New friends, new catastrophes

[seadevil]

Who: The crew of the Katabami
Where: At sea, Manila Island
When: After departing Isla Empieza after the battle and covering events until the end of the month
What: Catch-all log
Warnings: Foul language, excessive dumb
Style: Any
Status: Closed to crew

Itinerary
- Meet and greet for new crew
- MANLY STORIES
- Visiting Manila so our more studious crew can get their research on and your esteemed captain can piss the moths off
- THIS COLD CURSE THING

EDIT: The turkey is now officially named Lord Buffalo Toritaro Stuffington, "Twitchy" for short. Feel free to make use of this.

Comments

Meet the new sailor

[wavemotiongunner]

[Kodai is staring at the ocean. He's never been on a boat out in open ocean before. He's been to the shore as a child before the planet bombs started but that wasn't the same. This felt right, this is what they had set out from earth to gain the means to restore.

The crew can find him by the prow playing his harmonica.]

[seadevil]

[Motochika, once he's checked to make sure the ship is on course and no one on board or off is actively trying to sink them, finds himself a nice spot on the railing and listens. He waits patiently for the song to finish before speaking up.]

That was lovely. I've missed having music on board. I can sing, certainly, but it's a matter of getting anyone else to join in.

[He pretty much had expected blank stares, since that was the response he got to most anything he suggested. Well, Sakamoto might have tried to sing along...]

[wavemotiongunner]

[Motochika is getting a blank stare but that's because Kodai has been caught playing. He's a little embarrassed but flattered that someone liked his playing]
I've never really played for others. I mostly just play when I need to clear my head.

It's a nice ship.

[seadevil]

Why thank you! She may not be as big or as well-manned as I'm used to, but I'm still quite proud of her. I've half a mind to start working on some upgrades now that I have enough people to actually sail her.

[He stretches and turns to consider the deck of the ship and the somewhat organized chaos that has come to fill it over the past couple of days.]

You said you were a sailor of sorts yourself. How do we measure up?

[wavemotiongunner]

[Well she doesn't measure up well. She's made of wood and powered by the wind, ect. He didn't really want to insult the man.]

Well she's a bit under gunned compared to the Yamato. It's really hard to compare the two.

[seadevil]

She is, truly, but I've had little time or manpower to make the sort of modifications I'd like. Mind you, I don't know what kind of firepower your Yamato has, but my Fugaku back home is truly a masterpiece of engineering. It's a true tragedy that I'll probably never have the resources here to build a sister ship for her.

[He does look rather sad about that, actually.]

Ah, well. The Katabami is what we have, small though she may be.

[wavemotiongunner]

[While the Yamato was impressive ship the odds had been stacked against her.]

I learned under Captain Okita that often it's not overwhelming firepower that wins the battle it's inventive tactics.
[Inventive is putting it kindly as he remembers their past battles. The Captain was incredibly bold in the heat of battle. His new Captain's personality was the opposite of Okita's. It's going to be a challenge working an old fashioned ship and keeping up with this man.]

[seadevil]

The ideal would be to have both firepower and tactics on your side, but in my experience people tend to see the firepower and make it so you never need to use the tactics. It's when they get a big head and think they can overcome you that you have to get tricksy on them.

[He doesn't have a lair full of deathtraps back home just for fun. Well, it's mostly for fun...]

[wavemotiongunner]

Just let us know when there's a crazy plan behind any insane orders. [It was always a bit hard to follow exactly what Captain Okita was up to.]

[seadevil]

Ha! There's always a method to my madness, Kodai! I don't know it myself at times, but all works out in the end.

[His plans usually boil down to "let's go there and steal whatever they have," but there are occasionally variations. Like "let's go there and build an automaton" or "let's go there and just cause trouble and see what happens." Not having a big enough ship or crew has kind of put a damper on his usual activity level.]

[harbouredheart]

[The music draws in Xun Yu, exotic as it sounds to her ears. She pauses close by to observe, curious and unwilling to interrupt. Only when the playing stops does she finally speak.]

What instrument is that?

[wavemotiongunner]

[He notes she's dressed in rather old fashioned clothing]
It's harmonica. I think they count as reed wind instrument.

[harbouredheart]

[A... small reed wind instrument, made entirely of metal? How strange. It only piques her interest further.]

Harmonica... [She echoes, clearly for her own benefit, before she directly addresses him.] How very curious. Do you play often?

[wavemotiongunner]

[the Harmonica seems old fashioned to him. The one he has perversely belonged to his brother and his father before that. He feels closer to them when he plays.]
Lately when i need to clear my head a bit. I sort of only know the one song. Ending up in this place is a lot to take in. I didn't expect to see a real ocean so soon.

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu raises her eyebrows at that.]

Pardon?

[Did he just say...? She sounds as puzzled as she looks.]

Surely all oceans are real.

[wavemotiongunner]

[He'd been thinking of Pluto when he said that. He realizes how strange what he just said must sound.]

Well the last ocean I saw was all frozen over with ice. It didn't really resemble the ocean from when I was young. The oceans on my world were all dried up and the whole planet is facing extinction. We're on a mission to acquire the means to restore the planet.
[He's not sure that makes anymore sense. It's the best he can do.]

[harbouredheart]

[Her puzzlement shifts into concern. She understands to a degree and empathises, though her homeland's situation was not quite as dire as extinction.]

My sympathies. I cannot imagine how difficult your burden is... it must be beyond frustrating to be trapped here when you carry such a vital task on your shoulders.

[wavemotiongunner]

[It was a burden. The way she was looking at him made him uncomfortable. He didn't want people feeling sorry for him. So he changed the subject.]

What's it like where you're from?

[harbouredheart]

Ah, well... civil war wages, and a series of natural disasters have beset the country. Without an undisputed Emperor backed by the Mandate of Heaven on the throne chaos afflicts the land. We... on the morning that I was taken from, His Majesty -- Cao Cao's -- forces were to fight the last battle in the war to secure the throne and put an end to all the disasters, ushering in a new reign peace.

[Just talking about it makes her feel homesick. It distresses her not to have been there; she sounds and looks as unhappy as she feels about it.]

I do not doubt that His Majesty was victorious and took his rightful place as decreed by Heaven's Will... but I...

[She drops her head and swallows thickly, her mouth curving downwards in misery. She's clearly heartbroken; the notion of having abandoned Cao Cao makes her feel sick to her stomach.]

...I should have been there. I should be there, now.