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Post by Kyubey on Sept 8, 2013 3:19:20 GMT -5
"Thanks again," said Ohyeah, smirking happily. "You have my word as a soldier, the only people who will know about what we've talked about are the people who need to know. And as far as I see it, the only ones who need to know about this are right here. Your secret is safe with us."
Now, the Marine was finally where to go, and what to do once he got there. It was a good feeling, finally he was operating the way he worked best. As long as they kept going at the rate they were at, there was no doubt in his mind that he and the others could make things right. While Fate's exact motivations were a little strange to him, Ohyeah could only acknowledge her admirable conviction, and he knew her heart was squarely in the right place. With her along with him, the Vice Admiral had that much more confidence. Rory's skills of observation were also a great asset, and his notes were sure to become valuable later on. As far as Ohyeah saw it, his team might as well have been unstoppable.
"We'll be going," he said to Hilda and Elsa, giving them a wave with his free hand. "You take care now."
Ohyeah had been pleasantly surprised by this encounter. Past experiences had taught him to be distrustful around pirates, but Hilda and her friends seemed to genuinely mean well. Never would he had expected to get along so well with them, and he even caught himself hoping to meet with them again, under lighter circumstances. This came as a shock to him. It had been a long time since he placed such trust and value in a pirate, and, after the last time, he hadn't thought he would again.
"Come along, guys. We've got a visit to make in Borotol."
With that, he turned around, walking ahead of Fate and Rory, still carrying the oversized makeup kit on his shoulder. By this point, the sailors that had been wandering the town would be returning back to the ship, and it wouldn't take long at all for them to set off. Assuming there were no distractions, they would hopefully be at sea by the end of the day. That made Ohyeah eager. He was all too ready to get some clear answers.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 11, 2013 0:05:38 GMT -5
"Oky doky, sounds good to me!"
Rory lagged behind a bit, to finish writing what he'd been working on the whole time, various notes and the like. Eventually though he waved goodbye to Hilda and the others, who in turn did the same for him and the rest of the marines. He had to run a bit to keep up, but eventually he was alongside Ohyeah on the way back to the ship, onwards to places unknown to see what they would see.
All the while he wondered what Borotol held in store; even though they weren't yet gone of this place, his mind had already taken flight. He couldn't help it, after being imprisoned like he had been.
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Post by CJ on Sept 13, 2013 10:36:00 GMT -5
"Yes, sir," Fate nodded to Ohyeah, walking along with him. The Captain hoped Borotol would prove to be a dull and uneventful destination. If nothing else, she hoped they'd apprehend their target there without a hitch.
She came to a stop though, as if realizing something. Yes, she was forgetting something, the reason she personally wanted to speak to him.
With a quick shift of her feet, the Captain darted back to the pirates. She pointed her gloved hand directly at the smaller Shichibukai. Her hate and distrust practically radiated from her voice.
“I know you captured the pirate Rustom and freed the New Berry Pirates from Breakwater. I don’t know why but I will get the true information from you after we finish our mission!”
Running back to Ohyeah and Rory, Fate left Uzo in particular completely and utterly confused. He held his head tightly with his one hand, as though he had a painful headache.
“I really need to stop time traveling,” he sighed. “This is getting all too confusing.”
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 18, 2013 1:06:08 GMT -5
Open upon the waters of the open ocean.
Despite a solid lead and their best efforts, Borotol turned up a dead end. Finding the place was no challenge, and even finding the old man who had given Hilda the fake newspaper in the first place was a piece of cake. The island was known for its high grade paper from the trees abundant there, and the man himself sold newspapers for a living. In this particular case however, he himself had not made the fake giant paper.
Rather, he had received a letter correspondence from an unknown person out of the blue one day, asking for a favor with the incentive of monetary compensation. Out of boredom he replied, and in turn received the giant paper in freshly printed condition, along with a decent sum of money and a set of instructions. He was to hold onto the fake newspaper, to save it for a female giant with ice blue eyes and black hair. Considering he had been paid up front, he held onto the paper out of some sense of obligation, but honestly thought it was all a big joke or prank or something. Sure enough however, one day a giant and her crew showed up to Borotol, and dusting off the old fake newspaper he gave it to her as he was supposed to. He had read it himself once or twice and all in all it seemed a harmless enough thing to give away, so he did.
Beyond that, he knew nothing, not even that Hilda had ended up in trouble with the mark because of it. He never learned who the other person in the letters was, the handwriting was done with stencils, and some quick research turned up that the return address was a post box long since unpaid for and having changed owners several times.
All in all, despite such a promising lead, it was probably quite a let down for it to result in the marines being no farther than the had been when they left Patchwork Island.
---
On the ship, Rory was rather quiet and rather busy. Quiet, because he was disappointed that they didn't find anything out about the mark, beyond the fact that whomever might be in charge was at least thoughtful enough to avoid meeting people in person.
On the other hand, the reporter was busy, as the whole experience gave him an idea. He knew that his freedom from prison was only temporary, and he shouldn't be acting like it was otherwise. That said, he might have been an odd fellow, but he did have friends and know people. After having been freed under such odd circumstances, the thought slipped his mind completely, but after the dead end on Borotol he was inspired. Inspired to see what sort of help he and his friends (or, caretakers, depending on who you asked) could get.
Fate and Ohyeah would probably well know that in his short time AWOL from the Marines, Rory had gone through a stint as a reporter. While in the business though, he had made plenty of contacts and met useful people who might be able to help in this matter. He couldn't say for sure who would still be around to lend him and the other marines a hand in this situation, but that was what he busied himself with during the time since Borotol.
Every day he was going over the information he had on this strange crime spree, and writing furiously as a means of establishing contact with his friends and contacts in the business. After all, this Era person they were after, wasn't the only one who knew how to write. For long portions of each day, Rory was on deck, busy sending out for anyone and everyone he had met or known during his time as a reporter. As well, he spent the time waiting for return responses, everything being sent coming and going via seagull express delivery.
Now was just such a time, and Rory sat on the main deck reading over a message that had been delivered not minutes ago in a canister from some far off place. He was so busy with it all, sitting amidst a small pile of papers and journals on deck, that he seemed trapped in his own little world of information and didn't even register the nice day out or the other people milling around the ship.
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Post by Kyubey on Sept 19, 2013 14:21:51 GMT -5
Below deck, Ohyeah had shut himself up in his cabin, having been there for quite some time after his Den Den Mushi suddenly went off. While Fate and Rory may not have been fully confident in the ship being effectively without its usual commanding officer for such a long time, but the Marines on board were competent enough to keep the ship going without the Vice Admiral's presence.
Ohyeah sat at his desk, leaning over the snail phone, engaged deeply in conversation with the person on the other end. For the days that passed since they arrived at Patchwork Island, Ohyeah and Winona had never been able to speak to each other, due to the tight schedule of her current work, which, after years of sailing with Ohyeah, she had initially been rather unused to. Despite the challenges, however, she was doing exceedingly well at the tasks she had been given, which mostly amounted to dealing with various amounts of difficult paperwork, and thus was able to secure a few hours off. Ohyeah explained to her what happened on Patchwork Island, excluding only the conversation at the coffee shop, before moving onto telling her about the dead end at Borotol. He ended up going on for quite a while, namely due to the sheer amount of questions that Winona had thrown at him along the way.
"I can't make any sense of it at all," he said, as he concluded the story. "Any thoughts?"
It was a dumb question, and he knew it from the moment he asked it. In any matter worth thinking about, Winona was never without an opinion of some sort. There was a long stillness from the snail, as Winona pondered the issue. For what must have been over a minute, the only sounds to be heard by either of them were the clattering of the weights Ohyeah had been lifting up throughout the conversation.
"You're right. It doesn't make sense," she replied. "Not as we know it now."
"You got anything more than that?"
Another, slighter pause. "Hm. Well. To begin with. How did the criminal know that Irongard would be fooled by the newspaper in the first place?"
"Huh?"
"The materials for drawing the Era symbol were given to her as a makeup kit, right? How did they know she would be interested in that? Giants aren't exactly known for being all that interested in fashion, so how did they know she would suddenly take an interest in that?"
"Hilda did say that she was given an invitation to a party on some island, held by a mayor or king or something."
"And how would Era know that?"
Ohyeah was stumped. "I... I don't know."
Winona was hitting her stride now. "Not to mention, they were able to correctly guess that Hilda would fall for the directions in the first place. The Warlord appears to be the naive type, but the perpetrator would have to be aware enough of that before going through with this con. And from the story of the man on Borotol, it appears that this criminal could come from anywhere."
"So what're you saying?"
"This is just guesswork, but either Era has an excellent source of up-to-date knowledge, or they know Irongard personally. Most likely, both. They would also have to get around very easily."
Ohyeah raised his eyebrow. "So, then..."
"To begin with, maybe you shouldn't have let Uzo go so easily."
This gave Ohyeah pause. "That could be. But still, that would only explain Hilda. This criminal would have to be familiar with all the victims, to be able to convince them to draw that thing." Already, things were starting to make less and less sense to him. Hilda was one thing, but the idea that all these important targets would be foolish enough to mark their property or themselves with such a symbol seemed... wrong.
"Not necessarily. That's making two assumptions. The first is that the symbols were all left the same way, by tricking the people involved into leaving the mark themselves. One instance is feasible, but in all these cases? Not likely. The second is that the perpetrator is a single individual. One person committing all these acts is near impossible, but if it was a collective, working together, then we have more things to consider."
"So this is a conspiracy we're dealing with?"
"It could be. It depends on how many are involved, and why. Motive doesn't matter for now, though, that comes later. Was there any concrete evidence that the newspaper man on Borotol was telling the truth?"
Ohyeah shrugged, though Winona couldn't see it. "His story seemed feasible. At least, we knew he more than likely stayed on Borotol, so he couldn't have been behind all the cases."
Winona sighed loudly. "You're far too trusting. Did you at least ask him if he had any similar encounters with other visitors to his island?"
"Nope." Ohyeah slapped his forehead. "Should we go back?"
"It would be pointless. We're too far behind already at this stage. You need to keep pressing forward. How about that party that Irongard was invited to? Do you know which island that is?"
"Didn't think to ask..." he wondered why. In retrospect, it didn't seem like the sort of thing he would leave the island without knowing.
"Damn. That could have been important, Vice Admiral."
"You don't mean to say that the king of some nation is involved in this whole thing, too?"
"He could be. Or he could have been tricked himself, like all the others. Who knows, maybe he's the mastermind. Right now, there are no impossibilities we have to eliminate. Nothing's beyond consideration."
Ohyeah frowned. "Sure, but there's no way this is that complex, right?"
Winona took on the tone of a teacher, whose student had just figured out the answer to a problem. "That's just it. We don't know how deep this goes. That's what we need to focus on first."
"Fine, alright. Then what do you suggest we do from here?"
"Ask everyone. Question everything. If this is a conspiracy, and if there's a greater lie being thrown at us, then at some point, there's bound to be a contradiction. Whoever is responsible, no matter how clever they are, there's got to be a mistake somewhere, some slip up we can use to get an advantage. No lie can remain completely covered forever. Investigate enough, and you're sure to get a sense of the bigger picture once you piece it all together. Just don't be afraid to pry."
Ohyeah smiled. He could always count on Winona when it came to things like that. "Alright. I'll talk to Fate and Rory about this."
At the time, Ohyeah did not consider or even notice the silence that came from Winona's end. "...right. You should do that." She took a second, as if to gather her thoughts together. "That notetaking prisoner should be useful, in collecting the details."
"Thanks for your help, Captain."
"I'm only doing my duty as a Marine, Vice Admiral."
Ohyeah leaned backwards a little. "So. How's work treating you?"
He didn't have to be facing Winona, to figure out her expression. "I wish Commander Byron would remember that I outrank him now. He acts like I'm still at the academy, which is really annoying. And some of these desk workers are so incompetent, I have to wonder why they thought joining the Marines was a good career choice for them at all. But, otherwise, it's going fine."
"Good to hear. I'll be sure to give 'em a rough time when I get back."
"Could you? That'd be so great." There was a smile in her voice now.
"I'll try to finish the job soon."
"Just don't rush this, or else you'll be out at sea forever."
"Don't worry. I have it under control."
"And remember to be careful."
"Ah, c'mon."
Ohyeah thought he heard a small laugh, but upon thinking about it, realized that couldn't be right. "Well, I won't keep you any longer. Your men need orders, I bet."
"Alright. Should I tell 'em you said hello?"
"Sure. Good luck."
"Thanks. See ya later. Don't let Byron wear you out too much."
"Bye."
Ohyeah placed the receiver back onto the Den Den Mushi, put away his weights, threw on some boots and his jacket, and walked back up to the deck.
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Post by CJ on Sept 19, 2013 21:56:28 GMT -5
Fate wasn't all too happy with her current predicament.
Not only did Borotol turn out to be a false lead, but she couldn't even accuse the old man of lying. He was actually telling the truth, for all that she knew. At least, it seemed that way, given how hard they pressed him.
To make matters much worse, Commander March and her secretary, Gracie Grace, were not responding to calls on her portable Den Den Mushi. Fate blamed her phone for the issue, but was soon corrected when other Den Den Mushi's proved to fail as well.
There was only ringing. No one on the other end picked up. The Captain was understandably worried but couldn't do much, already tied to this mission.
That day, she approached Rory on the deck. Clad in her motorcycle gear, helmet included, she looked like she was baking in the hot sun.
"Excuse me," she said, thought obviously in a forced attempt to be polite. "Are those seagulls of yours a reliable mode of communication?"
This question was masked. It would be obvious that she was asking about a way to contact her subordinates, but it could equally be thought of as pertaining to news about Era.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 23, 2013 1:00:00 GMT -5
"Excuse me, are those seagulls of yours a reliable mode of communication?"
"Ah! Captain, sorry!"
So immersed with all his notes, Rory didn't notice Fate approach, so when she announced herself the journalist haphazardly jumped to his feet to salute her. In the process, a large amount of papers and writing utensils fell to the floor and scattered about when he stood up.
"Uh... reliable?"
He stared at her for a moment as though she spoke in some alien language. One such bird had been sitting on his knee, waiting for a message from the journalist to deliver before he stood up so suddenly. The bird was spooked for a little bit, but soon landed on his shoulder, waiting as before. Hearing her question again in his mind, with the bird there things clicked.
"Oh, you mean like for making sure people get letters and stuff? Yeah, I guess so, Imeanit'smyfavoritemethod. I suppose something like a snail phone is better because you can talk to someone in real time..."
Looking from Fate to the bird again, he realized how much he owed to the birds, and found a new sense of appreciation. With a soft smile he scratched at the seagull's chest, even though it didn't seem to like it all that much and attempted to peck him.
"...but not everyone has a snail phone, at least noteveryonewhoisn'twiththemarines. I like this way better though, because the Seagull Service is trained to actually find people to deliver to. They're used to delivering newspapers to pirates and such, whomovearoundontheopenseas, so finding someone who stays put is no trouble at all!"
With the bird balanced on his shoulder, Rory slowly returned to his seated position, and tried to make sense of the mess of papers he had made. Eventually finding the one he wanted, he rolled it up into a scroll and put it into the message carrier the bird had. Locking it closed, the bird understood as much, and took off. Watching it go, Rory turned his attention back to Fate, looking up at her as he grabbed around for more papers without paying much attention to his hands.
"Why do you ask, Captain? Are you worried it might be a safety concern? I'm not sending out anyinformationoranything, just trying to find some old contacts. Friends in the business and such, who might be able to help us."
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Post by Kyubey on Jan 3, 2014 2:47:37 GMT -5
His single good eye blinking in the sun, Ohyeah looked around the deck, where he found Fate and Rory together. Seeing them both already in one place was rather convenient for him, for it saved him the trouble of rounding them up. There was much he wanted to talk about before the adventure at the next island, and the more they discussed now, the better.
He paused for just a moment, to check up on the work of his soldiers. The voyage so far was fair, with no serious issues delaying their progress. Ohyeah may not have been the most strict leader, but he knew he could trust his men. They would reach the next island in a matter of days, at the latest.
Seeing that all was well upon his vessel, he approached Fate and Rory, the two guests in his merry crew. While he didn't hear everything spoken between them, he did catch the end of Rory's explanation, catching enough to get the general idea of what was being said. He had long been aware of Rory's habit of communicating through the Seagull Service. While Ohyeah never utilized it himself, thinking that caring for the noisy birds wasn't worth the trouble, he didn't ever question the man's fondness for the method. It had its own sort of old-fashioned charm to it, not to mention the benefits, like the ones Rory mentioned, as well as how easy it was to communicate without being traced.
"Sometime, Rory, you'll have to introduce me to these contacts of yours," he said conversationally, as he strolled over to the two. "Any person who can help us out in this whole deal, I'll consider a friend." He looked out towards the sea, gazing in the same direction as the ship was headed, as if he could see the next island in the horizon already. After his discussion with Winona, he was eager to do a thorough job of soaking up all clues, absorbing all the details there for them to find. "So, can any of 'em give us any info about this Galatae place?"
From what he heard through rumor and reports, Galatae was an island stuck in an earlier time, a more simple, violent time. Iron and warrior bloodlines still ruled the land, restless from years of enduring the harsh elements and tyrannical grip that plagued the land like a curse. Or, so he heard, and very little could truly be verified. It was always a place that the Vice-Admiral had wanted to visit at least once, but had never had a chance before. If the warriors there were really as strong and proud as the legends stated, then it could also be assumed that he could possibly persuade these people to help him out a great deal.
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Post by CJ on Jan 7, 2014 23:33:30 GMT -5
"No!" Fate chirped. "It's a personal inquiry. I haven't been able to contact my subordinates so I thought one of your birds could help. I wouldn't use them otherwise, dirty things."
She was clearly embarrassed as she looked away from Rory. It was so obvious. She should have pretended like she was concerned about a safety hazard instead of revealing her weakness. Small though it was, she felt her personal connections were her greatest weakness, aside not being able to trust anyone.
"Vice Admiral Barlow," she said, saluting Ohyeah. Her hand smacked against her helmet.
Cracking her knuckles, she shook her head at the thought of Galatae.
"From what I hear, they're too dumb to lie in their words. People of Galatae lie with their actions instead. They hunt. They sneak. They cheat."
Fate was being honest with her feelings, unfortunately.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jan 17, 2014 0:58:22 GMT -5
"Hah, they're not dirty! Well and too busy to nest, they'reonlyasdirty as the letters you send! Let me know if you want someone contacted, I'm sure I could handle it in a jiffy."
Laughing to himself a bit, Rory scratched the head of one of the delivery birds which in turn pulled an angry face and attempted to bite him, before taking the opportunity to readjust its little mailman cap with its wings. Whatever the others may have thought of him, he didn't mind the birds at all, because they did their job and well. In his short time as a reporter, he found that to be more important than anything else.
"Sometime, Rory, you'll have to introduce me to these contacts of yours, any person who can help us out in this whole deal, I'll consider a friend."
"Sir." he gave a little salute as he looked up, "Anything to help. I'm sure they'd love to meet a Vice Admiral, agoodfewofthemmight even have questions to ask."
Rory was glad at least someone saw value in his communication line. He hoped once he started to get return responses and info, more people would realize the usefulness. Unfortunately since he was still in the initial stages of reestablishing contacts after getting out of prison, he did not have much to provide in the way of answering Ohyeah's interest towards Galatae.
"Not much I can add, all I know is they're a warrior culture. That, and theydon'tmuchlike outsiders, at least from what I've heard."
The marine in him knew that they had to go to this place and do their job as efficiently as possible. The reporter in him knew though, that armed forces traipsing into a secluded, isolationist militant society, was the prime making for an international fiasco worthy of the papers. He could see it now; 'Marines Attack Galatae, Acts of Aggression from Those Involved' or something of that ilk. At the moment, he wasn't sure which driving force was stronger, his marine one or his reporter one.
"I hope they won't give us any trouble, I don't even think they're part of the Government... theymightnotevenletusin."
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Post by Kyubey on Jan 19, 2014 2:48:30 GMT -5
"Whoever these friends may be, I'd be more than happy to answer whatever questions they have," Ohyeah said to Rory. While Rory wasn't saying much about these contacts, he acted like they could be trusted, and that was enough for Ohyeah to believe in them in turn.
He hummed thoughtfully as both Fate and Rory gave what information they had about the people of Galatae. Their knowledge did not contradict what Ohyeah knew about the island, though their insight did trouble him a little. It was possible that this meeting would not be an easy one, especially considering that the Marines had no means of announcing their visit to the island beforehand.
"A country of isolated cheaters, eh? Well, our arrival should be interesting, at least."
---
After a period of more sailing, at last one of the common soldiers spotted an island in the horizon. The silhouette of Galatae seemed to match perfectly with what he had in his head when his companions described what they knew about it. Tall mountains pierced the sky, with steep sea cliffs surrounding the land. It was dark, it was menacing, it was a place that had an appearance only a warrior would possibly find appealing. Ohyeah grinned.
The Vice Admiral stood on the deck of his ship as it drew nearer to its destination. It took the Marines a while to just find a way to get into the place, as the high cliffs had the place nearly surrounded. Finally, they spotted an opening they could use to enter, almost hidden, it was so small, and the sails were adjusted accordingly. Ohyeah's eye grew wider as he got closer. The cliffs turned out to be than he thought they were when he first caught a glimpse of them. Much taller. He felt positively dwarfed, such were the size of these walls of rock.
As soon as the ship entered the narrow passageway, a booming gunshot sound was heard, and there was a large splash right in front of the boat, mere inches from the bow. Ohyeah spun his head around, to see who it was that fired on them. He was shocked to find that while the cliffs had seemed empty and barren when the ship approached, now they were filled with people, crawling out of almost every hole and opening in the rocks. These people were dirty, but strong, able to steadily keep their grip on the vertical cliffs without any problem. And all of them looked fierce and angry. Ohyeah's men rushed up to the deck with their swords and rifles, ready to meet these strangers with as much force as necessary, but they were quieted by a wave of Ohyeah's hand. Silently, the Vice Admiral was regretting not being more alert. He should have prepared for a reception such as this.
"No visitors," said a deep, harsh voice from the cliffs. "Get out." Ohyeah looked up towards the direction of the voice, and found a large man that looked not unlike a bear, only in some ways, more fearsome. With his rugged appearance and unshakable disposition, he looked as though he was part of the very rock he sat on, rather than a being separate from it. In his rough hands was an enormous smoking gun, obviously the source of the shot that had nearly hit the boat.
"I am Vice Admiral Ohyeah of the Marines. I have business in Galatae. Please let us pass, and we won't give you any trouble."
"No visitors while the Queen's at war. That's the rule."
"Sorry to come at a time like this," he replied, only just remembering the war. "This is a matter that concerns the security of this island. Can you maybe make an exception for us?"
At those words, the huge man leaped from his perch on the cliffs onto the deck of Ohyeah's ship, which was no simple feat, considering how high up he was. His landing made a crashing noise that echoed across the narrow passageway to Galatae, and the weight of his impact formed a dent in the deck's wooden floor. A few of Ohyeah's men approached this intruder with swords in hand, but still stayed at a safe distance.
"The Strand Watch is the security of Galatae. Tell me what yer here for."
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Post by CJ on Jan 19, 2014 23:06:33 GMT -5
The sun reflected off Fate's motorcycle helmet, fixed tightly to her head. Her pitch black attire might have been distracting enough so that her lack of a shadow was barely noticeable at all. She was as angry as she was uncomfortable in the heat. Rory's pigeons couldn't contact March or Gracie at all. It was as though they never existed, which greatly unnerved the Captain.
As she witnessed the warriors emerge from the cliff face, she scowled.
"Sneaking liars, using the rocks as disguise. I already can't stand these people."
She crossed her arms and stood stubbornly next to Ohyeah. It was impossible to tell exactly what she was feeling, but it wasn't hard to guess with her harsh voice. Her gloved hand stroked the hilt of one of the sabers at her side.
"It doesn't matter what we're here for. Vice Admiral Barlow represents a higher authority than you. You are bound to let him and us in! I am Captain Morgana Fate and this is... um..."
Fate wasn't sure how to introduce Rory. Sure, he was once a Marine sanctioned journalist, but for all intents and purposes he was still their prisoner. She decided she would rather let him introduced himself than flub and call him something inappropriate that he didn't deserve, positively or negatively.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jan 24, 2014 21:51:25 GMT -5
When the warning volley was made, Rory immediately dived behind some barrels. Either he wasn't really cut out to be a marine in the first place, or he simply didn't act like one since he no longer was. Either way, he wouldn't have been much help if a battle started.
Thankfully though, one did not start, instead the natives merely boarded the ship to talk. Obviously though, there was a threat of violence.
"I am... we're here about..."
Since Fate made herself busy, and since it seemed he was part of this whether he wanted to be or not, Rory wandered out from behind the barrels. Stammering and shuffling with all his papers, he nearly tripped when he neared the commanding officers.
"...this!"
Pouring through his amassed notes, papers began to drop and spill all over the deck at their feet, but after a few moments of this and some frantic searching he located it. Drawing forth a paper in one rapid motion with one hand, he attempted to hold his notes back together again with the other, to limited success.
The paper he held out, clear to see, bore the emblem of Era that had kept showing up and what they were after. He merely assumed the soldier were familiar with it, though whether that was a correct assumption, remained to be seen.
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Post by Kyubey on Mar 11, 2014 2:30:04 GMT -5
"It doesn't matter what we're here for. Vice Admiral Barlow represents a higher authority than you. You are bound to let him and us in!"
The huge man scoffed, looking at Fate like she was a particularly annoying simpleton. Her words, clearly, were not winning him over.
"You Governmenties don't mean nothing here. I'm speaking for the Queen now, and she's the highest authority around."
"There's no need to speak that way to Captain Fate, Ohyeah said. "We mean no disrespect towards you, so afford the same courtesy towards us."
"I speak like I want to. Nobody asked you to come." The man seemed to stand even taller now, incensed enough to begin fighting. He did not think highly of the Marines, and, given the circumstances and manner in which they approached, was eager to demonstrate exactly how unwelcome they were.
"...this!"
As Rory came out of the barrels, the bear-like leader of the Strand Watch looked at him puzzlingly, wondering who this strange man was, and why he was on the boat full of Marines. When the prisoner showed him the pictures, his eyes widened, and his stance shifted slightly. He had been ready to throw the soldiers out with his bare hands, and possibly go to war. If, however, they were there for that matter, the one disgraceful mark the Strand Watch had suffered for many generations, then they weren't just people he could turn away.
"You... you Governmenties know who drew that on the castle?"
"No. But we're here to possibly find that out. Let us through, and we'll do your island justice."
The Galatean paced about the deck a couple of times, humming thoughtfully. Finally, after coming to some sort of conclusion, he stopped, and turned back to Ohyeah.
"I don't get it. I don't get it, and I don't like it. You stay, for now. Wait." He raised a muscular arm to the air, and snapped his fingers once. As if on signal, one of the men on the cliffs threw a rope into the uplifted hand, and began pulling him back up towards the cliffs. Moving as though he were more spider than human, the leader crawled his way into one of the caves on the cliff face, where he seemed to vanish for a short time.
"So. You heard him," Ohyeah said, facing his two subordinates. "We'll wait."
After a few moments of silence, a small black bird, resembling a raven but not a kind that any of the Marines would have seen before, flew out from the cave, carrying a rolled-up piece of parchment in one claw. The bird soared in the direction of the island, and then disappeared. A full hour's worth of waiting passed by, during which time none of the Strand Watch interacted with the visitors in any way, simply going about their business and occasionally pointing and staring, talking to themselves in their unique tones and dialect. Ohyeah spent the hour up on the deck, still in the same place he was at when his ship was first stopped. Once the hour was up, the bird came flying back to the cave, this time carrying another, nicer piece of parchment. The large man came back out into view, holding the message in one hand.
"Sorry for making you wait. Prince Leberecht says you can enter. For the sake of finding the mark-leaver."
"Excellent. Thank you so much." Ohyeah nodded approvingly to the Strand Watch leader, who nodded back. "Alright, let's get moving! Onwards to..."
"Not on that boat. Not all of you can go."
"What? But..."
"Only three. The rest can wait right here. Three, or nobody. Choose."
Ohyeah frowned deeply, and then scoffed, but recognized that there was nothing he could do. He had to enter the island, and if he was to get the cooperation of the islanders, he had to do it on their terms, no matter how unpleasant those terms were.
"Fine then. Fate. Rory. You're with me. As for the rest of you... sorry, boys. Signal if anything happens."
Alongside Ohyeah's ship, a small rowboat appeared, with a lone woman, oar in hand, onboard. "Galfreid will take you to Galatae," the leader said. "You trust her now."
"C'mon, come in," Galfreid said, with an overeager look in her eyes. "Not used to taking so many, but I'll get you there. This little boat's stronger than she looks, she is."
Without any further word, Ohyeah climbed down into the boat with a sigh, and took a moment to steady himself. While the rowboat was indeed stronger than it appeared, it was much more shaky. Making sure to leave ample room for the two other passengers, Ohyeah looked to Fate and Rory, waiting for them to follow. Already, the Galateans were making their conditions clear, and he wasn't looking to start any trouble. They were, after all, guests, and he couldn't forget that. But if this was what they had to go through just to get to their destination, he was not looking forward to his inevitable interactions with the royalty.
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Post by CJ on Mar 13, 2014 11:22:48 GMT -5
In the past hour, Fate sat in her quarters by herself. She occasionally came out onto deck to check if any progress had been made. Her sighs and groans were audible past her motorcycle helmet.
Her mood didn't seem to improve when they were finally allowed to enter the island. Her face couldn't be seen past the motorcycle helmet, but it was abundantly clear from her hesitation that she didn't approve of Galfried's rowboat.
"You better not be lying. If this boat sinks, you will face judgement."
Fate constantly shifted her legs around, not finding any comfort in what she thought to be an inferior vessel.
"Why do we have to adhere to these savages' demands, Vice Admiral Barlow?" she asked in a huff. "They should be listening to us. How do you expect us to get any respect if we keep bowing down to these liars?"
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