9: Have you seen me? (open)

[Farris (Kuro)]

The large light blue skinned Fishman found himself on none other than Strawberry Hill Island. that wasn't to say he wasn't here without a reason. As he gazed at the boarded up orphanage, an orphanage that wasn't unlike the Fishman district where he grew up, there was a odd sense of resolve on the normally smug and arrogant Fishman's face. There was a rumor that a child had gone missing here, but Arlong hadn't cared about that. At least until he heard it was one of his people. A little Fishgirl had disappeared here, She was said to be the only Fishgirl born in the blues and had vanished one day. The stories neglected to say what befell the child's mother, but Arlong was already sure he knew the answer... Humans. She was likely killed and the child was taken here, likely until she was ripe to be sold as a slave as that was what humans did.

However, the chance that she might have escaped and was hiding somewhere nearby was all the motivation the Saw shark needed to check the place out and find his little sister. Perhaps this experience would encourage her to join him and his crew, if not he'd at least see to it that she reached Fishman Island safely. Arlong might have been a brute and held a deep hatred for humans but he was generally good to his people. Even Jinbei most of the time yet they never saw eye to eye, he held out hope that his brother would eventually wise up and stop being a "good little doggy" for the human bottom feeders. Though he begrudging accepted the aid of humans and even allowed them into his crew after Nami's treachery, it didn't mean he liked them... Nor the one that decided to join him today...

[thormundsson]

Loec was chuckling to himself as he watched the fishman ponder something. The shark was at least a head taller than Loec and probably much stronger but it felt too humorous to him that there was a shark in clothes standing next to him. Fishmen really were an interesting bunch, with all their strange abilities and such. He could feel the fishman's dislike for him through the glares he occasionally shot Loec. It was clear that the captain of the Arlong pirates wasn't a very social person.

And to add to his mirth the two were about to enter some old building where supposedly several children had gone missing and the place was now haunted. The thought of seeing ghosts was an exhilarating one and Loec couldn't wait to get started. He did feel a soft spot in his heart though. The death of children wasn't something he enjoyed. It meant they were never allowed to enjoy things and in turn rob others of the joy of seeing their actions.

"A sad day when the world is robbed of joy, hehehe" he chuckled to himself as he turned his gaze back towards the old building. The bulding was huge and had obviously been a large and important structure in some distant past but now it was a mere shadow of it's former self with windows broken and no apparent movement inside.

"So we are tracking a child, is that it, hehehe" he laughed as he shot a glance at the large fishman that was standing near him. "I guess going in would be the logical thing, then, heheheheee" he laughed as he gestured for the shark to go on first. He figured the response of any who were inside would be to funny when the fishman entered so instead of his usual move to be the first in to the fun the fishman would lead the way. Something about the large fish said that he didn't like humans going ahead anyways.

[EriChar]

“MMMMMMMMMM!!!” Orinoko said loudly, her lips pushed together into a pout and her right hand placed flat above her brow, in front of the peak of her cap, as she stood on tippy toes and peered around. “Where did Long-Tama go?” She asked, possibly to herself or possibly to the wind, it was unclear to all parties concerned.

She couldn’t understand it, she only took her eyes off him for a second to make him a crown of flowers, and when she turned around he had disappeared! To the left, nothing, to the right, still nothing. Above was bright and below was the floor, he wasn’t asleep on it. Behind? No, not behind either, oh! What about in front? No, still disappointingly he wasn’t there either!
Frowning, Orinoko put her hands on her hips, the flowery crown she had constructed resting in her left hip, there was no sign of him anywhere!

“Long-tama, I’m boooooored!” She cried, her voice pleading as she waved her arms around like a frustrated child and screwed up her eyes tight. “BORED! BORED! BORED!” Orinoco continued, her arms still flailing and leaves and flowers starting to be flicked off of her flower crown. It was a strange sight to behold, for all the childishness of her behaviour, Orinoco was a grown woman and a fishwoman no less, her tall frame towering over the height of the average man, let alone woman.

After a few more calls of ‘Bored’, and finally finished with her furious flailing fists, Orinoko stopped and rubbed her tummy gently. “I’m hungry!” she said, apparently as surprised to realise that as anybody else would be in the vicinity. Glancing around, she spied a sign that pointed to ‘Strawberry Hill… something’, she never bothered to read the rest of the sign, as the first two parts sounded delicious enough. Following the direction the sign pointed, Orinoco headed off, doing a comically exaggerated march as she moved along. A hill made of strawberries? Must be yummy! she thought, a little drool creeping from the young fishwoman’s mouth.

[Farris (Kuro)]

Arlong arched a brow at the human, this one was a weird one to say the least. "That's the idea human." The Saw shark said but his gaze shifted to looking around as he noticed something or rather someone was missing. Orinoko must have idled somewhere along the way. Though Arlong figured his sister was a big girl and would catch up to him, he waited only a moment longer before calling out, "Sister Orinoko-chan!" after no response he simply lead the way into the once grand looking Orphanage. It was a small effort to pry the boards off of the door that prevented anyone from entering, especially with his strength. After which he entered the building which was covered in dust, the creeking floor boards complaining as they suported the Fishman's weight. The shark looked back over his shoulder with a sneer, "Coming, human?" He asked as if insulting the bravery of his "companion".

"The Saw" made no attempt to hide his dislike for the human, nor any human for that matter. He was only working with this man at the request of the revolutionaries that had given him him the information to begin with. Arlong returned his attention to his surroundings and started moving furniture and rugs looking for any signs of a hidden escape route that his little Sister could have used to escape a festering human cage. That's what this place was to him, a broken down, once dolled up cage to trap a sister of his race away from her own kind and with a bunch of filth bottom feeders. The thought made Arlong sick, a young one liked that should be with her brothers and sisters.

[thormundsson]

The sharks calling to his sister was a strange sort of moment. It was hard to imagine a beast like him with any kind of relatives without the thought of some sort of an aquarium sliding through Loec's mind. He had to keep him self from laughing too hard as he imagined Arlong along with other fishmen in a giant glass cube trying to get at the good food.

Loec didn't wasn't even bothered nor did he even notice the rude tone that Arlong talked in has he asked if he wasn't coming along. Loec had learned long ago that getting bothered with such things was for those with too much pride and honor. He had himself departed with all such feelings a long time ago when he realized that they would only get in the way of his fun.

He had to admire the fishman's strength as he tore of the wooden planks with ease and the two of them entered the building. He could swear he heard someone moving around behind them but decided that if the person had business with them she'd find them soon enough. The inside of the building did not induce much faith in finding anything alive in there. There was a layer of dust over everything and the room was a mess of chairs and tables lying around. The thought that somewhere was a dried up fishman gave him a bit of laugh. "Looks like they will all be fossilized, hahaha" he chuckled as moved through the room, looking for any signs of activity.

The fishman's mood seemed to worsen as he surveyed the room and it's state was obviously a concern for him. "So they do have feelings, hehe" Loec laughed quietly to himself. He stood there smiling and looking around as he waited for the shark to take some action or continue on further in to the building.

[EriChar]

“Ichi-ichi-ichi-gooooooo!” Sand Orinoco as she bounced along a wall in the direction of the orphanage happily. Her tummy was empty but the thought of eating strawberries until she burst was lifting her spirits. “Mashishishishishi!” She giggled to herself as she imagined an image of her swollen like a balloon, having eaten the entire hill’s worth of strawberries.
I might save a few and give them to Long-Tama… She thought, then pouted, tapping her chin as she wondered if Long-Tama even liked Strawberries? She hadn’t ever seen him eat sweet things, she always used to gobble down parfait and cheesecakes while he was satisfied with shellfish. With a nod and a hand stamp, it was decided, she would save some strawberries and make him a nice cake to eat, he would love it, of that she was sure!

“Sister Orinoko-chan!”

A voice in the distance grabbed Orinoko’s attention, it sounded like Arlong’s so all to soon she was tring to spot him again. Neither in a nearby dustbin nor under a hoppity frog, no sign of him, had she imagined the voice? No, she had definitely heard it, and if he wasn’t near then he was far, she must have been catching up to him if she could hear him now, so she was definitely going in the right direction.
“Maybe he went to pick strawberries for me?” She asked, tear drops in the corners of her eyes as her lip wobbled a little from the sweetness of Long-Tama picking the Strawberry Hill of all it’s strawberries and offering them to her. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, Orinoko announced happily “I love you, Long-tama!” he must have spied her making him the crown and wanted to make it up to her!

In truth, Orinoko had to come to the island to investigate the disappearance of a little fishgirl, but in all the excitement of making a flowery crown and hunger for strawberries, this intention of helping someone that Orinoko could empathise with so had been temporarily misplaced it the jumbling of her mind. Filled with images of a princely looking Arlong giving her a small treat of a several story tall pile of strawberries, Orinoko dashed along the road to give him a huuuuuuuge hug!

[Farris (Kuro)]

Arlong sneezed but chopped it up to the dust in the disgusting human dwelling. The search wasn't going well and it was putting Arlong into a bad mood. The human wasn't helping matters, his talk of fossils insinuated that one of his sisters would die here. The shark growled out in irritation before he was sure he hadn't missed anything as he moved to the next room. As he left a mirage-like ghostly image of a small boy appeared in front of the door behind Arlong and yet in front of Loec. The ghost tilted it's head, waved then turned into a skeleton ghost and laughed slightly in and eternally void of sound world before vanishing altogether. A moment later a loud crash could be hear followed by a "OW!" from the Saw shark. If one were to enter the room one would see a book shelf full of jars, books and old toys had fallen on the unsuspecting Fishman.

Arlong Snarled at the offending human made furnishing as he got up and effortlessly lifted the shelf off his person while taking care not to step on the broken glass from the now broken Jars. He didn't know how but this was the human's fault... or a human's fault it ether case he cursed them and for the second time wondered where Orinoko was. His sister shouldn't stray to far from him, Humans hight try to attack her as was what they normally did to his race. "Sister Orinoco-chan, where did she get off too..?" He grumbled as he looked around the new room.

[thormundsson]

Loec was a man not unaccustomed to strange things. He was a devil's fruit user, he knew fishman and had seen strange and incredibly humorous things on his travels but the appearance of a ghost was not what he had been expecting. His constant grin dropped a few inches as he took in the strange sight that beheld him. The weird figure of the little boy running past him and in to the room where the fishman was was funny enough but he could see his own image in a mirror close by. It sparked a whole new wave of laughter. "aahaahhahaha what an interesting place, hahah!" He laughed as he moved after the spirit. This next room seemed to be a reception of some sort. There was a large, old wooden desk stretching the better part of one of the walls and the walls themselves were lined with large cabinets, most of them closed. The air was thicker in here and it was clear that clean air had not moved through in years.

He got the feeling that the fishman's patience was wearing thin and the fact that an entire cabinet crumbled on to him probably didn't help. The fishman seemed none the worse to wear but the sight was somewhat amusing. Usually the sight of a man getting hit by a large cabinet would have sent him in to a fit of laughter but the sudden ghostly image had somewhat lessened the amount of humor found in such cheap slapstick. Surely there would be more interesting and strange sights soon enough. "whoa, eheheh easy there, sharkman. Looks like that ghost is aiming for you, ehehhee" he chuckled as the fishman tossed the shattered remains of the cabinet away and dusted himself off.

"nooow, shall we go and see if there are little fishman ghosts running around or would you rather see what it is that's shouting behind us, hehehheheheh" Loec grinned as he gestured towards the entrance and the noise that someone was making outside. Whoever it was he or she certainly was not a silent assassin, that much was for sure.

[EriChar]

“Uhhhhhh…” Was all Orinoko could think to say as she looked down a very pointy pitchfork to a beared old human in front of her.

“Get off our island, freak!” He said, jabbing it in her direction, making Orinoko take a few steps back.

She had been merrily bouncing along the pavement to get to the ‘Strawberry Hill’, when all of a sudden she was faced down with a gang of humans, some with pitch forks, others with torches. She had assumed that they were off to farm, probably til late at night since they had torches, but now they seemed to be blocking her way.

Pointing out her lips into a pout, Orinoko waved her hand and said “I just wanna find the hill of strawberries, please let me past!” She finished, putting together her hands and bowing slightly, begging them to let her through. She had no idea why they seemed to be regarding her so aggressively, she had been ever such a good girl while she had been on the island, not even shocking a single person.

“Didn’t ya hear me, fish?” Said the lead man, the only one of the bunch who wasn’t trembling as they bore their makeshift arms. “GIT!” He said, aiming a lunge straight at Orinoko’s head!

“KYAAA!” Orinoko screamed as she ducked out of the way, the act of violence bringing out her instincts, she summoned her fishwoman strength and with her eyes closed she gave the old man a very hard slap, shouting at him “THAT WAS REALLY DANGEROUS!!!!”
The force of her blow was so much beyond what the old man had expected, even though it was kind of unintentional by Orinoko, that he was sent reeling and crashed into a nearby wall, knocking the irate old geezer into a daze.

With their leader taken down, seemingly effortlessly, the rest panicked and after looking at each other, they all ran away. Opening her eyes, Orinoko looked at the man, counting circling birds and apologetically offered her hand to him and said, “I’m so sorry!”

However, with his backup gone, the geezer panicked like the rest and ran away, shouting as he left “We won’t forget this!”

Pouting, Orinoko watched him stumble as he ran, and said sadly to herself “I-It was an accident…” Her spirits deflated, the young fishwoman dragged her heels and moved along, hoping to catch up with Long-Tama…

[Farris (Kuro)]

"whoa, eheheh easy there, sharkman. Looks like that ghost is aiming for you, ehehhee" he chuckled as the fishman tossed the shattered remains of the cabinet away and dusted himself off.

A nerve popped on the large shark's brow, It seemed everything that came out of the human's mouth made him want to clobber him. It was taking all his patients and tolerance to keep his anger at bay. Not that he was doing it for the human's sake mind you he was doing it so that the little fishgirl wouldn't get scared. However first chance he got after they found her, he was gonna beat the crap out of this guy. "Ghosts? What are you talking about human?" The Saw shark snorted. What sorta ridiculous babel was this man getting at? Arlong wasn't one to believe in ghosts, even with the things he'd seen in the grand line. After all, He had met someone that was suppose to be a "ghost" once and it proved to just be a normal, albeit strange member of his race, though that was a different story, one that was long past.

It was then that he heard "nooow, shall we go and see if there are little fishman ghosts running around or would you rather see what it is that's shouting behind us, hehehheheheh" From the grinning human. That was it! The saw shark placed a hand on Loec's head with a cruel grin. "Even as children My race is far superior to yours. Theirs no chance one of my race would die here in this disgusting place." He growled out gradually tightening his hold until the same ghost as before kicked the desk into Arlong's legs, forcing him to release the human. "What the--?!" He snapped angrily but couldn't see the source. What's more the ghost was gone again.

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Outside the House a very short figure covered in rags with their face hidden was running down the hill away from the direction of the Orphanage. The small skinny thing looked frightened as it ran right into the Fishwoman before before falling on it's butt and somersaulting back a short distance. A small patch of dark brown and orange was exposed under the rags to, the skin was to of a human coloration, but the small being was quick to recover herself and seemed to shiver with fear and try to inch passed the Fishwoman.

(OOC: sorry in advanced for any minor god-modding. If it bothers you I'll change it.)

[thormundsson]

Loec rubbed his head as the fishman let go. It was not a shock to him that with bare hands the large shark had managed to break through his skin and there was a trickle of blood running down the right side of his face. He stuck his tongue out and let the bitter taste of blood fill his mouth. Loec didn't much care about it, somehow the fishman just wasn't fun enough. He decided that this wasn't much of anything since he hadn't exactly hurt him a lot. Still there was no reason to let it slide completely.

"Heehehe, that's a good one, shark....however, I don't recommend telling a joke a second time. I guarantee you that I have enough juice to take the entire place down and then there will be no finding your lost sister....we clear on that, heheehe" he said, smiling, as he walked past the shark, using an old piece of cloth to wipe the blood from his face. This whole mission was starting to get to him though. The dullness of the abandoned place combined with the boring attitude of the fishman was really dragging him down and even the presence of ghosts wasn't making it fun enough.

"let's just get this all over with, hehehe" he chuckled and moved on, emerging in to what must have been an activities center of some sort. The room was large and spacey but seemed to be filled with nothing but old and ruined chairs and tables. It must have been and educational room but it seemed to strict and unnatural, and there was a heavy aura of weariness over the entire room.

Then the ghosts started flickering in and out of existence and the whole thing got a whole lot interesting.

[EriChar]

Finally arriving at what Orinoko assumed was the mentioned ‘Strawberry Hill’, she looked around the base of it, trying to spot any sight of strawberries or Long-tama. As she often did, her hand was flatly pressed over her brow, an exaggerated pose considering that she was currently in the shade. There was no sign of either of her targets, so she assumed that her earlier suspicions had come true and Long-tama had gathered the strawberries up, and maybe taken them up to that large house atop the hill? With the idea of Arlong waiting with the Strawberries, Orinoko resumed her happy march and slightly obliviously set off up the hill.

Bounce! Orinoko felt something tiny bounce off her leg, it wasn’t painful or anything, but prominent enough to notice. Assuming that an animal, maybe a dog or hopefully a tanuki had ran into her, Orinoko looked down to see a small figure rolling away, the strange colour of the girl’s skin catching her attention.

A little disappointed she hadn’t met a cute pet, Orinoko was curious none the less so she crouched downward until she was hugging her knee’s, nicely in the eye line of the little girl that she peered at curiously.
“I’m sorry!” Orinoko told the small figure she seemed to have bowled over “I wasn’t looking where I was going!” She finished, playfully banging her head with a fist in a cute and apologetic manner.


However, despite her apology, the small heap gave no response, and simply shook and tried to back away from Orinoko. Blinking with slight frown, Orinoko attempted to peer past the rags that the girl wore and see what she looked like, but her face was too hidden.

Concerned, Orinoko extended a slow hand to the trembling form in front of her and comfortingly placed it on the girls cheek.
“It’s OK, I’m not going to hurt you…” The fishwoman said, a much more mature and motherly side to her being shown that contrasted her usual childishness. Looking at the trembling thing in front of her, softly stroking her cheek, Orinoko recalled the times when she was upset herself as a child and her own mother would comfort her. The maternal instinct even of this definitely weird and eccentric fishwoman kicked in, and before you knew it she had pulled the small form into her shoulder and whispered “…I’m going to look after you.”