The Harbour [O]

Age : 29 Posts : 87

The Harbour - Memories and Musings

The sea was... strange. This was the main thought that crossed Koso's wandering mind as he sat atop the cold, grey stone of the harbour wall in the of the morning sun. His perch was solid, the large, granite slabs were strong and even, able to withstand the ever changing flow of the water with ease and a testament to the skill of the stonemason. Though… thought Koso more dolefully, time itself would eventually wear them down and the sea would claim them, the mason’s careful labour gone to waste. The world was more susceptible to the effects of aging than people thought, he mused... A small distance, no more than a hand span beneath his dangling legs the waves were lapping quietly against the water darkened stones of the lower wall, the sea appeared so gentle in her sleep, so still and calm and unassuming, a vague reflection of the sky bobbing up and down on its shimmering hide, the second sun gleaming with an unusual brilliance. It was, quite possibly, the most peaceful and undisturbed sight Koso had ever seen, but he remembered the river, he had seen it in all its foul moods, had been told how violently it had claimed his father and knew that the sea could turn just as easily, and once she had, her wrath was unmatched.

A small group of ships were no more than silhouettes in the distance, their sails spread wide and no doubt fluttering like the seabirds wings under the playful pushings and pullings of the coastal wind. The largest boat Koso had ever been on had been a small wooden rowboat, made for the river and unable to hold more than four medium built fishermen, so the thought of being aboard, let alone being at the absolute mercy of the sea in one of these huge and sturdy vessels both terrified and interested him in equal measure.

With a dull splash, a particularly large wave dashed against the stone, the spray gently raining down on his idling foot, bringing him out of his day dreaming and onto the harbour wall. Above him the harsh cry of a seabird, so dissimilar to the beautiful chirping songs of the mountain, rang out and he saw its broad shape pass over him out of the corner of his eye, its dark, trembling wings spread wide like fingertips trying to grasp the very air itself as it soared across the unblemished sky. Koso let out a deep breath of sea air that he hadn’t realised he had been holding and ran his fingers along the stone beneath them enjoying the sensation it brought, it was then he heard someone approaching him from behind, strange… numerous people had passed by but none had deliberately approached him as this one was. He didn’t bother with turning around, instead staring out at the picturesque ocean and waiting for the sound of their voice to call out to him…

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Word Count: 492

Age : 27 Posts : 26

As the morning sun shined throughout the harbor.A young puppetmaster walked down some stairs and arrived in a small little town.As he approached the small little town he had a bucket with him.On his shoulder was a monkey,but it wasn't a real monkey it was a puppet that was made to look like a real monkey with three eyes.He then went to the side of a street it wasn't to crowded.He put down the bucket and saw as four little kids walked up with money in there pockets to see what kind of performance he was about to give.Suddenly the monkey jumped up into the air and did a flip and then landed.On the ground he decided to up his game so he threw his puppet five kunai and the puppet caught each then threw them up into the air and juggled them.The kids took out some gold like coins and threw them into the bucket.Then they walked away after they left some adults with there children came.They watched as the monkey juggled the five kunai so easily.He then threw in 3 more kunai and five shuriken and the monkey kept juggleing them all.The adults threw in 15 coins each and the kids threw in 10 coins.There were about 3 adults and 3 children who came then they left.

The day went on longer with more and more people comeing up and giveing him some money.He put the monkey puppet back on his shoulder picked up the bucket which now is heavy from all the coins he got from the generous people who took there time to watch him do his tricks.He walked back to his village put the bucket in a secret hidden room in his house.Then he walked back to the little town with money in his pockets and rented a small rowboat so he could take some time to relax out in the ocean.He took out a fishing rod put his puppet down and he went out further where there would be fish and he started to fish so he wouldn't have to buy his lunch.

Word Count:348

Age : 29 Posts : 87

… The person, who Koso had recently decided must be a young boy of some description, didn’t, as he had been expecting, approach him, but instead strolled a small distance up the bustling quayside and put down a hollow metal bucket which rattled as it fell against the broad stone slabs. Curious more than he was interested, Koso turned his head and noticed a boy dressed in mundane enough clothing standing in front of a rapt audience of children not that much younger than himself with the sort of enthralling presence which no one but a performer could posses. As Koso looked closer he saw that the boy had a puppet on his shoulder, suddenly this puppet leapt to the ground, somersaulting as it did so and began to juggle a selection of something that appeared to be knives. Kai wasn’t sure, his view of the performance was less than perfect, but the sound they made as they sliced through the air spoke of some sort of weapon, though it was obvious that neither the children nor the puppet itself were in any danger of being cut. It was an incredible demonstration of the puppeteer’s skill that he had such control over his puppet that he could manipulate it into performing actions that even a sentient human would find difficult.

Eventually the young puppeteer brought his performance to an end and after allowing a moment for the children to toss whatever coins they could find into his bucket he sat the puppet back onto his shoulder and moved on to look for a new audience. Koso had long since turned his attention back to the slumbering ocean stretched out in front of him, he had no interest in tricks such as that and whilst he was able to appreciate the skill required he could not bring himself to be entertained by it.

A short amount of time later Koso’s wandering thoughts were broken once again, not by another street performer but by the repetitive splash of an oar disturbing the surface of the water, still quite a way off but more than enough to grasp the attention of his acute hearing. It was a minute or so before the boat drifted into sight, a tiny wooden vessel, nothing more than a fisherman’s boat, made for the river by the looks of it. It carried a single passenger, an everyday fishing rod in his hands and a puppet on his shoulder… Koso sighed; the puppeteer he had seen earlier was sat, waiting patiently for the fish to bite. Koso watched him with idle interest, waiting for him to look up and notice the young man, sitting on the harbour wall…

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Word Count - 449

Age : 27 Posts : 26

He would take the fishing rod by the handle and fling the fishing line outwards into the water and kept calm as the small boat made no movements.Suddenly something tugged on the line and all of a sudden he tugged on the fishing rod trying to get the fish reeling it in and tugging.He finally got the fish it was about 5 inches long.He didnt care about the weight of the fish he then put it on the boat after it died from being out of water.He caught some more fish of the same kind each around 3-5inches each.After he was done fishing on that side he had 5 fish.He turned around to fish on the other side of the boat.After some fishing on that side of the boat he saw something on the side of the wall by the harbor.He put the rod down and his fish and he started to row his way towards whatever it was.Upon getting closer to the wall he saw that it was a person on the wall he rowed closer to the wall and started to talk."Hey there who are you?"After he recieved the persons name he said "Hello (Insert Name Here) I am Senju,Sazuki of the senju clan nice to meet you."His puppet would climb up his back onto his shoulder and sit there on his shoulder.Sazuki then climbed up and sat next to the man seeing if he had any questions and if he would care to talk with him for some time.He started to hear the person say somethings he would listen to them question or story and have comments or answers about them.

Word Count:274

Couldn't think of much