Welcome to Gaia! ::

[Nick :: Unknown Plains]

Nick took a deep breath in, staring at the many Heartless before him. In this alternate costume, he felt as if everything he'd ever learned was gone. It was an odd feeling, but he couldn't let that restrict his actions. He charged in, immediately grabbing the nearest Lance Soldier's lance, swinging it around wildly. It knocked into the Lance Soldier, launching it into the air before having its own lance thrown at it. Nick let out a roar of fury, gathering the air around him as quick as he could before shooting the blast of air at the Dark Ball.

"That dealt with those two, methinks." Nick chuckled to himself, only to realize that another Lance Soldier and Dark Ball had replaced the previous two. "...Sunuva...This will be a bit harder than previously thought."

[ Emperor : LoD : Throne ]

"Ah, yes, King Mickey, I remember him. For such a young ruler, he had an air of honor an integrity about him," he said, rubbing his white beard in memory. "He'd come to me, asking that we mutually ally ourselves, and that in this time of chaos, we preach peace, not conquest."

"Not that he'd needed to bring such a philosophy to my attention, though his wisdom was certainly enough to earn my trust," he continued, looking down now to the rest of the group. "After our meeting, he said he was off to an island to the south- I believed he called it... Hah-wah-ee? He'd mentioned something about a republic of the stars. He didn't stay for long."

"If that is all, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave," he said, standing slowly (he seemed more weary than his earlier speaking had let on). Though his face didn't reveal anything, a sense of mourning was somewhat notable in his voice. "Some of my finest were apparently slain due to my ignorance, and my country is fraught with unneeded tension. I will have to issue a number of decrees, and all before sundown..."

{James : Train : Dining Car}

James listened intently to her words, and nodded his head in understanding. Creative writing sounded like a lot of fun, though probably quite a challenge. The corsair had written a few different stories in his time... or at least started on them though they had never really come to fruition. A lot of them inspired by games and anime that he watched. Still he couldn't imagine having to do it for a class. He inwardly winced as she mentioned carpal tunnel. James used to get pains from it back when he was a cashier for ShopKo, that combined with all of the time he spent on the computer caused him a lot of pain so he knew what she meant.

"I see, that's pretty cool. Though the carpal tunnel doesn't. I am sure all of those different supplies would be very expensive. My art goes as far as paper and pencil and then maybe Photoshop coloring at the best. Anyway, I don't currently go to school though I do intend to someday. I tried my hand at the local University once for like half a semester... It didn't work out though because all of the lectures put me to sleep. Not my kind of school I guess. I work at ShopKo for the freight crew, working from like four in the morning until noon usually. A lot of lifting boxes and pushing carts around... It's not that much fun, but it's a job at least. Marriage and living in an apartment kind of makes that a priority over education... at least for me."

{Kuro Oni : The Flying Dutchman}

Kuro Oni listened intently to Ajora's words as he spoke regarding some "friends" and the fact that soon they would have their opportunity to get them all right where they wanted them. Kuro's right hand clenched into a fist in anticipation.

"Excellent. I look forward to being able to give them hell again..."

The dark corsair listened as Ajora mentioned going to fetch Cutler Beckett. He was bored and really had nothing better to do.

"Sure I'll go get him. I've got nothing else to do until the weaklings get here..."

With that he raised his left hand and focused, tearing open a portal into the darkness which he then stepped into and was gone.

[Azrael: The Flying Dutchman]

The male watched Kuro leave the ship, then, once he was completely gone, Azrael frowned at where he had been.

"God, his obsession drives me up a wall..."

Looking to Ajora, the male actually showed a relatively blank face to the 'leader'. "You should be careful, you know. Obsessions like that can be troublesome to plans." A small smile appeared, slightly smug, and slightly condescending. "Of course, you would probably be aware of that."

Moving now, Azrael walked around Celia a few times, looking her over. She was...interesting. So dark, pretty...and Ajora basically said she was 'more than just a sex slave'. Well, basically.

"So, tell me, oh wise one. What does she do? I'm so curious it's creating an...itch in me~." His voice seemed to dance out of his mouth as he looked at her, getting slightly raspy at 'itch' as it seemed to be filled with the dark, warm imagery of something besides an 'itch'.

[ Ajora ; Celia : The Flying Dutchman ]

As Kuro left and Azrael spoke up about the Dreadnought Nightmare (yes, Ajora liked to nickname his associates), he couldn't help but shrug and give a half-hearted sigh. "Yeah, but it can come in handy. One track minds are easily predicted, and thus easily... made efficient."

As Azrael (he wanted to call him the Savage Nymph, but it was sadly taken; perhaps the Vicious Incubus?) began to give Celia a look-over, Ajora couldn't help but smile, as if honestly proud of his work. "Well, if I modeled her properly - and, really, like 'if' is appropriate -, then she's... well, Celia?"

There was no sign of recognition or acknowledgment; only a blur of movement beyond human eyesight. Azrael and Ajora would have seen it, surely, but even to them it would have seemed blurred. Of course, to Azrael, there was something more important than how movement appeared at the moment.

He was, after all, being held off the ground a few inches by his throat; her single hand grasped around his throat just enough to make him feel the pressure, but not enough to deal any serious pain. Azrael was still one of her master's allies, after all.

"Put bluntly, she's an assassin. Lithe, beautiful, graceful, deadly; I simply need to make her partner," he explained, a brief flash of discontent on his face before the return of his smile. "Celia?"

Once again, no sign of receiving any orders; she simply released her grasp on Azrael, allowing him to fall back to his feet with ease.

[Kichi :: LoD :: Throne Room -> outside the gates]

Kichi blinked. "Hawaii...?" He then nodded. "Thank you, your excellency. We shall take our leave at once then, we'd rather not be a burden." And with that he turned to the group "You guys heard him. Let's get to our...transport, and on our way. We'll rest there, so we're not in the way." His tone was encouraging, despite the...possibly crude wording of what he said. Turning back to the emperor, he said "Thank you once more, your Excellency. Farewell."

Kichi walked back over to the rest of the group, and spoke to Alan. "I can fill you in on at least most of what you need when we get back. Good to have you with us though." Giving off a genuine smile of reassurance (Both showing his, and also meant to give the same feeling to his friend).

[Jenny :: Train :: Dining Car]

Jenny smiled, lifting her head up to look across the table. "Yeah, I can't stand lectures either, professors usually drone on like no other. I guess that's why I kind of like creative writing and art, smaller classes and you get to know the professors. I guess it's more of a hands-on learning environment?" The mage responded enthusiastically before chuckling somewhat, "or else I would've been asleep long ago."

Her eyebrows creased a little in worry, James didn't look much over her age, maybe only by a year or two, yet he was working to support someone other than himself. It sounded like tiring work as well, having to imagine waking that early made Jenny nearly groan. But it was for an admirable cause, he needed to support Michelle and love was more than enough of a reason to tackle on work. "I can definitely see that being a more important cause than education, and the choice to go back to school is always there for you. Really, that's amazing, supporting your loved one! I work but only in the summer and even then, my paycheck goes partially to my parents and then the rest to my rent. Haven't begun to fathom what it would be like supporting another person," Jenny responded with a small smile, relieved and happy that she was getting to know James in the midst of everything.