Out For A Stroll (Alaya/open)

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya laughed. "That is the chef for you. Always complaining. Lately he has been complaining that there is no good help on board. So I am sure I can convince him" She said with a playful gleam in her eye. She knew just how to convince anyone on the ship of something. "And you still haven't guessed or have you given up like most land dwelling humans?"

[Titus Cortez]

"It's not your cook I'm worried about. It's your Captain." he said. "And I told you not to call me that anymore. The whole reason I'm on this ship-" Titus sat up mid-sentence, scooting a little closer to her and leaning back against the wall of the crow's nest. "Can't you just tell me what you are?" he asked. He reached out to her, taking her chin gently in his hand. He turned her face this way and that. "No pointed ears," he stated. "You aren't an elf." He touched a strand of hair that hadn't been captured by the bandanna. "Nor a nymph. You certainly aren't an anthro." Titus looked at her, wondering. He had somehow forgotten to take his hand away from her face. It wouldn't have obeyed him if he tried, anyway. Not now, that he looked in her eyes. They were they only thing that gave him clues. "It's your eyes." he told her, coming closer to get a better look. His hand still didn't leave her chin. "There's something different about your eyes." Suddenly he found that he couldn't move. He was trapped, like a rabbit in a cage. Stuck. They sparkled, and he could have sworn that he saw the ocean in them as well as they sky, the way he did when he looked into the water so far beneath the ship. He tried to move his hand away, but he couldn't. He couldn't even stand up. "What spell is this, Alaya?" he asked calmly, trying not to show his panic. This was not normal.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya smiled "I really don't think the captain would...mind an extra..." She trailed off as Titus lifted her chin to figure out what she was. As he looked into her eyes she felt this strange sensation. Was she falling for him? Her smiled grew as he tried so hard to escape her gaze. "You think this is bad, you will know nothing till you hear my singing voice" The last hint. If he didn't get it then he never would, unless he met one of her kind.

[Titus Cortez]

His eyes grew in sudden realization, fear, and then acceptance. He stopped trying to struggle out of her spell, and he relaxed. Slowly, he smiled. "Would you sing to me?" Titus asked her. He still couldn't move, but he didn't mind. His heart beat faster, and his stomach squirmed. Come on Titus, how old are you that you suddenly get nervous around girls? Hm? But he couldn't help it. Everyone fell, sometimes. Sure, he'd flirt and show off. But it wasn't often that he fell. He could feel his ears growing red and he could do nothing about it.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya shook her head when he asked her to sing, tearing her gaze away from him breaking the hold she had. "That is one thing I can not do on this ship, ever" She said knowing that if she did most of the crew would never leaver her alone. "Look you have just a few more moments before you have to leave. Any last guesses?" She asked smiling wondering if he would ever figure it out.

[Titus Cortez]

"You'll have to sing for me, some day, won't you?" he asked hopefully, almost sad to be freed from her invisible grasp. His hand fell down into his lap. He almost fell over from where he sat on the floor. He truly hadn't been supporting himself. He had just been held there until she looked away from him.

Titus looked up, across the waters and to the horizon. He really did only have a matter of moments. He looked back to her quickly. "I know what you are." he told her playfully, giving her a little wink. But he didn't say it.

He stood, swinging one leg over the wall of the crow's nest, and then the other, so that he stood on the outer edge of it. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night," he said slyly, smiling at her. That spark of himself that had filled him up until yesterday sprang back into him for a moment. Titus leaned forward, "Pretty girl." he said cheekily, and tried to kiss her. But as he came within an inch of her face, his foot slipped, and he fell. He thought he might crash into the deck in a matter of seconds, before his hand caught the rigging again and he clung to it for life. He looked up at the crow's nest, some forty feet above his head, and snapped his fingers. "Damn." he muttered angrily, and climbed down the rest of the way and scurried back into the hull as the first sunbeams graced the ocean.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya smirked. "Sure you do, and no I will not sing. There is no way I will give you that pleasure" Alaya stood to watch him head off. She laughed when he fell almost hoping that he would "Nice try Land Dweller" She teased. Alaya jumped from the crow's nest and just barely grabbed the net before silently hitting the deck. "A little more grace next time would do you some good" She walked off towards the hull where the chef would be wondering if Titus would follow.

[Titus Cortez]

He kept to the shadows and found his place behind the crate that Axel still slept in. His eyes followed her as she entered, watching. What was she up to? Across, to the far other side of the large belly of the ship, the cook was preparing the morning meal. Oh no, he thought to himself. He began to bury his body as quietly as he could under anything he could find. She's gonna get me killed. Titus drew his sword underneath all of the ropes he was now hiding under, waiting. He made sure to leave a tiny hole to see out of, but it was barely any good in the dark. The only light was what poured in from the staircase, and the lonely lantern the chef used to see with. Don't do it, Alaya. He pleaded silently. They'll keel-haul me.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya knew what she was doing and could care less about what Titus thought. These people were pirates but also they were kind if you knew how to speak their language. She walked over to the chef who was busy chopping vegetables and trying to make a pot of soup at the same time. "Still need a helper here I presume?" She said as she picked up a potato and started pealing it with her knife that she carried at her hip. The chef looked up at Alaya. "Now don't tell me boy that you actually found someone who could handle anything I threw at them?" He smirked thinking that she was only toying around again. "Well if you don't want to know who cut the meet last night then so be it. It did make your job a lot easier and the men really enjoyed the meal. Said it was one of the best things you've cooked" The chef eyed Alaya as she placed down the potato. "You know you're not aloud to bring strays on board" The chef was now listening intently wondering what offer Alaya was going to propose. "You are. You're aloud to hire someone and tell the captain later. I could just have nothing to do with this and you would gain ten gold shillings, and I will never complain about your cooking" Alaya's voice was fluid. A voice that was hard to resist and her offer was tempting. The chef was a little skeptical until Alaya pulled out a bag of coins. "Deal" the chef grabbed the coins as he agreed to the deal. "Lets see this new worker" He said.

[Titus Cortez]

Titus buried himself deeper into his little pile of ropes. He couldn't hear what was being said. All he could see was her handing over a bag of coins. He felt like he was being traded, or bargained over. He didn't know what it was. Little did he know that she had probably just bought his life for ten shillings. He didn't trust pirates. Their word was about as good as a devil's drought promising rain for crops. It never came, that rain. Clouds would linger overhead, dark and full, almost crying with the weight of the water they carried. Almost. They never spilled a drop. He hated those droughts, and he hated pirates. Sirens, mostly, but he wasn't all too loving of the Sea Hounds, either. What have you done? he thought out to her, but she couldn't hear his thoughts. They're going to kill me now.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya silently walked over to Titus' hiding spot. "You do realize that your safe for the moment but if you don't go see the chef now he might change his mind. You should hurry up" Alaya said with a wink. It was safe for him now. The chef was harsh but was one of those who kept their word. She knew Titus thought that she was selling him off but he needed to trust her at least if he was to survive. "Oh and put the weapon away"

[Titus Cortez]

He was buried so deeply now in his pile of ropes, all anyone could see of him was his one eye peeping out. He just stared at her. When she told him to put his sword away, his jaw dropped slightly. How did she know? he wondered. All women must have some kind of ability, he concluded, to just know things that were hidden. Damn it, they way they knew things.

Titus stood up, the ropes falling off of his body like dead snakes, and he sheathed his blade quickly. His heart was pounding. He stared at Alaya. Somehow, he knew that she could see him, even in the darkness. He couldn't speak. He gathered his courage, becoming himself again as he strode out confidently, passing through the large, open bar of sunlight beneath the stairs, then back into the shadows. His hand grasped the hilt of his sword, ready. He stood tall, chest pressed out slightly, muscles tense, like a bear trying to make himself look scarier. But it was, at this point, more like a porcupine standing up his quills. He was nervous. "Aye." he said in greeting. His voice was deeper and gruff than what he had been using the past day around Alaya. He looked straight ahead, like a soldier, eyes refusing to waver for anything.

[Alaya Seawitch]

Alaya had to hide her laughter as Titus stood there in front of the chef. She suddenly remembered she promised to help organize the sea charts that morning. She scolded herself for forgetting something so important. "I must be off. Have fun with your new job" Alaya teased. She nodded to the chef before running up to the deck. How could I be so stupid?

[Titus Cortez]

Titus grunted when she left, though he wanted to yell at her for leaving him with a pirate. Back home, in his own land and farm country, pirates were not a problem of his. He'd fight them. He'd ignore them. He'd get along with them, depending on how drunk they were. But he always hated them. His feet were on solid ground then, and with his sword in hand, he was not to be messed with. But this was the sea. This was their territory. Their ship. Their ball field. He was a foreigner, lost in it all. And she was going to leave him. The land dweller, Titus.

No. That was going to change, right now. He stepped forward, nodding his head down once to show he meant peace, as on edge as he might seem. He looked down at the table, food laying here and there in disorganized piles. "What's first?" His hand never left his sword until he had to cook, after which it would return to his hilt.

The cook seemed nice enough, but Titus didn't trust him. He didn't trust anyone on this ship, except for Alaya. And he wasn't even so sure that he trusted her. But things became more at ease with conversation.

"What made you get on this ship?" asked the cook.

Titus thought for a moment. Alaya was a man to these folks. He could talk freely about her and they would never know. "Trying to impress a woman." he answered.

The cook laughed. "Aren't we all?"