Scene #9420: Nonon's Treasure Island: Greed

Owner	Pose
Angela	''...Who is your mother?'' As Charybidis is fleeing, it hears Rita's question. At first there's the sense of confusion and bewilderment. This is something she'd expect someone--or something--like Rita to know. She almost certainly isn't aware that there is a multiverse. The Earthshaker... Ennosidas... Charybidis isn't that fast but its desire to fight has diminished considerably and it's falling back with its mermaids, leaving Rita with a name or title to go off of. Joanna the Silver Flash, having just revealed her identity, seems inclined to mutiny to take over the ship--along with the treasure Gyuto makes his way over to Joanna with so little hesitant, he has to be in on it. "Doing this now? Figured we'd be moving until after we reached port." "Showing my arm like that, they'd know I had an ulterior motive." Joanna says. "Get ready." Waterbug is a little more hesitant, but still makes his way over to Joanna, glancing back to Weather Report. "You coming?" "Um. I don't... I didn't think they'd be so nice..." Weather Report says. "...I thought you'd change your mind too." Her head is gloomy and cloudy but she scootches over to Madeleine, not quite protectively--but supportively. "Oi what's this..." Nonon says. "I'll have you know that gold is great and all but the bonds you've made here are priceless! What're you doing this for, eh? And what's your plans for us?" Joanna doesn't budge that easily. "You're a charming bunch. We'll let you off back at port with the gold and silver." Gyuto seems about ready to protest but quiets down at a scowl from the ex-Color Fixer. "...So your plan is to sell those codes back to U Corp. You'd be set for life." Ceri murmurs. "Aye. Weatherbug won't ever get into a Nest but he can least leave comfortably out here. Gyuto'd get a leg up in the world and I'd be able to manage my prosthetics as I get too old for this kind of work." She exhales smoke from her mouth. "So what's it gonna be, mateys?"
Rita Ma	"Ennosidas," Rita repeats in soft-downcast awe, as if to make sure she's understood. It's a very human habit to do that: down here, there can be no mishearing. The fleeing mermaids cast her with melancholy. But the provocation of trying to wrest control of them... the logistics of getting them back to shore... I can save them another time, she lies to herself. Any further conversation is cut off by that gouge of silver energy. Rita whips around to try to track its source-- Did Ms. Weather Report do that?! Or a secret power of Ms. Madeleine's, maybe...?-- but in vain. At least Matilda seems to be safe. Whew. . . . . Wet-squelchy tentacles ooze up the side of the Vivid after Charybdis has left, coil around the pillars of its railing, and haul Rita up out of the water- if anyone didn't know, there were going to be murmurs after her 'conversation' with Charybdis anyway. She lands lightly barefoot on its deck, water spattering off her... ... and finds herself in the middle of the standoff. "That cannon..." "The former Silver Color..." It doesn't take a second for Rita to decide whose side she's on. Giving Weather Report an uneasy-grateful smile- her face is still almost the same, isn't that cute?- she steps protectively towards Nonon, and turns to face Joanna. She isn't happy about it, though. "It's nice to really meet you, Ms. Silver," Rita says with a polite bow of her head. "I appreciate you saving Ms. Matilda. You could've kept your cover if you let her drown, right? That tells me you have a good heart." She looks aside at Nonon again. "But a couple of things bother me. First, Ms. Nonon... the codes are most of the treasure, so that'd leave us with barely anything to help the L Corp refugees with Trideag, right?" Her eyes slide back to Joanna. "Second, how far are we from the nearest land?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is yanked back to safety by Rita's tentacle after she retrieves the silver case, little worse for wear despite some bruises and a coating of whale spit (ew). She's just in time to hear and see the mutiny brewing. Her reaction is first one of confusion and shock, but it quickly turns to anger. "So, what," she fumes, "we just give you everything you want, and you sail with us back to port, and we part ways like chums while you're ripping us off? These codes belong to Nonon. Anything you'd get from selling them back to U Corp is hers to keep or give away." "I don't care what you need, what you want, what you failed to prepare for," Madeleine says, pointing at Waterbug, Gyuto, and Joanna in turn. "You forfeited all of that when you turned against us. If anyone sees a damn penny of these codes' worth, it'll be Nonon." She pauses to carefully tuck the silver case into an inside pocket on her leather jacket and zip it shut. "Nonon's bled for me, and I'll bleed for her. Shed blood too, if I gotta. But I don't gotta, not yet." Drogrung, curled up on Madeleine's shoulder, slithers down the huntress's arm and transforms into her spear - pointed at the ground, for now. "You sure you wanna change that?"
Foundation Scions	Everything after having been knocked out of the crow's nest is a blur to Matilda- she may as well have been fully unconscious. Little flashes of memory of the quiet and cold when her eyes fluttered open underwater, then flashes of bright lights through even the closed lids of salt-irritated eyes. . . . . . The after-image of them stays burned in for a moment, when her eyes finally open up again. It may as well be by dumb luck that Matilda finds herself back on deck, the process of how that occurred, fully outside of her awareness. Coughing, and trying to sit up, she finds herself muttering, "Ach, aïe, ma tête..." 'I suppose now's as good a time as any to say... we're seizing your ship.' "Hm? But you are crew of this ship..." It takes a few moments for Matilda, sitting kind of pathetically on-deck, to realize what Joanna means- and her eyes go wide. She tries to stand- stumbles, then tries again. Once she's on her feet, she backpedals towards Nonon, Rita, and the others. "No! Surely, there was a time and place for negotiations on payment before having set off on this task-?" Matilda pats down her uniform's pockets, looking for something, and confirming the little spyglass hasn't been lost to see. Her orbuculum isn't the sort of thing she can keep so neatly on her person, however, so, frantic, she looks around the deck in the vague hope that if it fell, it fell where it can be retrieved (and without the bowling-ball sized rock having fallen on anything vital.) 'I'll have you know that gold is great and all but the bonds you've made here are priceless!' Miserably, as soggy-sounding in emotion as the arcanist is after her unexpected swim, "... No, Ms. Nonon, I think the price has been set very firmly, and is perhaps not very high..." 'You're a charming bunch. We'll let you off back at port with the gold and silver.' "Hmph. Good luck finding your way to such a spot-" Well, they'd theoretically have the maps, "Because I-" She takes the spyglass out of her waterlogged pocket, and holds it out, hand trembling, to return to Joanna, "-Refuse to do business with ne'er-do-wells. I..." 'You could've kept your cover if you let her drown, right?' "I thank you for saving me (if it was it you that did?), but I am afraid I, too, m-must be firm on this! The people this mission seeks to help surely deserve nothing but-!" Is she shivering from the cold water, or the stand-off? The answer is both.
Sarracenia	If things underwater had gone the way Sarra had planned...well she would have been surprised to say the least. That she was intercepted by a mermaid and ended up being hauled out along with Matilda is not as surprising. But, who did the hauling was quite a surprise! It wasn't Rita as Sarra expected, but Joanna. The Silver Flash. Sarra is in a bit of awe up until... 'I suppose now's as good a time as any to say... we're seizing your ship.' The princess blinks, back in her pirate princess outfit after the collision with the mermaid and the explosion. "...you know, I really should have seen this coming with all the adventures stories I read. It is a classic tale. The pirate crew commandeering the ship from their captain after a heroic adventure." The princess doesn't even really seem mad. But, she does seem determined. She reaches slowly to touch the metal lotus on her head, and as she draws the hand back down a flow of Silver comes with it. It forms slowly into her hammer, the weapon taller than herself and the head surely heavier. She doesn't make any aggressive moves, but she does bring the haft down on the deck to send a small bass-filled thud through the ship. "As Miss Rita said, we came here in the hopes of doing some good for the refugees. It is very kind of you to offer us safe passage, and we are indebted to you for saving Matilda." Sarra smiles at Weather Report as she moves to their side, then frowns lightly toward the other pirates. "However...we cannot simply let things stand. I implore you, imagine all the good that could be done. We at Trideag are trying to improve the City for all. That would include all of you. Joanna, you are obviously still quite capable. We could use someone of your skill at Trideag. You obviously enjoyed Matilda's company, and as you have shown you have a noble heart. Working for Trideag under Director Lilian and Star Rita, you would be able to affect changes yourself. Our recruits could benefit greatly from your knowledge and experience. And, you would benefit greatly by having a place in our association." Sarra looks to Waterbug. "You already said you would probably join us if you could get there. Well, we can get you there. At Trideag, someone as capable as you would have little trouble making your mark. And with all the Outsiders there, your unique physiology would be valued. " Gyuto...Sarra lifts her nose at slightly. He's already shown his opinion of Trideag and her. She doesn't try to convince him. But to Joanna, she smirks lightly. "I know you all think you would be happy being set for life and never having to work again. But, as someone who basically is set for life I can tell you one thing for sure...you would become bored! I have no doubt! You are adventurers! Imagine the adventures you could have with us! Adventures that would make amazing tall tales as well as bring about change within the City!"
Angela	''If anyone sees a damn penny of these codes' worth, it'll be Nonon.'' "Aw that's sweet, Madeleine." Nonon smiles. "But I can't be the person who gets paid from all this. That's why I was gonna gift it all to Trideag. Rita's my friend, and if I hold onto money I made while hurting innocent people... I don't think I could be her friend anymore. So it's a bad trade! I'm a greedy woman..." She fans both her hands to the side. "But I'm already one of the wealthiest women in the world GA HA HA HA! A sexy partner, a home with a nice view, and companions who you could never pay for! GA HA HA!" It might seem like a small needless correction but it isn't for the great pirate. "Far as I'm concerned, this all belongs to Trideag." ''That'd barely leave us with anything to help the L Corp refugees with Trideag, right?'' "It'd be easier to sell this stuff than those codes, but--yeah. I won't say it's nothing, but it wasn't free to set up this voyage either. It wouldn't be what I or they were hoping for." She pauses a moment before adding, "Depends on our navigator, but we'd be moving with the wind. Two or three days, to guess. Wouldn't bet good odds on anyone stranded out here without a proper vessel." ''You could've kept your cover if you let her drown, right? This tells me you have a good heart.'' Joanna flinches guiltily, as if Rita had just slammed her with one of her tentacles. She doesn't quite stumble back, but her stricken face betrays her conflicted heart for a moment before she squints her eyes tight as if she's trying to smother that very heart that Rita's seen. "Couldn't leave a darling navigator behind in such a wretched place." She says, evasively, her scraggly bangs hanging wetly over her eyes, which confirms Matilda's question. Luckily, Matilda's orb is unharmed, having tumbled into some of the rigging and is hanging there, just barely within reach. Ceri is eyeballing it periodically, but most of her uneasy attention is on the former Fixer before her. "I remember hearing of your work, Joanna. You protected civilian ships in the Great Lake even if they couldn't afford access to the routes. Are you really going to tarnish your legacy for an easy life?" "Truly spoken like a Wood." Joanna retorts bitterly. "Aye, I shattered my body, tried to be a hero like so many other Colors out there, and I was left with friends drowned, empty pockets, and forgotten. Let me tell you, lass, a legacy is nothing compared to a full belly and restful nights free of pain." ''I really should have seen this coming.'' "I read the adventures when I was a wee lass myself," Joanna says. And then she sighs, "I'm too tired and old, princess. My years remaining are short and there are new heroes with stronger hope than mine to fight for this land." ''Well, we can get you there.'' "I said if you made it to my home I would." Waterbug says. "But I've got people to look out for. Some of them aren't doing too great. They wouldn't survive a trip into another District, assuming they'd even keep their cool throughout the trip. Nobody's hiring old G Corp vets with these hideous augs."
Angela	''Ms. Nonon, I think the price has been set very firmly.'' "Matilda..." Joanna says, hoarse. ''I, too, m-must be firm on this! The people this mission seeks to help surely deserve nothing but-!'' ''A held out spyglass.'' "I...I'm sure they deserve naught but the best..." She steps back, as if the offered spyglass was a spear pointed at her chest. It might as well be. "Please, Matilda, t'was a gift. If I sicken you so much at least sell it for coin." "Oh fuck this." This seems to be enough for Gyuto. "This is my fault. I figured a word from a Color was as good as gold," He steps back away from Joanna. "Maybe that's old City thinking, but you've been nothing but a weakling this whole trip. You're cowering before a fortune teller that's as green on the sea as in a fight." Is Gyuto getting bigger? He is. He was reasonably muscular before, but they're becoming larger and more grotesque and the color of his skin is transforming to bright vibrant red, two massive stone cleavers appearing in his hands as a third eye opens up in his forehead, a pair of horns pushing out of his forehead. It's less a transformation than the gradual removal of a glamour. "When she spoke to me, she said I hated being weak, oh how weak I always was. Kicked, pushed aside, looked over, threatened. But I could be strong. She was so kind, it was like she knew me better than I knew myself. And she gifted me strength. I'm not gonna waste it like YOU, Weather, being content with your little new head!" He lunges towards Madeleine and Sarracenia first, determining Matilda as a non-threat and Rita as someone who'll need more attention than the others. His cleavers lash out at the two as he aims to cut through them with those stone cleavers that are impossible sharp all the same. "Gyuto, damn it! We were still negotiating!" Joanna complains.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine glowers at the mutinying crew, but backs down a little at Nonon's cue. "Far as I'm concerned, this all belongs to Trideag." "Right, and where this money goes is your decision to make. Not these two-timers'." "Aye, I shattered my body, tried to be a hero like so many other Colors out there, and I was left with friends drowned, empty pockets, and forgotten. Let me tell you, lass, a legacy is nothing compared to a full belly and restful nights free of pain." Madeleine winces a little at this. Despite her words she is not immune to a good sob story. "I'm not saying you won't get your fair cut," she concedes. "Just that trying to reach for all of it's a fool's move. Maybe we can work somethi--" "Oh fuck this." Gyuto begins to rant as he reveals his true shape. Madeleine's a little stunned at the sight, but not so much that she can't defend herself. She hops back, near to the ship's railing, out of the path of that first mighty swing of Gyuto's blades. She scurries up the rigging, doing her best to keep out of Gyuto's reach under the assumption that he's still coherent enough to not damage the ship itself. "Oh, that's just GREAT," she snarls from above. "And now it's your turn to be the bully, huh? To kick and shove and threaten until you're at the top instead? Is that what makes you feel like a big man?" She readies her spear from on high, counting on Sarracenia and Rita to take Gyuto's more immediate focus while waiting for her chance to strike from above. When it comes she leaps from the rigging and plummets like a falcon, landing spear-first - hopefully on Gyuto's back!
Rita Ma	"Couldn't leave a darling navigator behind in such a wretched place." Rita smiles sadly, warmly, knowingly. That's the look of someone trying hard to be less kind than she really is. She's known it. She's worn it. "A sexy partner, a home with a nice view, and companions who you could never pay for! GA HA HA!" Her smile turns a little warmer, and one tentacle hugs around Nonon's shoulders, as if the big pirate needs soothing. But it can only get so warm; above anything, she's serious. "Wouldn't bet good odds on anyone stranded out here without a proper vessel." "I hoped you'd say that, Ms. Nonon." Rita crouches down. Her hand gradually glows white from within, like an incandescent lightbulb, and she presses her palm to the deck while looking at Joanna. Her tentacles still sway, vaguely at the ready but not pointed. "I could sink this ship," she says, though she's obviously not eager to. "I can make it back to land with everyone. I don't think you can; not carrying treasure. So, please, there's nothing to be gained by fighting. If you're okay with a humbler life, you could come to Apple Tree--" Gyuto, unfortunately, is less amenable to negotiation. "--Ms. Sarra! Look out!!" Rita shouts. Her glowing hand jumps up from the deck to 'snap-fire' a beam of glowing white light at him, with concussive effect- hasty and off-center, but it was meant to shatter wood, so it might still knock him off balance! In the meantime, her tentacles try to sweep Waterbug and Weather Report gently out of Gyuto's rampage zone- she can only hope that's taken as the gentle gesture it is.
Sarracenia	'Aye, I shattered my body, tried to be a hero like so many other Colors out there, and I was left with friends drowned, empty pockets, and forgotten. Let me tell you, lass, a legacy is nothing compared to a full belly and restful nights free of pain.' Sarra can't really argue with how good a full belly and a restful night is. She didn't really realize how much they were worth until the war and her time at the Liu training camp. Her reply is cut short when Gyuto starts ranting and transforming. Her eyes widen, but her hero-addled mind is thrilled instead of afraid. A slight grin appears on her face as he lunges. She leaps upward, only narrowly avoiding those cleavers, then goes into a spinning somersault to bring that hammer down toward his head. "She was so kind and this is how you repay her? Calling her weak for showing more kindness?! Attacking the people she is being kind to?!" Sarra's anger rises the more she thinks about it. "Do you know what is -actually- a waste of strength? Using it to bully others into getting your way! How can you be so self-absorbed after someone helped you like that as to use that strength to rob and destroy?!" '--Ms. Sarra! Look out!!' Sarra practically beams at Rita. "Do not worry, Ms. Rita! I am quite capable of defending myself~" she says almost cheerfully, then hesitates as she thinks of when she fought Rita. "...ehehe." Sarra rebounds back to the deck after her hammer attack, then keeps moving as she talks to Joanna some more. "Do you know why it did not work when you tried it? Because you did not have an association backing you who -wanted- change and heroism! THAT is what makes Trideag different! We are not out to make money off of misery! And how often did you fight alone in those times? Those in Trideag are never alone! I cannot stand our director, yet I continue with Trideag! Because as much as I hate it, she is very capable and will never abandon her people! If you have things you want to see changed, improved, then you -have- to join us! If you are tired of fighting, that is okay! Fighting i far from the only way someone as amazing as you can contribute! The new heroes need the strength and wisdom of the older ones! Your hope may have wavered, but we can restore it! That is my goal! To be a shining beacon of hope to the people of the City!" Sarra sounds quite sincere in her speech, and is smiling confidently at the end even as she keeps fighting Gyuto. "Waterbug! I would love to hear more of what is happening with your loved ones after this is over! With the resources of Trideag and my kingdom, I have no doubt we can help with whatever may be troubling them! Would that be worth the codes?" It isn't some kind of threat, just the heroic ramblings of a princess who knows they can do anything.
Foundation Scions	'But I'm already one of the wealthiest women in the world GA HA HA HA!' Still bleary, "You are..? You most certainly do not look it... Ohhh, oh! You mean, metaphorically! I knew that." 'Couldn't leave a darling navigator behind in such a wretched place.' If Matilda looked sad and betrayed beforehand, that just rubs it in. She thought Joanna was trustworthy, reliable, and earnestly friendly! She kept good care of the spyglass, told many a story, and tried truly very hard to get the shreds of appreciation and attention she'd gotten from her and the other crewmates- so hearing positivity still, after a heel-turn? Ow. "Don't say such a thing, w-when that is what you are doing! Hmph!" 'I read the adventures when I was a wee lass myself,' Matilda, who also read such books (more recently), interjects- "Then surely you know it is, in fact, the nefarious mutineers who wind up all the worse for scandalous deeds, no? There is yet time to acquiesce to proper sensibility, Ms. Joanna! Surely, other avenues can be created!" 'Please, Matilda, t'was a gift. If I sicken you so much at least sell it for coin.' There's a visible little tremble to Matilda's bottom lip, as she stares back at Joanna, and quietly puts the spyglass back into her pocket. Her hand comes up to her face to wipe off what is totally just sea-water from falling overboard, nothing else. "I- I most certainly do not, need whatever coin it would amount to. F-fine, have it your way. I had hoped for better than this." 'I could sink this ship,' "Please do not-!" Matilda squeaks, as if some instinctive part of her is grouping Rita's words in with the threat from the mutineers. 'You're cowering before a fortune teller that's as green on the sea as in a fight.' "Excuse me-! I am not green in the slightest, in fact!" Still, Matilda is a nearly-unarmed nearly-noncombatant, standing there- but given that Gyuto has decided to give her the opening, she's fixing to change that. Moving right into a little dash, she scrambles up towards the side of the ship, hopping up from the railing to the shrouds, where her orbuculum sits tangled. It takes a precious second to tear free, but once it's clutched tightly in her hands, she holds it out, pointing it so that Gyuto and Joanna's troupe are visible through its crystal. "Ventus Gust !" Matilda shouts, a Foundation-standardized incantation, and one most appropriate for fighting on a ship at sea- a strong burst of wind strikes into the mutineers, whipping loose rigging and deck-tools to and fro in the uproar, and even after the burst, a stiff crosswind stays as an ambient impediment.
Angela	''Right, and where this money goes is your decision to make. Not these two-timers.'' "Um, I know practically speaking that sort of ends up the same way but can we not stick with that framing anyway, haha?" Nonon says, a guilty look in her eyes. ''And now it's your turn to be the bully, huh?'' "Sounds about right..." Gyuto growls. While greed is definitely playing a part in his aims here, it's what he saw as weakness from one who was supposed to be strong that spurned him to act. He is all too happy to admit this about himself. Whatever shame he may have had about this part of his personality burned away when he Distorted. Madeleine comes down upon his back with the spear. He bleeds normal human blood and he hisses, grabbing for Madeleine while he's on his back, aiming for a leg, and aiming to swing her side to side against the deck. There's decent odds that Sarracenia will have to deal with a Madeleine being swung at her. The hammer comes down against his skull and his head jerks down. It snaps one of his horns off in the process. He swings his cleaver at SArracenia but she's nimbler than he is and dodges out of the way, but then he just sort of surprisingly flings the massive weapoin at Sarracenia's midsection, anticipating her movement to make it that much more difficult to evade. He doesn't seem concerned about the ship sinking--but then, he only really needs one item of treasure doesn't he? And Nonon wasn't considering Distortions when she suggested they would have difficulty making it back. A ray of light impacts against Gyuto's chest shortly after, though, and that sends him crashing back against the railing, hard. He sprawls against it. Meanwhile, Joanna doesn't really get a chance to really hear Rita's offer thanks to the fight breaking out, but it's rattling around in her head all the same. ''Don't say such a thing w-when that is what you are doing! Mmph!'' "Matilda... That's a whole other thing--" But Matilda isn't exactly wrong that the nefarious mutineers tend to end badly. "...But--that's stories--" She's never felt this unmade before and she doesn't like it.
Angela	Joanna sees where Matilda is going and she's the one mutineer who actually sees Matilda as capable. She's seen her arcane magic having an effect on the mermaids and while she isn't entirely sure just how powerful the arcanist is, she isn't going to write her as a non-threat. She raises her cannon up, her instincts as a Color screaming at her that she can't let Matilda get that crystal ball. And she has enough time to fire. A precious second is an eternity. But she can't. She lowers the cannon and for her hesitancy, gets thrown back through a railing for good measure, her good hand catching the side of the ship before she tumbles over. There are other mutineers besides just the three, of course, who were starting to gather up but they also get knocked around for good measure by the arcane energies. Ironically enough, Weather Report and Waterbug get pushed away thanks to Rita before the latter even indicated he wasn't going to team up with Gyuto. ''Would they be worth the codes?'' "Um." Waterbug takes a moment to analyze the situation tactically. "Well, if you're still offering..." His heart may not have softened as much as Joanna's but he's suddenly feeling the prospects of this mutiny to be less than he had originally hoped for. He thought this lady was some kind of goo person, not some kind of tentacle person! Ceri slices across Gyuto's side with her rapier but has to quickly backpedal when his arm swings around at her, ducking under the strike as she sees how ineffective her strike was. "Rapier is too thin to cut properly...!" She shouts. Nonon, of course, is too busy with the ship in what's still fairly rough seas. As Gyuto sees that Matilda isn't so helpless after all, he turns on her. He rushes at her with speed that his size obscures, raising both blades in the air-- --only for a silver cannon shot to imapct against his gut and send him tumbling across the deck once more. Joanna lowers her cannon again. She shudders. And she says, "...Damn it... Damn it! Why'd you all have to be so CHARMING." Joanna complains before slumping onto her deck, hanging her head. "...Can't stand that look at all, dammit..." She sighs. "You people unmake this old woman."I give up. Do what you will." This saps the fight out of the rest of the mutineers, who drop their weapons, but not Gyuto. He's rearing up for another strike, but now he's alone.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine's plunging attack strikes true enough, but she's hardly pulled her spear free by the time Gyuto gets ahold of her leg. "Woooaaaahh! Oof! Look out!" she calls as she's slapped against the deck and swung around. Rita's beam knocks her free of Gyuto's grip, however, and Matilda's wind attack scatters the other mutineers enough for Maddie to get her spear back. She circles Gyuto, careful to stay out of the reach of those cleavers. Instead of stepping closer she transforms Drogrung into a bow and fires a few shots, enough to keep Gyuto back even if he's able to block them with his own weapons. This, however, gives Gyuto space to attack Matilda - only for Joanna to intervene. "I see, you've come to your senses!" Madeleine calls out to the former Color. "This guy is everything you fought against, while you were protecting people out on the Lake!" Drogrung straightens into a spear again and Madeleine pounces toward Gyuto, swiping horizontally to dissuade his advance. As Madeleine continues the fight up close, she shouts loud enough for Joanna to still hear her words. "It's a long story, but I think I know how you feel right now... Hold onto the care in your heart, for whatever it is that moves you. Without that - ufh!" She parries a mighty double cleaver swing, skidding backward across the deck from the force. "Without it you're no better than this brute! Just living for the next hit of whatever gets you high!" She rushes forward with her spear, in what appears to be a blindly foolish head-on assault - but when those cleavers come down toward her on either side, Drogrung's enormous ghostly claws spring out of the spear's haft to shove the blades off course. The heavy cleavers sink into the deck in a shower of splinters, leaving Madeleine a little corridor to finish her run up to Gyudo. Drogrung's claws grapple with the Distorted sailor, and Madeleine shoves with all her strength, hoping to force Gyudo back over the side.
Sarracenia	Having a Madeleine swung at her is a surprise! Sarra yelps and dives out of the way, rolling back to her feet only to have a cleaver -flung- at her! She instinctively swings at hit with her hammer, and there is a resounding CLANG as they impact. Sarra is thrown back after the hit, and the cleaver is sent back the way it came. She crashes into the railing and out over the water, flailing almost cartoonishly. But then, she remembers...she has items! She pulls out another Bullet Bill power-up and is engulfed in an explosion. A car sized Bullet Bill rockets out of the smoke and toward Gyuto. But, instead of exploding on him (Madeleine is there!) it explodes a short distance away from him. Sarra comes spiraling out of it, maintaining that rocket-like speed. She pulls out another item, this time a Metal Cap. She puts it on as she flies toward Gyuto, then holds out her hammer as her entire body is turned to metal. When she reaches Gyuto, it is as a princess-shaped artillery shell. "Get off our ship!" she demands just before the resounding clang of a heavy metal object hitting a solid target. "You belong out there with the other mindless monsters!"
Foundation Scions	>She raises her cannon up, Matilda sees Joanna aim her way- there's an instant where animal instinct gets her to stop moving, one foot on the railing, reaching up to get into the shrouds, all-encompassing fear of having a gun pointed at you taking over. If that brings any peace to Joanna, if she thinks for a moment she won't have to shoot Matilda to stop her, with a veritable gulped breath of nerve-steeling air, Matilda, in all her years of martyr-praising indoctrination, carries on with her motion. Matilda doesn't think even for a moment that she's calling a bluff- she shuts her eyes, so she won't see it coming in the split second she'd have left, if Joanna decides to shoot. It's just the course of action she has to take, to falter would be a deep betrayal to more than she'd be able to put into words-- --But her trembling fingertips touch crystal, still, and her open eyes see the deck of the ship instead of the pearly gates or nothing at all. It won't be for another few moments before Matilda can consider why that is- that Joanna simply chose, again, to keep her safe. . . . Matilda can't help but think she's made an utterly dreadful mistake, to, only a bit later, wind up facing imminent peril again. Crystal ball in hand, as Gyuto advances, "Stop at once, y-you are facing a trained representative of the St. Pavlov Foundation, so it is in your best interests to-" He doesn't! She swaps gears, whispering out another incantation into her oorbuculum- "Montrez-lui une effigie de ses peurs!" Mist coalesces in front of her, a thin, see-through illusion in the form of whatever it is Gyuto fears- but before it can take hold, Joanna's shot catches him, and Matilda's focus almost drops away. "Hein? He stopped? I stopped him-? Of- of course I did, yes!" Oh. There's Joanna, cannon smoking.... Good job, Matilda! "Er..." 'I give up. Do what you will.' "... If you had but said so before- erm, no matter, that, surely, is the right call! Complete surrender..." Trembling-unsteady, it's alien territory! She still wants to look up to Joanna! What the hell! When is a good time for reconciliation? It certainly doesn't feel like now is one. Instead of spitting out more rambling words, she just stares at the once-legendary Fixer, a pained expression across her face, mixed through with exasperation and slight relief. Quietly, "Peut-être 'merde' est correct..." >He's rearing up for another strike, Matilda, brave Matilda, decides to display a bit of her absolute genius: in the spare moments as Gyuto is still getting back up, and the others are standing down, she... ...Runs towards the internal cabins to hide in cover, and only after she is in relative safety does she pick back up the incantation she'd concocted to torment Gyuto with fearsome illusions.
Rita Ma	With only Gyuto, it's still havoc, but it's a localized enough havoc that Rita can find a quiet second on its outskirts. A tentacle slides across Ceri's rapier blade, coating it in a drippy 'venom' that sizzles when it dribles down onto the deck. That should help it pierce Gyuto's hide. A tense nod: Rita really believes Ceri can handle anything with the right weapon, after how she held up in Rita's world. Her other tentacles draw away from Weather Report and Waterbug, now that they're (hopefully!) safe from Gyuto's rampage. They seem almost sheepish about the contact, patting Weather on the shoulder as they part. Someone else needs Rita's aid, after all- if not physically in getting up from the side of the boat, then emotionally, after Joanna fires the shot and collapses. Slrrrk. There's a noise a bit like someone eating spaghetti right behind Joanna; and then Rita's standing there, sweet innocent tentacle-less Rita in her jacket and skirt. She crouches down, still watching the battle with Gyuto in case it goes badly, and tries to get Joanna's good arm around her own shoulders to help the old woman up. "Ms. Joanna," she says, smiling aside and speaking as softly as she can while still being heard over the rampage. "Thank you lots for... for making the City better than it was. Nobody can ask any more of you. I hope that we can carry on your work, Ms. Joanna, in ways that'll make you proud. But..." But what? There's no getting around the fact that she is asking this old hero to make another sacrifice. She imagines Joanna as an older, tired Kana; worked just as hard for longer, and with fewer people to show her care. (Does Jyuto's blood count as 'human'? Rita wrinkles her nose and hopes not.) "... In my world, there's prosthetics a lot like yours. People are slowly learning not to be scared of folks like Mr. Waterbug. And, Ms. Weather Report, I know Ms. Rook from Trideag would love to talk to you, if you'll come out there with me. I know, Ms. Joanna, that if you're anything like the Red Mist you're not used to people being grateful for your heroism..." She tries to hold hands, awkwardly, with the grotesquely folded-back one above the Silver Flash's arm-cannon. "But making the City a kinder place is the point, right? So you can ask us."
Angela	''I see, you've come to your senses!'' "Nah, I must be in a drunken stupor." Joanna mutters. In truth, she doesn't really see much different between herself and Gyuto except maybe a measure of wisdom, a better sense of timing perhaps, maybe even an understanding of propriety. But she doesn't see her core any different. She never heard a Voice whisper to her and that means she's far more tightly wrapped up. Gyuto's cleaves slam into the deck deep enough that he struggles to pull them back out, allowing Madeleine to grapple with the man, but he's strong, tough, over two times her size. It's not going to be easy to be that easy to throw him overboard! At the very least, it keeps him from chasing after Matilda again as he is pushed away from his weapons but he's going for another grab. Madeleine is a potent weapon. But Rita has added a STATUS EFFECT to Ceri's blade. Ceri gives her a return nod before digging the blade into Gyuto's side, he hisses through his fangs and stumbles away from Madeleine and is even off balance enough that when Sarracenia flings herself into him, she doesn't crumple up like a tin can. He doesn't QUITE got overboard but he is sprawled against the side and is precariously and partially dangling off the side. Joanna will never forget that look of fear on Matilda's face. In some ways, the finishing blow to Joanna was inflicted by Joanna. She has long since felt disgust for herself, for how she failed, for how she failed to secure a proper future for herself--and now she feels even lower, even slimier, lower than dirt. But she's also proud, damn her, proud that the young navigator pressed on all the same. She doesn't have a right to be proud, but she is all the same. The fight is out of her. Gyuto blinks his bleary, weary, toxin-tired eyes and Matilda summons an illusion. What he most fears. A pair of little boys walk across the deck, picking up little pieces of rock in their hand and tossing it up and down in their hands. "Hey it's Gooey Gyuu-eey, Gooey Gyuu-eeey!" The demon says and they start flinging rocks at him. They do no damage but Gyuto howls in agony all the same. He grabs at his head and swings his body from side to side across the deck. "Shutup! Shutup!! I'll kill you! I'm strong now, I'm strong!! And I'm going to get everything I've earned--!" But then he rolls, in his terror, right off the side of the ship! Weather Report yelps and extends her hand with both hands and-- --Boing! A little cloud appears underneath the oni, catching his fall and slowly bringing him back up to the deck before unceremoniously dumping him there. Weather Report rushes over and crouches down by him. "Oh Gyuto... You poor dummy..." She pats his head. "We can't escape the jail if we insist on being the jailer... I may've lost my job but... If you stop thinking about all those rainy days, I'm sure you'll get plenty of sunny days without having to crush anyone." "I...like the rain..." Gyuto weeps and whimpers, covering his eyes with his massive hands. "Nobody wanted to bug me in the rain..." "...Rainy days then... Just for you." A little rain cloud pops into existence above Gyuto and drizzles on his face. The tension fades from his body as he passes out then and there from venom, wounds, and exhaustion.
Angela	''I hope that we can carry on your work, Ms. Joanna.'' "I wouldn't wish that on my enemies." Joanna murmurs. "Don't get so busy helping this world you forget to feed your belly." She doesn't realize that maybe she shouldn't be using that particular phrasing with Rita. "Don't spend too long from your warm home, and good friends. You never know when time will take 'em away." She looks over to Matilda for a moment but can't manage it for long. "Or your own foolish choices." Unfortunately, Gyuto's blood definitely counts as human blood rather than monster blood. As far as this world is concerned, Distortions are just as human as anyone else. Or close enough as far as a meal plan goes. Fortunately there isn't THAT much around. Ceri's cuts weren't that deep and most of the hits he took were concussive. Even Joanna's blast burned him more than anything, and Rita prefers her flesh uncooked right? But he's definitely not a billionaire and he's a weeping mess right now. "Your world sounds like a kind one, lass... Though I can't say I'm a hero anymore."But she can be supported up. "But until then, I'm gonna ask you kindly to stay in the brig, Joanna, along with Gyuto. I can turn a blind eye to an almost mutiny but not to actual mutiny." Ceri says, giving Rita a small look asking her to not countermand this before turning back to Joanna. "I'm not being vindictive here. I'd much rather you handle the cooking than myself, but I'll make sure you both get your meals. For now, though--I'd very much like to begin the journey home." "Aye aye, Vice Director!" No complaints from Nonon as she turns the ship around and makes her way back home. The voyage back will be rather peaceful, especially with Matilda's help. But for now... ''If you had but said so before- erm, no matter, that, surely, is the right call! Complete surrender...'' Joanna raises her arms up and the cannon pulls back into her arm. There's no real point to putting manacles on her or anything like that. "Then that's the answer I'll provide. ... I really enjoyed our time together, lass. I know you'll go far, whatever you choose to do." She makes her way down to the brig. Ceri escorts her largely out of propriety. But the adventure has been a success, though whether something can be done with those navigation codes--like if a buyer can even be found, or if maybe there's some other use for them-that will be something to deal with when they get back. Weather Report is all too happy to return to Trideag, though Waterbug will have to go back home and he'll take some treasure and his pay and be satisfied with that, at least for now. To really help him out, that will be another story. Weather Report, at least, is really interested in Trideag and is asking about signing on with them. Gyuto's fate in the crew's hands--and as for Joanna, well, the path she takes is still up in the air.