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event } what's yours could soon be mine.
WHO: All you passengers who got left behind.
WHAT: It’s a heist, baybee!
WHERE: On Navi, then onward to Estax City on the planet Thelnillion.
WHEN: Now until Oct. 31.
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! And if you fail your trap check and die, please report it on the death page.
You may notice, when you wake, that you are missing a mental connection, and a harsh silence has taken its place. If you had a partner before, that link has been severed. Also - when did you fall asleep? You don’t remember planning that.
The mental link that remains, as always, is Navi. Their voice is as calm as can be expected, given that a number of passengers have abruptly disappeared off the ship, and Navi too can sense a blackout period of their consciousness. It’s a little frightening, to not be in complete control of their senses, a little too sharp of a reminder of what it’s like to be under the Zerentians’ control. But there’s no time for navel gazing, or whatever the Navigator equivalent would be called, since they don’t possess a navel - because there is a task ahead, and time is of the essence.
If you can hear me, please come to my room, as quickly as you can. It’s important.
That’s all Navi will say, until the remaining passengers have gathered. Navi still taps away at the screens in front of them, retrieving star charts and maps for paths to known planets. They’re agitated, but doing their best to keep it contained.
Navi has also acquired a new friend - a small dragon, like the ones found on Cor Leonis. The coloring of its scales are an ombre of deep rust, burnt orange, and golden yellow shades, and it rests on Navi’s shoulder, tail curled lightly around Navi’s neck. It keeps a watchful eye on the assembling group, but doesn’t speak until Navi acknowledges that the passengers have gathered and are ready to listen.
“Hello,” the dragon says, finally addressing the group, “my name is Ra’ahnn, and I have a job for you.”
WHAT: It’s a heist, baybee!
WHERE: On Navi, then onward to Estax City on the planet Thelnillion.
WHEN: Now until Oct. 31.
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! And if you fail your trap check and die, please report it on the death page.
You may notice, when you wake, that you are missing a mental connection, and a harsh silence has taken its place. If you had a partner before, that link has been severed. Also - when did you fall asleep? You don’t remember planning that.
The mental link that remains, as always, is Navi. Their voice is as calm as can be expected, given that a number of passengers have abruptly disappeared off the ship, and Navi too can sense a blackout period of their consciousness. It’s a little frightening, to not be in complete control of their senses, a little too sharp of a reminder of what it’s like to be under the Zerentians’ control. But there’s no time for navel gazing, or whatever the Navigator equivalent would be called, since they don’t possess a navel - because there is a task ahead, and time is of the essence.
That’s all Navi will say, until the remaining passengers have gathered. Navi still taps away at the screens in front of them, retrieving star charts and maps for paths to known planets. They’re agitated, but doing their best to keep it contained.
Navi has also acquired a new friend - a small dragon, like the ones found on Cor Leonis. The coloring of its scales are an ombre of deep rust, burnt orange, and golden yellow shades, and it rests on Navi’s shoulder, tail curled lightly around Navi’s neck. It keeps a watchful eye on the assembling group, but doesn’t speak until Navi acknowledges that the passengers have gathered and are ready to listen.
“Hello,” the dragon says, finally addressing the group, “my name is Ra’ahnn, and I have a job for you.”
no subject
As far as he was concerned, Kaz was here alone, having no ties or attachments to anyone in particular. Still, though odd occurences seemed commonplace, the idea that a number of people could apparently vanish over a short period of time was disconcerting, and knowing he somehow slept through it only made it even more uncomfortable. Yes, he had noticed the absences, but hearing the dragon acknowledge them caused him to tilt his head slightly. His eyes gave another cursory glance around the room, taking inventory of the people who remained, mind clearly working to piece together the puzzle. It wasn't a difficult solve.
"You know what happened to them." It was a statement rather than a question, his own tone mirroring the dragons, calm and matter-of-fact. "And you're not going to tell us for nothing."
Raw deals like this were common enough in Ketterdam and especially the Barrel. Annoying, but Kaz could respect that. It's what he would do, after all.
no subject
Just how absurd had his life become since being whisked away onto Navi? What was more insane, this, or stealing the Horn of Tiamat?
Already annoyed with the pointless diplomatic back and forth Simon snapped:
"You're wasting time. What do you want?"
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"You needn't make it sound so mercenary. I'm proposing a simple exchange - yes, I saw who took your companions, and I know where they are. I will give your leader here," he gestures to Navi, "the coordinates you'll need in order to rescue them, but first I will need you to rescue someone for me - my sister, Aecalan. She's currently being held by a particularly vile Thelnillionite princess named Mibarya."
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"You know, for someone who doesn't want us to sound mercenary it sure as shit sounds like that's the situation here. Could be straight out of any fantasy game or heist movie." Well, not any one of them, but it doesn't matter in the long run.
"Before we agree to anything else: are our people in fucking danger? Cause if I have go fuck a shitty princess then I need to know when I'm done your shit doesn't send us to fucking corpses."
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He couldn't help but think that Dirtyhands would have already washed his hands of this situation and walked away, but this wasn't Ketterdam, and it had already occurred to him on a few occasions that maybe Dirtyhands had no business being on this ship. That thought kept him in place and willing to at least get more information, at least for now.
Though he was no stranger to negotiations for weird jobs such as this, he also had no desire to assert dominance over the situation or take charge, so he simply remained quiet while the others spoke up and voiced their concerns and rebuttals. Following Julia's question, his eyes fixed on the small dragon once more, fingers tapping against the head of his cane in a calm, bored rhythm.
"Hardly seems like a fair trade. If this Mibarya is as vile as you say she is, I don't imagine it's a matter of walking in and asking politely. Why should we risk the people who are left in exchange for information you could simply tell us?" As he spoke, his tone stayed calm and even, as though he were conducting a business meeting under any normal circumstances.
no subject
So for now he falls silent, watching the others. Especially interested in hearing an answer to Julia's question, because that was the most important one on his mind. If Alex was in danger Simon didn't care much about a sketchy princess. Kaz was keeping a cool head, Julia asking the important questions. Simon was already too annoyed to continue to contribute. At least he wasn't spooking the lights...
Yet.
no subject
Jack managed to slip into the back of the room while the others were engaged in discussion with the dragon, content to lean back against the wall and listen and lurk quietly until she had something to say. She now pushes off the wall and takes a few steps toward the rest of the group.
"Look, I'm not usually one to advocate for Heroics, but I am an anarchist, and two of the fundamental principles of anarchism are mutual aid and autonomy. That means we believe in solidarity, cooperation, and freedom from control by rulers - who are, by nature, oppressive. So a princess is bad news right from the start, and if she's keeping someone against their will, that's an even stronger argument for lending a hand for their liberation."
She is trying to not sound overly preachy, believe it or not.
The dragon nods in agreement with Jack's reasoning, addresses his next words toward Julia.
"To be entirely honest, I don't know if your compatriots are in danger. I'm inclined to say yes, because those holding them captive are not known to ever release their abductees. The few accounts of those who have managed to escape tend to detail a variety of mental tortures they've been subjected to."
no subject
You'll need to forgive her, she invoked a god once and told him not to be such a fucking dick.
When she speaks, it seems like she's doing so in generalities, but her eyes are locked with her girlfriends. Jack and her political beliefs may not be much of a leash in holding back Julia's angry and reckless behavior, but it's enough to remind her not to actually attack this dragon immediately.
"If it turns out to be a trap," oh how very mild mannered it seem, until there's the knife in her smile. "I get to eat him and make him very sorry for fucking with us, agreed?"
no subject
Anything for Alex.
He sighs, shooting a glance over at Julia and Jack. "He isn't lying." That much he can offer at least. But Simon's going to need a little more motivation than it being the right thing to do so he addresses the dragon:
"What makes this princess so terrible?" Dragon-napping aside. He needs some details to fire himself up into the proper righteousness to justify what might become a murder.
no subject
There was still the opportunity to walk away, to wash his hands of this nonsense and wish them the best of luck, but even now he could feel the lever shifting position. The bit about it being the right thing to do didn't exactly resonate with him, and he was more inclined to roll his eyes at such sentimental expressions. Some of Jack's other points did strike a chord, clicking a piece into place, the final move of a train of thought he had been stewing on for weeks.
By this point, he'd been here no small amount of time, and he was starting to slowly accept that it might stay that way for the foreseeable future. In all the time he'd been here, he'd been mostly isolating himself, and though he had always been inclined to spend most of his time alone and quiet even back home, the approach wasn't exactly netting results here.
If he wanted to get anywhere, he couldn't do it alone, and in turn that meant working with the others that had been dragged into the same position whether he liked it or not. Reaching a decision, he almost threw his head back and released a dramatic sigh, but managed to restrain himself, instead folding both hands over the head of his cane and leaving them to rest there. He held that cold, calm demeanor as his eyes moved from Julia to Simon, before shifting to fix pointedly on the small dragon once more. "If we're going to opt for heroics, then anything you can tell us about her, her defenses, her weaknesses, would be useful."
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he still had a hard time believing he was agreeing to rescue a dragon from an evil Princess. Saints, maybe he had hit his head recently.
no subject
"Since I know I'm not setting you up for a trap, obviously I can agree to those terms."
Ra'ahnn shifts his glance to Simon and Kaz next, to answer their queries. "Not only is Mibarya a despot of the most banal nature to her own subjects, keeping the large majority in poverty and depriving them of adequate food, housing, and medical care, she fancies herself something of a collector of 'exotic beasts.' She has dozens of species imprisoned in cramped, filthy cages at her castle, and they are only let out of those cages for 'playtime' - which is what she calls the tortures she inflicts on them - or cruel medical experimentation, or showing them off to her wealthy friends and allies at her annual birthday gala." He pauses for a moment to allow the gravity of the picture he's painted to sink in for his audience, then continues with his suggested plan of attack.
"This year's gala will be held in a week's time, and it will offer the best opportunity to strike. Mibarya trots her 'collection' out of their cages under heavy sedation, to keep them docile and uninterested in escaping or harming any of the guests. I have a contact in the neighboring village who will provide forged invitations for you all to enter the castle grounds as esteemed guests. Since you'll be masked, no one will think it odd that they don't recognize you. From there, you can find your way to the exhibition center, and when the gala has moved indoors for the evening feast, liberate the captives."
no subject
He could keep lurking in the shadows, just peering at them, or he could participate.
Decisions, decisions.
He decided on the latter, took a deep breath and pushed off the wall, into the doorway proper. He smiled cheerfully and held up a hand in greeting.
“So what, in and out, rescue the small dragon kinda thing?”
Nevermind that none of them knew this stranger, for the time being he was hoping to just blend in a little bit.
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Pissing off a werewolf who's primary emotion is pissed off is never a good thing, but it's especially not one right now. There's too much tension, and too much anger and too many things on the line. So, she just literally growls at the man, her voice deeper than it had been and holding all of the monstrous of the wolf inside of it. "Who in the Mickey Mouse club fucking bullshit are you?" The words are sent directly to the newcomer and if need be, Julia is ready to take a step towards him because this is suspicious as fuck.
no subject
"Weren't they selling your kind as pets on one of those last planets we went to?" He's pretty sure it's the one he got a terrible sunburn from. The implication of the question was clear, was the dragon's sister stolen or was she sold? Not that it changed much, this princess still sounded like a real piece of work. Simon would have to see for himself before he decided just how violent to be about the situation.
However, at the new voice, his unblinking stare snapped to the new fellow. The dragon's plan didn't sound bad so he had no comment there, but who was this new person? Volunteering for the mission? He wasn't going to be annoying, was he? Julia had the "who are you's?" on lockdown, so it was back to watching for Simon. He's not about to get between a pissed off werewolf and a stranger she might decide to kill.
People don't stay dead here anyway, it's fine.
no subject
While Julia and the others accosted the newcomer, Kaz fixed his eyes on the far wall, cocking his head and lost in thought. If anyone from his gang were here to see it, it's what they would refer to as Scheming Face, and that was indeed what he was doing. After a few moments, his eyes came back into focus and he scanned them across the room, before glancing at the dragon again.
"Liberate the captives? So now we've gone from nicking one dragon to freeing the lot of them? And what will we do with them once they're out, assuming we get them all out? A ruler that cruel and oppressive is going to have strict security, a show of force to keep unhappy subjects under thumb and discourage them from doing exactly what we propose to do." Kaz tapped his cane against the floor to punctuate his point, studying the dragon closely for a moment, before letting his gaze drift away to find Jack in the group.
"Jack, was it? Those defensive wards you do, would you be able to put them on a dragon?" He remembered the post where she talked about her abilities a bit, but he wouldn't say he had a firm grasp on what exactly she was, or could do. Simon's question about the pets being sold on the previous planet was going to be a good lead-in for what he was going to suggest next, though.
no subject
"Have your people never been sold or stolen? Taken captive, trafficked like property?" He snorts angrily, and this time, a small flicker of fire escapes from his mouth.
"He's right," Jack gently interjects. "Humans don't have a great track record when it comes to slavery - which has been entirely legal, at different points in history. But just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right."
That's all the soapboxing she'll do on that subject for now. Kaz's question already has her mind kicking into gear with ideas.
"I should be able to, yeah. There's a shield wall spell I've used in the past for protesting, I should be able to tweak it a bit for a dragon's use. What did you have in mind?"
What they'll do with the liberated captives depends on what they end up planning, so put a pin in that for the moment.
no subject
"Never said it was," Was his only response to that. After all, he wasn't asking as a defense for what was going on, only some context for what they were walking into. Were they going to go in as saviors of the wrongfully indentured... or as lunatic animal rights activists "liberating" someone's pets? This would affect the kind of resistance they were liable to run into especially if they had the misfortune of bystanders getting in the way.
no subject
He’d never had the pleasure, or likely displeasure, to happen to run into the king in question, and he somewhat liked it that way.
Demyx had a plan, of course. His plan was to engage in whatever they were doing so he could have the ability to get a sense of where he was and bail on a potentially dangerous situation at the earliest opportunity. Playing along so he could wait until everyone’s back was turned was just the best course of action. He did not, however, answer Julia’s question.
The discussion of things like wrongfully trapped dragons or pets or anything like that was beyond above his pay grade, which admittedly, was exactly zero munny. He wasn’t going to weigh in on the ethics of anything, he was going to smile and make himself seem non threatening.
“Sounds like we’ve got somewhere to be so…” He shrugged. “Let’s go.”
Get him into a different environment so he could make his escape, that was all he wanted to do. He had a friend he needed to get back to.
no subject
He could figure out later if she was trustworthy, but for now, he’d work as if her information was reliable.
According to her, there were others on this spaceship, and they were in some kind of meeting. Ienzo was perhaps more unsettled about going into a planning session completely blind and uninformed than waking up alone, though. So he made a pit-stop into the kitchen, whipped up some coffee, and found a portable carafe to carry it in.
There. There’s no group or planning session that wasn’t brightened by some legal stimulants.
He knocked on the doorway first. “Ah, sorry for sticking my head in, but I have some coffee - my name is …”
Ienzo blinked in surprise. “Oh, Demyx, you’re also here?”
no subject
Julia looks to Jack and Simon (and even Kaz, because while she may have threatened to eat him in the past, he's familiar and thus a part of the crew. As far as she's concerned these new people were as alien and untrustable as the fucking dragon.) But the question that she asks is to Navi themselves, her eyes narrowed sharply. "Are you sure we can actually get to the people in time if we leave now? Can we make it to do this dumb ass rescue mission. We agreed to one dragon, not saving a whole shit ton of them. I'm not saying that we should leave them all," it's a concession to Jack that Julia is even agreeing to that much. "But I want assurances if your sister is the only one we can get out. So that's something you need to decide, dragonboy: can you live with it and keep your word if we're not fucking Harriet Tubman?"
no subject
Considering the fact that tensions are already rising, he's not sure how his next suggestions are going to be received, but Julia's point seems to leave him the best opening. Looking over his shoulder, he glances at Julia out of the corner of his eye to address her.
"I've been burned by deals before, and becoming a more trusting person isn't a leaf I plan to turn over in the next week," he started, shifting to lean on his cane. "Maybe his word is worth his weight in gold, but I'd personally prefer a little insurance, which is why I suggest that when we get her out, we don't release her until we have what we want."
He put his emphasis on the word suggest as he had no aspirations or desires to fix himself as a leader of the group and make himself responsible for everyone. To him, it seemed the obvious solution, but considering he still largely considered everyone here a stranger, he wasn't sure how keen they would be to make the switch from rescuing someone to holding them hostage.
Of course, the rest of Julia's question was valid, but she'd made the point well enough he didn't feel the need to elaborate on it further. The logistics of what the dragon was requesting came close to bordering on absurd. Even if they did get in and manage to break all the animals out, what were they going to do with them? Where would they take them to ensure they weren't recaptured immediately, and how many of them were dangerous?
Finally, he shifted his gaze back to Jack, to answer her question. "We have an easy enough opening to get in, but considering we don't know exactly what's waiting for us in there, and we don't have a lot of time to waste finding out, I'd feel better if we were able to get some defenses in our favor inside without raising suspicion." With that, he turned his gaze back on the dragon, fixing it with a pointed stare to make his intent clear. "The easiest way to do that would be to give her a gift, and it just so happens we have something she'd want."