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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:13 pm
 
This is a PRP between Van (Kurama no Koishi) and Kiran (Kazu-chan).
Setting:
A ferry ride turns nasty when the crew runs into pirates, and Van and Kiran find themselves in a situation that is less than... ideal.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:50 pm
It was only supposed to be a ferry ride from the main island of Lunaria to one of the smaller ones in the far south, where much of the continent’s imports were sorted before being distributed to the mainland. Van, for her part, was on her way there to negotiate a weapons deal for her company. Little did she—or anyone else, for that matter—know that the very ship they were on was transporting precious cargo of its own. When the pirates boarded the ship, she and the smattering of other fighters had fought fiercely, but with the chaos and the skewed numbers, they were quickly overwhelmed.
It had taken her the better part of an hour to undo her cloth gag and free herself of the ropes that bound her body to one of the huge wooden posts. Still, there was nothing she could do about the heavy steel cuffs that linked her, arm and leg, to Kiran.
Running into the Noble was, as always, an accident. At first it seemed a welcome accident, but as she tried to maneuver to a standing position with the man, she found herself wishing that he wasn’t there. A frown set on her face. They were weaponless and handicapped, and though they’d fought each other often enough to have a general feel for each other’s movements, the height difference alone would be enough to topple them.
“Try to stay quiet,” she whispered, looking around. That wouldn’t have been a problem if they were both on their own, but they weren’t. Their chains clanked noisily, too, and would be a dead giveaway unless they were extremely quiet. For now, it seemed that the pirates were all in one place—probably the cargo hold? Somehow she would have to investigate with Kiran in tow.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 5:57 pm
It was supposed to be a simple job. One of the regular crew was home violently ill from what Kiran didn't think to ask. His hand healed up nicely after his first round match against Som in the tournament, so when he was begged to fill in for the sick man, Kiran saw little reason to refuse. His boss didn't complain, much, when he announced that he would be joining the crew as they sailed the ferry to a smaller island to the south. He didn't bother asking what was being transported on the ferry, but it wasn't really any of his business. He was only there to fill in for a crew member.
Really, it all sounded very simple and mundane. It should have been over and done with, without any problems. So how he ended up tied up and gagged to one post was a bit of a mystery.
Actually, no, it wasn't. He remembered leaning over the side of the ferry when the attack first took place and was caught off guard by the pirates swarming onto the ferry. The pirate that jumped onto the deck in front of him dealt a nasty strike to his forehead, leaving a tender bump, while a second pirate kicked him hard in the back. Before he knew it, he was tied up.
The ropes around him loosened somewhat, and after some maneuvering, he got an arm free and managed to rip the cloth gag free of his mouth. But that wasn't all that limited him. Of course, of all the Lunarians that it could possibly happen with, Kiran had to be bound to Van with heavy shackles linking them by hand and foot.
Kiran started to follow her instruction when he stopped, wrapping a hand around the chain and giving it a mild tug. "Who made you the boss?" he questioned with a frown. He knew the best idea would be to go spy on the pirates. It was what he would be doing right now if he was alone. But they needed to work together, since they had little choice, and for that, they needed to come to an agreement on how to do that.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:11 am
Van hadn't even stopped to consider that Kiran might not listen to her. Having been a captain for quite some time now, she was used to being obeyed without question, and so she'd started in the direction of where she thought the cargo hold was without looking to see that he was following her. When she was stopped dead as the chain went taut, she really was genuinely astonished.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, whirling around to face the other. Her tone was a mixture of surprise and irritation, and she had the sense to look affronted when her ability to lead was questioned. Was he serious? “I'm the captain, here.” She didn't expect for this to mean too much to him, considering that he pulled for the Nobles - but even so, the rank was something that couldn't be ignored. Weren't Legion captains notorious for being, well, good at their job?
Sneaking up on pirates wasn't exactly in her job description, but she had plenty of experience sneaking up on people to terminate them. She wasn't one of the heads of the black ops division for no reason. However, the woman wasn't about to go over her entire job description and credentials with Kiran. They might have been friends, but there was some information that was smarter not to divulge to anyone of the other side.
“Look, this skill set...” she waved her free hand to indicate herself and the sneaking she was supposed to be trying to do, “is part of my job. So trust me, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, she began heading forward again.
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:18 am
He didn't flinch at the demand. It wasn't smart for the loiter around in one spot with pirates aboard, and being chained together and weaponless, they were at a disadvantage. But the comment stung. He knew he was merely a lowly fighter, certainly not one to be a leader. "Not my captain," he growled out bitterly, a verbal reminder that they were from opposing sides. He doubted either of them ever forgot that they weren't on the same allegiance.
They wasn't the time to be arguing over what side they fought for or about ranks. They were in the situation together, literally tied to one another and needed to rely on each other to get out of it. Right now, their allegiances didn't matter. The pirates were their common enemy. Bickering with each other only gave the pirates another advantage.
Kiran's eye twitched. "And you think I don't share that same skill set?" He really didn't want to put the question out there, the question of whether she believed she was better than he. But she wasn't the only one that worked under the cover of darkness and could move stealthily through the shadows to sneak up on enemies.
"I do trust you." Even if they were from different sides, it didn't stop him from believing in her skills. He knew first hand how good she was at her job. "But it's better to go this way." He pulled in the opposite direction.
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:19 pm
Van’s features pulled into another frown when Kiran remained obstinate. If they weren’t friends and he wasn’t tied to her she would have just knocked him upside the head the way she might have done to an errant grunt. Unfortunately she didn’t have that kind of command over the Noble, and she couldn’t afford to be walking around the ship chained to an unconscious Lunarian. She was forced to be civil. “I’m not saying that,” she answered simply, leaning back against the force he was exerting on his end of the chain. “Then are you saying you’re better than me?”
She trusted him, but maybe not his skills. At least she knew what she could and could not do, and she knew that she was more than capable of leading this particular task. However, he had height and weight on her, and as much as she tried to pull backwards against him she was still giving a bit of ground, inch by inch. Van wasn’t stupid—she knew there was a lot of freedom to be given up in being tied (albeit unwillingly) to someone else like this. Her well-being hinged on his.
So she let go, swearing under her breath. “If you get both of us thrown overboard I’m going to feed you to the sharks.” The threat was no joke.
Walking with him was another story. Their steps weren’t in sync, nearly causing her to fall over a few times and tripping her once. Their chains dragged on the wooden floor, and they could probably be heard from anywhere on the ship. For as much as either of them boasted stealth alone, they were the very opposite of it now. “We need to do something about this.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:11 pm
This would likely go far better if they weren't both so stubborn. "No, I'm really not," Kiran grumbled, though he wasn't certain if he was answering the question or admit that he was in fact not better than Van. Based on ranking, she was clearly superior to him since he was still a lowly fighter and would probably remain so for the foreseeable future. Not that he could find it in himself to complain. Leading his own men on missions didn't sound like a responsibility he was ready for yet. He wasn't entirely a work with other kind of person and usually did most of his missions solo.
"I'm not fighting you because of rank or skill or allegiance." He listened to the sounds of the ships, almost like expecting to hear the pirates coming for them. "Look. I know ships. I build ships. I work on ships. Just trust me when I say I know what I'm doing."
He would have laughed at the threat if anything about the situation was funny. But he didn't doubt that Van would do just that if they were caught. From the noise they were making, being caught was seeming all the more likely.
"That's what I'm trying to do. If we had gone that way," he pointed in the direction that Van had wanted to lead them, the chain rattling nosily with the movement, "they'd hear us coming long before we got there and we wouldn't stand a chance against them. We don't exactly have stealthy on our side right now, and if we want to get the jump on them, we need to do something about that. But going this way," he pointed the way before them, "we can find something to break off these chains. I know investigating the pirates is important, but we can't do that effectively without first getting these chains off."
Kiran grinned at her. "Plus we can reach the upper level this way and spy on them from above without them noticing us." But what were the pirates even looking for? What on this ferry was of enough wealth or importance for them to attack it?
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:31 am
Van was more than willing to listen to Kiran speak, usually, and was willing enough this time to be enlightened to the fact that yes, he probably knew much more about ships than she did. That was all well and good, and she’d be courteous enough to listen longer any other time except for now. Instead, the woman pressed a finger to her friend’s lips while he was mid-syllable, before he could keep talking about the theory behind their plan. It was unclear whether this was because she was irritated that he was right or because she genuinely wanted him to be quiet.
“Shh!” she hissed, her voice something of a yelled whisper, “I was talking about the noise!” Van would have rattled the chains for impact, but that would have gone against the point she was trying to make. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed, but she had been having a ton of trouble trying to keep pace, let alone trying to do so without making an obnoxious amount of noise. “What are you smiling about this time? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you enjoyed this.”
The line of her mouth had taken on a slight downward cast as she looked upon the iron chains that tied them together. She had taken hold of some of the chain that linked their wrists so there was less slack and therefore, less noise. There wasn’t much she could do about the chain that was dragging on the floor—all they could do was make sure they didn’t make more noise than necessary.
“Okay, on one, inner legs forward. On two, outer legs. One, two, one, two...”
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:05 pm
His words ground to a halt when a finger was pressed to his lips. Kiran dropped his gaze to the finger, his green eyes practically crossing in the attempt to look at the finger silencing him. He knew the importance of silence. Being stealthy relied on his ability to move about without being heard. But he didn't usually have someone pressing a finger to his mouth to keep him from talking. It wouldn't surprise him if she did it simply because his talking was annoying her. Being a nuisance was apparently apart of whom he was.
His lips twitched, trying to spread into a wider grin. He rolled a shoulder in a shrug. "What's not to enjoy when I'm tied to a beautiful woman?" he asked teasingly, though he knew this wasn't the time for jokes. But the situation was hardly enjoyable. Not when the shackle around his wrist was tight and felt like it dug into his skin. Not when trying to walk in step with each other resulted in stumbles and trips over the chain connecting their legs.
He tried to move in sync with Van, cooperating as best as he could to achieve their goal, but their strides were unmatched and the chain still dragged noisily as they moved through the ferry. "Picks would be really nice right now," he grumbled, threading his fingers of his unshackled hand through the shaggy locks of his hair. He didn't actually possess a set of lock picks, but this situation was making him wish that he did.
Kiran stopped suddenly, grabbing hold of the chain to hold Van back. "Wait. Did you hear that?" he asked in a cautious whisper. He thought he heard a noise from ahead of them. Perhaps one of the pirates checking the ferry for any missed member of the crew and passengers.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 12:49 am
Kiran’s response startled a chuckle out of Van, though she tried to disguise it with a well-timed cough. It wouldn’t do to laugh when she was trying to tell him to be serious, even if he had paid her a compliment. Of course, she enjoyed those as much as the next girl even (or especially?) if it was from Kiran. So she poked him in the shoulder with her free fist. “You are cheeky, Kiran,” she hissed, her face momentarily pulled into a pout.
She sighed quietly as they moved on. Of course picks would be really nice right now. They had none, however, and there was no use in grumbling about it or in her pointing out that he was being Captain Obvious, so she remained quiet. The mention of the lock picks had given her an idea, but when Kiran pulled on her chain she temporarily forgot about it.
Biting back a scathing response, she turned to flash him an irritated glare. It was a disagreeable dynamic, having Kiran stop her whenever she tried to do something. Had it been anyone else, she probably would have bitten his head off by now.
In the interest of getting both of them out alive, though, she turned her attention toward the sound. Indeed, there was someone there. As she listened further, it was apparent that the footsteps were heading their way, although they started and stopped without purpose, as if the person was wandering.
Remembering her idea from earlier, Van reached behind her head and removed her headband, revealing a handful of long pins which held her hair in place. Van wasn’t good at picking locks—she’d always just broken locks apart by force, but they had few options now. She wasn’t even sure that the pins would work, but she handed one to Kiran anyway, trusting him with at least this. He stole things—he should be good at this, right?
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 4:46 pm
Kiran grinned at Van's comment. How else was he supposed to act? Cheeky was just a part of him, like being a joker or messing up the Legionnaire's plans. Even in moments like this one, he couldn't resist throwing out a teasing comment. He knew there were other fighters that thought he was strange, perverse, psychotic maybe for being able to wear a grin while in the midst of combat. Even he realized that might be something wrong with him, but it was simply who he was. He couldn't simply switch off his personality.
When they were both silent, he could hear the sound more clearly: footsteps coming in their direction. He didn't think luck would be on their side, and the person wandering ahead of them was another crew member or passenger seeking a way to fight the pirates. A fight wouldn't be good at this moment. They had enough trouble walking in sync. He imagined fighting while chained together would be even worse, especially with their different styles of combat.
"You had these the whole time?" Kiran demanded quietly, trying to keep his voice low enough that the unexpected presence ahead of them wouldn't overhear him. They weren't exactly the best to use for picking locks. He would have to remember to invest in a real set of lock picks to keep on him at all time for emergencies like this. "We could have gotten these off a lot sooner!"
He took the lock pick from Van and quickly worked on freeing his wrist from the shackle. He hoped she didn't mind of the pin got damaged in the process, but getting free seemed more important than some little pin. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to work the lock with the thin, straight pin. He made faces while he concentrated on unlocking the shackle. After a moment, the shackle fell free, and he rubbed at the reddened marks around his wrist.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:17 pm
“Hey!” she’d hissed back, sounding affronted once again, “How was I supposed to know they’d work?” It was a lame excuse, and she knew it. On a typical day, Van was rather resourceful, her idea to use her hair pins an example of this trait. Kiran had made it sound like she was dumb for forgetting about it until now though, and she took mild offense to that. Of course, this was not the time and place to draw attention to herself, so she followed his example and began to attempt to pick at the shackles around their ankles.
It quickly became apparent that Kiran was much better at this sort of thing than she was, especially as she was using her left hand. Van jumped when the chain that had linked their arms together clicked open, and she paused to point at their ankle shackles. “Do mine!” she whispered, hoping that by this point their exchange would blend into the ship’s creaking. She had no idea where the Lunarian they’d heard earlier was now. He could have moved on, or he could have stopped to listen for noise that she or Kiran had accidentally made.
Either way, she wasn’t too concerned about the chain that remained cuffed to her right wrist. She could use it as a weapon if it came to it. If they remained bound at the ankles, though, that would leave them significantly impaired, especially if she tried to kick someone the way her martial art often called for her to.
When the face appeared in front of them, Van reflexively shot her arm out, swinging the chain around the pirate’s neck and pulling on both ends as hard as she could. It was a short and brutal maneuver, but she hoped Kiran would excuse her for it. Between a pirate’s well-being and theirs, the reasoning seemed obvious.
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Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:42 pm
"You could have at least mentioned them," he said, not meaning to be harsh or rude. He was simply frustrated with the situation. Trying to act while chained to another person wasn't easy, and he hoped never to be in a similar situation again. A little of the frustration was on himself as well. He never even thought that Van might have some pins on her. But why would he even think about someone carrying hairpins? He didn't use them.
Kiran crouched down after the whispered commanded. The pin slipped into the lock of the shackle around Van's ankle. He made quicker work of it this time since the lock was the same as the one that bound their arms. His ear fins remained alert for any approaching Lunarians, but he needed to rely on Van for protection while he worked on the lock.
The shackle fell free from Van's ankle as the Lunarian that they heard early finally made an appearance. Kiran could only watch as Van brought down the pirate quickly. "I'll have to remember to watch out for that attack," he mumbled, still stunned. It wasn't like he hadn't seen attacks similar to that one on the battlefield. He hoped he would never be on the receiving end of that one.
"Let me just get this off." Kiran returned his focus to the shackle around his ankle. It no longer bound them together, but he wouldn't be able to move around stealthily with the chain dragging behind him. With a frown, he glanced up at Van. "Unless you'd rather part ways now?" He wouldn't blame Van if she decided to work on her own to stop the pirates. When the shackle came free, he stood up, holding onto the chain. It would make a handy weapon if he had to fight the pirates.
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:06 pm
Van hadn’t seemed to hear Kiran’s first response when she attacked the pirate. It wasn’t until she slowly lowered the lunarian’s body to the ground, gently so that they made no sound, that she finally glanced toward her friend again, an apologetic look in her eyes. “You know, if I’d been planning on doing that to you I probably would have done so by now,” she murmured, the corners of her lips twitching in the ghost of a smile. Despite the joke, the words were true—they’d come together in battle often enough that it wouldn’t be surprising if one of them were dead by the other’s hand by now. Yet both were alive and well, even working together now.
On a pirated ship, near international waters, it was probably the wiser decision to. Van kept watch as she waited for Kiran to finish picking the locks, though nothing could be heard but the creaking of the ship and the clicking of the fighter’s lock-picking.
She regarded him with some surprise when he suggested that she might prefer to part ways. “No, I’ll stay with you,” she whispered, shaking her head. Once upon a time, she might have been happy to jump overboard and leave the ship to its unfortunate fate, but she had only cared for herself then. Now, there were both fighters and citizens depending on her, and her actions affected more than just herself. Because of that, it was better to enlist help, even if it was in the form of just one other fighter. “We’ll stand a better chance together, so long as we cooperate.”
At least now that they were finally unchained, chances of that happening were ironically better. They did still need a plan though; hopefully one would become apparent after they’d spied on the pirates for a while. “To the upper level?”
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:22 pm
"Doing it just now wouldn't have worked very well to your advantage," Kiran said, offering a teasing smile. But he knew it was no joke. Not really. If Van ever wanted to put him down for good, Kiran knew she probably could. She was quick and strong and very skilled. If he wasn't careful, she would get the better of him. "Lugging my body around would have caused you more trouble. Though maybe I would have made a good meat shield."
Humor, just maybe, was some sort of defense mechanism for him. He knew it wasn't time to make jokes or laugh at what was happening, but it was like he couldn't stop himself from letting some crack about the situation slip out. Defuse the tension in some bizarre way. He wasn't very good at being serious at all times.
He was almost surprised when Van wanted to stay with him. It did make sense though, as Van said. Fighting with each other gave them better odds, and they shared the same goal of wanting to defeat the pirates. He nodded, keeping hold of his chain. He would have preferred his tonfas, but the chain would have to work well enough as a weapon for now. "Right. Ladies first then." He bowed in silly display of acting gentlemanly before Van.
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