(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 9)

[DracoOmega]

> The injured tengu spoke up? What of Sotsu?

>Sotsu is only now gathering herself to stand, and still sounds quite short of breath. She is also effectively on the other side of the deck from where the other two were conversing.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Don't you have someone else you should be attending to first?"

[DracoOmega]

> "Don't you have someone else you should be attending to first?"

>"You'd rather I go jump off the side and leave her bleeding here, then?" the parrot asks dryly.

[Kilgamayan]

> "You lot are gonna make them refinance the damages done to your ship even after you don't find what you're looking for, just because they had the audacity to defend themselves from thieves with false information. Between that and her pride, I imagine she'd rather die than take your so-called 'help'."

[Kilgamayan]

> Sorry, parser, slight word addition. Mind taking it into account?

[DracoOmega]

> "You lot are gonna make them refinance the damages done to your ship even after you don't find what you're looking for, just because they had the audacity to defend themselves from thieves with false information. Between that and her pride, I imagine she'd rather die than take your so-called 'help'."

>You somehow find the breath to say all this, though you find yourself pausing to catch it annoyingly frequently.
>"Well that sounds pretty stupid," the parrot replies. "Guess I'm not the only stubborn ass up here, after all!" she adds in Sotsu's voice. The owner of the voice glares daggers at her; with the shards of the splintered spear in her face and the trails of blood around them, she actually manages to look rather monstrous.
>"Hatoko..." the fan-wielding tengu says chasteningly. The parrot's expression turns staunchly neutral again.
>"...go... fuck yourself..." you hear Chisato breathe weakly. There's so little energy in her voice that it's almost hard to make out.

> Sorry, parser, slight word addition. Mind taking it into account?

>Already noted.

[Kilgamayan]

> Look down at Chisato, then back up at the parrot.
> "That's the reputatuion you and this crew have earned, parrot. Your lot's actions speak volumes louder than Ren's words."
> Frown.
> "Frankly, I think you should all just stop pretending you're something more than the simple thugs you act like. It would save everyone a lot of aggravation. Especially Sotsu over there."

[DracoOmega]

> Look down at Chisato, then back up at the parrot.
> "That's the reputatuion you and this crew have earned, parrot. Your lot's actions speak volumes louder than Ren's words."

>You look down at Chisato, who seems to be trying with difficulty to rise off the ground. Then you turn back to the parrot.
>She rolls her eyes. "Because trying to patch people up is such a jerk thing to do, right?"

> Frown.
> "Frankly, I think you should all just stop pretending you're something more than the simple thugs you act like. It would save everyone a lot of aggravation. Especially Sotsu over there."

>"I'm hurt!" the fan-wielding tengu says lightly as she swoops past you. "Not an untrue word has passed through these lips since we've met. Can your captain say the same?" She flashes you a little smile, then darts off towards Sotsu. "And I'll be done here in a minute, if you still want to talk!"

[Kilgamayan]

> Look back to the parrot.
> "She wouldn't need it if you didn't show up in the first place. Do we really want to go through that loop all over again?"

[DracoOmega]

> Look back to the parrot.
> "She wouldn't need it if you didn't show up in the first place. Do we really want to go through that loop all over again?"

>"I thought you Seekers were pragmatists," she answers. "Being 'right' doesn't stop you from bleeding, or a lot of things in this world would be different. The only choice you've got right now is whether to get out of the way or let her suffer some more so you can satisfy your moral compass."
>"...don't want... your help..." Chisato breathes as she pushes herself shakily off the ground and glares at the parrot. Her face is pale and streaked with cold sweat.
>"Chisato..." Miyuki's voice rings softly with an imploring concern, and there is a worried frown on her face.
>The redhead lets out a labored breath. "I'm... fine..."
>"No, you're not," Neu says matter-of-factly. "You need medical attention."
>This only seems to add irritation to Chisato's voice. "I said I'm-"
>The moth interrupts her with surprising firmness. "This isn't the time to argue. Let them attend to your injuries."
>"Like-"
>"This is an order, Miss Yatsuragi!" She turns to you. "And please stand aside, Nazrin. I understand your position, but now isn't the time for it."

>"Why the hell are we-" you hear Sotsu begin angrily, but her words are cut short by a very firm declaration from the tengu that flew to meet her.
>"Oh, I think you've made your position quite clear," she says. Though her tone is still clear and cheerful, there's an unmistakable undercurrent of challenge to it. "It's a pity, really. A waste of talent. I'd hoped you were being honest with me back then." Sotsu starts to say something, but is again cut off before she can speak. "Take Hayashi back to the Skyfang and tell them to send the search team over. Oh, and you might want to go find a mirror while you're at it." The injured tengu flashes a poorly-concealed scowl.

[Kilgamayan]

> Sigh.
> "Very well. Sorry, Chisato."
> Begin limping toward Sotsu and the wind fan tengu.
> "But what are you chewing Sotsu out for? Wasn't letting her drown while you were laughing enough of a punishment?"

[DracoOmega]

> Sigh.
> "Very well. Sorry, Chisato."

>You sigh and apologize to Chisato, then stand aside.
>The parrot produces a roll of bandages from her coat, then leans down over the redhead. "Hate me if you want, but do yourself a favor and stay still."
>"No worries... on the first bit..." Chisato breathes with darkly simmering resentment, but does refrain from moving nonetheless.

> Begin limping toward Sotsu and the wind fan tengu.
> "But what are you chewing Sotsu out for? Wasn't letting her drown while you were laughing enough of a punishment?"

>You make your way slowly towards Sotsu and the other tengu. The former throws you a dirty look as you pass each other, but says nothing as she proceeds to the other end of the deck. The other turns towards you with a confident grin.
>She gives you a curious look. "Let? Even I can't stop a vengeful ghost once they've set their mind on something." Then she grins again. "Or is it spoiling your image of us for me to care more about your friend over there than her?"

[Kilgamayan]

> Frown.
> "There's more to it than that. But please, don't patronize me more than you already do. You're beyond prepared, and you clearly had protection. You even admitted it yourself. Your broken-winged friend had protection, she wasn't breathing hard enough after the fact for someone that was drowning. Why didn't Sotsu have that same protection?"

[DracoOmega]

> Frown.
> "There's more to it than that. But please, don't patronize me more than you already do. You're beyond prepared, and you clearly had protection. You even admitted it yourself. Your broken-winged friend had protection, she wasn't breathing hard enough after the fact for someone that was drowning. Why didn't Sotsu have that same protection?"

>"That's a good question!" she replies. "Perhaps one of the doses was defective, or perhaps she just didn't bother to listen to the instructions? I shouldn't be surprised by that now, though I ought to have our supplies rechecked, just the same..." She trails off and then sketches a wounded look. "I hope you're not suggesting that was intentional on my part? Though I'm a little surprised you would even mind after what she did to your friend over there." She flicks her fan casually in Chisato's direction; for once it produces no more wind than you'd expect from a fan that size.

[Kilgamayan]

> "Oh, I'm none too pleased with her either. But given how utterly smug you've been this entire time up here with your various wounded crew members, and with how bullshit your claimed non-violence policy is, I don't think you actually give a damn about any of your fellow pirates. Not the one with the broken wing, not the one with the knife in her throat, not the one that's probably been infected with a terminal disease as a result of all this. I don't think any of them mean anything to you beyond what good they do to furthering your own selfish ends."

[DracoOmega]

> "Oh, I'm none too pleased with her either. But given how utterly smug you've been this entire time up here with your various wounded crew members, and with how bullshit your claimed non-violence policy is, I don't think you actually give a damn about any of your fellow pirates. Not the one with the broken wing, not the one with the knife in her throat, not the one that's probably been infected with a terminal disease as a result of all this. I don't think any of them mean anything to you beyond what good they do to furthering your own selfish ends."

>"You hold your tongue," comes a darkly angry voice from behind you. You think it belongs to the parrot, though it lacks her usual aloofness and the tone of her words rings very personal.
>The tengu gives her a sad smile. "I can defend my own self, Hatoko. But thanks." Then she turns back to you with an inquisitive look on her face. "And what exactly makes you say that, anyway?"

[Kilgamayan]

> "Two reasons. The first one is also the main reason I think your claimed desire to avoid violence is hogwash. But it's a bit of a story, so pardon the longwindedness."
> "Obviously you've done your research, so let me remind you that I'm a dowser Seeker, not native to the crew of this ship."
> Jerk a thumb behind us, pointed in the parrot's direction.
> "Dowsing is what I do, much like imitations is what your squawkbox does. Before I boarded here, the captain of this ship asked me to help search the ship for certain things. In my scan, I turned up nothing. Not only nothing of what the captain was looking for, but also nothing of major value. Nothing that would qualify as your desired relic, certainly."
> "After you all arrived, I told your Ren about the results of my dowsing scan. I also told her I knew who had the relic she was looking for. Because there is one relic on this ship, and I do indeed know who has it. I even told her this before all the fighting started. And yet here we all are, having just gone through several fights over this thing, at least part of which was despite the fact that I said I wanted to talk to you. Surely, if you gave a damn about your crew, and you gave a damn about avoiding violence, Ren would have reported this to you, you would have listened to her, and you would have talked to me on the spot in order to stop the fighting, rather than keeping that smug grin on your face while taunting our captain into furthering the battle, one that lasted long enough to get a spear blown up in Sotsu's face."

[Kilgamayan]

Sour, I apologize if this isn't the conversational route you wanted to go, but goddamn if I haven't wanted to do all this for at least a week.

I also do hope you weren't looking to keep fending off parrotface from Chisato. I didn't want to leave her either, but Neu outranks us.

[DracoOmega]

> "Two reasons. The first one is also the main reason I think your claimed desire to avoid violence is hogwash. But it's a bit of a story, so pardon the longwindedness."
> "Obviously you've done your research, so let me remind you that I'm a dowser Seeker, not native to the crew of this ship."
> Jerk a thumb behind us, pointed in the parrot's direction.
> "Dowsing is what I do, much like imitations is what your squawkbox does. Before I boarded here, the captain of this ship asked me to help search the ship for certain things. In my scan, I turned up nothing. Not only nothing of what the captain was looking for, but also nothing of major value. Nothing that would qualify as your desired relic, certainly."
> "After you all arrived, I told your Ren about the results of my dowsing scan. I also told her I knew who had the relic she was looking for. Because there is one relic on this ship, and I do indeed know who has it. I even told her this before all the fighting started. And yet here we all are, having just gone through several fights over this thing, at least part of which was despite the fact that I said I wanted to talk to you. Surely, if you gave a damn about your crew, and you gave a damn about avoiding violence, Ren would have reported this to you, you would have listened to her, and you would have talked to me on the spot in order to stop the fighting, rather than keeping that smug grin on your face while taunting our captain into furthering the battle, one that lasted long enough to get a spear blown up in Sotsu's face."

>The tengu listens attentively to your exposition as the others go about their affairs. Hatoko applies the bandages to Chisato's wounds with surprising care, while you hear Ishi continue to grumble at the tengu restraining her. Sotsu picks up the broken-winged pirate, who you presume to be Hayashi, and takes flight from the Maiden, heading towards the other airship parked across from it. The onmyouji mumbles something under her breath and continues to face Murasa, who still seems only partially cognizant of her surroundings.
>The tengu grins at you as you finish. "Well, you're a confident mouse, aren't you? 'I couldn't find it, so it can't be here?' If it were that easy, I'm sure the illusionist would have made off with it when she tried. Feel free to ask Murasa about that when she recovers, if you'd like. You also seem to be contradicting yourself. There both is and isn't a relic onboard?" She leans closer to gives you a pointed smirk. "Care to tell me how that's supposed to work?"

[Oldmansour]

>"What are you talking about? What illusionist?"
>Can we douse for illusionary magics?

[DracoOmega]

>"What are you talking about? What illusionist?"
>Can we douse for illusionary magics?

>"The same one that hit the dig site, I'm assuming," she says. "I'm sure your captain suspects the same thing; it takes a neat trick or two to make documents vanish into thin air like that. But you're not really answering the question."
>You expect you could pick up on some, though you're also inclined to assume that magic designed to conceal things is also tailored to conceal itself. How effective it is at this probably depends on the skill of the magic in question.

[Oldmansour]

>"Touche."
>Pat the sheathe of Kumokirimaru.
>"This sword. It's got age and power to it. It was the only thing I could think of that could have been a 'relic'. Although, since Ren didn't demand it of me when she first saw it- even let me keep it, after I told her how important it was- and neither have you, that tells me that maybe you're right. Maybe there is something else on this boat. But if it evaded me, and evidently the rest of the Maiden crew, how did you know it was here when we didn't?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Touche."
>Pat the sheathe of Kumokirimaru.
>"This sword. It's got age and power to it. It was the only thing I could think of that could have been a 'relic'. Although, since Ren didn't demand it of me when she first saw it- even let me keep it, after I told her how important it was- and neither have you, that tells me that maybe you're right. Maybe there is something else on this boat. But if it evaded me, and evidently the rest of the Maiden crew, how did you know it was here when we didn't?"

>She gives you an impish grin. "Oh, I'm sure there's someone here who knows where it is," she says as she glances in Murasa's direction. "Not that I expect her to tell. And I know because I make it a point to know all the interesting news. You didn't think that something like that scuffle at the dig would slip by without me hearing about it, did you? Rumors like that can have all kinds of interesting truths hidden behind them if you go looking. But I'm sure you know all about that if that badge on your chest's the real deal."

[Oldmansour]

>Did Marisa mention anything about a 'scuffle' at that archaeological dig?

[DracoOmega]

>Did Marisa mention anything about a 'scuffle' at that archaeological dig?

>She did, though she was only working off of rumor and had few concrete details. It seemed that the archeologists may have been attacked by someone, or possibly robbed, though 'by who' or 'of what' were never clear.

[Oldmansour]

>Look thoughtful, and mutter, "I'd wondered what was going on up there."
>"So you're telling me that whoever, or whatever, hit that site hid whatever they stole on this ship?"

[DracoOmega]

>Look thoughtful, and mutter, "I'd wondered what was going on up there."
>"So you're telling me that whoever, or whatever, hit that site hid whatever they stole on this ship?"

>She gives you another irritatingly patronizing grin. "Oh, not at all. They were entrusted it, to keep the thief from having another shot. I guess whoever it was found out anyway, but I know it's still on board or this ship would still be back in Braston. You don't set sail with your precious cargo missing."

[Oldmansour]

>"And just what is this thing, anyway, that's worth all this?"

[DracoOmega]

>"And just what is this thing, anyway, that's worth all this?"

>"That's a very good question!" she says with a broad smile. "Something valuable enough to draw a master thief to a dusty ruin that everyone outside the Academy had long since stopped caring about, and then bring them back a second time. Something important enough that even archeologists tried to smuggle it out immediately. Going as far as creating decoys? That isn't something you do for a run-of-the-mill piece of ancient history. This is something big, and some very big people have the eyes on it. I'm sure of it."

[Oldmansour]

>Restrain the urge to bite that smile off the smug parasite's face.
>"People that didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands."
>"I expect this will be a big pay day for you, then."

No, better not. Still trying to grill this bird.

>"And you wanted it for your own before it got to wherever it was going."