2022-06-23: The Boy and the Boat

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search 
=============================<* Klein Port Ward *>==============================

Gateway to the rest of Filgaia, bursting with goods from ports around the world, the Port Ward of Klein City has all the sights and scents one might expect of a region on the sea and populated by sailors. Occupying the least rocky terrain and the most favorable access to the coast in the area, it has capacity for many ships all at once, and is always abuzz with officials checking goods and manifests and trying to ensure that taxes, duties, and laws are properly observed in trade... though they are not always successful. Given the quantity of travel here, there are many inns and common houses and other businesses catering to those who come and go, and the sight of the Central Ward up at the top of the cliffs nearby can provide the sense that the whole ward is under a watchful eye. ...To the paranoid, anyway--for the most part, matters are smooth, though there's a significant local police force that seems to some to exist mostly to break up the fights between bored men and women of the sea on leave. It's said that the markets here have at least a little something from all over the world, though perhaps most popular are textiles: with the ocean so close to the cliffs, the ports grow quite chilly at night.

BGM: Chrono Cross - Another Termina

<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.

It's a busy day in the ports of Klein. Bustling trade, people trying to make a buck or maneuvering their fancy ships to wherever they need to go, whether coming or leaving. The wind is decently still (though not stifling) around the port itself right now, though it is rather warm.

And then something weird and sudden happens.

A heavy burst of that warm wind comes from the sea, straight towards the port, knocking a day-drunk sailor onto his butt as it hits him directly. It carries the scent of sea salt strongly.

Riding this burst of wind is a tiny boat. Bright red with silver trim and a bust of a lion's head on thte front possessing golden horns, nose, and eyes, as well as a white sail with blue-green engravement.

Those straining their eyes (or who just wait for the boat to reach port) will see a small child controlling the sail with one hand, and waving a silver stick(?) with the other. He's no older than thirteen, dressed in green - an elf, PROBABLY, if you go solely by the pointed ears. A sword and shield are at his side and back respectively, and he has a bag full of equipment at his opposite side of the sword.

Once the tiny boat reaches port, the boy, ignoring any attention on himself and the fact that he may be doing stuff with the wind, quietly turns to the lion's head, says something (the boat seems to sway forward with the water...couldn't be nodding, could it?), and then leaps onto the port steps.

He then proceeds to dash up the steps, spin around on the dock looking at all the wonderful things, and turn to the drunken sailor when he spots him, offering a hand that is not strong enough to lift him up. "Hoy! Did you get pushed over by someone?" The sailor, for his part, is too confused to do much but groan.

The silver stick is no longer visible on his immediate person. Huh. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

It's a lovely day! Warm, to be sure, but it is summer in this part of the world. Eleanor Klein is out on a walk with an Ida, her good friend, to see the ports of her city. She's mostly recovered from her ordeal in the badlands, and indeed that's part of why she wants to go out walking--though she also plans to check in on her ship when she has the chance. However...

A sudden wind! Eleanor blinks; it's definitely not usual for that kind of wind in these conditions. Then she tilts her head, looking over to... a fascinating wood-carved boat, and a fallen soldier. "..Let's check it out," she tells her companion, and walks over.

Link will see an elf of average height (for an adult in this area) in bright orange, a pretty dress over fancy shoes, with gold trim and accessories--earrings, for instance. Her eyes are a vivid yellow, and her pointy ears are long. She does however have a bandage wrapped about her neck.

And right now..

"Welcome to Klein," she tells the boy, and her heels click on the docks as she looks down to the sailor to make sure he's all right--and then to the curious boy in green. "...Did you sail here all by yourself?" 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Seraph Lanval, Oracle of Schturdark and also noted layabout, is enjoying a patch of ground to lay in when that warm wind comes against the port. One eye opens half-way. It's... not a bad wind? But it is unusual, so he staggers along up and looks out to see a small reddish boat and a single small child dressed in bright green. Spying Eleanor going over to address them, Link will see a curious sight over yonder.
 
     A portly, long-haired (and long-bearded) middle-aged(?) man in kind of swanky blue robes. The tip of his hairs are a brilliant aquamarine compared to the surrounding silver, his beard ending in a way it's not like watching a waterfall flow.
 
     What grace there is in this description comes to an abrupt halt as he pratfalls over the edge of a raised platform, tumbles across an alignment of boxes and shelves in a way that seems to impart no physical weight against them, and comes tumbling down into a seated position. No one around him seems to notice this!
 
     Barring a handful of immediate exceptions that may reveal themselves, of course.
 
     "Mmmm." The strange man hefts up a drinking gourd whose weight seems to well exceed its humble size as Eleanor takes point in addressing them in the proper way... but the one half-open eye tracks towards the bright red boat with the immaculate carving of a lion's head. He's been sailing along with Layna and the rest for years now and even he's not sure she'd believe him if he told her he's sure someone came to Klein in a boat that looks like that. (So he tries to remember to preface it with an appropriate bet for FREE DRINKS because of course he will.) 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel sits on a lighthouse outlook, an umbrella opened up to block most of the sun's rays. She is on her own for the moment, occassionally looking out to see with a periscope but she is suddenly distracted by the sudden arrival of a green boy. She looks down towards the child curiously as she wonders just what is going on down there. And also who the heck is that because Marivel....

Has never met a Link in her life so she just wonders who the heck it is. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida and Eleanor endured something horrific less than a week ago, but hadn't gotten the chance to speak about it until today. There were tears. There were confessions of helplessness--and, ultimately, empathy and catharsis. Now, Ida walks at her friend's side, the wind blowing the few strands of hair that have escaped her bun.

    It has been well over two years since Ida and Boudicca became partners in Purification, and she is quite used to anomalous gusts of wind by now--but when she glances about, she very pointedly does not see the Wind Seraph drying a soaked sailor, or guiding boats into the harbor, or doing anything helpful. Instead: a boat. Eleanor spies it, too. "...Is that a child?"

    A human woman follows the elven noblewoman closely, the distance suggesting familiarity. She wears a bright green silk shirt with green leaves embroidered on it, a golden cravat, cream-colored breeches, and knee-high leather boots. Her eyes are bright, steely blue-grey, and her long, dark hair is slowly escaping its bun. She's definitely older than the elf, as well as taller; her gait is confident, and despite her features bein 'decidedly aristocratic', she looks strong. Strong enough to step in and help the sailor to his feet.

    "I don't... see another boat," Ida says, after a moment of scanning the horizon.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    It *IS* summer.

    "Ughhhh."

    A head of pale red hair is revealed as Gwen takes her hat off, lightly waving it in the still air in an attempt to wave some precious slightly cooler air on her face. "Even in the shade, it's hooot. At least the Badlands didn't have humidity... if y'gotta be hot, at least be honest 'bout it..."

    She is naturally talking to her Gear, Halcyone, which she is standing in the shade of. Not in a serious way, of course. That practice is reserved for Gulliver. One of the advantages of having a build that is basically a rounded box on robot chicken legs is that there's a nice amount of space for there to be shade and shelter underneath.

    All deliveries are done, and the day is long, but there's not much to do except people-watch from the dock and complain about the heat. Because, right now, she has no energy to do much else. If she thought better of it, she could lie and say 'I had a hunch that something was going to happen and that's why I stayed here', but if she said it aloud, it would feel like a lie, and lies are for days when it wasn't too hot and sunny for her freckled self to be out and about.

    Then, like a blessing, the wind comes. Sure, it's a strong blast of sea salt and air, but Gwen leans into it, breathing a sigh. "Yessssssss, *finally*.... eh?" Grey-blue eyes chart the coming of a strange ship, like something out of one of those fantastical novels she'd read as a kid. A kid, dressed in all green.

    Sort of nudges a thing she remembered about, somewhere, but Gwen can't be bothered to really think about it.

    She does, however, break away from the shade of the Halcyone to casually peer at the strange boat as its owner leaves, peering at the tiny boat's front. "... Wonder if that kid made this himself..." She folds her arms, bending to the side to look at the quality of the carving on the lion's head. "Makes me feel reaaaaaaal lazy is that's so." 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "...?" Avril turns her head, gazing towards the port for a long moment. Then she simply turns, following the odd sense that tugs at her. She is the fish, and some aspect of the world itself holds the line. What can she do but to follow?

    It had been a shopping trip in Klein, and with her friends, of course. But as happens every so often, no sooner have Rebecca and Dean turned this way or that, of been distracted by (definitely Golem-related) the merchandise, then they will eventually turn back to realize that Avril is not there.

    ...The good news is, this time, she hasn't wandered particularly far. Perhaps they should invest in a leash.

    "Gwen? I had not expected to see you here. Is there aught amiss?" She has glanced, perhaps catching the general direction of her friend's gaze, in the direction of the port. And that boat. "I had the strangest feeling just a moment ago, I..."

    Avril looks about herself in that moment, suddenly realizing, perhaps, that she has just gone and done it again. "...I must offer my apologies to Dean and Rebecca later, I suppose," she admits, shaking her head. "Still, it has been some time," she declares, perhaps opting to make the best of her faux pas. "Have you been well?" Her gaze does shift again, back towards that boat. "How strange, I have never before seen such a vessel." 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

There is a Cyre here.

What is the Cyre doing here, in Klein, at this time of year?

Fishing, apparently. It's not the worst harbor to do some good old fashioned line-fishing, after all. He is, as it happens, not too far from Marivel's isolated spot, sitting with his legs hanging down off an old wooden jetty with a bucket at one side and a box full of lures on the other.

"Stupid fish," Cyre mutters to himself, "If I'd just triggered left instead of right I would have had that last one...!" 

<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.

After Eleanor and Ida show up, the sailor finally is able to pick himself up with Ida's help. He has no idea anything about the boy, because of his daze, so he just stumbles off.

Link pauses. He pauses for a very long time, as he squints at Eleanor. "You look rich. Does that mean you know which forks are the fancy ones?" Are the first words out of his mouth, the boy noddingly appraising her. And then he turns to Ida. "You look mighty. Have you ever thrown a pig?"

And then, the question about if he came on his own.

"Of course not! The King of Red Lions was there, too." He doesn't have to gesture to the boat for one to realize he's talking about it, based on the headpiece.

"Are you okay...?" Link then turns to Lanval, unaware of the oddity of everything, especially being able to see him. "Are you hydrating well?" A gesture at the gourd.

Gwen, meanwhile, peers at the boat. Immensely intricately carved. If the kid did it, it took him his whole life. If Gwen or Avril peer into the eyes of the head-carving...

It's almost like they're being watched. It's very eerie. But the head doesn't move except for the sway of the water, briefly bobbing up to look towards the lighthouse ridge, as if it's staring dead-on at Marivel. One would normally think it's a coincidence, but...it doesn't QUITE feel like one to anyone with any insight into this sort of thing. 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Somewhere in the city, Azoth perks up, his eyes giving a brighter glow as his head tilts with the sudden shift in the wind. That was outside the realm of predicted current patterns. Interesting! And interesting things have a habit of becoming interesting situations. Hopefully this won't be the kind where something ends up on fire.

So it is that Azoth pops in with no warning what so ever, hand high in the air with a electronic chirping of greeting because he sees friends here. "Hello! Is everything normal?" Nothing's ever normal, Azoth. He notices Link, beaming with a more traditional wave.

It would not be weird to call Azoth a boy -- aside from the part where he isn't human at all, but he sure does look the part -- and it would not be weird to say he's more of a young man, either, even if the excited way he carries himself adds to a certain boyishness. Messy, blond haired and too-bright too-blue eyed, with every part of him covered from the neck down in black, his silhouette broken up by a cropped jacket and some jeans.

"...Well, that seems improbable," Azoth says as he beholds the tiny sailboat and leans to the side to gaze upon the massive oceans beyond it. "Neat!" The wave he gives the boat is a shier one. Paying respects, from one vehicle to another.

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"I think so!" Eleanor says to Ida on their way over, and then in short order they are there, sans one sailor, with Link. He asks Eleaor a very blunt question and she pauses a moment--and then laughs.

"Ahahaha," she answers, "I suppose that's fair!" She is wearing two rings--one a diamond at her left hand, the other some kind of ruby at her right. And the earrings. And the nice dress. "I do know which forks are the fancy ones. My name is Eleanor; what's yours?"

She waves at Azoth when he appears with a smile, and that smile goes right back to Link.

But then she looks curiously at Lanval, and back to Link. It is odd that a boy of this age can see him. "That's a lovely boat..."

She trails off, and--there's not much better way to describe it, she just spaces out. Her eyes glint faintly in the sun, but it's too bright to tell if they glow. She's going to be a minute. 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

Marivel startles as she finds herself looking into the eye of a boat. It is brief. She has been around the bush and has some theories. Nevertheless she gives the boat a lazy wave beforr standing up.

She steps forward into a shadow and vanishes...

...Reappearing, in all places on the King of Red Lions. She wanders around the deck for a monent before hopping up on the Lion's head and leaning forward into its eyes.

"Mmmmmmm..." Marivel mulls, studying. "King of Red Lions is it...?" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    At the very least, Ida can help the sailor stagger off to somewhere slightly safer than the middle of the harbor. Once she's gotten him on his feet and seen him off in the right direction, she turns back to Link, peering at him. He's not quite as young as he looked at first glance, but he's definitely not out of his early teens; the clothes look homespun, and the boat does not look like anything she's seen in a major Filgaian port. It looks like it might be more at home in Spira, but it doesn't match Spiran ship design, either.

    The boy starts asking questions before Ida can do the same of him. She lets Eleanor take point, as is her duty as the heiress of House Klein.

    'You look mighty. Have you ever thrown a pig?'

    Ida's brow furrows a moment as she tries to figure out where that came from. But then she laughs, cheerfully, and says: "I can't say I have. I've thrown other things, though--"

    That beeping! "Azoth!" Ida says, and the usual wave of worries washes against the pilings of her mind. It's not quite enough to swamp her this time, though. "Good to see you again."

    And then--Eleanor gets that gleam in her eye. Ida has seen it enough to recognize what it means, and reaches out to put a steadying hand on the elf's shoulder. "What's your name, young man?" she asks, perhaps trying to distract Link from the fact that Eleanor seemingly just spaced out right in front of him.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    While Lanval's looking to that tiny boat, Link addresses him directly with kindly concern, at which point the one half-open eye briefly flashes all the way open.
 
     "Oh!" The eyes close again. "Ya can shee me? Hear me...?" That shouldn't surprise Lanval any more with the great number of friends and acquaintances he's made in the last handful of years, drawing him away from staring at that boat. The portly man rocks back and forth to stand right up, all cheery and smiley at it. "Ha ha ha! Hey there...! 'm Lanval."
 
     On closer observation, coming from this individual is the sense and force of water in all its forms, great and not... also the elevation of small joys in life.
 
     And alcohol. He's been drinking.
 
     He relaxes a bit to let Eleanor and Ida introduce themselves, having another sip of the gourd. 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Avril!" Gwen beams at the familiar face. "Ehh, I'm sure they'd understand. You were clearly comin' over to say hello. And you're right-- ee *do* need t'just go out and do some adventure together sometime." Gwen places her attention back on the boat. "Yeah, was lookin' at this. A kid dressed in green, youngish, maybe like thirteen? He sailed in on this huge burst of wind on this thing. Must be some big project of his. Look at this skill! Maybe he's from one of the islands 'round these parts? I see 'em all the time from Halcyone. Been meanin' to do a proper looksee to drum some business up, but some places don't take too kindly to strangers comin' out of the blue, y'know?"

    "Oh hey, it's like one of those fancy paintings! The ones where they look like they're looking straight at you, but it's a clever trick? Like, how they're painted, I mean, not that there's a guy hidin' in there. Just, like, how you can look up into its eyes and OH GUARDIANS." She flinches back, hand over her heart, at the sudden (at least to Gwen) appearance of Marivel, suddenly peering into the ship's eyes. "Y'nearly gave me a heart attack there, Marivel!" 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

FISHING IS HARD.

Especially when you hook something truly massive on a line that can absolutely take the stress and it yanks you directly off of your jetty, which is a weirdly specific thing to have happen but sometimes that's how life be when you try to fish something up in a sea like Filgaia's. Like, half of that ocean's gotta be inhabited by terrifying leviathans, after all. One minute Cyre is sitting there, the next there's a Cyre-shaped outline where he used to be.

...But it's fine, because a few seconds later and amidst a mighty gust of wind, he goes parachuting directly back to shore like some kind of traveling, floating, map-salescreature.

"Damnit," Cyre grunts as he lands conspicuously... right next to the King of Red Lions, his rod inexplicably still intact. "Took my hook. Ugh."

Beat.

Cyre glances left, he glances right, he looks directly down at the green tunic'd blonde shrimp and then back up and asks: "What's all this then?" 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Perhaps we might sometime soon?" Avril proposes, tilting her head slightly to the left as she speaks with Gwen. "I have not had the opportunity in some time." At least not on purpose or without the reason of her Gear's functionality weighting the matter. Life can be complicated, sometimes...

    Gwen, then, provides a little more context regarding goings-on at the dock proper. "It is difficult to believe one so young would be able to... ah, but, now that I think of it, was Dean much older when we first met?" Ah, how time changes things...

    There is something odd about that boat, though, and the more Avril looks at it she could almost swear that it's looking back... at her...

    Perhaps if she were to get closer.

    But before she can approach on her lonesome (well, lonesome plus one, if Gwen is along with), right into her line of sight there appears--

    Avril blinks, the sole measure of her surprise. "Is that... Oh, Marivel!"

    She lingers no longer and hurries on over. 

<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.

"My name is Link." The mention about the boat gets him smiling..."I'll be sure to tell him!"

As Eleanor gets disrupted, Link is about to say something (or more accurately, poke her), but his attention span is so weak that Ida wins in the end. "Oh! I thought I said that...it's Link! People keep asking me that around here. It's weird when not everyone knows your name!"

Seraph Lanval introduces himself. "Wow! You're drunk. Of course I can hear and see you! Why couldn't I?" Link says, as if LANVAL's the weird one.

Marivel teleports onto a boat. She walks around it. Nothing happens.

She climbs onto the head-carving. Suddenly, after a few seconds, it tilts to the side, trying to drop her onto the port (or into the water) depending on if she starts poking the eyes. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I would rather you not be so rude." A voice comes out of the mouth of the carving, quietly enough to avoid witness from anyone but the drifters over there. "Would you like if it someone climbed on your head?"

A glance at Gwen and Avril, because apparently they know the head-hopper. "Of course there is not a man hiding in here. How odd a theory..."

He suddenly glances up at Cyre and the wind. He says nothing. Quite fascinating. And then a turn to Azoth. The nod of respect is returned with one of his own.

Link, meanwhile, when Cyre gets to him, wows. "You can manipulate the wind too? How cool! Where's your stick thing-y?"

If they were on the boat, the King of Red Lions would be correcting him. But he is not. 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"Ah sorry, Gwen. Something is up with this." She gives Avril a lazy upside down wave. "Something in theeeeeeyaaaaagh...!!!"
*sploosh*

She totally poked the eyes. Her head bobs out of the water though she is now quite drenched.

"Well if it was a cute girl...!"

She wades for a bit as she waves an arcane gesture with her hand and BWIP she reappears back on the dock. Still drenched.

"There's no point being a sorceress if you can't be at least a little annoying."

She squishes the hemline of her dress to wring it out.

"Never met a proper boat befote." She grumbles. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

Cyre stares for a long moment at this small lost child. "M...my stick thing-y? Uh. Probably the same place as yours, relatively speaking, kid."

 Beat.

"And I've got my fishing rod right here. What d'you mean 'too?' You got some kinda magic on you, kiddo? Got the scent of the wind on you under all that saltwater--"

Something says something. Cyre's ear twitches and he looks over just in time to see Marivel go splooshing into the water. "Oh, dang. Fish got you too, huh? There someone else aboard that ship of yours, kiddo? Thought I heard a voice." 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

"She threw a train once," Azoth tells Link of Ida, casually, matter-of-fact, and then is immediately distracted by the talking boat.

Azoth buzzes with excitement -- literally. His attention is stolen, and he bounces toward the King of the Red Lions, face alight. "There you are," he says with a note of relief in it. Is this another AI, too, or something more magical in nature...? "I don't always get a greeting back."

He winces at Marivel. "You all right?" He begins to run his core hotter, making being in his general vicinity just a little warmer in case Marivel needs to gravitate toward that to help dry her clothing or keep the chill out. (Do Crimson Nobles have to worry about such things...?) 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

Eleanor kind of needs the steadying hand; she starts tilting over before Ida catches her, though she doesn't have to catch her with more than that movement. She blinks after a few moments, shaking her head suddenly. "Hm? Oh, sorry," she says, "Must've been lost in thought! Perills of being a sorceress!"

She is not a great liar but she doesn't linger on it very long. Instead she says, "It's nice to meet you, Link. I bet this is pretty different from your home, from the sounds of it..."

She obviously doesn't hear the boat but she does say to Marivel, "Marivel! You should ask before you board a ship!"

She definitely missed some things while she was out; for instance, Avril and Gwen and Cyre arriving! "Oh, hello!"

Then, as Marivel dives(?) into the water, "Hmmm. See?"

But then people are talking to the ship and she looks and--"Oh!!" 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Marivel is suddenly perching on the boy's boat's figurehead. Ida, who has been working with Marivel for at least two years, simply blinks, and gives her a momentary look before turning her attention right back to Eleanor and Link. "Good to meet you, Link. Are you from around here?" He's likely a small-town boy, Ida figures, but she still can't account for the boat.

    'She threw a train once.'

    Ida nods. She did that? She really did?? But she keeps her hand on Eleanor's shoulder, and nods along, and then, quite suddenly--

    The boat talks. Azoth buzzes with joy. Ida stares at the figurehead for a moment before she realizes she's staring, and shakes her head. "Hello, sir," she says, because while 'a boat talks' is definitely not something she was expecting to deal with, life has taught her that the world is very large and sometimes very strange.

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Link seems incredulous at the idea, and Lanval just has a good-natured laugh. "Ya got that right! Ha ha ha...! But y'know," he scratches at his chin with a free hand, "I haven't had ta explain it in a long while, shooo..."
 
     He clears his throat, and thus... there is...
 
     * * * EXPOSITION * * *
 
I'm shomethin' ya would call a Seraph... @
 
An elemental shpirit, if ya will. My kind comesh from a far of place beyond the shky... @
 
Mosht people can't hear or shee ush! They lack a thing called Resonance ... @
 
Ya have it, though! Now, mosht of ush Seraphim don't live near mortals... @
 
Ash fer me... I'm a Water Seraph sho I can ushe that ta help ya if ya need it... @
 
That shaid... we're all individual people too, and not all the Seraphim ya meet will wanna be yer friend... @
 
Mmmm... that'sh jusht the bashic idea. Sho, do ya undershtand? @
 
>No
 Yes 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    "Oh definitely! Y'know how t'get me. All y'need t'do is say when!" Gwen nods to Avril with a wide grin. "You'll have me at 'Gwen, can you'!"

    But maybe they are already embarking on an adventure? After all...

    It talks! The boat talks! A talking boat!

    A magical talking boat?!

    Wait, no. She won't be shown to be some sandy slack-jawed yokel from Ignas!

    ".... Oh heeeey, maybe there's a speakerphone in this?" Gwen is now peering to the side of the poor mast(?), giving him a light taptaptap of her gloved left index finger. "So you're the one watching over the little guy over there?" She pokes a thumb behind her whereabouts Link last was, when she looked. "Well, that makes me feel a little better! These ports can be rough, even for someone who seems pretty self-sufficient t'get over here. I take it he's from one of those quaint islands 'round these parts?" Gwen flashs the King of Red Lions a big grin. "Well, lemme introduce myself. My name is Gwen Whitlock, super courier. I run delivery 'round this area, so I can keep an eye out for this guy!"

    Meanwhile, poor Marivel has fallen into the waters and fished herself out in true Marivel fashion. "I know a lot of these people here, too. If this kid's going out into the great unknown, that means he's a Dream Chaser, and a drifter. N' we Drifters look out for one another."

    Why did Gwen just offer to help look out for a young kid in green who just showed up out of nowhere?

    Because she has a big mechanical ARM heart, that's why. 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "Then, we shall need to make a day of it in the near future. I shall see if my friends might accompany us," she tells Gwen.

    "Eleanor, it has been far too long. How have you been?" Avril greets Eleanor thusly.

    "Marivel--"

    Sploooosh.

    "--Oh!" Avril exclaims, widening her eyes as she turns back towards the boat. "A talking boat! I have never heard of such a thing before," she says, slowly reaching out one gloved hand to touch the side of the boat's... neck. It would be a neck if this were a living thing, right?

    But Gwen says instead that it was a 'speakerphone'. "You believe it might be from a machine...? How strange... but... If a boat could speak, would it not profess thus? I suppose I should not like it very much if someone were to walk on my head," Avril finishes, and giggles. "I am very sorry for any trouble my friend may have caused you, Mr. Boat," she tells it, going so far as to bow.

    "...Marivel, would you like a, oh, I see," she finishes when Marivel gets her own self out of the drink. "Would you care to introduce yourself? I believe they may be in order." 

<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.

"My, that's probably quite true." The King of Red Lions responds to Marivel with a chuckle. It becomes more obvious - talking boat, not a person talking on the boat.

Especially when the head *turns* and nods to Cyre. Link responds. "Oh, that's the King of Red Lions! He's my advis...advic...adviz...advisor! Magic? I just have the...what's it called, the Wind Waker!"

Azoth gets a response from the boat. "It's polite to treat respect with respect. And it seems keeping myself a secret will be quite difficult, anyhow..." His head gestures to Link, before he turns back to Gwen. "Thank you, ma'am. We'll cherish your help." There's no speakerphone. It's pure wood. Ida finally gets a response. "Ah, don't feel awkward. I am the odd one out, ma'am."

Avril gets a nod, since Link introduced him for Cyre. "I am the King of Red Lions. I seek to aid Link in his quests."

Lanval would, normally, have to repeat himself. But as Link is asked about home, he gets melancholy, so he listens to the words carefully, metaphysically taps the down button, and says, "Yeah. That's nothing like I've ever seen at home..."

"My home...has about a dozen people on it. Me and the King of Red Lions are on a journey to get allies."

Link suddenly becomes a little less excitable, as he explains himself and his home. "I'm from the Deku Islands. A giant bird stole my sister. It works for a dark force, and I couldn't stop it on my own. So..."

Link is suddenly fiercly determined. It radiates off him. "I'm going to get stronger and save her! And we need all the help we can get."

His stomach suddenly rumbles. "...and also food. But I have rupees!"

Link has five green rupees, he reveals with an opening of his wallet. He cannot afford quality food. 

<Pose Tracker> Eleanor Klein has posed.

"Avril! I've--well, for the most part I've been wonderful," she settles on, which isn't a lie! She starts to lift her left hand, but the distractions come first. So she will have to catch up with Avril in a bit. For now, well...

Eleanor is not sure what to make of the vision she just had, but her eyes linger on Link's sword and shield for a few more moments than might be necessary. Then she looks to the King of Red Lions. "Well then, your Majesty, it's an honor to meet you properly."

But she considers--the Deku Islands. A giant bird, working for a dark force. Could it be--?

No, she shouldn't make assumptions. And yet...

His determination radiates off of him!! "Then help you shall have," Eleanor decides. "...I may know something about this bird of yours--though it may not be the same one. We can talk about it. But in the meantime..." She considers.

"Would you like to see the castle? It's where I live. We could get you something to eat!"

"...And of course we'd arrange to keep this port for the King!" 

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth smiles more warmly, subdued from his blazing cheer. "It's nice to meet you, King of the Red Lions. Name's Azoth. You don't need to worry much about secrets in a crowd like this one. I've found Drifter sorts to be kind to... mm, alternate lifeforms, I guess we'll call us." He beeps electronically to punctuate his status as something unusual despite appearances.

He frowns, glancing toward Link as the situation about birds and sisters is explained. But Eleanor already offers help, and Azoth smiles at the King of the Red Lions again. "Kind in general, really." 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"I'm ok!" Marivel says. A bird kidnapped a lady??? hrrn. "I usually recognize things." She mumbles leaving it at that.

"Helping children rescue their lost siblints is one of ARMS' jobs. Do not sweat."

She gives a hapless shrug to Avril but seems content to lesve this in Eleanor's hands for now. She is kinda using this opportunity to warm up by the Azoth. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Definitely a talking boat. Still one of the stranger examples of sorcery(?) Ida's witnessed, but if nothing else, the King seems aware of how strange he is. "I see," she says. "I can't say I've met an intelligent, speaking boat before." Which, while still a shock--as is evident in her tone--is not the bad kind.

    But Link gives her additional information, and that puts this into context. "The Deku Isles," Ida says, glancing sidelong at Eleanor. "I've been out that way once or twice, but I'm not familiar with the people who call it home." Until now. Another look at Eleanor. "...That sounds very much like something we can help with," she says. Azoth is right on the money, more or less. "Ida Everstead-Rey," Ida says, sweeping into a bow--the very image of the genteel advisor. "Of the Everstead-Reys of Guild Galad, member of the Agile Remote Mission Squad. This is Lady Eleanor of Klein, and... the port we're all in is the seat of her family's power." 

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Lanval has posed.

    Lanval's exposition understood, Lanval leans over and sees all the commotion about a talking boat introducing itself as the King of Red Lions. And... also the much more difficult thing that the young boy has to talk about, and now it's Lanval's turn to suffer exposition.
 
     "Mmmmph...? A dark force, ya shay!" There's 'hungry beasts looking for a meal' and then there's 'agents of something grave and terrible,' and in spite of the boy's short stature, strange manner of dress, and everything...
 
     Lanval has seen mortals come and go for over five and a half centuries. In his perspective, you remember the noteworthy mortals. Some of them just have a way of standing out and leaving an impression. He'll never forget the first time he looked into Fei's eyes and noticed there was a character to them that well exceeded the presentation of the rest of him.
 
     There's a lot of courage in that young boy's eyes, one he's willing to take at face value.
 
     "Yer in good handsh with 'em," Lanval endorses the others surrounding him. He'll leave the matter of corporeal issues like 'hunger' and 'shelter' to the rest, in seeing to the child's well-being. 

<Pose Tracker> Marivel Armitage has posed.

"This is ethnic bias against dark forces," Marivel huffs. 

<Pose Tracker> Cyre H. Lorentz has posed.

The boat . . . talks!?

"...Huh," this is not in fact the weirdest thing Cyre has ever encountered. After all, he's known several Seraphim that have called stranger things home. At least this one isn't a scary dragon statue! Though it is definitely distinctly draconic. "Nice t' meet you both then. Name's Cyre, wind shaman," Cyre says, before fixing Link with a look. "Never heard of a Wind Waker before. Some kind of wind manipulatin' tool?"

But then, it's revealed that... there is an evil bird afoot (awing!?) and that a missing sibling is involved, and Cyre's expression softens a little away from (sagacious!?) curiosity. "Tch, what a rude bird! Well, help is something we can provide. What's... a rupee? You mean rubies?"

Nope. Rubies aren't green. Cyre stares into the wallet, "...Refractors? Uh."

Well, Eleanor seems to have food covered, but... "Is that what they use for currency over on the Deku Isles...?" Cyre scratches his chin. Maybe Jay would know better, but he trades exclusively in gella (and silver, and gil). "Still, you guys came a long way on your own. That's not an easy trip, especially in a vessel like this-- no offense, your highness." 

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    When the boat head turns, it's now Gwen's turn to nearly fall in the water. Thankfully, she doesn't, as it would be awkward to show that a super courier cannot swim.

    At least, in Gwen logic.

    Trying to cover for her gaff by rubbing a hand through her hair, Gwen says, "Azoth has it right on the nail! We take all folks as they are. Don't you worry a thing!"

    It helps that Link is young. She was fifteen when she started trying to get her courier business in order, but the difference between 13 and 15 can be a lot.

    But, he's on a trip to gain allies? At 13?

    "... Oh hey, hey. It's okay. You're lookin' for help, then?" Her tone grows softer, seeing the excitable energy melt into a mix of melancholy and, slowly, determination.

    His sister, stolen by a bird. Gwen doesn't seem to disbelieve it.

    'A giant bird' could mean just about anything: from an actual giant bird (which is VERY POSSIBLE), a dragon that looks like a bird, a Solaris thing, a Veruni thing, a summon, some sort of Primarch thing (is it possible), Metal Dragon, something new she's not thinking of, the list goes on.

    ".... Rupees, huh. I probably ran into some currency like that. We can do an exchange, if y'need--" Then, Link reveals his savings: five green rupees. Guardians bless this child. "Eeeh, I doubt my friends here'll let you go hungry, either way." 

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    Sometime soon, she and Eleanor will need to speak in private, it seems -- Avril may be naive of some things, but she hasn't quite missed the look in Eleanor's eyes.

    "I am pleased to meet you, King of Red Lions," Avril says to the boat, quite seriously. "I am Avril Vent Fleur. Are there many boats like you?"

    Many things are still new to Avril, as she travels various lands in search of herself. But 'a talking boat' sits rather highly on that list.

    And then Link says that a bird stole his sister. Some might reaction with incredulity. Avril, on the other hand. "Oh, how awful... you must be terrified for her sake. I have not seen such a bird, but... perhaps someone has seen such? I cannot imagine a bird so large would have gone unseen," Avril finishes, shaking her head. "Could you tell us about it?" Perhaps someone might recognize it from the description -- she has fought giant birds in a Gear before. 

<Pose Tracker> Link has posed.

"You as well, Lady Eleanor. Lady Ida, I must say, I get that quite a bit." The King says, once Ida has properly introduced them. Azoth gets a tilt of the head as he's heating up Marivel, and then a confirming nod. "Is that so? I will trust them for now, then." Cyre mentions the Wind Waker. The King responds. "It is special, yes. It is how we navigate the waters so quickly."

Avril gets a shake of the head. "I am one of a kind, as far as I am aware, Lady Avril."

Link gets QUEST TRIGGER TEXT. He accepts the quest! Because food and friendship. "A castle...this will be a good castle, right?" Sounds like the last castle he's been in wasn't that good. Not at all. "Thank you, miss! You're very kind."

To Cyre's last question...Link responds. "It was quite a rough trip...but we're here now, right?"

Avril asks for a description. Link abides. The description is a massive helmed-like bird. Those who have seen it will recognize it...as the Helmaroc King, maybe?

Gwen gets a smile. "You're kind! I'll try to get some more rupees so I can exchange it for your kind...I spent all of mine on bombs."

Wait, what?

And then he dashes off. He's gonna try to find the castle (and sidequests, and minigames). Someone...might want to catch up to him.

Retrieved from "https://dreamchasers.space/index.php?title=2022-06-23:_The_Boy_and_the_Boat&oldid=11839"