Seakings and Carpenters [Devlin/Randy]

[Devlin]

Floating its way toward the dock of the small town located somewhere on the coast of the Goa Kingdom, was a small, very worn looking dinghy boat not even big enough for a sail. The small boat, carrying the two new bounty hunters, drifted peacefully up to the dock. As soon as the wood of the bow struck the wood of the dock, the first of the two bounty hunters took the first steps of his new adventure onto the dock. Filled with a new energy upon his exit, he began to stretch out his shoulders and back loudly. He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of the new island. He turned to his companion after she too had made it off their poorly held up vessel.

"See I told you that little dinghy would make it the short distance here. Let me just tie it up and..."

The man, known as Devlin, turned his body to face the boat as he spoke only to pause. The dinghy having seem to know it's job was now done, seemed to have taken its final breath and began to sink into the blue. Even though it had no features to reflect this, it actually still managed to look really peaceful as it sank. Devlin watched it submerge with a bit of disappointment before turning back to face the town.

"Ah well, never mind then."

Devlin was wearing a simple tee-shirt and shorts combo, which consisted of a pair of shorts sporting red a Hawaiian style flower design and a white shirt with the words "Beach Bum" written across the chest in black. He was also sporting a pair of black colored sandals and sunglasses to complete the beach going tourist look. He was letting his hair down with this one, quite literately as he didn't have his bandanna on and his hair was left to the breeze. There were a few big giveaways in his appearance that Devlin wasn't a standard tourist though. The first was the giant sword strapped onto his back, and the second was his right arm, which was wrapped up completely in a black bandage like cloth to hide its true nature.

[Randy Savage]

Randy wanly fanned herself as her and Devlin drifted toward the dock. The sea breeze was nice but the sun was hot and they had absolutely no cover. Her already tanned skin glowed bronze from the continued sunlight, sweat twinge around her edges. She let her eyes glaze over the boat itself. Assuming you could even call it a boat, that is. There were small holes, patches of broken board, a whole row of busted benches in the middle and their rudder was something Randy made out of a tree from the last island they left. It was truly a nightmare. The state of disrepair would surely depress most of the carpenters she knew that loved all things wood. Whenever Devlin said he would make her the First Mate of the most impressive ship in the whole Grand Line, this was not what she had in mind. Her and Devlin had long ago resigned the boat to its fate of hopeless and were now just hoping it made the whole journeys length. Her attention was drawn back to reality by a wood on wood clonk.

She hopped off the boat quickly, landing with both boots on the ground behind Devlin. She stretched widely and let out a sound that sounded kind of like a strange, relieved meow. Randy turned her body and shook out her legs; it had been awhile since she spent so long in such a small space. Looking at the boat as Devlin walked toward, Randy couldn’t help but let out a laugh. The boat had taken their departure as permission to die. It was almost like their pure, glorious spirits were all that was holding the boat up! As the boat sunk slowly, it took to the past time as lazily as it sailed here in the first place, taking its time to float down to the depths.

”Look like the El Decepción is gon’ die just like it lived.” That was the name she had bestowed the vessel about halfway through its journey. ”Do do doooooooooo. Do do dooooooooo.....”

Randy laughed to herself as she continued to toot the strange tune. It was a song the Marines called “Taps” and she had heard it played in other towns whenever she saw Marines mourning the loss of a boat. Using it now was a bit of a mockery of the entire thing. Randy snapped into a stiff salute of the boat as it floated to that beautiful upside down reflection world. She waited until the boat was nearly entirely sunk and then an idea stuck her. She ran up toward the boat as the very last of it started to sink. Launching a gauntleted hand out, Randy snapped the rudder of the back of the boat. She held the keepsake in her hands for a moment before fastening it to the back of her belt.

”I’ll use it for kindling when I cook later. An ode to the first ship we’ve lost together!” Randy punctuated her sentence with a fist pump, as if the idea of losing a ship was exciting. ”So, Strongarm... Randy let a sly smile slide across her mouth, as if pleased with her own cleverness.”What’re we doing here anyway?”

As Randy spoke she stretched her arms up and put them behind her head in a relaxed position. She had one leg crossed in front of other, toe the ground, and was resting her weight primarily on the other. The stretch caused a bit of her stomach to show out of the bottom of a bright green tank top she wore. She had started this journey with a coat, but there was a mishap during their travels when she had tried to use it as a sail and it was lost to the sea dragons. She wore black shorts that were none too modest and her feet with covered with nearly knee high socks with her black combat boots. Long strands of exotic, colorful fabric were strung from her belt and the tops of her boots. Randy had a habit of grabbing colorful things as she walked past them; she liked looking like a rainbow in motion. The menagerie of colors having a strange balance in their self imposed chaos.

She held her hair above her head, off of her neck, the tips of her flaming locks danced playfully around the round edge of her face. Her hair was long, as it always was. She wore her gauntlets exceedingly comfortably despite their bulk. Others who spent long amount of time with her always remarked at how well she used her hands despite being completely covered in metal. Randy herself never thought of it like that; the gauntlets were part of her. In a lot of ways, she felt like she actually could feel through them. Sometimes she mused over the idea of incorporating them into her body literally, like Devlin, but something about being less human gave her goosebumps. Devlin himself never seemed less than human, even when he was busting things up with that arm of his, she just couldn’t see herself doing it.

[Devlin]

Devlin raised his right hand, and straightened his back to give his courtesy salute to their fallen comrade. He listened to Randy's beautiful rendition of Taps, and whispered his last, less than sincere, goodbye.

"God speed El Decepción"

When Randy's song was over he lowered his hand to his eye before wiping away a tear that wasn't there. Once that was all over with, the sudden change back to peppy and carefree was just as smooth for Devlin as it had appeared to be for Randy. He turned without even bothering to watch as Randy took her prize from the derelict dinghy. He almost started making his way to town when Randy's mention of cooking stopped him dead in his tracks. A sudden sense of fear and heartburn started to swell in his chest at the thought of eating another one of her meals. He muttered under his breath before starting to walk again, hoping Randy didn't hear him and decide to cook something made of real magma next time, as opposed to something just named after it.

"You could use your last meal to start the fire for the next..."

After Randy asked what was next Devlin perked back up. He turned to her with his trademarked big goofy smile. He had been waiting for her to give him a reason to explain his big, complicated plan of action since they set off together for the island. He had made her the promise of letting her be the first mate to a truly awesome boat and he had the full intention of making that promise come true. They were here for exactly that reason as a matter of fact. Devlin started to explain.

"Remember when I tricked you into thinking I had a real big awesome boat so you would be my first mate? Well, now we are here so we can actually get that big boat. It's different this time though, because I'm not lying."


Devlin turned around to face away from Randy and added one last bit to the line in a low mumble to try and avoid her from hearing it. It had been just a tiny detail anyways. Nothing big. Something he was planning on figuring out once they got into town.

"All we have to do is get the money..."

To be perfectly honest, there was no real plan with this. Devlin simply knew that this place had some carpenters who could build a ship and had intended on finding one of them to build his ship. He even had a nice hand drawn picture of the type of ship he wanted. It may have looked like a five year old drew the picture, but at the very least Devlin had the dexterity to color it within the lines. No five year old was going to match that.

Unbeknownst to the bounty hunters, a group of marines was closing in, guns ready on the two strangers entering the town. In a few minutes they would be all over them, ready to apprehend the two who had inadvertently just docked into a quarantined zone. Devlin himself was too busy explaining his grand plan to notice anything going on in the background. Within a few seconds the two hunters were completely surrounded by marines.

[Randy Savage]

”Not lying eh? I’ll be the judge of that!”

Randy shook a fist mockingly at the back of Devlin’s head while she followed him into town. As far as she could tell, Devlin had the habit of lying without knowing he was lying to himself. It’s like he honestly believed that was the best boat. Or he honestly believed himself when he said he was the strongest and most handsome man in all the blues. She had decided not to spurn him for his twists of truth--he was earnest and Randy had a feeling some of those things would come true anyway. Eventually at least.

As they waltzed down the dock, Randy let her thoughts drift to exactly how they would get this boat. Would they steal it? She wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to that, assuming the ship was worth it. But, something about how Devlin screamed about Justice! and Friendship! out loud while he slept made her doubt that would be the course of his actions. It also wasn’t likely he planned on buying a boat, otherwise they wouldn’t have came here in 'coach.' That, combined with the fact that he ate her food regardless, tears and sweat streaming down his face, instead of buying his own food made it seem far fetched to think he had enough for a boat outright.

”You know, the more I think about this the more I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me. After the last time I told you I would never do any favors for your shady looking ‘friends’ again.”

Randy’s mind flash to the last time Devlin had convinced her to just ’help me get a small boat right quick.’ He made her cook an entire meal using sugars and sweets to help bribe a smalltime carpenter in the last island they were in. An ice cold chill snapped down her back as the phantom scents of the candies and syrups returned to her nose. Her sweat turned cold as she remembered how disgustingly sweet and tart the entire meal was! Devlin had sited the First Mate Agreement he had her sign as to why she had to; in it she had signed her name and agreed to do anything that would further the name and fame of the Hard Rock Hunters. Randy decided he crossed a line that day, and honestly, still hadn’t completely forgiven him.

When Devlin stopped walking, Randy’s mind was still stuck in the horrid nightmare that was Meringue Crème Brûlée. She walked right into his back and almost fell on her butt. She raised a fist to smack him in the back of the head and it was then she realized they were surrounded. Great. Randy thought. More Marines here to pick on the regular citizens of the world. Randy’s lips raised into an uncaring smirk as she relaxed her hands over her head again. She was trying to play it cool but she couldn’t help that her hair flickered and danced in the air; a very clear sign she was getting agitated.

”What’sa matta officer? Never seent a pretty lady before?”

Randy asked snidely, a bit of the street tough pirate accent she picked up when she was a little girl on Con Carne Island crept out as she spoke. She was no good at hiding her emotions and couldn’t help but treat the Marines with disdain and distrust. When she was young she had tried to convince herself that the Marines who attacked her island were just doing their job. But as she grew, and even worked alongside the Marines as part of other crews, she couldn’t help but still harbor bad feelings for them. Hopefully Devlin would find out what was going on before primal instinct kicked in and she tried to fight her way out. Randy hated being surrounded.

[Devlin]

"I told you before we went to see them that I was trying out new uses for the word 'friend' and I wanted to see how it felt to say it in that context!"

Having come to a stop again after Randy had brought up his 'friends', Devlin started to turn to her. He remembered that incident very well and hardly thought that it was his fault, after all he had warned her exactly five seconds before it mattered. Plenty of time to back out if she wanted to. The fact that she kept bringing that up against him was unfair. He would have said more, but that was when he noticed the marines jumping out from all over the place to apprehend the two hunters. It caused him to pause his turn before it even really began, which in turn caused Randy to walk into him with a thud. The marines then immediately began to address the two after Randy let out her snide comment.

"You have docked in a quarantine zone. Please come with us peacefully so we can escort you to a safe loca-"

Their sentence was interrupted by a clearly agitated Devlin, who had turned to Randy seemingly not even have heard the marines. He had business to take care with her first, and he wasn't about to let these marines get in the way of that.

"Don't walk into me like that in front of people! We have to look cool or we won't get any work done!"

Devlin raised his left hand up to pinch Randy childishly on her right arm. An action that was about to undoubtedly set off a chain reaction of childish fighting, poking and pinching between the two. It was as if Devlin wasn't aware that his childish fighting was a direct contradiction to 'looking cool'. He certainly didn't seem to care that he did it in front of about ten or so different marines who all were standing around the two hunters looking perplexed. He continued to show his lack of self-awareness as he continued to speak while countering any pokes and jabs Randy gave back with a few more of his own.

"Don't be so embarrassing all the time!"

This seemed to be the one that struck the nerve of the marine who was doing all the yelling, as his confusion turned to irrational. He closed his eyes for a second with one of those throbbing cross patterns on his forehead before he burst into a yell at the two idiots.

"Stop screwing around!"

This caused Devlin to stop and look over at the marine, before speaking to Randy as if nothing had happened at all.

"What got into that guy..."

[Randy Savage]

"Ahhh!"

Randy let out a guttural yell as Devlin pinched her. Her previous held back slam to the head came out on instinct as she punched Devlin in the top of the head like you might do to a misbehaving child. As he poked and prodded her in response, her immediate reaction was to chomp down on his poking finger and shake her head back and forth like a rabid dog. Act cool?! I'm always cool! Randy's hair flared near upright as she got caught up in her mock rage. She would let go of her bite eventually and stomp on his foot

"Dammit! Be more serious you doofus! How am I supposed to be cool when you're always doing dumb stuuuuuuuff!"

She yelled back at him in a playful argument. She shook her fist in front of her as if threatening to bop him on the top of the head a second time. How could he honestly expect her to keep her cool if he was always on her case? Sheesh, what a guy. She was near about to hit him again before the Marine caught their attention by yelling. Randy's hair deflated as she looked at the flustered Marine. Devlin's question came just a moment before she voiced the same exact one. Marines were so dumb; always yelling and flustered. Acting like they can just push any and everyone around.

"I couldn't tell ya Dev, Marines are always mad about something. Randy said flippantly, blowing the Marine off. "Maybe he realized he was dealing with someone who didn't know the difference between a 'friend' and a FOOD PERVERT!!" The smell of sweets returned. It was enough to make her vomit.Her attention was finally grabbed by the crowd around them. Randy sauntered up to the angry Marine and couldn't help but poke at the large vein protruding from his forehead. It was so impressive! She had barely seen anything like it in all of her life. Were all Marines capable of feats of such strong blood flow? "Wow. Are you gonna be alright mister? That looks serious. It isn't healthy to be mad like that all the time ya see."

Randy continued to mock the Marine. She remembered him vaguely saying something about them having to follow the Marines, but she had no intention of making it easy on them. If they wanted her to go somewhere, they weren't going to do it without a headache. In this moment she wondered how Devlin felt about the Marines. She hadn't really had the opportunity to ask him. At the moment he seemed to be paying them no mind but Randy couldn't tell if that was intentional defiance or if he truly had a hard time paying attention to them. She continued to poke at the Marine that yelled at them.

[Devlin]

"Ow ow ow ow!"

Devlin squirmed in pain like a child as the rabid harlot bit down on his finger and shook her head around. Just as he got his hand free she stomped on his foot causing him to do some more over reacting pain squirms. This was the exact opposite of the cool he was hypocritically talking about. They exchanged their blows a few more times before getting back to the agitated marine. He almost looked disappointed that he didn't have more time to toss in an extra jab or bite of his own, but what was done was done.

He let out a huff of frustration when Randy said about marines always being mad about something. He wasn't a big fan of them himself. It wasn't really their fault personally, he just couldn't stand all the rules and hoop jumping that came with a marine attitude. He hated the very idea of following orders and looking proper and professional all the time. Although, now that he was paying attention these marines must have had more lax dress codes then what he was used to seeing marines with. They were all wearing the right looking clothing, but none of them seemed to have outfits composed of clothing that fit them properly. Some were wearing clothing that was to lose, some with clothing too tight, and some with a mix of both. He would have thought about how strange that was more, but Randy brought up his 'friends' again.

"It was a new context!"

Devlin blurted out in a fake rage again, ready to throw a few more bows before the marines started to ready their guns getting a little more defensive. It didn't seem to help matters that Randy was now actively prodding the one who seemed to be giving the orders. He didn't say anything back to Randy's obvious attempts to further wear down his patience, but Devlin could tell his fuse didn't have much more length left to burn before he blew. He would have laughed, but he realized any more nonsense and the two might end up shot or arrested. Neither one of those sounded very fun, so it was maybe time to scoop up his comrade and leave the quarantine zone like the marines were asking. He sighed and spoke in a more serious but exasperated voice.

"Come on Randy, let's go with them."

He raised his hands up slightly, in a halfhearted surrender motion to show he was ready to be shown out. This seemed to ease the tensions a little bit between them and the marines, who began to lower their guard at the surrender, even if it was lackadaisical. The head marine pointed toward the town up ahead and away from the dock area before speaking still sounding kind of annoyed at the entire situation.

"This way, we need to keep everyone off the docks."

He gave a frustrated snort at the idea that they were directing him to exactly where he had planned on going in the first place. He really didn't like following orders, even if the orders were exactly what he would have done anyways. Something about being told to do something made the idea of doing it less appealing. He was pretty sure if someone told him not to shoot himself in the arm with a gun, that the first thing he would have done is find a gun. Still, this entire quarantine thing was making him curious.

"Are the whole docks quarantined? Why?"

The head marine snorted at the question before replying.

"There have been seaking attacks here lately. You're lucky to even have made it without being killed. We are trying to resolve the problem, but for not we want to make sure all the citizens are safe."

He spoke with an air of calm that didn't seem like something that would come from a man who was charged with going against a seaking. Devlin noticed it, but didn't say anything. He didn't know the situation enough to hazard a real guess. For now, he would just follow them into town.

[Randy Savage]

"Go with these jerks?!" Randy spun on a heel to face Devlin, almost expecting to turn into a new joke but he seemed serious. She groaned. "Fine. Whatever you say, Cap'n."

Randy raised her hands to the same mock surrender position as Devlin, held them there for a moment and then shrugged and tossed her hands back behind her head again. She leaned on her arms almost as if she was lying down. Sigh. Marines always get what they want, don't they? She whined internally as she followed through. Randy didn't particularly like what was going on right now, but she wouldn't disobey her captain. The Marines were leading the way and Randy was fine with going with the flow for the moment. Something in the back of her mind told her she would have all the opportunity to be uppity and hype later. After all, Devlin surely had some scheme planned behind all these.

Letting out a yawn, Randy's eyes fell lazily on the Marine beside her. Wow, he's surprisingly fat for a Marine. Her mind flashed briefly to the fires and Marines that attacked her island. The thought didn't unhinge her; she spent a lot of time going over the details of her final day with her family. It was a long time ago and the wounds were healed. Most of them, at least. But she remembered the marines that day; fit, cut, lean, muscular. There wasn't a singular fatty in the bunch. She looked around at the rest of them and noticed other inconsistencies. Some were poorly shaven, others walked like some gang affiliated teenagers she knew. She casually walked a bit faster to catch up with Devlin.

"So, uh...Dev..." Randy trailed off as she realized just how surrounded she was. She thought of a way to go about this. "Somethingay isay strangay withay theseay....guysay." Randy paused after every few words, almost as if she was confusing herself. The Marine continued speaking and she thought back to their trip here. They had barely seen anything at all, let alone a sea dragon. Not even in the distance. They would have been easy pickins' too. Randy's eyes fell back toward one of the Marines at her side. A particularly fat one.

"Man, you guys must have pretty loose rules around here. You don't have to be much of a Marine to actually wear those clothes huh?"

Damn. Randy thought. I shouldn't try to provoke them. She couldn't help herself. She disliked Marines on a good day and something about these fellows was putting her extra on edge. If something really was up then the last thing she wanted to do was make them mad. Especially while surrounded. She let out a loud laugh after she spoke. Her intent was to lighten the mood but, in hindsight, it probably just made her look like more of an ass. She decided to turn the topic to maybe something they'd appreciate.

"Seaking attacks eh?! That sounds like just the job for a couple of world class bounty hunters!" Randy flexed her muscles as she spoke, trying to look impressive.

[Devlin]

"What did you just call me?"

Devlin couldn't understand a word Randy had just said, but he was sure it was something people get hit for saying. He would have started up the mock fight again, but they were almost in town now and he didn't want to mess anything up this close to town. Some of the townsfolk were already in view; leaving their homes to see what all the commotion down at the docks was. They were obviously both curious and nervous about more activity at the docks.

Randy's questions were clearly making the marines uncomfortable to say the least. Some were fidgeting with their guns and uniforms as Randy pointed out some of the inconsistencies with their attire. None of this compared to the level of uncomfortable that arouse when she mentioned that they were bounty hunters. Most of the men viably got whiter than they were before. It was a change even Devlin noticed, and one he was having a hard time ignoring. He didn't want to just start busting faces for information, though, especially given the fact that he still had no idea what was going on. Before he could give it any more thought, the head marine spoke up.

"No, this is a marine matter. You are to stay in town until we are finished. No one is allowed by the docks until then. If we catch you again we won't be as understanding."

Devlin scowled at the arrogance of this statement, even though he had a strong feeling it was a false one. He put his hands in his pocket, and walked up past the marines into town like he was some defiant punk being escorted back to his parents' care. He noticed the confused look on some of the townsfolk's faces to see new arrivals at a time like this. It wasn't like a lot was being explained to them either, as the marines started back toward the dock with little more than a quick, "Last warning", from the head marine. Devlin watched them leave before turning to Randy.

"Was it just me, or did getting arrested really feel like a good idea?"

Something about this entire ordeal wasn't sitting well with him. Now that he had time to think about it, there were a lot of suspicious things going on with those marines. Now that they were in town, it was time for them to do a little investigating. Someone in town had to know more about what was going on than what they were getting from the marines. With the tension starting to fade, and his stomach starting to growl it was looking like the first place to investigate was a going to be a restaurant. He held his stomach as it growled feeling his blood sugar levels drop instantly.

"You hungry? I could use some spaghetti and syrup."

[Randy Savage]

"Pretty much all bounties start as Marine matters..." Randy left her words coated with as much arrogant venom as the Marine's had. "But at least you'll know where to find us once you fail!"

Randy winked at the Marines as they walked off. There was something truly euphoric about getting the last word in an argument. This feeling was magnified when that last word was against a Marine. Especially against such a.....stupid head. Ahh, what kind of insult is that? Randy argued with herself in her brain. Devlin really had a way of frazzling her and making her put her outside voice on. Something about the ingenuity of his stupidity was infectious sometime and she couldn't help but join in. His words took her out of thought.

"Aww, if I would've know you were thinking it too I would've punched that lead one! I didn't want you yelling at me again." Randy's eyes and hair brightened noticeably as he mentioned food. "I have just the thing"

And with that, Randy was off. She rushed Devlin to the side of the road where there was a pile of rocks. After sitting him down on the rock ledge, she set to work on the biggest, flattest rock of the bunch. She first set to work gathering kindling and rocks. This was her favorite part of any adventure. Her time to shine. This time she'd try to make it more to Devlin's liking. A bit less spicy perhaps? Or maybe he needed more spice to break through the spice barrier on his taste buds. When she was young and first growing accustomed to spicy foods, the head chef of Con Carne island taught her about the spice barrier. The spice barrier was something nearly everyone was born with, a natural coating on the tongue and throat that hindered your ability to enjoy spicy foods. The chef said it was a curse from the god of spice. Once the god's subjects stop respecting and enjoying spicy food, he took the ability to enjoy it at all away from them!

This was a firmly held believe that Randy felt and she was determined to help Devlin overcome his curse! Randy gathered all the rocks and kindling from nearby woods and perhaps a chair leg or two. After she had a nice pile started, Randy detached the rudder she had grabbed earlier. This would be a ceremonial dinner. One to honor their fallen comrade. This would be a dish worthy of kings--only the best for such a faithful 'steed.' She unhooked her frying pan and set it to the side as she also brought out a small bag of gunpowder. She sprinkled the powder over the rocks.

"The secret ingredient this time is the rudder!"

With a spark of flint and rock, Randy ingited the faux stove with a small explosion. She set her pan on the fire and then pulled out the last bit of meat she had stored in her pouches. It was just enough for the two of them, heavily salted to keep well, and perhaps with a bit of accidental gunpowder on them. She squeezed them a bit over the pan, letting the juices grease the cooking utensil. As she set the steaks down and they were brought to a slow simmer, she immediately brought out her spice and seasoning pouch.

"This is the meat of that gigantic scorpion we fought a couple islands back. It's said to be super spi--" She stopped herself midword and looked at Devlin with a gigantic, fake smile. "Super ssssweet! That's right. They say the venom of the scorpion makes all of your taste buds only taste sweet things. And I found a special pepper too!" Randy made a production of unveiling a new pepper. It was a light pink. "They call this the cotton candy pepper! Because it tastes so sweet you could just die! You're going to love it this time I swear!"

In reality, the name of the pepper was 'Literally Satan.' She had came upon it quite some time ago. It was renowned for its taste and honestly, if Devlin cared to know more about peppers, he would recognize it for its distinctive look. There hadn't been a good opportunity to use it until now and Randy wasn't going to let Devlin ruin the opportunity to truly honor the memory of their ship with his crybaby taste buds. Maybe after a few bites he'd like it? Or maybe he's dense enough it would actually taste sweet if he really thought it was. Randy laughed to herself as she stirred the dish. To an outsider she might look insane; laughing maniacally over a stewing pan of monster meat. The flames on the pan jumped high above her head as she threw the pepper into the pan. Her laugh grew a bit nervous.

"See? Doesn't even look spicy...kekek..."

She let the pot marinate for a moment while she ran over to a nearby taven and scooped a half finished glass of wine off of one of the outside tables. Returning to her food, she splashed the wine in for one final kick of flavor. The food was almost ready. She gave it a turn, a flip, and a stir before letting it simmer for a few final moments. As it finished cooking, Randy went to the rock wall and pulled up two pieces of slate. It was a brittle, flat rock. It wasn't good for much but, for now, they would use them as plates. As the fire petered out under the pan, Randy split the food up and portioned it onto the plates. She shoveled the first handful into her mouth and the taste was perfection. Her hair flipped vibrantly around her as she closed her eyes, fully appreciating the wealth of spice in her mouth. When she spoke, scorpion juice came out of the sides of her mouth--speaking with her mouth full was a bad habit.

"See? It's pretty great huh! I knew you'd like it!"

[Devlin]

Normally Devlin might have spoken up about how starting a fire and cooking on the outskirts of a town made them look like a bunch of hobos, but he was too horrified by the idea of eating something Randy was about to cook to care. He was pretty sure that he passed out the last time; all the while listening to Randy yell something about a 'spice barrier'. He wasn't sure he would survive a second round. He sat down and watched her cook as she explained what she was doing and what she was cooking. He looked nervously at her and back toward the town the way a hostage would look at his escape route. The townsfolk that had been watching the commotion for news from the docks didn't seem to be in any better a place then they were a few minutes ago.

"Are you sure it's sweet...?"

He whimpered a little bit feeling as if he already knew the answer. He didn't need to taste it, he could smell the fires of hell coming from what she was cooking. He didn't have any money to get food anywhere else though, and now that they were doing something weird again, he doubted anyone in town wanted to talk to him. He was slowly coming to the realization that this was all he was going to get to eat. He watched her place the plate in front of him as if it was all a dream he was about to wake up from. Sweat was already starting to pool on his brow. He watched Randy take the first bite, happily enjoying her home cooked meal. As she laughed, he hallucinated her shape into that of a demon. He tried to stop his hand from shaking long enough to scoop up some food and bring it to his mouth and take a bite.

"WWWWWWHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY"

Fire spewed from Devlin's mouth as he yelled the only question that came to his mind. His eyes filled with tears as he began to ball like a baby and roll on the ground. It was single-handedly the most spicy thing that he had ever eaten in his life. The only creature capable of concocting something this horrible was the devil. Devlin didn't know Randy's backstory very well, but right now he was convinced she had gone to hell and learned to cook before she was sent back to bring pain to all she met. Despite this clear reaction and pain, Devlin composed himself for another bite. This ended the same way the last one did, complete with yelling and rolling. He bellowed insults as he continued this cycle of bite, pain, compose.

"Harlet! She-Devil! Witch!"

The townspeople still watching all seemed to collectively sigh and go back to what they were doing. Nothing to worry about here, just two idiots dragged into town because of the quarantine. There was one person still watching, however. A young boy. The boy slowly crept up to the two hunters, not really sure himself if this was a good idea, but clearly desperate for something. As he got closer he made his presence known. He shook with nervous fear. These two were weird, and childish. He had no idea what they were going to do when he asked them.

"D-Did you say you were bounty hunters...?"

[Randy Savage]

"Fufufufu! It's so good! I can tell you're really feeling it now! Have you ever tasted anything so delicious?!"

Randy laughed as she took another big scoop of meat off of her makeshift plate. The plethora of juices, seasoning, and spice were a menagerie of lovely flavors. She could barely hold back the ecstasy she was feeling. Her knees shook. Her eyes glossed over. Her arms felt heavy. It took everything she had to keep herself upright and on her feet. This is just too good! She had really outdone herself this time. Of course everything she cooked was delicious but this was on a whole other level! She would have to write this recipe down sometime. She kept scooping handfuls of meat and sauce into her mouth. Her attention was suddenly caught by the words of a small boy. Randy looked down, meat juice dribbling down the side of her mouth.

"Bounty hunters? Yep, that's us kid! We're truly the best and we only take the hardest of jobs! Got something in mind?"

Randy leaned down close to the kid, wiping the side of her mouth with a gauntlet hand. Her face was close to his, the spice on her breath most likely overwhelming. The boy seemed young. She couldn't possibly think what need he would have of the best bounty hunters in the east blue. Perhaps he wanted to join them! Surely they made a fantastic impression when first arriving. Their spiritual pressure was most likely felt by everyone on the island. Maybe he wanted to apprenticeship under Randy as a sous-chef! That would make sense. She was quite renowned for her cooking of course.

Without quite waiting for a response, Randy turned back to Devlin. He was rolling on the ground like a baby, nursing invisible wounds on his tongue. Guess she didn't break his spice hymen. Oh well. She thought to herself. Sometime he would be able to handle the heat. Maybe he could even start powering his arm with their spice. That'd definitely save them some money at least; splitting their funds between spice and sweets was foolish to say the least. And buying more sweets than spices was equally preposterous. Randy finished the last of her meat and tossed the plate into the woods behind them. After finished the food she wiped her hands together and sat down on the rocks, pointing at Devlin.

"Talk to the Cap'n kid. He does all the business."

[Devlin]

"The spice barrier isn't real! This is all a lie! You do nothing but lie! Spice barrier doesn't even make sense! Why do you do this to me!?"

Devlin squealed again with another bite, this time washing down the spice with his bottle of 'Mom's Super Sweet Syrup'. The sweet syrup didn't help a lot with the spice, but it made him feel a lot better regardless. He pulled from the deepest depths of his being to compose himself enough to speak to the child without showing the pain he was in. He gave a quick thumbs up and tried his best to laugh, tears still rolling down his now red cheeks.

"That's right! Number one in the world! Bad guys beware!"

He struggled to finish the hype Randy had already started, choking only a little at the very end. He wiped his mouth with his right hand a bit trying to build up the strength to talk again.

"What do you need kid?"

The child just stared at Devlin bewildered. He had planned to ask something else, but he was too distracted by Devlin's curious need to keep eating the food that was causing him so much pain. He had to ask.

"If it hurts so bad... Why do you keep eating it?"

Devlin smiled through another cough before preparing to answer the child. His cheeks still red, and his eyes still full of tears despite his big goofy smile. He gave a big thumbs up with full confidence, as if what he was saying wasn't both contradictory and nonsense.

"To beat the spice barrier!"

The answer was so stupid it nearly dropped the child to the ground. Devlin had literally just been complaining that no such thing existed. He began to have second thought already. Even though he was a kid, he knew for sure that he was about to ask help from a bunch of idiots. This time it was the kids turn to try and recompose himself from the nonsense that he was being exposed to. His only wish was that somehow two other more qualified acting people would come, but that wasn't going to happen. He simply tried to ignore it all and force out what he wanted to say. He closed his eyes and spoke, as if not seeing would help make it easier.

"I need you to rescue my brother!"

Devlin was shocked by this. He looked at the kid a bit puzzled for a second, not really have expected him to say anything more crazy then 'find his lost toy'. He wasn't really sure how to respond all of the sudden. He looked to Randy quickly to see if she was as puzzled as he was before turning back to the child.

"Rescue your... brother?"

[Randy Savage]

"There is too a spice barrier! Never blaspheme in the name of spice again!"

Randy raged at Devlin while he gurgled the syrup. The smell of the sticky liquid was pungent enough to reach Randy and her nose recoiled in disgust. How could anyone taste such fluids, let alone drink them straight? It was so thick and sticky. The thought alone was enough to make Randy almost hurl. She suppressed a lump in her throat, wishing she had more food to wash the thought down with. Absentmindedly, she reached into one of her pouches and pulled out a lesser pepper. It wasn't terribly spicy, hell, Devlin could probably even eat it, but it was better than thinking about that syrup.

Her attention was brought back to the boy quickly as he mentioned his missing brother. Finally! Something exciting was happening. It had been a long time since Randy was able to punch something in its face. She tried to punch boredom in its face once or twice during their sail here but that hadn't work. It never did. All of this pent up fighting spirit was starting to get to her and make her antsy. Her skin danced with anticipation. There could be a big fight right around the corner!

"This is it Dev! This is the action we've been waiting for!" Randy hopped from her perch on the wall as she spoke, jumping excitedly. "It's time for some ACTION! And ADVENTUUUURE! We'll take the job kid!"

Randy reached down with both hands and grabbed the kids arm to begin shaking it wildly as if to seal the deal. Being that the kid was half her size she nearly shook his entire body off the ground. Her excitement was going to hurt someone some day. In some situations she might have given second thought to her decision. Especially the idea of "jumping rank." But the First Mate was second in command for a reason! They were there to make the hard choices. The ones the captain couldn't make on his own. Randy convinced herself that Devlin, in his current spiced state, was in no position to turn down work. Surely he'd agree with that.

"So kid; where's your brother run off to? Did he get kidnapped by ninjas?! Did he get drug away by a land dragon?! Did he walk away from your mom while she was waiting in line at the food market?"

Her last suggestion, while somewhat of a joke, struck a frightening realization within her. What if the kid simply did just wonder off? Aww damn, this could be dramatically less exciting than I anticipated. She bit her bottom lip in a mildly nervous manner while waiting for the kid to respond. Hopefully this wouldn't be just a wild goose chase only to find the kid was playing with crabs on the beach. She took another bite of pepper to calm her nerves. Mmm. You always know just what to say to make me feel better, pepper.

[Devlin]

Randy seemingly bounced at the idea of doing something that may have been exciting. Maybe it was all the spicy foods, but Devlin didn't feel as quick to jump as Randy did. This was both because of the weird nature of the request mixed with the weird circumstances surrounding the town, and because Devlin was noticing something Randy didn't yet. The boy's eyes were swollen with tears. The kid was honestly scared of something, and it wasn't the overly excited woman nearly shaking him to death. Randy's hype was enough to scare Devlin, so if something was worse than that, it had to be bad. He decided to just listen to the child as Randy did the talking.

The child's eyes continued to swell as Randy spoke. Devlin could visibly see the child lose what confidence he had as he stood. Tears began to run down the child's face as he shook ever so slightly, trying to sniffle out a reply to Randy's questions.

"No one believes me... It was stupid to ask. You won't believe me either... You are going to act like all the other adults... I-I shouldn't have bothered."

Devlin watched as the child began to cry and lose it in front of them. It was only then that Devlin realized something else he had apparently missed about the child earlier. It was what Randy said about getting lost from the mom that made him aware. This child didn't have a caretaker. The child had approached the two of them, who were not only strangers, but clearly insane, without the smallest hint of protest from an adult, for one. There was also no one in the town who seemed to be watching to make sure he was safe around the two of them either. This kid was alone, and it was hard to tell for how long that had been. Devlin sighed silently, knowing that it was time to use his idiocy for good.

"Kid... Have we acted like adults, even once this entire time?"

His words seemed to have caused the kid to come to some weird realization about the two of them. The realization that, although both the hunters were childish and silly, that they were exactly the ones he needed to come into town to help him. He looked at Devlin with a teary eyed face, but this time one with a gleam of hope that hadn't been there beforehand.

"Come on kid, tell us what's up ok?"

The child nodded while snorting, bringing his sleeve up to his face to wipe away the tears and snot before talking. Devlin could see the kid was still in a lot of distress. He was about to learn why.

"My brother... He took care of me... He said there was no seaking. That the marines were lying. He went to the docks at night to see what they are doing. They took him! They took my brother! It wasn't a seaking! It was the marines! And the other disappearances are them too! Everything! It’s their faults!"

The story started off slow, but got more passionate and loud as it continued. Again, Devlin was surprised. He knew something was off about the marines here, but to be kidnapping people and blaming it on a seaking. Devlin pondered this one over for a second trying to think of what type of reason there would have been for this. He didn't even know there were disappearances till now. Nothing was adding up here, but he didn't hesitate for a second to believe what the child was saying was true.

"The marines huh..."

He racked his brain a little trying to think back to anything he might have seen that was weird when they arrived. Nothing was really coming to mind. In his concentration, he took another bite of food off his plate. The fires of hell filled his stomach again let out another yell of agony before hitting the ground one last time. In his pain and flailing, he managed to confirm what Randy had already been saying.

"We will... Get your brother...back!"