Giant Spiders Oh My

[youhearthebells]

Who: the current Hazmats
Where: sailing to Manahana-lia Island, then on the island
When: August 27 through September 5th
What: sailing as fast as they can to rescue Cynthia, and the rescue thereof. They'll try to save time by jumping through Empieza but...
Warnings: spiders. Violence, talk of death, Gan Ning's mouth
Style: whatever you want, don't mind the setup
Status: closed to Hazmat crew

The minute the scream came though his journal, Gan Ning was moving. There was no time to waste fiddling around, they had to set sail to find Cynthia before it was too late. He tore through any maps and information they had on the ship, looking for anything that suggested spiders. Her clue, the spider-webs, meant that was all he had to go on. Fortunately, other pirates around the docks totally knew which island that was, and aside from impressing on him the "don't go there" part of the legend, told him where to find it.

It did seem odd that no matter where they were, if they set sail for Isla Empieza, they'd make it there in a day or so instead of weeks. Gan Ning relied on that, even though he didn't do more than skim through the harbor before setting a new course for Manahana-lia in the far west of the land. Hopefully weather wouldn't be against them. They had a long way to go and didn't have Wan there to guide the winds in their favor.

Spiders, the other pirates said. There'd be large spiders and his crew would be killed. Nope, Xingba would not let anyone die if he could help it. But that meant they'd have to fight. Roxas needed to heal so he could guard the ship, but everyone else, well...

Let's hope they make it on time.

[ooc: info on the island is here - make and date your own sailing threads but we'll hit the island about the 3rd or 4th and there'll be a fight log for that]

Comments

[heartismyown]

[He's quiet, processing what she's saying to him. He isn't sure what to think. He thought he had something pretty good, but he lost it and he didn't really give them a chance. Lea told him that. Lea was right about that. He's been too nervous and afraid of everything falling apart again to want to try. He isn't really sure what to say to everything. He doesn't know if things are as bad as people are telling him and he doesn't know how he's going to deal with Marco or anything else. Cynthia is making an offer to him that doesn't have dark strings attached and it's so very appealing.

It takes a moment before he speaks.]

Okay.

[anelegantmyth]

"Okay" what?

[heartismyown]

[He blinks at the unexpected question.]

Um...you want me to give you a chance, right?

[anelegantmyth]

...good to know you're finally on our side, Roxas.

[heartismyown]

[He sighs a little, but doesn't offer her a smile. It seems like the kind of place he would, but he gives his head a shake.]

Why do I always have to pick a side?

[anelegantmyth]

The short answer: because life's a bitch sometimes. It'll drop us in a crossroad and force us to pick a path. But you know what? Those are the times when you learn the most. Sometimes you choose the wrong path and sometimes you choose the right one. But you will ALWAYS learn something from it.

[ She pokes his nose playfully and smiles. ]

Don't worry about it too much Roxas. Just know that we're all happy to have you here and that we do love you.

[heartismyown]

[He doesn't respond to her light playing so much, just thinking about her words. His right fingers curl into a trembling fist as he thinks.]

Well...well I'm tired of it!

[He explodes rather suddenly, frowning deeply and looking none too pleased.]

Sometimes? What do you mean sometimes? Every decision is like this! Every single one! I'm sick of life being a bitch as you put it. I don't want to pick sides. I don't want to be bad but I'm not running off to be good either. I don't want to lose my friends just because I moved my physical body and I don't know why I have to join your side or his. Why is one better than the other? How do I know you're not just telling me what I want to hear?!

[He tugs on a few blonde spikes in frustration.]

[anelegantmyth]

[ She'll keep a calm face. Years and years of dealing with children at the pokemon league trained her for this exact moment. She WILL get through to this boy. Even if it kills her. ]

Roxas, I can sit here and talk about friendship and family with you all day. But in the end, it's up to you if you want to believe me or not. I just want you to know that you have freedom here. You can think for yourself, and you can do whatever the hell you want here. Eat candies till you're sick, skateboard all you want across the deck, get a pet, call our Captain "Kitty", ANYTHING. Stay friends with the Spades, no one's stopping you. But at least give HazMat a chance.

If you want to get mad, get mad at me. I was the one who told Lea we had an opening when he was asking about different crews. If I didn't, maybe you'd still be in that Spades ship right now and you wouldn't be having this problem. So take it all out on me. I can handle it. But everyone else is trying so damn hard to make you feel welcome and trying to be friends with you, Roxas...can't you see that?

1/2

[heartismyown]

[Anger, anger, anger. His mind is clouded in it and he needs an outlet, but unfortunately, Cynthia didn't take the bait and pulling out his keyblade isn't going to help him any. Instead he opts to punch the wall a couple of times as hard as he can to channel it out of him. He's left with a very sore hand and feeling very hot and breathless from the experience.]

2/2

[heartismyown]

Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you for that? First of all, not that it's any of your business about our private conversations, but I knew Lea was going to leave. For someone telling me I can make my own damn decisions, why would you think I didn't make that one? I made the decision...even if I don't like what came after that!

[He takes a few deep breaths. No one has actually accused him of not deciding on his own. His anger is making his tone and words much sharper than they usually are.]

I....know. I know that.

[anelegantmyth]

Do you really want to be here, Roxas?

[heartismyown]

It's fine. There's nothing bad about it.

[anelegantmyth]

Nothing bad, sure. But are you even happy here?

[heartismyown]

[What does that matter?]

I'll be fine. I just need to give you a chance right?

[That's what Lea told him. It doesn't matter anyway. He had all these friends on the Spades and Lea didn't, it's just the opposite that's all.]

[anelegantmyth]

[ Siiiiigh. Ok, new angle time. ]

You know what, Roxas? I've been only one talking. Tell me your side.

[heartismyown]

What do you mean? About what? About coming here?

[anelegantmyth]

About everything. I want to know your story...just, skip the organization part. We don't need to go back that far.

[heartismyown]

[He stares at her a little bit.]

Okay, so let me think what happened in the last few months.

[It's kind of less than half of 'his story'.]

When we came here and I woke up on that island and people were trying to kill me, which isn't that weird but I ran into Lea and Riku and Riku took us to the Spades ship. He wasn't all that happy to see me.

[anelegantmyth]

Was this Riku from your world too?

[heartismyown]

Yeah, he is. He's Sora's best friend.

[He seems to think about it some more.]

I got a skateboard from a weird ship and a pink pony decided my birthday should be in January and we had a party. I died, and then there was a lot of really weird candy that tasted really good. Marco got me drunk once and we went to the beach!

[Okay, so some of his memories are very much out of order, but it'd be easier to talk about people than a timeline.]

[anelegantmyth]

Huh...that actually does sound fun. Maybe we should have a beach day sometime. I know I need one.

[heartismyown]

Maybe..it was fun! Lea and I played around a lot and we had a race but he won because he's tall. What else...and Marco took me flying around the island! He showed me all of his tricks and it was really really cool!

[anelegantmyth]

Oh yeah, I think Marco told me about that. But tell me more about Marco. What's he like?

[heartismyown]

Okay, well, when I met him he was just a bird. A phoenix, I think, and I fed him some sunflower seeds and we played a lot. I showed him how to skateboard on one foot! It's really impressive. [He grins but sighs a little bit.] I think I met him not long after I got here and he was always a bird.

Birds don't talk though, so I talked to him because...I don't know. Sometimes it's too quiet and I told him lots of things about my favourite candies and skateboarding and other things like being in the Organization. I didn't know he was a person, but he started sending me letters which was really cool because he had all these questions about things I guess he didn't understand when I explained. So I talked a lot at him and he lets me use him as a pillow or hold onto him and just...

[He looks away.] He was lying though. Lea told me just before we left and I was very very angry at him. But he said he was sorry, he didn't mean to lie he just wanted to be my friend because he's got responsibilities and he didn't have to do that when he was a bird and he says sometimes he has a hard time talking. I don't know, me too. I don't always know what to say. So I said it was okay. It's not a bad thing, when I see him now he gives me a big hug and still listens to me only I don't have to wait for his letters to answer his questions.

[anelegantmyth]

What was he lying about?