by Kell Inkston
Around the horizon of the city, something large and of golden brown hues takes flight into the sky. Grancis focuses in on the threat rising into the air. “Captain!”
He’s focused forward as he mans the controls with one arm and re-wraps his bandages with another. “Yes?”
“Something’s… flying, I think?” Grancis asks, having never seen a machine do such a thing before.
Colette looks back to the city and gasps again, a wide grin spreading across her face as she begins to hop excitedly “Cool! So cool!” she exclaims. “Are there people on that, too?”
The Captain nods. “There certainly are— and they’re looking to sink us.”
The two ladies whip around. “What?” Colette asks after a pause, instantly sobered.
“It’s the Mayor and her stupid engineer gang. They’re giving chase to sink The Nocturna,” he explains calmly.
“B-but if we sink, won’t we drown?” Colette asks with a shocked look about her; she’d never once considered that people might sink these giant things, and that everyone on them would therefore drown. She’s finally made the connection now though— thank goodness.
Grancis sighs and The Captain shrugs. “Probably something worse than drowning, but the possibility’s there.” He leans over to a speaker. “Batten down, everyone—we’ll be going down now.” He announces this pleasantly, as if 'down' were merely a destination, before turning back toward his small human audience. “Would you ladies like some coffee?”
The two exchange bewildered looks— on one count due to the lack of understanding as to what 'coffee' is, and on the second count due to the lack of understanding as to why The Captain seems to barely care about the giant flying ship thing pursuing them. “Uh,” Colette coughs. “Yeah, I-I’ll have some.”
“M-me too,” Grancis says with a put on smile, eying the airship’s approach; it’s hideously fast.
The Captain steps casually over to a coffee maker and brews up a pot. After pouring out three octopus-themed mugs of coffee, he distributes them and places a record on the phonograph, also located at the back of the room next to the coffee. As smooth, light jazz begins to play, he offers his mug in a toast. “Welcome to the crew, Miss Ketiere, Miss Vereyrty.”
Colette and Grancis clink mugs with The Captain.
“Thanks!”
“Thank you, sir,” Colette and Grancis say respectively.
The Captain smiles, takes a sip of his dark drink, and returns to the helm controls.
“All done, Cap,” a voice emerges from a speaker, causing the two girls to yet again exchange impressed, fascinated looks.
“Well done.” The Captain says as he messes with the controls and pushes another lever downward. He turns to the two girls as the airship looms into firing range. “Now, please enjoy the coffee and look away. I have to do something unfitting of my station for just a moment.” He unhitches a window and pulls from his person the little golden box he’d stolen from the necromancer’s lair.
Grancis turns and looks out to the airship like a good girl, but Colette can’t help but peek. The Captain sticks the golden box out from the window and then sticks out his arm and gives the middle finger to the person that he knows is watching through a periscope upon the airship. The Captain waves the bird around a little more, reveling in his victory, and then closes the hatch just as they sink into the depths.
“Alright, all done,” The Captain says, stuffing the little box back into his coat.
Grancis turns slowly and notices that they’re descending into the ocean. “A-are we sinking?!” she asks as she frantically scans the surrounding water.
The Captain nods as Colette begins to panic. “We certainly are— what a shame. Looks like your journey has come to an end already,” The Captain remarks without even the slightest hint of sarcasm. It will take weeks for the two girls to realize that The Captain’s is a difficult humor to grasp— especially for poor Colette.
“R-really?”
The Captain scoffs lightly as the waves wrap around the helm. The entire ship is now underwater. “No, of course not. We haven’t been hit, but we are being dragged down.”
“What?!”
“Oh yes, by a giant squid in service to The Reaching Nightmare. What a terrible fate that has become us. We’re all about to die in the most horrible way imaginable.”
“No!” Colette cries. “Not like this! Not a giant… eh, what is a squid?”
“Nasty little degenerate beasts— very delicious to eat, though…” he adjusts his glasses and notes the horrified expression on Colette. “I was only being facetious, my oat cake. We’re perfectly safe now that we’re out of the depth range of the airship’s guns… unless they’ve upgraded, of course— then we’re definitely going to die.”
“Wh-depth range?” Colette mutters.
“Why yes, they probably have upgraded though, so any second now we’ll be…” He looks over her again, and shrugs. “I see you’re not really partaking in the humor, Miss Ketiere.”
“The humor?” She's dumbfounded, almost to the point of spilling her coffee.
Grancis watches on awkwardly as The Captain continues to confound her poor best friend.
“Never you mind it, Miss Ketiere.”
Colette sighs. “Alright… So we’re really out of danger now?”
“Well, we’re never truly out of danger. We’ve simply moved to a state of being less likely to die.”
“A-alright then,” Colette says, staring out from the helm window to see a few very strange fish swimming around the murky port waters. She looks aside in a mix of uncertainty, and then Grancis nudges her. Grancis smiles and raises her pinky finger, the others holding onto the little tentacle handle of her octopus mug.
“Ready to become strong enough to beat the overlord?” Grancis asks.
Colette searches Grancis’ features for some sort of doubt, but can find none. After a moment's hesitation, she raises her pinky too, and they both toast again. “You bet I am. He won’t know what hit ‘em. I’ll get that bastard back for what he did to my mom, I swear it!”
The Captain approaches the two after re-bandaging himself and readjusting his attire to maximum officialness. “Now then. Let’s get you introduced to the others. This way, please.” The Captain steps to the center of the helm, flicks a couple numbers into a combination lock and opens up a hatch in the floor that leads down to the next level.
“All the rooms are connected on the inside?”
“If you know the combination, yes.”
“What’s the combination?” Colette asks with an excited, ambitious gaze.
“It’s a secret, Miss Ketiere. Officers only.”
“What?” She downs the ladder with Grancis close behind her.
“Can’t have spies joining the crew and going where they please, can we?”
“Well I’m no-”
“No we can’t, so no code for you.” The Captain leads the two down to the mess hall, filled with clambering sailors already drinking their fill. “Gentlemen,” The Captain announces, “I have two new sailors for you to meet.”
Everyone turns to look at The Captain and the two girls.
Colette and Grancis are Introduced to a Bunch of Assholes— but also to a Few Friendly Folks, because it would be unfair to call all of The Sailors on The Nocturna Assholes, as that would be a Considerably Offensive Generalization and Rather Untrue to Boot.
“These two young ladies will be jobbing for the crew," The Captain begins. The sailors exchange uncertain looks— some laugh, some groan, and others just stare on in a lack of understanding. "I expect you all to treat them like any other, and be on your bes—” The Captain’s interrupted by an uproarious laughter from about half the crewmen.
“Girls? On the ship? What next?” snickers one.
“Now I’ve seen everything!” says another.
“They be bad luck, ye know!” a third voice chimes.
“What’ll they do, cook fer us?” continues a forth. The men laug
h and toss about pints in jest.
The Captain clears his throat calmly. “Well, Miss Ketiere here wants to train to be a person of command and renown, so I’ll be placing her under the guidance of Dunklestein, actually.” The crew sobers up quickly in a mix of surprise and regret.
“Ol’ Dunks?”
“He’ll murder the poor lass!” two voices call out as Dunklestein takes a stand.
Colette tightens the moment she sees him— a towering, greyish mass of tattooed muscles, a large, wide-jawed face, and a persistently pissed off look about him. “Me, Cap?” He asks. The girls realize this was the thing that addressed The Captain over the intercom.
The Captain nods. “You’ll whip her up into shape in no time. I’m certain of it.”
Dunklestein grins, revealing the first row of his shining shark teeth, and he cracks his knuckles, covered in the same rough placoid scales that’s on the rest of him. “Alright, Cap.” He fires off a superior glare to Colette and takes back to his seat. “Training will be first thing after lunch today, and first thing after breakfast from them on, got it?”
“G-got it!” Colette says with an equally confidant grin.
The Captain nods. “And this fine lady here, Miss Vereyrty… she’s going to be Boris’ aide.”
There’s silence as the men parse out the meaning. “So like, she really is going to be cooking and cleaning?” One asks.
The Captain takes a breath. “…yes.”
There’s a wave of snickers that washes over the crowd of men.
“Will she be making us sandwiches?”
The Captain sighs. “Yes, I suppose she will.”
Another line of snickers from the men.
“Regardless, she commands as much respect as any other of her rank and is to be treated as such,” The Captain says with a nod.
Boris laughs heartily. “THIS IS OF THE TRUE. IF ANY OF YOU ARE OF THE DISRESPECTING OF MY APPRENTICE MEAT, THE MENU OF THE NEXT DAY WILL BE BEING OF THE YOU!”
Suddenly everyone that had a problem with Colette or Grancis smile like good friends. The Captain can take a joke most times, but Boris has an incredible track record for 'accidentally' cutting people’s legs off to use in his next stew.
“Wow, of course!”
“Welcome to the crew, ladies!”
“We’re so happy you’re here!” a few friendly voices ring out.
The Captain nods. “Very good. We’ll surface in an hour’s time and you all will resume regular activity. I’ve collected a few job offers, so I can assure you we’ll all have plenty to do in the coming weeks. That is all.”
There’s a bemused din of approval among the men as The Captain turns to the two girls. “Good luck you two. You should both meet up with your direct superiors and get properly acquainted. I expect good things from the both of you… Ah, and be sure not to drink the sea water, it’s rather… we’ll just say it’s poison for now.”
Grancis nods calmly. “Thank you, sir.”
Colette’s eyes are filled with fire. “You got it!”
The Captain steps off to elsewhere and the two girls address each other with their eyes. They stand together and survey the crowd of men, now bantering with pints clinking and stories recommenced.
“So,” Grancis finally says, “are you happy with this? Do you think this is what you want?”
Colette looks over the men, most misshapen with some strange eldritch cursing or aquatic mutation. “This is so weird… like a dream.”
“…A good dream?”
Colette has to think on that one. “I… It’s a dream.”
Grancis smiles. “And yet here we are,” she responds.
“And yet here we are, you’re right…" Colette reiterates. "I really do feel like this is the way, though. These guys are definitely tough; I think they really might just be what we were looking for.” Colette looks over to Dunklestein, who's finishing an arm wrestling match with another huge guy and winning with brutal ease.
Grancis pulls her gaze away from the boisterous crowd and glances over to The Captain, now speaking briefly with a confused Boris and a furious Luisoix. “Yeah, they’re pretty tough alright. So you really think we’ll be okay?”
Colette smiles and nudges Grancis. “I know we will. I’ll beat that overlord, just wait.”
“I know you can do it.” Grancis takes another deep breath, but before she can say any more, a loud voice shakes the hall.
“APPRENTICE COOK FLESH,” Boris yells across the room, “IT IS OF THE TIME OF THE TEACHING. BE OF THE COMING SO I CAN BE OF THE TELLING YOU OF HOW TO BE GOOD MEAT.”
“B-be right there!” Grancis responds at a more appropriate volume. She gives a final wary look to Colette. “Good luck.”
Colette nudges her best friend. “You too.”
Grancis waves before starting off. As she approaches Boris she spares one last glance to Colette, who’s already off into the crowd; she takes a deep breath and turns back to Boris, and he leads her into the kitchen. It’s a smaller room filled with pots, pans, and sharp objects of all kinds for food preparation, accompanied by a little window connected to the mess hall for delivering food. It’s an unnerving place that gives Grancis a fairly medical feeling—far more surgical and ominous than her father’s kind of medical.
“SO, APPRENTICE MEAT, ARE YOU OF THE EXCITED TO BE OF THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAINING?”
Grancis looks over the strange devices and the wriggling remains of some recently-slaughtered creature with her eyes wide open and curious. “Yeah. Let’s cook, Master Boris.”
“THIS IS OF THE ATTITUDE I’LL BE OF THE EXPECTING. LET US BE OF THE STARTING RIGHT AWAY!”
As Boris teaches Grancis how to skin a xllgigga, Colette loses five arm wrestling matches in a row, but keeps on trying— and a thing pays a visit to the lower decks.
The tall silhouette opens the engine room to reveal a deep space of pure blackness— so powerful that it would fight back even a gleaming floodlight. It’s not just a typical dark room. There’s something wrong about it.
“Morning,” The slim figure says, stepping into the dark just far enough to take a seat on the stairs.
“Morning, Captain,” a horrible voice replies from the dark. “An interesting catch this time.”
“Two souls in one," The Captain replies, "I suppose so.”
“Perhaps she’ll be a good choice?”
The Captain straightens the visor of his hat. “More than likely, yes. We’ll see just how deep she’s willing to go.”
“And what do you make of the other one? She seems… kind of familiar.”
A knowing smile curls along The Captain’s bandages. “A pleasant girl, though likely with the potential to be extraordinary.”
“Agreed… and for free, too.” the voice muses once more in a congenial tone.
The Captain nods. “Sometimes you need to work for it, other times the cards play themselves right in your fingers. Perhaps this is what people speak of when they say that business partnerships really do open up rewards of the impossible.”
They share a sensible chuckle and go on to talk about ever more mysterious things— putting an end to this chapter of The Nocturna’s legacy. Colette and Grancis haven’t the slightest idea, but it’s only a matter of time.
-End of Episode Four-
“Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before; advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod.” - Aristophanes
The Point of No Return
This longer story of The Nocturna and her crew begins familiarly enough. Colette and Dunks are sparring in the ship’s small, gray gymnasium, with an appearance that lends equal parts to an athletic complex and a prison cell both.
Colette, soaring with momentum, slides across a wall and pushes off to aim another hit. Dunklestein is just standing, one arm at his hip and the other with a pint of lager.
“How about this?” Colette flies forward with trained, acrobatic poise, her fist raised high to grand-slam h
er opponent.
Dunklestein only needs to raise his leg to intercept her and impact her speed against his knee. “How about what?” he asks as Colette buckles over in pain. With a desperate rebound, she tosses onto her back and shoots a foot in-between his legs. Again Dunklestein only needs to move his knee to the side to block the hit and follow up by weighing his foot down on her leg, locking her in place. Colette kicks with her other leg again and again, but it seems like nothing can move him. Dunks crosses his arms with a smile as he watches Colette flex up, wrap her arms around his leg and attempt to move it that way.
“You’re…” Colette hisses. “You’re too fat, Dunks! Dammit!” She falls back to the plush floor, exhausted after ten straight minutes of this maddening exertion.
Dunklestein shrugs as he takes a gulp of his beer. “I’m not sure how much this is helping.”
“What?” She says between pants.
“I mean, this: our sparring. It helped you alright for a little while. You’ve gotten way better at fighting and you’re as fast n’ strong as most any man on board, but you’re just about at your limit, I reckon.” He takes his foot off her.
With a burst of energy, she shoots back up to her feet. “No! Not even close to it! Come on, another round!”
Dunks shakes his head. “I can’t be standin’ around hours each day kicking your pa’toosh, kiddo. I actually do have a job on the ship, and you seem to have gotten to a point where you can’t get any better.”
Colette tightens up in exasperation. “Don’t do this to me, Dunks. I’m trusting you… The Captain’s trusting you to do your job training me!”
“Yeah, but some of the boys on board have been getting a little rowdy when I’ve been gone.”
“The Captain can take care of them.”
He takes another sip. “He’s way busier than either us, kip. All that nonsensical stuff he wastes his time with from day to day is actually saving our lives without us knowing it.”
“Yeah, so what do you mean to say?”
Dunklestein finishes his pint, places it aside and addresses her. “He can’t be bothered with petty trouble like whatever-” he raises his hands to make quotations, “degenerate activity the other jobbers are getting themselves into. It’s all fun and games until someone loses their soul or gets split in half, except the boys do think that’s fun, so I gotta keep th’ peace.”