Amidst the bustling streets of the market a group of men were rat racing. Standing on my toes I managed to catch a glance over the shoulders of the musty smelling men. There was a bowl filled with money and a racetrack with several mice. Each one of the mice having a number marked on their bodies and men cheered as their number approached the goal. The winning rat got rewarded with a piece of stale bread and the winner nabbed all the money to himself.
"I SWEAR YOU FUCKING RIGGED THAT SHIT MAN!" One of the men erupted.
"What are you talking about, my rat won fair and fair."
"On my mother's soul and on my sunburned friend's life you cheated. I swear man if you don't admit to cheating I'm gonna-"
"Nah, what are you talking about?-"
The loser stomped on the racetrack still filled with mice crushing one poor rat while the rest scattered into the crowd. He then picked up the the broken wooden walls and threw it at the man.
The man realizing that the situation had become dire fled into the crowd before they could jump him.
Then suddenly I felt a hand grab onto me and pull me into the crowd. In the gray and brown world I was in the bright shining colors of Aylin shone through. Her pink hair contrasting with everyone else dull colored hair, her smile and blue eyes casting a warmth like the Nautilus' evening sun as she dragged me closer to the docks.
As we neared the docks I could hear the sound of rope tearing as the waves pulled on the anchor. The sound of the rope hitting the sails as winds blew its cold breath over Nautilus.
Aylin pointed at one of the ships that had arrived this morning. It wasn't as well endowed as Captain Sekito's Serenade Mary but it was still on the same caliber of size. She called out to some of the workers on-board and they greeted her back warmly.
"This ship was actually one of the Captain's old military ships she owned. When the construction of the Serenade Mary was completed, the old military ships were given out to her old crewmates that retired. Nowadays they are simply used as fishing ships or transport vessels," Aylin said slamming into the wooden planks of the ship a few time.
The old man working on the ship asked Aylin if she wanted to climb aboard for a quick view.
"You used to love getting onto my shoulders to get a better view of the ocean when you were a kid."
The ramp was lowered down for us to get on onboard. Aylin stared at the ramp for a few seconds before reaching her hand out and grabbing mine.
Some of the trepidation in her eyes had faded. It seemed like the view of the ocean a few meters above sea-level made Aylin a bit more bold.