come_sailaway | SEPTEMBER EVENT: SKULLY'S ANGELS

-- What the FUCK?

[hello izzy bet you wish you could see shit as you get linebacker tackled into the fucking ground.]

[HE SURE FUCKING DOES WISH THAT YEAH. But no he can’t see fuck all as he’s taken down like a sack of flailing, snarling potatoes.

His sword jabs awkwardly into the ground sending the pommel towards Jenny’s ribs but there’s no way he can draw it. Best he can do if his arms aren’t pinned is wriggle like the hog she just killed.]

GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME, FUCKING-

[Does it work? We just need on hand free.]

[okay she's meant to be hiding but gives a little (weird crackly) cheer yeah get him!]

OFF YOU? THE FUCKING SICARIO? I WILL GUT YOU LIKE A LITTLE PIG!

[she is mainly using her greater height and weight to pin him at the neck, one arm pressed to his throat and the other holding her machete above her.]

Get- [A what? Wheeze- Hands to her arm against his windpipe. Slowly, slowly, fuck his vision is crackling-]

-off!

[WHEEZE! But it’s also the only opportunity he has to do fucking anything. And where diplomacy would be smart, he hasn’t got the fucking air or time to fucking think. All he can do is grab the bone shiv he’d resettled from his waistband to the inside of his waistcoat on the walk in. He makes it and, seeing as we’re fucking blind down here getting clobbered, stabs it as hard as he fucking can into anything he fucking can.]

[well, that sure is. some kind of bladed weapon in her shoulder. man, that would suck if she had human organs, huh.

honestly, at this point, it's just ticked her off.]

-- Mine's bigger, niñito.

[IT'S SURE TOO BAD THERE'S NO ONE ELSE IN THESE WOODS TO STOP HER FROM PLUNGING THIS MACHETE INTO HIS FOREHEAD...]

[god she's so hot...

just happy enough to let this happen because Izzy called her a dog.]

[ANGRY FLAILING PIRATE NOISES, FUCK ALL OF YOU, GOD!!!]

GET HIM, JENNY! BASH HIS HEAD IN!

[just going to pretend this was a distraction tactic if questioned]

Who-- [oh whoops there she goes, knocked onto her side as she hisses, raising the blade and trying to fight off... air? it's air. she was knocked over by air.

great. he sent wizards.

she scrambles onto her feet, holding the knife in both hands in front of her, eyes squinting at the darkness.]

Cute trick! Why don't you all come out of hiding, little mice? I'd like to count the corpses before I bring them to the villagers...

[Alright, so. This sure is an Absolute Disaster, but okay.

It's a blur of a sequence of events, from the moment that bolt of lightning had struck. Izzy Hands is highly unfortunately attacked upon being caught right next to the new arrival in question--and the new arrival just so happens to be...well. Even if they're only afforded a glimpse of her face in lightning before the return of the gloom, the voice that follows it rings quite familiar enough. The last time Jade had heard it, it'd been raised in rage at the bridge of the Serena Eterna, accompanied by an entire howling storm--

Izzy's struggling and might have already struck her, Ava's yelling something, and there's also a gust of sudden wind sending Jenny sideways, all in rapid succession. Familiar, the wind--Skulduggery having a go for it, Jade can assume--and it's looking to be as good an opening as any, now is it? Right. Then...]

Well, if you'd allow us to get in a word or two before we become too corpse-like...

[Regardless of how anyone else is responding about now, Jade's moving to step out from his cover of foliage promptly. Tone even, movement controlled; he steps past the spot near the fire pit where Ava and Max are approximately standing, but draws to a halt about halfway between said pit and the edge of perimeter where Jenny's now standing. Even now, Jade's hands are still empty at his sides. ...And it's occurring to him, too, that Jenny will likely assume it was he who sent the wind...but no matter. Peering intently into the gloom, Jade eventually raises a hand to draw upon fifth fonons and ignite a very small ball of flame in a palm. No move made to throw it, necessarily, but held in such a way that it might illuminate both his own face and Jenny's vicinity as well.]

You're Pirate Jenny, are you not? It's been some amount of time, since we last talked! I believe you were throwing wine bottles at a wall. [A considering pause.] Quite the surprise, to find you here. ...Were you drawn by that ritual on the beach, after all?

[Pointedly avoiding any mention of Izzy's life whatsoever about now? Maybe, yes. Look, if it's a matter of maybe staggering her anger just enough, with some questions...no need to immediately remind her of the source?

Jade has seen what this one is capable of. A storm goddess--practically an aggregate sentience in her own right--she'd quite nearly torn the Serena Eterna apart and cast it into the ocean, once before. He doesn't much care for their chances in a fight against her, so he's hoping to mitigate any further violence if it all possible here--]

[ Shit hits the fan with an alarming rapidity- one minute they're lying in wait and the next- lightning and Izzy hitting the deck and Ava calling for his blood (??? something to bring up later) and Darcy all at once regrets her hiding spot. She's far away from the action and it's too dark to properly see anything that's happening; definitely too dark for her to go in metaphorical guns blazing.

Jade steps out trying a diplomatic route, illuminating the scene, and Darcy finally takes her cue. She drops down from the tree as quietly as she can, invisibly circling behind Jenny in a wide, slow arc to get into a good position. Judging by the sounds of earlier, stabbing her isn't going to work. At least not the way Izzy did it.

But Jenny has eyes, and Darcy has a knife made for going through them, and if things go further south, it's another element of surprise in their arsenal. A moment of confusion the others might be able to use.

Presuming that Jenny can't detect her. Presuming an awful lot of things actually. This is probably a terrible idea, but it's what she's going with for now. ]

[there is just. a lot happening. so maybe she'll just start with, somehow, the least bizarre thing to come out of his mouth.]

What ritual?

[beat]

And tell the dead girl I'll remove her heart if she even tries to be clever.

Edited 2022-09-18 04:23 (UTC)

[ Yeah, that's about right. Lucky that Darcy's never clever. She backs up the arc even further, giving Jenny plenty of space, and reappearing near Izzy, offering a hand to help him back up. No quips, and she keeps her eyes on Jenny the whole time. ]

[Not being possessed of such senses that would note it himself, Jade isn't actually aware of Darcy's maneuvering until Jenny abruptly calls it out. Darcy appears next to Izzy a moment later, and Jade's casting a single sharp look her way, expression impassive, before refocusing upon Jenny instead.]

She has heard you, I daresay. We can maintain such terms.

[The response remains even enough, though the rest of Jenny's answer does have Jade's thoughts moving to readjust in quick succession about now. At least she doesn't seem to be getting...more angry? But there's a distinct note of complete confusion in the question she's fired back at him all the same. Hm, then, did he assume wrong...?

Hard to say. Still, at least for now--honesty is probably the best angle to take.]

A ritual of sacrifice. Involving a boar, and conducted by a pair of individuals who claim themselves to be gods by the name of the Dioscuri. They told us it was performed as an offering to you, wherever you might be. [Jade tilts his head slightly, eyeing the boar corpse just barely visible in the dim light of his flame, somewhere behind Jenny.] Hmm, though judging by your answer...perhaps this is more of a coincidence, after all? --Still, it's fortunate to encounter you here. We've been wondering when we might meet you again...

... Huh. And that, it happened... earlier today? Ay, and here I thought...

[... no, that doesn't matter. she shakes her head, wiping sweat off her forehead with her arm, smearing blood across it instead.]

Well, you can thank your little gods for me. I had just about resigned myself to dying out here before I got that second wind... Maybe I can do what I set out for, now.

[there's a lot to process, a lot of factors she can't predict with a party of this size and not knowing the members well enough to guess any of their next moves. and information she's clearly not aware of. other gods upon the ship? a ritual? that somehow has lent Jenny some sort of strength...?

and she appears to be on some sort of mission herself. perhaps, quite probably, the same one they are. a valuable source of information.

she's not the most skilled negotiator and is inclined to stay invisible, or take off on her own during this ordeal. she's not great at this team thing, not really sure what her role within it is meant to be.

but she does have something that the others don't. a previous personal exchange with the storm goddess, that hopefully she can use to smooth things over before they flare up again.

she rematerializes behind Jade, doing that little 'blahblahblah' motion with her hand before offering a small, friendly wave.]

Glad you're not dead. It's good to see you again.

[she reaches up to remove her mask, so that Jenny may recognize her face in the glow of the small fire. hopeful that she made enough of an impression with her hot dog story to be memorable. she gives a tiny little smile. god, Jenny is so intimidatingly hot.]

Why are you all the way out here? Certainly not for shells and rugs.

[there's a flash of recognition in her eyes, and her entire demeanor calms.]

I picked up on a rumor that something of the Captain's wandered into this reality and found itself caught up in a collection of treasures. I worked with the locals to keep Malin's grubby hands off this island for a time... I thought explorers were my only concern.

[then, her eyes narrow.]

He wouldn't let this many escape at once. What are you all doing here?

Malin...?

[she tries to keep her expression impassive, doesn't want to quite give away what they're doing because hell, she hardly knows. something of the captain's went missing? but he doesn't know enough to tell them what it is? or are they actually after different things, if there's an entire collection of treasures. well shit, that's going to complicate things.]

Not sure, actually. Just got lost wandering.

[god, where's skulduggery?]

[He's right here, of course, snapping his fingers to bring up another small flame, helping Jade illuminate the rest of the dark campsite. Also like Jade, it's clear from his posture that he isn't looking for a fight; it's clear from everyone's talk of her that they wouldn't survive a fight against Jenny, and he'd rather like to avoid that, thanks.]

She's not wrong about us being lost, and you're not wrong about us escaping. I expected treasure, but what did the Captain lose? Other than his mind, that is.

[Said with all due exasperation towards the stubborn jackass holding people captive on his ship (who gave no warning that Jenny might have been here)!! At least she seems better informed...]

[ As soon as Ava ends the invisibility, Max becomes the most visible thing around, his eyes and the lights in his head a piercing red in the darkness. Fortunately he can see in the dark and gets a good view of Izzy about to take a machete to the face, which he should... probably do something about. But apparently it's time to chat? And reminisce?

Max throws his free hand up because sure, let's talk it out with the literal storm god who tried to sink the ship or whatever she did, Sarge wasn't super specific. Back home he's the negotiator, but here, where he has zero leverage and generally has no idea what's going on, he'd much rather shoot his problems.Can they just put the Captain and her in a room to solve their issues with violence and leave the rest of them out of it?

He moves to stand next to Jade, since he's closest, gun at his side but ready to fill their surprise cameo guest with bullets at a moments notice.

Twenty foot tall anger sounds impressive.]

[the corner of her mouth twitches.]

No idea. Clearly something he actually wants... Ay, but that does change things! I bet he'd be willing to part with more to keep it intact than he would...

[she trails off, and her gaze falls on Skulduggery.]

But, maybe I should wait for an answer to my question before I say anything else.

[Three variations on the truth come up at once, but he leans into the first one to make it into speech.]

There was an excursion. I think we're the last ones left, besides the sorry idiots who tried to raft over the edge of the world. [literally shaking his head in disappointment] There was a lot of drinking, swimming, eating... I'm a bit surprised you didn't notice us. We're a fairly rowdy group.

[She leapt so immediately to escape that he assumes excursions to uncontrolled realities must be rare, if not unheard of. That makes sense; the Captain's a possessive and controlling man, and giving the passengers so much freedom goes against the entire premise of the experiment. Hell, it feels almost like bending the rules to let Friday man the tender, giving her a glimpse of a real world for once. What would Jenny do, if she knew Friday was only a mile and a half away...?]

[Well now. The news that the Dioscuri's efforts actually did somehow reach Jenny--to the point of pulling her away from some sort of death, even--is a distinct surprise to say the least. There are many implications here, though Jade's mentally tabling them for later review. In the meantime...relief maybe isn't entirely the right word for it, but Jade does also feel as if a very small bit of tension is loosened, when Ava finally chips in to garner some recognition from Jenny of her own, and then Skulduggery and Max emerge to respectively bolster negotiations or at least keep a weather eye on things. Paired alongside the additional light provided by another flame...both literally and metaphorically, things grow at least slightly clearer to view.

Ava's decision to evade directly answering Jenny's question, and Skulduggery's prudently careful supplement afterwards, are both understandable choices. Jenny may very well react rather poorly to the implication that they're actually running something of a request, for the captain. But, if they were...to perhaps angle the truth in a slightly different way, instead...listening in turn, Jade's opting to add an additional supplement of his own at length.]

This reality appears to be entirely outside the captain's jurisdiction--it's not one of his creations at all, is it? Between the presence of animals and proper plants...it's quite an odd variation from the usual excursions he sets us on. So, naturally, we've been trying to learn more about this place--though it's only with the onset of evening that we've been able to investigate things further inland, here, at the apparent grace of the local villagers. And now, well--here we are.

[Still not all necessarily outright lies, any of this. Just, omitting finer details, so to speak. Jade's even tone and outward demeanor betray nothing in the way of particular unease; mild as the urge might be the glance Skulduggery's way for a gauge of reaction, he instead keeps his attention focused upon Jenny with a speculative air.]

If there's indeed something actually here that the captain wants, it'd be very relevant to our interests as well. Moving against him in direct combat has proven entirely futile...so we've been seeking any sort of bargaining chip that might be of true value to him. Our meeting might be entirely a fluke of luck...but perhaps, our goals here are actually rather aligned?

[The captain certainly still has something that Jenny has been seeking to take back this entire time, after all--the custody of her brothers. She might have cut herself off at the pass earlier, there, but Jade can take a guess at where her thoughts might be leading in this way, and it feels prudent to at least attempt encouraging that track if possible. To engage her in violence would be a nigh-guaranteed disaster, so simply dispelling this encounter would be well enough--but if they could perhaps even recruit her aid, at least temporarily...?

Well, it might be nice. Make their mission here a little easier, and all.]

Edited 2022-09-18 15:18 (UTC)

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