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 Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:55 pm
Jack never found trouble. Trouble found Jack.
In between visiting the Princess and harassing the other inhabitants of the Oasis, the captain wandered where his paws so pleased. Usually it was quiet along the bank save for the ever-sighing rush of water or the tinkle of droplets hitting the surface as tiny birds took wing after a bath. He sometimes ran into a weary-eyed predator and exchanged no words as they drank from the same shallows, wary gazes fastened on one another. Other days Jack would find himself a swimming partner and spend the day in lazy company.
But, as he was prone to do, Jack would stray from the familiarity of the river bank, follow the path of the rushing water as though it were a siren song. He couldn't help himself; he was born to voyage. Today had been no different, save one thing:
The clarity of the water had been punctuated by the sheen of gold.
Now, Jack was a pirate and level of greediness aside (his being particularly low compared with others), he still felt compelled to follow it. But for him, it was more out of curiosity as to how it came to the Oasis rather than a need to possess it.
His travel took him quite higher than he intended, paw-pads scuffing the rocky crags that lead like steps forever upwards. The river, while still within leaping distance, began to fall as he continued to climb. The farther he went, he realized, the more gold dotted the bank. Coins lodged in sediment winked at him from the shallows, strangely hewn cups were overturned in the reeds. Bits of stone, blue as his Princess's eyes when she smiled, peeked through the mud along the shoreline.
Somewhat blown by his discovery, Jack carefully climbed down the rocky overhang to get a closer look at the other side of the river. He never quite noticed the lump of soggy fur caught against a rotting log that broke the surface of the water, its hair a fan of black sliding through the shallows. No, he was much too focused on the stone-like golden totem that had rolled onto shore, eyes of genuine emerald blinking beneath the evening sun.
Jack never found trouble. Trouble found Jack.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:24 am
Bloody overgrown hairball of a cat.
Drake trudged along the elevated river bank with a slight hobble to his step as he headed upstream of the torrent, where the flow of the water seemed to calm the further he went. He was without his hat and coat, leaving his torso covered only in the loose, white undershirt. Although his hair was still tied back, his forelock seemed to be in a rather disheveled state and there was a raw scrape that ran along the length of his cheek.
Not moments before, the pirate had been going about his daily business when he found that he was being tracked down… by a bobcat-kitten-thing. It was apparently transfixed in following him around everywhere like a lost puppy and had the relentless need to swat at the fin of his tail. He finally tried to shoo the kitten away, which resulted in the thing mewling out pitifully. Unfortunately with bobcat-kitten-skuzzball-thing comes bobcat-nasty-overgrown hairball-mother, who, when came a-running to answer her child’s cry, happened to find the bemused pirate trying to “harass” her offspring.
Well, one can only image how the rest goes, as the admiral surely wouldn’t relay such an epic demise to his downfall of what occurred that day. Already his mind was piecing together a more appealing story. There were ten of them… feral, rabid, rancid… maybe they should be bears… or maybe the bobcats teamed up with the bears? Ohh, that sounded good.
However, Drake was distracted from his musings as a metallic glint caught the corner of his vision. He glanced down at the river, whiskers turned down in a slight frown as it appeared nothing was there… But wait! There it was again. A small coin glinted from the bottom of the river, being tugged slowly by the current. Deciding he was in no state to go down there and retrieve the small piece to see if it were real or not, Drake continued up the bank, only to find more gold scattered across the shore. Oddly, what directed his attention away from this discovery was a mass of fur that was caught on some rot wood. Looking around, he found that someone else had seemed to stumble upon the treasure already.
“Evenin’, Captain.” Drake greeted to the male below with a sly grin. “Tha’s quite the find you’ve got there.” he noted, glancing over the Mayan gold and jewels that dotted the river bed with curiosity. Or perhaps it was Aztec…
With that thought in mind, Drake remembered his father and suddenly lost some interest in the treasure. “Careful it’s not cursed this time, mate.” he added, before remembering the sodden character that seemed to be washed up on a piece of driftwood and motioning to it with his muzzle.
"I don't supposed you'd 'appen to know who tha' is down there, eh?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:56 am
Billy huffed as he followed Kimberly, who was searching for flower seeds she could plant in her garden, slightly irked that he had failed miserably at helping her. He'd spent the morning trying to help her weed and ended up pulling quite a few flowers by accident and she'd, as kindly as she could, kicked him out. And then she'd asked, much too sweetly, if he wouldn't mind coming with her as she looked for seeds. He'd agreed, hoping to do some of his own scavenging for materials to repair their communicators, in exchange that she would fish for dinner.
As it was he was having a hard time finding anything that would be of use. He was the one to spot the gold in the river, blue aqua eyes widening. "Aurum? Here?" he mused out loud. He followed it, eyes darting towards Kimberly, before calling her over. "It's highly unlikely that a metal of such precious value would just be forgotten here. We should check this out," he told her.
Kimberly's brown eyes looked from the gold to Billy and back, then nodded in agreement. She looked around making sure it was safe to transform before raising on her hind legs and pulling her morpher out, "Pterodactyl!"
Billy followed suit, "Triceratops!", a feeling much akin to comfort washing over him as he transformed. He made a dejected face hidden by his helmet, "We'll have to stay close, I don't know how well the communication systems will hold up and we don't have our communicators to fall back on. We should take extra precautionary measure to ensure that we are not caught in any sort of battle since we won't be able to call on Jason for help."
Thanks to their gloves and boots, the rangers found the climb a bit easier than they would've normally, and it didn't take them long to reach the other two who had found the gold before them. And it took even less for Kimberly to forget everything Billy had said, her brown eyes focusing on the ebony hair that shimmered in the water.
"Don't just stand there! There's someone in the water!" she shouted, bounding forth and splashing into the water to help the female.
So much for stealth.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:04 am
Clopin, lazy gypsy that he happened to be every so often, was stretched out on his back in the shade of a tree, not far from where the two pirates had stopped, dozing in the warmth of the day, the brim of his hat tipped down over his eyes. Idly dreaming of colorful festivals and huge feasts shared by colorfully dressed otters, he was hidden from view from the other males, as he was around the other side of the tree, though sight being impaired didn't mean sound was as well. His pierced ear twitched once before one paw rose and and tipped the brim back, blinking sleepily in the light.
He rolled over, sitting up to fix his hat before his stepped around the tree.
"What have we here? A pirate party...?" he asked, scanning the area with a VERY intrigued expression. Back in his home territory, things like that had actually had high value for trade. Old habits died hard.
And then his brown gaze found the figure in the water and he frowned, first at the other two males and then at the figure before carefully wading out to it, reaching out a paw to lift some of the hair to inspect the otter. But just as he was stepping into the water, a strangely dressed otter ran splashing into the water towards the otter he had been going to inspect.
"Watch it!" he barked, raising one clawed paw in warning.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:53 am
Jack had picked up the golden totem in both paws and was busy appraising it, face scrunched with the utmost concentration... which was abruptly broken by Drake's sudden appearance from thin air (or so he told himself to save face). He fumbled with the golden egg and clutched it to his chest, staring wide-eyed at the admiral's familiar face.
"Good lord, lad, y'ever sneak up on yehr pa like tha'?" he grunted, setting the totem back in the mud. "N' if so, why's he still alive?"
The captain fought the urge to tell the whelp 'paws off, this is mineminemine!' - but that would have been utterly childish. Jack was above childish. His tail curled around the golden head. Obviously.
Careful it’s not cursed this time, mate.
His tail slithered from around the totem with a snap. The last thing he wanted to do was get caught up in the second greatest caper of the century with another wily male. Jack scooted away from the totem, fixing his gaze on Drake.
"Speakin' o'death n' ol' men n' all tha', what happened to yehr fa-- eh? Who's who?" Jack gave a languid blink and followed the other otter's gaze towards the blackened log jutting from the river. His brow wrinkled with surprise and suspicion; he had been much too busy puzzling over the gold to notice the-- the body bobbing against the current. A chill passed through his spine. Without answering the boy, Jack crept through the muck of the bank and poked his nose through a group of reeds for a better view.
Jack may have been dumb, but he wasn't stupid! Sudden gold on the Oasis and a body in the water? It reeked of foul play-- before he could step away, the body stirred. The captain gave a shout and tumbled over backwards in his haste to get the hell out of dodge.
"S'river witch!" was conveniently covered by a "Don't just stand there! There's someone in the water!" and a "Watch it!"
Gold must have been the fire that smoked otters out. Dazed, the captain could only sit back and watch (while he nursed his whiplash).
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:21 am
Carefully making his way down the side of the bank, a soft grin crawled onto Drake's maw in amusement at Jack's startled demeanor to his "sudden appearance". "You kiddin'? Hardly anything gets past the ol' man without 'im noticing first. An' it's not in my place to know if he's still alive or not. 'aven't seen him in awhile." he trailed off a bit before returning his gaze to the older pirate as the gold totem was shoved aside at the reference to the former cursed treasure.
As Jack was distracted by the character that had washed up on shore, the admiral turned as an unfamiliar voice addressed them. He eyed the gypsy that had slipped out from behind the tree with curiosity before tipping his head to the side coyly. "I do believe the terminology is 'gathering', or whatever you refer to that in your tongue, Monsieur." replied Drake in a pleasant tone, sparing him a wry smirk (which stung his cheek a bit) as he took note of the demon's French accent.
The young otter watched as the gypsy also wandered over to the motionless body... and then several things happened at once. "Bloody hell!" Drake growled with a mix of shock and frustration as a pair of pink and blue-outfitted otters barged over. "An' who are the lot of you?" the pirate questioned with a slight scowl before turning to look back at the drift-wood-bound maiden. He wouldn't be surprised if she was drunk. Hammered gits fell off the sides off boats all the time and eventually washed up on shore again.
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 2:53 pm
"Watch it!"
The pink clad otter skidded to a halt inches from the unknown female, turning her head to look at Clopin, a quizzical look on her face beneath her helmet. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Was he trying to help or did he just not want her to help? "Are you going to help her? Anyone of you?" she asked, clearly exasperated. It should have been common courtesy to help someone floating lifelessly in water, not stand about looking at gold coins, but then again they were males.
She turned her brown gaze back to the female. She didn't look dangerous. And it felt quite pointless to stand around trying to decide if the floating otter was, especially since water seemed to be leaking into her gloves creating a very unpleasant squish between her paws. Thank goodness for the helmet covering her look of disgust, tongue peeking out between her teeth as her face scrunched up, because it was hardly becoming.
The blue clad otter took a more steady approach, walking down to the edge of the water, a steady gaze lingering in the shallows before turning to the two pirates. "We're part of the Power Rangers. I'm the Blue Ranger and she's the Pink Ranger. I take it neither of you are the cause of this otter's current predicament then? If that is the case then I think we are all on the same side and it would be quite efficient if we were to cooperate in the help of this otter. I think the first priority should be removing her from her current spot because prolonged exposure to the water could lead to pneumonia or other respiratory conditions."
He let out a breath, looking to the sky, doubting this would go as well as he hoped because nothing ever went according to plan when the rangers had to be involved. He was quite willing to lend a hand, as long as he didn't have to set foot in the water, not that he would let anyone know that. So he busied himself to look like he was waiting expectantly for any of the three to agree to his idea, granted they understood a word he said and he didn't have to translate.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 6:48 pm
Clopin's gaze grew immediately suspicious, though he still managed to keep his somewhat comical appearance, at the tone and words of the blue-clad male. Still, he lowered his paw back into the water, though the threat of his claws still remained. He was taught at a very early age to be distrustful of authority.
He slowly shook his head and gave the female a bored look.
"No, mademoiselle. I intended to leave her adrift for my own amusement," he replied in a very cheerfully sarcastic tone of voice. He returned his attention to the other otter and carefully lifted a bit of her hair away from her face.
He could tell she was female, though that was more of a scent issue rather than sight, and she was dark, like him, only her fur had a more red tint to it. He had heard about otters like that when he was a young king. In truth, he had had more pressing matters on his mind at the time, and had paid little attention.
"Mademoiselle?" he asked, patting her cheek with just enough force to intend to wake her up.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:34 pm
Jack drifted behind Drake, eying the colorful, helmeted otters with a mixture of interest and horror: "Are they wearing pitchers on their heads?"
He peered over Drake, using the younger otter as a veritable meat shield - should pink pitcher one or blue pitcher two attack - and followed the exchange of words as though they were being filtered through the air for his reading pleasure. His gaze lingered on the Blue Ranger's opaque, black visor, his brow wrinkling.
He lifted a paw at the Pink female, "I'm not helping." A winsome grin stole nervously over his face and again his eyes drifted to the body in the water. Clopin obscured his vision as he moved to brush the otter's hair back; she stirred once more, the water disturbed with ripples. Jack had to bite his tongue from warning the gypsy. It wasn't his place. If he - the whole lot of them - wanted to interfere with matters not their own, so be it. This captain would take no part.
She remembered the red breast of the quetzal as the water had swallowed her whole. It had hiccuped in her vision like a giant heartbeat, throbbing with life as she thought hers - soon enough - would no longer. Time was stolen from her when water became all she could see and though she fought valiantly against the current, it had sent her tumbling head over tail, head over tail, headovertail....
She had been afraid when she had hit the water, terrified, immobilized by fear, but as the water stole the last of her breath, she... she let go. She stopped fighting and shut her eyes.
So be it.
Chel's body ached. Cold air stung cuts and scrapes, her joints felt as though they had been dislocated and realigned. Her head had been rattled, her ears rang... but it wasn't the airy nothingness of being trapped under water, the faraway rushing of being funneled down, down, down.... With feeling came consciousness - the hiss of coursing water, its licks against her body. Birds were crying somewhere above her and voices rippled back and forth around her. Warmth struck her cheek gently.
Mademoiselle?
Bloodshot, brown eyes peeled open and settled, unfocused, on Clopin's face.
Was she dead? She must have been dead. She had to be dead.
"One Death?" came out more as a gurgle as she leaned over and heaved a stomach full of water.
Jack made a very distinct 'ew' from behind Drake.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:19 pm
Sora stood behind a nearby pile of rocks, staring at the collection of adults that had gathered. He didn't know where is momma was, and had went looking for her. He saw some sparkly glints in the water and his interest was piqued. He trotted forward, making sure the creepy looking adults were distracted, by whatever that was in the water. He padded forward and to the shore pawing at the shiny yellow round things in the water.
He scooped one of them up at stared at it, moving it so it glinted, reflecting the sun. He made a noise that sounded aw fully close to a purr as it glinted and sparkled. He immediately sat up and perked his ears up, realizing he had made a noise. Looking at the present company, Sora did not want to be spotted. There were two colorful otters in odd costumes that looked dangerous, two... what did mama call them? oh yeah, scourges of the oasis, or pirates and a blue guy with horns. Not to mention the girl throwing up in the water.
Actually, he wanted to know what was up with the poor lady in the water, she looked awful. Carefully, he slid forward, trying to stalk to the best of his ability up to her, hoping the others were too distracted with the lady to notice him.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:38 pm
Drake continued to stare at the suited otters with a lost expression, vaguely taking notice of Captain Sparrow edging behind him and simply shook his head in bewilderment.
His whiskers twitched as the pink one addressed them, but only nodded in agreement with the older otter behind him. "S'bad luck to come across a maiden lost at sea," he murmured with a sage-like nod. "She could be a sea-monster who disguises 'erself to charm willy males an' then pulls 'em into their death. Ain't that right, Mr. Sparrow? I bet this lot o' gold are the offerin's made to 'er." he noted with a gesture to the scattered trinkets, quite convinced with his story.
The young pirate then stared blankly at the blue fellow, still having his doubts despite his elaborate speech. "Power what?"
"What if she's a banshee? Or Calypso? Or both?" he retorted, but felt his terminology might have been wasted. A couple of daft otters could be behind that technologically impressive facade. He knew no good would come from city folks and their flying machines.
As it seemed the female was awoken, it would look like they would find out whether his suppositions were true. Drake tensed, ready to pull the concealed pistol from the sash around his waist just in case he needed it.
He watched and grimaced with some distaste as the tan-furred elder hacked up a mouthful of water and suppressed the urge to snort at Jack's commentary, but instead involuntary rolled his eyes. Must have been a trait from his mother or father. Probably both.
The admiral was about to speak up, when he noticed a naturally-colored pup crawling towards the sodden femme. "An' where are you goin', tyke?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:36 am
She rolled her eyes beneath her helmet; just great, sarcasm. She opened her mouth to retort but thought better of it. No need to make a bad day worse, really. She made a point to ignore the pitchers comment and the declaration of not helping from one of the pirates, else she pull out her bow and start shooting. It was going to be dreadfully hard to any good around here, being that no one seemed to respect them at all. Huh, sort of like high school really.
Billy sighed, no one ever listened to him. "Power rangers. Someone chosen to fight the forces of evil to protect people." He promptly left out the alien who seemed to idolize Madonna's fashion sense and the golden armored winged dog that seemed to be their primary villains. He had a feeling they wouldn't believe him much, if they knew at all what he was talking about.
"I think it's rather irrational to conclude that she may be a banshee, more appropriately called the bean sí which means woman of the síde or woman of the fairy mounds, because she would more than likely be heard not seen. I don't seem to hear any wailing signaling someone's death," a brow rose under his helmet in amusement. It seemed more than likely that this female was of Mexican heritage though the state of dressed seemed to imply a tribal Mayan or Aztec homeland.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the both Drake's "An' where are you goin', tyke?" and Chel's "One Death?". He frowned not knowing exactly what the female was talking about though there was a slight thought of sacrifice but he shook his head not thinking that could be it. She must be confused, he thought. And while he noticed the pup, he knew his friend was much better with little kids than he was. They had a tendency to stare at him like he spoke another language, well really everyone had a tendency to do that.
Kimberly pulled her attention to the pup, brown eyes softening immensely, "Aww, are you lost little one? Where's your mother?" she raised her head to look around but saw no one else. She bit her lip in thought, she was more than likely going to scare him if she walked up while morphed and taking the other otters reactions into account she was already considered odd. But she couldn't demorph, that would be breaking the rules. A dilemma to be sure.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:55 pm
The gypsy ignored the warnings of the pirates. He was a little superstitious, too, but apparently not in the same way.
Clopin let out a slow breath of relief when she opened her eyes. Otters washing up on shore like she did, looking drowned... It wasn't something that sat well with him. It reminded him too much of her. And that hurt more than any of Frollo's actions against him.
"No," he replied in a low tone with a small smile. "I bring no death today."
He leaned back when she turned to bring up the water, his eyes showing just a hint of pity in their brown depths. They mentally rolled at Jack's comment on the matter and shook his head just a bit as he held out a paw to the waterlogged female.
"Come, let's get you from the water." Clopin started to relax a bit at the blue-clothed otter's words and then grew tense all over again. "Evil" was a word he had come to know was completely within the eyes of the beholder. Not too long ago, he had been labeled evil and a scourge on his home territory.
He couldn't help but wonder what their basis of comparison was.
Pushing he thought aside for later, he glanced back at the bank, noticing a small otter pup had joined them. Normally he liked kids, had made a "living" once by putting on little puppet shows for them to watch and enjoy, and learn a little more about their home. But now was not the time for games.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:07 pm
Jack made the exaggerated gesture of the cross over his chest with his paw following Drake's words, sacrilegious in every way, shape and form as he'd not only been banned by the Church of England, but excommunicated by the Catholics as well. God bless 'em!
He walked out from behind his fellow sea-farer and reclined back on his haunches, finally studying the two Power Rangers - as they called themselves - with a critical eye. The blue one was quite wordy, he had come to realize, the pink one, pushy. Jack didn't seem to mind for the most part. At the mentioning of Calypso, the captain gave a sudden, barking laugh, scanning the small group with incredulous (if not maddened) eyes.
"A woman's always bad luck fer a ship, tha's sure. She's no Calypso, tha' much I do know. Y'can't jus' debunk any'a th' boy's theories, though," Jack said, glancing at Drake. He couldn't help his paranoia and the Barbossa-Swann lad could be right. He wasn't about to toss away any of his ideas, "Jus' 'cause she isn' hollerin' bloody murder doesn' mean she couldn' be somethin' else. There's been an influx of all sor' of questionable strangers on th'Oasis lately-" he stared pointedly at the two masked Rangers "-assume guilty 'til proven innocent, I say."
He didn't notice Sora until the flag was risen and he slowly turned his gaze towards the whelp, brows upraised. What was a pup no older than Scup doing out here? Considering the circumstances, he was in need of some watching. Jack wasn't about to offer his services, though.
Chel stared at the stranger's smiling mouth, eyes heavy with both weariness and wariness. But, oh, if she really were dead and he just assuaging her mortal terrors, she needn't fear any longer. What could happen to her in death that had not happened in life? But he looked gentle enough, familiar in a stretch of the word, and if he was One Death or Seven Death, than who was she to deny? She timidly touched his paw, gaze flicking to his eyes with a mixture of confusion and trust as though she were unsure with which to settle on.
The voices near shore rose and fell in her ears. Chel craned her head around, disorientation playing tricks on her vision as her body tried desperately to recalibrate itself to the land of the living. But right now with her eyes aching and strained, she could only see brightly hued blobs of color. The female coughed, wisps of green smoke - the last vestiges of Tzekel-Khan's magic - curling away from her mouth.
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Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:24 pm
Sora's fur bristled as the red hatted pirate guy looked at him. So much for being sneaky he thought to himself, backing up almost without meaning to. "I'm looking at the shinies." The pup said, pointing to the gold floating beneath his feet. "And, I wanna see what's wrong with lady over there." Sora pointed at her, before walking a little further into the water, making sure to glance over at the pirate otter every so often, just in case.
He looked around again as the funny looking pink girl talked to him. He frowned. "I wandered away from momma, so now I'm looking for her." He said, secretly hoping she wouldn't come any closer, that suit looked dangerous. He really had no idea what the blue funny looking guy had said, he'd never heard of Power Rangers before, and he'd never seen such funny looking suits either.
They didn't look that evil, but Sora still didn't want to trust them. Not being able to see their face meant they could be acting fake. And that guy with the horns, Sora was glad he didn't try to talk to him, but there was something about him that intrigued Sora. Not knowing what it was, or what 'intrigued' meant, he shrugged it off and hopped over to the lady, being sure to be on the opposite side of the blue guy.
He gasped slightly as the green mist flew out of her mouth and backed up, not wanting it to touch him. Sora lifted his paw and carefully poked her. "Lady alright?" He asked, his voice shaking with concern, and truthfully, fear at what might happen to him if she were dangerous, as those pirate guys were saying. Speaking of which, Sora glanced at the other pirate, again nnoting pleasure at being relatively ignored.
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