Another Shore, Another Beginning

[trillian]

Mitsuko sat on the deck of her small, wooden boat and watched the new shore grow sharper each second. The wind had come up very strong earlier that morning and she had been speeding toward this strange new land at a significant pace. It didn't worry her though, the sift canvas of the sail could take it.

Mitsuko turned from the small box she was sitting on a opened the hatch behind her. As she lifted the hatch one of the leather straps standing in as a hinge snapped. She swore under her breath as she realized it would have to be replaced. "At least it's close to shore..." she said to herself as she laid the hatch carefully down and rummaged through the store for breakfast. Not much remained in the compartment, only the very last of the dried herbivore she had prepared weeks earlier. At least this new town would be a fish one in all likeliness. She could do with something fresh.

She sat on the deck and chewed her meat thoughtfully as the shore grew closer and closer. A castle dominated the high cliff the village sat on. That meant a king, and a king could mean anything. As her boat reached the shore, she loaded her pack with what remained of her food. Mitsuko slung here pack on her back, checked her dagger and fed her quarter staff through the two loops in the canvas positioned specifically for this purpose. This coast didn't look especially rough, but she knew better than to leave a boat unattended and count on it to stay untouched.

Mitsuko stepped off her boat and walked towards the town, wondering what this new shore would bring.

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[tajono]

It was another bright day for the sea town of Escavas.

The sun was shining, the sky was it's pristine blue, and the sea gulls gulled overhead, dropping their little white packages on the unsuspecting victims below. The salty smell of the sea filled the air, giving the streets a fresh smell about it, like a bed sheet washed with a newly opened jug of a high quality cleaning detergent. Everywhere you looked there were people with smiles on their faces, going about their daily business, calling out a greeting to a nearby neighbor who they never even met before and only just now began to recognize their existence.

You'd think it would be an ordinary day today. The apple lady selling her apples, the baker wheeling his car of freshly made bread around, the children playing in the streets. But today was not an ordinary day in the least.

It began, at first, with the children. At the shrill, yet utterly sad tune, they immediately ceased their playing and ran over in the direction of a small, shabbily set up booth. The apple lady, seeing the children run off, and genuinely worried about their safety, as she always was (She never trusted the parent's judgments about letting them play in the street, and even insisted that they cease the playing all together,) followed them down to the booth to make sure they wouldn't get caught by all the sharp corners. The baker, seeing the apple lady run off with the children, decided it was finally the opportune moment to pop the big question (they had been dating for several months now,) so, a ring box in hand, he rushed after her.

Most of the population followed after that, mainly because, seeing as how the children, the apple lady, and the baker had been drawn in to the antics, setting the natural order of things out of whack, they might as well go and see what all the bother was about and, perhaps, beat the poor fools who ruined their beautiful everyday morning experience to a bloody pulp.

What the large crowd had come to see, to the fat, old fishermen and his slim, but ugly partner's glee, was their newest and most profitable discovery. Smiling, the fat man turned to his ugly partner, who was also giving the wide grin with all the teeth he had left that had not fallen off, and the ones that were very close to doing so. The two smiles conveyed the same thing, "We're going to be rich!"

Still smiling, they turned to the newest wonder of the world, who had the crowed dazzled by it's performance. Of course, who could really blame them? It wasn't every day you got to see a 6 foot tall, 100 pound giant squid playing the harmonica! The song, however, was a bit more moody that the fat man had wanted, but, really, who cares? It still had them eating out of the palm of it's suction cup filled tentacles! And to think it was just lying in the water, floating along as if it were just dead! Thankfully, when they hauled it onto the boat, it wasn't. In an awesome display of ugliness that is to be rivaled only by a living corpse that was being feasted on maggots and had taken a cannon ball to the face as the cause of death, both men's smiles grew wider; wait till it actually asks to take requests! You could only imagine the look of shock on the people's face when they find out it could speak too!

'We're gonna be rich!' the fat man thought, 'Rich!'

He could already taste the money in his palms.

***

The chains jingled in protest as Marvin continued to sway his "arms" back and forth in the traditional harmonica-playing fashion. For some reason, the jangling of chains only helped to express the utter sadness of the song. In fact, he rather liked the effect, and considered wearing chains and a clasp on his "wrists" which ultimately connected to two heavy iron balls as a sort of accessory before realizing it would just be a pain and let his mind plod back to a more depressing topic, not that his mind wasn't chock full of them. And besides, they went with the song he was playing.

"Oh, Danny boy...the pipes, the pipes are calling..."

[trillian]

Mitsuko followed an old path up to the town. The trail was old and not well maintained, giving her trouble very now and again. It seemed as though she had arrived on the back shore away from the main docks of the town. This suited her just fine. She could avoid having to pay for a space a a dock this way, and worst come to worst, she now knew where to run in case of a misunderstanding.

Not that this place looked especially rough. In fact, as she reached the streets they looked somewhat empty for a cool, sunny day. After she rounded a few corners, she discovered where everyone had gone. "Immortal gods..." she whispered as she approached what had to be the oddest thing she had ever seen, "What the hell have you cooked up this time?"

It was a squid, at least as tall as she was, sitting on the dock singing the saddest rendition of "Danny Boy" that had ever crossed her ears. Its great arms where swaying back and forth as the chains that bound it rattled. Great, just great... She thought as she pushed her way to the front of the throng. ...of all the shores the get washed up on I pick the squid slave capital of the world. She glanced around for the owners and found them. Two sly, but stupid looking fishermen. It would be simple enough to trick them, but how to do it. As the song ended Mitsu wondered why the squid had allowed itself to be caught. It certainly looked strong and big enough to avoid a net and boat. It could probably crush everyone in the audience and its enslavers if it really wanted freedom. She looked up at the lone giant's eye and puzzled at how it had come to be here.
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[tajono]

With a last, elongated, mournful tune, the depressing song ended. Marvin lowered the harmonica from his "mouth" a few inches and turned his large, baleful gaze to the crowd. His eyes were like red saucers, they were so large one could fit into the palm of your hand. Through these eyes, if one looked into them long enough, one could see an entire life full of the worst and longest disappointment you could ever imagine.

There was no applause for him, though Marvin didn't expect any of course. It was a horrible song, and he knew it, though he also knew that, at the same time, the mere fact that a squid actually played the harmonica and played it well was enough to leave them utterly speechless.

The following silence was unnerving, even to him. Slowly blinking, he turned his "head" and cast his gaze all around the crowd, striking them with his disappointment. He saw every face, every feature, but focused only on the negative ones and, seeing as there were so much of them, barely fought the urge to point all of them out and crush the hope out of these pathetic, miserable life forms forever. It was rather easy, actually, and quite amusing.

Instead, he continued to look over the people with those huge eyes. With a sudden flick, his crimson eyes darted over to meet the eyes of a young woman who had named herself Mitsuko. For a few moments, he concentrated all of his depression and disappointment at her, rending it into a fine point before stabbing at her with it. He had done this only once, to a gypsy who had attempted to read his mind. The result was far from pleasant...

'Oh, bother,' he thought, turning the piercing stare away from Mitsuko and heaving a loud, woeful sigh.

The crowed gasped simultaneously.

That, to Marvin, was one of the most annoying things in all of the universes he had visited. To him, anything done simultaneously should be shot and killed the instant it drew breath, if not, worse. He grumbled something under his breath about astrophysics before a sharp thing poked at his back.

"C'mon, c'mon," said a voice close to his "ear", which he recognized by both voice and smell of breath as the fat fisherman who had found him, "Ask them to give you requests. They'll love it!"

'That's what bothers me,' said Marvin, though saying nothing because of the knife at his back, which wasn't helping his already aching back, and which the crowd apparently didn't notice. He sighed again, more woefully this time, and spoke the words the fisherman wanted to hear.

"I will now be taking requests," he said, in a most depressed and resentful tone, as if declaring his sadness to the world. With each word, the shade of gray that adorned his skin pulsed. 'Oh, bother,' he thought, 'now they're all going to start assaulting me with requests of they're favorite songs like I'm some sort of dammed jukebox...all the power in the universe, and this is how they use it. Oh God, here we go...'

[trillian]

Mitsuko watched the creature and tried to ignore the terrible quality of its song. When the Fates had created creatures of the sea, they certainly hadn't intended them to play instruments. The squid turned a giant a towards her with a purposeful gaze. All at once she felt very sad and disappointed. Why had she even bothered coming here? It was just another stupid town with more idiotic people in it. She just wanted to be left alone and now this damned crowd standing around her making all sorts of racket. Just like the Fates to drive her on another stinkingly crowded shore. When the giant squid's voice rumbled again her hate focused on it. Why the idiotic thing sitting on a dock? Didn't it know it belong in the ocean?

She was just getting to really hate the beast when she noticed the chains around it and the pea-brained fisherman taking money from the crowd. Mitsu followed the man's progress back to his partner when noticed the other holding a knife to the squid's back. Now that really tears it! She thought. They took this poor thing out of the sea 'cause they're to damn lazy to earn their own keep... Mitsuko quickly thought up a plan and turned to a likely looking baker closest to the fishermen. "Nice squid, eh?" The baker nodded, having no knowledge of ocean animals. "Too bad it won't last..."

Now she had the man's attention. "What'd you mean?"
"It won't live long in the sun." She said as loud as she could without attracting attention, but loud enough for the fishermen to hear. "Squid's like that have to be in the water or they shrivel."
"That so?"
"Certain as the sun. I used to work in a fishery outside of Koozbane. Once they caught a squid like that. Tried to keep it as a tourist attraction."
"What happened to it?" Asked a woman standing on Mitsuko's other side.
"Died." Several children around gasped. "Shriveled like a sponge in the sun. Poor thing expired of thirst." She paused to let this sink it. "I reckon these two will lose their meal ticket soon. Look around the chains - the skin's already flaking off. His skin's not meant to keep water in."

Mitsuko then fell silent with a false expression of indifference on her face. Out of the corner of her eye she looked to see if the fishermen had taken the bait.

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[ame]

OOC:(Yeah, I usually ask permission to join for some reason. Can I join with Nein Tseliban? <^^;>

[tajono]

The fisherman, of course, were too busy listening to the jingling of their newly earned riches to notice Mitsuko's words, however what did catch their attention was the shrill cries of children as they stared Marvin right in the face.

"Don't die, Mr. Squid!" cried one little girl.

"Yeah!" cried one little boy right behind her.

"Don't die!" cried another.

Most other cries followed this train of thought. The air around Marvin was filled with them. He fought the urge to physically lash out at the little things, though the chains binding him would not permit him to do so by usual means, so he tried not fighting it for a bit before he remembered that the chains and the heavy iron ball meant nothing to him and he could very well cause the children to experience a very bloody and painful death. At this, he began to resist again.

But they're cries were so annoying! Ugh! Could their voices get anymore ear-piercingly high-pitched? It was going to blow his brains out! And what did they mean, don't die? Didn't they know that if he had planned on dying he would've done it by now? Gah! So annoying!

It didn't help matters that they began to tug at his remaining tentacles that were not bound by chains, still shrieking their infernal cries. They already had his attention, what more did they want? For him to just magically grant them all their petty wishes like some sort of Genie trapped in a magic lamp? Hah! What good would that do? It would just come out all wrong and sorry in the end and...God! When were they going to stop? Weren't their parent's around or something?

Finally, to his relief, the two fishermen caught on to what was happening and, slowfully, warded the children away with words like "What do you kids think you're doing?" and "Get away!" and "Where are your parents?" along with gestures to reinforce those words.

The children, however, retaliated with words like: "But he's going to die!" and "You have to do something!" and "Save him!" and "You smell funny."

"What're you talkin' about?" said the fat fisherman, glancing at the slim, ugly one then at Marvin before turning to the children and saying, "He looks fine 'ta me!"

"But he's dying!" said one little girl, then turned a finger at Mitsuko and said, "That lady said so!"

Both fishermen looked up to her and asked, "What? Dying, you say? What's that nonsense all about? That there squids as healthy as an ox! Whaddas a woman like you know about squid anyways?"

The slim/ugly one said nothing and mearly gave a bashful, ugly smile at Mitsuko.

[tajono]

((...Sure, if you want.))

[trillian]

((Jump on in - the more the better!))

"Worked as a fish seller on Koozbane. They caught a huge squid like this one. When they tried to keep out on the shore it dried up." She shrugged. "Wasn't a problem though - they sold it to the restaurants. Made decent money, but not as much as it would've alive." Mitsuko pointed up to where the chains kept the squid restrained. "Look around there - see how the skin's changed color? That means it's all dried up. Soon he'll turn that color all over and... well, what I am telling you for? You're look like a veteran fisher to me: I'm sure you know what becomes of dried out sea animals."

The plan was working so far. Hopefully the fisherman would but the squid in the water for fear it would shrivel and die. The kids were still crying a flocking around the giant thing. They were helping her along, but they seemed to be annoying the squid. She kneeled down to one of the little girls. "Don't worry." She said to her. "Mr. Squid will be just fine once he goes back to the water. He's a must be a really smart fisherman to catch him - I'm sure he knows how to take care of squids."

What Mitsuko had said was not exactly untrue - the squid would dry out eventually if left out of the water - but something about this squid seemed different to her, like it knew precisely what was going on. Of course it's weird! It was singing, Mitsu. That's not exactly normal for a squid - even a giant one.

[/size]

[tajono]

Marvin was seriously getting annoyed with all these kids. Seriously. It was a miracle he was able to sit there for so long and not trying to rip off their faces or something. It was an urge he was forced to resist, however, only because in his head, he knew that, like everything else, that would only end in increasing his loathing for life and the world around him. Not that all this was already increasing his loathing to drastically new heights, of course.

The girl, Mitsuko, did seem to know a lot about squids, however, she hadn't the foggiest about him. Water, after lying on the ocean for three weeks on his back appearing dead and acting accordingly to that appearance, with all manner of carrion creatures coming up to him and attempting to consume and or otherwise lay their eggs in him, only to find a big tentacle slapping them in the face, water was what he wanted the least.

So there had to be only two other explanations, either she was trying to help him or she was trying to steal him away from the dumb fishermen and make him her own.

Marvin sighed again. It was from one thing to another today, quite eventful. He knew that, no matter what direction he was going to take, it was all going to turn sour in the end. The decision, it seems, has been put out of his hands anyway. Of course, anything would be better than sitting here and letting these children tear his tentacles off!

Suddenly a shiver ran down his aching back. He knew what it was, reality being torn to pieces somewhere in another dimension...

It could be only one person...

Tajono...

A splash of water smacked him full on the face.

The fishermen, aghast that they had forgotten such an obvious thing, took the girl's words to heart and decided to act like smart fisherman. Water was the problem, therefore, it only seemed logical to take a bucket full of it and, quite suddenly, continuously dump in onto him. No doubt that would solve the problem, right?

Another wave of water flattened his face.

"There!" said the fat fisherman, "That should solve everything, right?" he asked to the girl.

[trillian]

On the inside, Mitsu slapped herself in the face. Terrific. They're dumb but not stupid enough to ignore an obvious answer. Gods, this is getting annoying. They only seemed to be one option left. "You'll have to keep watering him, " She said to the fisherman. "and everywhere. Not just the face or you'll have nothing but sun-dried calamari. Watch the sun too." Mitsuko pointed up. "Some clouds passing the sun today, and that'll keep him from drying to much if you keep watering him. But if the sun gets to bright the sea is his only chance." With this she turned and left the crowd.

She had gotten a few paces away from the throng when a little hand tugged on her pant leg. Mitsuko turned around and saw a very small child looking up at her in a pleading sort of way.

"You're not gonna leave Tako-san with those fishermen, are you? They'll forget about you and let him get all dried up."
Mitsuko knelt down. "No, I won't."
"Then why are you leaving Ni-chan?"
"Who said I was?" The girl looked confused. "Can you keep a secret?"
The girl nodded.
"Are you sure?" Anyone getting back to the fishermen would likely ruin this part of the plan.
"Hai, ni-chan!" This last sentence triggered something.
"Where are you from?"
"My family used to live in Hayabusa. We moved here last spring, but I..." The girl suddenly looked horror-struck. "I was talking like a Hayabusian again..."
"It's okay, I understood you."
"No... Father doesn't want us to stick out. Some people in this town don't trust outsiders." She looked very worried about what her father would say if he found out.
"Listen, I won't tell anyone you spoke like an Hayabusa villager if you don't tell anyone about what I'm going to do in order to free Mr. Squid."
Her face lit up. "Di - I mean- Okay!"

Mitsuko ducked into an alley where the crowd around the squid couldn't see her. Slowly, she began to move the light being spilled on the street and focusing it on the squid. The crowd began to react after the first minute. People started calling for the creature's release. "You're making it worse, Ni-chan!" The girl cried.
"Just wait." Mitsu told her. "Just wait."
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[ame]

((Sorry I took so long to jump in, my internet messed up ^^)

In the distance stood a dog... A strange, long, lanky dog. Bluish grey fur adorned her streamlined back and face. Her ears were folded in the normal manner, and her tail was held low. She was tall, of course, and her bluish-grey faded into a tawny undersides of her long, long legs and long, dangling fur from her underside. Her fur, itself, bore the classics of a mutt; scruffy and unkept, perhaps a very minor bit of mange. Everything on her read stray, mutt, tohugh a mutt she was not. Just a forgotten purebred. She was nothing but skin and bones, her ribs visible to the naked eye and her shoulderblade protruding slightly. Who would care for her now?

She had smelled the food around the area and walked around for awhile as to not atract too much attention when she did attempt to steal a bite, but then everyone seemed distracted, and she saw this as her best chance, but stalled when she saaw two people leave the crowd and start toward the alley she coinsidentally hid in. What? Were they going to hurt her? She turned and ducked behind an old crate and some wooden planks, crouching low. She stuck around only to see if there was any aggression in their voices. Of course, she knew from experiance when people were violent, scared, so on, as years in the alleys would teach. Sad, a dog this good... When she heard little to no signs of violence, she stood up slowly, slowly, carefully, and waited for them to notice her. Whether that was wise or not. Maybe they'd give her some meat that wasn't rotted! After awhile, rotted and moldy food got quite monotonous, and she was not getting the propper nutriants, and perhaps a bit more potassium than necessary. Even she did get hhit, or beaten, or stabbed, she was desperately hungry... Just, let them give her some food,anything edible... Anything....