Tide

Read that title again. 'Underwater Space Cowboy." What more could you possibly want?

The living embodiment of a rebel without a cause, Tide is perpetually angry. While some may say that's because he's an obligate carnivore and the clan has almost no hunters, he's probably not intelligent enough to have came up with that good of a reason.

Operating through quick reflexes and a whole lot of luck, Tide's exploits are legendary, if often rather pointless. Nobody's quite sure why he decided to raid that maren pirate encampment, or to sink that smuggler's ship, but they can agree he looked pretty cool doing it. However, they can't agree on whether he did it on purpose, as he might not actually be able to see out from under that hat.

Probably kicks people in the face a lot.

Scratch that - he definitely kicks people in the face a lot. Why do you think there's small buzzsaws attached to his boots?

As with all cowboys, he herds animals. In Tide's case, it's mammertees. Absolutely nobody whatsoever wants or has any use for the mammertees, but Tide herds them anyways. Nobody appreciates what he does around here.

Herding mammertees might be easier with the help of water magic, but Tide doesn't know how to use any. He might not even know what magic is. Tide doesn't get that it's water magic that allows him to breathe underwater, anyways. If the impulse to do something cool grips him, Tide is grabbing whoever looks like a good helper and is taking them along for the ride. A ride that usually involves a cannonball dive into the ocean. Sometimes the fae complain about something called drowning, and he's really not quite sure why.

This cowboy doesn't really have friends, regardless of what that sidebar says. Those are just dragons he feels to be reliable, such that he's asked them to join him on his escapades. All of them said no, but it's the thought that counts. Tide's thought, not theirs. Tide will be dragging them along on adventure, whether they want to join him or not.

Tide often loiters around, and thus overhears many conversations. So he's heard of Theo's punishment; that there's a space kraken out there that needs slaying. Tide's best guess is that it currently stalks the skies above the oceans, swooping down to hunt mantarunes, and that it will likely come to the Starfall Isles and terrorize dragons before too long. Not that Tide plans to fight it to save the Isles. No, he plans to gather a band of dragons, commandeer an airship, and hunt the space kraken because it's the most awesome thing he can think of doing.

---

So much effort, so much time, so much magic. All that and more had gone into making this monumental day possible. At times, Befilia had worried her endeavours wouldn't bear fruit, but her worries had been for naught. Her airship was reborn!

And that airship was truly a magnificent sight to behold. From bow to stern, it was as long as three imperials laid out end to end. The canvas balloon that she'd made with Kushiel's help had inflated flawlessly, and now hung in the sky an arcane egg that had escaped from it's nest. Below, she could sense the thrum of the anti-grav crystals that Cress had provided, each doing its part to let the ship spit in the face of gravity.

She pensively tapped one of her claws on the wheel, before moving it to the side to familiarize herself with the location of every button and lever that made up the airship's controls. With these, she'd be able to control the speed and direction of the propellers, with such precision that this ship would be the unquestioned ruler of the skies. All she had to was pull one lever, and finally, after so long, she'd be able to sail the skies once again. Sure, she could fly by her own wings, but her small fae self had nothing on the majesty and force behind flying an airship.

But she couldn't take off just yet.

While it might have been her magic that had guided the ship towards growing into this form, Befilia could not claim the ship to be her own creation in good faith. She had torn the wooden heart from her old ship and used it to grow this new one, so in truth the ship was it's own being, a single, still living plant. One that deserved respect.

So, Befelia knelt on the deck, closed her eyes, and gave thanks to the heart. While she wasn't really the devout nature acolyte she disguised herself as, some of that persona might have became more real than she'd planned. At the very least, thanking the airship properly felt absolutely necessary.

In her gratitude, Befilia almost felt like she was becoming one with the ship. She could hear it's heartbeat though the deck floor, even though even though the heart was far below her. Though something was wrong. The beats were irregular. Was something wrong with the ship? Was it sick? No, the sound wasn't coming from below, it was coming from somewhere near the bow. Something was on her airship!

Befilia leapt into the air faster than she ever had before. Nothing was going to mess with her ship, not today, not ever! She flew to the bow, where a blue wildclaw was adjusting his hat and strutting around like he owned the place. For some reason, he was carrying a very long length of metal chain, partially wrapped around one of his arms.

Seeing the fae, Tide tipped his hat to her and smiled. "Good to see ya, Bef. Looks like someone's gone and left a boat in your grove. Don't you worry, we'll be taking care of that for you."

"This is my ship, you trespasser!" Befilia yelled, her frills shaking, but Tide wasn't listening.

Instead, he leaned over the ship's gunwale. "Like I told you, the boat's free for the taking. Get up here!" he shouted.

To Befilia's horror, three more dragons flew out of the surrounding trees and landed roughly on the upper deck. She recognized all three of them. Two ridgebacks; Katio and Levant, followed by that red wildclaw she vaguely remembered being named Crowthorne. None of them looked particularly happy to be following Tide, though Befilia wasn't going to hold hope any of them would be siding with her either.

"This is it?" Crowthorne asked flatly. "It might be big, but it doesn't look well armed."

"The Lady Vengeance needs no weapons but the dark hearts of its crew," countered Kaito, oblivious, as always, to how ridiculous he sounded.

Levant said nothing, looking at the ropes tethering the balloon with disinterest. Befilia was glad for that, and took the opportunity to fly right in front of Kaito's face. "You are not naming my ship that!" she yelled, "And none of you are allowed on board! Get off deck this instant!"

Her next words were broken by the rumble of the propellers starting up. Tide had ran past Befilia while she was distracted in her anger, leapt over the wheel, pulled a bunch of levers at random, and was now merrily spinning said wheel as the airship began its maiden voyage.

Slowly, the airship rose into the sky. Its roots were thoughtlessly torn from the ground with a thunderous noise that shook the entire ship. Befilia's crests shuddered at the sound, even though she knew that needed to happen, and that the roots would shrivel and fall away harmlessly after a few days.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled.

"We're going to hunt a kracken!" Tide yelled back, carelessly spinning the wheel as he did so. The propellers rotated, and the airship began to rotate and drift slowly to the left. That was enough nonsense for Befilia – using nature magic here might damage the ship, but those wounds would be shallow compared to the damage Tide could inflict.

CRAAAASH!

The noise jolted Befilia out of her concentration, the magic dissapating from her claws before it could be fully formed. Branches splintered and a shower of leaves began to fall below as the airship's hull shore the tops off of a number of trees in Befilia's grove. Befilia began to panic. The ship would be fine, she told herself. Its wood was more than strong enough to survive a few trees, and she didn't really care about those trees anyways. Everything was going to be okay. She had to hope that, because it was all she could do to keep herself breathing. Fighting off these invaders was beyond thought at the moment.

The airship knocked over another dozen trees during its leisurely jaunt out of the grove. Befilia flinched at the sound of each one being knocked over, but eventually the ship reached clearer ground and she was able to open her eyes once again. That didn't make her feel much better, as her airship was still flying much too low. At barely above tree level, there was risk of it crashing at any second.

But Tide didn't care. He wasn't even at the controls anymore! He'd wandered over to the ship's stern, and was busy tying his chain to the rails. This Befilila's chance! She flew to the wheel and quickly as she could. If she could land her airship, she could get help from the rest of the clan to kick these four off of it.

With a sigh, Crowthorne walked over to the helm and took control, her larger size meaning she easily got there before the fae. Tide looked back to where the other wildclaw was standing, and flashed a thumbs up at her. (Meanwhile, Befilia was futilely trying to turn the wheel. She had no chance of overpowering Crowthorne, who was holding it with one claw and paying no attention to her.)

"Thanks, Thorns!" Tide shouted back to her. She growled upon hearing that nickname. "Saburo should be right where we left him, unless someone wants to bet me two hundred treasure that he actually moved?"

"He'll be there. I carried him out of the tavern and tossed him onto the shore without waking him up," grunted Levant. He'd apparently gotten his fill of looking at ropes, and was now smacking various parts of the deck with the hilt of his sword. "This vessel appears to be of adequate construction. It will suffice for this mission," he added.

Under Crowthorne's actually competent command, the airship reached the shoreline in less that a minute. It was still flying barely two ridgebacks' height above the ground, but unlike when Tide was at the helm, Befilia could believe she was doing that on purpose. Befilia reluctantly let go of the wheel and flew to the bow to take a look at the shore. As expected, a purple imperial was there, in a twisted unmoving lump that would be mistaken for a corpse by anyone that hadn't met Saburo. Befilia's final hope was crushed as it quickly became clear that the airship wasn't going to land to pick him up. It wasn't even going to slow down.

As the airship passed right on by Saburo, she turned around to see how Tide would react. He'd finished tying the chain, and and was now spinning the other end of it above his head like a lasso. And like a lasso, Tide threw the chain off of the edge of the ship.

The chain soared through the air with practised accuracy, its loop landing perfectly around one of Saburo's legs that had purposely been left sticking up into the air. The chain went taut, the loop contracted, and so Saburo was dragged along behind the ship – right into the ocean.

Crowthorne pulled on the levers that Befilia had foolishly decided to label earlier, and the airship finally began to gain altitude. As if the increased elevation had increased her mind's clarity, Befilia calmed down enough to get a hold on herself.

"Why have you stolen my ship?" she pleaded. "What are you trying to get by taking everything I have?"

"Revenge...," said Katio.

"Gold," added Levant.

"Gold," agreed Crowthorne. And maybe a bit of revenge too, she thought to herself.

Tide didn't say anything. He'd ran back to the bow of the ship, and was now perched at the very tip, staring off across the ocean. He knew the others just wanted their share of the bounty. That was fine. He didn't really care why they were here, just that they were. Off in the distance, somewhere in (or above) the oceans to the south was his reason. The challenge and adventure of a lifetime. Or at least of the next year.

"It's High Tide, kracken!" shouted Tide, even though his challenge was torn away by the wind. "I hope you can swim, because it'd be a shame if you went down without a good fight!"

And so, the airship sailed south. Those of Clan _______ who had been paying any attention were treated to the majestic sight of its first voyage across the ocean, even if that majesty was slightly marred by the presence of the sleeping imperial being towed behind it by one of his hind legs.

(They'd return from their adventure within a few weeks, which was for the best as any semblance of cooperation fell apart after a day.)

---

A sci-fi version of Tide is a bounty hunter in this thread: Star Station. Phidi, Keris, and Solace make appearances as well. I'm only going to link the bounty reports, the rest would be too much effort.

Bounty #1
Bounty #2
Bounty #3 (long)
Bounty #4
Bounty #5
Bounty #6 (long)
Bounty #7
Bounty #8
Bounty #9
Bounty #10
Bounty #11
Bounty #12 (long)
Bounty #13
Bounty #14


Eh, you can have the Crew Manifest too. It's where my Star Station WIPs and and some random brainstorming notes go.