Our Hearts Ablaze! A Vague Encounter!

[Vio]

“How long until we reach the rendezvous point, Chippy?” called Natalie l’Estrange as she waltzed across the upper deck. The winds were mild; enough to guide a ship and create a fine swell, but the deep blue waters were anything but choppy. The open seas were surprisingly tranquil. Indeed, the weather of the West Blue had so far been tame compared to some of its stormier days, and had retained said calmness for several days in the wake of the Battle of Winchester. The successes of the Revolutionary Army that day were great – a step forward for the Red Flag’s Western cells as they fought the good fight against the World Government. Many a life had been lost, both of ally and enemy, and the brunette’s body still seemed to sway a ghostly sway as she recalled that fiery funeral.

“Soon, ma’am!”

Christopher ‘Chippy’ Collins, acting helmsman and navigator, replied. He was a man of moderate stature, something of an ‘Average Joe’, and only really stood out because of his indomitable mass of jagged jet curls. Honestly, his head looked like a mass of charcoal, with eyes equally dark to contrast nicely against his fairer complexion. He always had a sunburned look about him, but that was his least distinguishing feature.

“Soon just isn’t fast enough~!” the Carnivalan sang, twirling around on one leg and clapping her hands together like an excited schoolgirl. Chippy shook his head, focusing more on the relatively easy but still important task of keeping their ship on track. Chances were high that the Marines had documents regarding their current vessel – a standard of the Revolution – and would happily chase it down if a wayward patrol sighted it. However, that was not the focus of any of the crew’s minds. Rather, they were all eagerly anticipating the new ship that they would soon set foot aboard. With that vessel came a greater sense of purpose.

“Ma’am, what’s our objective once we get the ‘Hawk’?”

“Ooo-ooo-ooh~!”

“OH, COME ON! I DIDN’T EVEN SAY ITS NAME!?” barked Gaspard ‘Strafe’ Smock, giving his boss a somewhat comical glare as she shuddered and went weak at the knees. As typical of her as it was, the man could never get used to his Captain’s quirks. Strafe was a taller fellow, close to seven feet, with an ashen comb over and deep olive skin tone. Unfortunately, that made him look even more like a beetroot when his face turned red than even Chippy could ever look. Nonetheless, the appointed gunnery sergeant still wanted an answer to his question, and maintained his awkward gaze as best as he could.

“You said part of it, you bozo-ichi!”

“Bozo!? Is that the best you can come up with!?” Gaspard finally shifted his smoky blue eyes to his comrade. A young woman, hanging amongst the rigging, looked back down at him. Hair a mix of fiery auburn and vivid blonde adorned her head, tied back so that it erupted from her crown like some sort of fireworks display; darker skin shone with an amber radiance in the sun.

“Moron-ni!”

“When you’ve all quite finished,” Miss l’Estrange piped up, apparently having abandoned her excessive reactions. Standing once again, though leaning against the railings, the fiery femme peered over her sunglasses with hot hazel hues and gave the argumentative duo a very passive sort of look. First to Strafe, then up to Carolina ‘Sparky’ Laharty, whose dark jade eyes widened before looking elsewhere. The division’s boatswain turned and descended from her perch, landing with a bouncy upon the deck beside her much taller comrade.

“Anywho, ladies and gents,” the commandant continued. “Once we settle on our dreamboat, we’ve got to do ourselves some investigating!”

“‘Bout what ‘Timberwolf’ said to you, am I right?”

“Sure am, Strafe. What he said implies there’s a mole of some sort within our ranks – pretty high up the food chain, too!” Nat strutted across the deck, slipping between Strafe and Sparky before wandering down the wooden steps to where Chippy stood, steering the vessel carefully with one hand. Several others went about their business, keeping the ship sailing along at a steady rate of knots or otherwise doing odd jobs for the upkeep of their present vessel. Pivoting on her heel, the provocative performer allowed herself to fall back against the mast, arms folded behind her head as she continued to speak; “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be worming them out so easily until we’ve got something nice and juicy to tease them out with, if y’know what I’m saying…? Hmhmhm~?”

“Kind of in the dark here, ma’am,” Chippy stated.

“You wanna go after the Marine who’s involved-ichi…?”

“Sparky’s got it in one!”

“Eh!? That’s nothing short of a suicide mission! There’re only two dozen of us,” Strafe rattled. “This ain’t like Winchester, where we still had Ayano and were working with Miyahara and his woman! We can’t just siege a base or board a battleship with only a handful of men…!?”

“Shut your face, Strafe-ni!”

“Woah! Woah. Guys? Who said anything about battleships and bases?” quizzed the brunette. “I’d got a better plan in mind… Uh-”

“SHIP AHOY!”

“Ooooh?” Perking up at the call of their spotter from the crow’s nest, the entirety of the vessel’s crew rushed into formation, peering from windows and leaning over railings to get a look at what was on the horizon. Sure enough, the silhouette of a sleek ship could be seen with sails open, careening across the waves at a notably swift pace. An ivory hull and white canvas sails, etched with dark rail and timber, this was what they had all been waiting for. A ship designed explicitly for speed and manoeuvrability, while still being battle capable – and its name was:

“The Cinderhawk…!”

SPOILER: Click to show

{*OOC*}

t's time, Roin!

Starring…

Natalie l'Estrange (806548)
Christopher “Chippy” Collins (003456)
Carolina “Sparky” Laharty (ff9900)
Gaspar “Strafe” Smock (cccccc)

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[Roin]

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"Rogue wave! All hands, steady yourselves!"

The call came from the Cinderhawk's deck, the Revolutionaries aboard it having enough time to spot one of the dangerous waves. Thankfully, the wave chose not to rise high enough to risk the vessel, slapping the side of the ship and tipping it into the side of Natalie's vessel just as the two were being linked together. Bumping of hulls, the scattering of men and women who hadn't quite steadied themselves, and of course the shaking of both decks meant that such a calm moment had a brief interruption.

"Whoa~, watch out below!"

Sparky would be the first to see the source of the voice no doubt, a red and blue blur passing through the air. The blur had come from the side where the rogue wave collided, pushed up the side of the Cinderhawk by the crashing force of the wave. Glimmers in the sky gave a more astounding look to the airborne figure for a moment longer... until it came to a halt in the rigging opposite of Sparky and above the deck where the others stood. A large, wooden object had cut at the rigging with the force the fellow had been moving at, the metal-coated bottom no doubt playing some part of it. A single band connected a now upside-down figure to the rigging-caught board, however and it was certainly not a normal human.

Red locks hung from his head, the shoulder-length hair appearing goofy as he teetered about over the deck. The wings of a Sky Person could be seen upon the blue wetsuit-wearing man's back. Looking down to the deck below, directly above a few women of Natalie's revolutionary cell, the man put on a smile that might be confused with that of a pervert.

"Man, I sure got lucky! That other ship just about killed me, but I ended up landing in this one's rigging! What a view, right?"

Jeers came up as some of the men rabble grew angry at the man's words or simply the position above the deck but a ripping noise sounded through the air as the board cut away at the bindings that held it somewhat. The winged man looked toward the rigging, having to turn his body somewhat, before making a face. Performing a sit-up like shift from his hanging position, the man grasped the edge of the board just as it snapped free of the rigging and sent him barreling down.

But rather than crash to the deck with a bone-crunching smack... a rather annoying sound rushed loudly through the air. Adjusting mid-fall, the young man had righted himself to the board and pushed the triggers installed in Fer so long ago, the design immediately kickstarting multiple dials. A hiss of smoke sounded as the Milky Dial spilled out its bounty, the material cloud giving him enough purchase for the Breath Dials to hum to life and propel him outward. The lip of the board curved with the tumbling, the cloudy path bringing Briseur in an arc-like loop from the deck and out over the side of the ship and about twenty feet above the water. With a devilish grin, red locks billowing in the wind, the man cut and waved through the air much to the shock and awe of many Revolutionaries. After all, few of them knew of the Sky People and their Dial inventions... and probably none of the entourage had seen such shenanigans before. But the pseudo-flight came to and end rather quickly as Brisuer turned toward the two ships once more and veered in to land, the man tumbling across the deck as the cloudy path and powering dials cut off. With a hearty tumble that first looked good, the winged sky surfer instead ended up sliding across the deck on a no doubt unfortunate face. Thankfully, with a conk into the ship's railing, the man hadn't suffered such a fate for very long before coming to a still halt on the deck of Natalie's current vessel.[/ul][/ul]

[Vio]

“Steady now, Chippy.” The waves tossed about between the two vessels as their helmsmen respective brought them flank to flank. Excitement crackled vividly in the air, practically arcing like lightning from the masts. And for the Cinderhawk’s new Captain, said excitement was overwhelming. Ever since the craft had been commissioned, Natalie l’Estrange had eagerly awaited its arrival – its rite of passage into her hands – and she was most definitely pleased by what she saw. Sleek and supple, riding smoothly the waters upon which they sailed, the vessel in question was nothing short of a dream come true.

“All hands steady! Set the gangplanks!”

“Whoa~! Watch out below!” As it soon turned out, the Revolutionary rendezvous had unwanted company. A blur of contrasting colour found itself entangled amidst the rigging of the escort vessel, much to the dismay of one Miss Laharty, and the equal amusement of l’Estrange. How on Earth their lookouts had failed to spot such a distinctly colourful caper approaching on an otherwise soft and open sea was beyond her, but she paid no mind to potential blunders of her own crewmen and women; watching the smiling surfer break free of Sparky’s rigging was altogether more amusing.

“Well, that ain’t good…”

“…The hell’s with this guy?”

“Look out!”

The winged wanderer’s descent was far from graceful. In fact, it looked downright painful. Hitting the escort ship’s deck face first, the redhead’s physiognomy rode the timbers as his board had done the skies just moments before, grinding to an unfortunately halt just short of the main mast. Several seafarers had stepped aside, or otherwise bounded free of the board’s path, leaving an empty wake of open deck – a testament to the carnage that could well have ensued.

Shrick! Click! Shrang! An orchestra of iron and steel emanated from all about the ship – a half-dozen blades and an equal number of flintlocks were drawn and pointed towards the intrusive angel. Many exchanged glances and whispers, but save for the rapid formation of a circle around the fallen fellow, not a single further act was taken. Heading the counteroffensive, a muscular man of more than middle age, with hair a mop of brilliant blond, stopped just short of the interloper; Melco ‘Jet’ d’Grie had his spear’s tip pointed straight at the foreign phizog.

“Get up, stranger!” the spearman snarled. “And explain to me this: What are you doing aboard our ship?”

“Steady on, Jet,” Natalie spoke up. The burning brunette had since abandoned her post at the mast’s rear, descending wooden steps and coming to level with much of the rest of her crew. An air of impatience buzzed about them all, but such energies were in part manifest from their desire to board their new vessel. The hype was real, especially for the provocative performer, who perched herself merrily upon the railings with little care for situational gravitas. Sunglasses drawn away from her visage, the Carnivalan cast fiery eyes upon the unwelcome party and spoke again: “Now, care to explain? What’re you doing on this ship?”

“I just asked that…”

“You’ve gotta do it with a bit more pizazz~!” Nat quipped.

“Forget pizazz! That f*€<ing son of a b!+€# sliced up my rigging-san!” Sparky yelled, now flailing desperately for freedom as it took three men to keep her back.

“San, huh? Well, she’s surprisingly calm…” Scratching her temple for a moment, Miss l’Estrange allowed some of the tension in the air to settle before turning back to the source of their troubles. All things considered, the surfer seemed anything but a real threat. If he was, there was no doubt that he’d pose little threat to the combative sides of the crewmen and women – d’Grie alone was more than a match for many a man, despite his wizened façade and one-eyed nature. He was the vessel’s chief of staff, after all. Who needs two eyes when you’ve seen it all before?

“Right! Listen up, ladies and gents! The longer we sit here in the middle of the ocean, the sooner we’ll become a target – all hands are to exchange supplies and armaments as necessary. We’ll be setting sail again on the hour! Melco and I’ll take care of this.” Her announcement a solid portrayal of her decisiveness and leadership skill, all seemed to calm and respect her wishes before dispersing to take care of chores abound. Whilst the Cinderhawk was primed and ready to sail, much of the finer workings that needed swapping over belonged to the crewmen and women themselves. Half-an-hour at best and the two ships could sail apart once more. But the most interesting question on Natalie’s mind; who was this mysterious man…?

SPOILER: Click to show

{*OOC*}

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Natalie l'Estrange (806548)
Briseur Vague (00aa00)
Christopher “Chippy” Collins (003456)
Carolina “Sparky” Laharty (ff9900)
Gaspar “Strafe” Smock (cccccc)
Melco “Jet” d'Grie (e7582a)

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