Because this is a short episode the next is a double length semi-serious one. Then we are right back to comedy.

Day 5 part 4

Three young children, aged roughly seven are hanging by their ankles from the wall by chains and manacles. Unfortunately the wall is currently at an angle 90° higher than normal. So they're suspended facing the rising water and myself like decorations on a key ring.

I don't think this is a circus performance. Hmmm. Well I suppose I should help them. Can't hurt to have a few humans with a positive spin on me... better than 'lust demon', 'guardian of cursed gems' or 'McGee the Second' at any rate. Bloody pirates. Can't even do a simple thing like ship-board combat or swashbuckling right...

Well, we're trapped in an air-bubble that is very slowly deflating so I can't really knock a hole in the side or it'll go under in a second. Can't exactly pick them up either with my current cold aura. I'll give them hypothermia in a few minutes. Yet I can't just cut the chains and let 'em drop either. Tricky.

Well... I guess there's really only one unreasonable solution...

What is that, you say? Get the siren to help? Too simple. Enlist the denizens of the deep to do my bidding? I'm a Squid of Frozen Aqua not Aquaman... Look for a dingy or a canoe? No time.

Besides... this... this is flashier.

So a few minutes later we set sail on the SS Permafrost. The name is a little misleading... it is actually only 2/3rd permafrost.

Plugging gaps with ice wasn't so hard, building the other half of the hull and pumping water out with hydrokinesis was quite an effort. We nearly went under a few times. We would have if I hadn't completely sealed off the wooden section to be air tight for a little while. So here we are on-board a pale blue, virtually unsinkable vessel. Well, I suppose those explosive vials might do some damage... I'm also not sure how fire effects permafrost either. We'll survive standard weapons just fine! Ramming as well! Not to mention hitting reefs and rocks!

So with a mast and sails of ice that I shift freely to capture the wind, it will be a quick voyage to... where the Hell am I going?

I drift over to Yumi and sheepishly ask for directions to the nearest human settlement.

She points me to the west and thanks me for the meal. She then casually takes a bite of fried McGee's hand. The original recipe version. Deliciously marinated in grime, salt and sweat from countless days at sea. Finger licking good.

And so westward ho!

“Hey!”

Again, not aimed at you, Yumi.

We sail back through the wreckage of the other half of the ship on the current. Apparently there are still a few pirates alive, clinging to beams.

“Scurvy Joe sees a ghost ship!”

I drop anchors of ice and dive overboard.

Scurvy Joe really should have stopped talking in the third person. I pull him under the waves and watch as he struggles to escape. For some reason this seems very familiar and a little disturbing. I wonder why... I mean I've been a squid for all of my life. Why would I fear drowning? The darkness of the sea-floor suddenly seems less welcoming too. This is a little odd.

Well not really an issue any more as Scurvy Joe has dodged his last piece of lime.

There are still a few more up there, but I really dislike drowning humans personally for some reason so I grapple and break their bones from below before I leave them to their fates.

The kids are still wailing when I get back. Fine. I'll let you out of the chains. You don't need restraints any more, you're big kids now. I grow a thin piece of ice between the mechanisms of the manacles and push till the metal buckles and snaps. From there I simply melt the ice.

They quiet down a little after this, more because I'm looming over them. I'm good at looming with so much in the way of natural multitasking. So as I weave away they follow.

I threw the canvas sails over most of the ice layer so they wouldn't slip or get frozen to the ice, licking it or something.

So we are under way...

Cough. This stone really needs some work done, I'm only barely getting enough water on my gills and my body really isn't cut out for long term open air. I am really glad I haven't tried this out during the day time. I'm drying out so I regularly have to spray myself with salt water.

“I'm hungry Mr.” A nervous boy states as I spin the wheel of ice and turn the rudder. The rudder is also ice, so I turn it with my power but I just like the feel of being at the helm.

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Since I have no food or any way of preparing said food for human consumption I ignore him. People feed people. I'm a damn squid.

“My sister's hungry too...” one of the other land-urchins adds.

Sigh. Fine, I'll look in the remaining section of the ship, happy?

And they can't even understand me. Very frustrating.

After tossing over the anchor again I search the upper decks of the ship that remain as I know there was nothing in the bottom deck but captives. The upper deck is quite empty. Everything must have slid out as it split. The mid deck however has a section with a solid door. I rip it off with ease. When did I get strong enough to break thick iron bolts?

It turns out to be the armory. Weapons aplenty but food is sparse. Might as well look closer.

Pulling away shelves and piles of unused uniforms had some success; I found a hidden jar of honey. Half-eaten but enough for my purposes.

I take a bundle of unused pieces of wood from a broken pike haft and the jar and head to the top deck. I create a knife of permafrost and start whittling some of the wood. I stop when I have a set of serviceable spoons. Then I create bowls of permafrost which I wrap in more canvas at the bottom so they can be held by little fingers without risk of frostbite. I wonder if that younger twin received any injuries from the statue she stole.

What was that statue of, again? I'm sure I'd know if I saw it, but the ones in my old den don't really mean much to me any more. The only ones left are those images of the twins, Yumi and that human... who was he again? He only vaguely looked familiar. Maybe I just made him up.

Back to feeding the little ones.

I mix part of the honey into a swirling vortex of pure water I hold as a ball, then freeze the ball solid, before shattering it into flakes like snow and placing it evenly in the bowls. Complex without hydrokinesis and cryokinesis or blender, hot water and a freezer. I had to swirl the water hard enough it became briefly warm, through the energetic reaction just to dissolve the sugary syrup.

One of the children tries to steal the honey at this point, but I block his grab with a wagging tentacle and retrieve it, pouring it over the ice. That should shut some mouths. I offer it to the boy and he seems delighted. I guess flavored ice isn't a common thing. Strange idea... why would I make it?

The others hurry over from their hiding places to get their share. They must have been watching me, all this time. Huh. Well even if it isn't very nutritious, they do seem quite dehydrated. I craft mugs with wooden handles from a hunk of ice layered around permafrost and place pure water in the glasses before handing them out as well.

Why am I so concerned about their well being?

The island and a few others soon comes into sight, a volcanic island chain apparently. At least one is active as a mountain is smoking.

I'm starting to dehydrate myself again, having been out of water for so long so I funnel a burst of sea water over the railing at myself. Then as a way of cleaning the kids I filter the water to remove the salt and hit them with a gentle spray, cleaning them off before simply removing the excess water from their clothes and body with my power. Clean at least, if not terribly neat.

I spot smoke rising in several places and send the boat into the shore, colliding with and beaching her. I have no use for a ship, It would be like a human owning and living in a den of monsters...

So as not to let my work fall into the hands of thieves again, I melt off the ice and permafrost, leaving only part of a ship behind.

A well stocked armory perhaps would also be dangerous, so I take the children on shore, into the woods a short distance and then haul the various salvageable goods by permafrost sled and my own muscle to a good spot, excavate a hole with a permafrost drill and bury it. I then sweep leaves over the dirt and pantomime a shushing action.

I go back to the beach, to spray myself in case the length of time on shore is longer than anticipated before leading the kids toward the village cautiously in the night.

For some reason I don't really feel like playing around. Very curious.

What we have learned this chapter:

Squid has almost lost touch with his former humanity...

He has also become more creative...

Apparently kids love sweet things.

Poor Scurvy Joe.