The Perfect Marker (Char, Cirrus, Shade)

[EriChar]

Night had fallen in Acattopa, one which was unusually hot, and it’s streets were filled only with the drunkards and those meant to keep the drunkards in line, almost. There was a solitary figure, one who wasn’t a drunkard, well he’d had a couple before but he could handle it! Oh, neither was he particularly associated with keeping people couldn’t in line.

He walked through the streets of the Ciudadela Capital wearing dark clothes, pants and a short sleeved shirt which was left open. The man in the dark clothing had visited this town many times, and practically knew it like the back of his hand. This man was in fact Bay Botany, and he had spent the best part of five years of his life here, as a teenager. He walked with his hands were buried in his pockets, and his head was down, looking occasionally from side to side to see if he was being tailed. Passing through the alleys, he glanced into the bars where people were singing and shouting, and even as he passed one window had to duck out of the way of someone who was tossed through the window. Looking down at the guy on the floor, who seemed to be unconscious from either drink or beating, Bay pitied the owner who would have to fix the window, but didn’t linger; he was burning moonlight.

A few more back streets and he had reached his target, a high white wall that seemed taller than any of the buildings in the city. Looking from left to right, Bay checked he wasn’t being watched and then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. Wrapping it around his face, he tied it up like some sort of half assed criminal, then looked up to the top of the wall. Taking a couple of steps back, Bay ran and jumped as high as he could, he soared through the air and cleared many of the roofs around him, but still didn’t make it anywhere near the top. However, as he reached the top of his leap, Bay grinned and said to himself “Holly Leaf Gale!”

Thrusting his flat hands at the wall, like some sort of climbing axe, Bay’s fingers made a small indent into it and allowed him the time to thrust the next in a foot or two higher. It was kind of a bizarre sight to anyone with a keen enough eye to watch, a man jabbing his hands into a wall and dragging the rest of his body up it, looking as if he was swimming up the wall. Finally, a little out of breath, Bay wrapped an arm around the top of this very high wall and pulled his body on top of it. He stood up, balanced a little precariously on top of the wall and dusted himself off, then looked over what the wall was hiding. A huge estate with a palace at it’s centre was laid out in front of him, it’s white features almost glowing in the moonlight. Bay looked over the grounds with a smile, it had been some time since he had seen the grounds properly, and had never seen it from this
height.

This is no time to spend admiring the view, there’s work to be done! Bay thought as he hopped down onto a nearby roof and then again onto a big grassy area. As he landed, he crouched down to absorb the fall and his impact made a little draught, making the grass rustle a bit and letting it’s scent escape. Standing up, Bay let himself breathe in and was instantly overwhelmed by a heavenly fragrance of… Candyfloss! He let out a long, happy sigh, he had missed this scent so much while he had been away. He moved down onto all fours, taking in long inhalations as he smelled the grass that he had been away from for so long. He knew he probably shouldn’t, but couldn’t help but rub his cheek against it, it felt so good on his skin.

Rising to his knees, Bay looked around and couldn’t see anyone around, so he figured he had just a little time to reminisce. As soon as such a though had entered his mind, the shirt he had been wearing was sailing through the air, having been thrown off, and Bay himself was now rolling around on the grass, laughing and taking in long inhales…

[Cirrus]

A disturbance...

Yuri's acute sense of hearing told him something was amiss. Being a guard of the palace, the man had a good scope of the normal sounds and smells of the grounds. This...this sounded familiar, but if Yuri couldn't make it out, no one could. Of course, he hadn't gotten his epithet 'Sniffer Dog' for nothing; Yuri's nasal abilities were on a level considered superhuman.

Yes...certainly someone...is it that kid again?

His thoughts remained inside his head; Yuri said nothing to the others. Of course, leading a pack of twelve wasn't easy - many were newbies too, which only served to exacerbate the current situation. If he informed them now, on their first day on the job, that an intruder had broken into the palace grounds and possibly had criminal intent, then not very many would turn up the next day.

That's not why they take the job...fools.

People didn't apply to be a night-watch-men for the thrill of it. They figured it was easy money; no one ever broke into the grounds, and when they did it was only for something trivial like a missing football.

Yuri spat on the floor in disgust. He wasn't here to sugarcoat the truth to the pups. His annoyance would show on his face, and one of his subordinates would question this, saying;

'Somethin' wrong, boss?' At this Yuri shook his head. Inwardly, he sighed. Why couldn't he bring himself to tell them the truth?

I'm too nice.

The patrol continued, and the guards came closer and closer to the source of the disturbance. The faint sound of laughter was now audible to normal ears, and the rookie guards picked up on this.

'I think someone broke in, boss.' Yuri rolled his eyes, but feigned shock.

'Really? Great work, pup. I'll go take a look.' Giving the attentive guard a pat on the back, Yuri departed. He would sort this out quickly, quietly and efficiently, like he always did. Smiling to himself as he traveled, the head guard of the night-watch-men gripped his sword. Yuri came across a clearing, in which a half-naked kid was rolling around. Confusion would show on his face, as he wondered whether or not to put an end to this madness with alacrity, or to stay and watch a while. The kid wasn't doing anything wrong, exactly.

Except for trespassing...

Chimed the cynic in his mind. Berating himself for questioning his job, Yuri marched forward; his long legs covering the distance in no time. In a strident voice, he commanded an end to this...business. As he got closer, Yuri thought he could recognise the green haired lad.

But it couldn't be...

'Hey! Stop that!' As if to emphasise his point, the night-watch-man aimed a hard kick at the kid's midriff. There was no need to use his blade right now - besides, Yuri would never harm a kid

...much.

[EriChar]

Bay was really enjoying his rolling on the grass; it felt even better than the last time he had done it, four years ago. Sure, he had rubbed his body against other plants in the time between seeing each other, it had been good. But always, in the bottom of his heart, Bay’s one true plant rubbing love was Sweetgrass. His arm’s stretched above his head; Bay was rolling from side to side, covering several feet as he did so. His roll was so passionate and intense, that he didn’t see or hear people around him approaching, he simply stayed enjoying his time with the grass.

His moment was broken however by the sudden intrusion of a foot into his midsection, but it was really more of an annoyance than an injury. He’d long since become a good enough martial artist that the blow of an average man could hurt him, and besides he was too tough to say if it did anyway. It stopped his rolling but Bay didn’t move an inch from such a weak kick, he just angrily looked at the kicker and said “Do you mind?!”

Gazing up at the face that the foot belonged to, Bay seemed to zone out for a moment, there was something familiar about the person, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Pouting his lips and his eyes moving from side to side as he tapped his chin with his right index finger, Bay flipped though his mental face book, looking for a matching image. Even though Bay had actually met Yuri several years ago, his memory for anything aside from plants was poor at best, so he found no entry. His mental faculties not working correctly, Bay wondered if it was possible that he had imagined the familiarity? Maybe the reminiscence of being back in the palace and the sweetgrass was playing tricks with his memory?

Anyway, still not bothering to get up or anything, Bay said to the grass roll ruiner “Who are you?” But after he had said it, remembered that he had things to do. Not even waiting for a response, Bay moved from the guys foot and stood up, then stuck his hands into his pockets and started to walk off. Looking down at the grass, he gave it an apology for not being able to play longer, but he had things to do…

[Cirrus]

“Do you mind?!” came the audacious reply. The kid had taken the kick rather well, in his stride even, leading Yuri to come to one conclusion. It was Bay. Surprised because it was the first time he had seen the scamp in four years, the guard with the epithet of 'Sniffer Dog' gave Bay a friendly wave, before saying;

'What the hell are you doin' here?' Bay seemed to need refreshment on who Yuri was however, answering the night-watch-man's question with another question.

“Who are you?” Yuri sweatdropped, incredulous of the fact that Bay couldn't remember his face. Chalking it off to something along the lines of 'The little scamp always had his head in the plants anyway...' Yuri decided to oblige his old acquaintance.

'Kid, it's me - Yuri! Don't you remember?' chuckled the guard. Cutting short their meeting, Yuri continued;

'Come on, time to move on. Get out of the grounds B- WHERE THE HELL'S HE GONE?!' Bay had cut the meeting even shorter, for the green-haired lad had simply up and left. Yuri, out of shock, exclaimed a little loudly for his tastes. He had been careless; the others probably had heard. Annoyed, the guard ran after Bay.

Reintroducing himself with a flying kick to the head known to the 'Sniffer Dog''s sparring partners as 'Hound Seeks Bone', Yuri simply bounced off the intrepid explorer's head, landing with a slight unevennes about him. From afar the attack would appear to have done nothing, however that was not the point of it. No, the point of 'Hound Seeks Bone' was to stop the opponent in their tracks, and that was exactly what Yuri had done.

'Come back here and get out! Don't make me use my blade!' Yuri had resorted to a more underhanded tactic. If he knew Bay like he thought he did, then the lad wouldn't back down from a direct challenge. If all went to plan, he could slow Bay's progress enough for the others to get there. Yuri wasn't stupid; if he took on the green haired kid without back up, then what would happen if he lost? Being prudent was one of the qualities that had allowed Yuri to attain his high rank among the guards - he actually got a lot of respect now. He wasn't about to throw that all away by losing to some kid half his age.

He hoped.

[EriChar]

Bay paid no attention to whatever the guy was yelling; his mind should be on other things. He had to meet up with his associate and find out where the noisy plants were kept now, his quick survey of the grounds from the wall had told him that things had been rearranged since he was last here. He didn’t exactly have the time to run around every inch of this palace to find the one thing he wanted from it, and figured that the more places he entered, the more chance of getting into bother he would have. Though, even just breaking into the grounds had caused a commotion, that was unlucky.

As Bay walked away, he couldn’t help but wonder why exactly he thought that he knew that guy. His minded swirled around, trying to make a connection, and as he did, he finally found a picture in his head that matched. Yeah, he definitely seemed to remember the old dog that was barking away behind him, what was his name? Yari, or Yumi, maybe Yummy, or Yami… No that doesn’t sound right… Bay thought to himself, strolling away from the guy, who had finally stopped yapping.

Whatever, it’s not important He thought, then remembered he still had a handkerchief wrapped around his face. Taking the hankie from his head, Bay cursed himself for succumbing to his weakness for sweetgrass, he had hoped to break in and take that thing without anyone noticing. He didn’t give much of a man if he got into a fight, none of the guards here were much of a challenge, as that kick had shown. However, they were just here to do a job and Bay didn’t really think that they should get roughed up just because the new grounds keeper was too much of a wimp to ask the queen for the lend of that thing. Most of the staff here weren’t too bad, in fact his contact was a staffer who had been an old friend of Gardner.

Bay smiled as he thought of the days he spent here with his teacher, running around and training frantically. Rolling and rubbing on the grass like he had been earlier, and getting a hard punch from Gardner or a lecture from Yuri. A full grin beamed from his face as he thought of those times, then it turned into a frown as he thought of the name ‘Yuri’.

Yuri was a guard who would potter around the castle, not a bad guy if a bit boring, Bay tried to avoid him but for some reason the guard could always seem to tell when he was goofing off. It was like he could just smell the trouble in the air. Yuri was also the man who had been yelling earlier, and a jolt of the mind seemed to knock the name and person together. Wait a sec, that jolt felt more like it hit the back of his head!

Angrily turning his head to see who was throwing stones or something, Bay raised his fist but saw only Yuri, giving him a lecture or something again. The two’s kept coming together, as he realised it was also Yuri who had kicked him earlier, but Bay decided to let him off, since it had actually gotten him back on track. Instead, not really hearing Yuri talking about bearing his sword, Bay looked at him and said, “Hey, Yuri, long time no see!”

[Cirrus]

An apprehensive smile formed on Yuri's lips as Bay turned around. Would the green haired kid really try to fight him after all these years?

“Hey, Yuri, long time no see!” As it turned out; no. Yuri sweatdropped again at how slow Bay was being. It was like talking to a parrot, except this parrot had known you for four years and still didn't recognise your face!

His outlook softening, Yuri decided to humour Bay until the other guards got there. The least he could do was provide some comforting words to the tyke before he got heckled by night-watch-men and beaten to a pulp. Trying his hardest to make the vein of anger in his forehead die down, Yuri said;

'Yeah, so it is...Bay...what are you doing here? Why break into the grounds at night while I'm working? Any other time of day and I'd gladly show you around...' Grumbling, Yuri found a handy stump and sat on it. The plant was one of the many unique varients that grew in the palace grounds, and had the odd property of being portable. The chair shape of the stem was also a big factor in its usefulness, but aside from that Yuri knew next to nothing about it. He was paid to watch the grounds, not tend them. Although he couldn't help feeling that he should have known. After all those years with Gardner one would have thought some of the knowledge would have rubbed off on him, but a las their time may as well have been wasted.

A sad demeanour would become obivious as one observed Yuri. Perhaps it was why he stayed with this job for so long. After Gardner's death the old man had become more attentive with his guarding. So attached had the night-watch-man become with the gardens Gardner had loved so dearly, that it was said that he wept quietly for each plant that died here.

Everything here, even down to the tiniest seed contained that great man's spirit.

Pondering various thoughts about Gardner and his life, Yuri didn't notice the arrival of his colleagues.

'Oi-oi! There's an intruder! Let's get 'im!' said the collective voice that were the rookie guards. A general consensus had been made; attack the random semi-naked stranger and ignore their boss taking what seemed to be a nice nap on the handy-stump near by. Reasoning like that had been drilled into them from day one, which had been that morning...

Four men rushed forward, batons in hand, looking to club the intruder into such an indistiguishable form that he may as well had been garden mulch. They'd beat him so bad, the children that he would have had would have been born with bruises on their head. They'd batter him better than fish. They'd knock him so far out it'd be a home run. They'd - well, you get the picture. When they were through, people would look upon the messy spot that was Bay, and say one thing:

Eww.

[EriChar]

((Isn’t it kind of fun building a character as we go on??))
'Yeah, so it is...Bay...what are you doing here? Why break into the grounds at night while I'm working? Any other time of day and I'd gladly show you around...' Said Yuri, pulling up a pew for himself, which Bay instantly indentified as the west blue native 'Sit Down Stump'.

Bay looked upward at the sky, staring at the twinkling stars for a moment as he thought of Gardner. He supposed that if he had remembered Yuri earlier on, he might have asked him for his help. But, the thing that Bay was planning to do, stealing something from the crown, if they found out that anyone had helped him with it, they’d be in as much trouble as he was going to get into. That was why he had supposed to be sneaking around in the dark, to keep those involved to a minimum. “I’m not here for a tour…” Said Bay, looking down to the ground with a sigh.

Crouching down, a little way from Yuri, Bay gently stroked the grass he was still standing on and considered his options. Yuri had been kind of a pain in those days, but he was a good guy at heart. Even in this situation he was risking himself, if the palace officials even suspected that Yuri had gone easy on him, then at best he would lose his job, worst case he’d be arrested. Even Yuri losing his job was bad, Bay knew how proud the man was to be serving the palace, he hadn’t seen anyone take to a night watchmen position as eagerly as Yuri did.

Bay’s hand was forced however, by the noise of a bunch of guards. They had raised batons and were rushing towards where himself and Yuri were, which meant they had realised that Bay had intruded into the grounds. It was disappointing that he had already caused a ruckus, and more so that these guards had arrived. Ideally, he would have told Yuri what was going on, but there was no time for that now.

Standing again, Bay had made up his mind. He gave Yuri a weak smile, who seemed to be looking a bit sad, probably mulling over similar things to himself, and said to him quietly “Sorry about this, old man.”
As soon as he had finished his words, Bay firmed his stance and then leapt towards, throwing a holly leaf blow at him. Bay really didn’t want to hurt Yuri, so he held it back as much as he could, just knocking him over would be enough.
With that done, he said in an overly loud and fake tone “You’ll never catch me, dumb guard!” and then ran away from the guards and Yuri, deeper into the castle grounds, hoping his display was enough to absolve his old friend.

[Cirrus]

(OOC:'Tis, I might make Yuri a civilian NPC for teh lulz. Oh yeah, and I changed Bay's speech to green and the guards' speech to beige...It makes more sense.)

“I’m not here for a tour…” began Bay. Yuri's interest rose at this; previously he was just chatting to the boy in order to find a good excuse to kick him out. The guard had already come to the conclusion that Bay would only leave if he was forced to by stretcher, or if he told him to. So far, a simple yell and nag tactic hadn't worked.

If he really had to hurt Bay...

Yuri sighed. If Bay wasn't here for a tour, then what mischeif was the green-haired lad getting himself into? Before he could ponder the question any further, a blow to the chest knocked him off of the stump and on to his back.

'Gah!' Yuri cried out in surprise. The sudden attack was a shock to the system, but the guard quickly got over it. Recovering, Yuri just saw the back of Bay's head bobbing up and down as he ran off in the distance. Looking to his left, the guard noticed that he was not alone. His fellow night-watch-men had caught up with him, and had...simply done nothing while Bay hit him?! Voicing his anger, Yuri berated them.

'You dolts! Help me up and get after- NOT ALL OF YOU! GAH!' Venting his frustration at the ineptness of his subordinates and collegaues, Yuri punched one in the back of the head. The rookie guard fell to the floor, completely out cold. The display of power incited the others to help him up, and they all set off in Bay's direction.

Yuri looked down at his wrist. The den den mushi was still there - scared and hiding, but still there. He considered radioing in to the guards in the palace. If he wanted to, he could have the whole security force upon Bay's head in an instant. He rubbed the snail's shell, a favourite show of affection, and coaxed it out as he ran.

If we don't find the little rascal in the next five minutes...

He promised himself. Despite how much he liked the kid, his job was his job and Bay was currently putting himself in Yuri's line of fire. Shaking his head to release some of his pent up frustration, the 'Sniffer Dog' ordered his men to pick up the pace in a loud voice; there was no need for hush now - everyone in the palace was soundly asleep in their big rooms.

'Come on, hurry up! You want to keep your jobs, don't you?!' Out of fear, the men behind him put more effort into the grueling run. Yuri smirked at the instant reaction.

I've still got it.

[EriChar]

(Ah, thanks, Bay's colour is green so...)

Bay gave a look back to check that Yuri was all right, he worried that might not have held back enough, and to his relief Bay saw that Yuri was yelling at the guard party. It had gone better than expected, either Yuri had figured out what Bay was doing and delayed the troops, or his group were more stupid than he thought. Either way, they seemed to be fighting over who would help Yuri to his feet, which gave Bay more time to get a head start. Bay wasn’t to be underestimated over grass, his years of training here had involved a lot of work on it, and by the end he could run as fast as a sprinter while at the same time raking the leaves.

Another glance saw that Yuri was now on his feet and chasing Bay, pretty quickly in fact.
Heh heh heh, not bad, old man. Thought Bay, as he leaned forward and put more effort into his own run. To be honest, Bay was enjoying the chase, he hadn’t had a chance to unwind properly in a long time, and he kind of even fancied a fight with all the guards. His plan had been the most efficient, but the way it had turned out was much more fun. He turned and ran backwards, his more bratty younger self getting the better of him, and has he lightly stepped backwards and saw the group of guards start to gain at him, he pulled a playfully taunting funny face at them.

Turning around again and laughing, Bay finally saw what he had been looking for since he had ran from Yuri, another old friend. You won’t beat a botanist in a garden... Thought Bay, grinning at what he saw.
In front of him, was a tan coloured tree that looked like it had been built as a prop for a B-Movie, like it was a fake tree that some talentless hack had slapped together made from rubber. However, this was no prop, it was in fact one of the most rare and resilient plants in the world; The Recoillow.
A Recoillow was a strange branch of the willow family, though it didn’t much look like it. While most willows had long and bendy branches like a veil, this one looked more like a small oak but was in fact for more flexible than any willow. This one Recoillow in particular was an old friend of Bay’s, having been introduced to him by Gardner many years ago.

“Hello again, Bouncy.” Said Bay with a smile as he drew close, and then he jumped into the air and grabbed onto a branch with both hands. Swinging his legs with his abs, Bay Stomped both feet into the tree and held on as it was pushed back on a right angle. For a moment, the tree seemed to have been broken, as it paused at what seemed like a very painful angle. As it did, Bay rested his feet on and brought his right hand up to his head, two fingers pointed out. Catching sight of the Guards getting closer, he gave them a wink and cheeky salute and then the tree sprang to life. It sprung back to wear it came from with Bay resting his feet on it’s trunk, like a catapult it flicked Bay off and sent him flying through the air, passing over the heads of the Guards below and all the way to the other side of the palace. Hopefully, this would be the last I have to deal with that bunch… Thought Bay, soaring through the air like a cannonball. However, as a large wall unnoticeably moved closer and closer, Bay probably should have been thinking about his landing…


(Most. Reckless. Escape. Ever! =P)

[Cirrus]

(OOC: XD This kid is hilarious!)

What. The. Hell?

Yuri was dumbstruck. He'd watched Bay training with Gardner a few times, but never in the history of everything had he ever imagined that the kid would pull a stunt like that.

What a fool!

As it dawned upon him that the question of Bay's landing could be an issue, Yuri started to worry for his safety. If he died, how would he ever be able to work here again? Gardner's spirit always looking down upon him, always disappointed in the night-watch-man for not looking after Bay. With a new motivation, Yuri ran off after the tyke.

His men took a little longer to snap out of their dumbstruck trance - being a rookie gave them the disadvantage of knowledge. Although Yuri too wasn't exempt from the effect ridiculous antics Bay did had on him, he wasn't too surprised. The Recoillow was one of the few plants the night-watch-man remembered, and if his rusty maths skills didn't fail him, the amount it bent back meant it was pretty young.

'Fire things after him! NOT ROCKS! WE NEED HIM ALIVE! BLOOD ISN'T GOOD FOR THE GARDEN! PILLOWS!' Once again Yuri's orders were met with a rather half-assed reply. These people did respect him; they just weren't very bright. Running off in the general direction he had seen Bay fly off, Yuri prayed he didn't hear that tell-tale Crunch! noise that would indicate the tyke's death.

Remembering the promise he made to himself earlier, Yuri spoke into the den den mushi on his wrist.

'This is head night guard Yuri. We have an intruder - send all available back-up! Target is on West Side. Repeat: Target is on West Side!' He'd used every available resource to bring Bay down. Now, it'd be up to the tried and tested method of 'strength in numbers'. The kid might have been pugnacious, but he'd tire eventually. No matter what happened, Yuri would not allow himself to wonder if there was anything more to give.

I've tried everything...

As he sprinted to the other side of the garden, Yuri looked in his guard uniform's pocket. In it was a gun. It looked and felt like any ordinary rosewood flintlock pistol, but that was where the similarities stopped. In all his travels as a young gentleman, Yuri had managed to aquire this in exchange for...well what he had to give up wasn't important right now. What was important was the fact that this revolutionary weapon was on his person, and on the slightest whim Yuri could use it.

Except for this...

In his mind's eye he remembered all the people he'd caused to die because of it...that poker game was a bad idea from the start... Pocketing the taser, Yuri came ever nearer to Bay's position.

[EriChar]

I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of doing this before… Thought Bay, pretending to backstroke as he flew through the air. He soared along like some sort of bird, his winding arms being it’s wings, but all too soon he got close to a building and with a loud crash, Bay’s time in the air was ended.

There was a saying that people make their own luck, and judging by Bay’s life, he’d really got the knack for it. As he flew through the air, he was faced by an incredibly solid wall that would have made him pop like a tossed tomato. However, I don’t envy anyone who would care to find the odds, but in some miracle he actually managed to instead hit a window! The thing broke, it wouldn’t have stood up well to a sparrow flying into it, let alone a grown man. Bay crashed through the window, then hit the floor with a loud bang, rolling along it to the other side of the room and crashing through a large set of draws before finally coming to rest.

Singing cartoon sungflowers spun around his head, and after a few moments of stillness, Bay sat up and angrily explained “THAT was why I didn’t try it earlier!”

Rubbing his head, Bay started to clear himself from the wreckage of the drawers and felt something soft and silky. Picking it up, he tried to figure out what it was, but all instead his eyes fixed on something behind them. Standing there, right in front of him, was a girl with long light coloured hair and eyes, which were by now five or six times the regular size. Her mouth was exposing a bigger gap than the crashed window, and her bottom lip trembling as those big eyes started to gather water at the bottom of them. Bay panicked, raising his hands (one of which still held the silky item) in an attempt to calm her down. If he just explained that he had accidentally broken into her bedroom… No, that probably wouldn’t work, was there a good way to say “I know it looks back that I’m flying through your window at night, but there’s a good explanation…”? As he thought, the girl’s voice that had been temporarily taken away by shock, suddenly but it made itself known again, when it gave out an ear piercing scream!

The girl, terrified and holding what seemed to be a large plush badger, not the most effective weapon, followed her scream by a panicked lash of the badger to Bay’s head. Bay, who’s head was still ringing from the crash was knocked over by the blow, and had to quickly scramble to his feet.
Running around the room several time as the now feisty and panicked girl swung the badger at him and shouted unkind words such as “PERVERT!”, ”RAPIST!” and her personal favourite “BEAST!”, Bay eventually managed to locate the door and fell through it.

Climbing to his feet once more, Bay tried to make a speedy escape through the corridors of the palace, but he had no idea where he was going. It was then that he realised what he had been holding, as the girl followed him into the corridor and yelled at the top of her lungs “HE STOLE MY UNDERWEAR!”
Silky. Soft. Small. Her words made a lot of sense. As he ran, Bay opened his hand in the light to reveal that now he was indeed looking like a Panty Thief. Cursing, he tossed the underwear away and shouted in anger “That wasn’t what I wanted to steal!”

It would seem that Bay’s first, and probably last, meeting with the Princess hadn’t gotten off to a good start.

[Cirrus]

(OOC: Taking this in a slightly different direction...)

A shriek resounded throughout the entire palace ground, actually doing minor ear damage to Yuri. Grasping his ears in pain, the guard tried to keep going. He had been running for a while now and tiredness was starting to set in. To make matters worse he had to persist with the knowledge that he was in all likelihood going to lose his job. A scream in the middle of the night? Such an event should have been below his notice! And yet, it had happened. The family were not going to be best pleased in the morning...

Damn kid. If he's behind all this...

Thoughts of how badly he was going to berate Bay after he found him filled his mind, and then Yuri realised something. He had assumed that he was going to find the green haired lad, when in an actual fact if he let him get away he could chalk off the screaming to a bad dream. Even if the source of the scream postulated that they were not in fact hallucinating, eveyone would believe the head of the night guard - it was his job to know what went on in the darkness!

Such a cunning plan it was, all for the sake of his job. But surely that was testament to how much the 'Sniffer Dog' loved it here? Willing to dupe and deceive, just so he could spend the night among these beautiful plants...

And that made it worth it, didn't it?

'Yes...' murmured Yuri, reassuring himself. As he reached the west side of the garden, the night-watch-man noted that a window had been broken up above. A single lock of green hair was visible on the glass fragments surrounding the locked door to the palace, and, getting ahead of himself, Yuri assumed it must have been Bay's. Deciding to ignore the philosphy of Occam's Razor, the guard quelled any thoughts of it being some grass or a piece of one of the many leaves that adorned the princess's window.

The princess...

Memories of a timid young girl matched up with her description. With an affinity for badgers, the princess was always a welcome addition to the general scenery of the garden. Everyone of the staff looked upon her warmly, and often they would humour her wild stories of adventure. Yuri could see the pink glow of the light in her bedroom - pink was always her favourite colour. From where he was standing, her room looked a little messy though...

'He landed in the Princess's room?!' exclaimed Yuri, suddenly putting two and two together. It made four. Of course it made four, how had he not seen it before? Bay, curse the little scamp, just had to land in the princess's room. How else would he manage to screw him over?

Yuri looked for something to vent his anger on, and almost as if on cue another rookie guard appeared. Punching him hard in the gut, Yuri decided to exercise his 'bad cop'.

'That's for being late. Where are the pillows you launched over? I can see the rocks, but the pillows are nowhere to be found. Pathetic.' with disdain, Yuri kicked the rookie in the side, causing him to fall to the ground.

'If you're late tomorrow, I'll hunt you down..' chimed the night-watch-man in a jovial tone, starkly contrasting with the brutality of what had just happened. Entering the palace door, Yuri took a good long sniff.

The 'Sniffer Dog' had Bay's scent. Smirking because he felt young again, Yuri made for the stairs, following the distinct grassy aroma that was synonymous with a certain green haired lad that was causing him problems.

Ready or not, I'm coming for you...

[EriChar]

(Sorry it took a few days to respond, I’ve been like crazy busy lately. =X)
Damnit, this palace is like a maze! Bay thought to himself, frustrated at running around for what seemed like ages and ending up back where he had tossed the underwear. He stopped and scratched his head, trying to stimulate a solution to the directional difficulty he was currently enduring. Bay’s sense of direction wasn’t by any means at the low level of another green haired person, who as this is mentioned, deep into the grand line sneezes during a nap before quickly falling back to sleep. The Palace was actually quite difficult to navigate, and to Bay’s lament he had only spent his time in the gardens in the past, the inside he hadn’t bothered to explore.

He didn’t have long to stand around though, as by now practically the whole guard force was after him. That thought alone seemed to summon a trio of at best, inept guards, as if on cue. Bay leapt into the air to try whipping out a Willows Whirl at them, unfortunately for him, the halls he now stood in were narrow and his efforts were mostly wasted. His foot caught the wall and disrupted his movements, causing him to miss the three completely and land with his back him.

“He’s ours now, boys!” One cheered, as the all raised very hard looking clubs to smash his melon.

“As if…” Bay responded smugly, even if they had the drop on him, they were so slow he could have taken a nap and then dodged them. Rolling forward, Bay avoided their strikes and flipped off his fingertips back onto his feet. Fuseiken is an art that relies a lot on the strength of ones fingers, and Bay could effortlessly support his own weight on the tips of just one of his hands. Reaching a standing position again, Bay flattened his hand out and delivered a strong Holly Leaf to the guard in the middle, with such force that he flew to the side and crashed into his fellow on the right. The force knocked them both out on the wall that followed, and as the remaining guard was awestruck at seeing his comrades taken so easily, Bay chopped the back of the man’s neck to knock him out too.

With his three pursuers immobilised, Bay looked over them for a moment and let out a regretful sigh. He had been hoping to not hurt anyone when he did this, but if he had just escaped a bigger commotion would have started which would have provoked a larger group of pursuers.
With the situation as it is, the guards weren’t too badly hurt and Bay could at least continue on for a few minutes until they were discovered.

“Sorry guys…” He said to the unconscious bodies, bringing his hands together in an apology. Then Bay set off, once more running through the Labyrinth of a palace, still having no clue where to go. But as he did so, a sudden arm with a large hand grabbed Bay’s neck and pulled him into what appeared to be a hidden passage!

Falling onto the ground, Bay looked up at whoever had grabbed him and rubbed his neck, giving a slight wince.
“No need to be so rough, Renoir!” He said, annoyance rearing in his voice as he looked up at the large frame of a man dressed in white with a tall hat.

[Cirrus]

(No problem - I've been kinda swamped lately too. Not sure where to take Renoir, but hopefully this is adequate.)

First floor

Yuri thought, mentally denoting the floor on which he was situated. No one was around - this was a servant's quarters. The only sound was the rythmic noise of snoring. Shaking his head, Yuri advanced. Finding the next flight of stairs quickly, the night guard thought he heard footsteps thumping around upstairs.

Not thought, know.

He reminded himself. Even at this hour where his skills would be vital to success, Yuri still doubted. Annoyed at his slightly cynical disposition, the 'Sniffer Dog' looked around the flight of stairs. There were five storeys, a basement and an attic. He had around five minutes before questions would be asked. Things were not looking good.

Going up the stairs to the next floor, Yuri caught sight of some underpants lying innocently on the carpet. Next to them was the green-haired frame of Bay.

'Gotcha!...?' Yuri trailed off, bemused as to what Bay was doing. The intruder was just...running around in circles...

Weird.

Again stunned by shock, the night guard did nothing as a big meaty arm reached out of the wall and took the green-haired scamp into the shadows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Renoir grabbed Bay and pulled him into the darkness.

'Listen up kid, you've got around ten seconds before the guards come searching this floor. You've gotta get what you're here for and leave!' he hissed. There was an unmistakable tone of urgency in his voice - Renoir was being completely serious.

He waited a few seconds before darting out into the corridor. His white suit may have looked conspicuous, but in the moonlight coming through the window, he was nearly invisible. Running at high speeds, Renoir made it to the other side of the corridor. Depositing Bay outside a door, Renoir gave one last instruction before disappearing.

'Through this door is a room, and in that room is a window. This window faces exactly what you're looking for. Now hurry!' and with that, Renoir pushed Bay through the door...

...to the Queen's bedroom.

[EriChar]

(Actually, I was going to NPC Renoir for this post, but you already did it for me! =D
Interesting angle though, the Queen’s room… =O)

Bay stumbled through the door and fell to the ground, still annoyed at how rough Renoir had been with him. In any other situation, he would have made a fuss and maybe hit the huge chef for the way he had treated him, but with the commotion he had already caused, Bay sucked it up for the time being. Big ol’ Renoir, the Queen’s personal chef who had access to her garden for food supplies. After being told that he couldn’t take that plant away for Gardner’s memorial, Bay had sought out Renoir for aid since he knew that the big old chef had previously had a good friendship with Garder before he left the castle, and had kept in touch afterwards. Initially, the tough and gruff chef had been against the idea, but when Bay had explained his reasoning for wanting the plant, Renoir had buckled and offered him a little bit of sly support.

Things had gone better than Bay could have ever imagined, he now was now within a short reach of his goal, he could almost hear the sound of the plant, and he felt that close to it. It had been an eventful journey, full of trials and tempered tribulations, but now that Bay was so close, he couldn’t help but smile softly as he thought of achieving his goal.

Climbing back onto his feet, Bay looked around in the darkness and saw that he was in a room filled with plants. Checking a few, Bay found that they were all quite beautiful and very rare, despite having no idea where he had been dumped, he assumed that Renoir had pushed him into some sort of indoor observatory, perhaps Garner’s successor was cultivating these indoors because of their frailty? Leaning over, Bay took a long inhale next to the flower of a Relaxing Rafflesia, and its scent instantly started to ease his spirit. The Relaxing Rafflesia gave off a scent that seemed to stimulate the body into endorphin production, and just smelling it would send a wave of calm over you, leaving you with a little bit of a high feeling. In the past, the plant had been dried and shredded to provide a natural drug for those who smoked it, which was mainly limited to the super rich. Due to the difficulty of rearing the plant, this lead to it being very valuable and it was sought extensively, near to the point of the plants extinction. These days it was a very rare sight to see them growing, and their drug production had given way to easier to rear plants that could be created in much larger numbers.

This was a habit of Bay’s, whenever he found a plant of particular interest, he would admire it and focus so heavily that anything happening around him would tend to get blocked out. In this instance, it was a slender arm that snaked around his neck and pulled him into an amble chest. Bay struggled against it, but soon found that he was being cuddled like a teddy bear, in the arms of a large but beautiful woman. Managing to wriggle away enough to see who was holding him, Bay’s face dropped to see that he was now being cuddled by none other than Ciudadela’s Queen, Olimpia!

Bay panicked, he had already made an enemy of the princess tonight, he didn’t want to offend the queen as well or he’d be in some very serious trouble. She was a heartless woman, the person who had denied Bay the plant he wanted for the memorial and refused to allow him to explain why. A whimsical woman who thought only of her own enjoyment and fancy, stories of her where rife with rumours of how she had tossed out peaceful pirates, even in the direction of the marines, simply because she had grown bored of them. Bay wanted out of there, fast! So he wriggled around, desperately triying to free himself from the grasp of the woman who held him, but the woman seemed to have a lot of strength in those slender arms of hers. Just as he was almost free, he felt her move and before he knew it, she had paralysed him with a simple action. A small head raise and sniff from her of his head, had made her rouse from her slumber and mumble the word, rather the name, ‘Gardner’.

Bay looked up at her, a little confused as to what she had actually said, surely she had mentioned her garden or need for a gardener, there wasn’t any way that a stuck up woman like this would even remember his teacher’s name. But as his eyes moved up to her face he saw that a tear had escaped her left eye and rolled onto the pillow. Bay was frozen once more, not knowing what to do in the face of a crying woman…


(No need to RP the queen, bro! I have a little scenario I want to play out myself. You can focus on having Yuri tracking Bay down and maybe running into Renoir?)