Skyracy [IC]

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Conner heard Casey's angry rant, and clenched his fists and Elico, since he was near Conner, could even see a blood vein pop up. "Look, I'm sorry....just leave it at that..." he mumbled, trying not to just blow up in Casey's face...which was his first option anyway. He then turned his attention back to Elico and nodded at him, knowing what he was talking about. "The Sky Horse...we heard it was here...that's the main reason the crew I was with left. Before we got shipwrecked...we were searching for it...didn't get even close to finding it."

 

The minutes ticked away as this group just stayed silent, looking at each other...until Conner heard Elico's sentence. Blastered cannon ball? Well, it was obviously better than just sitting around here. Conner stood up and nodded, with a small smile. "Alright then, Elico. Have any locations on where this said item is?"

[Elƒie]

Hino glared at Casey as she started yelling at Conner, "Seriously, when do you not scream? It seems like the only time you haven't screamed was when you were up-chucking all over yourself. And so what if he accidentally lead the Ostrider to us? They would have come across us sooner or later. I'm surprised they didn't find us before then, considering how they would have most likely sent out scavengers to the ship wrecks on the island after the tornado. Geezus.." Hino mumbled that last bit under her breath as she started to put the final touches on her automail leg. "If you want something to scream about, try putting on automail. The pain caused by connecting nerves is hella lot, so don't b!tch about how you had to fight. Gosh forbid you do any hard work.."

 

With her leg back together, Hino swung herself around, her back to the table, as she connected her leg to her steam generator. Taking a breath, she attached her leg and yelled out, "OH SWEET JEBUS!" Standing up quickly, she started running swiftly to the ship, the adrenaline from the running helping with the pain. Yelling back she said, "I'll get to work on cooking up some grub for the whole group! Cya guys when ya come back with that cannonball!" She wasn't sure if the group would hear her, due to the distance between them, but she wasn't about to stop running to make sure. 

 

A few minutes later, Hino had reached the boat, sweating heavily and breathing hard. Barely being able to make it on board, she collapsed unto the deck, "Oh sweet *pant, pant* jebus.. *deep breath* I'mnevertakingmyautomailoffagain," she said quickly, telling herself a sweet lie, knowing that she'd have to take it off at some point. Not too far from her, just out of sight due to some topside barrels and crates, she heard what sounded to be Seria. While still laying on the deck, she greeted Seria, "Hey there lassy. Talking to yourself, like a sane person should once and a while?"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Casey had opened her big mouth again to try and counteract what Hino had just said, but before she could do so much as utter a sound, she completely froze, visibly upset by what she realized she was about to do. She would've only fallen into the same trap as she had countless times before. Back in the days, Casey would always be arguing with the crew, as well as the captain, and none of her arguments would ever go well. She didn't want to go back there again... not in a million years.

 

"Whatever, let's just go find this cannonball I guess," Casey muttered sorrowfully, "I think I'll go this way."

 

She'd ended up pointing in a direction slightly more to the East than where Elico and Conner were planning to trek, and started walking down said direction with hands in her jeans pockets. Then, just as she got far enough away from everyone, she kicked the next rock as hard as she could... well, at least what she thought was a rock.

 

"OOOOOWWWWWW!!" she screamed, about to curse when she realized what she unwittingly stubbed her toes on, "Jesus Christ, the hell's this thing doing here?"

 

Casey immediately examined the cannonball, digging around the soil in which it had lodged itself in. She had no idea whether this was the one that Elico was searching for.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

As it happened, when Hino chose to make her appearance back on the deck Seria had been clinging to the oh so impressive gun that was the most powerful one on the ship while she checked any and all mechanisms on it for rust or some other sort of damage.  Thus it was that when she was addressed, Seria lifted her face away from the beauty of the machine before her and was confronted with a view of the other engineer.  To be perfectly honest, a few things confused her about the girl but for now questions about one's wardrobe were going to wait.

 

"Oh, 'ello lass," was the fist thing she actually said to the only person around who could claim to have the same skill with machines as she did.  "Nah, wasn't talkin' to meself.  Why should I when I got company?"  In the process of speaking, she had clambered down off of the gun and patted it quite heavily along the barrel.  A fond smile crossed her face as it was briefly turned to the ship's largest piece of ordinance.

 

"So," she began as she hefted her personal rifle and slung it over her back by the leather strap on it.  For now she was going to leave her sledgewrench on the deck where it was sitting,  "That automail leg o' yers is prob'ly the fanciest I've ever seen.  How'd ya come across it?"  Her face was lit up with a look of real interest, and the glint in her eye was one only another engineer could understand.  Her mind was already racing with thoughts inspired by the reminder of automail's existence, but she wasn't lost in those thoughts just yet.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Elico and Conner began their trek, with no idea that Casey had come across the cannonball. Maybe it'd been lost or something, who knows. All Elico knew was he was happy and chirpy, having a quick search of the Skyland in hopes to find what they were looking for. He was chirpy, humming a catchy tune as he walked through the jungles with Conner, eager to have some of Hino's cooking. He'd never had home-made cooking before, unless you count restaurant food. Elico didn't, that's for sure. With the food in his mind, he might've passed a few key things. Oh well.

 

As he walked and trekked, still unknowing of Casey's sleuth-like find, he decided to talk to Conner for a while, get to know the fellow. "So, then, Mr. Conner Tempest as it were..." he started. "...tell me your story, will you? About your crew having gone in search of this place? I mean, you may as well pass the time whilst we're here, right?"

 

He was genuinely interested in his story. Elico was curious about Skyratess and how they did their business. Conner didn't seem like much of a Skyrate at the moment, it seemed. Regardless, he wouldn't judge the book by the cover, and gave the fellow a chance of tell his tale.

 

In the case he asked for Elico's, he'd reply "Well...it is a long story. My Dad is a very old Skyrate, and believed you had to earn everything in life. So, I had to buy my own ship. My Brother, Brave, did too. He succeeded, now he's the blimmin' attack dog of the Skyrate Armada's fleet. I'm envious without a doubt. I wasn't as lucky, see. I was stuck on a dead-end ship with a lifeless crew. Eventually, they kicked the boot and went away. I came across a few more potential crew members, one of them Hino, and we tested a flight to this very Skyland. I did not anticipate for one second about the vicious tornado that'd end up striking us. Oh well."

 

After half an hour they returned to the camp. Elico frowned as he sat down by the entrance of the ship's cave and grunted. "No luck finding that bloody cannonball."

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Conner was disappointed in had came all this way with these two just to have no luck finding that cannonball, there was no mistake of that. However, he seemed intrigued by Elico's story and background. He had come from greatness apparently, as his father was an old Skyrate, making him the next in line as a great Skyrate. Hearing the end of this story, Conner felt a little envious. He didn't know why, but he did...

 

"Seems like fate had a plan for you as well. I guess mine was to find you and your crew." he said, leaning up against a tree. "Just wish fate would've planned for other things in my life...better than how they happened." He let out a sigh as he saw Elico and Casey staring at him. Conner quickly looked away, not giving any eye contact. "Nevermind that...Elico, what are we to do now, since the cannonball was a no show."

[Elƒie]

Hino gave Seria a  smile, completely understanding how she felt towards that gun and giving it a persona; she was that way herself with all machinery, some more than others. Having finally caught her breath as Seria walked over to her, she got up on her two feet and let out a might yawn and stretch. She stopped in mid-motion when Seria asked about her leg. Looking to her leg, she simply stared at it a moment with a slightly goofey face. After a moment, she snapped back into reality, her mind having wondered off into space for a moment there.

"Right! My leg. Well ever since I lost my leg some time ago, I've been building model after model, improving the leg as I got the resources and skills to do so. I currently have designs in my head for a less bulky build, but until I have an absolute need for a new leg and all the resources, I'll more then likely stick with this one," she said all the while she stuck out her leg a little, rotating it and what not to show it off better to Seria. "Anyways, I'm the one stuck with cooking our next meal; which is the main reason why I came to ship. Wanna help me grab some grub for me to cook up? The others are off looking for that cannonball for the ship."

 

A half hour later and assuming Seria had followed her back to the camp with or without food, Hino went on to ask Seria about her weapon, despite the nightmares it's been causing lately since the fight. "So Seria.. That weapon of yours.. How is it that one person can fire that? I imagine that despite intense training for use of that weapon, not many people could fire that weapon without being flung about everywhere. Or is there a little secret to it that I don't know of yet," Hino pondered that last thought, wondering what it could be as she stirred the aromatic stew. If Seria hadn't of come, Hino would still be there, stirring the stew on her own as she waited for the others to return before serving it.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"Ah!  A custom job then."  Seria's eyes could not have been wider as she dropped down ant set about examining every nuance of the automail leg that she could without disassembling it right then and there.  Though it certainly looked like she WANTED to start taking it apart to get a look at the inner workings of it, though she restrained herself for now.  "Sorry...got a wee bit carried away."  She chuckled to herself and stood back up, though at the prospect of cooking she sneered a little bit.  She didn't like cooking, and she certainly wasn't any good at it either. "Well, I'll 'elp ya wit' grabbin' it but I ain't gonna be cookin' nothin'.  Ain't my thing ya understand."  With that Seria slung her monster of a firearm over her shoulder on its strap and set about following Hino down to the galley to recover what was needed to start cooking.  Despite any argument that could be made in her direction, she wouldn't wash the oil off of her hands prior to touching any of the food items while insisting that she help in carrying them back to the camp.

 

Of course a half an hour later or so Hino and Seria were back at the camp site which had been set up at the entrance to the cave in which the legendary skyship had been discovered, and Hino had asked about her firearm.  The engineer turned to her acquaintance with a smile.  "Well, if I'm gonna be honest, there really ain't too much to it other than gettin' used ta shootin' it."  However, while she said this, she motioned to the barrel of the weapon.  Specifically to a set of openings along the side which were angled towards the back end of the weapon.  "Though there are these.  Some o' the gas released by the rockets propellin' the rounds gets expelled through these.  Cuts down on the recoil a bit."  With that, she set about pulling her weapon apart to do some maintenance on it while there was still time.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Casey on the other hand, having taken a completely different beaten path to the two guys, was still trying to get the cannonball out of the ground where it was, with no luck. She had tried to dig around the soil and lift the cursed thing with her bare hands, but she couldn't dig deep enough for that tactic to be effective. She had also tried to use a stick as a lever, but it broke on her, and there were no other sticks around. Eventually, Casey gave up, and returned to base.

 

There, she noted that Elico and Conner had returned, understandably disappointed that they weren't able to find the cannonball. Casey rolled her eyes and shook her head; she reckoned that the two sounded too defeatist to her for her liking. Then again, Casey wasn't of the type one could count on to lighten the mood.

 

"I need a shovel," Casey said bluntly.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Elico raised a brow to Conner, seemingly avoiding the notion of discussing his past. Maybe it was something to avoid, probably a miserable past he didn't want to relive? Maybe, though, he was actually a liability, like a serial killer or something of the sort. With the position of Captain he would have to press into this at some point. Depending on Conner's nature, it'd depend between a seated conversation between gentlemen, and at the edge of a sharp sword.

Regardless, he shrugged. "Suit yourself; we cannot leave this island without a Skyship. There's one embedded in a mountain, and the only way out is destroying the wall of the cave, before flying out. Unless you are willing to spend decades mining out the ship, we have only one option: finding that damn cannonball."

He looked over to Casey with nothing more than a raised brow. She asked for a shovel. Not only ditching them on their trek for God knows why, but asking for a shovel too. Elico frustratedly rubbed his eyes and grumbled. "Do you see a shovel anywhere near here...?"

He then met her with a frown. "Second of all, where the heck did you run away too...?"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Casey rolled her eyes yet again. While it was true that she owed an explanation for her different track, that frown of Elico's was completely unnecessary in Casey's mind. Then again, she probably should've said more than just ask for a shovel; perhaps also mentioning that she found the cannonball in the first place.

 

"Well, for starters, just because I don't see a shovel doesn't change the fact that I need one," Casey stated, "And secondly, I wasn't running anywhere. I was just going in a completely different because that's what search parties do; they have everyone split up so that they can cover more ground. Doesn't sound like something you've tried now, does it? So anyway, I managed to find that cannonball; it's just over that way somewhere half-buried in the ground."

 

She pointed her thumb over her shoulder to the direction that she had taken, before starting to look for her shovel.

 

"So where's this shovel?" Casey asked.

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Conner felt like he asked a stupid question...but what else was new? He didn't think the cannonball was THAT important until Elico mentioned it like that...

 

With a small nod, he turned away and tried to search a bit for the missing cannonball. He kept looking...until he stopped for a moment, almost hearing a faint ghostly voice within the blowing wind. Conner stood straight up from his searching, staring at the sky overhead, feeling the breezing wind blow by him. His left hand ran through his silver white hair, as his eyes fell shut, feeling the wind against his face.

 

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pcZcYCQr6c]From the Heart ~ X Ray Dog[/url]

 

Look...I promise I'll come back. C'mon, when have I ever let you down before?

 

Now that you say it like that, its kinda hard for me not to trust you Conner! Alright, you go...I'll be here when you return. Its a promise...

 

As quick as the faint memory came...like the wind, it dissipated. Conner opened his eyes, feeling tears forming, as he quickly shook his head and continued to search. We know what really happened the night I returned...Allison...and I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you...guess it was my family's upbringing that brought fate to be cruel... he thought, placing his hand on the trunk of a tree, exhaling softly.

[Elƒie]

"Getting used to shooting it and exhaust paths for the expanding gas.. Fair enough," Hino nodded slightly, approving of the answer she was given for how one person could shot such a monsterous-sized weapon. Watching Seria do maintenance on the weapon, she recalled how Seria practically drooled over her leg. "Next time I do maintenance you're more than welcome to watch, or even join in. And if I ever get a new model, I'll even let ya have this one. How does that sound to ya," she asked Seria, absentmindedly stirring the pot of stew as she watched Seria, not having noticed the guys have returned until Casey's voice rang out and destroyed any and all peace in the area, in her opinion, anyways.

 

Trying not to make her mental groan audible, Hino pointed towards the ship, "I do believe there's a shovel or pick ax or some similar tool within the ship that oughta help getting that bugger free." She then went on to say, "Well foods ready, whenever you guys wanna eat. You'll probably wanna eat after getting that cannonball, so you're refueled and stomachs are nice and full. Or eat before you go for the cannonball, makes no difference to me. Bowls and spoons are on the table," she waved her left hand towards the said table, where bowls were stacked and spoons were in a loose pile, waiting to be used.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

The mention of being allowed to join in, and being given that particular piece of steam-driven machinery if Hino should ever get an upgrade, could not have made Seria's eyes go wider.  For several long moments she was stuck in silence as thoughts raced through her head.  What's she use to lubricate the joints?  What about the steam, does it run pistons?  And other questions pertaining to that particular piece of machinery.  She soon found herself actually being helped out by her old friend Casey whose voice promptly shattered any semblance of peace which could have been about the area.  Helped get her mind back in the present.

 

"Well, lass," Seria began once the mention of food had been made and it was quiet enough for her to get a word in, "I'd definitely like bein' involved in fixin' up yer leg.  Who knows, maybe I could help ya build a better on if I knew the specs."  Another moment and Seria had grabbed one of the bowls she'd helped with carrying back to camp and filled it from the stew pot.  She didn't bother with grabbing a spoon, she just picked the bigger chunks of solid food out of the liquid with her hands and occasionally lifted the bowl to her lips to drink the broth from it.

[Kyng's Old Account]

Eltrio frowned to Casey's eyes, the attitude disrespectful without a doubt. Albeit, he should have addressed the matter at hand with a greater deal of respect, however one could easily sympathize with how frustrated the individual was. One could easily see the confusion that would come about, and it isn't unheard of that confusion is a catalyst for anger when meshed along with frustration.

 

"Well, why say you need one in the first place? Especially when there's not one anywhere in sight. You don't hear me just shouting aloud 'I need a new change of clothes' for the sake of saying it." Elico spoke in regard to her statement. Regarding her second statement he added "Search parties do split up, yes, but they damn well make sure to inform the rest of the group. It was negligent and reckless just going about on a frolic of your own. You should let the group know, otherwise you're being reckless. No excuses."

 

Elico's ears perked when she said she found the cannonball, but he then later face palmed when she began to look for a shovel. The fact was, there was no shovel on the island. Flapper Skyland was never a place of buried treasure. It was, if anything, a place to camp, until the recent addition of the feral winds rendering the land inhabitable by humans. With this, Elico looked to her and threw the diary, the diary indicating of the ancient ship which led them to the cave, on the ground.

 

"They left no shovel on the island itself-"

 

Elico's ears perked, again, hearing Hino come out of the cave with, not only an answer regarding the locations of a shovel, but food as well. Elico's stomach growled in hunger. Whether it was for freedom or for food he knew not, but he decided to dine for a while. He was starving. So, without any second thought, he feasted on his portion like a scavenging dog, slurping up what he could and licking his plate clean.

 

Once dinner was done, he looked to Seria and asked "Do you think you could find the shovel in the Skyship?" He then turned over to Casey "And, if it isn't too much to ask, how about you lead me to the cannonball?"

[Super Chaos Sonic]

Conner kept up the search, until his ears heard the sound of the girl: Hino. He followed Elico and Casey back to the others, and he saw with his eyes basically a huge feast of food...depending on who it was that was looking at it. To Conner, who hadn't eaten a lot during the past two days, it seemed like a wonderful feast. He sat down, after being prompted by Elico, beginning to eat as well. He was hungry, no doubt about it, however he didn't show it like Elico did...must've just been him.

 

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLJ4OSM6aiM]Katekyo Hitman Reborn ~ Peace of Mind[/url]

 

Looking up from eating, he saw this group in a whole different light. They carried on and shared laughs, every so often, and it seemed like they were truly working together as a real crew. He returned to eating, being finished within a few moments. "Thank you ma'am for the food, it was delicious!" Conner said, thanking Hino, putting his hands together as he smiled. He then listened in on Elico's requests for both Seria and Casey. With another smile, he turned his gaze to Hino, remembering that she was basically the mechanic...at least from what Elico mentioned. "Ma'am?" Conner spoke to Hino. "Would you like some help fixing the cannon? I may not be real great with machines, but I can help a little here and there."

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"Well I did say "I think I'll go this way" and I did point to the direction that I was going; you must've not heard or seen me I guess," Casey sighed after saying this much, before looking down on her plate, and then back at an Elico that was gorging himself with food, "And you should really stop eating like a pig. It's not good for you."

 

Once again, though, Casey gazed at her plate of food, which really didn't contain much at all. Despite having skipped a couple of meals for the day, Casey just wasn't hungry enough to eat as much as she really should. Not this time. Then again, her not finding the food very appetizing didn't really help in that regard. Regardless, Casey was quick to stop eating, and start searching at the back of the ship... where the shovel was. Oddly enough, Casey did manage to find a pick axe as well, which Hino said could also be potentially found. But she stuck with what she said she needed, before drawing a rough map of the area.

 

"Well, here's where I found the cannonball," Casey told Elico, placing the map where he could see it, but not in a stupid place, "Just follow the arrow when you're ready and you'll find me trying dig this thing up. You may or may not hear me as well, knowing my luck..."

 

With that, she left again, and arrived at the site of the cannonball. Her technique with the shovel was nothing out of the ordinary; just pick a spot, slam her foot into the shovel and curse every time she hit a rock... which was a lot. Nonetheless, progress was slow and steady, for the time being.

[Elƒie]

With everyone having pretty much decided on eat first, dig later, Hino decided to wait after everyone got food before getting her own. With it being just her and Seria left to eat, she grabbed the last two bowls and split the remaining between the two. Holding one bowl out to Seria, Hino opted to use a spoon, unlike Elico. Shaking her head slightly at his behavior with a soft smile, she went on to scoop her stew into her spoon away from her and brought it to her lips to consume in one swift, and slightly elegant, motion. After finishing off her spoonful, she stared at her spoon and began to reminiscence on what most people would consider "better days." After a moment, she tossed the spoon behind her and began to drink the stew directly from her bowl, stopping once and a while to chew up the bits in the stew.

 

With dinner done after Seria finished or not finished her bowl, Hino began to gather up the dishes and continued on when Conner asked if she wanted some help with the cannon. "Hmmmm.. I'll probably leave that to Seria to take care off, after all, its pretty much her baby now." She chuckled a little to herself at how passionate people tend to "adapt" their creations or ones they through other means. "So why don't ya tag along with Seria? Or if you prefer, or if she'd rather work it alone, you can always help me with dishes." Putting the dishes into the pot she cooked the stew in, she lifted the heavy load rather easily and began to make her way to small body of water that wasn't too far away, with Conner possibly tagging along with her.

 

After a few minutes, the dishes were done and Hino made her way to ship to drop them off. She then returned to the camp site and began to pack things up and getting them on the ship as she waited for Elico and Casey to return with the cannon ball while Seria and Conner went on with their business. With everything packed up and ready to go, Hino went on to busy herself with the engine, getting her started up and warmed up. The engine roared like an eager lion, waiting almost impatiently to escape from its long time cage within the cave. With everything pretty much all set on her end, she placed her hand on the engine and just stood there with her eyes closed, feeling the engine vibrate against her fingers, listening to the gears and pistons move in synch, and taking in the metallic- and oil-scented air through her nostrils. Her place in this world was within an engine room, not her so called "home."