Strafe

The Bawdy Dog

Edward found himself screaming and shouting in horror as the chaos around him unfolded.

Everything had become a blur the moment the door burst open, unleashing a torrent of frosty air into the tavern. Suddenly all of the figures moved, and Edward jumped up as Pallas sprung alive. The bartender fell to the ground. As swift as the wind they came in, masked figures swept into the room and began to attack anyone and everyone.

In the haze, one of the masked figures approached him, noticeably eyeing his hand cannon. He backpedaled slowly, holding it close to his breast. But his foot caught, and he fell to the ground.

His eyes glued shut and he trembled in terror. But why was he so afraid? He had already died, and there was nothing to lose. So why was his chest pounding so violently?

Suddenly, he felt a powerful grip jerk him backwards, dragging him along the grimy floor behind one of the tables. He opened his eyes to see Pallas’ face hovering close to his. Her eyes wrestled with panic, but her voice carried across the chaotic tavern with a sober resignation.

"Well, I might never see you again as I will probably die, but I'm glad I made a friend on my journey. Best wishes and try not to waste my efforts and live, okay?"

With those words, Pallas smiled weakly. Her face came closer, graceful neck craning until her soft lips grazed his cheek with a short, clumsy kiss. Then she disappeared back into the fray, leaving Edward alone behind the table.

Edward sat there, frozen in fear. Slowly, he brought his hand up to his face, to the point where Pallas had kissed him. He could still feel the warmth of her breath, the girlish brush of her hair as she pulled herself back a bit too quickly. The contour of her collarbone, the little hairs that sprung up at the nape of her neck. The stillness in her eyes as she turned away from him.

He knew in his heart then that he was still alive. This was no afterlife. A surge of vitality began to well within his chest. He wanted to protect Pallas. Even if it cost his life.

But he could not move.

He looked down to see that his hands were trembling violently, caught in conflict between adrenaline and terror. His entire body shook in the same way. He could feel the burn and the chill coursing within his bones, and his legs shot with thunder in paralysis. His will bent and wretched a million times over to try and spark life into his body. He felt nauseous from the strain. But still, he could not move.

So Edward gave up. All of the energy coursing through his body collapsed in brutal catharsis as they turned into tears and heartbreak. Edward wept bitterly. Pallas would die, and he could do nothing to stop it.

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

@Lvl Down

Sorryyyyy. Ended up having to write a paper for a summer class I'm taking. Falis Island is in view now.

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

~Jonathan~

Charlotte’s voice chirped over the steady, sleepy murmur in the kitchen.

"Jon-sama! Please, have this seat, I've already eaten my breakfast earlier."

Jonathan laughed uncomfortably at the special treatment, but let the girl lead him to the chair. “Why, thank you dear,” he managed to say with a pained smile. He sat down. Hopefully, this would be the extent of her coddling toda--

"Here, Jon-sama, let me feed you!"

Oh dear. He flushed a bit, embarrassed at the attention, and the odd stares that he was sure everyone would send his way.

”Haha, no, that’s quite alright, Charlotte,” he said, addressing the girl by her first name without any formality. ’I’m perfectly capable of eating like any normal adult. However, I appreciate the offer.” The strained expression he had put on started to crack as he glanced around the room to try and defuse the odd sort of tension he felt. The air was made doubly tense because of the layered verbal scuffle between Milly and Charlotte, so no one came to his rescue.

He ate his breakfast in careful silence. It was delicious, but Jonathan wasn’t sure how to tell Charlotte that without causing anymore embarrassment to himself. It was clear and apparent that the girl still hung on to old arrangements and promises made between grizzled old men.

To his chagrin, the atmosphere grew even more suffocating to Jonathan when Waldemar walked into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Ever since he got onto the ship, he couldn’t stand the fellow, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on the reason why.

The ship’s usual cook, Simone also sauntered in and grabbed a plate of food. He rather seemed to enjoy Charlotte’s cooking.

Finally, Melody pulled herself out of her chair and called out to where Song was perched in the crow’s nest.

~Song~

Song turned her spyglass forward into the horizon, and caught the form of land floating among the clouds.

She turned to Melody and called down, “Falis Island in view Captain!” She didn’t feel quite right saying "Land Ho."

Waeldeshore 1.0 [CONCLUDED]

Phew. Lots to catch up on. I'll make my first post tomorrow, since there's quite a bit to take in, and I'd like to try and absorb all of it.

I'm excited though, since it seems like everyone's willing to get pretty invested in it.

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

@VitaVitaAR

I can think of a few prompts for Kazue from normal to outlandish. Just throwing stuff out there, though she has a lot of the character traits that Song has already exhibited in many ways, which could actually be something to work with. (Quiet, incredibly lethal and precise, likes cute things)

Normal - Grew up training, developing a strong sense of justice. In her culture (Not necessarily Japanese in this world), 16 is the age of adulthood, and all children take a journey to see the world. She decided to devote her journey to traveling to hone her craft and maintain the balance of peace. When she found how the world was however, she abandoned her home country and joined the navy.

A Bit Wack - Daughter of a strict, almost abusive family renowned for their sword arts, but embraced her upbringing and became a protoge. Has lived her life by the straight and narrow, to the point of naivety. Was tricked into leaving her home country by a human trafficker/slaver/shady dude who promised [something]. When she arrived and found out what things really were, she fought her way out, realized there was no way back home, and decided to enlist in the navy. She still carries the scars from her upbringing, though she does not recognize them.

Outlandish - Like Song, first memory is waking up in [some dark place] with the name "Arakawa Kazue" scrawled in [blood] over her head. She found that (like Song) she has insane sword skills, and also has a related useless craft skill like [making paper lanterns]. She also stumbled into the city looking for answers, but instead of finding a Jonathan, she found the Navy, who took her in. Her parallel origins might explain why her personality highly resembles Song's. (Actually, this route opens up an entire back storyline in Song and Kazue's origins if you're interested. I'm kinda hoping you're interested, but it's cool if you want to write your own thing. PM me if you are interested in hearing more though.)

I might be taking this too seriously...

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

Whoaaaaa lots of posts while I was gone.

@Rin Oof sorry... But I kind of wrote like 3 pages in the crow's nest. I can PM you about it, since I agree that it's the perfect place for Korina to hang out...

@RabidAnubis haha. I figured it'd be pretty ridiculous to write the arranged marriage in, but as long as it's only played for laughs, it should be fine.

Ah, but I guess for clarification, so no one gets too creeped out (And I'll tack this on to Jon's character sheet). Since Jon and Char's fathers were both wealthy merchants, they wanted to marry off their oldest children to each other to pool together their wealth (Mr. Eavesburg had no sons). Obviously, the 11 year age gap freaked Jonathan out, but he's a dutiful son, so he figured there was nothing he could do about it, and wait till Charlotte came of age. (He was 17 when she was 6. ewwwww.) Meanwhile, Charlotte got kinda fixated on it. When Jon's father died though, the fortune disappeared, and Jon fled off to become a pirate to get it all back. In his mind all bets on the marriage are off, but Charlotte obviously hasn't let it go.

Oh also, I think it's kind of funny how everyone keeps spelling Johnathan with an H. XD. Don't change it tho, maybe it can be a running joke how his name is always misspelled on ship documents.

Waeldeshore 1.0 [CONCLUDED]

@IcePezz no prob, I think it might even be more interesting if it was only 5 years ago. I'll change the character sheet to match.

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

~Song~

Now that her dear traveling partner had descended to the kitchen- she could still hear his long winded praises even up in the crow’s nest- Song relaxed a bit. She enjoyed being on lookout, as she could be alone for a precious few moments to watch the clouds and gather her thoughts. The sky above was clear and beautiful, but black clouds rumbled ominously beneath the ship, waiting to swallow up any poor avian that lost its wings. She watched the clouds roar and rumble, swirling around like an agitated sea. Every so often, little sparks of lightning would crackle from within and gnarl their wretched fingers up at the ship.

In an way, watching the violent stormclouds was fascinating. Beneath them was the old world- a strange, fey land of horrible mystery that Song had only heard of in books. But because she had never seen the lands below, the clouds seemed to have an aura of treacherous wisdom about them. Song felt compelled to respect that.

Her quiet musings were interrupted by a welcome chirping. "kuru!'

Her heart fluttered a bit in affection, though not uncontrollably. It was Pico, Charlotte’s pet dragon pup. Her lips curled up into a very slight warm grin (one she would never, ever, show to her traveling partner) as she stretched out her arms to greet the small beast. Pico was very… what was the word? mm… cute.

To her delight, Pico flew right into her arms, and nestled its head against her bosom. Song softly embraced it and now smiled fully, even giggling a bit as he swayed from side with the creature. This was a side of her that Jonathan, or maybe anyone for that matter, would never see in their life unless they were willing to die immediately afterwards.

Her blissful moment however, paused for a bit when her hand brushed across the feeling of cloth.

“Did you bring this for me?” Song asked Pico in a childlike voice. Pico chirped, “kuru!” and let Song take the wrapped box from around its shoulders. Song turned it around, and instantly caught the message written on it, along with the message written in between the lines.

[Have fun watching the clouds!]

Coming from Charlotte, Pico’s owner, this likely meant, [Teehee, I have Jon-Sama here with me and you’re not here to do anything to stop me. :P].

“hm.” Song furrowed her brow slightly as she opened the cloth. In it was an intricately packed bento with everything that she had prepared for the crew. Beautifully seasoned eggs, crisp bacon, freshly baked bread, and a thermos of aromatic coffee. If anything, Charlotte had a firm claim on excellent domestic skills- something Song was not quite as skilled at, to put nicely.

Song had noticed that Charlotte seemed to be a bit infatuated with Jonathan, and that the young girl always made a point to throw in little jabs at her expense. When she asked her traveling mate about it however, he would tersely admit that they knew each other from his father’s meetings, then instantly change the subject. Although Song thought that Jonathan was an unforgivable, disgustingly cloying wretch around women, at least she knew that he wasn’t interested in children.

Not wanting to give the girl too much satisfaction, Song only took the bread out, and repacked the rest of the bento. She pulled out a little quill from a small belt around her thigh and wrote below Charlotte’s note, [thanks. i will.]

Tying it to Pico’s shoulder, she cooed, “take this back to your lovely master, ok?” Pico chirped again, and flew off back towards the kitchen.

Song watched the dragon pup fly off, and wondered if Charlotte would take it as a sign that Song was jealous. That was ludicrous though. Why would Song be jealous? Jonathan was a bumbling, pitiable, womanizer with absolutely no good traits whatsoever.

None.

Song peered back at the kitchen to see Jonathan visible at the window, flirting with the captain.

None.

Sky Pirates and their Misadventures

@RabidAnubis

I believe a rivalry with Jonathan (or one sided jealousy from Jonathan) will spice things up quite nicely, as they are both womanizing gunners from a well to do background (Waldemar is definitely a better gunner than Jonathan, so there's that). The personality differences will be also be quite fun. Maybe the old money nobility vs new money merchant class tensions can come into play as well? Or the fact that Waldemar has been through war, and thinks Jonathan is soft?

Also, in the interest check, there are a few paragraphs of background:
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/81439-sky-pirates-and-their-misadventures/ooc

@KoL

Hahaaaaa, yeah as soon as Char said, "Here Jon-Sama, let me feed you," I felt the total Marika quasi yandere vibe. This'll be fun too... oh dear.

Also, @Lvl Down I think @knighthawk might still be waiting for approval, unless you already PM'd them.

I can wait to post with Jonathan if @Lvl Down wants to post a little banter post, or @RabidAnubis wants to jump in.

The Bawdy Dog

@Illogical Jim

teehee.