Nixie swam toward the ship, and nearly missed. From deeper in the water all boats looked slow moving, so the closer she got, the faster it seemed to move. With as much strength as she could muster, she pushed herself up, barely managing to gain a hold on the slimy, green, wooden hull with the ends of her tentacles. Pressing herself against the wood, she felt secure and took a moment to enjoy the feeling of water rushing over her skin more quickly then she’d ever felt it. Forcing her head back, she watched her pale hair stretched back in graceful waves that mirrored the wake trail that the ship created. Turning her attention back to the ship she clung to, she pressed her ear to the wood and closed her eyes, listening. All sound was muffled through the wooden barriers, but she could hear the grunting and wheezing of what sounded like two voices, two people. A rhythmic, thudding, sound of wooden boxes against wooden walls accompanied the them. The scenario, while she wasn’t sure what was happening, ultimately wasn’t interesting, so she slowly made her way toward the stern and silently climbed up until the railing was mere inches from the top of her head. Keeping out of sight, she waited until she was confident that she could come aboard without anybody spotting her. Holding her breath, she slowly peaked over the railing, and when her guess was correct, she let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly hoisted herself over the railing and onto the deck. Noticing a nicely shaded area near a door, she was quick to take cover in it.
Her spot, next to the door, was out of sight from the rest of the ship. The sound of jovial sea ballads was heard coming from the bow of the ship, and it was all she needed to convince herself that exploring below deck would be safer. With so many people above deck, surely there couldn’t be that many bellow deck. She remembered hearing voices in the deepest part of the ship, but they seemed busy. There was a risk of others being below, but one she was willing to take. Confident in her ability to overtake a land dweller, one on one, if she needed to. Still, doubts and fear threatened to chase her from the ship.
“I’ll just investigate a few rooms. Maybe take a few souvenirs, then be on my way.” Nodding, agreeing with herself, she felt a little more confident. Besides, maybe she’d be able to learn something new about land dwellers. That was the plan at least. With every step deeper into the ship, her chest tightened and her breath stilled. Every sound she made, exaggerated to her own ears. By the time she reached the bottom of the steps, she felt stiff from all of the effort she put into keeping her tentacles quiet as they felt down the wall and steps. With the steps behind her, she held her breath and listened. When she didn’t hear anything, she hurried into a nearby room and closed the door. As her eyes adjusted, she realized she was in a kind of storage room. There were boxes, crates, nets and ropes on the floor and walls. Some rope was neatly wound in a circle and hung on the wall, and there was a net hanging from three walls and holding more hastily strewn rope. It didn’t seem efficient to her, but figured that they knew what they were doing, she was the one out of place on the ship. She noticed that there were also a few cloth bags of what looked white and powdery. She had no idea what it was, or what the concept of powdery was, but poked it, and when her hand came back it was covered in a white coating. She tried to shake it off, but that was ineffective. She tried wiping it off on her skin, but the result was the same. The powder was covering both her hand and side now. Opalescent eyes shifted between her hand and side in frustration and wonder, finally deciding to let it be. Done with that room, she listened, then opened the door a crack and peeked out. She heard the same voices deeper in the ship, somehow more excited then before, and she heard the voices above deck, but saw nothing, so she moved to the next room. What she’d failed to notice up to that point, is the trail of slime she was leaving wherever she went. When she came to the door, she peeked inside, and when it looked like more of the same, she skipped it. The next room was at the end of a hall and didn’t have a door. Once she was close enough, she saw a room full of tables and chairs.
Moving inside, she saw that part of the room was divided by counters, and beyond the dividing counter was machinery she didn’t recognize. Making her way through the room, her tentacles continued felling around and wrapping around the legs of tables and chairs. There were a few empty, partly full, or tipped over cups left on dirty tables, and in the back sat a bubbling cauldron. Among the unfamiliar, was a little familiar. Recognizing a few of them, she smiled to herself and hurried over, skillfully avoiding chairs and cups with her tentacles. She stopped in front of the cauldron and started examining the things she didn’t recognize. Stacked next to the strange, hot, machinery was fresh, dry, driftwood. Running her eyes over the metal thing, she noticed it had a glowing mouth full of light. Puzzling over what she saw, she reached toward the burning mouth and felt her skin dry. Quickly she withdrew and held her hand close. Wiping her hand over a tentacle, the feeling was soothing, but the warm feeling persisted. Watching from a little distance now, she tried looking at the cauldron from different angles. She’d seen them before at the bottom of the ocean, rusted and worn, but this was the first time she’d seen one in use. Whatever they used it for, it filled the room with a wonderful aroma. Deciding she was done investigating the brightly burning machine, she looked to the side and noticed a string stretching across a small wall. What drew her attention was all the dry things that were tied to it. Reaching out cautiously and holding a leaf between fingers, she tried pulling it a little closer but with just a little force it broke apart and stuck to her hand until she forcibly flicked it off. Instead, she leaned closer to the string of dried plants and smelled. They were like nothing she’d smelt before. foreign and aromatic. Wondering what such a thing could be used for, she lifted the string up and away from the wall with one finger and caused them to crackle and fall apart a little more. Seeing how fragile all the plants were she back away, worried that she’d leave evidence of her visit but still oblivious to the slick trail she left. Holding hands behind her back, she looked over the room again more sacks of mysterious substance. It looked to be made of a slightly different material though, so she approached it and pulled it open. Inside the content were the same color, but this sack of stuff sparkled a little. Having not learned her lesson yet, she touched it, and this too stuck to her fingers. She frowned a little and rubbed her fingers together until the granules fell off in a clump. Just then, she heard a voice yell from up top. It was getting closer. Nixie panicked and headed toward the steps. The voice yelled again,
“I bet you anything that they’re not checking the supplies.”
