Post by Shinku on Oct 15, 2015 21:42:55 GMT -5
At first there was only a meaningful silence answering the shipwright’s tentative question. Waves were splashing against the hull, the billowing sails were rustling in the wind and there was even the faint noise of a sea gull flapping its wings, but no sound indicated the presence of another being on the deck. Aside from the shinobi boy’s lively snoring and Shin’s own faint breathing everything was quiet.
And stayed that way for full NINE seconds!
“HMPF!” a muffled voice coming from the other side of the hive responded. There was scorn in it. About as much as the voice’s owner had managed to put in, without choking on the simple sound.
Honestly it wasn’t much, mainly because the large amount of snot running out of the little nose was blocking the respiratory system, which made saying anything intelligible rather hard.
Shin found the little Klabautermann sitting on the floor, its back turned against him, the thin arms hugging its knees. The hood was pulled down deep over the head and only two pointy wisps of black hair were looking out from under it. The face itself was hidden, buried deep between the arms and legs of the gloomy creature. Even the bright yellow of the raincoat seemed dulled as if someone had scattered a thin layer of ashes over it.
The child-like phantom didn’t utter another word, but its little body was quivering from time to time, as if shook by some strong fever.
Slowly the one-eyed man approached the creature which had made the outrageous claim of being a Klabautermann. Unheard of and terrible as such an announcement was the shipwright did not doubt its truth at all. In order to not startle the spirit or maybe out of his own caution he stopped only a few steps away from it, and yet Shin Asada’s movements were calm and collected as he watched one of the few beings he had not expected to see at all, at least not this early in his life.
“You know what-“ He started again, but the Klabautermann disrupted him forcefully.
“I know WHAT?! Of course I know what it means! That’s why I went through the trouble of telling you that you are not doomed!” The head had jerked up and even though it had turned around to look at him directly, the shipwright could not make out the eyes. A deep shadow was covering La Colmena’s face and yet he could tell that the face it was making was an angry one. The little chin was tense and trembling like the rest of the body.
“No one even had the polien-.. politesse… no one even cared to listen to what I had to tell! And I tried so hard.”
A stream of tears ran down Itty’s cheeks and dripped from its chin. Very hearable it sniffed back its snot, before wiping its nose with a sleeve of the raincoat and jumped up on its feet.
“It’s not like we didn’t. Melosa is still hurt and I-“ The young man was noticeably unsettled by how things developed.
“These stupid traditions just suck! It’s so unfair!” The Klabautermann went on without even listening to him. “You know what Queeny-Meany is doing right now? She and Louisa are having fun playing a game. And I’m not allowed to join! All just cause of stupid traditions that made people believe we’re bad omens!” It stamped its food against the wood of the floor, creating a soft thump.
“I’m not bad and I want to have fun too!”
Before he knew what happened, something small and light was clinging to him as if its life depended on it.
“I’m glad you’re here Shin! You’re the only one who can understand me. A ship can always trust its shipwright!” Itty told him, though the ghost was crying openly by now and every second or third word was interrupted with a sob.
The hood had slipped from the head and revealed a black mess of short hair that was pointing in all directions. Two thick spikes standing up and away from the head were looking a bit like cat ears. Though their position wasn’t at all stiff but quite the contrary seemed to reflect the mood of the little imp, going limp when the Klabautermann was sad or sticking up when it was in a good mood. Right now one was looking up and the other down.
The head turned even messier when a hand gently ruffled through the hair.
“Of course. I always make sure that the ship is in its best condition. You are in good form, are you not? You’re not going to sink all of a sudden?”
“Certainly not!” La Colmena assured him.
After another moment of hugging him tightly, the Klabautermann let go and took a step back. The eyes were still concealed, this time by the hair, but a big and mischievous smile was showing on Itty’s face.
“But Melosa still deserves a lesson for ignoring me!” It announced and vanished through the floor, leaving a confused shipwright behind.
Very contended with itself, the little imp reviewed its preparation in its mind. It had taken some looong minutes to set everything up, but things like that just couldn’t be hurried and the Klabautermann was pleased about how well it had done considering how little it had to use.
Every room below the deck was practically filled with traps and anyone coming down would get a nasty surprise.
One ladder was greased with oil and the other ladder had a loose rung that would give in if anyone tried to step on it.
The corridor leading to the crew’s quarters was coated with glue and Itty had made sure to add enough water to it in order to prevent it from drying out too soon. It would be a shame if it did before Laco could even catch one fly in it. Or one bee…
The thought made it giggle and it hurriedly pressed the little hands against the treacherous mouth.
Now all it had to do was getting things started.
After counting to four it started to pound against the ships wood with its little hammer, making sure to use a beat that fitted the melody going through its head.
At first Itty only hammered for a few seconds and then the hard part of the plan came. It had to wait patiently.
When it had decided that it had waited enough it started to beat the beat again, longer this time, listening to any response from above. Off and on La Colmena went for a moment, before it put away the hammer and picked up an instrument that belonged to someone else.
The sound produced by the bow gliding over the strings was horrible. Smiling widely the imp carefully put the instrument back to its place and waited.