The Journeys of MOSES: Longhands, Wine, and Revolutionaries

[Quincy]

The chill in the whipping winds and the crashing icy waves upon the bow of the Northern Lady were, to most present, a miserable state of weather to be traveling through; yet they had a calming, almost harmonious effect upon Izou. He sat there, feeling the full power of the winds and the spray of the ocean upon his brow, and despite the cold, he continued to sit there. He reveled in feeling the winds thrash his ponytail and kiss his cheeks a deep shade of pink. Yes, he was cold, but he was intoxicated by the breeze as he always was, even more so than he was so long ago. He chuckled to himself, thinking that after losing her that anything remotely connected to her would bring him sadness and further rip at his soul. Yet they did not, and in fact were his solace to losing her, his one source of hope, of finally seeing her again. The breeze, the blade he carried; he would hold on to them for as long as he could. For her.

He gazed up from his thoughts and turned to face the situation currently at hand: travel through the North Blue, and meeting up with like-minded individuals for a mission. A mission for the only cause he would ever raise his blade for; for the Revolutionaries! He turned back and observed his only friend, if you could even call him that, huddling to stay warm. Funny how fate constantly influenced Izou’s journeys. One minute he was wandering aimlessly between islands in the South Blue and the next thing he knew, he had landed upon Saint Reia, the newly freed Revolutionary Island. To make matters even better, he had been asked to travel to the wholly north for a mission and, of course, he had been the second one to heed the call and agree to the task. He questioned who else had agreed to undertake the mission and he was pointed to a young name by the name of Midori. Izou immediately respected him more than most other Revolutionaries for actually following through with the mission set before them, yet their fledgling friendship blossomed over chats of their weapon of choice: the katana.

After a seemingly long voyage, they reached the North Blue. Izou was happy to say the least, ever the ready to assist the Revolution, but he was aware of hardly any details on the mission. He knew there was to be around a five man team, of which Izou and Midori were the only members he was aware of, and the mission was to… Izou paused, actually straining to remember yet coming up empty-handed. The mission details were never given to the wanderer and his comrade Midori, and to his knowledge there had been no mission briefing. He turned to Midori, and with more of an instructive than friendly way, asked “Midori… What was the mission we had been called for again?”

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Midori was hyper aware of his surroundings, making the frigid winds that felt like knives across his skin all the more irritating. He sat with his legs crossed trying to stay focused, but he caught site of the moon being caressed by the end of a cloud as it passed over. The sea water was splashing onto the ship and washing away the ocean, in a constant state of give and take, he thought to himself, "What would she think of this place..." The winds were blowing in from the east helping speed their journey along and he caught the end of Izou's sentence breaking him from his thoughts, the wind carried his voice in the opposite direction so he heard a choppy sentence that sounded like: "...mission we had been called for again?"

Midori looked at Izou and with a firm voice said, "Yetine, we're helping a group of Longhands in need." Midori rose from his position and walked towards the side of the ship to see the strength of the waves and calculate how long it would take for them to arrive. Midori had his back to Izou, in a short time he had grown to like the guy alright, Izou didn't look for conversation where it wasn't needed; this type of relationship often gave Midori time to meditate or read. Things were working between the two of them, after meeting up in South Blue they had spent some time together. Midori was ready to get there and see what exactly they were supposed to do and meet up with the other members of the team they had been assigned to

[Deleted]

He had received orders to wait for his new crew members on Sedna and meet up with another guy who would be joining them. Ty met the guy, Kin I think, Ty felt like the guy was okay, but after trying to hold a conversation with him and getting nowhere, he took the hint. Ty had left the pub they were to meet at and made his way to the edge of the island. Ty stood on the docks of Sedna Island, the swim from Amino to Sedna was fairly cold. Man I'm glad I made the trip yesterday, he thought as he walked the length of the docks awaiting the arrival of his new nakama. He could feel the frigid air blowing from the sea misting him with the salty water. If he would've made the swim this morning he would have been a fishcicle.

Ty continued walking the length of the dock, waiting. He pulled a length of wood from his pocket and a small whittling knife from the same pocket and began carving. He wasn't sure what he was going to make, but it was something to pass the time. He let his mind drift thinking of his meeting with Kin.

He had arrived around midafternoon the day before and made his way for the pub. He found a young guy with black hair sitting alone in the corner, and so he made his way over to him, "Seems like a good time to make a trip to Yetine, don't ya think?" Ty made this reference hoping to identify himself to the young man. The guy just looked at Ty, with what looked like a scowl, so Ty rose from his seat and sat at the bar. "So much for that conversation." Ty ordered a water and sipped on it until he felt tired and then he made his way to the inn he was to stay at.

I wonder when they'll get here, Ty thought as he gauged the time of night by the moon. It was probably short time past 10PM, the information he had received only said to meet up on Sedna and the rest of the mission would take place on Yetine Island... Curious.

[Quincy]

“Land, Ho!” A crewmember of the small Revolutionary frigate, the Northern Lady, cried out. His call effectively cut the silence that Izou was mildly enjoying, or as silent as it could be with the handful of cawing sea birds that surrounded the ship. Frankly, he had known there was land the moment he had first seen one of the many gulls. That was basic seafaring knowledge after all, and Izou had had a lot of practice in his wanderings; on more than one occasion being saved by the incessant chatter of sea gulls and the land that would undoubtedly be nearby. Izou rose from his sitting position at the bow of the ship to get a good view of the approaching landmass before him. His gaze was met by a sparse dock, if it could even be called that. The planks strung together were hardly enough to fit up to six ships, although Izou could only guess the exact number of ships it could hold as the harbor was completely empty. Further up the island were stark buildings made of bland gray bricks built methodically from above the docks and emanated an air of apathy merely upon sight.


“Strange…” He spoke out, clearly recalling what he had overheard of Yetine’s large port and “unique” architecture from idle conversations among crew members. He soon saw the larger picture before him and strode away to find the ship’s captain with haste in his step. Izou searched the hull of the ship to no avail, but eventually found his mark at the Northern Lady’s stern. “Rommel…” He spot up, “What is this?” Captain Brosef Rommel, a large man sporting brown overalls, a fur cap, and an even larger brown moustache turned to face one of his fellow Revolutionaries, his trademark stoic posture and stern gaze ever present and being leveled upon the swordsman. “Takimura, what’s the issue?” Rommel asked, though many would have seen it as intimidation instead of the actual intrigue he had. Izou, having recognized Rommel as the no-nonsense leader that he was, was hardly affected by his fellow Revolutionary’s booming and rather foreboding voice and calmly answered back “This isn’t Yetine Island… Why?”


The Northern Lady’s Captain shot Izou a wide grin for his perception, one that still somehow looked fearsome, and answered his comrade “Correct. This is Sedna Island, and is relevant to the mission in two major ways.” Izou raised an eyebrow to the sudden revelation, which was not missed on Rommel and he huffed out “Pick up a member and strike a deal.” The wanderer was fairly confused by Rommel’s partially vague Intel but the sounds of the frigate beginning to dock drew his attention away. Izou had sat around long enough, the need for action swelling up inside of him. “So… A teammate is what we need to find. Midori… Brosef… Let’s walk.”

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Midori stood from his meditative stance and caught up to Izou and Brosef, "... we're supposed to meet them at the pub on the island. Izou and Midori the three of us will meet them; we're looking for a human and a fishman." Midori wasn't impressed by the dock he was on, he had heard great things about the architecture of Yetine Island. This island was bleak, for lack of better word. Midori saw men a few years younger than him sporting harpoons and walking to their ships, 5 AM, they must be fishermen of some kind. 

The dock ended and Midori's feet met the cobblestone pathway. Midori has always admired cobblestone roads, the quirkiness of them made him think of castles from stories he had read. The cobblestone was welcome, but the other aspects of the town were not, a rickety sign that read "Sedna Town" indicated they were on Sedna Island, the buildings were tones of grey that were very off-putting and foreboding, but to top it all off Midori saw a building at the end of "First Street" that looked like an insane asylum he had seen in books.

"Well, Izou, this is where we find our crewmates. I hope they're not like this island, dreadful and bleak." Midori continued walking the length of First Street, chuckling to himself, when he saw a shanty building that was supposed to pass as a pub. He could feel the glares on his back from the people they had passed, it was obvious visitors were not welcomed with open arms, and the insistent shutting of doors as they neared 50 feet to a house made that all the more evident. 

Midori directed himself towards the pub, dreading what they would find inside because it was likely he and Izou would be met by more glares and the two would have to decipher who they were to meet there.