vivalaooc | TDM #3

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TDM #3

TEST DRIVE #3

The day begins as any other, you’re going about your day, living your life, when, without warning, you feel the world around you shift on its axis. You feel a great tear, welling from the depths of your soul as you are ripped from all you have known. If you’re lucky, you arrive in the wilderness of an unfamiliar world, where the language is foreign and the people are hostile. To make your escape, you must learn some language, flee, and occasionally fight, all to find your way off the floating isles you find yourself on and to the great ocean below, where rebel forces will welcome you.

If you’re unlucky, you materialize within a room full of armed guards and are quickly subdued with charged nets, stripped of your belongings, fitted with strange devices that suppress your powers and pressed into servitude. Your days are unimaginable pain and toil.

Fortunately, even in this world, there is still hope. For the denizens of this world have not given up. And it is for that dream of salvation that the Crimson Corsairs raise their flags and sail - for liberation. Perhaps you are one who has lived their entire life under the oppressive yoke of the Empire. Perhaps you have seen first hand your family and friends cut down by nobles hunting men for sport, or perhaps you have run afoul with the church and barely escaped with your life. No matter your origin, the Corsairs sail for you, for your freedom, for your life. And today, a taste of freedom will be won for all.

ARRIVAL/LIBERATION
The arid continent of Hesaeth is home to a number of major mining camps that serve the Empire. However, when word spread that the Corsairs had actually captured a camp, many of the enslaved miners fled, braving the deserts at the promise of freedom from their captors. While scant few survive, many have made it to the mine and are being quickly processed and evacuated to the Vault by the Corsairs ahead of the attack.

The battle with Lord Gundhir mostly involved Imperial forces, but he did have a number of servants with him. The Corsairs made their best effort to evacuate any servants or prisoners aboard the ship, and those prisoners too will find themselves evacuated to the Vault for safekeeping.

Unlike the rowdy Flotsam welcome many arrivals receive, the processing within the Vault is neat and orderly, with tidy lines formed and volunteers on hand to distribute food and clothing to those who need it while they wait. Normally, people cannot enter the Vault until the Corsairs determine their trustworthiness, so those who have been liberated will be taken to a large holding dormitory as they await evaluation. It’s comfortable if spartan, and the Corsairs make sure that new arrivals have access to any necessities, as well as some books and games to keep them occupied during the long hours of waiting.

EVACUATION EFFORTS

The mines and Flotsam are in absolute chaos. With the impending material attack, it’s all hands on deck to prepare ships and evacuate non-combatants and civilians. All Corsairs who are available are put to work, helping people gather at rallying points, boarding them onto ships, loading supplies, and mapping out hidden coves that the ships that break off can hide in during the majority of the violence. The amount of tasks is overwhelming, but as always, the Corsairs handle it the only way they know how - working hard and doing the best they can in the circumstances given to them.

A WICKED SURPRISE

With the Empire coming and the Corsairs deciding to fight, the secret labs of the Vault are lit with an eerie light. Here, experimentations both incredible and horrific are underway, a search for a means to fight back against the invaders as best they can. The Corsairs know they are outnumbered and outgunned, but this day their homes and their people are on the line

ARMOR TRAINING

The Corsairs have managed to capture a few Armors over the course of their battles, and if they want any hope of repelling the Imperials, they’ll need to put them to good use. Drills are being held over Flotsam with potential pilots taking turns, learning to use them as best they can. Armors technically move with the pilot, but there are a number of considerations that only experience can teach, and new pilots may find the Armors motions far more exaggerated than they might expect, which often leads to dropped weapons and faceplants on the decks of airships.

WILDCARD

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OOC

Welcome to the third Test-Drive Meme for Viva La! All threads here may be considered canon once characters have entered the game. Threads here are eligible for use as a roleplay sample for applications, which will open on the 15th of September at midnight.

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[ OOC; Atom in a nutshell: He’s an android with the appearance of about a 12 year old human. Normally he's able to fly and has super robot strength and abilities. If you’re familiar with Astro Boy, this is a version of that character. ]

Escape [Battle action]

After a couple days of debating what to do with the "machine child," officials from the Empire had decided to send Atom to the mines to work. Was he better suited for labor or should he be sent to a lab for research? They didn't get an immediate response from their scientists so the mines it was for now. Atom had known about the issue only because the guards spoke in a language similar to German, though not precisely in any of the languages of Earth. He was loaded onto an airship with multiple other prisoners, set for Hesaeth. The ride over, however, was not so smooth...

There was another explosion sound outside and airship shook, making the guards outside the holding cell stumble to stay on their feet. Fellow prisoners clung to the bars of the transport cell for dear life. Atom took hold of the bars from behind an elderly woman who was struggling to hold on, supporting her. 'Thank you child.' She was in the middle of saying when the door at the end of the hall swung open and a guard rushed inside.

"We've been boarded!" one of the guards shouted to the others. "Don't let them free the prisoners!" The guards raised their weapons, prepared to face whoever came through the door next, although the amount of shaking the ship was doing made it questionable if they would be fighting standing on the actual floor for long.

Arrival [Peaceful meetings]

Safe at last at The Vault, Atom obediently lined up with the people who had been recently rescued by the Corsairs. When he got to the front of the line, he was offered a blanket and food. Atom raised his hands instead of taking the supplies, shaking his head and smiling bashfully.

“Please, give that to the next person. I don’t need it,” he insisted. “Is there a power source where I could recharge, maybe?”

He hadn’t seen enough of this world yet to really tell how compatible the local technology was with his own.

Evacuation Efforts [Action]

In the midst of evacuations in the mines, as if to add to the adrenaline pumping through so many people's veins, the lights in one of the passageways flickered and went out. People crashed into each other, others shouted for directions. The Corsairs alerted their people of the problem and tried to calm the citizens and workers in the dark to keep them from stampeding.

"Let me help!" Atom had been carrying supplies nearby and handed them off to another Corsair. Still a new face, others around him looked confused, but it became clear why he volunteered when he went to the entrance of the dark mine shaft. His eyes lit up, and shone like a flashlight in front of him.

Wicked Surprise [Looking for "healing"]

He hoped that the lab at The Vault might resemble home, but instead of bright lights it was a poorly lit place, tucked away instead of welcoming people in with a large reception room. There were odd noises coming from further in, but Atom told himself to ignore it for now and focus on why he had gone to the lab to begin with.

“Excuse me,” he tries to catch someone in the hallway. “Sorry to bother you. I’m looking for someone with mechanical skills- someone familiar with robotics, if possible.”

If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Donnie inwardly cursed as he ahead, the tunnel was plunged into darkness. Faulty wiring? Had anyone even done any inspections of the basic equipment? Given the state of a lot of things at the mines, the turtlekin wasn't all that surprised that something like this had decided to fail. It was just unfortunate that it had to be now of all times.

"Calm- Ow!" He flinched back as someone ran into him, feeling his back hit the wall, the rough edges of the hewn rock feeling uncomfortable against his soft shell. Still, there he was inclined to stay until he heard people move past him. Maybe he should have brought that seed Link had given him, there'd been so much on his mind and so much to do-

Donnie gasped as he saw the light flare ahead, breathing out a sigh of relief that at least someone had the foresight to bring a torch along. "This way, move along- try not to clog up the tunnel," he advised, trying to help people as his eyes adjusted. "We're still going to need more light..."

"This way. Please walk; don't run."

Atom appeared, with a literal flash, from around the corner to help show people the direction out of the passage, keeping his eyes pointed downward to avoid shining the light straight into someone's face.

Atom was still getting used to seeing the non-human people in this world, and he has to remind himself when the turtlekin comes into view not to look at him directly and blind him with the light.

He seems to be one of the more experienced Corsairs, so Atom asks him, "Are there lanterns we can use on hand nearby? Or a way to fix the lights?"

Given the circumstances, even Donnie would have to accept the fact that he probably qualified as one of the more experienced Corsairs, although if he were outright called such it'd probably scare him. That wasn't something on his mind at the moment, and with a clear problem in front of him, not likely to send him spiraling into his notorious overthink thankfully.

When that source of light neared, it however wasn't what the turtlekin was expecting. He himself couldn't help but stare then, because someone with light streaming out of their eyes wasn't exactly a common occurrence!

"Huh? O-oh, uh." He looked around, frowning. "There should have been, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was overlooked with all the other preparation," he sighed. "If anyone thought to bring any torches or the like, now would be a good time to make use of them," he called out to the evacuees. "I need to see if it's a wiring issue, he said when he glanced back, briefly looking at Atom again before he squinted at the walls. Maybe something had been chewing at things. That'd at least be a simple fix if so.

Edited 2024-09-06 16:32 (UTC)

Thankfully, one of the civilians had a small torch on hand they were finally able to locate in their large bag now that they could properly see, and it sounded like a few others along the passage were doing the same. Atom stepped up to the closest person with a torch to give instructions. "Please slowly lead the way out for the people behind you." He raises his voice to speak to the crowd, "Walk only until you're out of this passage. Don't let anyone get separated."

With the closest evacuees splitting into groups to follow the nearest person with a light, the people standing around Atom and Donnie started filing past them. Atom heads towards the next smooth, rocky bend in the passage to lure those further in towards the light, but stays within sight of Donnie.

"Any guess where the issue would be located if it could turn off this entire area? It might be worth looking at it if we're quick!" he suggests.

One problem solved for the time being. Donnie continued to look along the walls to trace the cable running along it. It was difficult enough to see even with a singular source of light, only made slightly better once Donnie had managed to slip out his own torch, beaming the light along the wall until he found the black line there.

"Hard to say," he admitted as he continued to look. "I think it's all connected on one line, so the problem could be just about anywhere along this route." He drummed his fingers against his torch before turning back the way they'd been coming from. "The generators would be located inwards though. If there's still power running, it should still be functioning up until where the power's been interrupted. Hopefully something's still working back there."

"Let's take a look! We can check the wires as we head towards the generators. And if the generators won't respond, maybe you can borrow my power until everyone is out of here."

Atom starts to turn to head inward, intending to shine his light on the line of wires as he goes, but he realizes he might have just said something confusing to the turtlekin. He turns back with his eye beams pointed at the hard tunnel floor between them.

"I'm a robot. I have electric power to spare."

Hopefully that gets the message across. He shines his beams up at the wire line again and starts to walk down the down the passage as he searches for signs of frayed wires or light still working up ahead.

Donnie started to nod at that, at least until that last bit. "Your-"

Atom beat him to it, but it didn't keep the turtlekin from staring again. "'Robot'?" That wasn't a term he was familiar with, perhaps a term from another world?

But before he could ask any further questions, the boy (????) started walking again. Donnie hurried after, flashing his own light along the lines between the lamps strung up along the cavern walls.

"You're not human." Not a question, an observation. Humans didn't have glowing torch eyes, nor could they offer electrical power.

Oops. Goes to show he still has a lot to learn about the technology in this world. He was only recently freed and mixed in with the crowds of escaped prisoners and mine workers, waiting for instructions. He had focused on figuring out where to find an energy source to recharge with when he briefly had the individual attention of the Corsairs, and now everyone had to evacuate. His first lesson was that they could pull power from special stones and that was about it before he was left alone with the puzzle of getting a current running to his body from one of the many generators on hand. At least now he knows how to hook up to the generators already if it comes to that.

"Uh..." Atom smiles bashfully to himself as he checks the wires quickly step by step. This is a new experience. "Right. I only look human. Um. Does this world have any kind of machines that are built to do a series of complex tasks on their own? That's essentially what a very basic robot is. I'm considered an advanced model."

The turtlekin looks intrigued. Indeed, it's a fascinating thing, seeing someone who looks and acts human, but who at the same time, isn't. A machine? His brows lift.

"You're not like any machine I've ever seen before," he says, awed. He knows machines, or at least thinks he has a good understanding of them. "Some of the most complex ones that I've seen are the armors, but they're piloted by someone, controlled on the inside. You're completely auto... Aah, what's the word..." He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before snapping his fingers. "-autonomous!"

Advanced is an understatement. Donnie's still not quite convinced the other kid is just some strangely powered human, but there'd be no reason for him to make up such things here.

He pauses as something else catches his attention farther back down the tunnel. "Look, there's light! Granted it's from the lamps and not someone carrying them..." He turns his torch beam back along the upper walls.

"If the armorlike things I saw flying outside the prison ship between the ships during the battle are armors, I guess you could say I'm like a small armor that was programmed with autonomy and a personality." Alright, maybe that wasn't the best way to sum up robots in all their shapes and sizes, but there is a resemblance to his specific model between the human-like shapes and flying.

"Is anyone back there?" Atom calls ahead towards the light down the tunnel. Several voices call back, pleading for help and fretting over finding the way through the dark. Just as Donnie had suggested was a possibility, the normal overhead lighting was still on in the back of the tunnel. Several people are standing in the lit area with supplies on their backs, and their faces light up as Atom and Donnie come into view.

"Yes, those things," Donnie says, resisting the urge to poke the kid at that. That'd probably be rude. But he can't help but be curious as to just how much of him is really like the armor.

He exchanges a glance with Atom at the voices before hurrying along.

"Lamps are out, probably all the way down," he explains as he looks at those who had been anxiously waiting. "If you have any light sources, I suggest you make use of them, those who have them, help light the way."

He looks towards the walls again where the lamps are yet lit, tracing them to the connecting cables. "...see that? Something's got into the wiring or the insulation for the cables has just been falling apart. I can probably patch it temporarily, although I'm going to have to shut down the rest of the lamps to rewire it so I don't zap myself..."

"Are the generators close?" Atom asks as he tries to peer past the crowd of people hesitating to walk into the dark without flashing them with his eyes, made harder by how many of them turning to each other to quiz on another on who had what in their bag that might provide light.

"How loose are the wires that are connected to the dead lights? If there's enough length, maybe we can skip turning the generators on and off for repairs by wiring the line directly to one of my ports. Then I can run a current." If Donnie knows how to fix the wires, he'd probably know exactly which one is which. Then it would be a question of getting in the right position to reach them.

"Not really." Donnie sighs. "The same generators power several other tunnels. Whoever designed things here needs to be shot."

He closes his eyes as he recalls the rough map of the mines. The hub where the generators are isn't very conveniently located, and turning them off completely will just slow down things in other tunnels.

Sighing again, Donnie looks back at the damaged cable. "Let me have a closer look," he says, inhaling slowly as he focuses. Lines of glowing magenta trace in the air in front of him, right up against the wall to form a ladder. It hardly looks solid, in fact it seems to be made purely of some kind of energy, but Donnie climbs right up like it's your everyday ladder.

"The problem isn't the length, the connection's just been severed. The current shouldn't have a problem if I can rejoin the wiring, but I can't do any of that so long as power's still running through one end."

Atom stops and stares as the energy ladder forms in front of Donnie like... "Magic?"

He really, really was behind on what did or didn't exist in this world. Scientists had made breakthroughs that some would call magic-like in his own, but this looked like something out of a book and didn't have energy readings that matched anything he had seen before.

If they can complete the evacuation, he'll be eager to sit down with the turtlekin to swap notes. But there's still an urgent issue at hand.

"The unpowered wiring after the split- can you pull the end of it down from the wall and pass it to me?" It's hard to judge from sight and scans alone how securely it's fixed to the wall.

The turtlekin blinks, smiling briefly at Atom then as he nods. That's about the least complicated response for it. He's not too surprised at the kid's response, not when Donnie himself still reacts in much the same way whenever he sees people using magic from their own worlds.

"Hm. Well, thankfully they've used the sort of connections with a sort of failsafe, which is the only reason only part of the lighting system is still functioning. I...think I should be able to separate the rest of it," he nods, looking to where the wires have been compromised. Nudging his goggles down, he adjusts the lenses to get a really good look. A quick snip should do it. He digs into his tool pouch to pull out a pair of titanium cutters, and soon enough the length that had been hanging by a thread dangles freely. Donnie lets out a breath, reaching over to pry out the hook in the wall to let the cable fall a little further so Atom can reach it.

Atom watches and dims his lights a little once Donnie has freed the wire in anticipation of him looking downward towards him. He outstretches his hands and smiles at their success as the end of the line reaches him. He rushes to tug on the collar of his shirt. It's loose fitting, with a major need for future tailoring if he would continue wearing it, but it works to his advantage in this situation.

Atom pauses to look closely at the end of the line in his hand, then bends the pieces with his fingers in carefully measured angles and small measurements. A small circle of skin on his chest withdraws, exposing the metal port underneath. Without needing a mirror, he fixes the reshaped wiring into the port.

His expression shifts from deep concentration back to the bright eyed determination from a couple minutes before. "Starting at a low current. Raising it slowly," he says.

There's a dim flicker in the bulbs running towards the passage exit, then the light comes flooding back. Atom sighs in relief. "Keeping the charge steady at this level."

By then Donnie's climbed back down, letting the ladder dissipate in a flurry of purple pixelated light. He tilts his head as he watches Atom go to work, brows lifting as the boy plugs the wiring in.

Well, if there'd been any doubts that the kid wasn't actually human...

When he speaks again, the turtle blinks, nodding. He turns his head towards the lamps down the way as light begins to brighten from each one again, a faint expression of awe touching his face. Incredible.

How long can the kid keep it up? Donnie figures it's not something they should rely on lest they drain him, so he looks around, grabbing the arm of the first Corsair coming by. "Tell people to speed things up, be prepared with their own lights and let us know once everyone's managed to get to the other end."

Donnie watches them bustle off before looking back at Atom. "Are you okay there? How long can you keep that up?"

"I'm fine," Atom assures him, turning the lights off in his eyes. Without the glow they're a common brown. "I only have to charge every few days normally, unless I've been doing a lot of flying, and I was able to recharge when I arrived yesterday."

The people who had been hesitating in the back of the passage hurry past them with rushed thank you's.

"I can keep the lights on as long as needed, but we better leave soon."

"You can fly?" Now probably isn't the time to ask for a demonstration, so Donnie tries to temper his excitement. "....I have so many questions but I guess they'll have to wait."

He looks as people move past them, wishing there was a way to monitor their progress. "Got it. That's why I told them to hurry it up." He pauses, feeling like he's forgetting something. "-nice job, by the way. I don't think I caught your name. I'm Donnie."

Atom nods at the question and again at the suggestion they wait until later to talk properly. He has plenty of his own questions.

"I'm Atom. Nice to meet you," he replies politely. "I'll stay here until we get the all clear for this passage. If we're separated, let's meet again after everyone is safe. The Corsairs have just allowed me to join The Vault."

"Atom." Donnie nods. "I live at the Vault too, so it shouldn't be too hard to find me. Usually I work in the armory."

He still looks a bit uncertain about leaving Atom there, but standing around waiting has never been his thing. "Sure you're going to be okay? Don't overdo it- you still need to function too." Kind of funny coming from the kid who always tends to overdo things.

"I'm going to tell people to use an alternate route so we can start shutting down this passageway and you won't have to stay here."

"I'll be fine," he reassures. He chuckles, "I've actually been in situations a lot tougher than this." That's an understatement, actually.

But seeing the concern plastered on Donnie's face, he gives him a nod and a more serious look. "I promise to meet with you later if we're separated."

The turtlekin looks at him a moment longer before finally nodding.

"Okay. See you later, Atom."

He manages to summon up a grin before turning to head up the main tunnel to the rest of the mines.

Senshi is about to insist when Atom mentions recharging at a power station instead, and that gives him pause, awkwardly holding a bowl of warm soup between them.

"You really don't need food?" he says. "Very well, there's no shortage of mouths. You'll have an easier time charging from engines or ether at the Vault than here when you need it."

And serve it to someone else he does.

Though he can't help but get curious. "May I ask why you don't need food?"

"Thank you." Atom takes a breath of relief hearing that there are potential options for recharging.

Senshi's question reminds him of his own burning question. He hadn't had a chance to ask anyone yet while all the rescued prisoners were busy worrying about getting settled and thanking their rescuers.

"Does this world have other robots by any chance?" He had already made serious progress piecing together the local language from German and Old English, but if there was a word for robot he hadn't heard it yet. "They would be machines that have their own will."

Robots. Not a term he's familiar with, but he has run into others that meet his definition.

"None from this world, but yes," he says. "Machine men, a comrade calls your kind. I met one who spoke of being a war-forged weapon, a self-described Terminator - and he spoke of it because he also refused food as unnecessary."

He pauses for a moment.

"Tis a shame," he says. "I thought you might enjoy the taste. But eating is the privilege of the living... though I do wonder if you enjoy some similar taste from taking in energy directly?"

A soldier robot of some kind? Atom's trail of thought almost wanders away with the word "terminator." Was it a title taken in pride or in pain? Perhaps both? Some part of him worries for the stranger.

Senshi's question brings Atom's attention back. Taste is a fascination for him, and the question reminds him of something one of his young friends would ask- open-minded and genuinely curious. Atom smiles.

"Charging energy has more of a physical sensation like a touch for me," he explains. "Though actually, I can technically eat food. It doesn't serve a survival purpose- the closest thing to nutritious food for robots in my world are energy drinks- but I've still enjoyed the experience of eating food like humans do. My sense of taste hasn't developed as much as an organic person's has yet, but maybe with practice I'll get there some day."

If there's one thing that living on a boat that fires freaking cannons has taught its denizens, its how to deal with shaky ground. Or, well, shaky boards, in this case. So one of the boarders, a tall woman clad in blue & teal armour wielding a lance in one hand and shield in another, seemingly bounces around the place, using the movements of the ship to aid her rather than hinder, and her lance clears this particular way with ease, aided by those with her.

It isn't long before the small group gets into the prison area, and the first thing that Atom might see past the older woman is some of those soldiers get knocked down by the azure and emerald battering ram that is the Sentinel, with a yell of something in some language other than the native one.

Atom watches the doorway in anticipation, hoping this was a turn for the better. Whoever the guards were afraid of, maybe they were kind enough that they would free the prisoners. There's a movement in the doorway and the guards shout in alarm. The prisoners on the other hand gasp in excitement. "It's the Corsairs!" "Is it really?"

In bounds the tall woman, armed like a knight from an old story. Atom's eyes go to the lance in her hand. He knows the great power such a weapon possesses. He once had a friend of sorts who wielded one a long time ago, before he had fallen. He can't help smiling at the sight of her blue armor, and how in a way it was a familiar sight.

The Sentinel and those she's with seem unphased by the shaking of the air ship. The guards look as though they might be quaking in their boots, though that might have been the vibrating of the ship. They fall quickly in her path. Several of the prisoners cheer. Most of them beg for help though. "Please free us!"

"Will do!" The soldier shouts in the native speech, she and her companions quickly incapacitating the guards, the halberd shining silver and crimson in the light. But she's careful not to kill them if she can help it - not in front of the prisoners, they don't need to be more traumatized than they no doubt already are.

The short battle is over almost before it began, as fighting like this tends to go. "We got keys?" She asks of one of her comrades frisking an unconscious guard.

"Yeah. Catch, Nephenee!" The man tosses them over, and they're deftly snagged mid-air.

"Thanks. Hang on, y'all, we'll get ya outta here..." Now that things are calmer, she has a moment to look around at the group as she's checking the keys against the lock. (Of course they weren't labeled, that'd be too easy.) At first she only grimaces because in addition to the normal age range of healthy people, there appears to be some older folks, but then she spots a small hand... Yune, they were e'en bringin' kids? These Imperials dropped lower and lower in her eyes by the day.

"Ma'am," she addresses the older woman Atom's been helping, since they're more vulnerable than some of the others, "Are ya an' your grandson alright?" It might not have been correct, but it made sense to her.

Edited 2024-10-01 00:09 (UTC)

"Gods bless you! I'm alright now that you're all here," the old woman assures her. "He's not my grandson though. We just met here on the transport. I can't believe they think he'd make a good mine worker, but then again they think old ladies like me will."

Atom tries to poke his head out from behind the lady without letting go of the bars just yet- that can wait until the door is opened. It's a little awkward but it'll do. They have to raise their voices to be heard over the sound of the battle outside any way.

"I was brought to this world through the mirror," he explains, hoping that the mirrors are common enough knowledge that it will make sense.

"Oh! Apologies. They must be desperate if they're doin' that, though..." Either that, or grandma here did something they didn't like. Who knows?

She looks to the young boy when he speaks up, and frowns. That explains a few things. "Oh, the Gate? That's how they get folks from other worlds. Ah'm from another one, too." The woman's accent is a little like a few rural ones back on Earth, and fairly thick. "What's y'all's names?" Jingle jingle, clank go the keys as she tries each one in turn...yeesh, which one is it?

"My name is Atom." Hearing she was also drawn through the gate, he has a number of questions on the tip of his tongue, but he'll wait for the right opportunity to ask. He doesn't want to distract her from sorting through the keys, for one.

"I'm Luna. Nice to meet you both. And what can we call our kind hero, Miss?" the elderly woman asks.

Thankfully, there's not a ton of keys on the ring. "Nice to meet ya, Miss Luna, Atom. Ah'm..." Cla-clank! This time, there's a different sound as the key successfully turns in the lock. "Nephenee."

The door creaks loudly as it swings open, and she looks around at the prisoners. "Anyone hurt here?" She asks of them.

"Nice to meet you too," Atom says. The ship shakes, as if to remind him of the predicament they're all in.

The prisoners cheer at the sight of the door swinging open and several of them hurry for the door. Atom waits for them to clear the doorway, intending to help Miss Luna stay steady.

Most of the prisoners shake their heads at Nephenee's question. One person is a little banged up from bumping into the bars while the ship was shaking, but they are all on their feet and able to walk. Luna indicates that she wants to move after the last of the other prisoners pour out of the cell, and Atom takes her hand, reaching to grab the next bar over, one by one, and keep them both steady while she shuffles to the cell door. Nephenee and the other Corsairs are bombarded with more tears and thank you's.

Yup, she's not surprised, and she just smiles as she accepts their thanks, voicing how glad she is that they're not injured badly.

After the Corsairs manage to herd the group into the hall, some of the guards trying to give them instructions as they go, Atom and Luna are finally able to get out. The clamoring of the prisoners make the instructions practically unintelligible, and, with a sigh and a quick warning to Luna and Atom that she's going to need to "holler", Nephenee does exactly that.

"Everyone!" She calls over the din, her voice rather loud in the enclosed space. "Simmer down, an' listen up! Y'all need t'carefully follow William up there, an' he'll lead ya to the ship. Don't worry, we got plenty o'folks to keep y'all protected!"

The crowd hushes at her holler, minus one of the prisoners who seems scared out of his wits by all the shaking the ship is doing and is murmuring prayers as he clenches the nearest railing or solid object available.

The group does as they're told and follow the man Nephenee had pointed out, out of the prison room and into the halls of the ship. They practically drag the scared man and manage to get everyone out and on their way, but they are clearly slowed by the man who wants to cling to the walls and hesitates to cross the gaps.

"I could carry him," Atom suggests to Nephenee. "But will you be okay, Ms. Luna?" he asks.

"I'll be honest; I'm not sure what will happen if the ship goes lopsided, but I will do my best either way," Luna says.

New Threads [Vault]
Processing in the Vault is indeed as orderly as one could wish, although at this particular moment for this particular line of enslaved miners and servants, one might wish it was going a bit faster.

When you finally get to the head of the line, you're greeted with a rather pretty looking blonde person who looks like a better fit for one of Elysium's pleasure gardens than here. He gives you and your rags a quick once over and nods.

"You need some new clothes, right?" Emery says sunnily, as if you haven't just standing in the lineup for exactly that for several minutes. "Let's see what we've got here..."

Emery rummages through a stack of clean laundry on the table in front of him, holds up a pair of pants and eyes it critically. "How about these? They're a little outdated but the color should suit you."

Not an Épée [(Over) Flotsam]
Emery doesn't have much practical experience with fighting, but he had taken some swordsmanship lessons back when he'd lived on Eiglun. His instructors had stressed the importance of it as a "gentlemanly discipline," and compared it to chess, but it seems as good a rough guideline as Emery's likely to get when he's placed behind the controls of a Schwert armor and told to get moving.

Emery leans forward slightly to examine the sword clenched in the armor's grip. Let's see, it's big and heavy... Emery shuffles the armor's feet, and then thrusts the blade of the sword forward into the air.

Too far forward. The armor overbalances and topples forward, slamming onto the airship deck with a great metallic crash.

He emerges from the armor a minute later, bruised but laughing.

Elysium Wildcard [Elysium]
With the focus on the upcoming invasion, Corsair activity in Elysium is quieter than usual. However, that shouldn't mean it's nonexistent.

Emery is currently wandering the streets of the red light district, a cloak thrown over his shoulders and head to keep his features from being readily apparent. And maybe to make it less obvious that he's new to the famous Elysium, and his attention is being pulled every which way by all the flashy amusements.

Seeing someone who's walking as if they know where they're going, Emery jogs over and taps them on the shoulder.

"Heeey~ Are you familiar with this area? I'm trying to find the Verdigris House."

He gives them a very pleasant smile.

Well...sorry, Emery, the armoured woman with the shield and halberd on her back you come across just looks like she knows where she's going. In actuality, she knows like...three places? Something like that.

His approach gets her turning slightly, but he gets the shoulder tap in successfully once she sees he looks pretty harmless. Well, alright, he looks pretty and harmless.

She shakes her head, the emerald hair under her barbute swaying with the motion. "Sorry, Ah ain't too familiar with this part o'town...not quite sure where that is off the top o'my head. Gimme a second..."

Without looking away from him, her right hand goes to a pack on that hip, she rummages, and produces a folded map. Opening it (and still keeping an eye on him), she points out where they are. "Ya said the Verdigris House, right? What's that?"

An Imperial soldier of some kind- or so Emery assumes- maybe isn't the safest person to approach but this woman doesn't seem particularly aggressive. In fact, her manner is on the apologetic, wary side.

Nevertheless, Emery acts as if he doesn't notice it and cheerily moves closer to peer at the map she brings out. So that's where they are...? Then, is the Verdigris House labeled anywhere?

Her question makes him blink.

"You don't know?" Emery considers, briefly, how to phrase it, then decides it's best to be direct. "It's a brothel. I hear it's a really fancy one, too. Apparently it's called the Verdigris House because it has this grand front entrance painted in green shades."

'Apologetic' and 'wary' are rather good ways to describe Nephenee, all things considered.

"...Ain't from around here." She says, carefully keeping her features neutral, if wary still, as he explains further, and mentally sighing a little internally. Yune...

"...How old are ya, kid?" Because frankly, he looks 17 or so in her eyes.

Edited 2024-10-01 03:57 (UTC)

"Twenty-three," Emery answers promptly.

One thing Emery has going for him is he's a good liar; his expression and tone are perfectly natural even as internally he wonders if maybe he should have subtracted a year or two from that to make it more believable. Ah well. As far as Emery's concerned, nineteen isn't that much younger than twenty-three. And certainly too old to be called kid, eesh.

Ah well. When in doubt, turn around the line of questioning and distract! "So you're not from Elysium, huh? And here I thought you might be a bouncer or something," Emery says breezily. "Come to think of it, though, you do have an accent I'm not familiar with. Where are you from?"

If he's that age, he's got one hell of a baby face. Yeesh. She can't tell if he's lying or not, but...

Well, this isn't her first rodeo, as it were. "Ah ain't a bouncer at the moment," the woman says, and while internally there's a squeak at this talk of her accent and where she's from, her face doesn't show it other than a blink - her battlereadiness is too high for that. "Ah'm a Sentinel." Which isn't a term used by Imperials...not in the form of a title. "From around. More than that depends on who's askin'." She replies. Her accent is indeed not from Elysium; in fact, even the natives from the rural areas here don't have quite this sort of drawl.

Hm. That's definitely not a title the Imperial Army uses, but this woman says it like it means something.

"A Sentinel, huh?" Emery chuckles. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that particular rank- as you might have guessed, I'm not really the military type.

"In fact, who I am?" And here, Emery gestures theatrically at himself. "I'm afraid I'm just another well-born brat from the isles above looking to enjoy some of Elysium's flowers."

And he wonders if this particular flower he's run into is a crimson variety. But what are the odds of that?

As it turns out, fairly high.

The woman holds back a comment about guessing he's never seen a day of hard work, either, much less military service, and then there's an internal sigh at the theatricality. Castle-breds... She doesn't harbor any resentment for them, but she also doesn't understand them, generally. Not unless they were like the truly odd, wonderful ones she's served under or with.

There's a moment where she measures her words, before speaking. "...Listen, fella. Ah ain't gonna tell ya what ya do with you're money an' free time, but...you're a good lookin' guy, an' you're young. Why go lookin' to be with flowers that've already...had bees all up in 'em?"

Yune, it's hard to talk about that, and the mask falters a bit as crimson creeps into her cheeks. Absolutely nothing she can do about that! She manages to not stutter, though. "Sure ya could find yourself a nice gal who'd make a fine wife an' all, if you're as rich an' such as you're claimin'."

No offense to Mao Mao and the girls she works with, but while Nephenee pities the ones that get stuck in that life through no fault of their own, she doesn't appreciate the work of those that choose it willingly. She'll still treat them well, try to help them, and care for them, same as anyone, she just doesn't support the job.

Blue-green eyes gleam at Nephenee from beneath the hood Emery's wearing as a disguise as he waits patiently for her to give him a talking to. However, at the mention of bees his mouth visibly twitches. And then again as she talks about Emery being rich; and then finally Emery bursts into peals of merry laughter.

"Bees!" he eventually chokes out. "That's a delightful way of putting it!"

When he's finally mostly calm, Emery wipes a tear from his eye and attempts an actual explanation. "Let's just say I'm not interested in making any honey, I'm just picking flowers for the fun of it. I guess you've never tried it, huh?" He grins, wondering what a virginal woman is even doing in Elysium. "That or you had a partner who had no idea what they were doing. Picking flowers is enjoyable, it's as simple as that."

(The truth of the matter is that Emery has different business at the Verdigris House, but that's certainly not something he intends to reveal. Not unless he figures out who this woman is apart from a concerned citizen- and until then it's fine if she thinks he's a typical skirt chaser. It isn't as if he's above that sort of thing.)

Well, she isn't about to give away what she is when she doesn't know him, so this might be a long one.

Whether it's because of how tired she truly is, or how much that embarrasses her, the battlereadiness drops enough that there's absolutely no helping the sudden rush of crimson that spreads from her cheeks to the rest of her face, even down her neck, a stark contrast to her emerald green hair and eyes.

"W-What Ah have or...h-haven't done is...none o'your business!" She stammers a little too loudly, trying to keep some of her awkwardness at bay, "an' that's a...horrible comparison when...p-pickin' flowers kills 'em!"

Well, he was wondering if he had found a crimson flower...now he has one!

Yup, virgin. Emery very nearly glows with delight at poor Nephenee's fluster.

"Well it wasn't my comparison, originally," Emery says. "The most famous brothel in Elysium is called the Vale of Flowers, and it's been around longer than I have." Which is definitely at least twenty-three years, he swears.

"But! Now I'm curious." He leans forward, possibly not a good idea when Nephenee is armed. "What do you think a good comparison would be?"

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Emery | An OC | AU

Elysium

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