Serious: Riders on the Storm (Finished)

Jim watched another wave go by the bough of his ship. It was a small wave, a cute one; he wondered briefly if it'd lost its parents out here at sea. It seemed hurried, rolled along the open sea and rapidly shrunk into the distance behind him. A larger wave followed not long after. Was it a friend or foe of the small wave? Parent or predator? The Lizard King's eyes followed the larger wave off before he turned them back forward.

He regarded the horizon with some intensity. The L.A. Woman was moored back in some cape on some island. If it came to it, Jim was fairly certain he could find his way back to it. In the meantime, he'd more than rather care for a vessel he could take somewhere else, somewhere that he hadn't died at already. A boggy haze flooded his mind as he recalled that incident, the last time he'd died. He looked instinctively down at his palms. On each was a golden cross, a strange glassy bead at their centers. It hadn't taken him long to realize that light came out of them when he wanted it to. It was a real trip.

And speaking of, the drifter realized, he'd been a long time without one. The sea was boring, and he half-considered taking the doors back to Las Demos or whatever that cold, tiny island where he'd met that woman with the skies was. But there was a bath tub not too far off, on another island in these waters. He'd have to endure for the time being, if he wanted to move forward. He got a good feeling about it.

"Blue skies overhead...I wish they'd grey up a bit for me. I could use a storm...this ship's just not moving today."

Spoiler:

Rina was whistling happily as she sat on a marine naval ship, The mariens had hearts in their eyes and were running about sailing the ship in anydirection she wanted to go. She saw the L.A Woman coming into sight. Grinning sh stood up and pointed to a large rock, "Alright crash this ship there. Bye bye." She waved and leapt grabbing a rope she swung flying through the air she landed on the deck of the ship. She made no sound as she landed there.

[OOC = Jim was sailing on a small one-man craft. The L.A. Woman was docked somewhere else, on a small island near Los Demos. All the same, I'll retcon it to make a bit more sense.]

Jim shook his head, the world around him coming a bit better into view. He didn't realize that dying would have such harsh after-effects. He'd been on his own ship the entire while, without even realizing it. A sick feeling hit him in the pit of his stomach. Something told him that he didn't want to be on this ship...not so soon after dying. Nothing about being in that floating tomb was a good idea. All the same, he was where he was. If he wasn't moving forward, he wasn't worth the second life he'd had shoved down his throat.

There was no sound to mark the stranger's arrival, but a feeling that things weren't okay took him. All the same the cyborg didn't move. Throwing his head back, his mane splaying about the deck behind him, he faced the clear blue sky with a look of utter indifference. Whatever the danger was, he couldn't be bothered to invest any effort into caring. There'd be something to do for it when it made itself known.

"Sickeningly beautiful day, isn't it? Cotton candy clouds and all that," Morrison spoke to nobody in particular. "Makes me wish I was somewhere else. Isn't there a damn wind hiding anywhere on this whole ocean?"

It didn't matter if trouble answered him. Somewhere deep inside, the resurrectee felt like there was no use, anyway.

"Still," he mused out loud, rolling his head to the side a bit to regard the deck railing, "it's warm."

Rina looked about smiling as she looked over the ship. The 25 year old woman looked about and began to walk. her purple eyes looked about the ship taking in every single one of its features. She cupped her hands around her chest and shouted out her chest puffing out as she breathed in. She shouted into the air, 'Anyone home!" her sweet voice trailed in the wind echoing over the ship,.

Lifting his head, Jim looked towards the source of the sound. Stretching lazily, he stood up and stepped noisily down the stairs from the deck area. His eyes searched the woman before him, looking for something. At the bottom of the steps, he lifted one hand briefly.

"This is where I am," he announced, yawning again, the blood just now starting to flow through his body. "I didn't realize I wasn't alone." Giving her another look up and down, he nodded.

"Drinks are below deck, if you're thirsty. If there are any left."

With no further words he walked around her, heading towards the fore rail and draping himself half over it, staring at the ocean the unguided ship was sailing into.

Rina watched him curiously as he got up yawning. Blood flowing out of his body. she was slightly concerned about that. Rina approached him as he drapped himself over the fore rail. She helped him stand, 'Are you alright? Your bleeding quite a bit?' She helped him stand, "Do you need any medical attention?"

Turning around to face her, a strange and knowing smile on his face, he shook his head at her offer. He was bleeding now; the facts were just catching up with him one by one. All the same, it didn't bother him.

"I've already died once today," Jim answered, offering up his palms as evidence. "I'm not all too worried about all this red. It isn't mine; that is, I'm not bleeding anymore." Throwing his hands out to the side, the ex-dead began to fall backwards. When he hit the deck there was no sound or sign of impact; rather, a dark hole in the exact outline of the man remained for a moment, before a section of deck cut exactly to fit it closed back into place.

A short while later Jim walked up the stairs and out onto the deck, a red and pink towel around his shoulders, most of the blood gone from him. He carried a pair of glasses and a clear unlabelled bottle; filling them both, he dropped the bottle onto the deck where it landed with a dull clatter, most of it's remaining contents slowly finding their way out onto the wooden planks.

"So," Jim began, holding up his glass to the sky, a broad grin on his face forming at the small black cloud he spied through the still drink, "why?"

I'm beginning to question you Kagirinai. I've seen Rina in 3 Arcs now. Why?

[OOC: This looks more like something you'd PM...]

[OOC: I've been asked to join a crew, so I've got to duck out of this SL.]

The woman on the ship seemed quiet; Jim didn't particularly care. He drank the contents of his glass, his eyes fixed on the growing cloudfront that was approaching. There was a low and distant rumble of thunder; the ex-dead felt his blood start to pound in his veins. Something told him to keep pushing, but it gave him no map to where.

"Excuse me," Jim stated, standing up and knocking over the small table he'd been sitting at, "but I've got to ride this one. The L.A. Woman is yours until I come back for it."

Reaching to the side, Jim closed his hand as if around a small sphere. He pulled forward, the very air itself bending and shining, a large rectangular refractive surface appearing in the air. A glimpse of what lay behind the surreal door was visible; a world of bent light, shades of green, something wholly alien and indescribable lay on the other side.

"...Into this world we're thrown..."

Jim stepped through the door in the air, the aperture closing itself behind him with not so much as a whisper. A strong breeze blew the storm, still rumbling, further out to sea; it would miss the ship. The artist, however, would not miss the storm.