Post by Blushing z0ro on May 23, 2020 7:32:28 GMT -5
LEONARD LECLERC & ANGELO SORES
ACT I SCENE II-BECOMING PIRATES! ENTER THE DRAGON!-
It was a day like any other. The dusty dilapidated dojo barely stayed standing, Angelo had done his best to repair the edifice after the fire a few years back but one would have been hard pressed to call this place anything more than a ruin. The floors and wooden beams still carried the charred scars of the events that transpired there. Still to Angelo Sores, this was the place he called home.
Like every morning Angelo got up from his thin futon set in the middle of the dojo floor, folded it away, made a simple breakfast of rice, a thin soup and a salted fish, then he proceeded to train for the rest of the morning, going through every exercise his master had taught him. Only then would he give himself a wash in the small stream behind the dojo. One needed to be clean for what came next.
Like every other day before, Angelo lit some incense over his master’s grave, praying that she would watch over him. The martial artists prayed for strength and courage, though he knew his master would admonish him for praying for such things. She had been a strict and harsh woman, she hammered the fact that strength was not something one was born with, it was earned, worked for, suffered for, that was true strength. Any power gifted or inherited was not worth having.
Yet for all her strength, she fell in combat and died, perhaps such stubbornness and single minded search for power only by oneself caused her defeat. There were always more questions in Angelo as he kept on wondering what his master would say at his current state. She had always said that one needed to face the world to obtain true power. What did that even mean?
Angelo knew his own flaws and felt no shame in admitting he was not the greatest thinker. My must martial artists always mix philosophy with their lessons on combat, it made everything more difficult. Although Angelo did have one idea what facing the world could mean; but how would he go about doing that?
For the past year or so, the young martial artist began going regularly to the port and waited for ships to moor, amongst the sailors he would seek out strong opponents to challenge. So far very few had accepted, and none that did had proved any real challenge, it was getting to be a problem. Maybe… just maybe it was a sign that he would have to leave soon, although exiting the idea was not really comforting. "No use thinking about that right now." Angelo sighed to himself.
Dressing up in more casual everyday clothes, Angelo stepped out of the dojo, not forgetting to bow and say goodbye as he left the scorched building. It was a relatively short walk to the port, once there he would wait and seek out challengers, maybe he would go to Serah’s Tavern for lunch, she made great pies. Hopefully today would bring a proper challenger. That is so long as that nosy Marine Captain did not force Angelo to scram like almost every time the possibility of a good fight appeared.~~~
The sun shined, the sky was blue and a light sea breeze carried around the scent of salt. It was a good day for boating, and arguably an even better one to finally arrive at a port where one could get some well deserved rest and proper warm food, accompanied with refreshing drinks.
Leonard grunted as his arms protested against any further rowing, thanks to Brandon’s guidance sea currents guided the pair and their loaded life rafts without much need for him to row besides the occasional adjustment to their heading. But once the two were in sight of Karate Island the currents began to calm down and even to push them away as the low tide began to drift the sea away from the landmass.
So the young man had just been rowing against the tide for the past hour as they finally entered the port proper and reached one of the smaller pontoons meant for smaller ships, like the ones they had. With a last ditch effort Leo grabbed some of the ropes and tossed it to the pontoon so as to tie up the boats. Boy oh boy was he tired, the swordsman really understood why people invented sails, they just make sailing so much easier.
Climbing onto the pontoon and securing the line Leo did wander if it was very safe to leave the boats unsupervised, sure he’d put a tarp over the boat holding the plunder he and Brandon had taken from Badger Pirates, but if anyone cared to have a bit of closer look they would find a decent pile of treasure just waiting to be taken. Really, unloading the lot would probably be the safest thing to do. The question was where, does one sell treasure? That had not been something the young man ever thought off or even had to think about until, probably best to go ask somewhere. Maybe a bar or a tavern?
“Come on Brandon! Let’s get ourselves some nice food and drinks! They may even have ways to cook fish you’ve never seen before.” Leonard called out to his avian buddy, at least his choice of companion was guaranteed to garner some attention, and while that may be a problem in some circumstances, standing out a bit when you actually wish to find out about the area you’re in could be useful. So long as you don’t attract weirdos.Angelo: 00b4ec