vivalaooc | TDM #7

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TDM #7

TEST DRIVE #7

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
With the impending attack on the Vindess Mines, the Corsairs sent in a negotiation team to get the Miners on their side. Although there was some conflict with the pro-Imperial miner leads, most of those on the ground are horrifically mistreated and open to a better life. As such, the Corsairs have reciprocated their allegiance by quietly evacuating their loved ones and relocating them to the Vault. Among these are some Servants and dissidents who had been held in the mining area for penal labor, and are now enjoying their first taste of freedom as they’re quickly loaded onto a Corsair airship.

During the tense hours of the journey, the ship runs silent and dark, with nobody daring breathe a word and with only the gentle groan of the machinery as its carefully guided away from the Isles Above and descends toward the Eternal Ocean. The silence is finally punctuated by an announcement from the Crow’s Nest - Flotsam sighted! Suddenly the entire ship seems to blaze with light and warmth as cheers from the sailors are accompanied by lamps bursting to life, and it is with this relieved and celebratory air that the ship comes in for a landing and a warm welcome at the hands of the Flotsam crew before their handoff to the Vault.

A NEW YEAR DELAYED BUT NOT DENIED

While the official celebration of the New Year has been pushed back to give the Corsairs a chance to complete their mission, there are still muted observations throughout the three cities. Warm food and drink are passed around table and tavern as those who have been left behind quietly ring in the new year, hope in their hearts that the mission will succeed and give them much more reason to celebrate.

While muted, the taverns are bustling as people share food, most homes partaking in a traditional hot pot-style meal where whatever good food they still have on hand can be tossed in and boiled in flavorful broth to feed a large audience. With hope in their hearts and prayers on their lips for the Corsairs engaged in their most daring operation yet, the Crimson Corsairs watch and await the dawn.

NEW YEAR RE-RIGGING

A major Flotsam New Year tradition is to replace as many weathered sails and ropes as possible on the fleet. The Corsairs spend hours during the colder months sewing sails, weaving rope, and forging hooks to keep the fleet in tip-top shape. During the first clear day of the new year, any hapless soul who looks limber and unoccupied will be pressed into service, working with crews for long hours to replace sails, rigging, and other essential pieces that define a ship’s worthiness. It’s not all bad though, those who do help are plied with copious amounts of grog and food after the job is done.

WHAT’S NEW YEAR WITHOUT A BIT OF GAMBLING?

With a New Year comes bonuses! The Corsairs don’t have much, but it is still customary to give out bonuses to Corsairs who do well. The sums aren’t necessarily much, but they go a long way for the Corsairs with family hoping to get a few luxuries off the black markets of Elysium. For those without such obligations, however, well, there’s always poker. The taverns of Flotsam are bustling with ne’er do wells looking to burn through their new lucre with a game of cards, or perhaps acquire more of said lucre from unsuspecting marks. Care to try a hand? Just be warned, Corsairs play for keeps.

WILDCARD

Have an idea for your own prompt? Feel free to make any prompt that you think would fit!

OOC
Welcome to the seventh 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 December at midnight.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, that sets his senses tingling. He may only be just over five feet tall, but he sure can loom when he wants.

He's also quite fast. A light but firm hand settles upon Natalia's shoulder before she gets two steps in.

"Not so fast."

His words are deceptively soft, but there's steel behind them.

"!!!" Natalia can't move as fast as she wants right now and the hand touches one of several bruises from the blunt force trauma.

It's a momentary shift in expression, but it's there, a twitch of pain, and then, stony.

or perhaps icy? That ether-curse of hers lies beneath, quiescent but waiting, if this fellow can sense such things.

What, are they circulating her picture now? "I'm fine."

He catches that, his hand loosening just slightly. But he still wears a frown of disapproval.

"No, you're not. What did you do?"

He steps around in front of her as he lets go of her shoulder, not appearing much older than she is. His gaze sweeps over her for any obvious signs of injury.

So leaving aside the fact she's got bandages across the shoulder for cuts that are threatening to re-open (the edges of a cuirass of an Imperial uniform? Would he know?) there's plenty of burns that haven't faded and she'll try to hide flinching over. She's favoring her right side now she's standing still.

She can't quite look the medic in the eyes as she says, quietly-- "This is Flotsam. Was on a mission. 'm going home. Already had medical attention. need to pass exams."

Tsuyukusa taps his foot, looking increasingly more annoyed by the second, if that's even possible.

"Sit."

He points at a crate. "Unless you prefer heading inside to do this. Whoever's idea of medical attention that is needs to get smacked upside the head. I'm going to fix those bandages and I've got something for burns- are you going to cooperate or do I have to carry you?"

Oh of course she had to run into a medic. Gotta think fast. Hard to think fast. Once the chirurgeons showed up it was over for this escape attempt, she'd be dragged back to hospital, where she was supposed to be, not fucking trying to be ambulatory.

But, as she sits down, she realizes how tired she's gotten just walking around.

God damn it.

Oh, she's cooperating? Tsuyukusa arches a brow, but his irritation seems to dissipate a fraction.

"All right, let's see how bad this is. Seriously, why do you people insist on moving around like things will somehow fix themselves? What a pain..." he grumbles, though surprisingly gentle as he reaches for her arm to start with checking those cuts.

"In my case, warranted. I am used to the injuries, me." They've been thoroughly cleaned at least-- not a hint of anything she's not already wearing. "And I heal quick."

This much, at least, is true-- given how little time has passed, no one expected her to be ambulatory. To someone not familiar with the case, it might look like it's been at least a few weeks, though it's not hard to tell it was touch and go, just given the extent of the bruising, cuts, and burns that are still healing.

She starts to doze off.

"That's no excuse," he replies sharply, a contrast with the care he takes with the bandages. His nose wrinkles as he looks over the wounds. Clean is good, at least.

Tsuyukusa pulls out some salves from his belt pouch, and an envelope from which he removes a couple of strangely fresh looking leaves.

"...oi," he sighs as he notices her starting to drift, but he shakes his head, carefully applying a leaf over the worst of the cuts. He adds some salve for the burns before he begins to bandage things up again, as securely as he can manage.

"I'm here!" she answers, as soon as she feels the familiar ache of someone touching raw injuries. She sits back up, straight, as if for military review. A little too stiff and straight for her conditions' liking, but she manages to cover that up. She's suddenly treating this like an inspection.

"No you're not," Tsuyukusa says flatly, pausing only as she shifts. "Quit moving, relax already."

Natalia? Relax?

... Well, okay, slowly, she does manage to stop sitting like she's at attention. But it takes a few breaths to get to a more relaxed posture, and even manages to keep it.

More to keep herself awake than to actually make conversation, she asks, "So. Since you're like to send me back to the ward, any books you'd recommend?"

Edited (gotta keep threads going) 2025-01-19 00:37 (UTC)

Oh good. That makes things easier.

His hands are deft, winding the bandages around with the practiced swiftness of someone who's done this plenty of times before.

"Would you actually stay there if I did? It doesn't seem like you're inclined to stay put for long."

"... For a few more days, at least. I didn't expect to be so tired from just this." Had she even got that far? How could she have miscalculated so gravely?

Were people here that fast at healing? Or had her condition simply been that bad?

"Hm."

Maybe it sounds like Tsuyukusa doesn't believe her, and that might be true. He doesn't know her. But the admission about her being tired is something.

"Your body's mending and from the looks of some of those injuries, you must have gotten pretty banged up. So of course you're going to be tired. You may not like it, but you still need to rest, give your body a chance to actually work at healing." He taps at her shoulder. "Or maybe you like the idea of being in constant pain on every mission hereafter? You want to compromise yourself and everyone else?"

The pain in her shoulder rang, an ungentle reminder of how far she had yet to go.

"... Everyone else..." Forget herself. She could deal with being compromised, dragging herself with pain alight. She'd done worse. She'd been worse.

But Donnie? Harlock? Oki? Aira? Senshi? The crew of the Mad Archer or the Bloody Bun?

... Her workers? It was to make sure she could guide them that she had got out of bed in the first place; she'd hoped to get through the Gate to Elysium to deliver messages.

"Everyone else," Tsuyukusa says again. "You know, your teammates? They depend on you, and you on them, and if you're not taking care of yourself and mess up because of it, who knows who else you'll bring down with you."

He huffs, starting to put supplies back into his pouch. "Or do you not care what happens?"

"... And explaining my--"

She pauses.

"No, I can explain my absence. But only once I can be properly ambulatory. Not like this."

He finishes, folding his arms.

"Well, at least you realize that. You probably don't need an explanation. You're hardly the first one who's been injured around here from something or another, and from what I've seen, nothing related to the activity here."

"That is the issue-- I am not assigned to main force in Flotsam."

Tsuyukusa arches a brow at her. "You say that like people don't go hopping between here and the Vault or anywhere else as they please on their off time." He frowns. "Or are you working under someone who likes running a tight ship, so to speak?"

He knows some Corsairs are like that, his expression dry as he asks.

"Want me to write you a note?" He sounds half sarcastic about that, but he'll do it if it'd help.

"If it were other Corsairs it would be fine." Ah. Elysium Network, then. "... You wouldn't happen to know a good sea or air link? I can talk in terms of negotiating with distant suppliers, but the devil hides in details and..."

She leans up, taps her neck. She's an Outlander trying to hide it.

"Oh. So I suppose threatening to come and punch them or tie them to a tree won't work, huh." By the thoughtful way he looks as he fingers his chin saying this, he's not likely exaggerating. Poke around enough and Natalia won't have trouble finding out that some of Tsu's methods are...more than a bit unorthodox.

"I know a few people around here who can probably help with that. They owe me favors anyway." Otherwise he's not directly involved with those matters. Fishing around in his pocket, he pulls out a scrap of paper and a pencil, jotting down several names before he offers it.

"The first two have spaces in the market area here. Other one's in the Vault. If they try to wheedle out of it just tell them Tsuyukusa will be checking in on them." He smirks, just a tiny bit at that. "They'll get the idea."

She nods. "I'll look into it once I'm..."

She hastily reconsiders, having heard his methods, on saying more mobile, and instead chooses, "Once I'm healed."

Then... "And if you need particular Imperial medical supplies after that, I can help. They'll know me as Nathalie."

Tsuyukusa fixes her with a knowing look. "Should I carry you back?" Probably wouldn't be very dignified, being brought in like a sack of flour, but he's hauled people twice her size in that very manner. That's when he's being nice.

"Heh. Imperial supplies. Well, I guess bandages and that sort of thing is something you can't have too much of on hand. I prepare all the medicines I use myself, otherwise."

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