Welcome Aboard

Introduction

Krawk Island was a big place. You had known this long before you had stepped off the ferry onto the island, and you had known that for every square foot of land there was a thieving, merciless criminal to go with it. Pirates were a group of people you didn't want to be tangled up with, but by midday there were as many cut-throat crooks in Krawk Island as there were tourists. By evening, though, the tourists--brave as they thought they were--had thinned out, allowing pirates to replace them. By the time the moon had risen above the rooftops, the sea's most notorious thieves were lining the streets, and you were stepping out of a little store where you had found shelter from the sea-faring criminals. Two chocolate bars stashed safely in your pocket (the owner had given you a cold glare and briskly ordered you to buy something or get out), you stepped into the streets.
Almost instantly, you were knocked sideways when a girl ran into you. The xweetok girl looked up blankly, dark red eyes running over you once before moving back to your eyes. Her dark hair, half-heartedly held back by a bandana, brushed against the shoulders of her white shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled up to above her elbows. She rocked back and forth on her heels, her feet bare and her hands in the pocket of her brown pants. She was dressed entirely in men's clothes, but this didn't seem to be in an effort to hide that she was a girl-- instead it merely seemed like a call to the world, boasting that she was female and still a nasty criminal. You took an uneasy step backwards, uncomfortable with the knife hanging from a belt loop and the way she seemed to be reaching for it. She angled her head to one side, earrings jangling noisily as she did. To your relief, her hand moved past the knife to a small necklace that hung around her neck. Despite the metal in her earrings being slightly tarnished, the necklace seemed in pristine condition.
She dropped the necklace, letting it fall back against her chest. She gave you a charming smile, the action stretching the scar on her cheek and not affecting the one slashed across her nose in the slightest. "The necklace was my mother's," she says, her smile widening, "and the chocolate bars were yours.".
This seemed a very strange thing for her to say until she was bolting away and it sank in. "Hey!" you called after her not thirty seconds after you were positive that the chocolate in your pocket was, in fact, missing. You looked around, realizing that anyone here would be of very little use in helping you get two measly chocolate bars back. You could, and should, have gone right back into the shop and taken your sweet time buying another chocolate bar, but it would have been humiliating to tell them you were robbed by a teenage girl, and you had paid good money for those chocolate bars. And the girl had been barefoot! How far could she get? You could still see her ducking nimbly through the crowd. She wasn't out of sight yet-- you could catch up. In fact-- you would catch up! And you would get those chocolate bars back, because they were yours! With this is mind, you took off at a sprint.
It wasn't as easy as it looked. Dodging through a crowd required skill and powerful skills of assumption. For instance: the man you just ran into. You'd assumed he would have moved when he saw you careening towards him. But had he? No. He had deliberately stepped in front of you. Delayed and angered, you continued your hunt. Out of breath, you finally caught up to her. She was looked behind her shoulder, saw you, and made a sharp turn, running onto a ship.
You followed her up the gangplank without a second thought.
It was only a moment later that it occurred to you that you were on a stranger's ship. But by the time it occurred to you, a man was already tying rope around you. The girl had now set a hat on her head, and she was smiling from ear to ear. "You've got a lot of nerve, don't you? Most people wouldn't have chased. But I knew you would!" she crowed in victory, fishing her hand into your pocket and pulling out your wallet. "And with full pockets, too. Such a generous donation to the ship." She pocketed your money and threw the wallet overboard, letting the smile reach her eyes. She was positively glowing. But then she turned around and began issuing orders in a sharp, loud voice. The ship was moving almost immediately. "AND," she ended the brutal stream of instructions, "if any one of you think you can do any less than your share of the work, the sharks'll be eating you and our guest!" She then stalked away, leaving you on the deck.
The man tying the ropes around you was an elderly lupe. He gave a chuckle as he watched the girl walk away. "Don't mind 'er too much," he said, and you had the instant knowledge that he was smiling despite that he was behind you. "The Cap'n's had it rough. She wouldn't feed anyone to the sharks, though. Too young to assert 'erself as a killer. I take that back-- she just doesn't wanna be asserting 'erself as a killer. You got nothin' to fear from li'l Kelps. I've known 'er since she was a li'l girl. And I can assure you, that li'l girl is sending no one to meet their maker unless she's in a fight." He said it so matter-of-factly you had trouble doubting it.
You tried to twist around to see him. After failing in this attempt, you lay on your back, rope tied around you loosely-- not loose enough so you could easily escape, but not tight enough to hurt. "Who is she?" you asked.
The lupe nudges you to your feet and starts directing you below deck. "The cap'n? 'Er name's Kelphook. Good kid. Good cap'n. Even if she won't let us choose a first mate. Thinks she can keep the whole boat afloat by 'erself. Mind you, if she set her mind to it, I'd bet she could. Girl could do anything if she wanted to…" He was still rambling on when he led you into a room full of barrels and crates. The whole room had one delectable scent that you knew instantly. Sweet, rich, and… "She's got a problem with chocolate. Keeps some on the ship at all times. You're standin' in a whole room full o' it. But she's a good kid, that Kelpy…"

Bout your Captain

Basics

Name: ~~Catherine "Catty~~ Kelphook Neis
sittinpretty

Pronunciation: Kelp-hook
Nicknames: Kelpy
Gender: Female
Species: Xweetok
Age: 17
B-Day: June 29, 1992
PB color (at the moment): Red
PB goal: Pirate
Eye color: Crimson (but she'll tell you 'red')
Adopted or Created: Created
Personality: A word for Kelpy would be eccentric, but I fear even that may be an understatement. A good word for Kelpy would be courageous. Or cocky. Maybe conceited. Arrogant, confident, stubborn, and not afraid to lie, steal, or go to any other means necessary to get exactly what she wants exactly when she wants it.
Status: single (interested)
Love: N/A
Occupation: Pirate
Theme Song: "Trouble is a Friend"-- Lenka
Dominant hand: Right
Roleplay: Open in Quad and Anthro

Life of a Captain

Story

Kelphook's life began four years before she was born-- before she was even a fleeting thought in the minds of either of her parents.
The night was stormy and the sea was rocky, filled with foam crested black hills, threatening even the mightiest of ships. The ship he was sailing on, though, was not the mightiest of ships. It was small and frail, a pathetic excuse for a pirate's ship if ever there was one. But it floated, the cannons shined, and the crew was obedient and loyal.
The man was the first mate. He had been with the captain since he was thirteen. He had worked his way up the hierarchy of the ship from the bottom: from lowly cabin boy to humble working crewmember to second-in-command. Even with such a proud title, he could not deny that going ashore was a blessing after long months at sea.
He had never been a man of the law. He had been born on a ship and never set foot on land until his third birthday. At thirteen he had given up on the law, abandoned his family, and signed aboard for a life on the seas. He was on the same ship he had boarded eight years ago on that fateful night.
True, it was rainy and the sky was dark, but the inn on Krawk Island where he found himself was warm and bright and infinitely preferable to the dangerous swaying of the ship's hammocks. The crew's shouts and laughter filled the place, and it was when he looked up absentmindedly that he saw her. He blinked several times, as if to make sure the woman sitting across the inn was real. He stood, then, and left before he could change his mind.
Back on the ship, he went to the captain and resigned his position. Upon being asked why, he simply answered that he had seen a woman more beautiful than the sea herself. The captain asked no further questions, and merely saluted him somberly, gave him his share of eight years worth of looting (a substantial amount of gold), and let the twenty-one year old walk off the ship. As soon as he was out of earshot, the captain turned to the cabin boy, his eyes following the retreating figure walking back towards the inn. "I pray he gets the girl," he said gravely, "and bless him if he don't.".

As luck would have it, he did get the girl. She was from a middle class family, bright, cheery, and yes, beautiful. The two lived a happy life together, and were married two years later. Two years into their marriage, their daughter was born. They named her Catherine, but affectionately referred to the child as "Catty." It was only six months after her birth that Catty's mother discovered that her husband was a pirate.
He had done an excellent job of hiding it right up until that point. She had never questioned the gold that came from an unknown source, and he had done a remarkable job of cleaning himself up. He would have appeared to be any other young man, a young man of the law and a man who would never have been grouped in with such vicious thieves and murderers as pirated.
His wife had found the bag of gold. When going through it, she found that the coins were from the world across, not one general currency but hundreds of coins stamped with the seals of hundreds of nations. There was no doubt in her mind: she had married a pirate.
The following argument was loud, long, and violent. Shouting and screaming filled the house, the wife sobbed through her shouting, and the words "I hate you" tumbled from her mouth more than once. For his part, Catty's father stood in openmouthed shock and shame. He had nothing to argue with because her accusations were true.
When he woke the next morning, he found a neatly written note instead of his wife. It was written not as if she was angry, but as if she had gathered her thoughts and this was what she had decided: she would not turn in her husband, but she would not live with a criminal; she would pack a bag and leave.
And she would not be keeping his daughter.
He took his daughter and fled with the sparse remainder of the gold and the contents of his wife's jewelry box. He felt terrible doing it, but the gold wouldn't last forever. Though he was heartbroken and suddenly alone, he took some comfort in the fact that he never saw a "wanted" poster with his name on it. (They were there: his wife had told the authorities everything. But he never saw them, or he would have been without any comfort in the world.) He went on believing that his wife had remained faithful to her word and not added his name to the already long list of wanted pirates.

The day his funds ran out was a dark day. Catty was almost three and starting to, finally, talk. She had very little interaction with anyone besides her father, and so it was hardly surprising that she didn't learn to speak sooner-- her father was a man of few words. He was of the belief that a sharp knife was a thousand times more eloquent than any words.
All he had left of his wife's jewelry box was the necklace that she hardly ever took off-- he couldn't bring himself to sell it. So he filled the empty gold bag with his and Catty's few belongings (a change of clothes each, a knife, and her teddy bear, which he planned on "losing" somewhere along the lines) and put his daughter in it, instructing her to be silent. He found the nearest port, and, by some miracle, he recognized the first ship he saw. It was small and frail and a pathetic excuse for a pirate's ship…
A smile lit up the captain's face, and he waved his former-first-mate aboard, before turning to the nearest crewmember (four years ago he had been a cabin boy) and murmured sadly, "Boy didn't get the girl." The captain then turned back to the gangplank, smiling at the young man with a smile that looked almost genuine.
The instant he was safely on deck and greetings had been properly made, he was reinstated as first mate, and the ship was being prepared to go out into the open sea. They were moving in record time, and within a half hour, the first mate was standing in the captain's cabin, knowing he had to explain about the extra mouth to feed.
It took a little over an hour to explain about the little girl, who was by that time out of the bag and clinging to her father's leg. The captain, who had listened in silence, merely chuckled at the end of the explanation. "Well, then I guess you did get the girl after all," he said with another laugh, before leading the man and his daughter out of the room.
The captain brought the two to the deck, and gave a long, harsh whistle. Within a matter of seconds, the crew was assembled before them.
. "Right," barked the captain. "You've been without a first mate for quite some time, and we all know it…".
. "Three years," murmured one man.
. "Four!" the captain said sharply, "And speak again if you want that tongue of yours on the ground, boy!" The man fell silent. "As I was saying, you may remember your first mate. You may not. But say hello." There was a grumble of greeting throughout the crowd. "And his daughter…?".
. "Her name is Catty," the first mate said quietly, holding the little girl's hand tightly.
. "Did he just say 'Catty'?" one man asked, unsure if he heard right.
. "No, no, no," another man said, hitting the other lightly over the head with his hand, "he said Kelpy.".
Catty could tell no distinction between these names, and it wasn't until she was seven that it occurred to her that she hadn't always been called Kelpy. Because the nickname certainly stuck.

By the time she was ten, she had officially adopted the name Kelpy, and hardly remembered her own name. Not that it mattered to her. It mattered to her, though, that the captain had resigned his position and her father had taken to the role with a kind of eagerness to finally be in charge of something. Day by day, he became more harsh and more threatening, and as time went on he became more and more aggressive. By her thirteenth birthday, Kelpy's father was avoided on a good day, due to his tendency to lash out with his knife. On more than one occasion, he had hit his daughter with the blade in one of these spontaneous fits of rage.
What happened next was inevitable. The crew was slowly becoming disgusted with the man they called their leader. Most of the crew had known him before Kelpy was born, and they hardly recognized this lonely, angry man as the good natured, hard working man who had left the ship for a woman he loved. Shortly after she turned fourteen, the crew committed mutiny. Her father's body was left floating in the water and Kelpy was left standing on a pier with only the clothes she was wearing and the necklace found in her father's belongings, rightly believed to be her mother's.
Six months later, Kelpy was taken in by one Mihn Neis. She was asked a number of questions upon being brought into Mihn's home. She was asked if she could read ("No."), write ("Why would I need to?"), cook ("No.), and what her name was.
To the last question, Kelpy had merely smiled and responded, without missing a beat, "My name is Kelphook. Call me Kelpy."

Kinda Picky

Preferences

O' course, the girl's pretty picky," the old lupe carried on. "She'd never tell you, but she is." He nodded thoughtfully, his eyes closed and a small smile upon his face. "Le's see…she likes chocolate. Yes, yes, she defin'ly likes chocolate quite a bit." Here he looked around the room. "She's got a particular penchant for her ship and she loves the water… The sea is one of 'er greatest joys. And, o' course, she loved 'er father very much." He seemed to be considering something, but then went into silent thought.
You frowned. "And what doesn't she like? No one likes everything.".
He blinked. "Well, o' course she doesn't like everythin'! She's never been too fond o' her mother. After she discovered that most children 'er raised with two parents, she took to blamin' 'er mother for 'er father's attitude. Hmm…Kelpy doesn't like citrus fruitsn she avoids vegetables. Can't say I blame 'er for that un, though." He chuckled. "Oh, and she hates sunburns with a cer'ain passion." He gave another little chuckle, shaking his head slowly.

Got Herself a Boy

Love

The old lupe's laugh grew more hearty now. "Oh, Kelpy ain't got a boy o' any kind! The girl wishes she did, and the whole o' the crew knows it. Some of 'em have tried to fill that place, bless 'em, they don't stand a half a chance. Girl gives 'em one cold stare and shoos 'em away. Not a one of em hasn't been threatened jus' for thinkin' bout her and askin'. Kelpy will hear nothin' of it. Don't want her crew mixed up with 'er private life. But if it was a boy outside of 'er ship she wouldn't hesitate for a second." He nodded slowly. "Girl wants 'erself a boy," he said again.
Neomail mihneis to roleplay

Members of her Crew

Family

The old lupe looked around the room, as if he had to be sure no one was around. "C'mon," he said, kneeling down and untying the ropes around you, "I got somethin' to show ya." After releasing you, he stood up and looked around. "A'right. We're headin' to the cap'n's quarters, c'mon, then." He led you out the room and through a maze of corridors. Everywhere you went two smells were definite: the smell of salty sea air and the fainter smell of chocolate. You found yourself wondering how much chocolate was on the ship if it smelled so heavily of it.
The lupe fumbled with a key in a door, before pushing it open and revealing a nice sized room. Maps were strewn across a desk, which was nothing more than a large trunk with a stool behind it. A hammock hung in one corner, a bookshelf with framed pictures, more maps, a compass, and what looked like a photo album took up most of one wall. The only light in the room came from a lamp hanging from the ceiling and a candle on the desk that flickered dangerously when he opened the door.
The lupe looked around once before nodding, waving you in, and closing the door behind you. He then made his way over to the bookshelf, leading you over, too. He picked up a framed picture and began to talk.

It was a picture of a Darigan Aisha, green eyes looking somewhere other than the camera and his smile obviously forced. Black hair flopped messily into his face. "This un is named Flayeei. From what I gather, he's 'er older brother. They get along all right, from what she says. She does complain 'bout his coffee, though. Says 'e drinks too much of it, then she rolls 'er eyes and says it's 'cause 'e doesn't sleep at night." He gave a tsk and shook his head.
	The next picture was of a white Xweetok, dark eyes glaring at the camera that she was trying to push away with her hand. "This be Risu If I be right, she's got quite an attitude. Got a son too, she does. Girl's not much older than Kelpy... The father's still around-- much to Kelpy's dislike. She seems to think 'e could do better than Risu." The lupe shrugged. "Girl's got a lot of issues, but, then, Kelpy doesn't like 'er much. So I'd say most of what the cap'n says is exaggerated…" he trailed off, setting the picture back down on the shelf.
He laughed as he showed you the next picture. It was a usul, her tongue out and a jester hat on her head. The locket around her neck seemed to be flopping randomly, like she was dancing or had just swooped from one place to another. "Kelpy speaks very highly o' this li'l un. Her name's Tani. She's younger than Kelpy by a good four or five years, but she's been on board the ship. She wasn't supposed to, o' course. She snuck on af'er Kelpy went to visit her family for a few weeks. Tani figured she'd see what all the fuss was 'bout,stuffed 'erself in Kelpy's bag, and stayed on the ship for two months. Good li'l girl, hard worker." He gave another chuckle.
	He picked up another frame, and angled it towards you with a smile. It was a human, blond hair and green eyes and a wide smile while she waved at the camera. "This'd be mihneis, or Mihn as it is. Quite a character, this un is. Haven't met another like 'er and doubt I will as long as I live. Took Kelpy and the rest of 'em in, but I think it was because she needed some'un to entertain 'er. She's got an odd sense o' humor, and she has absolutely no hobbies. Not a bad kid, but a wicked sense o' humor," he said again with a shrug.
He finally held up the last frame. It was a woman who looked a lot like the captain herself, and a man with the same dark, fly-away hair. Several scars marked his face, but it didn't seem to matter to the woman next to him, Kelpy's necklace around her neck and a smile on her face. They were both smiling. His eyes were red, hers were blue; his smile was crooked, hers was beautifully straight; his hair was black and flew in all directions, hers was red and stayed right where it was. She was beautiful and he was her polar opposite and they seemed to go together so easily and effortlessly…in the bottom corner of the frame another, a smaller picture was shoved into the frame. It was a picture of the man, standing without the woman, a vicious snarl on his face and more scars cut into his face. His red eyes glowed with anger and he looked painfully older. The old lupe nodded slowly. "Her parents," he said simply, before putting it back down and moving on.

Visitors

Friends

He moved on to a stack of unframed photos in a plastic bag. "They're not 'er family," he explained, "but they're 'er friends an' enemies. Any'un she's met along 'er life." He nodded, beginning to flip through the pictures.

Neomail mihneis to roleplay

Quite the Looker

Reference Pic

The old lupe then took the photo album from you and put it back on the shelf. He led you to the desk, which he cleared off and opened. Inside the desk-- which was still actually a trunk-- there were even more pictures. Various flags from various nations and various ships were folded in the bottom, coins were flung haphazardly throughout, and several chocolate bars poked their heads through the treasure. "Kelpy's chest of treasures," he said in explanation. "Mihn put this un in 'ere." It was a picture of Kelpy, notes scribbled in blank spaces. "An artist's interpretation of 'er, she said. I di'n't think it was much, but Kelpy loves it. And who'm I to argue the cap'n?" He smiled, as if he knew who he was to argue the captain, but said nothing, instead handing you the picture.
IhateyouKelpyTTnTT

Treasure Trunk

Toybox

You kept looking through the trunk, and what happened to catch your eye was a stack of something wrapped in a flag. You unwrapped them, and you found a collection of small pictures of Kelphook.
. "Aye," the old lupe said with a grin, "Kelpy thinks these took some dedication. Keeps 'em in here. I think it's an act o' vanity, but it's not my treasure chest, now is it?".

No adoptables yet!

Treasure Trunk

Art

Art by Mihn
None yet!
Art by Others
None yet!

Welcome Aboard Anytime

Link back

You were just closing the lid of the trunk when the door opened and revealed the captain herself. She didn't seem at all surprised to see you here. "Well, I suppose the old salt told you my tale just like he told everyone else," she said simply. "I must say, I haven't heard a complaint from you, though. Most people yell at the top of their lungs until we release them. I really have been tempted to feed more than one of them to the sharks. They all would have made wonderful fish bait," she said wistfully.
. "Now, now, Cap'n, don't scare your guest," the lupe said with the slightest tone of seriousness thrown into his mockery.
. "Aye-aye, Captain," Kelphook said, a joking smile on her face.
You frowned, then blinked, then gave an "oh!" The old lupe had been the captain who had resigned his position--the captain who had given Kelpy's father the ship.
. "You got that, buddy? You're no pirate, I can tell you that," she said cheerfully. "I could have told you he was the first captain and I probably would've. Anyway, it's morning and we're sending a boat to shore. For supplies, of course, but you can go ashore, if you want.".
. "Told you you wouldn't be shark bait!" the old man said triumphantly.
Kelphook only nodded slowly before pointing to the door. "Now get out.".