Cooling Down at Sea (Shoguns)

[Flame]

Syph Post #1 / Jaq Post #1

The captain's cabin of the Dancing Red was a quiet place for the most place broken away from the general ruckus of the rest of the ship. With the other inhabitant of it off at his own business Syphalia sat alone at a cluttered desk. Apparent upon it were a few pieces of paper that were of a different quality than the books and parchment that surrounded them. Before them Syph was leaning back on her chair, rocking it on its rear two legs.

With her hands at her head she was staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment. Her lips curled and pursed as she contemplated what to do with the knowledge at hand. Hmm what to do with- A sharp knock at the door stirred Syphalia from her thoughts.

"Come in." She called out slowly allowing her chair to drop back into a more solid resting position. Her attention turned to the lower door as Arlen walked up the steps, his combed black hair was terribly well kept at the moment. "What's up?" She asked as the rifleman was taking in the scene piecing together what she had been up to.

Arlen met her eye-to-eye "Lunch is almost ready." He said. There was no change in his face, probably meant there was a decent cook at the range today. "Ah ... okay I'll probably be there in a bit." the rifleman nodded in response and turned to walk away. Sitting there Syph listened for the sound of steps before gathering the papers before her and sticking them somewhere safer.

---

Elsewhere at the prow of the ship stood a singular figure. Even in a ship with only eight other people the lack of privacy was slightly annoying. With his torso bared to the world this man grasped in each hand a large weight. Small red pupils glared forward towards the next island as he pumped each arm switching back in forth.

What would become of him now, his eyes stared forward past the island they were heading to but instead to thoughts of the island after. Jaq remembered with certainty his trials and tribulations at Kenzan Island. The former-boxer smiled as he continued to curl those bulging biceps of his. Sweat pearled up on his chest running down his body in streams.

This continued for a little longer until finally he let his arms fall limp. "Three hundred reps each ... a good start." He said quietly mostly to himself acknowledging his ... weakness. There was much for him to improve, upon his return he'd need to prove stronger than before. Not to mention there were those even upon this ship that he needed to overcome. Turning around the boxer looked back over the ship he was on. Yeah, there was still much for him to do.

[Jade]

With the events of Coast Nostra already recorded in her sharp scrawl, Lilin had nothing but free time aboard the Dancing Red. Taking some time to recover from the assault on the Marines was welcome, naturally, and yet the little devil was feeling restless. The News Coo was running "late" - of course she understood that the nature of delivering newspapers to ships sailing the sea wasn't an exact science by any means, but she tended to be impatient even during the best of times.

To keep herself from just endlessly pacing the deck, the horned woman had perched herself on the ship's mast and put herself to the task of maintaining her newly-acquired ōdachi, the replacement for her old blade that she had broken while training Gyato before things started popping off on Coast Nostra.

Lilin pushed her orange-tinted glasses up from her eyes to get a better look at the blade, letting a soft tch escape her lips as she took in the already notched and damaged metal. Her glasses slid back down into place as she stopped holding them in place, letting the long blade dangle in mid-air and taking a draw from her pipe as she thought about what to do. The advice she had aimed at Gyato - that a swordsman sometimes outgrows their blade - rang through her head again...

The swordswoman sighed, a cloud of smoke escaping her mouth all at once. The two other primary swordsmen among the crew had their own named blades, made of better stuff than the cheap swords Lilin had been acquiring on her path; it seemed that she would have to keep an eye out for a truly special blade to make her own as well. Or, well, perhaps she could ask Syph about making one, but something about that idea just didn't sit right with her...

[Flame]

Syph Post #2 / Jaq Post #2

Standing in her quarters she waited for a few minutes lost in thought. Finally she began to head down the stairs walking down into the main cabin area. Walking through the main passageway she paused once more before the door to the kitchen-dining-main-room area. Then placing a hand upon the door she pushed it open to see what was a rather small number of the total crew actually there.

Turning to look it was actually Maximilian who was sitting at the kitchen stirring a ladle inside a large pot giving off steam. Noticing her he waved slightly before turning back to the job at hand. Arlen was at his usual place at the table a book open in front of him. And no one else it was a weirdly empty room given the time of day. "Is something going on? Why's no one else here?" She asked Arlen curiously who merely shrugged in response. "I told those in their rooms, the others ..." he shook his head.

Syph scratched her head and began to sigh when a finger poked her twice on the shoulder. "If you'd get out of my way Syphalia." Kitty's voice came from behind her and Syph quickly stepped aside as the nun walked past her to take a seat at the table as well. "Thanks for telling me Arlen." The nun said sweetly to the quartermaster who nodded in response. Bemused Syph watched them for a moments longer before sighing and then looking upwards.

"Guess I'll tell the others."

Quickly stepping out of the quiet living room she headed back down the hallway, up the stairs through her cabin and out onto deck where she found Lilin walking around. "Yo, food's ready. If you wanna eat better come now." She said with a smile her eyes momentarily glancing past them to Jaq who was standing at the prow of the ship.

---

Turning he finally noticed the smoke woman walking around on the main deck. Raising his hand and opening his mouth to say something but was silenced as the defacto captain of the ship came out of her cabin and said something. Pausing at the other side of the ship he stood still. His fingers wrapped themselves tighter still around the weights in hand. Muscles in them bulged for a moment as he pressed into the metal grips.

For half a second his red eyes met with Syphalia's before her attention returned to Lilin. Jaq sighed wondering why he was so annoyed at the moment. He'd been on this ship for a grand total of three days only. Three days he had existed here, training in his own way looking for improvement in what he knew he could strengthen. Some of the superhumans he'd seen in this crew were insane in their feats as far as he could tell. Which meant, there was much further for him to grow, much he had to learn. His eyes narrowed as he watched the two before him, neither looked stronger than him, but he suspected both were.

[Jade]

Lilin looked down from her perch as Syph stepped out onto the deck. A meal would definitely do to help keep her mind occupied for a while... "Aye, I'll come quick-like," she shot back at Syph. The swordswoman sheathed her blade quickly before dropping from the mast, landing with a thud on the Dancing Red's deck.

She stretched, holding her blade up into the air over her head with one hand. "There has been neither hide nor hair of that damned News Coo," Lilin reported to Syph, striding across the deck toward the other swordswoman. It wasn't as if the little devil thought Syph would be as interested in the news as she was, but it still seemed appropriate to let the de facto leader of their little crew know what she had been up to. "Does lunch look... Edible?"

[Flame]

Syph Post #3 / Jaq Post #3

"Waiting on the Coo?" Syph said momentarily bemused by why Lilin would be interested in such a thing. The most immediate reminder was the soreness she still felt about her body at times. The events of Coast Nostra which were barely behind them were likely to have pushed bounties on a few of them. Her second breakout from a marine base, Lilin's actions earlier, so much to be excited about if you were happy about bounty values.

"Ahh ..."

She made that quick understanding sound before laughing amused to herself. "Well I hope you get what you want from it." She said with a smile, herself she was curious what would happen after the events of that. The revelation of her ability to use haki among other things was likely to escalate her bounty. Some of the others as well, probably Arlen and perhaps Jaq and Takeshi would both gain one. Rubbing her chin she noted to herself they'd have to be a little more careful of bounty hunters in the future.

Pausing she commented finally on the last question she'd been asked, "Haven't seen it personally, but Max is cooking so it should be fine." She said with a shrug to the swordswoman.

---

Ahh d*mned this isn't how I should feel. Lets go. The boxer steeled himself as he walked forward throwing aside his many misgivings. Coming down the stairs from the prow deck to the main he gained confidence with each step. With a large weight in each hand his feet landed with a powerful thud. These thuds built Jaq up as he walked forward like a drum beat announcing his entrance.

As he stepped closer he didn't draw their attention. No matter, he waved a weight around "Yo' whats goin' on here?" He asked straightly. "Just out here rounding up people who want lunch." Syphalia responded as she turned to address him. She glanced momentarily at the weights he grasped in hand "Out here weight training?" She asked the rhetorical question. Jaq returned with a quick affirmation.

"Yep."

He lifted one up holding it out for the pair of them. "You want a try?" The boxer asked as he held it out in front of him. Syph glanced at it for a moment and then shook her head. Jaq glanced at Lilin to see if she'd take him up on it.

[Jade]

The little devil nodded her head at the response to her question about lunch. "Goodly, goodly," she muttered, trailing off as Jaq walked up to them. She grinned, flipping her pipe to the other side of her mouth with a practiced movement of her jaw, as she listened to their brief exchange.

When the weight was offered to her, Lilin raised her free hand up, palm out, in Jaq's direction, and rotated it to the side. "Nay, repetition never suited me. Lifting heavy things for its own sake is best suited to lug-heads, no? Kashashasha!" The imp folded into smoke and slipped past the two, reforming on the other side with a huge grin directed at Jaq. "A jest, naturally. Now, hurry tha pace, afore I eat tha's shares!"

She slipped backwards into smoke again, disappearing from the deck.

---

The stylist was sitting at the table already, working idly away at a hole in a pair of pants, when Lilin coalesced over her claimed chair, perching precariously atop the seat's back in her particular peculiar fashion. Takeshi looked up at her with a raised brow. "Any news?"

While Syph seemed indifferent to such things, the stylist certainly seemed interested in the official response to the crews' most recent actions. "Damned winged rat hasn't soared by yet," she responded with a swift shake of her head as she dropped her sheathed ōdachi onto the empty seat of her chair. Lilin leaned backwards, causing the chair to tilt off its front legs, looking over toward Max in the kitchen to try to catch a glimpse of how food preparation was going.

Takeshi nodded his head slowly as he brought an end to his current bit of work, tying off his needlework with precision and put the pants down on the table. "By the way, Lilin, I've been meaning to ask..." She glanced his way out of the corner of her eyes. "Your clothes... Seem to transform somewhat with you? How does that-"

"'Work'?" Lilin cut him off, and laughed. "If any would know, I'd've figured a threadsman like tha would. Chalk it up to the devil's power, eh?"

[Flame]

Syph Post #4 / Jaq Post #4

The boxer's fist tensed at the words of the smokey woman. A retort involving her foggy mind and airheadedness swelled to his lips but he said nothing. Instead he gave an underwhelming laugh in response as she passed by. The quiet of the day sprung upon the deck as the Lilin dispersed from deck down below. "D*mned woman." Jaq cursed mostly to himself forgetting momentarily that Syphalia was still standing in front of him.

It was her amused chuckle which reminded him that she was still there in front of him. He paused glancing up and meeting her smiling face with a glare. "Don't mind Lilin, she lacks in tact sometimes. Besides she's waiting to rejoice over her bounty at the moment." Syphalia winked at him obviously amused by the irony of her crewmates' statement. The boxer grunted in response his annoyance at a rapid simmer moments from boiling over. "So, are you going to stay out here on your lonesome or come down and have lunch with the rest of the group?" She asked, no holds barred it seems straight to the point. That was something Jaq could respect at the very least.

"Probably." The boxer said with a shrug. Syph nodded pausing for a moment as her eyes roamed over him. "What!" His word was more an exclamation than a question. The swordswoman said nothing for a moment as she watched him. Then scratching her chin she began to talk, "How're you doing on the ship, I never really see you hanging out with anyone else, Takeshi has seemingly integrated himself fairly well. But you, you're still on your own." She said pointedly moving immediately to her point. Jaq shrugged once more, "You all are." He paused to choose his words.

"Just don't fit I suppose." He said.

Syph burst out laughing at that statement "Don't Fit? ... Hardly I think you'd do just fine, half of these fools are lunkheads, you're just scared." She came out taunting, "What are you scared we're going to beat you up?" She said with a flippant swing of her hand. The boxer's face flushed with annoyance, his hands dropped the weights and came up curled and ready. Syph paused and smiled daring him to throw the first punch. Jaq was no coward especially after the tongue-lashing he'd just taken he swung, his burly fist charged forward slamming into a palm Syphalia had brought forth.

"What the ****s your problem." He swore as he swung his other fist at her. She sidestepped it pulling him along with his grasped fist.

"You're never going to learn training alone. You're never going to connect training alone." Syphalia said back to back. Releasing his fist she pushed him away from her. "If you want to get stronger, we do hand-to-hand sparring sessions in the morning on the main deck. Not everyone but a few of us gather for them. You should come, can knock some lugs out of that head and learn some real fighting." She said and started to walk away. Jaq burned more and charged at her throwing a doughy fist at her back as she started to close the door. Without even turning to look she sidestepped the attack before stepping inside leaving the boxer alone.

---

Moments later Syph appeared in the common living space. With half a glance around she noted that everyone save for Jaq was there. Perhap's he'd join later but, perhaps not. At the very least it seemed Takeshi was already beginning to mix with the group. "Max is the food ready?" She asked the man who was still stirring his ladle about the pot. He turned to glance and nodded.

"Right then, let's dig in." She said with a smile wondering when exactly she wanted to talk with all these fools. A small gurgle of hunger sprung from her stomach as she headed for her seat at the table. All Syph could do was laugh at the sound as she placed herself beside Arlen.

[Jade]

As Syph took her seat at the table, Takeshi moved the pants he had been working at patching up underneath his seat, out of the way. "Ah, Syphalia, the next chance you get, I'd like to take your measurements. I've gotten most of the rest of the crews'," he looked over at Lilin with that comment, who just stuck her tongue back out at him in response, "so, perhaps we could do that after lunch?"

Lilin turned her attention away from whatever that conversation was about and grinned down at Gyato as the boy sat down across from her. She took a long draw on her pipe and, removing it from her mouth for a moment, blew a big ring across the table at him. The apprentice swordsman waved his hand through it, dispersing the smoke ring, and just gave her a funny look. "A good afternoon to tha, heel-snapper," she said, leaning forward on the back of the chair. "What do tha say to another 'lesson' sometime, eh?"

Gyato sighed. "I think we'd need someone to supervise, to stop it from getting out of hand again..."

"Come now, where would the fun be if not for things 'getting out of hand'? Kashashasha!"

[Flame]

Syph Post #5 / Jaq Post #5

"Take my measurements?" Syphalia responded in a slightly amused voice. She paused as she grasped a piece of bread in hand her fingers fiddling with it for her moment of thought. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be fine on my own." She said as she tore a piece of bread apart from it and tossed it into her mouth. With a shrug she turned her attention to her food.

For her part she took little notice of Takeshi's response to her denial. Instead she thought carefully about what she'd done moments ago. There was a chance what she'd said to Jaq might backfire. Well if it did then perhaps it was for the best that they let him go at the next island. Especially given what was coming, she bit her lip.

Glancing back up from her food she took note of Gyato and Lilin's conversation. She smiled and laughed to herself, she really enjoyed the interactions of her crew at times. They were an interesting and amusing group to say the least.

---

Elsewhere on the ship Jaq stood alone stunned by the reeling words that Syphalia had lashed at him. The shirtless man grimaced and ground one hand into another. The emptiness of the deck at this moment was made worse by the sounds of laughing and amusement coming from the floor beneath him.

Up here he was singular. What was up with him? He wondered this to himself he'd felt off for a while since he'd joined this crew. His training his practice had gotten him nowhere, Syphalia disregarded his attacks still, if not more so than before in their fight. What secrets did she have, what did this crew know that made them stand apart. He needed to acknowledge it, what his problem was.

Fear, hardly something he'd experienced very much, inadequacy as well. Squashed beneath the strength of their members, Jaq raised both hands and slapped himself firmly on each cheek. The boxer smiled and cracked his knuckles in a show of fierceness to himself. If he had had misgivings before, they were not for him. This was not who he was, he would rise and show these fools they shouldn't be taking him so lightly.

He'd do it, join their little sparring sessions and show his true strength. With the puff of his chest he headed for the door. In moments he was through and heading down to join the crew for lunch.

---

At the table Syphalia was smiling and eating as she watched the crew chat with each other. She paused for a moment as she felt something and then her smile grew.

"Something up Syphalia?" Arlen said stirred from his silence for a moment. A few eyes turned surprised at his talking up moving from the quartermaster to Syph. She shrugged lightly and then nodded to the door as Jaq swung it open and strode into the room.

His movements were full of pomp and bluster that nearly made Syph laugh as the boxer made his entrance. Shirtless still he stepped forward into the living area and pointed his finger with furor at her. "You'll see me there girl. And you'll regret having invited me in no time at all." The others glanced at her confused as Syphalia just began to giggle incessantly.

[Jade]

Takeshi pinched the bridge of his nose as Syph brushed him off. "It's- I'm a tailor, I can't exactly do my job if-" He looked up, finally taking notice that her attention had drifted elsewhere, and sighed loudly. "Before the next island, I will get you two measured, you hear me?"

"Oh, tha and what army, eh?" Lilin shot back with her typical big grin. Her pipe was hanging precariously between two of her sharp teeth as she ate, dangling and dipping up and down, threatening to fall out - but never quite making it far before her teeth clamped back down and snapped it back into place. "Soon as tha can pin either of us down, mayhaps we'll take tha's threats more seriously!"

"Lilin, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full," Kitty said, putting on a stern face from across the table at the little devil. Lilin threw her head back with another bout of laughter at that.

Amid the chatter, Jaq finally decided to join them - and there was Takeshi's tch, right on schedule, at the shirtless man's appearance. After the shipwright had gotten out his seeming threats toward the crew's de facto leader, the stylist spoke up. "Well that's all well and good, Jaq, but would you please put a shirt on? Or at least take a shower before you-"

Lilin cut him off with some vigorous gesturing with her fork. "Food's good, Jaq! Get thaself a heaping plate!" She gave him a wide smile and some additional laughter as Takeshi fumed silently.

[Flame]

Syph Post #6 / Jaq Post #6

Stepping up to the table Jaq paused and smiled at Takeshi with a devillish grin. "Get used to it ya sissy. I don't see anyone else mindin'." Plopping down beside the annoyed stylist Jaq nodded to Lilin in thanks to her invitation. Reaching forward he ladeled some of the stew into the bowl before him. Raising the bowl to the one who cooked it he gave a thumbs up as he spooned it quickly into his mouth. The man across from him paused for a second to give him a glance but made no other motions save for watching silently.

"So you'll be joining us Jaq?" Said the blue-haired man sitting at the far end of the table in a very stiff and neat manner. Jaq had seen at least a match from this man, he was a strange fighter one that Jaq didn't completely understand yet. "Aye, that's the plan." He responded gruffly paying more attention to the food under the strange watchful eye of this the doctor. "Would you be down to make a wager of sorts. I can definitely make it worth your while." The doctor said with a glimmer in his eyes. For the barest moment the table went quiet, and a few including Syph gave a hard swallow to their food at this question.

For whatever reason that happened Jaq was wholely unaware of it. Never one to back away from a bet he smiled back with a dangerous grin. "Yeah, I'm down for some good betting, if you're prepared to get yer ass whooped." Del Ray smiled back at the boxer/shipwright.

"Perfect" The word slithered out from Del's crooked mouth.

---

As food began to settle down with the majority of the crew finishing their meals. Syph did a pair of two quick coughs to gather the groups attention. The lack of a response from most of the crew to this caused her eye to twitch slightly. So sighing she took in a breath of air, causing Arlen to shake his head as she belted out "SHUT UP AND PAY ATTENTION!" Finally pulling the attention of all those before her. To this she gave a quick smile as she cleared her throat.

"Now then, I've got something to let ya'll know about where we're going and what'll be going on from here." She said her face growing serious for the moment. "After the events at Coast Nostra I was wondering how they knew we were there and what was going on ..." she said with a growing intensity. "So while I was distracting the marines at the base, I was able to obtain some valuable information." She paused for a moment. "Info about who informed, who our enemy is." She said meaningfully as she pulled a few papers out of a pocket and spread them on the half-cleared table. For those who'd been around for a while a familiar symbol showed its face on them. Pausing for a moment so those there could glance at what was laid before them she then spoke up once more.

"For those still unaware, lemme lay it out to you. The one who set us up for that trap is none other than ..." she began to explain the upcoming situation at the islands to come and the enemy, the organization that lay before them.

Letting that sink in for a moment she smiled. "I'm thinking we should pay them back the next time we find them. Show what comes from messing with us." She said with a wicked grin.