Cadias

IC: Tellus

Tellus whistled. That was quite a story, indeed. He hadn't really expected something like that to be Gunner's backstory, but, then again, nobody on the ship really knew each other.

"I'm afraid me story ain't quite so interestin' as yours. I grew up in Le-Koro, and was 'appy enough. Plenty o' trees and such. After a while, I discovered that I liked workin' on ships and 'ad a taste for a bit o' adventure. I joined up with a merchant crew, who 'ad a cap'n who liked to smuggle things to make a bit more coin. O' course, that meant we dropped by Xa-Koro, may she rest in peace, quite a bit and I got acquainted with the place. Once I set aside a fairly considerable amount o' money, I quit and bought me own ship.

"She was a small ship, and I sailed alone for a few years. I was able to fend off the Rahi well enough and took up smugglin', just like me ole cap'n. It was a peaceful life, and I managed to keep me illegal activities quiet enough to avoid the Guard. After a while, I realized that it was gettin' dangerous, and decided that, considerin' that I was smugglin' anyway and fightin' skills were pretty sharp, I might as well join up with some pirates. Found out that Cap'n Lohkar was known fer not bein' as bad as some o' the others and 'ere I am."

He drained the last of his first bottle and started in on the second. "Speakin' o' Xa-Koro, ain't we out 'ere with the Guard to avenge 'er? Shouldn't we be gettin' underway?"

IC: Tellus

Tellus paused, bottle halfway to his mouth. "Ye know, yer right," he said, frowning. "It's strange, when ye really think about it. We all live on tha same ship, but never really talk with each other, even if days o' near-silence go by. We only seem ta comment on action, or drinkin'. Hmmm." He took a moment to down another mouthful of rum. Inwardly, he winced. The stuff they kept on the ship was about as low-quality as it got.... probably to help discourage crew members from drinking it all in a week.

"So, Gunner, 'ow about we start fixin' that? What's yer story?"

IC: Tellus

"It'd be me pleasure," Tellus, said, disappearing into the hold with a grin and a wink. A few minutes later, he reappeared, carrying four bottles. "At first, I was goin' to only bring up two, but then thought of those poor, tempted souls, and grabbed a couple more out o' pity." With a grin, he handed Gunner two of the bottles.

"Bottoms up, mate!"

IC: Tellus

Tellus grinned widely. A drink after all that hard work sounded wonderful.

"Now yer talkin' me language, mate! It occurs to me that we 'ave quite a bit o' rum on this 'ere ship, temptin' poor souls. What say we help 'em by removing some o' that temptation?"

IC: Tellus

Having finished his task, Tellus was just about to yell, "We're all ship-shape an' ready to sail, Cap'n," when he realized that Lohkar was missing. After climbing down from the rigging, he spotted Gunner.

"Gunner! Ye wouldn't 'appen to know where the Cap'n's gone, would ye? We're ready to sail."

IC: Tellus

"Aye, aye, sir!" Tellus continued working hard at getting the ship ready to sail.

"Come on, the rest of ye lazy layabouts! Let's get goin'!" As far as Tellus could tell, only he, Gunner, and Lasina were following orders. He could have sworn that they had more than four crew members, counting the Cap'n.....

IC: Tellus

Tellus nodded. "Aye aye, Cap'n!" With that, he began the task of getting the ship underway.

IC: Tellus

Tellus may not have agreed with distrusting people on sight, but what's-his-face had a good point. Either way, they had yet to do anything other continue to stand around talking.

"Well, I tried," Tellus said, to nobody in particular. "Guess we'll be 'ere fer a while yet."

IC: Tellus

Tellus frowned. "Maybe nobody trusts 'im, but I don't distrust 'im. Besides, we're in the middle of the ocean, for Mata Nui's sake. Ye can't just tell people to leave when there's no way for 'em ta go."

'E makes Gunner look cheerful. An' that's sayin' somethin'.

IC: Tellus

Tellus had emerged belowdecks, after downing a mug or two of rum. He watched the proceedings on the deck of the Fowadi with renewed interest, but couldn't help but think that they were wasting quite a bit of time.

"'Scuse me," Tellus yelled, "but it seems ta me that we're all wastin' time by sittin' here talkin'! I'm shore that what yer talking about is very important an' all, but per'aps our time would be better spent if we got underway, then talked while we're coverin' some ground?"

IC: Tellus

No response came to Tellus. He simply stared at Lasinia for a moment, then said, ".... I think I need a drink." He promptly went belowdecks in search of some rum.

That was the most unexpected, awkward one-sided conversation he'd ever encountered. Hands down.

IC: Tellus

Tellus grinned, an expression far from uncommon for the cheery Toa of the Green. "Aye, I reckon that we'll put a dent in their pretty Guard boat that they won't soon forget, should it come to that."

IC: Tellus

Tellus paused for a moment, staring across at the other ship. "I think it'll work out, at least fer the time bein'," he said. "After all, we want ta avenge our 'ome, and they want ta remove a threat much larger than us. There'll probably be a problem or two, but we'll put up with 'em."

He smiled grimly. "O' course, things'll get interestin' after we fight whoever destroyed Xa-Koro, assumin' we don't die and win, or find them at all. The 'Vika is a pretty temptin' target, and it may be that the Guard'll decide to try and bring justice to us ruthless pirates." He chuckled, smiling. "But o' course, we won't 'ave ta worry about that for a while. For now, it should be smooth sailin'."

IC: Tellus

Tellus smiled, taking a more optimistic view of the situation than Gunner might have. "Aye. Perhaps it's a good thing. When they find out that we're out fer revenge, and they probably will, a bit of unpredictability might just save us all." Tellus didn't bother to go into further detail about who they were.

IC: Tellus

"Aye," he said, thoughtful. "Makes sense."

He paused. "Do ye think he might get bent on revenge?"

IC: Tellus

"Aye." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Is it just me, or is the Cap'n actin' a bit.... different lately? Since Xa-Koro? I mean, it's probably not a bad thing, but...." He trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say, or what to think.

Like he'd said, Tellus figured that the difference (which was, he acknowledged, barely noticeable) was probably nothing- the Cap'n grieving, maybe? Maybe Gunner would know.

IC: Tellus

First, Tellus had jumped when Floria had appeared right next to him. Then, he'd jumped when Gunner's sword had been thrown in his general direction. Before Tellus could recommend to Gunner to calm down, Floria made her excellent point about Xa-Koro, and before he could comment, Lasina had put on the mask. Must be gettin' old, if I'm so slow.

He almost told Lasina that putting on the mask had been a bad idea, but decided against it. She had already done it, and he very much doubted that it'd matter either way. "So, do ye think that we'll really end up workin' with the guard?" He chuckled at the thought. "Ye know yer in trouble when criminals and the law lay aside their differences ta stop ya. I'd 'ate ta be whoever took out Xa-Koro, may she rest in peace."

IC: Tellus

Tellus moved his hand away from his cutlass' hilt once the person who had just threatened to kill them all jumped over the side. The more he listened to what the apparent spokesperson from the other ship had to say, the more he liked it. He grinned at the thought of helping avenge Xa-Koro, even as he felt shock over Le-Koro being attacked. Again, so soon? Well. Now there was even more reason to stop those who had destroyed the closest thing he'd had to a home.

In fact, stopping them sounded positively fun.

IC: Tellus

Tellus was curious as to how somebody from the other ship had managed to sneak over the water and get behind them when everyone on the 'Vika was watched said ship, but shrugged the thought aside. He was more worried about the presence of the intruder than by his method of arrival.

He nearly responded to the intruder's arrogant threat by telling him how picking a fight with a full crew of pirates, including two Toa of Plantlife, was a bad idea, but figured that Lohkar would want to answer. Still, he kept his elemental powers ready to use, and his hand near the hilt of his cutlass.

IC: Tellus

Tellus charged up from belowdecks, missing out on the initial battle. How one missed something like that, he wasn't sure, but it had happened anyway.

After a surprised glance at Raknar's ship, the name of which slipped his mind, he donned his hat and drew his cutlass. Thus prepared, he used his elemental powers to grow a vine from the enemy rigging, and swung across to the slaver's ship.

Although he was outnumbered, Tellus had a rather unusual advantage over the Skakdi. Several of the slavers found the deck growing up around them, the tough wood encasing their legs and feet. Tellus grinned, opening his mouth to make a witty comment, and found a blast of impact vision shoot past him. Deciding to save the comments for later, he continued to cause havoc with his elemental powers.

IC: Tellus

It took a few minutes for the pirate to decipher the article. After he did, he simply felt shock. "All the Islets.... gone." He took his much-beloved hat off of his head, wondering who could be so evil as to destroy an entire village in cold blood.

Placing his hat back on his head, Tellus joined the rest of the crew. "Aye, Cap'n. An' when we find 'em, they won't know what 'it 'em."

IC: Tellus

Tellus grinned weakly for a moment, hoping it was a joke. When Lohkar's expression didn't change, he knew.

He knew it was true.

"Wha.... what happened?" He was shocked. Xa-Koro had always been there, always. No matter what you did, how hated you might be, you had a place to call home. And now... now she was gone. He also felt a cold chill. He hadn't been there long ago. If he hadn't rejoined the 'Vika's crew...

IC: Tellus

Once again, his plans for finding Mimira had been foiled by the person he had been searching with going completely silent. Tellus had returned to the ship, wondering why it had happened twice in a row. Oh, well. He wasn't too worried about Mimira anyway- she had probably just joined the shore party.

Tellus jumped, surprised by the Captain's unexpected arrival. After a quick glance over the side to confirm the fact that Mimira was indeed safe and accounted for, he said, "'Ello, Cap'n. What 'appened to tha stowaway?"

IC: Tellus

Tellus nodded. "Makes sense. Not many other places ta go, anyway."

He looked around, not entirely certain of where they were. He wasn't too worried over Mimira- she had, after all, probably caught up with the others. At least, I hope she did.

IC: Tellus

Tellus followed suit, using his Miru the same way Gunner had used his. As he leapt over the side, he couldn't help but think that he wouldn't have thought of using the mask in that way. As if it could be used for much else.

After pausing to make sure his hat was still firmly in place, the Toa of the Green took off after the other Toa. "So," he called, still catching up, "where do ye think she went?"