[center][h1][color=royalblue]Silvio Corsetti: What A Welcome![/color][/h1][/center]

Cold. Dark. Damp. Silvio blinked. He pushed up-and a fresh rush of cold air greeted him. [color=royalblue]"Pah! This snow tastes awful!"[/color] He wiped the snow off his face with one hand as he steadied himself with the other. [color=royalblue]"One, two, and-three!"[/color]. A quick hop up.

Wind and snow combined to blur his vision as the skies rumbled overhead. Silvio put both hands on his hips as he looked around, confusion clear in his raised brows. A wave lapping the shore caught his eye-and then he saw it. The [color=e99e5b]wreckage[/color]. What remained of their ship drifted further into the sea, their cargo along with it. [color=royalblue]"Shit! My scales! My kits!"[/color]. Spurred into action, Silvio ran towards the shoreline as fast as the snow would allow. His [color=e99e5b]pack[/color] clung to a jagged shard by the strap, as if the obsidian shard decided to wear it. 

[color=royalblue]"That...could be so much worse."[/color] Lifting his [color=e99e5b]pack[/color] off the spire, he opened it immediately. All his gear-his scales, his kit, his lustergrapher-all there, all intact. A sigh of relief and a half-smile. [color=royalblue]"Lady Luck loves me-as she should. Who could resist? Now...where is everyone?"[/color]

Brushing the snow out of his hair, then off his clothes; he started forward-then he froze as shouting rang out through the din. [color=royalblue][i]I'm not the only one! Thank Suvid![/i][/color] He picked up the pace-then hit the deck as gunshots rang out! "Pirate hunters!" 

Silvio half-crawled, half-scrambled to the first piece of cover he saw, [color=e99e5b]a large stone[/color]. He peeked over the stone and ducked down almost immediately. Heart pounding, lungs burning; he looked around. Some faces he recognized immediately. Kazik, for one, clutching a smoking gun. 

[color=royalblue]"Alright, we're being shot at. Not the first time for me, but definitely the closest. Definitely the closest. And I can't cower behind this rock forever-I think. What to do, what to do..."[/color]

As he continued to whisper to himself, he felt a metaphorical lantern turn on. [color=royalblue][i]That's it! Confuse them! Worked in Mullin, and it'll work here! Or my name isn't Silvio Corsetti![/i][/color]

He peeked once more over the stone. More shots. Some shouting. Silence. Whether out of bravado, fear or both; he whispered to himself, [color=royalblue]"Lady Luck, don't leave me now."[/color] One. Time slowed down. He brushed the snow out of his face once more. Two. He put on his best panicked expression. Quick breath. [i]Three.[/i]

Silvio Corsetti dashed out from behind the stone, hands up, shouting at the top of his lungs [color=royalblue]"My saviors! Don't shoot, don't shoot! I'm unarmed!"[/color] He ran for the nearest living [color=5ba259] Royal Navy sailor [/color] and ducked behind them. [color=royalblue] "Oh, thank you, thank you! Those awful pirates kidnapped me and threatened to kill me! You'll help me, won't you?" [/color]