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Post by Kyubey on May 19, 2014 2:07:47 GMT -5
The hunter's kills were quick and efficient, not hindered at all by the resistance of her victims and with no useless movements, but they were not all all clean. By the time the last of the Victorians fell, she was drenched in blood, to the point of nearly being unrecognizable.
When Jackal called to her, she looked his way, still pulling her knife out of the last body. She didn't quite grasp what he was talking about, technology not being a subject of expertise for her, but she got the basic message, hold onto him, and she'd be on the airship. Why she couldn't just jump on herself, she would ask later, as Jackal was in much too much of a hurry. When she did grab onto the bleeding, shambling man, he might have felt some pain, as the hunter was holding on rather tight to his shoulder, not particularly concerned about his own comfort.
"Okay. Let's fly now."
When she noticed Hil, who looked poised to cause some problems for her and Jackal, her lip curled into a frown, as she wasn't able to do much else. She thought she recognized him, and guessed that he was probably from Kusu's pirate crew. While the hunter knew everything that Lynwood did, some memories were a little bit blurred, and so not every face would come immediately matched with a name.
"I think I know you," she called to Hil. "Don't do that."
She hoped that whatever sort of technology was going to pull her and Jackal to the ship, would be able to do so before Hil cut the rope. That is, if, for some reason, he didn't listen to her telling him not to. If the Victorians were any indication, everyone was being most uncooperative.
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Post by Kuro on May 20, 2014 12:33:52 GMT -5
Jackal and the hunter had already been speeding towards the airship by the time Hil appeared. The Victorian's eyes widened behind his mask when he saw the swordsman's intentions.
The rope was cut easily and for a single moment, Jackal and the hunter hung in the air, only a few meters away.
And then Jackal took out the second grappling gun.
"HA! Always prepared!"
Titania stood by Kusu, the two looking at the metallic liquid covering most of the alleged boogeyman's body. There was the occasional twitch, but nothing more. She shook her head and sighed, not bothering to turn her head to Kusu to address her.
"He'll live, if that's what you're wondering. Heh. So fabled and mighty, and yet when you legendary Phantom Hawks, or whatever you call yourselves now, march into our land, you fall apart, one by one. Why, it's almost pitiful! And here I thought you were supposed to be the menace of the earth. Hmpf. Ah well. All that matters is that everyone thinks you're dangerous. Yes...that's all that matters."
Part of a window shattered and a dull thud came a moment after. A single, taut rope stretched diagonally across in the room, from the window to a wall. Titania nearly shouted in fury, but froze at the sound of cackling.
The rest of the window shattered, the glass pieces flying about the room. Titania raised an arm to defend herself from the shards that came her way, and lowered it to see a screaming man in tatters leap at her.
The Victorians tumbled away from the others, the two rolling about and sinking their fists into each other as they fought for the upper hand. Their blades shot out at the same time and hit with a clang.
Their knives ended up inches away from each other's necks, the two putting their all into this test of strength. Healing or no, pain was still a factor and the pain of a slit neck would be more than enough to disable someone. Unsure of what the hunter was doing and unable to redirect his attention from the immediate threat, he screamed a familiar order at her.
"HUNTER! KILL THEM! KILL EVERYONE! IMMEDIATELY!"
He glimpsed something small and something black in his peripheral, but there was no time to see what they were. Other Victorians, most likely. Yes, yes, he'd love to hear their screams as his living weapon tore them apart. Magnificent, ah ha ha ha! He'd dump their bodies overboard before they could heal; it'd be difficult for a puddle of red to regenerate into anything, ah ha!
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Post by CJ on May 21, 2014 15:11:55 GMT -5
Kusu grimaced, seeing Mr. Dark twitch. Just what was happening to him? Did he really need this strange metal stuff to live? She didn't like having to rely on this strange woman. She didn't understand why, but she reminded her too much of Slythe and Lust. Were all these people related or something?
Suddenly, the window shattered, distracting her from her thoughts.
"Weird lady!" Kusu shouted as she was tackled by none other than Jackal.
In the corner of her eye, she saw a familar face she thought she might never seen again.
"Lynwood."
At that moment, the floor erupted in chaos about the hunter. Metal grew like crazed vines, twisting this way and that, blocking her from reaching Kusu, Mr. Dark or Kalen. Eventually, they all reached the ceiling and came crashing down toward Lynwood, intending to skewer her through with jagged ends. It was malicious and unforgiving. The metal being wanted her absolutely dead.
"Hil! Stop! Get back here right now!"
Just before the finishing strike, the metal retreated back toward the young girl. It formed back into its original form. The katana shimmered in the dim light, now directly pointed at the hunter in Kusu's hand.
"I'm sorry, Lynwood," she said with a frown. "There's no more time for fun. I can't let you continue killing people. It's very bad. If you hurt one more person, I might have to do something horrible. I don't think I could ever consider you my friend again, but you can still redeem yourself."
Kusu had always admired Lynwood. She was the only example she knew of what a real young maiden was. Now, she wasn't sure of anything. All she knew was that what Lynwood was doing was wrong.
"What do you say? Would you like to try?"
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Post by Shark a' Pult on May 22, 2014 10:28:21 GMT -5
"Whoah whoah what?! What's going on here then?"
The crash of the window startled Kalen awake. He was rather disoriented, but was able to make sense of where he was, and soon made out the presence of his friends and Titania. It seemed though that the situation was rather dire, especially between Kusu and Lynwood.
"Hey, hey! Is this really the time for that? I think we can settle anything we need to, once we're out of here and to safety."
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Post by Kyubey on May 23, 2014 2:45:25 GMT -5
Following the crash, the hunter rolled to the center of the room, her limbs dotted with little cuts from the glass shards. She had expected to see more Victorians like the ones she had slaughtered in the airship, and as such she already had her knife poised to dig into the first soul she saw. But by the time she had stopped rolling, she reacted quick enough to notice that something was wrong. It wasn't like Jackal had said, not at all.
"HUNTER! KILL THEM! KILL EVERYONE! IMMEDIATELY!"
The hunter looked forward, eyes still flashing with her usual bloodthirst, but calmed once she saw who it was she was facing. Without really trying, having given up hope that she even could anymore, she had found exactly the person she was looking for. She turned to Jackal, still as flat as before.
"Don't give me orders."
She looked like she was about to say something further, directed at Kusu, but that was when Hil made his attack. From the second the metal vines appeared, the hunter tensed up, emitting a dangerous sort of aura, accompanied by her signature low growl. She knew that these things couldn't be killed the same way all the others were. But that would not have prevented her from trying. When the being came crashing towards her, though, her mannerisms changed again. She brought herself lower to the ground, poised like a snake, and her growl turned into a scream. It was not a scream that could be called human in any sense, it was more deep, bestial, instantly recognizable in the wild as a warning, a demand to stay away. The noise would have been piercing and reverberating, enough to bring a chill to any average person. Even after the threat had passed, the hunter's posture did not change right after, and her breathing was heavy and alert.
It seemed to be Kusu's voice that snapped her out of her frenzied state, and she stood upright, though still cautious of the girl and her katana. The hunter did not really understand what Kusu was talking about, bu she listened attentively to what the Captain had to say, her face unchanged with every word, save for one: the name Kusu called her.
"I am not Lynwood. I know you, Kusu, Captain, but I'm someone else. Lynwood is gone. Don't worry, I won't kill you, so you don't have to be afraid."
Unlike everything else that the hunter had said until this point, that last statement, specifically, when she affirmed that she was to be separate from Lynwood, had inflection. It was slight, unnoticeable to almost everyone, save for perhaps Jackal who had heard the hunter talk quite a bit, but there was an edge in her voice that she did not have until Lynwood was mentioned.
"Hey, hey! Is this really the time for that? I think we can settle anything we need to, once we're out of here and to safety."
"Yes, I think so as well," the hunter replied. By this time, the edge in her tone had vanished entirely, and she was back to how she was. She turned her head in Jackal's direction, not really looking at him, but not looking away either. "I think now is when we leave. Fly the ship, like you said you would."
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Post by Kuro on May 27, 2014 17:27:23 GMT -5
Jackal was too busy to respond to the hunter's disdain for orders. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it anyway; he had been injured far too much on his journey here. Adrenaline and anger could only go so far.
"I think now is when we leave. Fly the ship, like you said you would."
"N-no, no, no." Jackal would have shook his head if it weren't for his opponent's knife coming closer. "You Victorians, hoarding your immortality for yourself." His tone was low, guttural, full of anger but directed at no one person in particular, not even his opponent. It would only have barely been heard by the others on the ship.
"You all threw me out, and for what? Because I had a little ambition, a little more than even the average Victorian? Ah hell, fine, hee hee hee, fine. I was a little more than ambitious. I could have changed the world with the technology you have. I could have fixed everything, I could have made it a better place, all with me ruling as its benevolent emperor. My rightful place, above all of you cheaters! You cheated me out of immortality!" He pushed back against his opponent's strength, the knives slowly moving back and forth. "You, you liars and cheaters! I deserve to rule! Me, me, me! I would have made the world a better place, but you all denied me! Every one of you Victori -"
He turned to look at the other Victorians in the crew, those who had sounded quite a bit like the pirates he had been traversing with earlier. He had simply attributed it to coincidence, as his full attention had been on the knife inches away from this throat.
He saw Kusu, Hil, Kalen, and Mr. Dark, all alive. Wounded, certainly, but alive.
After facing what Victoria had to offer, they were alive. They had somehow managed to move through a land of killers and end up alive on this ship.
All of them even looking like they were faring better than he was.
He had no words.
Well, except for one.
"Wha -"
The distraction took away enough strength for his arms to buckle under the opposition.
He felt the cold steel move through his neck.
Red sprayed onto Titania's mask. Not as much as expected though. Jackal fell back and on his rear. He put a hand to his neck, which only had a small cut on the side but was still bleeding. Leaning against the wall in his broken body, covered in tatters with crimson falling onto the floor, he looked like something thrown away.
Titania wiped the blood on her blade with a napkin before having it slide back into her sleeve. She looked down at the fallen Victorian, her mask still covered in his blood. He looked at her, the fury and hatred in his eyes still as strong as ever. When she spoke, it was with no such emotion.
"Your people exiled you for your constant attempts at usurpation, and in response to their scorn you promised to either kill or oppress them. Seems as if you prefer the former now." A pause. "Before your exile, there was never any talk of fixing everything or solving the world's problems, it was just you wanting to rule. After your exile, did you want to 'change it for the better' out of altruism or spite? When the people who you lived with, grew up with, hurt your pride, you wanted to kill them. What, I wonder, would you do against races and species you had never even met? Would you destroy each and every offender to your ego?"
Jackal's anger never wavered.
"You would never have been a benevolent emperor, Jackal. You're just a petty, pathetic creature full of spite and fury. The medicine in us Victorians, the one you never got? As I told Kusu only moments before you crashed in here, it altered our minds. It constantly filled us up with pain, and soon enough the brain gets twisted by the constant venom in our veins. We wanted to inflict our self-wrought suffering onto others and even as I speak of it now, I can barely resist that urge.
But you? You never had the medicine. You were never able to obtain a single drop.
So what does that make you? And if you were to take it, to sample that immortality, what would you become?
You're no savior. Just another bloodthirsty Victorian, except you don't have any medicine pushing you into madness. Not only that, but you hide behind words promising an utopia based on peace and kindness. If you ruled, you would destroy such a vision before it even came to fruition."
"N-n-nonsense", Jackal coughed, with the result of spitting blood. "You, someone should have sent me the medicine! There was a fellow Victorian outside your walls, all alone out there in the world, and none of you ever sent me anything, ah hack! Ack!" Another cough, but the anger in his eyes never wavered. "I suppose you all never even considered it, eh? When Victoria created that medicine in the time I was gone, none of you ever thought to send me one? And what, out of spite? Hypocrites! Spiteful, lying hypo -"
"SHUT UP!"
Jackal stopped, his glare having faltered for a moment.
"..."
Gritting teeth.
"...We did consider it."
An unbelieving stare.
"We considered it. There are only so many people in Victoria, we all know each other and we all knew you. We always remembered you. The usurper, the pest, the exile. A Victorian. And that was a fact. To deny any Victorian our medicine would be to deny that we as a whole were a higher race than any other on this planet. The word "Victorian" would not tell of an immortal ruler, simply of a rich fool who happened to take some choice medicine.
We knew this, and considered sending you the medicine. But we never did. Not a single Victorian here wanted to.
That was Victoria's only ever act of mercy.
You were away, and could only obtain the medicine if we allowed it. So we didn't. We had a choice, and we chose to deny you our suffering. We knew that even if we did tell you of the pain it brings, no warning would have ever stopped you. So we didn't offer you the chance."
Titania said nothing more at first. It was Jackal who broke the silence, the fury in his eyes now struggling with confusion.
"Wh...Why?"
"...Can't you listen, you insolent worm?" Her insult had no emotion behind it. "There are only so many people in Victoria. We all knew each other and we all knew you. We grew up with you. So many of us had known you our whole lives, just as you knew us up until the exile. We remembered your treason and your selfishness and your ambition, all of them even worse than that of any other Victorian at the time, but we still remembered you. The you before you had changed. The you we had known in a better time.
The medicine had still been new then. Perhaps if we had been asked to make the choice a few days ago, we would have sent you the medicine and reveled in your agony. Years of pain changes a person. But back then, when it was still early on...for the only time in our lives, we chose to show our enemy mercy.
I won't promise to make the world a better place. I don't know if I can even make Victoria a better one. I have no interest in dreams of some utopian world peace. But no matter what, I will remember that one act of kindness. While other civilizations have their histories rife with stories of love and goodwill, our home has one. I will not forget it. All of the other Victorians have, but I swore to never let it go. When we all suffered a new pain, when we all discovered that this immortality would come at a price, when we found a chance to inflict our exact pain onto one who had tried to hurt us so many times before, we chose mercy.
That gives me hope. It tells me we're not destined for this..." She looked out of the window. "...This pointless bloodshed. We can be better. Perhaps not for years, perhaps not even in any average person's lifetime but we can be better. We can change. But it won't be by your hands." Titania looked back at Jackal, her voice still so flat. So empty. "You are everything that is wrong with this place, just hiding behind different lies. You will change nothing."
Titania took out a syringe, much to Jackal's surprise. Even in his state, he weakly extended one hand towards the medicine, his immortality.
"...I can't trust you with this decision. We couldn't before and I can't now." She looked to the pirates and rolled it across the floor to their general vicinity. "You've all heard what I said. He'll die without it, but I don't care now. You choose. I won't deal with this thing anymore."
And with that, she walked into the cockpit.
The ship moved.
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Post by CJ on May 29, 2014 19:39:32 GMT -5
"I'm not afraid of you, Lynwood," Kusu said sternly. "It doesn't matter what you call yourself. You're still a killer and I won't tolerate people who kill on my crew. I'd rather die than consider you my friend the way you are now."
The young captain wanted to lash out at Kalen too, but she had to admit he had a good sense to leave and take care of the situation later. Things were still dangerous. Unfortunately, not everyone had made it through the ordeal. Where was the spider woman, the one who Kalen seemed to count as a friend? And who knew what had truly become of Wolf and the terrible Fenrir. Were they really locked inside the bracelets on her hands? Would Mr. Dark recover or would he end up like the terrible Victorians from all the medicine he had taken in?
All she truly knew was that there was one last person to account for. Struck down by his fellow Victorian, Jackal looked pathetic. Kusu didn't understand everything Titania said, but to her, it didn't matter. She had already made up her mind.
Stepping forward, she quickly snatched the syringe. Massive wings erupted from her back, creating a sort of barrier between Jackal and the others. With a crooked beak nose and solemn expression, she seemed more like an angel of death than the young pirate captain.
She knelt over Jackal and lifted the syringe.
"Hil, now."
The katana exploded into the metal tendrils again. Doing what it did best, it stabbed the syringe directly into Jackal's neck. Kusu aimed to hold down the Victorian in case he resisted.
"No one deserves to die," she said coldly. "Not even you."
The sword stopped before giving Jackal the entire dose. The spirit inside was set, like Titania, to make sure the Victorian didn't achieve the same immorality as the others. But he wasn't a doctor, like Mr. Dark. Any dosage might have been enough to set Jackal into immortality. But he couldn't disobey Kusu. Her mind was set. She wanted Jackal to live, even at the risk of possibly endangering others in the future.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jun 1, 2014 22:01:33 GMT -5
The shepherd heard what Kusu said to the hunter, and without missing a beat he offered his own response. It wasn't contemplative or patronizing, angry or regretful. It was eerie, but hee said it about as plainly as was possible, like he was reading a fact from a book.
"No killers on the crew? But you're a killer."
Kalen unfortunately, having had his own Victorian escapade with Titania was only privy to the overall situation from what little he could glean of her long explanation to Jackal. He knew at least one thing though, that Jackal had been bad, and the injection would make him worse.
"No, don't! Why are you... did not hear like, the whole entire thing she just said?"
It was too late, and Kalen didn't think he could stop Kusu (or more appropriately, Hil) anyway. He moved to do so, reaching an arm out in protest, but stopped himself and just brought it to his face as he shook his head. He remembered how Kusu had nearly cost them their lives in Breakwater, and now this? That was two strikes by anyone's keeping, as far as he was concerned. Instead, he just moved to the cockpit and sought to find out what lie in store for their immediate future. Rather than barging in though he knocked on the doorway to make clear his presence, doubly so if the door was shut.
"Excuse me Miss, but is there a plan for where we're headed now? I hate to be frank, but this place is a mess."
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Post by Kyubey on Jun 2, 2014 3:15:19 GMT -5
The hunter looked at Kusu. That may have been how it seemed, given the line of her sight, but it may very well have been that she was looking at the space behind Kusu, or immediately next to her. It was hard to tell, with the hunter, but she was certainly listening to the little captain's words, and trying to understand them. She did not listen to Titania or Jackal, because she knew right away that she couldn't understand what they were talking about, and she didn't know one of them so it didn't matter to her anyways.
"I could call myself anything I wanted. I could even call myself Lynwood. That would not make me Lynwood. Sorry," she said. "I had to kill. Otherwise, I would have died. Hunters only kill to survive, or help the ones they care about. If I stay on this island, I will die. I can handle the air here better than the Urdian did, but I am still dying. If you didn't let me stay with you... and I was killed because of that... what would that mean?"
However the question may have seemed to others, to the hunter, it came from a genuine place of confusion. It was only after Kalen came in with his own response to Kusu's statement that something clicked.
"Ah. I understand now." whatever it was she figured out, she didn't think to say out loud. "Okay. I will listen to you. As long as I'll stay with your crew, I won't kill anything. It is alright, then. Yes. Then I'll do that."
Having decided this, the hunter walked to a corner of the room, and sat down in a cross-legged fashion. From her mood, it seemed like she didn't have any concerns in the whole world, in that moment. She looked disinterestedly at what Kusu was doing to Jackal, not really knowing what was going on, but having taken in enough to know that it was probably not a bad thing.
"Don't let him die, please. I need him to live, too. I think."
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Post by Kuro on Jun 7, 2014 11:52:42 GMT -5
Jackal shuddered when Kusu's shadow fell upon him. They were so different in terms of power, of status, of wisdom, experience, and all of the things that make up a person and yet there they were, Jackal on the floor and Kusu looming over him. An angel of death, with Jackal's life in her hands. All of the years he had lived through, all that he had done, all in the grasp of one child. Preteen. Whatever.
The whole audacity of the situation, the sheer humiliation, the nullifying of all of his power, the fact that all that he was could be crushed by just one, little child.
It was too much to take.
When she came closer and knelt, he shut his eyes and threw his arms up to shield himself.
"Hil, now."
He whimpered as he waited for the blow.
He screamed when the blade stuck into his neck. Although, it was a rather thin blade, wasn't it? And it only went in so far. It was more like a needle -
His eyes shot open. For a few moments, they only stared into space, amazed that they could still see anything at all. The cold touch of the fluid he had for so many years yearned for barely registered. All he could do was redirect his stare at the child before him.
The fluid began to wash over his face, not caring that his mouth and eyes were still open in shock and confusion. The last thing Kusu would see before it finished was an eye staring at her until the end.
The door was indeed shut, but a terse "enter" allowed or perhaps demanded of him passage. Soon after he came in, she responded.
"We're going to leave through the top. The way you came in is likely filled with Victorians waiting to stop us from leaving. These walls do not make a ceiling, but they reach high enough to make the illusion they do. It's unfeasible that any external force would ever be able to reach such a height; there are no defenses there.
Once we're out, you will be dropped off at Sector 11, the place where Jackal recruited you. With Armada Tower demolished, it will be difficult for Slythe and the Executives to reestablish contact with those under its rule. Once you reach the sector though, you'll have to get on your ship and leave as soon as possible. Get out of Arkady territory. Never come back."
A pause.
"Although there really isn't much reason for you to come back at all, is there? You broken little lot. Hmph."
A pause.
"...What will you do now? After all of this? Will you simply sail away on your little boat of adventures and do the same thing again? Perhaps with some other civilization, some other city, some other set of villains for you to defeat. What do you get out of all this, you senseless worm? What in the world do you gain from...this?"
As she waited for an answer, the airship had been slowly rising and rising for all this while. There was the occasional bang or clang of a bullet against the hull, but far fewer than one may expect.
For most of the ride, there was nothing but the sound of flames burning.
What most do not know is that the walls of Victoria are actually sloped. Because of their immensity, none of the edges can be seen at most times, which makes the illusion of a flat, all-encompassing whiteness. The sloped walls had purpose; it removed the need of a large, flat ceiling that could have collapsed at any moment. Instead, the slopes reached up towards the center until they stopped at the top: One, small, single circle, more than enough for any vehicle to exit or enter, were they to achieve such a height.
The airship rose from the exit silently, the sound of flames long gone. Were they to look out of the window though, the last sight the pirates would see of Victoria was that of a small hole, in which a blackened pit burned miles down. A peek into hell, far away in the chaotic depths below. One could only wonder if the city had turned into such as a result of the day, or if it was simply showing its true colors.
In the time it took for the airship to reach Sector 11, Jackal was still healing and did nothing more than lay on the floor.
Mr. Dark's skin had begun to regrow over the metallic medicine, the flesh stretching and molding over its new interior.
It had all been a gradual process, clear for anyone to see if they had the stomach for it. It was near the end of the trip that he did something besides twitch.
"...Selene?"
Only a whisper, at first. He opened his eyes and blinked several times before groaning.
"Selene, please don't wake me so early, I need to slee -"
He jumped to his feet at the feel of his gloved hand on his face. Immediately his eyes had changed from a lost, confused look to a hard and steely one. He looked all around him, his arms raised in preparation as he looked for an enemy to fight. This setting was unfamiliar, but in it was Kusu, Kalen, Lynwood -
He did a double-take at Lynwood, remembering how she had turned into some murderous beast. His analyzing gaze lingered over her before looking over the rest of the room once more.
A strange, metallic mass laid on the floor, but the others seemed to pay it no mind. Wolf wasn't there, or was the spider girl. Perhaps the latter was in another room, although for some reason he doubted it. He looked at one of the large, shattered window in the room and saw the clouds drifting by. They were flying, and doing so at a speed that did not signify urgency or chase, or else everything would be flying out at the moment.
So. They had escaped Victoria. And without a single enemy behind them.
A success, more or less. So then, why did he feel as if something was so wrong? He was alive, and felt better than ever. In fact, he hadn't felt so well in years. In fact, it almost felt as if he wasn't hurt at all.
...
At
all.
He turned to Kusu, his usual monotone trembling, like his body.
"Kusu. What has happened to me?"
Two ordinary eyes (albeit with considerable bags underneath them) looked at the pirate captain before him. His skin was somewhat pale, but not so much as to appear ghoulish. An unkempt mess of black hair reached near his shoulders. His face was long and gaunt with an expression poorly attempting a flat facade.
Whatever showed through the holes and tatters of his torn-up clothing hinted at a lean and muscular body, now with not a scar on it.
As he waited for an answer from Kusu, he looked at the person nearby. The one who looked like Lynwood, but was certainly not her.
"And who are you?"
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Post by CJ on Jun 8, 2014 19:27:39 GMT -5
"You're very brave for staying with us if you think I'm a killer, Kalen," Kusu said with a sad smile.
She ignored Kalen's pleas. Her mind was set. She coldly stared at Jackal until he couldn't look at her anymore. Despite wanting to save him, she hoped whatever process he was going under was painful. It didn't matter if it was Jackal, Fenrir or Slythe Arkady. She believed no one deserved to die. If she killed Jackal now, she felt she would be just as bad as him.
So she was delighted to hear Lynwood said she wouldn't kill so long as she stayed on her crew. She didn't think of any loop holes, like the Hunter killing as long as she was out of their sights. She trusted her completely.
"Good!" she said with a hum. "I'm glad!"
Kusu was too distracted by the others to notice Mr. Dark's skin reform. When he sat up, her mouth dropped.
"Mr. Scary Man!" she gasped. "You're not so scary anymore! Wow! The medicine the weird lady gave you worked way better than I thought it would!"
The katana at Kusu's side melted and slithered back into its sheath. A faint gloulish laugh could be heard from it, as though mocking him in his vulnerability.
"That weird stuff must have made you forget, Mr. Scary Man," Kusu explained, holding her arm to the Hunter. "This is Lynwood. She's being really stubborn lately and keeps calling herself something else to hide her guilt. Don't believe her."
She really believed that Lynwood was lying.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Jun 16, 2014 3:58:34 GMT -5
"Although there really isn't much reason for you to come back at all, is there? You broken little lot. Hmph."
"Well, I can think of at least one reason to come back. Being able to see you is enough reason for me to stay."
Honestly he had trouble finding much reason to go. If he didn't believe the rumors about Regala before, then he had trouble denying them now. Certainly at least, even setting aside Regala, it seemed undeniable that the crew was responsible for the near-destruction of Victoria. Maybe it was not the best country nor people in the world, but they'd been swept aside all the same. Sure they had formed in a sleepy little town not so long ago, and had triumphed together through the hardships of a doomed cruise and a nightmare island, but this was something else. If more of this was what lay in store, then perhaps getting off the ride now was the best course of action. Perhaps, the people here could use what little help he could offer more than the crew could, since he wasn't the Captain or anything of note really. Certainly, he had more want to stay, for more reason than the lovely Titania.
He would have very much liked to have sought out Silver, and see her properly taken care of, even if only her remains were left. All these things he wanted to do, but he couldn't.
"...What will you do now? After all of this? Will you simply sail away on your little boat of adventures and do the same thing again? Perhaps with some other civilization, some other city, some other set of villains for you to defeat. What do you get out of all this, you senseless worm? What in the world do you gain from...this?"
Kalen surveyed the landscape before him. Titania's words had a profound effect on the shepherd. Why was he really doing all of this? His sister mattered, and so did the revolution, but he could honestly just find some other way to reach them. Breakwater had been pretty bad, but this was just another test of his ability to look the other way. He had to think a long while before he could formulate an answer, and even then he didn't feel his words truly represented his feelings.
"I suppose that's all we'll ever do. Or at least they will, I have somewhere I'm trying to get to, got a revolution I have to take part in. That's what I get out of it, a means of transport. What they get out of it, well... I have no idea. They've been doing it for so long now, I think it's the only thing the know how... or rather, the only thing they have left."
Kalen wondered now, if once they reached Vengeance, would they just continue one without him like they were now with Jackal and Victoria and that he too would in time fade into the past.
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Post by Kyubey on Jun 16, 2014 20:06:26 GMT -5
She noticed Kusu's joy at her agreement, but did not react. By this time, she had already decided on everything, and was relaxing after a long day filled with battle. Whether the Captain was happy or sad, upset or at peace, was Kusu's worry alone. Her importance to the hunter entirely relied on if she would let her continue sailing, and since it was obvious that she would, the hunter did not have to think far beyond that.
The hunter's eyes turned to Mr. Dark. Or maybe she was looking at an entirely different person who sounded like Mr. Dark, for his appearance was different. What's important was, she probably knew him, but she couldn't be sure. Before she could speak, Kusu answered first, calling her Lynwood. That wasn't right at all. The hunter seemed to shrink back, and shifted her position so that she was hugging her knees.
"That isn't my name," the hunter said monotonously. "And Lynwood's dead, so she can't feel guilt over anything, even if she had something to feel guilt for. I am a hunter. Lynwood called me, and I took her body. I don't have a name. Or maybe I do, and I don't know it. Nobody from Lynwood's village ever knew my name, and that's all I know."
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Post by Kuro on Jun 20, 2014 16:34:33 GMT -5
Ignoring Hil's snicker, Mr. Dark took off the tattered remains of a glove to look at his hand. His completely ordinary hand. As he listened to Kusu go on about medicine and Lynwood, he flexed it and moved each and every finger, completely absorbed in even the most minute details.
He continued to look at it as the being of similar appearance to Lynwood rebutted Kusu's misguided and perhaps hopeful thoughts. He wondered if she honestly, truly thought she was lying, or if she was experiencing severe denial. It was difficult to ascertain.
When the hunter finished speaking, Mr. Dark knelt in front of Kusu before the pirate captain could finish any reply to the hunter. He looked at the hunter, gave a small nod, and then looked back to Kusu. He placed a hand on her shoulder in some likely failure of an attempt to comfort her and spoke in that secret tone of his, full of soothing and reassurance, or at least attempts of it. He spoke quietly for only Kusu to hear, but it was quite likely that the hunter could hear it. No matter; all that was required was for Kusu to believe that the hunter could not hear.
"Kusu, look at me for a moment. Look into my eyes. I am about to tell you something very important.
The person next to us", with an nod at the hunter, "has gone through much in the past few hours. We all have. And we each have different ways of dealing with it. When faced with such pain, people react in many different ways.
For now, the person next to us is dealing with it in her own way. Whether or not you 'believe' her is not important at this time, Kusu. What is important is that she insists that she is not Lynwood. We have no right to force that name upon her if she does not want it, Kusu. Do you understand?
Imagine if someone always tried to call you a name that you didn't like. Imagine if there was one word you never wanted to be called by, and yet people do it anyway. This is not about believing her. This is about respecting her wishes. This is how she is dealing with what has happened in the past few hours, Kusu. Do not take that away from her. Give her time.
For now, treat her as she is a completely separate person. That is what she wants."
He ruffled her hair a bit.
"I am sure that 'Lynwood' will come back soon", he lied.
He stood and turned to the hunter. "It is true that you are not Lynwood, and that her name is not yours. For the sake of convenience, is there any name that you want? So that we are not required to call you "the hunter" every time? Also, perhaps we could discuss whether or not you will travel with us after we depart from this ship. You have the whole world to go across; is there any reason for you to stay with us?"
"Well, I can think of at least one reason to come back. Being able to see you is enough reason for me to stay."
She burst into harsh, cacophonous laughter.
"Oh, how amusing. At least one of you sees that of course I should be the center and focus of their attention. I do hope you're not expecting a reward for such talk; you don't get anything from your master for simply stating facts."
She listened as the worm answered her undoubtedly deep and soul-searching questions. The cruel smile behind her mask shrank and shrank as he spoke, the end of his answer leaving both her face and tone without expression.
"...How pathetic. To keep doing something detrimental simply because you've been doing it for so long is weakness. Anyone can change, but so few do. There is so much possibility in the world; to waste it all for the sake of routine is both pointless and disgusting.
Thankfully, the actions of this group of pirates are not as detrimental as it may seem. Of course, destroying kingdoms and cities is a rather messy business, but it all works out for me in the end, doesn't it? Ah ha ha ha! Or at least, it will soon. You'll see."
She turned in her chair and cupped his face in her gloved, slender hand. "Ah, just look at you. A puny little insect, completely unaware of the role you've just played in the world's development. I can't promise to get your name in any history papers, but you'll certainly be remembered for quite some time. You and the rest of this crew."
She ran finger across his cheek and chuckled. "It's almost cute to see how you have no idea what's coming. It might take a few years, but I think that eventually, you'll see just how important your role was."
She turned his face away and went back to the controls. "Ah, see that light in the distance? We're practically here.
She put the ship back onto autopilot and walked out to where the others were.
"In a few minutes, we shall dock onto Sector 10, the building in which you met Jackal. As a Victorian, my authority is far above that of any employee or officer inside. You should get to your ship without any trouble.
Do not leave this ship before I do, however. You will leave when I allow it.
Now, is everyone done here before we leave? Any questions, ah ha ha ha?"
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Post by CJ on Jun 23, 2014 16:43:59 GMT -5
"Lynwood's dead?" Kusu said in a sarcastic tone. "I guess she'll never have to be accountable for her actions then."
The young captain squeaked when Mr. Dark approached her, having already forgotten about his new appearance. For a moment, she was actually fearful of him, not having recognized him. Oddly enough, it might have been one of the only times she was afraid of him without the influence of his Devil Fruit ability.
She kept her mouth pursed as she listened to Mr. Dark's lecture.
"OK."
She refused to look directly at her first mate for too long, too annoyed with the whole development.
"Fine."
Nothing could convince her at this point that the Hunter was who she really said she was. Explaining her hurt feelings over the matter was the best thing Mr. Dark could have done. Kusu didn't know it at the time, but this moment and many others proved how fortunate she was to have him in her crew.
"Alright, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "So long as she doesn't kill anyone while she's on my crew, I'll call her whatever she wants. Like, Llama Oyster Brian O'Rangutan. That would be a fantastic name. I highly recommend it. Sqwee."
Kusu looked over, seeing the strange pilot come back in their midst. She briefly wondered what she and Kalen were talking about but didn't think too hard about it. She raised her hand.
"Do you have something to eat? I'm hungry. I'd like broccoli and cheese, please!"
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