The Call of The Sea

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"Trust me, you don't want to do out there, there's bigger things out there, things that make you look like a spec of dust on a lion's mane." Piper said and shivered "I have stared into the mouth of oblivion and I did not like it." She had an odd haunted look on her eyes.

"Right, let's go." Kappu said, the floor shifted and they started to descend into the bowels of the ship "Oh you are very pretty, I've never seen a creature like you before.

[Harbinger]

"Good common sense is what," she replied, her tail flicking to one side. She was growing impatient of all this talk and testing any cat's patience let alone Panthera's patience was never a smart route.

The sense of floating surrounded her and she didn't like it an ounce but if it got to a place where she could roam freely or rather a space more suited for a large cat, than she was open to that.

"I doubt you will again," she said shrewdly, not unless that witch made a habit out of it.

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"I guess though I wasn't afraid, I knew, she could kill it." Piper smiled as they descended into the darkness. They landed in a dark corridor that lit up with torches place strategically along it, rows of doors on either side and side corridors branching off into the same.

"Admittedly there are a few rats down here but they shouldn't be a problem." Kappu said then turned to Piper "Right, where's the key?" Piper paused, it was evident she did not have the key.

[Harbinger]

It was plenty roomy down here and that was important for something that needed a large range. She could sleep and patrol and wait for that moment down here quite admirably

"Rats don't worry me, it would take more than just diseased rodents to kill me," she replied, in fact she liked the fact of rats. It presented something to do with her time. Whilst she had borrowed or stolen in her past, she had learned something out of fending for one's self and loving the reward of a hunt and chase.

"Key...?" she frowned, why would she need a key if she could open anything...

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"Yeah, the cage is not part of me." Kappu said, frowning as she touched the bars, studying them, confused "This cage is alien to me, I can't open it." She looked annoyed at it.

"I can fix this, get back." Piper said, Kappu retreated as Piper took hold of two of the bars, shut her eyes and yanked them outwards, there was a ripping sound and both bars tore themselves out of the frame "Well.... I meant to just bend but that works."

[Harbinger]

Panthera watched and moved backwards out of the way curious by the pair. She was doubtful the girl could free her but she had realised that nothing was as it seemed on this ship. She blinked as the bars gave out and she waited for the girl to move out of the way before she ventured out, free from the small box.

She gave another larger languid stretched, her paws separating and claws dug into the woodwork slightly before she shook herself. She turned to Piper not over sure what to say. Thanking people was never something she was known for, she had issues with manners.

"You are stronger than you look," she breathed, wondering if they were at all aware how truly dangerous she was. Not that she planned to hurt these two... they had helped her and she wasn't going to spurn that away. Their boss however, she could not wait to decapitate her.

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“Stronger than I think too it seems.” Piper smiled to her, running her fingers through her hair nervously. “I’ll leave this here if you want it.” She flicked the lid off the box of food. “It would feel mean not to. Anyway I should go.” she clapped. “First mate business to attend to.” She was lifted off her feel by a patch of floor and went through the ceiling.

“Oh, well guess it’s just us.” Kappu smiled “Every room here has a bed and basic bathroom, no baths unfortunately. Anyway if you need anything just call, I hear you anywhere. You shouldn’t find any one else down here.”

[Harbinger]

Panthera nodded, they had their jobs to do and she none. Panthera didn't know what an honest job was. She had spent a lifetime stealing from a young age to survive. No one had wanted to adopt a street rat in their family and even less of a full grown, bigger than average panther. Oh, she could be awed and admired, but she was no means any less a wild creatures who fended for herself constantly.

Perhaps she could use a friend on this tub, her senses were good but they had limits.

"That won't worry me. A good huntress takes care of herself," she replied, cats were creatures of cleanliness. The instinct on that was too strong to resist so she did find that an advantage. Baths in the human world was a luxury... well, that had been many, many years ago.

"Do those rats bother you?" she asked Kappu.

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“Oh good.” Kappu smiled “They are annoying. They create a gnawing, itchy feeling right here.” She ran her fingers across the centre of her stomach. “Stupid rodents, I’ve tried everything, they just come back and breed more, this world is infested with the things.”

[Harbinger]

A creepy cattish grin that was all too inhuman formed on the large feline's large maw at those words, "They make for good hunting. I am unused to returning favours, but since it will give me something to do, consider them gone whilst I'm in here,"

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“Oh, well thank you.” Kappu said, smiling to her “Seriously, if you want or need anything just yell, I’m happy to help.”

(We may want to timeskip here)

[Harbinger]

It had been a long time now, Panthera wasn't sure how long exactly. Time had become a forgotten concept to her. She knew only to sleep during the day and hunt at night in the dusk till dawn. As a consequence, she had made one of the bedrooms down here her place of rest and any rats that dared to venture into her new domain didn't last very long. Diseased rats seemed to have no effect on her health.

She was unaware if Nichols knew that she had more free reign down here than in that infernal cage. She had met very few in her life that hadn't wanted to cage her. It was a foreign idea to her cattish mind. There was Piper and Kappu who had been kind as far as Panthera could think of them as being kind and then there was that man half a century ago. She carried on grooming as she thought to herself, keeping herself clean was always an endless task... especially if she had been doing a lot of hunting.

But she was tiring of being down here. It could have been weeks, months since she had last tasted fresh air. She was still reticent about 'being fed' and would only ever allow it from Piper since the girl understood, or seemed to at least, where Panthera came from on that front. Not that Piper ever hand fed, which was a good thing for both of them.

She wanted air. She was meant to be free.

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Then one day something had changed, a wall was missing, where it should have been a corridor and stairs. Panthera might smell a slight whiff of the open sea breeze and maybe hear the waves as they splashed against the side of the ship. But she might also smell fresh blood and hear the slight sounds of a baby's cry accompanied by the clank of chains and a soft thump as irregular intervals.

Something was wrong, Piper and Kappu hadn't been seen today either and this ship smelled of a 100 people but had no sounds of them, no sign of them, like they'd all just disappeared.

[Harbinger]

She was on her bed meant better for a human than a large cat with a gaze of curiosity and wonder as she took in the strange yet familiar scents. It was enough to get her to move out into the main section of the space she inhabited. The wall, it was gone. Frowning, her ember eyes squinting with suspicion looked before her frame moved as wary as it was possible. She hardly made a sound as her paws met the deck on her exploration through this new happenstance.

She paused at the wail of a baby... such sounds were foreign, alien to her, she shook her head. She made her way up before she reached the top deck. The wind had picked up but she could not see anything. Where had that wail come from?

Blood was thick in the air and it threatened to churn her animal instinct. She frowned again, she had slowly gotten used to Piper's and Kappu's company and yet she had not seen them today. What was going on?

"Ships weren't meant to hold cats," she muttered as she continued exploring, pausing to sniff at varying scents embedded into the wood and other things that lay about. She wasn't surprised if this was some joke... the way her luck had been lately. But then, why would luck favour a cat who hadn't learnt her lesson?

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The ship showed signs of a struggle though, doors ripped off, smashed windows, furniture overturned. There has been an fight and the vampirates had lost but they had taken a few with them judging by the size of the blood puddles that smell wed human.

That smell, those sounds.. They all came from the same place, the cabin at the front of the ship, the captain's quarters. The door was hanging off it's hinges, giving an unrestricted view of the inside. There was a large double bed covered in red, a figure was laid there, it's sent familiar, the captain, Nichol. She was chained to the bed by cuffs that glowed faint blue on either ankle and her wrists causing her to be spread eagle on the bed. There were also two metal bars one through her chest, one through her stomach, spilling her blood. By the side of the bed were two cots, a baby laid in each of them, wailing, calling out for attention.

[Harbinger]

The wreckage hardly brought out any good emotion in the panther. She was perhaps more free than ever now but she didn't know what kind of world she was in or where she was. Land was easier, much easier. "Oh Kappu, where is everybody?" she muttered darkly, her voice husky and dry.

She carried on her search before finding herself near to where the commotion originated from and wasn't not frightened of the sight of strewn blood. She had no pity on the Captain, but she was wary. She didn't know if she was alive or dead knowing how deceptive the woman proved to be. She crept closer to one of the cots, the sound hurting her ears.

Such sounds!

Panthera's head was at a tall enough height to peer over the edge and peer at the scrawny thing with wiggling arms and legs, she knew the other probably looked the same. She shook her slightly, still perplexed at what to make of this turn of events. She sniffed at the thing before sitting down.

"Now what am I supposed to do, witch?" she muttered, clearly speaking about someone else completely foreign to this ship and its crew and history. She had been cursed to be taught a lesson. A lesson she still had yet to learn. She didn't even know if that witch knew where she was right now or whether the old hag was still alive.

HEr head turned, looking at Nichols' still form and snarled softly. She couldn't steer a ship, she didn't know how. And even if she could transform back into her human self as easily as other kinds of shifters, that was all too rare and time-consuming. No, she would not leave herself vulnerable on a ship in a questionable and suspicious situation.

She looked back at the baby, not much more than a small morsel to the large predator but she was curious as to why they were here at all.

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This baby was strange, a girl with black hair maybe half a year old with such powerful lungs, screaming out in the quiet around her, her twin brother in the cot next to her screaming too. She stared up at Panthera with eyes so bright, one green, one blue, curious and wanting.

The screams seemed to rouse life into the woman on the bed who twisted, she was still alive somehow, she arched her back up, trying in vain to get free, straining against the chains before flopping back onto the bed, her strength was waning. She turned her head to the cots and growled "Who are you?" She growled, something was wrong with her eyes, the pupils had turned to a light pink and grown, only a hint of blue to be seen around them.

[Harbinger]

She had no experience with babies and any other cat she had rarely run into she had chased away in anger. She did not trust herself with them. She sighed heavily, the air escaping her lungs in a soft growl. A different growl got her attention and she turned her skull to look at the woman, scowling.

"Who am I?" she asked incredulously, insulted and surprised by the question but Panthera could sense something wasn't how things were supposed to be on this ship of hell. "I am the one you caught and caged like some pretty house cat. The locals to where you caught me call me Panthera," she growled in return but it was out of wariness, not out of fear. She didn't know who had done all this.

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"Ah, the panther." Nichol sighed "I apologize I am rather blind at the moment, all I see of you is a blur of black." She twisted again, trying to break free before collapsing back onto the cover then growled "And stay away from my children, you so much as touch them and you will know the true meaning of the phase 'There's more than one way to skin a cat.'" Even trapped her she could sound threatening.

[Harbinger]

She heard the threat but fear was never something that entered her heart. She knew the benefits of having a cold and calculative heart, she wasn't scared of the vampiress even if she knew what she was. She replied in a loud angry snarl that was a roar and a hiss all in one, "You're hardly in a position to make threats to one who has no fear of you, rat."

Her voice gave the genuine proof of that, there was very little stopping Panthera from finishing what the person or person had started. There would be very little stop Panthera's strong jaws from crushing neck and skull in two.

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"And neither are you." Nichol said, a smile creeping to her lips. "How will you leave without me? Oh I bet you can swim but on this world the oceans stretch half way around it, how far cans you swim? Oh what about when you do reach land? What will be a persons first reaction to a predator they've never seen before? I wonder how many bullet you can stand before you die?"

[Harbinger]

She listened in a cold mirth, true she wouldn't get very far but eventually this ship would drift carried by a current and land on shore. That's if she had no holes in her. She would deal with that thought later as Nichols' comment about bullet, which Panthera understood as flying projectiles, made the large feline laugh. The sound was horrid, like it was being passed through a cheese grater or running one's fingernails down a blackboard.

"I've died more times than I care to count," she spat darkly, "Better men and woman than have tried. Why do you think they call me demon?"

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"Then we have something in common, kill either of us and we just come back." Nichol smiled then frowned as something hit the side, sending the entire ship asque "That might be a dent in our plans, I forgot they had that. Despite how wonderful this conversation has been it may be wise to let me free now."

[Harbinger]

She only licked her nose at that comment, it wasn't something to brag about and that much. She glanced at the doorway as she felt the ship shudder and creak at the impact. "Why would I want to do that? You've given me reason to hate you," she replied darkly, looking back at her regardless of the situation building outside. Seas had a habit of containing monsters worse than herself..

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"There are worse things in this world than me and you're about to come face to face with one.." Nichol said "And of you don't last me go then you have the death of two innocent children on your head and I doubt their father would be happy with that." There was a splintering of wood outside and a scrapping sound along the side of the ship.

[Harbinger]

"If I let you go then I am no longer yours to sell," she stated but knew there was little time to be wasting. She looked at the woman's bonds gauging what they were made of, noting the blue glow. That meant some form of enchantment, Panthera knew about magic and how strong and deceptive it could prove itself to be. She was a living example.

"And you think my jaws can break them, do you?"

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Nichol raised an eyebrow and smiled "Alright, I promise I will not sell you." She said and sigh. "No, I think the idiots who chained me up left the keys here to taunt me, they obviously did not know they left you on board. Their on the book above the door." It was kind of a tall doorway, a human could reach it, maybe not a panther.

[Harbinger]

"I will hold you to that," she said before she shut up to listen. She peered up to where these keys were supposed to be. She gauged the height and thought for a long moment. Leaping took calculation and it was perhaps fortunate that most cats could climb pretty well, particularly Jaguars and Leopard who were known for making their home in the trees. Since teh ship was made of wood, it made it easier for her. She moved, getting into a position where she could make the appropriate jump.

After a few seconds, she set forth in a powered leap, her claws deepening into the wood of the wall and door frame long enough for her to see the keys and grab the book in her mouth. The turn of the book made the keys fall to the floor as she came down again in a haphazard manner. It was something that only a creature with lots of experience could achieve. She found the keys and pondered the next problem... cats weren't known for opposable thumbs.

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Nichol watched though clearly she couldn’t see anything she could hear the claws digging into the wood and the keys jangle as they came off the hook then her landing, a small smiled spreading to her lips.

[Harbinger]

She didn't really want to try and turn back and and she didn't even know if she could do it. So, she made several attempts before she eventually and after much cursing in a dead language before the key slid into the lock to one of the wrists. She awkwardly grabbed the head of the key and turned it in three stages though in doing so her claws revealed themselves from their protected places and Panthera didn't ultimately care if she nicked the vampiress. It wasn't as if any more pain would make a difference.