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[ Narration ]

It hadn't taken too long, but the Red Rose finally made its way to Shipwreck Cove. Carefully navigating into the hole above the cove, the Red Rose docked precariously on a higher tier of the Cove's multi-leveled towers and buildings, each constructed of wreckage from earlier ships. The landing ramp descended onto a large balcony overlooking the majority of the cove (if one was brave enough to look over the railing, they could see most of the docked ships in plain view-- a testament to how high they were); from this balcony, a number of other ramps, bridges, and stairways exited out to the rest of the cove.

The Meeting of the Pirate Lords had, of course, long-since ended. Most of the hundreds of pirates were already asleep, naturally or having otherwise passed out from drunkenness. What rogues were awake immediately gazed up at the ship suspiciously, some running to tell their respective captains (or Lords) of the new arrival. The new Pirate King and his Lords were likely to be brought to the ship very soon.

Outside of the Cove, any on-board the Dutchman would have seen the flying ship come in from the horizon and land inside the Cove. The eternal crew would likely have gone to tell their captain of the new arrival immediately-- assuming, of course, he wasn't already outside dealing with the new-born Replicas.

The sky was hauntingly clear, made ever-more ominous by the distinct lack of starlight. The moon was high in the sky, very nearly in the center; it was not quite midnight, but it was getting close.

[Dawn : Shipwreck Cove : Uppermost Balcony]

After they arrived back at the cove, Dawn followed out of the ship, shortly behind Kyle, though unlike him, she waited for the ramp to fully lower. As she came in closer she heard Kuja mentioned the arrival of three replica's while they were away, one of them being a dancer. Dawn froze for several moments, glancing from Kuja to Kyle. Then back at Kuja.

"Dancer?" she said in a small voice, "You don't mean...?" she paused for a moment as she knew the question was stupid, for she already knew the answer for it. There was only one Dancer among them, "What did they want?"

[Noelle ~ Shipwreck Cove ~ Uppermost Balcony (Rose Ramp)]

Noelle followed along with the group that was leaving the Red Rose, feeling no less rested but at least a little more content. She had thoroughly enjoyed her time in the bathroom with the others, just relaxing and talking. Afterward she went to help out one of the guys who was newer to the group, Matthew, in the training room. From there she went and got some food and before she knew it they had arrived back at Shipwreck Cove. As she walked down the loading ramp she hoped to herself that they wouldn't be doing much more that night. The conversation they were having at the base of the ramp threatened those hopes, however.

"Bitches and hoes," She grumbled exasperatedly under her breath, "More replicas? Someone get me something to punch . . ."

[[Louis : Shipwreck Cove : Red Rose ]]

((Sometime Mid-flight))

The arcanist emerged from a corridor of darkness and found himself in a dimly lit room. The room itself was a mess, several items strewn across the floor as though it had gone through a hurricane or earthquake. Louis wondered exactly what it was that had drawn him here. He was sure that he had sensed it before back on the mothership just before the Red Rose's arrival was announced. If his intuition did not betray him, he was on the airship now. Question was, what was it that would give off such a distinctive signature like this.

At last Louis found his answer with the small glimmer of reflected light from the porthole on wall. Louis walked over to a corner of the room and knelt down to pick up a small, what seemed to be a glass rose. He examined it with some appreciation but slight confusion, what was it doing here? Louis sighed in light frustration as he pocketed the abnormal jewel and headed out the door.



((Current Time))

Louis strolled out of the ship with his hands at his sides and expression grim. It was obvious Louis wanted nothing to do with this place and the arcanist was not one to hide his distaste. Alcohol everywhere, sanitation at an all time low, bathing unheard of, and worst of all, pirates everywhere, worthless pirates.

When Kuja, the polar opposite of their surroundings spoke, Louis sneered at the comment of new replicas, "There are more of them? Damn it... we can't even manage to take down one and there are more now?"

[Jenny :: Shipwreck Cove :: Uppermost Balcony (Rose Ramp)]

Jenny trailed in after the other, only catching the last bit of what Kuja had to say but that last bit was more than enough. More replicas. Wonderful news to land to. The more Earthlings they found; the more replicas there were. She could only hope that they weren't all deciding to band together. It was hard enough fighting the few that were already around.

"We'll have to be on our guard, you don't know these new people too well yet, if they have a replica... they could easily infiltrate and you wouldn't know."

Jenny frowned, she could hear heartsongs but fat good it did when it came to Rae. Maybe there was a way she could better tune it. She sighed, maybe Siren could teach her a thing or two later when it came to pinpointing songs. For now, she nodded in agreement with Noelle. "Let's hope they're not all going to come flying at us at the same time."

[ Ajora : Paris : The Ball ]

The Black Prophet had arrived in Paris and scouted out the festivities ahead of time. Incidentally, he'd also taken the opportunity to become acquainted with the area. The Darkness was thick here... practically tangible. The most deliciously ironic reason, of course, was the Catholic Church's complete oppression of all but the upper class.

Oh, Frollo, you old coot.

What was even more interesting was one of the other sources of Darkness-- someone long since thought dead. Someone a long, long distance away from her homeland. This, Ajora presumed, was the reason for Elleon's presence in the city of Paris. But why, exactly...?

Lodging that thought away for later, the Executioner looked out of the shadowy alley he was hidden in toward the location of the ball-- an large manse, owned by some fancy aristocrat who likely paid off the church so such festivities would be allowed. There were some guards stationed outside the large French doors-- the people he'd have to give the invitation, he presumed.

The shadows around him slithered and enveloped him for the briefest of moments before the strolled out of the alleyway. Hiding the upper half of his face was a feathered mask of with a mixture of white and gray hues, akin to marble. His waistcoat was a dark silver, mixed in with various white and gray tones, with a white undershirt and cravat; over his waistcoat was a white tailcoat, and he was wearing white pants to match.

Overall, he looked more virtuous than vicious.

Ah, how I do love a masquerade.

Approaching the guards, he offered out his invitation; when they had taken it from him to check, the nodded and let him pass through the doors into the grand ball that awaited him.

Elleon, just what do you have in store...?

[Joe: Shipwreck Cove: Uppermost Balcony(Rose Ramp)]

Joe stepped off the airship, fully dressed, and stretched. He had had a nice nap, after all, and...well, a fight was coming up. And of course more replicas coming into play was wonderful to find out, even though it made him grind his teeth and square off his shoulders.

And then Noelle spoke a beautiful line that was music to Joe's ears. He hugged her, smiling. "I knew you were my favorite." Finally, someone that (at least outwardly) understood that to get rid of a problem like that in this world, you needed it gone for good.