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Post by CJ on Apr 4, 2013 13:25:19 GMT -5
"Sea Pony Princess!" the Commander exclaimed in great joy, opening his hands to her. "It's been so long since we've seen you! A whole 12 hours! We were so worried!"
He and the three other sea ponies surrounded Camellia and Finnegan. Thre three besides the Commander pointed their golden spears at him.
"Camellia?" he asked, looking at Shroud Demon. "What a strange word. Is that a term of endearment? I love it! It is so good to see someone else admires her so much!"
The Commander posed triumphantly with his hands in the air. The other ponies cheered and waved their spears with him.
"Now, let us leap into the sea together and return to the Sea Pony Kingdom! We'll take these two new vassals back under the ocean with us as punishment for your kidnapping!"
"WHAT!" Beth shouted, thrashing about in the water. "I am no one's servant and neither is Connor! Camellia, someone, do something!"
Held up at the behest of one of the other sea ponies with Connor dangerously unconscious with her, there was nothing much she could do.
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Post by Kyubey on Apr 10, 2013 13:36:49 GMT -5
Camellia continued to squeal with delight at the Pony commander, so happy that she was completely willing to overlook all the little things that Finnegan, unfortunately, did pick up on.
"Miss," he explained dryly, "We can't jump into the ocean with these fellows."
"And why not?" Camellia replied, not at all letting her butler ruin her happiest of moods. "It'll just be for a few days! And when we're done, we'll go right back to looking for my parents! And look, we even have these wonderful new friends to help us!"
"That's, ah, not what I'm concerned about. Rather, what I meant was, your ability to go underwater with them is quite hampered by your Devil Fruit power. And even if you weren't a Tea Tea Girl, you still can't be in the ocean for that long. You'd drown, Miss."
"Aw, let's not think about those little things right now!"
"What? Drowning is hardly a 'little thing!'"
But he just couldn't get through to her. Nothing in the world could stop the power of Camellia's Pony Friendship Dreams.
"...We'll take these two new vassals back under the ocean with us as punishment for your kidnapping!"
"Hold on hold on hold on!"
The possibility of drowning while exploring her wonderful Sea Pony kingdom didn't scare her at all, or even register as potentially dangerous, but the possibility of her vassals drowning did, and she wouldn't stand for it. After all, what kind of servants were these ponies if they were so willing to disobey her direct orders.
"These guys didn't kidnap me at all! You ponies have everything all mixed-up and wrong! They helped me a lot, actually! They're the best vassals I could have asked for, and I won't stand around and let you you punishing them as you please. While these vassals are here, you will treat them as guests, understand? Now then, as your princess, I order each one of you to get along and be on your best behavior!"
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Post by CJ on Apr 17, 2013 15:56:00 GMT -5
"Yes, Sea Pony Princess!" the Commander saluted with a trumpet-like frown. With a hand gesture over the side of the ship, one of the guards jumped out of the water and put the Andersons on the deck.
Beth shook the water off of her body and ringed her clothes. Connor fell to the deck coughed out some thick smoke, making the two guards around them step back and wave their tritons about to clear the air.
"What is going on?" he sputtered, looking at those present on the deck. "Where's...?"
"I don't know," Beth interrupted him, shaking her head in worry.
"Where's who?" one of the guards gurgled. "Sea Ponies! There's another one on this ship!"
"No, she snapped back, "he was talking about my bracelet! You idiots must have made me lose it when you threw us into the water!"
"Oh, alright," the Commander happily said with an innocent smile. "Now, we should have a celebration now that we've been reunited with the Sea Pony princess."
He slammed the butt of his triton onto the deck.
"Vassals, please demonstrate talents for us and our Sea Pony Princess! Entertain us, now!"
Beth looked at everyone there. She rolled her eyes at the casual nature of it all.
"We've got something," she said, "Hold on a second."
She opened a cabin door and came out after a few short seconds. She tossed a small object to Connor, who juggled it awkwardly as he caught it. It was a lighter.
"Come on. Do a trick, Connor."
"Oh. Ummm... sure."
Connor flicked the lighter and quickly ran his hand over the tip of the flame. It was the simplest thing, even something someone without flame resistance could do.
The Sea Ponies cheered, making him jump back slightly in surprise. They had never seen anything like it. It seemed like they were easily impressed.
"Another! Someone do another trick!" the Commander cheered.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Apr 19, 2013 23:13:55 GMT -5
"Oh. Ummm... sure."
"That was lame, I've seen horses set on fire before."
The small spheroid metal robot bobbed around in the air with a faint hovering sound, that sounded like a small spheroid metal robot bobbing around in the air. Audibly unimpressed by the display, Bader's "voice" was the only way to tell what it was "thinking" or "feeling". Bobbing forward, or at least with the intent that it was closer to the people seeking to be impressed, it extended a little satellite dish from its chassis.
"If you want to see something rad, check this shit out."
There could be heard some communique chatter, though specifically what was being said was unclear, as it was too fast and partially in code similar to a police bulletin. After that the mini dish retracted, and a large amount of nothing happened. It was a painfully long time given that people might have been waiting, and someone could probably just ignore it altogether and take their turn instead.
After some uncounted lengthy moments, if anyone managed to notice, there was a faint glimmer in the sky. Almost as soon as it could be noticed, there touched down on the deck of the ship a large canister. Roughly the shape of a pill and two-tone in color but the size of a suitcase, it had descended from the sky like an artillery shell and split the air with a short but loud roar, potentially embedding deeply in the deck. There was a scratchy yellow serial number imprinted across the thing, and Bader circled around it a few times in showy response.
"Ta-daa~!"
Whatever the case, the canister didn't seem to mind, and promptly began to open, steam hissing from the openings. Eventually the top simply shot off, probably flying over the deck and into the water, and the canister could empty its contents; pressurized confetti. As well, there was contained within a nice birthday cake with candles lit. Anyone could just take it at this point, and do whatever with it. Otherwise, the canister did nothing else beyond just sit there and house the contents.
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Post by Kyubey on May 10, 2013 3:22:38 GMT -5
At Connor and Bader's lovely display of tricks and wonderment, Camellia giggled and clapped, like she was at a festival of some kind. Finnegan sighed, part of him continuing to be worried about the intentions of the Sea Ponies, part of him troubled by Bader's foul language, and most of him concerned about the health risks involved with eating cake before dinner.
"Yay! Bravo, bravo!" she cheered, moments before her competitive side kicked in. Other people were doing tricks and getting attention, which, of course, meant she wanted to do one, too.
"Finnegan!"
"Yes?"
"Put me down a sec!"
"Very well, but may I ask why?"
"Because! We gotta show them our special move!"
"Ehm, which one would that be?"
"Y'know! The one we've practiced! The one that doesn't involve hurting people."
"Ah yes. Coming right up, Miss."
As instructed, Finnegan set Camellia's cup down onto the deck, and stepped two paces backwards. Camellia grinned impishly, and then arched her neck backwards, looking up to the sky above.
"Tea-Tea Rainbow!"
A strong torrent of hot tea sprayed upwards from Camellia's mouth, rising up like water from a fountain. Finnegan, as if on cue, leapt high into the air, much higher than what would have been possible for the average man of his age and stature, coming to a peak just above the point where the tea stream ended. Once his jump reached it's zenith, he quickly twirled three times in midair, before gracefully landing back on the floor, finishing the move with a short little jig.
"TA-DA!"
"Ta-da."
Upon completion of the move, Finnegan bowed, cleared his throat, straightened his jacket, and picked up the cup again, returning to his normal attentive pose. Camellia, meanwhile, was staring at her audience (if they were watching,) smiling like a fool and holding out her arms as if she were expecting applause.
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Post by CJ on May 11, 2013 12:21:44 GMT -5
Previously excited about Bader's amazing feat, the sea ponies seemed to want to dig right into the cake. Their horn-like mouths drools as their black eyes sparkled.
It wasn't until Camellia and Finnegan's trick, however, that they were truly excited. They danced about under the rainbow as Beth and Connor watched on in awe.
"THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!"
"MARVELOUS!"
"GLORIOUS!"
"YES AND Wait, our princess can't do that!"
The Commander's eyes narrowed as he pointed toward Camellia. Things were getting suspicious.
"Are you truly the Sea Pony Princess? You look just like her but she most certainly can't do that!"
"Yes, because she's not the Sea Pony Princess, idiots! I am!"
Another Sea Pony stepped out from the cabin door. She must have been hidden within the ship, previously unseen until now. She was smaller in height and looked about Camellia's age. A frilly pink dress poofed around her form. She was a fishman as the others were, looking like a seahorse body with human arms and legs.
"The resemblance! It's so uncanny!" the Commander cried.
"Are you kidding?" the Sea Pony Princess frowned. "I'm nothing like this girl! I'm so disappointed in you all!"
"Princess, we're so sorry!" the Sea Ponies pleaded and bowed.
"You shall never be forgiven! Pirates, what do you think would be proper punishment for my servants for bothering all of you?"
"Punishment?" Connor asked in worry. Beth silently looked toward the others, wondering what they would say.
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Post by Kuro on May 11, 2013 12:45:16 GMT -5
Shroud Demon, who had been eating the cake that had fallen from the sky, jumped up and applauded his princess once she finished her trick.
"Wow, that was great! That was the greatest trick ever!" said the crusader, although his mouth was obviously full of something as he spoke and there was cream and frosting all over his bucket. He gulped what he had been eating and splattered another handful of cake onto his bucket, generally making a mess as he...ate. When the sea ponies started casting doubts though, Shroud Demon stood up and pointed at the naysayers. "How dare you, traitors?! You would call the Beautiful Pony Princess Camellia a liar? You attack her honor, which as a knight of justice and peace, I must defend! Come at me, villains!"
And right when Shroud Demon raised his sword to begin the fight, another pony showed up. Well, she didn't look like a pony, but she was a seahorse person thing. When she said that she was the Sea Pony Princess and the other ponies bowed, Shroud Demon looked back and forth between her and Camellia.
"...Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
He smacked his fist into his palm in a moment of enlightenment. "There are two Pony Princesses! That makes so much sense..."
He did a little bow before the new princess and waved. "Hello there, Pony Princess Number Two! Did you come here because you wanted to speak to Pony Princess Number One? Huh? Punishment? Uh...Oh oh oh, I got it! They should, uh...give us all of their armor and weapons! Yeah, they should give a fellow knight their stuff so that he can be better and stronger and more of a knight, yeah! Can we do that, please, pretty please?" He was actually pleading to Camellia at the moment, not realizing that she no longer had any control over the warriors.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on May 12, 2013 1:28:56 GMT -5
"You shall never be forgiven! Pirates, what do you think would be proper punishment for my servants for bothering all of you?"
"BEEEGIIIN THE BRAAAIIIN EXTRACTION!"
Without missing a beat, Bader extended a number of whirling blades, saws and even a corkscrew from its chassis. Before it could actually lobotomize anyone however, a flying shoe hit the robot and caused it to veer off to the side until it collided with the railing with a crash and rolled around sporadically. The deadly footwear attacker had tried to act as covertly as possible, but for all she had done, it seemed pointless to keep hiding. That, and having to wind back and throw with only one arm caused her to fall over, so it was plain to see her anyway.
"Right right, armor and... weapons. Also, the most proper punishment of all..."
She struggled greatly to get back up again, though managed to do so with the help of the railing. Precariously she leaned over to grab the crutch, and with it hobbled over to the others cautiously. It looked like she had had trouble getting dressed, and her hair was no longer tied back, though the reasons for this were probably obvious. To accommodate her recent loss, both her shirt sleeve and pant leg were rolled up for the appropriate missing limb, and she her eye (or lack thereof) shut. Clearly, she was having trouble of things, but she neither wanted to display that nor did she let it get the best of her.
"...would be to return to where they all came from. Regular old soldier duty... that's definitely worse than going around looking for the Princess and capturing people. A punishment as good as any, surely..."
She wasn't sure what Shroud Demon hoped to accomplish by gaining their armor and weapons, though she wasn't about to stop him from trying. Instead though, perhaps she could get them to simply leave altogether? It was worth a shot.
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Post by Kyubey on May 12, 2013 3:08:14 GMT -5
Camellia basked in the affection her pony friends were showering her with some more, before Sea Pony Princess Number 2 came in and crushed her dreams forever. To her, it was as if all the magic and joy in the world were compressed so small it could fit into the palm of one's hand, and then someone ate it. Right in front of her.
"Little Miss?! But... how?" exclaimed Finnegan, staring in amazement at Sea Pony Princess Number 2, wondering how there could possibly be two Camellia's.
"Finnegan. No."
All the words that were said after that were mushed together in Camellia's mind, lost in a sea of despair. Whatever they said sounded to her like another language, spoken many miles away. A cold sweat formed on her forehead, and her eyes were wide, bottom lip quivering. Slowly, she raised a single shaking hand, and pointed it at Sea Pony Princess Number Two.
"Guards... vassals..." she said, or rather, squeaked. "Please kill this imposter."
"Little Miss, I think that would be rather rude. Perhaps we might try doing something different?"
"What? No! That's not okay at all! I'm the Princess, aren't I?"
"Actually, Miss, I think that she really is the Princess these good Fishmen are looking for."
"NO! That's unacceptable! Look at her, thinking she's so great because she's walking around and stuff! She's clearly the imposter here! How could my vassals mistake her for me in the first place?"
"This is what we're saying. I think it's the other way around..."
"That's ridiculous. I was here first, wasn't I? And she even has the nerve to punish her own men because they happened to make me really really happy. Whoever heard of such a terrible thing? What kind of Princess does that?" exclaimed the girl who moments before asked her friends to murder an innocent so she could continue being Princess.
"Now Miss, I'm sure she's just upset."
"Yeah and I'm upset too! Where's the punishments going on in my honor?"
"I don't think any punishments are needed here, Miss. This was but a misunderstanding. Surely you can forgive them for that?"
"But... they said I was their Princess..."
"And you had your fun with that. But you can't stay here forever, can you?"
"...I... I guess not..." Right then, Camellia remembered what was most important to her: the friends she was sailing with before, and the quest she had already devoted herself to. She knew what the truth was, but that didn't make admitting it any less disappointing for her. She sank back down into her cup, and stopped bubbling momentarily.
"Miss? Will you be alright? Do we need to go inside?"
Camellia paused for a while, thinking hard about the question, and then popped her head back up, looking as if she was fighting back tears.
"No. I'll be okay."
Finnegan nodded approvingly. "And what about the Sea Pony Princess?"
Camellia looked to the Sea Pony Princess, seeming almost guilty. "I'm sorry, Ms. Pony. Can you forgive me?"
"You're sure about this, Camellia?"
Camellia looked up at Finnegan, eyes still wide. "Yup. It was fun being Princess, but I don't wanna take that away from somebody else just because I was having fun with it. It's her that these ponies love, after all." She looked back to the Princess and grinned. "You can have your soldiers back. They were really nice to me. I'm sure they take real good care of you. And don't worry about me, I have these guys to protect me." she gestured to Finnegan, and then to Beth, Connor, Shroud Demon, and Kaede. "Even if I don't have any nations or anything yet, they still make me feel like a Princess. That's good enough for me, uh-huh! Now about the punishment... well, when I find my parents, you can take us on a tour of your lovely kingdom? Hows about that for ya?"
Now she was smiling brightly and genuinely, confident in her decision. "Oh... one other thing. I heard some real pretty singing last night. Was that you?"
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Post by CJ on May 12, 2013 15:22:29 GMT -5
The Sea Pony Princess nodded to Shroud Demon. Her sea horse face appeared to smile.
"Sounds good to me," she neighed. "Sea Pony Guard! Give this silly bucket wearer your armor!"
"Yes, Sea Pony Princess!"
The guards began to take off their armor and place it at Shroud Demon's feet. It was steel of gold color with sea pony etchings of coral, waves and other artistic depictions. It looked incredibly expensive.
As soon as Bader suggested a brain extraction, Connor lost his cool.
"No, don't do that!" he shouted, stumbling forward to stop the robot. The shoe flew past his face, making him fall back.
A kind smile came about his face, seeing who threw it. He got to his feet and stayed close to her to help if she ever would ask for it. Having lost so much on a mission to get Connor's body back, it wasn't surprising how much more dedicated he was to her since they left Seven Gates.
"It's nice to see you today, Kaede," he greeted her with a slight bow.
"Looking good, kid," Beth said with a grimace. She couldn't hide her disgust over Kaede's new appearance as well as Connor could. She would always like the young scientist, but her feeble form would always be a reminder to Beth's own failure to save her as well.
"Changes will be made to their position," the Sea Pony Princess agreed with Kaede. "Good suggestion."
The Sea Pony Princess and her guards all whinied at Camellia's suggestion to kill. They breathed a sigh of relief and the Sea Pony Princess shook her head at the Tea Cup girl.
"Forgive you?" she laughed. "Never! You shall be executed!"
"Haha, just kidding! You're really cool for a human, Camellia. Sure, I'll take you on a tour! We'll put you in a bubble machine and I'll teach you how to put on makeup, the Princess way!"
With sparkling eyes, the Sea Pony Princess looked extremely happy to be acknowledged for her voice.
"Yes! That was me singing! I have to practice every night."
"You also have to practice something else, Princess," Beth said coldly. "Your attitude."
"How rude!" the Sea Pony Princess retorted with her hands on her hips.
"You ran away from these guards. How could you not expect them to take whatever measure they felt necessary to save you? Sure, they did some pretty stupid things but that doesn't excuse your own behavior. You abandoned them."
The Sea Pony Princess bowed her head in shame.
"I mean, I am right, aren't I?" Beth asked the group.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on May 15, 2013 23:00:19 GMT -5
"I mean, I am right, aren't I?"
"Right, considering they were about to drown people for her sake."
If there was any disgust among the Andersons towards her current state, they did a good job of hiding it from Kaede, and seeing their response was a big pick-me-up for the girl. It helped to justify her coming out of her room for the day, and at the very least helped to build her acceptance of the way things were. If the response would always be like this, then she might be able to get used to her new life. What more, seeing Connor well, was more than enough for her.
"You might have wanted to get away from them, but think about how they must have felt all this time, looking for you. You're their Princess, what would they do without you?"
Hobbling over to the side a bit, she balanced on her leg in order to use the crutch to drag the shut-down Bader closer to her. She was curious to learn about how it had brought down a canister of cake seemingly out of nowhere, but that could wait till later. Right now, she didn't want it rebooting and causing another mess.
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Post by Kyubey on May 18, 2013 21:02:12 GMT -5
Camellia beamed merrily as the Sea Pony Princess invited her to the undersea kingdom. She never really learned how to put on makeup in any fancy ways before, being that most of her friends growing up were either male or not the sort of female who typically put on makeup at all. Her expression lessened slightly though, after Beth began to admonish the Princess. In such a short time, the tea girl gradually built up a strong liking towards the royal pony.
"Hey, it's not really her fault, is it?" she spoke up in defense of the Princess. "The guards were just kidding about the drowning thing, right? Nothing bad happened, so everything's alright! Maybe she just wanted to be away for a while. Isn't that kinda normal? I mean, to wanna be on your own for a while, without anyone looking after you or keeping you back? I think, if you were able to..."
"Camellia," Finnegan said suddenly and sharply, in a tone that none of the others on the ship would have heard from him before. "It appears to me that these recent disturbances have made you quite upset, and that is not good for your health. Perhaps it would be best for us to go back inside, now."
Though Camellia's expression had changed drastically in the past few seconds, it wasn't exactly as her butler had described. Rather than looking upset, the girl merely seemed deeply confused.
"No... I'm okay, really... It's just that I'm..."
"Enough of that, now." He then spoke to the Princess, using the same tone with her as he did with Camellia. "Excuse me for saying this, Your Highness, but Ms. Anderson is absolutely correct. Not only is it most unbecoming to abandon your guards like you did, but it was dangerous for yourself as well. A young girl like you needs guards, to stay safe. Leaving them was most unwise. I recommend never thinking of doing such a thing again." Having said that, he turned to the Pony Guards. "You have located your Princess, have you not? A pirate ship is no place for one of her position. I think it is best that you leave now."
"No!" Camellia said desperately, and then looked up at Finnegan, whose hand remained clenched on the handle of her cup. Her mouth opened and closed two or three times without making any sounds, and her eyes glimmered pleadingly. There were things she wanted to say, a lot of important things, but as she gazed upwards, none of the words came to her. "They can stay a bit longer, right? Please Finnegan... please no."
Finnegan did not answer her, and instead just stared coldly down.
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Post by CJ on May 26, 2013 22:53:46 GMT -5
Connor reached out to help Kaede as she balanced on one leg. He thought deeply about what she said, almost missing what transpired next.
The Princess ran away from her home to avoid all of the attention her guards were giving her. Likewise, he hid his involvement in the Grand Path so Beth wouldn't be involved or put in danger. This journey made him realize he should be more honest about himself to others. As much as he hated himself, people cared about him. Kaede herself lost so much to give him the chance to live normally again. He had to live for his friends and tell them when things went wrong.
He simply did not know how to say it though. Even though he felt so much more alive, something wasn't right. He couldn't figure out what he was doing when he tried to extract Kaede from the machine in Seven Gates. He might have killed her after all she had done, simply based on instinct.
The horrible feeling kept coming back that maybe getting his body back wasn't the best idea after all.
---
"Well!" the Sea Pony Princess exclaimed to Kaede and Finnegan. "I never! How dare you insult me with your reasonable comments!"
"And hey!" Beth interrupted. "We're not pirates. Just because... at least one of us has a bounty doesn't mean we're pirates."
She sure dodged that bullet. She still hadn't told Connor about the technicality that was her entrance into the Grand Path. Putting a brutal end to Tomahawk gained her the #3 spot. It was only a matter of him before he figured it out, but she would rather give him time to get used to being in a questionable weaker body before dropping the news.
"I suppose you're all right," the Sea Pony Princess said with drooping arms. "I should appreciate my guards. Without them, I wouldn't have a chance to show off my beauty!"
"Sea Pony Princess!" the guards cried with beautiful tears in her eyes.
"Do you all want a hug?" she whinnied cutely.
"Yes!"
The group came together in the most glorious hug that ever was seen. A rainbow stretched across the sky behind them.
As soon as the glory was finished, the Sea Pony Princess addressed them all again with a deep curtsy.
"For your troubles, I shall present you all with a gift from our kingdom. Please tell me, which quality do you value most? Wisdom, Compassion, Courage, Humility, Fortitude or Charity?"
"Easy," Beth quirped, "Fortitude."
Connor stayed silent and was clearly conflicted about the whole matter.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on May 28, 2013 17:08:11 GMT -5
"Oh, thanks Connor... I think I got it though."
Kaede appreciated Connor's help and thanked him for it, but even if she didn't show it or let it on, she didn't want it to be a regular thing. She didn't fault him for trying, or caring, but she hoped that wasn't what she had to look forward to from now on; people going out of their way to help her, to accommodate her, because of her physical condition.
"Oh uh... wisdom, probably."
She wasn't sure what the Princess was getting at, but Kaede responded honestly. Taking a moment to think about it though, she wasn't sure if she liked her answer so much. Time was, wisdom was the only thing that mattered to her, when it was the difference between detaining a person with a bounty and dieing in the process. Whether she accepted it or not though, she was becoming a very different person from the one she was only a couple of years ago, and she was no longer certain that wisdom was indeed the most important thing to her.
When she had the chance later, she'd have to figure out if maybe one of the other choices was better, though for now she stuck with her answer.
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Post by Kyubey on Jun 2, 2013 1:51:43 GMT -5
The easily distracted Camellia smiled briefly as the Sea Pony Princess hugged her guards, but still there was something that seemed to be troubling her. Her new pony friend was lucky enough to be a princess with people that loved her, she understood that clearly. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that the best thing for someone to have in the world was people who cared enough to protect them, but at the same time, she thought there was something sad about it as well. All the princess wanted was to be free, free to go out and explore when she liked, and be alone if she wanted. Why was everyone treating that like it was a bad thing?
"We're not pirates. Just because... at least one of us has a bounty doesn't mean we're pirates."
"Pardon me, Finnegan replied, I just assumed, since you said earlier that you had associated with a Warlord in the past, that the World Government may have marked you as pirates. I am very sorry, it was not my intention to insult you."
"Geez, Finnegan," Camellia said, not looking up at her butler, "You make it sound like being pirates is a bad thing."
"Because it is."
"Sometimes yeah, but there are lots of really cool pirates also!"
"That is incorrect, miss."
Camellia didn't bother arguing, for now her thoughts were filled with magical rainbows and presents. Whatever was troubling her moments earlier, even that was gone completely from her mind. Presents and rainbows had a way of doing that to children. She put a finger to her chin and hummed loudly, thinking deeply about the Princess's question. It seemed that the answer would affect what present she would get, and thus she put as much consideration as possible. What was most important to her? For a pampered thirteen-year-old, it wasn't the sort of question that popped into her mind a whole lot, but now that it was there, she felt she just had to come up with a good answer. Having chosen one of the options, she grinned contently, knowing that it was completely true.
"Compassion!" she exclaimed proudly, and then leaned forward, her arms dangling out the edge of her cup, before glancing upwards.
"Finnegan? Aren't you going to answer too?"
"Oh no thank you, I'm in no need of presents."
"Sure you are. Everyone's in need of presents. Don't kill everyone's fun!"
"It's, er, fun enough knowing you're having fun, Miss."
"Finnegan. I order you to stop being such a butt and tell the princess which quality you like best."
"Humility," he said flatly, without thought or hesitation.
"That's better!" Her stubborn butler having been dealt with, She looked at the Sea Pony Princess expectantly, wondering just what her prize would be for choosing the right answer.
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