[Voice/Action to the Penguin]

[youshouldberunning]

[Upon the Penguin a young girl woke up. Liz Sherman is 11, long brownish hair, a scar on her forehead and swimming in her over sized clothing she woke up in. She spent all of 20 minutes pressed against a wall of the boat staring at sea for miles.]

[She was at sea.]

[HOW? Tucking herself down against the wall and beside a barrel, she shook, hearing people talk out of the little book she had in a pocket. carefully opening it, she wondered if this was a dream]

H-hello? Is anyone out there? I... I don’t think this is... where I should be.

I was at Project 66 foster care? I... I don’t remember leaving.

What’s going on? [she took a careful breath, trying to stay calm. She knew she had to stay calm.]

Comments

[voice]

[little_belle]

Foster care?

[Maribelle was trying to place where she'd heard that term before, and then it hit her.]

Are you... and orphan?

[That's strange... most of the children she'd spoken to that had been kidnapped had parents or adults to who the might be able to be ransomed... or at least that's what she assumed this whole kidnapping was about.]

[voice]

[youshouldberunning]

[Hello Maribelle. The fact that a voice came back at her in reply surprised her and didn't. After all, this thing was talking before, but... it was strange. She was scared, on a boat, in the ocean, and not at all on land at a foster home trying not to be noticed.]

I... ah, yeah. [She doesn't talk about when she grows up, but she's had to talk to so many foster homes and police now...] I swear, I didn't run away this time. I don't know how I got here though...

[voice]

[little_belle]

I believe you... I didn't think that the pirates kidnapped anyone but kids or adults they could ransom to family members, but maybe they made a mistake?

[Little Maribelle sighs, not sure of anything anymore. Now she had some people telling her she was an adult that she was friends with before today.]

Well... that's the current idea I have of what's happened based on everything. Do you remember anything at all about how you got here? Any hint would help.

[voice]

[youshouldberunning]

P-Pirates!? [Oh. Oh that's not good. That's like every childs worst nightmare, right? being kidnapped by pirates. Sold into labor? She read too much... oh no.]

[Drawing her arms around her more she tried to be as invisible as possible, speaking in a whisper now.]

I didn't think pirates were real. Or.. or I mean, I don't live by the water. Why would they take me?

I don't... remember anything odd. Miss Fiel woke us up for school, and I took a shower and got dressed and skipped eating and... I don't remember anything from there. I just woke up.

[voice]

[little_belle]

I know what you mean! My entire country is landlocked! Yet here I am in an island port town, and there's pirates running about! Can you think of any other way this could be? ... I just want my papa...

[voice]

[youshouldberunning]

I... I can't think of anything. [This is worse then when she first ran away from the foster homes. This is so much worse. Here she had no idea where she was. Running her hands through her hair she rolled her head into her knees, mentally counting to ten first. To keep calm]

I... this... this isn't good. This isn't good. This isn't good. [she said on short breaths... held one breath, and rocked a bit at first] This isn't good. I can't be here. Pirates aren't real. This ship isn't real. I'll wake up. We'll... we will wake up. You'll find your papa. i'll go to school. This isn't real...

[voice]

[little_belle]

C-Calm down! I know it's really scary, but trying to deny it isn't going to help! We have to work together if we want to find our way home!

[Maribelle shook her head, her braids whipping back and forth as she did.]

Okay... let's... let's start with the basics. My name is Maribelle and I'm from the duchy of Themis in the kingdom of Ylisse, what about you? The only way we'll find our way home is if we know where home is.

[Voice]

[justicereigns]

Liz? You don't remember anything either?

Look, my name is Smoker and I'm a smoke-man... although I'm a lot smaller now. You're safe on this ship and we're not kidnapped by pirates... exactly.

[Voice]

[youshouldberunning]

[and another voice. She's staying hidden for now, trying to stay calm. Staying calm was very hard to do. Running her hands through her hair she held her breath, silent for too long, before replying.]

You know my name? [she took a breath, scrunching her eyes up and forcing herself to talk more. What the hell was a smoke-man? Was he like her?] If we're not... kidnapped, then why are we here?

[Voice]

[justicereigns]

Yeah.

We were kidnapped to another world, but we're all together because we don't want to be pirates.

And there's a curse running around affecting memories and size. Maybe age.

[Voice]

[youshouldberunning]

That... that doesn't make sense. [she rocked a bit where she hid, hands tightening in her hair.] We were... kidnapped to another world with pirates but we're not pirates. Curses? Like witches?

[Oh god. Oh. It's really hard to hear as she whispers it to herself, but old habits are HARD to kill, and though she's lost faith, it's still ingrained. Something to the sound of "...I pray, Dear Lord, see me through these hard times. In these troubling times, I am filled with... with unspeakable fears." She always hard a hard time remembering the rest. Mom use to say it for them. Then something clicked again, startled she said;]

Wait! You're crazy! There's no such thing as pirates or witches or curses. You can't have known me before this. I don't even know what a smoke-man is! [mildly panicked, but containing it...]

[Voice]

[justicereigns]

[Facepalms.]

Look I promise I'll help. I'll show you my smoke thing if you promise not to get scared.

[Voice]

[youshouldberunning]

You've got it backwards. It's... not me who should get scared...

[No, really, she's trying to keep her head. Breaths. Easy breaths. Oh god. She was talking to people from a talking book. This is insane.]

[hie_hie_baby]

Maa, well, it's interesting, isn't it?

[especially the lack of clothes. Most decidedly the lack of clothes. There didn't seem to be much small enough for him and that wasn't a problem he ran into particularly often. Nevertheless, here he is looking at you with something that must have been a shirt but is now a fairly long robe held around him and draping to the floor around him.]

[youshouldberunning]

[She didn't hear him come up, even with the dragging shirt robe thing. When he spoke, she startled, jumping a bit and hugging the weird talking book to her chest, eyes wide and looking up at the kid.]

I... I don't think interesting is the word I would use for it.

[hie_hie_baby]

Well... [he sighs and sits cross legged not too far away. Though he's not too much older than her, he's definitely taller but slouches a bit so as not to make it obvious]

There's not a lot we can do... Unless you want to stage a coup... [sigh] Might be troublesome.

[youshouldberunning]

A coup? [she asked carefully, clearly unsure. Licking her lips she wrapped her arms around her knees and folded in on herself more. Stay calm. Stay calm.]

I don't want to do anything that's troublesome. I'm going to be in so much trouble if I don't get back to the home.

[hie_hie_baby]

Where is home? [he speaks in an attempt to calm her down] What's it like?

[youshouldberunning]

[She's trying. She knows she has to stay calm of she'll kill them all. Which isn't at ALL a calming thought. It's happened a few times now, and the scorch marks on her journal the size of her hands says it could happen again.]

Currently? Eastern Oregon, I ...think. It's not really home though.

Action;

[chore_boy]

[Coby was humming, having prepared a kettle of tea with cookies for the other members of the crew.

He had finally relaxed over Maribelle, while he was unaware of Kuzan and Liz.]

Everyone! I've made some tea if you'd like it!

[He had no idea that soon, that very same day, he would be dead.]

Action;

[youshouldberunning]

[Smoker had managed to calm her down a lot, as well as Kuzan, and Maribelle had managed to get her head on more that this wasn't a dream, but she was still unsure on all this. She didn't even run away from the Home this time. None of this was right.]

[And then there was someone calling about tea? The 11 year old peeked out of the dark corner she had found herself to hide in and went looking for the one that called out about tea.]

[Finding him was easy enough. Pink haired guy working over a kettle. She didn't say anything at first, just stood there near by, keeping her journal tight in her hands (it's slightly burnt looking) and watching him work. Her back to a wall]

Action;

[chore_boy]

[Coby didn't think much of the madness going around him. Smoker was small, Kuzan was small, Liz was small, Maribelle was small--it was all enough to remind him that he was a responsible adult in the middle of a whole lot of people with various issues.

That was even before the weird de-aging thing. After he set down the tea, Coby pulled out his notebook and went about the process of checking the sails and riggings, making marks in the book as usual. He didn't have any tea for himself, since that was a treat and he couldn't have treats until he was done working--OBVIOUSLY.]

Action;

[youshouldberunning]

[She followed, trying to keep hidden, invisible. She always tried to be invisible around others if she could help it, but... he had her curious.]]

[So skipping the treat was it. No tea, no cookies. Nothing like that. Smoker said this was a safe place, and she was apart of the crew. That seemed... weird to her but... but it was better then the home, right?]

[Trying to shadow him a bit, she came up to him, reaching a hand out to tap at his arm as he wrote something. She hesitated at first, but then tapped twice, swiftly drawing her hand back, as if worried she'd burn him.]

You're... um, not having anything? [the tea she means. She watched him set it up and walk off]

Action;

[chore_boy]

[Coby could have heard Liz step on a thread a quarter mile away, so hearing her tip-toe wasn't too much of a feat in comparison. Though, he didn't expect her to reach out and tap him, so he looked a little surprised when he turned to face her, though it didn't keep him from smiling.]

Oh. Liz? [He turned back to the ropes to properly secure them before he answered. Something about not wanting to get the skin ripped off of his palms or something.]

No, not yet. It's better to earn your breaks.

Action;

[youshouldberunning]

[she stood back a bit, to stay out of his way, watching him work. Holding the hand that tapped his arm close to her chest she looked a bit worried, but was glad to see him smile none the less.]

[It was odd being around people who didn't have a problem with her.] Coby, right? [Pink haired boy. She'd even seen someone with hair as pink as his. How do you even dye it that pink?]

[She moved to look at the barrel of tar, making a face at it, and looked at the rigging and just.... what ever he was doing, because she was curious. He had to earn his breaks? How weird.]

Can I ask you a question? [it was really important...]