Not Exactly According To Plan...(Sey Start!)

[Seychelles]

Henry David Thoreau once said, "Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

Michelle Lefèvre couldn't disagree more.

As she stepped from the long gangplank of the cargo ship onto the rickety wooden docks, sun shining all around, heat just as sweltering here as it was back home, a tiny shred of panic began to buzz around inside her thread.

"Excusez-moi," she tapped one of the ship workers gently on the shoulder with one finger, gaining his attention. He continued to move crates and boxes to and from the ship as he watched her, waiting for her question. "Are we in...this is Valencia, oui?"

The man exchanged an amused glance with a few of his fellow workers, a few of them laughing at the girl who was beginning to grow more uneasy by the second.

"Non, mon cheri, this is the Bahamas!" the men continued to work and laugh as Michelle felt the blood drain from her face. She gripped the handle of her suitcase a bit tighter, mumbling a soft, Merci, which went unheard by the dock workers.

Moving slowly from the dock to the beach, Michelle sat quietly on the sandy shores and wondered quietly if she should be regretting leaving her home at this point. True, her journey hadn't gotten off to the start she would have preferred, however she still had enough money to get her around for a while. If nothing else, she could catch a ship to North America, and pray that she didn't wind up in the wrong place again.

Standing up and brushing some sand from her legs, Michelle gripped her suitcase and bravely marched toward town, planning to at least find an inn to stay in for the night, if not for a few days while she planned her next move.

[pilipinas]

When the ship finally stopped, Maria-Estella's first decision was to take a break and see the light of day again. Now out of a working mindset, her shoulders eased and she practically skipped down the gangplank, regardless of where Antonio or the rest of the crew were. She had no idea where they had landed, but really, it didn't matter that much! "I'm going into town, po~!" Maria called back to whoever would actually need to know where she was.

It was a beach town, that was for sure. Most of the population had a deep tan, and occupied the sandy beach. Stands lined the streets up and down with fresh tropical wares, giving a semi-disgusting scent mix of fish and fruit, that despite it all was actually quite refreshing. "Reminds me of home~" Maria mused. Well, she had pocket change, no sense in wasting it.

(A.K.A. She was bad with money.)

"These, these, aaaaand these!" Maria stuffed as much of the colourful fruits and vegetables into the paper bag in her arms as much as she could. The bag had to be as tall and wide as her torso -- she wasn't that large anyhow. Pineapples, apples, mangoes, bananas, oranges, even things she didn't recognize but took anyhow. (No purple yams, her favourite, but she would make do. And with a grin while she was at it.) She tossed the coins necessary into the vendors hands, hefting the bought goods into her arms. Steady, steady, she told herself. Unfortunately, fruit is round.

At first it was just an apple that rolled off the top of the pile, actually conking her in the head. Her footing was poor, and soon enough there went a handful of oranges and pineapples rolling down the road under people's feet. "Ahhh! Catch them, catch them!" Maria tried to keep the rest of the bag from dispersing, while the rest continued to leave her perimeter. Ahh, dammit!

[Seychelles]

Michelle was on her way up one of the main roads of the small town when an apple hit her foot. She paused, looking around for the source, but didn't immediately spot the shouting girl with an over-flowing bag of fruit. She bent down to pick up the shiny red fruit, blinking in confusion as an orange rolled past her foot on her way back up. She looked up again, and this time saw the girl struggling with her erupting sack of produce, shouting for the help of anyone in the vicinity. "Ahhh! Catch them, catch them!"

Allowing herself a small laugh, Michelle hoisted her luggage further up on her shoulder before making a small basket from the skirt of her dress, beginning to collect the girl's run-away fruit. After she was sure she had collected most of the oranges and pineapples, she skittered toward the shorter girl, struggling to hold all of the fruit in her skirt.

"Bonjour! Excusez-moi, but I believe these are yours?" she gestured to the produce collected in her skirt with her chin, smiling coyly, eyes twinkling a bit with laughter. "Do you need some help carrying them?"

[pilipinas]

By now, Maria had settled the bag on the ground and grabbed strewn items to put them back in. A little strange, safe to say, the girl on her hands and knees and lunging at escaping pineapples. Safe to say, she got quite a few before another girl came up to her. In her concentrated grabbing, Maria was startled by the sudden foreign language. Not one she was used to anyhow, like Chinese or Spanish or Filipino.

The other girl had dark hair, tied into identical ponytails, and a tan one could only get from living somewhere southern. She had a good chunk of the bought produce in her skirt-turned-basket, as well. "Yes yes! Salamat, salamat po!" Maria-Estella nodded a few times with a friendly smile, helping shift the fruit from the girl's skirt to the bag again. This time, they didn't fall.

"Thank you again," Maria sighed with relief. "We just docked, so I wanted to stock up again~ Half the time, it seems like all we have on board is tomatoes," she laughed. Captain Antonio ate tomatoes like one would an apple. And yes, it was more or less healthy, but variety was always nice!

[Seychelles]

Michelle chuckled softly as she smoothed her skirt back down, making sure that most of the wrinkles were out of it before she clasped her hands in front of her and offered the other girl a warm smile.

"I'm Michelle," she offered the girl her hand, then realizing that her arms were full of bags of produce, re-thought it and took her hand back. "I'd be more than happy to help you carry those back to your ship, if you'd like."

The statement caught up with her and Michelle almost dropped her suitcase in surprise. She quickly recovered, however, and - trying not to sound too hopeful - began her inquiry.

"You say you just docked? Is it, ah...your ship, by chance?" she supposed this was a silly question, because as nice as the girl was, she didn't seem quite like the captain type...maybe it was just a small merchant ship, though. "N-Not to be too straight-forward, but I was trying to get to Spain, and I...well, I obviously didn't."

She took a moment to look sheepishly at the ground, fingers twirling in the end of one of her pigtails before she quickly regained her train of thought and continued onward, trying to control her eagerness.

"I was hoping to get a job on a ship, perhaps, so that I could get to Europe...would you be able to help me?

[pilipinas]

Michelle, the girl introduced herself as. "Ahh, I'm Maria-Estella! Call me Mame, if you like," She grinned in response. Maria was, to new people, a naturally trusting person, so the offer of help was gratefully accepted. "Ah, really? That'd be lovely!" She smiled, Shifting the bags to give the smaller one to the other girl -- it wouldn't be polite to give her the heavier one!

She was a bit surprised by Michelle's shock, but the girl seemed to think well on her feet. She recovered quickly. Ah, so it was about the ship. "My ship? Ah, not mine personally, po -- I just cook and clean," She laughed easily. "I'm sure the captain wouldn't mind taking you aboard! He gets attached very quickly. Frightfully so, sometimes. But ah, he is a Spaniard himself, I don't think there would be a problem with it," Maria assured with a nod. She pursed her lips in the direction of the docking area for sky ships.

"The ship is in that direction, po," She informed. "And the Kapitan is a Hispanic man with green eyes and wavy dark hair. He looks very silly a lot of the time, to be honest," She admitted with a cheeky grin, beginning to lead Michelle back the way she came.

[Seychelles]

Michelle easily accepted the smaller of the produce bags, shifting it to hold it against her hip as she followed slowly along with the other girl, taking in all of the sights of the small harbor town as they walked.

"So, the captain is Spanish? Ah, I guess that would make it easier for me to get to...well..." she trailed off, not sure of how she was intending to end that statement. While it was true that she had wanted to get to Europe, she was slowly beginning to realize that she may have more of an opportunity to find whatever it was she was looking for if she was working on a ship.

"So, ah, how does he look silly, exactly?" she wondered aloud, looking toward the docks and wondering which ship the girl worked on. There were any number of ships attached to the docks, and any one of them could be--

But then she saw one ship flying the Spanish flag, and she realized that must have been it.