Hungry Youkai !GGKI3UTr5s 2008/07/20 (Sun) 07:33 No. 49967 "Hey Jack." You say, breaking into the conversation again.
"Yeah?" He turns to you. Renko leans back against the rigging.
"Mind showing me how everything else around here works? I want to stop being dead weight as soon as possible."
Renko raises her eyebrows, in surprise or mockery you can't tell.
"Sure thing." Jack says. "Come on, I'll show you around."
You nod and follow him along the deck, still sipping from your water-skin.
"How's your belly?" He asks.
"A lot better, thanks."
You glance back, seeing Renko watching you with a frown. You ignore her for now.
Jack spends a good hour explaining the other workings of the ship to you. That the anchor is rarely used, because of the Hourai Thief being a ship that relies on pure speed. What to hold onto during a storm and how to not get thrown overboard when the waves pick up. The really interesting part is when he takes you below the deck. The corridor inside is tiny, only wide enough to permit single-file. Doors lead off at regular intervals. You can hear the waves splashing against the hull, the slow steady creaking of the ship and a pair of voices somewhere off to your right. You put your hands on the walls either side, steadying yourself.
"That's the Captains Quarters, always knock first, unless we're under attack." He says, pointing to the door at the very start of the corridor.
You nod, realising that the voices you can hear are coming from the Captain's room. For a moment you try to listen, but Jack speaks up again.
"Next one is the Quartermaster's room, who is ... well, also the First Mate at the moment, Mr. Edwards." Jack grimaces, looking a little pained. "We're kind of short on crew."
"Heh, I noticed." You say.
He shrugs. "It's not too much of a problem, ship this size can run with five men, but we're not in any shape to do much else until we take on some more crew."
"These two rooms here are meant to be for prisoners or passengers, I think." He points at two parallel doors either side of the corridor. "Occupied at the moment, we've been ordered to leave them alone. So leave them alone."
You nod.
He leads you further down the corridor and opens one of the doors.
"Regular quarters." He says.
You put your head around the door. Inside is a rather cramped, but long, space. Four hammocks are strung along the wall, to an upright beam on either side, then four more are suspended on the other side.
"Ever slept in a hammock before?" Jack asks you.
"Nope." You say.
"It's pretty comfy, you'll get used to it."
There are three more identical rooms for the crew, but none of them are in use at the moment. The last room Jack shows you is the Mess, kitchen in the back of it. You can hear someone bustling around back there, but you can't see them.
Jack frowns at the noise.
"What is it?" You ask.
"The cook is Shakir, the Moor, but he's still up on deck."
"We have a Moor on board?" You ask, shocked.
"Yes." Jack replies, not noticing your tone of voice. "So who's in the kitchen?"
"We have a Moor here?" You can't get the idea out of your head. "What-"
"Oh never mind." Jack says, dismissing the kitchen with a wave of his hand. "I don't want to deal with her again anyway. Come on." He shuts the door behind him and heads onwards.
Down a tiny, creaking set of stairs, another deck opens out before you. The space is wide with a very low ceiling. It extends the entire length of the ship, broken only by a number of wooden partitions.
"This is the gunnery deck." Jack says, pointing to a cannon.
You step over to it, looking down with curiosity. It's not very impressive, just a cylinder of black metal on a wheeled wooden frame. There seem to be six, three this side and three on the other, each with a partition either side of it. There is a pile of black metal balls next to each one.
"We only have a few, and fewer who can use them properly." Jack says, voice sounding sad.
"Could I learn how?" You ask.
He nods. "Later, not now."
He leads you down to the other end of the deck, pointing to a beaten copper door.
"Powder room. Don't go in if you're not told to and never take a lighted match in there, okay?" He look at you, to make sure you heard.
You nod. "No fire near the powder, right."
He smiles, satisfied, then points at a normal door on the other side. "Armoury. You have the right to bears arms now, so you can take anything you need from in there. Just don't touch the muskets unless you know what you're doing."
"Okay."
There is one more set of stairs downwards.
"Cargo hold." He says, pointing. "Not worth seeing, full of food supplies and crap."
"Thanks Jack." You say.
"Not a problem" He grins. "I'm heading back up, there's nothing much to do now Renko and the Skipper have the course set, so just try to avoid being given any busy work, eh?"
You grin back.
Jack mounts the stairs upwards, vanishing around the corner.
[ ] Check the armoury, make sure you have a sword handy.
[ ] Go see who that was in the kitchen.
[ ] Test out the hammocks, take a nap.
[ ] Knock on the Captain's door, you have questions.
[ ] Wander around, find out people's names.
[ ] Go speak to Renko.
[ ] Jack said there's a Moor on board? Go investigate, you've never seen one before.
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