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Post by Hitotsumami on Jul 17, 2016 11:48:25 GMT -5
Talia peered through the spyglass, squinting an eye to make out the details in the distance. She grinned at what she saw.
"Land ho!" she called from the crow's nest. The island appearing over the horizon was green and gray-- a snow mountain emerged from the center where a number of clouds had gathered.
Talia glanced down at her log pose. The arrow was pointing true. This must be the island. Treasure was just waiting to be found!
She hopped out of the crows nest and deftly landed on deck. "Come on, everyone! We've made it!"
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Post by Mise™ on Jul 20, 2016 14:19:17 GMT -5
A man in his early-to-mid twenties was enthusiastically sweeping the deck of this pirate ship. Obsessed with cleanliness this was what he did a lot of the time and thanks to his efforts the ship was indeed very clean. On one hand the man was holding a brush that he used to combat all the dust and on other an umbrella despite it being nice and sunny, though increasingly cold day. The reason for the umbrella was that the man was from a little known country far away whose citizens believe themselves to be cursed by the sun and thus have spent the last millennia or so living inside a mountain. No one is quite sure what would happen if they were exposed to sunlight, but they all were in agreement it wouldn't be good and so very rarely did anyone leave their home and when they did they carried around an umbrella like the one this man was carrying.
The man was known as Vasilica Goian, a butler in service of the ruling family of his homeland, who had been sent out on a mission to retrieve a long lost national treasure. Through a series of events he had eventually ended up on this pirate ship as part of it's crew. As suitable for his talents he has been mostly on housekeeping duty or in other words cleaning and cooking.
Vasilica certainly looked like someone who had never seen the sun in their entire life, with very pale, almost white, skin, snow white hair and bright red eyes. He was also quite tall and very skinny and was dressed in very fancy, upper-class attire, which included typical pants of a suit, a brown leather vest and a dark green under shirt. Along with this he also wore some expensive accessories, a brooch that had a large green gem on it and a silver pocket watch, which chain could be seen hanging from his pocket.
Very focused on cleaning Vasilica had a very delayed reaction when Talia yelled about the upcoming island. Only after several seconds did he look at the horizon where he could see an island in the distance. “Oh. Exquisite.” Soon afterwards Vasilica had already resumed his duties and was again swinging his broom around.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Jul 22, 2016 3:18:38 GMT -5
Talia paused to look Vasilica over. What a strange man he was, and even stranger was how he ended up on her crew. The Grand Line was a weird place, she was learning this first hand.
"Well, we better get ready! According to the map, there's a port town where we can dock our ship. Do you still have the treasure map?" She had given Vasilica the map; she was prone to losing important things, but she promised herself and her crew she would not lose this one!
They quickly neared the port, but as they approached, a feeling of uneasiness would fall upon the crew... something wasn't right.
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Post by Mise™ on Jul 27, 2016 11:46:02 GMT -5
“The treasure map, master?” Vasilica repeated what Talia had said to him. He then stopped his cleaning duties, placing the broom down tidily leaning against a wall and then said. “Please wait a minute and I shall go fetch it.” Having said that the butler headed inside to look for the map. Vasilica was a very organized man and there was no way he would ever lose or misplace the map or really anything that he is tasked to look after.
And so after a couple of minutes had passed Vasilica returned and handed Talia the map that she had asked for. “Here is the treasure map you wanted, master.” Even though the dust on the deck was taunting him to continue cleaning Vasilica knew that now wasn't the time for that as the ship was about to reach the port.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Aug 15, 2016 17:17:49 GMT -5
Talia took the map from Vasillica, but did not open it. The ship pulled into port and the anchor was dropped, hauling it between two other much larger ships.
"Merchants," said Talia, looking at the two ships. Yet, where were the dock workers? The entire town looked empty, yet Talia felt as if she could sense someone around, and close.
"Come on, Vasillica, let's go." Talia walked off the gangplank and onto the dock then into town. Tall buildings surrounded them, but all boarded. "Just what is going on--!!?"
"TRESPASSER!"
Behind Vasillica and Talia emerged a man-- no, not quite a man. He had the body of a frog, yet his size was larger than most men. In each hand it held a long, shining scimitar. Painted on its chest was a symbol Talia could not decipher.
"TRESPASSER!" screamed the frog man again, and then it charged Vasillica.
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Post by Mise™ on Aug 22, 2016 10:06:49 GMT -5
As the ship got closer to the island Vasilica noticed how empty the place looked and wondered why it was like that, but he did not have the time to think about it all too much. When Talia told him to follow herself to the island Vasilica responded with: “Yes, master.” and did as was told.
It did not take long until someone had already noticed them and soon enough a frog like man, armed with scimitars was charging towards Vasilica, calling him and Talia intruders. Vasilica was not one for violence and preferred to look for a more peaceful solution to problems, so instead of taking the frog man on he kept a safe distance from him and tried talking to him in his usual very polite manner. “I am terribly sorry, sir. But what appears to be the problem here?” Not like Vasilica could have fought back even if he had wanted to. As long as he was in the sunshine and thus carrying his umbrella his ability to fight was severely gimped.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Aug 23, 2016 15:38:15 GMT -5
The frogman did not cease his attack. Any second, he would be upon Vasillica with his scimitars.
"Not good!" said Talia. As quickly as possible, she pulled that was attached to her backpack, and suddenly she shot through the air, propelled by some powerful jet force. She landed between Vasillica and the frogman. Talia quickly removed one of her gloved and touched the frog just before he swung his scimitar.
"UNLUCK!" she shouted.
What followed would appear quite strange for anyone watching. For some bizarre reason, instead of slashing down with his scimitar, the frogman slipped on dry ground and rolled into a couple of barrels which broke upon impact. The frogman groaned, but quickly got back to his feet.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" it croaked.
Talia stood up and smiled, slipping her glove back on her hand. "I ate the Unlucky Unlucky Fruit! Anyone I touch will have bad luck for approximately 5 minutes! I can make that longer, but I think 5 minutes is all we need."
The frogman attacked Talia again, but like last time, he tripped and fell on his face.
"It's not going to work," said Talia. "Now, perhaps you can answer my friends question. What is the problem around here?"
The frogman clenched his teeth tightly and narrowed his eyes. "FINE... BUT FIRST. TELL ME, WHO ARE YOU!?"
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Post by Mise™ on Aug 29, 2016 15:29:49 GMT -5
Vasilica was not overly worried about the frogman chasing after him. He was very quick at his feet so he was confident that he would not have been caught. However Talia quickly stepped in to stop the attacker. He had seen it before, but Talia's devil fruit still amazed Vasilica. A lot of things did. He had lived such a sheltered life, never leaving his homeland until recently so he had never seen things like devil fruit users before.
The frogman might soon come to regret asking for who they were as Vasilica was one for formalities and thus his response might have been rather hard to digest. “My sincerest apologies for not introducing myself properly. My name is Vasilica Ionel Sandu Costel Goian, son of Andrei Traian Goian and Nicoleta Dana Goian and I hail from the duchy of Tara. I am a servant of Marius Victor oldest child of house Udrea, rulers of my homeland. I also serve as the housekeeper for the Viper Pirates. This lady here is Talia Losealot and she is the captain of said crew.” Not only was Vasilica overly polite to someone who had been trying to attack him just a moment ago he was also rather careless and naive to give out information this easily, though there really wasn't a whole lot more than a bunch of hard to remmeber names in the introduction. So there probably wasn't a whole anyone could take away from all this.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Sept 7, 2016 0:30:32 GMT -5
The frog man looked at Vasillica with raised brow, his jaw hung open. "... Who?"
Talia waved a hand dismissively. "Just call him Vasillica. And, my name is Talia Losealot of the Viper Pirates. We're a small band, without a doubt, but we're making a name for ourselves!" Talia scanned the town. "We found a treasure map. It led us here. Now, I know I have bad luck, but I certainly didn't expect to find the entire town up and leave."
The frog man gritted his teeth together. "Leave? They haven't left."
Talia blinked. "Then where are they?"
The frog man looked down, shaking his head. "They were taken." He looked up at a rather large, piercing mountain in the distance, far from town. "Black ink came washing ashore two weeks ago. It was an oddity at first. This is the Grand Line after all, we reckoned it would pass. It didn't. In the night the ink changed into the form of monsters. They wielded swords as black as night and round up all of the townsfolk. Any who fought back were slaughtered. They took everyone up to that mountain." The frog man sighed. "I fear whatever it is, it's after the same that you are, Talia Losealot, Vasillica. You're not the first to hear of my island's treasure."
"Ink monsters from the sea, you say--" started Talia, but then she stopped. "Wait, did you say 'your island'?" Talia knelt down to the frog's level. "Who are you?"
The frog cleared its throat in a croaking way. "If you would allow me to stand..."
Talia nodded. She removed a glove from her other hand and touched the frog. "You're bad luck is gone."
The frog rose to its flippers and sheathed his sword. "You must forgive me. I thought you were more monsters from the inky shores. My name is King William of Stone Mountain Island. Welcome to my kingdom."
Talia blinked. She almost burst out laughing, but held it in the best she could. "And you're a... frog?"
King William waved a clenched flipper at Talia. "I MAY BE A FROG, but I too am a King! A great King, mind you!!"
"Alright, alright." Talia looked back at the mountain in the distance. "Vasillica, what say we go up that mountain and save this kingdom from the evil ink monsters?" She looked back at King William. "And if we do, in return you give us your kigndom's grand treasure."
King William gave a froggy gulp.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 12, 2016 13:51:14 GMT -5
Even though he would never show it Vasilica was not happy how Talia had dismissed his grand introduction and how he was now demoted to 'just Vasilica'. He did not show much in terms of reactions when the frog spoke about what happened in this island either, with Vasilica only nodding every few seconds as a sign that he was listening.
Only when the frog had said his name did Vasilica respond: “I am very pleased to make your highness' acquaintance.” Shortly afterwards Vasilica also responded to Talia's suggestion to going to the mountain to seek the treasure: “Very well, master.” And so he headed towards the mountain, but not before saying his goodbyes to king William. “Your highness, please excuse us.”
There really wasn't a whole lot to see on the way to the mountain, as it had already been established there wasn't anyone there. Some buildings here and there, all of them empty. It did not take very long to arrive to the base of the mountain.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Sept 23, 2016 15:21:17 GMT -5
It didn't take long to reach the base of the mountain. A narrow rocky trail led part way up the mountain before entering a cave where a green glow appeared from within.
King William had followed them closely. "That's where the monsters took the townsfolk," said the king. "Inside that glowing cave. I tried going in, but there are monsters guarding the entrance! My scimitars... they went right through them!"
Talia put her hands on her hips. "Hmm, maybe its a logia related power? Only one way to find out!"
Talia led the way up the mountain path to the entrance of the cave. Inside, she could see strange crystals glowing green jutting out of the sides of the cave. At first, there was no sign of any guardians, but not a moment later two strange creatures seemed to appear out of the shadows themselves.
Both were roughly ten feet tall, inky black like shadows, save for their glowing eyes. Both had three sets of arms and each held a black blade. They screeched an awful screech and pounced towards Vasilica and Talia.
Talia quickly pulled a glove off her hand and attempted to touch the monster rushing towards her, but instead, she completely phased through it. The monster shot through her like a gust of cold wind. She almost fell to her knees as her body grew weak. "W-what was that?"
The creature then swung one of its black swords at Talia. She jumped out of the way just in time to see the blade slice through the ground. "They can control when they want to be solid or not.... Physical attacks aren't going to work!"
The second shadow creature continued coming towards Vasilica, and when it would come into range, it would attack with all six of its swords at once.
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 29, 2016 11:53:35 GMT -5
“Worry not, your highness. Everything will be fine.”
Once they entered the mountain Vasilica folded his umbrella as he didn't need it's protection from the sun any more. The inside of the mountain reminded Vasilica of home, it was indeed quite similar to the country he hailed from. However he did not have too much time to reminiscent as the shadowy like monsters soon attacked him and Talia.
True to his nature Vasilica would try to solve the issue at hand non-violently even if it may be very naive and ultimately pointless way to approach the situation. Not that Vasilica could have fought the shadows if what Talia said about the enemies being immune to physical attacks was true.
“We are terribly sorry to disturb you, but I assure you that we mean no harm. We would like to talk to the person in charge here. Where could we find them?”
He wasn't careless enough to let the shadow monsters to hurt him though as Vasilica would keep a safe distance from the enemy even while trying to talk to them. And he was fast. Very, very fast. Completely off-the charts fast. It would be unlikely that the monster could lay a finger on him no matter how hard it would try.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 11, 2016 21:39:29 GMT -5
Vasillica was fast. Really fast.
The ink monster continued to slash at Vasillica, but it could never quite reach him. Rather quickly, the monster appeared to tire out, its movement sluggish and its attacks weak.
To Talia's amazement, the ink monster she was fighting also appeared weak, even though it hadn't moved around at all.
"They're connected!" called out Talia. "Whatever happens to one of them happens to the other! And if they are connected...." Talia looked deeper into the cave, but the glowing green crystals didn't show very much, "there must be a common source somewhere nearby!"
As if one of the ink monsters heard Talia, it seemed to gain renewed strength and pounce at her again. Talia quickly placed a palm on the ground and shouted, "UNLUCK!" She then jumped back just before the ground began to crack and shatter beneath the ink monster's feet. It too had to jump away.
"Vasillica, see if you can find the source of these shadow monsters! They have to be nearby!"
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Post by Mise™ on Oct 16, 2016 11:45:15 GMT -5
Talking to the monstrosities ended up being futile as Vasilica didn't seem to get any kind of response out of them. He wasn't in any danger of getting hurt either as he was just too fast to ever take a hit. Not only that it would seem like the ink monster was getting tired and so running away from it would be even more of a trivial matter.
“Very well, master. I shall look for the source.” And so Vasilica was off on his search. With his blazing speed he could cover a lot of ground within a very short span of time. The biggest issue was though that he wasn't quite sure what the thing he was looking for would look like.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 30, 2016 21:37:52 GMT -5
Vasillica would quickly discover something strange.
While he was looking for the source of the shadow monsters, he would find, just inside the cave, a large statue carved into the rocky wall. The statue looked like a classic Buddha statue with one hand raised. Its eyes were beautiful gemstones. As the ink monster approached Vasillica, it suddenly fell to its knees before the statue, unmoving.
Without warning, the statue's gem eyes suddenly began to glow. A disembodied voice could be heard, echoing throughout the cave.
"Name your greatest desire," spoke the statue. "And it shall be so."
Meanwhile, Talia was too far away to hear or see what was going on, but was surprised to see that the ink monster she was fighting had also fallen to his knees.
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