Young Writers Society

Tyr
Whatever it was they said about the comfort the Garuda offered, or the joys of travelling, or how great the view was from where they were currently flying—with the sky ablaze and streaming light all over, through the thick glass of the observatory deck and over the clean lines of his jacket—Tyr Windar had little patience for the lack of purpose it brought about. There was the sample they were escorting, of course, but for once he was almost annoyed at his knights’ efficiency, since they made his hovering completely unnecessary.

Which, really, left him little other option but to limp around the ship and force smiles at the people he was passing by, all the while resenting the injury that had sidelined him more than ever.

No, Tyr was not in good mood.

The floor shook very faintly under his feet as he made his way out of the deck and toward the cabins, reminding him how little he liked that all that was separating them from a very, very long fall from very, very far up was some gears and engines.

He couldn’t wait until they got to their destination; at least then they’d have proper ground under them and there wouldn’t be this constant paranoia about the stone. Which was ridiculous, because who the hell would be idiotic enough to attack them when the place was so full of witnesses, the escort wasn’t that low profile, even if they weren’t advertising their presence either. And Ari had told him he was being an old, grumpy idiot again, worrying needlessly, when she’d seen him off with the brats; Take a break and get your mind off the battlefield, for once, like he’d ever been able to do that. If not for me, at least do it for Will and Lottie, she’d said then, some of the ice leaving her eyes, and well, there wasn’t much he could reply to that. The one thing they’d always agreed on, no matter how distant or indifferent they’d been about other topics was the children.

Which probably did mean that he should stop counting down the time till they arrived and actually spend time around them. For once. If at least they were there and had not gone wandering about the zeppelin the way he had. He grit his teeth as ascending the stairs sent a sharp burst of pain up his leg; this was getting old fast. Why was he even doing this already? He nodded to one of the knights as he passed him by. Right. The alternative was even worse.

He sighed, and kept on until he reached their rooms, eyes scanning for his children’s presence but strangely reluctant to raise his voice to call for them.

Valiant

Life was grand. Staring out aloft at the sparkling ocean, and the stunning reflection of the rays, flowing over the sea, could only bring tears of joy to his eyes. Here he was second in command of one of the most wondrous innovations of modern science and technology, able to stare into the effervescent sun, shining with utmost brightness and ecstasy. Life truly was grand.

Removing his eyes from the sight, he carefully checked over the instrument, checking the course, pulling out a notepad and marking down various calculations of wind speed and weather changes. It was all pretty much routine, and with a ship like this, not really needed. But he'd been told by Captain Sal that he should always check them, especially for this journey as they were carrying precious cargo.

Once he'd checked the blinking screens and dials he moved up the golden steel stair case up to the ship's helm and approached the Captain.

A man who held his uniform and title with pride, he was old, but wise, with long grey hair and a very fine moustache. He looked much like the old sea dogs.

"Captain, I've come to inform you, we will shortly be flying into a light storm. my advisement is we maintain course as we are meant to arrive in 34 hours max. Changing course would lead to us having to land and increase fuel before lifting off again."

"Very well Valiant. Anything else?" the Captain replied.

Checking his notes he continued, "Nothing as such Sir. But Guard who was in the storage area for the 'cargo' has taken ill and we require a new watch."

"Hmm. I shall inform the family of this. Take the helm Valiant."

Nodding, Valiant, watched as the Captain slowly went down the stairs, gripping the banister tightly, before reaching the bottom and walking out the door.

Checking the main monitor, he inspected the map, before taking his note book out and scribbling, "Appears no delay shall happen. My calculations about storm, say it won't be too harsh. I hope I'm correct with the machinery. I best make note to talk to the Engineering room and warn them of impending problems. Overall, I believe we shall reach our destination in time."

Putting the book back, he looked down at the crew working the machines, before removing his pocket watch, and glancing the time.

It was great when things went according to plan.

Andrew

Andrew sat poised on his stool hunched over his table his forehead knit in obvious concentration as he tinkered with the watch in front of him. It wasn’t broken, but he was bored with the lack of customers and simply decided to take the thing apart. He looked at the cogs and springs that now littered his table and wiped them off into the waste basket. He didn’t have the eye for technology like his father and he had no clue how to fix put the watch together properly.

He looked around at his small shop for something to do. There wasn’t much of interest, some dry food supplies and various other little things deemed to be useful like min fans, first aid kits, flashlights, etc. He eyed the shelf packed with nonperishable candies he had brought along. He got up a picked up one of the rectangular white boxes and opened it to reveal a layer a multicolored log shaped candies wrapped in wax paper. He picked up an orange candy examining its glossy skin through the wax paper. He longed to be back in his shop pulling taffy rather then selling the generic supplies of a shop. He couldn’t bake cakes here are mold chocolate sculptures.

The thrill of selling a box of candy newly created fresh candy straight from the oven or fridge was a feeling Andrew could not describe. He could only compare it to having a child. After hard work and diligence it could finally be released into the world on its own. That knowledge filled Andrew with such pride. Of course a human child would not be consumed as a sweet treat, but the comparison remained. He of course would not get to feel this emotion on the Garuda. It lacked the proper tools to make his candies from scratch.

When asked to be one of the merchants on the Garuda Andrew had been momentarily excited. Being invited on the Royal zeppelin proved that all of his hard work had indeed been noticed. Nobles had come into his shop before, but this was a whole other level of recognition. He was picked over his father even. This was mainly due to the fact that in his old age and various experiments Andrew’s father had lost some of his faculties.

When a man is convinced lawn gnomes are out to steal his underwear; people tend to baulk at the idea of letting him anywhere near nobles. Now he was bored and simply wanted to be home, but he would stick it out and be the good little worker bee. He figured bee's had to be bored stiff by their tedious daily routine, but they did it without question and so would he.

Andrew unwrapped the piece of taffy and plopped it into his mouth. Hopefully he’d get some customers soon, before he ate the whole box. He just wished something interesting would liven up their trip.

Andy: Sorry I haven't been able to do the Hogwarts Castle thing today. Going to do work at the library tomorrow/ weds instead so will try then.

I'll add more to this soon, promise!

Name: Sebastian (Seb) Stone
Role: Stowaway (Black Wings)
Character picture:
Character quote: Not intelligent enough to quote others.
Character theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK_y4
Age: 28
Appearance: Seb has dark brown hair, mis-matched eyes (one green, one blue) and a well muscled everything; even his muscles have muscles. Getting Seb to wear a shirt is hard going as he loves to show off the black dragon tattoo wrapped about his arm and the grim reaper tattoo down his back. The casual onlooker may be curious as to the score lines that accompany this but I don't mind telling you that's a tally of every man he's killed. He's now into the low hundreds. Sebastian has a sword and pistol at his waist. He's young, he's attractive and he has the general appearance of one of those luckless but handsome heroes who you know are gay deep down inside. Don't let these looks fool you though, Sebastian is a mean, keen, fighting machine. And he swings both ways.

Personality: Sebastian isn't very intelligent, in fact that might be the under statement of the century. He's an idiot, point blank. You'll not get any witty lines from him, or master plots, but when you need someone to take the rubbish out, he's the perfect specimen. Seb does his best to be obedient but isn't very good at behaving and has trouble understanding what's going on. People should speak in words of one or two syllables to Seb if they stand any chance of getting through. Sebastian is what you might call the muscle. He's handy with a sword, a good shot with that pistol of his but more in his element when carrying a blunt, heavy object.

Character Background: Sebastian grew up in a violent home, the witness to his parent's explosive relationship. From his father he learned to treat women as objects, there to be harrassed, abused and grabbed at will. He was raised in the capacity of family dog and despite the kicks and ear boxings, he was always an obedient son. He learned that if he did what he was told, his father would reward him with treats and if he did bad things, he would be starved and beaten. Sebastian doesn't really know how to look after himself; he has spent his whole life looking to others to feed and command him as they will.

Seb's father met an early grave due to drinking which left the twelve year old boy alone with his mother. During the next two years, his mother tried to smooth off the rough edges in Seb's personality. This was a confusing time for Seb and though he learned something of love - girls should be presented with flowers before you touch their hair - his ideas were already too warped to be replaced in so short a time.

Then Sebastian got involved with a gang who soon took him off his mother's hand and, in all honesty, his mother was relieved to be rid of him. The gang didn't fight for anything in particular, they just liked causing trouble, killing people and the like and at last Seb learned to fight for himself, or rather other people. Then, when the trouble started a few years ago, Seb was easily indoctrinated into the Black Wings.

Misc: Sebastian came on board as a stowaway as the other Black Wings didn't think his acting skills up to par and knew he'd attract suspicion.

William

William laughed, sticking his tongue out at Lottie. "It's huge! Like a big, ugly tomato on your big, ugly cheek!" he announced, shoving a finger in his sister's direction. There wasn't really anything that big on it, just a tiny pimple he was making sure Lottie was paranoid about.

"Shut up Will!" Lottie snarled, glaring at him purposefully.

Something about that just made everything twice as amusing for Will. He jumped onto his bed and hid under the covers, poking his head out just enough to see his sister. "It's... scaring me! Make it go away!"

The glare he was getting was very satisfactory. It wasn't his best work of course, but something petty like teasing about complexion would have to do for now. That is, until he found some bigger guns to pull out. Like men. Ruin any and all relationships Lottie tried to get into, or maybe get a guy she hated to follow her around relentlessly.

And after that? Well, he assumed that a trip to the candy shop or something of the sort was in order. (With Lottie's money, of course. Why use his own when he could have hers?) He grinned, about to say something else when he was interupted by the door opening.

Will's lips pursed, half in irritation, half in the fear that his sister would tell on him. He was a brat and he knew it. He also knew there were punishments for being a brat. This didn't mean he particularly enjoyed them, though. The attention, yeah, that was great. The fact that the attention was usually negative... well that just wasn't so great. Not that it mattered, he wasn't doing anything too bad.

William waited a good thirty seconds before scrambling out from under the covers and lowering himself to the floor. "Dad?" he asked quietly, confused as to why his father would come here in the first place. Either he was gonna get into some massive trouble, or Lottie would keep her big mouth shut long enough for him to make some sort of daring escape.

Lottie

Lottie looked up as the door opened. She heard her brother faintly call out to their father and come out from underneath the blankets. She caught sight of their father as he walked in, limping slightly.

“What's going on?” He asked gruffly. William opened his mouth to respond – likely to defend himself before Lottie could accuse him of anything, but Lottie spoke first.

“Take him.” Lottie scoffed, letting her irritation show as she took long strides towards the door. She saw her father roll his eyes before giving William a questioning yet accusing look as she opened the door and quickly slid out, shutting it loudly. She felt her heart skip a beat as excitement took over her irritation, and a smug look came over her face. She was free to explore the zeppelin. Lottie walked almost silently down the hall, her shoes barely clanking against the metal flooring. The doors in this corridor mostly led to bedrooms, which held little interest to her.

She rounded a corner at the end of the hall and walked through an open door, leading to a room that contained what looked almost like a small market. A handful of merchants were there, with small booths or medium sized rooms for their wares. Lottie watched one of the merchants, who appeared to have a candy shop, in interest as he sampled one of his taffies. She dug into her pocket and pulled out some money before approaching the shop. She surveyed the selection shortly before taking one of the smaller boxes of taffy and approaching the man who owned the shop. She put some of her money on the desk near the candy she picked.

“I'll take this.” She said quietly, sliding the small box forward. Hopefully, she would be able to eat most of it before her brother discovered it.

Sebastian

It was dark and rather warm in his little cubby hole but Sebastian was hungry. He couldn't be happy waiting below deck when he was hungry. Didn't they understand that? He'd been good, he'd been quiet and stayed out of the way so why weren't they coming to feed him? Seb just didn't understand. It had been hours and hours since they last came. Maybe he should go out. No! No they would be mad if he moved, he was supposed to be hiding, like in hide and seek. Yes. Hiding from those other people on the ship. Except... except he was bored of hiding and he wanted feeding. How much longer did he have to wait?

Seb was just starting to think that maybe they had got into trouble and he should go up and help when the door was pushed slowly open. He pulled the blankets closer to himself, covering himself more fully. If it was someone coming for supplies... but ah. No. It was Nick. He wondered briefly why one of the women hadn't been sent but wasn't going to complain. Nick was alright. Nick fed him.

"Has anyone been down here?" Nicholas asked, casting a furtive glance about him. He came closer, bending a little so as not to bump his head on the low ceiling of the storage cupboard. Even sitting down as he was, Sebastian's head almost touched it.

"No, nobody," Seb replied, his eyes fixed hungrily on the tray Nick was carrying. The smaller man gave a contented nod and set it down at which point it was pounced on by the other. Nicholas watched in a sort of fascinated disgust and decided it had defineately been a good idea to not hide Sebastian in the food storage room.

"We're ready now," Nicholas said once Seb had eaten most of his food. It was hard to get through to Sebastian while he was eating. "We're going to take a few hostages. Tonight."

Seb sat up eagerly. Oh good! It was time for the fun to start.