come_sailaway | Are you on the square? Are you on the level?

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Are you on the square? Are you on the level?

Who: Deputy Pratt & You
What: A reckoning is upon you (He's storming the halls looking for Sharky)
Where: Everywhere!
When: Mid-October
Warnings: Violence. Cult stuff. Cannibalism. Skinning. Gore. The standard Pratt warning buffet.
Notes: Bracket or prose, live your truth.

1. The World Is Weak - Laundry Room
It's already been well established that the best place to have a breakdown on the ship is in the Laundry Room, so that's where Pratt is. Though he's not crying, he's not yelling or throwing things or freaking out over a jacket like last time. No, he's pacing. Back and forth and back and forth, again and again while staring at the ground. He has his arms folded, clutching across his chest, which is an awkward position while walking but he doesn't move them.

He doesn't know what to do. Well, he knows what he wants to do, but he also knows that he is the master of terrible decisions so maybe he should think about it?

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Enjoying yourself?

"Shut the fuck up."

2. Eviction Notice - Decks

When Deputy Pratt leaves his room in the morning, he's wearing his full uniform, his belt jangling with every step, along with the dog tags around his neck. Idly he trails his fingers along the wall as he goes, dragging through some of those bloody notes left on doors without even seeming to react to it.

"Sharky! Shaaaaarkkkkyyyy..."

For all that people have seen him sobbing into mashed potatoes, enjoying himself in the arcade, or just generally being a morose but kind of endearing dork, there's another side to him that even Clarke hasn't seen. The last time he was walking like this he was losing himself to the conditioning and barely knew what he was doing. This is different. Pratt is in absolute control of himself and that is so much worse.

"It's been a day and we had a deal. A pact even." Pratt normally sounds like a raven with laryngitis, but right now his voice is so low and controlled when he talks that it could probably be used to grind glass. If it's not obvious Pratt is pissed. He's fucking furious. And that cold fury is being bottled up, saving it for later, for when he needs to act.

"It's okay, you can come out. We just need to talk. We're going to have a little chat. That's all."

He gets to the end of the hall of cabins, blood trailing from his fingers across all the doors from the loving notes left to Ebalon. He reaches up to his forehead, using the blood to draw a cross down his nose and across his forehead.

"Did you think you were finally free?"

This is probably fine.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"My phone address. Even if you must do this alone, one Big Sky Country man to another, call me if anything happens. Even if you don't think I'm able to, or necessary, corralling a target is always best done with backup."

"I think we gotta talk this out ourselves first." Clearly implying the talking will be done with their fists. But they probably both need that: Pratt needs to kill him to see if that will get him out of his friend. The thing inside of Sharky needs to punch Pratt and fight for it's life. Win/Win. Except one of them will lose if they die.

"You think they're doing it to send a message to the Captain? Kinda feel like he doesn't give a shit. Why would he? Killing each other probably gives him what he wants. And if he cared he'd just show up and vaporize them."

A nod. He assumes the talking won't be very verbal, or else Pratt wouldn't be worked up.

Nobunaga spreads his hands with a shrug. "I know that, you know that, I don't think they care that it's helping him. I think they're trying to find a way out and just blowing up." He glances up at the ceiling. Except... "Or... they were being assassinated in which case..." he spreads his hands with a shrug. "I probably should have paid more attention rather than assuming it was just people reacting idiotically to the information sharing." Crichton obviously didn't blow himself up, after all.

"People come back when they're killed... unless that's broken too like the rest of the ship. Though I guess if you could kill everyone, you'd get a full day alone to do whatever you want. But I'm not sure what the benefit is there... what could someone do with the ship to themselves that they couldn't do with us alive." Unless the killing is what they need, like... for power maybe. He doesn't get how magic works, especially death magic. That's not the class he played in Diablo so he's at a loss.

"The one on the sports deck was in the closet so I feel like that was definitely targeted. Someone trapped in there maybe."

"Magic confounds me even more than religion," Nobunaga answered blandly. Though he can now see why he thought it was someone doing it to themselves. Because magic was even more likely to backfire than his childhood experiments with gunpowder, or Kichou's near terrorist acts of protest. He made a quick mental note to adjust the error in thinking.

"All right," a bit sterner now, "Let's try to catalog it mentally, see if we can compare evidence. We can flag it for Tendi to do repairs, and look for structural damage. Where do you want to start?"

"Well the atrium is pretty obvious, and it's in the middle of the ship so I guess there? Though eugh, that blood has been there for over a week, it's gonna smell fucking rank." He wrinkles his nose, recalling exactly what that smells like.

"I guess the food doesn't go bad. Maybe blood doesn't either? I dunno, Claudia used to carry it around in a cup but I don't think she ever left it for hours."

"Claudia?" a head tilt. "Why'd she do that?" Nobunaga still has never heard of vampires or what they do. "Let's get masks, and try the Atrium anyway." It'll be less bad than you think, Pratt, because the worst of it was taken care of by Tendi anyway.

"Oh uh....." He pauses, though Claudia is gone now, so it's probably safe to spill her secrets. "She was a vampire, she drank blood. They had it for her at the buffet. Actually.. it's still there, so either someone else is drinking it or they haven't bothered to remove it."

He only knows of two vampires and they're both missing now, he has no idea about the others that are still around.

"Aight, atrium, let's swing by sundries, we can get a notebook and record all this shit."

"Hah, I knew someone had to be sustained by it," he nods. Well, actually he just suspected/assumed so, and said as much to Arthur. "The blood all around the corridors, that's probably from the buffet, right?" Otherwise they would need a place to actually bleed someone so much, and it seemed like more effort than it was really worth, and someone abducted to produce that much would have been noticed by now.

"Yosh."

"I don't know, I think someone died. I think multiple someones have died but I don't know who. Have you noticed anyone missing? Like my roommate is gone, but I don't think she died because she hasn't shown back up. Clara is gone too."

Hn. He'd like to think someone just got creative with the buffet blood, but... he knows better than that.

"Clara was Klaus' roommate, was she not? She didn't die. Unless the circumstances for them reviving changed. Klaus mentioned how weird it was to be alone, and her corpse didn't show up when I stayed over. One person I know was burned, but this is too much blood for him without bloodletting tools like a dungeon." Bluh. He'd rather not think of Crichton being tortured first. "How long has your roommate been missing?"

"Yeah that's her. A couple weeks. I'm pretty sure she's gone gone, but you know.. I'd rather she be okay and just I dunno.. hiding out somewhere. Found someone to shack up with. Whatever." He won't judge, he's done that plenty of times.

"I don't know what to do with her stuff either. I feel weird taking it down and getting rid of it cuz it's .. not mine."

"The information binder said people come back sometimes, right? So just leave it unless a new roommate hates it, or stash it in a closet, I guess," Nobunaga considered it thoughtfully. "That's what I'd want done with my stuff. Except the knives. Anyone can have those. I'd rather they were put to use." Because that's what Eterna needs: more knife club weirdos with stabbing issues.

"Yeah I think uh... Jinx maybe did? Left and came back?" Pratt's memory isn't to be trusted but that sounds right. "So store the swords, keep the knives?"

"Soka." A nod. "Maybe I'll make a living will. Souza Samonji is the conqueror's sword. His destiny is to conquer. Anyone who feels inclined to take absolute control could try to wield him, but you should let them know, he is cursed, and holding him is to hold the weight of history and responsibility of thousands of lives on one's shoulders." Dramatic as fuck? Yes. Somehow Nobunaga isn't even as dramatic about the katana as its previous owner, Imagawa though, so there's that.

"Heshikiri Hasebe is very heavy, but nothing compared to Ruby Rose's Crescent or Jinx's rocket launcher. Nor is he cursed. So he can probably be handled safely by anyone competent. I'd want them back once I returned, or course. Oh, but Clarke has dibs on my Tanegashima Akechi 1579 rifle. She tried to run off with it at Fight Club."

And that was how she recruited herself to the Demon King army.

He will absolutely not remember these names nor who gets what. He might remember one of the swords is cursed but no promises.

"We should all write this shit down and leave it in our rooms." All his shit can go to Sharky and Ava and Clarke. Well.... if Sharky is ever Sharky again.

"There were rifles in 1579?"

"Yeah, living will."

The question actually takes him by surprise.

"What? Yeah, of course." Maybe it wasn't an of course. Nobunaga's startled by the formal universal education in the future that still somehow lacks in history. Imagine not knowing that Amerigo Vespucci circled the continents even though the country was named after him. That's definitely one thing Nobunaga would fix. "Portuguese landed accidentally on our shores bringing their guns with them. The daimyo of the province instantly saw their potential, and while none of them spoke the language or understood the customs of the court, the daimyo did his best to negotiate for the arms. Then took off with vastly improving the crude devices." Ahahaha, yeah, his nationalist pride is really shining through here.

He takes off the rifle to offer it to Pratt should he wish to view it, however. "That was in Tanegashima. He began shifting his forges to production instantly!" Actually 'rifle' is a bit of a translation snafu. The process of spiraling the bullets inside (rifling) was not done for centuries to come, as it required shell casings instead of raw gunpowder.

"Akechi is my left hand. He designed this personally for the whole army, and it just rolled off the forges six months ago my time. He also designed and oversaw production of my castle. He's a genius." So. So proud. "And a perfect shot. 100 shots. 100 perfect hits. My best is only ever 95%. I get too impatient."

"I dunno they kinda seem super modern. Though I guess I never thought about it. I'm not a gun nut like some officers are." It's just a tool he uses, he's not a fanatic about them.

"Oh shit, that's awesome looking. Is it like... a musket? Like you have to tamp in gunpowder with a stick and only get one shot so you gotta make it count? Probably makes people way better shots, I get nine bullets with this," Gesturing to the bright red pistol in the holster at his belt. "So I can miss a few times, but it also fires on full auto so I don't need to worry about being real accurate."

Wait, he realizes how that sounds, "Not that I'm sloppy, just.. it's different styles yeah."

"It's not a hand cannon," he's amused as the idea of literally using rods. That would take forever. As it is, the minute and a half it does take to reload is immense in the heat of war. "It pops open here," he opens the bullet chamber with the fluid motions of a general who's literally been doing this for decades, albeit with different designed arms, of course, but still also one who's trained countless dozens of soldiers; and shows inside the mechanics. "Arquebus. A type of matchlock." Now that he's trying harder, the translation kicks in better. "Locks back up. Powder goes here. Bullet goes here." The bullet is basically metal rocks. Metal balls. Basic as fuck. "Then the matchcord connects here, when you're ready, aim." A nod.

Nobunaga is absolutely a fanatic about guns. "It is difficult to see in battle with a lot of gunpowder smoke and the rest anyway, not every shot counts. I used volley fire, partition some men to fire, duck down to reload, next group behind them shoots over their head, and then the third group. Much faster. More effective." Another nod. That's how he took over the 'world,' as it were.

He lights up all over again about auto. Never was there so sweet a word referring to guns as that. "I have an auto mode for my coilgun too, though getting that many bullets in at once..." Shoot and spray man. A small laugh. "I am not sloppy, but I am not a -- how shall we say? Sniper. I am not finesse! I am more willing to blast a target completely than to get maximum points for precision!"

Okay that is RAD AS FUCK. He may be a total fan boy about swords, but this is a rad gun. It's so neat and ornate and there's a rope thing and getting shot by it would fucking suck.

"Basic but I don't want a metal rock embedded in my sternum. Doesn't matter if it's a bullet or a chunk of iron, still gonna suck. Guess a bullet might also give you lead poisoning and is more likely to go right through you." Recently he'd not been dealing with many people who survived being shot. The army of the Eden's Gate was ruthlessly efficient.

"No lie, feels awesome to shoot like a zillion bullets at once. Especially if you do it while screaming." He nods knowingly having done just that a few times. Granted the last time he shot something up it was a missile, he blew up a whole bunker, and flooded the damn place before he and Rook could escape.

Of all the things he regrets, that's not one of them. Shooting the fuck out of the bunker after starving to death for weeks felt fucking amazing.

"Poisons take too long, and are a pain the ass if you want to make someone join you instead. You should always give them that option. Then their strength is an addition to yours."

A head tilt. "Screaming huh? Usually I have to save my breath." Breath control in battle is very important. It's one of the few times Nobunaga actually shuts the fuck up. Probably why he overcompensates all the rest of the time however. "I really want to try auto at some point, but can't waste it. I'll just keep waiting for the right moment. That's all that strategy seems to be, truthfully."

"Yeah, if you can recruit them to your side by force then..." He looks away, "That's what we did back home, to make the army stronger. Kidnapped people and forced them into it against their will. Which worked but..."

He makes a disgusted sound, because of everything he needs to atone for, that's probably the worst. Everything he did to Rook.. what he helped Jacob do to others. He chokes down another awkward noise and tries to not think about it right now.

"Yelling is good stress relief. Makes you feel better."

Nobunaga stops dead in his tracks. What the fuck?

"No!" A little hoarsely. "Not like that." A double facepalm. Did he fuck up history with an over-correction? But how could that be? Importantly, "Is that what happened with Vietnam?!" Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

He'll have to rethink how he's been seeing Klaus in the best possible light as an ex-soldier, but wow that explains a lot about why Klaus wouldn't want to ever talk about Vietnam.

"How can that possibly work? Even if soldiers are at their strongest with their backs to a wall, that just means they'd fight you. So would the entire country, all their family and the rest. What absolute fucking dipshit moron decided to implement those tactics? And to have the audacity to call it strategy..."

"No. Well.. uh.. actually yes but that was different?" He blinks because he's not sure where the Vietnam connection came from since unlike Nobunaga he occasionally thinks about things other than Klaus.

"Vietnam was a draft, like they made everyone of age go fight whether they wanted to or not, or they got thrown in jail. That's ... not what I'm talking about. You know uh.. how I'm ... Like I'm all fucked up right and sometimes talk crazy shit? That's from the conditioning." He snorts, because fuck that shit. "Torture. Drugging. Sleep deprivation. Starvation. Til you forget who you are and you're only what the cult wants you to be. After a while people stop fighting back because they can't, you can only fight so long before your body gives out or your mind breaks, one of 'em will get you in the end."

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NSFW cw: blood stuff

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