HazMat Log 005 ♔ The great multicolored north

[anelegantmyth]

Who: Hazardous Materials
Where: Dermaevern, Breakneck Cay and eventually Candy Mountain
When: 5/1-5/31
What: Exploring the north and making Gaius' diet last longer than it should be
Warnings: bore sharks, sugar-free torture, wine that makes you high as balls and our impending doom
Style: Any!
Status: Open if you're in the area?

Hazardous Materials' May log of doom! Date your stuff, you all know the drill.

5/1-5/7: Sailing to Dermaevern
5/8-5/15: Dermaevern Shenanigans!
5/16-5/22: Sailing to Breakneck Cay
5/23-5/24: Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to go here?
5/25-5/31: Hunting down Candy Mountain

Comments

5/13

[youhearthebells]

[Now that he's sticking closer to the ship and not going roaming as much, Gan Ning is around and just as curious about the newcomers. It's one thing to be asked to let some folks on board; it's another to test them for himself and make sure they're on the up-and-up.

He can be heard coming before anything else, his bells jingling with each step. At the moment, he's carrying a couple of bottles of wine, with the intention of stashing them somewhere below decks to save for a rainy day. Or, you know. Tuesday. Whichever comes first.]

[by_heart]

[It's been less than a day and he's already appreciative of having a captain whose presence is preceded by a nice, pleasant jingling sound instead of explosions and/or screaming. Lea sticks his head out of the galley when he hears him coming and gives a little wave.]

Like people to know where you are, huh?

[youhearthebells]

[grinning] Heh! Heard me comin', eh? Yeah, I like to let people know what's about to hit 'em.

How's things? Looks like you're already settling in.

[by_heart]

Working on it.

[Lea leans on the door frame and gestures vaguely back at the galley.]

Just poking around and seeing what's what. Roxas and I handled the cooking back on the Moon, so I figured the galley was as good a place as any to start. You gonna need me to keep doing that?

[He's not volunteering Roxas for anything, not yet. It's going to take him a bit longer to really adjust.]

[youhearthebells]

Eh, well. There's a few people who take turns, we don't got a dedicated cook or nothin'. So if you wanna, I don't see a problem with it.

[he snorts, then.] ...as long as you can make anything besides 'pizza.'

[by_heart]

Never tried making pizza. I mostly cooked a lot of fish, soup, sandwiches, eggs...that sort of thing. I was looking for chicken recipes, so I got a few of those in mind, too.

[At least now he doesn't have to fight the inevitable battle of what to do with the Spades' horde of chickens anymore.]

What can I say? I like being useful.

[youhearthebells]

Oh, that sounds great. I mean, don't get me wrong - I like the turtle brothers, they're cool. But they only ever cook pizza, all the time. I'd kill for some variety.

[by_heart]

Yeah, that's why I stocked up on cookbooks. It kinda got to the point where if I served sandwiches one more time, someone was gonna cook me.

[He shrugs.]

Not that there'd be much to eat.

[Which is true. He's rather underfed looking for a cook.]

[youhearthebells]

Works for me. Have atcha, then. As long as somebody's in the galley when everyone's hungry, I'm all right with it.

[tips his head in a manly sort of nod] Is it too much to ask what had ya lookin' for another crew? I'm just curious, yanno. It ain't every day we get people jumpin' ship.

[by_heart]

[Lea smiles wryly and fishes his journal out of a pocket of his vest.]

I probably don't even need to tell you. This thing speaks for itself.

[He flips through the book and finds Marco's latest journal entry, "SCRAAAAW" and all, and holds it out to Gan Ning.]

And this is just scratching the surface. Real winner, huh?

[youhearthebells]

[narrows his eyes at that. Oh yeah, he saw/heard that, all right.]

Huh. Yeah, I'm not a real fan of that guy. I've had enough of self-made lords and tyrants declaring themselves the best fit to rule the whole land, I don't need to hear that kind of bullshit here, too.

[he puts on a little extra attitude to show just how unimpressed he is with the declaration of war. Marco and the Spades in the same camp as Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, or Date Masamune? Not a good place to be.]

[by_heart]

You too, huh? Me, I'm more tired of being the guy stuck doing the dirty work without knowing what it's really for. Not to mention I told Marco that that little "conquer the world and kill anyone who gets in our way" thing of his is gonna destroy this whole world before long, but what do I know? It's just my job to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen, but I just got hired and all, so why should he listen to me, right?

[He's getting a little tired of that whole group thinking he's speaking in metaphors when he's being literal. The whole fabric of the world is going to warp and the place is going to fall into darkness and be lost. Poof. Gone. Hope you have a ticket to Traverse Town. Bye.]

[youhearthebells]

Ugh. Been there, man. I don't blame you for lookin' for greener pastures, that's what I did and no regrets. You can't follow someone you can't believe in or even respect. Rule number one of bein' any kind of leader.

Ain't no reason to destroy this world. [as he eases to the side and hops up to sit on a barrel] Work with it, not against it.

[by_heart]

And get the hell out as soon as we can. Wouldn't want to overstay our welcome.

[Though he's not exactly anxious to get back himself, he knows he has to. There are things he has to do and they're not getting done with him here.]

Though it seems like we may, anyway, since it's so hard to find shards and idiots like Marco would rather we don't find them at all.

[youhearthebells]

Yeah, there's that. But I ain't holdin' my breath.

We haven't even found a single one, yet. Had a rough time with the Navy instead. I feel like we oughta come up with a strategy for lookin', once the others get this Candy Island thing outta their system. But I'm no strategist.

[by_heart]

Me neither. Give me a plan to carry out and I'm your guy, but ask me to come up with one of my own and it's just gonna be a mess. I kinda got an idea where some of the shards people have found already have ended up, but that's it.

[He makes a face.]

Though none of that's gonna matter if we're stuck on-- Really? Candy Mountain? And you agreed to that?

[youhearthebells]

[sighs and waves a hand idly] They got me when my guard was down. Favor to Gaius, they said. I don't care one way or another but eventually, yeah, we're gonna need a plan.

So I'll let 'em get their kicks, make sure everybody's good and happy, and then we'll work on goin' after some shards. They ain't gonna find themselves, and the more crews actively lookin', the better.

[by_heart]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, the Spades haven't turned up any shards either, so it's not like we're behind. I like the idea of focusing on hunting some down, though. It's nice to have a goal. Well, a goal that's not crazy.

[Though that should go without saying.]

[youhearthebells]

Heh! No worries. [he's close enough to reach and give Lea a casual smack in the arm] I'm a lotta things, but crazy ain't one of 'em. And I know how to take care of my men.

Uh. And women. Now that we got some.

[by_heart]

[That earns a genuine laugh out of Lea. He can't help but like this guy. It seems like he actually understands what he's going through and is willing to listen to his side of the whole thing, which is a step up already.]

Yeah, it seems like Cynthia would jump up to correct you if she heard you leaving her out.

[youhearthebells]

[epic eyeroll] Don't get me started on that woman. And if I ever catch any of you guys callin' me by the stupid nickname she gave me, I'm throwin' ya overboard.

[he snorts and shakes his head, but really, everybody's safe. He won't kill them, at least.]

I mean it, though. Ya need anything, let me know. We get attacked? Nobody gets left behind. I'm not in the habit of throwin' anybody away.

[by_heart]

[Lea nods. Sounds good to him.]

We're both pretty good in a fight, so you don't have to worry about us keeping up. Might need to rein Roxas in a little, though. He kinda has a tendency to go overboard.

[It's another reason he's glad to have him away from the Spades mindset. He has to find a way to get it through that fluffy little head that killing people is different from killing Heartless.]

[youhearthebells]

Yeah? Excellent. Not that we're short on fighters, but every extra hand counts in case we run into another tough battle with the Navy or somethin'.

[he remembers Roxas' comment last night, about his sword]

What weapons you favor? Or are ya more hand-to-hand?

[by_heart]

[Lea pushes off the door frame and takes a few steps back to give himself some space before summoning his chakrams. He spins them with practiced ease, though he does feel a little guilty about defaulting to his preferred weapons instead of the Keyblade he's supposed to be learning to use.]

These beauties plus fire magic for me. I'm working on branching out, but in a real fight you need to stick with what works.

[youhearthebells]

[summoning weapons out of thin air? no fair! But once he gets over being startled by that, Xingba can't help but lean in with keen interest]

Ah, nice, nice. I know somebody back home who uses weapons like that. She's a real terror with 'em. If you're half as good as her, then I think we'll all be in real fine shape.

I get what you mean, though. I prefer my sword but I know a few other tricks just in case. Can't hurt.