Post by Rigel Larrat on May 24, 2020 12:55:06 GMT -8
Name: Spice War Type: Episode Requestee: Condor Difficulty: 1 Significance: 2 Objective: Find employment with Lord La for protection from the bounty hunters and marines on Dulan Island. Sub-Objective: Steal away the Red Jewel Spice from the Southern Chef's Guild to prove Rigel’s worth to Lord La. Plot: Rigel Larrat’s bounty poster has finally made its way to the most well policed island in the Ranger Sea. With his cover blown, Rigel seeks the aid of the only element not yet seeking his head, the Bird Houses run by the eccentric Lord La. Intrigued by the upstart that broke from Balloon Flock, Lord La agrees to protect the pirate if he can steal him something he values, the restricted, rare spice monopolized by the Southern Chef's Guild. He sends along a courtesan to oversee the mission and ensure it isn’t any sort of trick, Meyye Cheihine.
In trying to steal the spice, Rigel must outfox the chef Rictor Pon. By temporarily inspiring Meyye, he converts her to do his bidding and distract the man. Rigel must still fight grunt defenders committed to protecting their product. Meyye and Rigel must then escape New Friro with the prize in hand from the pursuing chef and guards. This attracts the attention of bounty hunters.
The hunting pack, Cross Corvids, alerted by the Southern Chef's Guild also join this pursuit. Atop the rushing rivers in Dulan Island, they engage in combat with Rigel, intending to bring him in for the bounty on his head. Rigel must defeat the bounty hunters and shake the pursuing guards before reaching the Bird House and exposing Lord La’s plan. He’s pushed to again convince Meyye to help him, but in doing so, she pays a steep price. Wishlist: +Relations to the Underworld and Lord La. +NPC Coins Cast: PC: Rigel Larrat
Type: INPC Rank: D Name: La "Lord La" Baris. Underworld Alias: "Jukebox" Age: 26 Gender: Male Race: Human Height: 5'11" Weight: 140 lbs. Appearance:
Personality: Lord La is a results-oriented man with a keen sense for value and pragmatism. What something or someone can provide for him is where his values begin and end. He holds great stock in contracts and little promise in loyalty. To him, information is the greatest power one can wield in the tumultuous seas. Though he can appear laid back and laissez-faire about matters, this is just a front he poses. In truth, he's a very stressed man, often overthinking things and mentally exploring many different avenues and choices. This is also why he appreciates information so much, as it helps to alleviate his stress and worry. The more he can know about something and the more he can uncover about them, the less worry they bring him.
La has no hesitations about killing or hurting anybody in the way of his goals. He seeks his own happiness and will go a great ways to ensure that he gets that. By accumulating a net of safety through political power and allies, and surrounding himself in material pleasures, La is sure that he'll bring himself safety. He's also a very proud man, seeking out expensive foods and fine-looking company to better his outward image. Aspirations: Lord La wants to become the most powerful Underworld broker in the Four Blues.
Home Island: Targe Island
Faction: Underworld - Lips Background: La Baris was a poor young man in the South Blue before joining a gang of mercenaries, invited as a result of his cunning, ruthless nature. After first getting close to the Underworld system, he became completely infatuated. The Underworld didn't fight for high minded ideals or collective goals. Its members had each banded together to seek their own fortune and satisfaction. La wanted to be a part of that system and carve out his own piece of desperate happiness, regardless of the incidental cost to others. He quickly left the fighting side of the business, not eager to risk his own neck. Instead, he set up shop on the contentious Dulan Island with a very small group of spies. While their presence was initially thorny towards the BBG, their information network proved more valuable than the bounties on their heads. In a back alley deal, Lord La found protection for his information houses, safehouses and brothels known as Bird Houses on the island. His business has flourished under the protection of the island's rulers, and Lord La has become a popular success story among Underworld brokers. Relations: Underworld - 80 Barroso Bounty Guild - 70 Bounty: 10,000,000 Beli
Items: D-Rank Pearl Cutlass. Job: Underworld Broker Traits: Swordsmanship, Cooking Proficiency Attributes: S&P: 5,000 E&D: 5,000 S&A: 4,000 P&W: 5,000 S&W: 3,000 DF: 0 Encounter Price: 2 Condition(s): Must have something worthwhile to give him. Recruitment Price: 5
Type: INPC Rank: E Name: Meyye Cheihine Age: 16 Gender: Female Race: Human Height: 5'8" Weight: 111 lbs. Appearance:
Personality: Meyye is a sarcastic and easily annoyed person. She's cold and scathing in her words, often trying to put distance between herself and whomever she's with. She hates her job at the Bird Houses, but fears the Underworld too deeply to ever actively vocalize that. She holds and espouses a philosophy called "the current of the world," which she feels dictates the lives of all people. According to her, way back when, the first sentient life made the first real decision. Everybody after that has been a mere subject to the whim of that decision, caught up in the ripple that became an overpowering wave. People who fight back against the current that dictates their life are swept up and destroyed by its power. This thinking helps her to cope with the harsh reality of her life, even if she secretly hopes it not to be true. Aspirations: To break the current of the world.
Home Island: Dulan Island
Faction: Underworld Background: Meyye was born into crushing debt left behind from her parents. She's lived her life to pay back what they owed, working a broad swath of odd jobs from a young age. Even as a child, she was rather serious, and was trained to believe in the "current of the world" a force that pushes and pulls people along their lives. Meyye has never tried to escape this current. She goes with the flow of what seems most natural in her life. In an effort to hurry along the repayment of her debt, she found work with Lord La in the Bird Houses at the age of 13. She'd anticipated life as a spy or information gatherer, but was instead forced into a life as a prostitute for extremely unsavory clientele. Her parents tried to fight against this decision, but were punished harshly for their insubordination. The family was separated across the Four Blues. Meyye merely accepted her role in the world's current, taking her new, harrowing lifestyle with no push back. At the age of 16, she's still sixteen million beli away from buying her freedom from the Underworld. Relations: Lord La - 70 Underworld - 70 Bounty: N/A
Type: INPC Rank: D Name: Rictor Pon Age: 36 Gender: Male Race: Human Height: 6'10" Weight: 233 lbs. Appearance:
Personality: Rictor is a dedicated and lonely guy. He has trouble navigating social situations, and is uncomfortable leaving places where he feels comfortable. He chafes against the pressure of the World Government on Dulan Island. He feels their influence takes away from the free integrity of the island's culture. Rictor knows a great deal about the island's layout, flora and fauna, having lived and explored its geography for his whole life. Even when not working, he'll be happy to oblige tourists or those in need with trips across the island on his skimmer, so long as they're not directly affiliated with the World Government. Despite being shy and inward most of the time, when he's crossed or in danger, a bold voice explodes from his body. This too is usually punctuated with apologies. Aspirations: Rictor wishes to win the cooking competition held by the Southern Chef's guild. He also wants to oust the World Government from Dulan Island.
Home Island: Dulan Island
Faction: Civilian Background: Rictor Pon grew up in the swamps of Dulan Island as a monster hunter. He would bag the bounties on wild creatures rather than criminals that roamed the island, offering them to chefs or local leaders that wanted the animals. His skill at navigating the waterways was his greatest strength as a monster hunter and was recognized by the local chef's guild during his adolescence. His monster hunting made him a natural fit as an ingredient gatherer for the dangerous island. However, his fighting strength was also recognized by the Barroso Bounty Guild, and he was courted to join their ranks in equal measure. Facing both esteemed organizations, Rictor chose to join the Southern Chef's Guild, only for the fact that he would get to work on the island instead of having to constantly leave it. As a chef, his skills have thus expanded, though his fighting abilities have dulled a bit. Relations: Barroso Bounty Guild - 80 Underworld - 50 Bounty: N/A
Personality: Cissa is an ambitious and violent Kuja warrior. She's prone to go into blind bouts of "hunger" in the face of those with bounties on their head. Her appetite drives her to violently capture or kill those with bounties. Cissa is unlike most bounty hunters in that she's uninterested in money. It's only a resource for capturing greater and greater bounties. Even towards her own pack, the Cross Corvids, she's not amicable or kind, but serious and demanding. This attitude has not helped her popularity among peers and civilians, though she's apathetic to this as well. Cissa dislikes the politics of Dulan Island and the deal made with the criminal Lord La. Her respect for the accomplished bounty hunters of the island is all that stops her from acting directly against the Bird Houses. Aspirations: Cissa wants to collect every bounty in the Four Blues and transform them into a safe haven.
Home Island: Targe Island
Faction: Bounty Hunter Background: Cissa was raised a Kuja warrior on Targe Island. She grew up mostly ignorant of the larger politics and the strife of the world. It wasn't until outsiders snuck onto the island that Cissa was exposed to the great evils of the world. Kuja were allowed to freely come and go from the island, but Cissa decided to sneak away with the outsiders, thinking she could quickly leave Targe, fix the problems in the East Blue, and then return. Upon leaving to the greater sea, she became very quickly aware of the horrors that pirates, revolutionaries and terrorists imposed upon the world. It filled the young woman with rage, and she built a shallow reputation as a bounty hunter. Wanting to refine her skills, she traveled to the South Blue and joined the Barroso Bounty Guild. Her skills led to her quickly leading a rookie pack, the Cross Corvids. Their skills have yet to be proven, but the group is seriously intent on hunting down every bounty in the South Blue and then the rest of the four Blues. Relations: Barroso Bounty Guild - 80 Bounty: N/A
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 25, 2020 14:39:34 GMT -8
For nearly three days, Rigel had found some relative safety on the island of Dulan. His face was unnoticed and his presence overlooked in New Friro. It was the only other island he'd ever lived since Ophidian, and his first home since Balloon Flock's terrible crash into the seas of the South Blue. Already the young man had found work helping out at a small kitchen near the ports of the city. Walking to the job for his second day, Rigel took his typical detour across the bounty board near the marine headquarters of town. Five new posters dotted the board. Rigel's face was among his friends from Balloon Flock. His head was worth twelve million beli, guilty of pirate conspiracy and breaking from prison.
Taking quick stock of his surroundings, Rigel tore down the poster, stuffing it into his pocket. His crimes had already been made public, he'd have to save as much money as he could before splitting. Walking with a hurried, cautious pace towards the simple restaurant, he was stopped in his tracks. They were being discrete, but not subtle. A lingering group of marines milled about the front of the kitchen, Rigel's boss waiting with them. He'd used a fake name with the man, but clearly that didn't matter much. His cover was blown wide open.
From what he understood of the island, the big cities were all that responded to law and to criminality. Wanted heads hid in the swamps among the fabled Bird Houses. No use in patience and caution any longer, Rigel took off from the ports of New Friro. His fleeing earned him some loud scoldings from other pedestrians, but that didn't matter much in the face of the idea of being returned to prison. The Bird Houses might not much safer, but they'd buy him time. His old mentor had warned him about dealing with the Underworld, that they were difficult to part with, but the politics of Dulan permitted little other choice. Even in the face of bounty hunters and marines, the Bird Houses had power too valuable to be attacked by either faction.
Away from the more sturdy stone and shallow forest of New Frior lay the rivers and muddy waters of the swampland. Its bizarre waters necessitated more than Rigel's feet. Moored in the rivers were simple canoes and water chariots harnessed to friendly, squat little hippo-like creatures. The boats each were manned by competing drivers and guides, offering passers by tours and trips through the dangerous waters. Rigel approached a small boat with one hippo creature quietly barking at its peers. Even the animals seemed to compete with one another for superiority on the river docks.
"How much for an unconventional trip?" Rigel asked, seeming to interrupt the pensive reading of the small boat's captain. The small paperback fell to his chest, and he took stock of Rigel.
"What's your destination?"
"I'm looking for a Bird House," Rigel hissed, hoping it wouldn't set off any alarm bells.
"Solo trip, to a Bird House, leaving immediately, I suppose?" The man started to take tally, pulling a slim sheet of paper from his shirt pocket.
"How much?" Rigel repeated.
A quick tally was taken on his paper and he sucked in a breath, shutting the dog-eared paperback and passing along the paper.
Rigel scoffed at the figure. "Three hundred thousand? I'll go elsewhere."
"Then so will I, jailbird," the river guide smirked. Rigel froze, realizing quickly he'd been made. "And that's a five now, not a three. Marilyn's the fastest Dulan Hippo around, after all," he nodded towards his animal, barking loudly at her name being spoken. Half a million beli was a ransom payment, not a job fee, but Rigel couldn't reasonably refuse. Another guide could do much worse than set the price high. The pirate nodded and hopped into the cab of the boat, taking stock of the river docks. Marines began to fill the small plaza, lazily looking about towards the different boats and guides. Rigel's guide pulled up a shallow anchor and spurred ahead Marilyn, who took off away from the river ports.
Soon enough, the Bird House would come clearly into view.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 25, 2020 15:35:49 GMT -8
For a short while, Rigel had tried keeping track of the criss-crossing rivers his guide traversed with little thought. For the beginning of the trip, he could've directed his way back to New Friro, but eventually, the paths became too complex, too intertwining and too dense to maintain their course. Dulan Island's swamps were natural labyrinths, populated by bizarre flora and fauna totally foreign to Rigel. The strange plants reminded him of Embrace's sky-high garden in Balloon Flock. He was sure she could identify nearly all of the plants that just blended into a spectrum of green and life in front of Rigel's eyes.
Passively studying the plants, Rigel noticed shifting and crawling through the natural garden. Predators watched their approaching boat, both human and otherwise. The guide didn't seem disturbed, so Rigel let it go, simply bracing himself against the seat of the thin skimmer. With little preparation, the guide dug the skimmer towards the bank of the swamp. He pointed Marilyn and the ship's bow towards what seemed like the dense root of a tall, shady tree. Before crashing straight into the tree root, it seemed to take life and lift away.
"Cordial Aspens," the guide explained, "they use the swamp water to move their roots out of incoming objects, if they have enough speed. Just like Marilyn here," he commented proudly. The Dulan Hippo roared in response, picking up their pace just a bit more. With the tree moved, it became clear where they were headed. "Welcome to the South West Bird House."
The building was like a tree house of mismatched wood. Its exterior was simple, four stories built into the side of one of the Cordial Aspen trees. The roots made a natural fortress around the building. A long, thin series of docks extended from the base of the tree, parked with several skimmers and swamp beasts, each waiting patiently. As Rigel's boat made it into the dock, guards approached them, dressed in wide-brimmed grass hats and dark clothes. Flintlock pistols hung at their sides. Rigel stepped from the skimmer and awaited them to approach.
"Welcome," one spoke.
"My work's done," the guide said, "I'll take my payment now."
"I might need a ride out of here, and rather quickly too," Rigel countered, hoping to keep the guide around for a bit longer.
"I don't make a habit of hanging around these parts," the guide said defiantly. Rigel plunged his hand into his pocket and forked over the half a million beli. "I'll be sure to keep this very discrete," he assured Rigel, pocketing his fee and shipping off from the Bird House.
The guide turned away, Rigel was left with the guards. They began to speak again. "Welcome," the same guard said. "Excuse me," he continued, and went to pat down the young man. Rigel didn't protest, there were no weapons on him to hide. Proven unarmed, they waved Rigel towards the tall Bird House, following his steps closely until he reached its front door. He swung the doors open wide, attracting a few pairs of eyes, most of which returned to whatever business they managed inside the building. A short, energetic girl pounced before Rigel.
"Howdy, mister," she said, with a forced, cute smile. She looked only a little younger than Rigel, but was dressed for the same work as most every other woman there. "Welcome to the Bird House." The inside of the building was pervaded by stray roots and shady characters. Girls strafed around customers that ordered generous amounts of drinks. Others ducked into more secluded booths with more hardened looking individuals. Some walked in pairs or small groups up the stairs with big smiles on their faces. "I'm Meyye, What are you looking for today?"
The young woman's question pulled Rigel's focus back towards her. "I'm looking for work," Rigel told her cautiously. "I need protection from the marines and bounty hunters."
"Ohhhh," Meyye purred, moving closer to Rigel. "Get into some trouble, did we?" Rigel pulled the bounty poster from his pocket. It unfurled to reveal his face and the moderate bounty to his head. The number pushed Meyye to recoil, and her smile to falter for a moment. "Come with me," she invited, gently, trying to maintain her positive, hostess attitude. They walked towards a bar in the center of the dim room, and she pulled out a Den-Den Mushi, fiddling with its mechanics until it began to ring. "We have a job applicant, Jukebox," she spoke into the receiver. "Rigel Larrat, a pirate with a bounty of twelve million." The number was hushed, but it earned a loud response.
She received some orders and handed over the receiver. "Jukebox would like to speak with you, Mr. Larrat."
Last Edit: May 25, 2020 18:32:01 GMT -8 by Rigel Larrat
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 25, 2020 20:52:36 GMT -8
The voice over the Den-Den Mushi was smooth and elated. It carried venom and mischievous joy in equal pleasure, like a fatal trap and just been set and who heard his voice was moments from springing it upon themselves. "Mr. Larrat, on our little island~" the greeting was as much an observation as it was a taunt. For the second time that day, Rigel was realizing he had very little leverage against somebody quite important to him. "Hope you don't do to my Bird House what you did to Balloon Flock."
"Jukebox," Rigel greeted hesitantly. It was a strange name, and it felt stranger to use towards someone he'd never met. "I'm seeking protection from the bounty hunters and marines. As I understand it, you're the only one safe from both."
"I'm weighing my options~" the voice retorted, "Twelve million is a lot of money. What can you offer that's worth more to me than that, hm~?" Rigel feared that option might come up. The far simpler option was to rally the bounty hunters to a vulnerable Rigel Larrat, and collect a portion of the bounty when he was sent back to prison. It was a simple scheme for a fair chunk of money. Rigel didn't have a counter offer, and his silence only earned him laughter from the other end of the call. "Don't worry~ I'm interested. But, you'll need to prove you're worth taking under my generous wing~"
The decision to back out of this faced Rigel quite directly. He was levels deep into uncharted territory, with little way out. If he went to another prison, his actions would be far more limited than his options on the outside. Even if it meant working with the Underworld for a little while, it was ultimately preferable to another tenure in a more dangerous jail than Balloon Flock. Meyye, the girl, continued watching pensively, her smile was gone, only sticking around to see what went on next. "What would you have me do, Jukebox?"
With that question, Rigel's fate was sealed tight, and the trap sprung. "How formal of you, Mr. Larrat~," he teased. "The Southern Chef's Guild maintains a tight monopoly on something called the Red Jewel Spice. I've gotten requests for the item. Be a good pirate and fetch it for me, would you?"
Two terms Rigel was hardly familiar with. The Southern Chef's Guild and the Red Jewel Spice were completely outside the bounds of his knowledge. If that was the price, information would be his first hurdle. "Consider it done," he answered.
"Wonderful!" The voice screeched, loud enough for even Meyye to flinch. "I know you're new to our parts, so you'll take Meyye along with you. Hand off the phone to her~" It was less a request and more a direction, the first of many that Rigel anticipated. He passed along the receiver and Meyye brought it to her ear gingerly. What he assumed were similar directions were whispered into her ear, but instead of a humble acceptance, Meyye responded with a defiant stomp of her foot. Patrons and hosts turned to check the commotion only to grow quickly bored.
"This isn't my job, Jukebox!" she whispered, malice full of her voice. Her eyes jumped to Rigel and he tensed up, her aim on him was chilling enough to turn the pirate away. A more hushed conversation later, the Den-Den Mushi snapped closed and Meyye took a deep sigh. The bubbly, fun exterior she'd shown had been completely eroded by her conversation with Jukebox. "I'm going to change," she said, "Meet me on the docks outside."
Her revealing outfit as a worker in the Bird House only made Rigel uncomfortable, so he was happy to hear that. "Looking forward to working with-"
"Shut up! Docks!"
Her screaming once again turned the eyes of the Bird House towards the pair, and Rigel promptly followed instructions.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 9:11:42 GMT -8
Meyye had returned in only somewhat more concealing clothing. Whether it was her personal tastes or a stipulation of employment with the Bird House, Rigel wouldn't know, and after her shouting within the building, he didn't feel any urge to ask. The bubbly exterior of a girl had completely evaporated with her discussion with Jukebox. Rigel wasn't an interesting new face, now he was just a chore for her to begrudgingly finish. Rigel hated feeling like a burden, and tried to ease tensions between the two as best he could.
From his seat in the back of her skimmer, pulled along by a Dulan Hippo smaller and more demure than Marilyn had been, he reached forward and began to speak with his impromptu partner. "Have you ever been to the chef's guild?" he asked casually. The destination in New Friro seemed much further than it had when the trip was being made in uneasy silence.
Meyye eyed him and the question with the same discernment. "Never. But, don't worry. Anybody who knows anything would know where that place is. You don't even realize how famous it is, do you?"
It was true, Rigel was alien to the attractions of Dulan. He hadn't picked the vacation spot, and only happened to arrive there. "What do you think I should know?" Rigel tried to pull information like one disarmed a bomb. He was cautious not to raise any tensions, not to treat her like a worker or an informant, just like a person. Rigel patiently awaited her cold or agitated response.
"Do you think I'm a slave?"
"What?"
Meyye repeated the question. "Do you think I'm a slave? To the Underworld?"
Rigel turned the question over in his mind. A shy scaly creature passively passed by their skimmer with little incident. Rigel had hoped it would eat him instead. The idea of her being a slave hadn't really crossed his mind. Embarrassingly, he hadn't thought much of her situation at all. He needed to be more considerate about the living person in front of him, and not just gauge her usefulness. "I don't know anything about you beyond your name," he admitted, reclining back to his seat. "Forgive me."
The hot air of her irritation was drained by that comment. Meyye shook her head. "It's fine."
"So tell me, if you wouldn't mind," Rigel pressed. "The job is one thing, but you'll be with me the whole time. Who are you?" Rigel let the question hang for a moment before interrupting again. "Actually, let me start. I'm Rigel Larrat. I lived on Ophidian Island before it got... destroyed, I guess. I broke out from a prison with my friends and ended up here so they could all restart their lives. I know I'm a criminal, but I don't mean anybody on Dulan harm, least of all the people helping me."
Meyye was turned away from him for the duration of his explanation, so he couldn't tell how she reacted. It was a tense mystery until she spoke up again, most of the venom gone from her voice. "I already know most of that, dumbass..." Rigel scowled. "I'm Meyye Cheihine. I work at the Bird House to pay off a debt," then she turned away from watching the river's currents to face Rigel. "If you actually accomplish this job, I'll get half a million beli taken off of that debt." The burden on Rigel's shoulders instantly doubled, two fates riding his back. "I'll tell you what I know, okay?"
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 10:33:52 GMT -8
Near the center of New Friro was the Southern Chef's Guild. It was a grand, round building of bright stone and stylish murals depicting the animals native to the island. Rigel recognized a few just from his two trips across the swampy rivers. In the early afternoon, it didn't host much business. A few official types seemed to be milling about the entrance in idle conversation. Rigel was close to its entrance now, Meyye in tow, luckily, he hadn't been recognized on his trip from the docks to the guild headquarters.
Well, that wasn't technically true. At the river ports, he did receive a sly nod from the guide that had first delivered him to the Bird House. He looked perfectly content to no longer be involved in whatever Rigel was then doing. From there, it had been an anonymous walk to the guild house. They had ducked away from a few scattered patrolling marines or the odd bounty hunter. There was always the chance that someone in the city would recognize Rigel from his scar or his distinctive eyes recorded in the poster, but that was a chance necessary for entering the city.
"C'mon," Rigel invited, walking towards the chef's guild. Meyye's information had been sparse, but he trusted the place wouldn't be heavily guarded by anything but overzealous cooks. Rigel had fought pirates and a killer robot in his past. That prospect didn't intimidate him much at all. When he got close, he realized quickly he was alone. Meyye had hung back, head and cap poked out of an alley way. "What's the matter?" Rigel hissed, hoping not to draw attention to them.
Meyye looked equally confused. "I got you here and told you what I know. I'm not going in there."
"I just want somebody to watch my back. They're cooks. Nothing dangerous is going to happen."
"They'll have knives, won't they?"
"Meyye..." Rigel truthfully would need a second pair of hands to navigate the place. Balloon Flock had taught him that flying solo was never a good option. Even in the most mundane of tasks, strength came from numbers. It would just be a matter of getting Meyye to his side. "Do you like what you're doing?"
Meyye paused at the question. "Hiding in this alley? Yes."
"No, I mean," Rigel grew exasperated for a moment, but return to his calmness. "I mean, at the Bird House. Do you like your job there?" Rigel genuinely had no idea as to her answer, but felt this gambit was his only avenue to get the girl to his side for a little bit. "I can pretty much guess what you do there. But, do you like it?"
"What I've wanted has never mattered."
"Pretend it does," Rigel pressed. "I know you have your debt, but I'm about to steal something that's apparently worth more to this Jukebox guy than twelve million beli. How does that compare to your debt?"
Meyye came to realize what he was getting at. "It's close."
"Jukebox said he'd give you some. If you help, I could negotiate a lot more in one day," Rigel emphasized. "Tell me what sounds so bad about that deal." The analogy wasn't perfect. Meyye had already been promised a small portion of beli from Jukebox. What Rigel promised was a greater chunk than that. He promised that greater participation would lead to greater reward for her, with no affirmation from Rigel.
Meyye considered her options. It was a risk for a huge portion of her debt. She braced herself against the alley before finally deciding. She came out of the shadows and to Rigel's side with a decisive step. "Okay... but if any marines show up, I'm turning you in for the bounty."
Rigel took the deal happily. "I'll make sure you get a fair cut," he said, beginning again to walk towards the headquarters again. "And we're not getting caught."
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 11:59:05 GMT -8
The inside of the headquarters was just as decorative as its outside. Walking through the the front doors was completely without incident once Meyye walked to the building's exterior. She attracted the group with little effort and Rigel harmlessly found his way inside. The first floor was a vast, open lobby, with a small desk and a staircase. Anything valuable enough to steal wouldn't be in the opening room of the building. Rigel traveled up the stairs, nodding politely to some well dressed gentlemen passing him on their way down. A few offices and store rooms lay with people inside of them.
Meyye had explained building's purpose in the town. Cooking competitions commonly were held outside of the building, with the headquarters as a base of business operations. Ingredient vaults, test kitchens and assembly rooms all were fixtures of the guild headquarters. Now that Rigel had entered casually, it seemed that he was simply somebody that belonged in the building. That illusion wouldn't hold long, and Rigel needed to find the Red Jewel Spice before that. One office, mostly isolated from others, with a clerk filling papers seemed like a good target for Rigel's interrogation.
Rigel closed the door and walked in. Before the clerk could question Rigel's entrance, he opened upon the clerk. "Embarrassing question... but do you know where the ingredient vaults are?" Rigel asked the question with a wide smile, leaning against the desk heavily.
"You don't know?"
"Oh, c'mon... I said it was embarrassing!" Rigel complained, leaning closer to the clerk. "You'd really be doing me a favor." Before he could press any further, a knock on the door interrupted his questioning. Meyye stood there, staring questionably at Rigel. The young man gave up on the interrogation and excuse himself from the room, leaving behind a confused clerk. "What?"
"What to you? Why're you badgering that poor guy?"
"I'm trying to find the spice!"
"It's on the top floor. The guys downstairs told me."
"What?" Rigel asking the question a second time punctuated the arrival of those guys downstairs. A lanky, tattooed man led a group of other, frail looking officials. "What?!"
"I'm getting results!" Meyye defended herself. Rigel gripped her arm and dragged her up the next flight of stairs.
A booming voice shook Rigel's very bones when it shouted after he and Meyye fleeing from its source. "STOP THE THIEVES!" The voice nearly had a physical effect on Rigel. He felt his feet come off course, but determined himself to push forward. The last dozen stairs led to the highest floor of the building. Meyye's directions pushed him to end of a hallway and they dove into a large pantry, stuffed to the brim with an endless number of ingredients. Jars of dusts and oils and oils and bones and small crystals were arranged in every different size to each cabinet. None of them were labeled. Red Jewel Spice seemed to convey a very specific image.
"Tell me when you find it!" Rigel shouted, scrambling about the pantry. The last caged cabinet inside the walk-in pantry held a select few number of ingredients. He tried to kick it open, bending some of the thin metal bars. Without a key to get into the cage, brute force was all they had. "It's gonna be in here, right?" Meyye could only nod, the tension of the situation building to a critical mass. He tried kicking it open again, finally earning a point of leverage, just as the guys caught up to them.
The man with the booming voice led the charge, viciously angry at the two intruders. Meyye went to work forcing open the busted cage protecting the ingredients and Rigel turned to face the defending force. The man in the lead held back his comrades, sucking in a deep breath. He let the breath loose with deep howl, and Rigel's body went into a deep shock. He was thrown back against Meyye and the cage, two of them collapsed into a heap for a moment.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 14:55:42 GMT -8
Rigel stumbled to his feet with little difficulty, helping Meyye up behind him. "You tricked him?" he asked. The man had stopped howling and stood at the opposite end of the pantry tentatively, awaiting the next move from the intruders. His cohorts followed his lead. They stood behind and waited patiently. Rigel didn't mind having the time to regroup. "What did you do?" he spoke up to be heard over the ringing of his own ears.
"Listen, I got us to the spice!" Meyye shouted, trying too to speak over the ringing. "Now keep him off my back, twelve million!" Meyye desperately went back to the cage, trying to pry it open. The man's howling had loosened it even further. Rigel stepped away from where she worked, trying to create some more space. He had no way to counter that voice again. The realization brought confusion. If he continued his shouting, Meyye and Rigel wouldn't be able to do much against the attack. Yet he stopped. If Rigel could understand why, he could counter the ability.
The voice was clearly inhuman. The ability might have stressed his vocal cords to the point of exhaustion. If that was the case, though, he wasn't fleeing like a defenseless person might. He stood his ground with an air of confidence and rage. It also wasn't causing harm to his allies. They seemed prepared and were keeping their distance back from him. There was a restriction outside of that. His voice was harming something it shouldn't. The tense silence of the room gave way to only two sounds. One was Meyye pulling against the stubborn metal cage, and the other was a spilling sound, like sand escaping. Rigel sought its source, a pink dust, like flour, piling from a cracked jar to the wooden floor in a growing pile.
Epiphany struck. The glass jars of the room had all been damaged by the man's voice. Only one had been cracked enough to leak, but most had small fractures in them. Of course, the guy was protecting the ingredients. As much as he wanted to attack the intruders, his diligence to the guild headquarter's ingredients meant he was limited in his fighting options. Rigel had found his advantage. He pulled a random jar, this one full of pickling vegetables from the wall, and the chefs flinched.
"We only want one thing," Rigel tried to deal. "It can be the only thing you lose today."
"Don't insult our pride!" The man shouted, careful to control his voice. "You'll get nothing!" The man turned to his comrades. "Go and get a bounty hunter here!"
"Don't move!" Rigel ordered. An enemy with a different ability, or an indifference to the ingredients would spell doom for both Meyye and himself. It was a standoff between the two groups. If one of the howler's comrades left, the ingredients would be damaged. "How close are we?" Rigel whispered behind him, trying to prompt some progress.
Meyye grunted against the metal, "It won't budge any more..."
Rigel traded the jar he was holding for the cage. Meyye grabbed the jar, and faced down the group of men, acting far less scared than she really was. Rigel's greater strength began to move the metal, pulling it away from the protected ingredients. Near the center of the shallow shelves was a dense, iron jar with a red sigil on it. It was the only container that obscured its contents. Rigel forced open enough space to pull away the jar, about the size of a brick, and peek inside of it to confirm that the Red Jewel Spice was inside of it.
"Rigel!"
He was too distracted by the jar to respond properly. The howling man had already crossed half the room's length, glaring down the pair of them. "Take this!" he shoved the jar into her hands and moved to face their opponent. The howling man swung down a long arm and Rigel braced against the swipe. Unfortunately for him, Rigel was not one to fight fair. Instead of countering the attack, he kicked the wall of protected ingredients behind him. It shook violently, and components fell down to the ground shattering and exploding.
"NO!" the howling man's gambit had failed, and the valuable ingredients, all on par with the Red Jewel Spice mixed with each other and the dust on the floor, inspiring deep grief in the man. Rigel didn't dwell on it. He dragged along Meyye and the spice container. Their prize was secured. The pair approached a group of comrades, and Rigel threw towards them a heavy brown sack of something that resembled a green kind of flour, detonating in a cloud around them. Rigel sprinted through the cloud, dragging along Meyye and breaking free of the pantry, jumping off the landing and to the stairs below. Their escape had begun.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 15:35:11 GMT -8
Rigel, Meyye and the Red Jewel Spice container were coated in the green, tasteless flour, leaving a small trail as they leapt down to the second floor of the guild base. Rigel took a moment to check his pursuers, only to see the howling man also breaking free of the pantry. They were already hotly pursued.
"MARINES! BOUNTY HUNTERS! GET THEM ALL!" The howling man shouted his orders out to his comrades, that scrambled to follow him and the thieves down the stairs. His voice recovered from the shouting to target the thieves once more. With no more ingredients to possibly break, his voice was unrestrained. The howling cracked the wooden railing of the stairs. Rigel braced himself in front of the voice, covering Meyye completely with his body. The force of the sound pushed them both down the last few stairs. Staggered by the strength of his shouting, Rigel tried to hold his ground at close distance, his movement and fists leaving a trail of green mist from the lingering flour.
With the pursuer coming down the stairs at immense speed, Rigel focused his energy from his legs to his core, stretching his arms out. The man seemed all to happy to tackle Rigel to the ground, but found his body's momentum entirely redirected. "Cassiopeia Dent!" Rigel flexed his upper body and planted the howler into the steps of the staircase. A small splash of blood sprouted from his face upon impact with the hard steps. "Oh, yeah!" Rigel celebrated, stepping over the momentarily dazed guy. "Eat floor!" Rigel fled from the scene of his attack, regrouping with Meyye and heading towards the river docks.
The pair of them fleeing from the Southern Chef's Guild coated in green coloring and closely followed by a tall, loud, guy and scurrying men and women caused a huge scene for New Friro. Subtlety was closed off for the thieves. Rigel tried sprinting for the docks but found himself leaving Meyye behind, the howling man gaining on her slowly. Rigel scooped her up in his arms and continued to run for the river docks. Whatever pursuit they tried to mount would be cut off if they could reach the Bird House, a widely known neutral territory for the factions of Dulan Island. That would be their home base.
"If you try to carry me like this after today, I'll-"
"Don't make threats while this guy is trying to kill us," Rigel said defiantly. With Meyye and the spice in hand, his speed was just on par with the chasing man. It seemed, the exasperation of the sprint was just enough to stave of further obliterating voices from him. His lungs were just too strained. Once they reached the docks, Rigel let Meyye down near their boat. The river guides backed away from the hurried scene, all watching on and asking questions. The pursuer was able to catch up with them. Rigel assumed he'd have time before he was ready to attack them again with a voice, but the pursuer had a second weapon prepared, which came swinging down on the docks.
A heavy metal mallet, well over a meter long, cleaved through the shabby wooden river docks. The guides and skimmer drivers shouted in protest, but it did nothing to restrain the fight. Rigel was kept completely at a distance. In close quarters, he didn't want to have to deal with his hammer, and any further away from that, the guy's voice would destroy Rigel. His options were becoming sealed off once more by the situation. Meyye was in her skimmer ready to flee, but Rigel wasn't generous enough to send her off without him.
"You're not leaving me, right?" Rigel shouted, still trying to figure out the best way to go about his fight. His question was directed at Meyye, only a few feet away from his entanglement with the howling man.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 26, 2020 21:00:49 GMT -8
At Meyye's inspiring message, Rigel took to implementing another quick plan. "Gimme the spice," Rigel told her, extending an arm without taking his eyes off of the howling man. He approached with his heavy mallet, walking away from the shattered woodwork of the docks before them.
"You won't be able to fight him!"
"Now!" Rigel's shouting prompted the howling man to swing again. The mallet swung at where Rigel's neck had been. He'd leaped away from the guy, towards the end of the shallow river docks. The commotion had thrown the Dulan Hippos at the lead of each skimmer into a frenzy. They roared and barked, but none of the guides and drivers dared get close to their boats in the midst of the fighting. Meyye finally obeyed Rigel's request, tossing towards the young pirate the jar of spice. Rigel caught the short toss and then leapt across the swampy water, landing on a parallel dock. The howling man was left with a choice between the two thieves. One was poised to bolt into the highway of rivers, and the other had the prized spice that had been stolen. He opted to go after the latter.
The howling man made the same leap across the docks. He came down with his hammer, smashing another hole through the river docks. The Dulan Hippos bucked and thrashed against the ropes and cords that kept them close to the river docks. One even manged to slip loose and bolted for the open waters, much to despair of a wailing river guide. At the man's pursuit, Rigel had already leapt to the next parallel dock, waiting there patiently. The howling man had picked up on Rigel's game. He anticipated that Rigel would use his greater speed to circle around the docks before meeting back with his partner. He reacted to that supposed plan by blocking off the young man's path. Rigel leapt to the next dock and the howling man pursued, his hammer cracking the wood once more. It happened two more times before both men were sucking wind and heaving from the exertion.
Rigel had made it to the end of the river docks. The scene was in total frenzy, dusted with green flour and scattered splinters. Despite this, his plan had so far been executed flawlessly. All Rigel needed to do was round it out, and their robbery would be completed cleanly. Rigel tried to dash and break past the howling man, moving back to a shallow pier closer to Meyye.
"Viperess!"
In the middle of the air, he felt something cold and tight constrict his ankle and suddenly the next dock got very far away from him. His body was yanked backwards and he splashed into the shallow water. The chain around his ankle came loose in the water and Rigel was able to scurry away to the swamp shore. Wiping the water from his emerald eyes, he found the source of the chain, a young, vicious looking woman with an undercut.
"Rictor... having trouble?" The woman asked, reeling back her chain to a loop around her forearm. The man with whom she spoke scoffed. Rigel found it perfect the the howling man had an equally dangerous looking friend.
"Bounty hunters certainly took long enough," Rictor, the howling man, replied. He slowly crept towards Rigel, like a predator taking care not to scare off their target. His partner followed suit, readying her chain once more. "I'd like to get that jar of spice back in one piece, Cissa." Despite him saying that, it didn't seem like he was very confident that might happen.
"Gonna let her finish the job? What happened to that pride?" Rigel tried to taunt the howling man. It was imperative, for the rest of his plan, that this new player on the scene not take the lead in the fight. The man only shook his head. His rage had cooled. With this woman, Cissa, having arrived, he seemed to defer to her abilities and professionalism. "Well, if I get rid of this, then you guys don't need to chase us anymore, right?"
Rigel raised the jar high and poised himself to dunk it into the muggy swamp waters of the river docks. If this didn't goad him into attacking, he'd be purely out of options. Before Cissa could raise her chain once more, Rictor took a deep breath and let it loose on Rigel and the river docks. It was his most powerful shout, yet, and it threw the pirate clear off the swamp and towards the water. It also was exactly what Rigel had hoped for. The shout finished the job that Rictor's hammer had started. The integrity of the docks was obliterated, and the frenzied Dulan Hippos wasted no time seizing their newfound freedom. Even Meyye had lost control of her ride, and found herself moving through the rivers. Over a dozen skimmers had taken off from the river docks of New Friro, rushing through the swamp of the island.
Rigel hurried to hop aboard a skimmer, only to realize he was empty handed. On a separate skimmer, he spotted the spice jar, still intact and being carried away in the fleet of small boats. Meyye was towards the front of the boats. Rictor and Cissa recognized the scheme, and followed suit, sprinting along the shambles of the docks to pursue. They each stood atop separate skimmers near the back of the pack. Meyye was seated towards the front, trying to get a handle of the full situation, and Rigel was situated towards the middle, trying to keep track of the spice jar atop a separate boat.
Last Edit: May 26, 2020 21:04:39 GMT -8 by Rigel Larrat
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 27, 2020 11:45:08 GMT -8
A racing stampede down the Dulan rivers had begun, with the Red Jewel Spice as its grand prize. Cissa and Rictor had realized what Rigel's plan had been rather quickly, and moved to pursue the pirate before the drive of skimmers reached the Bird House. Meyye was mainly confused by it all, and began to get up from the reins of her Dulan Hippo. In her mind, seizing the Red Jewel Spice for herself. Rigel had to keep her in her seat instead.
"Meyye!" he shouted over the loud thrashing of the boats and the creatures. "Keep us headed back!" she looked unsure of his directions, frozen on her skimmer. Of the four people, she was closest to the spice jar, with Cissa and Rictor having already leapt to ships closer towards it. "You have to keep us all on course!" Meyye understood and sat back down to her reins, refocusing on the journey before them. Rigel would have no way of finding his way back to the Bird House without her directing. The shorter this journey would be, the easier it would be to find safety from both Cissa and Rictor. Until then, Rigel's objective was to fight them.
Rictor and Cissa both leapt to another skimmer, once more closer to the spice and closer to Rigel. "You guys mind taking turns?" Rigel requested, before they moved to the skimmers closest to him. "Two on one doesn't sound very fair to me."
"You gave up fairness when you caused other people suffering," Cissa retorted. "A person whose life is only worth a price isn't much of a person any more." Her chain began to swing in slow rhythm, looking to pick up speed.
"Well you can go second, I guess." Rigel unhooked the boat on which he stood from its Hippo, and the skimmer quickly lost acceleration. It very quickly became much slower than every other boat in the stampede, and Rigel leapt from it to another empty skimmer, still being pulled along the water. Cissa was forced to retreat further back into the pack. Her skimmer's hippo ducked under the oncoming debris, and two boats crashed into each other in a wide splash of splinters. Rigel approached Rictor, and the latter met him on his skimmer. Rictor might've been deferential to the bounty hunter, but he wouldn't surrender a chance to fight the thief.
His hammer rose high above his head before coming down hard onto the skimmer, "Gong Ringer!" The weight of the hammer might've crushed through the thin wood of the skimmer, and Rigel couldn't risk losing another link in the stampede. He crossed his arms and received the full might of the blow. Its force dipped the boat marginally under the surface of the river water and momentarily yanked on the Dulan Hippo before it resumed its part in the stampede. Rictor had clearly anticipated his hammer to have wholly defeated Rigel, but when the pirate rose against the force of the hammer, he was stunned himself.
"I don't need to protect anything this time. Least of all myself from that shitty hammer!" Rictor rose the hammer once more, but never got the chance to let it fall.
Rigel reacted to his attack's preparation with his own move. He moved under Rigel's tall arms and gripped Rictor tightly. "Cepheus Law!" His legs channeled strength towards his upper body, arching his back towards the water. Rictor and his hammer were heavy, but Rigel's own form leveraged the weight and threw it backwards into the river water. The howling man shouted all the way into the river water, before splashing into the swamp and being completely left behind by the racing skimmers. One pursuer was fought, and another was left. Cissa had already caught back up to Rigel, and was standing on the skimmer adjacent to Rigel's own, swinging her chain menacingly once more.
"I hope you're all warmed up," she said calmly.
Rigel was sucking wind, worn out from the hammer's impact and the stress of lobbing Rictor into the water. "Not quite," he panted, "mind giving me a bit more time?"
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 27, 2020 12:21:49 GMT -8
"No."
The chain was given life again. Like thunder it crashed against the skimmer, before being pulled back to Cissa once more. Rigel felt the skimmer rock to the side before shifting his weight to re-balance the boat. Unlike Rictor, she wouldn't need to get close to pose a serious threat to Rigel. The chain bounced off the skimmer again. Wood exploded off of the point of impact and Rigel balanced the boat again. She was deteriorating the boat with each attack, hardly even trying to hit Rigel. Each hit slowed down the skimmer, pulling it further and further away from Meyye and the spice jar. Rigel tried to react to the strategy by leaping away from his skimmer to hers. A close quarters fight suited Rigel much better.
In the middle of his jump, Rigel felt the metal slither around his leg once more. "Viperess!" A flick of the chain repelled Rigel's jump and he was thrown back towards the water. Rigel stretched for the stern of the skimmer, catching the lip of the boat. Against the rushing of the river, he pulled himself back onto it, shaking off the swamp water, dyed green by the last of the flour. Rigel was being restrained to that skimmer, slowly eroded by Cissa's attacks. Her trap enclosing in on him brought a great smile to her face. "I can't wait to see where you scurry next," she said, raising her chain. It struck the boat, and Rigel rhythmically righted it. He began to caught on to the pace of her attack. The chain was raised, and with the flick of her wrist, Rigel made his jump. The skimmer was struck once more, but Rigel was no longer standing atop it. He'd met Cissa on her own boat.
Near the center of the pack of boats, Rigel stood near the stern of the skimmer, while Cissa recalled her chain near its bow. Rigel had moved closer to her, but there was still a full two meters between them for her chain to work. If he moved with any error, he'd meet the same fate as Rictor and find himself thrown into the water by Cissa's chain. She seemed to realize this too. Even the small amount of distance was a great advantage. Rigel lowered his stance and breathed deep. Their confrontation, was reaching its climax. Cissa would make the first move, pushing her advantage.
"Link Fang!" The chain flew once more towards Rigel. He'd seen the damage it could do to the sturdy boats, and he dropped out of its path. It cracked like a leather whip where his head had been. There had been some playfulness in their exchanges, but it was entirely gone with that fatal attack. If he'd sustained that attack, Rigel could have been killed as a result. No game existed between them. Rigel slid across the hull of the skimmer, arriving at its other side. The chain had already been recalled, and Cissa lashed out again with the weapon. The chain exploded in the floor of the boat and water flooded into it. Rigel had been pushed to make too hasty dodges and had been pushed into a corner. With her third strike, it made deep contact with him and blood easily flowed from the wound in his midsection.
Water flooding into the skimmer, Cissa seemed intent on pressing her advantage, but wouldn't risk sinking with the skimmer. Her and Rigel fled the boat to separate skimmers, moving forward in the pack. Despite the temporary retreat, no conclusion had come to their fight. They moved parallel with one another. Cissa moved forward in the pack and closer, and Rigel did the same. They both eyed the same boat and fled to it as well, moving towards it. They clashed in their arrival. Rigel's fist meeting Cissa's wrapped in the length of her chain. They exchanged a few more blows, and Rigel found himself pressed backwards by the durability of the chain and the pain of his wound.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 27, 2020 13:24:53 GMT -8
Rigel had been scrambling and running and fighting for the better part of the day. Now he faced down an opponent at least as strong as he was, with every advantage in the fight. She flinched at nothing he threw at her, and no scheme showed a way out. A beat was taken in the trading of attacks between Cissa and the pirate but it quickly resumed. Cissa swept the ground with a length of her chain, and Rigel skipped over it, moving close to strike his elbow into her shoulder. The advance was blocked by a net of chain, pushing Rigel back. He tried to continue the assault with a straight punch but was countered by a staunch kick to his bleeding wound. Pain exploded across his nerves and he fell to her attacks again. The bounty hunter was letting no advantage go unused.
From his perspective on the floor of the boat, he caught the image of Meyye behind Cissa. She had stealthily slinked along skimmers to make her way back to Cissa and Rigel's encounter. Now she was poised behind the hunter, outside of her view. It very clearly looked like she was preparing for some sneak attack. Meyye had noticed that Rigel was losing. Her prize was going to be lost if Rigel failed this fight, and she was being forced to act. Rigel was reminded of the burden which he'd been endowed. Two fates rode his back. It was embarrassing that he was letting this responsibility force the young woman to take action. Somebody who hardly knew him was being forced to bail him out of his failures, even when he'd asked for this chance.
"Meyye!" Rigel shouted before he realized what he was doing. He stared down the girl, and Cissa turned with great caution towards Rigel's ally. Meyye was exasperated. Her careful preparation had been undone by his warning.
"What are you doing, dumbass?!" With Cissa totally aware of both opponents, she had no problem managing both of their positions and preparing. "I could've finished this!"
Cissa laughed at that. "You're a little young to be taking me on, don't you think girlie? You've got no number to your head. So just stay back."
"She's right," Rigel agreed, rising to his feet. "Don't underestimate me either. I'm going to beat her." Standing before Cissa and her chain, blood dripping from his chest, Rigel prepared himself for their final exchange. "Get back to your boat, and keep us headed in the right direction." Meyye looked reluctant to obey the request. She was visibly nervous about him being able to fight her. Cissa had yet to take a single real attack the entire fight, only worn down by some lighter strikes. Rigel had been more thoroughly battered.
Ultimately, Meyye assented. With her element of surprise completely gone, it wouldn't be like she'd have a real chance any longer. She slowly made her way back to the front of the stampeding skimmers. Meyye out of the picture, the encounter's result lay in the hands of just Rigel and Cissa. The surroundings became familiar to Rigel as close to the Bird House. He could wait until reaching the safe zone, but decided not to. There would be no honesty or triumph or worth to Meyye's sneak attack attempt if he just waited or ran. Rigel elected to fight for his own pride and the sake of the two intertwined fates on his back. The surroundings faded. Auxiliary sights and sounds faded. Cissa and Rigel on a single boat became the universe in which Rigel lived, and the fight occupied his entire mind.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 27, 2020 15:32:43 GMT -8
Rigel faced Cissa directly. He charged her, center of gravity low and barreling across the length of the boat. Cissa responded simply, lashing her chain against him once more. The links of iron ricocheted off of his shoulder, and his advance was only thrown off balance for a moment. The attack wasn't as deep as her chain's last strike towards him. In the time it took her to recall the full length of the chain, Rigel was able to make a successful approach against her. His hands found her core, and he took to his own attack.
"Cepheus Law!" Instead of throwing Cissa into the water like Rictor, Rigel elected for a more definitive victory. He desired, deeply, to completely beat her back from trying to arrest him and take his bounty. Cissa's body was thrown into the air, but her chain had been fully recalled. Before Rigel could continue his combination attack, her chain struck him again. The iron slammed against his body and Rigel fell towards the stern of the skimmer. Cissa fell to the hull as well, trying to recover from Rigel's vaulting technique. They both stood again from their opponent's attack. Rigel pressed forward, a full fire in his belly.
Cissa tried a different defensive technique. Her arm was wrapped in the length of her chain and she swung it towards Rigel's face. He grit his teeth and tanked the blow. Rigel's skull shook, but he didn't relent. Close enough to her again, Rigel began his three-part combination once more. "Cepheus Law!" Rigel tossed the woman straight up into the air and positioned himself below her point of falling. "Cassiopeia Dent!" he caught her falling body and planted her fully into the hull of the skimmer. Two successive, destructive falls had tolled her body. Rigel waited to see if she would stay down, but predictably, her chain came to life once more.
Lengths of metal wrapped to Rigel's limbs, and he reacted by diving towards her prone form. He desperately tried to pin her body, just as her chain entangled itself around Rigel's throat and core. The tightening chain strained his muscles and bones, grating against his throat. Rigel tried to use his body in the same way, reciprocating the entanglement.
"Boa Jail!"
"Andromeda Bind!"
Both bounty hunter and pirate left themselves vulnerable to restrain their target. It was a matter of their body's strength and stamina to force the other into submission. Muscle and metal tightened around the other in strained silence. A sort of calm fell over their scene. They were mostly motionless, exerting all their strength on the tension of their restraint on the other. Rigel tightened his jaw and scoured from breath against his opponent. Cissa desperately gasped for air, trying to pull away her arms from Rigel's full body lock. It went on for seconds that stretched into minutes, feeling like hours. Rigel felt his body and mind try to summon the last of their energy and breath, with nothing more coming.
The field of vision narrowed and his perspective grew fuzzy. Rigel neared defeat, until oxygen returned to his body. The tightness around his neck gave way. The chain slackened and Rigel found his strength once more. Cissa had succumbed to the physical pressure and fallen unconscious atop the speeding skimmer. Rigel surrendered his grip and rose to his feet, staggered and heaving. He made his way to the bow of the skimmer and unhooked the rampaging Dulan Hippo from the skimmer on which Cissa lay unconscious. Atop a different boat, he watched the bounty hunter slip away from the pack, defeated and left behind completely.
Post by Rigel Larrat on May 27, 2020 16:02:28 GMT -8
The ride back to the Bird House was much less eventful. Rigel rested for a while before move across the different skimmers and retrieving the jar of spice. He returned it and himself to the boat atop which Meyye was directing. While some of the skimmers and hippos continued to follow their lead, most eventually petered out, stopping in the middle of the river or milling about. In his exhaustion, Rigel found himself nodding off in the afternoon sunlight and gentle noise of the swamp. Meyye didn't say much to him when she noticed that, opting to let him rest as best he could.
Her silence lasted until the Cordial Aspen lifted its root. "We're back, twelve million," Rigel jumped a bit, surprised that he'd fallen asleep. His hand was lightly soaked in his own blood. He'd been clutching the injury during the boat ride. He had no idea how to properly dress it or treat it, only hoping there'd be something resembling a bandage at the Bird House. When their skimmer arrived at the Bird House's shallow docks, the guards were there waiting along with a lithe figure, smiling wide at Meyye's arrival. "He's here, too, Jukebox" Meyye muttered, carefully directing her skimmer towards the guards and Jukebox.
Rigel righted himself atop the skimmer, trying to downplay his own injuries in front of the potential employer and protector. He held aloft the jar, with some grace. The skimmer came to a gentle stop, and the guards helped to park and moor the skimmer to the shallow docks. Meyye and Rigel stepped off to the soft applause of Jukebox, smiling gently and clapping until they'd arrived atop the dock.
"Congratulations! Well done!" Jukebox gestured towards the spice jar and one of the guards moved to receive the stolen good from Rigel, who offered it with no complaint. "I've never had a pirate under my employment, I look forward to our future ventures, Mr. Larrat~"
"Thank you, Jukebox."
"Come inside, both of you, feel free to get comfortable, Mr. Larrat~ I'm sure Meyye is eager to get back to her shift~" he began to turn back to the Bird House, but Rigel halted him, stepping forward.
He began to speak, wincing for a moment from the pain of his injury. "Actually, Jukebox. Meyye did a lot more than keep an eye on me." The broker was momentarily interested. "She told me she's working off a debt to you. I wonder if this job might be enough to pay it off." Meyye looked like she wanted to stop the words coming out of his mouth.
"That's- I didn't ask for that, Jukebox."
"Interesting~" The man responded, twirling a lock of hair between his fingers. "I suppose the Red Jewel Spice might be worth her debt to me. but not if she has to split the reward with you. Guards~" The two large men pulled their flintlock pistols at Rigel. The pirate was in no shape to respond to the threat. Standing on his feet was taking enough from him already. "So you can choose. Meyye can be free of her debt, or you can come under my protection. Of course, if you refuse, then I'll just kill you and take the bounty instead of your work." The impossible choice brought him a great deal of pleasure to pose.
Rigel grew sour and Meyye depressed. It looked as though she'd been faced with such deep disappointment so many times, that she was completely used to it. "I'm sorry," Rigel said to her, earning no response. "I need your protection," he said to Jukebox, and the broker nodded. "But, here," he pulled, from his jacket, a few tight rolls of bills of beli. "It's something around fifteen and a half million. All I've got," he said. "If you don't mind the blood on it, how close does this get?"
Jukebox eyed the money. "Blood money is hardly new to me," he motioned for the second guard to take the bills and count them swiftly. He nodded his head after a couple moments of counting. "A bleeding abdomen and a bleeding heart, how quaint~" Jukebox turned his attention to Meyye instead, still on the point of despair. "Meyye, your debt has been paid. Your employment with the Bird House is thus terminated. Rigel, yours has just begun~"
With that matter settled, he resumed his walk towards the Bird House, very giddy with his victories for the day. "Out with the old, in with the new~!"
Meyye, the reality of her freedom sinking in, clutched her own body. Tears welled up in her eyes. Before she got choked up, she thanked Rigel, totally incomprehensible through the tears. Rigel smiled through his own pain and nodded kindly before following Jukebox into the Bird House. Despite the pain, he was feeling considerably light.
