Intro Log: April 2015

[highseasmods]

WELCOME NEW CHARACTERS!
Have an intro log for the month of April!

Who: Any and all new characters, as well as anyone hanging out on or around Isla Empieza!
Where: Near the fountain in the town center.
When: New characters will arrive around April 9th! The log is good for as long as you need it.
What: You've just been dropped on your head in a weird new world. Time to figure out what the heck is going on!
Status: VERY OPEN.

Spring has arrived in Empieza! The days are cool and occasional thunderstorms growl through the night. If the citizens of Empieza seem more anxious than usual, it's because of the pirates that aggressively roam the streets, hunting for fresh meat -- either for shanghaiing or sport. If you don't wish to be coerced to sail under the flag of Ammon the Bloody, it's best to stay out of their way.

Feel free to throw your characters here if you need a place for them to get situated and start figuring things out! Start new threads, tag into others, meet the people who might just become part of your crew! Older characters will be in and out, too, depending who is on the island at the current time.

HAVE FUN! And welcome to High Seas!

Comments

[mikangirl]

[Nami doesn't like waking up in strange new places. At least this one comes with a weird introductory journal (..?) and a decent supply of money (not beri okay, sure, but a quick adventure with a local merchant shows her she's not badly off at all). So she's more confused than upset. So far, she assumes something weird happened while they were anchored off of Dressrosa. Which means some of her crew might be here as well, right?

She wastes no time in checking out the fountain that's referred to, scribbling down the entirety of that weird riddle. In...the journal in question. Aheh. The townsfolk don't seem to want to give her the time of day, so after she explores as much of the town as she can, looking for familiar faces or someone who's even remotely friendly-looking, she vanishes into a bar and takes up a back corner and starts studying the journal's introduction and this written down riddle.

After a while, she'll start taking notes.

Guess where they'll end up.]

[alwaysgrumpy]

[It didn't take much more than a passing glance to figure out what the deal was. She was a newcomer. She didn't have the scent of a local, and she did have one of the journals. Natives didn't get those, only outsiders. He actually decided to do the courteous thing for once, and see if he could help.]

Guess you got hauled into Jones' net, too. Sorry about that, lady. How you holdin' up?

[mikangirl]

[Nami blinks, glancing up. It's not like she wasn't expecting people to talk to her in here, but she wasn't expecting someone in the same boat.]

I'm doing okay. You mean I'm not the only one?

[alwaysgrumpy]

Not my first time here. Davy Jones pulls people in every month or so, from what I recall. Doesn't seem to be much of a pattern to why or who, from what I can tell. You've been forcibly conscripted to play pirate for him.

Pretty much the story for everyone who isn't from this world.

[mikangirl]

[She stiffens.]

I'm not the type to be forcibly conscripted to do anything. [There's an edge there, because this isn't the first time someone's been disinclined to agree with her views. It's not even the second.]

I've already got a crew. I'm not joining someone else's.

[alwaysgrumpy]

Well, that's a very nice sentiment, but he's not too keen on listenin'. We pick our own people to crew with, at least. He just wants these "shard" things and we're supposed to grab 'em.

Then again, there's always a chance people you know are already here. Wouldn't be the first time. Why don't you throw out some names, and I'll see if I've heard of 'em?

[mikangirl]

[She glances at him measuringly, before her eyes drop back to the riddle she's written. So that pretty much explains that, then.

Hnn.]

Brook. Chopper.

[If anyone stands out, it's gonna be the nine foot skeleton. Even more than the reindeer doctor.]

[alwaysgrumpy]

[He leans against the wall, looking up at the ceiling as he sifts through old names he's seen on the message system.]

Can't say I know 'em, but that doesn't mean they haven't been here. Anyone else?

[mikangirl]

[Welp. May as well just jump right in, then.]

Straw Hat Luffy.

[alwaysgrumpy]

...Ah, monkey boy. Yeah, he's here. Kinda' spastic, childish, doesn't listen to a lot of what you say?

[thetruehistorian]

[A familiar floral scent permeates the air, and a moment later the unoccupied chair next to Nami is no longer unoccupied. A waitress bustles by with something in a mug a moment later, her face pale as if she were terrified, but she drops the mug and an additional one without a word and rushes back to other, less murky areas. Robin takes a sip, and smiles brightly.]

It's good to see you again, Nami-chan. How are you enjoying Isla Empieza?

[mikangirl]

[Nami gives the smallest jump as there's suddenly a chairful of Robin-- the floral scent does a lot to put her at ease, but people appearing out of thin air is something she'll never get used to. That being said--

Her face lights up in relief.]

Robin. This place is really weird. What's going on?

[...and weren't you going into Dressrosa last. She can't help but notice you're looking a little different.]

[thetruehistorian]

We've all been kidnapped by a ghost.

[She says it so casually, like it's a Tuesday.]

I assume this means you don't remember being here before. What's the last you remember from home?

[mikangirl]

Oh, is that all. [So bland. Even as her head hits the table. From down there, she adds:]

Dressrosa. Seeing you off the ship. You were the only one who didn't look lame.

[thetruehistorian]

[Robin giggles, her fingers pressed against her lips.] I suppose I could have tried a little harder to match the group, couldn't I? [Yeah, or not.] It seems we're all from nearly the same time, then. That's good. The ghost, Davy Jones, he has a hard time keeping time straight, and has a tendency to kidnap people from anywhen that strikes his fancy. Luffy and Sanji used to not remember anything past Sabaody, but now they've been advanced. Firefist Ace was here for awhile too. Even though my memories from home and yours aren't separated by a single day, I've lived here almost two years. Incredible, don't you think?

[mikangirl]

[Two years.]

We're only half here, aren't we?

You haven't seen the rest of us for that long?

[Now we know how the readers feel about Dressrosa]

[serving_love]

[Oh, he saw her post alright. Which had plenty of things pinging him, from the handwriting to log pose to Dressrosa, and then she SPOKE and Sanji's gone, off the ship in half a shitty second and sprinting through the town.

Remind him to thank Luffy later, his demands for boar meat are the reason they're even docked at Isla Empieza right now.

He doesn't bother ducking into every bar he passes -- she said the rum was good, so there's a couple that stick out in his mind that she might've found. Plus he's got both his haki and Mellorine Radar~ on high alert, searching, trying to find—

There!

He explodes into the bar like someone who's never even heard the word 'subtle' before, and as soon as he catches sight of her lovely orange hair out of the corner of his eye, he takes off toward her in a whirlwind of flailing arms and pounding hearts.]

NAMI-SWAAAAAAAAAAAAN~!!!!!!

[mikangirl]

[OH MY GOD SANJI you can't be taken anywhere she was trying to be quiet here--

--wait--

She waits for him to twirl right across the bar full of startled patrons and greets him with a cheerful smile, shoving a hand out to keep him at arm's length. Y'know, just in case.]

Yes, yes, it's me. Now sit down and tell me where we are.

[Quietly. She only saw you like... three hours ago. Tops.]

[serving_love]

[Just in case, indeed. Sanji stops short of hurling himself at her, so luckily she escapes being squeezed to death, and instead he practically vibrates against his outstretched hand as he gazes at her in adoration.

She's here!!

He hasn't seen her in almost five shitty months and now she's here!!!]

Nami-san is such a sight for sore eyes~!!

[Just all the exclamation points everywhere.

But he does manage to calm down and drops onto a bar stool beside her, leaning forward slightly and keeping his eyes glued to her loveliness like he's afraid she might vanish into thin air if he looks away.]

You okay, Nami-san?? Been here long? I don't know what the hell you'd call this shitty world, but the island we're on now is Isla Empieza. It's where all the new people show up each month.

[Such a good explanation.]

[mikangirl]

I'm fine. [Confused, but fine. And hey, it's a start. She drops her hand as he sits, taking a sip of her drink, eyebrows raising at the explanation.]

I turned up this afternoon. 'World'? [That's-- maybe he means something else. Though it's totally true her log pose isn't doing much of anything, so she knows this isn't the Grand Line at least, but--] This sort of thing happens often?

[serving_love]

Usually once a month, yeah. Been like that for...

[Time gets a little confusing for him because he was here, and then he went home for two years, and then he came back, so all in all it feels like it's been forever since he first turned up in this place.]

Shit, I dunno, nearly two years? Eh, maybe less, eighteen months or so. Davy fuckin' Jones himself pulls people here.

[Rolls his eyes a little, because it sounds kinda ridiculous, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.]

[mikangirl]

[She stiffens.]

You've been here that long? [Without her? How is that possible? She won't deny it, because Sanji wouldn't lie about it, least of all to her, but--]

... gimme a sec. [I am GETTING ANOTHER DRINK. She'll even get Sanji one, too.] I think I'm gonna need it.

[serving_love]

Feels like longer. Actually, I thought that shitty bear sent me here at first... Ah, thanks, Nami-san!

[BEAMS.]

I can pay, though! I got money on me. I'm supposed to be restocking -- Luffy's holding a summit or something soon, I said I'd cook for it.

[Gives a slight eye roll as he takes a sip of his drink, only because he has no idea how that's gonna go. Luffy seems to think a 'pirate summit' is just another way of saying 'pirate party'... Oi. But he knows better than to doubt their captain by now!]

Anyway, turns out this was not where Kuma sent me. [Scowls a little, grumbling out a quick asshole before continuing.] I've been home for a couple years since, but then I ended up back here again.

[mikangirl]

Tab's on you, then. [So absent-mindedly. You can hit her with all this bewildering news and she'll still jump at the chance to make someone else pay, Sanji-kun. He's restocking, there's a summit-- really Luffy? In this place? But she doesn't know what's been going on, so she'll shut up.

Instead, she narrows her eyes.] You came here all the way back when? You never said anything.

[Because lol, magical memory loss, what is that.]

[serving_love]

[Grins again -- that's so like his Nami-san~! But then ducks his head at those narrowed eyes and looks a little sheepish, even though he couldn't have told her even if he wanted to. He gives an exaggerated shrug.]

Didn't remember.

[Stubs out his current cigarette and digs out a new one to light up, taking a long drag before meeting Nami's eyes again.]

Apparently that's a shitty thing. You go home, you don't remember what happened here. Made it really damn confusing when I came back.

[For several reasons, one in particular that has him taking a sharp inhale suddenly. He reaches for his drink again to drown the cough trying to work its way out of his throat.

...That's, uh. That's news for another time.

Later.

Much later.]