Dreams of the Sunken Moon

Suddenly, a loud and deep whistle was blown, the sound coming straight from the Kira II. It was to let everyone know that they were going to set off in a short while, so everyone who isn't on board better get on board as soon as possible. Caldswell's shout followed the noise, "To those of you not acquainted with a ship, that means if you're not on board when we set off, you get left behind!!" At that point, the cloak hiding the ship began to fold back up front-to-back over the ship slowly, the bow of the Kira II now clearly visible to the outside world.

The loud whistle startled Zelkova, who swam back to the ship to see what was going on. She understood Caldswell's explanation, but really didn't have as much reason to worry as the others did since she didn't depent on the boat for travel like the others. Still, she did need it to get her back to the sea, so she was careful to stay close as she had before. "Get on the ship, ye landlubbers!" Zelkova said, mimicking other sea men she's heard in her days, wearing a wide grin. "Yar har har har!"

The tomthumbs in Roxanne's grasp once again began to struggle for freedom as the naga slithered away from Cazut. Then, they, too, were startled by the whistle of the ship.

Roxanne, being familiar with the seafaring way (her best friend was a fisherman), knew her time was short. She quickly downed both Tombthumbs, and began making her way back to the ship.

On boarding the Kira II, she avoided eye contact with Cazut, and returned to her quarters. The sensation of squirming food was to be enjoyed, even if in secret.

When the whistle sounded, Reg grew pale. It was much, much worse that it happened simultaneously with the lowering of the camo.

He noticed, leaning close on a wall, as Roxanne and Cazut got back on the ship. That was relieving. Being outside the ship at this time would be dangerous for far worse reasons than missing a ride: a loud, clearly artificial noise ringing out in the Jungle, right inside of a major, viable water source. What, had their captain never been in the Jungle before? He would have words with him later. Right now, they needed to get moving, as quickly as humanly possible. More, if possible.

Kaitlyn walked to the deck of the ship, hating the feeling of being inside as it made her feel contained and claustrophobic. The open sky suited her much better, Lance did not follow her. "I wonder where the hell he went." She said sighing heavily.

Lance walked over to Roxanne's quarters, leaning his back against the door frame as he smirked to her slightly. "So Cazut looked awful pissed off coming back from the jungle, what did you do to piss him off so bad? Could it be that you decided not to think of your own words earlier, giving into your more, gory vice of destroying families?" He asked flicking a bit of his hair from his eyes, chuckling a little. He was not judging her, as a matter of fact he didn't care if she did what he think she did, he just wanted to mess with her.

Nihlus winced at the loud whistle as it left his ears ringing for a second he understood the necessity of such a whistle but shared the same thought as Reg even though he didn't know it. That bell would act like a magnet to any hungry pred for miles around and quickly made sure to find a spot near the center of the ship and kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as he watched the forest on both side's. The fairy's ability to fly would be of great use right now to watch for any airborne predators.

"Will someone ask our Fairy friend if she could please look out for more Harpies or any other airborne preds?!" Nihlus shouted his eye's constantly skimming through the tree's to make sure there wasn't anymore movement then that of those returning to the ship from camp.

This is going to be close, every damn pred knows were here now." Nihlus spoke to himself.

"You can just as me yourself you know, I don't bite." She said giggling softly, waiting for the cloak to vanish completely, planning on being a look out since she could fly just as fast as the ship could move, and she had a place to rest when she needed it.

In a few moments, the cloak was finally down, and had hidden away back inside the ship. The circular paddles began to turn rigorously, while at the same time Caldswell pulled another lever from his perch at the helm. It caused a number of reactions, all the same, around the edges of the ship. More wood gave way to metal, which then turned over completely, revealing what appeared to be cannons. Two in particular stood out; they were closest to the centre of the ship, and they appeared almost like part-cannon, part-harpoon, and part-lightning rod. A few of the crewmen manned some of the cannons, an one of them, the man who'd cooked breakfast earlier that morning, manned the port side lightning cannon. The Kira II had now set sail.

Roxanne, eyeing Lance crefully, decided he just wanted conversation. "Yes. There is something... magical about having live, squirming prey tucked away safely in your belly." she said to him. "Not that you'd understand." she quickly added. Standing upright, she looked carefully at him. "I find you, my friend, to be intruiging." she said, slowly circling him. "You are the only human I have met who does not mind my ways. This is unheard of, at least to me. How do you stomach it?" she said, not noticing her tail swas wrapping around his feet. She was so engrossed in the conversation, she did not notice she was stoll realy vry hungry, and he looked tasty. Of course, keeping an even and lighthearted demenour the whole time, oblivious to her instincts.

"In my earlier days here I sed other humans and nekos as bait, I watched them die so I could live, gave me a respect for how this world works and talking to predators like you taught me that your not evil, you just have a different way of life than we do, and nekos eat Neeras, so they have no room to complain when you eat them." He said seriously, a sly smirk on his face. "Others have given me this same look before, interest, but there is hunger behind it....I think you wanna eat me, now I thought we were friends." He said chuckling softly, being annoyingly perceptive as he knew how to read people like a book.

Her tail quickly recoiled, and she turned around. The ship was leaving too early, and human portions would never sustain her. She needed meat, but couldn't eat anyone aboard. She figured she could survive untill the next harbor. Just don't slip up like that again. Silence...

"I must say I am not complaining you backed down. By I am quite honored you found me so edible, makes me proud of myself. And besides I am sure it would take far to much time for a naga your current size to eat me anyways, and then you gotta hide for hours upon hours, just not fun for either of us in that situation." He said chuckling softly patting her shoulder as he smirked a little to her, sweat dropping slightly, showing he was actually quite nervous at the time it was happening.

Roxanne turned around and looked at him. She had a hard time restraining her tail again, but she did. "It would be difficult," she looked him square in the eyes, "you sound as if you have seen it before." She was now curious about this oddly cold human.

"Yes I actually have seen it before. You see I am a nice guy, I would not harm anyone myself, I don't hold grudges, but at the same time if I see someone who is not my friend in danger, I am not risking my life to help them, I take no shame in it. Kaitlyn was back at the village we were staying at, we have a house there, I was with a man and we were supposed to gather some meat, just small animals and junk, a naga like you attacked, came for me, I grabbed him, pushed him into the naga, ran behind some bushes and watched, it was quite, interesting. You gain a new appreciation for nature and life when you witness something like that." He said smirking to her, glad she was interested in him and what he had to say. He always had to tell Kaitlyn a different story, not because she would be mad, but he didn't want to seem like a cruel person.

She thought for a little, seeming to consider this new evidence. "You find no shame is sacrificing others. I feel none in being the one to whom you sacrifice. Thus is the way of this realm. Just remind me not to tell you to watch my back." She giggled.

"Oh don't worry I know I would help your for sure, no reason for me not to, I like you enough, so I got your back. Though out of the 3 predators with us Zelkova scares me the most, probably cause she is still full sized." He said chuckling softly, poking her tail a little bit, having never even touched a snake before so he was curious if it was slimy or scaly.

"You may not but there are those that do and they aren't as nice and find the rest of us quite tasty" Nihlus commented with smirk and watched the ship transform even more. "So do you think you could please be our eye's in the sky?" Nihlus asked Kaitlyn and noticed the ships new current layout.

"Just how many more surprises does this ship have Caldswell?!" Asked seeing some of the crewmen manning gun positions across the ship.

"It would be honor to protect you guys, Lance can help down here as well, I don't know if you saw in the woods but wherever he got those boots, they makes him far to fast for me to even keep up with him." She chuckled as he flew up into the sky effortlessly, loving the open air of the sea, it was so serene.

In hearing Nihlus' question, Caldswell gave another hearty laugh. "As a matter of fact, my friend, I'm not quite sure!" the grizzly neko answered. "My daughter said she made some modifications herself, and to be honest, I haven't seen them all yet."


At the request of one of the crewmen, Zelkova splashed about a dozen fish up onto the deck of the Kira II. Some of the other men, who were still rather hungry from the soup breakfast, let out a cheer as they picked out some fish for themselves and began preparing them in various way, a few of them even tearing into the fish raw. Zelkova was visibly pleased by the cheering, a happy smile on her face. Who doesn't like being appreciated?

Reg walked forward on deck towards Caldswell. They had gone with no incidents, miraculously, but he was still worried. He looked up in the sky; there was a fairy up there, but it was just Kaitlyn. Roxanne and Lance were apparently off talking, and Zelkova was reacting to the happy cries of the ship. Reg bent down, picked up a flopping fish, and poked the captain with it.

"Caldswell, may I have a word with you?"

"Well, here we go again." Shadow said with a grin as he walked up near where Nihlus was. "Hey Nihlus, don't worry, this time I won't make any more scenes while on this ship hehe." He said with a nervous laugh, he felt quite embarrest now about the way he acted before. He walked forward more to the front of the ship, he remembered about the necklace he had on and he opened the pendant on it seeing the picture of his sister on it. "Hmm, maybe if I survive all this... Maybe I can find out what happened to my family... I don't believe that news report for even a second... They ALL can't be dead..." He stood there talking to himself, he shook his head and came back to reality. Stay focused now... I have to be alert for anything... He took his weapon and made it into a sniper rifle and looked around the area with it, trying to spot anything that could be harmfull to the ship.

Roxy looked at him, oddly. "I for some reason doubt you. Oh well. If you'll excuse me, I smell something fishy on the deck."

"And I smell adventure on it." He smirked as he followed her, looking up as saw Kaitlyn, waving to her happily.

Caldswell had not noticed Reg approach him. He, too, was concerned for their safety concerning all the noise the Kira II had made mere moments ago. He jumped a little when he felt the wet scales of the fish touch the flesh of his forearm, and exclaimed, "Oh!" in surprise. "Oh, yes. What's on your mind, chum?"

Reg drew Caldswell aside. He said, quietly but viciously, so that the others couldn't hear, "Captain, may I ask just what the hell you were thinking? There were two people not on board the ship. Two. And they were no more than 30 yards from the ship. Please tell me, sir, just what possessed you to make you think that that required a whistle that could be heard for about 2 miles in any direction? Have you ever come near the jungle before?"

Caldswell sweated a little. He knew someone was going to ask him that, he just knew it. He put his hand to his face as he whispered his response. "I know it wasn't the most ideal way of getting things done, but...Ah..." The neko found himself at a slight loss for words. He decided to just come out with it. "Look, my daughter implemented that device, okay? I told her I would have rathered something a little more discreet, but she insisted that she ship would be strong enough to withstand any attack that could possibly follow the noise. So, against my better judgement, I used it, because it would have made Kira happy. Is that so wrong of a father?" He then gave a sigh after his little rant. "Look, I admit, it was probably a bad idea to put the cloak down at the same time, but I just wanted to be gone as soon as possible. Can you understand?"