. The archaic but well maintained silver dollars from the Big Mountain were worth considerably more now, though he wouldn't know that. "We pay our debts. Thank you, Eva."
He looked askance at the ship. "Barring the ones that we don't get to negotiate. I expect trying -now- would make for problems. Best to wait it out until we reach this Southern America."
"Oh, well- oh. Thank, my thanks in return." Eva warbled, slipping the shiny coins into her pocket. She threaded a few spoons out of her sleeves and handed them to Na-mes along with the pudding cups. She'd raided a few pantries, from the rough pile... Scylla snuck a tentacle around one of the snack packs, staring at it for a few seconds before pulling the top off and holding the cup up to her eye.
"I expect you're right. At the moment, I've put out a few of their eyes and made it easier to once more slip in, but this seems to be a period of greater activity... Come dawn, or the change of guard, would you not rather infiltrate onboard? I've a plan!" She said cheerfully, flopping out a laminated map of the ship. It had some dust on the corners, but she'd already drawn on it with a green sharpie.
"The shipping containers are stacked in pillars, with space in between. I've found one in the center of a row mostly empty, save a carpet of shoes emblazoned with check marks. The glass eye that watches the path wasn't difficult to fool, and we can enter without opening the door..." She said, following around the path with her finger. There were green pirates in the corridors on her version, and the party on the side, waving.
"Once there, we can bide our time before returning here a day before to disembark back towards shore. I don't much fancy fighting a forked lift." She grinned. "I'll scavenge food and water, of course, and well... We'll certainly have light."
Scylla perked up and looked around, the empty pudding cup hanging off her mouth.
Hrol almost even voiced commandeering the ship for their own, but with their limited numbers and the relatively unfamiliar mechanics while also being in a route that the current crew knew but they did not, the Witcher very swiftly reigned in that thought and kept silent. Na-mes patted his shoulder, indicating they'd reached the same conclusion, while Mirit gave a slow smile at the pudding cup. He offered his own to Scylla and traded her the empty one as his brothers went to listening and spooning up the sweet stuff.
"It seems a good plan. We might take some compounds to assist in muffling our movements to help. Please don't take any alarm- or them, frankly, some of the chemicals can be extremely dangerous if you haven't built up a resistance yet. It would be a poor way to show friendship to poison you."
Scylla beamed up at Mirit before going back to using her tongue to empty the cup; Hrol had been right, pudding was well worth the hunt.
"My than- ah, so you're an alchemist, then? Is there anything you three don't have a hand or a finger in?" Eva asked, impressed, eyeing the bottled substance and covering her mouth with the collar of her jacket. "I can make a few simple dyes, and I know of a potion that removes scent from body and clothes, but otherwise I myself never had much of a head for brewing and bubbling."
Scylla had emptied the pudding; it slipped from her hands, and she fumbled with her trash before snatching it out of the air and clutching it, looking down mistrustfully at the ocean's surface. Eva tapped her on the shoulder before dipping and plucking it from her, pocketing the trash; Scylla double-took before looking mollified.
"We're going up! Follow me close, okay?"
"Okay! I will follow. Sneaky sneaky sneaky!" Scylla cheered. Eva smiled at her and put her hood back up.
"Well... If not for the possible poising aspect, I'd have gifted you a share of your silver back for a bottle or two, but I suppose it took more exposure than a dose to acclimate." Eva said, pulling a bandanna out of her pocket and tying it around her face.
Scylla, watching them all, wrapped her tentacles around the bottom of her own face. It didn't have quiet the same effect.
"Oh, I don't know, a fair few things. Turning into a crow or making water into wine I'll have to leave to you two, for instance," Mirit winked in answer to what he half took for a rhetorical question. "But it pays to learn, and it pays not to spell out flaws, too. What we can't do yet we might with the right friends, eh?"
"Scylla already seems to be taking to sneaking herself."
"Sneaky sneaky sneaky~" Came her voice, muffled. Eva looked at her and smiled under her mask before drawing her sword and putting the tip to the surface of the ship. A crow popped from the blade and ruffled itself, looking up at her.
"When the coast is clear, CAW!" She told it seriously, watching the bird hop and scuttle upward to higher rigging.
"Aye, it pays well. I'd say we've both reaped dividends already. She showed you the wine trick? The people in our cheap motel were not as pleased when the pool was suddenly filled with alcohol."
Having chatted already more in hours than they had for weeks of travel on foot to Florida in the first place, Mirit's brothers had almost exhausted their ability to perform dialogue and began moving to read and follow the plans. And, of course, to listen for the CAW. The more talkative sibling nodded slowly. "I imagine they aren't used to sudden magics, hm?"
"The Sudden or the Magic, neither were acclaimed with much joy." Eva allowed, glancing at Scylla and lowering her voice. Since they'd first met, she'd kept in mind that Scylla was her own person, and not her pet; She didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"The light coming from my room, I could explain away; A few missing cats and dogs were simple enough to cover. But when the pool went red one night, I knew we'd have to leave quick and quiet. It seems Magic has little place in most of this world. A shame, but I suppose They prefer it that way." She muttered, watching Hrol and Na-Mrs ready themselves for action.
"This isn't MY homeworld, thank the gods, but is your own similar to this? Moved forward and moved on?" Eva asked.
The scene was fairly lost, frankly, on the yellow eyed men, quietly seeking merely a means of transit after traveling half the country to this point.
Eva hurried on her way, but she could already see their ship casting off the shore and beginning her voyage. They hadn't bought tickets, but the plan to stow away had still sunk before it had begun. She heaved a sigh before dejectedly walking back the way she'd come, her head down and her hands in her pockets.
She bought a box of popcorn and sat on the edge of the pier; Scylla had been following her from the depths, and now she broke the surface to look up at her curiously. Eva pecked at a handful, and then tossed some down to her friend.
"Perhaps this would work better if you boarded first, and opened a window for me." She mused, adjusting the glasses she was wearing. Her hair was currently brunette, and even without a false face, she looked different from her norm.
"May be. We can do it?" Scylla agreed haltingly, popping some of the white bugs into her mouth. It had been around a week, but her English had improved rapidly once Eva had introduced her to TV. Eva was very nice; If she'd hunted for her own food, Scylla would've hunted with her.
Watching the figures at the end of the pier for want of a method to leave, the trio were soon given to understand that there would be no easy egress from the docks before sunrise. That was unacceptable. There was a time frame to maintain; it had already taken this long by foot and horse to come from Las Vegas to Florida.
"I told you we should have tried those locomotive things."
Stop snarking the narration. An errant seagull very nearly hit the more impudent of the three as it relieved itself and went diving back into the waters. As one, though they hadn't heard the ladies talking, the three, something of one mind and certainly looking like one body if not for the scars, formulated a plan to do the same, though they were already rather tired.
The Killer Whale potion would allow for better eyesight and breath maintenance underwater. If they could make it to a ship within the three and a half minutes more of air it offered, stowing away would expedite getting off this continent and begin across the great seas. Well... at least if they weren't caught to boot, but with the speed of that wake's departure, getting -to- the ship would be the more immediate concern.
Mirit was all but halfway to taking his dose with Hrol and Names when he picked out a detail his more preoccupied siblings hadn't, in that of Scylla's tendrils.
The swordsman had, of course, never seen any such thing, either in person or in the texts his progenitor and Grandmaster drew up; and he, in turn, approached the creature with cautious curiosity, since she seemed to be eating and talking with what seemed to be a human without any sort of malice. His siblings, already mid water, pulled out of sight.
"-and the rest are flattened cargo carriers, which means quarters will be cramped. I'd have to infiltrate into the ballast to let you in, unless you swam alongside us the whole trip, which simply won't do-"
Scylla slowly blinked as Eva chattered, picking up the general gist of the half-plans and cautionary warnings. She'd seen her do this when faced with a problem, eventually finding a solution amidst the words. For her part, the abyssal squid thought with her body; if she could study a puzzle with her hands, she could usually solve it.
"Maybe Ebien? Metal birds?" She suggested, pointing up. Eva looked to the sky, while Scylla spotted the seagull bobbing on top of the water. She waved her hands at Eva and widened her eyes before sinking from sight.
The seagull went under the drink without a sound, barely even a ripple. Yellow lights circled around it, going wide until they disappeared. When Scylla popped back up, she pulled a feather out of her teeth and smiled up at Eva, who smiled right back.
"Can you make it ultraviolet and in-far red, now?"
Scylla nodded before the lights on her cycled through the spectrum, before they became Blacklight and illuminated plankton around her, then seeming to disappear. Many creatures in the deep sea couldn't see certain wavelengths of light or colors; she used them like an invisible flashlight to hunt prey.
"Eva? Will be okay." She chirped, before turning and looking towards Mirit's approach. She blanched, and would've fled to stand on the bottom, except Eva looked reassuringly at her and leaned over the water.
"Gute nacht." Scylla said uncertainly, cycling through the colors again.
"Pleasing evening," he replied, and inclined his head. "Nice night for swimming. Couldn't quite help but notice."
"I don't suppose you might be willing to help with something? I need to reach that ship over there, and I fear I'm not nearly so good in the sea as you appear to be."
He kept himself as calm and reasonable sounding as he could with the boiling curiosity and the awareness that time was ticking, while his siblings went quite out of his view.
"Oh." Scylla said, after staring at him silently for a few seconds. She turned to look at the vessel. "Swim strong! We can make it."
"Wait-" Eva said, squabbling over the edge of the pier and hanging on, before she grabbed a pillar with her legs and shimmied down. Hands on her hips and a projected smile on once her feet were solid, she nodded her head quickly.
"My name is Rick, and this is-"
"Scylla." She said, smiling shyly. Eva pursed her lips and continued. "-and we happen to be seeking a ship as well. Where are you traveling, sir? We may seek the same goal... Can you swim well enough, then? Lead on- it sails further by the moment!"
"Kuwahawi," he replied, hoping the short answer would be enough, for Scylla spoke the truth in this regard. It would serve him right to be stranded on North American shores while his siblings got there first if he spent too long dawdling, but, at least for now, he'd satisfied himself that Scylla and Rick were not inclined to harm. He still wanted to see more of what they could do, but the one's athletic abilities and the other's curious oceanic inclinations already showed more than enough to explain to the Grandmaster what had kept him even if he -did- miss the ship. "You?" he asked, when he'd swum a minute's worth closer and farther to the ship and broke for air.
"The very same." Eva croaked. Scylla had turned and swam towards the ship, while Eva darted further under the pier before a crow flew out following after the two. Scylla had only stayed on the surface for awhile before submerging, blinking white lights under the waves. She moved in long bursts underwater, while Eva flapped her wings and did her level best to keep up.
"You seem a man at arms, though few I know would be ready for a swim like this. I suppose... If I can land on deck, I can open a door or window, or let down a rope. Have you done this before?" The bird asked him in her voice.
"Never," he admitted. "We trained in many affairs, but transforming into a crow has not been one of them, and I've only practiced at swimming to and seizing a ship. Most of them didn't have motors nearly this large. ... or at all."
When they reached the ship, a stony faced brother offering a hand up to breathe on side rigging before the other slapped him half playfully with a cod that that been trying to escape the sleeve it found itself swimming in quite suddenly. He kept an eye out for Eva while taking gratitude for Scylla's lights in the otherwise largely inscrutable fathoms below, to see if any other denizens cared to scrape a bit of meat off the ship sides. Most seemed to be turned off by the wake and its mass.
"What is it used for? How are there so many?"
"Transport, mostly. Overland travel takes too long and too much, and so people here found routes through the water." The crow muttered. Eva adjusted herself by fluttering her wings and alighting on his shoulder, safe from the waves below. She looked askance at Mirit's face, then his brother's forms, and then the surface of the ship. She couldn't tell it's purpose... It wasn't a passenger-cruise ship, but otherwise she wasn't sure. "People or provisions, the only thing quicker than water is air. Most prefer to fly-" it was probably a little weird to hear a crow giggle-"but sailing is fine for their bulk. I may just take poke about and see what this scow holds in it's... Well, it's Holds." She said, perking up at the thought of plunder.
Scylla's tentacles seized the bottom of the rigging before she appeared, being pulled in the ship's wake. By hefting herself forward and up, she reached the others, her lights off entirely to avoid detection. It was... She'd never realized how big the metal whales humans had built were, or how different they were in motion rather than dead on the bottom. Her heart felt fluttery, and she smiled around her hesitantly- this was an Adventure, like Eva had talked about, and now they were past the point of no return.
"Let us see... We'll need maps and perhaps a schedule of their active crew... I'd like a ship manifest as well... Some food, too, I think." Eva considered. "I'm adept at skulking and sneaking- when we're a bit further from land, I'll go up and scout."
"Handy," he remarked quietly, and thought on it. "Your magics rather seem to be as well. I don't suppose you have a few years and a willingness to teach them, do you?"
One of the other Witchers tapped the side and slipped upward after drying his hands, but not enough so to actually reach the deck or one of the sub deck portholes. The other closed his eyes as best he might with the salty spray and the ripping waves, and meditated, looking for all the world as though he slept. For most intents and purposes he might as well have been, save that he still heard and processed the world around him as one awake.
Regaining their energy after a swim like that was to be expected, and Eva was more than right about there being a particular time to engage at actually boarding.
"A few years, perhaps, but the teaching bit isn't much promising. I myself was taught, home-schooled, and then tutored, but, ah, well... I myself am not all that experienced or good with magic. If not for my arcane lineage, like enough I'd have no talents but quick fingers and quiet feet." Eva said, glancing away. "That said, I know a few cantrips and General purpose works- I'll show you a trick or two on the voyage, if you'll repay me in kind."
"I'm a sneaky witch thief, you see. My family trained me in stealth, magic, and combat, because-" Much as she was warming up, Eva couldn't tell a relative stranger that it was because she was mediocre to average at all three."-well, so I would always have the best tools and options at my disposal. Truthfully, Scylla is the true Mage between us."
The squid girl didn't look up at her name; she was eyeing the horizon and every now and then glancing at the Brother sleeping while clinging to the netting. If he fell off, she was going to snatch him back.
"I never asked your name, did I? Er, many apologies are in order. It's a reflex of mine to give false names at the first... I am Eva, not Rick. At this point, I feel-and hope- we can trust one another." She joked, bobbing up and down in place for emphasis. "So... What sort of men are you? Adventurers or Soldiers, I would guess. Maybe assassins, but I don't see enough blades." She winked.
"I suppose I can only take your word as to whether you are Eva and she is Scylla, as is, Rick," Mirit answered with quiet good humor. "You can call us Primus, Secondus, and Tertiary. Or Nose scar, Eye Twitch, and Stares Too Long, if you prefer. Could just use mutant, or contractor, or swordsman, or monster. I suppose you could even use our names if you saw fit."
"Mirit, Hrol, and Na-mes, all of us to a man mostly what you'd call hunters more than soldiers. Uniforms chafe and we don't have enough blades to be hitmen, you hit that right on the nose," he continued, and, despite the reputation for his kind being emotionally dead, offered a bit of a smile. "Mostly, we track and research magic, but we specialize in fighting and killing the sort of monsters that actively prey on people. So long as we don't find due cause and the pay is good at least."
"Sometimes people misunderstand that bit. Your friend there, for instance, isn't someone we'd be a threat to in the slightest right now, so we can clarify that right now and hopefully not have any drama about it. She's not hurting anyone, least of all us."
"You could call him blabbermouth instead," said the brother with his eyes closed, and clicked his tongue. "Honestly doubt we could learn your magics, sadly. We're not so much what you'd call the mage type, though we do have a few useful tricks."
"Your names, I think, until we're stowed away true and proper. In the field, such as it is, the codes will do." Eva said, bobbing her head. "Scholars and monster slayers! I do rather like the sound of that. Is that- well, of course, I suppose Kobberhari will be full of possibilities for you lot. We're the same in that, really. It's very nice to meet you all! I'm so happy you ran into us."
"Oh- I hadn't thought even about Scylla..." Eva muttered, glancing down at her. "I trust your words. Besides, this would be a truly terrible time to fight a sea monster for no coin!" Eva chortled. Scylla had finally stopped getting ready to catch the meditating brother once he'd spoken, and instead was trawling their wake for fish. "I know she's not a human, but she's still a friend of mine. I've not found her like in this world's books, but from her telling, she came from the true floor of the sea. It would be unsurprising if her kind remained unnoticed."
"I don't believe she's a threat to others, but more than a few of our bedfellows lost their pets before I found out how she was hunting while staying with me." Eva admitted darkly, before hopping off Mirit's shoulder and clutching hard to the rigging. With a small puff of smoke, a girl was hanging where the crow had been. She rolled up her blonde wig and took off the glasses, stowing both in her jacket's pocket.
"Ah. Not to worry- I have a few things I can do that aren't quite spells in any case. My own magic is in my blood, so I understand... Have any of you three heard of Crows?" She asked, looking at Mirit and smiling back at him now that she wasn't a bird. She pulled a small mirror out of her pocket and looked down, framing her features. "Although, considering all the sneaking about we do, I suppose it would be better if you hadn't..." She muttered, putting away the mirror. She wouldn't need a false face for this.
"In a few senses. There's an assassin's guild to the name. Birds, and myths to them. Some crows and ravens serve as familiars to Leshens, in dark and older forests of the world. Which Crows were you hoping to recall? We have... very much to learn," Mirit admitted, but smiled back. It was a motion that could have definitely used some practice, if serviceable. "You are not of any particular relation to that one that devours sun deities, are you?"
"Not that I know of, but she could be a cousin to the fifteenth degree. I don't remember seeing anyone such as that at the last few family reunions... My aunt Lynda swallowed a salamander once, but that wasn't impressive, only rather gross." Eva said frankly. She pulled her hoodie off and looped the hood around some rope, holding it in place while she prestidigitized it into a crew man's jumpsuit with flickers of her fingers.
"You see, I come from a pedigree of Crows. Valkyries, nature spirits, that sort of thing. Obviously I'm a human rather than bird, but it's more a matter of arcane pedigree then exacting lineage." She said, gathering up her hair and jamming it under the hat she pulled from her pocket before slipping on the grey coveralls.
"Now... Was there anything you three wished me to pilfer or seek while I sneak and scout? I'll hunt a hide-hole first, but I'll like enough have my run of the ship as long as I'm careful."
"Information, mostly, if you can. We know the ship is bound for our ultimate destination, but not anything about the intermittent ones along the way, or what the vessel is hauling. Any place to stow away and, ah, commandeer supplies without being caught is a must, as well. If necessary, how we might best incapacitate the crew and work the ship, but that's a last resort..." he looked to his kinsman.
"Pudding," said the meditating Witcher. "Discover if they should have any pudding."
"Oh, I'll see your pudding, and soon as, take it." Eva said jauntily, rolling her shoulders and looking focussed. Her excitement made her eyes sparkle. "Mark my words, by day's dawn, we'll be secreted within this ship, knowing more about it than the crew. I'll go up, sneak inboard, enter in the shadows, and then full ghost out. From now until my return, there should be no real change of state aboard the vessel, if I'm successful. If there is..."
Eva considered it, quirking her head and looking upward before shaking it dismissively. "If I'm caught, it may be best to remain here. I'll path them away from you until I can hide as a bird and lose any pursuers. Once I'm unnoticed, I'll rejoin you all again. I'll be back." She said, before climbing up higher, to a point she could look onto the deck. She braced upward and snuck a peak; cargo containers and empty dark space-
Eva swung off the roped edge, caught the lip of metal at the top, pulled herself up, and was gone.
Scylla looked up after her; she knew Eva would find a way to sneak into the metal wh- ship. It was what she was best at, she'd seen herself. That left her with the group of other predators like her. It was less of a problem then she'd expected; there was more than enough food up here for them all. Pudding sounded good, along with whatever else Eva managed to fit in her jacket pocket. Scylla had once watched her quickly sneak six basketballs inside, one after the other before they'd run away. She had high hopes for her return.
For now, the silence was nice; she almost didn't want to break it. Without her lights active, she felt almost like she-they?-should have been hunting. Instead, she just stared up at the moon. Her squid-eyes ate it. Every time she saw it... A rock? Really?
"Do you know much? About the islands?" She asked, labored, looking at each of the three. Her accent was still heavy, but her voice was bubbly and quiet. She wished she could've just strobed blue lights toward them instead, but she liked their new friends all the same. They reminded her of a pack of wolves, the Sharks of the land.
She'd picked up bits and pieces of the conversation; Eva was right, her English had to get better. She mulled over it before looking back up, towards Mirit.
"Want to see some magic?"
"Certainly. It'd be good to know what you can do, Madame Scylla. I'm fairly sure we've seen nowhere near the extent of what this world's magics have to offer, either," Mirit answered with some small excitement escaping. "How about you? We know a few Signs, if it'd please you to see them after you're done."
"I know my magic, but not others. I haven't seen them." She said simply. Eva had shown her some stone mountain called Hogwarts on TV, but Scylla hadn't been able to make heads or tails of anything else in the movie. Her own powers came naturally, not from books. They also worked better with her lights on...
Scylla kept hold of the bottom of the ropes with her tentacles, raising her hands and making a shoving motion; in front of her, a ten foot wave boomed up and swept out and forward. She looked up again at Mirit, before focusing on the Meditating brother; a sweep of her hands later, and shimmery, near-incorporeal Mage armor slotted over his own gear, the plates a translucent blue.
She turned back to the ocean sweeping by them and raised her hands again, palms in the wake of their ship. She paused, before a small patch of ocean briefly glowed in a yellow shimmer.
"I blessed that water."
The next patch of sea darkened, turning coal-black.
"I cursed that water." Scylla echoed herself placidly, waiting for it to pass. She knew they'd like this next one, everyone but Eva seemed to.
The final square of ocean turned a deep, bloody red for ten feet around them; it wasn't salty, but it was full-bodied-
"This is wine! I can make others too!" She said happily, watching the alcohol pass by in their wake. "I would show more, but the humans here would see... What can you do? Pleasee?" She asked, blinking quickly upward.
Opening his eyes and slowly moving, testing the function of the strange but functional apparition, the young Witcher thumped his chest and looked at Mirit. "Found some very interesting folk."
"Don't leave a lady begging," returned his brother back, "let's have at some signs. See how her armor plays against ours."
He cast a Sign, going slowly so that she could see the movements of his fingertips. "This is Quen, one of the Signs of Earth. It's used for shielding, although if you become very proficient with it, it can provide other bonuses. Revert wounds, repair tools. It's extremely useful and one of the first ones our Order instills, because not being hurt is one of the best ways to survive a fight."
Both brothers drew their swords and had a stroke at one another, then another, not holding back in the slightest. Quen vanished, but Mirit and his apparel were unscathed. His brother observed Scylla's armor impassively... it still seemed to be functioning, as well as undamaged. "Good stuff."
"The thing about Signs other than being very basic useful things, is," Mirit recast Quen, "they're not exactly something you run low on, unless you break your hands or lose a limb. There's a lot of magics that will wear out a proper mage or take a very long time in the casting. Signs are nigh on infinitely repeatable as necessary, barring the Witcher being exhausted from, say, other combats."
"Axii is a mind altering one, but much trickier to see and to use," he showed her next, then, "Igni is one of the main two for combat, but throwing fire at one another would definitely make the humans see."
They sniffed at the wine in the saltwater a bit wistfully. "Aarde, though, we could show you."
A blast of force sent both reeling toward the edges after they signed it both ways. "Your try!" Mirit encouraged at her. "Just push your magic into your limbs and make the shapes. It works better if you learn the philosophies and all, of course, but it really is made to be quick to pick up."
"Quen, Axii, Igni, Aarde..." Scylla murmured, looking down at her hands. She'd watched the shapes Mirit had made carefully, and watching how he'd done it. Put her magic in her limbs and make the shapes... Like channeling energy through her metal staff.
(3)
Her first attempt was not so good; she thought she'd perfectly done it, but nothing happened. Scylla shrank a little and tried again, following the movements as she remembered and willing her own power out through the sign.
Scylla's lights crept on, a dark purple that gathered around her limbs rather than her core; when she once more tried to cast Aarde, there was some force that emanated from her gesture.
"Aaaah!" She sang, before happily looking at Mirit and the other two. "Thank you! I will practice, and I will learn." Her lights dimmed and went away, even while she slowly went through the motions of the movement piece by piece.
"Who made the signs? They are good! Are you hungry? We can hunt together? What's pudding-" she chattered excitedly, putting a tentacle onto the water and lifting out of it a twelve foot long spar of ice. She aimed (when she did, it looked a little like Aarde- magic she could do through movement and not purely her own energy was a new concept and a new plaything both) before the spear tiled and she sent it down, straight underwater with naught but a fizz of bubbles.
"-are you wolves of the land? You are hunters of beasts. What have you hunted? Did you eat it when done? I fought a shark." Scylla said happily, lighting up figuratively.
With an amused look that some would claim they were incapable of, Mirit crossed his legs and watched with what would actually be a fair amount of impressed curiosity below the humor and his cheer at her genial, if not adorable, nature mixed with the strange but fascinating capabilities. It would be his brother that answered first, however. "Pudding is a flavored grain, of sorts. I don't know enough about cooking to explain how, but what could have turned out as bread winds up being a soft liquid with enough solid consistency to feel like wet sand, or mud, but it tastes considerably better. Than, uh, wet sand or mud, but also better than breads and such. It's very sweet, and it has many different forms and tastes."
"He's fond of it," Mirit added, as though such weren't clear. "The Signs were made by sorcerers long ago, who practiced, and who learned, and found more complicated things to do that held more power but took more learnings. The Signs are useful, so they remained, too."
"We are wolves of land and hunters of beasts, but the wolves call us cats," the first nodded to her questions. "We have slain the terrible Werevulture of Kansas City and zombies on the road to Canada, but we are still learning our calling. We ate the Iron Turkey of Georgia when it marauded in Kentucky, and we even got it fried by the Colonel who is known for chickens there."
"Sadly, a lot of what we hunt is not so nice to eat as that iron turkey or a shark," Mirit tacked on. "Instead we use them for decoctions, and potions, and things, so it's not a total waste, but it would be nice to eat more deer or minnow now and again. Zombie tastes awful, Scylla, never try it, trust me on that."
"I hunt the seas. I'm a predator! Watch-" she dipped down under the water, before her inky black cloud roiled out of the ship's wake. She resurfaced and watched it flow by. "I eat what fits my mouth. Fish and things. But I won't eat Zombies. If you say it's so. All my food went away, so I came Up. All the way from the bottom... It was different there. You wouldn't like it."
"I fought a shark! He attacked me. They always want to eat before I do. My arms are strong." Scylla said, her tentacles briefly waving her side-to-side in the water. "I casted spells and bit him until he died, but I couldn't eat him. It was a waste. I have some of his teeth. Do you want them? For showing me Signs?"
She tried to cast Quen; on her first try, it almost- almost- worked. Scylla burbled in delight before looking over and opening her palm towards the third brother. His sword would be glowing a pearlescent robin blue; the power she'd put in it had made it keener and deadlier.
"What's cooking? Do you have Signs for that too? I wish I could show you what I can do..." Scylla said sadly, her white hair floating around her downcast face before she brightened back up. "One day, I will! We are friends now. Pudding sounds good! Like the fish Eva told me about, from Sweden. Made of red sugar."
"Red sugar that is become a new shape, of gelatinous makeup, a... candy, I think it were?" asked the brother with the sweet tooth, and all pretense of meditation or relaxation wafted away. "Those were delightful, those Swedish fish. I hope you might try some."
"There's is a fifth sign, Yrden, which is used for trapping, but that is mostly for containing magics and such. It's not good for shark wrestling," Mirit considered. "We could cook with Igni if we were careful about turning it and heating. Cooking is using heat to change food, Scylla. Sometimes it's to make foods like this pudding or those fish you two are on about, and sometimes it's to make sure that meat isn't wasted, because humans often can't eat meat right off the kill. They call it 'raw' and it makes them sick, so they heat it until it's safe for them."
"I should be happy to cook some shark and see if you like it, or either, if you keep those lovely enchantments going," the third brother grinned away. "But I warn you, these two could make a fine steak taste like grimy boot. Everyone has their different gifts in life, but the culinary arts are not theirs, friend."
"Just so," Mirit admitted, although he stuck his tongue out at him. "I, on the other hand, am better at trying to meet new people and see if they like casting spells and talking together as friends. He's a bit -shy- until it's already going."
The three identical men beamed at her and her white hair. "I think you might like cooking, but there's a charm to raw and rare meat if you can handle it," the cook pondered. "What happened to yours at the bottom, dear?"
"Oh! That's why, Eva did not believe I ate fish wriggling... Cooking is with fire? Like the sun? Or is the sun not fire? I thought it was an explosion. I like the dark better than day." She blinked for emphasis. At the question, she sadly wilted.
"I don't know... It always came and went with tides. Then it went and never came. Down at the bottom, there's no light. No sound. No time. When there's prey, I eat. When there isn't, I wait. I waited and waited, but there was nothing to eat for a long long time." Scylla said, looking up. "I had to leave. My home was a metal whale- the humans call them Sub-marines! I learned about Glorious Germany there. It was a nice lair and haunt."
"I came all the way up! From the bottom, to the shelf, to the surface. There was food south, so I went south. And when I came to Florida... The surface world scared me, but I knew I needed to go there. To find out why the fish had gone away. Eva helped me! She's my best friend. "
"Cooking... Well- well- okay! I'll find fish, or another shark, for you to cook. I won't nibble at it before then. How did you learn to cook?... Is there a lot to learn on the surface world? Many things, people aren't born with?" Scylla asked, tilting her head. "Do... Are many people like you drei?"
"Yes," "No," and "Somewhat," came out at exactly the same time from nigh identical throats to the last of her questions, and they paused to think it over.
"There are many people on the surface world, with a lot to learn, a lot to learn from, and many things people aren't born with but help improve their lives. You will meet many friends up here, and many predators that might try to prey on -you-, too," Mirit answered first. "We are like you and many people. We talk, we think, we play, we work, and we hunt for what we want."
"We are not like many people, as well. We are what they call mutants. We are not Human the way the Humans are, and we are not even mutants like most of the mutants, because we were all -manufactured-. We are made from the same seed for the same purpose," contended another. "We bear different skills than most, different priorities than most, different bodies than most. Some would call us Witchers unnatural monsters, and especially Witcher clones."
"The sun is a great and eternal explosion, far, far from here that brings the surfaces light. Lesser fires fade, both the explosions and the lights, and the lesser flames we will show you to cook with in time. You might dislike them at first. They are very bright, and hot," the one that had answered with the somewhat answered, attempting to distract her from the question. "Sometimes, there are many answers to a question to learn, and all of them are a little true, and all of them are a little false. Did Glorious Germany teach you to speak so well in your metal whale?"
"Yes and no... I thought I learned Common, but I learned to speak German. Now my Common sounds funny. I picked it all up from TV. Eva let me stay in her bathed tub, and we watched it together. A lot happened. I don't think Germany was as glorious as they believed. They lost the war?"
"Mutant? Alike and not alike? I'm not human either. You aren't monsters to me. A sperm whale is a monster... There is much to learn, up here. I hope to learn it all! And improve many lives! For now, I am happy. The signs, and cooking, and the meeting you three. This was a good night. If only I had a fish in my hand..."
"Are there many, many Witchers? Do Cats hunt in packs? I don't have a pack. I haven't seen any other Scylla's for a long time... Can I be in your pack, one night?" Scylla asked curiously.
Mirit began to nod firmly before his sibling got up and lightly cuffed him with a whisper in his ear, when he looked crestfallen for a moment, but still extended his hand in a friendly fashion. "We... recently tried letting someone into the pack and it turned out badly. Three of our cubs were burnt out badly by the experience. I would be happy to try again, myself, but the others might want a bit of caution before we hunt together. If we get to know each other well enough on the way to the island, maybe they'll listen if we try to let you in the den!"
"We mostly hunt alone for small affairs or investigating, but we work in two or threes for big ones to, ah, heard and trap better. In the interest of improving many lives," he added, and considered her other questions. "I- I don't know anything about Glorious Germany or a war, though. We were only starting to explore this world more recently... there's not many more of us right now, though. That tuna fleet going by right now has more individuals than all of us on the planet."
He watched the predator rather than the fish as he pointed down. "Do Scyllas hunt together if you do meet?"
Scylla blinked and eyed the hand before she smiled up at Mirit. She was partly copying the motion she'd seen him and Eva make, but it was genuine. His answer made sense; turtles swam with turtles, and eels with eels. Friends or not, she would have to prove herself first, it was only right.
"No... We're lonely hunters. Deep, deep down, unless you're the hungriest, everything eats everything else. Prey eats prey. Too many of us would empty the dark." She said, lashing out with a tentacle before drawing back and holding a flopping tuna triumphantly upward to Mirit. "I sneak and stalk! Or I use my lights. They trick the prey. I wish I could turn them on..." Scylla murmured uneasily again. She'd rarely kept her bioluminescence off for this long in the wild.
"But... Up here, there's food! Lots of food. People have their own snacks- they call them pets!" She said, hoping Mirit was as surprised as she was at the idea. "Other predators work together up here. It makes the hunt easier. Everyone eats at the end. I like your pack, Mirit, Na-mes, Hrol. You seem deadly like me!"
"I don't... The sub-marine had bones of glass that taught me German. I learned quick!... I'm learning Common quick." She said, before biting the fish. For a moment, her mouth seemed to shudder before the tuna was gone and Scylla was wiping her lips. She didn't want to show them her dentistry; for some reason, she thought those little teeth might be their actual teeth, and not just the first layer. "But there's so much I don't know... The sun? And, and, the white rocks around when it's out are water? I don't understand... We can explore the Islands together! It will be new for me too!" She squeaked, popping out of her confusion to beam up at Mirit and the others again. This time she didn't need to copy them.
Not entirely subtly in the process, Na-mes was already carefully sketching her down and describing her movements and properties in a small book that had rested in a tight waterproofed bag. It was both nature and profession to study the new and curious, and leave that information in the codexes for others to learn. Mirit, on the other hand, gave her a grin already tinging on fondness and a thumbsup alongside his more involved live observations, although he did make a slight brush at his chin to hint at her that there was still a tiny bit of blood on her own. "That we can. And perhaps show your lights to a good bit more prey when we arrive."
"Although first, we should probably get within the ship. The ocean, I am told, is a very, very big place," he blinked. "I can easily believe it, just looking at the horizon. It'll take some time to get there."
"You won't have any troubles, will you? You seemed to fare alright on the docks and in your sub-marine, you said."
Scylla crooked her head and wiped at her chin; when her black hand came back bloody, she dipped under the water and scrubbed her face. When she resurfaced, she hauled herself out of the water, using her tentacles to climb and her arms to secure herself before she was right beneath them instead of on the surface. She smiled gleefully up at Mirit; her eyes briefly sparked light, pale blue.
Up close, it was more obvious that the thing atop her head wasn't actually alive, though it was still seemingly a part of her. Her skin was very white under the moonlight.
"Nope!.... Yes. When I only wanted food, it was simple. Eat, roam, sleep. But things aren't so easy up here. It's all a stranger to me. But I will learn! My troubles will have troubles with me~" she said brightly.
There was a scuffing sound before Eva slipped over the parapet and grabbed for the ropes, hurriedly monkeying her way back down to them. Her face was sheened with sweat, but she looked satisfied.
"Ha! In and out like a breeze of wind. They never once saw-"
"Eva!"
Eva double-took at Scylla out of the water before smiling at her. Her eyes suddenly widened and she dug into the pockets of her jacket.
"I found a manifest, a boarding order, and made copies of the captain's log. Seems this ship will be porting somewhere within Southern America... Oh, and I've somethings for you as well!" She croaked, before putting the papers aside and beginning to pull out Snack Pack pudding cups like rabbits from a hat.
With a sense of gravity, the cat eyed man handed her a heavy coin for each of them. The archaic but well maintained silver dollars from the Big Mountain were worth considerably more now, though he wouldn't know that. "We pay our debts. Thank you, Eva."
He looked askance at the ship. "Barring the ones that we don't get to negotiate. I expect trying -now- would make for problems. Best to wait it out until we reach this Southern America."
"Oh, well- oh. Thank, my thanks in return." Eva warbled, slipping the shiny coins into her pocket. She threaded a few spoons out of her sleeves and handed them to Na-mes along with the pudding cups. She'd raided a few pantries, from the rough pile... Scylla snuck a tentacle around one of the snack packs, staring at it for a few seconds before pulling the top off and holding the cup up to her eye.
"I expect you're right. At the moment, I've put out a few of their eyes and made it easier to once more slip in, but this seems to be a period of greater activity... Come dawn, or the change of guard, would you not rather infiltrate onboard? I've a plan!" She said cheerfully, flopping out a laminated map of the ship. It had some dust on the corners, but she'd already drawn on it with a green sharpie.
"The shipping containers are stacked in pillars, with space in between. I've found one in the center of a row mostly empty, save a carpet of shoes emblazoned with check marks. The glass eye that watches the path wasn't difficult to fool, and we can enter without opening the door..." She said, following around the path with her finger. There were green pirates in the corridors on her version, and the party on the side, waving.
"Once there, we can bide our time before returning here a day before to disembark back towards shore. I don't much fancy fighting a forked lift." She grinned. "I'll scavenge food and water, of course, and well... We'll certainly have light."
Scylla perked up and looked around, the empty pudding cup hanging off her mouth.
Hrol almost even voiced commandeering the ship for their own, but with their limited numbers and the relatively unfamiliar mechanics while also being in a route that the current crew knew but they did not, the Witcher very swiftly reigned in that thought and kept silent. Na-mes patted his shoulder, indicating they'd reached the same conclusion, while Mirit gave a slow smile at the pudding cup. He offered his own to Scylla and traded her the empty one as his brothers went to listening and spooning up the sweet stuff.
"It seems a good plan. We might take some compounds to assist in muffling our movements to help. Please don't take any alarm- or them, frankly, some of the chemicals can be extremely dangerous if you haven't built up a resistance yet. It would be a poor way to show friendship to poison you."
Scylla beamed up at Mirit before going back to using her tongue to empty the cup; Hrol had been right, pudding was well worth the hunt.
"My than- ah, so you're an alchemist, then? Is there anything you three don't have a hand or a finger in?" Eva asked, impressed, eyeing the bottled substance and covering her mouth with the collar of her jacket. "I can make a few simple dyes, and I know of a potion that removes scent from body and clothes, but otherwise I myself never had much of a head for brewing and bubbling."
Scylla had emptied the pudding; it slipped from her hands, and she fumbled with her trash before snatching it out of the air and clutching it, looking down mistrustfully at the ocean's surface. Eva tapped her on the shoulder before dipping and plucking it from her, pocketing the trash; Scylla double-took before looking mollified.
"We're going up! Follow me close, okay?"
"Okay! I will follow. Sneaky sneaky sneaky!" Scylla cheered. Eva smiled at her and put her hood back up.
"Well... If not for the possible poising aspect, I'd have gifted you a share of your silver back for a bottle or two, but I suppose it took more exposure than a dose to acclimate." Eva said, pulling a bandanna out of her pocket and tying it around her face.
Scylla, watching them all, wrapped her tentacles around the bottom of her own face. It didn't have quiet the same effect.
"Oh, I don't know, a fair few things. Turning into a crow or making water into wine I'll have to leave to you two, for instance," Mirit winked in answer to what he half took for a rhetorical question. "But it pays to learn, and it pays not to spell out flaws, too. What we can't do yet we might with the right friends, eh?"
"Scylla already seems to be taking to sneaking herself."
"Sneaky sneaky sneaky~" Came her voice, muffled. Eva looked at her and smiled under her mask before drawing her sword and putting the tip to the surface of the ship. A crow popped from the blade and ruffled itself, looking up at her.
"When the coast is clear, CAW!" She told it seriously, watching the bird hop and scuttle upward to higher rigging.
"Aye, it pays well. I'd say we've both reaped dividends already. She showed you the wine trick? The people in our cheap motel were not as pleased when the pool was suddenly filled with alcohol."
Having chatted already more in hours than they had for weeks of travel on foot to Florida in the first place, Mirit's brothers had almost exhausted their ability to perform dialogue and began moving to read and follow the plans. And, of course, to listen for the CAW. The more talkative sibling nodded slowly. "I imagine they aren't used to sudden magics, hm?"
"The Sudden or the Magic, neither were acclaimed with much joy." Eva allowed, glancing at Scylla and lowering her voice. Since they'd first met, she'd kept in mind that Scylla was her own person, and not her pet; She didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"The light coming from my room, I could explain away; A few missing cats and dogs were simple enough to cover. But when the pool went red one night, I knew we'd have to leave quick and quiet. It seems Magic has little place in most of this world. A shame, but I suppose They prefer it that way." She muttered, watching Hrol and Na-Mrs ready themselves for action.
"This isn't MY homeworld, thank the gods, but is your own similar to this? Moved forward and moved on?" Eva asked.
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