Seagulls

[hiken]

Who: Spade Pirates, Bloody Roses
Where: THE OCEAN
When: Between 3/8 and 3/21! Official dates not set in stone yet. Will be updated.
What: The Bloody Spades Alliance VS the Navy!
Warnings: PG-13 for fighting and possibly R because Marco might get naked(turn into a bird).
Style: Prose/Action/whatever
Status: Open to Spades/Bloody Roses!

The Spades will be fighting Corpsemaster, one of the Navy Captains set for the Navy Month's event! There will be a forced retreat on both sides.

Feel free to post here with separate threads! We'll update the dates on the main post with links to threads to remain consistent.

Comments

[hiken]

Ace looked to Asami a moment before looking back out over the rails. He had never been good at taking his medicine and lying down. As per habit, Ace had to get moving again as soon as possible. He knew what happened to injured animals who laid down to lick their wounds. Even a tiger would become prey if it had the right injury. He shouldn't have been any different than any other predator who got hurt.

Though, he had many more reasons to stay on his feet other than his own survival. Ace's anger was let out for a brief minute during that battle and it put him on edge, permanently.

"Phoenix blood," Ace reached up to tap the bloated, dark bag set up to his drip. "I'll be fine, soon."

[ex_automobiles598]

Asami let her hand drop to her side and gave him a curious look, her other arm kind of remained stiff. "Phoenix blood? From Marco, you mean?" Marco was the only phoenix on the ship she knew of, so naturally, her mind wandered to that when Ace mentioned it.

There was a beat from her end when she took the time to look out at the sunset, it was something to keep her occupied at least. "Hey...no one was captured. That's something to thankful for." And no one was too seriously injured, which was also a relief.

[hiken]

"Yeah," Ace replied with that dreamy expression. His treatments and the blood aside, he had gotten strong enough that he felt he could fight again--despite the fact that the crew would kill him for trying.

While Ace wanted to agree with Asami, he knew it wasn't an easy victory on their part. Kairi was killed, that much he knew for certain. Her vivre card had burned up and hadn't returned yet. Everyone else on the crew had scorched vivre cards, indicating painful injuries on their parts.

He could have done better, but he still felt it was a win, too.

"I tried to take it easy on those guys, though. I kept getting told I was going too wild and now I know--I shouldn't hold back even for a second. Right, Asami?"

[ex_automobiles598]

Asami still liked to think of it as a victory. Sure they hadn't technically won and had to retreat, but...everyone way okay for the most part. Of course Asami wasn't aware of the fact that Kairi had died yet, she hadn't had the chance to take a look at her vivre cards yet, which were still safely tucked away in her room. With a small sigh, she side glanced over to Ace.

"That depends. I don't know if you should actually try to kill them..."

[hiken]

"We aren't strong enough to be merciful, yet, Asami" Ace said it easily enough, despite the fact that it sounded odd coming from himself. He set out on sea with the goal in mind to be strong enough that he could do anything he wanted, but that was the problem. He wasn't strong enough that he could spare many of his enemies and comfortably sleep the night. In the end, he realized what that was going to lead to. "We're strong enough to kill them, but..."

He leaned back, his voice turning somber, "We were outnumbered, a hundred to men to our few, but--trying to avoid fighting like pirates makes this kind of thing even more difficult."

[ex_automobiles598]

That was the part that troubled Asami the most and the part that separated her from most of the other pirates around the ship. Even though she was capable of knocking someone unconscious, killing a person just wasn't something she could bring herself to do. Nothing about it felt right, and most of all it was too much of reminder of her father...Asami was already trying her best to distance herself from him, personality-wise and on a moral level.

But she hated thinking about that. With a frown, She lightly closed her eyes when Ace finished speaking, then reopened them. In a way he was right. "I know. I just wish there was another way to do this."

[hiken]

In the end, Ace was smiling. He wasn't proud or particular jolly about what he had thought or said, but he was relieved. For the first time in awhile, he felt comfortable with his decisions and thought that they were intelligent. The marker of a good captain, he supposed--not the best in the world, but someone working with what they had available. In reality, Ace had strong companions and he appreciated that, but there was a difference between strength and the desire to apply it.

Still, he knew what gave him comfort, "It's alright, though."

"You guys don't have to be the evil ones. As your captain, I'll do the ugly things so you can stay good people, alright?"

[ex_automobiles598]

Asami was still frowning, even after everything Ace had said, but it wasn't an angry frown. Just a frown. Captain was a hard position to fill, that much she knew, being the CEO of a company herself, every decision counted and the smallest mistake could end up being the worst. Not that the two roles were exactly alike– they were fairly different on the whole– but they had enough similarities. She had to wonder how he would fair if he were to ever run his own big business.

Regardless, despite how strange she thought Ace was, he was a good captain. Asami could admit that.

"Still...that's not something you should feel obligated to do." Doing ugly things just so everyone else could stay good that is.

[hiken]

"Hah. Are you serious?" Ace gave his IV a few idle pumps from his fingertips directly, helping a bit more of his transfusion move through. He felt like it wasn't going quickly enough, especially since his muscles were actually starting to get a lot more feeling back. His recovery time was insane--likely being the reason he wanted to be up and about. "You're all too good. The kids, the doctor, the birds especially-- I like you all, but everyone here turned out to be much more noble and good than I could ever be."

He began to stand up, shakily at first, but finding a bit more weight in his legs with a few passing moments, "But, I really like you all. If you guys really became true pirates, it'd be no good for when you got to leave. Even as Captain, it's tough to say I won't let you get hurt or killed on a sea as unpredictable as this, but I'm not gonna let you guys go back on who you are."

"It's fine if it's me."

[ex_automobiles598]

As if it was by reflex, Asami reached out with her good arm to help steady Ace, but immediately pulled back when she saw that he quickly gained his balance. The phoenix blood must've really been strong if it was letting him regain his strength back that quickly. Or maybe it was just Ace.

Either way, there was no sense in arguing with him on the matter. He had already made up his mind it seemed. "I understand, but you don't think there's a way to go about this where you wouldn't have to take a life? That doesn't always have to be the first choice."

[hiken]

"I tried that," Ace's smile remained a bit more firm when he caught Asami reaching for him. It was tough, watching good people in the act. He remembered he was never one of those and it made him feel all the more guilty for wheeling them around into his schemes and battles and aggressions. "Even if it wasn't a satisfactory victory, the bloody scheme was what let us sail away, this time. If I had taken that approach from the start..."

Kairi wouldn't have even needed to leave her position and get killed. If Ace put the full burden on himself from the start--

Ace's expression died, the smile turning to nothing in a heartbeat, "I guess I'd look terrible, but it would have been better."