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The Moshulu is permanently docked to Penn's Landing, a fancy marina with a variety of nightlife, shopping, and other restaurants. It's the middle of the night, well after all the businesses are closed, the sidewalks and piers empty. The ship rests majestically on the water, it's masts and deck lit with electric lights so that even at night, it's on display.
A young woman stands beside the walkway that leads onto the ship, leaning against the railing. Her dark curls are pulled back into a bun, and she looks around a bit nervously as she waits. She has a heartbeat, and Floretta recognizes her as Melaine.
Floretta approaches Melaine with a little smile, greeting her in a casual manner. "Hey." She's wearing a pair of jeans, leather jacket with a black shirt underneath, her hair is tied into a ponytail and is a bright shade of green "Anything special happen tonight?" she asks the woman.
Having left her Prius in the marina's parking lot, Eyrgjafa approaches on foot. She's clearly not bothered to Blush tonight, dressed in a simple pair of black jeans and denim jacket, hair falling in a long braid down her back.
"You know, when y'all said boat, I was picturin' like a yacht or a 1920s riverboat with the big wheel. Not some kinda pirate ship," Rena says, giving the thing a once over. She's dressed like normal, no frills, no fuss, no muss. "Wait, shit, I forgot somethin'. Be right back," And she dashes away for a second to spit up a shadowy substance on her fist and knife that coat the items before vanishing. "Okay, back."
"Hey," the woman replies to Floretta, smiling nervously. "Not as far as I know? Today was pretty quiet, so maybe they're in a good mood." With a glance back towards the boat. "You and your... friends? ready to go?" She glances past her to the others, then looks to Floretta as she pulls a set of keys out from inside her jacket pocket.
Guy approaches in his normal biker gear; he’s not blushed either, and is looking particularly like a bored large cat tonight.
"By the way do you have any candles left over we could use, just in case it becomes necessary?" Floretta turns around to the rest of the kindreds "Are we good to go?" she waits for their answers
"I'm good." Eyrgjafa says, keeping it simple.
"Boss Man, you want to be able to hurt ghost shit? I can boost you if you want. Might need a hit afterwards, but till then," Rena asks, her eyes suddenly for a brief second opening starkly wide before going back to normal. ((Activating Udjat, I can now see ephemeral beings for the rest of the scene. And am immune to being possessed by Strix))
"I always carry a candle around when I'm in there--I only got one, though." She digs out a small handle to offer out to Floretta. Then she moves down the walkway to unlock the door. She doesn't go inside, stepping back instead for them to go in. "I'll be hanging out nearby. Just text me when you want me to come lock up when you're done," she says to Floretta.
He grunts and ripples, heat pits opening on his face as his hands erupt with barbed bands of scales, his eyes yellow and slitted like a snake. He holds out his hands to Rena.
She picks the candle and smile "Thank you very much. I'll be seeing you soon." Floretta takes a look at the phone in her hand, just to make sure the batteries are setup. She then slowly escort Melaine away before returning a moment.
Melaine obediently heads off, leaving them alone with the ship.
As soon as Melanie leaves, Rena spits out a black oily substance onto Guy's hands, shadows creeping up his body and enveloping his skin before vanishing entirely, like it was never ever there. "Sorry. Gross. Lets go do our best."
"Nobody has any other last minute prep to get done, right?"
“Thank you,” he says to Rena, a forked tongue flickering out of his mouth a moment later. He nods to Eyrgjafa. “Ready.”
"I'm ready. I can only really do the two tricks. I assume neither of you lovebirds want to be able to hurt ghosts?" Rena says, winking at Eyr. She sticks her hands in her pockets and comes aboard. She whips out her switchblade when safely aboard.(edited)
"I got this brass knuckles." She hands it toward Rena and then Floretta activate her proteanl abilities, her skin becomes a little prickier, her hair wild out a bit , eyes go black and she her finger twitch until they're longer "I'd prefer if we manage to speak with the ghost, that would make everything a lot simpler." (predatory aspect as she goes inside.)
Eyrgjafa arches an eyebrow right back at Rena. "No, I'll leave the fighting to those who actually enjoy it, thanks."
The walkway and door leads into the haul of the ship. The door opens into a luxurious welcoming room. While there's still details of the original ship to be found here and there--old wood beams and aged metal bolts and fixtures, as well as some glass cases which contain some old artifacts from the boat's hay days, it's clearly been renovated to appeal to modern, expensive tastes. A set of stairs leads upwards--likely to the deck, while another large door leads into a dining room with tables set out. Notably, every table has a lantern resting in the middle, that is still lit--the tiny flame flicker-flickering.
Rena puts Pseshkf on the brass knuckles and tosses them back, walking in. "Hot damn, welcome to the Queen Mary."
There's a few other smaller, simple doors--two clearly leads to public bathrooms and the kitchen, while the other has a "Staff Only" sign on it.
Floretta and Eyrgjafa can feel something... strange about this place. There's an eerie feeling of being watched, but they don't see anything when they look about. It's not a completely bad sensation, though. The hairs on the back of their neck and arms stand on end, but it's not from fear--it's from excitement. There is no doubt this is a place of power. It practically radiates potential. They also can hear the sound of singing voices, but it's very soft and muffled, like it's being sung from a great distance--but it seems to come from all around them.
Floretta hums the song a little bit, bobbing her head side to side, stuffing her hand into her pocket. She's wielding the candle, careful and looking about. "Wow, I feel this place in my bone."
Eyrgjafa smiles slightly. "Yes, this definitely seems like a good place. We'll get lots of use out of it, I think."
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Rena screams, looking around. She seems legitimately unsettled, a crack in her voice. "This ship is alive! What the fuck? Fuck. Fuck, fuck." She staggers back into the center of the room avoiding the walls
Floretta raise her eyebrow and gasp. "Oh that's... amazing." the opposite reaction from Eyrgjafa and then grins a little bit. "Rena? What do you mean the ship is alive? I doubt it'll hurt us if it never hurted the customers? As long as we don't attack the building, we should be safe." She speaks, trying to make sense of what Rena just said.
He moves promptly to stand at Rena’s back, eyes darting around.
"It's fucking breathing. I'm seeing spirit shit and this thing is a fucking spirit. It's only the older part of the ship, but it's fucking alive," Rena says, carefully moving to a non-living part of the room. "I think I'm entitled to freak out a little when walking into a living thing."(edited)
The sea-shantying fades, replaced with an echo of distant, muffled laughter--the sound of many voices laughing at once, mostly masculine tones. All of them can hear it, echoing around them.
Eyrgjafa pauses, glancing at Rena. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Jesus Christ," Rena says, turning to face a wall. She steps back a little before starting to speak to it, signing along in case it can't hear. "Hi, we come in peace. We want to help you and work with you."
Floretta looks around at the events occuring around her, still holding the candle in front of her. "Well yes, of course, you can..." and then Rena start speaking to the wall and she goes along with it "If you can hear me, yeah that's basically our visit's reasons."
Everyone suddenly can see what Rena sees--that the older parts of the ship are... moving. Almost breathing. Not only that, the wood grain patterns in the wooden walls are moving--appearing like eyes opening and closing to blink and stare at them. Rena and Floretta also hear a voice, but alas are the only ones who can--a cliche of an old timey sailor, rough and gritty. It's clearer than the distant singing and laughing, coming from all over: "How is it ye think ye's can help me?"
Rena keeps her big mouth shut.
Floretta immediately turn toward the speaking sound. "Hello, I've not gotten yer name yet? I'm Floretta and t'is a crew of people that came aboard to learn more and maybe start hangin' round. We weren't expecting this special a greeting yet." she tries to speak in a similar pattern but unfortunately the play. SHe realizes that the others aren't hearing "Hey, Rena, can you maybe run a transcript with the other so they're up to speed with the conversation? Please?"
Rena does so, telling everyone what the probable pirate ghost is saying. As well as translating for Floretta in sign language.
"A new crew, eh?" the voice sounds intrigued. "Are we's ta set sail again? I've been at port for too long. I am Moshulu, One-Who-Fears-Nothing."
"Perhaps. We don't have the numbers to sail a ship this size, though." Eyrgjafa glances at Rena and Floretta, waiting for one of them to relay her statement.
“Is the ship even seaworthy anymore?” He asks quietly.
It is most definitely not.
"I think they can hear all of us," Rena speculates, but dutifully signing Eyr's response.
"More crew can be found," the ship spirit replies dismissively--it does in fact seem the spirit can hear them.
"Setting sail may be a detriment to our goals" Floretta gives the information to the spirit. "One-Who-Fears-Nothing, we are part of the Defiant, the Dragons. We would use the ship and it's location to our end, maybe we could make a bargain with you for your blessing to our presence here?" she looks over her shoulders.
"Dragons, ye say? Never met any dragons, though heard plenty of stories of sea serpents an' the like. Bargains though, that we can possibly do. What ends do ye's have in mind?"
“We can protect this place, help keep it safe from harm...”
"Using this place as a base to study mystic matters, and hold meetings from time to time. Making sure you are honoured, of course."
"We're real good at causin' harm to people tryin' to harm others," Rena says, nodding.
Floretta echose the sentiment from her various companion right this moment and she tries to flourish a little, maybe to impress the spirit. "Our Ends are varied and can sometimes change, we seek to change, perfect ourselves, refusing the limitation of what we've been handed down."
"Honor me? I ain't honored here! I used to sail the world! I've been to every ocean, seen every horizon. I fought in wars, transported the rarest of goods, housed the bravest soldiers. An' lookit me's now... Nothin's but an old forgotten shell for people's to peacock around in... Just gawked at!" It pauses after Floretta speaks. "Change? I like change. I like seein' new places. And if I can'ts see 'em, I wanna hear about 'em. I want stories. I want adventure! Excitement! I want somethin' new." The spirit's voice is boisterous, louder, and they feel the ship tremble and shake around them as the wood grains turn briefly maddeningly chaotic, rippling and moving like crashing ocean waves. "But... Protection, eh? There is a pesky rat that has stowed away on me for far too long. Always startin' fires! As if he didn' need me in one piece to survive too! Damn fucker has gone crazy over the years." The lanterns on the dining room tables suddenly flare brighter, the flames growing larger and flickering faster.
"Oh, fuck. That's. Fuck." Rena says, holding her knife up defensively. "Guy and I fought one of these. Don't bite it, don't get lit on fire."
"We can provide you stories of adventure, at least." Eyrgjafa glances at Guy pointedly. "And deal with this rat, too."
He frowns, moving to cover a door. “I’ll gladly share my stories...and deal with the rat...”
"Yeah we came knowing of the ghost." Floretta is drawn out of a particular thought process right then and there and moves around to interpose between fires and her compatriots that aren't unphased by it. "We may have a use for the rat too, but that might depend on his personal ... attitude."
"I don't care how ya handle 'em," the spirit replies to Floretta. "Just make sure he stops settin' me on fire every time he gets angry."
"If you deal with Wick... and help me feel the excitement of the old days... While doin' no harm to me in the process, I don't mind you and your like usin' my haul for your ends."
He nods. “I think that sounds very amenable to us...”
"I mean, deal. I got tons of rad stories. And I'm good at punchin' things. Even ghosts. I'm real fucking cool," Rena says, trying to cover for her earlier fear.
"Then we's have a deal, aye."
"What can you tell us about Wick, before we go and deal with him?"
"Sounds fair to me, One-Who-Fears-Nothing" Then motion to Eyrgjafa, helping Rena translate this time around when she gets an answer. (back)
"Joseph Wick. One of the first sailors to board me, back when I was new. Was a part'a my crew for years. My lamp trimmer. Always kept my lanterns lit. Till the boy slipped and spilled oil in my haul--went up like kindlin'. Killed most of the crew. Nearly sunk me, but I'm tougher than that. Havin' him around wasn' so bad, for a time. He helped protect me. Watched over the sailors. But over the years... after my lanterns were replaced with the buzzing bulbs, his mind turned sour. Ain't like he used ta be."
“Age will do that,” he says softly.
"You know where to look for him? And, uhh, if we're going to be staying here in you, what pronouns do you prefer?" Rena asks.
"The staff operating the restaurant replaced the buzzing bulb back with lantern in some spot to placate Wick when he got angry about them changing the lanterns." Floretta says nodding. "Because it was too much trouble otherwise. It's why I asked for Melaine's candle coming in, they leave them around for him to light up, to appease him." She smiles brilliantly at Rena for a moment. "We could work that angle."
"He's below, in the store rooms. Where he usually stays. Though he comes out every so oftens ta make sure the lanterns are lit." A beat pause. "Pronouns?" the spirit doesn't seem to understand. "I am Moshulu, One-Who-Fears-Nothing."
“It may not do gender at all,” he offers.
"I mean, do you have a gender? The most common pronouns are he/him for guys mostly, she/her for girls mostly or they/them for people who don't like the other two, but there are other ones like zhe/zhem and ze/hir and stuff. It comes down to what feels the best for ya and you can always try what you want. Ships are usually she/her according to sailors, but it's rude to call a living person a gender just because of what they were born as," Rena explains, forgetting that she's talking to a boat.
"I see." Another beat pause. "Then I am a girl!" proclaims the voice boisterously that still sounds like some impression of Captain Barbosa.
"Then my pleasure, Madam." she looks around again "How would we go to the store rooms ? Like, which doors and which steps?"
"And if you ever wanna change that, just tell me and we'll call you the new one," Rena adds, smiling warmly.
In reply to Floretta's question, the lock of the door that is marked "staff only" rattles briefly, then the door swings slowly open.
It opens to a narrow set of stairs that go down.
“Rena, do you want point?”
"I'm certainly not about to, if Wick is likely to be combative. Better one who enjoys that sort of thing."
"I'll take point, yeah," Rena says, doing some sweet knife tricks. She's worried about flipping her shit when the fire comes out, but she's doing her best to pretend that that won't be an issue.
"We might need to speak with it, do you think Majesty would work on a ghost?" Floretta just casually climb to the wall and hangs above the group below her. "If you have it." she ask toward Eyrgjafa from above.
"I do, but I've never tried using it on a ghost." Eyrgjafa shrugs slightly. "Rena first, then myself and Floretta, then Guy?"
"Works for me. What do you want me to say to it? 'Yo, Wick, come out or we'll brain you?'" Rena asks, rolling her shoulders.
“Sounds good to me,” he says with a sharp nod.
"Sounds reasonable enough." Eyrgjafa shrugs again, concentrating for a moment, before she suddenly seems more powerful and interesting, like the others want to get to know her better, to be her friend.
"I'd prefer maybe offering him something before, I mean, I'm not against walloping him ifhe gets aggressive." She roll her shoulder. "The staff in the restaurant already leave candles out, we could do similar stuff with him to placate him and get two badass allies." she says from the ceiling.
The narrow stairs lead downwards, into the bottom levels of the ship. They can hear the muffled sounds of moving water past the outer walls, as they move down below the waterline. It's dark--no lights on down here, and no windows. But with vampire senses, they can get around without too much issue. These levels are far less luxurious. They've been updated to be safe, but there's more old wood visible on the walls and ceiling, and the floors creak a little more underneath their feet. The stairs comes down into a large open space, which clearly is used for storage for the restaurant--there's a couple large freezers, stacks of boxes and crates, and shelves of supplies. Rena, Wits+Composure, -2 for darkness unless you have something to counteract that.
"Looks like you got an admirer, Chip," Rena says smarmily to Eyr. She then steps forward and shouts, loud enough to hopefully pull attention towards her, "Yo, Wick! We wanna have words with you! So sit down and listen, 'for we have to make you listen!"
"I ain't gonna kick your ass if you sit down and listen like a grownup," Rena says with a sniff. "Also I can see you but not hear you 'less you manifest and these jabronis behind me can't do either till that. So either write on the walls or firm up so we can have a pleasant talk, got it?"
"Jabroni?" Eyrgjafa mouths up at Floretta.
"Rena "The Rock" Harlowe ladies and gentlemen." The mumbles comes from above and she chuckles for a moment there and roll her shoulder. "I only know of it from watching wrestling, it's a word made popular by a big star, we're basically extras or minions in that context." a little grins.
He grins, glancing around the room still. “Glad we’re held in such confidence.”
"I don't know how to talk to ghosts!" Rena hisses behind herself "I panicked and my brain went to heel!"
Eyrgjafa focuses her attention on the space before Rena. "Wick. I want to talk to you. Please manifest."
Rena can see that when Eyrgjafa speaks, the caution and fear in his eyes dims--a bit. His eyes flicker towards Eyrgjafa again, and he steps closer to her, manifesting mid-stride before everyone's eyes. He's a thin man with harrowed, manic eyes. His flesh and clothes are covered in gruesome burns. He stops before Eyrgjafa, shooting Rena another cautious look before looking back at her, pleadingly. "Wasn' my fault," he mutters quickly. "Was an accident. Just an accident." Looks kinda like: https://www.refinery29.com/images/8518627.jpg?format=jpg&width=1024&quality=80
Guy is just doing his best to look non-threatening. It’s, ah, it’s not working, but for the moment he isn’t drawing attention to himself.
Floretta tilt her head to the side at the revelation of theghost that looks ... eerily like an unshaven Robert Pattinson with burns everywhere, she crawls down the side of the wall, to look at the ghost from a different angle. "I wonder what sets him off from this mindset." she murmurs.
"We know, Wick. We just want to talk to you, to make sure there aren't any further accidents." Eyrgjafa's voice is gentle.
"I was just doin' me job. Just keepin' the lanterns lit," he insists frantically, still staring at Eyrgjafa. "I gotta keep the lanterns lit, I gotta..." He trails to a stop, face contorting as he looks around quickly, frenzied and paranoid. "I gotta keep the lanterns lit. The sailors gotta see. Why's it dark? Where's the lanterns?"(edited)
"We can see fine, Wick. There's nothing to worry about." Still that same gentle voice.
"Where are the lanterns supposed to be placed?" Floretta asks, whispering into Eyrgjafa, asking, curious.
"No, no--it's dark! It can't be dark! Where's the lanterns!?" he shouts, growing more erratic and panicked. Alas, Eyrgjafa's attempts to sway him don't quite hook in--but you can try again with a -1, if you like. Floretta, you can roll Wits+Occult.
"We could set the lanterns back up, do you know where they normally go on the ship?" She asks a little curious, she offers the candle in front of him.
The ghost seems seconds away from snapping, until Floretta offers out the candle. His eyes snap to it and he instantly calms, stepping over to cup his hand over it, causing the wick to ignite in a tiny flame. He looks instantly calmer afterwards. He looks back to staring at Eyrgjafa, but replies to Floretta, "Along the walls."(edited)
Rena breaks her silence. "So if we keep these lanterns lit all the time, you won't cause any fires?"
"I just wanna do my job. Ain't safe when it's dark." His face contorts in annoyance. "Even when it's bright... ain't right. Ain't like the lanterns." Which is... probably a yes... ish?
Guy nods. “I think we can find a way to make that work.”
"Yeah we could even have someone do it with you on occasion?" Floretta asks. "But only if you'd like that." she crawls back down onto the floor, careful to let the candle keep burning.
Eyrgjafa nods, watching Wick carefully. "Will you agree to only light the lanterns we put out, if we keep them supplied?"
"You'll put the lanterns back?" Wick asks, eyes widening hopefully. "I'd like that. Each room needs one--the sailors gotta be able to see, get around safely. You'll help me keep 'em lit?" He nods quickly to Eyrgjafa. "Yes. Yes, I will," he replies hurriedly, desperation in his voice.
"Swear it on the life of every sailor," Rena says, firmly.
He still looks a little skittish around Rena, but he nods and offers out his scorched hand to her, presumably to shake on it.
Floretta smiles at the words spoken around and she seems rather enthusiastic at the apparent conclusion it appears to be reaching.
For the people here who only know Rena as she presents herself, loud and indelicate, Rena puts a surprising amount of care into the handshake, maneuvering her hand very specifically so that her knuckles don't touch him anywhere.
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