Crossing paths.

-Later after noon was in the sky, The sun heading to set beyond the horizon, there propped up against the side of a strong yet short tree sat a figure who was now living the life of a freelancer he had traveled many places alright and had arrived at a small town/port, the town of "Dead end" Dead End was a very isolated place not much in terms of life here, mostly a stop over port for ships or weary travelers. The Town was situation fairly close to Dowunda which is generally where most of the folk eventually made their way to. Watching the setting sun Shrike sat quietly watching it sink down below as night started to emerge.

He thought that maybe tonight he could get time off, however it seems who ever hired him had other ideas, a small radio blurred to life on his assault armor, the message informed him that a late ship was due at the docks however it was not expected nor was on the list as registered ships, thus Shrike was ordered or properly put responsible for inspecting its crew and the vessel it self. Stretching out a bit with a simple yawn escaping his mouth the armored figure lifted himself off from his comfy relaxing spot, grabbed his weapons and made his way down into the town of Dead End.

Moving past the Mobians of all kinds who were busy settling in for the night, closing shops and locking down work places, all but the bar had been totally shut down, the bar the last place some one could go to relax, have a drink and forget about the worlds troubles. Shrike eye balled the bar, after he finished up his sweep of the vessel he was no doubt going for a serious drink after this.  Eventually making his way to the dock side, the ship finally came into mooring position as the dock crew tied her to the side, Shrike gazed upon the ship, never quite seen one like this before and he himself never been out to sea. 

Upon walking up and down the length of the ship on the concrete dock side he saw what appeared to be a name on the side of the hull of the ship, the name was "Phoenix Blossom" It was indeed a impressive sight to behold, The lone freelancer looked at in awe, well I guess this entire night was not going to be boring any more right. Things were about to only get more interesting. For now the crew were about to disembark.

-The boarding deck jutted out from the ships hull and made contact with the hard concrete of the dock side, Shrike stood before the entrance weapon in hand and ready for any thing that may happen, then down the ramp they came, the crew of the Phoenix blossom, a varied gang of Mobians of all walks of life making their way down onto the ground. Shrike inspected them as they passed by with careful eyes behind a metal helmet's blue visor. 
There were quiet a few coming off the ship they looked harmless enough, Shrike quickly radioed in that the ship population was non hostile and seemed to be a kind of traveling ship. After ending his communications with his boss, Shrike slowly turned his head to look up at the top of the boarding walk way to see one last figure who was slowly coming from the ship, It was a Young arctic fox who seemed to be keeping to her self, not really trying to focus on what was going around her, but more so trying to conceal her self.

Shrike watched her the whole way exit the ship down onto the walk way, She stopped for a moment to look back at him as soon as she did Shrike immediately turned his head back to the ship upon which she came off, he kept looking at the ship till the Arctic fox had made her way near to the local bar. As much as he did not want to inspect the ship due to its sheer size he knew had had to, As he check room after room, upstairs, downstairs all that could be heard was the sound of loud music echoing from the bar. Moving over to the railing of the side he could see a fairly large party taking place. He thought to himself what a bunch of party animals people were trying to sleep. 

After two grueling hours of searching Shrike clocks the search out, informing his boss of no suspicious items of any thing volatile, after which the armored figure begins to leave the vessel, tired to the bone and not even wanting to have to oversee a bunch of drunk Mobians for god knows how long the armored figure retires himself for the night to the edge of the dock side to relax a little, gently sitting himself down, placing his weapon about 2 feet away from him and slinging his legs over the side of the dock side wall. He watched the full moon shine upon the calm waters of the far extending sea line, the moon light lit up the place and here he thought it was just going to be another lonesome night. He would be wrong,

despite the one hell of a party busy taking place at the bar Shrike sat alone he was under orders to watch the dock but his fatigue finally caught up, he gently lay on his back to stare at the stars when suddenly a hooded figure peered over him.  Confused he slowly looked up to the figure. Low and behold it was non other then the Arctic fox looking right down at him.  Quickly sitting up Shrike felt a little confused yet interested what brought her out to the edge of the docks. 

He allowed her a seat next to him to which she sat down, Slowly pulling her hood off to expose her face her fur was clean white, her hair was a mix of light blue and black, her eyes were like large sapphires didn't take a rocket scientist to see that there was something wrong with her, her face showed signs of sadness. The two began to talk exchanging names and some common likes or dislikes he tried to at least make an attempt to lift her mood some what, Shrike discovered a lot about her that she was in fact the Captain herself of the ship. Rather impressed by that nature Shrike also learned that the previous captain had been killed during what seemed like some horrific battle. She wanted to just be on her own or with some one who could just keep her mind off things. Shrike seemed to do a fairly good job at keeping topics  going with her as the night dragged on.
 
Things began to quiet down towards roughly 2 am those guys who had been partying had either passed out from being drunk out of their minds or had retired to cabins for the night, Luna herself return to her ship to pass what was left of the night away, Shrike was left on the port to over see its protection for the rest of the hours.  Day break came around and all those who had arrived had began to see the sites and sounds of what the town had to offer. Shrike unsurprisingly had passed out on a bunch of unfolded cardboard boxes near a warehouse. He would open his eyes not to the sun light but to the familiar arctic foxes face from the night before.

 Quickly rising to his feet and brushing himself off he explained that lack of sleep got the better of him, She didn't mind that at all yet she still seemed lost in thought with a depressed look upon her face she asked if the armored figure could show her around the town. 

A little hesitant at first Shrike agreed and took the Arctic fox on a tour of nearly the entire town he thought this may be a good idea to maybe further help her feel better, it was well nestled away among great trees in a snug fit cove. While there really was not much to see it did show her the few interesting places there was to had at the town of Dead End. After the lengthily tour he escorted her back to the local bar so she could get some refreshments. Luna offered to show Shrike aboard her ship. For a man who never been to sea to really wanted to see what it was like to be on a vessel. 

The two walked side by side, however this time she seemed to have gripped his arm as they walked to her ship, Shrike did not mind, he could see a faint change in her ways, tho faint it was still better then how she arrived in the first place. Shrike was all about helping others, as he had done many times before, the two entered the dock side, the sun was rising still, it was fairly early in the morning. Following closely behind the Arctic fox Shrike finally boarded the Phoenix Blossom, his first steps onto a ship. What a sight it was to behold, it was well maintained, sleek and large. a merge between old and new. Shrike was largely impressed by the ship, the inner workings were rather high tech, multiple rooms dotted the inside of the vessel, even a running water system through out the ship fitted with a purifier. The out side resembled that of a classic old ship, distinct red wood covered it all, a well carved phoenix that was attached at the nose and large waving white sails that had a distinct lotus blossom with a Phoenix flying in front of it as they flapped in the wind.

truly a sight to behold, Luna showed him around showing him all the workings and interesting parts of her ship. They walked outside onto the deck of the large ship all the way to the furthest front of the ship, there the two stood looking into the far horizon of endless sea. The arctic fox turned to Shrike and asked a question no one else had ever even asked him it was a question on why he wore that helmet all the time. Shrike couldn't find the words to describe why so he made the excuse of that it helps with his work and keeps his head protected. She suddenly moved closer curious to who the man was behind the helmet, this started to cause a little stress for Shrike, slowly leaning his head back, as he did she would only move closer to see if she could see his eyes, with out warning Shrike lost his grip and flipped back first over the side of her ship plundering into the water below. 

Slightly pan icing the arctic fox peered over the side to see where he fell and spotted Shrike drifting on his back slowly moving towards the dock side. She could not help but laugh a little at him falling into the water. hauling himself up to the ledge of the dock he found a helping hand at the top, It was her coming to pull him back onto dry land, which she did so with a fair bit of strength to boot.  Shrike lay on the concrete dock side hoping the sun would dry him out, She on the other hand tried to hold in some giggles about what had just happened, tho he was embarrassed about falling into the water if it made her smile then it was well worth it. 

However a while later Shrike had to be pulled away from her, the man who hired Shrike had orders for him to oversee some Mobians coming in from the land entrance a small narrow road way with the over hanging trees covering the top. Shrike would spend the rest of the afternoon playing security guard standing to one side carefully watching the influx of new Mobians into the town. Luna on the other hand was aboard her vessel leaning her arms on the railing of her vast and sleek ship watching the lonely ex soldier boringly standing watching the new comers arrive.  She didn't mind just watching him as time to seem to just slowly slip by. 

Afternoon came around and Shrike was finally relieved from his duty, he didn't even have to take 5 steps away from his position and the Arctic face was already right beside him. That brought a smile to his face after a long day of just standing he was glad to see her. Luna put his hands together and shyly asked a question, there was a scheduled meteor shower over this area of Mobius tonight she wondered if he could join her to watch the shower take place. Shrike agreed with out hesitation. Set to happen at night Shrike and her made their way to a location he knew best, a location where they could see all of the lands below and beyond. Setting down a blanket and a basket the two of them sat, watching the final hours of the sun slowly sink beyond the horizon as the stars to appear in the sky, dotting across the black sky, the moon began to rise as more stars started to fill the night sky, it would only take moments later to suddenly see the first of the meteor shower appear, they raced across the sky in ones two's and some times more. 

Shrike had never seen any thing quite like it, probably because these events were fairly rare. He vividly watched them race and vanish across the night sky. Shrike was about to remark on what he was seeing as he turned his head to her, however his sentence cut short by finding Luna already staring at him, then came a request a request he never heard any one else say, her request was for him to remove the helmet that all had come to know him for. Shrike was stunned a bit, he was not really sure what to do. She leaned closer as Shrike seemed to just stare conflicted by what he should be doing. Eventually Shrike decided to do it, he couldn't really hide his identity any more it had been far to long any way. Slowly reaching to un clip the system that held it on his head, Shrike slowly removed the helmet that had shielded his real face, setting it down beside him. His face was a bit younger then most would expect, distinct navy blue eyes big in size, light brown short hair his face was marked by 2 scars one on his bottom lip the second on his right cheek. 

Luna seemed to just stare and stare at him, Shrike on the other hand was having difficulty maintaining eye contact. Shrike felt two warm hands one placed each side of his face slowly hold his head up and towards her. A couple of moments pass by Shrike looked at her an she looked at her, she first seemed to run the edge of her claw gently down the side of his one scar. Suddenly before Shrike had any chance to say or do any thing she kissed him, not just a simple one no it was a strong one, if Shrikes jaw could of hit the ground it probably would of. He had never experienced any thing like this, nor did he seem to want to get away from it. 

The Arctic fox broke the kiss to look at him with a warm smile, Shrike had the biggest eyes of all time he was still trying to process just what happened. Luna just seem to let out giggles as she looked at Shrike's brain trying to put every thing in order. He surely did not expect that. Yet that explained one thing to him it no doubt said she liked him a lot to do that. Shrike felt a strange yet comforting feeling, a mutual feeling as if he felt the same towards her. 

The coming days would yet seem them spend more time together while unable to join her on sea the two promised to see each other as often as possible., it seemed out of the dark and conflicted pasts they came from they met one another and changed their worlds forever, The day when their paths crossed.

Yay!! Story!