Winter Wonderland...sort of

[Renegade]

"A-A-CHOOOOO!"

Sniffling loudly, Reynard wipes his nose on his sleeve as he looks down to the deck below at the people bustling around as the ship approached shore. He himself lounged up above in a tangle of ropes, not feeling as if he was needed down below to help with the preparations to pull into dock. The men were perfectly capable of doing it themselves and he would just get in the way.

Soon enough, the vessel bumps up again the dock and the men begin to tie it down so it won't float off. Yawning and shivering off the extreme cold of the island, Reynard rolls over and drops lightly to the deck of the ship below. Landing lithely on the wood planks, he rises from his crouched position and smiles at finally being able to get on with his transfer to the new crew he would be working with. "But why does it have to be in such a bloody cold area?" he wonders to himself aloud, letting out another loud sneeze.

Deciding that the sea breeze was making the cold worse, he steps off the ship and onto the pier where he begins to make his way into the small port town ahead. Off a mile or so down the coast line he could see a large militaristic building, along with a marine warship sitting in the port connected to it. That would eventually be his destination, however for right now he didn't feel like heading in that direction and helping to get the ship ready to leave.

Making his way down the main road and into the town, he hears a commotion coming from a building nearby. Wondering what the noise is all about, he approaches the building to discover it's a pub. Walking through the door, he immediately lets out a sigh of relief as the heat from the fire and all of the bodies inside begins to thaw his body from the extreme cold inside. Approaching the bar at the front he sits down and order a mug of ale, as nothing removed a chill like some good ale. As the bartender sets down the brew, he hears a loud cry from the corner of the room where a man loudly yells,
"But I'm telling you it's the truth!"

[Masta Deltron]

The chattering of teeth could be heard throughout the room as Julian sat down at a desk on the vessel. Even though he was probably wearing like 5 layers of cold he could still feel the cold lick of Jack Frost down his spine. “How do I get myself in these types of predicaments? Well no use crying over money I am going to get soon.” He thought as he reached for his trusty flask. He opened his mouth preparing his self for a tasty treat. It was full yet, nothing came out of it the booze was frozen that was a damn shame. He just slammed his head on the desk. “Why me?”

There was a knock on the door, “Sir we have arrived.” Julian just grunted as he put the papers back in the file and just proceeded through the doors. “Well guess it’s time to get to work.” The boat was alive for the time being as everyone prepared to get off the boat. Technically he was the captain of this ship even though he was an unsanctioned marine but held the rank of captain. Julian wasn’t a fan of the whole leadership thing but he did it when it was needed.

He made his way off the boat and just looked around. Once again he just let out a deep sigh as he decided he would head into town to look for some information on the missing merchandise. It was a cold walk from the ship into town. The marines offered some bodyguards but that would be too obvious, not to mention he didn’t where anything that attached him to the marines. The only thing that tethered him to the marines was his detective badge. He stopped; as something was in view, salvation…there was a pub nearby. This meant a few things, heat, people and most important booze. In a mad dash he kicked up tons of snow as he ran towards heavens gates. He flung the door open causing all sorts of ruckus and just ran to the bar. “Give me a glass of your finest scotch.” The Bartender gives him an awkward look, “Scotch?” he asked. Julian shook his head, “Give me some alcohol and not the weak stuff.” The bartender nodded and prepared his drink.

The tender slid the drink to Julian and he just inhaled the drink as if it was nothing. “Sweet Jesus that hit the spot.” He thought. Then noise from the back drew his attention as he spun around in the chair to see what was going on.

[Renegade]

"Oh yeah, we all believe you, don't we boys?" says one of the men standing in the crowd as a small chorus of laughs follows him.

"I'm not lying, they took my polar bears and hid further inland around the mountains," says the older man again, desperation sounding as his voice cracks.

"The marines ran those pirates off of the island a week ago, and everyone saw it. Don't blame your inability to care for your polar bear herd on some imaginary pirates," says another of the men, as the crowd begins to disperse throughout the pub, laughing about the old man the entire time.

Meanwhile, Reynard was sitting there the entire time listening to the debate. He didn't particularly care about the situation on way or another, but as a marine officer he figured it was his responsibility to see if he could help the man. Plus if he was right and there were still pirates on the island, it was his duty to protect them. Groaning and finishing his ale, he rises to his feet and makes his way over to the old man who was standing in the same place with a look of defeat plain on his face.

Approaching the older man, Reynard says, "So you say there are pirates still on the island, huh?"

The man, whose gaze had been focused downward, suddenly looks up at Reynard with hope on his face again. "You mean you believe me?" he asks with his eyes glistening with emotion.

Reynard rubs the back of his head awkwardly, feeling a little bit uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Well I don't know if I believe you, but as a marine it's my duty to investigate the possibility of your words being true."

"Well I suppose I can't ask for more than that...," says the man as he sighs and reaches into his pocket. After a moment of fishing around, he withdraws a piece of cloth from his pocket, "I found this in my polar bear pin."

[EriChar]

<<<A new challenger appears!!!!>>>


“Was it always this cold and snowy?” Tsun Dehre asked herself, in a hushed tone, looking around the snow covered dock from the ship which she had just departed. On a whim, she had taken a ferry into north blue, expecting to end up in her former homeland of Adler Kingdom, more commonly known these days by the name ‘Nuovo Romano’. The steam technology capital of North Blue and perhaps the world, that was where Tsun Dehre was born, and was also the reason behind her knack for steam engines. Having glanced at the newspaper and seeing that they had made a big advance in compression, she had decided to return to the homeland she had left more than ten years ago, in the hopes of learning more about it. However, in all of her rough memories as a small child, she had never remembered her homeland being quite this cold, and certainly never this snow-covered.

Shivering slightly, the small girl that was Tsun Dehre dropped the large, bloated backpack she carried at her shoulder, and burrowed into it for several moments, before tearing out a long knitted scarf, slightly stained with oil marks and grime, and a woolly hat which had a pair of bear ears. Along with the scarf, a screwdriver fell from the bag and landed in the snow, and after she had pulled the bear-eared hat over her head, Tsun plucked the screwdriver back up and pushed it back into the overflowing backpack, forcing the bag shut and looking around her as she coiled the slightly grubby scarf around her neck. Giving a slight, girly groan as she lifted the heaving rucksack back onto her shoulders, the little girl took small steps and pottered over to a deck worker who was moving cargo a few dozen feet away. As she walked, Tsun took a pair of knitted mittens from her pockets, pink in colour but easily as marked as her scarf by stains and scuffs.

“Hey, uh… Is this island Ad- Nuovo Romano?” The tiny girl asked the dock worker, a rough edge to the words that one would expect to be squeaked out by such a tiny little girl. Stuffing her hands into the mittens as she waited for an answer, Tsun shut and fastened her coat, her pleated miniskirt and high socks hardly beneficial in this sort of environment.

“Nuovo Romano?” The dock hand asked, not yet giving Tsun the information that she needed, causing her some annoyance as he tapped his chin, like it was so hard to remember where they were.
“No, this is Ice Nine. Wasn’t Nuovo Romano the last stop…?” Another question, did this man ever give an answer he was sure of? Such an unassertive man.

“For crap’s-sake.” Tsun blurted out, her brow lowering in annoyance and a lack of understanding. The last stop she remembered had been that Holy Empire place, the one that had taken over her homeland. She had thought that the journey had taken a few days longer than she had expected, but figured they either had a useless navigator or a slow set of sails.

Oh… Maybe I napped longer than I thought? It suddenly occurred to Tsun that the hours nap she took the day before was especially restful. After having stayed up for four days before that when she was trying to devise a way to dampen the recoil that Pocchan put out. Ordinarily, that sort of precision work would only have taken her a day or so, but the peskiness of doing it in a cabin meant that a strong wave had knocked the pieces that made up him all over the cabin, which necessitated a long night of plucking them back out of the cracks and gaps in the deck, and re-machining the parts she couldn’t find. To add to that, after completely rebuilding it, the operation was a failure. While she had completely removed the kickback that her ‘rough puppy’ put out, disappointingly it had also given it the offensive force of an asthmatic’s wheeze, so she had to remove her alterations and, more carefully this time, put the weapon back how it was. With all this done, and by the time she’d caught up on her food and drink missed, the best part of four days had passed. So, she opted to take a short nap, setting her alarm clock for an hour. Fortunately though, she woke up a little before the alarm clock was set to go off, and surprisingly she felt a lot more rested than she would have expected. This vexed her for two reasons, for one she had apparently slept for a lot longer than she had intended, and missed her stop. But more importantly, the alarm clock she had made apparently didn’t have a good alarm.

With a long, irritated sigh, Tsun broke her thought process and for the time being opted to ignore the malfunctioning alarm clock to ask a question.
“When will the next boat to Nuovo Romano be then?” She jabbed the question at the dock worker, hoping that it would be soon…

SPOILER: Click to show

Steam Gun Mk I AKA ‘Pocchan’
A strange creation built by Tsun which features a small built-in steam engine. Resembling a large hair dryer, the weapon uses built up steam pressure to fire small air balls at her targets. Despite being made of air, they shoot with such force that could be compared to being hit by the strong blow of a martial artist.
The drawback of her steam gun at this point, however, is that it takes most of her strength the restrain the weapon as she fires it, because it gives out a large amount of recoil. Because the weapon gives such a tremendous kickback to her weak frame, she describes ‘Pocchan’ as a rough puppy.

[Masta Deltron]

Julian noticed a marine that approached the group of people causing all the commotion. He was interested now. This type of thing meant something of value was being said so he decided to investigate a little bit. He signaled for another cup and stood up from the stool. This is when his skills started to kick in. Because he was all wrapped up in winter clothes it would be hard for anyone to tell who he was, even though he wasn’t all that famous anyways. Regardless a guy walking around a town like this in a suit would stand out like a sore thumb. He was no were near drunk but he could play the part like it was nothing. Stumbling over to the table where the marines had confronted the group about something. He nitpicked the information that he needed. “Polar bears and pirates you say?….hic” he sat down in the chair next to the guy.

The guy became even more nervous as this guy came out of nowhere and just causally sat down between them without a care in the world. “Well what do we have here???” Julian grabbed the cloth and began to eyeball it. “Yea looks like some form of ripped clothing or something of that nature. Whoever took the Polar bears was sloppy, nine times out of ten they left even more evidence behind at the scene. Yet because of the dated look of the cloth the scene would have been no doubt destroyed.” He thought. Julian kicked his feet on the table and pointed his glass at the marine. “I reckon this gent would..lurve to guve us a hand.” He had to slur his words a bit to make it seem believable.

He looked over the marine to examine him and maybe determine his worth. “Hmm, young but has seen his fair share of action. A swordsman but still inexperienced from the look of his blade, he could prove a valuable asset but that is still to be determined.” Julian thought. He leaned in to the lad with the cloth, “I will be taking this.” He took the cloth and placed it in his pocket for later. The looking at the marine again he just guzzled the rest of the drink and placed the glass on the table. “Shall we make our way to the pin to investigate a bit more?” he said calmly.

[Renegade]

Right as the polar bear herder pulled out the cloth, a man came stumbling up to them in what appeared to be a drunken stupor and began to talk. Without taking the time to introduce himself, the man immediately sat down in a nearby chair and began talking. The polar bear herder looked repulse by the drunk's inviting himself into the conversation, but as he talked Reynard began to grow suspicious. All of his analyses were spot on, and he had an air about him that seemed like he had been doing this sort of thing for a while. Narrowing his eyes, Reynard began scrutinizing the drunk and trying to figure him out.

Clearly there's more to this man than a drunk, his mind is far too astute, he thinks to himself calmly. Something just seemed off, and it took a few moments but Reynard was finally able to put his finger on it. He discreetly sniffed the air for a moment, and noticed that there wasn't a very pungent scent of alcohol coming off of the man. While there was the scent, it just wasn't strong enough to justify how drunk he was pretending to be. Reynard doubted the polar bear herder would notice something like that, but to Reynard it seemed odd. Clearly the guy was trying to hide something, but what was it?

When he finished talking, Reynard turned to the polar bear herder and said, "I'd be happy to help you with your problem. If you'll give me a moment to close out my tab with the bartender I'll meet you right outside and we can begin investigating."

Looking relieved to get away from the drunk, or the man pretending to be drunk in this case, the polar bear herder nods and says, "Thank you so much sir, I'll wait for you right outside the door."

As the man walks away and heads towards the door Reynard reaches out and casually grabs the drunk by the arm, pretending to help steer him back to the bar. As they approach the counter, Reynard glances over his shoulder to see the polar bear herder already out the door and he pauses to look at the man next to him. "You can stop the act now. Who are you and why are you trying to hide yourself by acting like another drunk at a bar?" he asks suspiciously, his voice holding an edge to it.

[EriChar]

A week until the next ferry? The information that she had managed to press out of the dock worker had not put Tsun Dehre in the best of moods. The wicked wind whipping around snowflakes and making her shiver a little; Tsun tucked her head deeper within her scarf and burrowed her hands into the pockets of her coat, her frame shrinking as she coiled her body tightly and bent her legs to reduce her exposure. A small, compacted form carrying a huge pack, Miss Dehre’s eyes peeked between the rim of her scarf and then the brim of her woolly hat, scanning the surrounding buildings for somewhere to take shelter from this abhorrent cold. She’d experienced many different kinds of weather in the locales that she had travelled with her Grandpa, but Tsun Dehre could never recall such biting, bone chilling coldness. There were hot places, dry places, wet places, cold places, dark places, bright places, and even a place filled with Okama; but not one of them felt quite as chilling as this one.

The small imprints in the snow marking her journey, Tsun moved through the frozen environment of Ice Nine, her complaints about the cold having her mentally envisage a system to protect her from it as she took her steps.
If the whole body were sealed off, at an airtight level, with vacuum protection… The miniature machinist had the image of a strange, full body suit, with a big transparent globe for the headpiece.
No matter how extreme the environment was, if you could prevent the temperature loss, you could survive extremes of cold temperature far in excess of those typically seen on the earth. It seemed the perfect system, she would be able to stroll around the worst nights of chill even in a bitter place like Ice Nine, comfortable in a thin atmosphere of air heated to a comfortable body temperature.
Although… It would be super heavy. The mechanic admitted to herself as she shelved the idea for now.
Like walking around in two or three suits of armour. Tsun had a certain wiry strength about her; she certainly possessed above average physical strength for a girl her age since she usually handled heavy machinery. But she was still a very human teenage girl, she lacked the strength and stamina to be lifting around a body suit with her own strength.
Perhaps there’s a way to build a sort of outer shell? Tsun wondered, thinking if she couldn’t lift her weighted limbs by herself, perhaps she could build mechanisms to do it for her?

However, as Tsun pondered the idea of a exo-skeletal powered armour-suit contraption, she finally managed to trudge up to a sign that would perhaps promise a temporary release from her current cold climate discomfort. A sign which had a thick build-up of snow sat on top bore the name “Frozen Penguin Lodge.”
Finally, an inn. Tsun had been informed of this hotel by the dock worker she had accosted earlier; his ear to the ground told him this was the closest inn likely to have spaces, so Tsun had decided to head here and book a room for the night at least, while she set on a plan for the more immediate future.
Pulling her body and the heavy pack she carried up the freshly swept steps of the establishment, Tsun Dehre near fell through its door as she thrust her body through it, stumbling into the inn’s reception as the large pack and weariness of the snow walk took their toll on her. Regaining her composure, Tsun dusted off the almost inch thick layer of snow that had built up on her shoulders, and was quickly aware of the marked difference in environment from inside to outside. Absent of the snow and the harsh wind, even the humble heat that a coal fire produced was by comparison a sweltering heat. The solitary shipwright bathed in the heat of the hotel, feeling the slight sensation of numbness in her legs and nose begin to thaw away, as she waited for the registrar to deal with the couple already at the desk. A few wonderfully warm moments later, the pair received a key followed by a bow from the clerk, and then moved out of Tsun’s way.

“One room for the night.” Miss Dehre told the clerk, biting down on the tip of her mitten and pulling a hand out which was a little on the shaky side. Not yet looking at the receptionist, Tsun used her now exposed mitt to pull some money from her pocket, ready to pay for the room, but to her disapproval when she came to tender it, the clerk seemed to be apologising.

“I’m sorry, Miss. With the current emergency, many of our beds are being taken up by the injured and ill.” The old man in front of Tsun smiled, but not one out of joy or happiness, in fact the smile seemed to be lacking anything in the way of positivity, more a smile born of sympathy, like the Ojii was extending a small consolation to the little girl coming in out from the cold.

Injured and ill? The lone lady questioned, a frown creasing her brow as she assessed the information in silence.
Doesn’t this place have hospitals for that kind of thing?
“Thanks for… The heat. “ Tsun told the clerk and then let out a sigh, demonstrating her dissatisfaction and turned from the old man and woefully trudging back to the hotel door to find another place to stay, but not at all relishing the thought of stepping back into the cold of Ice Nine’s open air.

However, the clerk seemed to have picked up on the teenage girl’s ill thought, or found something sympathetic about the prospect of a lone schoolgirl striding back into the cold, since before she had placed her hand on the door, his voice had asked her to wait.
Turning back to him, Tsun saw that he had stepped from behind his counter and beckoned for her to follow.
“There’s room by the fire in the kitchen, if you need to warm yourself up.” The old man said, showing Tsun that the people of this place perhaps weren’t as lacking in hospitality as the environment which they had chosen to live.

[Masta Deltron]

The three gentle men had come to agreement on going to get to the bottom of this mystery. Julian drank the rest of his alcohol in his cup and before he could say anything the young marine gent interrupted him.

"I'd be happy to help you with your problem. If you'll give me a moment to close out my tab with the bartender I'll meet you right outside and we can begin investigating."

The two got up and walked to the door, they exchanged some words then the marine made his way back over to Julian. He began to stand up as the marine started to pull him towards the bar by his arm. He glanced over Julian’s shoulder before speaking to him. Julian knew the jig was up at this point, the marine must have figured him out. He wasn’t surprised any man with some deduction skills would have figured out that he is faking.

"You can stop the act now. Who are you and why are you trying to hide yourself by acting like another drunk at a bar?" he asks suspiciously, his voice holding an edge to it.

Julian’s facial expression shifted to a more serious one. He took a significant amount beri out and placed it on the bar counter, “This should be able to cover both of us, keep the change.” He looked over at the marine and gave him a nod. “Well I commend you for having some competence and honor rather just looking out for yourself. I will explain who I am on the way there, I rather not bring too much attention to us in a place like this. Even though there is a marine base here you never know who could be listening. Remember loose lips sink ships, oh how rude of me. My name is Julian Strife it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He explained.

He stood up from the bar and began to make his way over to the door, “Come we have much work to do!”

[EriChar]

At least the know how to build a decent fire… Finally, sat on a stool in front of the fireplace in the kitchen, Tsun’s small frame had relaxed a little, now free of that biting chill that had hardened her muscles. Having taken her outdoor clothing off, the young ship designer was now perched on her pew in the scruffy looking blouse and cardigan, along with the pleated skirt and knee high socks that she preferred. Ceasing to rub her hands slowly, the girl noticed the silhouette that was the shadow of her form, and brought her hand up to the crown of her head. Flattening her fingers and hand, Miss Dehre used her paw to loosely tame the spurts of stray hair that her hat had caused, and when done, the girl pulled the long bang that hung over her left eye back and over the corresponding ear. With her aesthetic maintenance complete for the time being, Tsun’s ear was caught by the nearby ring of a spoon being ran around a mug, and she turned her head to see that the woman who occupied the kitchen; apparently the innkeepers wife, was carrying over to her a hot cup.

“There you go, dearie…” The large woman said, with a wrinkle creasing the edges of her mouth as she gave Tsun a smile, handing to her the steaming mug carefully.

“Um, thanks…” Tsun offered her meek appreciation as she accepted the cup a little gingerly. Peeking over its rim, Tsun saw that the heated liquid within it was a brownish colour, and the aroma rising with the steam told Tsun that the beverage was milk tea. She hadn’t actually asked for tea, or in fact any drink at all, but Tsun didn’t entirely dislike tea so, after giving the drink a small blow to cool it, she gave it a small sip.
Hot! Too eager, perhaps, as Tsun quickly brought her lips back from the drink and felt the heat of the drink in her mouth. Discomfort tainted her tongue, as the drink had yet been too hot for it to tolerate, and the girl quickly swallowed it down.

“So, you’re travelling alone, are you my darling?” The old innkeeper’s wife who shared the kitchen with Tsun chirped up again, and sat down at a second chair she had brought to the fire. The woman cradled her own cup of tea, but as she didn’t drink it yet; unlike Tsun she seemed to know better how long it took for a hot drink to cool enough to suit her tastes. Instead she engaged Tsun in conversation, something that the mechanic herself wouldn’t have chosen as a pastime.
“That must be hard for one so young as you are…”

“It’s no problem; I can take care of myself…” Tsun’s response was perhaps a little short, since she wasn’t the best person in the world at small talk, particularly when the focus was on herself. Indeed, Tsun had been travelling for many years, for as long as she could remember in one way or another. But it was only in the last couple of years that she had been drifting without company.
Gramps… You wouldn’t have wound up like this, would you? Tsun reflected for a moment on the memory of her now deceased travelling companion; her grandfather. While she had largely dealt with her loss, there was still a slight pang of pain and loneliness when she caught herself thinking about him, perhaps there always would be? Shifting the mug in her hands, Tsun peered at the older looking woman and was still reminded of her dearly departed kin, the wrinkles of the woman’s brow and mouth recalling the years she spent glancing up at the lined appearance of the man who father her mother. Frowning slightly, Tsun pressed her lips together subconsciously as she tried to find a subject she could use in this small talk, one to take her mind away from sad thoughts of loss.

“So, um… Why aren’t the, uh, sick people in a surgery or hospital?” Tsun recalled the curiosity that had been inspired by the reasoning behind the inn’s lack of bed space, and for lack of a better topic of conversation, she decided to indulge that impulse. Sat in a kitchen with the woman who kept it, turning the conversation successfully to something that Tsun was more adept with; the operation of a steam engine for a paddle ship, to give an example, didn’t seem likely to succeed, so the girl had decided to try her hand at the island’s current events.

“Oh my, yes, we would have usually have sent them to the surgery, my dearie.” The old woman seemed to enliven a little, now that she was more fully engaged in conversation. Like a pair of animals constantly in opposition, the lack of comfort that Tsun had with discussion seemed to be reflected in this woman’s own discomfort with silence. So, with something for her to fill the air with, the woman soon perked up and began a story for Tsun that dated back several months.
“Unfortunately, surgery’s in a bit of a bad shape, what with the pirate attacks…” The story began, and immediately Tsun sensed that it wasn’t going to be a happy tale.