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Post by CJ on Mar 8, 2013 9:39:28 GMT -5
"A wimp? Who told you that?" Connor asked of Shroud Demon with a slight laugh. He seemed entirely confused about what he was talking about, though he probably should have inferred Snake told him.
When Enfield answered their questions, it simply made things worse.
"M-metal object?" Connor lost his breath again and fell back onto the floor. He brought his hands up to his face in despair, trying to hide his eyes from seeing Kaede.
Beth clenched her fists. She stepped in front of Enfield, blocking him and the others from exiting. It was an understatement to say she was angry.
"You're telling me you listened to a girl who had her insides fried over instead of one of her friends? Are you all freaking insane? Her self-esteem is nearly nonexistent! Of course she would tell you to do those things! Get your team back here to get her into a machine. Connor's body should be payment enough.Those sick people can wait a little longer.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves! If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have your freaking cure! And for your information, we would never have made it here if it wasn't for Kaede. The people of Cologne owe their lives to her."
Despite her continuing mispronunciation of their city, she was completely serious. She felt like punching Enfield's lights out but knew that wouldn't likely get them anywhere.
"From this point on, as far as you're concerned, I'm her freaking caretaker. Leave any decision to me. I'm staying in this room until she's walking again. If you don't think I can, I welcome you to test me."
---
Connor shivered on the ground and peered up at the girl in the machine. He noticed the display's message. Eye. Removing eye.
"No, not again," he pleaded softly. "Please don't. Not because of me."
The boy, he shouldn't have been screaming that badly after a simple punch. Hidane was tougher than that. He and Kurai were the best fighters in their class. Kurai hated to admit it, but he was often afraid at times that Hidane was better than him.
He knelt down to tease Hidane about crying in the middle of a fight until he saw was going on. His eyes were melting and burning away in their sockets.
Click. Click. Click.
---
Connor's body suddenly lit up in flames from his waist up. He stood as he flames dispersed around him, gathering to his hands. He ran to the machine nearly smashed his hands into the display. He kept this hands there as the flames spread about, covering part of the machine like a spider's web.
"What the hell! Connor, stop it!" Beth shouted, looking to Snake for any suggestions. She could always remove Connor's energy but didn't want to put him further into shock.
The display screen glitched and displayed characters of an unknown East Asian language in an unorthodox, spiraling and zig-zagging fashion. A single sentence appeared on the bottom of the screen as a constant image.
Kurai Uzo, would you like this information in the common language?
"No, no, no," he kept muttering.
If anyone were to realize the full extent of what was going on, the flames seemed to be Connor's conduit for learning about the machine that house Kaede. Nothing was altered. Nothing was harmed. The machine continued as was its normal function. However, the flames would still burn and maim if someone living touched them.
Snake would notice Connor's eyes were cold, exactly like the machine's he had fought recently in the Grand Path. But where it was happy or chaotic, Connor was furious.
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Post by Sprite on Mar 8, 2013 15:15:12 GMT -5
Stiffening as Enfield calmly explained the horrid details of Kaede's condition, the Ravunyan prince jaw began to set and clench as he tried to restrain the boiling anger within him. How could this doctor speak so happily about what was happening to Kaede? Snake began to realize, these people were more scientists than doctors, they did not care for their actual well-being, simply the advancement of their intellect.
Thankfully, Beth and Connor exploded before him, venting out every word for themselves and Snake. For once, the Prince was merely silent, glaring at Kaede's containment unit, his eyes narrowing upon seeing the indicator of her eye being removed. His fingers twitched at his side, he was tempted to just crack the thing open, take Kaede, and find a real doctor.
"How could you...you shits are killing her."
As Connor began to flare up however, Snake's caught Beth's look and he took a step towards Connor.
"Oi, Anderson. This isn't the place to be doing that."
Ignoring him, Connor simply ran past Snake to the machine and seemed to be interacting with it oddly. Despite his previous desire to simply smash the box open and retrieve Kaede, Snake knew that this would not end well. Scowling, he strode forward unafraid of the flames. Lifting his arm he clapped it down on Connor's shoulder, white misty scales flaring up over every part of his body that was being harmed by the flames. He shook the former cyborg.
"Connor. What are you doing?!"
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Post by Kuro on Mar 8, 2013 23:01:16 GMT -5
At first, Shroud Demon said nothing because he was confused by Enfield's big and complicated words. The little he could understand, he hoped he somehow misheard...until the others confirmed his suspicion.
"What do you think you're doing?! Beth is right, how can you ask us for payment when we gave you the solution to your problems?! Saving all of those people is important, but it would be unfair to do that first instead of helping Kaede, especially since she's in so much trouble right now! We have to help her first or else she'll...she'll...she'll turn into something she doesn't want to be! If you can fix her right away, then do it! I don't see why you can't -"
When he saw the word "Removing" on the display, he stopped mid-sentence and practically jumped out of the wheelchair, grabbing Enfield by the collar with both hands. "Fix Kaede now or else! What point is there in giving you a cure if you can't take a small bit of time out of your life to save the one who gave it to you? Stop everything you're doing and do all you can on Kaede, now!"
It was then that he noticed that the room had just gotten a lot hotter. He turned his head to look at Konner and dropped the scientist, raising his own hands up in alarm. "Ah! Konner! What are you doing?! Stop that, Kaede is still in there, you don't know what you might be doing!" All he could see was that Konner was on fire and it looked like he was trying to destroy the machine with it, although he wasn't doing that great a job of destroying anything. He was unable to see that the chef was just interacting with the advanced technology since he had no idea of how any of it worked, so he just assumed that Konner was trying to destroy the machine in his rage.
He reached over to grab Konner, but he brought back his hands by reflex the second they were just the tiniest big singed. He withdrew the hand like a child taking his hand back from something that had just tried to bite or hurt him, and simply looked at his pained friend. He...He had to help out Konner, but after being encased in superheated armor, he couldn't bare to touch anything hot. The fire was certainly no exception, but Shroud Demon wished it was. Snake was helping out and shaking Konner, but he had to defend his friend too. No matter...no matter the pain.
He plunged his hands into the fire with a scream, the flame instantly burning the bandages and fabric on his hands and arms. The damage from the spotlight incident was reappearing and now being bolstered from the new flame. It felt as if his skin was melting right off. "Come on Konner, stop it, please stop it! We need this stuff to help Kaede and you're just setting it on fire! Please, Konner, please!" He tried to grab Konner and pull him and his fire out of the computer, only able to say a few more words before gritting his teeth. "Please, Konner...It hurts...Please."
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Mar 13, 2013 23:23:36 GMT -5
"You should be ashamed of yourselves! If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have your freaking cure! And for your information, we would never have made it here if it wasn't for Kaede. The people of Cologne owe their lives to her."
There was a sudden rebelling of the outsiders against the scientist's hospitality. Enfield stepped back a few paces at this sudden outburst, but after hearing Beth's words, his expression became rather smug.
"And if it weren't for us, Ms. Young would be dead now, Mr. Mon might have joined her, and your husband would be there in death to greet them. Try to remember, your situation Mrs. Anderson. You don't have the warlord with you anymore. You aren't guests, you aren't citizens, you are here because we are allowing it. A place where not even the richest of men or the mightiest of kings from the rest of the world may tread, and here you are. Consider that our thanks, and if it's not enough, well then consider your husband's return to his original self an added bonus. You gave us the cure, we gave you your life back. Consider us even."
It was about that time that Connor burst into flames and started fiddling with the sensitive display of the experiment medical equipment. Immediately alarms began to sound throughout the building, in response to the fire. The others tried to stop Connor, but Enfield fell back in fright after having been grabbed by Shroud Demon, and triggered something on a device around his wrist. In a matter of moments, a contingent of machines designed to deal with hazardous situations and waste filed into the room and began to hose the area with fire retardant chemicals. It was like a torrent of foam washed through the room, and it would be nigh impossible for the fire to withstand it. The substance itself would likely be of little hindrance to the group however, as it was not even cold and it soon lost its consistency and tricked away after being washed at by the hazard machines. After that, at the very least the lock down was lifted, and a number of researchers poured in to inspect the damage. Regardless of the effect of the foam upon Connor's flames, Enfield did not wait around, and clamoring to his feet he rushed for the display. Pushing Connor out of the way, he attempted to fix the damage done, both the metaphorical in Connor's messing with it, and the machine being washed over by the foam.
Predicted Threat Analysis Complete: Removing Potential Hazard.
"No... no, no! Have to... and this... there!"
Procedure Cancelled. Resuming Predictive Threat Analysis.
The machine blared out an announcement, and Enfield went pale for a moment when he saw the threat that the machine had interpreted upon the patient. At some point during the commotion, the preemptive threat removal system had been activated, and the beginning of a procedure was started. The same procedure in fact, that Connor had once undergone when his brain had been removed in the first place. Straightening his glasses, Enfield struggled with the interrupted display, and after some emergency overrides and flags he managed to prevent the operation before it went underway. The damage had been done, but Kaede's brain hadn't been pulled out, so it was something of a crisis averted. Setting the machine to return to its original procedure of removing the girl's eye, he let out an long, exasperated breath and lowered his gaze to the floor.
"As I was saying, once we have dealt with the priorities at hand and the well being of Colyne is taken care of, we will devote our efforts to helping Ms. Young. Until that time, she will be left in the more than capable hands of the PSD. Now, I have a busy schedule, and will have to ask all of you to leave. I may not be able to remove you myself, but a simple command and the next array of machines to enter this room will the ones equipped to deal with hostile threats rather than fire."
Straightening his lab coat, Enfield turned and went for the door, following after the hazard machines. The influx of researchers into the room would stay to deal with the clean up, to make sure all the foam had dissipated, inspect the potential fire damage, and to ensure that the medical machine was indeed functioning properly after Connor had interacted with it. Many, seemed quite worried about the state of the machine itself, and for good reason; it was the only one of its kind on the island. Some of the other researchers though, devoted themselves to attending the needs of the outsiders. Among them, Shroud Demon's new injuries from the fire. Noticing this, Enfield stopped before he exited the room, to address the outsiders one more time.
"No more outbursts please. You're acting as very poor representatives for the rest of the world. Now as I mentioned earlier, unless payment can be provided, you will all have to abide by the rules of this facility. Once this area is cleaned up and your injuries sorted, I expect to see you all back in the hospital common area. If you do not agree with these arrangements, feel free to leave Colyne at any time. We will be sure to take care of Ms. Young's situation regardless of your presence here, so feel free to return home if you wish."
With that, the scientist left. Though he was obliged to mention it, there was no real reason to bring up the issue of payment. The outsiders had brought the cure, yes, but that entitled them to only one favor in return. That favor, was Connor getting his body back. Everything else, including Shroud Demon's treatment and their continued privilege of remaining on the island was a bonus. Unless the group could provide sufficient funding, Kaede would have to wait. Unfortunately as Connor might have remembered, Colyne did not use the same currency as the rest of the world. Belli was not recognized and even if it was, it would cost more than kingdoms greater than even Ravunya had, to get Kaede the help she needed. It was futile, Enfield just brought it up as a means of trying to get the group to understand that their opinions and outbursts were not welcome here.
---
After the room had been cleaned up, the assistant researchers began to file out after their respective jobs had been taken care of. Shround Demon had been seen to, the machine was calibrated and recalibrate, and the floor was about to finish being cleaned. One of the fellows in particular though, the last one swiffering away the foam, seemed to be taking his sweet job at the exceedingly simple task. It would soon be clear that he was merely intending to hang back after everyone had left. Making sure no one else was around, he leaned sideways towards the group and whispered.
"Hey. Hey! You guys really want your friend taken care of? Don't listen to the other doctors, they won't see to the girl until they've completely eradicated the sickness, and by then there'd be nothing left of her to save. I could pay for her procedure myself though, if you did a little favor for me."
Suttikul was the name on his ID, Dr. Suttikul. Though he was attempting to appear covert and acting under the table, he was clearly very bad at it, and it was almost certain that anyone would be able to catch him out on what he was doing if they even just walked by. As he spoke he inched closer, assuming that he was further involving them in his scheme.
"See, we're all researchers here. Me, I specialize in those fruits that grant strange powers. You may have heard about them, in the outside world I think they call them Squirrel Brutes... not sure why. Anyway, I've been trying to bond objects with them and study the effects, but all we have available here is lab equipment. If you could give me something from the outside world to work with, preferably something made of natural materials, then I'd be happy to lend a hand and have your friend given the proper care she needs."
Already he was looking the group over for any such products that fit the needed descriptor for his requirements. He pulled at their clothes, poked at their shoes, even tried to scan their hair in case it was fake. Eventually though he seemed to settle on something in particular that caught his fancy; Snake's whip.
"So then, what do you say? Whatever you give me, I'll only need to borrow it for a little while, and whether or not my experiment works, you can have it back right after. Not to mention, that your friend, she'll be taken care of right away. I guarantee it."
He waited for a response, with anticipation. Who was this guy, how did he get into this place, and who in their right mind would grant him a doctorate. Whatever the case, he seemed at the very least to believe in what he himself had said.
---
"I'll have you know, sir, I am Camellia Charina, and I am a Tea Girl, who ate the Tea-Tea Fruit! You got that, you dumbpants? Good! Now tell me where my vassals are, this instant!"
"Ahaha, well now, you certainly are Miss Charina." Dr. Norton leaned back with a smile when Camellia let forth her titanic rage. Normally he would have rustled her hair or patted her on the head, but he was not so stupid as to stick his hand into boiling tea. "Well I had no idea you were vising royalty, if you have vassals. I assume you mean those other people who accompanied you to this place? We had no idea, otherwise we would have rolled out the red carpet!"
All the while, Norton made sure to write down everything he saw, and he had to write furiously to keep up with what he was seeing. His position in the hospital was more public relations. He could practice medicine like most of the people there, but his studies in the past had focused on people and cultures. He was the person they brought in when citizens of the island needed medical attention, but as was a common trend in Colyne, they did not speak the same language or have the same customs. He had done much research on this matter, including studying the outside world, so unlike most of the other researchers, he could look at Finn and Camellia and see people rather than foreign savages.
"Well, if I am not misaken, your servants left to see the status of one of their own. Had it pretty bad on the way up here, worse at least, than the bucket head fellow. They shouldn't be long as it's a restricted area, but if you want I can take you to them. I figure we're about done here, but I'm supposed to keep an eye on you all, even more so now that you're visiting royalty."
In response Norton stood up, and offered to shake Finn's hand, being sure to avoid Camellia in the process. As aforementioned, he understood the general customs of the outside world, and so did not simply try to just scan everything that approached him.
"I have to ask though, out of interest... is it true that you brand your servants for identification? From what I understand, slavery is still a common thing in the outside world, so naturally I'm a bit curious."
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Post by Kuro on Mar 14, 2013 0:32:12 GMT -5
Shroud Demon, back to peacefully sitting in the wheelchair, waved his hands in front of his face, admiring the addition of even more salves and bandages, basically making his hands more similar to oven mitts than anything. He had been thinking about payment ever since Enfield mentioned it, and scratched his head in thought. Or at least, he tried to; with his hands rendered useless for the time being, it seemed more like he was patting his head.
"Um...What kind of money do you guys use? Like, super-beli? Maybe future coins? Do...Do you accept songs? We could sing some covers, show you songs from the outside world for your research...No, wait! We could go on quests for you as payment or to get more favors! We could vanquish your foes and you would help us in return! That's a good idea, right?"
Sadly, he wasn't sure if any of the scientists were really listening to him. It was nice that they fixed his hands, though. Again. "Thank you for the hands, guys! Thanks!" He waved his oven mitt hands at the nice people that were cleaning up everything around him. As he looked at them doing all those fancy technological things, he sighed. And to think that they might have actually gotten Kaede fixed...Now they had to wait and wait and wait, and if they waited too long then she would be a robot or a cyborg or something! And she didn't want to be one of those! Ah, he really hoped the scientists had some quests for them to solve as payment.
And then the sneaky quest-giver appeared! With awe-inspiring sneakiness and stealth-ility, he told the heroes of his quest. Extremely jubilated and interested, Shroud Demon leaned closer whenever the man did, hanging onto every word. The part about the scientists not saving Kaede made his blood boil, but the rest was great. Just like Konner was saved, Kaede would be too. Everyone would get a happy ending! And all they needed to do was put a Devil Fruit into Viper's whip.
Hm.
Hmmmmm.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
One of Shroud Demon's eyebrows raised, his eyes looking at the happy quest-giver.
"...Hm..."
He tried to scratch his head again, only to end up patting it once more. "...Hm...You know, quest-giver...you...I.."
He tried to snap and just ended up doing nothing with his covered fingers.
"I have a better idea! I have this helmet on me, you could use -" His hands stayed near his head, placed in the air as if they were holding something around it. "...AH! IT'S NOT THERE! AH! AH!" He frantically looked around, his head a blur as it shook from left to right, his arms flailing wildly about. "AH! AH! MY HELMET! MY ARMOR! WHERE DID IT ALL GO. AH. AH." Still sitting in the wheelchair as if his butt was glued to it, he covered his face with his hands and looked up at the quest-giver. "...S-so yeah, I-I have a h-helmet somewhere and I thought that it w-would be nice if you could put a Squirrel Brute inside of t-t-that for m-m-me....." His entire body was trembling now, his hands shaking and his head sweating.
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Post by Kyubey on Mar 14, 2013 2:24:25 GMT -5
Finnegan smiled nervously, and shook Norton's hand. He was immensely relieved that Norton did not recognize the name "Charina," although the fact that he, like Shroud Demon, seemed to think that Camellia was royalty was a problem in of itself. He could afford to be at ease just a little more, but they would still have to leave soon, at the very least, before anyone began wondering why royalty would be journeying by themselves like that in the first place, or why they would have to hide their names. From birth, the Little Miss was no humble peasant, but Camellia Charina did not exactly sound like a noble's name. Their story could only become more convoluted over time, and there was a terrible risk of Norton finding the many holes they already provided. After giving it some thought, it would be best to not press with the royal misunderstanding any further, and get things cleared up before the situation got worse. This held especially true if their status as royalty meant they would be closely examined. Norton didn't know that Charina was a wanted name, and that, in of itself, was good enough for the time being.
"Ah, so you know where my vassals are? That's just great! They can get a little slippery sometimes, but they always come back to their princess in the end! And I forgive you for not recognizing me, not many do. Ahaha!"
"Miss, er, let's not get overboard."
"What're you talking about? I'm a princess, I can talk however I want."
"Now now, let's not deceive the poor man..."
"Deceive? Mr. Shroody Shroud says I'm a princess, and there's really no reason for me to not be one."
"But.."
"By Gold Roger's curvy 'stache, if you ruin this for me..." She shot a vile look of hatred at her servant, and then turned back to Norton. "Please ignore Finnegan. He's my evil adviser, you see, and sometimes he gets into his little treasonous moods. He'll be back to his old self soon enough. It's clever of you to find out my true identity, but yes, I am Princess Camellia! Of... Tea Land! Heard of that, at least? No need to answer, of course you have!"
"Yes, that's... right... Your Highness... but remember, we still can't blow our cover. Wouldn't want anyone else finding out who you were." Every word pained him to say, and his mouth had to do some unusual contortions just to form the words.
"Oh fine, you're right."
"I have to ask though, out of interest... is it true that you brand your servants for identification? From what I understand, slavery is still a common thing in the outside world, so naturally I'm a bit curious."
"Slaves!? Ahahahaha! Oh no, my vassals all follow me quite willingly! Because they all love me so much. It's really great, when you're in such high standing with your subjects!"
"Yes yes, now may we be taken to our associates now? The... sigh... princess would very much like to see them."
"Quite right, they do get so sad without me to give them guidance. Chop chop! And bring some food, if you will."
Finnegan was awfully worried. Camellia had gone through phases before, true, but this one might very well have been her worst yet.
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Post by CJ on Mar 14, 2013 9:38:04 GMT -5
Beth wanted to punch the smug look right off Enfield's face. Still, just thinking about it, she would have never have found this city if it wasn't for Connor meeting that Arch in the train station so long ago. She wondered how many people like Kaede and Connor could have been saved had the city opened its doors to the world. A brief thought entered her mind that she could ask her own warlord to come and show them a thing or two. She promised herself that she would rely on him less and less. He didn't belong here or anywhere int his time after all.
"What am I doing?" she heard Connor shout at Snake and Shroud Demon. "I'm saving Kaede! Get your hands off me!"
She knew that look in his eyes. It was the same look he had when he burned down a bar years ago on Gomorrah after a pirate tried to make a move on her. He was angry and confused. He had no clue at all about the flames.
"What?" he asked again at Shroud Demon's pleas, looking back at the two. It was then that he noticed the flames. He flinched and tore away from Snake and Shroud Demon. The flames about his body disappeared with his anger and he shook his head.
"I'm s-sorry," he said in despair at the damage he had done to them.
He looked again at the machine, covered in bright red flame. His eyes went wild again, though not in sadness but focus. He breathed in and placed his hand yet again on the screen. Despite not being in his cyborg body, he was closer to the machine Snake faced in the Grand Path than ever before.
"I need to get Kaede's brain," he whispered harshly. Was Beth seeing things or did a smile come over his face?
Then the flame retardant set in, covering Connor and the machine. He lost consciousness, almost as though he was part of the flames, and fell forward, smacking his head against the display. Beth went to go help him but witnessed Enfield push him aside instead. She spit on Enfield's coat and dragged Connor away from him.
She sat on the floor and tried to get Connor to wake up. He was being difficult, likely because he never dealt with this substance before she figured. She slammed her hand on his back, trying to get some of the black smoke built up in his lungs out as Enfield graciously told them their options and ordered them away from the room.
"Go fuck yourself," Beth said in rage. What was the point of all this anyway if Kaede was going to lose her life? Getting Connor's body back wasn't worth that price. It would have been difficult but she was sure they could have managed living with Connor trapped in Tomahawk.
But, soon, it looked like some hope could be found. Beth wasn't sure if they could trust this Dr. Suttikul but she was willing to take any chance at this point.
"I've eaten one of those things you're talking about," she piped in. "Back in our world, we call them Devil Fruit. I can tell you more about them if you need it. Anything to help Kaede."
She grinned at Shroud Demon. Every moment with him made her more and more glad that they brought him along. He was a truly good person, being willing to part with his precious "helmet." Though she wondered how he didn't notice it was gone this whole time.
Beth noticed the doctor was eying Snake's whip, Luis. It already had a Devil Fruit attached to it, which she knew could really help their situation. Still, she wasn't so sure Snake would ever had it over. It was practically its own being at this point and it meant a lot to him.
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Post by CJ on Mar 20, 2013 23:05:53 GMT -5
Days later...
---
"Are you sure you want to do it? Here? On the deck?"
"Sure! Who cares? It'll get a bit messy but if anyone complains, we can stop."
"But... please be careful."
"Yeesh, you're worrying too much."
Beth pulled a jacket over Connor as he sat in the chair she put out on the deck. He looked rather scared as she snipped a pair of scissors in her hand. She went to work on his hair, trimming it and removing dead ends.
She didn't even have to ask him about length. He always made it clear that he didn't ever want it to be too short, in case he would ever be mistaken for someone else.
"Did you have any more nightmares last night?" Beth asked, leaning down to whisper in Connor's ear. His head fell to his shoulder and he slumped forward, unconscious. She sighed, forgetting how easy it was to overwhelm him. The slightest touch of her hand or breath and he was out like a candle. His nerves were fried, but only for her.
She picked him up and held his head back until he woke up. He apologized and sat there silently as she continued cutting his hair. His tired eyes looked out onto the dull ocean. Fluffy white clouds reflected off the small waves. Beth wasn't happy with how everything turned out. For the most part, everything was whole again. She couldn't help but think about Kaede's condition. Was this all really worth it? Beth felt she would never be sure.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Mar 21, 2013 0:08:26 GMT -5
Kaede had been up for awhile now, as she wasn't getting much sleep these days. Everything about her just felt wrong. Perhaps it was that she was still recovering from her injuries from Colyne, perhaps it was everything they had been through to get here. Or perhaps it was the prosthetic arm and leg on a chair in the corner. She wanted nothing to do with them, and had tried to remove every part of her that was unnatural. It just felt wrong, sickening almost. Was this what Connor had felt like all this time?
Unfortunately, if she removed any more she would have died, as the unnatural parts of her were keeping the natural parts working.
"Open the door meatsack! I want to go outside and do some extreme spear fishing!"
"You can't spear fish."
"Don't stifle my dreams!"
"You can't dream."
"Where's the receipt, I want to return myself."
A small metal sphere only a bit bigger than a softball floated around the room, and kept banging against the door, wanting to be let out. Kaede was occupied with trying to make sense of things in her head though, and so didn't really speak with it so much as she was just responding to it without thinking. She had too much on her mind to be worrying about the bothersome service droid she had been given.
---
"Wh-When can I leave?"
"Oh probably in a few months, if we are waiting to be perfectly sure."
"N-No. No. No! That's not going to w-work, I heard Beth say they were leaving in a f-few days, I need to go back with th-them. I'm not getting left b-behind!"
"A few days?! Ms. Young, I don't think you understand the condition you are in, you're lucky to be alive. If you leave our care so soon, there could be further, unseen damage. Perhaps with irreparable conseque-"
"I don't c-care. I... I don't care about any of th-that, I have to be able to l-leave."
If she wasn't hysterical, she certainly was acting that way. When she regained consciousness again, that was an unpleasant situation that the doctors would dearly like to avoid in the future. After she had stopped screaming, Dr. Norton took a chance to speak to her about her options, but she was still crying at that point. It made sense to some extent, outsiders often had trouble adjusting to such a difference in technology, and this one had it forced upon her to save her life.
"What do I n-need then? What do I need fr-from this place... that I can't get outs-side?"
"Our facilities are better equipped to deal with your condition than anywhere else in the world I daresay, without the proper equipment you won't be living long away from this place."
"S-So give me something that can do all of that... that I can t-take with me. You have to have some machine or robot or something th-that can do the job!"
"I don't think... well I suppose we could manage something. Normally we wouldn't be able to just let you walk away from this place as you are, let alone with what you are asking of us. However, we do happen to have on hand an assistant droid whose previous owner went missing, believed to be dead. It did some extensive traveling with its owner in the outside world, so it would be allowable for it to be taken from this place."
Norton had to think hard about how to even answer the girl's requests. Already state of the art equipment was being used to keep her alive, there was no way they would normally just let her leave this place. Under normal circumstances she would have to get used to becoming a permanent resident of Colyne. Even so, she would not be able to survive in the outside world, not on her own. If it was unlikely that she could leave as she was, it was even less likely that she could leave with the proper equipment to treat her sufficiently. It was only by chance then that he could consider the helper droid that had only recently returned to Colyne after losing contact with its late master. Since it had already been taken out, it was permissible that it could be taken again, but even so all of this was entirely hypothetical.
"Also this..." Norton held up a vial of opaque blue liquid. "Biurificane, a substance necessary to keep your life support functional. Without it, they'll be nothing more than dead hunks of metal. Given the damage to your nervous system, you won't be able to simply make it, though the robot should be able to synthesize amounts with the proper supplies."
"Fine. So if I h-have the robot with me, then I can l-leave with the Andersons."
"Well... theoretically speaking, I suppose so. I must stress however, the level of danger posed if you check out of our care so soon. It could have lasting detrimental effects, not to mention-"
"I don't care."
---
"You know if we increased the dosage, you'd be able to use those prosthetics, and you would be one step closer to joining the glorious machine master race."
"No. I don't want any more than I have to."
Kaede went back to laying down. She couldn't bear to keep sitting there, staring at the physical reminders that she needed help to be herself. It was of dire importance that she go and see Connor, to help get her mind off things. Seeing him in his true form greatly helped her to deal with her own condition, partly because he was the only one she felt could understand her situation, but mostly because seeing him happy and in his actual body made her feel like it was worth what she had given up. It gave her a reason to get up in the mornings, and she would go see him and the others today as well, she just didn't feel like it right now.
"That's dumb as shit. You're already receiving multiple injections a day just to keep breathing, all that is needed is to increase the amount. Then you wouldn't have to keep worrying about your next shot."
"Drop it Bader, I said I don't want it. It's... I don't want to use any of the parts, ok? Just leave me alone about it, would you?"
It wasn't that she found the droid annoying, it was just that it reminded her of the truth. However she might have distracted herself from the overall matter and focused on other things, there it was to bring her back to reality. Back to that increasing feeling of dread in her stomach. Or that is, where here stomach should have been. From what she understood, her organs had to be replaced, so a stomach was not the only thing she was missing. She just lie there, trying to feel with her only arm, see if she could feel the machine parts inside her where those missing organs had once been. She never really took the chance before to just feel her heartbeat, or the rising and falling of her chest as she breathed. Now though, she was regretting that, because she had no idea what it should have felt like. She only knew that hard, unyielding resistance of the metal inside her.
"Fine, jeez. If you're just going to lie there like a useless sack of meat though, you could at least open the door. This place sucks ass."
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Post by Kyubey on Mar 29, 2013 0:52:39 GMT -5
In the ship's lower decks, Camellia had just woken up from one of her very frequent rests, which, as Finnegan knew, meant she was full of energy. The girl basically had two states of being, completely active or in a deep sleep, and there was little time for one to prepare for the former after she would awake from the latter in a sudden start. The past few days were especially bad for her poor butler, who, several times during the voyage, had to give the girl the "Just Because They Let You On the Boat Doesn't Mean You Get to be Captain" talk, while she still had yet to fully get over her Princess phase, that her unfortunate shipmates would have had to deal with for the days that the girl and her servant were on board. And then there was the matter of the strange female voice they heard singing the night before. It had happened while Finnegan was awake, and had woken up the Little Miss with a sudden start, and it took him several minutes to calm her back down again. Now that it was morning and she was awake, however.
"LA-LAAA-LA-DEE-DAAAAAAAAA... LA!" she sung out, or rather, shrieked out, in a shrill and positively grating tone of voice, that only Finnegan could possibly irritate. In her mind, she was imitating the voice she heard, and she thought it matched right down to the smallest pitch and inflection. To anyone else, it would sound as if the girl was attempting to imitate a man's dying screams. She continued to sing as she swirled about in her teacup, with Finnegan trying to calm her down, and, as he expected, failed to do so.
It was good enough for him that she wasn't too disturbed though. What she apparently took delight in, Finnegan only found immensely unsettling. Then again, he found everything out of the ordinary unsettling.
"Hey, Finnegan!"
"Yes, Miss?"
"Didja ever find out who that was?"
"No, I'm afraid."
"It was so pretty..." She lifter her torso above the surface of the tea and did a pirouette. "C'mon! I thought you were good at finding these things out!"
"I do like to pride myself on that, but there are little things that even I cannot begin to discover on my own."
"Okay, now I really wanna know. Really really wanna know."
"Perhaps it was one of our new shipmates?"
"Beth or Kaedepants? Naaaaahhh... Don't think so... too.. mysterious."
"Well, there are quite a few mysteries on these seas. It might have been a passing sailor, a Marine trap set for pirates... perhaps even mermaids."
"...mermaids?"
Internally, Finnegan beat himself up for ever bringing up such a thing.
"Take me. To the deck. Right now."
"I don't suppose that's a good idea, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are up there right now, and I dare not imagine what sort of mischief they're up to..."
"VASSAAAAAAAAAAALS! VASSALS!"
Soon afterwards, Finnegan found himself rushing up to the upper deck, where Beth was cutting Connor's hair, moving at roughly five paces slower than Camellia would have done if she had any choice in the matter.
"Stop everything, everyone! This is important!"
"Now remember, Miss, pirates have been marooned in the past for this sort of thing, and we don't know if..."
"We need to find some mermaids!"
"Sir Connor, Lady Beth, do try and forgive her, this is merely one of her flights of fancy."
"Oh. Come. On. They heard 'em too, right? The singing? Last night? The pretty-sounding lady? Her? Come on, aren't you guys curious too? Don't you wanna look for 'er too? Don't you wanna be friends with mermaids too?"
While she probably sounded completely mad to the others, she looked as though Beth or Connor had just offered to purchase a pony for her. If it were possible for her to jump, she would have been leaping about the whole deck, but the part of her that was visible (the waist up) showed more than enough enthusiasm for her to get her point across.
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Post by Kuro on Mar 31, 2013 13:03:50 GMT -5
"MERMAIDS!"
Shroud Demon from a door onto the upper deck with as much enthusiasm as Camellia. He was dressed in his usual mix of makeshift armor, his head covered by a bucket once more. He made an exaggerated bow to the teacup and jumped back up. "Good morning, Princess Camellia! Good morning everyone! Did I hear what I thought I heard? Mermaids?! Mermaids, mermaids, mermaids?!"
He jumped up and down in place, joining his princess in her childish merriment. "Ooh, mermaids mermaids mermaids! Can we meet a mermaid? That would be soooooooooo cool! Oh, especially if she sounds pretty! I mean, I didn't hear anyone singing, but I must have just been asleep or something! What if we got her on the crew? A really really good singer, a singing mermaid friend, oh that would be so great! Come on come on come on, let's go find a mermaid! Can we, please, pretty pretty please?!"
Sheer joy and excitement had come out of each and every word, and he had enough energy to keep bouncing on the deck without any signs of stopping.
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Post by CJ on Mar 31, 2013 18:48:23 GMT -5
"There! Finished!"
Beth grinned and patted Connor's newly cut hair with her fingers. He was practically back to how he used to be before leaving with Arch. It was somewhat nostalgic for Beth but she tried not to get too happy. There were still plenty of things they need to work on before things would ever even begin to seem normal again.
Connor seemed scared of his reflection in the hand mirror given to him but smiled when Beth ruffled her hand through his hair.
Beth's eyebrows went way up when Camellia started to talk of a singing mermaid. Connor seemed utterly confused but said nothing. He merely smirked at Finnegan in sympathy.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Finnegan," Beth teased. "Camellia's just being a kid like usual. It's cool. I mean, even if there was a singing mermaid around here, I don't know how we'd find her. We don't have a submersable... I think. I most currently couldn't go swimming for her. But could you imagine!"
She grabbed onto Connor and started to dance about the deck, bringing him to the railing. He fell to a sudden onslaught of dizziness but seemed to really enjoy it.
"Mermaids are such wonderful people!" she twirled Connor about, laughing to Shroud Demon. "I've always wanted to hear them sing. I bet if she did sing for us it would sound something like-"
"SHOO BE DOO. SHOO SHOO BE DOO."
As soon as the chorus erupted, Beth and Connor were suddenly blasted with a spray of water. Several figures leaped from the waves onto the deck and knocked them overboard with shining golden tridents. Two splashes could be heard as the four warriors took their glorious stances on deck.
They were obviously fishmen, though clearly not the traditional sort. They appeared to be seahorses with human arms and legs. Pink, red, yellow and blue. They were an assortment of very pretty colors.
"Commander Sea Pony," one of them spoke up with beady black eyes, looking back toward the sea, "it appears the two we threw overboard don't know how to swim."
"Oh, that's a bummer," the other responded. "Captain Sea Pony, bring the two up to the surface and hold them there!"
Beth and Connor were brought up to the surface and held there by an orange seahorse fishman. Beth appeared to be fine, though soaked. Connor was unsurprisingly knocked out from his exposure to so much water.
"Freaking hell! What's going on!" she shouted, trying not to punch their only salvation in the face.
"You all know very well what's going on!" the Commander responded, slamming the butt of his trident on the deck. "You kidnapped our Sea Pony Princess! Now give her back or we'll... do something to your friends!"
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 1, 2013 0:35:47 GMT -5
"Lot of shouting... wonder what's going on out there..."
"I'm wondering the same, let me out goddamn it!"
Even with her head buried beneath a pillow, Kaede could still hear a commotion coming from outside, like the others were in the room with her. Struggling to sit up for obvious reasons, looked groggily towards the door and the hovering robot rolling around across its surface. Maybe it was time to get up, face the sun.
"Fine, fine, you win. We'll go out."
"About fukken' time! Here, let me help you, let me just get your glorious machine appendages-"
"N-No!"
The small robot drew away from the door, focusing on Kaede with its sensors, before processing her statement and zipping through the air towards the corner of the room to fetch her prostheses. It took a moment for what it said to register with her, but when she realized she stopped it short with an ounce of panic in her voice. Taking a breath, she spoke again more calmly.
"I don't want them, just get me the crutch."
"Fine, suit yourself. Really, you should just learn to fly, dumbass."
---
Opening the door, she had to close her eyes and look away initially from the light, as she had no spare hand to provide cover. Taking a moment to adjust, she began the bothersome trek from her room to the main deck where she assumed all the noise was coming from. She was still not used to it at all, but she had to give some thanks for the fortune she had in her condition. That is, if she had to lose an arm and a leg, at least they were from opposing sides. She could use a crutch with her left arm to help support her right leg. She could only imagine it would be much more difficult were her remaining limbs on the same side.
"I wonder if Connor is any more used to his body yet..."
Something she was curious about, though probably something she answered herself. As if he would be able to just get used to his new body any more than he had been the day before. Either way she didn't have time to consider it all that much, because when she neared the main deck, she was about to round the cabin when she caught a glimpse of the fishmen trespasses. Normally she would have just drawn back and went into a stealthier position, but it was so sudden and she still was not used to moving about, that she basically just fell over backwards. She hit the ground with a stifled yelp, and the crutch clattered off to the side, but she was not in plain sight of anyone else and she hoped she had avoided detection.
"Look Bader... some sort of sea horse men? What are they talking about a Princess though? Hey, see if you can maybe sneak over there and-"
Shuffling over to the corner, she peered around at the scene transpiring beyond. She had arrived late to the happening, but she caught at least some of what was going down. Based on her limited knowledge and assessment of the situation, she figured that it would likely be more helpful if she remained hidden and out of sight. Still though, she wanted to get a better idea of what was happening, and she realized she had Bader whom she could ask for help. It was then that she turned to speak to it, and realized that it had actually flown off towards the action some time before.
"...where's the receipt? I want to return it."
---
"One side shitlordes, glorious golden robot master race coming through."
The softball-sized robot zipped about over the deck, zooming onto the scene without much analyzing anything. It's movements were sporadic, random, and more than anything else it seemed trying to get on peoples nerves. Trying to be bothersome in the hopes of starting a fight with someone, anyone.
Then it noticed the fishmen.
"Whoa, what in the damning shitting East Blue? Who are these assclownfish, and what are they doing on my boat? I mean our boat? Actually who am I shitting, it's definitely my boat."
The very picture, of civility, and grace.
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Post by Kyubey on Apr 2, 2013 2:25:18 GMT -5
As the Sea Ponies emerged from the ocean, Camellia, who moments before had been whimsically reveling along with Beth and Shroud Demon in mutual love of mermaids, stood frozen for a second. Having one's wildest imaginations suddenly come to be a reality tended to be a bit overwhelming, and this most certainly was the case for the littlest tea girl. The idea that the Sea Pony Princess the fishmen referred to could have been anyone but herself was an absolute impossibility in her mind. And even if it were the case, she would refuse to accept it. In her heart, she was born for this, born to rule a kingdom of wonderous Sea Ponies. Her eyes sparkled with joy, and her mouth slowly opened up into an impossibly wide grin. The noise coming from her first began as a tiny squeak, but then, as the truth of it all registered in her mind, grew into a full shrill squeal.
"Oh wow oh how oh wow oh wow oh wow!" she shrieked, now spinning about and splashing with her arms. "Best day ever, best day ever, best day ever..."
If Finnegan had any thoughts on this, he was too busy to express them at the moment, all his attention instead going straight at the puny robot, whose language the butler most seriously disapproved of. He remembered the time when he and the Miss went into a shady West Blue pub one time, and for days afterwards Camellia innocently believed that "Plucky Wench" was just another polite term for "Female."
As the Sea Ponies brought Beth and Connor up from the waves below, Camellia snapped back into reality long enough to remember that they were thrown into the water in the first place. This upset her quite a bit, as there was no need, no need at all, for the most perfect moment of her life to be sullied by needless violence or antagonism against the new friends who had been so nice to her. And, now that she could confirm that she was a genuine Princess, just as she knew all along, she simply wouldn't stand for such a thing, not even from the Sea Ponies.
"Enough!" she cried out, "It's me, your Beautiful Pony Princess, safe and sound! There's no need for you to do anything to anybody's friends! Those're my Vassals you're being so mean to, I'll have you know! Stop that this instant, or there shall be consequences, understand?"
She tried to sound as authoritative and ruler-like as she could, but that came a bit hard for her, considering her eyes were still covered in sparkles and she was still shaking with glee.
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Post by Kuro on Apr 2, 2013 17:10:49 GMT -5
This was not he expected.
Shroud Demon just kinda stood there on the deck, not sure what to make of what had just happened. He was kinda confused because mermaids were supposed to have big, shiny fish tails for the legs, and they were also supposed to be pretty singing lady fish instead of big men soldiers. He wasn't sure if they were supposed to be so mean.
He heard a noise from elsewhere on the deck. He looked in that direction but didn't see anyone. Before he could go check it out, the flying shiny ball popped up and started being a flying shiny ball. His eyes followed the object as it went around the ship being a bother. He didn't much like its attitude, but even after sailing with it on the ship for some time, he wasn't used to such a techno-fancy thing being so...there. It was as amazing as anything he had ever seen and constantly reminded him of the amazing stuff he had seen back at Colgate.
And then Princess Camellia started talking, and after she was done, Shroud Demon spoke in turn.
"Wow! Wow wow wow! You're a Beautiful Pony Princess?! I mean, I knew you were a princess, but I didn't know that you were a Pony Princess! Congratulations, Beautiful Pony Princess Camellia!"
Shroud Demon was even more ecstatic and loud than before at the wonderful news. After a couple of moments though, he realized just what was happening. He jumped in front of Camellia and drew his rusty katana from his side, pretending as if it had a sheath and wasn't just tied to his waist. He made one slash through the air, a safe distance from everyone, and struck a cool pose in front of his pretty princess.
"We both work for the same princess, fellow pony warriors! We forgive you for not knowing what you were doing! Follow your pony instinct and do what your princess says! In the name of the Beautiful Pony Princess!"
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