C.R.A.C.K. and Spice, backstreet deals in the gourmet town.

[Mai Kobayashi]

The Weather conditions were rather favorable today, to the point that the arrivals platform of Pucci's sea-train station was quite busy. Had it been raining or worse, a lot of the people now waiting outside to greet family, friends, or other new arrivals might have been waiting in the covered inner hall of the station. But now, clumps of people were standing everywhere. A murmur of conversation filled the air. Occasionally people made their way through the crowd with a trolley full of luggage or just a small bag of personal effects. At some points, people bumped into other members of the crowd.

Yet the two people standing in the center of the crowd were given a wide berth, by a rather large part of the crowd. Curiously the two rather short women did not immediately seem to stand out as particularly important. They did, however, get a few looks from people who were quite obviously tourists to the gourmet city. The fact one of them was casually smoking tobacco from a long narrow pipe was certainly an oddity, but more than that it was the fact that she looked like a golden furred fox wearing an elegant white gown and standing on two legs. For those who had never seen a mink before, that was certainly quaint. The other was even shorter and had both white hair and pale skin and wore an equally elegant silken gown.

"The train should be arriving any moment now, President. However, if you do not mind me asking... is it not unusual for you yourself to be waiting to welcome a group of subcontractors? "

The white-haired girl adjusted the pair of glasses that had slid down her nose as she kept her eyes fixed on the signs announcing the schedule of the sea train. For a moment she broke her gaze away to check the agenda she was holding in her hands for the umpteenth time in the last few minutes. As if the list would be able to offer her an answer this time. But as it had every time before, there was no new insight for her to gleam.

"Is that so...?"

The Golden fox took a long drag from her pipe and blew a cloud of smoke in the shape of a circle into the air over the girl's head. Her soft chuckle did little to make the girl more appreciative of the gesture and she used the book in her hands to wave away the smoke halo with an exasperated sigh.

"You know as well as I do that it is President. Please take this a bit more seriously. "

Another soft chuckle escaped the fox's lips as she tapped the girl's notebook cheekily with the end of her pipe.

"Have you looked at the list, Hayan?"

"..."

"Ahh, I see~ only once or twice. A minute. For the last 10 minutes.. is it?"

A blush spread across the girl's pale cheeks as she hugged the book to her chest. She Didn't know how to answer her boss when she got like this. It was absolutely vexing. For her part, the Golden Fox chuckled softly and took another drag off her pipe and the moment she blew a stream of smoke out through her nostrils the whistle of the arriving train shrilly blew through the air. The answers would come soon enough... once the train that started pulling into the station unveiled its secrets~

[Kami-Gaz]

The whistle of the sea train blew loud and proud as the machine pulled into the station on Pucci, it had been in transit for just a few hours from Water7. Aboard this fancy steam powered machine were the civilians that moved between the two cities and one other, official workers or families looking for a brake. Another group that were on the train this day were the employees of C.R.A.C.K Ships, a renown troupe of shipwrights that travelled the world on the request of their clients to build custom ships to their specification.

The lead on this project by special request of the client was Fleur Ayoki, the youngest member of the organisation but one that has an amazing set of skills and abilities as well as keen mind for innovations. The tall young woman was to be last off of the train as her group of misfits with all their tools filed off. Why the client had requested a group was beyond the horned quarter mink, she alone was skilled enough to tackle any issue a ship had. That was all thanks to her Devil fruit.

“Aight Boss Fox, we got everything so we should meet the client’s secretary Hayan.” One of the lads noted before pushing the door open to walk out into the fresh air. “She’ll take us to the ship in dry dock, you inspect and we repair it all.” He explained to the young woman… a true example of mansplaining.

“Really now? Here I thought I had never done this before Karl.” Fleur teased, getting a chuckle from the rest of her men as Karl went red in the face, leading the troupe off of the train. Following the group was the towering form of Fleur, the raven-haired quarter fox mink, a long witch hat sitting atop of her head to hide her ears. Her tail flicked and swayed from beneath her hair. A smile was on her face, pierced with small bits of metal in strategic places, she was pretty in that alternative way.

“I wus jus goin’ over the plan Fleur…” The man said in a small huff as he fell in line beside the rest of the small group of shipwrights. The res of the men were in an assortment of garbs with only one similarity, they all had the “C.R.A.C.K Ships” badge pinned to their tops. As did the foxy leader.

“I know Karl, I was just messing with ya. Come on. Let’s get this sorted and we can get lunch on the client for a job well done.” She said before getting in front and leading the group through the crowd, looking for their contact. The crowd parted way due to the sight of the woman, being large and oddly dressed. It was always easy for her to get where she wanted to go because of her looks and their bigotry towards what was not normal. After a moment the Witch paused with her eyes locked on a golden haired lady, her mouth changing from a resting smile to a large grin of recognition.

[Mai Kobayashi]

The golden fox turned over the long pipe in her hand, tapping it softly against the wrist attached to the seemingly wooden hand. The arm itself was mostly hidden within the folds of her white gown, but the clang of metal striking wood softly chimed in regardless as the handle of the wooden pipe struck the edge of the golden bracelet on her wrist. The tiny little extinguished coal fell out of the top of the pipe and rolled a few inches across the stone platform before the white-haired secretary put her slipper on top of it and crushed it into a tiny mark of ash just to be sure.

The white-haired girl looked over the assembled group of shipwrights with a look that clearly said she was judging them each on their appearances, but her face gave no indication of approval or disapproval. It was only when her eyes lingered for a moment on the witch that she made a small note in her ever-present book.

The golden fox however softly shook her head, an amused look on her face as the golden ringlets that faded to almost pure wide at their tips swayed gently along with the motion. Though it was obvious to all observers that the woman was not a human, her features fell in that odd place between close enough to count and different enough to be noteworthy that most people preferred to term exotic. The large fox-like ears that stood upright on her head were certainly a standout, and certainly, on closer inspection, she was covered in a short thin layer of fur with a sort of golden creme hue that was close enough to almost pass for the color of skin if you did not look too closely.

Her nose and lips had mostly human shapes though there was a tiny little button-like patch of a snout at the very tip of her nose that made her look endearing rather than outright strange. Their almost salmon-like color blended them into her fur to a point that they barely stood out. What drew all the attention in her face were her intensely bright blue eyes that rested squarely on the witch hat topped woman, who might as well be a giant in the comparison.

"Well well, well, who do we have here?"

Her voice had a soft but distinctive timbre to it, a nearly melodious note that made her words sound like she was always teasing. Especially at times like these, where the twinkling of her eyes denoted that most certainly, she was. She walked up towards the woman who was almost a solid two feet taller than her, but she did not look up, instead closing her eyes and hooking the head of the emptied pipe around the back of the girl's neck and pulling her down to her level.

"Little Fleur, always with her eyes up so high. Tsk, Tsk, what am I going to do with a disrespectful girl like you."

For a moment she kept the tension hanging in the air before pressing her nose against the tall witch's cheek and nuzzling her quite vigorously and quite publicly. Some people did stare, an equally large majority of locals seemed to simply not care at all. As if they had gotten used to the sight by now.

"Garchu~ little one. I was hoping it would be you when I saw your name on the list. Surely you can imagine my surprise though..."

The woman's secretary did not comment, a small tinge of red crossed her pale cheeks as she pushed up her glasses so high that the sun reflecting off their lenses completely obscured her eyes. No matter how many times she saw the President do something like this. IT was still something Hayan considered woefully appropriate for someone in her position. Yet she also knew better than to say anything about Hyuna's... eccentricities at this point.

Meanwhile, the golden fox released the tall witch, or rather unhooked the pipe from her neck and let her get back some of her dignity as the so-called president scratched the tip of her nose.

"Now, here's the funny thing. The last time I spoke to your mother she said you were in university all proud and mom-like... You are going to have to explain that one to me. "

"Ahumm..."

The white-haired secretary cleared her throat and coughed into the back of her hand as she looked over the remaining members of C.R.A.C.K. once more.

"Yes... well.. Forgive us for the... awkward welcome. My name is Hayan, if you would kindly come this way. I will show you to the shipyard. It seems the president has some... personal things to attend to with miss Ayoki."

[Kami-Gaz]

A peculiar person approached the group of shipwrights, a half mink woman of a foxy ancestry. Short and regal she walked right up to Fleur before speaking. That voice, if the young woman shipwright did not recognise the person, then she certainly recognised the voice and the smile that lit up her face was something that went from ear to ear. A hand was raising slowly to help animate words that she was bringing up to her mouth but before the first sounds could be made, she could only release a quick yelp as the woman pulled her down via her pipe.

“Garchu~ Auntie Hyuna~.” Fleur replied with a childish giggle and nuzzling back to the elder fox in a display of public affection that minks cherished but average humans found weird. She herself loved the feel of soft fur being rubbed against her face, just how the minks loved their fur against the soft skin of a human.

The pair stopped with the release from the hook and Fleur stood tall, grinning away quite happily. Then the big one was dropped… why was she not at university? Well, there was a reason for that and Fleur had been practicing the way it was delivered… just in case he family ever spotted her in the wild. “I’m still on my way there. I just got side tracked, and my old tutor told me that experience in the field was always better than being stuffed in a class room.” She explained, wagging her finger with her tail between the points. Then she planted her hand on her sides and let out a long sigh.

“Karl, you’re in charge until I get back. Assess the damages and prepare the materials needed for repair. I will confirm your report when I get back. Go above and beyond on this one, my aunt is very dear to me and I want her to have the best fleet on the grand line!” Fleur ordered, pointing to the man and the rest of the group before gesturing towards the assistant woman called Hayan. She gave a strong nod to Karl who smiled in response to her ability to issue sound orders on the ball. “If Oleg complains that we have gone overboard then I’ll take the hit, I don’t think he will mind.”

“Yes Ma’am. Come on lads, you heard boss fox! Let’s get a move on. Lead the way, Miss Hayan.” Karl said with a nod back to Fleur before following the secretary out of the way and off the platform, leaving the two relatives alone for the first time.

“Hyuna!” Fleur called again before hugging the woman. “When did you get so short?!” She teased, leaning down to sweep the woman up in a tighter hug. The last time the pair had seen each other Fleur was tiny, just awaiting her last growth spurt.

[Mai Kobayashi]

The Golden Fox merely smirked with a mischievous look on her face. She did not immediately give away her thoughts on the matter of Fleur's ''detour' that she had brought up. Instead, the corner of her mouth curled up ever so slightly as she watched her niece give orders to the men that accompanied her. She did not remark on it at all, simply watching as the girl took charge. She brought the pipe back up to her lips, sucking on the mouthpiece out of habit even though it was empty now.

It was interesting to see how the young woman had developed since the last time they had met. She was only a tiny girl, it was true. But since then she had certainly turned out quite a bit different than her mother. Intellectually she was always tended more towards Hyuna's own brand of intellect than Mae's. But the disconnect was especially evident in the sort of look she had adopted. It was a bit... eccentric to be certain but fortunately that wasn't exactly the sort of thing you had to worry about as an aunt. Though she was quite sure that Mae probably had very mixed feelings about the appearance her daughter had chosen. That thought alone could explain the soft snicker she let out as Hayan guided the workmen away towards the dock.

When finally they left the platform, Hyuna's eyebrows compressed ever so slightly, a frown overtaking her face as she took the pipe from her mouth once more and tapped it twice on the brim of the large witch hat.

"You getting invited to academy Island has really gone to your head hasn't it? Look at how big that thing has gotten! I bet thinking you are smarter than everyone else inflated this thing like a Balloon! Tsk, calling me just Hyuna AND short?! Since when do you get to call me by just my first name? Do you think I can't smack you around the ears anymore just because you are wearing that dang hat and got your head up that high?"

Despite the fact the words themselves carried quite a few allegations and chastisements, they were delivered in the same slow melodious drawl that made it hard to take any of them seriously. She sounded like she was teasing and she very rarely spoke in the sort of serious manner most people might expect of a woman in her position. But her blue eyes, shimmering with a mischievous glint most clearly of all said that she held no real qualms about Fleur's choices. Perhaps there was even a little bit of pride. After all, when it came down to such things, Hyuna herself hadn't made a conventional choice in her entire life.

"Now, when I asked why you aren't at university, I expected an honest answer. Not the one you intend to use to pull the wool over my naive sister's eyes. "

She said it so calmly and matter of factly that there was very little doubt that she didn't believe a single word of fleur's story about 'stil being on her way to school.' At the same time she started to walk off the platform, away from the prying eyes of so many people, she stuck the pipe into her robe, just above the wooden hand that hung limply crossed in front of her body. Then she raised her now empty good hand and motioned for fleur to follow her with the perfectly manicured clawlike nails of her own fingers. She did not even turn her head to see if fleur followed, simply assuming that she would. After all, she was not exactly accustomed to not getting her way here, in her hometown, where the seat of her influence was quite... expansive.

"And I will tell you right now, she isn't going to fall for that weak of an excuse either. Mae isn't like you and me, but she is not stupid either. She has your grandmother's knack for seeing straight through the bullshit."

It was a rather to the point statement, the expletive seemingly very out of place crossing the lips of a woman who looked as refined as she did and at the same time it matched her eccentric personality that didn't seem to care much for rules and social conventions. She gave her niece a sideways glance as they entered the inner hall of Pucci's Seatrain Station. The grand exterior made her soft melodious voice echo ever so slightly, even if she was speaking at a normal volume. Most people were either out on the platform still, boarding for the train's next stop, or had already begun leaving the station, making it feel a bit.. empty inside the hall itself.

"Listen, there are two things people who only think they are good Liars do. Try and mitigate the issue with a positive spin and give excessive details. Do you get what I'm saying? You want to fool your mom? Try and sound like you are reluctantly admitting the truth. Obfuscate the details and make it sound like you are taking responsibility for something."

Maybe she shouldn't be telling her niece how to lie to her mom better, just maybe that wasn't really the sort of advice you needed to give anyone. But.. well she liked her niece. And if she had decided to not tell the truth that was her choice. That was the great thing of being the cool aunt after all. You didn't always have to be the responsible one. But at the same time, she was not so irresponsible that she wouldn't offer her niece a choice. She couldn't really decide for fleur which was the right thing for her to do. Sometimes a little lie just worked better for everyone and sometimes... well...

"Or, and here's a novel one. Try telling her how you really feel. Your mom only wants you to be happy you know? She never went to any university and she is happy enough for it. Trust me, mothers eventually adjust to your choices no matter how much they might not understand at first. As long as they can see they make you happy."

A grin now spread across the fox's face as she thought back to the quite formative experiences that thought her that very important life lesson. It wasn't always easy dealing with family but... usually, it worked out for the better if you were just honest. Even if honesty threw up the mountains that you needed trust to overcome and a little lie could usually smooth over that bump... if you kept pilling up the lies the mountains you eventually had to cross just got bigger and bigger.

"Trust me, I gave your grandmother some grey hairs with my choices too. Actually... considering how many of those she has now I probably worried her a lot come to think of it."

[Kami-Gaz]

As Fleur followed her dear aunt off of the platform and slowly through the train station the taller of the two had a quite content smile on her face. She could hear the soft and almost sarcastic chiding from Hyuna but could feel in her bones that it was mostly in jest. Well, that was how she was choosing to take the elder fox’s words at least, there was no point in getting hung up on them because life was too short for that.

She opened her mouth to reply but the talkative fox kept on going, now giving a lesson on lying. She did see through that excuse; she was bound to Aunty Hyuna was always had a good eye for the truth. The hand wave was not needed and only got a soft eye roll and a smile for the younger of the Fox family, she was already following the woman as a given. Hyuna had always been one to get what she wanted and it looked like the people around here respected that fact.

“Mum always did catch on to Rouge’s crap way to quickly.” Fleur agreed as they walked on, stifling a more childish giggle as they walked. The way Hyuna was telling the lesson and then the subsequent story left the engineer grinning away as much as she was, the way family always had a fun experience was something magical. Any minor and lingering feeling of homesickness had vanished with just this story, it was as if she were already home.

“You left some greys in my mum’s hair as well, don’t let her know I said that otherwise she would stop at nothing to switch be around the ears!” The chocolate witch added in response to the final words of her aunt, she really did talk a lot! That was no matter though the fact she was around was enough. Considering there was only seven years between the pair she acted as if she were already in her middle years. If anything, Hyuna was more of an older sister than an aunty like figure.

“It’s really good to see you, and you’re right… I was lying. You’ve always been able to read me like a book.” Fleur said her grin now settling down to more of a content smile, something that should have looked alien paired with the makeup and outfit she was sporting. She held her hand up and it transformed into molten chocolate, formed into a small bar where her palm would be and rapidly cooled down and hardened. After a moment she snapped it off of her palm with her none chocolate hand and held it out to her aunt. The hand that formed the bar quickly returned to normal.

“I’m not intending to go to Academy Island… I don’t want to spend what time I have stuffed in a room with people who think the be all and end all of life is to do what they are told and scrape their way through a boring life.” Fleur explained now that there were fewer prying ears, her own tone being somewhat whimsical as she spoke about her plans. She shifted her walk so she was almost beside the shorter one-armed woman and looked down to meet her gaze if she were to look up.

“Life’s too short for that kinda thing, ya know? I wanna see the world and make an impact that will last. Something to show that I lived… ya know? Too many people don’t get that we live short lives and die way too easily… there’s no point to a life like that.” The witch explained, she knew it with her tutor, a man barely anyone spoke of or remembered… but she did, she remembered him and his lessons. She also remembered how quick he died and what that meant to her. Her depression was something she regretted but it was needed to give her the new outlook she has on life.

“You’re doing that in your own way Hyuna, making a splash. If you keep doing as well as you do your company should last forever! That’s the kind of impact I want to make.” Fleur announced, showing admiration to the woman and giving her that idolisation she always craved.