Black Cross Purposes

[viruswithshoes]

A tall man in rectangular glasses stroked the twin braids of his black beard and smiled at the run down building almost suffocated by a large tree growing around it.
"A clinic inside of a living thing...it's poetic, I think."
A more dour doctor with closely cropped gray hair exhaled a plume of smoke while giving Toulon Kuroko an exasperated sigh, which the Captain of the Black Cross had heard many times.
"I told you you could rent a building in Stetson City."

The bearded cyborg smiled and turned to his fellow doctor.
The man with the wavy black hair in a bun held together by a soldering iron and a hemostat clamp, held out his left hand and extended his black, metallic index finger.
"One: Money. No one is using any buildings here so that means no rent, right? That's more money we can put toward the clinic."
Toulon then raised his right index finger. "Two: It's in a big tree. As an experienced puppeteer that gives me a lot of raw material for more puppets.
The puppeteer/doctor took a deep breath and held up his second left arm, located under his first left arm and raised his third index finger.
"Second: It's far from town. I don't want to run afoul of any local marines or criminal elements. I learned my lesson from Funkyard. Keep my head down and don't mess with anyone."
"Four: The four armed cyborg held up all of his index fingers. "Just look at this place. I bet there's all sorts of useful thing I can scavange to make arms and legs. The Black Cross can settle here, Doctor. Plenty of living space once we clear away some of the trees. We can make a medical community here. Each of our specialists can have their own building. I'm sure everyone will be grateful to not only have a hospital but to reclaim some of the land."

The more pragmatic doctor of the two, Sax doused his kiseru with practiced, calloused fingers and sighed once again, but with a touch of condescension as he patted his Captain on the shoulder.
"I hope things work out for you."
"Captain!" Shouted a green haired man standing at the same height of seven feet as Toulon. "Is that jealous husband still looking for you?"
With a smirk on his face Doctor Sax held up his index finger to indicate a fifth reason to build outside of the city.

Regardless of the five reasons, Toulon still had to be the one to venture into Stetson City for supplies that ranged from the necessary to unnecessary to the erotic. He had, after all, lost every round of janken. It wasn't until well after buying several volumes of erotic pirate, marine and pirate/marine manga that it dawned on the man that he was their Captain and could have overruled them.

With one of four cybernetic arms of black steel full of embarrassing drawings Toulon assumed that the rest of his trip could only get better.
Then a smiling young girl with a matching black steel arm waved at him and ran to meet him with a large man, taller than Toulon's seven feet, in tow.
"I swear to you, your daughter told me her mother was single."
"She is," said the child with one black metal arm in a fortified sling. "She doesn't have a twin."

The towering eight foot man with the twitching eye and calloused knuckles plastered on a fake smile.
"I need to have a grownup talk with the doctor in this alley for a few minutes."


OOC: Fox Mr. Moon

Toulon 1

[Fox]

Albedo was sure that she had seen signs of civilization from the shore, so why on earth wasn’t there a town on the coast?! No, instead she had to trek through a hecking ocean of shrubs, grass, and tons of other annoying foliage only to get to the ruins of a town, which then had a road that actually led to the real town. This island was a dump. Even the road which she was currently walking on had bits that were overgrown and difficult to traverse. At least there were some interesting mushrooms to look at along the way, but that was literally the only good thing about the walk!

She was munching on a tiny piece of an edible mushroom as she finally strolled into town. Albedo walked straight down the middle of the street, looking around in wonder. Huh. Everything was really oversized here, huh? Even the people! Weird. A shadow fell over her. She looked up to see someone’s foot coming down on her. Her tail immediately fluffed up as she darted out of the way. In her haste, she’d dropped her snack, which had promptly gotten crushed under the human’s heel.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going, jerkwad!”

Albedo shook her fist up at the person and swiftly turned in a way in a huff, oblivious to the person looking around in confusion.

“Hmph! Some people!” Albedo grumbled to herself, “Who doesn’t watch where they’re going, I mean real-”

Albedo slammed straight into the leg of someone who had stopped walking in the middle of the street. Oh, that did it! Now she was mad! Who just stopped in the middle of the street like that. Albedo’s blue skin flushed purple as she looked up to see just what kind of wiseguy she was dealing with. Well, it actually turned out to be two wiseguys and… probably what was supposed to be a human child? Albedo had never actually seen one before.

Whatever. It looked like the two guys were about to rumble or something, but nah, she had a thing or two to say about that. She had crashed into the smaller of the two, having apparently walked right between the larger man’s legs. She backed away a step or two from the smaller man, dusting herself off.

“Now, hold up there, one second, guy!” She called up to the pair of them before transforming into her hybrid form, surging up in height to a staggering nine feet tall, looking down at both of the men from her impressive new height. She smiled serenely, but behind it was packed with an intense and immediate feeling of superiority. She turned to the smaller man first.

“Why are you stopped in the middle of the street? Are you some kind of lunatic? People are walking here, you know!”

---

Albedo | #7393b3 | Post Count: 1

[viruswithshoes]

As much as the dwarf in front of Toulon complained about him jamming up the street, what really stopped the foot traffic was a dwarf turning into a dinosaur. Eyes of young and old alike sparkled as they crowded around just after Albedo chastised Toulon for impeding traffic.

Toulon could not think of the proper thing to say to a dwarf that had transfomed into a dinosaur.
"Would you like a job in pirate medicine?"
The beleagured doctor imagined a dino-dwarf could both cheer up children and act as muscle.
The bearded doctor reached into the right hand pocket of his white lab coat and pulled out a half handful of candy to the dinosaur towering over him.

"If you need to me sweeten the deal I can buy you some ice cream."

OOC: Toulon 2

[Fox]

This was not the reaction that Albedo had been expecting. Or, maybe it was? The eyes of young and old sparkled as everyone ogled her. The sudden attention made her flustered, bringing a bright purple blush to her cheeks. She brought a claw to her cheek and scratched it bashfully. Her silver hair shimmered like gemstones at the motion, which only seemed to attract more adoration - especially from the children.

“I-I-Um…”

She was only more puzzled when the man who she’d crashed into asked her if she’d like a job in pirate medicine. What? What did that mean? Was he coming onto her? He dug around in his pocket and held out a handful of candy up to her. His next statement only confirmed her hypothesis. He was asking her out on a date! Albedo gasped, using one arm to shield her chest from him and turning slightly away.

“Fresh?!”

Albedo slapped the man across the face with her dinosaur hand - not really understanding her own strength - with enough force to send the scrawny human flying. She blushed and looked away.

“How can someone be so forward…?”

Her mind was all aflutter. She knew that she’d get a love interest at some point. It was only natural, after all, given that she was chosen by the heavens. But still! This was definitely much too soon. Wait. Had he said something about medicine? Albedo turned back to look for the man, hoping that she hadn’t launched him too far.

“Wait, did you say medicine?”

---

Albedo | #7393b3 | Post Count: 2

[viruswithshoes]

While Toulon did expect a beating when he was confronted by a jealous husband he wasn't quite prepared for a dinosaur punch to the face that sent him flying.
With a swollen left cheet, Toulon adjusted his rectangular, rimless glasses and stood.
Someone physically strong would be good for his crew too, though he made sure to keep that thought far from his lips.

The black and white clad surgeon then straightened his skinny black tie and purposely kept out of dino leg distance.
"I represent...eh, Captain a..." words ran through Toulon's head to describe his crew of former enemies and people won in a Davy Back Fight. 'Loose confederation of people with poor judgement' seemed right, but Toulon stuck with "Crew. A crew of doctors and scientists who believe in helping people and oppose violence whether it be from the government, revolutionaries, pirates or ill-intentioned business people."
The doctor smiled which made the two braids of his long black beard jump a little.

"Let's get some ice cream cones and I'll show you the hospital I'm building."
He was then startled by the loud scream of the father and daughter that started this catastrophe of a meeting.
"Ice cream!"


OOC: Toulon 3

[Fox]

“Doctors?!” came Albedo’s shout, immediately the cry for ice cream. She hastily marched right up to the wispy little human and picked him up off the ground as if he didn’t weigh anything to her. She lifted him to eye level and curved her long neck down to look him in the eye. “You’re a doctor? I need a doctor! And you have a hospital?! I have a patient!”

“We’re going,” Albedo decided by herself, switching up her grip to carry the man princess style.

She started walking into town, but then paused when she realized that she had no idea where they were going. She glanced down at the man in her arms. Wait, wasn’t this… like flirting?! Ah! Albedo blushed and dropped the man right then and there, poofing from her huge dinosaur hybrid form back into her tiny dwarf form, falling and landing on top of the man’s chest.

“Y-You know the way! You lead the way! I’ll! Just be in here!”

Albedo swiftly tucked herself into the man’s chest pocket, hanging onto the coat like a handle. It was perhaps a little impertinent of her to do so, but he had been flirting with her! So he had to take some kind of responsibility. Yeah, definitely. That made sense to her. Hm. It was actually kind of comfortable in this pocket too.

“Well, come on, hurry up! Doctors and ice cream, let’s go!”

---

Albedo | #7393b3 | Post Count: 3

[viruswithshoes]

A foul-mouthed veteran child soldier of ten years age once gave Toulon some advice that served him well as a medical professional both in and out of combat.
"You gotta learn to take weird shit in stride."
Toulon, the puppeteer-doctor normally chastised people who swore too much but the little girl from back then had not only seen but caused enough carnage to make a pirate vomit could be forgiven. If anyone had the right to swear freely it was children forced into warfare.

The multi-limbed cyborg was picked up by a dinosaur, dropped and was too befuddled to notice that a fluffy-tailed, blue dwarf had just invaded his coat pocket.

With the dino-dwarf riding in the breast pocket of his fluttering lab coat and flanked by a very large bald man carrying his mechanically limbed daughter on his shoulders. Toulon, as instructed took it in stride.

Many games of tag had led to Toulon running a lot while working with children which in turn led to greater stamina than usual. He even managed to outpace the eightfoot man carrying a cyborg little girl, though not enough to lose them and not having to pay for their ice cream.

"Apologies for my lack of manners. I didn't even get your name."
The group passed several closed shops on the way to a general store that might have ice cream. One of the only open stores was where the pirate captain had made his purchase of erotic literature for some of his crew. He winced and blushed and tried to fill the awkward silence that only he cared about.

"Do you have any nautical skills? Or fighting ability? What's your blood type and does it change when you are a dinosaur?" Once the doctor thought about Albedo's dinosaur form a torrent of medical questions flooded his mind. He then lost track of his thoughts while thinking of where the little dwarf would sleep and smiled at imagining the cute little bed he could carve for her that could be put on an unassuming shelf.

By the time Toulon had started to imagine the little outfits his crew's tailor would make for her a general store was found.
"One ice cream each, okay?"
He turned his attention to the smallest and bluest of the group.
"It's obvious you're not from around here. What are you traveling for? Fun...or do you have a greater purpose?"

The price of the ice cream was far greater than Toulon intended to spend.
"I said one ice cream each."

The large man who finally introduced himself as Topo slyly grinned. "I did get just one ice cream. I also got a six pack of beer."
A love of wordplay and aggravating Toulon seemed to be genetic.
"Out of curiosity, how far can you throw this gentleman?" Toulon teased once outside and on the road east to the decaying industrial wasteland that would become his clinic.

OOC: Toulon 4

[Fox]

Hm. This breast pocket was actually pretty comfortable. Albedo settled in, using her extremely fluffy tail as a cushion of sorts. Cozy. Albedo was actually starting to doze off when the man asked for her name. Oh, right, they hadn’t even introduced themselves to one another yet, had they? And still, they were going on a… d-date?! Oh, gosh, this was totally a date. Albedo flushed bright red. Everything was moving so fast.

“I-It’s Albedo,” she cleared her throat and steeled her nerves, “Encke Albedo! What’s… yours?”

If he was going to be her love interest, she ought to know his name at least. Before he could answer her question, the doctor launched off into a tirade of questions about her. Uh, was this the getting to know her part of the date? Albedo’s head was spinning a little bit, but she managed to organize her thoughts before too long. Still, this was an opportunity to brag a little so far be it from her to let it go by.

“I’m a navigator! The best one! And, obviously, no one can beat me in a fight! I was chosen by the stars! I- Blood type? What’s that? It’s red, if that's what you mean.”

Albedo bit the tip of her thumb hard enough to draw blood and lifted it up to the doctor.

“See?”

It stung a little, but it was nothing to a heroine of her caliber. Hm, but it was still bleeding. Maybe that hadn’t been such a good idea. She didn’t want to get blood on the doctor’s clothes. Hm. It was awkward as she pressed her fingers into her thumb to stop the bleeding. She glanced back up at the doctor when he asked her about her purpose.

“Oh, well, I’m sorta looking for a doctor for my friend, actually. He’s pretty sick, so I went to find help. I guess… After that, I wanna sail the star ocean! Up there!”

Albedo pointed up at the sky with her bloody hand. With an ice cream sample spoon in one hand - it was more than enough for her - Albedo flopped halfway out of the pocket so as not to drip blood or ice cream onto the doctor. It was a difficult balancing act. With a casual glance up at him, she shrugged.

“Pretty far, probably.”

---

Albedo | #6082b6 | Post Count: 4

[viruswithshoes]

Once again Toulon Kuroko's curiosity caused him to rapid fire questions at a stranger...though it made a difference that this stranger was a prospective member of his crew and someone he hoped to depend on.

When Albedo introduced himself the black-haired surgeon with the four metal arms tilted his head toward the dwarf in his breast pocket causing part of his hair to break the confines of the bun on his head held in place by a soldering iron and a hemostat clamp.
He imagined that speaking normally to someone in such close proxemity would get his ice cream and candy breath on full black and turned his head away.

"Hello, Miss Albedo. I'm Toulon. A wandering puppeteer and surgeon."

The white coated man in glasses grimaced slightly at Albedo's bleeding finger. Out of habit he reached into one of coat pockets and fished out a small strip of gauze which he could have used to wrap up the entirety of the tiny navigator but tore off a tiny enough strip roughly the length of the dwarf's arm.

With a sly grin the cyborg devotee of puppets and cybernetics once more turned his head slightly to keep from deafening the woman in his pocket when she spoke about needing a doctor.
"Then I suppose our meeting was destined. Is it an emergency?"

Albedo's talk of sailing the "star ocean" made Toulon smile again and look up to the sky and though it was mid-afternoon he imagined the dwarf sailing through the sky in a craft in a small cigar box rigged with a handkerchief.
He was charmed.

While walking out of the limits of Stetson City the smiling surgeon talked of his own dream of opening a hospital but lost a little steam when he compared it to the blue dwarf's fantastical dream. Was he thinking too small?
"O-one day..." He gritted his teeth while wincing at his stammer. "One day I'll make a hospital the size of an island where people can get free medical treatment and prosthetics. No war. No profiteering. Just making people better."

Mentioning a dream hospital made Toulon all the more eager to show his newest crewmember the one he had partially built. Once in sight, his makeshift hosptial of a few hours ago became just another ruin. The wounded doctors of The Black Cross huddled at the entrance of a large tree where what little medical equipment therein was destroyed and otherwise vandalized.

All four of the raven-haired cyborg's fists clenched producing a metal grinding sound.
In civilized warfare hospitals were considered non-targets. In reality, he had seen this kind of thing before.

The doctor's voice took on a sad, all business monotone but didn't lose a note of hope.
"Mister Topo, Ms. Topito, it's not safe for you to go home. These brigands may still be about."

The shaken man held up the palm of his left and for Albedo to use as a platform so he could look her in the eye.
"Miss Albedo, the curs who did this may come back. Will you spend the night with me to protect our crew?"


OOC: Toulon 5

[Fox]

Albedo stared blankly at Toulon tied up her arm in an oversized bandage. Wasn’t this a little overkill? She shrugged to herself and focused on the more important issue at hand. His question. Emergency… Hm. Well, Albedo wasn’t a doctor, so she couldn’t really say. She thought about any information that she could provide that might be helpful, but didn’t really know any of that either. In the end, she just shrugged.

“Maybe? I dunno,” she replied simply, “He had a hard time getting out of bed when I left. Hope that old geezer’s still eating and stuff.”

She’d beat him up if he didn’t take care of himself. She’d said as much before leaving. So he’d be fine. Probably. For a while. Still, she didn’t see any reason not to go immediately aside from the fact that she did not have a ship large enough to carry anyone. Her ship was basically a tiny box that she’d sailed with a small handkerchief from there to here. It… had not been the easiest journey.

Albedo cast her ruby red eyes up at Toulon as he began to speak, watching him through her sparkling silver bangs. Free medical treatment? A hospital the size of an island? Hm. Albedo looked away, leaning out of his pocket slightly.

“That sounds nice. I bet you’ll need a hero to protect it though! That sort of peace doesn’t come without its own costs,” she chirped in response, “Ya know?”

Her words proved to be true when they arrived at what appeared to be their destination. It looked like some ruined building. When Albedo took a closer look though, she could see newly mangled medical supplies and wounded people sitting by a tree. Her brow furrowed as she took in the scene. Bad guys.

Toulon sent the dad and kid away - why they’d followed them this far out of town was a mystery to her and held out his palm to her. Albedo bounced out of his pocket and onto his hand, spinning around to regard him. His phrasing made her blush, but no! Regardless of how the love interest put things, this was a mission that only a hero could take on!

“Sure! And then you’ll come with me to help the geezer, right? It’s a deal, then.”

Albedo nodded to herself, not caring to hear Toulon’s agreement, taking it entirely for granted. After all, he was in no position to refuse her request, nor did Albedo get the sense that he would. Toulon seemed like too much of a goody good for that. Plus! It wasn’t like he knew how to lie like her! That was only a skill the hero possessed!

She turned and stepped off his hand, transforming mid-step into her hybrid form. Albedo immediately towered over him, placing her hands on her hips and approaching the injured group of people by the tree.

“Hello! I am Albedo, and I’ll be protecting you tonight! What did these guys look like, and where did they go?”

---

Albedo | #6082b6 | Post Count: 5

[viruswithshoes]

"Awwwwww....Ahhhhhhhhh!"

The sudden response to the embodiment of cute in the form of a palm-sized, silver haired, bushy-tailed human turning into a much larger, terrifying dinosaur created such a shift in the cheering that Toulon snickered to himself despite the tragedy.

The only one of the crew of doctors and former gang members to be have a consistently enthusiastic response was a tall man with a fringe of black hair covering one puffy, blackened eye. His tough look of a long leather coat and tesla coils bursting through his skin with electricity belied his childlike smile.
"Cool! A transforming hero! I'm Henry Frankrugger, also known as The Green Tornado of Death. I'm the brooding anti-hero type who gets things done so it's great to have an out and out hero on the team."

Toulon's embarrassment at his chuunibyou tailor and orderly-in-training resulted in him clenching his jaw and trying not to grind his teeth. Of all of his crew's eccentricities Henry's was the most vexing.
"Anyway...description please?"

There was a murmuring among the assailed crewmen, each differing in accounts of the height and size of the maked and hooded hooligans. There was a consensus, though, about the crudely carved wooden masks, white hooded cloaks and immaculately shined boots.

A man in a white lab coat similar to the one Toulon wore moaned loudly. That man, Doctor Sax was once a marine medical doctor before Toulon won him in a Davy Back Fight.
"White clothes and obsessive shoe care...sound familiar?"
The others with experience with a group of such people grunted in agreement and the former thugs who also had encounters with marines soon followed with sounds of agreement.
Toulon looked confused.
Henry, the leather clad chuunyibou Frankenstein's monster had to clarify the murmers.
"It sounds like marines, Captain."

It sounded like a reach to Toulon until Topito, the little girl who tagged along with her father Topo pointed out her father's boots were also on the shiny side.
Topo scooped up his daughter and ran with her like a squirming, cybernetic football only to trip over five metallic wires that emerged from the fingers of Toulon's lower right hand.


OOC: Toulon 6

[Fox]

Albedo flicked her tail and puffed out her chest at the crew’s screams of adoration. Yes! Admire her majesty! She could wait. Only one of the crew had managed to snap out of his daze for long enough to actually address her. She turned to look at him, nodding and smiling as he explained his role in such clear terms.

“Excellent! We’ll be the best of friends, Green Tornado of Death! That’s kind of long though… Henry’s fine too, right? We’ll be the best of friends, Henry!”

She puffed proudly and glanced back at Toulon as he brought the conversation back to her earlier questions. Oh! Right! Bodyguarding stuff. She frowned at the description though. Wooden masks, white clothes, and shined shoes? That sounded… weird. Glancing between the crew members, Albedo tilted her head when they mentioned the Marines. She felt like she had vaguely heard of them. Maybe.

“Marines…? Mm… okay! Not to worry! If one shows up, I’ll give ‘em one of these!!!”

Albedo whipped her tail at a nearby stone pillar and utterly obliterated it in a shower of stone and dust. She turned back to the crew.

“Who are the Marines anyway? Some kinda criminal syndicate?”

---

Albedo | #6082b6 | Post Count: 6

[viruswithshoes]

Topo and Topito did not get far due to being entangled in Toulon's metal strings and a pressurized dose of liquid anesthetic courtesy of a white, snake puppet that acted as Toulon's personal defensive anesthesiologist.
Once secured, with even more wires and strings, the puppet wielding man that had captured them tried to think of something to do with them.

Then Albedo impressively broke a large stone pillar no one had the strength to dig up and Toulon got distracted.

Toulon wished that Albedo had demonstrated her strength without adding to the damage around her, but the impressed noises his crew made when she destroyed the pillar with her tail led to applause and a lighter mood all around.

When Albedo asked if the Marines were a criminal syndicate Toulon paused and let out a "Hmmmm." While counting fingers on one of his four hands of blackened steel.
They levied taxes from people and killed which seemed like a combination of theft, murder, and a protection racket. The fact that they also sometimes harmed doctors who helped pirates or enemy soldiers also loomed in the black-haired cyborg doctor's mind. Then there was their draft which caused Toulon to think about his own experiences in war and his mind shut down temporarily.
That was at least five reasons he had counted on his his upper left hand.

"Yeah..." He said, drawing out his affirmative response. "They're a criminal syndicate. Not a group of people I am particularly fond of as a doctor."
There was then the rare but pleasing sound of Toulon's crew murmering agreements with him rather than putting up with him.
"Definitely bad guys. I could use a hero-" Henry looked a bit forlorn for a second until Toulon added with a sigh and a roll of his eyes: "As well as a dark anti-hero."

The fact that Albedo had no previous dealings with Marines made him like her even more as he introduced her to his ever expanding crew of doctors and former criminals.
"Doctor Kerouac Sax, he's the chief of medicine and is almost like the crew's..."
"Disappointed father?" The smoking man in with the gray buzz cut added with a note of sarcasm.

"Moving on..." The maker of prosthetic limbs and puppets introduced a score of twenty or so people from medical and criminal backgrounds that produced more drama than actual medicine as of late.

The Black Cross spent their time fawning over the newest, strongest and cutest member while Toulon squatted down and stared at the tied up and drugged father and daughter that he had to question.
Luckily, the child woke first. Time spent as a children's entertainer made Toulon more comfortable asking them questions than adults.

"Is your daddy a marine, Topito?"
"Yep, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone."
To show his immense gratitude, the tall, bearded man reached into the pocket of his white coat and gave the little girl Topito a handful of candy.

OOC: Toulon 7

[Fox]

Albedo was practically oblivious to the man and girl who had tagged along from earlier until Toulon used his strings and puppets to secure them as they ran away. She was confused. But! The crew seemed really impressed by her earlier display, so maybe everything was okay! She grinned at the crew and flexed her tail in a tight curl as she struck a pose, soaking up the attention like a sponge. She simply nodded when Toulon confirmed her guess.

“Ah! Easy then,” Albedo said with a smile, “I got this!” And then she was reminded of Henry’s presence. “We got this,” she corrected.

Toulon swiftly moved on to introducing her to the motley group of crew members from both criminal and medical backgrounds. Nifty. She greeted them all, enjoying the attention and reverting back to her tiny original form on request, being held in Doc Sax’s hands. Hehe! Despite all of the attention, there was one person who had his attention firmly elsewhere.

Albedo peered between the crew to see Toulon squatting down and talking to the captured child. Hm. Why had he done that anyway? Albedo jumped out of Sax’s hands and to the ground, causing the whole group to gasp and freeze up for fear of stepping on their tiniest new member. As they scrambled and looked around in place for her, Albedo bounced over to Toulon and landed on his shoulder just as he asked his question.

“Oh, so that’s why you tied him up!” Albedo squeaked from Toulon’s shoulder, glancing over to him with her arms crossed, “You know giving her candy while she’s all tied up is a little creepy, right? I mean, how’s she even supposed to eat it?”

Albedo plopped down on Toulon’s shoulder and kicked her feet idly. Plus, if there was anyone the love interest should be trying to feed candy to, it was her! Hmph! Albedo puffed out her cheeks, feeling a little indignant. “A-And! What’s with the snake thing? And the wires?”

Albedo | Post Count: 7

[viruswithshoes]

Toulon hoped that his black beard hid his grimace once the word "Creepy" met his ears and it was hardly their first aquaintance when women were concerned, men too for that matter.

"Well," he stretched the word on while trying, somewhat unsucessfully to keep his tone from being too defensive.
"That's Glycon, one of my puppets. He's also my anesthesiologist." The puppeteer made the wooden white cobra with the twin red stripes stand on it's tail and bow slightly to the blue dwarf with a seemingly random twitch of Toulon's fingers.
"I control the puppets through the wires. I work with kids a lot and a puppet is less scary than a needle or a gasmask."
There was a murmur from the Black Cross members within earshot.

"Your point about the tied up child, however, is taken."
A single metal string jutting out from the pinky finger of his lower right prosthetic arm reeled back into the black digit with a sound akin to a rod and reel.

Topito calmly stood and tried to dust herself off with her new metal arm, popped Toulon's candy into her mouth and ran to her unconscious father and fished out a small den den mushi from his jacket pocket.
"This is Princess Platypus. King Platypus is down. At the doctor place."

The little girl swallowed her candy and smirked as if she had just single-handedly wiped out the entire crew with a few words and Toulon was afraid she did just that.
"Acknowledged, Princess Platypus. Berzerk Blood Goddess and a team of Cooties are on their way." Then there was a sigh over the den den mushi as well as a comment that they shouldn't have let a child pick their code names before the caller realized he was still on the line and hung up.

Topito, the confident little girl gave a crisp Marine salute to Toulon and The Black Cross. "I'm Choregirl Topito and you bad doctors are under arrest. Big Sis is coming."

The squatted down across from Topito but he still towered over the little girl at over seven feet tall. He glared at her over his rimless glasses and she glared back in a manner far more serious than a puppeteer and a child should.

"Frankrugger, Miss Navigator...Albedo, please stay." He asked calmly. The long haired man then took a deep breath and shouted whilst never taking his eye off of Chore Girl Topito.
"Everyone else...grab what you can and run for The Coffin Cheater."

"As for you, little Marine..." Toulon dug into the pocket of his white coat and pulled out a piece of cherry flavored taffy. "You can have a whole handful if you stay out of the fighting."
Most children the doctor and puppeteer dealt with were hardened child soldiers and expected more negotiation than a quick "Sure" and Topito running towards her father.
He was shocked that when he shouted "Stop!" She actually obliged.

He threw another few pieces of candy at the girl.
"I'm going to need your father as well."
The smile he gave the large, unconscious marine who tricked him out of beer money shocked even the semi-peaceful Toulon.
"Time to work off that beer I bought you, Topo."

OOC: Toulon 8