The Call of The Sea

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Nichol winced as she got nicked a few times but as soon as the key clicked the cuff stopped glowing blue and she freed herself from it, then grabbed the keys and leaned across, unlocking her other hand in one swift motion. Now for the hard part, taking a hold of the metal bar in her chest she ripped it free with a roar of pain, throwing it to the side to clink against the wall. She paused for a moment, taking a few breaths before doing the same to the one buried in her stomach. She then unlocked her feet and swung herself off the bed, giving no regards to the holes in her body she cross over and hushed her children gently, showing another side to her, a soft and caring mother giving no regards to her own health or safety over that of her children.

[Harbinger]

Panthera moved back and watched in silence as Nichol's freed herself and moved to console the crying infants. The scent of blood made her hungry but this was hardly the time or place to worry about her stomach. She was certainly glad when they made less noise but the ship was still creaking and something was definitely still out there.

Positive emotions weren't familiar to her so the display was lost on her but then it would be ironic that the other adult alive would be her once captor. She would have to either persuade Nichols to take her back to her forest or find a new place to call her own. It wasn't as if she was running out of years to live.

She cleared her throat and moved through the doorway, wary of what else was out there. If time was of the essence then she knew Nichols wasn't going to be too long.

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Nichol finished calming her babies then went over to the door, a little less graceful than usual, her strength going, she paused a second to grab a dark green glass bottle off the dresser. As she walked outside she flicked the cork out with her thumb, letting loose the dark rich smell of fresh human blood then drinking deeply from it, letting the copper rich taste wash over her.

[Harbinger]

Fresh blood made her look back before she padded out on the deck again, trying to ascertain for herself what was out there. She had heard in the world she understood that large monsters lived in the deep with long tentacles and sharp rough skin, a much larger variety down there than on land was all Panthera really knew.

She hadn't much need to care before, "So, who or what is it?" she called out eventually, her voice carrying well enough.

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“It’s a what, a sea monster sent by my enemies to kill me as I lay prone.” Nichol said, throwing the bottle away and straightening her coat, her movement had become more fluid and her eyes were back to normal “I’m not sure which one though yet, they have quite a few locked down in the caverns.”

[Harbinger]

"That's comforting," she replied, her musculature rippling beneath her sleek fur as she moved further along. She wasn't going to be a huge lot of help here, that she was aware... not that she ever had much incentive to help others without receiving anything in return. She led a solitary life usually.

"What do we do? I'm not good at far and away," she asked, sarcasm dripping from her tones slightly,

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“I know it is, isn’t it!?” Nichol grinned “Okay we have 3 choices here, run away with our tails tucked between our legs, for you literally, for me metaphorically; stand and fight against power much greater than ours and probably get eaten but going out heroically or we could give up, put our heads between our legs and kiss our arsses goodbye.”

[Harbinger]

Panthera snorted, "I'm no house cat," replying with a soft growl, her tail waving in angry lines as she tasted the air. She didn't like what the information was telling her, it was big and very angry at the ship it was trying to cave in two.

"Bring it," Panthera was not afraid, she didn't have the capacity to know what fear was and she was no more afraid of this thing than she was of Nichols.

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“A cat after my own heart.” Nichol grinned, turning and sniffing the air. “It’s getting closer, more angry, get ready.” She braced herself against the rails.

[Harbinger]

"Alive or dead, it's still edible," Panthera replied, stretching out powerful muscles that could let forth an unquenchable fury. Panthera had in her more depressive moment tried to find ways to off herself from heights to severely rotten food but she either came back from the dead or suffered really bad upset stomachs before it got better. Short of being run through or eaten, she had no idea what could kill her.

"I'm in the mood for fish too," she commented lightly, raking nails into the wood waiting for this thing to show itself.

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“Shouldn’t do that, it’ll hurt Kappu.” Nichol said, it rose up behind her as she talked, bearing down one them with a hiss, tongue flickering out. Nichol spun around, staring “Ah, that’s… not a fish.”

[Harbinger]

"Where is she then, hm?" she countered but there wasn't any where else she could relieve the tension building and she didn't think Kappu would mind too much. She had gotten rid of most of the rats on board recently. She sniffed and peered behind her, studying the alien creature.

"Still looks edible," she grinned ferally as she turned and fully displayed her return aggression, asserting her dominance despite the fact the ship was pretty much at its mercy. It wasn't in Panthera's nature to back down from a fight.

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"One fucking huge snake." Nichol said as it opened it's jaws wide, sucking the ship in. "Er... We may want to rethink our strategy." She backed up.

[Harbinger]

"So, do what you did to me, put it to sleep," she replied, "Maybe I can distract it in teh meantime, hm?" she added, feeling the weight beneath shift.

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“I cannot do that, there is a huge difference.” Nichols said, holding onto the rail “You are a panther, vaguely human sized, which is can do with varying results. That thing..” She waved her hand at the gapping maw ahead of them. “Is a hell of a lot bigger than a human.”

[Harbinger]

"It could at least slow it down," she countered back shaking her head at this mathematically improbably situation. Panthera didn't believe in impossibilities, they were only thrust back in one's face with a vicious vigouressness.

"Distract it!" she growled, extending her claws once more as she made further calculations that involved the sea snake and the ship's mast(s), all of which would require precise timing, "Let's see what my bite-force can do. Now!" she yelled. Jaguars and Leopards had the strongest bite-force and skull for their size known to mankind of any era, they could dismember a carcass and crush bone till nothing remained. Given that Panthera was not an every day black jaguar, she was potentially a lot stronger.

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“Er, okay.” Nichol said and suddenly she was on fire, waving her hands “Hey! BIG SNAKE THING! LOOK AT ME! I’M A TARGET!” She stood right in front of it, it dipped it’s head, baring down on her. There was a horrible snap of jaws and suddenly she was gone.

[Harbinger]

She would have rolled her eyes if possible before she sprung forth letting Nichols get on with her job as she bounced off masts and landed squarely on the snake-thing's back behind it's head. She dug her claws in to maintain her position knowing the moment she did, the attention would switch to her. Indeed it did as the behemoth reacted instantly, trying to shake her off. She looked quickly for the right place to bite, which was a lot harder than she gave it credit for but she eventually found what she was looking for. It would take several bites, mainly to remove flesh to get to the vulnerable part but once she did, she hoped her skull could crush the bone and render this thing inert.

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Nichol was tearing it from the inside, slashing her way out in a frenzy of blood and fire, through it's windpipe and sliding out of it's throat onto the deck in a bloody messy pile. "I wish I could say that was new to me but it wasn't." She sighed, standing up with a groan, she had acid burns across her skin.

[Harbinger]

It was a while before she reached bone just as she heard Nichols come out again. Panthera could not entirely call that a relief but she extended her jaws and began crushing the neck bones. They initially held but eventually surrendered to her bite force cracking and falling into bits. The creature thrashed wildly in its death throws before lunged forth in body weight. Panthera finished severing bone and tissues before leaping away, landing on the deck. "Not so edible," she breathed.

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Nichol nodded "That's something we agree on." She sighed, wiping the blood from her eyes "We make a surprisingly good team, the wolf and the panther, has a nice ring to it." She walked across the deck, looking through boxes and barrels, searching for something. "And now to get the crew back."

[Harbinger]

She watched Nichols for a long moment and shook her head, "Team?" she snorted, the idea was ludicrous to her. She had only done what was necessary and it hadn't been that nice to taste either. Her mouth was still numb inside. "If you say so..."

She wasn't sure she wanted that but in the end Nichols was the only person on this woodpile that knew what they were doing with it. "Just as long as they keep to themselves around me. That mutt of yours for example, could use a bath and sheep-dip," she muttered in return. She was going to hold Nichols to her word though Panthera had no inch of trust in the so called Captain.

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"Temporary reluctant team." Nichol corrected "And do not insult Night, I've had him since he was a pup, he's my big soft puppy wolf." Nichol picked up a strong thick rope "The others should be fine, just watch out for the bloody monkey.... actually if you could eat him I'd be very grateful." She pulled off her coat and then wrapped the rope around her waist, tying it tight.

[Harbinger]

"He still stinks... every enemy of yours could smell him many, many yards away," Panthera retorted evenly. There was no mistaking her point. Cats weren't the only creatures alive known for their sense of smell. She sat, watching the Captain with the same sceptical expression before licking her right fore-leg.

"What are you doing?" she questioned, ignoring the comment about eating a monkey. Besides, Panthera didn't usually target monkeys for meals. They were typically skinny and hard to catch. Why spend the effort when she could wait for the opportune moment of an unlucky passerby or target nice face and very slow sheep.