(Ch. 6: Day 2)

Heart · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:14 am

Avatar widened her stance, with the arrival of the rabbit. Now this was getting interesting.

"Two on one huh." The piranha muttered, her eyes darting from the bird to the rabbit. She was now more sure then ever that these guys weren't here for a pleasure visit, and the rabbit's comment didn't help at all. This story was really getting heated. And the teen was now sure she just met the antagonists.

She bared her razor-sharp teeth, and lashed her tail. "Yo, make a move. I dare ya." She growled, in a low voice - holding her glare.

Zaka51 · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:40 am

"Hey, hey! Hold it, hold it!"

Pax had not rushed as quickly as the other three did. He'd hung back a bit, surveying the distant figures as Jack, Geoff, and Ivan approached, before deciding he'd follow at a hurried but relatively slow pace. It was when he got a clearer view and saw that the situation was turning hostile that he'd skipped into a full run and began hollering. Coming upon the scene, the agent dug a hand in a vest pocket and produced a small white card.

Stepping ahead of his three companions, he held it up for the piranha girl to plainly see. "My name is Agent Gardyner, I work for GUN, as do these three," he announced, assuming his professional, authoritative tone. The card matched what he said: printed on it was his full name, his picture, and GUN's logo. "We've been searching for this man for some time now. Please, miss, calm down. These guys, Geoff and Jack," he motioned towards the two of them with his free hand, "are friends of his. Understand?"

"Well...that was quick...sorta."

Tyra had opted to not follow them at all. She could see Ace's bright yellow fur, but she didn't seem to care about checking in on him. "That better be him, if they're gonna get so excited over it...better not be dead, either."

Clearly, she was wracked with worry over the serval's well-being.

Greens · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:18 am

Yep, sure enough, it didn't take long for the alleycat to get a whiff of the change in tone around them all, and to notice that there was indeed a 'them all'. Even as stiff as he felt then, Ace managed to tilt his head on the ground just well enough to find what looked to be upside-down versions of Jack, some pirate-lookin' guy, and a few others he may or may not have met before. In mere seconds his contained joy for still being alive turned into a quiet ecstasy for being... or at least feeling, 'found.' He smiled.

And after all this time, he thought he'd forgotten how.

"Hey-- hey, hey-ey-ey," he called to the piranha girl, weakly waving his arm at her, fighting the overbearing need to just burst into laughter over it all. "Chill, chill out, I... I know these guys. You guys...!"

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:03 am

While Casey had quietly agreed with Ivan, he elected not to say anything in the moment—not just yet. Why? Well, as soon as it became apparent that Ace's new friend was on edge, he had decided it'd be best to hang back a little. Apparently, Casey was aware that being a huge, beardy man with a gunarm was, on its own, enough to escalate a situation. If she was already distrustful of them, it was better that he keep a little space and let the more diplomatically-minded sort it out.

That being said, he was deeply concerned that Ivan was at the forefront, as he was probably the least diplomatically-minded person on the island. But, that soon became moot as Ace vouched for them, and, detecting tensions beginning to wane, big Mr. Casey plodded on up to the scene.

"How'd you get'cherself so ugly again so soon?" he asked, his tone jocular, but masking concern as he (cautiously, with periodic glances to the piranha) approached to check Ace's condition. "Y'just finished bein' in the hospital this month already!"

Heart · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:41 pm

Once she heard the cat's call, the teen piranha took one more cautious glance at the people now surrounding her. If they were his friends, then there was no point in starting a fight. And it was very unlikely that there people were impostors or some fake memory that his captors gave to him. Even though that would make a great story, that was hardly fact in this situation. Still, she wasn't just going to openly trust these people.

"If shu' say so, dude."

Avatar then backed up, stopped beside the cat and knelt down. She put out her hand to him, in the unspoken question; 'do you need help up?'. She knew it probably wasn't a good idea for him to get up on his own. Heck, it probably wasn't even a good idea for him to move at all, but, she knew that she wouldn't want to be laying around. Especially when friends are here. Though, her 'friends' would probably take the opportunity to attack her while she was down to prove strength. The piranha got the feeling that these guys were a little better then that.

Sheff · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:23 pm

With the group already getting pretty rowdy with the sudden finding of Ace, Geoff was forced to linger to the side, trying to get rid of his annoyed stare towards the piranha. Who she was really didn't matter to him at the moment, but dammit, he'd traveled across the entire globe to find this one cat and he sure wasn't going to take her defensive measures lightly. Fortunately, she at least appeared to accept their familiarity with the serval, the hedgehog brushing past to get a better look at their long lost companion.

"At least be happy he's alive," he said to Casey without taking his eyes of the cat, but there was some relief to his words. Actually, Geoff looked a bit concerned at Ace's current condition. He allowed a smile after a moment, however, when the truth that this was actually Ace granted the hedgehog some well needed comfort. He could still doubt their problems were over, though.

Rachel · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:20 pm

Jack had stopped approaching, raising her hands when the piranha went on the defensive, Jack wasn't about to start a fight. Luckily Pax saw fit to put the girls mind at ease so they could get to Ace.

Jack opened her pack to pull out a first aid kit, this one was still branded with the garish EE emblem. Beggars can't be choosers.

"I have a kit here if he needs it." Jack offered. She didn't step any closer as she didn't want to crowd Ace. She looked again at the Parana, offering a weary smile.

"Sorry about the scare there. Did you pull him outta the water?" The Griffin asked, she was pretty sure she knew the answer, and had a fair guess as to how Ace ended up here, but it never hurt to ask anyway.

Greens · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:21 pm

It was just after Casey finished his jovial little statement that Ace promptly, but steadily rose into a hearty fit of laughter. He didn't really stop until an aching sort of pain stuck out at his side, at which point he took the opportunity to enlighten the crowd as to his situation. After all, all this commotion was centered around little old him, wasn't it? Wasn't his fault he just happened to be... wherever it was they all were. Didn't seem like where he thought he should've been, though

"Ogay-- okay, everyone," he spoke. "I am okay. Eheh heh. Uhh, just... kinda... tired."

With a brief strain, he attempted to stand himself upright, with questionable success. "It just hurts a little, around... this part, I dunno what it's called," he said, waving a limp set of fingers around his lumbar. At some point though, he must have realized that this half-awake approach wasn't getting them any closer to getting their questions answered-- or his-- because all of his efforts in the next five seconds were spent getting himself seated criss-cross on the grass. With a sigh of some kind of relief, he looked the crew at large and asked the first thing that came to mind in the state he was in.

"...So, where am I?"

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:28 pm

Casey grinned toothily at Ace's levity. It was a good sign, and he couldn't help but laugh a little himself.

"Starlight City!" he announced as if it was good news. (It was closer to home than Chun-nan.) "Or, just a lil' west of it, anyway," the hog added with a backward-pointing thumb over his shoulder, where some fantastically tall, boxy, glass-and-steel skyscrapers were clearly visible, gleaming with the orange sun.

Before anything else could be said, though, he added a more urgent "Hey," and digressed to something more important, taking a step forward and glancing around with a sudden air of caution and anxiety. "Should we be gettin' you outta here 'fore Li Fang comes lookin', or...?"

Greens · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:40 pm

"...W'll I'll be God damned," Ace mumbled with a half of a grin. By far and wide, it was the best news he'd heard in a long, long time. Or at least, the first part, anyway. The second... he wasn't sure himself.

"Ahh... ya know," he began, a subtly anxious expression coming to his face, as if he was entirely unsure of what he was saying himself. "It couldn't, hurt? But-- uhh... how do I say this."

"I might've, kinda... ...killed 'im."

"...Ssso, actu'lly, yeah, it might be a good idea."

Zaka51 · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 8:11 pm

"...You...killed him...?"

It was easy to see Paxton's jaw slowly dropping as he processed that information. "...You...killed...Li Fang..." the agent whispered under his breath, becoming lost in the meaning of that answer. Suddenly he had a lot to think about. Aside from his face of inner concentration, he was also visibly worried about something.

He blinked a few times.

"...Um...okay..." he stammered after a moment of silence, returning to his serious tone of voice. "What about the, uh, Norden Circle then? Who has it now?"

Heart · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:21 pm

Avatar withdrew her hand - seeing as the cat was able to get up on his own - and focused her attention to the conversation surrounding her. Not that she had the slightest idea what any of it meant.

Li Fang? Norden Circles? Th' heck are they goin' on 'bout?? She thought, staring blankly at the people - her gaze shifting from person to person, following who the speaker was at that moment. Though the piranha didn't understand any of it, she sure wanted to.

"Yo! 'Scuse me!" She said loudly, finally speaking up. "Sorry to interrupt your reunion, but I pulled your unconscious friend out of the rapids. I want an explaination, as to why I had to."

Avatar had to other reason to know this backstory other then it sounded like a very interesting adventure. If nothing else, she wanted the idea to write in her story, but that wasn't what she really wanted. Really, the teen wanted to be involved. From just this conversation, she can already tell this was very different then her normal stories she gets back in Westside. Sure, this wasn't the reason she came to this place - she was actually here for some down-time to write her story - but she was not going to turn down the chance to go on an adventure.

Rachel · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:46 pm

Jack looked around quickly, the area had been nothing but quiet, but there was no way to know if that could change. The idea that Ace of all people had killed Li Fang wasn't something that brought her any sort of joy. Jack always thought there was hope for rehabilitation for the criminal element.

"Ah, yes... Just some Chunese Gangster." She said to the fish woman, offering that as an explanation. Smiling uneasily she added "I think you may want to come with us, in case any come snooping around."

Seeing Ace sitting up was a pretty good confirmation that he was well enough to move. She put her pack back on and offered a hand to Avatar.

"I'm Jack." She introduced herself. Assuming the girl would shake hands all nice and proper like, she would finish with. "Nice ta meet you. Now, uh, Lets mosey."

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 12:25 am

"I'was self defense," he muttered in the agent's direction. "And the mirror was destroyed in the struggle. But... Nnh. Yeah-- it might be a good idea to get outta here... nice a view as it is, I don't think his cronies are too happy about losing their paychecks." Ace stood himself with a bit of a strain, gazing at the sky just long enough to realize he shouldn't be wasting time gazing at the sky. 'To say nothing about Dian,' he thought to himself, just before adding a curse or three to the end of that inner dialogue.

"...Yeah. Damn. I'd actually really love to just throw a party about it right now, but that seems like a bad idea, now..." He tried wiping off some of the grass stains on his prisoner pants (why?), and turned to the fishiest of the group. "You should come with us. I don't think this place is gonna be that safe for much longer. I can regale you all with my story on the way, if you're interested. Right now we just wanna get away from here..."

The cat started to walk for a step or two, just prior to realizing he had no idea where he was going. Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

"...And if anyone wants to buy me a pack of smokes on the way, I will freakin' dedicate my life to serving you. Serious."

Heart · Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 12:38 am

Some explaination

Avatar had to physicality stop herself from saying that out-loud. She didn't really want to be rude, especially when the bird - Jack - just offered her to come, as did the cat.

Restraining herself from leaping with joy at the offer, the fish merely stood up, faced the bird, and returned the handshake. "Name's Avatar, Ava's good too."

The piranha nodded as Jack concluded her introduction, and replied with a short 'fine' to the feline's offer, but she still had one more question. She looked down at the cat she had saved a while ago. Even though she had fit some of the pieces together about this guy's little misadventure - that quite possibly could have ended in tragedy if she hadn't been there - something was still missing.

If she didn't get it soon, hell, she could make up her own answer. She had a couple ideas, but, she'd rather have the real thing.

But first, it seems that her rescue-ee had a craving, and it just so happened that she had what he was looking for. Avatar picked up the red satchel on the ground and dug through it, eventually finding a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. A bad habit she'd picked up, but hey, she's not the only one who has it. She lifted the pack to him with a quiet "Here.", then tossed him the lighter.

"Ya can't have the whole thing, but you can have one 'til we get to a store or somethin'. No eternal servitude required." She said while using her free hand to stuff her writing book into the satchel.

She paused for a moment, to let the cat take one of the cigarettes, then asked her question. "Yo, dude, I never got yo'r name. If ya aren't too out of it to remember what the heck it is." Avatar joked. Though the piranha sounded rather course - maybe even somewhat rude - she really didn't mean to. She was used to acting like that. It's a bad trait she picked up.

(Ch. 6: Day 2)

Who is online