Sun, Surf, and Demons (insaney)

OoC: The first part of this intro is a little old, but I think I told you a few things needed to happen before she went job-hunting. This'll tie in with her new bio, whenever it is that I get that posted... (Some things here may not make sense unless you've been keeping up with the family part of Cadenza's storyline.)

Also, excuse the general disjointed-ness of this whole thing. <____< I'm sure this is all probably confusing, so feel free to ask any questions.

IC:
Some tunes have a way of becoming the theme song of a day; a background song on repeat in your mind. Depending on how that day goes, you might not want to ever hear it again. But some songs just stick in your head, like a memory...

...It was the first song she ever taught me on guitar. It had no lyrics, but that was half the charm. She'd teach me songs that came with words later. First, she began teaching me a few notes. Then, a few chords. It turned out that they were all building up to this song. She'd heard it once, back in her homeland of Castile, and fell in love with it. None of my other sisters had ever managed to master it, so of course, in the way of younger siblings everywhere, I was hell-bent on learning. It was my first time playing with the fire that is flamenco.

Now, all that comes to mind when I play that song is: meu mãe es muerta, meu mãe es muerta...

I was drunk that day when Sonya died. Arietta shouted something at me I don't even remember before slapping me and kicking me out of the hospital room. Our pai took me by the hand then, and led me, stumbling and incoherent, to the chapel on Trajeto do Pinguim Sábio Street. The whole way, while he was trying to get through to me, I was just wondering why the street's name had the word "penguin" in it.

I hummed the song the whole time while Pai prayed. He asked me to say something to the Spirit of Life for him, since he wasn't a gypsy but knew it would have been important to Sonya, and I think I rambled on about how the Spirit of Light was a bastard. My cheek still stung from Ari's slap. Pai looked at me with a sort of sympathetic frown and helped me back to the door of the Dome. As a sort of leftover fatherly instinct from all the years he'd missed, he took the keys to my Lamborghini from me before he let me go.

The door opened up, and I stumbled through...

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She was told it was a pretty interesting story a few days later. She had apparently marched into the Dome, albeit unsteadily, and demanded to see who was in charge. When someone reminded her that the building was in charge of, well, itself, she turned to the nearest wall and drunkenly let loose her list of grievances. Afterwards, she nailed her two weeks' notice to the wallpaper and staggered out.

No one had seen a resignation quite like that in countless years.

Still, none of that--not even the drunk part--fully explained where she was now...

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Cadenza Madrigal woke up with the sun in her face and a pain in her side. There was a back-and-forth sort of motion to the world that told her she was either lying on the deck of a ship, or there was a very pathetic attempt at an earthquake going on. Judging from the smell of sea salt and seagull guano floating about, it was probably the former.

Shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun, she sat up and took stock of herself.

Okay...there appears to be about twenty-something daggers sticking into my armor... that explains the pain in my side. Did the ship run across some pirates and the crewmembers used me as a human shield? The cowardly bastards...

After she finished removing what she sardonically labeled as her disguise of the World's Largest Pincushion, the gypsy went back to assessing her situation. There seemed to be a lot of unexplained aspects to it.

What else...now, all right, I smell of tequila. That's not a complete surprise. But is that what led me here? Why'd I wander onto a boat?

A ticking coming from her pocket interrupted her line of thought. She reached a hand into the inner pocket of her vest, closed her hands over some metallic lump, and pulled it out. Her imagination said her hand would be clasped over a remote-detonator bomb right now--but instead, it was just a pocketwatch. A gold pocketwatch. She turned the object over and over in her hands, watching how the light played off its surface, until an inscription caught her attention:

DE SEUS AMIGOS NA ABÓBADA.

From your friends at the Dome. How nice. They think I can't read English.

Cadenza pocketed the watch.

Cadenza took back out the watch.

Wait a second. Why do I have this? What did I do!? This looks like something that they'd give to people who...

Neurons that had previously shut down to take a nice long soak in alcohol woke up and reported in to work. Connections were built. Memories were roused from the recesses of the mind.

...I finally quit? Seriously now? I finally quit and I wasn't even there mentally to watch it? That would be my luck...but then, why the boat?

Logic said another search of the pockets couldn't hurt. Drunks seemed to like to stash things in their pockets--like other people's cash. Anyway, it couldn't provide her with any fewer answers...

The rest of her vest pockets were empty. A loose button, but nothing of interest. Her shorts' pockets produced a few zecca coins, and...and?

A green notecard? With a name? Where in bloody hell did this come from?

Cadenza wiped her sleepy eyes and and tried to focus them on reading the paper. All they wanted to do was close and go back to rest. Grumbling, she rooted around in her duffel bag for the amulet Johnny's pet had given her--the amulet that eliminated the need for sleep, among other things--and slipped it over her head. A blink of the eyes was all the time it took for the fuzziness in her vision to fade away. Glancing back at the card, she read:

"Well, it's a bit hard to believe that you're leaving us... sad a day as this is, I have a friend that I once brought here that I think you should meet. I'm sure he could use help with his job, and I'm sure that you might want a new job. His name is Rain Seraph. I hope you find him."

..the stub of a cruise ship ticket was stuck to the other side. The person who'd given her this card didn't need to have signed it for her to know who it was from--she could practically picture the stupid smile he'd probably been wearing when he gave her this if she thought about it right now...

...Broccoli Head. That idiot. He knew I'd need a job? What makes him think I'd want to work with this Rain guy? I've had so many students that it's hard to keep track, but I know I recognize that name...

Picking herself up, Cadenza put away the card again and started staggering off to the cabin she assumed she had on this ship as she perused her rattled memory...

OoC: Much thanks to Z for writing up that note from Zorlo for me on such short notice. It's greatly appreciated. <3

And just to clarify: the woman alluded to ("Sonya") that dies in the beginning is Cadenza's mother. She has been suffering from lung cancer for several years. "Arietta" is one of Cadenza's sisters.

Rain was bent over, looking down at the sleeping person on the deck. His hands were on his waist and he stood on his heels, slowly rocking to the boat’s movement. His gold eyes, which held the look of one being perplexed, were set upon the sleeping woman.

I know this person…

She was kind of small, but she seemed fit enough. And she was beautiful, too. Dark hair adorned with pretty peacock feathers, tanned skin and a slim, attractive build. One thing threw him off a little, though; the smell of alcohol coming from her.

To him, she kind of seemed to pretty to be a heavy drinker.

The sun brightened as it peeked out from behind a cloud. Rain’s shadow over the woman grew darker; she stirred slightly. As soon as she did, Rain remembered what had happened: the garden with endless silver needles, and the werewolf that needed anger management and a breath-mint.

Ms. Madrigal is it? Oh well, he stood up and shrugged, I have no right to question why you’re here…or why you’re…sleeping on deck. Although that… Rain crumpled his nose and sniffed, is kind of obvious.

She stirred again as Rain hopped straight over her and went on his way, probably out of sight by the time she woke up. He found himself leaning far over the railing, with no regard for his own safety, and looking straight down at the water. He kept staring until something moved out of the corner of his eye, then he started looking. The shadow of the ship seemed to grow abnormally large and then shrink back down.

Rain blinked. It wasn’t his eyes playing tricks on him, and the sun was too busy being hot to be playful.

No, something was under the ship.

Cadenza fumbled along the wall, trying her hardest to at least stay upright. Was she really this bad that walking had become this much of a challenge? The world couldn't be shaking this much...something was wrong. She wasn't sure how much more of this her stomach could handle.

Damned ocean, she thought, clutching at her stomach. She'd never have drunkenly boarded this thing if she...all right, well, maybe that thought was contradictory. "Drunken" and making a bad choice like boarding this ship that rocked like it was perched on a mountain peak with incredibly strong winds seemed to go hand in hand. She'd done this to herself, and probably would do something like this again. Enough of that line of thought.

But with her senses hazy or not, things were clear to her through the shadows. After all, she was the Spirit of Shadows in her world, was she not? There had been someone's shadow cast over her earlier...someone who had watched her, but hadn't had the balls, as she'd phrase it, to approach her. But that wasn't the only weird thing about this ship--something else was messing with the shadow it cast on the water.

Something's moving the ship. From under the ship.

Whatever the hell it was, it felt big. It was disturbing the ship a lot--Cadenza knew her walking hadn't been that shaky. Through the shadows, if she focused, well...it felt scaly. Very scaly. Sort of like Avello, but far bigger--and Avello being a sort of teenaged dragon, that meant a lot in terms of size.

The gypsy had no bloody idea how many other people were on this ship, but at the very least, she was in trouble if something was about to sink this boat--and that's all she needed to call her to action. Sitting down in the shade, she focused on the shadow underneath the ship, and prodded it a little with Shade Touch...

Creeeeaaaaakk…

The ship tilted more than it should have and that creaking sound followed. The waves didn’t cause it: a cat on a raft would keep bone dry on these calm waters. The ship’s hull suddenly dipped down deeply, causing a large splash of white water to wash the railings.

A shout came out from someone that sounded far off, but Rain heard what he was saying.

“The hull’s been breached! We’re taking in water!”

At that moment, the ship slammed into something – or rather, something slammed into the ship. The whole thing tilted to a point where the deck became almost vertical. People began screaming as they slid downward; some objects came careening after them. Some passengers frantically grabbed around looking for things that were nailed to the deck, but even the furniture were loose and rolled around like billiard balls on a tilted table.

This was nothing to Rain, he stood as if the ship wasn’t upset. He stretched out his arm and caught someone from falling into the water before having them hang on to the railing. Another one fell; he was screaming all the way down, but stopped when Rain’s hand grabbed his collar, he became silent afterward, clinging to the railing. The people who hung on were too panicked to notice how he was standing or how calm he was.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from that end of the ship, forcing the whole mass of floating iron upright again.

“What the hell?”

Rain looked over the railing and observed what seemed to be giant ‘leeches’ sticking out of the water, clinging on to the hull. Another one rose up high out of the water and smashed down onto the deck. It looked like a black, oversized snake, but some parts of it were pink, mostly around what seemed to be cuts and scars.

The Grim Angel sighed, rubbing his head, “And there goes the start of my vacation.”

You're big, and angry, and you've just encountered something else of your size prowling around in what you probably think of as your waters. And how do you solve that problem?

The giant tentacles slithering up the ship were all the answer that was needed to that question--it said you were dealing with a creature that didn't believe in mediation or diplomacy--the only sounds you'd hear from it were splurches and gurgles and roars, and none of those were particularly friendly. The responses the thing was getting back were none too articulate either--they were actual words, but nothing over two or three syllables, and nothing more eloquent than a "Help!" or a "Where's my leg!?" Water was rushing onboard, children were screaming, and the whole ship had just tipped over onto its side like a squirming turtle.

Cadenza sat against the wall, thankful that the ship was tilting in the direction that made her lean against the wall rather than have to cling to it for dear life, and closed her eyes. She was far too hung-over to be showing much excitement, and honestly, she wasn't the least bit surprised that her luck had brought her to a ship that was being savaged by a sea monster. She actually might have been more surprised if everything had gone smoothly and she'd only arrived back home with an even darker tan and an umbrella drink.

The monster had felt her when she'd poked him through the shadows. It had been none too happy about it either--there it had been, preparing to attack this other behemoth that had wandered into its territory, and so far things seemed perfect since the white, shiny giant hadn't noticed him--and then all of a sudden something's prodding it in the ribs like it was their fat uncle at the cookout and it couldn't even see who had done it. It was unnerving.

It never could have imagined that the thing that had poked it was a slender little woman of twenty-nine with a system full of tequila and a strong dislike of swimming. But it also couldn't have imagined that this petite woman also had a system full of shadow magic, strength, and speed, and a generally bad and uncompromising attitude.

When the slash from an unseen blade came through the shadows and sliced the beast's stomach, it let out a blood-curdling wail.

The ship started to rock again--it tilted forward until the bow kissed the water. Underneath it, the creature was thrashing about, trying to throw off its unseen attacker. People were falling into the sea, but it ignored them--they might make good snacks later, but right now there was just this bloody thing swiping at it and hitting...

There was a sensation of rushing wind and abrupt gravity.

Cadenza opened her eyes, realized she had about two seconds to grab onto a hook along the wall before she plummeted into the ocean, and reached out just in time to get some of the tip and most of the shadow underneath. But that was fine too. Crewmembers and passengers were screaming off to either side of her--in her experience, trying to help someone at a time like this only seemed to get you into more trouble, but she stretched out a sort of net of magic anyway from the shadows they were falling towards and scooped them up. Hell if she knew where to put the people after she'd caught them, but at least they weren't falling anymore...

There was another roar.

Something could be heard coming up through the water--many somethings, actually, like volcanoes rising up from the frothing sea. The gypsy thought she saw a pinkish head, topped by glassy green eyes and...there were more? Another set of eyes rose up now, full of a sort of primeval fury; the kind of look a lion might give to something that just unknowingly stumbled into his feeding grounds. One last bubbling, boiling sound came from the front of the ship--soon, there was one last pair of eyes, staring the boat down.

Another wail--like a banshee's wail. It was amplified times ten in Cadenza's hung-over brain, only adding to her headache.

Then the heads rose up, bearing teeth...

OoC: That was probably one of my best posts in quite a while. : D

Three pinkish heads stuck themselves out of the water, all their glossy-green eyes peering over the helpless passengers while their mouths had grins plastered on them, baring teeth that seemed to be longer than the tallest person on the ship. Other than their length, they seemed to be extremely thin and packed tightly together like sardines in a tin can.

Speaking of tin cans, this floating one looked like it would only take a few moments before the whole thing went under.

Rain landed on a wall, which was now acting as the floor since the whole thing tilted, to come face-to-one-face with the impressively girly-looking sea-monster. One of the heads noticed his movement and turned towards him, seemingly widening its grin even more.

"Alright, Grinny-Green-Eyes," Rain raised his hand a little as a thick mist extended from his palm, "Vacation time is all the time unless someone or something steps in and spoils it. You're making me work. You're going to regret that. All...three of you."

The Grim Angel's gold stare suddenly turned into an icy purple glare. A long, glossy, black, slightly curved staff appeared in Rain's hand. He gripped the center of it tightly as he looked into the emerald green eyes of the monster.

"Honestly..." He lifted his other hand and scratched the back of his head thoughtfully, a semi-stupid grin spread across his lips, "are there three of you? Or is it just one fish-thing with three heads? I can't tell."

The monster stood still for a second. Rain swore right there that if it had eyelids, it would blink in confusion at his questions. A moment masquerading as a minute passed by before the creature finally reacted. It pulled its head back and opened its jaws wide, revealing a slimy, snaking tongue.

The head thrust forward as its jaws were set, intent on taking the wall and some of the deck along with the dark-clad person who stood in front of it grinning like an idiot.

Its teeth were mere inches away from crashing through the wall when Rain decided to react. Within the blink of an eye, he drew his sword, slashed and put it back, all in one swift, invisible movement. The beast thrashed its head as the tip of its tongue went flying. The other heads twisted and squirmed, smashing into the ship and howling with pain along with the wounded one.

"...I see." Rain narrowed his eyes, his grin became sly, "three heads on one body."


OoC: I didn't read it over, so excuse any mistakes xP

The cold seawater and shrill screams were proving to be better than any other hangover cure. Different parts of Cadenza's brain had to be roused just to shut out the noise, smell, and chill--but, of course, being more aware just meant she'd also feel them more. It's a vicious circle, she thought. And water should never be that bone-chillingly cold.

The gypsy shook that feeling off and glanced down at the net where the catch of the day, har har, still lay in her net of magic. Common sense dictated that they'd be staring and shrieking in the general direction of wherever the most action was--and that would be where their big, pink friend was centering his attack on the ship. Their eyes, or at least those of the people still fortunate enough to be conscious, seemed to be focused on this one dark, quick figure staring down (or rather, grinning down) the beast while standing perfectly balanced on a wall. The man seemed familiar, Cadenza thought. And seeing as how everyone else on this ship was about as familiar as a kind thought to her, that must've meant he was--

--a head full of fangs thrust itself forward, threatening to majorly intrude upon the woman's personal space. Meet 'n' greet the new business associate later, she told herself. Chop up some massive seafood first.

The beast lunged and took a giant mouthful out of the cabin where Cadenza was hanging, sending splinters and plaster everywhere--but by that time, she was already running along his scaly neck, anchored to the shadows upon it. Darts of shadow magic were peppered into his spine like acupuncture needles, each one causing the sea monster to cry out in pain. Then, the gypsy was suddenly back on his head again, smirking at the two big, marble-like eyes, watching them wince and twitch in agony and just smiling back. It infuriated him. He tried swinging his head about wildly, crashing it against the ship's hull, but every move just made the darts sting worse and worse.

The petite woman flipped him a finger in some sort of rude human gesture, got a kickstart off his forehead, and leapt back to the ship's wall onto a shadow, shouting, "You smell like a shark's ass!"

And then, the darts--and one of his three heads--exploded in a burst of magic.

Pieces flew everywhere, drawing lines of blood on the ship as they moved through the air. And then suddenly, each piece would 'plop', hit the deck and leave a large splotch of blood as if the artist painting the world became frustrated and just smashed the bristles of the brush right there. The one that splotched down near to Rain was both emerald and crimson in colour: the painter forgot to wash the green off the brush before dipping it in the red and putting it on the canvas.

The emerald eye that landed nearby twitched around slightly. The iris and pupil encased in the green orb trembled and darted in all directions frantically before finally resting itself on Rain. The eye stared at him for a moment, trembling. Suddenly, the life that was left in it seemed to flee: the eye began to dim.

Rain looked right into it as it 'died'. "Don't look at me," he chuckled, "I didn't do that."

But that was definitely shadow magic.

Whatever it was had saved him a great deal of trouble by completely destroying one of the heads. He couldn't deny that. Now there was just one less head to deal with and probably because of that, there would be a lot less damages and a lot less casualties to deal with afterward.

The other heads roared in a mix of anger and pain. They began thrashing about relentlessly, splashing around torrents of salt water and rocking the boat violently. The people that were still hanging on were screaming out their lives that they were so desperately clinging to.

Rain pushed forward with his feet, leaping from the ship on to the sea-monster's head. In response, the head moved forward and opened its jaws wide. The Grim Angel reacted quickly pulling his sword and running it down the center of the beast's head, splitting it down half-way. The sword hummed loudly as he raised it up once more and sliced across, severing the split head from the snaking neck. The massive piece of pink flesh fell straight into the water, dying it a dark red.

The man set his feet on the neck and pushed off against it, sending it down into the depths after its head while using it like a spring to catapult himself over to the last head.

Soon, this will be over.

All eyes were on this man, balancing himself on the head of the terrible beast. He was not, Cadenza had to admit, a bad figure to play the role of hero here. She could really, if she wanted to, just sit back and let him finish the monster off, and that would be that--sure, there'd be a little bit of a tussle first, but she didn't doubt that it would end with this Rain guy just cleaving the monster's last head off and saving the day.

But then again, that wasn't the way to make a first impression on your possible new employer, was it? And we can't forget to repay our pink scaly friend for severely upsetting my stomach.

The creature was thrashing about, sending wave upon giant wave crashing into the ship. The man seemed to be having little trouble staying atop its head, but doing much of anything with an enraged beast moving about like that so close to a ship full of innocents was risky. Cadenza planned to make the thing even more enraged--but, at the same time, it'd find itself with worries other than ridding itself of the guy on its head.

Like the lost of its eyesight.

Arrows were pulled out of her quiver. It had been quite some time since she used the old things...but they were just the ticket now. They'd fly farther, and penetrate deeper than the darts--all they needed was an extra kick. A little movement of the hands, a few words, and now...now they glowed with an even more intense shadow energy than the purely-magical darts had before. And that was saying quite a lot.

Aim hardly mattered here. If the monster moved off the course of her arrows, all it'd take was a little nudge via the shadows cast on the arrows themselves to move them back on point. Really, all she had to do was let loose of the bowstring, and--

--an earsplitting shriek rang out. It was loud enough that passengers of the ship found themselves checking their ears for blood. But the only blood to be found was gushing out of the beast's final pair of eyes, which were punctured by a flurry of arrows, and judging from how they were pulsating with magic...

...were about to blow.

There was a long, tense sort of silence, followed by another shriek, and the sound of a sword cutting flesh. Waves shook the boat as everyone opened their eyes to see that the last head had been cut off, and pieces of its eyes were scattered in bloody chunks on the sea.

All the passengers watched then in silent awe as the dark-clad man leapt back to the ship from the falling, lifeless body of the beast, and casually cleaned off his blade.

The ship creaked loudly as it rode the ocean waves unhindered once more. Practically the whole thing was covered in blood and clumps of rancid crimson flesh. Flies from God-knows-where circled around the pieces of meat and sanguine liquid that had decorated the deck at intervals. The crew was reluctant to start the cleaning, the smell was unbearable. Fish odour mixed with the thick stench of blood, a combination that would make any skunk run.

And Rain was covered in it.

“I need a shower now,” he grimaced, picking some gunk off the back of his gloves and dropping it overboard into the red-dyed ocean, “Thanks.”

The Grim Angel shoved his hands in his pockets, ignoring the squelching sound that rose out. Calmly he strolled over to the nearby doorway, hoping to get into his cabin to wash the smell off of his body. He would need a clean change of clothes, too.

Rain glanced behind him, noticing the slight footprints of blood he was leaving behind. He would probably have to get someone to clean that up, also. It wasn’t long before he had reached the small room. It was just for one, so it wasn’t very spectacular; small bed, one shower, a toilet and a small mirror hanging on the wall. The ship had restaurants all over, so no need for a kitchen.

As soon as he entered, he took off his shoes. Those would need to be cleaned as well, and he would have to remain without them until they dry. The ship hopefully had some shops around, so buying a temporary replacement might not be a problem. Before long, all his dirty clothes were in the floor in a heap and the hot water was going in the shower.

Cadenza emerged from the shadows, fairly clean, to find herself greeted with a face-full of passengers clamoring to thank her and "her partner", and thrusting small children in her face to meet their "hero".

She mumbled something like, "Lady, you reek of fish guts," to the crowd in general and picked herself up. Normally they would be offended, but the way they saw it, this woman had just saved their lives, so she was entitled to saying a few insults if she felt like it. Some kids were clustering around something a little way's off--and if only because they were the only ones with enough sense not to bother her, the gypsy figured whatever it was that they were looking at might be worth checking out. So she staggered on over, weaving through her new fans, and peered over their shoulders.

"What have we got here?" she said conversationally, nudging a few of the kids out of the way.

All there was were a few tracks of blood. Some footprints. But considering that these were the only footprints that led away from her, and not seeing the Grim Angel anywhere in sight, these tracks gained a bit more meaning.

"They belong to your partner!" one of the boys said, "He was so cool, the way he just totally destroyed that last head!"

"Mhm, sure was," the gypsy replied emptily, following the tracks with her eyes. Did he go inside for a post-fight snooze or something? Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to see if we can talk business now...

She left the boys to discuss how they were going to be heroes too when they grew up, and headed inside, following the footprints. They didn't go on for long--just led to this cabin, with an open door.

What an idiot. Leaving your door open when you're asleep or whatever is just asking to be robbed...

Never a firm believer in knocking unless she was the one that would be barged in on, Cadenza strolled inside and shut the door behind her. There was some steam, and the sounds of water...also the smell of flesh. A sort of fishy smell, she guessed--you didn't really encounter that smell in Rubato, but she'd done quite a bit of traveling and had some idea. Probably remains of the sea monster, or...maybe seafood? The woman didn't remember there being a kitchenette or anything like that in her cabin, but maybe...?

The door to the next room was open. Steam was pouring out of it like a sauna, and there was someone whistling...curiosity seemed to take over, and edged Cadenza closer to the doorway. She glanced in, and saw--

--she saw--

--SLAM! went the bathroom door behind her, as the blood rushed to her cheeks and she sat herself down, leaning against the wall.

Eventually, her breath and her mind caught up to her. Who leaves the door open like that? That bloody halfwit! Just whistling his head off, not caring who...gaah, why does that bother me? I'm a grown woman--I've seen naked guys before. It's not a big deal. Just...well, you shouldn't see your future business associate like that, and...

The water stopped. Various rustling noises, like a towel being grabbed and used were heard. Cadenza's face turned redder than a tomato again as she allowed herself to drop into the shadows and hurry away into the hall.

...I already hate this guy.

"Did you see your partner?"

"W-w-what?"

Cadenza turned around from where she'd resurfaced to find one of the kids from before gazing up expectantly at her. A lump seemed to form in her throat--that was an unfamiliar feeling. Usually, she always had something witty to say back.

"Ah, he's...er...busy."

"Oh," said the boy, "well, can you tell him I want his autograph later?"

"Ah...sure."

And with that, the kid hurried back on deck to his friends, leaving a very awkward-feeling gypsy behind.

His gold eyes saw the instant that the hand had grabbed the doorknob and swiftly pulled it in. Instead of a click, there was a loud slam when the door met the metal frame. Quickly, he turned the tap, stopping the flow of water into the shower. Still dripping, he stepped out and quickly nabbed up a small, pinkish towel from nearby. Rain dried himself off a little before opening the door and stepping out.

Rain looked around the room. All that was there were his clothes, some footprints and nothing else of importance, really. There were faint footprints other than his own that made their way toward the bathroom door. They stopped right there, and didn’t lead back outside. His eyes fell on the soft shadows cast nearby. He scratched his head. Someone was in this room, someone who he had seen before.

A small smile crossed his lips. It was probably her. The shadow-magic user. His former teacher. She’s supposed to be…scary, right? Rain made his way over to the closet, picking out a clean, light-gold shirt and a jet black, long pants. So why’s she peeking? And…that’s it. No socks, no shoes. Barefoot. His shoes were nasty, covered in all that gunk. The smell would probably take ages to get off, even if he cleaned the gunk off.

Rain opened his room door and stepped out into the hall, taking care not to step in the footprints he left when he came in. A little way down, he spotted the gypsy who had her arms folded and her back leaning against the wall. She avoided his gaze when he looked at her as he began to walk over. As he walked past her, he smiled, raised his eyebrows and spoke softly.

“Knock.”

"...which rhymes with 'lock', which is something you should learn to do," she said.

She kept a straight face--it was an expression that could've won poker tournaments. She couldn't help if maybe her cheeks were a little red, but she could at least keep a straight face. The redness could be blamed on seasickness or make-up later.

Just don't let him see you flustered, don't look embarrassed about it at all...actually, as far as you're concerned, pretend it never happened...

"Or you could learn to knock before opening a door."

Yes, that's a good point...she had to concede, trying not to wince. But...

"I...wasn't even going to go inside until I saw one of the kids from on deck go in there to try to get your autograph or whatever. I went in to go drag him back out here. All I heard or saw was a door slamming shut."

...As far as she was concerned, there were few situations you couldn't bluff your way out of with a bold-faced lie. And that one almost had some truth to it too, which made it even better. She'd be damned if she allowed this whole business arrangement to start off like this.

OoC: *has been having some writing troubles lately, but meh* <__<

"I...wasn't even going to go inside until I saw one of the kids from on deck go in there to try to get your autograph or whatever. I went in to go drag him back out here. All I heard or saw was a door slamming shut."

She’s really got a poker face on, there. Rain stared at her, listening to every word with little intensity and that tiny little smirk on his face. He knew that she was trying to bluff her way out of her situation, but she was too easy to figure out. At least, this lie that she just told was.

“Ah, I see…” he began to respond, motioning down to her shoes with his hand, “there were footprints that lead all the way up to the bathroom door. It’s funny…they were really big for a kid’s. They were around…your size. Yeah.”

Rain had a silly grin on his face by that time.

“Let’s face it,” he whispered, “you peeked.”

He leaned away slightly and turned to walk away, but continued to speak “So, let’s hear it. Why’d you really come into my room?”

Cadenza found herself flinching a little, the hot, flushed pinkness from before returning unbidden and unwanted to her cheeks as she cursed under her breath. How many people had the guts to point out a lie right to her face, if they could even spot it to begin with? She could probably count them all on one hand.

...Okay, so that was a lame last-second fib. But at least he's giving me the chance to turn the subject around. We'll just put this behind us, and...

She held up her ticket, with Zorlo's green pen scrawled across the front and back of it. He just shot her a puzzled look. Ignoring that, the woman read the message aloud, sort of mimicking the fencer's voice in a mocking way (made even more humorous by her Latina-accent interjecting at points where she couldn't help it) and only half-realizing that she was doing it, " 'Well, it's a bit hard to believe that you're leaving us... sad a day as this is, I have a friend that I once brought here that I think you should meet. I'm sure he could use help with his job, and I'm sure that you might want a new job. His name is Rain Seraph. I hope you find him.'

"That's...more or less it. You remember me being a teacher, right? For maybe...twenty minutes to you? Well, I quit...even if I don't remember that part, but I still need a job. Something to do, you know? I almost would never be caught saying this, but money's not even important... I just want something that'll keep me moving around."

She glanced up from where her eyes had purposefully been staring at on the ticket to avoid his gaze, and fidgeted with a lock of her hair. The man looked like he was thinking this over.

For whatever reason, she felt compelled at this point to add, "...And I only 'peeked' because I was trying to find you and didn't know if you were really showering. And I had to keep myself from laughing afterwards, because, well...I felt bad for you."

She crossed her arms then, and fixed her stare at her boots. There. Maybe he'll stop smiling so much now.

"Ah..." Rain scratched his head as he heard the note that was being read aloud to him. It was Zorlo, all right, she didn't even have to try to mimic his voice for Rain to guess who wrote the note. Green ink. Green ink. And the way it was written just sold him out.

She played with a lock of her hair after she had finished. Rain looked past her, at the wall behind her.

Zorlo wants me to carry Cadenza Madrigal *demon hunting*?

"...And I only 'peeked' because I was trying to find you and didn't know if you were really showering. And I had to keep myself from laughing afterwards, because, well...I felt bad for you."

...Ouch. Rain was silent for a moment, just looking at her.

He grinned and then stuck his tongue out, teasing her.

"Go ahead and laugh. I don't mind."

Rain glanced down at his feet and wiggled his toes, not caring whether she laughed or not. But he would have to think about this decision first, for a little while. He would think about it while he got himself a new pair of shoes.

Nice ones, he hoped. Black, most likely. Sneakers are comfortable. There was sure to be some stores on a cruise ship this big. Rain didn't tell her anything regarding the most important topic, all he said was: "I have to get a new pair of shoes. Want to come along?"


OoC: Thanks for saving these <3 *Is a careless momma*

OoC: No problemo--I was just sort of lucky and happened to have left on "instant email notification" for this one, when I usually take that off. XP *takes the credit anyway*

IC:
"Go ahead and laugh. I don't mind."

He...doesn't mind? He's grinning even? Twiddling his toes!?

He seemed to be thinking something over, whatever it was. As her composure slowly returned to her, with maybe a little disbelief lurking around as well, Cadenza was getting the sneaking suspicion that whatever he was considering had nothing to do with her job request.

In fact, judging from the way he seemed so preoccupied with his feet, she figured it had something to do with them. ...Feet are more important than giving me a job?

And while she was fully prepared for his next statement, she wasn't expecting the question that followed at all: "I have to get a new pair of shoes. Want to come along?"

She blinked at him. He just gave a tiny smile back, and continued wiggling his toes. He was serious. And she, for a moment, was at a loss for words. Normally someone would have asked about her skills, or why she wanted the job, or what she knew about the position already...he was asking her to go shoe-shopping. It seemed silly.

But still...

The gypsy gave herself a quick look-over, noting the gunk still on her from when the first head exploded. In a softer voice than she expected, she said, "Can I...clean up first? If...I can find my cabin."

OoC: And that catches us up. :]

“Can I...clean up first? If...I can find my cabin.”

Rain remembered when he had first laid eyes on her when they were onboard, on the deck. He wasn’t sure if she even had a cabin to begin with; she was sleeping on the ground. And if she had no cabin, that would mean that she had a lack of clean clothes to change into after getting cleaned up.

“Why don’t you use mine?” he sprung the question suddenly with a soft smile on his face, “You can use some of my clothes, if that’s okay. We can probably buy you a nice suit when we go later.”

She blinked at him, but this wasn’t a ploy for revenge for peeking on him: this was totally sincere.

“Go on. It’s okay.” he smiled reassuringly.


OoC: Smaaaall post >_>

He wasn't upset, he wasn't wearing some pervy grin...it wasn't a set-up of any kind. She had to run that last bit through her mind a few times to see if she'd gotten it straight--he was just, quite politely, offering the use of his shower so she could clean up. Her pessimism tried to find somewhere to poke holes in this idea and make it sink, but it was finding it surprisingly impossible.

...Either that or he's the best damn, straight-faced liar there's ever been.

You were supposed to see demons and tricksters where they weren't any, just in the event that someone turned on you. But his smile was nothing but sincere.

So she just gave him a grateful little nod and headed inside. He followed just to lay some clothes out on the bed for her to put on after, and then left her to herself until she'd finished, waiting patiently in the hall. Some minutes later, he heard some slightly-wet sounding footsteps pad out of the doorway, and glanced over to see the gypsy with a shirt long enough to be a dress, and some pants rolled up several times, all held together onto her small, curvy frame with a thin brown belt. Her long black hair was still sopping wet, and all in all, she had the look about her of some poor girl who'd been caught in the rain.

Blowing a damp strand of hair out of her eyes, she muttered as sourly as she could, "Don't laugh. Not even a chuckle."

"Don't laugh. Not even a chuckle."

He chuckled.

In the process, he received a deadly glare from the woman who was standing in front of him, wearing his clothes. They were too big for her, but other than looking funny, she looked kind of…cute, too, in a sour, ‘I-hate-getting-soaked-in-the-rain-with-my-dad’s-clothes-on’ kind of way.

“You look cold,” he smiled and almost stuck out his tongue to tease her, “let’s go find you some clothes that fit. Nice ones, too.”

Rain wiggled his toes again, “We can talk about your new job on the way.”

“And for the record,” he chuckled again, “you do look kind of cute.”