Mission 101: A Time to Talk {Filiya/Ryou}

[Flame]

Mission #101
Break the 4th wall! You've seen characters in movies, comics ('Nuff said) and tv shows do it; now it's your turn! Take as many opportunities throughout the course of this thread to break the 4th wall with your characters and make a truly hilarious thread!

Two fingers pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to figure out how exactly she got into this mess. Perhaps it was some twist of fate, or the cruel schemes of some higher beings controlling her life. But for some reason she was on assignment away from ATOM, her revolutionary cell. However that was not the major problem, no the problem was the person she had been sent with. Of all the people that she could have been sent with, it had to be him. He was the reason she figured it must have been the malefaction of some power greater than hers. She was of course here on Saint Reia along with Ryou. Right, of all the people to send with her, it was him, not Quincy, not Kurosaki, not Ruo, not even Klaus. It was a horrible life indeed that saw her standing beside her black-haired compatriot.

They did not even have to send her, the errand they were here to do was doable by anyone on the crew who could read a piece of paper. That was everyone! EVEN RUO! She shook her head lamenting at her own bad luck. Glancing next to her she wondered what exactly he thought of this, the two obviously bickered quite a bit. They threw insults at each other at a regular basis so much so that it would have been thought to be a regular part of their working relationship. In a sense it was.

Looking down at her own garb she straightened it out a little. Adjusting the hat upon her head slightly so it rested squarely across her head. That and trying to brush out any of the little creases that ad begun to accumulate atop her jacket, it was small things like that she wanted to look presentable. This was the current main bastion of the Revolutionary Army in the South Blue. After recently being taken over the army had settled down to make plans for its next large takeover. And so the South Blue revolutionary branch had sat itself down here and the pair had been sent over to sort of well. They had been told to go around and learn the revolutionary mentality to come and bring it back to ATOM. So that is where they were standing in front of the current headquarters of this branch of the revolution. The building before her was old and aged. It had a little bit of grandeur to it mainly through its architecture. With steeples, pillars, and towers that seemed to have been untouched by the revolution it certainly had something to make it worthwhile as a main base.

As she stood there with Ryou beside her, suddenly someone appeared out of the front door. "You must be the guys from ATOM." The newcomer said as he stepped in front of them. This was if anything a little unexpected, yes the revolutionaries knew that they were coming but it was surprising nonetheless to have someone greet them at the door. The man wore a grayish beret on his head, dawning the usual gray cloak as well he stepped forward looking down a pad in his hand. Then looking back up and smiling at the two he said "That must be what .... 'Another Team of Misfits'?" he paused giving a short laugh before continuing "but whatever, please you must have questions. I'm Billiam Ballwace recruiter and trainer for the South Blue branch." He stuck out his hand to the pair, their was a smile on his face as if he was happy to meet new members of the cause.

Still slightly stunned by the fact someone had come out to meet them she took a moment to gather herself to respond. "I'm Filiya, doctor of the ATOM cell. And I think at least I'd prefer if you called it ATOM, rather than that name." She emphasized her dislike for the odd name that this Billiam had just given her cell. While she did not like some of the members she personally was rather proud of what they had achieved back on Platform Island. "Also we would simply like to learn a little more about being revolutionaries. As you must know most of us were not originally planning to be revolutionaries before we joined the cause ..." Her voice trailed off as she looked over to Ryou hoping that he could butt in a little. It was what he was good for wasn't it?

[Kurosaki]

Having heard next to nothing about Saint Reia previous to their assigned rendezvous, the young man had felt a tad anxious. The entire Island was fortified like Fort Knox or if you had absolutely no clue what that was like he was supposed to, then you could say it was just like Impel Down. Smirking at the thought, Ryou turned to his purple haired companion and then remembered that he was stuck with someone who had very little sense of humor to begin with. How were either of them supposed to get a chuckle out of each other much less anyone else?

Their sights since they had landed weren't very interesting. Plain homes and buildings had greeted them most of the way. The vegetation wasn't anything that really stood out and neither of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary as far as fauna went. The most striking feature of the Island was still that giant wall that surrounded it on either side leaving the only real entrance to be the massive port on its Southern most point. I mean, you really didn't want to read in depth detail about all of that surrounding vegetation and those random animals, did you? I mean, come on, pick up a Tolkien novel if that was what you were here to read! Otherwise besides the constant wind, there was nothing really to note about the Island. There wasn't even an Island Description anywhere to be found.

As for Ryou himself? He was wearing a frown for the most part. Oh, well, that and also his standard attire which consisted of a black t-shirt, black leather jacket and black pants. Basically, he was attempting to be a ninja and doing a very poor job of it. Ninjas actually used to wear a lot of dark navy blue to blend in better to the nighttime scenery, after all.

As they approached a rather antique looking residence, Ryou took out a small slip of paper and examined it. Fortunately, it had not self-destructed or anything of the like even after they had chosen to accept this mission to meet up with the Revolutionary Army at this location. It probably would have been more secure if it had, but right now it was handy to have this address to double check. The building itself seemed unscathed and was large and expansive, which pretty much means that it was BIG. The architecture hearkened back to the Renaissance era with its lavish steeples, pillars and towers. It almost gave you a sense of immediate dread upon approaching it. After all, there could be creepy crawlies lurking around inside. Like vampires. Of course, Ryou wasn't entirely sure that Filiya wasn't one of those sometimes.

Before they could even knock at the door, someone greeted them by opening it wide and stepping out onto the threshold. The man was dressed in a grey coat and beret. He seemed at first to be more interested in what was on his pad of paper than them before he looked up and gave the two of them a big grin. Attempting to return the smile would have been fruitless, as the traveler hardly ever smiled, so the dark haired man simply smirked back in response and folded his arms over his chest.

"No, we're actually a different ATOM group. Ours stands for Another Triumph Over Morons," the sassy man answered back, clearly not above dishing out his trade-mark sarcasm to whoever was within range of his big trap door, also known as his yapper or his mouth. Perhaps there was a file on him somewhere that read 'sarcastic butt head' because the recruiter continued to talk without missing a beat, introducing himself as Billiam Ballwace who was not only a recruiter, but a trainer as well for the South Blue portion of the Revolutionary Army. It was amazing just how expansive the Revolutionaries really wore, really.

"Seriously though, thanks for having us," Ryou finally answered honestly, taking the man's hand and shaking it, Despite his grumpy attitude, Ryou was actually overall a nice person. Most of the time, at least. Okay, who are we kidding here, really? Ryou's a bit of a jerk with a sarcastic personality that he likes to unleash upon unsuspecting people in order to get a rise out of them. There. We said it. We're being truthful right here. He was at least being nice right now though! Right?

Pausing, he let Filiya introduce herself before he followed up with his own comments.

"My name is Ryou, if you hadn't already guessed. I'm sort of the semi-leader of the group. I'm still not one hundred percent convinced we really need some sort of special name, but ATOM does sound pretty awesome if I had to pick a particular name. That being said, we should probably discuss matters pertaining to the Revolutionary Armies interest inside, don't you think?" With that he looked from the man greeting them at the door to the good Doctor and raised one single eyebrow. So really, he had done a good job of butting in and was now looking at her for approval to make sure he had butted in just enough. Of course, he tended to exceed his butting in quota most of the time.

(I always seem to fall asleep or start to fall asleep while writing Ryou posts. Are they cursed or something? I started nodding off and wrote some real nonsense. Had to go back and erase a ton of stuff.)

[Flame]

Filiya rolled her eyes as Ryou proclaimed himself semi-leader of the group. Perhaps in his eyes, but she did not think him in such a position in the slightest. She would admit given the disposition of Kurosaki, Quincy, Klaus, or Ruo that they would not particularly be better choices for even a temporary-leader, but still. Her thoughts paused. Yes, Kurosaki was a little reckless. Okay, Quincy was a little creepy. Klaus was too, how could she say it, depressing. And Ruo, bless his soul, she had yet to receive any hints from him that his thought went far past his actions for the next two to three hours, let alone a day or more. Which left Ryou and herself. She did not think herself capable, she was a doctor, she was no leader nor fighter. Then finally Ryou, she disliked him on many levels, her inability to be anything but semi-hostile towards him in her mind automatically disqualified him from a leadership position among them.

She grimaced back at him as he raised an eyebrow back at her. Discretely one of her hands swung back behind her reaching for a single dart upon her belt. As she fingered it she smiled for a moment happy that it was there and she had not forgotten having used it before or something. It was a narcotic, she brought it around it used to be for patient care when patients seemed to rowdy. But now, now it was more as something she considered using to shut Ryou up when he spoke too much or spoke out of line.

Deciding to speak in response of Ryou's comments she cut Billiam off before he had time to respond. "If by semi-leader you meant toilet swabbie, sure." She stated dropping the dart back into its rightful place on her belt. For the time she decided perhaps it was better if she did not simply knock him out and leave all the learning for herself. At the least if this was boring, he would have to bear with it with her. She could take some solace in thinking he was in pain from the boredom just as she was. Yeah, that would be nice. Turning her head back towards Billiam she saw him watching the pair with a curious eye. Obviously the fact that they were disagreeing already was not going to prove well, not that she particularly cared. "Yes, well ..." he seemed a little confused at how to respond to everything that had just been said before him.

"If you do not have a leader, HQ will assign one to you." Billiam said offhandedly as he turned away from the pair. He began to scribble something upon the pad he had been holding on to. As he stepped back up to stand before the door, purple-haired doctor watched him carefully. He definitely moved and spoke in a way younger than he looked. Perhaps that was due to a general youthfulness to the Revolutionary Army, she didn't know. But it seemed a little odd to her, Billiam turned around as he got to the top of the door. "If you will follow me, I'll be your guide for the day. I'll do my best to instill upon you the lifestyle, beliefs, and regulations of the Revolutionary Army." Giving the pair a firm nod he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Like a true gentleman he held the door open and gestured for them to follow him up.

"Ladies first." Filiya spoke up as she stepped ahead of him. Before pausing she laughed to herself as an odd line popped into her head. Figuring she had nothing better to do she stopped and stated it "But of course, if one of your alter egos as a male, is rather feminine you are free to go first. If that is the case I'll gladly allow you the courtesy you deserve." Filiya grinned, even though she knew that the joke was likely to go straight over his head. She already knew this, at times she had a rather odd sense of humor, making jokes that she found funny even though everyone else and some times she herself did not understand them. Gesturing she moved an open palm past herself and pointing it up towards the door which stood a few steps past herself. 

Her eyes peeked at Ryou and then turned towards Billiam who was staring at the pair once again. She wondered momentarily what he was thinking, probably nothing good. But he made no comments or statements from where he stood instead just minded his own business and did his best to ignore the stupid antics that were happening before them. 

Character Color Codes:
"b800ff" - Filiya
"006600" - Billiam Ballwace

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[Kurosaki]

Reaction wise, it wasn't unexpected to see the Doctor grimace back at him. Accepting that as an answer to his silent question, the black haired man simply smirked. It got even more interesting when she openly called him a toilet swabbie. His own reaction was to stay silent at that, but it didn't mean he had simply let it slide past him. Oh, no, that was like a point against Filiya just waiting to be returned in kind. The opportunity would arise, he knew, where he would have plenty of opportunities to make sure that she had a difficult time of it. Those buttons that were laid out... He always knew which ones to press. Right now though, the traveler was willing to let her feel as though she had come out on top.

Curiously, their guide did not seem to take their bickering very well. In fact, he seemed a bit uncomfortable about it. Well, he clearly wasn't that high up on the scale of authority, or he would have told them to stop it. Of course, that was true since he had introduced himself as a recruiter and trainer only. Still, you could never be too careful with these types of things. The Revolutionaries could have easily sent them a 'leader' ahead of time to test the waters and see how they performed when they weren't near a big league member.

"I see...," Ryou responded to the mention of a leader being assigned over them. He hadn't discounted that concept, clearly, but he had not been aware that he could so easily be replaced as the head honcho of the crew. Of course, he wasn't quite sure he wanted that responsibility or that position. "Understandable. I mean, I couldn't be expect to run the crew and also keep the toilets sparkling clean. Should definitely have someone that we don't know call the shots over us all the time." Yep, there was that sass coming to fruition. It was only the tip of the iceberg though as more was being held back.

Before he could take up Billiam's offer to come inside so that they could begin the official tour, Filiya spoke up about ladies being first. "Oh, I don't see any ladies here, actually," he responded quickly, the lightening speed of the insult almost like a bullet flying out of the barrel of a revolver. Winking in her direction, the young man took that opportunity to gesture ahead of himself. "But, I guess you should probably still go first, Filiya."

"Y-yes, well, now that everything is settled, shall we?" Billiam continued, pulling on the collar of his shirt hesitantly as sweat began to drip off of his forehead.

The group headed into the entryway of the old building. The interior had just as much history to it as the exterior seemed to or perhaps even more. On either side of them were stone pillars that served to support the high vaulted ceilings. Light streamed in through windows on the sides, but none of them were large enough to brighten the vast space and so torches had been outfitted every eight or so feet, all lit. An expanse of stairs led upward to two sets of spiral staircases. On either side of them, however, were small doors that led to rooms off of the entryway. This place certainly seemed extensive and definitely made for a good headquarters from the looks of it. Though, judging by some of the dust at the main entryway and covering the suits of armors lining the wall, as well as cobwebs hanging down from the ceiling, upkeep had fallen by the wayside. The silence here was deafening, but when their guide spoke, his voice seemed to echo a bit in the chamber.

"As you can see, our headquarters here is quite an extensive amount of space. Not all of it is currently being utilized? But we have places on this level for basic things such as storage. Up this flight of stairs and to the left is where we are going first, however. That's where training usually takes place to show new recruits how to use weapons and learn regulations. We'll be going there first to give you the sort of run down though I know you folks are already a bit familiar with our overall mission."

As they walked, Billiam added, "And if this place seems small, well, it's because our main base isn't located here. It's actually in the Grand Line." That was where that added amount of detail stopped, however. Maybe he was reluctant to tell them exactly where the main base was with them being so new to the Army. It made sense. It would be foolish to suddenly entrust them with all the knowledge of the entire operation even though their actions on Platform Island had already proven a lot of their skills and willingness to fight against a higher power even though it hadn't been the World Government they had fought against.

Eyes scanning the area as they walked, the observant man took note of the den den mushi cameras that were to their back at the main door. Clearly they weren't taking any chances just sending one person to the door to let someone in. It made sense now, why the entryway was empty. It was a second defense in case of an attack. No one there gave it the allusion all was deserted while movements behind scenes could already be taking place.

"And what, just to clarify, is the Revolutionaries main goal, in your own words, exactly?" Ryou questioned, mostly curious how this individual would word it.

"To take down the World Government, of course, and put an end to their corruption. What else? But you already knew that or you wouldn't be here. So you were looking more for my answer? I hope it was satisfactory," he answered with a little bit of humor himself. Okay, at least he knew how to joke. If he didn't than this was going to be a long day. Filiya and him were used to going at it and if this guy was going to take their bickering this serious it was going to end up driving him absolutely mad.

"Yeah, it was a good answer," he acknowledged, seemingly pleased. "No beating around the bush, which is good."

[Flame]

Filiya glanced at Ryou with that all so common look of disgust then turning away she took the first step up the stairway before pausing. A thought had popped into her head and for at least the moment she contemplating saying it and continuing their usual line of bickering. Looking up at Billiam as he stood in the doorway listlessly staring into the distance, perhaps anything to do other than listen to the pair of two throw insults at each other. She decided against it, she would at least try to be civil.

Moving through the entryway she joined Billiam inside the atrium of the old building. The room was ornately decorated with large pillars, the light from the outside waded into it revealing some of the deeper qualities of it. Dusty suits of armor and many uncleaned area made it easy to see that this building was being used more for utility than anything else. There was no effort to make it seem even the least bit livable, truly a headquarters rather than a main base. Perhaps this was even to throw off people trying to scope out revolutionary actions in the area. They were in fact alone in this open atrium. Looking around she noted two winding staircases heading off into other areas of the building. She wondered for a moment if this used to be some noble's manor. Shaking the thought out of her mind she brought herself back to the main conversation. Just in time in fact, as she caught the last bit of Billiam's first spiel, thus finding out where they were heading next.

She considered it, so they were heading to the armory first? With indoor training grounds, she wondered just how deep this facility might go. Or perhaps they just did not have shooting ranges in here? It was a possibility, but what kind of training facility did not include weapons ranges. Were they in the stone age or something? As Billiam began to start walking, leading them to their first stop on the tour. Ryou, that annoying man with his odd belief that he might be the leader asked a question. The answer was, how to say, not original at all. Sounds like something straight out of a tv-drama, almost literally a company line. So rehearsed. She kept those thoughts to herself, following the pair of men through the corridors of the building.

Finally as they continued to walk through the hallways the sounds of gunfire became audible. And from further down the hallway Filiya spotted a man waving towards them. As they got closer and the concerted sound of gunfire got louder he started to jog towards them. He wore a dark blue sweater and khaki slacks, there seemed to be a revolver at his side and he seemed a little overly cheery. "Yo! Billiam are these the new recruits?" His voice spiked over the sounds of gunshots, it was annoyingly fitting to his personality. Billiam stopped where he stood allowing the energetic man to bob into a position right in front of them. Finally sure that he was done with his movements Billiam opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"The tall one looks like he'd be a fair shot, but this girl ..." He stepped right past the two men and began inspecting her, at a rapid pace with his hand on his chin he circled her looking her whole body over. Feeling if only a little violated Filiya watched the man bringing one hand to her own belt and fingering a dart. "She's so minuscule are we down on our recruitment quota or something? I mean look at ... OOH WHATS THIS!" He grabbed her arm and pulled it up revealing the holsters hidden at her side. Reaching for one of the revolvers at her side he was suddenly cut off by a hand smacking on top of his head. "Get a hold of yourself Barx!" Billiam barked out a command after his hand had lashed out.

Barx like a soldier immediately straightened out and stood tall with his arms at his side. Apparently he just had no idea what boundaries were, but understood commands. So ... he was a dog. Filiya smiled slightly as Billiam grabbed the man named Barx by the ear and led him to the front of the group once more. "Its hard to believe but this is Barx, best sharpshooter in the South Blue Revolutionary HQ. He also trains recruits in gun handling." Filiya was floored by this comment, looking at him and remembering his personality, as a doctor she at least knew a little about sharpshooting. And someone as energetic as him, she could not see how he could do it. "Uhhh ... nice to meet you Barx, I'm Filiya and this is He- I mean Ryou." She introduced them. "They're from ATOM Barx." Billiam butted in a last comment.