Flawless Execution (Rk/Gyro)

[RK]

Quinn had only arrived on this island as his primary station a week ago. He had been stationed here to help with the increasing number of pirates heading into the Grand Line due to the actions of the Worst Generation garnering the hype and appeal of hundreds of thousands of would be pirates. Quinn's job was to make sure the only line they would be getting on was the one leading into Impel Down. This town was peaceful, in a "just another average day in Loguetown" sort of way. Everything was so routine that a pirate gang coming along to ruin everyone's Special Sunday plans was already in the books. Right before lunch, but right after going for a swim. Typical day in Loguetown. 

Thankfully, the pirates who would always mosey on in to get supplies and cause a ruckus were usually so fresh out of the fridge that they were still wrapped up in plastic. Still babies compared to the dreck that roamed around the Grand Line. Even if the first half of the Grand Line was a so called "Paradise" to those who've visited the new world, the blues were a real paradise. Pristine, friendly, and most of all, not to be messed with. Because the local law enforcement will be on you in .5 seconds flat if you mess with our home. 

This very thought ran through Quinn's mind as he stared at the dead body which lay in a crumpled heap in front of him. 

The corpse was lain up against the wall of a shop. It had a wound directly through the chest, most likely a sword wound. There appeared to have been a struggle as he had been struck in the face before dying, as evident from the swelling in his right cheek. There were two things that stood out the most however. The first was the presence of part of a sword blade laying on the lap of the body. The kind of blade no doubt belonged to a broadsword, and had a unique bronze color to it, aside from the parts that were red from blood. What was problematic however was that not only was there blood on the blade, but it appeared as though blood had been dripping from the wound onto the blade, therefore making it hard to determine whether or not this was actually the murder weapon. The second key piece of this murder was the fact that there was broken glass scattered around the body, however, all the windows near the body were intact, meaning that whatever happened here couldn't have possibly started in the upper part of a building. It all happened right here. Quinn wasn't in this alone however, he had already notified HQ to send some assistance with the body and investigation.


Due to Quinn's own experience with detective work, he decided that it would be appropriate for him to begin searching for clues immediately. After all, Justice is always a force of the present. Quinn put on a pair of plastic gloves, he had taken a few of them from the infirmary in HQ, just in case such a scene like this had happened. He took the blade and placed it aside. The shards of glass however, were a bit more unique, they were all different colors. There were three colors in total, Red, Blue, and Green. Quinn took one of each color and placed them in small plastic bags, pocketing them. The Blade was too big for any bag he had, so he decided to wait until help arrived to bring it to HQ for examination. "Alright, murderer. Colorful glass, a broken sword, and a serious lack of good clues, i don't know what you're playing at, but i'm definitely gonna find out." Quinn said with a somewhat serious tone, his eyes narrowed as he crouched down to be at somewhat eye level with the victim. Top priority would be to find out who this guy is and pronto. His identity could be the first key to unlocking more on this case. Quinn gazed up at the full moon, it was brilliant at this time of night, as it was at it's zenith in the sky. Lucky for Quinn that this happened at night while everyone was asleep, this would have caused a real uproar if it happened during pirate invasion hour.

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

The only thing that broke the silence in the Marine HQ's hallways was a slow and gentle dripping sound. That, and the occasional sound of metal on stone floor. Most everyone was asleep at this hour, barring the nightwatch and the night shift Den-Den Mushi operators. There was also the night patrol, but they were out on their rounds. Soon enough, the dripping stopped. The stone walls and corridors became silent once again. The still moonlight creeping through the windows only served to add to the quiet serenity the building now possessed once more.

A content looking Alina walked out of the 2^nd floor bathroom, carrying a box of tools in one hand and a wrench in the other. Sure, no one had asked her to fix the drip, but she had done so anyway. It wasn't about getting recognition for her help, but about helping anyway. That's why she joined the Marines in the first place, after all. Loguetown was where she ended up after her travels, and where she made her recruitment official. She had been working here about a month ago, but even in that length of time she hadn't really made very many friends. Acquaintances sure, everyone needed a chair fixed or a screw tightened, but that was usually the end of the interaction. 

Taking off her hat for a moment, Alina fixed her ponytail with a couple rough movements. She stared out the window for a few moments. The sea looked pretty enticing with the moonlight glittering off of it, almost like a big blue jewel of some sort. Her golden eyes shone, almost in response to the sea's alluring display.

Her musing was cut short by one of the Den-Den Mushi operators. The exceptionally tired looking man ran up to her, panting and coughing from the effort. Clearly, this was not an exceptionally athletic person.

"Finally... eh... someone awake.."  He wheezed, bending over and putting his hands on his knees to prop himself up. "Someone... hah... called in about... hooooo... a murder or something. Over by Paran and Sons Tailors. Since you're.. hng.. awake, go over and help with the.. heeeh... investigation."

"A murder? Pirates?" She asked, bluntly. If it was pirates, they'd need to wake up the entire base and go through the whole routine of arresting them. Most pirates came during the day, but the occasional band would think themselves "crafty" or "sneaky" and arrive during the night. That tended to not turn out well for them; they got caught by rather disgruntled marines (never expect to be treated courteously by a marine immediately after they wake up). Alina almost felt sorry for them.

"No idea.. just go."

---

The moonlight was more than enough for Alina to see where she was going. Kicking into a brisk jog, she made her way through the Loguetown streets to the scene of the crime. Her rifle and bayonet were strapped to her back and her pistol to her side; it always helped to be prepared for anything. Especially since there was a murderer afoot. 

Eventually she made it down to where the crime scene was, and she began to take everything in. A murder. There was blood, there was a sword, there was glass. A bar fight between knights? Then again, knights were generally honorable, and there weren't very many knights in general now a days. Everyone and their mother was a dishonest pirate now. 

"Recruit Alina, reporting for assistance." she said officially, giving a quick marine salute before crouching down in front of the body. She turned her head to look at the person who called in. "You're Quinn, right? The guy who transferred here a week ago?"  She hadn't talked much to the new guy, but she at least knew his name and recognized his face. If she recalled correctly, she hadn't done him any favors. She was sure to give him one, at some point at least.

[RK]

Quinn was face to face with this girl, Alina. She was a new recruit just like him, but he had remembered seeing her face around the facility in the week he's been here. She seems to have an honest love of helping people, something that every marine should have. Quinn didn't really know much about her personally however. All that was important was that she was here to help. Quinn didn't actually know how much experience she had with investigations, but at least he would have an extra hand in assisting him. Quinn saluted her, even though she was down examining the victim. She seemed intrigued enough. "Anyway...i've already picked up some evidence that i needed from here, i'll request a more qualified group move the body into the base. I'm not one to examine dead bodies as well as the next guy, but i want to get a better look at that broken sword piece." Quinn said, his voice stalwart and authoritative. He didn't want to seem like the kind of person who would boss his fellow recruit around, but he did know when he needed to act serious. There was a dead body right in front of him after all.

Detective Madigan pushed his glasses up a bit and crossed his arms. "As for now, we should head back to base and get some rest, tomorrow morning i'll have you assist me in the investigation." Quinn said as he placed his hands in his pockets and trudged on back to the base.

The following morning, the town was bustling and busy as ever. No one knew of the murder that had taken place just hours ago. The time was currently 7:00 am. Quinn had gotten about 5 hours of sleep. He spent 2 hours getting himself ready mostly due to talking with superiors and getting the OK to continue investigating. He was told that he could continue, but needed to bring a fellow recruit along. That's where Alina came along. He had heard from his CO that Alina was actually a Devil Fruit eater. Had some weird Pory Poly whatever fruit. It basically let her make some hard black stuff from her fingers? Quinn didn't have the slightest clue of how that would help anyone in battle. The girl was required to be with him, so he waited for her to arrive before taking off. It was certainly weird to be working with someone the same rank as him, but 5 years his senior. Then again, it was pretty much a sin to bring up a woman's age at all, so he wouldn't fret about it.

The first stop was the scene where the murder took place, specifically the shop next to the scene. A little clothing store by the name of "Paran and Sons Tailors". Quinn didn't really like buying new clothes, always seemed like a bit of a hassle. After waiting for Alina to arrive, Quinn took off for the shop. The town was bustling and busy in the morning. Trade ships usually came in at this hour and was a good time for restaurants and shops to stock up on fresh supplies for the day. However, some of the ships coming into port were pirate ships. Even though the tried to lay low and stay out of sight before heading to the Grand Line, many were caught and apprehended. The marines here weren't as good at it, not since 2 years ago when Captain Smoker was still here. He never let a single pirate escape. Well, up until he left. A crew managed to escape him, and it drove him to the Grand Line. He's a Vice Admiral now, and Quinn has a lot of respect for him, hoping to one day become strong like him.

As the Detective approached the shop, he didn't see that anyone was inside. Seemed kind of strange for a clothing shop as nice as this to not be bustling with customers. Quinn entered the shop, a small bell rung as he entered, probably one installed to alert the shopkeeper of when customers enter. Quinn immediately noticed that the place was kept in perfect condition. Everything was neatly kept and the floors almost glistened. Quinn immediately spotted a neck tie that would go great in his lazy tie collection. A black tie with blue and red checkered marks covering it, aw yeah this would look super professional if he wore it.

"Excuse me sir, might i be of assistance'z" A man called out from behind the front counter, prompting Quinn to turn and face him. He was a stocky man. He was completely bald, but had a thick mustache covering his face. His nose protruded out downwards, making one question how he would eat properly. His eyes were tiny and poked out from thick spectacles. He was wearing a sweater vest of a light cream color, and brown khaki pants, as well as some standard leather shoes. "Uh, yeah, i'm with the Marines...i'm here to ask you about if you might have seen or heard anything strange last night at around 11:00 pm to Midnight? I assure you this is a serious matter." Quinn said softly, he didn't want to alarm this old man into thinking he was at fault for anything. The old man scoffed and sat down in a chair behind his front counter, which Quinn had slowly approached. The man fiddled with his 'stache as he tried his best to recollect whatever he could. Suddenly a figurative light bulb lit up above his head as he remembered something. "Ah yes'z!" He said in a grand voice. "I do remember one thing'z" The man continued as he stood up, rocking his body back and force. "I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and as i was doing my business, i heard something clanging on the street below, but i was half awake and don't remember much of anything after that'z. I went back to bed and then woke up later, opened up my shop, and here we are now'z!" The man said as he chuckled a bit, brushing at his mustache.

Quinn placed his hand on the counter, he removed his glasses and placed them in his front pocket. "And what do you suppose that clanging noise was Mr. Shopkeeper'z" Quinn sad as he mimicked the man's odd speaking quirk. With his glasses off he couldn't see so well, but he did it as a bit of an intimidating gesture. The man began to sweat slightly, like he had eaten too many hot peppers. "Oh, uuuhhhh'z. Well, don't actually know'z. It was so late and i was barely awake'z. I didn't even bother looking outside'z!" The man said frantically, his voice rising slightly with each "z". Quinn's eyes shut as he took a deep breath and lifted his hand off the counter. "Alright, i'll leave it at that for now." Quinn said as he placed his glasses back onto his face and pushed them up. "But i should get your name, just in case." Quinn uttered impatiently. He wasn't impatient because this man was testing his patience, but he wanted to get out of this shop before he made the stupid decision of buying a thousand more ties. "Ahh...my name, It's Zillius Zazhmire the 3rd'z." Mr. Zazhmire said abruptly. His voice seemed to return to a normal level. However that sure was some name. Quinn turned around and exited the store, taking one last glance at that killer tie.

As Quinn stood outside, he sat down on a nearby bench. "Well Ms. Alina, i couldn't gather any info from that guy, but he seemed to be very flustered when i asked him about what happened last night. So there's a chance he could be somehow connected'z." Quinn said to the marine girl, not noticing he had used Zillius' odd quirk again. "We're gonna need another lead and fast if this case is gonna keep on burning." Quinn said as he placed his head in the palm of his hands, looking sideways at the large street in front of him.

"ALRIGHT BOYS, HAUL IT BACK TO THE SHIP, LAST NIGHT WAS REAL EVENTFUL AND I DON'T WANT ANY OF THE PRECIOUS LOOT GOING TO WASTE!" A loud, hefty voice called out. Quinn turned his head to look where the noise was coming from. It seemed to be a group of "traders". Pirates who pass off as merchants to go through to Reverse Mountain without raising any attention. He had heard about this from his superiors. Quinn suddenly realized what that man had said. "Last night was real eventful?" That was definitely suspicious, considering the murder took place last night. Quinn stood up, almost rocketing out of his seat. "Alright Ms. Alina, i think i've just found our next suspect!"

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

It wasn't until he spoke that Alina made the connections. So that's where she recognized him from. The overly serious tone and policeman-esque attitude could only come from that guy the other recruits had been taking about. Rumor had it that some mystery-obsessed weirdo was joining the Loguetown team, and now she knew just who it was: Quinn Madigan. Honestly speaking, he didn't seem that mystery-obsessed, but then again he did some like the kind of person to actually use the word "sleuth" to describe their actions.

6 in the morning. An hour or two later than she usually woke up, but this time she had an excuse: her day was filled up with the investigation, which started at 7. Plus, through sheer coincidence, she hadn't agreed to fix anything that day, so she could relax if but for a moment.

7 o'clock sharp. She met Quinn at the front of the Marine HQ, exchanged pleasantries, and then immediately headed off to the crime scene, in front of Paran and Sons Tailors.

She let Quinn do the talking while she perused the store for evidence of any kind. Not finding any, but finding some nice shirts to wear on casual outings, she mostly just hung around the entrance of the shop. She didn't pay much attention, until one thing caught her attention: the man's name. "Zillius Zazhmire...", Alina whispered to herself, strolling outside the building to take a look at its front. The name "Paran and Sons Tailors" was clearly emblazoned on the oaken surface of the building, in clear view of any passersby. For a place called "Paran and Sons", it was a bit weird that nobody named "Paran" might be working there. Maybe the old guy was an outside hire or something? The thought still irritated her a little bit, but then again it wasn't uncommon for family owned stores to hire outside help. It was probably nothing, in all honesty.

And then Quinn began his little interrogation tactic. She didn't hear much of it, but she did manage to understand that the shopkeeper hadn't bothered to check for the source of a noise he had heard outside. What kind of shopkeeper would do that? Wouldn't they be really preoccupied with protecting their wares and stuff? Then again, he did say he was tired...

Per the usual, Alina started second guessing herself.

When Quinn finally exited the store, she was about to tell him about her quick little theory when the sort of cacophony only pirates can make assaulted her ears. "That sounds like a whole boatload of suspects to me!" Alina yelled out, right back at him. Without an inkling of hesitation, she burst straight into a run, skidding to a halt to peer around a corner.

It was, of course, the most thinly veiled of attempts to hide an entire pirate crew. Parading around as simple merchants didn't work when your crewmates were heavily scarred, dressed shabbily, and rancorous. Sometimes, it was almost funny, seeing massive pirates dressed in shoddy peacoats and lacy bonnets. Who did they think they were fooling, honestly?

Well, last month Alina had fallen for one of those schemes, but those guys got caught anyway so it was fine.

[RK]

Quinn crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at the crew of "traders" that were heading to their "merchant ship". Quinn's face grew with disgust as these obvious pirates clung to barrels and sacks, holding supplies and other commodities. A common tactic was for pirates to pretend to be merchants, Quinn ran this thought through his mind again. "Ms. Alina, follow me, if those are really pirates then they must want to keep a low profile." Quinn sad as he turned and faced the gold eyed girl. "However, that would also mean they wouldn't try anything on us Marines would they?" Quinn sad as he began to chuckle. His signature laugh was a bit silly "Duhaha", but he had stranger laughs. "Alright, lets head for the docks!" Quinn announced as he gestured his hand towards Alina to follow him. Trying to be as least bossy as possible in his tone of voice.

The cool ocean breeze swept back and forth with the waves, seagulls could be heard squawking, and there were plenty of people around. Loguetown was still a very popular place, aside from its key position so close to Reverse Mountain. This is of course the town where the legendary Gold Roger, The Pirate King, was executed 24 years ago. On that day Gold Roger told the whole world of his grand treasure, the One Piece, a prize so grand that it had to be hidden away somewhere in the Grand Line. This is what most pirates in this day and age would scour the world for. Not only would they gain a prize so insurmountably priceless, but the one who found it would have the definitive right to call himself, and command all others to refer to him as the "Pirate King".

This crew that was here now probably had the same dream in their heads. Quinn was often astounded at the loyalty of some men to allow another to become something they themselves could also strive for. Then again, the whole point of being a subordinate is that you're better at taking orders. Some people just honestly break under that kind of pressure, or simply have no desire to even try for the treasure. That loyalty is one of the things that allows Quinn to respect some of the pirates in this world. However...these pirates were the standard kind. Filthy, money oriented, only cared about themselves and not about each other. Still, if they were trying to lay low, they wouldn't mind Quinn and Alina questioning their captain.

Quinn walked up to a large vessel, a warm brown color with lighter tan lines stretching horizontally across the hull. The figurehead was a large Chicken, and the flag had a cracked egg with eggshells all around it, and the yoke spilling out from inside. Apparently these guys like Chicken and Eggs...

There were a few men outside They were all wearing casual attire, nothing fit for adventuring. Quinn decided to approach them, if they reacted properly, he would be able to talk to the captain of this crew. Quinn approached the taller one first, he had a flat nose and no hair, and a large pair of buck teeth. The other one was stockier and had an afro. "Excuse me gentlemen, we're with the Marines, I'm Seaman Recruit Quinn Madigan, and this is my associate Seaman Recruit Ms. Alina...uh...Ms. Alina." Quinn said as he felt like a bit of an idiot, he wasn't sure of Alina's last name, or if she even had one. The tall one looked at both of the marines, though he stared a bit longer at the petite girl in front of him until his buddy hit him on the side. "Yeah, uh, we're Egg traders, man. Come in to bring Eggs to the Grand Line, man." The tall one said, his face pointed downwards at Quinn. This guy must have been at least 8 feet tall. His shorter buddy chimed in too, he seemed to be a lot more enthusiastic than his taller companion. "Yeah dude like, we love eggs, so we're bringing them to all the good people over in the Grand Line, dude!" They both seemed pretty collected, they must have gone over this a million times in their heads, they screw up they die, simple as that. Quinn took his glasses off again. Placing them inside his pocket. He didn't need them for the time being. "I'd like to speak to the Captain of this vessel, man. If that's alright...dude." Quinn spoke with a sarcastic and demeaning tone, he was getting pretty good at messing with the way people spoke, even if it was a bit rude.

The two men seemed to be a bit flustered, they weren't sure what to do. The two of them looked at each other and mouthed a few words before finally the stocky one ran off onto the boat. After about 5 minutes of silence, the stocky man returned and asked the two marines to board the ship. Quinn looked over at Alina and gave a quick thumbs up, his face becoming wrapped in a long smile. He was pleased with the cooperation of these pirates.

Aboard the ship, Quinn was met with several men standing at the edges of the ship, and a large man sitting in a big, throne like chair, with a smaller scrawny man standing at his side. "My name is Barnard Henguovor. I'm the Captain of this vessel, and if you have any questions, then i'll be the one answering." Barnard said in an impatient and staunch voice as he rested his head in one hand. "Fair enough." Quinn said in response, he put his glasses back on and pointed a finger at Hengouvor. "What are you doing in Loguetown, and what exactly is this haul that your men have been talking about!?" Quinn said, his finger pointed directly at the Captain of the ship.

Barnard pointed his own free finger directly at Quinn, countering him. He knocked at his scrawny assistant to point with him, who weakly raised a finger and pointed it at Quinn. "Tell em what the haul was Scrambles." Scrambles, the ships First Mate and organizer, spoke in a soft and calm voice. He appeared to not even be strong enough to raise his own hand up, let alone talk.

"Eggs." Scrambles said, to which everyone on the ship began to cheer wildly, and began to dance around like madmen.

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

This Quinn guy was jus the slightest bit bossy, but it wasn't enough for Alina to dislike him for it. He took the lead, and she was fine what that. He seemed to know what he was doing with this here mystery plot, so she'd let him take the reigns of this tale. For now, at least.

"Chicken Ship?"  she questioned, taking the strange vehicle in front of her in. Definitely a chicken ship. What else... an egg flag. These guys were some weird, chicken-obsessed pirates. Was there leader a chicken man? Did he wear chicken suits? Was he shaped like an egg? These were important questions that demanded answers. 

Alina followed after Quinn as he approached the two pirate guardsmen. When the taller one let his eyes linger on her, she stared back at him with a fierce expression on her face. Then she stuck her tongue out at him. Acting her age was not something Alina did.

"Yeah dude like, we love eggs, so we're bringing them to all the good people over in the Grand Line, dude!"

So then they were egg pirates! Or at least people who.. stole eggs from the rich and gave to the eggless? 

And then Quinn did it again. That guy needed to stop making fun of so many people. Imitating someone's voice like that was rude. Funny, but rude. If he worked on his impressions, then he could be really funny with that sort of thing. When the pirate eventually returned from asking permission, or whatever it was he went off to do, Alina gave Quinn a thumbs up at about the same time as he gave her one. Looks like they thought the same in that regard.

Now on deck, she noticed that there were even more chicken-themed aspects to it. The veritable throne the captain was sitting on was carved with poultry-based engravings.

Alina giggled a bit to herself when the pirates broke out into cheers and dance. "What a bunch of eggheads." She said, with just enough volume for Quinn to hear. She then laughed uproariously at her own pun.

But if their haul was eggs, then why did they want them so bad? If they were bringing eggs to the Grand Line, then how did they transport something that went bad as easily as eggs did? 

And what happened last night? Egg murder?

[RK]

Eggheads...good one.

Quinn passed Alina and Ok hand sign and a bit of a giggle, she had a knack for cracking one liners it seemed. She wasn't really the woman he had expected her to be. She was very childish for someone who was 25, then again, Quinn wasn't much better was he, he was investigating a murder that possibly had to do with a man who speaks in Z's and a group Egg fanatics. The Captain's assistant waved his hands up to calm the roaring cheers of his crewmen. "Yes, we're just transporting eggs, we love eggs and want everyone of the Grand Line to cherish the eggs we worked so hard to produce, we even have our own hatchery on-board." Scrambles said in a wispy voice. How was this man alive, he clearly had to be eating plenty of protein what with how many eggs they must be consuming.

Quinn knew that it would probably be dangerous to approach the Captain and Scrambles directly, they were surrounded by what was likely the whole crew after all. Instead he decided that there was more to this investigation than just asking if they saw anything. "Excuse me, Captain Barnard, i'm sure that my intrusion is a bit rude, but, i couldn't help but become curious when i heard from your assistant that you had a Hatchery here. I was wondering if me and my associate could have a look at it?" Quinn questioned, there had to be something in the hatchery. If these guys were to have anything suspicious on this ship, it would be there. Scrambles whispered something into Captain Barnard's ear, impossible to hear from the distance Quinn and Alina were standing at. However, just as Quinn was about to raise his voice, Barnard spoke up in a loud, demanding voice. "LETS SHOW EM THE HATCHERY BOYS!" Barnards voice was pretty damn loud, and as all of his men cheered and began to dance and sing about eggs and stuff related to eggs, Scrambles motioned for Quinn and Alina to follow him into a small trap door leading down to the hatchery.

The Hatchery's defining features were the noise of gobbling chickens, and the smell of chicken...chicken waste. Scrambles shuffled around and looked at each of the chickens, the place was long but only had one hallway. the chickens were situated in cages and would pop out eggs which would then be rolled on slides onto little pillows. Scrambles appeared to be distracted with tending to a stark black chicken. That chicken was one of those rare ones apparently that was fully black, the wings, the skin, the bones, even the meat. It seemed to be very important as it was even named. There was a gold engraving above his cage with his name. "Khan Pecky". What cause he was a chicken and they peck? Not a very original name. Scrambles seemed to be busy talking to the...chicken. A bit weird but understandable, these creeps were eggheads after all. Quinn looked around and noticed that there was an egg sitting on a pillow for one of the chickens. It was very distinguishable because the egg itself was completely red. Like, Crimson Red. Quinn picked it up and it felt warm, very warm. The egg didn't appear to be fragile like regular eggs either, it felt a lot more firm, kind of like a rock, but it was definitely still an egg. This strange egg was on their ship, and it definitely wasn't the kind that you'd be eating. Quinn took out a plastic bag and placed the new evidence inside of it. He put it away and decided to get out of here before Scrambles noticed. Walking over to Alina and tugging on her shoulder, Quinn gestured that they should leave. "Excuse me, Mr. Scrambles is it?" Quinn asked in a more endearing tone, he didn't want to speak to loudly or the sound waves might rip this guy apart. "I think we're done here for now." Quinn's voice remained the same. The sleuth began to walk towards the exit when suddenly he noticed Scrambles began walking towards him at an alarming 2 miles per hour. Quinn stopped moving as the frail little man stopped right in front of the detective. He motioned for Quinn to come down to his height. Scrambles got close to Quinn's ear and said something...memorable.

"Khan Pecky belongs to the Sunny Sides."

Quinn looked at Scrambles as if he were a bear doing a back flip, the detective's mouth slightly agape. Scrambles walked past him and continued on to the ladder leading to the deck. He waited for the two marines to make their way up before climbing up the ladder himself. Quinn readily climbed up the ladder to the deck, this place was starting to freak him out. Back on the deck, everyone had disappeared, however Quinn was quickly reassured by Scrambles that everyone had gone inside for a meal, consisting 100% of eggs and chicken. The first mate wanted them to join in, but Quinn was fast to turn him down, he had more business to take care of and these people were, off.

Quinn had made his way off the ship with Alina. The only remotely suspicious thing that happened on that ship was that Quinn found a weird red egg. Other than that, everything was typical about those pirates...that wasn't the right choice of words. Quinn looked around, seemingly everyone had gone quiet and was looking to the left, or rather Quinn's right. Suddenly coming this way on what appeared to be some kind of royally dressed Elephant was a man with an equally long nose and large ears. This was a sight to see, as this man was also accompanied by several suited men. They weren't marines but they appeared to be World Government personnel? Quinn slowly walked over the man atop the Elephant. "Uh, Excuse me sir, could i ask why you're riding an Elephant in the middle of the town harbor?" Quinn yelled up to the man sitting atop the Pachyderm, well, Rhino's are also pachyderms, so it can get confusing sometimes. The Elephant stopped and the man looked out from his large mount. Scoffing extremely loudly at Quinn he climbed down the beast and stood next to the Marine Recruits. This guy was imposingly tall, a rough estimate would be like, 9'6" tall. He looked down at Quinn, his eyes were better at being blue than literally the color blue itself. "ECH, AND JUST WHO ARE YOU TO DISTURB MY RIDE THROUGH TOWN, I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I AM IN MOURNING YOU DOLT!" The strange man said as he began to steam with rage. "AGENT G!" The man said in a loud, squeaky voice, as suddenly one of the World Government Agents from in front of the Elephant came rushing to his side and saluting. "How may i be of service sir?" Agent G said in a calm and attentive voice, he was wearing a pair of shades so you couldn't see his eyes. The angry elephant man placed his hand on his head and began to wail. "I am just so furious at these two lowly Navy Chore Boys for ruining my morning. Would you please take out my anger for me and punch Agent T?" He said swiftly and gracefully. What was wrong with this guy, was he one of those uh, Celestial Dragons? No, he'd be too good to breath our air, he'd have a bubble on. Agent G ran up to his comrade, Agent T and delivered quite a devastating punch to him. They both looked the exact same so it was hard to tell them apart. Except for the large letters representing which agent they were. Agent G had a large G stitched onto his chest, Agent T had a T. The other two appeared to be Agent A, and Agent C.

"Wait a minute...you said you were in mourning, who died?" Quinn asked immediately after realizing such. Did this man have some kind of connection to the victim in this case? "UGH, IF YOU MUST KNOW, MY BROTHER WAS MURDERED LAST NIGHT! OH, POOR POOR ARTHUR, OH WOE IS ME!" The man cried out as he was offered a handkerchief by Agent A. So the victims name is Arthur! This was a major discovery, along with him being this man's brother! "So then, would you mind telling us you name then sir, we're the Chore Boy's working to find your brothers murderer after all." The blue eyed man grabbed at his nose, like it was something he did often. He crossed his arms over his chest and blew air out from his distinctive trunk like nose. "Uther Quilldragon"

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

The Hatchery, huh? Clearly, this was some code name for a violent prison the pirates were going to shove them into. Then, Alina and Quinn would form some brilliant escape plan to tear their way out of this ship and get these pirates arrested for their crimes. They'd get promotions, and raises. And then, Alina would be able to buy that wrench she saw, and all of those shirts in that store.

Having money was really nice.

Countless exciting plans rushed through Alina's head, causing her eyes to sparkle with anticipation, only to have her excitement dashed to pieces by the discovery that it was an actual hatchery. The smell was almost as awful as the disappointing revelation. This couldn't be it. These pirates wouldn't have decided to go to the Grand Line just for egg-related reasons. There had to be something else. That was the only option that made any kind of sense. There was probably a hidden treasure room behind all these chicken coops, in some sort of secret hatch.

Alina bent down, and began inspecting as many cages as she could. Her eyes traced each and every pathway the eggs would take as they fell down the complex pipe network, then sought to see if she could find some inconsistencies. The immense care put into constructing the network and insuring that the eggs would remain whole and unscathed as they traveled through it was almost admirable, if a bit weird. Their carpentry was actually admirable. The chutes the eggs traveled through on their downward course were kept in pristine condition, and appeared to be angled very specifically to ensure safe speeds for their passengers.

Enough admiring, there was detective work to be done. She scanned each and every crevice with her eyes, but was stopped before she could complete her search by Quinn pulling her away. "Hey, wait a second I'm checking something out here-" She started to complain, but then interrupted herself with a sigh. In all honesty, she had been fooling herself; there was clearly nothing of interest inside this disappointing pile of timber.

Once she returned to the deck, Alina angrily kicked a barrel near the hatch she had just exited. She let Quinn and the Scrambles guy have their little discussion, and was about to accept the free food when Quinn declined for her. She pouted.

Man, this guy was getting bossy. He wasn't bossy before, but now he was actually actively taking the reins.

She kept the irritated expression on her face until she encountered the large, obviously important person mounted on an elephant. She stared, in a mixture of confusion and awe, at the (probably) noble in front of her.

"Chore boys? Not all marines are guys you know!?" She thought, a flash of irritation on her face betrayed her thoughts, but she quickly took on a neutral expression.

She ignored the tall man's probable insult, and instead focused in progressing with the case. "Uh-ther Quilldragon, Sir," she began, taking an official tone to her voice, "do you have any idea why someone would do something like that to your... dear brother?" Now it was her time to shine! Probably.

[RK]

The Tall, Trunk Nosed Man set his sights on Seaman Recruit Alina. Her remark had caught her attention, and he placed the back of his hand on his forhead to show his stress. "Ohhhhh Woe, i do believe i know of why my dear brother Arthur would be targeted!" Uther moaned and wailed as he placed his hands by his sides. His emotions were nothing if not outspoken, and if anything did most of the talking for him. The Noble Noseman took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away his tears, and subsequently continued his monologue. "It all happened not too long ago..." He began, his tone seemed to shift and become a bit more controlled, less mopey from before. "You see, my family, the Quilldragons, are a large business oriented family, where we smell opportunity, we go in for a good whiff! These so called traders here, offered us the chance to sell our family's prized hens, Akantra, Glaoba, and Klamidorisha, in order for them to take them along on their journey to the Grand Line. However, my kid brother Arthur refused their offer! Claiming that there would be far better chickens in the Grand Line." Uther stopped talking for a moment and yawned. He appeared to be a bit sleep deprived. Quinn took his glasses off and continued to listen to the rest of the story. "Please Excuse me, where was i...oh yes, Arthur's refusal. The Captain of that ship, Mr. Barnard, seemed to be completely fine with the decision, and agreed with my brother. That there would be better chickens elsewhere. It struck me as odd that Arthur would value his possession of a few hens over the acquisition of more money!" Uther stopped again, coughing loudly and wiping sweat away from his face.

"So then, you think that the pirates killed your brother because they were unsatisfied that he didn't approve of the deal?" Quinn directed a question at Mr. Quilldragon. Whatever was happening here, it appeared to tie everyone together. "WHAT?!" Uther Quilldragon's voice rose to a high pitch as he took a step backwards. "HOW DARE YOU INSINUATE THAT THESE MEN OF TRADE WOULD TARGET AND ASSASSINATE MY SIBLING!" Uther was completely disgusted at this point, it appeared as though his nose and floppy ears were standing up a bit, and his eyes were narrowed and bloodshot. Though the latter was probably due to him being so tired.

"Alright, so you don't think that the...traders did it." Quinn said as he pondered the boatload of possibilities that had just arisen. At base value, it seemed like the pirates must have done it, but on the other hand, maybe Uther was lying? Maybe he had killed his own brother so that no one could have opposed the deal? Quinn scratched his head and placed his hands in his pockets. "Ok...i think that i've heard enough from you, Mr. Quilldragon, but if i need anymore information, i'd like to know where i can find you, it doesn't appear that you're always here on the docks." Quinn asked, hoping that Uther wouldn't just scoff and leave.

Uther's face bore a sickening frown as he turned away scoffing loudly. "Why don't you use that nosy brain of yours to find where i live by determining the location of the moon and sun or some junk. I bid you two Marines a good day! I have an appointment with my tailor!"

Quinn placed his glasses back on his face and pushed them up so that they were secure. He lowered his face as he mulled over the suspects in this case, Zillius Zazhmire, The crew aboard that trade ship...or more specifically, their Captain, Barnard, and finally, the victims brother, Uther Quilldragon. It was one of these three that caused the murder. Quinn was sure of it. "Ms. Alina, im gonna have to issue one last bossy order to you." Quinn said sternly. He knew he was bossing her around, but if it had been up to him, he would have done this alone. "This may be against what we were ordered to do, but this is critical, i need you to go and talk to Mr. Zazhmire III, i have a feeling that he might know something else regarding the case, and it may just be a hunch, but the tailor Uther mentioned might just be Zillius. Do me this favor please." Quinn pleaded to his senior, they were both the same rank, but she had been a marine for a bit longer and was a bit older, so he had some respect for her. Also she could more than handle herself. Not only was she a devil fruit eater, but she apparently was proficient with a firearm. Interesting. "I know you'll do well!" Quinn said as he darted off. He had almost completely forgotten about the sword! The supposed murder weapon! He probably looked like a total doofus as he ran off towards HQ. He also realized that he hadn't actually told Alina where he was headed. Great. Well, it shouldn't be that hard to find her would it? I mean she was just heading to Paran and sons...right? RIGHT?!

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

Alina's eyebrow twitched again in irritation. That was a tell of hers, and a quick method to discern whether or not she was actively being annoyed by someone regardless of her actual facial expression. This old man was getting on her nerves. His voice, his manner of speaking, the actual words he spoke, they were all just really annoying. Alina had a lot of tells, it was one of several reasons as to why she never played any kind of card games. It didn't help that she was a pretty bad liar, either.

"Men of trade?" she thought to herself, "these men are clearly just chicken themed pirates! Probably! I mean... they could just be really rambunctious... I'm jumping to conclusions again..." But then again, if not the pirates (or merchants), then who? Was there some sort of chicken thief on the loose? Why did all of this have to do with chickens? They weren't even that good of a bird; Chickens were  sub-par at best.

"What am I supposed to use as a reference point, huh?" Alina yelled out after the receding image of Quilldragon. "Bignose... why don't you just sniff the murderer out..." she muttered under her breath, then turned back to face Quinn. She pulled her marine cap off, straightened the braids underneath, then placed it firmly back on her head. She blinked with slight confusion when he mentioned the word "bossy". She knew she was easy to read, but she kept forgetting just how easy it was.

"R-right." Alina replied, quickly nodding to Quinn. That was simple enough. Pay a quick visit to the tailor, ask him some questions. Then again, he probably picked her since she was more... well, combat adept than he was. Or so she guessed, anyway. If things went sour, which they usually did in murder cases (another assumption), she could probably put up a better fight than he could. She had her devil fruit and-

Alina shrugged her shoulders, feeling the reassuring weight of her rifle on her back. She had remembered to bring it. Helpful.

-her weapon. That would probably be enough to fight off some pirates or whatever. This Zillius guy... something seemed off about him. She wasn't sure about what at the moment, but she knew something was. 

She headed off to Paran and Sons' Tailors. They seemed to be open, so she strolled in and began to browse. Perhaps, if she seemed liked she was going to buy something he'd be more open to tell her what she wanted to know? She picked out the shirt she found yesterday, slung it over her arm, and approached the counter.

[RK]

Zillius Zazhmire had heard the door open to his shop, a customer! How delightful! The stocky man made his way out from behind the main part of the store through a door. He had been in the back reading a book, its always so quiet on weekdays. I mean, who even buys shirts on a Tuesday?

The girl at the front counter was quite a looker, and if not for the fact that she had been here before with that stressful marine man, he would have been a bit more friendly, but he didn't want to make friends with the friend of his enemy. Well, he wouldn't say that he was the Marine Man's enemy, just that they were at odds.

"Welcome to Paran & Sons...again would you like to buy that shirt'z?" Zillius said with a dull and disinterested tone. "Lucky for you, we're having a sale on women's shirts today'z" Mr. Zazhmire spoke slowly, exhaling several times. He didn't want to talk to this girl, mostly because she probably wanted to ask him more about the murder. Thinking about the whole situation caused Zillius to begin sweating profusely, and causing his long curly mustache to droop. "Listen, i don't want any trouble, i already told you two everything i know'z" Zillius said in a rushed voice. Not only was he being hassled by the marines again, but he just remembered that today was Tuesday! He had mentioned it before, but only now was he remembering what that meant. "Oh my...dear, you might want to get out of here before he shows up'z!" Zillius said dreadfully as pointed at the door, gesturing for Alina to leave. "You can take the shirt i don't care, just scram before Richie McPachyderm arrives'z!"

"Agent G, you stepped out of line when you sneezed! I Order you to punch yourself in the face!" A familiar voice rang from outside. "Oh no, he's already here'z!" Zillius cried out as he tried to get out from behind the counter, but it was too late.

Uther Quilldragon stepped inside the shop. His long nose sniffing up the place as he strutted to the front desk, Agent's G, A, T, and C following directly behind. "Hello again Zillizeus, i'm sure you know why i'm here!" Uther shouted as he placed a hand on the counter. "Y'yes sir, Mr.Quilldragon'z..." Zillius put up a hand gesture to wait a moment, to both Alina and Uther, as he disappeared behind to the back of the store.

Uther looked over at Alina, snickered a bit and scratched his nose. "You have good taste in tailor's, Chore Girl. This here, is the best in all of Loguetown, hell maybe all of East Blue!" Uther said willfully as a large grumbling sound could be heard from the back of the store, and then what sounded like Zillius cowering in fear. Loud thumps rocked the building as a very large woman busted through the doors from the back of the store. "IF IT ISN'T MY FAVORITE CUSTOMER!" The woman shouted in a deep, commanding voice. She could probably have been heard from outside she was so loud. Uther chuckled and bowed. "It is such a delight to see you again, even if the circumstances are less than happy, Ms. Paran."

---

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M WRONG?" Quinn's voice cried out inside the Loguetown Marine HQ's Forensics division. "I said that this whole case is stupid and baseless!" This voice, came from Yardley Ingram, a fellow Marine and overall dumbass, at least from Quinn's point of view. "You're telling me that SOMEHOW each of these people had something to do with the murder of this one man?" Yardley scoffed and sneered and generally acted like he was above Quinn. "No, if you'd have paid attention the FIRST time i explained it, you wouldn't have to ask stupid questions, hm?" Quinn removed his glasses and placed them into his pocket. Grasping his hands together, he started from the beginning. "Ok, here's the way i see it. The Murderer had to be one of these three people. Zillius Zazhmire the 3rd, Captain Barnard over at the docks, or the victim's brother Uther Quilldragon. I could have been Barnard because he may have been lying when he said he was fine with Arthur not wanting to trade his chickens to the "traders", and it could have been Uther because his own flesh and blood brother denied an opportunity that would have granted them a hefty sum of beri. As for Mr. Zazhmire...it did happen right outside his house...even then, he's not the prime suspect here, its Uther and Barnard. It was one of them i know it!" Quinn bolted out his theory, and as he started to pant from his long winded bit of talking, he looked back at Yardley, who was doing his regular scoffie and doubtnuts routine. "Oh, bravo Mr. Madigan. Or should i perhaps say Mad AGAIN! You have completely gone off the deep end if you think that that theory makes ANY sense to ANYO-"

Yardley was halted as he felt a presence behind him. A tall, foreboding man placed a hand on Mr. Ingram's shoulder and shoved him aside. This tall man, easily 10 feet tall, very muscular, and well into his 60's, was a Marine Commander stationed here in Loguetown. Quinn was startled, but immediately stood straight and saluted his superior. "G-Good Day to you Commander Scotchlot!" Quinn said proudly to his CO, though he was still equally terrified. Did they know he had separated with Alina even though they were supposed to stick together? Instead of getting reprimanded like he thought, his Commander handed him a key. It was small and had writing etched into it.

"E.R.*"

Quinn looked confused before piecing together that this was in fact not the key to the emergency room, but the Evidence Room! This was where the sword was being kept, the supposed murder weapon he needed to inspect, along with inspecting all his other pieces of evidence, such as the shards, the red egg, and probably the most intriguing of all, the thing that Scrambles said to him not too long ago...

"Khan Pecky belongs to the Sunny Sides" Quinn mumbled to himself as he trudged off towards the Evidence Room. It was time to do some Evidencing!

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

A sale? That would be nice. Marine salaries were pitiful for someone of her rank (though, Alina had heard they were better in Loguetown than in other Marine Bases due to the sheer amount of pirates that came through the area).

This Zillius guy. He still seemed off to her. Seriously, if something loud happens right outside your shop its only common sense to go and investigate it. To think that he simply ignored it was just wrong. Plus, this guy looked as nervous as a rookie pirate in front of the Marine Base. Or maybe in front of an Admiral. He was sweating all over the place, and it was really gross.

"Before who shows up? I just want to buy this shirt that I saw earlier. Look, I've got the beri for-"

And from the outside, the irritating voice from before came ringing out. Instantly, the tiresome face, demeanor, and general existence of Uther Quilldragon was brought into her immediate memory. Alina hadn't expected to see him so soon, in fact she had hoped she wouldn't see him again at all.

"Agent G, you stepped out of line when you sneezed! I Order you to punch yourself in the face!"

Of all the people she didn't want to see, it was this Quilldragon guy. Her face immediately shifted into a disgusted grimace that she wiped off her face once he actually entered the building. His voice was just as irritating as she recalled. And then he called her Chore Girl again.

Well, at least this time he referred to her as a girl. The only downside to that was the "Chore" part. But then again, she basically did all the chores, menial tasks, busywork, and repair jobs that were needed around town and around the base. Which meant that he was kind of right.

"I basically just do chores... do I even do any marine work?" Alina thought to herself with a depressed frown on her face. She had started doing what she always did whenever someone insulted her: dive straight into the insult and believe it. "I'm more like an indentured servant than an actual marine... when was the last time I was on a Pirate Raid? I can't remember.. well, unless this counts, but this is more like police work than marine work..."

Thankfully for her, Alina's self-loathing filled mental struggles were violently interrupted by the large woman bursting into the room. Something in Alina's mind clicked at the mention of her name: Ms. Paran? Well, that answered that question. Zillius Zwhateverhisname was probably in her employ, or maybe they were dating. Alina shuddered at that thought, and kept blankly observing the three other people in the room before speaking up.

"Continuing on about those circumstances, Ms. Paran, what can you tell me about Mr. Quilldragon's beloved brother Arthur? We are investigating his mur... his death, and all information on it could help." Her questions seemed to be recited from memory, and not of her actual creation.

[RK]

Ms. Paran's heavy face jostled as she turned to face Alina, a big smile was plastered onto the woman's face, and almost seemed forced. Ms. Paran, who was wearing a long yellow dress, stepped out from behind the counter and took a good look at Alina. "So, you wan't to know more about Lil' Arthur's death, huh?!" The stocky woman said in a guttural and amused tone. She snickered and looked at everyone in the room, Uther Quilldragon, Zillius Zazhmire, and Alina. As her gaze intensified, she placed her hands over her face and made an embarrassed gesture, something that was very creepy looking do to her appearance.

"Well, i may have seen something while on my midnight stroll." She said casually, though she was trying to be cute, it definitely wasn't being perceived as such by Uther and Zillius, both of which were standing, mouth agape, hands on their heads at this revelation. "M-Mother'z! Why didn't you tell me this earlier'z?!" Zillius cried out, his voice quivering. Then Uther chimed in, taking a step toward his personal tailor. "Do you know anything about Arthur's murder, Ms. Paran? Did you see anyone else there?!" Uther broke his normal "above you" attitude and seemed generally concerned, as well as slightly upset at this being withheld from him. This could very well be crucial information on who the murderer could be and it was known by someone he knew very well this whole time!

"Well, i did see someone standing over him, but in the blink of an eye had jumped onto the rooftops!" He was enormous, and almost looked feral!" Ms. Paran explained, however, there were still questions to be answered, but already embarrassed enough, she stormed to the back of the store. "...Wait...Paran is your mother?" Uther looked at Zillius with a quizzical expression sitting on his face. "Well yeah...the store is called Paran and SONS after all'z." Zillius retorted. Though he wasn't snippy about it, he and Uther never really talked much, so its not like it would be brought up. "Well then, i guess that's a fair point." The noble responded. Then, Uther turned to face Alina. "I hope you've been taking notes girl."

---

Quinn took in a deep breath as he approached the door to the Evidence Room. Just behind this door, was all the items that the marines had collected as evidence in crimes in the Loguetown area. It also housed a large newspaper collection, dating way back to before the Pirate King was executed. Quinn placed the key inside the doorknob and turned it till he heard a soft 'klunk'. As he turned the knob and slowly opened the door, the first thing that he noticed was the overwhelming smell of...well...it was hard to describe, the place smelled really...bland, something that you can't really explain but you would understand if you were there. Quinn hadn't ever been in here, but when he turned in the broken sword to some of he colleagues, they put it a large bag marked E-0. So he simply had to find something else marked E-0. Quinn closed the door behind him. He trotted along through the room, looking for something that evidence would be held in. Like a huge filing cabinet or individual lockers. Instead on the far end of the room, he saw something quite peculiar. There were pedestals, each one had a light over it, and there appeared to be 5 of them. As Quinn approached them, he saw that each had a letter and a number. As follows the pedestals were A-5, B-4, C-3, D-2, and F-1. Behind them was E-0.

...shouldn't it be E-1, then F-0? Quinn didn't really care, but he felt like someone was trying to make a weird joke here and failed. Quinn stepped on over to the pedestal marked E-0 and picked up the bag holding the broken sword blade. It was as he had first found it, so he recognized it immediately. He walked over to an examination table and put on some rubber gloves, as to not get his own fingerprints on any of the evidence. He placed out everything he had. First off was the main piece here. The blade. It was broken in two places, down near the end of the blade at the point, it was chipped off. The other spot was at the base where it was removed from the hilt. The blood that was on the blade before had stained it, and was now sitting there dry and stuck. Upon further inspection of the base of the blade, Quinn noticed that it appeared to be slightly bent, giving Quinn the impression that it was bent off. The next piece of evidence were the shards of glass. However...these didn't really have anything unique to them. They didn't fit together, they didn't appear to be made of some unknown material. They were just shards. Quinn placed the shards back into their respective bag and took a pen and wrote "Bust-LE" on the bag, and put it aside. Finally the egg. This thing felt like a normal egg, but it was completely red, and remarkably, still felt warm. Quinn had assumed it was warm from being fresh but...i guess it was just a really warm egg. Quinn placed it under a light and began to look at it in detail. Holding it felt strange. As it turned out, the egg had strange grooves running up and down on it.

Suddenly, Quinn heard a loud thumping on the door, causing him to accidentally drop the egg. The door opened swiftly, and the face that appeared was that of Quinn's rival, Yardley Ingram. "Listen up Quinn, Scotchlot has ordered us to head over to the Quilldragon estate and question Lady Igraine Quilldragon, the family Matriarch." Ingram spouted as he waited somewhat impatiently at the door. Quinn scrambled to collect the broken egg shells and place them into a plastic bag. He was only slightly confused that the egg didn't have a yoke, but then again, some eggs have two yokes? Couldn't there be one with no yoke? Probably not. Quinn removed his gloves and pretty much left everything where it was, he had the key to the room and he'd be keeping it until he was finished with his investigation...or until Scotchlot ordered it back. The detective rushed to the door and walked out with Yardley, who began complaining that Scotchlot was playing favorites for Quinn because of what happened to his brother. Quinn didn't really want to think of it like that, his brother had been dead for over a decade. Then again, if that was the case, it made Quinn a bit self-conscious as to whether or not anyone else thought that way about him. What if Alina thought that way. Hopefully these thoughts wouldn't hinder his ability to gather info from the Quilldragons.

[Snoopy Snoopy Dogg[Gyro]]

[Apologies for the delay, AP Testing is some life-consuming stuff]

"So, you wan't to know more about Lil' Arthur's death, huh?!"

Alina's intuition kicked in. This was definitely going to be some key testimony! From the inside of her Marine's uniform she drew out a small notepad to scribble some notes upon, to make sure that she wouldn't forget anything that could possibly be important. From the other side, she also pulled out a vaguely fancy fountain pen. She wrote down Ms. Paran's general appearance, which she described as barrel-like and plastic-y. For the inherent completionist within her, she also wrote down Uther Quilldragon's appearance, and that of Zillius. Just in case.

Every time the woman spoke, Alina wrote down what she said word for word, including the tone of her voice and the responses given by her audience. It was almost like a court transcript, or perhaps more like a theatrical script. 

An enormous, feral man? That sounded exactly like a pirate! There was definitely pirate-y scheming going around here. She wrote down "PIRATES??" at the bottom of her pad, then underlined it several times for emphasis.

So, Zillius was her son? Alina nodded in understanding, and made a small note in the margins next to her comprehensive description of Ms. Paran. Maybe ol' Zilly liked his father's last name more than his mother's. That happened with last names sometimes; they weren't all that important after all. Not unless you really cared about sustaining some kind of lineage. Well, that train of thought ruined Alina's mood a little.

When Quilldragon asked her if she was taking notes, Alina looked up from her pad, basically ignoring the slightly insulting tone of the question. "Of course I have! This is an important case after all!" With a bright smile on her face, she showed the notepad to Uther, content that she had written comprehensive and detailed notes on the situation. Her eyes sparkled with child-like pride.

To the noble, it would look like nothing more than a series of complex chicken scratches and squiggles. How this girl managed to fill out her Marine application form was a mystery to everybody.

Alina tapped her finger on her nose a couple times, in thought. She paced a little bit in addition. 

"Now, Zillius. How often does your mother take these strolls? Does she take them at midnight, or around then? It's mostly just so I can put a time to this murder."