Chapter 6: Diocles
Jillian: *slips several metal rings over her wrist as she walks towards the ramp to the docks* So do we want to get some food first or see what's around town? *tightens the criss-crossed belts around her waist, above a dark green pleated skirt with a sleeveless dress, fading from a very pale pink to a warm, sugary pink, cut open in the front at her ribs and falling down to her ankles where a pair of brown, flat sandles reside with the straps laced to just above her ankles*
Callie: *wearing a dusty purple, hip length tank top over a pair of black capris, gold, high-heeled sandals and a black scarf with sparkling purple and gold designs, a gold heart necklace lays on her neck beneath the scarf and a gold bracelet on sits her right wrist* I'm going out with Kuro first to find the present for her mentor.. *fluffs up her wavy hair slightly*
Jillian: Oh, right... well, I guess I'll find Jack or someone else to walk around with.. *looks around*
Baku: *loudly* Alright, alright, everyone. Gather 'round. *walks quickly in front of everyone as they exit the ship, turns around and holds up hands, stopping everyone* You can all go have your fun and whatever, but I need everyone, and I mean EVERYONE back here in 3 hours, ya got that?
*everyone nods*
Baku: Good... *looks at Garnet, apathetically standing in the back* GARNET, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?
Garnet: Huh, what? *snaps back into focus, looks at Baku* Yeah, I heard ya. *crosses arms, wearing a blue and yellow striped tanktop that buttons up the front, black lace lines the seams of the tanktop, spilling detail onto the blue, she wears green shorts and belt with a gold buckle in the middle, her hair is loosely tied in braided, low pigtails, a green headscarf adorns her head, she also wears her various unique pieces of jewelry including dangling green circle earrings, her favorite strappy sandals are on her feet*
Baku: Alright, troops. Move out. And remember - THREE HOURS. *stands still as the group moves past him*
Azrael: *stops next to Baku*
Baku: *nods, looks around and walks away with Azrael*
Garnet: *walking with Roxas, turns around to glance at Azrael and Baku...*
Jack: *walks off talking to Fiona and Bartimaeus*
Kuro: *skips off the ship pulling Callie behind her* C'mon, Callie! I have so much to show you!
Callie: *giggles* I can't wait!
Jillian: *looks around to see her companions walking away, frowns slightly, then spies Garnet* Hey Garnet! *runs up to her* Are you hungry at all? Want to get some food?
Garnet: *looks at Jillian and smiles* Yeah, I'd like that, but I need to buy some ammo first. Diocles is one of the few towns that actually have the right ammo for my gunblade, so I need to stock up whenever I can.
Roxas: *bounces around Garnet's and Jillian's feet*
Garnet: *wobbles* Calm down, boy. *grabs Roxas' neckscarf and stops him*
Jillian: *kneels down and rubs Roxas behind his ears, smiling* That's fine with me. *walks into town with Garnet, glancing off at Callie and Kuro she goes by*
Kuro: *suddenly stops* Oh no! I left my money on the ship! I'll be right back, Callie, don't move a whisker! *wiggles her nose as she turns and runs back to the now-empty ship*
Azrael: *walking quickly down a less crowded street* *firmly* I cannot believe you let that wretched feline onto your ship.
*few humans are seen, many unique creatures of various races instead occupy the streets, many of them appear to cower away as Azrael passes, an elf woman protectively shields her baby from his view...*
Baku: *trying to keep up with Azrael, struggling past several people* But-But Azrael, how could I turn down the niece of one of my closest allies? It was merely a ride - you will not see her ever again! *looks curiously at all the citizens reacting strangely to Azrael...*
Azrael: *stops by the doors of an abandoned-looking shop* *looks at Baku* *looks darkly at Baku* Keep in mind who you are dealing with, Baku. You are not the one running the show here, so you best keep in mind the words that I say. *turns and walks into the building*
Garnet: *walks past a few popular weapons shops, but pays no mind to them, walks into a desolate alley and pushes open the door to a questionable building*
Roxas: *squeezes through the door under Garnet's feet and bounds inside*
Jillian: *tenatively walks into the building* Are you sure this is even a shop..? *looks around*
*candles flicker, lighting the shop only dimly, a blue torch flame lights the front desk up, a shopkeeper dressed in black robes is at the desk, the majority of his face is covered, disguising whatever race he may be*
Shopkeeper: *beckons the two to come closer* Welcome, welcome! How may I assist you this fine evening? We have a special today on exploding fire bombs, will you be interested?
Garnet: *holds up hand* No, sorry, not today... I need three boxes of ammo for the Lightning gunblade.
Shopkeeper: *gets quiet a little* The Lightning, eh? *chuckles* A fine, rare weapon. Where did you come across one of those?
Garnet: Just the ammo, please.
Shopkeeper: *chuckles and goes in the back*
Garnet: *notices two individuals who came in the shop through the back, but cannot make out who they are...*
Roxas: *barks*
Jillian: *wraps arms around herself a little* *reaches down and pets Roxas, waiting for Garnet to finish in the shop*
Shopkeeper: *comes back holding three ammo boxes, sets them on the table* 1,000 gold coins.
Garnet: *face drops* Are you serious? *curses to herself, unwillingly reaches in her coin bag and puts the amount on the table* *flatly* Thanks.
Shopkeeper: *chuckles* Do come again.
Garnet: *clutches ammo and exits the shop* *to Jillian* I can't believe that guy! That price was outrageous! Fuck, I should have chosen a sword or something.
Jillian: *quickly follows her out of the store* Uh, is ammo very expensive in general? I've never had to buy any before..
Garnet: *hands two of the ammo boxes to Jillian* Can you hold this for a moment, please? *takes her gunblade from her side and begins reloading it with the new bullets* Well... for my model of weapon, yes, unfortunately. But ammo generally is afforable for the average user.
Jillian: Sure.. *watches Garnet closely as she reloads the gun*
Shopkeeper: *locks the doors of his shop, then moves to the back, greeting the two individuals who entered* I've been waiting for you.
Azrael: *smirks*
Azrael: I believe you have something for me...
Shopkeeper: *leans down under the counter and pulls out a box, stands up, clutching the box* You will keep your end of the bargain?
Azrael: You have my word.
Shopkeeper: *hesitantly hands Azrael the box* It's there, I promise you, you can check...
Azrael: *looks in the box, then closes it, looks back at the Shopkeeper* We're finished here. *walking towards the exit, Baku silently trailing behind*
Shopkeeper: *following the two out the door* *starting to get flustered* I do have your word now, you know... you promised, I kept my end of the deal, you can't go back on it now... you will keep--
Azrael: *quickly turns around and pins the shopkeeper against the wall by the throat, clutches hand tight* Don't trust me, do you? You got yourself into this, remember. *pushes the shopkeeper away, leaving the building* *hands the box to Baku, who looks at it for a moment, then pockets it*
Baku: *follows Azrael hesitantly, starting to realize what he's getting into...*
Garnet: *looks at Jillian* Have you even been out of Greenleaf before?
Jillian: Umm.. well.... *blushes slightly of embarrasment* No, I
haven't. I was raised there, and started working at Luminescense as soon as
I could basically. I've never really gone away from it.
Garnet: *finishes reloading and tosses the empty ammo box away* *puts her gunblade back on her side then takes the ammo back from Jillian* Thanks... well, if you end up sticking around with us for awhile, you'll be in for a real world shock. We some crazy shit. *laughs* But ya know, sometimes I wish I could have had a stable life like you. Maybe then I could actually keep a boyfriend. *laughs again* I left my hometown at age 12, when Baku took me in...
Jillian: *laughs* I'd like to get some adventure in my life. I've had more happen to me in the last week or so than I have my entire life. *nudges her a little with her elbow* Oh, you mean you don't want to be Aiden's girlfriend? *winks*
Garnet: *laughs* Been there, done that. *stretches arms and rests them behind her head* I had the hugest crush on him when I first joined Baku's crew. We ended up dating for almost a year when I turned 14. It was all young puppy love at first, but we ended up butting heads too much near the end, and Baku was pissed that we were getting distracted from our missions. So we ended it. It was akward at first, but we're good friends now. I think he still has a thing for me though. *grins*
Jillian: *laughs* You think? He almost had me march in on your and Azrael's lunch date at the faire just to find out who he was. Although it seems like he has a thing for every girl.. he's been talking to Callie a lot lately.
Garnet: *grins when Azrael's name is mentioned* Yeaaah, he does I suppose. He gets jealous real easily. I still sometimes think he has the same maturity level as he did when we got together. *laughs* I think Callie might be a little out of his league.
Jillian: Oh, Callie's just a normal girl. She came from a wealthy family.. her grandmother's sister-in-law is royalty or something like that.. but even though she has all sorts of nice clothes and everything, really she's just like you or me. *smiles a little* She and I grew up together.. she was born right around the time I came to the town, so we always got along well.
Garnet: Aw, that's nice. *smiles* C'mon, Roxas, are you hungry, too?
Roxas: *barks* =D
Garnet: Let's get something to eat, shall we? *opens up the door to a local restaurant for you*
Jillian: Sounds good to me. *smiles and walks into the restaurant*
A FEW HOURS LATER
Jillian: *walking towards the ship with Garnet, laughing* So then, Jack walks over to this guy and says to him, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." But the guy is just like "I'm not leaving! I'm a paying customer! I ordered food, y'know!" Jack was already pissed about the gut-punch he got earlier, so he gets even more mad now and says to him, "Sir, I'm going to ask you one more time before I take you out of here myself, will you please leave the building?" *starts laughing harder* So then the guy is like "Sir?! I'm a woman, you insolent pig!" and takes her drink and dumps it allll over him. She was so upset, she stormed out, and Jack was just standing there like he just got dunked in the river. *laughs* It was hysterical.
Garnet: *holds stomach, laughing* Oh that is funny...
Roxas: *runs up ahead, weaving through the feet of the other group members who are already at the meeting place*
Baku: *in front of everyone, doing a head count* Is everyone here?
Garnet: BOO BAKU.
Baku: Shut up, Garnet! *turns attention back to the group*
Jillian: *looks around* I don't see Callie here..
*Baku's ship, the Talmascan II, suddenly explodes into flames and pieces*
Jillian: *mouth drops open, staring at the sight*
Baku: *cowers at the sight, drops to his knees* No... not again... MY SHIP!!!!
Garnet: *puts hands over mouth* Oh my God...
Azrael: *crosses arms and leans against a wall, almost apathetic to the sight as if he expected it to happen*
Bartimaeus: *looks around at the group* *angrily* Who could do this? Who could betray us like this?
Jillian: And where's Callie? *tears up a little, looking extremely worried*
Baku: *buries face in hands* ...
Fiona: *loudly* I bet it was that girl, Kuro, I didn't trust her from day one! *points to Baku* And you let her on our ship!
Baku: MY ship! *stands up* And why would my best friend's niece blow up my ship?! Let alone get the tools to do it?!
Bartimaeus: You're slipping, Baku. How do we know we can trust our three new passengers as well?!
*Fiona, Bartimaeus and Baku all begin to argue*
Aiden: Hey, guys, quit it! *pushes the three apart* We have to stay calm.
*a piece of paper floats down from the sky, landing at Jack's feet*
Jack: *picks it up and reads it* Hey guys.. *walks over to the three arguing and looks at Bartimaeus* Not sure whether or not you'll trust me, but I think Kuro did this. And she kidnapped Callie as well, who she seems to affectionally be calling "your target," Baku. *hands the short letter to him*
Baku: *looks at the note, it reads "HAY GUYZ I TOOK CALLIE, AKA YOUR TARGET BAKU HAHAHA <3 KURO P.S. SORRY ABOUT YOUR SHIP LOLZ"* WHAT!
Garnet: *grabs the note out of Baku's hand and reads it* How stereotypical! *throws it up in the air* What are we to do now!
Baku: *looks at Azrael*
Azrael: *sounding very bored* Well, I suppose we should find the girl.
Jillian: *glares somewhat at Azrael* Yes, we should. *looks to the others* I'm going to go back into town and see if anyone has seen them. *looks at Bartimaeus* If you don't trust us, can you atleast trust us until we find my friend? Then you and the others can decide how you feel.
Bartimaeus: *firmly* Fine. Come on, Fiona. Let's go look for Kuro.
Fiona: I will gladly give her a piece of my mind. *walks off with Bartimaeus*
Baku: *just stares at his destroyed ship* My... ship... *sighs*
Azrael: *lazily walks away from the wall and walks a little past me, turns around and gives me a look* Are you coming, partner?
Garnet: Oh, um, yeah... *walks quickly up next to him and follows him*
Roxas: *stays behind Aiden's legs, staring at Garnet and Azrael as they leave*
Aiden: C'mon, Roxas, let's go comfort Baku.
Jillian: *nods and walks off with Jack into the towns* *yells back* Meet back here in an hour!
AN HOUR LATER
Jillian: *pacing at the docks, muttering to herself* Black building, red forest, blue buil-- wait, no, blue... blue... *looks up* Jack, do you remember everything?
Jack: Yes, Miss Jillian, you don't have to worry.
Jillian: Okay.. *continues pacing and muttering* Black building....
Fiona: *quickly walking up to Jillian and Jack* Did you find anything?
Bartimaeus: *follows Fiona* The only thing we found out is that wretched cat girl was known to steal food from the venders. Useless.
Jack: Yes, a little bit.. Someone overheard her saying "Black building, red forest, blue statue, second bush"... but we don't know where that starts. *frowns*
Jillian: *looks up at them* Any ideas?
Azrael: *calmly walks up behind the group* A black building? Well that's easy enough to find.
Jillian: Okay then! Let's go! We're following you. *looks at Azrael, holding her naginata in both hands*
Jack: I'm going to stay behind and make some preparations here.
Jillian: But.. *looks at him hopefully*
Jack: *shakes his head* Don't worry, Miss Jillian, the others will help
you.
Jillian: Okay..
Azrael: *begins walking* There's a potions shop on the east side of town that's run by the Black family, and what do you know, the building is black as well.
Garnet: *crosses arms while walking next to Azrael* You sure do know a lot about everything, don't you, Azrael?
Azrael: *looks back at Garnet* Do you have a problem with that?
Jillian: *starts walking towards the east side of town* C'mon, we don't have time to flirt and talk..
Garnet: *punches Jillian lightly in the arm and gives her a look*
Azrael: *gives a slight hint of an actual smile, but it quickly fades*
Jillian: *sticks her tongue out at Garnet and rubs arm a little* Owww... *giggles a little and continues walking*
This chat was completed on Saturday, June 23, 2007.