Mainland Port, West of Aegis

Mordecai · Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:38 am Post subject: Mainland Port, West of Aegis

Mordecai overheard an old man say there was a ship heading to an island. An island she's never heard of before. The woman patted the gold peice in her pocket, crept a casual smirk and walked as if she knew the place. There were a few shops across the street, facing the shore, a market and other buildings she didn't recognize. She figured they were mostly bars for those seamen and Mordecai had no intention to check them out. Instead, her feet travelled quick to find the right ship that would lead to the island. Her swiftness brought her to a crowd gossiping about the island and knew she was at the right place. In a subtle manner, she scooted herself inwards the group until she was right in the middle, huddling along the ships' "gate" for all she knew.

At last, a foot upon the floorboards of the ship and she had successfully hopped on without a ticket - or at least she thought. A firm and rather large hand gripped her shoulder and she could do nothing but stop. "Ticket please, Ma'am"
"Oh, terribly sorry, see I'm blind, Sir..." Her eyes looked off into the distance, pretending she was trying to look right at him. "I-I must have dropped it somewhere... it was in my pocket, honest, Sir."
"I'm sorry Ma'am, but no ticket means no passage. Just not your day." He said as though it was really rather hard to keep his patience.

Frankly, for Mordecai, she thought he was being rather rude to a poor blind woman. Figuring it would be useless to try and fight with the tub of lard, she shrunk under his grip, pulled herself away and attempted to make a quick dash for the storage cabin, where she could possibly find a good hiding place.
Her planned stopped instantly - 'thump' - to the floor. Mordecai glanced up at a looming man, must have been 300 pounds! Fingers clasped around her arms, pulled her up and escorted her off the ship with a boot to her butt.

"That was unfortunate..." She said with a groan as she stood. Mordecai scanned the dock, trying to find another way. Her imagination led her to believe that she could jump onto the anchor when it rose and maybe hold on until she arrived at the island.. No.. she would get way too hungry. And actually paying for a ticket was absurd! She'd lose her pretty gold coin.

Before she knew it, the "last call" was sounded and the ship had left the port. A huge sigh escaped her, but not all hope was lost. She was determined to make it to that island, and she'd be damned if she didn't. There was only one hope left - oh how she dreaded it...

Mordecai ran off down the street, turned a corner and pressed her back against the wall of a building. With a quick glance around, she didn't see anyone in sight and so it began.

She felt her skin seethe in the middle of her back, and then a crawling sensation followed, running from her spine and along her ribs. Mordecai yelped, choking back a scream as her bones began to pop, snap and position themselves differently. Black feathers seemed to grow as if time had quickened and crawled to cover her completely. Her arms formed into well-groomed wings. Soon enough, the shriek of a raven was heard and the flutter of her wings.
At the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw a head retreat from the corner of the wall - someone had been watching. At this point, however it didn't matter. She was going to start fresh on that island... It was time for take-off to follow that ship.