"Thanks," He said as he walked in. He waited until Jane had shut the door all the way before he began speaking."Jane, is there something wrong? Is everything alright?" He asked quickly and quietly, to be sure no one could hear through crack or door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:21, Sat 27 Nov 2010.

   Jane knit her eyebrows in confusion and nodded, "Yes, I'm fine. What's the problem?" she folded her arms and waited for him to speak, worried by the intensity in his voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Sat 27 Nov 2010.

Mordecai continued: "I don't know, I had heard you were in some sort of trouble. I don't know what kind, but the senior crew seemed worried, and I have been too. Is that necklace still stuck to you?" He was a little relieved to see she did not seem to think there was a problem at the moment, but he was still a little anxious about the strange necklace.

   Jane nodded and pulled it out from under her shirt to show, "I can't undo the clasp, and its too short to pull off over my head." she paused, then looked up at him with a slightly worried, but excited expression, "But, I feel more...more!" she shook her head, "I don't know how to explain it. I have more energy, and my mind feels clearer."

Mordecai was a little puzzled by this, he believed in a totally normal world. Normal people, normal houses, normal flying boats, but magic? Mordecai found it hard to believe. "Wait, you feel more... accuity? I don't think that necklace could be clearing your head anymore than the wind in your face on this ship." Mordecai never believed any of the strange stories he'd heard as a kid about magic and monsters, but after seeing this he might just start. "Have you talked to anyone else about this? Because it is the Senior crew in particular seem to be concerned while the crew itself takes whatever your predicament may be as mere gossip. Do you think we should talk to the captain?"

   "I haven't talked to anyone else about it. Not even Brax." she frowns and leans her back against the wall, "But I don't want to take it to the Captain. He may do something drastic, or he wouldn't understand." she fiddled with the pendant around her neck and sighed, rubbing her temple to try and dispell a sudden headache.

Mordecai frowned, searching. "You haven't told anyone? I didn't even know if there was a problem yet the whole crew is talking about it, the Senior crew in particular. How could they know there is a problem if you haven't told them? Things are becoming more and more insane around us." Mordecai thought deep, if she had told no one, and he didn't know about it, there was indeed something afoul. Who could know? Wesley was always busy with Mordecai, Brax with Jane, though she had not told him. All the other senior crewmembers were always busy, they couldn't be plotting something or know anything about this by themselves. Heck, the Captain is always gone so he couldn't possibly...

The Captain.

From the first night they met, Mordecai knew there was something...different about this man, what exactly he didn't know. But it has to have something to do with Jane. Mordecai looked Jane in the eyes, a look that held fear, and determination. "Jane, go to sleep. I have something I need to do tonight." Without another word, Mordecai turned and walked out the door; closing it behind him.

   Jane's mouth was open to protest, but he was gone before she could utter a single syllable. Huffing, pulled the door open and quickly went after him, "Mordecai!"

Mordecai stopped and quickly glared back at Jane. "Shh! Quiet~! We can't be heard right now." Mordecai did not want Jane coming along, it could ruin everything. But he had to let her or she would not leave him alone. "Okay, okay, you know how the Captain is always out at night till late, or awake 'till all hours? Right? Okay, now who is always with him once he is? Raff, that's who. If anyone is plotting something, it's got to be those two. They have got to be doing it late at night when the rest of us are asleep in our beds. I intend to find out what it is they are talking about, perhaps what they could be planning. If you are going to come along, you have got to stay quiet, and lay low." Mordecai stared Jane hard in the eyes to be sure she understood what he meant to do, girls always seem to understand things the wrong way.

   Jane folded her arms, insulted that he would wonder if she had understood his meaning, "Of course." she was tempted to remind him off all the times they had slunk together, but she kept her peace. She motioned for him to go ahead in silence.

  When the two reached the door of the Captains cabin, they did indeed hear voices on the other side. Pressing their ears to the wood, they strained to listen.

 "...dangerous until the full moon," they heard the Captain saying in an explanatory tone. "If we do it at the wrong time or in the wrong way it could kill her."
  "Alright, alright, Captain." That was Raff. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to the little missy." They heard the big Quartermaster sigh and shift in his chair. "The crew is quite fond of her."
  "I know."
  "More than you know. They see her as a little sister, in some cases, more. Mordecai is a hard worker and is already well liked with the boys. If anything were to happen to either of them, or any of the crew..."
  "I know, Raff. I know. My first priority is to protect my crew. Always. But my second..."
  They heard a chair creak as Raff leaned forward. "After you're free, then what, Captain? Will things go back to the way they were before?"
  There was a long moment of silence before the Captain sighed. "I don't know. I don't think so. This has changed me too much, I think. I'll stay with the Cloudcutter, if that's what you mean. I won't go running back to Sanctaphrax with my tail between my legs."
  Raff chuckled. "No, I never meant it that way."

   Jane looked at Mordecai, her face pale. She realized that she was holding her breath, and she quielty let it out. She clenched her hands into fists, mouthing, What are they talking about?

Mordecai turned his head from the door, eyes filled with uncertainty. "I don't know, but I will wager that it has something to do with that necklace." Mordecai pressed his ear back to the door, just in time to hear shuffling sounds inside.

    "Captain?" Raff asked. "Captain?!" Real concern was in his voice. There were some scuffling and banging noises, and a loud grunt.
    "I'm fine, just... I'm fine," the Captain's voice was shaky. "It's just..." There was a heavy pause, and then quick footsteps to the door. Before Mordecai and Jane could even flinch, the door was thrown open and the Captain stood there, his long hair falling around his face in a red halo, Raff standing behind him. "Ah, so you are here," he said, looking bemused. "But the question is, for how long?"
    Raff grabbed them both and hauled them to their feet, his face red. He held them firmly in front of the Captain's door, while Captain Knight folded his arms. "Well, are you going to answer my question?"

   Jane's knees buckled under Raff's heavy hand and she grunted, "Long enough to hear that I could die." the necklace beneath her shirt felt heavy, and she looked up at Captain Jackson with a smoldering look in her eyes, "And I think that you are the one who needs to talk."

Mordecai struggled against Raff's grip in vain, the man was just too strong. Mordecai knew it was pointless to resist, but he couldn't help himself. "I know that you are up to something, and if you are going to harm my sister, I'll...I'll!-I'll tear your arms off!" Mordecai gasped as Raff let go of his collar and grabbed his neck, tightly.

     Captain Knight sighed, putting his hands on his hips. He was not as frivilously dressed as he usually was when he appeared among the crew; no colorful jacket or scarves with lacy trimmings, just a button-up white shirt, with the cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up loosly to his elbows. He wore a relativly plain pair of dress pants, black pin-striped, and brown leather loafers.
     Raff wore his usual long, dark coat, with a slick, shiny covering to keep off the rain. He half-strangled Mordecai with a touch of satisfaction; he didn't like some of the looks the boy shot him. But Mordecai could still breathe.
     The Captain regarded the brother and sister for a few moments, then sighed again. "Let's take this out on deck. I've been in my office too long; I need some fresh air." He walked past them, and Raff compelled them to follow, barely walking on their tip-toes.
     Once they were out on deck, Raff loosened his grip, moving his hands to rest heavily on their shoulders as the Captain turned to face them, the horizon behind him taking on lighter tones then the rest of the sky, preparing for dawn. A sprinkling of bright stars still shone in the deeper blue, and the moon hovered close to the opposite horizon. The ship cruised at a moderate speed over baby-blue clouds, the dark landscape featurless below. The crewman on watch, J.J., watched them from the helm with great interest. He was up there to make sure no gust of wind blew them off course, keeping an eye on the compass and the instruments. But now he was watching the odd little gathering below him.
    "Firstly, Jane," the Captain began, "I have absolutely no intention to harm you. Quite the opposite, in fact. If I understand correctly, which I'm sure I do, the night you joined our intrepid crew, you stole an item that was seemingly worthless, yes? Yet it's given you a great deal of trouble since then, I should think. You can't take it off." Gesturing to Jane's neck, he smiled kindly.

   Jane hesitated, before nodding, "Yes, thats right." Raff's heavy hand bent her shoulder down, and she looked up at the Captain, "I'm assuming that you know what it is? And how to take it off?"

Mordecai stood on his toes, hardly believing what he was hearing. Finding it slightly easier to breathe, and still all too aware of Raff's hand on his shoulder.

    The Captain reached out and gently tugged the necklace from Jane's shirt, holding the pendant in his hand. In the shape of a flower with long, flowing petals, it was surprisingly heavy, and made of the same dark, pitted metal the heart trinket was. Tiny lines spread from the knot at the center of the flower, flowing in hundreds of tiny grooves out to the egdes of the petals. Like the heart, at first glance it wasn't much, but once you looked closer, you saw it was an intricatly carved thing of beauty.
    "Jane," the Captain said gently, raising his gaze to meet hers, "I want you to listen and try to stay calm. You too, Mordecai. This necklace is part of a curse, one that has followed me for years. It is a key to breaking it. There are four, and this is the third. Tomorrow night when there is a full moon, I will be able to take it off, and the curse will be that much closer to being broken." Sighing, he let go of the neckace and straightened up. "It was more than just coincedence that led you two to my vessel that night. I think the curse is guiding us somehow, bringing all the peices together for a chance at ending it." He shook his head. "But I'm running out of time."

   Jane inhaled shakily, alarmed that what she was wearing was cursed. She tried to still her beating heart, and tried to shrug her way out from under Raff's steal grip, "A curse? Figures that I would be the one to pick it up." she pauses, hesitating before speaking, "You're certain that it will come off tomorrow?"

   The Captain nodded. "Tomorrow night at midnight, during the full moon. Yes, that is when it is safest to take it off. If it was forcably removed, it would take your life as the energy it needs to make a transformation. If we do it at the right time and with the right circumstances, it will take enegry from me instead, but since I won't be wearing the necklace, I won't die." He gave an odd, lop-sided smile at that, his expression bitter. "The curse won't allow me to, anyway." Then he laughed. "You're so tiny, it'll probably only tickle."
   Jane and Mordecai felt Raff's grip tighten on their shoulders, but he said nothing.

   Jane flinched under Raff's grip, and felt worry creep up her spine. She laughed nervously, and it quickly died, "Big night tonight then." she cleared her throat, eager to get her shaking hands busy with work, "I think I'd better go get breakfast ready..." she reached up and tried to take Raff's hand from her shoulder.

Mordecai sat in Raff's grip, embarrassed and ashamed. He had been used to not trusting anyone after his father died, but he shall have to trust again. He felt a little awkward about his earlier accusation, and hoped he didn't have to swap the deck fifty times the next morning. Shifting under Raff's hand, Mordecai felt a sheepish grin of relief spread across his face despite his attempts to stifle it. "Well...um...Sorry Captain, just thought you were trying to kill my sister." The look that Captain Jackson gave Mordecai killed every hope of his talking his way out of swabbing the deck later. Mordecai nodded and shrugged out from under Raff's grip. "Pardon me Cap'n, Good night Cap'n." Mordecai shuffled away quickly with his head down, trying his best to stifle his outrage at being so horribly wrong and for being so humiliated. Without a glance or word to Jane, he made his way to the lower decks and right to his bunk.

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