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 Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:21 am
  ________
Seven blinked, astonished that the rest of their little crew hadn’t burst into applause upon hearing her speech about boats and ships. She thought it was a pretty big deal. Hm. Maybe they just hadn’t heard her correctly during their argument. It sure was a good thing she was here. If she hadn’t been, they might have foolishly boarded a ship and been screwed. She had to consider giving them a copy of her luck chart so that they could fend for themselves even when she wasn’t around.
Anyway, she was tipped off about the severity of the argument by Rydel’s expression. Rydel was not very intimidating in human form. He was a short, skinny, pale little British kid who pretty much anyone could pick up and fling across the room with little effort on their part. At least he was aware of it. But for someone so unassuming, he was capable of a glare just as fierce as Will’s when the situation called for it. And so, while he didn’t say anything in response to her ‘scum of the earth’ comment, he could very easily communicate his message just by staring her down.
But he did seem grateful for Cypress’ input. Finally, sane people. Good thing too. Seven always got just a little freaked out when Rydel went into b***h-chokin’ mode. He got downright scary. Not nearly as scary as he was when he was drunk, but she preferred not to talk about that. Seven decided to cut in.
“C’mon, who here actually has intrapersonal skills? We’re all a bunch of misfits, if you ask me! That’s a good thing. More lucky potential. But just to check.” She said, and she reached into her shirt pocket, pulling out a set of dice after a moment. Seven rolled the dice around in her hands for a moment before tossing them out onto the ship’s deck. The total ended up being three. She nodded to herself, content with the result.
“Hm. Yup, this is good. We can do this, there’s nothing to worry about. But that was to be expected, right? I mean, we’ve got the luck of the Irish on our side and everything.”
She collected the dice and replaced them in her pocket, then stood up, walked over to her partner, and threw her arm over his shoulder. He seemed a bit shocked by the gesture, mostly because he hadn’t been expecting it, but he didn’t say anything and instead reacted by directing his eyes towards the ground while Seven spoke.
“Rydel’s a ringblade. It’s kind of a strange weapon, but I couldn’t wield anything else. It does make it just a teeny bit difficult to fight in a group, though. It’s a really, really big weapon, and so we’ve got a pretty big, erm…chopping range, and so it’s a little difficult to tell friend from enemy when the friend in question gets too close to us during battle. Especially since we fight by spinning.”
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:52 am
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady While she took note of what Seven said and of Rydel's glare, she just kept playing.
Looking up directly into Rydel's stare, Will kept a blank expression for a few measures....then smirked, stuck out her thumb, index and piny finger, put it up to her face and stuck her tongue out as far as she could with a wild, metal grin. Then she made a low chuckle and picked right back up on the note she had left ringing out, continueing with her fast-paced, hypnotic rock-metal melody.
That was her was of showing she didn't find him intimidating in the least.
Will was paler than he was (an unavoidable trait of the Irish) but more muscular, and chances were if it came to a fight, she'd have the upperhand even if by a small margin. She'd spent the last eight years learning to at least hold her own in a fight. If she could take down a muscular Irishman a good foot taller than she, she could handle this kid. If he used partial-transformation, she could always grab something to even the odds.
Still, she started thinking up ways to put their axe/ringblade combo together.... but she was tired. So she decided she'd sleep on it, maybe even sleep off some of this unnecessary stress. She didn't like stress, all it did was ruin her fun.
"Noow, iff ye doon' maind, A'm gonna get me some shut-eye. Go' a daate with an Irish lass er two in Sandman-Land." Will said, leaning back on the deck and shifting her headphones over her ears. .....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:40 pm
Cypress sighed at the scene. At least things were calming down now. The boat started to slowly drift away from the dock and head out into the horizon.
Now that Will had apparently checked out mentally, she turned her attention to the other pair.
"We'll be sure to keep out of the way then," She smiled pleasantly, regarding Seven and Rydel's fighting style, "Um, I'm only about the length of a basic hatchet and... I'm really not that strong. I--We... We've never been able to get our wavelengths to mesh, so I don't really know what I'm capable of, much less what we could pull off together..." Cypress explained weakly. Several weeks ago, she couldn't have cared less if she could chop vegetables, much less soul-eating demons, but now that they were on their way to Brazil, it was an embarrassing thing to admit.
"The only reason we signed up for a mission was so that we could have practice with this sort of thing... since Will obviously learns by jumping in head-first and all... I really wasn't expecting any of this to be so... intense."
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Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 4:12 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady Will was snoring loudly. She lay sprawled out on the deck at the bow, probably not the best place to take a nap, on her back, a puddle of drool spilling out from her mouth. Her headphones were so loud, the music could be heard quite clearly even to those just standing around. She was dreaming…. Dreaming about Ireland, about her home… but not about an 'Irish lass' ==Will was no older than ten years old. She and her red-head twin were coming home from the festival. They were treading along behind a thirteen year old boy with a mix of brown and red hair. She and Kayne were drinking out of big mugs (not alcohol of course!) much too big for their little hands. The three of them were all happy, laughing. Not at anything in particular, just… because they had so much fun.
"EY! Gavin! Ye gonna taake us oot to see tha' laive band playin' tomarroo naight?"
"Wha'? D'ya t'ink A'd le' ye miss t'at? A carse A'm taakin ye!"
The twins both let out a cheer of jubilance…. Just as they were attacked from behind. A boy only a few years older than Gavin jumped on Will, and pulled out a knife. Will shrieked when she saw the blade. Kayne froze in shock, not yet having fully registered what was going on. Gavin hurled himself at his little sister's assailant, knocking him off her. Both sprawled on the ground, Gavin wrestled the knife from the man's hand and threw it aside. He kneed the stranger in the groin and used the opportunity to relentlessly punch him in the stomach until he just laid there, gasping for breath. Gavin quickly stood up, took his little brother and sister by the hands and rushed them far away from the scene. When he stopped, all three were panting. "Yoou two a'raight?"
Still a bit shaken, Will nodded. Kayne just looked bewildered.
"Ey, Kayne! Snap oot o' i'!" he said, knees bent so he was eye level with them and gently slapping Kayne's cheek. The little boy's eyes blinked wildly for a moment then tears started pouring out. He was hyperventilating.
"K-kayne??" Will stammered, looking down at her twin with worry in her eyes. She wasn't sure what to do, but she could feel his pain. It stung her just as badly as he felt it, but she held back the urge to cry. The panic.
"Easy, easy… calm doown, take deep breaths, Kayne…" after a few minutes, Kayne pulled out of his panic attack. "T'ere noow, bettar?" said Gavin with a smile as warm and rare as the sun shining in the Irish skies. Kayne nodded and stood back up. They both held onto Gavin's hands tightly the rest of the walk home.
Will looked up at her brother….with a feeling like that of child-like wonder and awe…. but more that. Right then and there were feelings of utter admiration and pride for her older brother developing. Will smiled thinking, 'Gavin's soo cool! An' 'e me brot'ar! MINE!'
The scene faded and changed. A fifteen year old Will stood, looking shocked at a Celtic bow. "Kah- Kah- KAYNE???" she stammered.
"O-OI!! WHA' THA HELL IS GOIN ON 'ERE???" said the bow.
A deep, laugh/cackle that would have sent chills up even the Devil's spine came from the direction of their house. Gavin, now eighteen, walked over to his brother and sister. "Soo, Kayne, ye got i' too?" as he said it. Gavin's arm turned into a crossbow.
"'OW LONG 'AVE YE BEEN ABLE TO DOO THA'??" Will said, comedicaly accusing her brother of keeping secrets.
"Ooh, a while..... ye wanna l'arn 'ow ta use 'im properly?" Gavin added with a sly grin, knowing already what the answer would be.
"FECK YEA!!" they both shouted.
Once they figured out how to get Kayne back to 'normal', Gavin took them down to a shop where antique and/or functional weapons were sold, and bought a quiver and arrows. He helped them practice archery all afternoon, and the next day and the next.....
The scene faded again....==
Outside Wills dream, she was smiling as warm memories flooded her dreamland. Ahhh... them good ol' days....
==Only two years older, Will and Kayne were pulling out their make-shift bombs. Strapping them onto their belts, they got ready to go.
"Oi! We gotta get moving! We 'ave ta doo t'is fast ta pull i' off!" said their brother Gavin in a serious tone, already having his weapons loaded.
"Raight!" The twins, spoke, stood and geared-up in unison.
It was pitch-black outside... or, it would have been were it not for the flames of the bombs that lit up the night sky. Will and Kayne were running at break-neck speeds. This was going terrible! The British military was on their heels and they were all running for their lives. Where was Gavin?? Where was anybody??? But Will didn't dare look around to check. She just kept her eyes foreward, focused on getting her and her twin those next few meters ahead, and the next and the next. Her head perked up when she saw Gaving ahead of them, wrestling an officer. Gavin sent a hard punch right into his face, knocking him out. It seemed as of they'd been fighting some time. "YOOU TWO GET OOTTA 'ERE!!!" he shouted. Will started running over to him anyway. "Feck!" he pulled out a machine gun and fired just ahead of her, to make her stop dead in her tracks. "YOOU H'ARD ME! THA'S AN ORDER!!!" Kayne looked reluctant as she did, but they did as he told them when he started running with them.
Gunshots rang out, there was a terrible cry and Gavin hit the ground. They were about to skid to a stop, when Gavin shouted fot them to just go, and on instinct, they obeyed. As they ran, they could hear their brother shouting- "YOOU TWO LISTEN TA ME!! IF YE EVER!! FER ONCE QUIT, ER GIVE UP AN' ALL THA' CLICHE CRAP- A'LL COME BACK AN' FAIND YE JUS' TA BEAT YER ASSES TA DEATH!!! YOOU 'EAR ME!!!" They were out of earshot now, but those words echoed in their mind clear as day. They made it back to the truck just in time to jump in. Looking back as the truck drove away, Will saw Gavin say something, but she couldn't hear it or read his lips well enough to make it out.
Through the pain of the bullets in his side and leg, Gavin grinned. "Heh... death, er tha British.... nat sure which A'd rat'er be taaken bai."==
Will was breaking into a sweat. Her eyes and fists were clenching, as if in terrible pain, but she didn't wake. Her teeth were grinding together and she was murmuring something inaudible.
==Images of Gavin being brutally beaten flashed through her mind. It was too blurred to really tell where he was or who else was there, but Gavin was clear as day. Bruised, nose broken and bleeding, doubbled over in pain and spitting out blood. Even through that, he managed to grin at his assailants and laugh curses at them, just making them strike him again- harder!==
Will was panting, she looked in terrible fear now. Whatever she was dreaming, anyone looking acould tell it wasn't pleasant! .....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:47 pm
Cypress's pity-party was cut short by Will's rather violent dreaming. She abruptly turned to her partner with a look of both surprise and worry.
"H-Hey. Will. Wake up..." she muttered, grabbing her meister's arm and shaking roughly.
Jeeze. They'd only been on the boat a few hours and they were already experiencing mental breakdowns. Just great. Just dandy.
"Wake up, Will. You're supposed to be the violently gung-ho one here." She jostled the Irish woman harder.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 2:31 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady Will's eyes snapped open. Still half in her hellish dream, she lunged at whoever it was that woke her up in an attempt to tackle them. She was shouting the name 'Gavin!!!' and 'Where tha hell is'e???' 'Wha' tha ******** did ye do wit' 'im!!!' over and over again. She pulled her arm back to launch a furious punch right into their face when she realized- "C-Cai-Caipress?? ...." Will looked bewildered, like she had no idea what was going on. She looked back at her hand, curled into a fist and realized what she had been about to do. "E- eh, uh... AAH!!" She looked shocked at herself and immediately fell back and pushed her self away, across the deck. Will was panting... trying to figure out what was going on.... then she remembered her dream... she pulled her headphones, which had been knocked into an awkward position on her ears, back to her neck. She still looked in a state of shock, but it was turning to a look of worry.... She looked really shaken up, even as she pulled out another cigarette and her lighter. She tried to turn on the lighter, but the flame wouldn't start. With a twinge of fear in her eyes, Will tried again and again untill the little flame finally rose. Sighing in relief, she lit the cig and leaned back against the side of the boat. She kept her eyes shut and her fingers clenched around the lighter as she tried to relax herself. After a few minutes she murmured, "a..... A'm sorry.... 'boot t'at.... A, uh...." she couldn't seem to figure out how to finish her sentence. Will finally opened her eyes. They had a hazy look to them, and they weren't really registering any of her surroundings. Her arms and shoulders were trembling, and she was fighting back paniced tears.... but it was hard trying to calm one's self down by themselves.... past horrors.....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 3:17 pm
Cypress sat up shakily. Hitting her head against the deck like that hurt, but she realized that could have ended a lot worse.
"Ah... um..." she brought herself to a kneeling position. She wanted to say "It's okay," or "No problem," but there was definitely something wrong there. She gave Will a hesitant glance and saw just how shaken up she looked.
"Iit's... It's fine," she tried to smile, but it came out rather unconvincing. She pulled herself to her feet and tried her best to act natural.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:50 pm
________
Seven had passed the time that Will spent asleep rolling her dice over and over again, guessing the numbers as they turned out. Every so often, she would land on something she deemed unlucky and become upset, sometimes even to the point of putting them away for a moment and sulking. She’s always get them out again a moment later, though. It was almost embarrassing how easily she was amused.
Rydel was making a point not to get anywhere near the group of three that had formed on one side of the ship. Errr….boat. Not ship. Boat. Anyway, he’d used the lame excuse that he wanted to check and make sure the vessel was shipshape—despite the fact that they were already sailing—just so that he wouldn’t need to be near either Seven or Will. Seven needed to have her fun and bask in the glow of the Irish—he could understand that—but he also understood that it would be wiser not to stand in either of their ways. And so he awkwardly paced back and forth on the other side of the boat, pretending to contemplate things, and occasionally risking a glance over at the girls.
Seven looked up when Will awoke. She studied the other girl’s expression, looking quite concerned.
“You okay?” She asked.
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Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:13 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady She didn't answer Seven. Her mind was elsewhere. Will was staring blankly at the lighter in her hand, and the letters written on it.
-In the back of the getaway truck, they were all kneeling low to avoid bullets. One narrowly missed Will's hand. She immediately pulled it away as splinters of wood flew out where the bullet hit. "s**t!" Looking down at the bullet hole, she noticed something else on the floor of the truck. Something silver. She picked it up as the truck jostled everyone around, knocking some out of balance. It was a lighter. The letters RIRA were etched into the metal. She thought back to just before their mission had started, Gavin had dropped his lighter while he tried to shove it in his pocket and hadn't bothered to pick it back up since they'd been in a hurry.
Will clenched the lighter tightly in her hand.-
Her grip tightened around the lighter. "....Gavin..... A praamess A won' screw uup t'is taim....." she said to herself. Her shaking hadn't stopped, her eyes grew focused, determined but they still had a shaken up glaze to them. She looked up at the sky, checking the position of the sun to figure out aproximately how many hours had passed. "I' shouldna' be much longar till we get t'ere." she said to her partner and Seven. She still seemed a bit disturbed though. She wasn't the typical 'gung-ho' Will Grady that any one who knew her for two minutes would know. .....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:47 am
________
Seven didn’t say anything for a moment, as if trying to decode Will’s facial expression, but chose not to comment on the matter. She was a little odd, yes, but she had enough sense to know that there is a time to ask questions and a time swallow curiosity. So instead she decided to alert her partner.
“Rydel! We’re almost there, you should come on back!” She called over.
Rydel glanced back at her, noting that Will was awake again.
“I-In a minute! This side of the boat has…” He began, then tried to think of an excuse. He’d never been a good liar.
“Historical significance!”
Seven blinked. Historical significance. Right. She had to wonder whether he was mad at her. That would be strange. Rydel was never mad at her. Of course, she couldn’t see any reason why he’d be mad—she tended to forget her own discretions very easily—but she didn’t want him to be. Maybe he was just acting funny because he was tired or something. She decided to forget it for now.
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:34 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady Will sent a cruel glare at Rydel. Then looked down at the deck and stood up. She walked over to one side of the boat, and just stood there with a thumb in each pocket. Her unchanging gaze overlooked the vast ocean. Her hands were still whaking... and the lighter slipped out and overboard, making a splosh as it hit the water. Will's eyes flooded with fear.
"NOO!!" she cried out. In a split second she slipped of her headphones, guitar, amp and everything else she wouldn't want to get wet, kicked off her shoes, left them to fall to the deck and dove in after the little lighter.
Will swam desperately at the silver object she could just barely make out. Its kept sinking down, and fast! She pursued it anyway.
Reaching out as far as she could, she swiped- and missed. In a panic she grabbed again and once more, finally wrapping her fingers around it. She clutched it tight to her chest....
then realized how much she needed air!
"MMMPH!!" she looked up towards the surface and started kicking. She hadn't realized how far she'd swam, or how deep she'd gone. Getting to the surface was taking longer than she thought and longer than she could hold her breath, but she kept her mouth shut tight and her legs kicking furiously. She swiped at the water with her arms trying to pull herself upwards. 'C'mon Will! Ye can' give uup noow! D'ye 'ave anna idea wha' Gavin would say iffye did?' she barked at herself.
She was almost there! She had to be! It was just taking so damn long!
She was getting lightheaded, it started getting darker... her sight was dimming... she was starting to black-out. 'LAIK HELL!!' she screamed in her head. But that surface just wasn't getting any closer. .....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:47 am
________
Seven snapped into ‘big damn hero mode’ surprisingly quickly. Her head snapped up as soon as she heard the splash—she had been looking over at Rydel again at the time—and she wasted no time in running over to his side of the boat, hooking her arm around his, and tossing the both of them over the side of the boat. Obviously, he was quite shocked by this, but he had little time to protest before they hit the water. And he was used to it, anyway. Seven had done weirder things.
She was rather determined, now. And rightfully so! After all, someone had fallen overboard! Their new Irish friend, no less! Seven had broken into a swift swim before Rydel had time to even register what was going on.
“Hold! On! We’re! Coming!” She shouted, her words punctuated by the water that was slapping up against her face. She was a very quick swimmer. Faster than you’d expect someone who always wore high heels to be—no, she hadn’t taken them off. They didn’t seem to be hindering her at all here. Go figure. Her partner was slow compared to her, but he managed to keep up at least. And while he was sure that the Irish girl would rather drown than be assisted by a Brit like himself, he would help regardless. Because Seven wanted him to. And because letting someone drown would probably not sit well with Death. Or his conscience.
Not that his partner was giving him a choice in the matter. The next thing he knew, she literally pushed him underwater and then followed by going under herself. Will was close in sight now. She was sinking further down, but she was still plainly visible. Seven cut through the water like a razor, grabbed onto the girl’s upper arm, and attempted to pull her up. But seeing as Seven was much smaller than Will, she needed help, and she motioned for Rydel to grab onto the girl’s other arm. He did so, and after a moment of scrambling around, the both of them succeeded in dragging her to the surface. But dammit, she was almost unconscious! And the boat was getting away!
“Swim, Rydel, swiiiiiiiiiim!” Seven screamed. Good to know she kept her energy up even in situations like these.
It took a moment, but they did manage to swim back to the boat. And once they got there, Seven took the opportunity to let go of Will, climb up onto the deck, and pull both her partner and the Irish girl back up. Seven really was a lot stronger than she looked.
Rydel set Will down on the deck, then backed away. Seven ran to her side. She looked like she hadn’t gone completely unconscious.
“Hey, hey! You okay? Talk to meeee!” She cried.
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:08 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady Will was barely aware of what was going on as she was pulled up to the surface. She was only half conscious and water was finding its way into her mouth.
Once on the deck she started sputtering and coughing; hacking up water that had gotten to her lungs. She rolled on her side and spat out water furiously. It stung so bad, she only had one eye open. Her head rested wearily on the deck, trying to regain her strength. Damn that water had been cold! She started shivering again, she was soaked down to the bone. Though it would have been worse if you could actually consider what she wore to be a legitimate shirt.
As she started coming back to full consciousness she looked down at her hand and opened it.
The lighter rested safely in her palm. With a weak grin she said,
"Got i'" .....can ye point me to a pub?
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:35 pm
The warmth of the South American sun was eclipsed by Cypress's worried face, as she leaned over Will's collapsed form. She sighed in relief to see her partner open her eyes, but the relief was short lived as she rounded on Will, grabbed her shoulders and shook.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! How could you do something so irresponsible--so dangerous--so STUPID as jump off a moving ship! For a lighter, no less! Will, you could've gotten yourself killed! And I--and we--and-and..!" she was struggling to say something along the lines of "and I couldn't do anything about it," but she just couldn't get it out. She glared harder in resignation, eyes betraying her concern.
"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!" Another swift shake and Cypress let Will off the hook, finding a new target in the form of Seven and Rydel.
"The same goes for you!" she railed, "Thank you... Thank you for saving Will, but... IT WAS STILL RECKLESS!" She stood with arms akimbo among the other Shibusen students. Her maternal rage had her appearing much more powerful than the worried, little girl she really was. She also smelled like something burning.
"Jeeze..." she finally relented.
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 1:43 pm
Me name's Will Grady.....Wilhelmina Grady Will was a bit taken aback by Cypress's outburst and being shaken like that. When she had finished her rant Will said, "Aw, come on. A've don warse! Jumped off a buildin' inta a dumpstar jus' tha ot'ar daay!" she said with a grin. "Besides, t'is beloonged ta me brot'ar! I's impar'nt ta me!!" Then she looked over at Seven. "Yea, t'anks fer t'a', A owe ye!" then her gaze landed on Rydel.... this would be hard.
Feelings of hatred were boiling underneath the surface.... but it was also her principle not to try to murder those who saved her life....
With a sour face and much difficulty she mannaged to mutter, "T'ank ye fer savin me laif...." Though it was a 'thank you', it sounded more like poison on he lips.
At least good ol' Will was back. .....can ye point me to a pub?
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