Description: Staying a bit longer on shore than intended, the punk princess almost doesn't make it back to the Suiryuu on time. Notes are slipped under the cabin doors of her two allies - Eva and Himeko - asking them to meet her in the lower hull so that they can discuss the change in plans. Paranoia reigns as they decide what to do, but sticking to the original plan seems to be integral as they set out to do a little more investigating. (Special Guest Star - Sylvester)
Having disembarked quite quickly when the Suiryuu last made port, the punk princess was brought along on an unexpected detour to Metro City. After ensuring that Drake was alright, she hurried back to the ship to just -barely- make it back aboard before it left port.
This has left Arika in the not-so-greatest of moods. Truthfully, she would rather have just spent time with Drake. Got back to normal life. Left all thoughts of the Suiryuu and the tournament behind.
Several problems with this though.
One: Arika is not one to back down from a fight, or do things halfway if she can avoid it.
Two: They've yet to rid the ship of the bazookas like they've been planning.
Three: She's got to determine if the ship actually -is- a chi-bomb that is going to destroy the lives of everyone aboard, and figure out a way to save them if there is.
Oh, yeah.
She can't forget the suggestion to 'deal with' Sakura, Riko and Seishirou.
Relaxation sadly left behind, she made two pit stops before heading down into the belly of the ship. Little notes delivered to the two people she figures she can trust the most on this journey. Notes that let them know where to find her and to come immediately once they get them.
Hopefully 'immediately' isn't next week sometime, as Arika does not intend to stay down here that long.
Standing atop the catwalk, she gazes down at the odd arcane text that litters the walls. She's not taken the time to change, so her manner of dress - a long-sleeved fishnet shirt over a black short-cropped cami, and a short white and black mod-skirt - likely looks out of place here within the maze of machinery.
Eva herself has pondered why she hasn't just left the ship behind and gone on her merry way. True, she has an obligation to Arika, but she also has an obligation to her family and, well, Ryuujin. If she were to be badly injured on this boat, where would that leave him and that promise she made to his teacher?
But it's not just obligation that keeps Eva here. It's a burning need to see justice done, to see to it that, if there's some sort of scheme behind this, it stops. She *has* to do this. She *will* do this. In her mind, it's become interchangably linked with preserving the memory of her brother through her deeds and stances.
Quietly stepping into the hull, Eva's dressed in black, the white of her face and the blue of her eyes seeming almost ghastly against the glowing kanji of the walls. When she gets in earshot of Arika and sees her, she quietly says her name in order to get her attention. "Arika."
"I managed to get some vague information from another person on this ship. Aranha. He wouldn't say anymore, but I figure he has his reasons. Did you learn anything new?"
Barely managing to hear the whispered name over the loud machines, Arika spins around. Best not to be set upon by the suit, or one of those Mad Gear buffoons again while she's down here in the heart of it all.
A sigh of relief is slowly exhaled as she catches sight of Eva and she nods. Motioning her teammate to come closer she points to the text and mutters, "Welcome to 'ell, mate." God, it feels awful to be forcing the Cockney spin to her accent when she's carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. "Learned somethin' new. Went to shore to talk with Drake, who, by the way, was askin' after you." Whisking her hair back out of her face, she leans against railing and watches the bright glow of the kanji.
"So, wot did Aranha 'ave to say 'bout all'a this?"
Best to save her 'big news' for when the little Hurricane appears -- if she's gotten the letter.
"He was?" A warm smile appears across Eva's lips. "It's sad I haven't taken out the time to visit with him lately. The way that he acts... sometimes, it's like I'm around my brother all over again." She chuckles. "I'm sure he'd hate to hear that. Men seem to hate when a girl tells them that they remind them of their brothers." Maybe that dialouge was on purpose. Eva wants to ensure Arika feels as comfortable as possible around her, but, in a way, she speaks the truth. While Eli didn't have the vanity that Drake possesses or quite an interest in the way he presented himself, he was a free spirit and sometimes very reckless, qualities that Drake also seems to posess.
To be looking for your brother in the face of so many fighters that you face... maybe Eva still hasn't gotten over the void Eli's death left behind.
But no matter. "... Not much. I didn't know if you trusted him or not, so I kept things very vague and simple. He then said something very strange to me- something about the ship being valuable and that they only had to steal the ship live to make things possible. It... didn't make any sense, but... I figured that this was all he could say to me. He knows something, but I don't know what. I'm hoping he may open up to me more later on."
Steal the ship? Well if -that- just doesn't open up a myriad of questions.
Arika isn't focused on that though.
Glancing over her shoulder, she nods at Eva. "'e was. Chastised me for not bringin' you along, as though I intended to run into 'im on the boardwalk the other day." Eva's words cause a frown to furrow her brow momentarily though. Can she trust what the other girl is saying, or is it some kind of ruse? In order to hide the confusion, she snaps her head back to gaze at the markings. At least they're safe.
"Don't rightly know whether to trust 'im or not. 'e's 'ard to figure, Aranha is." Beat. "So, wot's all this 'bout stealin' the ship then? Do you figure 'e meant Seishirou and Riko, or was 'e possibly talkin' 'bout somethin' that's gonna 'appen in the future?" Now that she's back to thinking about business, she watches the glowing script for any obvious signs of change. "Think that might be important. We need to find out as much as we can, and we -need- to dump those weapons soon. Two days from now. I've got everything stashed away some place safe. Extra clothin' to wrap the weapons in so it don't look so obvious that we're movin' them. Bags to put'em in. Even picked up outfits for us all to wear that'll 'ide who we are in case we get caught." Provided no one unmasks them...
"There'll be plenty of time later on to meet up. After all this is over, we should all have a get-together." The cheerful tone in Eva's voice contrasts sharply with the overwhelming sense of the eerie presence aboard this ship, though, if Arika were to listen closely, there's a sort of tremor to her voice.
It's not as if Eva is shocked by these things, it's that she's trying to make it so that she doesn't notice them and become scared all over again.
"I don't know either. I want to," Eva admits, eyes looking to the side, "but I have to take into account what you feel as well. I'm more trusting than you are, but you'll take the fall alongside me if I slip up. And I don't want to slip up here." Her gaze goes back to Arika. "Maybe the ninja stole this ship? Maybe it was like this before that, or, they stole it so they could turn it into this. I don't know. I didn't understand at all what he meant." Finally turning to regard the symbols, Eva pursues her lips into a straight line. "Alright. Just as long as we can do that, at least we'll be able to do something..." She trails off. ".... Why did you want me to come down here, as opposed to the cabins? I'm not objecting to this, but... these symbols make me nervous. I know that they could be spying on us anywhere on this ship, but I feel the chance is even greater here with these symbols."
Himeko didn't change out of her uniform- She hadn't really thought about disguises or anything like that considering her occupation of choice.
She definatly did her part, however, after having her match a while back, she ran off to take care of her own duties, then on top of that had a slightly more personal issue to take care of not long ago.
Obviously this means she's running pretty late today.
The pink-clad heroine doesn't burst in with her usual cry, instead stumbling into the room with a packed, gray dufflebag. Wow, shes never been in a place like this before, for a moment, Hime is pretty overwhelmed! And then suddenly, just like that, she's standing near Eva and Arika while saluting, "Greetings!"
Should they both make it out of the ship in one piece, there will indeed be plenty of time. "'ell, Eva... once this is over, you and Drake can bloody well fly back to London with me for some well needed arr and arr. Lovely place this time of year. 'bout as dreary as it usually is." The last is said with a grin as the punk princess reminisces about home.
"'ime, nice of you to join us."
This time she doesn't nearly jump out of her skin when someone approaches. Arika heard the footsteps coming along the catwalk. She may not have super-sensitive hearing like Sakura seemed to have the other night, but she's been learning to listen for footfalls.
"Those symbols are precisely why I wanted to meet down 'ere, mate. Let them spy on us if they want to. Beats them spyin' on us in the shower or sleepin', don't it?" A wry smirk and then she glances between her two cohorts and asks, "Wot do either of you know 'bout chi energy?"
"... England?" Eva's grin brightens. "I'd love to go there! Visit the Royal Gardens, the the art musuems, the architecture..." She sighs. "There was so much that I didn't have time to look at everything when I came the first time, and that was just a small part of what it had to offer." Oh, the day she gets to go to Italy shall be the day Eva realizes she can die happy. To visit Michealangelo and Leonardo's graves and both their works in person? Be still, my heart!
It takes Arika's coment about spying ninjas to knock Eva out of her reverie. "I guess, when you put it that way..." That smile cracks with a nervous twitch as Eva considers the possibility. "Chi energy? It's life force, correct?" She tries to recall that 'lesson' on chi that Frei gave her. "Powers all life."
"... Huh?" Hurricane Hime seems caught off-guard by Arika's question, clearly. The funny thing about chi.. No one's ever really written a book about it. At least, not a book that SHE's found yet. She also doesn't seem too bothered about the prospect of ninjas watching he- Wait a minute. N- No! They couldn't have been watching her sing the Mazinger-Z theme song! c_c;
Hime coughs lightly into her fist, and nods in agreement with Eva, "To my understanding, that's the most basic answer. 'Energy of the world'. Energy that's capable of mimicing a natural force, which I thought was interesting."
Hime then slumps her shoulders a bit, "Mine is weird."
"All expenses paid," Arika replies to Eva once she sees that grin brighten. "Me bandmates and I will need to be 'eadin' back there for a wee bit, and so Marcy'll be gettin' us a private jet. Seems we made a wee bit'a money in the last lil' while." Not enough to fix up the club like she wants to, but enough that they can splurge now and then. To Hime she adds, "Mate, they've got cameras and other weird things all o'er this bloody ship. M'sure they've got enough embarrassin' footage of everyone aboard to make their own bleedin' reality television show twice over."
Shrug.
If they do, there's not much anyone can do except sue them for using security footage without explicit permission or some such.
"Energy of the world. I like that. See, I tend to think that it's a life force too. That we need it to survive and some'a us 'ave the ability to utilize it for more than that." Once more, she points to the arcane text and glances between the other two girls. "It ain't ours though. We just lease it for a lil' while. We build it up, we use it and it goes back to where it belongs, right?" Pausing, she frowns, trying to recall with perfect clarity the conversation she had several nights ago with Sakura. "But this... this right 'ere? They've borrowed energy and they ain't givin' it back. They're storin' it 'ere. I think that's wot these markings are. A way to trap the energy and prevent it from bein' released. Wot I ain't got a bloody clue 'bout is -why- they want to be doin' that."
All her own worries and paranoia are left unsaid. The punk princess is curious to see what conclusion the others come to first.
Eva can barely hide her giddiness. "Yes!" she exclaims, throwing a fist in the air. "I should probably sometime invite you to Ma and Pa's as well, in Chicago. They would love to meet you!" A pause. ".... My Pa's a little overenthusiastic, though, so... uh... he may try to challenge you or Drake to a fight. But he means well."
Looking over to Hime, the Italian American frowns. "... I don't see why you need to feel your power is weird or strange... There's many people who are channel energy in ways different than usual. And some of us," she says, with a weak grin on her face, "took forever to develop any sort of skill because we were too 'technical' with it." Do this, recieve chi! .... Except it's more vague than that. For all her ability to express herself in paint, Eva has trouble with vague notions of the subsconscious outside of painting. Fighting is one of them.
"...." Eva looks towards the markings, her face grim and white. "... So that's why they wanted us to fight, not be clever. Maybe this is all just to suck out the energy we use in our fights?" She looks back to Arika. "But why? For what purpose? No one just does that because they feel like it.
Hime is lost again for a moment, quirking a brow as the two girls are talking about... Well.. Something. If it isn't a library, she wants no part of it! She passes a glance to Eva though, and grinning a little sheepishly in turn, she admits, "W- Well..Yeah, I mean I guess I wish it had more colors. Er, but anyway.."
The girl quickly shakes her head, and takes in Arika's news. Her eyes widen. Like, nearly bugging-out wide, "WOAH!!! WHAT??" she cries, jerking up her arms as she takes a single step back. "Th- That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! I- Well clearly this ship is one massive super-weapon! I mean I don't think it can be used as a power source! ...."
The girl relaxes, and rubs her chin. "Hmmn, or can it? Either way, though, that is amazing."
Aha!
Looks like Arika wasn't the only one to draw the super-weapon conclusion! That's a relief, in any case.
Nodding to Eva, she grins -- even though it's very slight. "I've met over enthusiastic father's before. Ain't been challenged by one but..." Again, she shrugs and then turns to face Hurricane Hime directly.
"Chi bomb. 'least that's wot I called it. A mass energy super-weapon. Kasugano knows 'bout it. S'why she was all in a tizzy when she made the call 'bout the truck rammin' into us." Pausing, she lets her shoulders slump a little. "Problem is, I ain't got a clue wot they're storin' the energy for. I'm leanin' toward blowin' us all to smithereens, which is likely why Drake said we should attempt to evacuate. 'eard a few rumors though, to the contrary. Like they're goin' to use it to incubate somethin' or power somethin' that we know nothin' 'bout."
"More colors...?" Eva blinks, then rubs the back of her neck. ".... To be honest, my chi's only one color, really." She points to her eyes. "Light blue, like my eyes. I don't know many who are able to project more than one color unless they're masters at chi." Frei was able to, but he seemed to specialize primarily in that direction.
A superweapon?! Worry and surprise creases Eva's brow. "..." And Sakura knows about it? Or does she? Eva still feels it neccessary to doubt Sakura's goodness. There *has* to be a reason for all this! And it's not just to kill them all off, in Eva's mind. "..... It wouldn't make sense to blow us all up. If they wanted to kill us, why just assassinate us and be done with it? The idea of us fighting and then using that energy to kill us all just seems.... like a huge waste, honestly. The theory that it's a weapon makes more sense. Though, it may even be for something else. I don't know about how chi works, so...." Trailing off, she reaches out a hand to tenatively touch one of the symbols. "I don't know anymore what's possible and what's not. One half of a year was all it took to crush those notions."
The little Hurricane seems... Disappointed by Eva's response. She could hardly consider herself a 'master' of chi, just competant at what she can do. So first she frowns. Then her cheeks puff out a bit. Then finally she just lets it go. At least construction paper is colorful, even if it is a little embarassing sometimes. "I guess that makes sense."
Hime glances to the symbols as well, and taps her cheek thoughtfully. Again, it's nothing that her books have taught her much about. "My theory would be.. If it's a weapon, that it's being used by this tournaments host.. Maybe for a personal grudge. I don't think it's likely -specificly- for it to destroy us either."
She looks from one girl then the other, "And on top of that they have all these -other- weapons aboard the ship. There aren't nearly enough clues for me to figure it out."
"Wouldn't touch that if I were you, Eva." Arika motions to the wall and jabs a fist toward it. "See? A normal punch doesn't seem to spark it." Closing her eyes, she calls forth a bright violet energy around her left hand. As the energy flares, the entire area lights up. Bright enough to blind, if the diva wasn't so quick to power down.
"Who knows if it's able to set itself off or not. We could be in danger just standin' 'ere. Bolt of energy could jump off at any time..." Paranoia? Maybe, but that much contained energy -is- dangerous. There's no doubting that. "If you follow the patterns, there's a door. Way down at the end. Ain't got a 'andle, and there's no way in. Sealed entirely. I'm guessin' that wotever the energy is for is inside that room...."
"Our main goal though, we need to get rid of those bazookas and post 'aste. Then we focus all our attention on this and try to be done with it. Two days and we'll drop them..."
At the last second, Eva pulls her hand away at Arika's warning like she was burnt. ".. A-ah, I didn't mean anything bad by that!" Eva waves her hands palm out as Himeko's cheeks puff up. "Really! It's just.... the only person I've seen do that is a man named Frei, and he seemed to specialize in that. I mean, people like Ryu and... uh... Kyo," That's that one guy's name, right? Ryo, Kyo.... lots of 'yo's, "they have one look to their chi, and they're considered world-class fighters!" Deflating as her shoulders seem to sag a bit, Eva turns to look back at Arika.
"None of this makes sense," the girl says softly, eyes looking downward. "I would hope we don't get killed... I would hope I'd last a little longer than that when I made my promise." But that's that. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. I'd wonder if we could use such weapons on the door, but... I do not want to be the one exploding a ship only to open Pandora's Box."
Hime doesn't seem very convinced during Eva's explaination, or story, or whatever it isn't she's blabbing about. At least that's the case at first! When she notes that people like Ryu and Kyo do have that similar situation, suddenly her fist is bopping into her open palm, "Ooooooooooooooooh riiiiiiiiiiiiiight! Hey that's true, it must be something you have to dedicate your entirety to. If the price for such a ability is to throw strong kicks, that's not a trade I'm willing to make! Ha ha haaa!" With her spike of delight comes a light gust of wind that tosses her scarf.. And then it passes.
"But Arika's right, we definatly can't turn back now on our first plan.. In fact in this dufflebag is a ton of clothes a got my hands on!" Hime drops said bag onto the floor.
She doesn't seem to be too interested in the door herself. Doesn't seem that full 'nosey reporters instinct' has really sunk in yet.
Maybe, just maybe they should all be paying closer attention to that door.
A noise can be heard coming from that direction. An awful clanging noise. Then it stops. After a moment it can be heard again, only closer. Again, it stops and again the clattering and clanging can be heard. As the bright light begins to fade fully, two rather long and eerie looking shadows peek around from the corner.
Too bad Arika's not looking in that direction now.
"Nothin' makes sense. Not the whole kidnappin', not the ship, not this bloody tournament..." Shifting her eyes to the dufflebag, she gives a small nod. "Good! Feel bad tossin' all these clothes, but it seemed to be the best way to go 'bout things. Stop by my room once we leave 'ere, 'ime, and I'll get you a few'a those military bags to stuff. Anyone asks, you're doin' laundry."
The shadows grow ever larger, drawing closer and closer to the three young women on the catwalk. From the darkness, something mid-sized -leaps- right toward Eva.
And it twitches it's little pink nose.
Bares it's teeth.
Flops it's fluffy brown ears.
"Sylvester!"
"Well, maybe not that black and white, but... uh..." Eva struggles for a way to amend her point. ".... We.... uh, just need to do the best with what we have!" Yes! There we go!
A pang of loss goes through Eva's chest as she looks at the clothes. ".... Yes. To waste all this clothing..." A rule around the Manzetti household: if it's too broken to be fixed or too torn to be mended, you never throw it away. ..... And even then, you keep it around. Just in case. How her family hasn't become a bunch of packrats is primarily due to the craftiness of a very clever mother. Torn clothing can become rags, broken TVs could be sold for parts or used to fix other things.
As for fur, you never throw that away. That's expensive! Except when it's leaping out at you like oh god the bunnie
When the rabbit leaps, Eva screams like a, well, girl. However, unlike that stereotypical girl, a fist shoots out, narrowly missing the fluffy brown bunny as Eva comes to her senses and realizes what it is. That does not, of course, keep said bunny from colliding into her like a kamikaze pilot. "oof!"
Himeko GRINS as Eva's words go in one ear and out the other, seeming especially proud of her deduction. She's no girl of science, but she knows a good theory when she hears one. And she came up with a good one! On top of that, she's pretty excited, this was going to be something huge, she could feel it! "Yeah it does seem like a waste at first but.. It's for a good cause! Who knows, maybe we'll have plenty left over on top of it. And yes'm!"
Hime snaps another salute to Arika. Now bunnies? Hime nearly leaps outof her boots when Eva screams, getting some crazy air for a moment and then turns around, taking a fighters stance of her own. A pause.. And then her green eyes light up like a christmas tree, "Whaaaaat, no way!! It's a rabbit, what's that doing here? ... Sylvester is a terrible name."
"-I- didn't name it! That's 'is name." Aheh. Arika rubs the back of her neck and tries to YANK Sylvester up and away from Eva. "Look, rabbit. I set you free, but that don't mean I'm gonna let'cha attack me mates 'ere, got it?"
After a brief chastisement, she gives Sylvester a curt little rub between his ears and offers the dangling lagomorph over to the girl. "Seems to like you, mate. You keep 'im. Got one just like 'im at 'ome. Just uhh... don't let Naerose catch you with 'im, got it?" Aheheheh.
"Right, then. Seems like we all know wot we're gonna do. Drop by me cabin any time for those bags and such. Pretty sure the outfits I picked up for you both'll fit. I'll let you lot 'ead back up first. Think I'm gonna stay down 'ere a bit and try and figure this out."
And maybe, if she's lucky, she'll just happen to run into the Chief of Security down here again and get more questions answered.
"I guess..." Eva looks at the clothes. "Alright. I'll see if I can get any more information meanwhile. I doubt Aranha will open up to me anymore, and I'd hate to seek him out just to force him to tell me more..." He's a good person, after all!
"Outfit? You didn't have to go through the trou-" She pauses. ".... This outfit isn't anything.... strange, is it?" Thankfully, the rabbit's now there to distract her.
"K-keep him?" Eva takes the dangling rabbit gingerly. "You have one? Is his name Sylvester too?" She looks down at her own rabbit. "... I'd name him Pandora, but... Pandora's a female name. Uh...." The squirmy rabbit attempts to settle itself into Eva's arms. ".... He's so cute, but... uh... I've never had a rabbit before. They eat vegetables, right...?" Wait a second.... "... W-wait, why does Naerose have so many rabbits around?!"
Himeko continues to curiously look the rabbit. Somehow, just somehow it looks familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Though to the mention of Naerose, the heroine nearly falls over, flailing her arms a moment, then stands up straight again, "That red witch! I should have known!"
Though the thought that there's a lot more.. Possibly even on board is kind of puzzling! But she could worry about that later, she picking up the dufflebag and flips it over her shoulder. "Yep, rabbits are natural herbivores, mostly green stuff. They also re-ingest their-" pause. ".. Uh, well anyway their diet isn't anything special. I'll see you all later then, I'm going to head to the library!" Again. Third time today! Giving a wave, she heads on off, "Later, Arika! Bye, Eva!"
Log created on 21:05:30 10/01/2007 by Arika, and last modified on 20:44:03 10/05/2007.