The Nature of the Serpent

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Musetta drank too much. There was not getting around the fact. She had not drank so much in a long long time, and if she was thinking clearly she would have wondered what possessed her to drink half a bottle of rum in one night. Instead she wondered why the world was moving.

As she opened her eyes, the sun really too bright, she realized it wasn't the world moving, but rather her companion moving that jarred her awake. Blurry eyed, as well as brained, she watched Aias walk away, looking like he possibly was a bit hung over as well. She had no notion of what he was doing but when he walked to the edge she sat up, slightly bothered by how close he was. Then he dropped off the cliff!

"Aias!" Despite the protests from her head, the lurching feeling as she went from barely sitting to up and running, she was quick to get to the edge of the cliff. Her mind whirled, she couldn't even comprehend the questions of "why" or "how" all she knew was he was down there. Her heart in her throat, she knelt at the edge and looked down at the inky depths of the ocean.
 
He hit the water and was in his element letting himself sink with bubbles rising around him and then pushed up from the bottom opening his mouth to gulp down sea water and starting to feel better. Good enough to surface anyway and look up. He was a head looking down at him and waved floating on his back and kicking away from the cliff still looking up at her before turning over and diving again and diving to rest against the bottom curled into a ball and nurse his headache.

He stayed down there a few minutes almost falling asleep again before he moved again to the beach to rest in the sun.
 
That insufferable man! Here she was worried about him, again, and he was off for a pleasent morning swim! Musetta wasn't truly mad with Aias, but her head was cotton and he seemed to constantly do things to aggravate her. Was he trying to drive her crazy, because if he was he might be succeeding.

Walking away from the cliff and grumbling the whole way she looked up at the odd trees. Something to drink, that wasn't rum, would do her nothing but good. Looking around she found a fruit that must have only just fallen, not having cracked or started to rot. Taking her knife she carefully drilled a pair of holes into the fruit, not thinking about how it might dull the blade, and then took a long drink of the liquid inside. It helped. Musetta continued to drink from the fruit as she picked her way back to their shelter, and then to the familiar portion of the beach.

She really shouldn't have had so much rum, but despite the throbbing headache and infuriating man, she found herself smiling. Last night had been very nice. Very very nice indeed.
 
He was lying face down on the sand when she arrived and lifted his head to smile at her as she arrived. Sitting up he, or trying to but ending up falling backwards into the water and staying there looking at the sky. "Morning." he said the water lapping around him and covering his face not that he seemed to mind. "When do you want food?" he asked finally rolling over and crawling a safe distance up the beach and flopping down on the sand and rolling over to sun his front and look up at her.

He had a smile on his face that was all happy despite how his head felt. "Then maybe find more run in the wreck?"
 
A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she shook her had looking at him. When he came back up onto the shore she sat down beside him. "When ever you want to fish. I'm a little hungry, but not in any rush." Smiling at him she then pulled her legs close to her body and looked out at the sea, her chin resting on her knees. She wasn't struggling with her discontent with the sea but simply enjoying the way the light rippled on the surface of the water.

When Musetta looked back at him, despite the fuzziness in her head, she looked at Aias with a peaceful expression. "Foing to have a drunk on the island, am I?" she said with a more gutsy laugh, only to groan and with her eyes closed rub her temples slightly. After a moment a smirk returned to her lips. "If any more Rum is found I think I'm going to stick to drinking a lot less."
 
"Take a swim." he said looking up at the sky and grinning at a cloud scudding overhead. "Makes everything better, always does." he sighed and pointed at the cloud. "That looks like a..." he furrowed his head and frowned, he didn't know what humans called the fish with a lot of spines that were lazy. He would have to find one later and ask. "What is up there?" he asked "I have ever been higher than that cliff, or the mountain in the center of the island. Have you been, or heard of someone who has been further? I want to know what those white things taste like."

He rolled onto he side and looked at her biting his lip and idly drawing a pattern in the sand. "You should also tell me what you want." he remembered what happened on the cliff and he was unsure what it meant. He was unsure of a lot of things now. "To eat." he added hastily. "What I need to catch."
 
"You would think swimming answers every problem," she said with a small laugh as she glanced up from him to the sky. "The clouds? I don't think you'll find them very appetizing," she told him, keeping her eyes on the sky so she wasn't looking at him in disbelief. A sheltered upbringing couldn't explain such a fundamental lack of knowledge, could it? "From the stories I've heard the difference between clouds and fog is how high it is. Granted I've never seen fog create lightning so I don't know for sure that it's true, but I've heard it from more then one person."

Glancing back at Aias he seemed, hesitant. Which was not something she was expecting. He was odd, but he was almost stupidly brave in some situations, and horribly philosophical in others. Right now though he was neither and she wasn't completely sure why. She had a thought or two of what could possibly be going on, but she wasn't certain and it wasn't something she was going to try to pry out of him at the moment. Instead she gave him a big grin. "Surprise me. I trust you to find something good to eat."

Carefully she stood up, not wanting to seem unstable on her feet around him. She had drag too much, and was paying the price, but for Musetta it had been well worth it. She only hoped that Aias would feel the same way. "I will go get the cook fire started."
 
"I do think swimming solves everything." he said "And what it doesn't can be solves easily anther way or isn't worth solving at all." he stood and started walking back into the water, more stable on his feet than he had any right to be. Then he was diving into the water and heading out. He would take his time today, skim along the bottom and burst out of the water, do a backflip and splash back in. Then just let the current take him out and float lazily over the reef, pick up a large shell and investigate it for creatures inside, watch spot chase after a fish. Go down the other side of the reef and take a look in the cave there. Sharks loved this cave, it was their haunt, he couldn't blame them. Deep inside there were small glowing crystals that lit the cave day and night even with the murky water. They were a lot like the ones in the fruit.

A shape moved and he turned, it was spot and Aias moved quickly out of the cave and along the reef almost all the way back to the base of the cliff. May as well gather a few of the crabs that lived there, though with their size one would do... Their bodies were as big as his head.
 
Watching until he dived, Musetta headed up the beach to where their cooking pots and the remains of the fire were. She was getting quite perficient at starting the fire for their meal. Opening up one of the fruits, she sipped some of the sweet liquid. It satisfied her thirst and she didn't seem to be in need of finding fresh water thanks to them. She looked at the oddly shaped fruit and contemplated it for a while. Without it she wold have had to go hunting the island for water or something. Then she shook her head, surprised she forgot that Aias had been her long before her. Wouldn't he have had to discover water first? The pirate frowned, something didn't seem right with that thinking, but she didn't want to know what.

Quickly, she stood and paced away from the fire so that she could look out at the ocean. Now that was a completely different source of trouble. Crossing her arms across her chest she frowned, looking out at it. There had been a time not all that long ago that she had loved the ocean. Yes it was dangerous, but life was about risks, and the reward, the freedom, had been worth it. Now, what did it bring her? Ruins? Yet, she knew that what she lost, nay, who she lost, was the risk that had been chosen. Looking out at the waves she struggled with the pain of losing all she knew, and the joys he once had. Could she forgive? Could she just let go and be happy again?
 
His head broke the surface and he saw her on the beach. He waved and then held up the crab. The thing was massive by normal standards and looked love like a deep sea crab than one found on an island. Then he dropped it, it's struggles buying a few more seconds of freedom as he dived after it and snatched it up before it reached the sandy bottom, then he was wading up and and walking past Musetta, the creature far too alive and far too active to shy handing to her. Then once he was at a hard surface he placed it down and held it in place, grabbed a claw and twisted before pulling the limb off and repeated the process with the other. Then petting the shell he seemed to calm it, leaning down and whispering something and the legs stopped moving. The he was picking it up and holding it, and the meaty claws out to her grinning. "Its the biggest one I've ever seen."
 
Aias' return broke into Musetta's thoughts, but it was not an unwelcomed break. In fact a smile slowly spread as she watched him hold up the crab, drop it, and then return to the surface with it again. She really couldn't believe he size of the thing, even as he brought it up onto the island. It was a monster of a crab. She wondered if it was normal for this island even as Aias began to declaw it. Musetta was glad he took it upon himself to do, for it was a feisty one until he was done. That it just stopped squirming soon after that she chose to believe was due to too much shock on the creature's system.

"Well it is bigger then any I have seen in my life," she happily admitted. "This will make a great breakfast." Taking the offered crab parts she paused only long enough to give him a kiss on the cheek then, walked over to her cooking pots. Her smile was perhaps something closer to a smirk, but she was happy, and soon she would be happier as she would no longer be hungry.
 
He put his hand to his cheek and followed a smile playing tricks on his lips as he tried to settle on a thought to think. Instead he sat down and looked at the fireplace... Musetta hadn't worked out he didn't know how to start a fire and he was thankful, or at least acted like it didn't matter, maybe that was it. "I've had that type before." he said "Very meaty just..." he stopped talking and got to his knees going up to her picking up a small stone on the way. "Tap it like this." he placing his and under hers and tapped the shell of the crab at the back with the stone and the two parts of the shell parted. "Easiest this way and no shell gets int he meat."
 
It was a little surprising when Aias came other to where she was with the crab. As he made his explanation, she tried to keep her attention on what he was showing her. It was a handy trick, but thankfully a simple one, since part of her mind was paying more attention to the fact that he was sitting right next to her, that he smelled like the pleasent things on a sea breeze, and the way his muscles moved on his arms.

"That's very handy," she managed to say once his demonstration was over. Anything that kept the shell bits out of the crab meat was good, though she almost didn't care about any of that at the moment. With a tilt of her head she looked at his face and she smiled. "Thank you."
 
Once the shell was open he moved back glancing at her and going red. No one had even looked at him like that and it made him.. feel. His attention was caught but it and the grin on his face could only be describes as goofy as eh wrung his hands and tried to break the spell on himself. He did eventually and looked down at the sand glad that he had the wet shirt to hide the fact that he was once again glowing in pattern across his skin and most of the way up his neck.

He tried to say something, he really did but all he manages to do was open his mouth and not be able to look directly at her. "I.. I... No problem." he felt like he should scramble away and maybe hide in the shelter.
 
Musetta grinned a bit wider, then turned her attention to the crab. While she was no stranger to intimidating men, Aias's somewhat shy reaction was completely different. It wasn't something she was use to, but she liked knowing that it wasn't just the rum last night. Moreover she just liked the fact that someone saw her as something other then Captain, and it wasn't because of some misconception of what her career choice was. Not that she was completely sure just what he saw in her, but between him and the island there was little of her persona she usually had to lay around people. It was about as honestly herself as she could be.

"This won't take too long. I'm not going to do anything fancy," she told him, while only glancing in his direction. While she did find his embarrassment adorable, she knew if it were her she would rather it not be acknowledged, so she tried to concentrate on cooking their food, but she didn't want him to go and run off. "I still want more off the ship, but I'm thinking it might be time for me to take stock in what we do have and figuring out how to construct something to sail off of here with incase nothing else useful can be brought up. What do you think?"
 
He wasn't thinking much of anything but as long as she wasn't looking at him he could watch what she was doing. "Sound like you've already planned it." he said. "You are the one used to plans. I just.. drift." he was looking down again. He knew he had an important role here but there was still the feeling that he had never done anything for himself since leaving his people.

"Is a great thing still great if to do it you need to do nothing?" the question was muttered and he almost hoped she didn't hear it, then to make sure she didn't answer he changed the subject back to her plan. "I think diving will be easier for me with the wreck the way it is, is you need anything describe it to me and I'll do my best to find it.
 
When Aias said something in a muffled voice, it took her a moment to put together what he said, but by the time she had he was asking her questions in regards to what was needed to be done. "I think you're right, you are the better diver and it would make sense to give you a few objectives then us both swimming around in there. Less chance of something going wrong too." The incident with the shark the day before was still on her mind, but it wasn't enough to keep her out of the water, just to be more mindful of what she was doing.

Then she turned her body so she could look at him directly. "As to what you asked before that, I'll ask you this. If I stab someone and he dies is he any worse off then if I see a man bleeding and because I do nothing he dies?" Yes she was curious as to what he was talking about, but as far as she could tell it wasn't about what they were discussing, nor was it about last night, so it was possible this was a question he had been struggling with for some time. Why he brought it up now, she wasn't sure. Something reminded him of it though and then he realized it wasn't the time or place for it. For her being the planner, and him the drifter, she found he thought too much at times.
 
"I don't want anyone to die." he said quickly looking horrified at the thought. Then he sighed. "But I get your point. so long as its done, it done." he pulled his knees up against himself and rested his chin on them as he hugged his legs. He couldn't go with her even if she succeeded, he knew that much. "What do you need?" he was eying her. "What king of craft do you want to make? I don't think the wood on this island floats very well." It didn't "So you'll need from the ship.. a small boat maybe? A few of those..." he looked down and knitted his brow. "You had a man to repair the ship right? His tools you could fix.." he turned to look at the shelter...
 
Musetta described several things that could possibly help with their escape. That Aias found most everything and then more helped speed things along. A slightly busted up longboat also helped so that Musetta didn't have to attempt to learn if Aias was correct about the usability of the trees on the island as lumber. As much as she asked of her island companion for work, the pirate required more from herself those next several days. Other then cooking, she spent all her waking hours on construction and repair. She wanted to be off the island, but she wanted to be sure she was going to get them somewhere, and that meant not sinking.

It had gotten dark, but Musetta thought she was nearly done with ensuring that the vessel would be seaworthy and so she had told Aias he could head up to get sleep in the shelter. The moon was bright enough to work from, but after midnight she was exhausted and closed her eyes as she leaned her back on their soon to be escape vessel. She was quite proud of the work they had done and knew it would soon pay off.
 
Things on the island had settled into a different routine. His behavior around her had changed and the probing questions has become less frequent. When she returned to the camp though he was shirtless and passing the time by feeding the fire and singing softly in his own tongue. Barely audible above the surface it would sound almost like a chant to the human ears. He had always enjoyed song, one of the few who did in his native depths.

We didn't notice her until she was close but when he did be stopped and turned a glimmer of a smile teasing the corners of his mouth before he stood and looked at her. He felt guilty for what was about to happen and his face became more serious. "Storm tonight." he said. One of his doing, one that would undo everything she had done. "We should prepare."
 
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