Sutoratosu

well... it's better than it was before, I'll say that much. at least now I don't have to already kill someone before the first god damn chapter even ends. And I'm not even going to bother commenting about hamburgers appearing from backpacks... today has just been too damn long and quite frankly, I'm not really in a position where my supply of fucks to give is very high at the current moment.

If surge was here... someone would be fucking dead for that offhand comment comparing his city to the rear end of a living organism. Pray that he does not appear anytime soon. And I choose not to explode, Dobbs... I have begun trying to adopt the philosophy of just letting the silent fires of rage burn away everything that stands before me. takes less energy and causes less stress. Regardless, onwards to the true matter at hand: Hmm... interesting. So, let me get this straight. He gets told to basically mind his own business, and his first and strongest urge is to immediately... bash someone's face in? alright... so someone, preferably Darvan, do explain to me how the hell this is justifiable given the context of the situation? A character whom there is no prior mention of having explicitly violent tendencies or anger issues, all of a sudden wishes to take a piece of hardened steel to the skull of someone who told him to but out, as if said person had just slit the throat of both his mother and father and then proceeded to piss on their graves while laughing in glee all the while? Yeah... no. I'm not seeing any real way to explain this as being any sort of logical escalation of emotion. I know that I for one wasn't informed of any anger issues or history of violence, so....? You see where I'm going here, right? You're definitely gonna need to change the blood red highlighter section to something that's a bit more tame for this situation and, quite frankly, a bit less a lot less extreme of a sudden jump from 0 to 60 mph on the "I'm going to murder someone" scale. Simply having him get a bit miffed like a normal person would do but decide to just drop it, like again, it would be feasible that any normal, sane person would do, would've more than sufficed for the initial part of the response in question, compared to the ridiculous, situationally-inappropriate content that there is currently. Sorry if I come off like a condescending dick in this judgement, but like I said, I prefer to try the quiet rage method, which... I guess can kinda manifest in me taking on a rather not-so-nice tone and the fact that there's currently quite a bit of shit that I have to deal with in my own damn head right at the moment that I'd rather not go into, yeah... Stratos ain't a very nice customer right now. Either way though,in closing... FIX. IT.

"Ah yes... that." The apparent man-charge-now began, making sure to keep his eyes on Recci the entire time...though all he was doing was groveling on the floor at this point. "That, my friend... has a long story behind it... which I'll be sure to tell you once we all get down below, I'm sure you understand, what with it being freezing out... for now though, the short answer is that the vessel hasn't been so much repurposed as much as it's just been reassigned...more or less just ordered to be used for a different task; again, long story. And to the second one, no, I'm afraid the captain here was correct, on our currently planned course, we aren't heading to Arcadia." He stopped monitoring the man who had almost thrown him into the frigid waters just long enough to gesture towards decent sized doorway in the Super structure of the vessel's deck, still wearing the same friendly smile as he met Yuuki's eyes. "But I'll be sure to explain it in full detail once everyone is settled. Please. just below deck you'll there's a small conference room behind the first door to your right"

On the Deck The captain turned back around at the threat, not seeing the dark skinned man leaning against the outer walls of the cabin and shaking his head half out of sheer disappointment and half out of utter amusement. this time though he came tossing his cigar to the deck and grinding as his teeth as he stormed over to the railing. He had tried just telling them to go home, but it looked like no one wanted to listen. No one wanted to just do what they were told, nope... they wanted to fight apparently- which was fine by him... he had always been better at fighting anyway. "Alright, you little shi-" he could barely get out anything before someone else decided to step up... probably to issue a challenge. “Hey, Captain, ever had the feeling you just had to go somewhere no matter what? I can't exactly tell you my reason to go to Arcadia but I just have to, alright? So why don't we do each other a favor and help one another? If you can even take me a little closer to my destination, I offer my work spirit to you and help out on your ship. What do you say? Can we hop on?” "We all have our reasons for wanting to go to Arcadia. Whatever they were, they led us to over here. Whatever the reason, the information that the ship was repurposed came out far too late, leaving the seven of us here with no idea what step to take next. In other words, the ship's crew does bear a level of responsibility for this." "So if you can't change it, who can? I assume it's the girl you're expecting to pick up." ... ... Or apparently not...either way, they obviously weren't going to scram. "God damn it... " He muttered. "I always did hate this type of situation...now what...?". As if in answer a hand clamped firm on his shoulder as it's owner finally sidled up beside him. He didn't bother looking. "How long have you just been standing there watching?" "Long enough to be reminded of why you normally aren't the one allowed to do the talking." That much earned the other, far darker skinned man nothing but the same cold glare the travelers had received... but Recci might as well have just been staring into a mirror with how polished his subordinate kept his shades. "Don't give me that; you know it's true. This was something that could've easily been resolved if you had just tried and not be such a hard ass about it. You're not in the army anymore, orders aren't necessarily law here." "Are you fucking kidding me? One of them just threatened to try to destroy the damn boat! And they won't-" "Granted, that might have been a bit drastic, but again... you could've prevented things going down that road by starting out with a different approach. And you were about to complain about how they won't leave... well, did you ever stop to consider maybe their determination isn't so much a bad thing? And besides, that girl who spoke up has a point... we could've been a bit quicker about wiping the slate clean than we were, and we are, to a certain degree, at fault that they wasted so much of their time coming all the way here. They came here expected something and more or less had it torn out of reach before arrival... I for one think it's understandable to be frustrated and stubborn right now, don't you...well, no, that's probably not the right question to be asking you." "Alright, fine, they're inconvenienced, so damn what? We're just wasting time, damn it! how long do you think any of them will last if they're still kicking, huh? She-" "The argument is invalid. She is not here." Just to prove his point the dark skinned man scanned the docks, even going so far as taking off his shades for a better view... just as he thought, She wasn't. "But they are. The time it would take to just sit down and talk to them like civilized people instead of yelling at them from the bow of a ship like some old drunk veteran who's so afraid of failing all over again that he pushes away people unnecessarily and disregards all forms of common courtesy because of his own ever growing anxiety, is completely inconsequential." Recci didn't say anything. He had nothing to say... he had just lost this argument, that much was clear. But damn did he hate it when Khan started analyzing him... "Fuck it." He said simply, turning and walking away. "I'm done. If you're so convinced that you know best right now, then how about you get rid of th-" "I wasn't going to bother asking permission after watching their responses to you thus far." "Whatever, you damn poindexter...Just don't tell them anything too sensit-" Khan was already calling out over the railing before he could even finish. On the docks "Hello there, all of you," The new speaker called to all the travelers with a friendly wave and a smile warm enough to melt even the frost on the dock. This one was a black man with shades darker than black, with a flat top cut and shoulders draped in coat similar to the captains. Unlike the captain though, he seemed to have actually heard of a magical little something called a 'razor'. "Please, try to excuse the captain, he's not much of a people person...or even a very nice person. Infact, I couldn't really blame you if you didn't excuse him. Anyways... that's beside the point; I see you all are interested in Arcadia... well, unfortunately, there may be some complications about that, but please, come aboard and out of the cold, let's talk this out. I'll be happy to answer any question you might have- in fact, we even have hot chocolate and coffee if you'd like. "You son of a bitch..." Recci muttered, edging a bit closer from behind, looking like he was going to throw him overboard. "is this your idea of getting rid of-" A kick, swift and true and shipped overnight right to his nether regions was all it took to not only silence the old soldier, but send him to his knees and spewing out profanities left and white in the most colorful display of langauge. Meanwhile Khan simply maintained the same friendly expression, as if he hadn't just had to assault someone to keep the peace. "Please, I insist! He won't bite, I promise! and I'm sure we can work out something for this terrible inconvenience. The ramp up is just over there near our friend Tatsuya." He gestured to the giant, who... actually had a look of approval on his face, going so far as to nod at the travelers and beckon them aboard...

well, I'm sorry if it feels that way to some people, I truly am, but one must remember... We are only barely two pages into this whole thing. The action still needs to rise, and at the current point, it's just at it's beginning of it's ascent. Once it gets going however, things will be much different. It's just how the pacing is going right now; it's like driving a car and coming to a stop light. The minute it turns green, you start out going a bit slow, then you push down harder on the gas pedal and your speed increases at a short yet exponential rate of growth. I simply haven't gotten to the place yet where I can put down full force on that gas yet... but again... we've only got 25 responses and are barely 1/5 of the way into page 2... look, I'm trying here, alright? If you guys could trust me for like, 2 seconds more so that I can finally get the tension off the ground, that would be greaaat....

The point is for this to all lead into the central conflict of the story and the general build up of things. It's honestly this cryptic right now because that's how i planned for it to appear; offering only bits and pieces of information and forcing the players to find out more by persevering and demanding answers. It's not all supposed to make sense from the get go, not all the pieces are going to be presented and assembled right from the beginning, it'll all be pieced up and make sense later on as new information is found (Or taken... whichever one works) I mean, to be fair, I think I hinted pretty hard that there was going to be a substantial element of mystery about all this during the Davinci Game we played while we were waiting for people's applications. This is just one of those stories where not everything is always going to be presented in a neat and obvious manner and people will have to sometimes use their own deduction to piece together things... the only thing I can really hope for is that the players will trust me enough to know that I have a plan and that it will all lead up to something and everything will come to light in it's own time. But... if you really want to drop, well... there's nothing I can really do to stop you; this is an affair of freewill, afterall, so...

OH.... I have the feeling, I am going to enjoy using Captain Recci... probably a bit too much.

The captain took another pull of the death stick at his lips, tapping away the ash against the railing before going in for another. He looked about as bored after Steele's attempt at confrontation as someone who had been forced to watch paint dry. His empoleon simply glared at the woman, the waves down below her starting to grow a bit choppier... "So, gonna play the old game of 'It's none of your business, just shut up and give me a ride', eh?" He chuckled a bit to himself, flicking away another bit of cigar waste into the ocean below. "Well, kiddo, guess you're right; it really isn't none of my business and I wouldn't have two flying damns to give even if I wanted to. But it still doesn't change the fact of the situation. This ship, myself, and the men who work her, we are not free to decide our own destiny, have never been free. We have orders, girl, orders that if disobeyed, will cause nothing but trouble. Sure, those orders might've once had something to do with Arcadia at one point, but not now... not anymore. We're waiting for someone now, and not a single one of you is her. So get this through your thick heads, all of you: No one is going to Arcadia onboard this ship. Sorry to disappoint, kiddos, but that's just the way it is, and I have no power to change it." With all that said, he turned his back to all of them, and began walking away from the railing. This conversation was done as far as he was concerned. "And besides, it would just be a massive waste of your time anyway...If you're intent on growing stronger, then go train somewhere else, why don't you? Like Mt.Silver or Victory Road..."

On the deck of the vessel... "Alright... what do you think?" Jack said to the massive penguin standing at his side in the frigid storm of ice and wind that was brewing. He took another deep draw of his cigar as he eyed the group that had gathered around the Mute of a Giant in the distance, letting a sigh mixed with smoke and the condensation of his own breath before long. It never failed... Ellis always did something to try to piss off Tatsuya, even if he was fully aware of how easily the Asian could've picked him up and snapped his spine in half. And this right here was probably no different. "I tell you... with the crap he pulls, he acts more like a child sometimes... Quiet, I'm gonna make a mental note to kick his ass when I get the time, don't let me forget." The Empoleon gave no sound, only nodded her head briefly while she watched the scene on the docks steadily unfold. There seemed to have been some sort of diffusion; a few of them were venturing off on their own... "Well... I've seen enough of this. What do you say we send our regards?" * * * * * * The was little room for conversation on the docks as the group went about their own searches for some form of higher authority. Or rather... there was little attention paid to trying to talk given the sizable swell of seawater that had somehow not only violently raised itself meters above the surface of the barely raging waters, but was also sent surging right for the assembly of planks and pillars like a tidal wave, making impact with a massive crash and threatening to wash away Nikki and Joey both if they had taken even another step further. The entire walkway seethed with the cold fury of the winter waters as the attack receded back to it's origin, Ice already beginning to form a thin glaze over the sun-beaten wood... and the sign was nowhere to be seen. "So, I see you've met Tatsuya here." A gravelly, booming voice called out from the fog."Now, how about someone here start explaining why the hell they would want to go to place like Arcadia during the coldest and most brutal season of the year?" Anyone who looked up at the bow of the vessel would've spotted an Empoleon and a man at least near his forties standing there, the latter covered from shoulders to tow in a pitch black longcoat that moved and swayed in the wind like some wind-chime. A patch of fabric just as dark sat where his right eye should've been. His hair had been slicked back in a completely dated style while most of his face seemed to be kept warm by the beard he sported on his mug, just as deep a brown as the Cigar at his lips as he scanned the travelers each one by one with an Eye colder than the ice that covered the barren earth.

well, to be honest, I was planning on having an intervention right about now, so... she'll probably have a chance to try it once a certain someone makes his entrance onto the scene

eh, well... We'll just have to ignore it for now. You can edit it later and just make it so that it will make sense with Murdoc's post after it. i'm gonna hold off on firing another update until we get some responses from a few more people. Not even a full page in and already this is starting to become the type of back and forth fest where the less active people start to get glossed over just because others happen to have more free time on their hands. Yeah, not flying like that, compadre.

Go ahead.

It's not exactly meta-gaming, but it's still a rather convoluted explanation for how in the nine hells she could've possibly even guessed what he was signing when she has no knowledge of any sign language at all... It would honestly just be better to cut all of that run around out by just having her directly reacting to Yuuki telling everyone about how the offer was invalid and demanding to speak with a superior or something

enjoy that first taste of...something in that little cut away segment.

The mountain shook his head at Nikki's question before turning his eyes back to Yuuki, signing "You should tell all of them too that they should go talk to the captain rather than me..." He kept a look out on the others all the while though...some of them looked on the shifty side, especially the man with White Hair who was just standing over yonder like a freaking scarecrow...

this. I've basically been treating the Porygon line basically as just AIs who happen to be able to maintain an actual body and fight pokemon battles in the PA RP, so yeah. Just don't go over board with it and start metagaming. cause I was careful to never do so while it was available to my PC.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss that." Was all Yuuki got out of him in the next round of signing. "To be honest, hat sign was supposed to have been destroyed and any references taken down. One of my co-workers lacks the intelligence to follow basic orders however..." His eyes flicked away at the sight of someone releasing a capsule, honestly hoping that this hadn't devolved so quickly already that he would have to wreck some poor fool... though it seemed as though the one who had done was simply conversing about something...for now. Out of all the people who had to put up with the effects of Ellis, why did it have to be him? "Look, if you want to know more, it's best to talk to the captain."

Oh, you're right... well in that case, I got no idea what the hell he's talking about right there. probably just a typo or something well, I expect for people to have their own reactions at hearing Yuuki explain what the big man is signing... presumably with some type of shock and/or outrage of (In some cases) having traveled hundreds if not thousands of miles to some port city where it's blisstering cold and being told the virutal equivalent of "This Offer has expired" And try anything on him with the gardevoir, and that Lucario nearby will turn viscous. You have been warned.

Yuuki appears on the rather feminine side, doesn't he? That's likely what Darvan was referring to, considering you yourself said it's not uncommon for him to be mistaken as a young woman and everything. Though, the giant ain't exactly young... more like in his mid-thirties.

The giant let off with another string of signing, this one slower to accomdate the young scholar. Though he still looked like he was intent on killing someone after this was done, at least this wasn't going to be as difficult to communicate as he had feared. That was just about the only thing going for the situation though... "Tell your friends the sign's offer is no longer being held. This vessel has been re-purposed."