[IC] One Piece: The Blackfin Chronicles

[Blackstripe]

When Jones ordered a glass of rum and slid the appropriate amount of beli to pay for it onto the bar, the old woman simply nodded. Swiping the coin with a wrinkled hand, she proceeded to clean a glass off for the doctor before pouring him a shot. Without a single word she placed it in front of him before heading to the back to presumably begin preparing for Siobhan's ever-impressive order.

Many of the patrons in the bar were rough-looking individuals even as far as sailors went. There were several tables engaged in notably tense games of poker, with a hand always being kept at the hilt of a dagger in case any sign of foul play was witnessed. Elsewhere in the tavern, similarly anxious games of darts or dice were being played.

Staredowns between men were all too common. It seemed as if a fight might break out at any given moment in this place.

[alexfangtalon]

Eadgar watched as his two traveling companions sat at the bar. Eadgar wanted to avoid that woman at all costs. She scared him more than most pirates did. He pulled out his money and realized he was really low on Beli. He looked around to see if there was anything he could do with this meager number and saw one table of poker going on with a substantially low ante. It looked like the fellows there were playing for small portions of currency. He sighed and thought that at least it was a start. He walked up to the table, tossed his money into the pot and said, "Deal me in."

[Blackstripe]

The men at the table eyed the man whose face was obscured, clearly feeling he looked suspicious. Still, they didn't seem to be looking for a fight at this moment, and so when the next hand began he was dealt five cards with the rest of them. He had two sixes (club and spades, respectively), a jack of diamonds, a nine of hearts, and a four of spades.

The others kept their cards well-obscured and their faces neutral. Eadgar not requiring a Poker Face was another reason they didn't seem to like him very much.

[Zapdos]

Jones smiled when he got his drink, saying “thank you.” He took a sip, savoring the flavor of the rum. It reminded him of home. One drink was usually all he needed, and besides, the doctor wanted to stay alert in case it was needed. He wasn’t sure what his captain was thinking about besides food, so he wanted to be alert in case she wasn’t.

As he looked around while sipping his rum, Jones saw Eadgar joining a rough group of pirates playing Poker. Gambling was never a good way to make money, Jones thought. Then again the swordsman’s record for rational thinking was rather low, so this wasn’t anything new, really.

-----

Siobhan seemed to be okay for now, so when the old lady came back with his captain’s food, he asked her “excuse me ma’am, would you know anything about someone named Taimi Taitale?”

[Blackstripe]

The old woman had quite busy with Siobhan's order, setting down plate after plate in front of the ravenous redhead. Gathering more than a few astonished looks from the patrons as she tore through enough food for ten hardy men, she paid them little mind. When the doctor brought up Taimi Taitale, however, the old woman stopped in her tracks and eyed him suspiciously.

"Why?" She asked tersely.

[Zapdos]

Jones could tell that the old woman was suspicious of him. That meant that there was some information worth getting, but since this island paid Blackwell’s “tax,” there was a possibility that the woman was connected to the Marquis somehow. The doctor would have to be careful as he could, although he wasn’t going to lie about it. It’s not like he expected Siobhan to be subtle, so the reverse probably applied as well.

“Oh, I was just asking for my captain since she’s busy inhaling food right now,” Jones said with a smile. “She wants her to be the shipwright in her crew, you see. As you can probably tell, the person who is probably your best customer all year isn’t the most conventional person,” the doctor said with a purposeful pause to glance at the pile of plates, “but she has her goals. So I just try to help out when I can,” Jones concluded. He then took another drink of his rum in case things went poorly. No sense in being wasteful, after all.

[Blackstripe]

Despite being the topic of conversation for that brief moment, Siobhan took little notice. She was entirely too focused on wolfing down her food at alarming rates. While they had had fish earlier, this was the first non-seafood she had been able to enjoy for a number of days. Seeming to also ignore the ravenous girl, the old woman released a bitter laugh.

"Shipwright? Ridiculous," she spat. "The Taitale's are only good at causing destruction. Anything that lot builds for you will only lead to your end. We ran her crazy old man off this island for that reason."

Shaking her head, she turned away from and began cleaning another glass. "Take my advice: stay far away from them. Nothing good ever comes out of that family."

[Zapdos]

“Ma’am, I appreciate your concern, but the decision isn’t mine to make. I’m just the doctor. My captain is the type of person who doesn’t change her mind easily, so it’s easier to go along with whatever she wants to do, however crazy it may be,” Jones politely said with a smile, raising his glass and having another drink of his rum.

“Now you said her father was kicked out of town? Do you know where he went?” Jones had to imagine that Taimi would be near where her father was, or if not, someone who knew where she went would be.

[Blackstripe]

"I don't know," she replied. "I never wanted to. I was just glad when he left."

Siobhan, by that point, had regained enough focus to take a brief pause from her eating. Glancing over to her doctor, she offered him a gentle smile. "Don't fret too much over it. There's lots of other places around town where we can find information about her. I doubt she'll be goin' anywhere, in fairness."

"Besides, I think I'll go shopping after this!"

[Zapdos]

“Thanks anyway,” Jones said to the old woman before listening to Siobhan. He was a little disappointed, but it would've been kind of surprising if the first person he asked had the information he was looking for.

“It’s okay, it was worth a shot,” the doctor said as he finished his rum. “I suppose I could buy some medical supplies. Know any good places to shop around here?”

[Blackstripe]

"Nope, never been here before," Siobhan quickly replied, downing the last of her food. There were now many stacks of plates lining the counter in front of her, and the old woman didn't hesitate to come collect her payment. Perhaps surprisingly, Siobhan quickly dropped a brown sack of beli coins in her hand. "There ya go, ma'am. That should cover it!"

Weighing the bag in her hand with a mixture of surprise and suspicion, the old woman nevertheless accepted it with a terse nod. "Alright then."

Sliding off the bar stool, Siobhan slowly walked past her doctor. When she passed by his ear, she whispered; "Ya might want to get out of here, since they know you're with me."

Eadgar should be fine gambling, since he hadn't tipped them off to their connection.

[Zapdos]

Jones actually was surprised when Siobhan paid for her food. He expected to have to negotiate payment for her food. And when his captain left, he took her advice did as well. He was going to do that anyway, but that added an incentive to do so. The doctor had already paid, so it wasn’t like there was anything he needed to do.

When they were far enough away from the tavern, Jones asked “where would you like to go?” They were now in the center of town, so they could see different stores in different directions. The doctor knew what he needed to buy, but he didn’t know what Siobhan wanted.

[Blackstripe]

"Shoppin'!" Siobhan thrust her fists in the air, a broad grin etched across her face. "I haven't had the chance to go shoppin' since I was a wee brat."

The streets of Cathymnia were quite busy, with streams of people heading in both directions on opposite sides. It was clear that it had been some time since they had suffered any sort of raid or large-scale misfortune, given the more or less relaxed atmosphere in comparison with the previous two towns they had visited.

Her eyes darting between the various stores available in their immediate vicinity, Siobhan quickly made a b-line for a clothing store, despite having just eaten. "Here, here! I want somethin' cute to wear when we meet Taimi!"

Pushing through the fine wooden doorway of the store, a small bell above the door heralded Siobhan's entrance. Almost immediately a middle-aged woman stepped forward to present the pirate with a clearly practiced smile. "Welcome to Mable's Fashion Boutique, I'm Mable Freebird, My, what a lovely young lady you are! And quite tall as well, if I might add!"

"Em...right. I was hopin' to find maybe some cute shorts, or somethin'?" Siobhan muttered, somewhat put off by her clearly rehearsed routine.

[Zapdos]

There had been a lot of places to choose from and Jones was taking it all in, even as he asked Siobhan where she wanted to go. A lack of conflict could do wonders for an economy. As a result, he could barely keep up with his captain as she rushed into a clothing store. Even so, he had come inside long enough to hear the owner’s rehearsed speech.

“So...if you haven’t been shopping since you were a kid, how do you have clothes?” Jones asked her. It was a fair question since he doubted that she had been the same height all her life.

Instead of waiting to talk to Mable (who was probably more interested in a sale than in conversation), he just looked through some racks of shirts while staying near Siobhan. The doctor didn’t actually intend to buy anything, his clothes were just fine, but maybe he could find some shirts on clearance or something. Clothing at a big enough discount is just as effective as bandages, and a lot cheaper too.

[Blackstripe]

"I've bought clothes before," Siobhan clarified, "but it's mostly just to have somethin' to wear. I haven't gotten the chance to just do it for fun's what I meant, like."

Moving past Mabel even as she tried to recommend several articles of clothing Siobhan had little interest in, the redhead took a blue tank top from a nearby rack, appraising it with a smile. There wasn't a lot of space on their little trawler for outfits, but once they had a proper ship, she would be able to really diversify her wardrobe!

"I hope Eadgar is doin' well for himself at the tavern," she muttered, now parsing through the available shorts.

[Zapdos]

“Ah, okay. That makes more sense,” Jones said. He wasn’t the kind of person who bought clothes for fun, but he had known women before, so he could see the appeal. This kind of reminded him of shopping with his girlfriend back home.

The doctor smiled, thinking about her, but that ended when Siobhan brought up Eadgar. That was someone Jones was glad to not have to deal with right now.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Jones responded as he looked through the discounted clothes, “and if he got himself into trouble, I’m sure he’ll enjoy cutting people up or whatever he does.”

Nothing seemed to appeal to the doctor, so he continued. “Anyway, I don’t see anything here that appeals to me. Did you find anything good?”

After then, Mabel tried recommending Jones a new hat to replace his old one. The look she got in response made her consider selling her store and retiring.

“If you need anything else, I’ll be by the register,” the store’s owner meekly said, scurrying away as quickly as she could without dropping her professional facade.

[alexfangtalon]

Eadgar played poker with the men for a few minutes. He wasn't doing great but at least he was making a profit so far. He had watched as his companions left and wondered how they had paid for anything. He shoved the thought from his head in order to focus on the game. It was about over when two specific things seemed to happen at the same time. Over at the bar, a man yelled, "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MONEY!" Then at the table where he was sitting one of the men slammed his cards down and drew his pistol. He pointed it right at one of the other men and said, "Hey, I saw that ya dirty rat!" Everyone else at the table other than Eadgar shot up drawing whatever weapon they had on them. Under his scarf, the Silver Swordsman smiled because this was an opportunity to get a good chunk of Beli.

[Blackstripe]

Siobhan seemed to be putting quite a number of outfits over her arm, with the question of payment once again hanging in the air at this point. She didn't appear to be particularly worried about that, however. Instead, she disappeared into one of the dressing room for the next thirty minutes or so...

---

"Hey, my money's missing too!" One of the other men at the bar noted. This was followed by a chorus of other patrons stretching from where Siobhan had been sitting, all the way to the door. This served to distract the old woman from the trouble brewing at the table, which continued to escalate without interruption.

---

"That should cover it, right?" Siobhan grinned to Mable, who gleefully smiled at the bag of beli.

"Of course, miss! Just let me bag these for you!"

Joyfully rocking on her heels while the outfits were placed into a sack, Siobhan offered an oddly self-satisfied thumbs up to Jones.

[alexfangtalon]

Eadgar started laughing as more people in the tavern began yelling about how their Beli was missing. It didn't take long for Eadgar to realize that the most likely culprit was Siobhan seeing as she was gone without the owner getting angry at her. The other members of the poker game looked at the swordsman. They all exchanged glances with each other while keeping their weapons drawn. Then one pointed his gun at Eadgar and asked, "What's so funny? You not care about your money?"

Eadgar stood up while eyeing each of his poker opponents and finally said, "Oh, it's not that. It just seems today is my lucky day 'cause this pot now belongs to me." All the men got even angrier at this statement and shifted their weapons to aim at Eadgar, but before they could attack the Silver Swordsman, faster than the average eye could register, used the back of his blade to down each of his would-be assaulters. He smiled at his work then proceeded to deposit all the Beli into his money pouch. This was typically the only way he could come out positive from a poker game.

Now that he had some money he could get to work. First, he walked to the bar and asked for some rum. When the woman came around he asked in a hushed tone so that only she would hear him, "Look, I know my horrible disguise isn't fooling you so let's get right to the chase. I'm hunting down the Rainbow Raiders. I know they come to this island for their 'tax'. Any info you'd be willing to spare?"

[Blackstripe]

The old woman had indeed seen through his disguise, though she hadn't said a word. She, frankly, had enough trouble to deal with. Apparently there was a thief previously in their midst, and she had a good idea as to whom it was. "This island's under the watch of Greenwell, but he ain't scheduled to be back here for about two weeks."

Each of the Rainbow Raiders made their respective rounds on a monthly basis, after all. Having a set schedule allowed the townspeople to more easily gather the necessary beli to pay the "tax". "If you're here for the reason I think you are, then you'll be waiting for quite a while."