Skies of Arcadia, a new age

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti saw the flash. Ho ho looks like I missed them. She jumped from her perch, landing on a soldier and ran after Kamille. She gave a quick wave to Zorlo and Flo. This woman was surprisingly fast, Ifreeti had gotten held up by the odd person on top of that too though so that didn't help. Ifreeti landed on the deck of the Unidad only a couple of steps behind the Blue Rogue Sky Pirate. "Hey, wow you're fast, don't worry there's no need to get violent. I'm not a soldier, well not that I know of at least. But, the point is, I'd like to join your crew."

[nekoryuuha]

Meriele was just putting away her latest conquest when the soldiers rather suddenly left. It was one less thing to worry about. And since she didn't hear any fighting or screaming, It was safe to assume that Zorlo hadn't been discovered either. "A drink, then I'll look for him," she said to herself as she moved toward the bar and immediately caught sight of her partner. "Or not..." she added in with a smile as she soon noticed Florin as well, the two talking to one another. The thought crossed her mind to wonder as to who she might be, but she was currently bound to the 'suspicious, discontent wife' role so she would follow, for the moment at least. So with a chuckle, she made her mask and walked up. "Well, well, Zorlo. You're not even attempting to hide your cheating ways anymore, are you?" she asked as she crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.

[Zorolo]

Zorlo chuckled as he looked at Meriele and slid her a drink which she promptly caught. "Madam, this is my cute servant, Meriele. And, my cute servant, I thought you knew better than to call me by my real name. My name was supposed to be Raymond Garfield," Zorlo stated with a smile as he looked at Florin. "I'm sorry, miss, but I didn't catch your name. Once I know it, I'll know the name of the lovely woman who snuck up on me so skillfully," the green-haired man said. "Anyway, Meriele, sit down. She knows who I am, although I doubt it impresses her. After all, those soldiers were after this woman and her cute servant. Interesting, right."

[Kaori]

Kamille waited for them in front of the Unidad and was approached by a woman wearing a red coat, she simply replied, "I dont have a crew nor do I need one, but you're free to tag along till we get out of here", Florin then showed up with Zorlo and Meriele, "lets go" she said as they boarded the Unidad, Kamille had all the soldiers Diverted to the Monoceros earlier and incapacitated the crewmen then left them in the Setzer.

Meanwhile Ramirez was waiting for technical support to fix his ship.....

[Zorolo]

"I still haven't gotten your name, miss," Zorlo stated to the purple-haired woman as he stood next to her on the new ship. "After all, I gave you mine, not that I impress you much apparently, and I'd just like the courtesy of knowing your name and seeing if it matches the beautiful face it is attached to," the man said as he held his sheathed rapier tightly in his hand. He looked around the ship and smiled. "Hey, Meriele, looks like we're on a big adventure now. Anyway, how much money did you make, my lovely assistant?" the con artist asked the cat-girl with a smile. Man things were getting interesting in his life now.

[GamerKale]

Ifreeti smiled. "Works for me." She remembered how she had sabotaged the other ship. "Hey, do you think they'll find the present I left them before they set off after us?" She looked off in the direction the Monowhatever, Ifreeti hung onto a rope so as not to fall as she whistfully leaned at a 30 degree angle. "I hope not. I put a lot of love into it."

[Kaori]

"My name is Florin, Florin Financier, but you can just call me Flo" replied Flo with a smirk, "and the blue armoured lass is Kamille" she added, "probably" Replied Kamille to Ifreeti, she then set the engines to automatic, "good thing this ship's motorized" she said to herself as she turned to Flo, "Flo, so whats so important that Pecuniam sent YOU of all people to break me out?" Kamille asked her, "I see, well then here" Replied Flo as she took her glove off and touched Kamille's forehead, after a few moments she let go and Kamille then nodded, "we'll be going to an old Valuan outpost called Esperanza, from their I'll sell the ship and make my way with Flo, you're all free to tag along but for now we cant trust any of you with our mission, and dont even think of trying to sell us out to the Valuan's or it'll be your heads" said Kamille in a grave tone.

"have the engines been repaired yet?" asked Ramirez over a speaker, "Si captain, the Monoceros is good to go" replied a voice on the speaker, "are we going to pursue them sir?" asked an approaching soldier, "no, they've gone to far, however.... I have alerted the other fleets to be on the lookout" replied Ramirez as he left for the bridge.

The HMS Amistad was patrolling the dawn airspace, "Captain, we received word to be on the lookout for a stolen destroyer class warship" said an officer, "hm, the only place where they could dock a ship like that without arousing attention would only be in Esperanza, set a course for Esperanza!" ordered the captain as the crew complied.

[Zorolo]

Florin, huh? What a beautiful name. I guess her name does match the beauty and grace of her. Still, I can't let myself get side-tracked so easily... but it's becoming quite difficult to do, Zorlo thought as he watched as Florin touched Kamille's head and... something?... seemed to happen. For now, he simply relaxed quietly for a moment as the two explained what was going on, and the blue-haired girl threatened everyone.

"Quite mouthy for one so young, but your points are mostly valid. WEll, Kamille, don't worry about Meriele and I. After all, I'm sure the government would love to collect the countless bounties I've made from all of the nobles I've ripped off," the man said as he spun his sheathed sword with a smile. "Still, I've got no desire to help governments run by nobles, or nobles themselves. So long as my goal and yours don't conflict, ladies, at least I'll help you. So far as I've gathered, Meriele will follow me wherever I go, so that's an edge for you. She's really strong."

Zorlo chuckled. "And, Miss Kamille, my name is Zorlo Amaranth. The cute Felineko with me is Meriele, and we're expert con artists. We'll do what we can to help... inso long as you don't sell us out."

[nekoryuuha]

Meriele merely smiled her usual smile and nodded her head as she Requip back into her usual black sundress. She had little worry about them knowing her abilities since it seemed everyone here had reasons to not sell out the others. Besides, Requip's uncommonality meant it was unlikely that they would even recognize it. "As Zorlo's already said, My name's Meriele. Good to meet you all," she said calmly as she watched everyone, her face a simple, smiling mask that gave away little of her inner feelings. She talks big... Well, I guess it's none of my business... the Felineko thought as she pulled out three checks to show Zorlo. "So, did I win?"

[Zorolo]

Zorlo looked at the check as his eyes widened. "Holy goodness... this is insanity," the con artist stated as he looked at checks. "Well, I'd say that you made clearly seven or eight times the amount I made," Zorlo stated as he handed her back her checks. "Well, now that you've won, we'll need to figure out a different prize since we're no longer on the Setzer with our room. WEll, we'll figure it out later."

The green-haired man shifted around and smiled at everyone. "I'm going to go take a walk. I'll talk to you all later. Especially you, Miss Flo," Zorlo said as he bowed and slipped out of the room to start looking around the airship. Man was this an exciting day already. Hopefully it only got better.

[GamerKale]

"Oh well." Ifreeti swung on the rope over to Flo and grabbed her hand, examined it, and put the hand to her own forehead. "How does that work?"

[Kaori]

(Jut came back from a field assignment, sorry)
Flo gently pushed backed Ifreeti and giggled, "I'm afraid thats confidential" she said giggling, "maybe sooner or later I can inform you, but for know we dont know who to trust, please understand" she added, they later arrived in Esperanza, "here we are, Esperanza, this place counts as Valuan territory but their kind of lax but do us all a favour and dont try to attract too much attention" said Kamille as they got off the ship, she then went to the harbormasters office and returned with a bag of gold, "sold the ship, for now lets rest, I know of a safe house here in Esperanza, follow me" said Kamille as she led them.

a Valuan ship came into the harbor and one odd thing about it was that it had what appeared to be reinforced spiked hull, it docked and out came a grizzled old man clad in armour followed by similar but less armoured men, "our orders are quite simple, we are looking for suspects, my memory isnt what it used to be but one of them carries a rather large weapon, I dont know what it is but find anyone who fits the description and bring them back to me ALIVE, I want them to face justice by the rope" he ordered as his men saluted and took off, "this isnt how I imagined spending my twilight years..." he said to himself wistfully.

[Zorolo]

(It's cool, Kaori-san. ^_^ So long as we keep on keepin' on. ^_^)

Zorlo looked at Kamille and chuckled. "Don't attract too much attention... right..." Zorlo said as he sighed and kept moving towards Florin. "WEll, Miss Flo, I was wondering if I might have a chance to speak with you in a bit. After all..." he said, making sure that Meriele couldn't hear him. "My cute assistant is curious as to me talking to you... but if you're not interested, I won't press the matter. When we get to this safe-house, think about it," the green haired man said as he shifted back into step with Meriele.

"Guess we can't just do our normal thing. After all, they don't want us to draw too much attention... but we should probably cash those... checks... We need to find a neutral port or something where people won't wonder how you made more than a million dollars in checks so quickly." Zorlo paused and rested his hand against his chin. "Oh... I know exactly where we could stop to do that. It's where the Setzer is headed. I'll talk to the pretty ladies in a bit to see if we can stop there and get our money," Zorlo told the cat-girl with a broad smile at her.

[GamerKale]

((No need to apologize. Glad you're back.))
Ifreeti pouted, but shrugged and started perusing the ship. Amongst the things she found were a bouncy bed, a case of cigars, a flask, a hat, and a poncho. Sadly, she couldn't bring the bed along but she wore the rest ashore. "Hey, is it just me or is it getting colder the further? farther? more inland we get."

[Kaori]

Esperanza was pretty much rundown and all the houses were built from ship husks, and for that it dealt in ship parts and a perfect place to lay low, the group came upon very shabby looking shack with an old man sitting on a rocking chair on the porch, Kamille tossed a coin at the old man and he caught it and placed it to his ear as if listening to it, he nodded and tossed it back, the group went in followed by the old man and he locked the door, he then opened his arms wide and Kamille embraced him too, "How have you been Marco?" asked Kamille, "not too bad, bout you? Incurred the wrath of Valua again?" he replied as a question, "yup, these travelers are tagging along" she answered, "I need Munitions for VAR and a way to crescent" she added, Marco then rubbed his chin then replied, "we've always got Munitions for your odd gun, as for the ride..." he then whispered it into her ear and she grinned, "thanks old man" said Kamille as she opened a nearby trunk and took out some munitions.

"So honey, whats your plan after this? Are you going to leave or just tag along?" Flo asked Zorlo, she was interested in his angle for the moment.

outside the shack however were armoured soldiers, all bearing shields and yellow moonstone charged Maces, "hold Positions" ordered an officer, they were surrounding the house, gunners on the rooftops and shielded soldiers on the streets, "Attention Sky Pirates! We know you're in there! Come out with your hands up and we'll make sure you get a proper trial!" announced the officer, "they'll end up in the executioners block anyway" whispered a gunner to another.

[GamerKale]

"Marco!" Ifreeti shouted and wrapped her hands around the man's neck hugging him. A moment later she let go with a sigh, "You have no idea who I am, do you? Oh well. I'm going to take a nap on the roof. Let me know when we're leaving."

When she heard the soldiers barking, Ifreeti just glared at the gunmen on the roof across the way before closing her eyes again. It took a moment for her to was actually wake up and listen to what was being said but she kept down. How long was I out?

[Zorolo]

Zorlo looked at the woman, mildly shocked she had decided to talk to him again. His terrible awkwardness in handling her he was sure would scare her off, but this woman... she had spunk. Well, a seductive kind of spunk, but spunk all the same. Still, he wasn't quite sure how to answer. "Well, milady, you see, I'm not really a noble. I'm not but the son of a tailor and house worker from the slums of Glacia, so I make my living ripping off Noble trash. So long as whatever it is you work for doesn't get in the way of that goal, I'm sure that Meriele and I can assist you," he said proudly, rubbing his nose nervously.

"After all, as of now, my goal is to not get executed. After all, now they think I'm a sky pirate, and I've got hundreds of bounties over all the nations for my arrest for the unlawful taking of goods and properties of lords. My only fortune is those people are proud idiots. They refuse to work together. If a government figures out I'm with you, I'll have a world wide bounty... I've gotta be honest, makes me a little excited. Still, I wouldn't want my parents to find out," Zorlo said, now rambling onwards.

"Sorry, I ramble sometimes when I'm... nervous..." he said, his voice lowering until it was a mere whisper. "Anyway, yes, for now, I help you. And where I go, my cute assistant goes, so we're on your side inso long as your goal doesn't interfere with ours," he said, smiling at her. In truth, he hoped her goal never clashed with his, but such hopes seemed unrealistic. At least he'd have some time to learn about her before he and Meriele had to split from these folks, nice though they seemed.

[nekoryuuha]

Meriele merely smiled her normal smile, allowing Zorlo is rambling as she looked upside. "My my... They found us just a bit too easily," she said off-handedly as the Felineko Requip her clothing into a black, dress-like, plated armor. She laughed just slightly as a huge, sleek, white & Black Gatling gun appeared in her hands before she looked back toward the others. Despite the laugh, her face hadn't changed in the slightest. "So then, Might I count on anyone's aid here? Or shall I go play by myself with the troops outside?" She asked as the sapphire glow of Speed Magic momentarily outlined her.

[Zorolo]

"My pretty kitty, if you're going to go play with the nice soldiers, do take care not to get yourself hurt, and please don't lose my mother's ring. After all, it's very important to me," the green-haired man said with a smile as he looked at Meriele. "Although I do believe this should be interesting. It isn't every day I get to see this side of you, my ferocious female feline friend. If you're going to defeat them, do it quickly and effectively," he said as he turned towards Flo.

"Well, Miss Flo, they've thrown the gauntlet. Now that my cute servant is all fired up, I guess we'll help you with everything we've got. I'm yours to do with as you please," he said, pausing and flushing as he turned away and started walking away. Wow, was he really that tactless at this. With any luck, she'd never talk to him again. After all, he wasn't sure how much awkwardness a normal girl could take. Meriele thrived on making Zorlo awkward, because she knew how talentless he was with people, but trying to express himself to the purple-haired woman had failed him time and again. Perhaps it was time to give up and accept he couldn't possibly impress her.

Still, Meriele could impress her, and that would be enough.

[Kaori]

"Damn Valuans! We dont stand a chance!" exclaimed Florin in a panic, "quick over here!" yelled Marco as he revealed a trap door, "I dont think engaging that many will get us anywhere, there's probably more anyway" added Kamille, the group went down and proceeded through a tunnel, "here's our way out" said Marco as he showed them an airship, "hop on" he added as the group complied, "where to?" asked Florin, "Crescent Isle" replied Marco.

The Valuans were there for nearly twenty minutes before they opened fire, the shack fell apart under the hail of bullets and spells cast at it, they checked but couldnt find any trace of them, however they did find a trap door leading to a tunnel and what appeared to be an airship hangar, but the Fugitives were long gone.

Ramirez was looking at a map on board the Monoceros when a bridge officer approached him "sir we've received word that people fitting the descriptions of the fugitives we're pursuing were spotted in Esperanza" reported the officer, "Helmsman, set course for Esperanza!" Braked Ramirez as the helmsman complied.