come_sailaway | APRIL OPEN LOG: PIRATE JENNY

APRIL OPEN LOG: PIRATE JENNY

[early risers with odd-numbered rooms might notice that the morning sun doesn't quite come through the curtains as much as it usually does; they can peer out the portholes to see their views blocked by black-painted wood. everyone else won't realize something's off until the morning announcements. there's the chime, and Friday speaks, but...]

Passengers, I'd like for you all to join me in the atrium at your earliest possible convenience! We have a… situation!

[there is no bind on their legs; going is their choice. but, who wouldn't? something interesting is happening, at least. for once.

when they arrive, they will find Friday, and find that she is not alone. a woman - tall, dark, with a flowing coat and a lit cigar hanging from the side of her mouth like an old movie gangster - is standing on the raised area by the stairs; they are having a conversation that's too quiet to hear, and the woman's face is nearly as inscrutable. when enough have gathered, Friday steps forward, her empty hands clasped together in front of her, as the woman puts out the cigar on the heel of her boot and tosses it thoughtlessly to the ground.]

Good morning, everyone! I.. I'd like, I'd like to, well, I'd -

[the woman places a firm hand on Friday's shoulder - spins her, grabs her, dips her low to the ground, and kisses her soundly. at the first touch, Friday freezes; but, at the dip, she squeaks, and throws her arms up to hold herself up. the woman returns her to a normal position, and grins widely.]

Let me handle this, Dajutia. Hm? [Friday nods, and the woman turns to face the passengers.] Tau, everyone! My name is Jenny Storm, but all my friends call me Pirate Jenny! And I'd like to think we're all friends, sí? You could call me an... alumnus of the Serena Eterna; I spent a good five years being a thorn in the side of our good Captain! So, when I heard that he was getting up to his old tricks again, I decided to come around and see the fresh meat! And maybe have a bit of a vacation myself!

[she looks at each of them in turn. her grin widens, showing sharp canines.]

Now, I am sure you are thinking, "Señora Storm? You are a pirate! Are you here to rob us of our valuables?" [she barks out a laugh, then shakes her head.] No, no. First off, we're friends; it's Pirate Jenny! And Pirate Jenny is not interested in such things. In fact, I have valuables for you!

[she makes a quick movement: she sticks her pointer finger in her mouth, and then immediately uses that same finger to make some sort of sketch on her palm. seconds later, that same palm closes around a single white rose, which she extends to Friday. she pauses... then takes it, careful, holding it gentle as a bird.]

I may not be the Captain, but I happen to have a little bit of magic of my own! And, for a very, very low price, I can grant you a few small wishes! Trifles from home, maybe - do you like rocket launchers? I am getting very good at rocket launchers!

Jenny...

Okay, okay, no rocket launchers... Machine guns are as big as I'll go, promise!

[Friday just audibly sighs and shakes her head, but there's a clear sort of fondness in it, and Jenny laughs again.]

So, be sure to chat me up, sí? After breakfast! I may not miss much about this damned ship, but I do miss those little omelets!

[she salutes the audience, and then immediately leaves, taking the stairs down three at a time and needlessly pushing her way through the small crowd on her way to the elevators. Friday merely watches her go; her fingers have worried the rose to shreds that fall at her feet.

the rest of the month, until the 13th, is very much the same, with one exception: Jenny's ship remains at the Serena Eterna's side, a sailing ship somehow keeping pace with a modern engine craft. and Jenny doesn't seem to be keeping an especially close eye on it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It is approximately somewhere around three in the morning, when the lock to cabin 109's door meets its untimely demise. Jade has been asleep for probably a little over half an hour, by this time--because this had always been his approximate routine even before ending up on this particular vacation anyway, and over multiple years of having to configure it he's finally achieved a sleep schedule that can pull some decent benefit out of about three or four hours in a given night. It's sparing, but it works, when you're still human at the end of the day and the alternative is power naps upright in a chair or something...

Anyway. The point is that he's been sleeping--and that's now turning into was sleeping, as most anyone would find a hand grabbing at them to be a rather jarring thing. The person under those covers sure isn't Natsuno, as Clarke doubtless discovers the moment she's pulling the blanket aside; the man on the pull out couch is decidedly older, and his hair is longer...and his eyes are an unnatural shade of red, when he promptly jerks awake, even breathing jarring to a sharp inhale as he automatically grabs the hand tugging at the sheets.]

What--

[Most people pulled directly from a perfectly nice sleep start out wakefulness at least a little disoriented, and Jade's not exactly an exception to this rule. Still, the haphazard pieces of information he's able to collect in the second it takes to focus on the person attached to this mystery hand pretty quickly resolve into two rather alarming points: 1) this is not Natsuno, or anyone he actually recognizes; 2) this unknown person is in the room, and the door was locked...

So, you know. Most anybody would be reacting rather viscerally to this, about now?? The grip on Clarke's wrist is a pretty strong one, and knee-jerk instinct has Jade automatically trying to shove her off even before coherent thought quite has a chance to form up properly--]

Edited (actually no it's rewind time, opens punch venue instead...! 🎉🎉) 2022-04-04 14:58 (UTC)

( at the end of this entire ordeal, will most of it have been her own fault? yes, absolutely. does it feel like her fault the second that blanket slips down far enough to catch features distinctly not natsuno, and a new wave of alarm rockets through her nervous system, and clarke starts to immediately jump to conclusions? no, not at all. it is absolutely jade's fault he's here, sleeping, and not the companion she'd broken in to see.

there's the span of a heartbeat between realizing her mistake and a vice-like grip locking around her wrist. it's just long enough to recognize a flare of panic on the older man's face, and to admire how quickly he turns it around into action — faster than logic can announce that of course natsuno had a roommate, faster than the confused crease can fully settle across her forehead, and faster than clarke could either reach for the gun in her waistband or try putting both hands up to show she wasn't a threat. way faster than she could muddle around an apology, let alone an explanation. and maybe platitudes are still on the tip of her tongue, but then he's shoving.

hunched over as she'd been — one knee barely braced on the edge of the sofa, the other foot heavy on the carpet between the makeshift bed and a coffee table — it's not hard to make her lose her balance, or at least start to. the unpleasant lurch of gravity in the pit of clarke's stomach seemingly activates a switch (almost a kill switch, but not quite); like gasoline had been poured over every panic response etched into her soul after revelations given in a shadowed auditorium, the match lit, but somehow only the fight section bursts into flames.

jade shoves to try to get her off him, and clarke's foot on the floor shifts back to brace herself. a moments tug of war, a push and pull with his solid form and stronger arm pitted against her better vantage and feral internal monologue — god, were they, the passengers, already going to start hurting each other? does a firm hand around her wrist turn into tighter hands around her throat the second sleep shakes itself from the edges of his actions?

then, after a split second tussle, clarke realizes her left hand is completely free, curls her fingers into a firm fist, and absolutely pops the stranger in the nose. )

[fuckin OW]

[The debate of fault following this whole debacle will doubtless be a pretty short and succinct one, with the evidence all said and done after the fact...but there's certainly very little time to get into one right now, is there? A shove is made, but the weight of the stranger balanced practically atop him ends up not giving nearly as much as he'd like; the next second or so following that is a blur of utter confusion and panic in equal measures on both sides, as a minuscule instinctual tug of war proceeds to take its course, and...

Still not nearly awake enough to process half the information he should be--to say nothing of the fact he's still reeling a bit over the baffling information he does have (stranger in the (locked) room, stranger now outright accosting him???)--and so, in a completely unsurprising sort of development, Jade hardly has a chance to even register she has a free hand to use--

--before he's being, you know. Outright punched in the face.

The fist connects quite squarely with his nose, which is objectively a really rather impressive sort of thing, with the darkness of the room and the miniaturized chaos of the moment all told. Unfortunately this feat goes utterly unappreciated, though; sharp pain is immediately splitting through all other aspects of Jade's awareness at the moment, with an undignified sort of yelp to accompany it, as jabbing stars break his vision and his grip also promptly breaks from Clarke's wrist too. Recoiling, a hand's automatically raising to his face--fingertips will come away damp, to be revealed as bloodied at some point later, if anybody ever manages to turn a light on at some point in here...

But alas, Clarke's fighting instincts only manage to earn her a second or two of approximate freedom at best. They feel as if they stretch rather a lot longer, at least on Jade's end of things, as thoughts attempt to scramble back together into some form of coherence but only sort of partially succeed. The haze of just waking is now being coupled with an extremely distracting sort of throbbing pain in the nose area, after all...! And so all attempted lines of logic remain rather fragmented at best. He's being--attacked?? This has all the hallmarks of being attacked, anyway, flagrant nose-punching considered, but why--? (Goodness, this is quite possibly the most poorly-implemented assassination attempt he's ever experienced--) Who is this, anyway--? Is Natsuno in here--? This is an attack. Yes, in the end--instinct and ingrained military training has no choice but to overtake common sense, since common sense is being given no room whatsoever to actually breathe for a bit. The facts as they stand, insofar as Jade can actually parse them, point to the fact that there is an assault being fielded by a stranger about now--and so, clearly, that needs neutralizing first and foremost--

The temptation to promptly throw a punch of his own is a strong one, but the vantage is no good; the highest priority right now is getting off his back as soon as physically possible, and Jade's moving to do just that the moment his hand comes away from the pained grimace on his face. There's not--room, yet, not really, to actually stand up as he'd quite like to about now--seeing as a good chunk of the accessible half of the makeshift bed is currently being taken up by the problem stranger in question--but that's just as well, because it also means that Clarke's close enough for him to reach with both hands, as he draws upright off the couch. Here, more combat muscle memory to drive the motion--leverage gained by locking an elbow with one looping arm and latching upon a shoulder with his other hand, banking upon speed and the element of surprise--and Clarke is promptly being wrested into an extremely approximate sort of combat throw, powered mostly by Jade trying to swing his own weight off the couch at the same time.

The result is...terribly inelegant, probably, in that it very likely sends both of them careening into the coffee table and the carpet under it in a tangle of flailing limbs. If he could manage to push her away just far enough to maybe get on his feet, though...well! That'd sure be nice! About now!! For a start!]

( on a ship full of magic beings, wizards and witches, necromancers, vampires, actual (disgraced) gods, angels, demons, and whatever the outright fuck their captain was going to end up being — all clarke really has going for her is her ability to aim things. guns to center mass, punches in the dark, kicks outside her peripheral vision, barbed spears in the form of verbal emotional destruction sometimes, etc. that, and her quite startling track record of leaning quiet heavily into violence and blood to eek out a resolution from a conflict, provided the peace talks fail. it doesn't usually manifest in this sort of close-quarters, bloodied-knuckles, and undignified scrambling sort of way, but she'll make due.

but prowess aside, she's still ultimately a slightly emaciated, heavily scabbed eighteen year old who's been on a self-imposed hunger strike for the last month and probably hasn't slept any more than jade has during his stay. maybe that sucker punch was just lucky, because the second he falls in line with militant muscle memory and moves to throw her off him, there's not much clarke can do to stop it.

she hits the floor on her side, clipping the edge of the coffee table hard enough that a truly spectacular galaxy-print bruise is going to blossom across her flank in the following hours. a hard breath escapes from between her teeth upon impact, air forced from her lungs and stunned for all of half a second. but she comes from a world where even a moments hesitance gets you killed, and still hasn't parsed out if that's what this altercation is going to end as. through pain and the threat of stars exploding behind her eyes, clarke's limbs rally before her thoughts do. it'd been a terrible combat throw; basic skills undermined by situational handicaps. they're now a graceless pile of arms and legs, jade thrashing about in an attempt to get some distance between them, and clarke stubbornly staying in his space — honestly trying to either land an awkward kick in his stomach, or else hold on to an arm long enough to twist it and use the leverage to drag herself to the top of this undignified wrestling match.

because obviously, between the two of them scrapping on the floor of natsuno's bedroom, he's the intruder.

at some point while they struggle however, when air works its way back into her chest cavity, clarke will grit her teeth and hiss out a vehement, sharp — ) Stop.

( a comforting thing to be snarled by a terrible could-be assassin? absolutely. her best attempt at mediating the situation? also yes. maybe his first clue that the perpetrator of his bloody nose is a teeth grinding, feral girl who barks commands like she's been heading a paramilitary unit for all of her eighteen years of life. )

[It really had been a positively atrocious combat throw. The one tiny silver lining to be had here is that there at least isn't any other audience around to witness this pretty sorry excuse of a floor wrestling match, but Jade's probably going to be reviewing the occasion in his mind's eye at some point later with thorough exasperation at his utterly poorly martial form in all this anyway, even if he is currently pretty handicapped by the circumstances...

Clarke's body clips the coffee table edge, and Jade's hits it pretty solidly too--a very nice mutual bruise for both parties!--their combined momentum knocking it over completely and leaving them to a bout of truly uncoordinated scrabbling on the floor instead. Jade's haphazard assumption that he's being assaulted for some reason sure isn't being mitigated by the way Clarke continues to insist on crowding right into his space despite his best efforts, and it's compounded by that kick to the stomach, which does in fact connect just below a couple ribs and elicit another breathless huff of pain as the air is rudely pushed from Jade's diaphragm. She's able to get hold of his arm in the opening that's made, which leaves Jade twisting against the stinging of another future bruise in the rib area in an attempt at getting free--and honestly, this is just, the worst?! This is why he really doesn't prefer getting hands-on in a fight if he can help it, right here! Alas, between how thoroughly they're entangled and the fact that his head's still spinning with a warring mixture of pain and half-awake inertia, there's just not enough literal breathing room for the focus needed to actually cast any kind of fonic arte here...and that's very fortunate for Clarke, all things considered. But the fact remains that--he needs to--

--"Stop", hisses a voice from the direct vicinity of the person grappling at him, and for the first time the shape and sound of the tone attached to it actually registers properly in Jade's head, rather more awake now than he was approximately half a minute ago. It's jarring, though, quite at odds indeed with the vague assassin form his mind's eye had so hastily built here, difficult as it otherwise is to get an actual proper look at his assailant between the dark and all the flailing; a woman's voice, but far younger than expected, even if the demand is leveled like someone used to throwing out orders under extreme duress anyway. This is startling enough for Jade's general thrashing to actually falter, for just a moment, muscle and limb stiffening in a jolt of surprise, as thought tries to reconcile this newest bizarre bit of information with the rest of the scattered mix.]

You-- ["You first?" "You started this?" "You've got a lot of nerve?" Lots of potential sentences to be made, here, to match the strained hiss of Jade's own tone in turn, cut briefly short to drag some proper air back into his lungs. Really, though, this--how old even is this person? It shouldn't be enough to give him any pause at all, and if this were a Jade of a year ago back home--a Jade before the events of Auldrant's near scrape with total destruction, included in a party of teens in majority banding together to stop it--this certainly wouldn't have been enough at all. But it does anyway, here and now, even if the fact remains that he's still about halfway into being on the receiving end of an armlock and heavens knows what else right now, and...well, this scramble needs to come to an end regardless, but. Maybe it doesn't have to be a fatal one--

(Yulia's word, what is going on here??)

Even with this second's worth of revelation considered, simply going limp or giving in remain entirely out of the question, high as the risk remains that this girl still has it out for him for some reason or another. This overall vacation experience is shaping up to turn hazardous on a dime at any point in the future, after all, and Jade is not terribly amenable to actually getting seriously injured even before all that begins. So, half a demand and half a warning, pressed out firm and about as equally vehement as Clarke's with a proper breath drawn:] You need--to get off--

[Her grip is wound tight on his right arm, but his left becomes freed, with another hearty twist of some strength to pull it from the tangle of limbs between them. Jade's promptly winding it back as well as he's able, to deliver a glancing sort of blow to Clarke's lower jaw! And ideally it might be just enough to break her hold on his right arm...

Because if it is enough, that right arm is raising in turn, just high enough over their heads for his spear to be summoned in his hand in the space above. Accompanied by a distinctly noticeable crackle and hum of green-blue energy, that flares with a bright glow in the dark quarters, before instantly resolving into the pointy solidity of a real and tangible polearm in his grasp.

Ideally! If the punch wasn't enough motivation already, perhaps the alarming prospect of being this close to a decidedly longer-ranged and stabbing sort of weapon might finally motivate Clarke to move away a bit...?!]

( they both need to put serious work into successfully restraining left arms, there's really no excuse to be this sloppy.

but grand scheme of things, clarke's been hit in the face way harder than this. not that there's anything pleasant about being struck so hard her teeth grate against each other and her jaw will ache if she tries to eat anything tomorrow, but it's not enough to split her lip or bloody her nose. jade still gets a low oof in return, a mark that it definitely hurt, and the subsequent loosening of her fingers around his arm is more than enough to break his spear arm out of traction with a decent yank. but... clarke's stubborn.

stubborn enough that the second her vision rights itself, she's lunging back in the fray and reaching to wrangle the limb he'd used to punch her with. an attempt to neutralize a threat, unaware of the greater threat manifesting in his right hand until the crack of light demands she look up and — ah hell.

knowing a new weapon has just been introduced to a fight and blinking away the sudden blindness the flare accompanying its materialization are two different things.

and once she's able to focus on the sharp spear point threateningly close to her sweat-sheened face and throat, yeah that'll do it. mostly. )

...Okay. I'm off.

( she says, even as she doesn't move a muscle to give up the positional advantage of nearly straddling him. doesn't hold up her hands in a show of surrender, doesn't rush about to apologies or begging not to be speared. but there's an absence of real fear in her chest cavity, and the next few words out of her mouth are tinged with a great deal more good natured curiosity than would be situationally appropriate. )

Where'd you get that from?

[Hand-to-hand remedial classes for the both of them, a travesty.......

Jade isn't entirely sure whether he should be more surprised or exasperated to find his left arm being so promptly accosted with a stubbornness that all but bleeds into apparent recklessness. It leaves him in a remarkably awkward sort of angle where he's almost sitting upright, except his left side is wrapped in yet another restraining sort of hold, to say nothing of the fact that the rest of him is still pretty much pinned under the maybe-not-actually-assassin's full weight at this point. Except for his right arm, now poised at an upraised sort of angle with a spear in hand...

A spear that also seems to do little to actually discourage the girl practically straddling him--which would be a point of some kind of aggravation, maybe, if it wasn't bordering so closely to ridiculous. At this sort of crossroads he really could go through with driving the point of this spear right for the vague impressions of a face and throat he can make out in the dark, and--surely this stranger must also realize this--which is promptly making Jade wonder if this person actually has any decent sense of self-preservation at all...really, as if this weren't difficult enough already! (He doesn't actually want to drive the spear anyplace vital just yet, though, at least not until he can get some answers or something...) But then--

Well. It's a breakthrough and yet not, at the exact same time, as the girl says she's getting off and then...doesn't, actually. Before Jade can quite react to that, though, she also goes right on to ask that, which is--alright, so scratch earlier assessments, this has gone from bordering on ridiculous to actually ridiculous. If he's not mistaken, there's really more open curiosity in her tone than anything else now, which doesn't make any sense whatsoever in the current context. ...Or so he'd figured the context to be. Yes, Jade has sure been functioning under the half-baked sleep-deprived assumption of an intentional malicious attack for the last minute or so here, and now--finally--he has to wonder.

What kind of assassin asks a question like that?

Pardon him, he's still huffing for breath a bit down here--really, they probably both are at this point--and while his spear arm remains rigid in its angled aim, there's a beat in which the constant motion of struggle finally slows to a halt. Paired with a pause, in which Jade squints dubiously into the gloom as if this might help him get an actual look at who this person is supposed to be. But while he still can't, not really...he does find an answer automatically slipping out, thoroughly steeped in as much sarcasm as he can breathlessly muster.]

From my arm, of course. [Which is--actually, literally true, for the record! But sarcastic as hell all the same, because really...] That's--this isn't my definition of off, by the way-- [Honestly, he'd really quite prefer they get out of this awkward position if she isn't actually planning to kill him?? Anytime now! Before somebody opens the door to this, or something...!]

[The true object of Clarke's ill-fated visit has been out on the deck this whole time, having an existential crisis in the wake of his own chat with Pirate Jenny. It's the wee hours when he comes back inside, as if changing the scenery can force him to stop ruminating. All of the Serena Eterna's public spaces feel insufferable right now, so Natsuno makes his way back to 109. Maybe he should just crawl into bed and pretend to be asleep for a little while, his roommate must be getting suspicious...

He can hear the sounds of scuffle from the end of the corridor. Natsuno breaks into a run and flings the door open - is the lock broken? - to reveal...

Now, Natsuno has come a long way from the boy whose hands wouldn't stop shaking at the thought of hurting someone, even if that someone was a vampire who hurt humans every night. But even before things went to hell, before he died and came back and realized sometimes you have to take action - even before all that, his first instinct upon seeing a friend being attacked was the same:

Make it stop and aim for the fucking head.

Jade and Clarke may notice the sudden light spilling from the corridor. And that's the only light they'll get, because Natsuno doesn't need to flick a switch to see what's going on (another hint for you, Jade: your roomie has perfect night vision). Then, the distinct click of a loaded gun, aimed right at Jade.]

Put that away. Now.

[Honestly, he isn't sure he can actually bring himself to shoot anyone who's not a vampire, even after what he learned from Jenny. But he can sure as hell threaten convincingly.]

( let's be fair to all parties, his friend was absolutely the aggressor here. but ask her in this moment, and she'd just insist that it was for a good cause, with the root of a misunderstanding. beneath excuses, clarke would have to sit herself in a corner sometime and study why her first instinct here had been to assume jade had somehow done natsuno harm, and would maybe do the same to her. and why that latter idea hadn't... scared her as much as it should have. but all of that will come later, right now:

that flood of ambient hallway light cutting across the floor is practically blinding, then pair it with the recognizable slide-click of a glock and eventually natsuno's voice, and — )

Oh.

( if a spear pointed at her throat doesn't diffuse a situation, his arrival does. there's very little concern for the spearpoint at this moment, just a soft trickle of relief giving way to an entire stream. clarke... still doesn't get off jade. and honestly can't tell what the gun's trained on, but feels absolutely confident in this moment that it's not her. some of the tension melts from her shoulders and she sits back a bit further. squints at the figure silhouetted in the door, and giving a small nod. as if to say:

hi.

you're alive and relatively okay. cool.

now for an absolutely demeaning jerk of her chin at the man still gracelessly crowded between her knees: )

Who is this?

Edited 2022-04-07 05:57 (UTC)

[At some point over the course of this ridiculous scuffle it had registered, somewhere in the back of disoriented thought, that Natsuno didn't seem to be in the room at the time at all. Which would have been something of a relief, if Jade had been afforded the luxury of time to actually experience it, while functioning under an assumption of some kind of unknown assailant breaking in at that point. As it had stood, though, a tiny and scattered sort of note had been all he could make of the notion, before engaging in some of the worst wrestling he's ever had the displeasure of dealing with in his life had taken much higher priority...

But now the door sure is open indeed, because of course somebody would open it now of all times, and--

That's Natsuno's voice, alright. And also, quite unmistakably, the sound of a gun being loaded, identifiable even before Jade's own eyes can properly adjust to squinting through the sudden hallway light from his awkward floor vantage. Which is--well, that's not a surprise in itself, as he does recall Natsuno bringing a gun back to the room at one point in the recent past, complete with several boxes of additional ammo? (That hopefully hadn't been on the coffee table that's now completely flipped over in here, incidentally...) What is vaguely surprising, though, is where he's actually aiming said gun--not that Jade can actually properly see it either, in these poor sorts of lighting conditions. But the context clues to be found in a demand like put that away speak for themselves immediately, considering Jade's the only person in here actually holding anything...

Perhaps most people would be feeling rather indignant about this, and perhaps Jade might yet experience such a feeling about it too, though it'll be a rather delayed sort reaction. Right here and now, he's actually more preoccupied by the fact that this realization actually has several scattered pieces of seemingly nonsensical information finally forming into an actually sensible sort of shape...even if that shape is already kind of exasperating to look at. But first--there is still a gun being leveled. Jade is familiar enough with guns, or at least their close fontech equivalent in Auldrant--Legretta the Quick had been something of a gun specialist--and the notion of one being aimed at him again, here and now, is not a super great one to look at! He has no idea how versed Natsuno may or may not be in actually using guns to begin with, to say nothing of how inclined he might be to actually shoot Jade about now...but it's all a matter of weighted risks in the end here, anyway. Natsuno's actions are an even 50/50, objectively, while Clarke's are...well, Jade can feel the way she seems to relax the moment she registers Natsuno's presence too (if only because she's still straddled on top of him right now, very uncomfortably). Just by comparison, the chances of her actually pursuing any further form of attack seem much lower now...and so.

Jade sighs, and dismisses his spear, another flickering crackle of light and energy marking its dissemination into fonic components once more. (Which doubtless promptly explains why Natsuno's never seen this spear anywhere inside the room before, as well as why Jade always seemed to have little interest in hoarding any weapons at all this whole time. You know, in case Natsuno ever did wonder about that, at any point...!)]

Good evening, Yuuki! You can put that away too, if you'd be so kind. [An approximation at Jade's usual pleasant cheer is made, in the greeting, though the strain in his tone and its utter contrast to the thoroughly awkward position he's actually in brings it full circle to utterly sardonic anyway.] I'm starting to get a sense that perhaps I've missed some sort of memo here...

[No longer having to hold his posture quite so rigidly for spear-aiming purposes, and still having his left arm pinned down anyway, Jade's sinking back to the floor around this point with another sigh as soon as the words are out, free hand sort of automatically raising to his face as it aches with the movement. --Goodness, he's still bleeding, just wonderful...! Another half-hearted sort of attempt is made at twisting enough to get Clarke off of him, but she still seems to have utterly no interest in actually moving, and he ends up being distracted by the question she goes on to ask anyway. This one clearly directed at Natsuno, and also clearly establishing out in the open that she has no idea who Jade even is, which! Pretty firmly and immediately sweeps all other possibility of this being an intentional attack right off the table! But this does also bring about some real and actual exasperation that finally seeps into Jade's voice full force, as more pieces of this whole preposterous situation fall into place.]

Who's--you know, I'd quite like to ask you the same thing, about now! For that matter, is the concept of a roommate really so completely unfamiliar to you?

[Clearly Natsuno knows this stranger, and this stranger knows Natsuno, and Jade finds he could take a pretty good guess at what she's actually doing in here now, but. ...Seriously, though???]

[Huh. You know, he was fully expecting this to turn into a highly stressing standoff which will confirm all of Jenny Storm's worst predictions, but then Jade dismisses the spear and Clarke looks so casual that all the adrenaline fizzles out, leaving a weirdly hollow sensation of anti-climax.

Is this just... a big misunderstanding? Natsuno relaxes just enough to flick the lights on. One hand still aims the gun for just another moment -

Then he lowers it, but doesn't put it away.]

Right, he's my roommate. [His gaze turns to Jade.] And she's my friend.

[His tone carries the obvious implication: You threatened my friend, and therefore you clearly deserve this. And this brief exchange is all the attention Natsuno is going to give Jade before he addresses Clarke:]

What's up? Seems like it's urgent.

[Yeah, he's gonna straight up ignore the fact that Jade is bleeding and Clarke is still straddling him.]

( end of the day, it really is just a big misunderstanding that snowballed instead of being logically approached and resolved. from jade's end, it must be that textbook adult exasperation of dealing with teenagers. and then from clarke's end, the immediate threat of grappling with a stranger in the dark has passed; they're as safe in this suspended moment of disappearing spears and lowering guns as they'd ever be on board this ship, and it's a perfect time to talk shop.

jade and his half-hearted attempts to squirm free are not the priority here, clarke's gaze is affixed on natsuno and she speaks with weight in her words, crafted to perfectly emulate the heavy pit of despair swirling around her ribcage. )

I talked to Pirate Jenny.

( yes, it was urgent. the need to share information was apparently pressing enough to warrant breaking his cabin door and assaulting his roommate. clarke's priorities are flawless and beyond reproach, don't @ her. )

This ship is powered by the suffering of every passenger who's come before us, Jenny wrote the poem and is older than Palamedus estimated; as old as the first signs of life on Earth. And that one time she won? It was a hand of blackjack.

[Oh. Yes, that is urgent. Natsuno's expression flattens as he closes the door behind him.]

Me too.

[And Clarke's intel aligns perfectly, horrifyingly, with his own. He just assumed that the captain wants "power" as a concept, not literal power source for his ship.]

To leave the ship, she gave the captain the soul of every other passenger. They burn until there's barely anything left of them, and he still finds use for it.

[Oh yeah and Jade is still there but he'll have to speak for Natsuno to actually remember it.]

( despite literally being on top of him, samesies go for clarke. jade, his bloodies nose, his ability to summon spears out of midair, his indignance, and his status as natsuno's roommate fall by the wayside as her stomach sinks with this new, but not unknown addition to the conversation.

burn — )

Like coal in a steam engine...

( until there's nothing left but ash. her face twists into something grave, and clarke's nodding along because, yes, she'd heard much of the same. )

She may have gotten away, but her brothers didn't. They're still here. Or, were. Whatever is left of them. I asked why she hadn't opened her gunports and leveled this entire damn ship if he was keeping people she loved hostage, and she said she's sunk this ship three times.

And it always comes back.

[There sure is a severe ~~comedic~~ dichotomy forming between the suddenly very grim turn of this conversation, and...the fact that it's between Natsuno and Clarke, with all the business air of a meeting for information exchange already formally underway. While Jade is still being flattened by Clarke all the while, and--they're genuinely just forgetting he's here now, aren't they? This really is a thing that's happening, isn't it? He's...going to have to actually interject here, isn't he??? ...Unbelievable.......

Jade's pride isn't exactly a fragile thing, and it's not like he's never had to pokerface his way through some truly nonsensical situations in times past. But, you know...! There comes a point where some things just really go beyond the pale!

--And yet. Honestly. The actual worst part of this is that he still can't even quite bring himself to be properly angry about it, because even in this short (and extremely rude) window of exchange Clarke and Natsuno are already actually dropping some fascinating details here...which is just the kicker, now isn't it? No surprise that many have set to interrogating Pirate Jenny ever since her arrival here; Jade has already had a pretty interesting conversation with her himself, for that matter, and on an objective level it's actually very good sense for parties to form together, exchange what's been learned, work towards the beginnings of a plan. (The ship being powered by the literal souls of past passengers is an unpleasant revelation, unsurprising as the brand of it might be. That destruction of the vessel in itself does nothing is also useful knowledge to have, if only to scratch that option right off the list...)]

Considering the extent of control he seems to have over this space in general, that unfortunately tracks...can't have too easy an out to any given game of his, after all. And he's very fond of games, or so I've been told. Can't resist an opportunity to play one when offered, in fact. ...But--

[--But still. Still. Clarke isn't moving, and his nose is still bleeding, and Jade in fact has no actual desire to be a makeshift couch for the rest of the night. So...! He finally speaks up from his spot on the floor, tone still exasperated in equal measures at both the Captain's whims and his current position--and he's also finally moving to sit up, as he does so.]

--At any rate. So terribly sorry--but if you two would kindly excuse my rude interruption, about now... [Just, dripping with sarcasm here...and these words are accompanied with actual vested effort towards properly dislodging Clarke this time. Considering her weight is pretty much entirely settled on Jade's stomach at this point, it's going to take a couple of pretty decent shoves; Jade's aiming to deliver with a bracing of his free arm against her torso, audible irritation finally rising to surface as he pushes--] I'd quite like to be able to stand up before we get to the tea and drink stage of our merry little meeting here, yes? Or is that too much to ask--?

[Now Jade is saying something worth listening to. Natsuno's gaze flicks from Clarke to the older man, this time giving Jade his undivided attention. Right, let's move on from this stupid misunderstanding and focus on what's really important.]

Considering that Jenny only won once and still had to go through all this other crap, most of his "games" are rigged anyway -

[Then Jade starts complaining again and Natsuno huffs. Get off of me would quite suffice instead of this passive-aggressive rambling. They have more important things to discuss than a bloody nose and bruised dignity! He addresses Clarke again, talking over Jade:]

So she came back here to find her brothers?

( it is expressly meant to be commentary on jade's perceived importance to this conversation that clarke finally allows herself to be shoved to the side and off of him, but doesn't break eye contact with natsuno. nor her stride in the conversation. content to remain on the floor, and press against the couch as jade does whatever he needs to do to extricate him from the space between the sofa and overturned coffee table, but ultimately unbothered by his existence except to drawl out — )

No one invited you to this meeting in the first place.

( yes, the tidbit about the captain never being able to resist the lure of a game is fascinating, and being filed away right next to pirate jenny's disclosure that he doesn't like to be laughed at, which could be wielded like a weapon. AND YES she is also aware no one expressly invited her into this bedroom, but moving right the hell along — )

She came back to try. But she's been at it... a long time, I'd guess. She doesn't remember their names, I don't think she'd remember what they look like either. ( personal experience piping up here. first memories to go are distinctive features, but clarke can't imagining how long it would take her to ever forget the repetitive mantra of people she'd caused the death of. it plagues her at night, and the thought of still bearing that guilt without being able to properly grieve anymore... a bubble of sympathy for pirate jenny has firmly lodged in her chest cavity, only slightly undermined by the fact that they consistently never know who to trust here. )

I don't know if we can help her, but I know she can't help us. Off this ship. Apparently she's tried.

Oh, color me surprised this is actually an invite-based sort of occasion...I couldn't have guessed. Silly me.

[Because they might be moving right along, but you better believe he's still! Pointing out!! That you definitely weren't even invited here to start with, Clarke, because invites don't usually involve breaking cabin door locks...! And yes, Jade's going to complain at least a bit about all this in the way he knows best--which generally does involve as much passive-aggressive sarcasm as possible, sorry--because he's not about to shrug off how ridiculous the whole leadup to this meeting has actually been, regardless of how rude both of the teens in this room evidently want to be about it! Honestly, if this whole talk were even a modicum less interesting than it is...

...Well, but there's not much use getting into that, because it is interesting all the same. Not to mention the fact that Natsuno and Clarke both manage to not really miss a beat in talking about it even with interjections considered--to the point Clarke barely even deviates as she's pushed off his person--and there's something admittedly a bit impressive about this all the same. ...If not equal parts very mildly concerning. Goodness, the youths have surely become even more intense these days...or have they?

No, when Jade stops to think about it--he could admit that seeing this kind of intensity in any one of the past teen party members in his own world wouldn't have been too surprising either, actually...]

Banking upon any concrete assistance from Miss Jenny seems a poor bet in general, at this point. For that matter, if she already had an idea of how to otherwise free even just her brothers, she doubtless would have already done so the moment she arrived here. One wonders if she does plan to pull something quite drastic before she leaves this time, though...

[She has struck Jade, at least, as someone reaching the end of a rather long rope...especially if Clarke's implication that she's been at this so long she's near-forgotten whom she even set out to free is true. Hm. Unable to quite resist fielding some more murderboard-inclined commentary on this all the same, Jade's finally painstakingly pulling himself upright as he speaks. --Ah, he can already feel a decent headache coming on, just wonderful. Sourced by the ache in his general face, or sourced by the fact he can feel his eyes starting to act up a bit already? Maybe both...probably both.....with one hand held to his nose to at least try mitigating the slow but steady bleeding it's still doing, Jade's now scanning the floor in an attempt at tracking down his glasses. Which had been on the coffee table...at one point...so, they're probably someplace near it...

Combining the search with thoughts still chewing on the more pirate-related topic at hand brings a bit more tiredness to his tone than the initial snark, at length:] In one sense, the fact she's sharing information with any of us at all might be the best she can provide in terms of help. I don't suppose she mentioned any other inherent weaknesses of the Captain's, to you two?

[She did mention one other one to Jade, at least. May as well see if it's redundant or if there might be other pieces between all of them collectively, though...

--Ugh. Really, at this rate he's going to need to get himself a towel too. What a mess!]

[Alas, today's youth are so intense that Natsuno pointedly ignores Jade until he's back to sharing relevant information. It's subtle - a quiet gaze, slight turn of his body - but it's there. His expression hardly changes (does it ever?), but it's good to realize that the situation's diffused.]

Not to me. She said, "I think he can do just about anything he wants". He can shapeshift, and trying to hurt him is like fighting smoke. She did say he's too vain to disguise himself as a passenger, though.

[He puts the gun back in his waistband. As an afterthought:]

Your glasses are under the desk.

( the kid's aren't alright here, jade. not even a little bit. they're intense, impulsive, a little blood thirsty, impulsive, angry, did we already cover impulsive? or was it adequately spelled out somewhere between the splintered wood around the locking mechanism of cabin 109 and the steady ooze of blood down to the bow of his upper lip. on top of that, they're a bit scared. feverish with energy, desperate for a purpose, stubborn enough to dig canine teeth into any loose scrap of information and hang on to it for dear life.

basically, unsupervised teenagers are trying their best to become as much of the captain's worst nightmare as jade's. sure, she's much more keenly focused on natsuno and every morbid tidbit he has to share, especially when they all slot alongside her own newfound knowledge. but jade continually pipes up — butts in — and clarke almost rolls her eyes until he does his part contributing fascinating hypothetical outcomes of pirate jenny's visit. the ultimate culmination of their guests' visit hadn't been a question at the forefront of clarke's mind, but when he mentions drastic measures and jenny's inevitable departure, she's got to wonder — were they going to sink a fourth time?

there's still not a twinge of guilt here, not really. that could come later. but she'll do the favor of pointing directly at his glasses, since there's a descent vantage point from where she was still seated on the floor.

fitting in with the idea of the captain being vain as all hell — )

She told me he doesn't like to be laughed at. So to be careful how I used that power.

( and just in case there's any mystery about what gals get together and gab about during impromptu theater-hangouts, let's just clear that up right now. violence, they choose violence. )

And that magic wasn't any use against him, so I might as well try to kick him in the dick.

[What a good thing, that he has enough interesting information of his own to be spared the cruel fate of being sneered out of his own room by a pair of rude (and impulsive, and anxious, and admittedly justifiably intent) teens, isn't it? Well, not that Jade's feelings would be particularly hurt about such a thing anyway, secure as he remains in his formed opinion that the way this whole meeting kicked off was still very unnecessary. All the same, though, the fact remains that they're all here now--himself included, for better or worse--and if this ends up being at least a little productive anyway, well! Maybe the night won't have been a completely disastrous wash...

Having his glasses pointed out to him is very meager reparation in itself, for the record. But at least slightly better than no reparation whatsoever, too, which is actually a bit more than Jade was expecting from either of them at this point. He's moving towards the desk accordingly--ah, sure enough, there they are. Not broken, very fortunate--that would have been a brand new problem altogether--]

Assuming he's wearing a form corporeal enough at the time to even connect a kick in that sort of area, hm? [A wry comment, on that last bit of Clarke's there; crude to be sure, but not actually an unreasonable sentiment, all things considered. If only the chances of it working were any higher!] ...Still, these details align well. We can surmise the Captain has a very prideful sort of streak--a better word might even be smug. With abilities to back it, unfortunately...but apparently this vanity is a two-sided coin. I could see him not liking to be laughed at, indeed; from what I've been told myself, the Captain positively hates when his plans end up undermined. So much so, apparently, that he'll actually become upset enough to forget his own magic at times, should his intricate designs get derailed.

[Even now, despite everything, the memory of this tidbit is enough to bring a grimly amused sort of smile to Jade's features that isn't directed to any one person in particular. Objectively it's such a fascinating sort of thing, considering...]

This isn't a foreign sort of fallacy at all--which is what I find very surprising. The first basic lesson taught to any practitioner of fonic artes, where I'm from, is that getting too distracted by petty feelings is a surefire way to fall into casting mistakes, if not outright failures. This is a remarkably human sort of failing, for such an apparently omnipotent being to have...

[And perhaps it might mean...that he's not quite so omnipotent after all. Wouldn't that be something? --Jade's attempting to put on his glasses around this point, that said, though getting them over the bridge of his nose in the least painful position possible takes a bit of trial and error. At least there's finally some relief for his eyes at length...bumps down the headache a modicum or two. Time to one-handedly open up a drawer in one of his designated dressers around here--needless to say, the plain white souvenir polo shirt he's been wearing for sleep is more than a little bloodstained at this point. Where are the towels in here again, for that matter...?]

So disrupt his plans without laughing at him, wait until his gets angry enough to forget how to use magic and then kick him in the dick.

[The sarcasm is thick enough to cut. Oh, it's valuable information - every little insight about their captor matters - but not nearly enough. Still, Jade raises an important point about the captain, and Natsuno continues in a more thoughtful tone.]

I thought he was more like a demon, or some weird monster. But maybe he is just a very powerful human, with human flaws. [Which means Natsuno would have to reflect on his own assumptions. Jumping to conclusions is always a mistake.] Either way, we don't really know him yet. We don't know what will piss him off enough to forget his magic, and what will make him burn our souls for "laughing" at him.

( jade is offering a very useful and thoughtful lens beyond the assumptions clarke had first walked away with, and then natsuno's coming out of left field with more supportive evidence — but most pressingly, the idea that the captain might be a shadow of some sort of human himself.

and hey, is there paper and pen easily accessible? if so, she's commandeering any items in her immediate vicinity to start jotting down their rap-scrabble collection of tidbits and notes. a furious chicken scratch of bullet points to touch on everything the three of them has divulged, in no particular order of importance. )

Okay, so. The most important part there is figuring out how to make him lose his composure. And thus his grip on magic.

( she is not from a world what contains magic, but likens it most to a hand getting so sweaty it can no longer grip a sword hilt or reliably pull a trigger. to losing enough composure you can no longer form rational thoughts, to getting so angry you sweep the contents of your desk onto the floor without thought, and don't notice that a shard of glass from your inkwell has sliced deeply into your palm. )

Any plan to overpower him would bank on catching him by surprise, and at his weakest. That part's not up for consideration, which I guess means... That's the part we'd have to test first.

( there's a sidelong glance at natsuno here, because clarke doesn't consider this a big leap from when she suggested at least one of them stay on friday's good side. and out of the two other occupants in the room, she cares the most that he understands what she means.

someone may have to talk a fall. )

How do you exploit arrogance and vanity, and how do you undermine suffering? How do you disrupt chaos without knowing the rulebook?

[There are probably at least a couple of papers and a pen readily accessible, what with how the coffee table likely once held such things...and how all of those said things are now probably scattered right there on the floor. There's probably even a stray hardcover horror book or two within reach, upon which Clarke might be inclined to position her paper, so that her feverish scribbling isn't entirely impeded by the squishiness of carpet underneath.

The towels, incidentally, are also in a separate drawer in the dresser! Not that this is of particular interest to anybody else in the room at the moment, of course, but Jade's remembering as much around this time. He now has a change of clothing in hand--proper pants and the dark undershirt of his uniform from home, at least--and he's adding a towel to the bundle, as he turns slightly from the dresser to consider Natsuno and Clarke's comments alike. The significant of Clarke's sidelong glance at Natsuno is lost on him, indeed, but...]

The chances of figuring out any of the rest will likely remain very low without knowing the rulebook, I'd think...and that means, simply put, we will have to learn it. [It's not exactly an active and rousing sort of suggestion, though, is it? Yet again, Jade finds he can sympathize with Natsuno's grim notes and Clarke's restless anxiety in equal amounts, for all that he himself exhibits little of either; no, his own energy off to the side of the room is a far more resigned form of calculation, weighing what little they know against what needs achieving...emphasis on little--which is the crux of the matter, as far as he can tell. As ideal as it would be to put an end to this within the week, with some elaborately proactive storming of the bridge or something...] Observation of patterns, trends, indicators towards an overall motive...we cannot go on an offensive that might actually work without this sort of information, so it'll need to be collected. Which will take time...much as we'd all quite prefer it didn't, I'm sure. But it seems at present that there will not be much choice in the matter, more's the pity.

[And that's his boringly practical take, on the whole. Jade sighs, daubing at his nose anew with the towel, and turns towards the bathroom.]

--At any rate, I think that's about the end of my own contributions at the moment. [You're welcome, he doesn't say, despite a moment's petty temptation, though there's a wry note somewhere in his tone that probably gives shape to the sentiment anyway.] I'll be washing up now, if you'll both excuse me...

[You know, since it sure doesn't look like he's going to be getting any sleep in here anytime soon...!]

party in 109 🎉 (debatable) (poorly-planned) (everybody is sleep-deprived except the vampire rip)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpSdZn1qrx4

oh it's a bop tbh...this song is now muffled in the bg of this whole thread a+...also 1/2

2/2

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