- username + ID; Cosmic_Dragon + 1031466
edits used; Cosmetic Edits (Expression, Clothing), Glowing Markings (Stars), Pupil Shape, Additional Head Growths, Size Edit (Short).
items used; None
prompt response; (hnnng it's been too long since I've written anything oh gods)
Laughter spills out into the murky alleyway, thick and noxious as poisoned mead, bitter at the back of Sybil's throat and tangling with hissed curses as she slammed the door shut behind her. "Isn't it past your bedtime, kid?" The words were parroted in a mocking growl, followed by a hollow laugh. "Kinda small for a 'mighty Kraken', aren't ya shortstack? Like my height is at all relevant, you bilge-sucking dockrats!"
The disrespect would have stung from her own kind, just as it had for years, but it hit all the harder for knowing all the scientist had fought through to get to go shore in the first place; Sybil had never been a particularly gifted fighter and the crew hadn't particularly been keen on even letting a 'glorified sawbones' onboard at all. It was only because an unfortunate... accident had befallen the ship's previous doctor so close to sailing that she had been enlisted. Something that had not been easy to engineer, thank you very much!
And now, to finally be in a position to seek out all the medical knowledge and scientific breakthroughs the world had to offer and instead be turned away with ridicule and scorn just because of the way she looked? Of all the ridiculous, frustrating, small-minded-!
With an infuriated huff, the kraken turned to stalk out of the alley, kicking at a piece of loose debris and following its flight path with her eyes until it skittered to a halt at someone else's paws. Startled out of the stifling fog of her own ire, Sybil snapped her gaze up to meet the midnight gaze of a shark selrosvo, standing somewhat ominously in the half-shadow at the entry to the alleyway.
She bristled, getting ready to have to either defend herself or endure a new round of mockery, until the stranger shifted further into the light. The warm yellow beams glinted and shone off the surface of what was clearly a prosthetic arm, but one unlike any other she'd come across. Where variations of wood, leather and rope were all common materials to substitute lost limbs at sea, a mechanical marvel was instead attached at their shoulder! The hostility melted out of her posture, and she instead strode rapidly forward, taking no notice of the way the other's gaze turned from neutral to wary to bemused.
"Where did you get that?? I've never seen the like! Was it commissioned? From whom? How does it respond to your movements?" Looming with an almost manic energy to her, Sybil all but snatched at the arm, holding it up to the light and watching the fingers wave at her cheekily. "How accurate are its movements? Oh, you must let me study this, think of the advancements! If limbs could be replaced with such intricate workings, ha! Woebetide the days of hook hands and peg legs!" Eager tentacles came up to pluck at the air as the shark watched, unable to find a break in the fast-flying queries to actually answer any of them until he finally slipped the arm from her grasp.
"Woah there, breathe lass!" He chuckled, good humour in his eyes though his expression remained otherwise calm. "I will answer your questions best I can, my curious friend, if you will but answer one of my own." Sharp eyes flicked up and down her form once before continuing. "You seek knowledge; as do I. And I happen to have come into possession of a map to perhaps the greatest store of it the world has ever known... But I yet lack a proper crew. Someone of sharp and questioning mind such as yourself would be a boon to have alongside me on such a venture." Here, a small smirk finally pulled at his lips. "Would you consider, perhaps, throwing your lot in wit me?"
Sybil blinked. Blinked again, before the surprise passed and a shrewd glint entered her gaze.
"I join your crew, and you answer my questions? All my questions?"
"Aye."
"I want to be able to study the prosthetic."
"As long as you don't break it lass, aye."
"And space to conduct my studies; I am a scientist and a doctor, not merely some curious child."
"...Aye, I can finagle that. Yea or nay, my curious friend?"
Well, it was definitely a better lot than she currently had, and if this map didn't turn out to be the codswallop she quite believed it to be there was the potential for even greater reward. With a haughty huff, she stuck out a hand. "... My name is Sybil, not 'curious friend'."
Cold metal met her palm as a proper grin cracked the shark's taciturn mask. "Arctus. Welcome aboard, Doc."
