¤ All Body Parts On Board

Quickly (too fast! Jaysen thought), the end of the ledge rushed towards their running feet. The ship was starting to turn away from the ledge, widening the gap between ship and ledge. Silver wouldn’t be able to make it. Jaysen thought, judging the distance quickly. And there isn’t time to cast Haste on her!

There was no time for hesitation, though. Just before they hit the edge, Jaysen reached out and wrapped an arm around Silver’s waist. Ignoring Silver’s gasp as her body stiffened at his touch, he hugged her close to his side, and made a great leap for the ship’s deck!

For one breathless, scary moment, Silver felt as if she was suspended weightless in the open air between the leaving ship and the boarding ledge. Then gravity took over, and with Jaysen’s supporting arm dragging her along the remaining distance, they both crashed onto the deck of the ship, momentum making them roll along its breadth.

Jaysen hit the outer wall of the cabin shoulder first, his Scorpio armour clanging as he came to a stop. ‘Oof.’ Before he catch his breath though, Silver rolled right into him, a soft shriek escaping her as she slammed lengthwise into Jaysen.

They laid there for a while, a tangle of limbs and cloaks, desperately gulping air into their winded lungs. Blinking at the slightly worn metal surface of Jaysen’s Scorpio armour, Silver suddenly realised the distance between the two of them; or rather, the extreme lack of it.

Rolling away quickly, a red-faced Silver scrambled to her knees, hands pushing against the floorboards of the ship’s deck to support herself. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked a little breathlessly, resolutely refusing to look anywhere else but at the floor.

‘Respiratory system still working. All body parts on board.’ Jaysen said, counting off aloud. His light blue eyes twinkling, he then looked at Silver slyly from where he laid against the cabin’s wall. ‘Beautiful lady rolling straight into my arms. Couldn’t be better, my dear lily of the morning.’

Silver shot him a poisonous glare, though the flush in her cheeks did not go away. ‘Trust you to still be able to joke after defying gravity.’ An unfamiliar voice chuckled, making her look up hastily. To her further mortification, there was a loose ring of people gathered around where the two of them had crash-landed, all looking at them in various degrees of amusement, curiosity, and surprise.

‘That was some flying.’ A mage commented. ‘I bet I couldn’t cross the gap, not even if I mastered Teleport.’

‘Bah.’ An assassin in a Red China set scoffed. ‘It was the bandit’s Haste that brought both of them over, else the huntress would have just…’ He drew a hand across his throat meaningfully.

‘Ha! I win the bet.’ Elsewhere in the crowd, Silver heard a priestess say as she punched a dragon knight in the shoulder playfully.

The dragon knight grunted. ‘Whatever. I’m just gonna wait for the Balrogs.’ Hefting an Omega Spear onto his armoured shoulder, he walked off, much to the chagrin of the priestess, who chased after him immediately. The rest of the crowd followed the dragon knight’s example and soon, Silver and Jaysen were left alone on the open deck.

Jaysen, now leaning against the cabin’s wall from where he sat, rummaged through his backpack. He emerged with a bottle of white potion, a comical expression of awe on his face. ‘Wow. Edel really wasn’t lying about the bottles not breaking easily.’

Sighing, Silver sat down next to him. Taking off her backpack and Olympus bow, she began to check her belongings too, diving into her pack to inspect Salmer’s journal first of all. It was still relatively intact, if one ignored the scorched and torn pages. Soon, Silver thought, When I get back to Ellinia, the Restorers will make it whole again.

Meanwhile, Jaysen had upended his entire backpack on the wooden deck, scattering potion bottles, solid horns, and various paraphernalia across the floor, trying to clear the broken bits of wooden Branches that had snapped in their landing. Staring down at the book again, Silver remembered the reason why they had made that insane jump and felt embarrassment creeping back into her again. Looking sideways, she ventured awkwardly, ‘Thanks.’

‘You are very much welcomed, lady Silver.’ Jaysen grinned roguishly as he snatched at a stray puff of white Leatty fur that threatened to drift away from his pile of junk. He looked down at it, picked at the splinter tangled in the fur, and after some thought, offered it to her.

‘Why do I need the fur off a dead creature for?’ She looked at it sceptically.

‘As a token of my apologies if I startled you with that unseemly gesture just now?’ Jaysen said, waving the puff before her bemused face.

‘You needn’t apologise.’ Silver picked up the Leatty fur gingerly. True, she had felt shocked when Jaysen had suddenly grabbed her around the waist. But what the assassin said earlier on was true too: she would have fallen short of the ship if Jaysen hadn’t half carried her over like that.

‘Nah, I insist.’ Jaysen said, still smiling as he swept everything back into the backpack, sans wooden splinters. Standing up now, he slung the backpack on his shoulder and extended a hand to Silver. ‘Shall we proceed to the cabin now, fair maiden?’

Carefully stowing the puff of fur away in her backpack, Silver grasped Jaysen’s hand and let him help her to her feet.

It seemed, for one long second, that their hands lingered in the contact, unwilling to let go. But that moment was quickly shattered as someone tapped Jaysen lightly on the shoulder.

‘Yes?’ Jaysen turned. His light blue eyes widened as he saw a voluptuous young woman standing before him. The most of what she wasn’t wearing – no, Jaysen corrected himself quickly – what little that she was wearing revealed her to be in the skin-tight, scant-, uh, light, armour of a blood Avenger set. A Blood Slain was strapped onto her right hand, and Jaysen spotted the red silk of Steelies loaded in it.

‘Hello there, handsome.’ Flipping back her long, russet red fringe, the female assassin gave Jaysen a foxy smile. ‘Why, are you still stunned by my beauty after so long?’ Jaysen’s eyes involuntarily moved downwards, his appreciative gaze following the hand the assassin trailed from below her bare shoulder to below her slender waist. Way to g- Catching himself in time, Jaysen snapped his eyes upwards to her face, to see the twinkle in her playful hazel eyes.

‘Boys will still be boys, eh Jaysen?’ the girl asked breathily, laughing lowly as she moved closer to him.

——————————————————————-
Next chapter: link

Links to previous chapters:
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link link
link link link link link link link link link link

Oh, here comes the fun part. Rew mentioned once that I neglected writing about Jaysen’s past, and since I’m sort of having a writer’s block (sort of? What an understatement.) I’ll just have fun prodding it out of him.

Jaysen: *escaping from Sack O’ Characters* Someone save me from this demented witch!

*squashes Jaysen* Aw, shush. It’s not as easy as you think it is, you know, trying to analyse a fellow maniac.

Anyway, the next chapter would belong to what I personally call the ‘off-tangents’, because they have only so much to do with the story. Unless I’m lying, of course. [strike] or just trying to sound enigmatic in case I find something useful.[/strike]

And the war against Major Exams and its twisted Lieutenants Chemistry and Maths continues! *plunges back into combat AKA revision*

[Holy macaroni. When I hit the submit button just now, out popped out a ‘Network not found’ message. Thank the Lucidas I copied this to clipbaord!]

Rainbow Marshmallow Cookies~! (Do they even exist?)