#130: A Lost Soul (Invite Only)

[Kurosaki]

Acattopa. The winding cobble roads made for great sightseeing pathways past the many clay-tile roof houses and past many parks, gardens, and greenery. The atmosphere of the place was amazing; restful and breathtaking all in the same instance.

Blue eyes took it all in with wonderment as a young man stopped to look around. He had his hands in his pants pockets, which were shorts, and was wearing a purple t-shirt layered over another thin, black, shirt. His red hair, which was almost rusty red, ruffled lightly in the breeze.

Spotting a particular flower of intrigue in the park he had paused next to, he approached it gently, bent down so that he was hovering slightly above the ground, relying on the strength in his legs, while he went to pluck the flower from it's spot; a smile on his face as he did so. The thought of the look on one of his Nakama's face was too much to pass up and he couldn't resist taking the flower to show her.

As though the person had placed security cameras in the area just for this purpose or had been secretly stalking the young pirate while hidden behind a large hedge, an old woman popped out and sucked in her breath.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she shouted at top volume, causing Kane to startle and to lose his balance. He tipped over, fought gravity by waving his arms in the air like a moron or a drowning person attempting to escape the pull of the water, before he toppled over all the way and landed on his butt in the grass; instantly staining his shorts with grass stains.

"I-I-I...!" stammered Kane, heart fluttering in his chest and eyes showing absolute fear. His innocent action hadn't seemed to warrant this old ladies sudden attack from no where and his brain still hadn't processed the fact that she had appeared from what appeared to be thin air nor the fact that she was shouting at him for attempting to pick a flower. "I don't know! I was just picking a flower!"

"That's what's wrong with youth these days! Picking flowers, hmph! Do you have any idea how that flower feels about being picked?"

"Um..."

"DO YOU, YOUNGIN'?!"

"No, Sir!" Kane shouted quickly in response, afraid of what would happen to him if he didn't.

"That's right. You don't," said the old lady before she came over to the spot where Kane was still sitting, eyes still in shock, and stroked the flower gently with her hand before watering it with a water jug that seemed to appear from no where as she had done.

Spotting an opening, Kane did what any logical person in this situation would do. He quickly got on all fours and attempted to crawl away as quickly as he could before she could notice that he was leaving. He could almost see the light when he was literally struck from behind by something. Water splashed a little onto his head as he was knocked down into the grass. Groaning from the pain and bringing a hand to his head, Kane rolled over and realized that he had been struck by the old woman...

With the watering jug!

"Oi! Did you think you could get away without apologizing? Huh?" questioned the woman before she went on through a seemingly endless rant about responsibility and young people of this generation lacking it. Something was included about pirates that caught Kane's interest for a brief moment until he realized that she was only placing the blame for social irresponsibility onto the pirate age.

Like that was going to persuade him.

Kane hung his head and realized that this was going to be a very long day. He could already feel it. With a sigh he wondered what his crew would think of him if they knew that their Captain had just been taken down a peg for picking a flower by a little old lady that looked like she was far over a hundred.

Shisha would definitely be the first one to laugh.

Kane could almost picture her in her Desert Punk attire, pointing a gloved finger at him while her shoulders went up and down as she laughed under her helmet.

Yes, this was going to be a long day indeed...

[flame08]

Sitting on a bench not to far away from where the aforementioned incident was taking place was another human, a girl at that. While she had taken notice of them, it was doubtful that they had taken much notice of her. She was short, and would be almost impossible to notice if not for her bright red hair which seemed to shimmer in the light. The girl wore a plain black t-shirt some odd Jolly Roger looking device was the only marking that could be seen on it. Tan cotton shorts came next and were the only thing as she wore no shoes.

She had silently chuckled to herself a few times as she had watched the boy be sprung upon by the old lady. And even more so when the boy had consequently been splashed and hit by the water and watering jug. Sadistic? Maybe a little but everyone needs a little comedic violence in their life.

Amused by the events taking place she had started to stir from her sitting position. Her hand had moved to grasp a long thin red cloth in the shape of a sword sheath. Pausing for a second to watch the last few moments of the encounter pass she got up dusting off her tan shorts, though whether they actually needed dusting was question and started to step towards them.

She stopped a few paces away from the old lady and young man to let a strong wind pass. If she had walked her hair might've encapsulated her hair, an annoying thing that happened at times. Anyways the wind pass she took another step towards them checking the boy once more. His face now looked a little familiar, though why it did was unknown to her. Possibly she had seen him before at some other event or something she didn't know nor did she really care in all honesty.

Swinging the red cloth over her shoulder she revealed a hilt which popped out of one end. It had been revealed by gravity pulling down the edge of the cloth. With a laugh she walked straight up to the pair, "Thats an interesting act you've got there . . . are you a Manzai team perhaps? If not that is always a possibility, it was funny to watch it play out."

Its quite possible that one would normally introduce themselves when walking up to strangers but then this girl was never one to do the usual. Her hair flamed out behind her as the wind changed directions, a chuckle came out of her mouth, she was Syphalia Minalion but everyone called her Syph.

[Xen]

It had been many days ago since the large man had arrived on the island. The youth had shipwrecked onto the island, destroying a whole crop of beautiful, blood red flowers. Although it was completely accidental and he was completely wasted away an old lady had disciplined him and made him work it off.

The rather tall and dashing man wore a bandanna, covering his silvery hair which shone in the sun light. His large black cloak covered his thick muscular body as he worked on the field watering the crops with a giant green container. His muscles strained under the weight of it, it resting on his right shoulder as he gently tipped it over his head to water the flowers under him. Although not the most agile of souls he took care not to step and crush the small underdeveloped, yet still blooming flowers.

The water spilled over every now and again a little too much, soaking his trousers completely morphing the colour from dark grey to charcoal black. His boots and socks lay over next to the pavement as he felt more at ease doing the work barefoot. He did not complain once to the old lady knowing it would be a nuisance for him to do so and he would rather she forgave him sooner then later.

In a few minutes he had finished the whole field, the undersides of his feet sticky from the soil mixed with some rather nutritious water. His mind wondered for a moment, wondering how plants really drank water. He wondered if they had little mouths in their roots that just sucked water from straws or something. He found the thought rather hilarious and proceeded to laugh, his chest heaving up as he did so. "RARHAHAHAHA!" His voice boomed through out the nearby area.

Henry went to a nearby building and switched on the tap from outside the outside, the brass metal on it rather smooth on his rough skin. He had realised he hadn't had eaten since the day before or drank for that matter. He cupped his hands as he sat down on the stool and watched as the water slowly started to fill in his rather oversized hands. He slowly brought them up to his face and drank the cool, refreshing water slowly feeling it travel through his body. The water was weird here, much more tasteful and clear compared to his old town. He then proceeded to wash his feet.

Although he had completely destroyed a whole crop of flowers the villagers weren't too angry with him once they saw his condition and how sincerely he apologised. He had already thought about repaying his debt before the ill tempered granny forced him to. She had already struck him once with a pole and he knew she wouldn't be afraid to hammer her pole of fury up his butt. He grimaced at the though, clenching at his butt not wanting to be violated by the old lady. The villagers seemed like nice folk, they were a real community that much was obvious to him. It reminded him about his younger days with Damon, they always sided with each other and rarely ever fought against each other.

As he slipped on his thick black socks he looked over to the granny who had hit a young boy on the head with a jug. He narrowed his eyes and his forehead comically sweat dropped. "That old lady, she doesn't know how to hold back." Henry raised an eyebrow realising that the boy there wasn't a villager, his attire totally different to the rest of the villages. Henry slipped on his boots and stood up slowly before making his way to the duo.

On his way another person joined them, the trio now looked rather odd. A small rather elderly granny, a boy who seemed to be around Henry's age and a small girl with large red hair. He patted his stomach, reminded that his upper attire was still at the old granny's house along with his bisento. He felt the difference straight away, his movement had sped up since he left the bisento. It weighed him down usually although not many people could tell that considering how he moved with ease but without it he began much quicker which was how he was able to move with such ease, or at least be able to hold the rather large container on his own.

He laughed a little again as he joined the trio, swaying a little stretching out his limbs. He was slowly regaining his full stature, being slightly thinner then when he had left on his journey due to starving on his way to the island. "I finished watering the fields madam." He said, looking down at everyone before tilting his head. He wondered if he had seen the boy before, his face was familiar. Being a newbie pirate he still hadn't acquainted himself with the pirates of this generation.

[White Mimic]

Grocery shopping finished? Check. Mapping vectors set? Check. Weather projected? Check.

Basil yawned quietly as he ran through a few of the selected titles placed in the window of a book store. Most of it was fiction, entertainment for other literary types, not much to speak of in the line of memoirs and commentaries, at least nothing of particular interest he hadn't already read on prior. All the books were new editions too, mostly paperback though there were a few hardcovers, one particularly large volume of a merchant's biography dominating the attention anyone threw toward the table in the window. The author was on the cover, which was typical for biographies, though it was a tacky looking glamor shot where he was wearing the most absurd looking plaid suit with a frilly red ascot where the tie should have been. He was probably a well traveled man, No doubt about that, but it never really piqued Basil's interest when a book had a cover as narcissistic as this one.

Truthfully, He much preferred the aged leather covers with nothing but a title on them, perhaps even a ribbon bookmark bound into the cover itself, the smelled nicer and had a better antique feel to them. Much more homey than... THAT abomination on the table.

Basil felt around in his pocket, feeling up the wages he had to spend on himself while disembarked on this particular island. It was lovely, little too warm for his personal tastes, but still, lovely. He had on some khaki white cargo shorts that came down to just past his knees (he was never really a fan of short pants, or clothes that revealed too much of his skin for that matter), lined with a few more pockets than he though necessary, though for the setting they served him perfectly well. He was currently wearing a black and gray striped tee and over that was a white button up over-shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, buttoned in place so they wouldn't be tempted to slip back to his wrists. It was too hot for that kind of fashion. Granted, it was too hot for him to be wearing anything black, but it was the only clean shirt he had for now so he would just have to suffer with a little bodily heat imbalance. It wasn't all that bad, not like patrolling a ship deck in what people sometimes called 'butler attire'. What really made him uncomfortable for the day were the sandals he had chosen to wear instead of shoes and socks like normal. It was a whim decision, he didn't wear sandals often and as long as he was going with the summer look, he figured he'd try to get accustomed to the summer walk. Not his best decision but it was livable whenever he didn't accidentally step back and dislodge one from his foot.

As he looked through the window books, he trilled the left fingers on one of his rapiers, and from the position it had on his body, it was obviously the shorter of the two. His right hand was caressing his face in decisive thought. With the money he had allowed himself for the day, he could probably afford one book. Unfortunately, it seemed the choices available to him were of the more common sort, not surprising considering it was a town shop. It wasn't as if he were actually hoping to come across something more... fresh, not when he had read most of what had already shaped the world of literature. It was worth a shot though, there were definitely classics he hadn't read for himself yet, either because he hadn't possessed them or hadn't yet heard of them.

Not sure of what he was looking for, he browsed through the shelves after returning the polite greeting offered at his entrance. Walls of fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, studies, manuals, all sorts of titles breezed past him as he skimmed the rows for something to jump out at him. Thankfully, many of the works were bound in the covers he preferred, or had at least been kept against the walls do that their hideous faces couldn't offend him. One particularly thin book seemed to stick out (quite literally) from the shelf, grabbing Basil's gaze and mesmerizing him in a stupor of proper book keeping. His first instinct was to push it into place as it should have been when he realized it was some sort of documented study, out of place in the small section of cookbooks he would have ignored otherwise.

Basil pulled the odd one out of it's position to look it over for a few moments. It had probably been stuffed hastily into the shelf by some younger person after they had wandered away from it's former location in the shop, but it was fortuitous Basil had been browsing else it might have escaped him and been left to rot among the confectionery manuals, not a befitting fate in Basil's opinion. He skimmed through a few pages out of curiosity on the subject of it's chapters, quickly determining it to be some sort of local work. It dealt with the various details of geography and climate of the island but mostly focused on unexplained phenomena, detailing stories and testimonies from witnesses of strange happenings. There were a few local fairy tales and legends too but Basil didn't want to read too far into a book that didn't belong to him; It was a book store, not a library.

He walked up to the counter and placed the book on the table, fumbling around in his pocket for the wallet he had brought from the ship. "I'd like to buy this one please." It wasn't often he read specialty works like this, books with only a local standing and not of much worth in the larger world. But he figured, he would only be here for a little bit, he might as well try to learn what couldn't be found in a normal geographic encyclopedia.

((I'll meet up with you guys in a bit.))

[Kurosaki]

Sighing, he wondered how it had come to this point. All he had been intending to do was to pick one single flower that he had spotted while on his walk around the Island. Since the Hoshi Pirates had already stocked up on supplies, enough to last till the next Island, and they had yet to be spotted by any Marine forces, everyone was taking it easy for a bit.

And now it seemed that other people had joined in on the spectacle. Kane looked up from the ground with wide eyes, still in shock about the Grandma appearing from no where, and wondered who these other people were. The only reason he had noticed them was because they both spoke up.

The woman was first. Her hair, long and brighter red, was at the mercy of the wind's will. Kane, who had pretty short hair and only some long bangs in the front, could only cringe and wonder why the heck some women choose to keep their hair so long when it could only be a nuisance to maintain. She questioned whether or not they were a comedic pair.

"The only funny one here is this Obasan... In the head," Kane grumbled to himself, clearly not amused.

The other person that approached them seemed gigantic! And that was when Kane realized he was still in a very odd four legged position on the grass. Jumping up quickly, he pretended like he hadn't been doing something embarrassing but didn't get very far in fooling even himself.

The man actually seemed to know the old lady and spoke directly to her, relating that the plants had been watered.

"Very good, very good," said the old lady with her hands behind her back as she nodded her head up and down. "With this you should make up for your crime against those flowers in no time at all."

Kane nearly fell over again. So she was making people pay for killing flowers?

This old lady really did have a lot of time to do absolutely nothing worth while, now didn't she?

Pretty sure that he was a kindred spirit and probably understood the wrath of that woman more than anyone else, the Pirate Captain looked to the large man for confirmation that he also felt the same way though he was unsure whether or not he received it.

"Well, deary, shall I make you a cup of ice cold tea? What about you, my dear? You look thirsty." The old woman seemed to purposefully look completely past Kane and ask only the larger man and the red head. Kane, sighing again, looked up and saw that in between asking them she had checked her watch. Thinking back on it, she had also checked her watch once in the middle of her lecture.

Was she late for something?

[flame08]

A small rumbling in the ground could be felt from where Syphalia stood. Confused she found herself, it wasn't exactly the sound or feeling of an earthquake but to cause rumbling in the ground it must have been large. She scanned the surrounding area only to notice a fairly massive man marching or jogging or something toward them. On his back a bisento of sorts swung, it was a weapon of equal to him in size and probably weight. He seemed like a cumbersome man, possibly unbalanced by his run and easy to trip. At the same time the much smaller man (though still larger than her) grumbled to himself something she wasn't exactly able to catch.

Assuming it was a comment to one's self about her own comment she laughed off assumption. He didn't seem to be enjoying the presence of these people at all, and for all she cared he could do just that, more fun for her. The larger man said something to the extent of flowers being watered or something. Him watering a plant? she thought He doesn't look like hes dexterous enough to do anything of the sort. But she put that aside as for all intents and purposes it mattered not what this loaf of a man did, she was just here for some laughs.

"Very good, very good," said the old lady with her hands behind her back as she nodded her head up and down. "With this you should make up for your crime against those flowers in no time at all." She had been talking to the man who stood now on the ground somewhat surrounded by the three standing members of this group. That was just too good, the man was going to pay as well. She let out a giggle, girly wasn't something she did often but when she did she could giggle like the best of them.

That giggle grew into a laugh which in turn became a roar as she couldn't hold it in. She had been in an amusing mood already this only happened to extend it much longer. She soon found herself on the ground grasping her stomach rolling in laughter. Ideas had been racing through her mind about what kind of boringly torturous things that the old woman would make the guy do. Slowly she pulled herself together to face the old woman again, the laughing left her slightly out of breath.

"Well, deary, shall I make you a cup of ice cold tea? What about you, my dear? You look thirsty." Her mouth was kind of dry so why not agree. She nodded a grin still plastered on her face. She didn't exactly know why she felt so happy she just did. Following the old lady to help with the tea though she had not been asked to Syph found herself suddenly tripping on a small weed which had made a loop of sorts in the park itself. Twisting as she fell she landed on her back protecting her hands from the damage. She might need those wrists later.

Pushing up from where she lay she felt something odd against her hands, it was soft and kind of airy. Looking down she swore into her mouth, she had landed upon a patch of lilies. Now she was in trouble as well she sighed in annoyance. Today seemed to be the beginning of a fairly long day.

[Xen]

The overly sized man looked down at both of them, realising the height difference between them all he was reminded about those dolls where each were kept within the last. His mind wandered off as he thought about it. 'I wonder if they could all fit inside me...' He looked down at each of them and then realised 'Wait! They might not fit in each other!' His shoulders shrunk gently and his head fell down too and he sighed, extremely disappointed that his weird fantasy was unable to come true. He clenched his fist and looked to the sky, invisible tears rolling down his face as he bit his lower lip in frustration and started to curse the heavens in his mind. 'Damn you! Damn yooouuuu!!!' He sighed once more before his mind came back to the conversation before him

"Very good, Very good!" The old lady nod her head up and down gently in a very sage like stance. Henry smiled slightly as he saw this being reminded of his father who always did that whenever he was proud of his son for doing the right thing. A small pang of sadness clenched at his heart as he though about his deceased father, holding in the tears thinking of all the times he had missed his father and his habits. "With this you should make up for your crime of killing those flowers in no time at all." Henry nodded his head at her, hoping that he could pay off his debt in no time with the way he was working probably strong enough to work three times longer then most workers and also three times as fast with his methods.

The youth gave him a funny look and Henry tilted his head towards him wondering what that look was for. Henry understood this rather quaint town took pride in it's flowers and what he did was a shame to them as it destroyed years of hard work that built up the life in those flowers. Henry took a deep breath in relishing in the town's great fresh scent compared to many other cities. He had noticed there was no rubbish around knowing that this close-nit community was more like a giant family then a bunch of townsfolk, something else he liked about this place.

He snapped out from his thoughts by the small red haired girl giggling. He was puzzled to why she giggled but thought it was rather cute until she started chuckle. He raised his eyebrow quizzically at the young one before she started to raise her laughter. He started to feel uncomfortable until she started to absolutely roar with laughter and started to roll on the floor. Henry took a step back from her, his brow started to sweat a little taken aback from her rather unusual fit of laughter. He just stared at her and his eyes started to widen as she did so. 'Is she possessed by a demon?!' He just stared at the little girl and his pupils shrunk a little, his heart started to beat quicker the longer she held it. 'D-demon!' He though before he took a rather unconvincing fighting stance.

"Well, deary, shall I make you a cup of ice cold tea? What about you, my dear? You look thirsty." Henry tilted his head a little and scratched his chin before the young girl stopped laughing and answered as if nothing happened. He stared at the little girl before shaking his head and gave a rather cheeky grin. "Thank you very much! I suppose I can take a small break before going back to work." He nodded to himself thinking he had earned a small break, after all he did work earlier then the day before feeling he deserved the small break.

Henry had his eyes closed as the young girl tripped over the rather unlucky hoop of weeds. He opened his eyes as she fell onto her back, too slow to save her, he cursed his large demeanour. He watched as she pushed herself up as he was about to offer his hand. He saw in her hand something small and colourful. He saw where she had landed before he froze to the spot, his brow sweating bullets as he had realised what just happened. He put his hands out in a prayer of sorts before praying out loud. "May she have lived a great life..." He prayed rather jokingly knowing that the old woman would give her a rather stern lecture about ten hours long whether you were unconscious or not and would beat you with a stick. He laughed a little out loud. "It seems like you were unlucky." He just looked at the little girl and then at the youth.

"Did you also do something to the fl-" He noticed a single flower and a spot in the batch next to them before patting the young one's shoulder and he gave a small thumbs up. "Welcome to the team." He then started to worry about the two, even if it was a single flower or a thousand the granny would definitely milk it out as long as possible although Henry didn't mind too much as he himself used to work hard daily whilst at school. He sighed a little wondering how his friend Damon was before realising he should be making friends. He extended his hand out to the small guy. "Ah, sorry for being so rude mister, the name's Henry... Henry Rackham!" He puffed out his chest. "Soon to be the world's stron-" He flinched as the old woman whacked him over his head, his tongue nearly being cut off at the force of it. Henry turned to look at the tiny old woman. "Gah! That hurt!" He said, spraying blood all over the place and starting to panic. "Ehhh?! What the hell?!" He shouted as he started to run around in circles around the group.

(Yay 1000 words >W<! Also the bisento is at the granny's house Flame! XD)

[White Mimic]

Having completed his purchase, Basil walked out of the bookstore, turning in some odd direction down the street, flipping through a few old pages before closing the book once again to look at the cover. The texture of the leather was rather pleasant and it seemed to hold itself together well in the-

He opened to the front to see when it had been published, though there was no such date to found.

-50 or so years in which it had been circulating. Was it an estimate? Yes, but it was one of his better ones. Basil handled plenty of books in his few years of living, and he felt he had a good grasp on the aging of parchment and binding, and the smell he got form the leather and paper seemed to be consistent with books he had read from that time. But, it was only an estimate, which condition could easily fool around with, particularly if this book had been kept from all sorts of elements, water damage, dust and bugs, clumsy readers who would rip a page or two in a pathetic effort to continue through the chapters. He remembered he had done the same, but that was a long time ago.

The table of contents was a bit different than most he had seen. While it did display the chapters and which pages they started on, it seemed there were secondary titles to each chapter, a location and sometimes, scribbled nearby in the margins were dates. When he had looked through the book in the shop, there was no sign of outsider writing, not in the body texts at least, but he hadn’t bothered to look at the table of contents proper, no. It wasn’t a habit of Basil’s. The chapter with the most dates scribbled next to it seemed to be a Chapter 14, titled Hanging Tree. He turned to Chapter 14 to give it a good looking over. Skimming through quickly, he would be able to summarize the myth rather easily to anyone who would care to ask.

According to the myth, long ago a maiden disappeared into the woods on her usual merchant run to the next town over. She kept to a schedule of traveling to the town every Monday, and returning home every Wednesday after selling her wares. She left as always on a Monday. However, when Wednesday came, he didn’t return. Those who had lived with her assumed she was having a good turnout and had decided to stay an extra day. She didn’t arrive on Thursday as they had hoped. Fearing that misfortune befell the maiden, her friends set out on the road to the town, keeping an eye out for her along the way. When they arrived at the town, to their horror, they had discovered that she had not arrived to her destination at all, the townsfolk believing she had just decided not to come for that week. With haste and fear for their friend, the party searched along the road of travel for any sign of her. One of her friends noticed that in a clearing that couldn’t be seen from the direction they had come from, the cart she had used to transport her wares lay in the mud, empty and disheveled, splintering on one side where it had struck a tree. The horse was nowhere to be found, though further in the clearing, the Maiden’s friends could see a deep hole in the ground, as wide as a house. And through the trees, they could see a swaying figure, cloth billowing around it as the breeze swung it from the branches of a tree, reaching out over the cavernous hole. It was the maiden in her working clothes, her dead body hung by the neck from the longest branch reaching out over the cave, her body dangling directly over the center of the hole, the bottom of which couldn’t be seen. She had hung herself by the neck with the belts she used to harness her horse to her cart, and for a brief second, her friends could hear her laughing, asking if they wanted to buy anything.

It was an eerie story but written rather poorly, in Basil’s opinion. Something children would recite to one another in the dark for the sake of scaring one another. The location that was associated to the chapter was a trade road that led into the same city he was in now. It did make him slightly curious, but it would probably be a long hike along that road to find something as eerie and pointless as a tree over a hole. Perhaps the sun would be setting by the time he got there, and it didn’t exactly tickle his fancy, the idea of walking back to town in the dark. Not that he was scared, don’t be ridiculous. He was well equipped and well trained; he just wasn’t dressed for the weather. Not spooked by a stupid story like that at all.

The roaring of laughter in the distance made him jump a bit in place, it was feminine. Re-reading the ending of the story he groaned a bit, closing the book shut as he looked over to the source. It was just a group of people in the park’s flower garden messing around (he guessed). They stuck out a little bit, mostly the large man, and it took a while before Basil realized he had been staring. He was just lost in other thoughts.

[Kurosaki]

A very puzzled expression had found it's way onto Kane's face as he looked at the red haired girl as she first started to giggle then progressively began to laugh louder and harder; going as far as to drop and grasp her stomach. Was she... Okay? Mentally? Kane inched away from her a little bit as though afraid that the disease would spread and smiled a little nervously, not sure if he had also maybe missed something that was supposed to have been amusing.

Seeming to forget the issue about the time for now, the old lady reacted to the larger man's acceptance of her offer on the drinks with a pleased smile. She seemed to have found a spot in her heart to like the giant despite his previous transgressions against her precious flowers.

"Well, dearies, why don't you follow me over to the patio over there. You see, that's my home. I live near this park so that I might take care of it more easily for my master's," started the old lady as she gestured to a small, quaint little house nearby with a white picket fence around the yard. The patio had a rocking chair, a few tables, and even a swing chair that could sit two that was hanging from the ceiling of the overhang.

"Who live over in that mansion." She then pointed further away, across the other side of the park, at a huge building that was indeed a mansion. It could easily fit twenty of her small quaint homes inside with room to spare.

In the middle of her explanation, the laughing girl from before went to walk forward and tripped on some weeds and fell backward. Kane wasn't quick enough to catch her since he had put some distance between them earlier.

"Hey, are you okay?" questioned Kane immediately before he came over to her and lent her his hand to use to grab. He would then help pull her back up to her feet. As he did this though his eyes ell upon the lilies that had been destroyed in her fall. He bit his lower lip and then looked over at the old woman who's face had just darkened substantially from it's previous, and temporary, carefree one. "Uh oh..."

The larger man seemed to step in before the old woman could go into her lecture. The anger seemed to pile up on her the more he talked. Henry welcomed Kane and the red haired girl to the team. It seemed that all three of them were now on the list of disdain from the old lady. He introduced himself as Henry Rackham and went onto to say that he would soon be the world's...

Something.

Whatever he had been planning on saying got cut off by a swift whack to the head by the old lady with the handle end of a shovel that she was carrying.

Henry proceeded to run around in circles, some blood coming from his mouth. Kane wondered if the man was already. Had that knock to the head been a little too strong? Then again, he was pretty big and tough looking. Chances were he simply bit his tongue when he had been struck, causing him to cut his tongue and cause the bleeding.

"It's decided then. You three will work off your joint debt by doing chores for me in the park!" said the lady as though she had absolute authority over their lives to declare this as being so.

At first Kane was going to resist but the thought that this old lady probably wouldn't let him just leave without doing anything was daunting. The look in her eyes was intent and merciless. Maybe he could get the chores out of the way quickly and be back on the Shooting Star before anyone from his crew even realized he had been gone for longer than he had intended.

"Ah, okay, what sort of chores are left for the day?" Kane questioned as politely as he could.

But the woman didn't seem to be listening then. She was checking her watch and looking around the park from in front of the white picket fence to her home as though expecting someone to show up any moment.

"Are you waiting on someone?"

"Yes, my master's daughter always comes here directly after her school but... She hasn't come yet and it's an hour past already," said the old lady in a way that Kane didn't expect. She seemed very worried and her anger had completely disappeared. Her eyes stared out across the park. "She's only thirteen. I hope something hasn't happened..."

"Why don't we go look for her for you? That way we can pay off our debt and make sure she's safe all at the same time," Kane suggested, lumping the other two into the suggestion at the same time. He was too busy grinning at the idea that he didn't notice, however. "Do you have a picture of her or something?"

After taking out a picture from her purse, the lady offered it to the group and nodded, asking them to make sure that she was safe while she waited on the patio for her in case she came late.

(Feel free to wreck some flowers or just follow after us if you want, Mim!)

[flame08]

"Hey are you ok?" asked the orange haired guy as he walked over stretching his hand toward her. He stopped however on the way there, probably noticing the lilies in her hand. Now standing she took a look around again, on the other two males marks of fear were obvious across their face. On the woman's rage, pure hatred and evil rage were spewing out of her. Syph trembled a little, the old woman might not look dangerous but her hair still stood on end. Jumping out of the flattened lily patch she made to run off but a look from the old woman stopped her in her tracks. The old woman didn't look it but Syphalia was sure that she would be caught if she ran.

At the same time she heard as the large man mentioned his name being Henry Rakham with some stupid dream of becoming the strongest whatever. He had been cut off by a whacking from the older woman who was becoming even more menacing by the minute. As it was she was going to be forced to work with these two on chores for the park. Following behind the others she watched as the old woman came to the entrance of the park and began looking for someone. That person was soon to be revealed to be a daughter to the people the old woman worked for. She was supposed to be returning from school, whatever that was, lost . .. maybe like that concerned her away.

Or at least it didn't concern her until, the orange haired kid suggested that their job be to find her. Syphalia sighed, this guy was just she shook her head in annoyance. Didn't people know how to take simple jobs, park chores were so much easier. Though she guessed they wouldn't have to deal with the old woman on the search so maybe it wasn't too bad . . . nahh still bad. The old woman accepted the idea without question or conference with the other two. Pulling out a picture of the young girl she handed it to them. She was young, with long blond hair she had a really picturesque look very princess-like.

As a girl possibly she might know where one might go. She considered it for a second, but then she wasn't really raised as a girl. Syphalia had no idea where a normal girl would go so she was clueless as to where she'd be. Looking at the other two she said "Just in case you are wondering, i have no idea where she might be even if i am a girl. So lets just go look ehh . . . ." Setting out she walked forward not caring to check whether the others were following. She would get this job over quick, the faster the better so she could get out of this damned place. Originally she had been here on break and now the place was becoming like a hell.

[Xen]

Henry kept running around for a small while before he stopped and used his hand to push air towards his tongue, soothing it a little as he sighed gently. He raised an eyebrow as the old woman began to talk, hatred seething through her very core after the little girl destroyed a small patch of lilies. Henry turned to look at the rows of lilies, the patch of destroyed lilies made his heart sink ever so slightly, they had looked so beautiful like they were art but now it had been ruined by a stranger. Henry bowed his head a little in shame as he realised how they really must have felt after he had destroyed a much larger field with his craft.

"It's decided then. You three will work off your joint debt by doing chores for me in the park!" The old lady stated rather blandly at the trio of shame. Henry sweat dropped a little as he realised that the old lady must have become angry with him again after the little red-haired girl destroyed the little patch that he had seen her nurture whilst spending his time helping them out. He looked over towards her small hut like house before staring at the over sized mansion. His eyebrows lowered in annoyance, wondering why the old lady's 'master' wouldn't fork out for a larger house or even a better house realising that the house was in pretty good shape but it was still rather shabby, his bisento nearly broke the floor as he laid it down on the floor.

The large grey haired youth followed the tiny old lady, the rather annoyed boy and the long haired girl to the park where they were all supposed to work on. 'Well I guess there goes my break...' He sighed as he had just befriended the old lady and had that bond broken by the two newcomers, although he didn't really harbour any resentment towards the youngsters. The way they destroyed the crops wasn't exactly their fault it was totally by accident and he himself knew that. He looked down at the two new members of team and wondered if they could actually do anything. He then bowed his head in shame and apologised inside his heart for underestimating them.

"Ah, okay, what sort of chores are left for the day?" The smaller youth asked the much smaller and older woman. However his words fell upon distracted ears as the old lady kept glancing at her watch, although Henry didn't really notice too much. Henry realised they were outside her home now and remembered that the old lady usually waited here for someone. He looked around, his eyes scanning the area before giving up as he didn't see anyone that lived around these parts. An uneasy feeling sunk within his body as a cold sweat started to drip through his skin. He bit his lip and looked over to the youth and the elder."Are you waiting on someone?" The young blue-eyed boy asked her before she replied, "Yes, my master's daughter always comes here directly after her school but... She hasn't come yet and it's an hour past already, she's only thirteen. I hope something hasn't happened..." Henry slammed his fist into his palm realising he hadn't seen the girl today either although for the past couple of days she would make conversation with him. He had been too busy working to realise it and his brow scrunched up as dread filled him wondering if anything did happen to her.

"Why don't we go look for her for you? That way we can pay off our debt and make sure she's safe all at the same time." Henry stared at the youth before realising he had valiantly offered to go find the girl. Henry's eyes shined and watered a little, biting into the top of his shirt. 'This guy... he's... so noble!' He though, looking down onto the youth with admiration. He nodded in approval. 'He's a nice guy!' "Do you have a picture of her or something?" The boy asked, interrupting Henry's thoughts before the elderly woman took out her rather deadly looking purse, causing Henry to flinch, and pulling out a photo. Henry didn't look as he already knew what the girl looked like before he cracked his knuckles.

He realised something before he froze. 'I have no idea where she goes...' He bowed his head down and he held his chin, deep in though. 'Who would know how a girl thought...' His brow furrowed deeper as he deepened his search for an answer before realising there was a little girl next to him. He snapped his fingers and just as he was about to ask the little girl already started to say, "Just in case you are wondering, i have no idea where she might be even if i am a girl. So lets just go look ehh . . . ." before she started to make her way... somewhere. Henry looked depressed, realising that they had no way in finding this girl and that they would probably have to spend the rest of their lives searching for the girl.

He sucked in some air through his teeth and puffed out his chest. "Well then, we should get going then... Don't you think?" He asked the blue-eyed youth realising both of his companions had already started making their way. "H-hey! Wait for me!" He said just as he was about to make his way. Before he did he looked back at the small elderly figure. "If she did get lost, I will definitely bring her back!" He stared at the elderly woman nodding slightly as if to give his words a deeper confirmation, his eyes filled with unlimited resolve as he then turned and jogged lightly towards the other two, his stride easily twice as long as theirs as he caught up within a few steps.

[White Mimic]

((Got sidetracked IRL. Thanks for the patience.))

By the time he realized he had been staring, Basil had already heard of the missing girl and begun to see the trio off. His reaction to his own manners was subtle, quickly glancing away and down at his feet in disgust, the very thought of such juvenile behavior discouraging him a little. It was none of his business to get involved, especially not with another group already engaged with finding the girl. Although, it did rub him against the grain to see an investigatory team begin to leave on a search without getting any proper leads, other than what appeared to be a photograph.

Maybe they lived here, knew where the school was and the girl’s name already based on her apparent residence. Most likely not, though. But, far be it from Basil to publicly call into question methods that he himself hadn’t tried already. He was certainly no investigator himself and was in no position to criticize others on a subject he hadn’t experienced, not unless he was prepared for a lesson in humility, something his uncle beat into him a long time ago. It did tickle his fanciful curiosity, however, to see the story of a missing girl unfold in front of him, it would definitely overwrite the eerie story he had read only moments ago, that creepy piece of literature. Then again, his head tilted to the side, he would probably only get in the way, possibly annoy others and be a general nuisance to the case, some tag-a-long in it for the ‘fun of the story’. No. He didn’t want to be that guy. In any case, they seemed a capable bunch on their own, quite capable of solving the problem quickly. He’d only be a spare wheel in that venture. Instead, he thought it best to check out that mystery cave he had read about.

Well, he had planned to check it out, though what was coming his way promised to be the first iron link in the chain of events to follow. For a split second, he looked back at the little house with the Granny, beginning his journey to the secret tourist trap he had found in the old book at the same time. Without his attention his foot snagged an exposed tree root and he toppled to the ground, like a tall tree, chopped clean from its base in a climactic descent to the earth below. It even occurred in slow-motion, at least from his point of view. Could he have stopped the fall? Of course. Did it cross his mind to do so? A few random bubbles ran through in his head. Why didn’t he? Obviously, his solutions did not seem appropriate to the situation, so menial an occurrence it did not deserve the attention it could have received. The most Basil did was shift to land on his shoulder, and that was a basic human instinct. On the impact, he crushed two stray daisies, one beyond recognition in a rug torn mess, and the other merely flattened, safely in the divot of his side.

He rubbed the sore on his shoulder lightly, looking at the damage he had caused, which he judged to be trivial at worst. Seeing the flattened daisy gave him idea, a little trick his aunt showed him that he liked to do every so often if it wasn’t a bother to anyone in particular. He plucked the daisy from the ground and put it between the last page and the back cover of the book. He figured it was flattened anyway, he might as well do something with it. The trick was to let it dry with the weight of pages over it to make a flat flower, just a little craft he often enjoyed the results of as a child. “No harm, no foul I suppose…”

[Kurosaki]

The picture was of a pretty young teen with long blond hair. The way she was posed, her outfit, and the smile on her face was all perfect down to the very smallest detail. Such a sweet looking girl, Kane hoped that nothing bad had happened to her. But only being a little bit late wasn't a huge deal. Chances were that she simply got distracted and had departed her house later than usual. At least, that's what they were all probably hoping for.

It was a scary world out there.

But where to start looking even for the girl? The first place would be her home and then the surrounding area. But if she wasn't home then were would she likely go? Kane glanced over at the red haired girl as though expecting her to divulge some sort of clue. It seemed that Henry had been on the same pathway of thought, for he seemed to be about to ask her when she interjected and told them both that she had no idea where she might be.

Thinking on it, Kane bent down and asked the old woman something which she replied to quickly. He nodded and thanked her before straightening up and walking forward. He heard Henry ask if they should get going and then realize that they were already ahead of him and rush to catch up.

Once they were a little distance away he stopped and turned to them.

"So I asked the Obaasan back there whether or not the little girl would be likely to be home. Apparently she's the daughter of that rich family that she mentioned that she gardens for. And she sneaks out often to visit Obaasan. They might have tried to stop her this time and kept her inside. We should go search there fi-"

Just then a few Marine soldiers passed by on a road next to the park, running quickly. Their boots pounded the cobbled roads heavily. Face color turning paler for a moment, Kane turned so that his back was facing them. Right now, he couldn't afford to get noticed by the Marines and his face was likely to be noticed. Was that why they were running this way?

But they ran straight past the group and continued toward the nearby mansion; the very one that they had been discussing.

"Wonder what's going on..." commented Kane, a bit shocked that they hadn't even looked over their way. He nodded to the others hoping that they would follow his lead as he ran toward the mansion.

-----

"Just what do you think you're doing?!" came a shout. Even though the old lady was worried and slightly distracted by the lateness of her guest, her eyes were as sharp as always.

From her patio she could overlook practically all of the park. It was the very reason that her house had been built on a slight hill and the patio was facing the park directly.

The old lady jumped to her feet with a speed and agility that wasn't found in most woman her age. She landed softly and proceeded to dash across the expanse of the park headed in Basil's direction; a look of anger and determination that was as fierce as a wild animal stalking their prey clearly fixed upon her face. As she ran, her hand came up with a small hand shovel and whipped backward and then forward, allowing it to freely sail through the air headed for a specific target; the head of the man whom had just ruined several more precious flowers.

And so another victim fell to the old lady. Most likely.

But this time, instead of the lecture, the woman teared up at the sight of the picked daisies and fell to her knees for a moment, looking downward.

"Oh, dear, I hope Daisy is okay... She... She would have known better to not have gone near that hole, right?" she cried to herself.

[flame08]

"H-hey! Wait for me!" came a deep voice behind her, obviously that of the largest member of their group. Stopping as she stepped forward she turned around to see the large man making his way toward her and the other guy. His name was . . . . oh what was it . . . Henry, probably. Behind them she could see the old woman begin to walk off back into the garden. Then came to a run, maybe some other idiot caused problems with the flowers. Their pain was mutual but she felt no sorrow for the new victim of the old woman's rampage.

Just as the large man came up to them the other one, Kane said "So I asked the Obaasan back there whether or not the little girl would be likely to be home. Apparently she's the daughter of that rich family that she mentioned that she gardens for. And she sneaks out often to visit Obaasan. They might have tried to stop her this time and kept her inside. We should go search there fi-"

"Fi-? First you mean?" Syph questioned before checking where he was looking. Something had caught his eye and as she followed it she could see a dust cloud at the front of which was a bunch of marines. Had she been found, she had been fairly quiet she didn't think the marines would have found her so quickly. She gripped the red cloth around her sword carefully, she had hoped she wouldn't have had to use it. A vacation didn't include combat for her, she got enough of that on the Los Anicetos without getting it here.

Her eyes hardened as the marines got closer, but they didn't seem to be going for them. The marines ran past them, paying very little attention as they streamed towards the mansion off to the side of the road. Syphalia sighed with relief, they weren't being chased . .. yet. "Wonder whats going on . . ." said Kane as he started to trail off toward the mansion. Syphalia reached out her hand toward him to tell him to stop until a new shriek came out from the mansion. Well it wasn't so much a shriek as it was a yell.

One of the marines who had been running past them had stopped outside of the mansion and pulled out some papers. Turning around and checking them out he had recognized two of them as having bounties in excess of 20 million. Screeching to the rest of his group he was pointing at them with excitement. Between turning those two in they could buy drink for years to come. A group of maybe 15 marines broke off from the group and charged at them.

Syph was pretty sure that she could easily take them, but that wasn't the issue. She didn't really want to fight, so she decided that she would do the next best thing, RUN! Cursing under her breath she turned and took off down the way she had originally been heading. Whether the others followed she didn't know because she wasn't about to look back at least not for a long while. Running through the town, she could see the blurs of street names passing as the houses got smaller and suddenly the area more forested and full of vegetation. She was in yet another park or so now leading up to a large marble arena looking place.

(OOC: A little detour from the mission is possible otherwise this can be twisted right into the mission again. Its for the story right so lets just have fun with it!)

[Xen]

Henry's large stride caught up to them within moments as the petite red-haired girl turned to look at him before noticing something behind him. Henry didn't really know what she was looking at and decided not to check. Henry was too busy deep in thought about the little girl. None of the team knew where they should check and Henry was stumped having no experience with women and heard that women weren't exactly kind to men's minds, tending to play around with them. With this knowledge he wanted to keep away from them for the time being.

Henry followed the duo before the young one turned around abruptly which would have normally made someone tense up but Henry felt relaxed, his muscles pulsing from the strenuous work he had to go through that day. He look down at his right hand's palm before thinking to himself, 'It seems I'm not at full strength and my recovery is slow...' He clenched his fist and tensed his right arm a little before wincing at the pain. He relaxed his arm once more before paying attention to Kane, who was now speaking. "So I asked the Obaasan back there whether or not the little girl would be likely to be home. Apparently she's the daughter of that rich family that she mentioned that she gardens for. And she sneaks out often to visit Obaasan. They might have tried to stop her this time and kept her inside. We should go search there fi-" As the youth cut himself off Henry wondered why they were walking in the opposite direction from where he wanted them to go before he looked up and saw the boy's face change from his normal expression to one of shock before turning around and hiding his face from the marines who were approaching. "Fi-? First you mean?" The small red-haired girl asked Kane before Henry started to nod, knowing that that was was the word he was probably going to say then.

Henry hadn't noticed them approach, rubble and dust were kicked up as they passed by. Henry looked towards the youth, who he still didn't know the name off and wondered why he looked paler then before. Henry felt compelled to reach out and touch the youth's forehead before realising that wouldn't help as he had little to no medical knowledge. He sighed a little before the youth said, "Wonder what's going on..." and ran towards the group of marines. Henry's gut tugged at him before he started to feel uneasy. Henry was about to jog as Syph's hand cut in between the large man and the other youth. He wondered why she did so before a yell was heard, causing Henry to exhale slowly and rub his temple. "What's with the noise?" He blinked for a moment before noticing what was said. The marine was pointing over to their direction and announcing some sort of bounties.

Henry tilted his head and began to wonder, thinking to himself. 'Hey now, did that guy just say I have a bounty?' He tilted his head up, looking towards his left and scratching his chin. 'I don't really remember doing anything that could have caused this..' Henry closed his eyes and looked down, his hand wrapped around his beard stroking it thoroughly. 'Ah right...' He grinned to himself before widening his stance. He puffed out his chest and crossed his arms, tensing his muscles to their extremity before he bellowed loudly, nearly roaring in the process. "RAHAHAHA!!! BUT OF COURSE! IT IS I!" He grinned to himself, filled with a stupid arrogance and giving off a rugged noble demeanour. "THE MIGHTY GREYB-" He cut himself off as the small group of marines cut him off, running right passed him and chasing the red-haired girl and the small boy. He really had to learn their names.

Henry froze for a moment as an awkward silence filled the air, well for him at least since the marines were in uproar. His grew darker, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he tried to understand what happened. Reality dawned on him before he hung his head, his muscles giving up and returning to their once lax state and his shoulders dropped, his arms slung downwards. Henry was sulking. 'I-impossible... they just... ignored me and... ran past me like... like I was nothing...' He fell to his knees grumbling to himself. "My existence is meaningless, I don't deserve to live..." He whispered to himself. All that surrounded him was blackness before something shined in the corner. He followed it with his eyes and saw a small figure of his best friend. He stared at him as Damon shook his head at Henry. Henry opened his mouth slowly to utter a single word.

"Sorry."

He jumped into the air. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" His eyes started to tear up instantly and in no time they became waterfalls. His vigour was renewed as he felt the extreme pressure that was placed on his shoulder. "I won't let you down Da-" He then stopped, looking around as he watched the other two flee from the scene. "Hey hey! Where are you guys going?!" He said before running after them, following the marines. "We gotta go save the little girl!!!" His determination was completely healed as he started to run faster. "Isn't that our job?!" His work ethic kicking in. "AS TEAM ANTI FLOWER-KIDNAPPER BRAVO?!" He roared towards them. He paused for a moment before his eyes shined. "What a cool name~"