Description: There's a reason why Arika has an agent, and the reason becomes perfectly clear as she attempts to interrogate and negotiate with the red witch. Even with a little help from Kasugano, the diva barely coerces the minutest amount of information from Naerose. At least she's got a place to start now, and a few bits and pieces have been filled in... but what, if any of it, is the truth?
It was getting dark on the ship. This was a perfect time then for a certain witch to make her move. She had been in the brig for much of the day, breakfast didn't come as early as she wanted and then after that she spent a great deal of time just laying low and by that we mean getting plastered on virgin daceries. That was how she spelled it anyway, it didn't have any strength to it and yet, she still seemed to be stumble ing 'drunk'. And missing a rabbit.
Dressed in black? Naerose in Black? Only sort of. She was currently wearing her usual red dress, hat, black shades, broom, with a black jacket over top. It actually might look stylish for a change, but to her it was just a disguise. She waited up until after dark to steal away from the bar, which shockingly enough, was heavily unused. Low Tier fighters tended to be more serious about being sober or something. So here she was, by this crate labeled Bazooka, acting sort of drunk as she pryied it opened to find. . .
"It's.. just a bazooka?" She asks, scratching her head under her hat, "No way, it's gotta be a secret something."
She fires it.
The sky lights with the trail of the rocket which simply drops to the ocean elsewhere after running out of steam.
"Huh, just a bazooka." If you needed an excuse to find Naerose, you've just gotten it.
Nighttime, again. Funny thing about days, they tend to fade into night when the sun goes down. Which means this is a perfect time for -Arika- to make her move. A brief jaunt down to the brig finds that the one person she just so happened to be looking for is... well missing. Vanished? Maybe not, but it's not as though the witch left a trail of bread crumbs. The paranoid punk princess has searched the ship high and low, taking just a moment or two to check in on Eva and ensure she was still 'okay', though 'okay' seems to be a very relative term these days.
"One last place to look," she mutters to herself as she makes her way up from the deck. "Better be 'ere or else --"
As the sky lights up, she just blinks for a moment. Realizing what has -caused- the sudden flash and trailing light, she lets loose a string of curses that no well-bred young lady should actually know. Following backward along the path of the rocket, she comes upon the witch and just glares.
"Just who I was lookin' for. Wot's say you put down the wee weapon, and you and I 'ave a bit of a..." Both hands raise up into the air as the diva bends her fingers in over-exaggerated finger quotes. "...'talk'." Dropping her hands, the right one chambers into a fist and she prepares herself to dash off in case Naerose decides to make a run for it.
Needless to say, someone is in a slightly piss poor mood.
Kasugano's had about enough of interruptions for one week. The sound of a bazooka firing off is totally =not= what she'd wanted to hear. Especially not since the one person she'd expect to be firing it shouldn't be out and about.
Or so she'd =thought=. A second look at the note left at her quarters -- originally dismissed in haste -- explains everything. Naerose has been released... for an 'interesting performance.' Only a handful of people on this ship outrank Sakura, and this was written by one. So... ugh. Just another day.
Kasugano walks up the ladder to the superstructure of the ship -- it wasn't hard to follow the trail of smoke, after all. And she sees Arika there... talking to Naerose. Trying to negotiate.
"Mmrgh," she states, eloquently. Walking up, she adds after a moment, "That'll be four hundred bucks for each rocket you fire, y'know. The nice folks here only take cash, unfortunately." Faint smirk... but she looks a bit ticked off.
Her first reaction is flight, so Arika wasn't so far off to think it was time to be ready to chase her down, except. . Naerose literally thought FLIGHT, she gets ready to hop on her broom. A short skirt someplace hard to get too would probably be enough. Then she realizes it's Arika. Put the weapon down? She actually drops the Bazooka the moment she readies her broom and seems to forget just that quickly too that she had it in the first place.
"Ahh.. Weapon?" She looks at her broom,
"Huuhu?" She asks, then Sakura speaks, seriously four hundred bucks?!
"No way!" the witch whines, "That's not fair, if they didn't want people poking around on these things they should of totally ... Not had bazookas on this boat in the first place! I mean seriously, who puts a bazooka .. lots of bazookas on a boat like this?" She leans on her broom and looks seriously disgruntled.
"Anyway, it isn't like I knew what it would do.. " she whines a little and sort of slumps, looking sad.
Kasugano is part of this? She -knew- about these weapons, and didn't think twice about the safety of innocent people aboard the Suiryuu? This is the Chief of Security? That right there... well it really just fuels Arika's thoughts that Sakura isn't the 'nice young woman' people chalk her up to be. Previous conversations notwithstanding, the diva is pretty much convinced that Sakura is part of the whole ninja-cult-conspiracy.
Oh, and never mind the sheathed cutlass'. There's now one more bazooka on the ship that she wasn't aware of, and this information needs to get to her teammate as soon as possible.
But that's just going to have to wait until she's dealt with Naerose.
"My thought exactly. Wot kind of idiot fills a ship with weaponry like that, when the ship is carryin' innocent people aboard?" Though her eyes fall upon the bazooka, she just lets it remain where it was dropped and advances on Naerose. "And actually, you're gonna be doin' most of the talkin' 'ere, mate." Lunging forward, she makes an attempt to harshly shove the witch back against the mast and frowns. "You showed me that room. You knew wot was there. Then I 'ear through the rumor mill that you were caged for involvement in wot 'appened."
Is she ignoring Sakura? No, but this is kind of more important to her, and wild accusations to Kasugano can wait at least another few minutes considering they only played that game a few days ago.
"So I want the truth. Why'd you show me that room and who're you workin' for, Naerose? You're not stupid enough to try somethin' that large scale on your own, and while I'm sure you'd think up somethin' like that truck, I doubt you'd send thugs in to do your dirty work..."
Kasugano knew there were weapons aboard, sure. But the upper reaches of the ship aren't exactly friendly to the innocent people here -- and most of the fighters have enough common sense to avoid opening a box that reads 'Bazooka', let alone unpacking and firing it.
But really, Sakura's more than a little sick of Naerose. When the red witch first came aboard the ship, Kasugano had actually felt a bit remorseful for not teaching her student more. But after seeing her betrayal, well. She's not terribly happy now.
Kasugano also doesn't know how much those rockets are -- she just wanted to stop Naerose from firing any more. It's not betrayed in her somber, weary look though. "'fraid so, Naerose. And how can you not know what a bazooka does? You knew enough to =launch= it right..."
Really, though? She just lets Arika do the talking for now, with a faint smile. They may be working against one another, but at times it seems they have similar goals.
Pushed and shoved and getting the ire of two people at once? This is seriously mean. The witch is feeling really hurt and it shows in her face, so what else can she do but be defensive?
"Hey hey hey, I was just trying to help you out, cause it's not like I got many friends aboard this ship.." She considers the statement before deciding to leave it as it is.
"Looook, I just wanted to get some of the loot I got off the boat, did you know this boat was originally stolen? This thing doesn't even belong to this Ninja clan," she says, not sure if that's true, but vaguely recalls it at least being a theory amongst her people. She sniffles a bit.
"Look Arika, I asked for help, I tried to get someone, and they said sure, they'd cost me something to get the stuff off, you know a percentage. . I didn't know they were people like that, I thought they were the Crazy Eighty eights, not some mad gears.. Besides, you were helping yourself to some of the materials too.." She looks pleadingly at Arika.
"Heh."
Friends don't usually betray one another's trust. Arika, however, is not in the habit of trusting many people, so while she's upset by the turn of events, she doesn't really feel -betrayed- at all. Just out of the loop.
"Right. So this ship is stolen, the money for the tourney is likely not as legit as they want us to believe... wot of it? Doubt anyone in the tourney actually believes everything is on the up-and-up... but you're avoidin' my question."
Whether the sniffles are real or just an act, the punk princess grabs the shoulder of Naerose's outfit and tries to slam her backward again. "WHO are you workin' for?"
And over her shoulder to Sakura, "'Some of the materials' bein' books from the library, which, if you check are all back on the shelves."
Kasugano shrugs, scratching her cheek as she watches Arika interrogate Naerose. "... Heck, alright..." She seems interested in everything that's being discussed here -- particularly Naerose's note that the boat was stolen. ... That sets some gears turning, at the very least. As do Arika's particularly leading questions.
"Hey, go on. " With a faint smirk, she adds, "This is a bit more interestin' than I thought it'd be."
"Huh." Naerose says and frowns at Arika now.
"Now listen you." The witch says, trying to get some of the heat off of her,
"It isn't like you asked for the books, hardly said thanks for me showing you anything, why should I tell you anything more, I mean really, usually when I tell people stuff they give me candy, or something, but you're like asking for more more more from me and still sorta treat me mean like. " She pouts a little then it turns back into a frown.
"Seriously, if I had like, friends who asked me to keep a secret from the two of you, it wouldn't be a hard choice, ya know? And this is cause you're totally not very nice." Now the witch pushes back, to try and get some room.
"I'm not avoiding your question, I'm telling you no, you don't deserve me to be up front with you Arika. I haven't lied to you about anything, I just havn't told you everything I know and you know what, you're not entitled to it.. and neither are you." She points a finger at Sakura.
"And lastly, you really think that attack on the boat was some horrible act ? No one would of gotten hurt you all choose to fight, and you know what else? They were happy, the ninjas and pirates, they were thrilled.. Because they want us to fight fight fight, did you see Seishoumaru or Rikku coming to stop us? No. Did they even lift a finger, question me about it, anything? No. So get off your high horses, geeze."
Staggering back a few steps from the shove back, Arika just narrows her eyes at Naerose and 'hehs' again.
"-I- am liftin' a finger to question you 'bout it." The implication in her tone stating that it'll be a lot more shortly if she doesn't get the answer she's looking for. "So take this as someone carin'. You got yourself in a spot of trouble. A -big- spot of trouble. Whoever you're workin' for... THEY didn't end up in the brig. -YOU- did." Keeping herself situated between Naerose and Sakura, the punk princess moves in again. Hands grab for the material of Naerose's top again, but instead of attempting to shove her backward, Arika directs her toward one of the crates and motions for her to sit down.
"Think that was nice of them, Naerose? Lettin' you take the fall for everythin' that happened, while those two wankers that really 'urt a friend of mine just wandered off the ship like nothin' happened? No one was seriously hurt... THIS TIME. Wot 'appens next time if Sakura 'ere isn't alerted to wot's goin' on? Wot 'appens if those Mad Gear blokes get the weapons and sell them on the street to some kid? Think innocent people ain't gonna get 'urt? You wanna wind up with all'a that on your conscience?"
"Do I personally think it was all that 'orrible? Not really. Would prefer if there weren't such 'eavy artillery 'ere at all... but I ain't 'bout to let it get into the 'ands of criminals, and if -that's- who your friends really are, Naerose... then I guess Sakura and I can just go enjoy the tea and cookies I prepared, all by ourselves...."
Will the semi-change of tone and the slight bribe work to get the witch's words spilling? Who knows, but at this point all Arika wants are answers. She'll suss the rest of it out later.
Sakura's smirk only grows as Naerose starts getting cornered and defensive. It's a side of the red witch the Ansatsuken Angel hasn't seen before -- an intelligent, insightful... and yet pouty side.
Really... from everything Sakura's seen, she's come to her own conclusions.
"Seishirou. Seishirou and Riko." The Taiyo grad rubs her forehead -- it ticks her off when anyone mispronounces her own name, and hearing her... well, =associates= referred to in such a way grates her ears.
"... Huh, people didn't get hurt? I guess you didn't hear about the three dock workers thrown off the boat when it lurched to the side. Or =see= them get tossed over. Folks had to go fetch them out of the water. Coulda drowned!" She scratches the side of her cheek again, glancing around. "At least when I tossed your Shogun friend off the boat, it was with a bottle of water and a life preserver."
Kasugano glances over to Arika for a bit. Change of tone... and despite her smirking, Sakura is just bit more ticked off than Arika. Betrayed, and fairly irritable... the odds of her setting out a plate of milk and cookies are =very= low.
First there is Arika. She's really going in the right direction to seemingly get Naerose into where she wants her, but then Sakura on the other hand. Not so much.
"Yeah? Well hey Sakura, how bout when these friends of yours. Tell you what, Sakura, if you're blaming me for something.. I didn't know about, and that fella wasn't my friend. But you're assoiciating with these people willing despite all sorts of sketchy stuff. So like, when this turns around and bites you and you're fighting your own 'friends' cause of the bad stuff they're really up to, you can just remember what you said to me, cause it will be the same right back at you." The witch says and sticks her tongue out at Sakura. Really she looks kind of uneasy. She doesn't like these sorts of situations.
"Ahh.. Look Arika.. " She looks left then right and leans reaaaaaaally close to the punk rock princess, apparently meaning to whisper.
Listening to Naerose make wild accusations, the diva has to smirk. Gee, where has she heard something similar before? Oh, right. Pretty much the same thing she was saying to Sakura the other day, only more to the point really.
"Wouldn't be the first time," Arika mutters under her breath to herself.
Quirking her left eyebrow up when she hears the whisper, the diva commits the name to memory. Seems to match what Yamazaki was cursing about. Some woman that put him up to it. Glancing back toward Sakura again, she mouths 'Please go along with this...', and then she seriously hopes that Kasugano -will- at least go along with a bit of it, despite how angry she seems to be tonight.
"Technically every one'a us that is involved in this tourney can be accused of associatin' with these ninjas, but some'a us are much more involved than others." A sudden persistent pause kicks in when Sakura's words sink in though. "'ow 'bout we say -seriously- 'urt... and no, I didn't 'ear 'bout those three workers, elsewise I would've gone lookin' for'em to make sure they were okay after everythin' was said and done."
Now she's really got to push her luck as she plays the next card in the game. "Look, Sakura... maybe you and I.... maybe we should call a truce. Seems like there's information we're both wantin'... so if you can find a nice -secure- place for our friend over here..." Turning to face Sakura, Arika mouths just one more word... 'brig', and then continues. "I'll bring some refreshments and we can try to get it the civilized way. Much as I'd love to beat the information outta someone, I'd rather not make your job any more difficult than it already is, and I can tell you ain't exactly in the right frame'a mind to be dealin' with me pummelin' the 'ell outta 'er."
Kasugano narrows her eyes at Naerose. She's pretty much done smirking here. "Blaming you? I don't really =care= what you do, Naerose, but if you're working against me, I'm gonna put a stop to you. And whoever your 'friends' are, I'll stop them too, whether you know 'em or not." Shrugging, she glances away as Naerose leans close to whisper. "Mmph," she mumbles with an irritable shrug at Arika's suggestion. Does she catch it? Maybe, maybe not. But with Arika running her mouth... Kasugano's even less likely to be thinking clearly here.
"Like you're the =only= one who wants to take a shot at her? Pfft, whatever..." Irritably, the tomboy runs her fingers through her hair, taking a stab back towards the ladder. "Truce, fine, sure, I appreciate your help an' all the other night." Faint, hollow smile follows. "But if you're =asking= to be locked in the brig, don't be mad when I forget about you."
Kasugano turns back, crossing her arms. "Well? You goin' or not?"
"No no no no nonononoonono, " the witch says and hops off the crate, taking up her broom.
"I just spent all day trying to get out of there, besides, Arika, shouldn't you be investigating this tournament, instead of me?" She looks over at Sakura and frowns,
"Hey, wait, er.. Teach, you're not still mad at me about the other night are you?" She gives Sakura some more pouty looks and tries to keep some distance from Both of them, she really doesn't like the whole cornered witch feeling.
"So.. er wait, umm, can we change the subject, I like tea and cookies, well okay, maybe not tea, but I like cookies but not that much, seriously, lets change the subject. Im really sorry people got hurt, I really am, I didn't know that people were going to get hurt, I try not to hurt people." She frowns a little more,
Ooookay, so that didn't work -exactly- like she hoped, and it's really just made the diva want to bury her face in her palms and either hide frustration, or a laugh at the clear misunderstanding. "Why in the bloody 'ell would I be -asking- you to throw -me- in the brig, Kasugano? I ain't done nothin' wrong." (Yet). "Was just mentionin' it was a nice secure place for a conversation. Y'know, one where people wouldn't be apt to walk in and snoop on things, so you -might- just get the information you were lookin' for."
Shrugging her shoulders, she looks between the two, frustration growing again. Trying to keep it in check, she actually forces herself to snicker. "Oh, I know I ain't the only one that wants to take a shot at'er. Sure if you tally the numbers up, it'd be more'n just the two of us as well." A pointed look is given to Naerose and she shakes her head. "You know somethin' 'bout this tourney that you ain't sayin', Naerose. All I'm askin' is to be on the same information level as you are. I mean... you knew wot was in that room. You knew there was a bazooka up 'ere... so wot else are they 'idin', and who else is comin' for wot's on board? 'ell, answer these questions for me and I might even just go bring Sylvester back to your room..."
"Why don't you two just go back to your room or somethin? I don't really care what Naerose's sayin, she thinks we're out to get her, and b'sides, she can't go back to the brig." She pulls a piece of notepad paper out of her pocket. "Someone's amused!"
"Besides," Kasugano rationalizes, "she's already lying through her teeth, and doin' a terrible job of it. What's the purpose of asking her questions all nice an' junk? She obviously works a lot better if you snap fists in her eyes." Kasugano turns, raising a hand. "Sorry, sweets, I got patrols to finish up. For all I know, Naerose's no-they're-totally-not-friends friends are out usin' this as a distraction." She pauses at the ladder, turning back to the two older women. "=Again=."
Smirking faintly, she takes her first step down the ladder."Try to leave some scraps of meat for me, though. I gotta get my punches in sooner or later." But before she actually leaves, she stops suddenly, raising a finger. "Oh, and I hope those not-friends of yours taught you lots of cool tricks, Naerose." She smiles, but it's totally =not= to be taken at face value: "'Cuz I'm done with that."
Kasugano starts making her way down the ladder, on that note.
"What? Hey..!" The witch shouts after Sakura, but then gives up on that,
"Geeze, when did she get so mean and bitter." The witch asks and shifts uncomfortably. "So umm, I'll catch you later huh Arika?" The witch says and gives a tiny little wave of her fingers. She seems like she couldn't get out of this situation any quicker, but then stops for a moment.
"Oh, what this tournament is about? fighting.. I think this ship is stealing energy from every fight, every punch thrown. " She decides after a moment to shout after Sakura,
"You were a really inattentive teacher and you took no interest in my progress!" There, that showed her. She gives a self satisfied nod.
"And and, you just bring your fists, I'm so gonna show you whats what."
"Sakura? Who -ain't- lyin' through their teeth 'ere on the Suiryuu, 'sides maybe you, me and Eva? Kind'a got no reason to be lyin' to you, and really, that ain't me style." Truthfully though, Arika just really doesn't want Naerose in her room. That -does- happen to be a matter of trust, and with what Drake has told her, coupled with the witch's involvement the other night trust is not something she's willing to give. "But I promise you, if it comes to it Kasugano... I'll just tenderize'er a little and leave the rest up to you. 'ell, I'll even deliver'er to your quarters." No loss for her, after all.
As an afterthought, she adds, "Much as I 'ate to defend this ship, you need 'elp you -can- count on me to be there. For wot it's worth." Which likely isn't much when one considers all the words that have been shot back and forth between them, but it's something. The punk rocker's primary goal is to ensure the safety of innocent people, and she -knows- that those 'friends' of Naerose's aren't exactly all that innocent.
"You think the ship is stealin' energy from every fight?" That... actually makes sense to the diva, considering her last match. "Huh. Interestin'..."
"Thanks, Arika." The sentiment is honest enough, even if she didn't exactly... help Arika get more of her info.
Sure, Sakura knows she wasn't the best teacher. And yeah... Naerose's comment stings a little. She didn't mind fighting her in the ship's hold =because= she wasn't the best teacher.
But even though she was, in fact, interested in Naerose's progress... it would be pointless to contest that right now. Kasugano's =furious=. And the only thing that'd come from sticking around would be shouting.
There's folks sleeping, and she's got a job to do.
Those two thoughts get repeated in her head as Sakura walks about the ship, trying to settle herself back down to a reasonable level.
"Yeah, and really, you gotta point there Arika, there isn't anyone trying to bust me out of the brig or help me.. At all, so do you really think they told me anything ?" The witch asks, but she's not planning on sticking around either, she walks to the edge of the ship, there were lower decks, most people wouldn't be wise to do this, but the witch? She wasn't wise in general so really she decides to take the lonely road and just steps over the the railing.
She drops out of sight almost instantly, but she has her broom and it only needs to jet her in one slightly different directly for her to land safely on a lower deck.
Actually, Arika -does- think Naerose knows something. "Fine, guess me'n' Sylvester will just have tea and cookies ourselves. Too bad! They were handmade cookies too. Chocolate chip." Even if Naerose is taking off -now-, the diva is certain it won't be long before the witch shows up looking for food, or orange juice.
Damn.
Maybe she should have said -orange juice- and cookies.
"Wotever..." With that, the blonde tosses her hair over her shoulder and gives it five minutes before making her way to the ladder. Climbing down, she decides to try and find Eva to let her know what she's just found out and speculate upon what to do next.
It wasn't long before something strikes Naerose and she cries,
"Aw snap! Arika is the one who took Sylvester hostage! That poor bunny, I'll save you Sylvester!" the witch cries, into the night and then promptly forgets all about it, going to places unknown.
Log created on 19:31:01 09/17/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 13:24:46 09/19/2007.