Drop [On hold]

Sail the Salty Seas Yar-Har!

Her eyes widened in shock as his form flickered. It blinked in and out twice in short bursts before he became solid once again. He was unscathed. The arrow went off the edge.

"Three," he finished, grabbing her again. This time it was by the arm, as he lifted her up onto her feet.

She kicked slightly, and in a fit grabbed his hood and ripped it off. Consequently, his scarf slid off his mouth.

The flickering came back, his form glitching in and out of existence. It continued to blink rapidly. He dropped her.

She landed on her back and watched him vigilantly. He collected his long, multicolored wrap around scarf and pulled his hood back up. The flashing subsided but he still had an odd transparency to him. Was it just her, or was he a little bit higher off the ground than before?

He gave her an irritated look as he put the scarf back on, tucking it's extra lengths in his dark hood. "You... you're..." He didn't finish. He began to rub his temples. "Who are you?"

She stared at him, not daring to sit up. Uncertain of whether or not she should say.

He kicked her, although not very hard. "Are you mute or just deaf?"

For the first time since she'd entered the forest, she spoke. Her voice was almost unfamiliar to herself, having not spoken for so long.

"Annavi."

He looked down at her. His blue eyes softened, like an iceberg melting.

"Jacque."

Annavi nodded in response. Finally, she managed to muster the courage to sit up. Her eyes remained set on him. He was still partially translucent. What was he? Why was he like this? How on the face of her flat world was he not impaled in the head? Her mind was aching.

"What are you?" she asked him, only realizing after how rude it sounded after it had left her mouth.

For a moment, she thought she could see him tense. It was gone just as fast as it came.

"That's a tad rude, don't you think?" he replied, as if reading her mind. "What do you think I am?"

"You're definitely not human," Annavi replied.

"I'm just as much human as you are," he threw back. He walked over to the giant ship and started to climb the ladder on the side.

"Humans don't fade," she said simply, getting on her feet and following him up the ladder. "You can't see through a human."
He reached the top and walked across the deck, ducking under the sail. "Au contraire. It's quite easy to see through a human."

She copied him, following his path. "Really?"

He opened a door at the back and went down a set of stairs. Before he could shut it, she raced after him. He sighed as he heard her footsteps. They reached the room at the bottom.

"Suddenly getting very chatty, aren't we?" he muttered. "I liked you better before you started talking."

Annavi watched him from the bottom of the stairs. The room they were in was empty, aside from the pile of building supplies on the floor.

Jacque began to trifle through the pile of boards, ropes, nails and tools. She continued to watch him, suddenly feeling very unsafe. It was just the two of them. If it came to it, she wouldn't be able to fight back. Why did her curiosity lead her here?

He apparently didn't find what he was looking for, and went back up the stairs. She trailed behind like a lost dog.

Her thoughts had collected significantly. She felt less cornered, and much less trapped now that they were above deck of the massive boat. What was the boat's purpose, anyway? A question was in order.

"Why are you building this?"

He turned around and grinned. "I've always wanted to sail the salty seas, yar-har."

She rolled her eyes. "There isn't a large body of water in sight. They're all too far away for you to possibly be thinking of taking your boat to sail the salty seas."

He shrugged and went to the rigging to tighten the ropes.

Looking around, Annavi began to realize just how beautiful the ship really was. The ropes looked to be spun from gold. The planked floor was dark and had a grainy texture. The masts were like ebony, supporting massive sails that were woven with paisley patterns. The railings were carved and chiseled. The hull was strong, the rigging tight.
"It's very pretty," she commented. She folded hands in front of her, teetering on her heels.

He looked back over his shoulder. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

She ignored him. "What's it really for?"

He sighed, and dropped what he was working on. His patience was obviously running thin. He got up from his kneeling position and stood right in front of her. Maybe he expected her to be intimidated. That wasn't the case. Height didn't scare her, and the difference wasn't very great either. She stood tall and kept her stare hard and cold, like his own. The melted icebergs had frozen over again.

"It flies."

Annavi almost laughed. She was so close, she could feel it crawling it's way up her throat. She suppressed it, however, and stared at him. Could he be serious? He couldn't be.

"Does it really?" she asked him, examining the boat. It didn't look fit to fly at all. It was a boat, for crying out loud! Just a boat.

"Do you not believe me?"

"Sorry, but no. Maybe if I could see some proof..." She trailed off and gave him a challenging look.

He eyed her, gears seeming to turn in his head. "You want proof?" he asked her seriously. You could tell he was grinning behind his scarf.

She nodded after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Then you're going to have to help me finish it."

A/N: So from here on updates could get a bit slow. I currently don't have any more finished chapters so I'll be working on them among other things. Thank you for reading, and until next time!

~Andesite Lyacon