FireSweet

New Kid

            I woke up screaming, my  body shaking as I glanced around my little cabin, my eyes finally resting on the hilt of the rapier I was using as both primary weapon and lock.  I was here… wherever here was.  The point being that I was not in Effugere, it was all a nightmare, I was safe from corsets and little girl shoes. 

            A timid knock sounded at the door and I stared at it, finally crossing and pulling the sword out before opening the door.  Briamy stood before me, her eyes cast shyly at the floor between us.

            “I heard you screaming.” She whispered.  “Did you have a flashover?”

            “A what?” I questioned.  “What is a flashover and why would it make me scream?”

            “It makes most scream during their first time because you don’t understand what’s going on.” She explained.  “You dreamt of Effugere right?  It is called a flashover; a dream where you see what is going on in reality, what is happening with all of us back at camp.  It seems that we are friends and bunkmates there as well.”

            “Hold up hold up, so am I here?  Or am I there?  Did we share a dream or something in this flashover thing?”

            She laughed a little, “No of course not, not like you are imagining.  I saw something similar to you last night, but I saw it through my own eyes.  We are in both places, one mentally and one physically, like virtual reality I guess.  I just like to call it magic, the Griffon’s gift to us all.”

            “Ok…” I said, trying to wrap my head around the concepts of this crazy world that I loved so much more than the world of my flashover last night.  “So is this going to happen every night?  Because if it is I am never sleeping again.”

            “Nope, too many people would use that exact same tactic Gittoran, and this we would no longer be pirates, we would just be insomniacs who fear micro-napping during the day’s work.”

            “Oh.. ok.”

            Footsteps sounded around the corner of the hall and I saw fear flood into Briamy’s eyes, her face suddenly becoming impassive and unreadable in her attempt to look expressionless.

            “May I take yesterday’s laundry Miss?” she said stiffly, extending her arms for the clothing I had dumped in the corner.  I turned back and fetched my things for her, placing them lightly in her arms just as one of my crewmates passed us, narrowing his eyes at us in suspicion.  I noted the color of his hands, gold-bound, and closed the door in Briamy’s face for effect.

            I felt horrible about the move, but realized how necessary that would be in day-to-day life.  I had spent all of yesterday distancing myself from the other girls in the game, and would not allow myself to be associated with them all the time or it would undo everything I intended to fight for. 

            After another minute I opened the door again and checked the hallway, seeing Briamy across the hall from Obsidarian’s open door.  I turned the opposite direction, climbing down the stairs in search of food as my stomach rumbled so loud it seemed to shake the narrow stairwell.  The smells of food and breakfast wafted up to my nose from the servants’ quarters in the lowest levels, and it was to there that I wandered.  Activity ceased when I entered the room, every female eye turning upon me.  I was suddenly self-conscious, dimly realizing that I shouldn’t be down here.

            “Um….sorry” I stammered out finally “I was just looking for some food.  I’m ravenous.” 

            They glanced around at one another, a petite but scarred brunette finally stepping forward silently and walking up the stairs, pausing briefly to indicate that I was to follow her.  We went back up the stairs, all the way to the top deck.  She led be closer to the bow of the ship than to the stern end where we had emerged, turning to the starboard side and into a little passage that I had missed in yesterday’s exploration.  She opened the door for me and I entered, opening the door at the end of the ten foot passage for myself.  The room was a converted kitchen, now set up buffet style with tables laden heavily with food of all kinds.