The Midnight Prince

[Shisou]

"Sick," Shisou mumbles, and slips down below the decks, as if to make for the cot he knows is down there. Once down there, he whispers, "psst. Psst!" 

The lizard tucked into his robes climbs out onto his shoulder. "Hmm?" xe says sleepily, yawning. 

"Did you feel that? Did you hear that? Some kind of monster--"

He can't continue; there's a light, a rush of air, and she lands gently on her toes, ready to mix. "We have to get out there," she continues, running for the hatch at the stern. "Can you swim?"

[Rokag]

The next thing Rokag knew was that she was having a hard time lifting her head. The are STANK of rotten water and she was having trouble moving. Then, there was the thing that was speaking.

"!how dare yoU !you were to summoN us to the guardiaN"

There was a choking, gurgling sound followed by the thud of something heavy hitting the deck of the ship. Was there...screaming? Rokag shook her head and started trying to move.

"We shall, but we needed the position to locate it. Indou is in our way and the fastest way to get there is to eliminate him. And we brought you a sacrifice to make it worth the exchange."

There was another shout and a crunching sound. "!none of them are wortH thiS -we will enD" The voice paused and Rokag finally managed to get her head clear enough to see what was going on.

The end of the boat was trashed and part of it had cracked under the weight of the think she could tell did NOT belong here. It's body was serpentine and scaled, spines running along a ridge that ran along most of the tail to the tip. The upper 'body' was broad and scaled. It had arms like a man, but they too were scaled and ended in masses if tentacles that seemed to have grabbed someone from the boat and snapped their neck. What was MUCH more interesting to Rokag was the horned head that reminded her of an eel she had speared one time while fishing, but with an extra set of eyes...and somehow it was able to speak, despite the jaws.

".this one may be usefuL"

On instinct, Rokag did the most natural thing. She took a piece of plank that was from one of the displays on the ship and threw it at the creature. That only seemed to make it smile as the wood hit it's chest uselessly.


Fuuuck!

~~~~

The scene that the Midnight Princess  came across after emerging from the water was that of the serpentine creature having most of a writhing, tentacled fist holding up and choking Rokag, who was trying to kick and scratch herself free. The two other figures turned to see her as a third robed figure was laying dead on the boat. Most of the ones on board had abandoned ship, leaving only a few of the animals left on the mostly abandoned ship.

[Shisou]

Shit. Shit shit shit that's Rokag! 

Soushi-hime doesn't think; she swims as fast as she can, under the water, thankful that her outfit is so light weight -- and hey, the pretty dress shoes have turned into fins today, that's neat. She doesn't think about the difficulty Carbonne must be having holding on; she just swims, already making the gestures she needs, muttering into the water.

Heavy-- my clothes weighing me down? No, it's -- something about the magic. Doesn't matter. Have to get it away from Rokag! 

She reaches out, touching Rokag on the shoulder; instantly, the thing recoils, letting go of her as her skin shimmers with a protective, good aura. [Protection from Evil] 

[Rokag]

She hits the ground coughing, trying to roll away from the creature.

It, however turned to narrow its eyes at Soushi-hime. ".aH ...an annoyancE." It lashed it's tail towards her as it turned. ".perhapse you will make a more fitting sacrificE" The tail was easy to dodge, but it DID make

Rokag croaked out a little. "Gonna...kill...family." She slowly tries to get back to her feet, tho is still a bit shaky. It swatted it's tail at Rokag...and recoiled back as it hit her skin again.

[Shisou]

Family? Rokag's family? I thought she-- whatever. "Carbonne," she says, crawling out onto the shore. "Bright ideas?" 

[Rokag]

".no matteR .you won't live long enough for much elsE" It made a swinging motion with writhing tentacles at Rokag who just...colapsed again as she started to cough up....water? She scrabbled and thrashed as she tried to clear her lungs, but it just seemed to keep coming, which lead to to the terrible tumble into the lake off of the deck of the ship.

"-now for yoU" It seemed that the creature would NOT be getting much talking in, as some men from one of the nearby boats had gotten some arrows together and were making a good case for being a MUCH more of an annoyance. Which is why it had gotten off of the boat and was now heading straight for them.

~~~

All Rokag knew was that she was surrounded by water and dying. She couldn't breath, her body felt like it was sinking faster and even her consciousness was slipping. Is...this it? She had made it this far, but some random moment of caring. She wanted to just...have things be even. To not owe him so much for just being nice. And now she was going to die? And that thing was still going to kill him. Was she going to die and was it going to change nothing?

F...fuck...THAT!

And there it was. The anger that had surged within her in winter. When she was sure that whatever illness was going to kill her. When she decided that she wasn't going to die on the Shore. Even so, she could tell this was death. It wasn't nearly this cold, even in the water. And then, just as everything was turning black, she would have sworn that she saw a small, fleck of ice in the water.

~~~

Before Carbonne could answer, a brief cold wind blows across the water. For the second there felt like there was a pause. The devil had grabbed one of the archers, being much faster in the water than on the boat. The yell of other boats with archers moving towards the fight. And then everything moved at once. A large geyser of water erupted just next to the wrecked boat. The Midnight Princess could see a figure in the geyser before a blast of water shot sideways out towards the devil, shards of jagged ice visible on the edges of it. The shards dug in and send it a few feet away from the boats and back into the water. There was another blast of chilly air over the area and the geyser was gone, leaving a sheet of ice around the ship. She could even make someone out standing, and then collapsing, onto the solid ice. A light snowfall blowing through the air.

[Shisou]

Soushi-hime, the Midnight Princess, crawls to her feet, coughing. She stares up at the tower of ice in awe, watches as the demon -- for it's definitely a sceleratis, summoned -- shrieks, slides back under the water in retreat. She gets to her feet, wobbly, and begins for the fallen form of her friend; she pauses, as she sees several samurai ,now (finally!) armed, as they should be when something threatens the City. She hangs back, then, slipping into the water to swim toward her family's boat. This is handled, she thinks bitterly. Rokag is so much stronger than I'll ever be. Still, the sight of the half-orc crumpled on the sheet of ice won't leave her as she swims. Please be okay. Please.

[Rokag]

Rokag sat up bolt straight in bed once she woke up. Her dreams had spiked her adrenaline around the time that she was gasping for air as some beast was looming over her, made of water and eels and trying to crush the life out of her body. One thing that kinda struck her was, once the haze of sleep had started to fade, that her body felt...heavier than it had in the dream. What the fuck is...wait, where am I?

She had barely registered someone saying for her to relax before bolting from the room...the very nice room. The very nice, well-decorated room with a mat that felt firm, but still soft and a blanket that didn't feel like linen or wool and there was the faint smell of sandalwood (which some people had said was supposed to drive of spirits, but she'd never believed that because it was fucking WOOD) and then she was VERY concerned why she was in a fancy part of the barracks. Fuuuck, are they blaming ME for all that? Why else would she be here. Somehow, someone had pinned that...THING showing up on her so they probably wanted to try and excise whatever demon that had been.

[GamesMaster]

Just as she's beginning to realize where she is, a familiar-looking man strides into the room. It takes Rokag a moment to recognize him; he's tall, his dark hair bound up in a warrior's braid, and he wears formal attire, his outermost robe bearing the symbol of Clan Cicada on the back, the sleeves. But Rokag knows this man, has seen him before: Indou, of clan Cicada, one of the more active members of his generation in the policing of the area. Some say he's a favorite to take over, if only his (adopted) children could produce a proper heir. 

And he's walking into this room without so much as a knock, as if he owns the place. Oh. Come to think of it, he might just at that...

"Good morning," he says, in a tone that is firm and not at all pleasant. "I don't have the pleasure of your lineage?" he adds, as the doctor scrambles in behind him, digs out a quill.

[Rokag]

...shiiiit!

Rokag had the presence of mind to cover herself in the blanket. "Um..I-" Shit, was she supposed to bow? How the fuck do you bow while on a sleeping mat and WHY IS HE HERE?! She needed to say something. Anything. Lie? No, nothing would really work here and why is Indou in this room? Why was SHE in this room?

"Um...I...don't know? I..never met them."  The instant that it was out of her mouth, she wanted to take it back. That sounded like a terrible idea.

[GamesMaster]

"You... are a foundling?" he asks, frowning slightly. "Who raised you? To whom do you belong?"

[Rokag]

"Um....I...raised myself." Rokag's brain finally started kicking into something approaching working order. "Sir." She stopped staring and cast her eyes down. Oooh fuck. Okay, so how do I get out of this with my neck intact and NOT banished from...well, the island. Sure, she'd been thinking about leaving, but that was on HER terms and not with the guy high up in the nobility hating them.

[GamesMaster]

"Where are you employed?" That 'sir' makes a world of difference; his tone is firmer, now, his slight frown a more pronounced scowl. 

[Rokag]

And now he's MORE mad?! How the fuck is this...well, better answer THAT, at least.

"I-in the menagerie. I look after the large lizards" Which had...been on the boat. She actually hoped that she hadn't died on the boat. She was surly and protective, but nothing deserved to die separated from....now was NOT the time to cry about some possibly dead animal, one of the branch family heads was PISSED at her and she wasn't sure why because she hadn't been the one with the demon!

[GamesMaster]

"The menagerie-- here? On Cicada Island?" Now he seems a little less angry, though he still frowns. "Have you any mixed heritage?"