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Post by Jewel on Nov 9, 2005 16:52:22 GMT -5
"Who told you that there would be? The dolphins?"
The pegasus snorted indignantly. Though she had half anticipated he wouldn't believe her.
"Powers higher than any of that in the sea told me," She said, still locked on his gaze. "We might not be there yet, but I'm telling you it lies ahead of us."
Cutter took in the conversation from a short distance away. His nerves had bristled with the formal approach of the Champions, and he wanted to make sure Tiger would have his assistance if it was needed.
It did comfort him to see the gold mare up again: further proof that his seasickness remedy still proved effective. Mentally, he expressed thanks to the old mare who taught him the receipe all those years ago.
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Post by Crescent on Nov 9, 2005 17:03:14 GMT -5
Tiger did not like to be told what to do. Even less did he like to be told what to do by a mare. Besides, he did not trust magic. In fact, he felt magic was there just to make things more complicated for the most of the time. And then there was the whole feeling vulnerable when someone proved to be in control of powers greater than him. Tiger had never needed the Rainbows for anything, none of them. He never would, either. And none of them would tell him he was wrong.
Not even if the message was delivered through the lips of a beautiful mare.
"Well, I don't believe in any powers higher than the sea," he said firmly. "You were the one who were seasick, yes? Oh, yes, I remember. You didn't want to come on board in the first place. Sure you didn't just see a nightmare?"
Hollow frowned.
"See here," he said sharply. "You could at least take her word into account. She's a seer, you know - medium of the visions given by the Indigo Stripe of the Rainbow of Light. Do you even realise what a big deal that is?"
Sea Tiger bristled and arched his neck.
"I seem to recall we already agreeing that I am the one who makes decisions on this ship?" he growled angrily. From the corner of his eye, as a half-signal, he glanced over to Cutter, whom he knew to be close by. He wasn't afraid of taking on this corn stallion himself, but he knew well what an intimidation his large red friend could pose, and sometimes it was better to deal with these things like that rather than an outright quarrel.
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Post by Bella on Nov 9, 2005 17:19:31 GMT -5
Kail had nodded at Jewel as she said she would accompany. Kail wouldn't mind the company, although she was hoping for time to think. Still, she could think with another Champion with her she was sure.
She let the other two go talk to the captain while she walked to the other side of the ship to look out to the horizon. She couldn't see any signs of a storm either, but she believed every word Jewel spoke, especially as Razz was acting very strange as well.
"See here" she heard Hollow's sharp voice and cringed. Another fight. Another fight and this time with the captain instead of a lesser member of the crew (not that Cutter was much less in charge than the captain). Wishing Kail had her boyfriend's abilities to read minds and send thoughts, she kept her ears back to hear what was going on and butt in if needbe.
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Post by Jewel on Nov 9, 2005 17:39:23 GMT -5
Jewel stood her ground as Hollow spoke, but looked away toward the horizon. She took those few crucial seconds to calm herself, and to be able to turn back to the captain with a non-aggressive, albiet assertive tone.
"Well, I don't believe in any powers higher than the sea," he said firmly
"Nor do I wish to force those beliefs upon you," She said evenly, looking him in the eyes. "You have your beliefs just as I have mine. I will respect yours if you do the same."
"Captain," She addressed him calmly, formally, "This is no attempt to defy your authority on the ship. We've only come to you because of concern for the welfare of ALL those aboard," She paused, but didn't look away, "Aren't we to act as a team, rather than enemies? I know we've had a rough start, but if this ship hits a storm and we aren't prepared.. we'll all be in danger."
"You were the one who were seasick, yes? Oh, yes, I remember. You didn't want to come on board in the first place. Sure you didn't just see a nightmare?"
The mare sighed, "It's true that my body doesn't take kindly to the sea," She tried to choose her words carefully, "But you must trust me, I'm well aware now of the extent of the Indigo powers. It's cooincidence is all."
Cutter slowly advanced toward the group, coming in at Tiger's right flank, but still a short distance away. His emerald eye stayed on the two goldish ponies, just in case his intervention was needed. From his experience, his presence was often all that WAS needed.
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Post by Crescent on Nov 10, 2005 2:49:28 GMT -5
The Captain's sharp words and the approaching figure of the large red stallion made Hollow close his mouth. He still frowned, however, and pawed the deck of the ship with one hoof. He was not one to quarrel all the time, but it seemed he got involved into arguments easily. The reasons at present were slightly different than usually, however. His mind was turned back to Rogue and Tramp, with whom he had travelled for some time. He remembered the time when Rogue had got himself into some trouble, and Hollow had evaluated the situation with the coldest logic and advised he and Tramp simply leave him there, as it would be useless to try and rescue the other unicorn. Obviously Tramp, who would not leave his brother behind, had been furious with him, but Hollow to this day still firmly stood his ground. Everyone died eventually in any case, did they not? Why sacrifice more lives for just one? The sentimentality shown by Rogue's brother had always rather irritated Hollow. That time they had managed to escape with all of their lives, but that had been pure luck, and Hollow rather not played on luck.
There were some rather crucial quirks in his world-view.
Jewel's levelled and calm intervention served to silence Hollow, however, from making any more trouble that time. He had to agree that such an approach was much the better and probably more effective. He wondered a little distantly why it was that he had grown so easily agitated lately? Was it the Stripe? He couldn't tell. This worried him.
Sea Tiger examined Jewel with his eyes while she spoke, not paying any more attention to Hollow as she managed to soothe his feelings. Though not enough to convince him to her view of the storm. He raised his head up and lifted his chin, staring Jewel down from over his nose.
"Well. I can take into account what you have said, and tell the crew to prepare for a storm," he said, willing to give that much in. "But I'm telling you, there ain't no sign of a storm in sight, and if we turn from our course, we will never catch the other ship. But, I guess this is your call. You bought our services. You choose - what is more important to you? That we catch the ship on which your precious treasure is - or that we turn from the storm and lose them? Might I remind you that we do not even know where they are headed? Sea won't hold any tracks. We'll never find them again, I can guarantee you that."
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Post by Bella on Nov 10, 2005 12:48:46 GMT -5
Kail inwardly sighed as Jewel managed the situation with a calm and level head. Thank the Rainbows for others that were less easy to rile up.
Kail wasn't terribly worried about loosing the other ship. They knew which way it was headed right now, and she could easily fly out and find it again, she thought. What she really aught to do was steal onto that ship and hide, and send messages via Razz. Kail's eyes lit up with teh thought - that was a good plan! Assuming she could hide long enough to figure out where they were heading to port, she could always fly off if there were trouble.
Were there any winged pirates?
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Post by Orivy Assassin on Nov 15, 2005 0:30:13 GMT -5
Roxanne was slightly ashamed, and glad when the captain's attention was taken from her. That had been getting a little TOO comfy, really. And darn her for liking it!
She listened with slight alarm to Jewel's news, ears pricked forward. She almost stepped in when Sea Tiger objected, but no fight arose.
Still, even when he conceded she could see he did not believe it. Figuring she could use being on his good side for the time being to her advantage, she lowered her head and spoke to him in a low voice.
"Captain -" Her eyes turned blue for a moment - "It may seem absurd, but the pegasus knows what she is talking about. None of us know the sea like you, and I don't care for magic myself; but Jewel's future-sight is something that I could not permanently deny." She felt that was saying enough; she didn't want to overstep her bounds, nor sound accusatory.
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Post by Jewel on Nov 15, 2005 21:48:59 GMT -5
"Well. I can take into account what you have said, and tell the crew to prepare for a storm,"
"Thank you, Captain," The pegasus said sincerely, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. Then he continued.
"You choose - what is more important to you? That we catch the ship on which your precious treasure is - or that we turn from the storm and lose them? Might I remind you that we do not even know where they are headed? Sea won't hold any tracks. We'll never find them again, I can guarantee you that."
Jewel looked down at the wood grain of the deck for a moment, ears slightly drawn back. Her brow furrowed in thought, as Tiger made a pretty valid point. After a tranquil moment, she raised her head to the blue stallion.
"If we all die, there is little to no hope left for Ponyland. Thus," She paused, speaking slowly and steadily, "We need to consider our lives above our mission for the time being. If Ponyland is to return to normalcy, we must survive first." She paused again, glancing toward the horizon, "And we have ways of finding them, wherever they are." Jewel stretched her large golden wings a short way, and folded them back into place.
"I appreciate your consideration, Captain," Purple eyes locked with Tiger's, and the blowing sea breeze revealed the starred eye on the peg's forehead, "and have nothing more to ask of you."
A short distance away, Cutter exhaled with satisfaction. The pegasus didn't seem the belligerent type, unlike her corn-colored friend. There was no need for drama aboard the ship, but in any case, Cutter would always be ready to break it up. Or just break the offender up. Into pieces.
It was then that the large crimson stallion caught a whiff of something delicious cooking below deck. Listening to his stomach and following his nose, the heavy stallion turned, swished his short black tail, and proceeded to where Gan Ning was cooking.
(Cutter cont. in the new thread)
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Post by Crescent on Nov 16, 2005 7:32:11 GMT -5
Tiger turned to glance at Roxanne when the yellow mare came to him, and felt a strange sensation as the faintest shimmer of blue went over her eyes. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it would have scared the living daylights out of him had not the Blue Stripe's power affected him as well. He almost gulped as he listened to what she had to say. He believed what she said, and her words strengthened the small gnawing doubts within that perhaps these ponies did indeed possess powers greater than he could ever know. But what the yellow mare might not have intended was to pull the pirate captain deeper into the attraction he felt for her. A bit of a smile crept over his lips, and he might have turned to continue the conversation with Roxanne rather than Jewel, had not the pegasus spoken to him again.
Tiger forced his eyes off of Roxanne and onto Jewel instead. He listened calmly as she spoke, because of Roxanne's words now giving them more heed, but when the breeze blew the hair off of her forehead, revealing the star, Tiger stepped instinctively back. Yes, he was forgetting himself. These were magic-users, the lot of them. Both the pegasi seemed to carry some strange marking, and he was somehow certain that should he look thoroughly enough, he could locate such markings from the others as well. The suspicion mingled with sheer fear returned. He would rather have died than shown the fear, and therefore it was promptly disguised as even deeper suspicion.
"Good," Tiger said, tearing his eyes off of Jewel's penetrating ones. Noticing Roxanne very close, he chose to back away more, to avoid looking at any of the Champions. "Well. As I said, it'd be your choice, in the end. I will guide this ship as my instincts and my knowledge of the sea tell me, and if you want anything different, you take the responsibility for it."
He decided that was enough said on the topic, and returned to the helm, taking the control of it back into his own hooves.
"I'm sure Gan Ning soon has food ready," he said, as though an encouragement.
Hollow chose to keep this time his mouth shut. He saw there was no point in any kind of argument. He was uncertain of the situation, in any case. He had the utmost faith in Jewel's abilities as a seer, but all the facts seemed to refute her premonition. Could it be that she was wrong? He felt anxious to make a decision for his own part if they should continue in the same course or not - even if his decision would make no difference to what they would in the end do - but it was difficult. Magic versus experience? He couldn't make up his mind.
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Post by Orivy Assassin on Nov 17, 2005 17:29:48 GMT -5
Roxanne threw the captain a grin to try to ease his visible discomfort, and thought it would be prudent to back off... for many reasons, not least of all the rippling muscles in his shoulders as he took the helm...
Food! Now that was a good thought. "Grub, chaps?" she said to Jewel and Hollow.
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Post by Jewel on Nov 20, 2005 2:18:15 GMT -5
"Well. As I said, it'd be your choice, in the end. I will guide this ship as my instincts and my knowledge of the sea tell me, and if you want anything different, you take the responsibility for it."
"Understood." The mare tipped her chin down as a respectful gesture, then turned with a flick of her purple-splashed tail.
Jewel continued to walk slowly toward the front of the ship, trying hard to keep her dignity as the ship often caused her to stumble slightly. She found that by keeping her wings slightly extended, she could compensate for her balance difficulties. It would probably still be a while before she got her 'sea legs', if ever. Thankfully, she soon reached the railing of the ship near the front.
The pegasus took a long, deep breath, though not as steadily as she might have wished. Underneath her composed exterior, her nerves were quaking during her confrontation with Tiger.
It also didn't help that every second they were further and further away from Ponyville.. the place she now called home. The first 'home' she'd had in such a long time. Though her reasons for leaving were to protect that life, that place.. the idea of being so far away was ever unappealing.
And then there was Peri.
Part of her felt guilty for leaving him to the fate of nearly all who remained in Ponyville.. but what could she have done? It was too dangerous to bring him.. and yet.. so dangerous for him to stay. She thought to herself, squinting toward the horizon, Neither of our paths are easy now.. I only wish that no matter the hardship, that.. we could weather it together.
Here, even among the Champions.. I am alone.
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Post by Crescent on Nov 20, 2005 3:30:55 GMT -5
Hollow had to be satisfied with what the other Champions seemed to decide - as no one was arguing against continuing on the current course, it was as good as decided. Though he felt it was the wrong thing to do, he let it lie. The worse would have been to continue making an argument. He was not here to argue, he was here to give another point of view. That send him thinking for a moment. Yes, he was here as a counsellor, nothing more. He was not here to fight, was he? How could he fight? Of course he was strong, but there were many a stallion on board stronger than him. He tossed his tail just slightly nervously. A familiar thought entered his mind again. Was he able to die? He had wanted to be like the stars, immortal. Did stars ever die? Could they be killed? He still wasn't sure, and the uncertainty gnawed at him. He supposed that was what had drawn him to seek for Twilight despite his firm decision not to meet her ever again. He would have wanted to ask her a few questions. Despite everything, he was aware he did not know everything.
And this quest with the Champions - it had opened him a larger world of magic he had not even dreamed of. He felt a little humbled by it. There was so much to learn. And did he not have the worlds of time to learn? But who would teach him? Who would be so wise?
"Grub, chaps?" she said to Jewel and Hollow.
Roxanne's voice shook him awake from his thoughts. He smiled faintly to the yellow mare and nodded. He turned to where he thought Jewel still stood, to nudge her with them, in case she was in her thoughts, as she wasn't saying anything. He blinked when he realised she had moved away. He looked round and saw her soon, standing alone farther away at the bow.
After a moment's hesitation and a lot of ear-swivelling, Hollow chose to go to the pegasus. To him, she still appeared so vulnerable. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the ship's effect on her.
He touched Jewel's other wing with his muzzle, just enough to let her know he was there. Then he walked to her side, looking over to the sea with her. He would have wanted to say something comforting, but suddenly he realised he had no such words in him. All he could say was what he saw, and what he saw was that all things had to die, and that he believed they were still headed for the storm.
For the first time, this depressed him. Why were there no words of comfort in him? Why was there no feeling? Had he so fully concentrated on denying everything like that that he couldn't be with other ponies anymore? Then why did he go on living?
Mortified by his own thoughts, he kept looking out at the ocean, forgetting that he had meant to tell Jewel they ought to go eat, forgetting everything but the endless rise and fall of the waves. There was so much yet for him to learn.
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Post by Orivy Assassin on Nov 20, 2005 5:48:33 GMT -5
Roxanne looked over at the two other champions with a bit of sadness in her eyes. There was nothing in her life that could compare to them, really. She didn't have magic, or emotional trauma, or deep love... she was content herself, and with all of her wiles at work she could always raise a smile - which was very valuable in its own way - but she knew there were levels at which she was just useless to her friends.
She sighed deeply. What a mess. And she turned away to go find food.
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Post by Jewel on Nov 21, 2005 2:37:31 GMT -5
The gold pegasus glanced backward with a purple eye as Hollow approached and touched her. She gave him a small smile before returning her eyes to the horizon.
"Not too easy to negotiate with, huh?" The gold pegasus said rhetorically, narrowing her eyes to the sea. "I think.. that what the captain fails to see.. is that on this ship, in the middle of the sea, we aren't two teams.. we're one. All different," She sighed, "And yet all the same."
Jewel tossed her forelock to the far side of her face, where it would be out of the way of the passing breeze.
"I think many ponies can't understand that," She continued softly, talking more to herself than to Hollow, "It's kind of the point of being alive at all, I guess.. being one in ourselves, but still part of everything around us." Jewel looked up to the darkening clouds as night began to set, "I guess that's why I'm here," She shrugged, and glanced at the stallion after a moment, inwardly wondering his thoughts, but not pressing him to speak.
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Post by Crescent on Nov 22, 2005 3:06:31 GMT -5
Hollow listened to Jewel's words quietly, letting them float in the air through him, past him, inside him. He recognised the wisdom in her words, though it was painful. At first he wanted to deny it, but in the end he had to accept it. She was right. Life was like that. He sighed and put his chin down against the railing.
"I have never been a part of anything," he said very quietly. It was the first time he said anything to anyone about himself, his true thoughts and feelings inside. Something other than involving a mission, or the present situation, or anything like that. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but words got stuck into his throat.
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