TEOCUITLATL: SQUARE H3

[saltybirds]

This square covers very little ground. There is nothing but sand here and the edge of the island. A short distance from the edge there is the start of the jungle, however it does not quite enter this area

Comments

Re: On ship. (GO SHERRY GO~)

[tunnel_brat]

Sherry wasn't quite sure where she was, how she'd gotten there, or how in the world she was going to get home. But she did know that she was in a pipe, on a ship, visiting one of the engines that her father and mother had helped create when she was almost interrupted by the crew members. The next few hours had been spent in quite a bit of panic along the ship, crawling as quietly as she could manage from one air duct to another.

There was a huge amount of dust bunnies inside the tunnels, which she fairly expected; according to her father, the ducts were only cleaned every few months, but that's what they had the filtration systems for. For the sixth time that night (day?) Sherry resisted the urge to sneeze.

"Ah... ah... ahhh..." a long pause came. Good. She'd beaten it. Then, as if fate had quietly planned the whole thing, the rest of the sneeze came along, "CHU-HOOO!" The echo rang along the duct painfully, four times the size of the action. Sherry banged her head against the top of the duct and winced. She took another few uncertain crawls forward, only to hear an ominous creaking noise.

"...creak?" she mouthed and looked down at her little hands and navy outfit, both covered in dust, to the metal panels below her. The metal moaned again and suddenly sprang open dropping Sherry, the metal plate and dust all over a brown haired man. The poor girl didn't even have time enough to scream.

[lionlike]

Leon was just about to ascend to the main deck of the ship, when a peculiar noise gave him pause... it was a loud. Some sort of noise that he couldn't identify, followed by a bang. Turned and hurried to what he thought to be the source of the commotion, brows furrwing as he paused in a nearby empty corridor. There was no one there, and all else was quiet-- maybe it had come from one of the rooms branching off? He would have hated to leave the ship if something had just malfunctioned or broken somewhere.

...But, wait. There were more sounds. Soft... thumps, maybe, coming from overhead..? Tilted his head back, gazing up at the metal ducts above. Was there seriously something in the airways? Rats?

Before Leon could ponder the matter any further, he heard the sound of groaning metal, blue eyes widening in realization. There was no time to dodge. Though he was somehow able to duck his head and throw his arms upwards to shield himself, the falling debris, dust, and... whatever was shocklingly heavy was not deterred. Leon ended up on the floor, knocked on to his back and under the mini-avalanche, stunned.

Whatever it was, it wasn't a rat. Sputtered and coughed, attempting to blink through the cloud of dust that had been stirred up due to the fall. "What the hell," was all he thought to croak out in response to the situation.

[tunnel_brat]

The air was driven from her lungs when she fell, and she couldn't sneeze, breathe or answer the man's question. Oh no. She'd been caught! What did they do the children who stowaway on ships even if it hadn't been her intent! ? Would she go to jail? Or... or... would they throw her off the side of the ship?!

Maybe if it was a Tortugan ship, the little girl rationalized. But this was the BAF, they... wouldn't do that right?! She coughed weakly, vaguely aware that she was on top of the groaning, sputtering older man and rolled off him as quickly as she could, scrambling up the wall to stand and looking around for another duct or crevice to crawl into. Her only response was to immediately apologize.

"S-sorry, sir!" she wheezed and wiped the dust from her face, then tried to shuffle away as quickly as her sore little body would take her.

[lionlike]

For the love of... of all days to have a stowaway! The dust and his own vision had cleared enough for him to get a look at the girl that had fallen from the air ducts. How such a young kid could have possibly snuck on to the ship like this was... well, it was disturbing and made him uncomfortable just thinking about it, but she was there. And she had to be dealt with. Leon didn't think she was any kind of spy, but now was not the time for stupid mistakes.

Now was also not the time to let her get away. Grumbled as he shoved the metal plate off himself, wobbily pushing himself to his feet and darting after the scampering girl. "You're going to think sorry. Wait a minute!" he called out, nearly hacking up a lung in the process. It was almost comical, in a way; him staggering after a tiny girl while covered in old dust, lint, and cobweb. However, he didn't find it very funny at all.

"Where do you think you're going?" It didn't take much for him to put himself within reach of the child. When he did, he lunged out, grabbing hold of her arm. He'd be damned if there was a destructive little kid runnung around on board. First thing was first. Contact the Captain and figure out what to do with their new... guest.

[tunnel_brat]

"I don't know!" Sherry lamented and wobbled faster. Her knee still hurt from running into that Kairi girl face-first and he was catching up to her--- too late. She squeaked a protest and pulled at his thick fingers.

"Let me go! I'm not doing anything, I swear!" she protested to him. This wasn't how her Great Adventure was supposed to go at all! "Please!" she sniffled, and continued to pull away, almost horizontal to the ground.

[lionlike]

"Look, just.." Augh. It seemed as though he had spooked her, she sounded like she was on the verge of crying. It was hardly his fault though! It wasn't like the air duct experience was enjoyable for him, of course he was going to be irritated. But he didn't want to deal with a bawling child either... so, he paused for a few seconds, taking a deep breath to relax himself. "It's fine. We'll have that cleaned up in no time."

Yes. That's right. One must be patient with children. And calm. He could do this. He loved kids. Even if they did divebomb him from vents. It was fine. "You need to come with me now, okay?" That said, he gave a light tug to her arm, intending on leading her to one of the side rooms. "Did you hurt yourself?"

[tunnel_brat]

The little girl sniffed again, and shook her head, "No, I'm fine, I think." Her knee was a little more bruised, and yes, it hurt to breathe but that would go away soon. She touched the heavy gold locket under her shirt for reassurance. It was still there, thank Whatever was looking out for her, and the chain hadn't broken. She wiped at her face with a dusty sleeve, which only helped to make a more streaky mess on her features.

Sherry was quiet as she followed him, except for the occasional half-hearted hiccup or sniffle, to another room. A cursory examination of the room didn't help, it looked like all the other rooms she'd peeked into from the ducts. She sat down on the edge of the chair and gave Leon a pitiful look. "Am I in trouble?" When Father found out about this, she'd be locked in a room and never let out again, Sherry just knew it.

[lionlike]

See, this wasn't so bad. This was one of the nice kids. Sort of. She was a little whimpery, but he supposed that was to be expected. It was better than screeching and kicking, in any case. Once they were both inside the room, which was really nothing noteworthy, he released the girl's arm and moved away from her a ways. First, to get on the communicator and inform the Captain of the situation. But at the same time, he would have to keep her calm, along with himself.

"No, you're not in trouble," he said quietly, gaze downturned as he fiddled with aforementioned communicator. "You can't wander around by yourself, though. It's dangerous right now." Which was why he hadn't pointed her in the direction of a bathroom. Like hell he'd leave her alone when it was clear she had a thing for hiding in circulation systems.

Tilted his head upwards, stealing a quick glance over at the girl.. "What's your name?"

[tunnel_brat]

Sherry swallowed and pulled the heavy locket from her shirt, holding it between her hands like it was some kind of ward. She eyed the large green stone in the middle like it might help her reply. "Sherry Birkin," she answered. The little girl kept her head down. "But, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

At least she wasn't in trouble, that was something to look forward to, wasn't it? Sherry's nose started to itch and she covered her face to sneeze again, Ah-chu!" This was misery, "What's going on outside? We... we aren't in Valhalla anymore, are we?"

[lionlike]

Now Leon was occupied with his communicator, scribbling who knows what every now and then, though he occasionally stole a quick glance over at the small girl. Sherry... Birkin, eh? "Well," he started after writing something once more. "I'm Leon. So, we're not really strangers anymore." Oh, yes. He was indeed crafty. ...Except not really.

"No, we're not. We're pretty far away from it, actually." But he wasn't going to tell her they were on a remote island looking for treasure, with a very high probability of encountering wild animals or pirate enemies. Nah. Not yet, anyway. He didn't want to scare her. "Tell me a little bit about yourself, Sherry. Like how you ended up on this ship in the first place."

[tunnel_brat]

Sherry gave him a wide-eyed look. How far away could they be? The farthest she'd ever gone was... well, she couldn't properly remember. Sherry fidgeted a little in the chair. "Well... ah... I wanted to see Father's work..." she began in a tiny voice.

"So... I decided to see one of the ships, and then someone came..." she looked up at him, sheepish. "And I hid. I didn't want to get into trouble!"

[lionlike]

So it was all a mistake, then. How unfortunate for her. "I see." Leon set the communicator off to the side for a moment, arms crossing over his chest as he peered over at her. "You might have to stay with us for a little while. We're doing something very important, and we can't go back yet."

Speaking of which, what the hell was he supposed to do with her. Leave her on the ship while he went off on the island? "Plus, most of the crew isn't on board right now."

[tunnel_brat]

Sherry opened her bag and rummaged around in it, trying to think. She pulled a handkerchief out (Father always said a young lady should carry one -- though likely, not for this purpose) to clean her face before answering.

"Does that mean I have to stay here? Is it safe?" Long days in school taught Sherry that while the BAF was indeed glorious, and the pride of Britannia, it could also be very dangerous. "Can I go with you?"

[lionlike]

"...Do you need any water for that?" He wasn't sure how much good a dry rag was going to do, and he was fairly sure she wouldn't try to escape if he left her alone in the bathroom for a few minutes. Air vents were dangerous. She had obviously discovered that, maybe it would be enough to deter her for a while.

Leon furrowed his brows, pondering... well, he could either leave her here with someone else, or he could watch her himself. The island itself would probably be far too dangerous for her, either way. "It's safe on the ship." Now. To go, or to stay. That was the question.

[tunnel_brat]

Sherry shook her head. The dust wasn't as bad, she at least didn't look entirely like a ragamuffin. "Couldn't I come with you?" she asked, plaintive. She didn't want to be alone on a big ship again, especially not when there were interesting things dangers about.

"Please?"