Mick-qui what? [Lyell/Ragnarok - PLOT]

[Ragnarok]

Ragnarok's journey to North Blue had been surprisingly pleasant. She'd arrived in time for some sort of wine festival, which definitely had caught her interest. There was a whole street selling all kinds of fine alchohol, snacks and souvenirs, but she could care less about Mick whatever's signature liquor and pretty pendants. The game booths were currently her only focus, and maybe the food, but first, she wanted to have fun.

Like a child, she'd bolted towards the first game stall she saw. Balloons were lined up in little shelves, and she was given darts to burst as many balloons as she could. Of course, being one of the only few adults actually playing the game, she easily burst all but one of the quota, the last one burst by a child who'd thrown a lucky shot. The prize was a stuffed animal that the snot-nosed brat she was competing with had been eyeing intently, so she'd given it to the ugly creature. She wasn't very fond of dolphins anyway.

She went about from game to game, ignoring the fairly surprised looks of those around her when she easily won prizes and gave away most of them, keeping the chocolates and sweets for herself. Her final stop before she returned to the apple toffee stall she'd passed was an arm-wrestling contest. Naturally, the competitors were mostly men, safe for a few strong women who dominated the lankier males, but even then they would lose when the next competitor were the ones who had a fair bit of exercise. The amethyst-eyes female grinned, eyes alight with pure excitement and childish innocence.

"A'ight y'all, is there anyone here strong enough and willing to challenge this lad here? Twenty over wins and 'n avid bodybuilder, this young man has quite the iron grip and arm strength!"

Ragnarok's hand shot up immediately, the girl herself rocking back and forth on her feet and giddy with excitement. "Me, sir! Ragnarok's the name, and I'd like to challenge that beastly man over there!" She grinned. The surrounding crowd broke into laughter and cheers, patting her on the shoulder and back as she made her way to the front. The referee laughed heartily, slapping her on the back. "Such a brave lass! A'ight then folks, let's see how the pretty miss here fares!" The crowd erupts into lively cheering and commotion as she takes her place opposite her opponent by the log they used. His hand swallowed hers, no doubt, and she could hear a few snickers and jeers from the crowd. She smirked. "Don't go easy on me, yeah?" she advised casually, and the man harrumphed, clearly confident of his own strength.

The referee blows on a whistle, and the round begins. Both parties glare at one another, neither budging or giving way to the opponent. The cheering has less ended, replaced by an intense silence when they realized the girl was actually holding her own against the larger male. What was even more difficult to believe was that she wasn't even breaking a sweat, while the man had begun to perspire slightly. Ragna sucked in a breath, and tightened her grip around his larger one, forcing it down slowly and teasingly, much to the audience's amazement. The cheers came in two or three voices at first, slowly increasing in volume and amount before half the crowd was practically screaming for her. When his hand was inches away from the table, she gave a final push, muscles tensed and flexed. The thud of the chiseled male's hand echoed, and the referee blew the whistle, raising Ragna's hand to signify that she was the victor.

[Lyell]

''Festivals, such a primitive and silly idea, it doesn't give anything practical to this world. These people would be more use as test subjects.'' 

Lyell's thoughts, like himself, were as grim as always. A part of the man that made most people avoid him. It could have also been the massive scythe, locked in it's holder on the man's back. His only reason for showing up on this silly little island, was to gather supplies, to just keep on going along the seas. If it was a possibility, he'd happily pick up the first grew member from here as well. 

That may have been just a wish though. There had been no suitable candidates on the previous islands he visited, one guy had seemed promising, but much to Lyell's dislike, he had only been wearing a costume. Some sort of scare festival it had seemed, which to be fair, was more to the man's likes, than the one he had found himself apart of now. He had been wandering around, buying up the necessary stuff, which included food, fresh water, whiskey, rope, some medical tools and a few other bits and bobs. Hoping to himself, that these would last him for more than a week, it would mean less contact with people, especially those over friendly shop keepers, they were the worst. Fake, is what they mostly were, no one could be so happy, selling cabbages to others. 

As he was going on and on about how he dislikes people in his head, the man stumbled upon something or rather someone, who piqued his interest. A woman, with darker hair, somewhat shorter than he was, but with a much better build. She seemed quite disinterested in the people, only going for the games and food around the place. A way of behaving, that was much too common for the black haired man, except the games part, he had never been too good in them. Preferring his brains over brawn anyway, he had never bothered to learn them either, instead a quick odd job here and there, earned him what he wanted. 

Getting back on track with the situation at hand though, Lyell was clearly focused on the woman now, observing her actions for a little longer. He didn't even notice when his scythe knocked over someone's potato cart, causing them to yell at him. The man had not had the time to give the yelling potato salesman any attention, as for now, he had finally sighted someone, who'd possibly work well in the ideal crew he had. 

Lyell was part of the crowd, who was overlooking the arm wrestling competition the woman was now partaking. It really was a surprising sight, the girl took the beefed up guy out like she was fighting a midget. There was something different about her, which Lyell really liked, so he hatched a quick plan, to gain her attention and hopefully, affection. 

After the girl had taken care of the big guy, Lyell pushed past the people, no one really daring to stop him, due to the weapons on his back. Getting close to her, the man leaned onto the table and looked straight into her face. 

''The name's Lyell, Lyell Du'Coteau. I couldn't help but noticing you, especially your strength. I had a proposition for you, but, before that, would you mind if i treated you out for some food?'' Using the food, was a way to get a person to talk and hopefully to get on their good side, even if a little bit. 

[Ragnarok]

Ragna was awaiting the next contestant, having begun to get into the mood for arm wrestling, but her passion was short-lived when a lithe, dark haired male approached her. She was slightly disappointed that her opponent would be so... Lanky, but silently reprimanded herself upon recalling that she herself paled in comparison when placed next to her earlier opponent - who by the way, was shame-faced and crying like a babe in a corner not too far away - and smiled kindly, as a quiet apology for having judged him by appearance. The aura around him certainly made him stand out. And maybe that huge scythe on his back. How the heck did he handle all that weight? Did it not kill his back just by carrying it for a day?

Oh. Maybe it was a prop.

She grinned, clearly in a good mood even when Lyell's sudden offer did not seem to promise any fighting. Why wouldn't she be? It was a festival! She absolutely loved them! Having spent most of her time training as a child, the girl was beyond thrilled when her grandfather took her to a festival with her cousins and relatives. She'd loved them ever since, no matter how childish it seemed. She always was a little girl at heart, as much as she denied it.

She gave a hearty laugh. "Well aren't you honey tongued? You sure know how to get a lady's heart, ey? Sure, food sounds good - though I hope ya' aren't planning anything sneaky." she grinned. Rising from her seat, she was fairly surprised to find that the male towered over her. Even her grandfather was only 6 feet tall. Lyell however, looked like he was above that.

He was deathly pale as well, as if his skin had never seen the sun. And that was something, coming from Ragna, who had inherited her mother's China-doll complexion and would still be fairly pale despite spending time under the sun. Plus, she sunburned easily, so sunblock was a necessity when spending long periods of time in the sunlight. Dropping that, she could've sworn that she'd heard the name Du'Coteau at least once... Another Noble family maybe? Or was it that family that excelled in bladed weapons? She couldn't tell, honestly. Her family had too many affiliations with others, martial arts or not. "Well then, Monsieur Lyell," she , repressed the urge to laugh at the way she'd spoken, "Lead the way."

[Lyell]

A grin appeared on Lyell's a face, as Ragnarok had agreed to the small feast for the two, this was going exactly as plan and hopefully the man could find out a lot more about the woman like this, mainly, her affiliation in this god forsaken world. To be fair, Lyell preferred it to be god forsaken, it was much much more fun in that way and life couldn't be simpler, you just had to be able to fight and you'd be good to go, only stronger individuals could theoretically stop you, but even that wasn't something you couldn't overcome. 

Lyell stretched his back for a second, the massive weapon putting some weight down on his build, which by looking, wasn't that strong and in reality, it really wasn't all that powerful, the man did excel a lot more in agility and intelligence, aspects that didn't always get a lot of attention from the public eye. Not that he wanted attention, being a pirate lord, would be a lot more easier from the secret. 

Getting back on track, the black haired man's eyes turned to the woman walking next to him. Her build and strength seemed much better than his, hopefully, her intelligence would be quite up to his level as well, that would make all this much easier. Though, remembering back to what the girl had said, a tone of nobility h ad been in her voice, which lead Lyell to expect himself to be dealing with someone, who grew up in a similar setting as him. Something, which would make the two have a lot more in common. 

Stopping in front of a more fancier restaurant, Lyell turned back to face Ragnarok, with a sly smile on his face, something quite unseen to most people that the man had ever talked to. ''Well, here we are Ragnarok, the place where we should be able to get our fill and have a small chat, about some more important topics.''

[Ragnarok]

'Now doesn't he look happy? It's like he's found the love of his life.' she'd chuckle, her gaze moving from the dumb grin on his face to the big old scythe on his back. She considered offering some help considering how it seemed oddly oversized on him, and that body of his looked like it wasn't meant to bear such heavy load. The way he stretched showed that it was more likely genuine than a prop, but she decided against the idea, knowing how embarassing it would be for a man to lose to a woman in terms of strength. The crybaby opponent she'd wrestled against earlier was proof enough.

Naive and oblivious, Ragnarok had barely considered the fact that Lyell could've been up to no good when he'd sought her out, but then again she had never been one to consider the consequences. Not always, at least. She hummed and walked with a skip in her steps, ecstatic that she didn't have to pay for a nice meal, smiling at just about everything today. Why wouldn't she? This was her first time off Loguetown, and out in the great big world. And as fate had decided, a festival took place on the very first island she'd ever been to, as if to welcome her. Plus, the nice fellow who was totally not eyeing her up had offered to treat her to a pleasant meal. "I'm either the first woman you've ever seen since birth, or you're really into purple leather and pink leggings. What's up, something bothering you?" she spoke, clearly not missing the look of her new acquaintance deep in thought. Acquaintance, huh. When had she last used that word? Zenit? Probably. He was probably more of an enemy now, to him at least. She could care less. Even if he did slice her damn skin open. Look how magnanimous she was. Thunder ought to be proud, she snickered. A mother and her frightened child stuck closer to the walls as she passed by them, the former with a tight grip on her child's head and keeping his gaze ahead of him. Oops. Maybe not.

Her eye widened slightly, then reached a hand to smoothen down nonexistent strands of stray hair at the back of her head. Sure, the guy seemed really posh and all, accent and elegance alike, but she still hadn't expected for him to take her out on an almost-date. Definitely not to a place like this, at least. She tried not to show it, nor her discomfort, at the sly smile on his face. "Well, I do believe I should warn that I have quite an appetite, as I've been told."

[Lyell]

Hearing what Ragnarok had to say, Lyell couldn't help but chuckle in his mind, but before he answered, the man walked past all the people in the restaurant, going to the table furthest away from the entrance and taking a seat, but not before offering the woman he was with a seat first. Him being a total psychopathic scientist most likely hadn't come off now, instead showing him more as a gentleman, with a light frame, not someone most people would fear. 

''You are the first woman i've seen since birth, who actually looks interesting, compared to the posh noble girls i've seen all my life. They are just incredibly boring and no fun at all, rather talk to someone, who can put a strong man down like a little kid. Much more interesting.'' He smiled towards Ragnarok after having said that, before pulling his scythe off his back and resting it on the side of a nearby wall. As light passed over the blade, it had noticeable darker spots on it, signalling that the scythe had been used to cut into someone or something. 

Laughing at Ragnarok's comment about eating a lot: ''Eat as much as you want, i'll take care of the payment without an issue.'' Suddenly, Lyell's face turned more serious and his eyes locked onto Ragnarok's face. ''There is a bigger reason why i called you on this, date. You see, i'm not someone really in line with the law or the government. You could say, that i'm a pirate, looking to make friends and a crew, to take money from those who have too much of it and to give to ourselves.'' 

Smiling at the woman in front of him: ''This is why i wanted to talk to you, after seeing what you did to that man, i do think that you'd be a perfect fit for the crew. Someone who isn't afraid of hurting others. You'd get your share of the loot obviously, like everyone in the crew and anything you'd want.'' Signalling the waiter to come over to their table, Lyell's serious face was gone. 

''Now though, have all the food you want, regardless of your answer, which i do hope you'll think about''

[Ragnarok]

The ebony-haired female quirked a brow at Lyell's choice of seating, but made no effort to find out why and simply followed suit. Perhaps he didn't like having people's eyes on him, especially when he was eye-catching enough without her by his side. With her in the mix, there was no way they'd be having any privacy if the curious patrons looking at them were any proof. 'Come to think of it, he does smell funny though.' A flicker of amusement ghosted across her eyes. Obviously, considering how they were so alike. She smelled like that half the time too, and if it weren't for the abundance of peppermint-smelling soap she used on herself and her clothes, she'd more or less be a walking blood bank. Sort of.

She nodded and smiled pleasantly when Lyell, being the gentleman he was (or pretended to be - charade was an easy game to some, after all), she accepted his thoughtful gesture and sat down. Not so gracefully of course, and the chair creaked a little from the combined gravity and weight that she threw on it. She ignored the disdainful stares of some higher-classed patrons and grinned at his response. "The feeling's mutual, dear sir, and I'm so glad we think similarly. I've never met a man who hasn't pissed me off within the first ten minutes, or tried to kill me after simple conversation. Mind you, I live in a family full of males, too," Her gaze narrowed slightly and moved down briefly to her leg, where there was a relatively new scar, healing decently despite having been there for a while. Her attention quickly returned to her companion, then to the scythe by his side. Amethyst orbs spotted flecks of what she knew had to be dried blood. She'd seen enough of it to last a lifetime.

Ragna hummed thoughtfully, running his offer through the more logical section of her mind. She had Thunder's wrath to think of after all, although she was pretty sure she'd be in trouble even without becoming a pirate when she returned home. If she ever did of course. She highly doubted she was wanted there by anyone aside from Thunder. And the children. Maybe. They were still young and naive - the younger ones weren't aware of what she'd done to some of those closer to her age back in her childhood. They didn't fear her, but only because they didn't know what she was, what she could do. Otherwise, they'd all be just like everyone else. She sent the waiter away with an order of a platter of small treats and chamomile tea with honey, as it was the only tea that she would voluntarily drink.

Uncertainty plagued her mind, and she was immediately reminded of how people reacted once they found out what she really was like, killer or not. Still, his suggestion was tempting, and she was sure there would be people who accepted others like her. If her grandfather could, surely a select few could as well. Right? Lyell seemed to be fine with how she was, which she assumed he'd picked up on his own after seeing her earlier performance. This wasn't the first time she had been scouted by pirates either, but she had been to young and Thunder had always intervened. She was thankful of course, considering how those goons barely seemed worth her time. They either lacked finesse (she was tomboyish and lacking in finesse herself, but she still had the elegance and pride any Blank would. At least enough to not shame the house). She leaned in and spoke in a softer tone. "Tempting, really. I'll need a little persuasion though. I have a sort of... Restraint, imposed by someone whom I'd really rather not defy. I can't... I can't kill in broad daylight and stuff, y'know? I've no problems with fighting and all, neither does he, but manslaughter charges are a real hassle. Crooks don't matter since they're pretty much wanted and we can cash 'em in, but officials and the like I will likely try to avoid killing. Publicly, at least."

The waiter returned with her order, and politely she nodded and gave a quick thank you. She'd decided against taking advantage of his kindness in the end, not particularly in the mood to mess with someone else then. Popping a tart into her mouth, she spoke with rather stuffed cheeks: "Eff wu 'on't mine zhat, I'm wif chu."

[Lyell]

Only ordering a drink from the waiter, Lyell patiently waited for Ragnarok's answer for his questions. His hope would be her saying yes to it, so that he could get something started and let the two travel away from this island to at least find some sort of ship. Well, that was the plan anyway. A thought of her saying no was running through the young man's mind constantly, not letting him fully relax in this situation. But the train of thought was forced to a halt, when the woman gave her answer. 

To Lyell's surprise, the girl was against killing people who were for the law, so someone who held the marines higher on her list seemingly. This was different for the man, having already killed a marine, but his mind was on the same opinion about all kinds of riff raff. They wouldn't matter, be dead or alive, no one would care or blame anyone for killing them. This lead the man's thought onto other pirate crews, they would be a simple way to rock up some beri and get a bigger crew and ship sailing. It wouldn't be too hard, seeing how the woman held herself up and with Lyell's skill with his weapon. The man's mind was going wild with thought. 

''I'm glad to see you agreed to my offer and don't worry, i'm okay with your conditions. I'll take care of those people myself.'' Having said that, a quite wicked smile came onto his face, telling Ragnarok that Lyell wasn't a law abiding citizen. Tho that was most likely clear already, with him being a pirate and everything. 

''So, continuing with what i said before. I wish to create a crew, so that means getting a ship, getting a ship means getting beri, which means finding a way to earn it or well, take it. As you seem to be fine killing people who don't matter, i was thinking that we would find people who others want gone. Not per say the marines, but pirates wanting other pirates gone and willing to pay for such service. Or we could just go loot some filthy rich bastards money, i do think some people have way more than they deserve.''

''Or maybe you have a better idea?'' With that, Lyell took a sip of his drink and relaxed back onto his chair. 

[Ragnarok]

'Antsy pantsy. He must want a crew real bad,' she noted to herself, not missing how tensed he was waiting for her answer. She wondered if the purpose he gave was true. Lots of people become pirates, for various reasons. Some saw how the world really worked, others were driven by something. Or someone. She was no exception to it. Being a pirate naturally gave you an opportunity to combat those of great strength. She wasn't ready to have bounty hunters on her ass quite yet, but Lyell's offer certainly made her one step closer to her ultimate goal. There was going to be a day where she had to fight marines, she knew, and likely kill if the person was strong and famous (or infamous) enough. Not now, and probably not soon unless she got her hands on those magical fruit thingies people kept insisting were real.

Drowning in the sea didn't seem particularly pleasant, however, so she'd likely not eat one even if she got her hands on it. Sell it to someone else, maybe? They would cost a fortune, she was sure.

Ragnarok didn't fail to notice the look in his eyes, either. How those orbs lit up with determination and fantasies that she guessed weren't too far off from what she would dream up. Ambitious, she noted too. That was good. At least she wouldn't be following someone who lacked a purpose. That just really, really sucked.

Washing down her tart with tea, she couldn't help but let a faint smile foot across her features at the fragrant, floral taste. She pushed the plate of treats to the center. No harm in sharing, after all, and she was quite beginning to like the man, creepy air and all. "Don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure pirates are on the seas most of the time, and like you said, we lack proper ships. Small fry crews might work. Maybe we could stalk them or join up with them for a little, then take them down from the inside. No witnesses, of course, otherwise other crews would be aware. There's the usual bandits and thieves, yadda yadda, and I'm sure those who hit the more popular traveling paths on islands have a ton of loot. Filthy rich bastard, as you say, are the easiest. I know a handful who don't deserve it, and some who probably wouldn't be too bothered about losing a certain sum of cash."

She left out the bit about her family. Rather leave it for when she trusted him more and was sure she would stay with him instead of share her family's identity, and hers as well. She was impulsive and probably a little lacking in intelligence, but in no way did she lack common sense.

[Lyell]

A smile appeared onto Lyell's face, he had gotten a positive answer from the female in front of him. Which meant that the start to his crew was happening, the first companion to his plan. This day had really gotten much better now, if anything, he would now at least have someone to talk to when sailing got way too boring. 

His eyes darted back to Ragnarok, as Lyell himself nodded and smiled yet again. ''Yeah, robbing a filthy rich pig would be the best way to acquire enough money to set sail. It wouldn't be too hard anyway, the guards they hire are usually weaklings. That is if that pig is anything like my parents, the guards they hired were always such cowards and too weak, proved it to them all on a very faithful night. No one saw it coming'' 

Remembering the past made the man chuckle a bit, as he didn't see anything bad with taking out his own family, nothing big or special about it. Being too obsessed with seeing death, really does numb a person's senses.

Leaning back against the chair he was sitting on, Lyell grinned, thinking of the future, possibly going way too far ahead in his mind, but the man couldn't help it at all. His dream was finally taking off, it's start was now put to grow, the seed of adventure having started up. 

''So Ragnarok, i saw your strength out there, but i wanted to ask, what else are you capable of?''

[Ragnarok]

Ragnarok blinked, astounded and clearly taken aback by how nonchalant Lyell was about familicide, let alone casually mentioning it in someone else's presence. Sure, he could've simply chosen his words wrong, and had left out the part that his parents were killed by someone else, but that look on his face was difficult to overlook. Ragnarok herself was fairly familiar with it. Even if that someone was your future crew member who didn't really mind, she couldn't help but wonder if her future captain was going to carelessly give out sensitive information. It could mean that he put a great deal of faith in her as well, but that was likely not a possibility. They'd met only twenty minutes ago, there was no way she'd won herself the trust of someone so... Aloof.

"Uh... Right. From what I know, most of the guards are mercenaries or decently trained civilians. Easy money for sure." she remarked, returning herself to the present. An impish smile wove its way onto her face, eager to boast her strengths and capabilities to her captain-to-be. She took another mouthful of her tea and savored the pleasantly fragrant aftertaste it left. Intertwining her fingers, she rested her elbows on the table, eyes alight with satisfaction. "So glad you asked. Let's see... I specialize in hand to hand combat, dabbled a little into other forms of martial arts and a little dual-wielding on the side. Hell-raiser and Taekwondo extraordinaire at your service."

[Lyell]

Lyell was, you could say impressed by Ragnarok's wide array of talents and skills. He had expected her to be strong in hand to hand combat, due to seeing it in action on the stage. Her strength had surpassed a lot of other, probably much stronger physically than Lyell was. The man was quite weak in that regard, but he had other tricks up his sleeve. Like that scythe back there, something which the guy was quite proficient at using in. 

The man smiled, a quite cheerful glee in his eyes. Most likely due to his dream having gotten it's start. ''I am really glad to have you in my crew, or well, the start of it. As it's not really a crew with only two people in it i don't think.'' That was quite true, their numbers were small, not enough to take on any other pirates, let alone marines. They would get locked up or killed, but not before taking some out. Numbers didn't always matter, but they did give you somewhat of an edge, especially if your opponents weren't world class fighters or devil fruit eaters. Which both Lyell and Ragnarok weren't. 

His mind switched gears on a whim though and the man's eyes locked onto the female sitting across to him. ''Our styles of fighting may work out quite well together, as i mainly use that scythe back there. Not too good with just my fists.'' He knew Ragna would most likely best him in combat, but the man was more a tactician than just a fighter, someone that could easily outsmart some small marine commanders or other pirate captains, at least outside the Grand Line. There, he wasn't so sure. 

''Well, Ragnarok, shall we go and try to find a means of transport and get off this rock?''

[Ragnarok]

"Well Cap, glad to be aboard as well. May I ask if you've got anyone else in mind so far?" she replied, eager to begin her adventures as a pirate. Sorry Gramps, but he should know that she was bound to entangle herself in something like this eventually. He knew her best, after all.

"Ah, well that's fine. Didn't peg you as the hit-first-think-never kind. You might also like to know that I'm not exactly the first person one would look to for complex strategies and stuff. Not as intelligent as I am strong, ya' know?" she paused briefly, considering adding in that she had one hell of an intuition, but decided against it lest he looked to her for decisions. Not that she didn't want to, but she'd rather not give herself more work. No one ever said she wasn't lazy, after all, and the many chores and duties she skipped were concrete evidences. Briefly, at Lyell's suggestion, she considered stealing that fancy looking boat she saw docked in Mic-qui-whatever, mainly because she could smell the aromatic fragrance of the food they were preparing below deck, but held her tongue anyways. It was a marine's ship, no doubt. The boat would be well guarded, and even she couldn't go against a horde of angry sailors with guns. Not at her current level. Oh, and was it just her who found it incredibly amusing, maybe even ironic, how they'd just decided to form a pirate crew in a town with marine presence? She could certainly imagine how things would turn out if a marine overheard their conversation.

Ah, crap. A confrontation with the Marines sounded exciting! The idea didn't seem as bad anymore, even though there were still guns to worry about. Sigh. Choices, choices. She attempted to think of some other boat she saw, something that was not Marine owned, but could move fast and accommodate at least both of them.

Then her eyes lit up so fast one could've almost sworn they'd heard a bell go off. "How 'bout a nice, speedy caravel?"

[Exit Thread]