OOC: :]
As the drunken man whirled around, his face twisted with pain and the cabin suddenly filled with his roar, Alaine's heart trembled in her chest. For Gabriel had been thrown back hard, and now he staggered, slipped, the air around him glittering with little glass particles. Her paws were rooted, frozen to the bucking deck as those emerald eyes watched the towering pirate approach, his maw still rent with cries of aggravated alarm. For a moment, her eyes slid towards the ladders and stairs that connected this chamber to the rest - The were footpaws she could hear approaching, but leisurely, as if their fellow pirate's outburst was the cause of no alarm.
All this in a split second, for she turned back to watch now as Gabe watched her, young emerald eyes meeting fiercely determined gold from between the swaying legs of their foe. The 'yote pup rose, painfully slowly to Alaine's intrepid gaze, and his maw moved in a final command. Twas as if in slow motion, for the foul-smelling water splashed about his paws as the boy launched another attack on the howling brute, who was now stumbling closer to the crouched collie lass. His shadow fell over her, and she crouched low to the ground, eyes wide and brimming with fear. Gabe's shout collided with her ears just before his maw swung towards the tail of the beastly marauder. RUN!
So she did.
Puppy paws dashed about as the girl weaved between grasping hands and sliding feet, the heavy chink of the necklace about her neck the only sound she made. From the high deck appeared a second pair of paws - Another pirate, effectively blocking off her means of escape. There was only one option left; Using one of the tumbled-over crates, the cream pup elevated herself, managed to bound once off the wood and sail, airborne, over the side of the boat.
SPLASH!
A wall of water closed over her head, and she was submerged in a land of beauty, of peace, where there was no sound but for the distant pulse of waves upon the shore. Puppy legs kicked frantically, and for a moment fear bloomed in her chest; She was too heavy, too heavy to swim. Body writhed as little lungs began to scream for air, the peace shattered by sharp explosions of bubbles from her maw and nose. Then, with a final twist, the heavy necklace was pulled over her head, and the little girl freed to the surface for greedy gulps of air. From there, it was only a matter of letting the waves carry her in to shore, constant paddling to keep dainty pink nose above the water. Somewhere below her, the necklace too was pulled in by the foam - Perhaps it would wash up on the beach.
Alaine felt sand beneath her toes, and suddenly could stand. Exhausted from the little battle with the water, the girl managed to scramble up to the beach, her hair dripping and sodden and her mind to confused to think of the little boy she'd left behind. There was only one thing to do now - She had to go back, back to where they'd first met, just like he'd told her to. Little ivory paws dragged over the sand, and her small body disappeared from sight into the bush.
Speak think walk!