End to End (v. 3)

[Mirrah]

Yapping.

[TheLegionary]

gibbon

[Mirrah]

Narcotic.

[TheLegionary]

Cocaine

[Mirrah]

Epidural.

[TheLegionary]

laconic

[Mirrah]

Concise.

[TheLegionary]

Extraordinary

[WindWhisperer]

Youngling

[Mirrah]

Goad.

[Remiel]

They could goad all they liked, but he was not getting on that dirigible.

[Mirrah]

They found that if they wished to get him aboard the airship as ordered, they'd simply have to kidnap him, thus the Pirate was pirated ere the sun rose.

[Remiel]

Ere the Pirate was pirated, he noticed a sickly purple effluvium leaking from the stern.  "That can't be good," he said.

[Mirrah]

Oh, 'twas dread missed, for struggle resulted in a concussion for one mate, and in the ruckus, was the Pirate brought aboard... Off, the ship flew, toward the leisurely lightening sky that became a misty morning--one that would be filled with trepidation and the macabre. The Pirate's premonition had pointed to a problem that would become truth beyond his imagination.

[Remiel]

"I care not for the macabre nature of this voyage," he elucidated.  "Not one bit."

[Mirrah]

Luckily, before allusion became reality, the captain had been alerted of the predicament, and ordered that all aboard disembark while the ship remained intact. "Take the pods and escape! Don't lose the prisoner! Jacobs... you're in charge now!" his voice rang clear on that uncertain morning. While the pods departed (with pirate accounted for, if he favored his survival), plumes of a pulsating light were visible even through the veil of fog. Jacobs could only think of one thing while she stared stoically at a piece of smoking iron as it arced harmlessly overhead, then fell to earth. Who had sabotaged their precious ship? "Rest in peace, Captain," was murmured by those in the pod with herself and the pirate.

[Remiel]

It is a good thing that the pirate was ordered to disembark, for shortly after, the captain, as well as everyone else still aboard the dirigible, was killed.  As usual, the Grim Reaper was always one step behind him.

[Mirrah]

Jacobs cast baleful eyes upon the Pirate, but a hand on her arm brought her back to herself. Surely the prisoner couldn't have been the culprit in the ship's destruction. He had spent far too little time on board. Then who'd done it? A glance at the hand on her arm was all it took for the person beside her to let go and pull back. She didn't have to speak the words for every silent person to understand just what she was thinking.

[Remiel]

Well aware that they were going to blame him for all the destruction, the pirate wondered how to nullify his current predicament.

[Mirrah]

"Leave him," she said roughly, "Just don't let him escape. Tie him up." She'd been able to shake her illogical suspicions of him, but the yearning for the ship that had been home would not be so easily diminished.

[Remiel]

Although the yearning to escape was profound, the pirate decided to lie low for now, preferring to trust in the gestalt of things.

[Mirrah]

The pod landed with a thud on rough and uncertain ground. They were alive... for now. All survivors had been separated by the unanticipated calamity, and the one way they could even think to meet up with the others, was to make their way through the current terrain, now that the pod was spent. They'd landed in the abandoned Forest of Myths and Monsters. A truly terrible turn of events for all involved, for rather than being a simple forest, it encompassed an entire range of mountains and the valleys that they hid, as well as the forests that surrounded them. A veritable kingdom of its own.

[Remiel]

"Oh, no, not the Forest of Myths and Monsters!" said the pirate.  "What a terrible turn of events!!"

[Mirrah]

(My mind blanked on a good name. >.>;; Sorry.)

Jacobs scowled at the Pirate, then dug around in the inner pocket of her jacket for a compass and stared at it for a moment. "Dramatic, aren't we?" she muttered, gave the compass a shake, then sighed. There were six of them in all; such a small group to traverse this forest from who knew where they'd landed. If she had to make a rough estimate, she'd guess that they were somewhere in the northwestern quadrant. A glance towards the lightening portion of the sky confirmed that they were in a sprawling valley within the cusp of the mountain range that they had been flying over. Which, though, was the issue.

"We proceed with caution. Pietre, in the middle with the prisoner. Everyone else, SF-3 formation. Strip her before we leave; we'll need everything we can take."

"Cap--" she cut Pietre off.

"Don't call me that. We don't know if they're really gone yet," she returned vehemently.

"J... Jacobs," Pietre stuttered. Fear flashed momentarily in his eyes before he could hide it. "Shouldn't we wait for daylight?"

She tossed a rueful smile over her shoulder at him and the others while she rifled through overhead compartments and pulled out emergency packs and gear.

"No matter what time of day or night it is, if they want you, they will find you. Our best bet is to not stay in one place for too long. Of course, you can always stay here if you'd rather do that. I'm moving on. Captain's orders." The last words were spoken in a soft and chilled tone while she pulled a back on and hiked a roll of rope onto a shoulder. There were so many unspoken questions in all of the minds of this vestige of the crew, but the chance that there were answers available for them was quite low. Everyone geared up, lost in his or her own thoughts.

"You're going to need to carry your own gear." Her fierce brown gaze speared into the Dread Pirate's, her arching brows beetled while she tugged a hat on and tied it at her nape. "Ever been in these parts before, Pirate?"

[Remiel]

(Now you're just making me feel inadequate!)

"Can't say that I have," said the pirate, sprawling against the side of the ship's boat.  "Oh, wait.  Did you mean THIS Forest of Myths and Monsters.  Well, I may have," he confessed, gesticulating wildly.  "Once or twice."