Sleep No More! Release the Hounds of G-2!

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Haha, you're such an idiot..'

What else was there to do in a blood loss fuzzy situation with some stupid person she had to team up with? His somewhat frantic responses and efforts to get a snail to work was actually really funny from her slightly dead perspective. Her mind boggled over where she went wrong but it kept coming up with the same reason, if she had just let Bosco handle it rather than kicking it into overdrive and pretty much throwing her blood out of her body in the process maybe everything would be slightly different. Her sanity, whatever sanity she had, kept coming back in small snippets to either put pressure on her main would with her usable arm or actually remembering to breathe every now and again. The man she was leaning against didn't exactly show any signs of getting up, but even he was complaining about the sinking feeling he was getting. The pun was completely intended, she too felt this strange sinking feeling which when thought over for a second time was actually the ship sinking into the ocean. She couldn't hop, unless she wanted to leave the rest of her blood behind her as she moved, and this damn ink guy was just standing around without any kind of awesome saviour move to his name either! Why was she even paired up with this guy!? 'You need to be able to like, fly around places like I can..' She said in a mumbled voiced complaint, lifting her limp arm and moving it around as if it was flying... She had no idea why she was doing this either.

At least Bosco managed to call Zekken to the scene, last time they talked he was waiting on them to finish the job, last thing he might have expected was her getting injured in the process. How was she going to explain this to him too? The more and more she went over the idea of what happened the more she heard his voice passively bashing at her for not using teamwork like she was asked to try. But this kid was hopeless! He just started lounging around as if it was her job to begin with! It's just as much his fault as it is her's right? She'd have to think of some story while she laid about waiting to either die by blood loss, sea water or some magical sea-monster to just pop out and kill them, she could see that happening. Enough lounging around though, feeling the amount of blood that was just exiting her body to the floor was getting on her nerves, feebly yanking the jacket from her waist with one usable hand and wrapping it around the wound. She didn't want to look at her other hand, at a glance she swore it was the wrong way, and that's all her brain needed to know right now. 'I thought 'ya said 'yud leave some for me.' A grizzled voice responded from their side, the large fish man in marine clothing pulling the rest of his body out of the water. 'I did~... They 'aint dead, just sleeping...' her voice gave way towards the end, breaking into a cough as the blood decided to start exiting by other ways. 'What 'ave you gotten 'urself into now, 'ya twerp.' She stuck out her tongue, waving her arm around to reveal that the job had been completed despite her own well-being. 'Looks like the runt isn't injured then, that's one less person I have to worry about carrying.'

He motioned to the boat, it was quite close now but close wasn't going to cut the Mailene who was being cupped up in the fish man's arm's barely able to breath. 'Wait a moment for the ship to close in, I'm sure you must have some pretty power that can get you over that distance.' he gave a light salute with his spare hand, hopping back into the water and rocketing across the small distance before leaping out and back onto the deck. The marines seemed all so curious and scared about Mailene's well being, whether it was because they actually cared or just wanted to look concerned towards the Boss who was walking between them was something Mailene pondered as the large blank face hovered over her as well as the fish-man's. 'S-Sorry, I didn't want to take all the glo-' She was paused in her raspy speech with her hair being ruffled, Zekken moving out the way to let the medical team handle her as well as disguise a small smile which came and went from his face. 'Look's like she'll be okay Sir! Just a lot of blood to lose for a kid.' He nodded to the quick analysis as Mailene was carried away, looking back over to the mess she had caused as well as the person they had left behind getting closer and closer. 'I wan't anyone alive imprisoned for further questioning, anyone who looks like they don't know anything, just throw them into the ocean.' He motioned for Bosco to get on board, the boat coming quite close to the wreckage now. 'Nice job kid, but it looks like there's a lot more work to be done on you two yet.' Seems like Bosco gets to be called kid now, Zekken reminded himself to stick to his previous title of the guy, though his biased thoughts rolled around in his head he knew it was as much Mailene's fault as it was his... But he couldn't help but give him a slight furrowed brow for letting it get that serious. 'Clean-up! We head back to base in half an hour!'

'A-Are my clothes okay?' Mailene mumbled to herself as the marine chuckled, fixing her up as quickly as they could in the brightly lit room somewhere within the lower decks of the ship. She was feeling a lot better at least, the pain had stopped and sharp pain down her limp arm had quit being such... Well such a pain. 'Just take it easy Mai, we'll have you fixed up in no time.' The fuzzy white image assured her while she tried to poke away at different parts of her body to see if she felt anything. 'And stay still while you're at it will you?' She would have laughed but a cough came out instead, giving up against the constant nudges of people putting her usable arm back against her side, feeling really sleepy all of a sudden as fuzzy also became a hint of darkness. 'T-Think I'll take a nap...'

'You do that Mai.'
'D... Don't tell me what to do... Jerk.'
'Wouldn't even consider it.'

[Cirrus]

[bg=000000][atrb=width, 500, bTable][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=vAlign,top] MAKE MY BLOOD She sure was a funny one... That was the first reflection observed by Bosco on a day of that seemed to be full of retrospection. His tailored brand of retrospection involved judging people on little impressions, but still it was the best he had and all he had to go on at the moment. Perhaps, hopefully, Mailene would grow to make a more positive impression upon the blonde haired rabble rouser; there had been glimpses during the little altercation between her and those pirates; little peaks into her true nature -- he knew; the non-sucky one. Bosco tilted his head in inquiry as he thought, looking at the wounded girl curiously. What was going on in her head? he thought. Why was she so stand-offish, and yet so... bubbly? It didn't make sense to him, although he could hardly have expected it to: how long ago was it that he'd found out he'd become a Shichibukai? A few days, maximum. And to wrap his twisted little head around that notion alone had taken superhuman effort; not least because any detour from the normal way of things, his way of things, was something to kick and scream and burn things about. ... A foreign voice disturbed his thinking. "I thought 'ya said 'yud leave some for me." Said the voice, to Bosco's mind only addressing the troublemaker, but apparently this was not the case as the er... trouble-mistress responded before he did. The junior warlord would have cursed aloud if it hadn't drawn attention to himself; at the moment that was far from what he needed right now, for as he whirled on the spot to see the body with which the voice went, he realised that it belonged to the peculiar sight of a fishman in marine clothing. Nolan, if his memory served, was his name. He was clearly a fishman, with his inhuman stature and deep sea skin; in his more childish days Bosco would have wondered if he could swim in him. Perhaps if he hadn't been the one to catch him and drag him back to the Roaring Raust the blonde haired rabble rouser would have laughed at the disproportionate size of his fins to the rest of his monstrous body: despite the fact that Nolan could quite possibly snap Bosco in half - with a glare - the Shichibukai in training could help but try to stifle a laugh at the little fins that waggled helplessly from the marine's body. It was a rare thing that fishmen were allowed into the forces, Bosco knew that much, so even with his overall silly appearance he must have been packing some sort of competence. Apparently not competent enough to resist Mailene's childish ways, though. Bosco frowned as he obliged the wounded girl's incredibly unhelpful behaviour. He frowned even more as he was called 'runt'. What could he do about that? Nolan was huge! Even as he thought about it his mind boggled - yet there it was, before his very eyes. And if things like this were on his side, what was out there in the great and grand unknown, lurking in the dark oceans? The very notion send shivers down his spine. But they were good shivers: shivers of excitement; shivers of anticipation; shivers of acceptance. This was who he was and also who he was going to be. Those shivers that flashed down his spine in a considerably faster fashion than that with which Nolan had risen from the deep like some monster in a bad horror film - they were good shivers. Bosco was left to shiver as Nolan left with Mailene; obviously she needed to be transported a lot sooner than he did. But that didn't stop him sarcastically muttering, "'Bye then," as the fishman and electric girl departed. Zekken and the other marines who'd been watching the proceedings drew nearer with their boat, decidedly more interested in Mailene's safety than Bosco's lack of harm. Surely, he thought, the fact that he was still able to stand on the sinking ship was testament to how able he was? Mailene, with the fancy devil fruit and the comfortability with all the other marines and the never ending childishness... "RAAAAAAAH!" Roared Bosco as he leaped aboard, following Zekken's signal. It was his own attempt to demonstrate his power, and his virility... and his ability to shout loudly. No one seemed to fussed though; whether that was down to the fact that Zekken was talking now, or because no one cared for people who introduced themselves by shouting loudly, was yet to be seen. Naturally, Bosco assumed the former - everyone knew awesome people introduced themselves by shouting loudly. It was simple logic. The louder you shouted, the more confident you were; the more confident you were, the easier it was to get people to believe you were totally the best out of the Shichibukai in training duo... "Nice job kid, but it looks like there's a lot more work to be done on you two yet." ... Kid? ... You had to be kidding him. Since when did he and Zekken have such an informal relationship? Since when did- ah, forget it. Just gonna let Mai and Zekks do their thing; I'll do mine... Whatever that is. COUNT: 922 CHARACTER: bosco cavellone COMMENTARY: i'm gonna get better at this i swear CREDIT: cirrus

[bg=660000][atrb=vAlign,top] BOIL ! "] [/style]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'You know you shouldn't be up for at least another couple of hours.'
'I needed to change my clothes..'
'You don't need a change of clothes to sleep, Mailene.'

'You obviously don't know anything about clothes.' The girl grumpily mumbled to herself as she hobbled up the stairs and onto the rear elevated platform of the ship, Zekken standing with an over watch type glare at the wreckage which was all but sunk into the sea over the short time they had Mailene in for treatment. 'You didn't do what was expected of you.' the grizzly tone stated, not making eye contact of even tilting his head to the girl as she hopped onto his shoulder. 'I finished the mission.' She said with a mimicking cold tone, though sadly it came out more as a slightly cute one for lack of a deeper pitch in her voice. 'Exactly, you finished the mission, that smart-ass may be a lazy idiot but he's still supposed to be your partner.' The anger which met the response cause Mailene to slouch in her wobbly position, clutching into her completely bandaged one side which was bare bar the marine jacket which lay over her shoulders, the bandages were enough to be a long sleeved shirt in itself anyway. 'But for a first crack at it, it's good to see you didn't beat each other up at least.' The reassuring compliment even in its smallest form brought a slight smile to Mailene's face, leaning to her side which was in turn the side of Zekken's head as the boat which slowly vanished seemed to give off the strangest light as it angled. 'Didn't you want cool machine thingy too?' Mailene was sneaky enough to know the deeper motives of the plan. Not only was it her and Bosco's training, they wanted that machine which was situated on the ships. Zekken didn't reply for obvious reasons, she wasn't supposed to know after all, just a slight nod as the two that were left on the vessels ahead shone like compasses against the moonlight.

The combat was admittedly a lot more short lived than Mailene imagined when she was told about such a dangerous band of pirates working right outside of the marines boarders of power a hint of strength was implied upon it, maybe it was how they dealt with the problem so quickly and brought the group into disarray? Something must have been outside of the plan for them to so simply stride on smack and bunch of people around and get out so quickly, regardless of Mailene's injuries, they were her fault after all. If she had simply allowed Bosco to work with her rather than it being some sort of contest she wouldn't have been in a situation where he was the only one who could save them if any of those attacks she had landed weren't strong enough. 'So is he a trouble to work with? It looked pretty smooth sailing for you two once you sliced up those ships like that.' Mailene's train of thought broke into an embarrassed giggle as she replayed the moment in her mind, she admittedly went the wrong way, only planning to take out one ship as a threat but going through every one right down the middle instead. 'This powers still a little hard to control, I almost fell into the water...' Zekken joined in with the light chuckles which bounced back and forth between them, a light display from the sinking ships going on in front then to the side of them as their half an hour was up. 'You should really rest, I know I have some of the best doctors on this ship but it doesn't mean you should hang on their skill and wander around.' He didn;t even have to turn to notice Mailene's crossed arms and scrunched face. 'Besides, we have a briefing the moment we get back.' her legs flailed slightly, followed by a hiss as her usual reaction of frantic limbs was punished by a solid wound. 'But they're so boring...' She was picked up, put down gently beside the giant and nudged away, grumbling as she hobbled back down the large stairs. 'Oh! And make sure Bosco knows too if you see him on the way to the room.' Great.. Now she has to talk to that thing.

Where he was wasn't her concern at all, what was funny to hear though as she moved amongst the rooms was the screams and shouts from the captains and minions her and Bosco had left alive become victim to Faaye's interrogation methods in the lower decks of the otherwise quiet ship. Truth be told she enjoyed listening to people who caused her any kind of pain receive it in return ten-fold, though she never wanted to actually see it in action... Apparently that woman is way too good with small sharp objects. Wherever Bosco may have been hiding she would have informed him about the such and such that Zekken wanted her to tell him. 'Briefing's are big boring things where a bunch of people tell us what we've done and how well we've done it.' Other than that she had nothing else to say, he didn't deserve a thanks as far as she was concerned, not did he deserve her time. Every time a negative thought passed her mind about him she could just hear that displeased grunt from the big man in charge, it sent shivers down her spine the kind of intimidation factor that man radiated just by looking at you, who'd think that he was such a cuddly lovable man once you play a childish charm on him. She'd like to think that was her advantage, but it could easily be her fighting potential, or even his job to be nice to her. The last thing she wanted was it to be her parents, she is still trying to escape that shadow which looms over her by going into this program, so much to do so little ti-

DONK!

'Uhm.. You okay there Mailene? I told you not to leave the ward.'
'I'm fine! You better not have been following me..'
'Its hard to ignore someone running into a door in your travels.'
'Yea yea, laugh it up..'

The Doctor who claimed to have been behind her accidently went on his way as Mailene shuffled into Zekken's room to hide her embarrassment, swimming through his own messy master quarters into her own room, her legs giving way there and then as she slumped onto her bed, only with enough energy left in her to shuffle the jacket off her shoulders and adjust herself onto of the bed. Maybe she could just pretend to be too injured and have Bosco endure the debriefing by himself? The plan made her smirk but she wasn't going to get away with it while Zekken was in charge. and her parents! By god they'll be there to see how she went on her first mission in the program officially. She just had to block it all out, just sleep for now and tackle the problems when they return in the morning. Which she would then try to avoid.

At all costs.

[Cirrus]

[bg=000000][atrb=width, 500, bTable][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=vAlign,top] MAKE MY BLOOD Hmm… It was a good question. What was his thing, exactly? He didn't know. Normally he had people whose job it was to know. That was the trouble of being privileged; when you were stripped down to the bare essentials you were basically someone who was out of their depth. Which was a bad thing for, firstly, a devil fruit user, and, perhaps more importantly, someone who was in the middle of the ocean surrounded by people he didn't know or particularly like with an attitude problem. Still, it could be worse. But that wasn't reassuring - if this wasn't bad enough, what could be worse? Bosco shrugged, nonplussed: he’d been having silent discourse with himself far too frequently for his liking, and so the shrug was sort of gesture to say ’whatever, I’m done with this,’ and move on. The troublemaker’s ears waggled. He was being talked about. Covertly he shifted from his sedentary position to one of great furtiveness; at least, in his definition of the word – you couldn’t be certain that hanging upside down from the ceiling, supporting yourself with nothing but the strength of your limbs, and likely causing obvious damage to the boat in which you travelled was anything like what the word furtive tried to convey, but you’d probably be certain that telling Bosco this was not such a great idea either. At any rate, Bosco heard the majority of the conversation, which was frankly a bad thing – he wasn’t so good at hiding his reactions to what was being said. A little, 'So is he a trouble to work with? It looked pretty smooth sailing for you two once you sliced up those ships like that.' here; a quickening of breath as the blonde haired rabble rouser dangled from tenterhooks upon Mailene’s response. What would she say? What did she really think of him? Why did he care? His array of dogtags jingled as he shifted on the ceiling: the pair were on the move again and so he had to force his way into the shadows, ousting any clandestine nature that his vantage point may have had and listen more intently. His array of dogtags jingled, like barking dogs at an intruder. Only Mailene had the familiar words to silence them, to discern friend from foe… 'This power’s still a little hard to control, I almost fell into the water...' The Shichibukai in training nearly dropped from the ceiling. His jaw certainly did not possess the same staying power as the rest of his body did: open-mouthed and clearly flabbergasted Bosco made a sound like a drowning person. And in truth he was drowning; drowning in the sheer incredulity of the situation. How had she managed to do that? How had she managed to send him the wrong way again? At first he’d thought that she’d say bad things about him, then good – but what was this? It was completely unrelated to the question at hand! Bosco nearly shouted out in protest, but luckily the shadows bit him in the back and he remembered he was trying to be subtle. An odd interpretation of the word, perhaps, but Master Cavellone wasn’t really bothered about you ‘mainstream’ types and your ‘standard interpretations’ of things. Besides, he was an artist. He could do whatever he liked. Zekken informed Mailene of her current condition, no doubt eliciting pouts from his partner in crime. From his elevation Bosco couldn’t quite see what she was thinking, but her first impression had left a satisfying after-image: he could picture it now. She haunted him. And that was a good thing, perhaps – it definitely wasn’t bad, anyway, not in the conventional sense at least: at least now he couldn’t easily dispose of her. Was he ever going to? Perplexing… perplexing… but ultimately boring! He should have been out there right now, Mailene in tow, terrorising stupid pirates who thought that the world was their oyster when really it was their downfall; wreaking havoc on those who thought that freedom was containment and that containment was freedom, that they could do whatever they liked confined to a ship on the middle of the sea. They were so isolated, so easy to take out – he should have been out there. 'Oh! And make sure Bosco knows too if you see him on the way to the room.' Bosco’s blood ran cold. He’d missed some vital information – stupid retrospection! Why hadn’t he been listening? Why didn’t he know… 'Briefings are big boring things where a bunch of people tell us what we've done and how well we've done it.' Bosco’s blood was ice. Frozen rigid, like a statue, the junior warlord suddenly found that his grasp on the ceiling was not what it used to be, and fell to the ground with a thud. He groaned his complaint before getting to his senses and standing up so fast he was at risk of rocketing through the very ceiling he’d fallen off of. But he managed to look cool. Totally. He’d have giggled, but he left that to Mailene; she no doubt found his antics terribly amusing and would supply all the giggles needed for the both of them. Bosco brushed himself off, completely oblivious to the fact he’d made himself a fool – or perhaps not so oblivious; his skin was flustered. But his voice was no doubt confident. ”Yeah yeah, I gathered that much Mai, thanks for that. So, we gonna go together, or are you too cool fo- Mai? Where are you going?” He stopped his sarcasm-slash-confidence show and started to show actual concern, or annoyance, depending on whose perspective you looked at the situation, and titled his head. The other junior warlord had decided to just waddle off to wherever she pleased, leaving Bosco in her wake. He grumbled, but followed anyway – was there any other choice? He doubted it. He was confined to a ship on the middle of the sea. He was so isolated, so easy to take out… Bosco stepped past the doctor as she came past, ready to deliver his own payload of laughter to Mailene. ”Nice one, Sparks. You gonna take down that door like you took down those- dammit stop walking away!” That was starting to get really annoying. Really. The one person he’d talk to kept ignoring him as of late – what was going on? For a split second Bosco felt concern, then he felt impassive. Her problems were her problems, and if she wanted his help, which, deep down, he wished she did, he’d be there to deliver whatever he could. Not because he liked her on any level or anything. It was just being civil. They were team mates, after all: she stopped him from being confined to a ship on the middle of the sea. She stopped him from being so isolated, so easy to take out… They would fight, together. COUNT: 1154 CHARACTER: bosco cavellone COMMENTARY: no clue where this came from, but here you go~ CREDIT: cirrus

[bg=660000][atrb=vAlign,top] BOIL ! "] [/style]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Just sleep Mailene, just ignore him...'

Her face planted position stirred, admittedly it was only after she had attacked her bed with the demand of sleep had she realised that the rebel with seemingly no brain power was tracking her every step. Maybe it was the insult that he let slip leaving her to slam the door behind her, the thought of his face on the other side of it made her giggle at least. But what Zekken said just kept playing like a broken record, she didn't have to like it, but she at least needed to form some kind of plan with this guy and save her a few sets of clothes. Wait a minute! He could have helped her, why was she feeling so sympathetic about it all? It wasn't her fault the guy is some strange inflated ego in humanoid form. 'Fine! I'll do it, just freaking do it!' She shouted to herself as she exited her room and swung open the master rooms large polished wooden door once more, glancing from left to right or straight ahead if the guy hadn't even budged. 'So you coming in or what!?' It was ridiculously gross, just the thought of that mess of a person being anywhere near here things, she will have to play it safe or it was going to bug her more than leaving things like this to lie would. 'But if you so much as touch a single thing in my room, you're dead.' Her point of dominance even came with a little spark which bounced out at him, leaving the door swung open as she victoriously limped back to her room with her head held high, pushing aside any neatly made piles and important belongings which still hung from her remaining unpacked bags and pushed the chair from her mirror towards him. She sat down on her bed, admittedly quite confused as to what to do next. She had acted on impulse thus far, and now the idiots here with probably a whole array of stupid faces just ready to be made about her nice and tidy colourful room. 'You sit, and you ask.' she folded her arms as a hiss escaped her mouth, obviously it was something she wasn't supposed to do with such a wound.

'Zekken will drag me along, as much as I don't want to...' she pulled her legs up by her chest, pushing herself against the wall by her bed then just flopping to the side, a typical Mailene approach to anything she doesn't want to do. 'A buncha tall old people will sit around and point fingers about how I did something wrong, I killed too many people, how I'm a menace to the marines not an aid!~' She dragged out the sentence with her poor attempt at an old mans voice of anger, something quite difficult when you're a high pitched female teen. Though her own reality caused her animated arms of pointing and flailing to join her body and collapse against the bed, glancing over to Bosco before looking back at the ceiling. 'I'm sure they'll blame you for a lot too, its what they do after all.' Her parents would be there to protect her actions, as will Zekken, but it doesn't make their words any less of a request for her to punch them right on the nose. 'It may be a little different this time, Ugh! I still don't want to do iiiit~' She spun, moving her face into the fabrics of her covers before shuffling to let one eye peer back as Bosco. 'Sho du yu hav marin parenss too?' Not exactly english but her question about Bosco's parents still lingered, she was quite surprised that Bosco hadn't already used her own parents as ammunition against her... Which if that was the case she would gladly keep it that way for a whole list of reasons. The topic was getting to personal anyway, not her style. She'd listen to what he'd have to say now that she said it but after that? Onto something they could at least talk about with ease.

'So that inky thing you do.' This request of sorts caused her to sit upright again on the bed, complete with silly arm movements to try and describe some of the things Bosco did with his powers. 'Can it make anything? I mean I can make pretty patterns but, they don't exactly do much.' She leaned forward, picturing all the things Bosco's kind of power could create. 'So can you make like wings? And like a big dragon! Or is like... Just pointy creepy stuff..' She seemed genuinely enthusiastic about it for a moment, only to then realise how she looked and suddenly flicked to a more serious expression. 'Not like I need you or anything, you pretty much just watched like an idiot back there.' She let out a little sniff, more to clear the space and let her think rather than it having it meaning. 'Just looks like I can kill lots of stuff really fast, and you can kinda beat single people up really fast..' That was her best explanation of the situation, live with it. 'Maybe we should like, make a plan or something next time, I dunno..' This hadn't gone as easily as she planned, returning to her otherwise defensive body language and aggressive tone. 'So if that's it then just get 'outta here! Following me around...' She grumbled off, shooing him away and resting her arm over her eyes. She personally hoped he had nothing to say, but that wasn't how this talking game worked, the other person actually had to say things back and then it bounced around until someone found it awkward. They had to mentally prepare for the stupid that was going to fall upon them when they woke up and arrived in the morning, the last thing she wanted to do was give them reasons to yell at her.

Why didn't she just ignore him in the first place?

____________________________________________________

Sorry for making such a strange and non-action post, figured I'd give you some things to talk about and leave the ball in your court for a little while in case you wanted to handle the time skip to the base or ask anything else to spew out a few extra posts and 'bonding time' Cut it short if you please though, and sorry for dragging your character around too.

[Cirrus]

[bg=000000][atrb=width, 500, bTable][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=vAlign,top] MAKE MY BLOOD 'Just sleep Mailene, just ignore him...' Bosco could only stand with a pained expression on his face at the girl's reactions. She acted as if she wasn't even there - how terrible! Especially for the man who's drug was attention; what could he do to make Mailene notice her? What could he do to make her refer to him, not as 'Inky the Stinkypants', but 'Inky the super-cool-epic-awesome-guy-that's-totally-cooler-than-anyone-on-this-damn-ship-including-me' - or, perhaps more realistically, 'Inky the not-jerk'. Either would have been satisfactory, really. Neither change would happen instantaneously, nor would they happen at all, it would seem. Besides, she hadn’t grasped that she could be heard behind the door yet – what hope did he have that she’d recognise his agreeability? But apparently Bosco was wrong, for he heard footsteps stomping towards the door, and he imagined the pouty face of a young child as he heard the noise – his imaginings were not far wrong when the portal to Mailene’s habitat was opened with the words, 'So you coming in or what!?' Bosco’s face lit up with a grin as he walked in, pushing past the girl in front of him in order to look around her abode – and no doubt comment on how poorly kept it was, or how ridiculously girly it appeared, or how uncool he thought it was. It was interesting, to say the least. It looked like a hurricane had flown around the room, to use a cliché, but that was as close to words as Bosco could put it – he was too busy gawking at the hurricane herself, who was standing in a bossy fashion as she added to her previous question. 'But if you so much as touch a single thing in my room, you're dead.' Her words were decorated by electricity which jumped out at the blonde haired rabble rouser, reminiscent of the way Medusa’s snake-hair would lunge at pests. And such a scary monster followed him into the room, which reminded him of a closet, while he looked around. Mailene took a seat on her bed, while Bosco tried to find some way to navigate the post-apocalyptic world that comprised of piles of clothes and suitcases sprawled all over the cramped space. And with that achieved, all that was left to do was to enact the customary awkward staring only those with absolutely no – or at least claimed to have absolutely no – amiable feelings for each other. Teammates they were, sure, but friends they were not – Bosco had contemplating letting Mailene die for God’s sake! What sort of friend would do that? What sort of person would do that? Definitely one with problems, that was for sure. But hopefully none of those problems would come across as he stared and waited for Sparks to say something – as far as the blonde haired rabble rouser was concerned it was her room, therefore her obligation to start the awkward and off-tone discourse between the pair. ‘Zekken will drag me along, as much as I don't want to...' She began, referencing to something that Bosco was clearly meant to know about. He guessed at the briefing. He was right. 'A buncha tall old people will sit around and point fingers about how I did something wrong, I killed too many people, how I'm a menace to the marines not an aid!~' … Sounds like fun. Well, at least watching Mailene squirm did. Still, Bosco couldn’t exactly preach from a high horse – mostly because he hated horses, but also because he’d caused quite the riot on that ship. He could still remember vividly how alive he’d felt, how electric the air had been; as if there was a livewire loose and filling him with this extraordinary energy – he could have gone for ages! His eyes must have been glazing over with the anticipation of another fight, but he would be disappointed: all that was in store for him in the near future was a bunch of old people sitting around and pointing fingers. He was helpfully reminded of this when the electric maiden before him said, 'I'm sure they'll blame you for a lot too, it’s what they do after all.' Bosco frowned. ‘They barely even know me! …Brilliant, just fucking brilliant. Do I really hafta- are they really gonna- fuuuuuuck!’ He threw his hands up in the air in defeat – despite the fact he hadn’t actually seen these people yet. And Mailene did say that it could be a little different. But could be wasn’t would be, and Bosco had a sinking feeling in his stomach that told him that bygones wouldn’t just be bygones in that boardroom. But she didn’t seem too down about it; after all, she promptly changed the subject and changed her perspective too, by rolling around, when she said, 'Sho du yu hav marin parenss too?' … And her language: she changed that to gibberish. But of course, Bosco was a top translator in high demand all over the high seas… also it sort of sounded like English. A little guessing was in order, but he supposed she said ‘So do you have marine parents too?’ And so he replied to the question he interpreted, and judging by the look on his face, he wasn’t too happy about the question. ‘Y-yeah, I do… they suck though. Fuckin’, made me go to marine academy, made me stay in G-5, made me do all this boring shit. Still – did get to use their name to get stuff, so it’s not half bad haven’ ‘em. It’s just that they er… talk to me and stuff. Real annoying, that part – you said ‘too’ – ‘sthat mean you’ve got ‘em too?’ He opened up… just as the door was shut in his face. Mailene changed subject again, changed language again, back to a coherent one, and started insulting him. ‘So that inky thing you do… Can it make anything? I mean I can make pretty patterns but, they don't exactly do much.’ Bosco seriously contemplated grabbing hold of her face and burning the skin to cinders. They don’t do much? His face flushed red. She’d hit a nerve with a sledgehammer. His hands were balled up in fists and his arm was tensed, ready to deliver a beat down- ‘So can you make like wings? And like a big dragon!’ –and all was well again. Bosco smiled, though he was still blushing. ‘Well er, I can paint stuff? And the stuff I paint it on acts as if the stuff I painted was real. It’s pretty complicated, but it can get real cool too – see these tattoos on my wrists? The fires? Yeah well, when I activate my power my hands get so hot it burns. Like they’re on fire! It doesn’t hurt that much though… I reckon I’m just too hard to feel the pain, like, my badass is off the charts- ’ He was interrupted. ‘ Not like I need you or anything, you pretty much just watched like an idiot back there.’ ‘Oh.’ It was all he could say. Bosco decided to just seethe in silence and let Mailene jabber on – it wasn’t as if anything he said was going to sink in anyway. To power that much hyperactivity some things simply had to be sacrificed; it was just fate that any sort of likeability factor in the girl had to be one of them. … The boardroom door loomed up from the corridor. Something was going to go down. COUNT: 1154 CHARACTER: bosco cavellone COMMENTARY: THIS COURT DOES NOT LIKE BALLS. Also, new thread for boardroom/skip it? Dying over here. CREDIT: cirrus

[bg=660000][atrb=vAlign,top] BOIL ! "] [/style]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

After the conversation between the two new team-mates of the marines both felt the lingering doom upon them that was what Mailene had described in horrible detail, whether you knew them or not the simple mention of their nature was enough to make you want to simply walk away from the responsibility check that was about to be thrown back into your face in bold. The two old man and fairly old woman considered this sport, and despite having any levels of rest the kind of punishment they were about to dish out spared no man, woman or child.. Which was easily displayed when their boat had hit shore and the morning rose to attention, Mailene and Bosco sent for their inevitable verbal whipping.

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'The whole fleet!'
'Sir, with all due respe-'
'I do not need your respect Commander! We needed answers!'
'The situation held a critical turn, should we have been mor-'
'Careful, Commander? Anything but from how wee see it!'

It was a firing line, and Zekken's large body provided the meat shield as he stood up beside the innocent girl and their newest arrival back for seconds from the upstairs he had never seen before. Zekken, even with his incredibly durability mentally had himself slouched against the cold steel table which was their seating plan, with a large circular art display on the floor and ceiling of the gigantic room was granted no justice by the ugly and wrinkled men and woman who sat in front of their pedestals of mahogany. Mailene had been through this routine before, though they hadn't begun to bring out the large figurative guns as of yet her mouth for once remained closed, poised perfectly on her chair and sitting almost like a woman.. Couldn't fool anyone who actually knew her though, as much as she tried. this back and forth sentence cutting had gone on for nearly ten minutes already, dragged out of her bed after the most un amusing talk with Bosco in her room before bed-time left her with many questions about the otherwise egotistical ass hole, her personality was no walk in the park to deal with either but to her this guy was on a whole different level until he actually showed some level of mental capacity in their conversation.

'This cannot go on like this Commander, we task these children with tasks of collecting and yet all they do is destroy!'

'I couldn't agree more, why should we allow such barbaric children to continue with our support when they are like this already? Hardly marine material.'

Zekken couldn't even get a word out, the moment his mouth went to move one of their shrill raspy old voices took the lead with dominance and fake induced superiority. Mailene looked generally worried at the situation, not so much for her lacking of voicing the many horrible words about the old woman's dangling chest skin or the other mans solid resemblance to an ass resting on his neck, but more to Zekken who once again faced the blunt of the force on their behalf despite not being obliged to. It was procedure to have Mailene, or now in this case herself and Bosco in alone with the three marine relics, though Zekken constantly insisted in every situation such as this to act as their mentor like he was titled and partake in the vocal skirmish. 'Their task was to disrupt or otherwise cease the actions taking place so close to marine waters, and I was there personally to see them both deal with that objective to the letter.' I was true, though the woman wrinkled eyes pin pointed around the room, there had to be something she could pry at to keep their argument in full swing. Mailene's eyes simply widened, despite her better natures of keeping her distance she shuffled towards the close seated Bosco and wrapped her arm lightly around his clothing to disguise the heavy bandaging it had applied to it.. Sadly it was not to much effect.

'And the girl handled it so well she ended up nearly killing herself in process?! She may have such incredible power but since we have brought her into this program she has been nothing but complications!' Mailene's teeth gritted, with noise even emitting when she did it while she removed herself from the unwilling clutches of Bosco's limb, she swallowed her back-talk and otherwise death-implying expression on the trio ahead of her, before raising her head in note of her use in conversation. 'I'm listening then girl! What excuse do you have this time for tearing apart valuable materials and butchering easily imprisoned men?!' She let out a sigh, hissing slightly as rising to her feet required a little more effort and provided a little more pain then she had previously predicted, adjusting herself accordingly before clearing her throat and reciting her very well memorized response. 'As a future defendant of this organisations interest and justice, I found my actions necessary within the moment, and regret nothing I did which you see to question.' She took a breath, glancing over to Zekken who's smirk came and went from her uniform approach to the situation, hardly her style at all. 'Captive or no the people in question were a threat to the Justice you and I seek yo uphold, and though my actions may raise question I still acted within the expected boundaries I was provided before the mission began.' She took her seat, without fail the response left the three for the umpteenth time I assure you, unable to respond without bringing forth arguable concepts. Secured and safe, Bosco was not as much of a target as she expected, though it seemed Zekken had left him as more of a upstanding marine than one who caused troubles, with no injuries to his name and a smooth operating appeal from a observers perspective of the fight.

'Are you done with our darling now? We need to get moving.'
'Sorry for the intrusion, though our time is valuable.'

A grin covered Mailene's face as she rose from her chair, giving Bosco a pat on the shoulder followed by a thumbs up and the motion to follow as Zekken too began to move. 'Wait! He stays.. We shall review him from an individual perspective.' The group who had missed their chance with Mailene yet again as she moved into the arms of her formally dressed and decorated mother and father by the entrance to the room, while Zekken turned back ready to defend his second pupil. 'Sweetie what have you done to yourself this time? How are you supposed to keep up this perfect streak of successful missions by hurting yourself.' Mailene's eyes rolled to her Father as he simply shrugged in response. 'I'm fine Mom.. Can we go now?' The large man titled as her Father picked her up, the man rivalling that of Zekken in size and muscle capacity with a bandanna covering his hair and defining his solid features. 'Well have her for the evening Commander, she'll be back with you before you set off.' Zekken gave a light wave in response as they all left the room, moving his body slightly towards the new head on the chopping block. 'Keep your answers simple and clean, and we'll be out of here in no time.' He gave him a pat on the shoulder, more of a good luck then anything friendly as he resumed his unamused position by the table. Coughs went about the three veterans as they skimmed through the newcomers files for flaws and anything they could pick at, as well as Zekken's report, clearing their throats before staring at him with varying looks of varying sharpness.

This was going to be interesting.

____________________

Figured I'd pick up the pace a bit, get us here and let you have your own little bashing with your own style of Bosco rather than me throwing questions at you. Just three 'ye old annoying people of varying ugly levels with a Zekken if you need him, feel free to wrap up the thread also~

[Cirrus]

[bg=000000][atrb=width, 500, bTable][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=vAlign,top] MAKE MY BLOOD Ah... shit. That was all Bosco could muster in summation of the situation: watching the slaughter - and it had been a veritable massacre - of his accomplice and supervisor had not been pretty. He could have laughed when they ruthlessly belittled Mailene, but that would have been untoward - everything he could have done in that circumstance would have been untoward. There was something about the old coots judging them that meant nothing but the highest form of respect was to be given at all times, and any suspect behaviour was to be quashed as soon as possible. Bosco growled inwardly, ashamed of such primal behaviour in front of these people, ashamed that he followed their rules, ashamed that he hadn't made a run for it the second they started shouting at Mailene. Despite Zekken's best attempts some verbal projectiles penetrated the man-muscle-wall that was the marine commander; he could see the anguish on the electric maiden's face, no matter how much she tried to hide it. 'And I'm next...' Bosco would have gulped but he knew those old cronies could smell his fear: it would have been otiose action and the last thing he wanted to do was to put the icing on the hatred cake for those out to get him. The blonde haired rabble rouser fidgeted in the chair. Try as he might he had to concede that he was terribly uncomfortable; Mailene looked positively deflated and she wasn't scared of anybody. And yet as quickly as it had begun it was over: time, that bastard, ticked faster and faster as Bosco's turn in the limelight came closer and closer. Alas the junior warlord knew he would feel more like a man in lime, a man on fire, rather than one dazzling the stage. Hell, the stage wasn't to accent their pleasure, it was to amplify his pain. He barely noticed when Mailene was whisked out of the room by her parents. He didn't even catch their faces. However if he was feeling statuesque already, Zekken's words left him crumbling and hollow. 'Keep your answers simple and clean, and we'll be out of here in no time.' Muttered the commander in his ear, the words resounding in the blonde haired rabble rouser's brain like the scream of a banshee or the final utterances of a hex. Somehow he got the feeling that Zekken was sugar-coating things - a bad sign: if things were terrible now, how much worse could they get? That wry voice in the back of Bosco's brain said, 'Well we're about to find out, aren't we...' And sure enough, they were. The shuffling of papers was the cocking of guns; their stilling, the aiming of the rifle at the target; his blinking the affixing of a blindfold to the man on the post; the clearing of the throat the calling out of the sentence; the adjusting movements of the first speaker the start of the funeral music playing. Then they pulled the trigger. "So, Mr Cavellone - you've a lot to live up to, don't you? The son of two of the greatest marines this force has ever seen - and this is your first impression?" Bosco felt the bullet as it passed through his ears, seared his brain. He grimaced. "What a lousy piece of work! What many years were wasted on you - don't think we don't know about the stunts you pulled at the academy! And yet we stayed our hand, told ourselves that a Cavellone pulled through. Pff- we can see we underestimated you sir: you wilfully destroyed valuable evidence!" Flashes of fire in his mind's eye did nothing to stop the pain of the words. Unlike Mailene Bosco's parents weren't coming to save him. He had to brave it out on his lonesome. The old woman's words were laced with snide venom and as the poison took hold of the blonde haired rabble rouser she relaxed a little, seemingly satisfied with her destruction of the junior warlord's self-esteem. "There's no good looking sorry for yourself - all we asked you to do was go in and get the pirates. The Moon-beam Market operation has been in the works for years boy! And you set fire to it!" Bosco refrained from adopting the confused expression that came so naturally to his face - he'd set fire to the boats? He hadn't noticed. Maybe his powers were more potent than he had first thought - Bosco knew that wood, if it got hot enough, combusted. 'But still... I didn't see anything burning... it must have been that desk, and while we were all arguing and stuff on the deck...' "Are you even listening? The purpose of this is to improve your performance and all you're doing is day-dreaming! Pitiful! Pathetic! What sort of a marine are you? And you're a Cavellone..." The more times they threw around his name the more Bosco grew frustrated. As much as he was meant to, it just didn't feel right taking this verbal beating lying down. Irate the teen rose from his chair, the procellous expression on his face telling the flabbergasted old people that he was about to take the status quo and throw it to the damn sun. But Zekken's hand forced him back down before anyone could say a word. He was calm and controlled, or at least he acted like it, and in situations like this it was the marine commander's experience that held true. "I don't think it's right to judge him on his family's name alone - and the kid has to learn on the job just like the rest of us did." "But the rest of us didn't incinerate the plans of others - he should at least look apologetic for the whole thing: look at him! He's just sulking in a chair! We already have one brat in this programme, we do not need another!" "He has a point Zekken! Either he changes his ways or things are going to change." "Just because they are marine-sponsored does not mean they have freedoms. We can always keep them in captivity until needed." Bosco was dead. He couldn't hear the eulogy. Zekken did not have that privilege. While the seething rabble rouser on his flank glared daggers at the old cronies who ran these meetings, the marine commander sighed and tried to carry on as best he could. He had to steer them away from the idea of wrecking these kids' lives... "Weren't you going to talk about me? If you've said what's needed to be said let the kid go." "A little less insolence please, Commander, but yes - your performance needs evaluating too. Cavellone - leave." Bosco rose from the dead and wordlessly left the room. He hadn't a chance to defend himself but he didn't really know what he would have said anyway. Maybe it was for the best. Who knew - he certainly didn't. Still, despite his crude ways there was a single word the adolescents these days had to sum up situations like this. It was perfect and quaint, really, and Bosco found himself uttering it as he walked down the corridor from the room. "...Fuck!..." COUNT: 1204 CHARACTER: bosco cavellone COMMENTARY: >......< CREDIT: pianissimo&cirrus

[bg=660000][atrb=vAlign,top] BOIL ! "] [/style]

[Tori Tori Chopper]

'Darling you look like you got hit by a battleship.'

'I told you I'm alright Mom.'

'Don't be so clingy to the girl hun', she can handle herself.'

'Yea, listen to Dad, he knows what he's talking about.'

Even though the private lounge into their high-end living quarters within the base was only a walk down the path to Mailene, with all these never ending white corridors and two obsessive parental figures on her left and right like voices on her shoulder, the walk was a marathon. Don't get her wrong, theres nothing cooler than having a Mom and Dad both high up in the World Government ladder, though with such reputation comes responsibility when you aren't even the right rank to deal with it in this chain of command. Her parents were always dealing with something, and when it becomes the topic until they leave her alone again it becomes she has to mentally deal with too. Whether its that batch of pirates over one some route in so and so place causing a mess, or some bastard who just ate a shiny fruit who decided to blow up some downs on a warpath. It was always something, and even in the small time is wasn't all they had to talk about what was her problems were and their own next problem.. It was a maze of simple questions and problems with overly complicated answers, which led them all the way into the rooms and onto seats before Mailene stopped looking at the floor. 'So how was that weird looking kid, any good? Hear his folks are on the lower side of this system.' Mailene shrugged, rather overjoyed for the fact that nice food had been pushed on her lap to stuff her face with in avoidance of the small talk.

'What about the mission, did you enjoy playing lead like we organised?'
'Mmmrph~'
'How did you get on board? I heard it was a faster mission than any travel ship could co-ordinate.'
'Mmmf-uuph, mmpuh? Mmmfumph.'

'Haha, and you were just learning that technique the other week too, glad those stepping stones paid off like I thought.' Mailene's mother rolled her eyes, despite Mailene's horrible manners her Dad understood her perfectly.. Apparently the love for fashion came from one side, and everything else came from the other, I'm sure you could guess. 'We'll see about getting our Doctors in, patching you up as quickly as possible so you can get back on the seas with Zekken, maybe something a little more spacious this time, we don't want you feeling like you're being dragged back and forth only to be insulted for your progress by some old people.' Mailene's attitude towards her parents was evenly distributed, though she loved her Dad beyond comprehension and admired him more so he still never played the role model or father, more the coach and mentor. The bowl of salad was licked clean as Mailene slid it across the table between her and her father, patting her stomach and launching herself into the back of her large chair. Her mother and father both shared the gigantic styles of appearance, where the mother was tall the father was tall and wide, leaving their furniture never to really look right on a child torn between too action-figure like genes. 'You should get some rest, we'll have a nice meal and get you checked up, then we'll see about Zekken getting you two a new task.' A grin covered her face as she stood up, giving a playful salute to her Dad and walking off in one direction as he did the opposite, like it was the end of some meeting. Something Mailene saw as normality in family conversations.

'Oh, Mailene?'
She turned, one brow raised to see her father looking over his shoulder by the door on the other end of the room.

'Keep an eye on that partner of yours for us will you?'
She nodded, slightly confused at the tone he had set as he left.

'See you later Mai.'
The woman had only just pulled her head out of her book to see her husband and daughter were leaving the room.
'Yea, later Mom.'

Keep and eye on him.. What was that supposed to mean? It wasn't like he was bad beside the fact he was an absolute idiot, if anything from what she had seen in the mission he handled himself pretty well aside from the urge to over-do everything with that creepy ink display of his. Throwing her jacket to the bedside and organising herself a new set of clothes she looked out to the giant window which took up half the large wall in the bedroom, the ocean bar some specks of islands in the distance was all that could be seen, not a boat in site.. As it should be considering the kind of waters they were in. Another mission handled with enough ease to live up to what was expected of her when she was put on this small group, the judgemental looks of all those people in command with their lanky legs and wavy jackets just tempted her to come and get it. That drive had been there even before all this, that aspiration to destroy anyone who got in her way if they simply didn't move aside. But all this sinister plotting and glaring at mental images was straining her brain as well as her wound, collapsing onto the giant bed without consideration for bed sheets or comfortable poses on it before blacking out, something she had been avoiding doing all day.

____________________

After the end of their first mission as a duo, Bosco and Mailene have returned to the base with new perspectives on their companions as well as what lies in store for them further into the systems of justice. With Zekken at the helm and many situations and attitudes in need of smoothing out on both sides the future seems hardly easy going, though with this task alone within the marines eyes these Warlords-to-be presented their strength, and despite arguments against them their usefulness is far from exhausted.