Scene #9419: Nonon's Treasure Island: Silver Flash

Owner	Pose
Angela	The trip to Nonon's treasure is going well thanks to Matilda's navigation. As the crystal ball warned, there have been some small conflicts with pirates along the way but nothing that genuinely endangered ''this'' crew. All easily handled skirmishes. Every day, Joanna puts out two or three meals a day and Matilda usually gets two or three hardtacks a day. Gyuto and Waterbug continue to be standoffish, though Weather Report's frequently sunny disposition keeps her rushing to the company of these Trideag types, frequently asking questions about these people, who they are, what they're up to, what they're like. She's excited to learn about the Outsiders. During the skirmishes, Weather Report doesn't seem to be particularly helpful in battle, usually running away from boarders rather than swinging a weapon of any sort, though once a pirate gets too close and a bolt of lightning just evaporates the guy in an instant. Gyuto and Weatherbug are more competent fighters, though neither of them are inclined to take prisoners. Joanna is tough enough that it looks like she's having fun, though she sticks close to Matilda--reasonable, since she's the navigator. If anything happened to Matilda, this adventure would get considerbaly more dangerous. Joanna's as gregarious and friendly as ever through the days of travel, though sometimes she goes off on her own in the evening, watching up at the night sky with quiet longing. Nonon spends most of her time guiding the ship and when she needs to take a break, Ceri is usually the one taking over. But today it's Nonon at the wheel when she says... "I think we're getting close!" The winds are starting to pick up. The waves get rockier as the ship moves on. Matilda's divinations reveal they must keep moving forward. If they seek the treaure, this is the path to take. There's no safer way. 5rThe waters swirl around, catching the Vivid and making pushing forward difficult. Nonon grips the wheel but ultimately shifts to move with the current than try to fight it, eyes squinting thoughtfully before... A heavy wave suddenly crashes against the boat. Weather Report's disposition goes from sunny to cloudy rain which starts raining over her shoulders. She shivers and grabs on tightly to a mast even as Gyotu is slammed hard against a ship railing. Other sailors grasp and cling to the ship's architecture to avoid getting thrown about. "Fuck the divination, we gotta go around!" Gyuto shouts. "It's helped us so far but she clearly didn't anticipate this...!" Waterbug adds. Joanna calls up to Matilda, "Lass! What do you see with the spyglass? Do these seas seem natural to you?" And if Matilda looks, she sees that this whirlpool is just a symptom of a much bigger problem. They are on the very edge of much larger whirlpool that is also, simultaneously, pushing up out of the water. It couldn't possibly be natural water conditions, something's approaching the ship and at a rapid speed and it's ''big''. Gyuto, close to a railing, squints over the edge and he says, "Mermaids...! Mermaids!! Get to the harpoons!" "Take the wheel, Ceri!" Nonon rushes over to the edge with her gas harpoon. She's going to have to fight, she realizes, but maybe Rita can do something and...
Angela	HUNGRY. The sensation of a feeling. A raw deep primal desperate and starving hunger hits as mermaids start climbing up the side of the ship and the water ahead rises. These mermaids range from level 3 to level 4 from Rita's earlier investigations into mermaid development. The ones with legs are climbing up, but their heads have been wholly transformed into leach like gaping maws filled with sharp glistening teeth. The ones without legs swirl around the ship as if they're guiding it forward towards the rising mass of water still some distance away. They look up hungrily as they swim, hoping someone will prefer to brave the waters--or perhaps get thrown overboard. "We've been led to the Gaping Maw! Charybidis! This is what we get for trusting a ROCK." Gyuto hisses. "Shut your tongue! Our navigator kept us safe this far. We must be close to our destination! Remember anything Nonon?" "Yeah..." Nonon murmurs. "This is the right way. "I remember these waters."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine's a little standoffish with Weather Report at first due to the latter's literal sunny disposition, but the huntress warms up when she gets a chance to talk about her work. She mostly sticks to tales from her times at sea - guiding a pod of enormous sea serpents out of New York Harbor and back to their migration route, culling a nest of invasive Atlantic kraken near Sardinia, and dealings with stranger creatures on stranger waters still. She's halfway through describing what the real Loch Ness Monster looks like when the ship is rocked by sudden waves. "Whoa-oa-oah," she says, waving her arms for balance on the shifting deck. Gyuto raises the alarm for mermaids, and Madeleine scrambles partway up the rigging for a good vantage point. Perching carefully on the swaying ropes, she readies her bow and starts shooting at the monsters climbing up the sides of the ship. The impact from her arrows picks them off the wooden beams, sending one mermaid after another plummeting back into the water. She focuses on the spots where the other sailors aren't, to keep the close-combat fighters from getting surrounded. "We've been led to the Gaping Maw! Charybidis!" "Ayo???" says Madeleine. Wait, no, that was supposed to be bad news! From her vantage she peers out over the water, pausing her volleys of arrows briefly to get a good look at the thing in the largest whirlpool up ahead...
Sarracenia	Sarra provides snacks and sodas whenever asked (especially to Weather Report), but that only gets you so far on a ship. She chats with the Distortion quite a lot as well. The princess is happy to talk about herself to someone who has a sunny disposition and wants to know! Gyuto finds himself being 'protected' by Sarra quite a bit. After what he said she wants him to -know- that she is both more powerful and more brave than he is. She had stayed close to Weather Report at first, but after someone gets vaporized...well, Sarra still protects Weather Report since she apparently doesn't like to fight. After fights though she is asking Weather Report why she doesn't like to fight or what else she can do or other similar questions. Weatherbug is left to his own devices, though if he is in trouble and Sarra happens to be close by she offers assistance. And unlike him or Gyuto she is highly inclined to take prisoners. 'I think we're getting close!' "Finally~" Sarra exclaims, leaning slightly over the railing at the bow of the ship. And ends up thoroughly drenched and washed along the deck by that first wave. She rides on airships! Waves don't usually happen! She gets back to her feet quickly, then...her eyes go wide. 'Mermaids...! Mermaids!! Get to the harpoons!' "...no..." she murmurs in dread. They had some luxury of not slaying them back on land, but in the middle of the ocean during a storm? Sarra is still going to try not to kill them, but...she is worried. As they start climbing up and over, Sarra pulls out her Silver hammer along with an ice flower. She takes up a position at the front of the ship, swinging at those that are within range and firing freezing bolts at those that are not. She also offers the flowers to any who want them. Ice was pretty effective last time. "Miss Rita...!" Sarra calls out over the storm. "If you are unable to save them, then it is alright! I will not insist that the crew be further endangered! But, if you are without putting much risk on the others...I cannot help thinking how many Bisu's may be out here!" Once it becomes clear there is a leviathan of some kind ahead, Sarra pulls out a black box with a red ! on it. She sets it down and stomps on the ! mark, and it unfolds into a Banzai Bill launcher. "Let us see if Charybidis can handle this!" she says, ready to launch as soon as they get a good look at the creature.
Foundation Scions	With plenty of warning, thanks to the omens of her crystal ball, Matilda, not quite a suitable deck-combatant, makes a habit of clambering on up to the crow's nest (where, frankly, she spends a lot of time even outside of danger!). As such, she stays reliably safe from pirate skirmishes, and maintains a clear vantage point over the goings-on below, to call out little warnings or distractions. It's a lucky thing, Matilda thinks, that most of the raiders can be scared off- the idea that this voyage is one to hurt or get hurt over simply doesn't parse. They've yet to even find the treasure, after all! However- watching Weather Report get confronted by an attacker proves to be quite scary for the crow's-nest onlooker- helpless little calls from Matilda try and warn the distortion, but also leave Matilda blindsided for when she has to watch the pirate simply evaporate- watching people die is unfamiliar territory to her, watching people die in such an abrupt and hard-to-follow manner is alien. Audible but whispered, after the kerfuffle, and after she's climbed down the shrouds on shaky limbs, Matilda mutters, "Où est-il allé..?" . . . Time continues to pass. It turns out, despite her eagerness, Matilda does not like hardtack! Who ever could have guessed this! Picking at hard, bland crackers instead of eating them, at least gives her the excuse to tell ramblesome stories of arcanum and achievement around the galley table. Without exactly realizing she's doing it, Matilda ends up avoiding, at each mealtime afterwards, ever sitting next to Weather Report. . . . 'I think we're getting close!' Time continues to pass. "You do-? Yes! Of course, we are nearing the destination-" The wave crashes into the boat, knocking her from one side of the crow's nest to bracing against the other. Sudden fright takes hold. 'Fuck the divination, we gotta go around!' "No! We must not! To vary our course will mean doom and disaster!" With wind picking up and waves rocking the boat, it's hard to trust her certainty- but she has to trust it at least. Scrambling to scan the surroundings and the path ahead with Joanna's spyglass, "No! It is not natural in the least- the water is rising around us, we are, we are penned in! Please, trust in the course! Perhaps there is a way through-!!" As the influence of the Mermaids sets in, up in the nest, Matilda lurches and falls to hands and knees, barely holding onto the spyglass. Sickened and unsettled, she breathes out a little incantation into her crystal ball- "Montrez-leur un destin menaçant... -and the deck below, foggy from the storm, fills with hazy illusions of fearsome and threatening specters, lunging at the attacking mermaids. It isn't much beyond a ploy that something primal and scared within the monstrous boarders can be jabbed at through such a display, at least enough to buy time and opportunities for the sailors below. Queasy-sounding, and pleading, "Please- do not turn the ship around, at any cost!"
Rita Ma	Rita's an easy girl to get along with! You could almost forget you're sharing room and board with a monster. If not for how she always slips out for a swim at mealtimes instead of taking her share, and overpowers pirates with her bare hands during those skirmishes, and is so fastidious about scrubbing the least bit of blood off her teammates' clothes... ... No, nevermind. She's pretty much ideal! "Ms. Matilda! Is this really the best way??" she shouts, clutching the railing through the wave. It pours off her like her whole body is a raincoat, leaving blonde hair fluffy and undimmed. HUNGRY. Rita's pupils go pinprick-mode. She double-takes at everyone else reacting before realizing that call isn't coming from inside the house. The first mermaid that comes up finds her in a slight daze. Rita puts her hand on its forehead and leans over the railing to shove it back like it's a bratty sibling intruding on her room. "Wait, stop! Get down! Get down, shoo!!" These ones belong to a different whale, so they probably won't listen to her. She's maybe not used to seeing them as enemies after so long with her tamed ones. Unfortunately there's more than she can make gentle shovey-hands at. "I cannot help thinking how many Bisu's may be out here!" Rita nods at Sarracenia, approving but hesitant, while struggling with a particularly eager boarder. "I think all of these are further-gone than Ms. Bisu was, but...!" If I can get a bite from the whale, I might be able to pacify the mermaids better. But if we can run away, it might not be worth provoking it even more. "Ms. Nonon! Can we outrun Charybdis?" Rita shouts back. "I'll go in the water if I have to." She can secure a good section of the deck railing, at least, by unraveling two tentacles from her disguise with a wet noise and bluntly sweeping the mermaids back into the water. But it's too big a ship for her to be everywhere.
Angela	''Ayo???'' "Don't think we'll be able to zookeep this one, Madeleine." Ceri murmurs, beads of sweat pouring down her face, her breath quickening. She remembers the threat of the Leviathans she had faced and while it was always a possibility, she was hoping Matilda's warnings would lead them to avoid the sea calamities. Madeleine can get a good look at the creature though. That gaping maw is huge, easily huge enough to fit the entire ship in, but that's not all. There's something in the maw--glinting in the dark, but from this distance it's hard to tell just what it is. Some form of enhanced sight or vision--or a tool that enbables such a thing--is gonna be necessary to get a good look at what's there. Gyuto needs less help than Sarracenia might think. He's able to handle most mermaids that head towards him but there's enough of them around in general that Sarracenia gets her pick anyway--and she certainly is able to down more than Gyuto is--but as you might expect, Gyuto doesn't seem to care--though he's far too busy to throw a fuss about it either way. Nonon grimaces at the mention of the Bisus, but she goes at them with the axe she's been carrying from Elibe. She takes the protection of her crew seriously and there's just too many to hope that they can somehow all be freed from Charybidis's control. Waterbug is less prideful about it. He'll happily take an ice flower to freeze mermaids in place. Sarracenia can launch a bullet bill though! And indeed, it's a pretty big target. Impossible to miss. The Gaping Maw pushes out of the water to leap up and swallow the bullet bill hole before crashing into the water again, sending a wave crashing into the side of the ship and drenching many pirates. One nearly goes overboard but Weather Report is able to pull them up before they fall into the mermaid infested waters. Weather Report has been very quiet since she noticed Matilda was avoiding her--intentionally or not-- and her sunny disposition has stopped coming back after a couple evenings. She's functionally unable to hide her true feelings due to the nature of her Distortion and she's just as unhappy with what happened as anyone else. Joanna had encouraged the stories as did Nonon who was happy to hear them as they took turns encouraging Matilda's tales while Joanna asked questions about her world and the nature of arcanum. ''Please do not turn the ship around, at any cost!'' Even Joanna is a little hesitant at that, but she smacks both sides of her face to focus up. "You heard her, gang..! We couldn't pull from this current anyway!" "She's right!" Nonon shouts over to Rita. "Best I can do is small adjustments from here. The whirlpools are too strong!" SO HUNGRY. It's pleading. It's begging you to get in the water. But Rita can reaidly push and shove mermaids back into the water. The fall is high enough on this ship it'll at least stun and disorient them for a while but they really can't individually overpower Rita in the slightest. Joanna rubs at her left arm as she blows smoke through her mouth, looking briefly cornered but as mermaids that slink past the defenses start climbing up the mast, she starts using her flintlock pistol to blast them off. "Don't have much ammo, navigator! It pointed us here, do you see our destination!?" That little gleam in maw flashes again, easier for Matilda to spot from there, though still far enough away to not make out.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Peering out over the roiling waters, Madeleine spies Charybdis's enormous mouth and quietly marvels at the sight until Ceri reminds her that this isn't a whale-watching expedition! "What- what's that in its mouth? There's something glinting in there!" she calls out to the rest of the crew. Hopefully someone either already knows, through their familiarity with the sea, or can get a better view of what lies beyond those teeth... With her attention turned to the Gaping Maw itself, Madeleine readies another arrow - one tipped with a metal snake's head, fangs dripping with poison. A whale of this size, at this intense level of exertion, will need to breathe again soon... she waits for the creature to show a sign of surfacing after it swallows Sarracenia's bomb. Just as it begins to rise she looses the arrow, which bursts into a cloud of poisonous smoke above the whale - a much harsher welcome back to the surface than a breath of fresh air! SO HUNGRY. Madeleine clutches at her head, distracted from her archery by the enormous mental pressure of the sea monster's cravings. "We belong in the water," she mutters to herself, clambering down from the rigging and setting her bow gently on the deck. Fully overcome by the compulsion, she makes ready to dive over the side...
Foundation Scions	>SO HUNGRY It's a conflict of interest, up on the crow's nest, to hold the edge of the rocking ship's railing to steady herself, or to make to dive towards the water- but by the fact that, as high up as she is, the motions are so extreme, and she's tied in as she is, no matter what way Matilda is beckoned by the psychic presence of the Whale, she can't, actually, get out of the crow's nest at all. Seaspray does not wash off her like water from a duck, she's a miserable little pile of queasy and stressed French girl, who would do anything to get off this boat and into a cushy room with dry sheets that don't rock all over the place, a warm shower with towels that aren't seawater-soggy, and food other than hardtack- but she can't, so the second best option is to keep trying her best at navigating and calling out warnings. 'Ms. Matilda! Is this really the best way??' "Trust me!! I- I interpreted the signs most accurately, there is no better outcome! Please!" As self-assured as Matilda is, so many of the crew going against what feels to be absolute truth to her, is never exactly pleasant- but if she digs her heels in, then everyone will see it through, and that she was right after all, and say how good of a job she did- no, more likely, it'll be the usual 'she must have gotten lucky', but at least that's better than being drowned in a shipwreck or eaten by mermaids, right? Matilda wipes seaspray from her face, and tries to peer through the stormy mist. 'We belong in the water,' "Merde- No-! Ms. Cadrasteia, you most certainly do not belong there-! Get out this instant!!" Shrill, wind-muffled, she calls down from the crow's nest, in absolute vain. 'It pointed us here, do you see our destination!?' Struggling to bring the spyglass to see clearer the glittering speck, Matilda, running mostly on instinct and intuition, holds true to what she's foreseen- that this is the right way to go, and what's more, that this is the only way to go. As such- a little mote such as this could only be a sign. "I think so- yes! We, we have to get in the water-" No, that's not right, that's the Whale's influence, "We have to steer towards the glittering light within the mouth! We must ride this out, not ride out of this!" What kind of a navigator is she, to be suggesting the boat needs to get eaten to get their destination???
Sarracenia	Sarra can't blame Matilda too much for her reaction to Weather Report's attack. Sarra has had similar reactions...though mostly to when she herself ended up killing someone in combat. Princesses should not kill people. Sarra does try to talk to Matilda, though. "I do understand your discomfort, but...there are times that such things happen. And Miss Weather Report may not have control over her power enough to avoid it. Perhaps that is why she was hesitant to fight at all for much of our trip." Sarra tries her best to cheer Weather Report up after it becomes clear it affected her. She offers Weather Report a different snack or drink every so often, things from offworld. She talks about the dresses and other clothing she would design for Weather Report that would look amazing on her. And when those things don't do the trick, she pulls out her trump card. The fox suit power-up! No one can be sad with a princess in a full body fox suit running around, right? She also offers Weather Report one. Unfortunately, the suit power-up did not survive to this current battle. Too many pirates and such. Sarra did not really appreciate the size of the creature they were facing until the Banzai Bill is eaten. Surely that would cause some explosively bad indigestion! But...it doesn't seem to. "..." Sarra seems a bit worried now as she clings to the railing to keep from being washed away by the wave. SO HUNGRY. Sarra stumbles, a hand to her head. She is perhaps he opposite of resistant to psychic attack, but she has faced Mermaids before so...her fear of becoming some freaky fish thing that tries to eat people is a pretty good way to resist. Maddie jumping into the water with her things probably wouldn't have worried Sarra. Maddie is a monster hunter, and a good one. But...heading toward the railing without her bow...that is worrisome. "Madeleine! You must resist!" Sarra exclaims. The princess is a but unsteady herself thanks to the compulsion, but she thrusts a hand toward Madeleine, and Silver flows off of her. The railing in front of Madeleine grows by several feet of glistening morphmetal. When Sarra realizes that worked, she tries to expand the effect. Maybe she can raise the railing all around! It probably won't keep mermaids out, but it might keep sailors in! 'We have to steer towards the glittering light within the mouth! We must ride this out, not ride out of this!' Sarra blinks a few times before looking up at Matilda. "Are you serious?!" the princess exclaims, then she looks toward the beast. "...then again...there are many tales of ships or crew being consumed by some great leviathan only to emerge later...!" Sarra calls out. Sarra still doesn't look convinced, but it does seem unlikely that they would escape anyway. At least...not without Rita going full Queen of the Leviathans mode.
Rita Ma	SO HUNGRY. You can live with it, Rita thinks. (She is a little better equipped to deal with this particular compulsion. If it eats her, she can't eat it, so that won't do. Stands to reason.) "Wait-- Ms. Madeleine!!" A tentacle takes a break from sweeping mermaids off the side to wrap around Maddie's waist instead, jerking her back from the edge like a vaudeville hook. It wraps around her arms and legs three more times before pinching off from Rita, staying coiled like a rope: snug, but Maddie could worm out with some effort. "You're not fffff-- you're not fish foo-- just stay on the boat, please!! Ms. Sarracenia, watch her!" Oh, no. Not Matilda too. But Ms. Matilda couldn't have already been under the Whale's influence when she made her first prophecy, right? So it can't just be that she's gone crazy... unless the path that she saw leading to the treasure is counting on me ignoring her and snapping her out of it, which means...? Ugh. I hate the future. Rita nods to Nonon, face tensed. "I'll... at least see what I can do." Then she steps up onto the railing and drops into the water, plunging down below the mermaids that scrabble at the hull. Beneath the Lake's frothing surface her disguise-wrappings begin to blossom off her into the flowering of tentacles. She squints with eyes adapted to the water and the dark: what is that in the Whale's mouth? God, she hopes it isn't anything important.
Angela	"Don't go into the water!" Joanna shouts, though this isn't exactly going to overcome psychic compulsions. The crew are largely busy trying to fend off mermaids themselves so they're not rushing to Madeleine's aid aside from Weather Report, who slips between mermaid claws to rush at her. She doesn't seem to be as effected by the mental compulsion of Charybidis even as Joanna and the others occassionally stumble at the bursts of psychic impulse. Some enterprising sailors are tying themselves to the bow while they still have their wits about them. But Rita is able to pull Rita back before Weather Report can do much as she slides and stumbles to position herself in front of Madeleine. "Today's weather report... is going to be... staying dry Nice and sunny okay?!" She says firmly to Madeleine. A psychic impulse from Weather Report attempts to at least dislodge the push from Charybidis enough for Madeleine to regain her senses. Of course, she can't actually obscure her anxiety with her face of cloudy skies, so that anxiety is bound to get passed on too. But it's better than leaping overboard. Matilda draws up the spyglass and extends it even as Rita leaps overboard to push on towards the Whale itself. Madeleine, Matilda, and shortly after Rita get start to realize what's that glint is as they get closer and their eyes adjust. There's a frankly HUGE pile of treasure in there, gold and silver piled up in a big hill of loot. Rita might remember how some Leviathans would use the promise of food crates and other needed supplies as a lure to draw in divers towards their clutches. "Is that it...?" Joanna murmurs, swiping down a mermaid with her cutlass as she perches herself up on the railing of the ship, heedless of the danger in doing so. "Nonon's treasure... But how'd it get here?" "Nonon! Please tell me you didn't THROW IT into a Whale's mouth and forget?!" Ceri shouts. "No way!" Nonon shouts back. "It was an island!" Rita's eyes will quickly pick out what happened, though. There's huge chunks of turf lingering in that maw as well, shattered and blasted apart and eroded away, but enough to paint a picture. Rita also sees a Bullet Bill lodged between two massive fangs, blinking red slowly at first but rapidly it's flashing speeds up all the same. MOTHER...? Charybidis emits to Rita before realizing. NO... The sea beast inhales, its attention shifting from the ship in an attempt to draw Rita in, suddenly deeming her a territorial threat. "Chance...!" Nonon shouts, spinning the wheel and aiming for that glint, just as Matilda ordained.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Rita's bindings are enough to sweep Maddie off her feet and leave her wriggling on the deck like some kind of goth worm. She scooches closer to the railing, but not before Weather Report intervenes. "Huh- wuh? Ohh..." the huntress mumbles. "Stay dry, right..." Shaking off the tendrils, she stands up (with some evident difficulty finding her balance) and wobbles back toward her bow. By the time she's retrieved the weapon, she seems to be back to her senses and ready to fight! Turning to face the onrushing Charybdis, Madeleine gasps in awe as she puts the pieces together. "It ATE the island!? Can they do that?" she asks, casting a worried glance in Nonon's direction. Then, peering into the creature's mouth again, "And I thought I wasn't supposed to be something's lunch today! I think we gotta disarm that bomb before we pass too close -- if it blows up when we're right by it we could be sunk!" She takes aim with her bow and fires a few arrows, hoping the force of her mighty weapon's draw will be enough to nudge the Bullet Bill out of place, or to set it off before the Vivid draws too close...
Sarracenia	'Ms. Sarracenia, watch her!' Sarra's face lights up in the midst of all the terribleness going on. Rita trusts her! Or at least, trusts her in this! Sarra gives a firm nod along with a strong 'Mhm!' As people tie themselves down, Sarra pulls out a ? block. "I hope this works...!" she mutters urgently, then hits it. With an odd sound...piranha plant head jumps out! It moves along the deck, drawing a thick vine in its wake, circling things like the mast and other anchor points to form a network of handholds. It even wraps its way around people who look like they are having trouble with the compulsion or are about to fall overboard, forming a living safety rope. But most importantly, Sarra directs it around Madeleine, Weather Report (even though WR hasn't really needed help so far), and Matilda. "Hang on, everyone!" Sarra isn't worried about the Bullet Bill. It will likely dislodge the treasure just in time for them to scoop it up! "Do not worry about the Banzai Bill! It will detonate before we ever get there!"
Rita Ma	MOTHER? You'd really think Rita would be inured to the scary feeling of a huge thing looming up at you out of the ocean's black. She's not. You don't get used to that. "M-mother?! ... I'm not here to compete with you!" she 'broadcasts' at the Whale. "I just want that thing in your teeth. You don't even want it, do you?" That's probably too complex of a thought for a Whale, she realizes with a little grimace. The hand-shaped one had been simple like this, too. But if Ms. Sarracenia's big bullet goes off right next to the gold, it might scatter. So...! Rita doesn't seem to resist being sucked in, but her tentacles angle to steer her precisely during her descent. If Madeleine's arrow can dislodge the Bullet Bill, Rita's foot slams into it a second later, driving it towards Charybdis's throat. That gives her a chance to lash out with a cutting tentacle at close range, trying to gouge Charybdis so she can sample its blood- just a taste could give her mental commands some purchase. The resulting blast-wave from the Bullet Bill will help launch her backwards, to safety- or that's the hope.
Angela	''I'm not here to compete with you!'' OUR TERRITORY. OURS. The Whale does seem to ''want'' it, though probably not for its monetary value. SHINING BRINGS FOOD... This one seems to be more hostile than even the last. And it seems to consider Rita a threat, slamming down its massive jwas towards Rita--it's faster than it looks it ought to be--but its still quite slow, its pure mass slowing down its chomp but it is not a creature that needs to 'bite fast' and it's all too willing to pull Rita in the old fashioned way, feeder-like tendrils rising out from the dark in an instinctive murderous embrace. Weather Report is thrilled to see Madeleine snap out of it. "I don't know, though if Nonon left it near the shore--or if it was a very small island. I've never heard of islands on the Great Lake before!" Madeleine draws her bow and opens fire! Despite Sarracenia assuring it will go off before the Vivid reaches it, Rita's concern it'd scatter the treasure they risked all this to find is quite valid. It takes a couple shots, but Madeleine's arrow acts like a flying toothpick, dislodging the Bullet Bill--the pure influx of water coming in starts pulling it inward towards the Gaping Maw's throat. WEather Report dutifully grabs onto the vine Sarracenia summons with both arms, squeezing her eyes shut. Gyoti kicks a mermaid down into the water, #-1 FUNCTION (ASNI) NOT FOUNDJoanna! We gotta grab it now!" Joanna aims her aim towards that glint in the dark and-- Rita kicks the bullet bill down towards the back of the Whale's throat. The red is flashing quickly, depending on the payload there's a risk that the inevitable explosion might catch her, but Rita is simlarly able to rip open the inside of Charybidis's mouth even as its massive teeth come crashing down for Rita's body, the closing of the maw speeding up quickly as it seems to sense danger. And feel pain. The Bullet Bill explodes. It doesn't scatter the treasure thanks to Rita's work, but fire explodes out from the Whale's throat and a psychic impulse of PAIN emits like a mountain of agony. Its feelers lash out wildly, pulling away from Rita, wildly slamming about. One slams into the crow's nest hard enough to fling Matilda into the ocean! Joanna turns, she sees Matilda falling. There is a moment of hesitation as she looks back to the treasure and then, swearing under her breath, leaps off the boat, diving into the water after Matilda, giving up on the treasure for now. Ceri skewers another mermaid and shouts, "Grab what you can! We are running out of time!"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is briefly stunned by the Whale's mental reaction to the pain from the explosion. When she comes around a second later, all heck's broken loose, with the monster's tendrils lashing about and battering the ship and crew. The huntress peppers a few arrows into the rampaging limbs, but realizes she isn't doing much to slow its rampage and instead makes for the creature's still-smoking mouth. While the cloud from the explosion clears, Madeleine takes a deep breath. With her exhale, ice climbs up the Vivid's prow at time-lapse speed, curling outward into a tongue-like ramp of ice leading directly into the Gaping Maw's, well, gaping maw. She skids down the ramp, straight toward the mountain of treasure. "Small silver case with a flash drive in it. Caduceus staff on the casing." Madeleine takes Joanna's word that the case's contents are of great importance, quickly scanning the heaps of treasure for the item. While gold and silver aren't her specialty, picking out the important details from a chaotic tableau is. Her vision is keen enough to see even while Charybdis's mouth is closed, so the main difficulties are keeping her balance and not getting swallowed whole. She shoulder-checks the monster's enormous tongue with her jacket's spikes. They're not sharp enough to pierce flesh or get stuck, but enough to cause pain and a reflexive withdrawal of Charybdis's tongue further back into its mouth. With the only appendage inside its mouth out of the way she sifts through the piles of shiny objects in search of that silver case!
Rita Ma	"I'm sorry! We'll be out of your territory in just a minute!" she broadcasts, trying to swat away Charybdis's tentacles with her own and skirt just out of range of its chomps. Rita has a taste of Charybdis's blood, and not a moment too soon. With horror, she whirls around to look at Joanna and Matilda plummeting into the Lake behind her. Past the Mermaids and the murk, the two of them can see something like a delicate blossom- a spider lily? a whimsical bundle of ribbons?- from perhaps a hundred feet away. Its glow silhouettes it against Charybdis. It reaches out a hand in desperation. It's funny, for something like that to have hands. Funnier for it to have a face. Rita's face, even. Fancy that. "Please, don't hurt them!" Rita calls out to the mermaids, although those in the water are likely to 'hear' it too: creepy-crawly-hollow, coming up the spine instead of in the ears. "They're-- they can't go with you, right now! Help them back up to the ship, please!" She can't go herself, because there's someone else in imminent danger too: Madeleine in the monster's maw. An invisible sliminess- familiar in its touch from just moments ago- winds around Madeleine's ankle, and gives it one 'comforting' squeeze. The moment she's done, or when Charybdis shows sign of biting down, Rita will do her best to yank Maddie free of danger. "... Who is your 'mother'?" she asks Charybdis. Maybe that'll distract it, as goofy as making telepathic small talk with a huge monster feels.
Sarracenia	'Matilda falls into the water and Joanna goes after her' 'Madeleine dives INTO THE GIANT MOUTH!!' "Matilda! Joanna!" Sarra exclaims, then gasps. "Wha-Madeleine!!" She looks frantically between the two directions with her hands clasped against the sides of her head. Did Madeleine give in to the impulse after all?! But she seemed fine after Weather Report got to her! But, no. Sarra realizes Madeleine was talking about recovering the case. Phew! So, Sarra tdirects the vine-toting piranha plant toward Matilda and Joanna, but even a piranha plant doesn't want to go into those waters. They aren't invincible! Sarra growls lightly before she reaches into her purse. "Well, I suppose I cannot blame you." she says as she pulls out a frog suit power-ups. She dons one herself, gaining a full body frog outfit that must surely look ridiculous right now before she leaps and...dives into the water! In a frog suit, she is as fast and agile in the water as any monstrous native, and she goes to track down Joanna and Matilda. As she is going toward them she pulls out a Bullet Bill power-up. She grabs Joanna as she passes, then pulls her to Matilda. Then... There's an underwater explosion. A few moments later a Bullet Bill the size of a car rockets out of the water and up over the Vivid. It explodes overhead, and the three of them come spiraling out to land safely on deck. Sarra -immediately- wraps some vines around them. "No swimming!! I thought that was clear!!" It's somewhat joking, but Sarra was clearly quite worried. "Did you get bitten or scratched or anything?" she asks, then looks toward Ceri. "Do we have any more of that antidote?!"
Angela	Gyuto and Waterbug seem most concerned with figuring out how to get more of the treasure. Gyuto has drawn out a harpoon with a claw attachment at the end--there's no way he's diving into the Whale's mouth after all--as Waterbug covers his flank with his claws, panting for breath with faint exhaustion. He gives a LOOK to Weather Report. Gyuto launches out the harpoon claw, snagging a bunch of gold and assorted treasure from the creature's mouth and snapping it back to the ship. He seems more concerned with snagging up as much treasure as possible than he is with helping anyone from the drink. If anything, Gyuto's visibly annoyed Joanna jumped in after Matilda to begin with. Madeleine goes (sort of) into the water after all. Sliding down the ice ramp she leaps down into the treasure and she can grab as much as she can fit in one hand. Most of the treasure is more gold or jewels or miscelennious art pieces that have clearly lost their value in here, but quickly digging through she catches sight of the Caduceus on a case and is able to snag it up. The case is still sealed, hopefully that means the contents are still fine? There's still the matter of the mermaids though. And a rapidly closing mouth. Madeleine can see teeth bigger than her. She REALLY better hurry. She can fend off the tongue with her jacket but it's not going to work against those teeth. And it'll probably be bad if that mouth closes even if it doesn't close ON her. ''Please, don't hurt them!'' The command helpfully stops the mermaids in their tracks. There's conflicting orders but the sudden change confuses and disorients them. They're not quite swimming towards Joanna and Matilda to help them back up, but at least they aren't eating them. Though where they are, exactly, is uncertain due to the mass of bodies. She can certainly help Maddie get out. If she wants to use her tentacles to grab some extra treasure, she has a moment to seize what she can before pulling away. But there's still going to be the problem of escaping right? Sarracenia becomes one with the frog and leaps into the water. "Seriously??" Ceri shouts, rushing over to the side to look. Sarracenia goes for Matilda and Joanna. She gets the sight of them but before she can release her Bullet Bill--a mermaid suddenly shakes free of the control, throwing itself at Sarracenia and impacting against the Bullet Bill, exploding it a moment to early and catching Sarracenia in the blast.
Angela	What happens next is a bit hazy for Sarracenia, a hand lashes out and grabs at SArracenia's frogsuit and then there's a surge of crackling heat-- An eruption of silver plasmic energy erupts in the water. Joana, Matilda, and Sarracenia all together fly out of the water, propelled by that erupting energy that seems to be bursting out of Joanna's arm. Joanna's usual jovial expression is GONE, and so is the tension, and instead all that remains is a tired, resigned expression. She drops Sarracenia and Matilda onto the deck as she crests over the deck and then swings her arm up, swiping across the water, nearly catching Matilda and Rita as it rips through the water and into the Gaping Maw's eye and then across the side of her body, leaving a thick burnt and bloody scar across its side. Joanna drops down to the deck a moment, shortly after Matilda and Sarracenia. The flash of silver fades and what was her left arm has transformed into a silver cannon, what used to be her 'skin' and 'arm' having mechanically opened, her wrist twisted grotesquely back to reveal an open cannon barrel at the end of her limb. Charybidis decides at this point it must protect its remaining treasure. It slams its mouth shut and dives down low, a wave pushing the boat away from its turf, backwards as the mermaids linger, for a time, and then swim off. "Should've done that to start with." Gyuto mutters. "O..oh no... You're not going to..." Weather Report murmurs, uneasily. "Not still..." Ceri recovers. "That cannon..." She draws her rapier, hesitatingly keeping it pointed down but watching Joanna warily. "The former Silver Color... Thought to have died at sea ages ago..." Nonon murmurs. "That's right." Joanna sighs. "...I'm Joanna, formerly the Silver Flash. And since my hand be forced already... I suppose now's as good a time as any to say... we're seizing your ship. Sought this treasure far too long to leave it with you."