Mission #8: Harbor blues [open]

[shore]

OOC: The mission to earn a new tech is actually for Cirrus, as Anna is only E-rank and can't get a new tech yet

IC:

Anna skipped down the street glancing at passing people and occasionally making a rude expression or gesture to stop them from staring. That happened a lot, apparently being the town freak meant other people didn't have to use manners around you. Rude. Anna made a quick left and darted for an alley, she didn't mind the attention too much, it was the whispering that annoyed her. People were never as quiet as they thought they were and it got old very quickly. The alley wasn't exactly well cared for, some loose boards leaning against one building. Looked like they came from a discarded crate that now housed a stray dog, apart from that there was a bit of trash all over. Anna wished someone would clean this crap up sometime, really help make things nicer. She wasn't going to do it of course, but it would be nice if SOMEONE did.

She started off down the alley, walking in a kind of mark with her legs out straight. Not like she had anything really pressing to do, mostly she was waiting for a decent ship to stop on the island... maybe she should be at the harbor for that......... Eh, naw. It was then that Anna heard the light rustling of something. It came from the box with the few missing boards, and it sounded cute!

Anna quickly skipped over to the box and knelt down to peek inside. She wasn't too worried that something might get her, she wasn't exactly normal after all. Her long flowing hair draped around her and spread out like an ebony flower on the ground around her. The very tips of her hair gave off the faintest wisp of a light gray smoke. Individually it was all but unnoticeable, but with all of her hair taking part it made a small ring of smoke that drifted up over her, as if someone talented smoker had just blown a single ring about her. Anna had grown use to the sight and had ceased to be interested in the little clouds for a long while now. Instead her attention focused almost completely into the dark corner of the box.

From the corner came a small whimper, and as Anna's eyes peered into the darkness the shape of a furry little dog could be seen. She had been right, it was cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute! "AWWWWW!!!!! Look at you! You're sooooooo adorable! Come here little cutie!" Anna all but squealed out as she reached to pet the little doggie. In an act of pure instinct the dog began to very quickly back up to the wall of the box, trying to move away from Anna's hand. It tried to escape at the other side of the box, but Anna was at the only exit of its home. No where to escape left only one option to a poor pup, it let out a low growl and tried to snap at Anna's hand. She quickly jerked her digits back before the dog managed to get a taste for them. That dog had tried to bite her! HER! The ultimate lover of all furry animals! What the hell! What kind of stupid dog tries to bite someone that just wants to show it love!



Anna stared the dog down, its instincts telling it to run again. The cloud of light smoke began to rise again, drifting off of the girl's very body. "Fine, I don't care!" Anna said all at once, standing up and walking off. She turned around the corner of the alley and left. The animal calmed down considerably once the scary gir- "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM SHIT FOR BRAINS DOG!" Anna screamed running around the corner and giving the dog's little box a good kick to the side. The box flipped once and the dog tumbled out of it very confused and surprised. "THERE! NOW I don't care anymore." Anna said, turning with a huff and stomping away and around the alley corner again.

The dog could practically be seen letting out its breath, clearly scared but happy to finally have a moment of blissful peac- "OHMYGOD! I'M SOOOOOO SORRY LITTLE PUPPY!" Anna shouted running back into the alley with the hints of tears on her eyes. At this point the dog was just about done with this bi-polar game and took off away from the girl scampering away for its life. Crazy came in a lot of shades but that was just too damn much at once!

Anna's shoulders slumped and she sulked off out of the alley and down the street. Stupid adorable little dogie. It wasn't Anna's fault animals didn't like her, she was made out of Nitrogen, and it was naturally dangerous. Animals could feel the cold from her body and knew better than to get too close... but when she saw something cute and fluffy she just haaaaaaaaaas to hold it and cuddle it and love it. Its not her fault! Its theirs for being too damn cute! This line of thinking didn't cheer Anna up at all.

She made her way to the harbor and noticed a few new ships had arrived. They didn't look too nice, but not too bad either. She had all her stuff packed up to leave, but she'd had all her stuff packed up and ready to leave for over a month now. It was hard to leave, she didn't hate this place but she wanted adventure.... Anna wondered if she would be able to say goodbye to her mother. Sulking, depressing thoughts, and mild interest in the new ships, Anna jumped up onto a wooden post and perched herself on it like a monkey. Crouching and sitting on her heels, her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Anna's long black hair fell straight down and made her look like some kind of strange creature or harbor ghost, the ever so slight touch of smoke about her made it seem all the more so.

"Wonder if anyone'll talk to me today." she mused to herself.

[Cirrus]

'Ah, so this is Karate Island...famed home of the martial artists...perhaps a little observational opportunity shall present itself?' The murmured ramblings of Dr. Dylan Callum Wolf, 48,000,000 wanted head, fell on no ears. The doctor was currently sitting atop a harbour-side building, sword on his lap, using the sheen of the blade to cast a covert glance at his surroundings. So far, nothing that interesting had occurred. However, Dylan was confident that once people realised a large bounty head was just sitting idly in their territory that some action would present itself. There were always those plucky enough to dabble their hands in bounty hunting. Of course, Dylan was always there to thwart their efforts. Recently, the 'Black Cloud' had taken on a little altruistic streak - or, to put it more accurately, an altruistic streak from the viewpoint of random thugs and pirates. The 'Enigma' had made a little name for himself in the Blues; his affinity for diving into other's business, saving their skins and then disappearing again had not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by the bounty on his head. Coincidentally, a bounty poster fluttered in the wind, dancing like a fairy before coming to a temporary rest beside the doctor. Stealing an uninterested look at the paper, Dylan realised that it bore his name, epithet, picture and bounty. In big maroon letters were the figures. It surprised him how much money a man could be worth for causing a little commotion.

'What's that?' The doctor's thoughts were disturbed by the unmistakeable sound of a puppy in pain. Quickly packing up his things, Dylan separated into millions upon millions of particles of pyroclastic ash, being careful that the concentration of his now lethal body wasn't high enough to attract unwanted attention. Reforming himself on a roof over yonder, Dylan's scanning yellow eyes caught sight of a girl in pink punting a puppy before running up to it again and hugging it.

What is this - I don't even?...

Slightly confused and bemused, the doctor decided it apt to follow the odd girl; remaining anonymous by way of his Logia class devil fruit. It had proved to be incredibly handy, both in combat and in recreation. Taking note of the way the dog squirmed and shiverred when the girl touched it, Dylan began to hypothesise what it was about the long-haired girl that made the dog suffer.

'Is she strong? Does she have some kind of way with animals? He murmured as he drifted through the air. The girl seemed to find a suitable destination at the harbour - back where the doctor had first started. Dylan watched as she climbed up the pole, reminding him of a monkey. In his mind's eye, the doctor shrugged before reforming atop an adjacent pole. It would have been an odd sight to witness - a mass of black particles swirling around a wooden pole like a tornado before crescendoing in its activity by forming a man-like shape atop it, finally finishing by disappearing in a burst, only to be replaced by the figure of a man, whose face was familiar but the identity of whom only just escaped one's memory. At least until one took a gander at the myriad of bounty posters splayed upon the walls of the harbour. If one were to do that, then one would immediately recognise the man to be none other than 'Black Cloud' Dylan Wolf, pirate doctor with a 48,000,000 bounty.

'Wonder if anyone will talk to me today...' The girl's question would soon be answered, as Dylan took this as the moment to make his presence known.

'I would advise that you stop wondering, miss.'

[shore]

Anna mused to herself, and as she did so the rustle and mechanics of the man reassembling himself next to her tempted to draw her attention. But no! She would not be swayed to turn her head, for she wasn't always the most observant girl. Instead she stared at the ships and the water, his long hair working as blinders so that her peripheral vision wouldn't pick up the man. Still, surely ash flying around and quickly assembling into a body makes some manner of noise, or the pole might have creaked under him as he form, or something. Well yes, maybe it did... and maybe Anna thought it was just a bird flying around and she didn't want to scare it. Yeah, maybe that was it and you shouldn't be so judgmental just because we are not all as observant as you. So there.

At this point it should be needless to say but, Anna was taken a bit off her guard when the man spoke. The posts were not high up, only about four or five feet tall, but still. It was surprising to see someone else on one. "'I would advise that you stop wondering, miss.'" he said. From the voice alone Anna could have probably guessed it was someone older than herself... but she was a bit worried about other matters. "WAAAAAH!" Anna cried as she turned quickly and lost her balance almost falling off the pole. She managed to dig her feet at the side and give it a tight grip with her hands. The wood was rapidly chilling but that wasn't really something noticeable from a vision point of view. "Geez mister, way to sneak up- if I didn't wonder out loud to myself then who would talk to me when no one was talking to me?- a girl. Creeper." Anna said, managing to cut off her own sentence with a stray thought in her head before finishing her original comment.

She scurried back up on the post and resumed her crouched position, her hands now dangling between her legs, fingers lightly touching the post she perched on. "Are you going to talk to me today?" she asked, a big childish grin on her face.

She promptly stood up and noticed that the man was still taller than herself. Not surprising, as she wasn't remarkably tall or anything. Anna clasped her hands behind her back and balanced on one heel, the other lifted out so that she held herself on the pole by one leg. She looked rather childish, trying to balance and talk at once... clearly not her strong point as she was having trouble thinking of what to say next. Most sailors just wanted to get a drink and some food, none of them wasted much time talking to Anna when they got off the ship... and once they'd stayed a while the people would have already told them that she was a weirdo and not to talk to her if they could help it. Pricks. Well, when in doubt, there is always the time honored back up of all conversations.

"Your hair looks funny." She said without thinking, noticing the stripes running sideways over his bangs. "Um... I mean, Hi I'm Anna." She tried to smile sweetly in hopes that her pretty smile made him forget that she'd just insulted his hair.