The sky was clear and crisp; a blue so pure that the world seemed encased by ice. Bathed by mid-morning light, a lone figure posed atop a flimsy bit of iron that was roaring through the sky. She kept her balance deftly on the vibrating contraption, and seemed quite at ease despite her extreme altitude. Beneath her lay the glittering expanse of the Cienwein Ocean, the shore almost a mile back now.
Glancing over her shoulder at the landmass, Laena nodded and shifted her weight, kicking the board up and catching it. With a sputter, the hover board died, and she began to plummet. She was concentrating on something else, eyes squinted shut. A fuzzy white ear twitched, and she grinned triumphantly. In free fall, she remounted her hover board, leaned towards the back, and flicked something at the back. After a few seconds, the hover board coughed, and steam once again began pouring from the back.
Laena leaned her weight to the left, turning the board in that direction, and set off at great speed. She heard her destination over the roar of her board before she saw it. A small, shabby airship lay at anchor some hundred yards above the surface of the ocean. A myriad of trinkets and junk festooned its rigging and rails, clinking and clanking in the gentle breeze. Spattered along the side in neon yellow paint was 'The Rattlebucket'. Laena grinned in relief, and set the board into a gentle descent.
She sailed in over the deck, and repeated her earlier maneuver to shut the board off. She landed gracefully, though the speed of the hit made her bare feet sting. Hopping about in pain, she grimaced and looked about, searching for the ship's owner.
"JACOPO! IT'S DAMNED DIFFICULT TO FIND THIS JUNKHEAP WHEN I CAN'T HEAR IT!" she yelled, not immediately seeing her quarry. A white tail flicked in annoyance. "JACOPO?"
No answer. Green eyes frowned. Okay, where was the maudlin idiot? She padded about the deck, nimbly avoiding the various piles of curios tossed about. Looking at the mess, she realized something was off. Things had been thrown around. Laena grinned at the irony, but Jacopo was the type who knew where every last stupid trinket was in this mess. Seeing it strewn about like this meant one thing. There'd been someone else on his ship. Laena sighed in disgust. The only people Jacopo allowed on his ship were his current lovers.
Laena looked around again, and sure enough there were little signs all over. Cheap wine bottles. Withered flowers. Curtains?! Laena stared at the lacey pink things as she poked her head in the Captain's cabin. Ugh.
"JACOPO!" she yelled again, after making sure the cabin was empty. There was a sudden clatter of metal. Laena whirled about in time to see a tan hand emerge from a large pile of junk. She ran over, and began clearing Jacopo off. His head, clad as always in his bizarre helmet appeared soon. He squinted up at her, seemingly confused for a moment. Then recognition sunk in and he sighed.
"Stupid cross-breed. What the hell are you doing here?" he muttered, and started piling stuff back onto himself. A vein twitched in Laena's forehead. She dug through the junk, grabbed Jacopo's fuzzy tail, and yanked him out of the pile.
That got a reaction.
"OW! Not the tail, not the tail! Get off my ship!" he yelled, and stumbled to his feet, pulling his tail from Laena's grip. He shook his fist at her. "How many times do I hafta tell you-"
He blinked, his eyes finally seeing Laena.
"Why are you naked?"
Laena crossed her arms in front of her, and smiled dryly.
"I should ask you the same thing."
