#steampunk webseries

[talesfromravolox]

Chapter 5: Cass Townem

A/N sorry this is a bit late! procrastination is fun.

I leave Elyas in his new room after giving him some clothes and a new job, which I decided would be helping in the kitchen (much to his disdain, I add). I gave him a single room so he can leave the hecticness of the ship for awhile if he wants to. I am starting to quite like Elyas. He should be interesting…

I am walking up to the deck from the innards of the ship contemplating our new arrival when I see Will across the deck, reading one of the books from the ship library. I try to keep the ship well-stocked with books and games and stress relievers. It isn’t all fun and games up in the sky, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t some fun and games.

“Hey Will! meet me in my office!” I yell over to him, some of the crew on deck turn their heads, but otherwise don't bother too much with our meeting. He looks up from his book, and gets up to start walking toward me. I see him approaching and turn to head into my office. 

He enters the room, a little peeved he had to stop reading, but quickly gets over himself and stands across from me. I’m behind a large desk, leaning over it a bit, mostly for comfort.

“So Will,” I start, “This kid from earlier-”

“He’s the about the same age as me; he’s not a kid.” Will interjects. I wave my hand in animosity. He’s always been a little sensitive about his age, and because of that he’s sensitive about other peoples age as well.

“This…” I say, searching for the word to describe him. I give up and move on. “Anyway, his name is Elyas, and has joined the crew! We have a new chef hand!” I say, rather excited. I do enjoy new crewmates. Will looks uncomfortable however, obviously wanting to speak his mind. “What is it Will?”

“Is it really a good idea to just accept anyone on to the ship as a crew member? Shouldn’t there be some… regulations? Something? I mean, what if he’s a spy for Ravolox?! We can't have that, Cass! You know what happened last time!” He says, becoming more anxious, "I mean, for gods sake, this is-” I cut him off, returning the favor from earlier. 

“Will, calm down. He’s fine. We are fine. I know our last… encounter with Ravolox was ...unpleasant… but it’ll be fine! Okay? Worrying about it will only make it worse, so just smile through!” He looks up at me, still a bit worried, but forces a smile on his face. “See! don’t you feel better?” 

“Not really. Mostly my cheeks just hurt.” he says, still smiling.

I sigh and roll my eyes, and sit down in the chair behind me. Will and I sit in comfortable silence for a few moments until suddenly, I get up, eyes wide.”I know, Will! I know how to make everything better!”

He looks at me, a bit confused. “uh.. what?”

“A PARTY!”

His eyes get wider, and he stands up taller and exclaims “ooohhHH NO! NOT AGAIN!” I start leaving the room, a wide grin on my face. “CASS! THIS IS A BAD IDEA! YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET DRUNK!”

I'm already across the room, but I turn to him, standing in my doorway, and shout back, “I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET DRUNK, BUT WHO CARES?!” I turn and start heading off again, determined to have the best party this ship has ever seen.

[talesfromravolox]

Chapter 4: Elyas Twain

A/N: I was at camp for a week and missed my chapter so here it is

I wake up to find myself in a musty, crusty cell. There’s a misty light filtering through a high window.

It takes me probably a whole ten seconds for me to realise that I’ve been taken prisoner. I look around and see a moldy cot attached to the wall. I get up gingerly and sit on it, taking in my surroundings. In a wave of emotions and exhaustion, the events of the day thus far hit me like a train. 

Before I can stop them, I feel tears falling from my eyes. The weight of the day has finally caught up to me. My inability to control them just spurs them further. I eventually fall back asleep.

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I start awake. Someone is in the cell with me. I can make out the outline of them sitting on a creaky bench across the cell, and instantly realise that it must be the captain. I suppress my instinct to attack; I don’t need to give her any reason to harm me. Instead, I try to wear a face that might be considered “typical” for someone in my position.

She doesn’t say anything, so I decide to start. “...hi?”

She immediately tells me I almost killed her. Well, her and me. Though not much would have happened if I had died. 

We have a short exchange, and I start considering my chances of escape. By looks, I could probably take her. But looks can deceive, and I don’t really want an entire ship of people wanting to kill me. 

“Are you for or against Ravolox?” She asks me. I think about it. I figure that she’s against him, and then turn to myself. Am I for or against Ravolox?

“…I …I’m not sure. But I think I …I think I hate him.” I say. I’m not entirely sure if it’s true, but right now it feels like it. 

As soon as I say this, she leaps up and welcomes me to her crew. That works...I guess? I try to give her a handshake but she puts her hand on my shoulder instead. I resist the urge to shake it off. She asks me my name, and I try to ignore the awkward addition (”handsome”) at the end of her inquiry.

I finally break eye contact and stare at the floor. “Elyas,” I say, “Elyas Twain.”

“Alright Elyas,” she shouts, “Let’s get you out of this cell and to a proper room. Welcome to the crew!” Without missing a beat, she whips around and opens the cell door and heads for the ladder up to what I assume must be the deck. When I don’t follow she turns and beckons to me. 

“I don’t bite,” She says, “Well, usually.” She winks and starts up the ladder. Processing what she just said, I wait until she’s almost to the top to follow suit and make my way up to the main deck. 

It takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, and I spot her a few feet away looking at me disinterestedly. She leads me across the deck to a door between the ladders to get up to the quarterdeck. She throws it open and I find myself in a cross between the galley and an armory-slash-secondhand-store. A heavy-looking wooden counter stretches across the halfway point of the room with a gap in the middle. On top of it are numerous bits and bobs, pots, pans, and cooking utensils. The back half of the room seems to be the galley portion; I can see a stove with a large pot on it from where I am, and a man in a yellowed and stained white apron is humming to himself while chopping some sort of vegetable, his back turned to us. 

I only realise I’ve been standing and staring around when the captain calls me over. “Elyas! Come look at this. This’ll probably fit you.”

She’s standing with a very thin man with a bandanna tied around his head by a large pile of clothing on top of the counter (which I now notice stretches around along the wall to the door and is lined with cabinets). She’s pulled out a ginormous pink flowered blouse and is holding it up for me to see. I obviously make some disgusted expression because as soon as the thin man sees my face he breaks into laughter. I hear the cook in the back chuckling too.

“Never gets old, that one, miss!” He says, his eyes watering with mirth. The captain is also smirking as she tosses it back onto the pile and pulls out a shirt that must have once been white. She tosses it to me and then dives back in, emerging with a pair of black pants. The man holds up a beaten brown vest and a deep red sash. I eye them skeptically.

“If anything doesn’t fit, you can come back and Archie here can help you find something that does.” the captain says. I shrug. 

[talesfromravolox]

Chapter 3: The Red Maiden

The robbery goes without a hitch. That guy who crashed into me after getting off the ship was sent to the brig for storage, his pockets emptied. Though there wasn’t much in them to begin with.

My crew and I walk back to the ship now, bags of gold and silver slung over our shoulders, our heads held high. The people in the street don’t pay too much attention to us, just as always, and just as always it’s very useful in our escape. I lead the group, a hand in my pocket, my eyes closed to feel the warm sun on my face. I don’t have a care in the world. With Will walking next to me, life is good. I still have my ultimate goal of course, but for now I am content.

We are nearing the ship now, greeted by cheering from the skeleton crew we left behind to maintain the ship and our prisoners. I’m not one to take prisoners, but we don’t treat them poorly. They are merely there until they decide to join our ship, which they almost always do. In some cases they’ll choose to leave, and they are able to when we reach a port to dock at. Occasionally I’ll send a crew member down if they become too rowdy during dinner or the rare cases of insubordination, which I stomp out the merest signs of. My boys and gals can have their fun, but I will not tolerate disobedience.

I climb the ramp to join my ship. A skeleton crew member takes my sack of gold to bring down to the treasury, and my other crew members follow, also carrying loot. I start toward my office, assuming that Will will follow.

“Now then Will,” I start, without looking back and taking my feathered hat off as we come into my cabin. “What of that boy who crashed into me? what do you think?”

“I don’t know ma’am. you’re the captain.”

I chuckle. It’s still funny that to me that my best friend still insists on calling me ‘captain’ or ‘ma’am’.

“You know you don’t have to call me that in private, Will.”

“Right, I’m sorry ma’-uh… Cass.”

“There you go. Now, I’m going to go interrogate our… guest.”

——————————————————————————————

I’m sitting in the boy’s cell, the one who ran into me earlier today. There’s a decent amount of light coming in from a high window. I’m sitting the bench by the wall, across from the boy. He’s sleeping on the dirty cot. It’s attached to the wall with rusty chains and hinges so it can be put away during the day. He’s lying on his side, facing me. A peaceful look on his face. He looks about my age, maybe a bit younger (although looks can be deceiving), and is wearing what looks like a royal uniform. He’s quite handsome, actually. The crew didn’t rough him up too much from the looks of it. They told me that not ten seconds after they got him on the ship, royal guards came around asking for a boy matching his description. The crew shrugged them off, aware that they couldn’t care less about us, and were obviously not paying much attention. We protect people from ‘Lord Emperor’ Ravolox and other dangers. We plunder, sure, but we never take more than we need. And we save the rest for those who need it more than the banks.

The boy’s eyes flutter open, a little red and watery. He’d been crying before he slept. He doesn’t register me in the room immediately, and once he does, he jerks awake, sitting up on the edge of his bed.

He regards me suspiciously, with a hint of surprise.  “…Hi?”

“Yes. Hello indeed. Well, boy, you nearly killed us both earlier. Just because you’re cute doesn’t mean you get a pass”

He’s taken aback by my forwardness. “Uh… Sorry, it’s been a…” he takes a deep breath, widening his eyes and continues. “It’s been a…weird day. Where am I?”

“I’ll be asking the questions.” I hold back a grin. I’ve always wanted to say that. “You aren’t exactly in a position to be asking anything. So tell me boy, what happened?”

He doesn’t answer, but instead looks me up and down, sizing me up.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you, unless you pose a threat to me or my crew.”

He looks a little more reassured. “I’m one of - used to be one of - Ravolox’s pupils. And then he kicked me out… I mean. I was with him for 7 chrons! And he just…” he trails off, making a gesture with his hands, a look mixed with confused, scared, angry, and sad.

I’m not really sure if (and if so, how) I’m supposed to comfort him, so I ask, “Well, are you for or against Ravolox?”

“…I …I’m not sure. But I think I …I think I hate him.” He says, half to himself.

“Welp! That’s good enough for me. Welcome to the crew!” I get up and walk over to him. “My name’s Cass. I’m the captain, and you will call me as such until we get to know each other better.”

He tries to give me a handshake, but I put my hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eye. “We’ll figure out something better for you to wear than that gross shit, and somewhere to earn your food. Now, what’s your name, Handsome?”

He looks startled at my compliment. He then looks at my hand as he thinks (obviously uncomfortable with the contact, though not acting on it), then replies, “Elyas.” He doesn’t look at me, but rather at the floor. “Elyas Twain.”

“Alright Elyas, let’s get you out of this cell and to a proper room. Welcome to the crew!”  

[leagueofsteam]

"It’s Not Easy Being Green" - Adventures of the League of STEAM

When the League ventures deep into a Louisiana bayou to catch a Swamp Rat of Abnormal Size, they discover another legendary creature - the Swamp Man!

[theworldofsteam]

Watch the kickstarter video below...