Redemption (Rated T) - A Pirate/Fleet RP

[Fraze]

A rainbow mashed into human form walked down the streets of Tabloid Town.

The rainbow's name was Merpo. All of his clothing was brightly colored in eye-burning combinations: an electric blue vest, yellow and orange harlequin patterned trousers, and a purple and red cape. Topping off the look, was a gold-trimmed neon green hat with a large peacock feather sticking out of the top. He had a reputation for being an eccentric. He was completely aware of this fact, and used it to his benefit. There were rumors he belonged to the mysterious Invisible Guild, which he neither confirmed nor denied. This, too, worked to his benefit--the air of mystery meant he was considered dangerous. His brightly colored clothes seemed to give people the impression that he was poisonous. For the most part, he was left alone.

Merpo was strolling along, on the way to breakfast. He found wearing a bright, cheery expression made people keep away, so he had one plastered over his face--though the quick and shoddy application of said smile meant that it was off-center and at a bit of an odd angle. Just as he was pondering what tune would be best to hum to make people avert their eyes, he heard something whispered.
"The Spacefleet has info on Leraye. Classified info, therefore important info... right?"
Merpo's head snapped to the side. This was an unusual movement for him, since he rarely cared what was going on to either side of him so long as no one approached him. He changed direction, coming to a stop at a small restaurant on the side of the street opposite the person he heard.

She was a tall lass with black and gold striped hair. A pirate, from the looks of it, with a band of dark blue...what were those things called again, meepits? And a phoenix.
He didn't know who Leraye was, but he was quite interested in Spacefleet. By now, the waitress had come over to him apprehensively, as one might approach a brightly-colored, hungry vampire. He quickly ordered a coffee and shooed her away. He had to hear more.

"Oh yes," came a deep, growoly voice. Merpo was unsure who the voice belonged to, before realizing--much to his surprise--that it came from one of the meepits. "They'll be delighted to show you around in their most restricted archives, mark my word."
So. They wanted to sneak into Spacefleet? For something subversive? This could be quite an opportunity.

The waitress came with his coffee. He took it, paid, and shooed her away again. She left quite willingly.

Merpo did his best to follow the rest of the conversation, though he didn't understand much of it. Something about sending a dead person to Spacefleet. He wondered at this odd course of action, but knew enough to realize that there was probably some reason for this.

After speaking some more, the pirate walked away, followed by an entourage of dark blue puffballs. Merpo waited until she was some distance away, finished the rest of the coffee, and set off after her.

She walked some distance toward the better part of town. Not all that far from where Merpo himself lived. Into a self-proclaimed "Travel Agencie." Apparently wealth didn't breed a proper understanding of spelling. Merpo knew it would be best not to follow her in, so he waited at the corner of the block on the opposite side of the street, radiating his usual aura of "DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE. DO NOT PLAY ON OR AROUND."
After some minutes, the pirate left again. She was angry. He heard something about seven million. That was around the going rate for a trip to Spacefleet last time he checked. Not that it was at all likely he would ever be allowed back on the station.

Merpo took off again, walking briskly after the pirate. When he was within speaking range of her, foregoing all formalities and pleasantries, he said, "I can help you get to Spacefleet."

[Kat]

"I suppose we'll meet Cap'n at the Weewoo. Keep your eyes peeled for any other demons in the streets."

"Actually, even with my eyes closed, I can still find demons," said Kat, shrugging. "There's just something about the auras they give off. I think if I were a demon radar and I found Leraye, I'd be bleep-bleeping your ears off. But yeah, I'll be on the alert." She sighed. "I wish those three boys would be all right though. Crazy demon, posing as an old man."

After her rambling, she decided to focus on scouring the area for more demons. Human...human...besides the demonic vibe she got from The Landfish, which obviously came from the old guy they had bound up in there, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Aura-wise, that is.

She was about to tell Rider that there was nothing when she felt something...well, the best way to describe it was "out of place".

Nudging her comrade, Kat whispered, "There's something. It's down this street, and it's turning somewhere..."

[Huntress]

"I can help you get to Spacefleet."

Hunty froze for a second; her pace jumbled and she very nearly grabbed the crossbow out of pure instinct. Then the brain kicked in and she made a few more hesitant steps before stopping.

"Oh really?" she said to the crowded street in front of her, then turned around. The sight wasn't any less shocking than what she'd just heard.

She eyed the colorful vision in front of her, vaguely wondering whether the city air was getting to her brain and if not, whether there was any solid ground behind this guy and his offer. Then she looked into his eyes, and very nearly flinched. Something was terribly... off there. Off the general picture.

Well, beggars can't be choosers. Hunty filed this case under 'worth a try' for the time being.

"I'm listening?"

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]"There's something. It's down this street, and it's turning somewhere..."

"Demonic?" Rider whispered, creeping after it with as much stealth as a pirate was capable of. It didn't look like a demon. It looked like a walking circus. A good distance in front of him was a familiar stripey head.

"He's following Cap'n." Rider's hand was on her sword in case he tried anything funny.

"I can help you get to Spacefleet."

Rider swallowed air in surprise. It didn't seem like this clown was capable of getting through the streets without getting mugged, never mind getting to Spacefleet with their high security.

But Cap'n seemed willing to listen. Rider raised her eyebrow at Hunty. This seemed like an unsavory character, and it too one to know one. If this disco tried to run, she'd be behind him, blocking escape.[/glow]

[Kat]

Kat blinked. This was the most colorful demon - if it even was a demon, since its aura wasn't too similar to the old man in the tavern - she had ever seen.

She wanted to attack; draw her staff, or even the longsword she didn't always use, when she saw that this weird creature was with the Cap'n. Then again, the latter didn't seem to view this new arrival as a threat.

Waiting with Rider in case something happened, she decided to just keep her hand on her wand, ready to extend it into a staff at a minute's notice.

[Fraze]

The pirate looked ready to attack, but thought better of it. "Oh, really?" she asked before turning around.
After turning around, she seemed as if she wished she hadn't. Merpo got that a lot.
"I'm listening?" It could have been either a comment or a statement.

There was some noise behind him, and Merpo looked over his shoulder. Two other women, both armed, looked like they knew the stripy-haired pirate...

"I--I'm sorry, I get a bit...erm...nervous..." Merpo muttered, gesturing at the two behind him. "I should let you know," he added, speaking quickly, "I'm a coward and won't hesitate to run if you attack me."
He paused, searching for a train of thought which seemed to be several stations ahead of him by now. "Where was I...oh, yes. Spacefleet. I've got a, well, a bit of a personal vendetta against them. I was a scientist--thing--there...my research isn't really important anymore, the project I was working on got cut and all that. I was--well--all right, I was kicked out. I had to leave so fast that I couldn't get all of the--bring all of my...things...with me. I still think they did that on purpose. Maybe. I dunno."
He was vaguely aware that the pirate seemed to be losing patience. He decided to cut it short.
"I'm very rich. Patents and such, great money but a lot of work...anyway, if you need to get to Spacefleet to do some--something subversive, I can pay for your...tickets...but you need to get something for me."

Was there something he was forgetting? "Oh, yes," he said, warily extending a slender hand as though afraid of getting bitten. "I'm Merpo."

[Zylaa]

"So, are we going straight back to the ship now, or do you want to check somewhere else?"

Zylaa shrugged, mentally reviewing a map of the city in her mind. "I've got no idea where most of our crew went, but Speck said she was heading to the bathhouse-- and a bath sounds pretty good right now, to be honest." Of course, getting a bath wasn't exactly a productive activity, but they'd already gotten at least one piece of useful information. And a contact with this mysterious Ranger Walker. "The bathhouse is pretty much on the way back to the ship, and a quick bath shouldn't make us any later. I'm sure the others have things to deal with."

Zylaa led the way to the bathhouse and pulled out her purse.

"Two private baths, please," she said. The attendant on duty looked over the two girls with a disapproving sniff. "Yes, we're dirty. Some people do get dirty in between baths, you know," Zylaa said cheerfully, smiling and putting on her best sunny demeanor so they wouldn't be thrown out. "Actually, a friend of ours should be around here somewhere-- also somewhat salty-- have you seen her?" Zylaa described Speck a bit more until the attendant nodded with recognition.

"She should still be here, I haven't seen her leave yet."

"Excellent, maybe we'll run into her," Zylaa said to Jina. Once they were out of earshot of the attendant, she added, "and then at least three of us will be late." They wandered through the hallways, following the directions of the staff.

(( Spontaneous Speck rescue mission! Huzzah! Except we have no way of detecting magic/demonic influence/ unconscious shipmates. >_> Shout or something, Speck.))

[Huntress]

Hunty listened to the human-peacock's rambling with a raised eyebrow. It was hard to make anything of this character, except the fact that he was giving off a serious Willy Wonka vibe, which didn't really improve the matter if you thought about it this way. But at least he seemed harmless.

But still... when he introduced himself as Merpo and held out his hand, looking like he was ready to pull it back and scamper any second now, Hunty got a pretty similar feeling. But then again, what's a pirate to do?

"Huntress," she said, her voice still bearing a note of cautiousness, as she shook the offered hand. Then made up her mind and, instead of letting the hand go, pulled Merpo along, into a more secluded alleyway, away from the crowded main street. The Tabloid Town locals may have had reached ultimate levels of not hearing redundant stuff on the streets, because it was healthier that way, but for every such citizen you could get ten very curious ears.

Granted, the city had so many secluded alleyways that they were often more crowded, better lit and more often cleaned than the main streets, but it's the general principle of the motion that counts, right?

"Look, I'll level with you," she said. "If what you're saying is true then you got nothing to fear, 'cept maybe getting mugged on the streets..." she paused, giving Merpo another look. "Well, maybe not. But you'll never know about thieves. Anyway. ...Bloody Mary, whadda you think of this?"

"I think," the meepit said, eyeing the man in front of them, "that Tabloid Town sure has a lot of colorful characters."

"That was lame."

"I know, but I've always wanted to say that. A propos, Kat and Rider are back there and there's some kid sneaking behind the crates listening to what we're saying."

Hunty sighed. She disliked kids on principle. They weren't half bad at a distance, but let them too close and they listened to your every word, drew insanely quick and mature conclusions from it that were never off the mark, built cunning McGyver-type devices to spoil all of your plans, half of which didn't even concern them, and often learned to fly on spot for no apparent purpose other than being able to miraculously escape you just when you're about to deliver a well-deserved whack on their heads. Pirates and kids just weren't meant to go together.

Her crossbow switched from being strapped to her back to being pointed at the crates in question, with no apparent phase of transition inbetween. There were hasty shuffling sounds and a patter of feet.

"Gone now," Bloody Mary said.

Hunty grinned, beckoning Rider and Kat to come closer, then looked at Merpo again and the grin reduced to a thoughtful scowl.

"Mkay, so. Erm. While I very much appreciate your offer, I hope you do realize that we're talking a lot of money here. Seven million per face, and there's..." she paused, "eight, maybe nine of us. Not counting the little furries."

"Whoah." Bloody Mary looked up. "You want the entire gang to go?"

"Eh, well, if they turn out to be asking money for weasels as well, then Zylaa's gang of 300 is probably out unless our new friend here is a bottomless pit of gold in disguise..." she waved her hands around absently and then leaned against the wall. "Yes, I'd rather go along. And I in fact doubt that the initial cost of flying up there is as much as the agencies claim. But still." Her attention switched back to Merpo.

"Do you by any chance know where the spaceport is?" she asked, trying not to sound too intimidating. She was well aware that as far as first impressions went, hers tended to be on the creepy side.

"And," said Bloody Mary with his infinitely better skill of picking up important information, "what was that bit about us getting something for you?"

[Kat]

Kat raised an eyebrow. "Well, Merpo, you need not fear if you don't want to run, because I have ways of catching you if you decide to. I tracked you, remember? Auras are so much easier to read than footprints."

But she kept quiet while he and the Cap'n discussed how to get to Spacefleet - for a while, that is.

"Oh, great. There's always a catch. But let's see first if our walking rainbow can pay our price."

[Speck]

There was a groan, and then Speck awoke. Her sinuses were pounding in her skull. She was tied to a chair in a pool of light that appeared to come from nowhere. A ragged edge of darkness surrounded the light, as if it was trying to eat away at it.

A voice from nowhere spoke, “Ah… I see you are awake, m’dear.”

“Who are you?” Speck’s voice was weak for only a moment, “What do you want with me?”

“You could call us blood relatives, I suppose. I’m here to offer you something you’ve wanted for years.”

This voice was being awfully cryptic; too cryptic for the pirate’s taste, “Blood relatives?”

“Hm. That’s right,” Speck could hear pacing in the darkness. Her eyes were adjusting, but she still couldn’t see anything beyond the pool of light. This was a very unnatural light, “Does the name Jonah Farlap ring any bells?”

“Yes,” No reason to go into detail, she thought.

“He was my brother. And I do believe that you murdered him.”

The pirate raised her voice a little, “I didn’t murder him. He was a wandering spirit, he chose to leave this world. For all I know, he’s not even dead!”

“For all you know? You know nothing of the spirit realm, little Fern,” The voice tsked, “Once a spirit decides to move on, there’s no stopping it. Not even if the spirit would have been restored to the physical world, merely hours later.”

“How would you know?” Speck cringed at her real name. She hadn't gone by that name since her mother had died.

“I’m speaking from experience,” The voice chuckled darkly, and another laugh joined in.

“You mentioned a deal,” The laughter in the darkness subsided.

“Yes, I did.”

“Do you plan on telling me anything about it?” Speck asked, her patience running thin.

“You need to do something for me, miles up and away from this world. I’ll give you a code, and you’re to get up there to enter it. That’s it.”

“What do I get in return?”

“You will be reunited with your father,” That was the last thing the voice said before the darkness withdrew. It trailed off as the darkness withdrew, revealing an empty bathhouse room but for its basic amenities, “I will find you again in half an hour. Give me your decision then.”

Speck was alone in the room, still tied to the chair. She tried feeling the knot, but couldn’t figure out how to untie it just from touch. Whoever had tied her up had done it well. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the room. There weren’t any sharp objects to catch on, nothing she could use to break the rope.

She hopped up and down with the chair, edging her way over to the door. With any luck, Jonah Farlap’s relative would have left the door unlocked. Speck pushed up against it, trying to open it. She had forgotten that the door opened in to the room, and not out of it.

Her head banged against the door in frustration several times. What had that mysterious person meant, reunite her with her father? Her father had gone missing years ago, before she had even decided to join the ninja’s dojo. He had been a merchant sailor, and then an adventurer. The last she had seen of him, he had gone out to sea in search of new land, further away than even the last Sub-Board Island. Speck’s father hadn’t returned from the trip, and her mother had died a few years later in grief.

Could it be that he had survived the stormy seas beyond those islands? Could he have found a new land, and had finally returned?

And who was the second laugh that had accompanied Farlap’s?

[Amneiger]

"Hold on..." Amneiger spent a few seconds typing. "Let me bring up the records for drone #H-519...looks like the book was on Leraye, the demon alchemist from Guild Wars. It didn't have -"

>>Autonomous security systems: Mage ambassador has arrived.
> Show me.

"...Okay, the security cameras show the phoenix is back on the station, and it's carrying the book."

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]Rider helpd out a hand, a suggestion for Kat to stand down. Merpo didn't seem like an immediate danger. then again, if Kat had detected a demonic aura, or an unusual aura of any sort, then there was no telling.

It didn't hurt to be polite, in any case. If Kat needed to use that staff, it'd be too late for manners anyway, may as well use them while you can.

"I'm Rider, and this is Kat." She kept that non-nonsense edge to her voice, though. [/glow]

[Fraze]

"Huntress," the Pirate said, taking Merpo's hand.
To his surprise, she didn't let go, instead pulling him into an alleyway. One of the other pirates said something about tracking him by his aura. He'd heard about this before, but auras had always seemed like things that happened to other people--it had never occurred to him that he himself might have had one.
The other pirate introduced herself and the mage-looking one.

By this time, Huntress had stopped. Merpo decided it would be best not to run away yet, since she didn't seem violent.

Look, I'll level with you," she began. "If what you're saying is true then you got nothing to fear, 'cept maybe getting mugged on the streets..." Merpo was about to interject and say that he had thus far managed to avoid that very thing, but she started up again. "Well, maybe not. But you'll never know about thieves. Anyway. ...Bloody Mary, whadda you think of this?"
To Merpo's surprise, one of the meepits spoke. He realized it was the one that he had heard earlier. The two spoke in a way that almost seemed to imply they shared a telepathic connection.
There was something about a child hiding somewhere. Merpo was a bit surprised--they were still in the nicer part of town, after all. Maybe it was there scrounging for food. He decided to start leaving morsels of food placed in such a way that they would get noticed by street urchins but not anyone else. This was not because he cared much about feeding said urchins, he was simply curious and wanted to test his hypothesis. What food to use...

He realized Huntress was speaking to him again, and snapped out of his thoughts.

"Mkay, so. Erm. While I very much appreciate your offer, I hope you do realize that we're talking a lot of money here. Seven million per face, and there's...eight, maybe nine of us. Not counting the little furries."
As quickly as he had snapped out of his previous thoughts, Merpo got lost in new ones. A quick review of his multiplication tables told him this would mean 56-63 million. But how...those prices were horrific!
The pirate's voice came into his conscious once again.
"Do you by any chance know where the spaceport is?"
"And," came the voice of the meepit, "what was that bit about us getting something for you?"

"Seven million--how--why--it's highway robbery!" Merpo stammered. "Such exorbitant fees are--are--ludicrous! Only stupid rich people would pay something like that." He was painfully unaware of the irony of this, boldly going on in his tirade. "Go to the Spaceport and buy a ticket from there. I can tell you where it is. You should--you should be able to get your whole crew there for...no more than fifteen--fourteen million. I can pay that.
"I think--did I tell you that I was kicked out of...Spacefleet? I couldn't bring all of my possessions...some of them were left behind. One of them was--is a thick notebook, full of...research, notes, plans that I was doing on my--what little spare time I had. It was private research, but I used Spacefleet equipment to do it and I don't think they liked that and that may have been why--why they kicked me out. No, there were probably other r-reasons as well, but that was a--a big--big reason. These note are very...important...to me. Someone who was still a friend in Spacefleet told me they--they put the notes in the library. Big, beautiful library, loved going there, could spend countless hours in it...It shouldn't be in the restricted section, even though it should be. They didn't know what that research was, how could they, they didn't know anything...if they knew, they--they would have b-burned it and ground up the ashes and tossed--thrown them out an airlock..." he flinched at this without realizing. "But that wasn't the reason I was doing the research, not at all..."
Merpo looked dazedly around for a few moments, realizing he was once again riding on a runaway train of thought, and it wasn't even the one he had wanted to board. Once he remembered where he was going, he began again. "I need you to get this note--notebook for me. I can tell you exactly--well, more or less exactly where it should be. Hopefully."

[Jina]

""Excellent, maybe we'll run into her, and then at least three of us will be late."

"Depends on how long the others take," replied Jina.

There was a sound from a door on the left. Jina stopped the attendant.

"I thought I just heard Speck in there," she said.

The attendant pulled a puzzled face. "Your friend? She isn't supposed to be in there."

"You mentioned a deal.”

Jina looked at Zylaa. "That's her. And someone else is in there, too. Shall we listen in, or go in?"

[Kengplant]

Keng's spacecraft landed in a flurry of activity. Ground crew and grease monkeys running about in a tizzy and first aid was bringing in a train of hovering cot trolleys. The mission had been a disaster in every way except one: it had been completed. She herself had come out of it with no more than a few nicks and a lot of dust covering her from head to tow. She ripped off her helmet and stuffed it under her arm as she jumped out of the cargo hold in a rush just as desperate as that of everyone else. The helmet's visors had left something resembling a bad goggle tan over the upper part of her face. She didn't have time to help the wounded, or answer questions, or fill out mission reports. She'd delivered the refugees and her troops back to Spacefleet more or less safely: their lives were in good hands and their fates were not something she could affect but the fate of someone else was on the line. Someone dear to her whom she'd had to leave for her duties: including the very mission she was coming from now. She could only hope she wouldn't be to late. She felt like a salmon swimming upriver as she weaved her way through the people rushing to the drop ships to try to get to her own. She'd already gotten approval for this trip weeks ago so there was no paper work to be had. All she had to do was get down to the NTWF and find the Weewoo.
"Oh Cyborg... please don't let me be too late." she prayed, then hit the throttle.

((eep, running out of battery life on my laptop!))