[ApatheticFoxboy]

"When it comes to a really hot guy like that…" Rudy had to give a little snort to that comment. Who can blame him? His extraordinary hearing picked up the strangest things. He once overheard an obscenely elderly couple argue the merits of foreplay. Most people’s small talk follows a script. Rudy had heard this script so many times he could recite it from memory.

It was in the early morning when he had heard from the speaking tubes behind the wall that Red Island had been spotted. He decided to see if the island really was red, and walked starboard. Rudy couldn’t see far enough over the foggy sea to catch the port. What his ears did tap into were these two bickering girls. Rudy knew that the red head’s cat girl friend had to have been commenting on him.

The first night of the voyage Rudy had been kind of lost on such a vessel as the GKS Luguro. He was used to paying a single sailing soul a pence to traffic him on small skippers. He was used to fishing with a sharpen stick, and making necklaces and bracelets out of seashells. In fact, he once had so much cheap jewelry he started selling them as mementos to tourists. This mast flag ship he found himself on was just beyond his experience. So to be quick about it, he turned on his comfortable cloak of August Corpus.That particular enchantment had always been so extremely versatile, it came to him as instinctively as turning a door nob.

When Rudy turned around he saw a nervous, eye down cast, raven haired catgirl. With a smile on his face, he approached the catgirl. He greeted her and launched into his Hasten Story(which is a truly witty and fun tale set in the book store called Slow Reads, where in they have a terrific section devoted entirely wilderness survival). When he asked where he could find his cabin, she hung her head to the side and stammered a reply Rudy just couldn’t understand. The implication as she understood it was for her to follow him there.

Rudy was somewhat tiffed when she continued her ranting in a language Rudy swore he knew. From the corner of his eye a red head, the catgirl’s friend, bailed her out and pointed out that most cabins of Her Majesty’s guest cabins were towards the stern. Rudy thanked her very much. What he did next was more habit then anything else. He took a throw away seashell bracelet off his wrist and said, “You’re not a thief. Right?” he placed the bracelet on the catgirl's arm, “This isn’t a gift. I want it back next time I see you.” Rudy hadn't seen her anytime after that. She must have been awesome at hide-and-go-seek.

Rudy didn’t consider himself a “really hot guy.” When you got down to it his dress didn’t exactly scream noble either. The one thing he did have going for him was his attractive, if not assertive, personality. He strolled confident, embolden from the catgirl’s questionable impression of this ragged vampire. Much too engrossed in their own back and forth, Rudy surprised the raven haired catgril and her red head friend by appearing before them. To be fair his footwear hadn’t alerted them of his presence because he didn’t wear anything on his feet.

With an evil grin he said, "Good morning, how does the ship fare?"