Pirate Age

[Arcadius]

When at sea, dare to stick your head underneath the water's surface. Open your eyes, ignore the stinging from the dissolved salt, and watch for a while. What will you see? Small fish, large fish, cornucopia of life. Pull your head back above, and look at the surface again. What will you see? A blueish, wavy surface, maybe foam, couple of twigs or other flotsam.

As I stood there, sand shaking under my boots, I wondered what kind of creature was going to surface from this dry ocean, and more importantly, whether it was hungry or not. The reality, as per custom, prooved to be much weirder than expected.

"Well, not sure about you tw-" Arcadius started, but before he could address his two compatriots, Ray was already gone to the watering hole. Arcadius sighted and joined him to refill his canteen. Doing so, he continued to talk. "We should find this C.T., to whom those two belonged, and at least thank them. Box of chocolates, or something. Pretty sure we have cargo hold full of petty trinkets. But anyway," he stood back up and looked at the group of women. "We have work to do."

The navigator walked towards the gathering, his now slightly tattered longcoat, covered in fine dust from the day in the sandbox, lightly flickering behind him in the early evening's breeze. "Good evening, ladies. My name is Michael Arcadius, and I am led to believe one of you is the owner of those two crocodiles that just passed by. I would like to express sincere thanks from me and my group, for if not for following those two over here, we would surely perish from thirst in the desert," he made his introduction, friendly smile on his face.

 

[Mizos]

Luro sighed scratching the side of his cheek seeing Arcadius didn't want to follow Sandy, there was nothing around but endless desert so that meant whatever direction they were going in they had to find something eventually right? He crossed his arms tilting his head to the side at this since it seemed right, his attention moving back to this Sandy seeing she seemed to be having fun, he wondered if she'd get mad if he tried to pick her up. His thoughts moved away from possibly petting the crocodile when he noticed Arcadius get closer, he arched his brows smiling at him wondering what he wanted, listening he looked at his flask before grinning at his friend.
"Aw Kadi, you act all serious but you really care don't you, don't worry I won't drink enough to die...however much that is," Luro said unscrewing the cap. "What was that A word by the way? Tell me while we're following this little cutie, that's what we were doing right?"
Luro looked down seeing Sandy was chasing some kind of weed, seeing it approach him he started to stop it so she could catch it, however as he attempted it an immense pain hit his shin causing him to kneel down holding it, he lowered his head his body shaking as he held in a pained groan, he didn't want Sandy to think that hurt...even though it did.
"S-she's precious...I've tried that trick with the navy...they just arrest you though," Luro said trying not to show the pain.

Following the crocodile since it seemed more interesting than wandering at random, and making sure Ray didn't fall over, he paused when they reached the town. His eyes widened and a wide smile formed on his face as his eyes moved around to look at the town, it was a marvel to the say the least.
"Whoa this place is so cool," Luro said. "It looks so different than any town I've been in, I take it back the desert is actually pretty fun. Oh look at those rugs I should get one for the rum room."
Luro's mesmerization with the town faded quickly as he felt the ground move from under him, falling onto his rear he rubbed his back side only to raise his gaze and see a much larger Sandy in front of them, seeing it open it's mouth he smiled and climbing to his feet lowered his body holding his arms out willing to meet the crocodile head on. He grinned at a bit of entertainment after all this time, though Sandy probably kept it from getting ugly as she climbed on the crocodile.
"Oh...that must be her mom," Luro said before taking a mouthful of sand in.

"You look much better Ray," Luro said pulling out his flasks at the basin. "We followed a crocodile to a bigger crocodile, we gotta get Kadi to go with the flow more often, we found a town that way."
He pulled out four flasks checking each one before he found the fourth one was empty, taking Arcadius wise action to heart he filled one with water before putting each one away, holding his hair back he took a few long sips and raised his head a content 'ah' escaping from him as he stretched his arms above his head.
"Oh come on Kadi we found this town in the middle of nowhere and you already want to do serious stuff. This place is amazing, the others have got to see this!"
He watched Kadi walk towards a pair of women and he sighed before looking over at Ray.
"Ray this isn't good, Kadi's trying to flirt. I hope one is his type or he's going to end up heartbroken, we should do something to help him, maybe- hey what's in those barrels."
Forgetting Kadi he swiftly moved to the crates and opened the barrels a wide grin on his face as he started pulling out the drinks and grabbing the food, he laughed a little grabbing a bit of the food and taking a bite before taking a long drink.
"Oh man this is really good," Luro said stuffing some into his pocket. "Ray Kadi you have to get some of this! I'm going to eat it all if you don't!"

 

[Capt. Blu]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cegled[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Kadi, Luro and Ray[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"No, no, we've gotta get her the purple ones. She loves the purple ones."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh, I forgot. I thought she pointed out the yellow ones."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Why not we get both?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Good idea. Let's get this stuff packed-" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The stranger's voice silenced them almost immediately. The group raised their scarves over their mouths obviously not planning to speak, while some even looked a little cautious. At first all was silent until one of them stepped forward. The woman who did removed herr coverings to reveal bright reddish orange hair. The woman's hazel eyes scanned Arcadius over before resting on the male's face once again. The woman pulled the scarf over her mouth downwards and gave a small smirk. "Ah, Sandy and Lady aren't ours but they are apart of our family. So, I s'pose you're welcome. Odd though, I've never seen the likes of ya around-"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Stop him! Thief!" One woman's voice interrupted the now calm atmosphere, causing the seven women to leap into action. Weapons were pulled from their clothing and one took action and leapt on top of the barrel to stop Luro from grabbing anymore of their food. The rest of the women circled the trio of men, weapons at ready. They were much too swift for the three to retaliate. By the time the Stardusk trio could register they were under attack, they were already surrounded. Even Kadi had a gun to his head before he could look to see what trouble the other two had caused.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Pirates! They have the same symbol on them Veera. The symbol looks familiar but I don't recall… We'll have to ask Saff." One spoke up before a chorus of whispers broke out."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Such dogs!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"You can never be too careful with them!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Men are like snakes!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Even worse when they're pirates!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The one with red hair, Veera, raised her free hand to silence her group and slowly lowered her gun to Arcadius' chest. "You." She looked at Luro. "I suggest you keep your grimy hands off our things- unless his life doesn't matter ta ya." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Vee, you know what the Captain said."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Yeah Vee, criminals are brought to the Captain." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"No matter who they are."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Veera frowned but didn't lower her gun. "Ya can't let me have a bit of fun can ya?" She sighed and nodded to her group signalling for them to tie them up and cuff them with seastone cuffs. "Gather the things! We're headin' to base!" The women scattered, packing the crates and barrels onto a wagon. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Behind the market place, a short distance away three giant rhinoceros beetles were 'parked' and waiting while the crates were being loaded onto them. The Stardusk was pushed towards the second one, right in the middle. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Heh, if you think Veera's unreasonable, wait till you meet our Captain. She'll have your heads." There was a small chorus of laughter before the woman continued. "Ah, you've got nothin' ta worry about. Well. Maybe. We've never met anyone with the guts to steal from the Cutthroat Pirates. The name's Lily. So? Who are you guys anyway?" In the pirate world, it was well known that the marines had ranked a the most dangerous pirates as the Worst Generation. The Worst Generation was a term coined for the top five 'rookie pirates' that had bounties over one million. The Red Pirates the Stardusk went up against were in fact third on that list with a three million bounty over their heads. These women, who called themselves the Cutthroat Pirates, were number one in the ranks with a five million bounty over their heads. They were tough.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The woman looked younger than most of them and seemed far more opened to talk to the men compared to the others. "The trip is a little long. So I suggest you guys start pleading your case."[/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Winter]

"From young we are taught to respect nature and the world around us... but no one said anything about liking rats"​

Upon her arrival at the scene Alicia found that the single moment she'd actually thought to speak freely, no words would come to her to describe what she was looking at. Small marsupial creatures thieving their fruits, not uncommon but no less strange given the environment. Alicia made her attempts with the others to catch the small animals but even with her speed she found they were too small and fast, which was frustrating to say the least. At one point she'd even jumped out from behind a crate to ambush one before landing on her face with nothing to show for it. "... Can't I just chop them up" she groaned before sitting herself up with a slightly exasperated tone to her voice, clearly showing her own disdain for the small rodents. The captains reply to leave them was met with a simple nod before she climbed to her feet, dusting off her kimono skirt before looking out towards the so called 'hallucination' the captain was mentioning. Alicia's eyes narrowed as she brought her hand to guard against the sun, seeming unsure what she was looking at even as they came closer and their shapes became more solid.

Alicia despite her caution to the dismounting figure couldn't take her eyes away from the giant lizards, seeming quite in awe of them given the ones from her home were no bigger than a plate and usually plodded along between the trees and bushes. But theses things were huge and looked as though they could crush you if they had the mind for it. Alicia moved her gaze away only when the women with the goggles approached Runali, her hand resting more firmly on her sword hilt ready to decapitate this woman at a moments notice. Such thoughts could be considered unnecessary or violent, those people would be mistaken. It was merely prudence to be wary of someone you couldn't call by their first name. Alicia glanced briefly towards Jem before she almost flinched as her hand was taken, suddenly unsure what to do as they were lead to the large lizards. "Umm... " she began, not entirely comfortable approaching the giant reptile before the girl reassured her they were friendly, commenting on her attire which caused her to raise her eyebrow and regard herself for a moment. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" she asked before she found herself being helped up onto one of the creatures.

This was becoming stranger by the moment. First thieving rodents and now a crew of all female pirates 'saving' them from their apparent fate. She most certainly had questions but if the captain planned on getting it done when they were some place else than she could wait for the moment.

 

[Grothnor]

Ray was sitting by the pool, recovering from his deathly fugue state, taking the occasional sip from the fountain. So, let's see, Kadi is asking for help from- oh, she's pretty cute. I'm here and Luro is... well, I can't see him, so he's probably up to mischief. He mentally nodded and smiled to himself as he made what was undoubtedly a correct assumption. It took him a few moments to realize his mistake. Wait a minute....

"Stop him! Thief!"

"Lords of Lendria, Luro, you lubricated larcenous lunatic! I'll have you leashed, lashed and limping if we aren't lynched, you ludicrous... gah!" Ray was too mad to continue his alliterative tirade and leaned back, mostly because three swords and a pistol were pointed in his face. "Ladies, let's not be unreasonable," he tried turning on the smarm, "We were just trying to-" CLONK!

Ray awoke on the beetles, bound and next to his companions, a spear of some kind aimed at his abdomen. He couldn't quite tell if his headache was from the heat, his hit to the head or his anger with Luro or himself for not being able to stop him. When their guard urged them to start pleading, Ray kicked Luro in the shin, or at least he thought he did. "It's all this idiot's fault, and he is an idiot, I swear. All we wanted was some help, out ship crashed and we came looking for help. Admittedly I was supposed to keep an eye on him, but the heat here is unbearable and I needed to rest."

"But doesn't that make it your fault?" The guard asked. Ray was irked by the implication and started trying to kick Luro in the shins even more, like he did in the Yula Fei throne room.

 

[Mizos]

Luro stopped mid-chew when he noticed that pistols and swords were pointed at him, he blinked a few times a couple of pieces of fruit under his arms and a few drinks between his fingers. He'd have more if the lady hadn't stepped on the barrel and stopped him from getting more, at the whispers he continued eating figuring they were already captured unless Ray had some kind of plan to get them out of this. Looking over and seeing Ray unconscious figured that wasn't the case, he tilted his head slightly since he was pretty sure the captain told him to keep an eye on him, he wasn't doing a very good job of that right now. He started to reach into another crate digging for another piece of food past the ladies leg span when he heard the voice of one of the women. Looking over he noticed she had a gun pointed at Arcadius' chest and she seemed displeased he was eating their food, his eyes moved to the fresh fruit in his hand, then Arcadius, then the fruit, then Arcadius, then the fruit again. He sighed and tossed it back into the barrel before hearing she couldn't shoot him anyway. Seeing them approach and hearing the order to tie them up Luro gave a small nod.
"Oh I get it, this is because I didn't pay you first right?"

Luro stared down at the beetle's as they were ridden to an unknown location, he pet one on the back of their shelves arching a brow a bit. There were so many interesting things in this place, he raised his head hearing one of the women speak to them and catching their name his head tilted slightly. He looked towards the sky before shutting his eyes realizing that name seemed really familiar for some reason.
"I feel like I've heard that name before...I like it though it's simple and to the point. Cutthroat, you know what happens if you get caught...oh wait we're caught aren't we," Luro said bringing a hand to his chin. "This is a conud....codrum....conadrum...Kadi what's that big word that means problem and starts with C?"
He was pulled from his thoughts remembering they had been asked a question.
"My name is Luro Makachi it's nice to meet you Lily," Luro said smiling at her. "I'm the ship person of the StarDusk pirates, I can't wait to meet your captain meeting other pirates is always interesting...oh that's what you are pirates, no I remember...don't know where I remember though."

Luro leaned back and forth trying to remember before he felt someone kick his shins he jumped a bit and looked over at Ray seeing he was talking about him.
"Hey I'm being polite Ray why are you kicking me?" Luro said his shoulders drooping slightly and moving his legs away. "Anyway these insect things are so cool and you guys live in the desert that's pretty great. I thought it was boring at first but it's actually really fun here...hey Ray did you call me an idiot?"
Luro looked over at Ray catching his companions mention before he looked back at Lily remembering they had to plead their case. Raising his hand he dug in his hair for a few seconds before pulling out a small metal point and sticking it into the hole in the cuffs to try and unlock them...though he didn't really make it a secret he was doing so.
"Hmmm....I was going to pay later?" Luro said.
He looked down at his body before he laughing a little and shook his head.
"Actually I don't think I have any money on me, which means I was going to ask Kadi or Ray to pay for it."
He raised his cuffs and looked at his two male companions holding up the metal object.
"Kadi Ray did you guys want one? I got four in my hair I think," Luro said before he continued trying to pick the lock. "....codum....kanundum...it's so hard to remember."

 

[Capt. Blu]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Runali, Alicia, Jemima[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As they rode back to the pirates' base, the three women were bombarded with questions that they couldn't even answer. These pirates were an excitable bunch. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Cutthroat… Cutthroat… Where have I heard that…" Runali couldn't place her finger on it, but it sounded oddly familiar. She didn't get much time to think about it because they were soon approaching what looked like a marble archway. It was amazing anything could look so clean and undamaged in the deserted area. "So, you all live in the desert alone?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh no, besides us, there are plenty of towns scattered across this place. Even a kingdom. There's a town not too far from us actually." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]With that small bit of information, Runali hoped the others found it by now. She couldn't help but be amazed at the scenery before them. As they passed through the arch, a building- or rather a large temple appeared. How could anyone have missed that?! Behind it were several smaller sized structures resembling the temple, surrounding a large and passing river that must have lead out to the ocean somewhere. It was an oasis. That or somehow all three of the StarDusk women were hallucinating- or worse, dying. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Women with various styles walked around, going about their day until the sight of their captain made them rush indoors, spreading the news as they did. "All of them are-"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Women? Yes. Clan? Also yes." Saffron adjusted her goggles and looked over at the three. "We're not only a group of pirates, but a civilization. A civilization set on protecting women. The captain gathered us all here. Some of us are from slave trades, destroyed homes, other pirate crews- you name it. She helped us all." Saffron nodded proudly and looked over as Captain Alcinoe hopped off of one of the lizards and interacted with some of the women that approached. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Saff! I need you to get things organized." The first mate saluted the ladies before she hopped off with backpack still in tote. The three StarDusk were pushed off the lizards, only to be caught before they could hit the ground and set right next to Alcinoe. "As disorganized as Sadd looks, she's the most organized lass I know. Without her, we'd be scrambling for everything." Well that answered a question Runali never planned to ask. "C'mon. Follow me."[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]The three were escorted inside the large temple to a large table that extended out and broke into smaller round tables. Of course, the captain took a seat at the largest table. Everyone filed in and began taking seats, with the immediate crew joining the captain (plus the three extra chairs for the StarDusk). [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"I don't know if I'm weirded out by this place or intrigued." Runali whispered to her own crew while Saff returned with news that their navigator, Veera, had yet to return with the feast. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Sorry ladies, but there seems to be a delay with the food. But that gives us plenty of time to talk in the meantime." Alcinoe stood, getting the attention of the crowd. "Today, we found three new women, stranded in the desert left to die!" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Cue the gasps from the crowd and Runali looking at Alicia and Jemima. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Fortunately, we got there in time to save these brave women." There was a bit more to the speech, but Runali was politely trying to tap Alcinoe to get her attention before she- "...and now we can welcome these three with open arms to join the Cutthroat pirates!" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Uh, no we can't do that."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Wait, what?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"We can't. We're already pirates."[/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Capt. Blu]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Kadi, Luro and Ray[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Lily was quite amused by Ray's hostility towards one of his own. He sounded like he was telling the truth. They didn't seem very hostile either. Maybe they were just a group of desperate pirates trying to find food. The one called Luro was definitely odd for one. "Well. You should have. I mean we are one of the most famous pirate groups there is. Number one of the Worst Gen! We're number one- well, one step from it… There's still a pirate lord in the number one spot…" Lily's voice trailed off in thought before she shook her head. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Anyway, that wasn't something to pay for. It was our food for- h-hey! Don't do that!" She reached over swatting the lock pick out of Luro's hand. "Are you trying to get killed faster? You guys can't survive out here by yourselves-" They were a long ways from the market by now and if the heat didn't get them, the Cutthroats would have. She shook her head. "I mean you're prisoners! You can't just go about trying to escape." Lily was supposed to be 'tough' on prisoners, not worry about their health. "Stay still!" She looked out towards the desert, squinting her eyes. "We're almost there."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]As the group approached, they'd be introduced to the same temple and oasis as the girls' were, however it was a lot more barren on the outside. Most of the noise had been coming from the large temple in front of them. However, they didn't have time to ogle the scenery because with one harsh tug, the trio were yanked off the giant beetle they were sitting on and onto the ground.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Alright, listen up you three." Vera looked down at them as two women pulled them up to their feet. "I'm gonna be nice. Instead of tossin' your sorry hides ta our little prison hole, you get ta meet the captain first hand." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Behind Veera, Lily grinned and put a thumbs up. "You wouldn't want to be put in there, nosiree. It's a narrow hole that's in direct sunlight. If you don't accidentally bury yourself in sand, you die of dehydration- I'll go help the others." She gave a sheepish smile when Veera looked at her and then skittered off to help get the crates into the temple. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"...Anyway, sit tight with these ladies. You're goin' in right after our food does." [/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Arcadius]

Wisdom is knowing you need a well thought out plan of action. Experience is knowing that you have to expect a massive cock-up at every step of aforementioned plan.

Arcadius felt wave of relief, seeing that the initial contact with natives went well enough. The conversation seemed civil, and his smile seemed to have the desired effect. He intended to-

"Stop him! Thief!"

His smile did not had enough time to drop, before a barrel of a pistol was shoved into his chest. His mouth did not have enough time to spout a profanity towards Luro, before the troublemaker was asked on his opinion on Arcadius' life.

As they were lead towards the giant beetles that apparently passed for mounts in these dry lands, Kadi's arms were visibly twitching from all the steam and anger he felt towards Luro. Most of the journey he kept himself silent, letting those two fools show how great of a team they were when they started insulting each other in front of their warden.

The pirate band's name meant nothing to him, being new in the pirate trade, but he wondered how far up the ladder Stardusk currently was. Certainly higher after what Luro did. Or lower? Would stealing from thieves count as a crime, or a negative crime and lower their bounty? Part of his anger was diffused towards the bounty system. It felt ill defined. He got pulled from his thoughts by Luro asking if they were interested in lockpicks.

"It's... nevermind. And lockpick would almost undo what you-" Kadi's mood sank again when Lily kicked at the tool. The information that there was someone above the Cutthoats was of use, however. Showed certain kind of attention seeking and vanity. He stored it in his mind for later.

He was not sure what to think about meeting the leader of this band. On one hand, it opened potential for negotiations. On the other, it meant they would be more closely watched.

Arcadius sighed lightly. He looked around, and when he was sure noone was watching, he looked at Luro and gave him a conspicuous wink. Then he sighed again, this time much more theatrically.

"Luro..." he started in a broken, defeated voice. "Since this may be the last few moments we spend together, I wanted... I wanted to say..." he continued. "IT'S CONUNDRUM, YOU IMBECILIC IDIOTIC ICHTIOS! I CAN'T DEAL WITH YOUR STUPIDITY ANYMORE! I'LL KILL YOU!" With what force he could muster, he jumped at Luro and went for his neck with his bound hands. Hopefully, the commotion would be enough for Ray to get up and at least secure a weapon.

 

[Grothnor]

Ray, for one, wasn't eager to enter the temple. The fact that the Captain of the Cutthroat pirates was one of the highest ranked of the Worst Generation meant little to him, as he hardly knew there was even a ranking system for pirates. However, if half of what Lily said about her Captain was true, Ray knew that entering the temple was signing their own execution warrants, or consigning themselves to slavery, or some other punishment horribly undue to the crime. And I, for one, have no intention of paying for Luro's mistakes.

Kadi and Luro started their distraction, but Ray just stood there. After a few seconds of watching, and supercooling his shackles until they were brittle, he broke his hands free and crafted an ice sabre, tossing it to the two of them. Unfortunately, it ended up looking like a large ice-sickle. "Ah, guess the heat's been getting to me again." He tried again, trying for a rapier, but just ended up making a crude rod of ice. Oh yeah, usually I have a core item I make my ice-blades out of: something I cover and reinforce with ice. "Making ice into shapes is hard." He said as he tossed the rod to the two of them and froze off their shackles like he did his.

"So, what's the next step?" Ray asked Kadi. "You have a plan, right? Right?" Ray involuntarily injected the last word with a bit of desperation. Running into the desert was death, they didn't know how to ride the beetles and even if they could the other pirates could likely outride them, and to top it off, Ray had no idea where they were in relation to the ship. "Please don't tell me your plan is to fight everyone."

 

[Winter]

The young swordswomen had never looked more uncomfortable than the moment she'd been on the back of an overgrown lizard. Each time it bumped over the terrain her expression was less able to hide her discomfort, clearly preferring the smooth sailing of a ship or the ground beneath her own two feet. As much as she'd been enjoying the ride the sight of the temples managed to distract her for the moment, her eyes taking in the architecture which was much different to the style which ran dominant in Yula Fey. It made her wonder who built them and given the environment around them they made for an even greater mystery to her.

Alicia flailed comically as she was pushed off the lizard before being placed next to their captain, giving a displeased look towards the woman responsible before returning her attention to the captain of the Cutthroat pirates whom delegated instructions to her subordinates. She was curious to who these people were and why so far she'd only seen women and no men among them. Of course one of them had earlier explained that they consisted of rescued woman, but then she found it hard to believe that there were no men among these rescued woman at the time of their rescue. So what happened to the men.

Still she said nothing and followed closely next to Runali as they were lead further, eventually being confronted by a room with many tables and chairs. Alicia instinctively took a seat on Runali's left, pulling the ribbon which held her two swords so she could place them down beside her for the time being. She made sure to keep them within range, after all she had no reason to trust these woman whether they intended to 'rescue' them or not. If it'd been anything she'd came to learn while traveling with the Stardusk it had been that appearances could be deceiving. "I know the feeling... " she replied to Runali's comment on being intrigued.

The speech given by Alcinoe brought on gasps from her audience and a raised eyebrow from Alicia who glanced towards Jem for a moment before looking back towards the captain of the Cutthroats. When Runali eventually spoke Alicia gave an accompanying nod to her statement, "The Stardusk pirates to be exact. We were waiting for the rest of our crew to return before you showed up" Alicia added softly.

 

[Capt. Blu]

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[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Runali, Alicia, Jemima[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The gasping made Runali tense up a bit. Were they going to kick them out? Kill them? Well they were pirates, so who knew what would happen. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Darn and they hadn't even gotten time to eat yet…[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well… yes, you're a part of a band of pirates but what does their title have to do with anything?" Alcinoe wasn't understanding the problem with joining. Surely, they wanted to be apart of a better pirate crew with the advantage of being treated like equals and also be in one of the most powerful pirate groups there was? [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Saff, not too far away had rummaged through her bag, pulling out different papers. "Stardusk, Stardusk… Oh! Captain, captain here it is." She laid out wanted posters across the table for all of them to see. The ones at different tables started to crowd closer as well. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Hey look, that's us! Whoa, those are our bounties?" Runali looked a bit closer at her own wanted poster. "Captain Runali Lev… Melancholy Queen? Wielder of the Reaper's Eye? Since when- hey look, Jem, Alicia, you guys have titles too. She shifted the papers closer to the two for them to see." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Huh, haven't been with ya lot that long and already made a name for myself. Interestin'." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Alcinoe took the wanted posters and examined them carefully, the room falling silent as she did. Runali couldn't help but lean away from the captain. It was getting a little too eerie for her tastes. "Wait, so you're tellin' me that you're the captain of this Stardusk crew?" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"...Yes?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh well that's even better! It's about time women started rising in the ranks and claiming power. You even have male underlings. Lasses…" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Runali looked over at Jemima and Alicia while Alcinoe focused her attention on her crew. "This place is odd, no? But hey, I say stick around for the free things?" She then awkwardly clapped when the Cutthroat pirates started cheering. What she didn't expect was the bombardment of women who began asking the three questions and gush over them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Jemima looked a little startled at first, but found interest when a group of doctors got her attention. They began sharing different secrets and remedies with the doctor. "Ah- wait ya wouldn't mind writin' some of this stuff down so I can take with me, yeah?" The information she was getting would have been very useful because she was absolutely sure they'd find themselves in some sort of trouble again. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh nooo, problem love! We'll definitely do that."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"After the banquet, we'll even take you down to our huts to show you!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh and what is that Mortality's Quietus title?? It sounds serious what did you do?!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Well, actually…"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]On the other side, Alicia was getting the same treatment. She was questioned about not only her fighting style but her style in general. It wasn't often they'd seen people in kimonos after all. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The captain laughed along at a few jokes and felt pride towards being praised about her status as such a young captain. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Kadi, Luro and Ray[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The sudden outburst by the quiet one made the girls guarding them raise eyebrows in confusion. "Some team." One mumbled while the other agreed. They didn't seem in much rush to stop the men from killing each other and even backed up a little when the guys started tumbling. "Oi, that one's got devil fruit powers." One spotted Ray using his ice powers and unlock himself, while another, much larger woman quite literally yanked Arcadius and Luro apart. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"That's enough, that's enough. Move along, inside you go!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Veera led the front of the group inside after the crates were pulled in. She whistled to gather everyone's attention and then saluted the captain. "Sorry we're late captain! We had have a few dirty thieves that decided to...tag along." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]At the front of the room, Alcinoe and Runali stood, the latter more confused seeing her three pirates being tossed into the room. "Those dirty thieves are uh, my dirty thieves, Captain." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]From behind, Jemima snorted. "Of course those three got themselves inta trouble. Well, at least we know they aren't dead." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Alcinoe's arms crossed, but with a sigh, she nodded. "Let them go." [/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Mizos]

Luro wasn't sure what exactly to do, his lockpick had been taken from him and he was confused since he was positive escaping was one of the many jobs of prisoners. Next to that Arcadius had winked at him for some reason before choking him, granted he got an answer to his question but he wasn't sure what to do besides choke him back. He really hoped Arcadius wasn't serious about killing him, the captain might get mad if they kill each other, he shut his eyes for a moment wondering if he knocked him out would it cool him down slightly. It wasn't until Ray tossed the two of them swords and took care of their shackles that Luro caught on. Slamming his fist onto his hand he gave a small nod.
"Ah it was a distraction I get it, I'm glad that could have ended badly," Luro said dropping the sword to the side.
Handing him a sword was like handing a person with no arms a broken stick to fight with, Luro grabbed his rifle and clicked it once before looking over at Ray.
"Don't we always do that though?"
He liked the idea of fighting everyone but when his eyes landed on the large woman he blinked a few times wondering how she got so large, and seeing her quite literally move him and Arcadius he looked over at Ray.
"You know I actually do want to meet their captain, that and I'm still hungry I'm going to get some more food you guys can continue escaping if you want,"
Remembering that they were going in after the food he happily followed putting his rifle away and folding his hands behind his head.

Luro arched a brow seeing the captain was talking with a woman in the distance, his gaze wandered around the room only to see Alicia and Jemima was here as well. He tilted his head slightly at this sight before the woman near the captain seemed to let them go, he wondered if that was the captain of the Cutthroat pirates.
"Captain, Alicia, Ben what are you guys doing here?" Luro questioned. "We can't bring things back to the ship if you're not there...oh wait since Ray didn't do his job I guess we wouldn't have done it anyway. Ray you were supposed to keep me out of trouble."
Luro looked back at Ray putting his hands on his hips, he slowly shook his head showing disappointment in him not following the captain's orders.
One of the guards sighed and looked over at Luro to kindly ask him to stop talking only to see he was no longer standing with the group, she quickly looked around since he seemed to all but vanish in a matter of seconds before noticing him pulling off one of the crates tops and pulling food out.
"Oi what are you doing?" the woman questioned walking over.
"Getting something to eat," Luro responded grabbing drinks. "And drink."
"You do remember that's what got you in trouble the first time right?"
Luro stared at the woman and went back to going through the food, he didn't seem to understand what she was implying and decided filling his stomach was more important at the moment.

 

[Arcadius]

Disappointment, I think, would be the best word to use in order to describe what I was feeling in that moment. Shame would work too, but it lacked a bit of the right nuance, since I was not only angry at myself, but at everyone around me as well.

I tried to set up an escape, for once taking proactive stance, after enduring one idiotic blunder after another and not saying a word. I was there, witnessing a... a million absurd, pointless mistakes that were absolutely unnecessary and made our life hell, and for what? To hear snarky quips at our incapability to stay out of trouble?

We risked our goddamn lives, walking across a desert! Worse, I at least had some idea where we were walking the whole time, while Luro just wanted to follow the first distraction that popped from the sand. Then he just had to jump at the first miserable lump of food he saw, the thrice-damned drunkard.

It was all his gorramdamned fault.

The navigator tried to struggle against the woman, but the freakish giant simply pulled him away from Luro. He shot an angry glare at the other pirate, hanging in front of him, as the juggernaut held them foot high from the ground.

With the cold reception in the other room done, he stood up, his hand unbound again. He rubbed at his wrists, sore from the rope, and gave his captain a curt nod.

"Captain." He took great care to hide all his feelings in the word. The cold anger was carefully measured, the distaste towards everyone present tessellating to minute precision, the bitterness over his failed actions pinpoint accurate.

"I see we must have taken the wrong entrance. Ours did not have had chilled drinks with small umbrellas and tiny fruit. Though Luro," he pronounced the word same way one would spit out something unsavoury, "seems to be more than happy to make up for it."

 

[Winter]

Alicia had not been expecting that kind of reaction from the Cutthroat's captain, not because she appeared like the hostile type but mostly because their luck usually didn't permit for positive outcomes to the many situations they'd been put in. Even so it was a welcome change of pace and Alicia visibly relaxed with a soft exhale, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again when she caught the voices of the aforementioned crew members. "Of course..." she sighed, seeing them bound and brought before the captain like criminals. The swordswomen had thought to reach for her swords, thinking herself naive to believe it'd be this easy before once again finding herself surprised when Captain Alcinoe let them go. Alicia couldn't help frown a little, realizing perhaps she'd become too cynical and distrusting of others due to their previous situations.

The swordwomen couldn't help but sate her curiosity as she leaned forwards and looked at her own wanted poster, raising her eyebrow with a small some what amused smile on her features. "Maiden of misery? they sure like to be dramatic with their labels don't they" she said, reading the bounty before giving a gentle shrug and pushing the paper away. Alicia was about to ask Runali a question regarding the World Government but in the moment her lips parted to ask the question a group of people descended on them, gushing and seeming interested in hearing what they had to say to their endless list of questions. It was unusual and a little uncomfortable for her, unused to having this amount of attention and especially about herself and her culture. Never the less she was happy to share it and answer their questions.

She spoke about her home and the kind of culture she hailed from, answering questions about the invasions and receiving gasps when they learned it had been her that put an end to Odyn during the invasion. It prompted questions about her fighting style and upbringing to which she spoke about her mother and father, some of the girls whom practiced the sword giving excited squeals when they learned she was the eldest daughter to Sakura. "Now that you mention it, you look allot like her" one of them commented, a comment when brought a genuine smile to Alicia's features. "Thank you, she certainly meant allot to me, even in death" she replied. They spoke more about the art of swordsmanship and Alicia was more than happy to offer advice and even look upon their blades which were presented to her to see if they were of decent quality.

"Do you think you could show us a few things?" one of them eventually asked, a small girl who looked allot younger than most of the others, likely still in her very early teens. Alicia considered it for a moment but eventually gave a nod with a smile. "I don't see why not, it'd be my pleasure" she replied, taking her swords and retying them to her waist with the silk ribbon. She stood and just in time to see the rest of their crew pushed threw the door, giving a small sigh, "Of course... " she commented before looking to Captain Alcinoe as she gave the order to let them go. Alicia inclined her head politely, "Thank you" she responded before turning to the group who eagerly awaited her to acompany them outside. "Do you have some place you use to train?" she asked to which she received excited nods, the youngest one smiled brightly, "Follow us!" she said happily.

 

[Capt. Blu]

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[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]
[BCOLOR=transparent]Reunited[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]What trouble had they gotten themselves into now? The one eyed pirate rested her head in her hand. "Maybe I should have let you go with them Jem…" The Stardusk captain heard a light chuckle from the Jemima as they watched Luro make more enemies. Luro was shoved away several times in order for a few of the chefs to start going through the boxes and passing out the food to the intended pirates- meaning now Luro, and the others had to wait their turn.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"So, those three are… your underlings?" With arms still crossed, Alcinoe glanced over at Runali with a concerned expression as if saying, 'are you sure they're capable?' [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"They're not really underlings. They're my crew. Everyone's-" Runali looked over, spotting the reactions Luro, Kadi, and Ray were given. "Ah, I promise they're not usually troublemakers." She saluted Kadi, easily spotting the annoyance in his expression. "Well, then again...pirates. Troublemaker is a relative term."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Except the redheaded one. That's just how he is." Jemima added truthfully. Runali could only shrug towards the comment. She technically wasn't wrong. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"We got stranded here and needed to find people, so I sent them out and, well, they definitely found people." She looked over at the rest of her crew before looking back at Alcinoe. "You wouldn't mind... helping us get our ship in order, right?" [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]This question received a laugh, not just from the captain, but a few of the pirates as well. "Of course! You have an odd band of pirates… but I like you three. Consider us friends." She held her hand out and Runali's one eye lit up with delight. Allies with one of the strongest pirate groups there was? That had to be the best news ever! Jem looked rather surprised and then rather skeptical at how easy that was, but, she decided not to question it as both captains shook hands and made a truce of friendship. "Veera! Gather your group and go inspect the damages."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]The shipwright that had originally captured the three gave a look of disbelief before staring at Luro who had clearly know regards of respect. "...Aye, aye." She and her team of shipwrights collected food before grabbing one of the navigators to lead them to the StarDusk ship. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"She's probably the best ship right there is, so your ship will be able to sail again in no time. Since we're friends, my home is your home. Feel free to explore and get comfortable. That...does include all of you." It seemed that's exactly what Alicia and Jemima had in mind already. While Alicia was dragged out to their training grounds, Jemima was surrounded by other doctors who decided to show her their own section of the oasis hey lived in. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]That left Ray, Kadi, Luro, and Runali with captain and first mate of the Cutthroat pirates. And since none of them had decided to wander off, they began following those two around. "I built this place about fifteen years ago with only Saff here as my crew. And look at us now. Number one pirates- well in our generation." Saff walked alongside them, with wanted posters in hand, quietly scribbling notes about them. After the minor fiasco it was hard to believe everyone acted as if nothing happened. "Feel free to ask questions too. I'm sure new pirates such as yourselves do need insight on some things. Saff and I can help with that." As they were walking, a familiar tiny crocodile popped out of the sand and scampered in between Ray and Kadi's legs. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Aw what a cute- whoa." Runali looked up to see a much, much larger crocodile slowly walking past them.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Not to worry. That's Lady. She's mine and is friendly...most of the time."[/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Grothnor]

Ray sheepishly followed the brute of a woman who grabbed Kadi and Luro. She put the brute he defeated on the Man'o'war at the battle of Yula Fei to shame, and as Ray wasn't keen on getting beaten to death with or by his friends, he followed along. Also, the casual attitude the Cutthroat Pirates had towards the trio breaking out of their restraints spoke volumes on how sure they were that they could beat them, which Ray found particularly scary.

Ascending the temple steps, they found the rest of their crew. "Hey Captain." Ray waved awkwardly from behind the brute. He noticed Luro slinking off to snag some food and tried moving to stop him, but figured he'd just make himself look guilty to these people who he had already decided wouldn't give him a fair trial. Much to his surprise, Captain Alcinoe released them back into Captain Runali's custody, though he did notice how she said 'three' when referring to the friendship between pirate crews. In other words, only the girls of the crew. Kadi, Luro and I still aren't. Time to start repaying their generosity, and possibly changing our sullied name. He walked past Luro and kicked him in the shins as thanks for getting them into trouble again.

"Who wants ice? Chilled drinks?" He called into the feasting hall they had apparently entered. Ray began chilling beverages and making ice cubes for the Cutthroats, hoping to gain some brownie points for the men of the crew that Luro had undoubtedly cost them.

 

[Mizos]

Luro sighed a little as he was pushed away from the food, he tilted his head at them as he shoved a piece of fruit into his sleeve placing a drink he had grabbed at the last minute on his belt, he glanced over at the others curious what they were up to, though his curiosity was cut short when Ray kicked him causing him to rub the back of his head watching his male companion walk off before he stared down at his shins. He raised his head his eyes coming to rest on one of the wanted posters of the crew. Luro picked it up bringing a hand to his chin, his brows raised slightly before he set it back down though the temptation to take it with him was tempting. Luro crossed his arms shutting his eyes as something pulled at the edge of his thoughts, he tapped his foot but nothing came forward except a question on where the rest of the drinks in this place were. He sighed a little and lowered his arms before looking over at one of the pirates, his eyes rested on a pistol in her hands and his eyes widened.

Luro ran over and grabbed the pistol out of the woman's hand before inspecting it, turning it over to look at all sides of it, ignoring the harsh words coming at him from the pirate.
"This is a custom made gun isn't it?" Luro said pointing at it.
"...oh...uh yeah...can you give it back now."
Luro pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger, the pirate jumped only for a loud audible click to come from the gun, she narrowed her eyes at Luro who went back to looking at it.
"You haven't gotten it fixed lately...mind if I take a look inside."
"Yes I do mind and did you just try to shoot me?"
"It's okay I was pretty sure it wasn't loaded."
"Pretty sure?!"
Luro was half finished taking the gun apart having left the conversation lost in focus causing the female pirate to sigh and sit down, she watched Luro take the gun apart spreading the pieces apart inspecting each one nodding every few seconds as he touched each part, holding a few up to the light with a wide grin.
"...how'd you know it was custom?" the woman asked.
Luro explained why in exactly twenty-seven words that made no matter of sense to human ears, he raised his gaze to the woman who stared at him akin to a fish staring at a piece of bait on a fish hook, curios but with the possible knowledge that the thing in front of them was immensely dangerous. Luro set the pieces down and quickly put the gun back together before handing it to her, the pirate took the gun and arching her brows ran her fingers along the side, the gun felt lighter and as she pulled the trigger she could almost feel the gun's inner workings moving in complete sync from the one action.
"It's easy to spot the difference between a custom made one and one taken off someone's body or bought, these pistols are made with particular imperfections, one of the big ones being the fact they can barely hit anything that's not directly in front of them, unless you have realllly good aim and compensate for how bad they are. This one has horrible range but that imperfection was fixed you can tell by the outer design, whoever fixed that up for you knew what they were doing. I just fixed it up due to a bit of damage from use but they could have done that easily enough."
"oh...well thank yo-"
"So can I have your gun?"
"Is that why you helped me?"
"Yep!"
"No."
"Boo."

Luro left the pirate's company seeing her loading her gun while glaring at him and walked with the captain and Alcinoe offering a small smile to Veera when she looked at him. Seeing the look he arched his brows and waited for her to say something though when she walked off with and aye he waved before following the captain and the others. The captain seemed excited to be friends with the pirates and Luro liked that they hadn't started shooting each other yet, that seemed to happen often when they met other pirates, this was nice. Luro looked over at Saff as she stared at the wanted posters, he leaned to the side a bit to take a look himself. He didn't get a chance to see everyone's wanted posters, reading the names and bounty's his mouth moved to the side and he rubbed the side of his head, that strange thought on the edge of his mind started bugging him again but he was pulled from possibly remembering it as the two crocodiles appeared.
"Hey it's the big crocodile that almost ate us," Luro said pointing at Lady. "She was nice captain you should have seen her teeth."
Luro looked over at Alcinoe catching that they could ask questions, Luro had a few question himself so he figured why not ask the head lady in charge.
"I got some questions," Luro said grinning at Alcinoe. "That Veera lady the one who almost shot Kadi, she's the shipwright right? I've never met another best, is she interesting? Oh and you have someone who makes weapons here right? Who is that they're pretty good. Also I keep hearing you guys are number one, what's that mean?"

 

[Capt. Blu]

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[BCOLOR=transparent]Location: Cutthroat Base[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Before they got too far, Ray decided to hang back with the other women and...serve drinks? Runali didn't consider it the best idea, but after seeing a few of the women curiously go towards him with drinks in hand, Runali decided he'd be alright. And, well, if he wasn't, she'd ask Alcinoe to save him. She wasn't attacking this crew, no way. That number one ranking sounded like a big deal. And from the sounds of it, as Alcinoe continued on about her crew, a bounty of five million was scary high. She'd hate to be on her bad side. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Fortunately, it didn't take long for Ray to return, so there was less of a problem there. Alicia too lagged behind, only to be preoccupied by many of the fighters of the crew. However she felt that following her captain was just a little more important- She didn't want to miss any information after all. "How about after?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh yes!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Of course!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Can't wait!"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Jem had left a little early, but passed by the group with a new notebook of medicinal information. She was planning to go grab a few supplies later. Now, she stuck around to see if she had missed anything important. Luro was tempted to wander off too, but after their first fiasco, Arcadius made sure to keep him near the captain. So, instead of wandering, Luro rambled questions instead. Alcinoe responded in kind. "Veera is our best shipwright and one of the best shipwrights if I do say so myself. She was born into the business. It's in her blood. She'll have your ship fixed within the week- quicker even with her crew." Alcinoe spoke highly of each of her crew members and was glad to tell Luro about them. She went on about her redheaded shipwright before realizing Luro asked another question. "We have multiple people who make weapons, not just one. There is one who teaches the others, if that's what you mean. However, I believe she's a bit busy… But she too is a fine lass. Give her any weapon and by Neptune it's like magic how she gets those things fixed. And made! She's a real treasure." Again Alcinoe began to ramble, until this time Runali interrupted.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"So, Captain…" Runali started. "What's this 'Worst Generation' thing you mentioned?" Something as important as she made it seem was probably something they wanted to know about. There was a lot of stuff the StarDusk crew didn't know about as pirates- and so far, they were living off luck. Maybe with more insight, they'd be able to have some sort of advantage with all this. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Without information like that, I'm surprised you all survived this long." Saff responded first, and when the captain gave her an 'okay', she adjusted her goggles and continued. "The Worst Generation are four groups of pirates with bounties over a million. Once your captain's bounty reaches a million, then you'll be seen as a threat that needs to be gotten rid of. The government still wants to get rid of you now because you're pirates, but you're not a 'code red priority'. The four groups are us the Cutthroat pirates, second is the Nova pirates, third is the Red pirates-"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"They were the ones that tried to kill us." Arcadius frowned at the memory, and was very grateful that these women hadn't done the same. By the way they talked, and how the three of the guys had been so easily captured, these women were a force to be reckoned with. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Oh? And you survived? Luck is really on your side, huh. The Red pirates are a cynical and annoying bunch. They're trying to take our number one rank, then the Pirate Lord's rank and be 'the best'." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Alcinoe laughed. "He's tried a few times and has failed miserably. It's embarrassing." [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Runali couldn't imagine that Red Pirates Captain being...embarrassing, but something else caught her attention. "Pirate Lord?" Somehow, this question made both the captain and first mate of the Cutthroat pirates stop in their tracks. This time, Alcinoe responded.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"You don't know who the number one ranking pirate is?! The literal best of the best!?" Her eyes practically sparkled at this point. "Nani Sterling, captain of the Sterling pirates. Captain of an army of pirates! A woman who could give those two privateers a run for their money?!" Had none of these newbies heard of her!? "Oh boy you're practically innocent… And live under rocks." She, nor Saff understood how they didn't know, considering she was a legend, but both of them simply sighed. "Well… You definitely should have some sorta questions then? Or do we hafta teach you everything we know?"[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Saff had been glancing at the wanted posters again, eyeing them down and taking notes. "Captain, it'd probably be because most of them weren't born pirates. In fact, one's from that Yula Fei country we visited a while back. The other is… of noble blood? Huh. Howdya go and mess somethin' like that up?" Saff teased and finally landed on Jem's wanted poster. "Huh, and this lass' looks oddly familiar." She stared at Jem for a moment before walking over and climbing on Lady's back to scuffle through papers in her backpack. Alcinoe just shook her head and let the odd pirate do her thing. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"While she tries to find out more information about you all, continue with any questions you have. Or, feel free to explore our home. Just remember, do anything at your own risk. My crew won't hesitate to restrain you- or kill you." Her smile never diminished- in fact her threat was spoken with a casual smile. The undertones of a death threat did emanate though… [/BCOLOR]

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Read: Start of This Arc l From the Beginning ​

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[Arcadius]

Luck of the fools, I answered to myself on the inquiry to ours continued survival. Perhaps the universe simply willed it. There was a spot in the grand equations of things for some weird perturbation or turbulence that was keeping the whole shebang together. Or some other thing I had no idea about. So far, a lot of people tried to kill us, and we proved quite frustratingly resilient at turning tries to successes. I suppose that is as high as you can aim, being a pirate.

I think I saw something jump inside the captain when she heard the words "Lord" and "Pirate" said next to each other. Fear of sorts, sure, though, there was a hint of, I'd dare to say, envy. Want. Desire, even. Frankly, I knew very little about her, but truth be told, I had no intentions to change that paradigm in the near future. She got us through a lot of things alive, and in the end, that was the only thing you needed to know about your commanding officer. I still sort of owed her and Alicia for saving my life, and that fact lets you gloss over lot of likely annoying questions.

"Of noble blood". Hah. I almost started laughing there. If you dug deep enough through the records back in Wisegrad, anyone living would find themselves related to "noble blood". Sure, the amount of pages you'd have to go through was... rather short for someone of my lineage, but the amount of deaths needed for me to get somewhere around the actual nobility was... well, three. Not that any of the ones around me needed to know that anyway. Last thing I needed for them to know how actually valuable I might be, and well... I'd rather not put that to the test as well. One's value to one's family, described in monetary value, can either go really well, or really bad.

Lucky for me, there was Alicia looked even more glaringly noble-ish, and showed no qualms at using violence on others. Nobility at its finest.

"How long do you plan to stay here?" Arcadius asked the other captain. "Since you clearly are perceived as a threat, you must be constantly on a run in some sort of fashion. Your living comes from your ship, hence you need to have it anchored somewhere. How long can you keep a base of operations, before it is discovered and overrun by the Navy?" He wondered how the captain would react to a more direct question. More boasting, perhaps?