DarkheartOne/LogZeroOne
The decision to leave it all behind was, perhaps, not an easy one for Rio Storm. Nonetheless, it's one she has made in part to the passing of Old Man Yin. Now the lands of the West are her home, the clear skies her roof and the seas her floor. For the most part, her trips to and fro have been uneventful, even a tad dull. This trip seems to be taking that same course. The weather is perfect for quick travel, and matters (whatever matters those are; she hasn't been told much by the crew) look to be handled quickly. It is close to sundown, the sun's descent creates a downright breathtaking display of colors in the horizon. Many of the ship's men pause to look; apparently this is something of an omen, this sight.
Rio is bored, but not idle, and has been working her share up to this point. Even as she idly looks towards the sun, she's polishing the blade of her sword... the only memento she has left of her home. It's certainly not much to look at, but the sword is certainly of fine quality. Finally, she stands up and walks towards the deck, looking towards the horizon. "... pretty."
"Rather so, isn't it?" The ship's captain, a somewhat portly fellow that Rio is pretty certain actually knows how to run a ship, helps himself to a look as well. "Gods preserve us and all that shit, I should be saying, but I'd sooner piss on one than praise it." He snorts, fishing around for his snuff tin.
Rio blinks, looking towards the captain. "What does that mean, Sir?"
"Leave all the worship mess to... damn it all. WEST! Tell this girl about the sunset, will ya?" The captain packs his gums while 'West' shows up nearby. Tall, lean, leather-skinned and frowning, West gives Rio the glance most sailors give to those green when it comes to the sea. "... well, West?"
"... 'ccording to the locals, there's a minor godling of reflections or somesuch that shows her interest in the lifes of those on her waters with that display there. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Last group that saw it and lived came back with a handful of orichalc coins. So they say, anyway." West cracks a momentary, gap-toothed smile. "So we're either in for a good time or we're prolly dead. Gods for you... girl." He leans in and down for a closer look, smelling faintly of sea salt and garlicked jerky. "Name?"
Rio stands, and gives West a somewhat annoyed 'I'm not that green' look, but keeps her mouth shut. She can recognize an old sea dog when she sees one. Rio then grins a bit. "Rio. Rio Storm."
West raises an eyebrow. "Huh. Well, girl, last I checked they called me 'old bastard' on this ship, but Sagacious West works for you. This here fella who looks like he ate a swordfish is Tallow." He thumbs towards Captain Tallow, who's lighting a pipe even with his lips packed with tobacco. "Whereya headed?" Tallow snorts, still lighting up. "Old bastard is right."
Rio manages not to snicker, but she cracks a grin nontheless. "Wherever this ship's headed, and then... who knows?"
"Pfeh. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to get away from something." West straightens his tall frame with a single soft joint-pop, then reaches into a leather pouch on his belt. "Jerky? Have the cook make it for me, from shark. Pretty good."
Rio ... gets a sad look for a moment, and then she smiles. "... Ah, I just got tired of the same old route... I traveled with a ship for 10 years or so, and just left them and I've been in a few other ships since then... and sure, thanks. ^_^"
West looks somewhat impressed as he hands over the jerky bag. "Damn, girl. I had you pegged for some landie who'd wanted to get away for a while. Ten years, and you managed to avoid going Tya? Impressed." He grabs one for himself, sticks it in his mouth and starts chewing.
"No offense to any Tya, but I'm not getting tattooed in the face and I'm not eating shellfish for the rest of my sailing life. Blech." Rio takes the jerky and chews.
West cracks that smile again. "I'd make a joke, but I think I'm just not going to go that route..." He pauses, then looks over Rio's shoulder, towards the rear of the ship. "... hm."
Rio ... looks. "... hmm?"
West suddenly whistles sharply towards the ship's makeshift crow's-nest, then points. The on-duty topsman spotter turns his spyglass that way... and it doesn't take long for him to twitch visibly. "... Lintha! LINTHA! Closing fast!"
Rio ... snaps to attention -FAST-. "... oh, hells."
"You're telling me!" Tallow spits out his pipe and reaches for a scored, creaky-looking flamepiece from his belt. "We've got nothing they'd want, and we couldn't hope to outsail them... to arms! All hands, arm yourselves! We make our stand here!" The ship explodes with activity, all while the black and silver pennants of the Lintha ship become visible...
Rio takes her sword firmly, scowling. "Damn... -damn-. I've only heard stories... guess I get to see the real thing now."
West keeps chewing on his jerky, reaching for a hefty-looking machete. "Lucky us, eh?" He smiles around the jerky, grimly, just as the thunk of metal biting into wood interrupts the cries of the various sailors. "... no escape now. I assume you know how to use that sword, girl."
Rio spins her sword in her hands, the greatsword slicing the air, before she takes a firm grip. "Oh yeah. Let them come."
West nods. "Good. Don't die." He would say more, but the ship lurches from a second tether harpoon, along with the subsequent tugging of the ship towards the sail-free Lintha vessel nearby. The various men have begun to mass at that point, waiting for the pirates who, themselves, looks ready for violence ... and then things take a turn for the strange as green, webbed hands start to appear all along the ship's bow.
Tallow manages to shout out a warning ("The bow! Lintha on th---") before one propels himself up, over, and slashes Tallow's throat open with one swing. Rio can feel his blood splattering along her face as he drops, gurgling and clutching his neck.
Rio 's eyes widen, staring at the fallen captain and at the Lintha that climbed the ship out of nowhere...
West looks rather startled as well, but doesn't exactly have time to say much as he's soon face-to-face with one of the Lintha himself, even taller than he is and almost fishlike in his appearance. Aiming to dispatch West just as quickly as Tallow, the Lintha's axe-slash is swatted aside. "Fight, girl!"
Rio starts... and promptly, turns and slashes towards one of the climbing Lintha with a single, powerful strike, aiming to take him down and out before he can finish getting in!
The demon-spawned Lintha, a wiry woman wearing little more than some leather straps over vitals and a siaka-scale cloak, does her best to defend with her own saber. She loses the arm in the process and tumbles back into the water. As for the two that were climbing next to her... they both reach out for Rio with curse-laden snarls at the same time; one misses, but the other gets a grip on her offhand wrist and pulls, trying to drag her overboard.
Rio is grabbed, and pulled... but she pulls -back- and she's surprisingly strong at that. She yanks the Lyntha -into- the boat, spins him around, and uses him to clobber his partner and send them both out of the ship!
And they are both gone, much to their surprise. The moment of peace gives Rio a chance to hear the sounds of battle towards the rear of this ship; the Lintha vessel is practically touching its captive, and more of the snow-haired 'family' are boarding (or climbing, in the case of the remaining three trying to make it onto the ship from the bow). West is, in the meantime, moving to cut off fingers, sending four flying onto the deck at the pirate they belonged to loses his grip and crashes back into the sea. "Gods damn this day..."
Rio gives a Lintha a good solid kick in the chest, making him stumble back, before slashing down with a single, powerful vertical slash at him. "--tch! I refuse to die here today, damn it!"
West stabs at one more... and misses, earning himself a blade in the arm and a kick to the chest, sending man and sword skittering along the deck right next to the pirate whose skull Rio bisected. The Lintha that had a hand in knocking West away makes it over fully and moves to engage Rio, snarling words of vengeance in Seatongue.
Rio snaps a curse in Seatongue right back, and skips over West to shield him, lashing down with her greatsword. Sword meets sword, and the green-skinned godblood male stares at Rio with large, yellowed eyes. "You fight well... should you keep fighting well, I may have a taste of your heart in your honor!" He bears down, attempting to gain the upper hand.
"I'm... afraid... you are going to go hungry!" Rio pushes back against the man... and suddenly lets go and drops down, letting the man's own strength make him lose his balance, and kicks up at his chest as he trips above her! That works wonders, and he has the wind kicked out of him. Flopping into the deck, he fights to fill his lungs again, even as he rises to face Rio... who can see the steady crowd of Lintha at the ship's stern pushing back the sailors at a increasingly hurried rate.
Rio grits her teeth, quickly gaining her feet. "Tch. I refuse to kneel and -die- here--" She dashes towards the recovering Lintha, grabs him, and -flings- him towards a group of his mates. "-- you -bastards-!"
West watches the man slam into his comrades; it does bowl over a number of them, but they nonetheless continue to press towards the front of the ship. They seem to not at all have capture or looting on their minds, judging by now messily some of the shipmates have been killed. And still they press further onward, effectively cornering Rio and Sagacious West. "... then we better do something quick, eh?"
Rio scowls, gripping her sword firmly. "Come on..."
The horde continues on, a bloody sea of green and white, enough of a threat to finally chase the remaining armed crewmen to and behind Rio. The curses and snarls of the approaching Lintha should honestly rattle Rio more than they do... but instead, she feels oddly calm all of a sudden, as if she suddenly *knew* that this would not be her day to die.
Rio ... lets out a soft breath, and takes a step, standing in front of the crew, her grip on the sword shifting slightly... naturally. And then she looks at the Lintha and... smirks.
The advance should have continued, but that smirk makes the Lintha at the fore... pause, quite hurriedly. The one who is most obviously their captain starts to bellow out threats of ignoble death to anyone who dares fear a 'mere mortal'. And thus, with a lurch, the approach continues, albeit much more cautiously...
And Rio... zips forward to meet them. West looks as dumbfounded as both the rest of the crew, *and* some of the Lintha as they see Rio rush quite merrily to her apparent death. "Damn it all, girl!" Rio pays that no mind, her sword lashing out in a whirlwind of steel as she reaches the pirates, with a speed that a weapon of that size simply shouldn't have. Each slash is aimed almost impossibly well, moving to rip into each pirate right where their defense falters. And so, she... advances. To the morbid tune of blood flying and pirates screaming their last, each blow a terrifying golden arc that tears through weapon, armor and flesh with equal ease. The Lintha more towards the rear of the group falter and actually begin to retreat... up until their commander beheads the closest coward and demands they stand firm, while Rio steadily advances.
Rio keeps advancing like a whirlwind of steel and death, but she doesn't seem to be gazing at the pirates even as she slays them. In fact, her eyes are focused solely on their captain, even as her sword keeps bringing death around her.
The captain glares back, even as his legs betray the fact that he'd rather not be where he is. His slow retreat is sign enough for the Lintha, and they proceed to fall back as well. Not that it does them much good, as now they fall to the ground facefirst instead of on their back.
Rio lets out a -roar- as she tears through the pirates and dashes straight towards their captain, sword upraised... Rio becomes like a shark homing in on a wounded fish, the literal wave of blood and chipped bone her charge creates her wake. The captain stumbles back, holding his sword as steadily as he can manage in preparation for her attack.
Rio 's charge bats his sword away... and then she -plants- a foot on his face and jumps... an imposibly long jump towards the pirate ship, blade still held up high, golden light washing across it. And for an instant, it seems as if the blade itself grew to gigantic proportions... and then she slashes down. A single golden slash that seems to cross the entire pirate ship. Rio herself lands on the mast, and bounces right back towards her own ship, flipping in mid-air and landing on her feet, slashing at the air as the blade returns to normal...
There is a terrifying moment of silence. A single plank of wood splinters. More silence... and in the space of an instant, the Lintha vessel practically breaks in two, quickly collapsing in on itself and taking in water at a frightening pace. The captain, Rio's bootprint on his face, looks back to watch his ship sink in abject horror.
Rio spins the sword in her hands, letting it rest on her shoulder and smirks at the captain... and rushes him, blazing forward in golden light.
"Monster! MONSTER!" The captain stands firm, beyond fear at this point. "Come! KILL ME IF YOU CAN!"
Rio just lets out a single slash, sword blazing with golden light. A towering golden sea snake curls up around her body and around her sword, maw opening as if to remove the captain's head in a single, perfect motion.... and remove it does, cleanly, the head landing in the sea. For a moment, the remainder of his body stands there, still holding the sword high. The end of his blade promptly shatters, and his body crumples onto the deck.
Rio stands firm and swipes at the air, the blood flicking off her sword and into the deck... and finally, she lets out a soft breath and relaxes, looking towards the sky.
The weather is still beautiful, and the sun-reflection in the water is even more splendid. Below, however, are the broken bodies of numerous sailors and Lintha. Behind here are the above-deck remainder, the lot of them looking towards Rio in a mixture of awe and fright. Again, it's silent, save for the wind and the creaking of the boat as it rocks in the sea.
Rio looks down towards the bodies, her expression unreadable... and then towards the remaining sailors, the tip of her sword resting against the hull as she holds it loosely.
As she looks upon their faces, Rio is... pretty certain that she feels a presence around her. The vaguest sensation of hands on her shoulders, holding her firmly. Odd, four? What follows is a voice of thunder and terror and majesty, a whisper in her ear that roars in her mind. "Protect them! Protect the people of this ship! Of this world! For ages I have turned my gaze away, but now I have returned... and you are my chosen!" And then the presence retreats from Rio without warning.
Rio takes a few seconds to recover, and then spins the sword, sliding it between the straps that hold it to her back, and looks towards the sailors again.
West moves to the fore of the group, holding his injured arm... and still chewing on that damned jerky. For the longest, he simply stares at Rio with disbelieving eyes... then spits the jerky overboard and... smiles. "Heh. You didn't die, after all."
Rio ... gives West a grin. "... well, I -did- say I had no intention of dying here, didn't I?"
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