Serious: The Fair Pirates, chapter 1: A new Beginning?

Seppy was just walking out of the doctor's office when he saw Avery and Lawrence rounding the bend on Yirkstreet. Hitching his backpack into place, Miyu now covered with a proper blanket. He smiled and waved to him, but there was a deep-set grimness to his look, something that utter replaced the strangely innocent energy he normally radiated.

"Hey, Doc fix'd 'er up. We jus' gotta hang 'round fer a few hours 'till she wakes up." Looking across the back alleyway, Seppy spotted a set of stairs that looked like it'd lead down into a fairly shady dive. Pointing, he tipped his head towards the bar.

"I don' wanna jus' leave Miyu alone, but she'll be safe in 'ere...'m gonna catcha drink real fas'. I wanna come back 'fore she wakes up."

Edited. Go down three posts.

((Seppy already walked out of the door and was talking to Avery. Sorry if I was unclear on that point.))

When Miyu opened her eyes, at first she thought it was still dark around her. Then the thought formed into something else: she must be blindfolded! Why?! Where was she?! Oh god, what...
She reached for her neck. It was still intact. She could have sworn that... She thought she could still feel the touch of the darkskinned man for a moment, but then her head cleared a bit, and the sleepiness made way for a painful sense of reality. She wasn't blindfoded, she was sitting somewhere dark... There was a blanket on her, and she wasn't tied up anymore. A big relief came over her when she understood it had been a dream. Then, reality brought her even more confusion. Why was she alone, sitting in a dark room? Where was Seppy? Maybe this was all still part of the dream?
She groaned a little when she noticed the pain in all her body. Her head was worst. And she had cold sweat all over her...
But she would definitely not stay in a dark room all alone! Slowly, she put one of her naked feet on the ground and retreated it when she felt its coldness. What had she expected? A wooden floor, heated up by a cozy little fire? Not in rooms like this...
Once again, she put her foot on the ground, then the other, then slowly got up... and sat right back down when her legs seemed to decide they didn't have the will to carry her right now. Everything was turning, and her head was aching. She put her hand on it and moaned as quietly as she could.

Avery simply nodded to Seppy. “Right. See you around.” He went inside the doctor’s office and looked around for a moment before calling out softly, “Miyu? Are you still here?” Avery winced. What a stupid question. Of course she was still here. Seppy had brought her to the doctor for a reason, which made it highly unlikely that she had just gotten up and walked away.

"Lay back down," Doc instructed, seeming to appear from the darkness not too far from where Miyu was resting. A chair creaked softly, eerily, the only sound his movements made, as he rocked forward on it's legs. A moment later there was the thump of the chair hitting the floor, and the man's face was gone back to the shadows, his presence an invisible memory.

"You can't move around yet," Doc explained, his voice tired and stern. "I just gave you a king's random in antipathic medicine. Lay down and let it work. If you're exposed to too much light right, it'll all break down and the fever will return."

As he was busy explaining Miyu's condition to her, Doc looked up just as Avery walked in. The light from the door lit him in his entirey for a moment, revealing what a frail, thin, and bedraggled little man the doctor actually was. Still, though, for how gaunt and faded he looked in his dusty grey labcoat and time-faded pants and pale, bleached leather boots, there was a presence of strength about the man.

"Keep the door closed," Doc instructed harshly. "If you let too much light in, the medicine will turn. She needs to stay in the dark for another three hours." His tone seemed to settle down on the last few words, becoming less rasping and harsh. There was a pause, a sigh from the darkness.

"You should go get the purple-haired man," Doc instructed. "I told him that she wouldn't be up for a while yet, but..." He pointed at Miyu, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "He's got an illness, too." Ancient eyes, sharp as a hawk and glinting like blue sparks in the darkness, fixed Miyu.

"He's afflicted with a consuming illness called 'guilt'. I imagine the only reason he left at all was to try to cure it, but the vile poisons he's treating himself with will only compound his condition. I've got a much better medicine for that."

At that, Doc fell silent.

Miyu couldn't help but be scared of the old man. He had suddenly appeared.... Though his words said he wanted to help her, it was...
The door opened and she could see two somewhat familiar shapes in it.
"Avery! Lawrence!"
She was so relieved to see someone familiar here. It made the situation feel less suspicious. The doctor talked to them and she listened, still sitting on the bed.
"Seppy is... feeling guilty? But... why?"
She couldn't for the life of her make out what her friend could have done to feel guilty...

Light could affect the fever? What fever? Still feeling somewhat uncertain, Avery shut the door behind him. Then he crossed over to Miyu’s side and stood by her protectively. Lawrence took up position on her other side. Neither of them was certain they could trust this strange little man. Lawrence especially did not like the man. The medicinal smells coming off of him were so strong to the dog’s extra sensitive nose that Lawrence could not avoid a slight whimper.

((Sorry for the downtime, guys. I'll try to get a post up shortly! Busy few days, lot of polo matches.
Edit: A short post so that you guys have something to respond to for now. Next one will be better!))

Doc gave a grim smile, shaking his head. Turning his gaze to Miyu, he spoke in an enigmatic tone.

"I'll tell you more about it later. You'll have to take my word on it for now."

Turning his head back towards Avery, Doc leaned forward in his chair. He seemed completely aware of how disconcerting his presence was to the man and his dog, though it didn't seem to affect his behaviour or actions at all. His tone became more even, regular, though still gruff.

"You can leave your dog behind if you're not inclined to trust the man who just saved this woman's life to watch over her all by himself," Doc began, raising an old, bony, but surprisingly steady hand to point at the door, "but you'd better go get that other man. He'll regret it later, if you don't..."

Pausing and glancing sidelong at Miyu for a moment, a strange, knowing smile came over the man's face; there was something foreboding and ominous about it.

"...And so will she."

((ARGH! I somehow missed that that this was updated! I really, really hate that... ))

Avery wavered for a moment. He didn't want to leave Lawrence behind, but he wanted Miyu to have some protection. He was sure she could protect herself under normal circumstances, but she looked too weak for that at the moment. Then Avery remembered. Earlier, Seppy had pointed out where he was going so Avery didn't need Lawrence to track him down!

"Stay here boy," Avery said in his most authoritative voice. Lawrence glanced back at him with a mournful expression, but didn't make a sound. Avery turned and left the doctor's office. He went over to the bar that Seppy had pointed out and he flung the doors open, stepping inside.

"Regret it...?"
Miyu barely whispered. She was still a bit uncomfortable, but Lawrence being here and the thought that both Seppy and Avery, though he was not part of their crew, would come back soon made her relax a bit.
She laid down on the bed again and tugged herself in. then she looked at the dog for a while... She had to admit, she liked animals. They weren't complicated. At least most of them weren't. A dog stayed loyal to its master, no matter the bounty...
She managed a weak smile and stretched out her hand a bit for the dog to sniff. She had seen people do this when they wanted to get acquainted to animals...

The dive looked like every other sleazy place of it's sort and repute; low lighting, dirty everything, a cloud of stinking smoke that seemed to hang motionlessly like a scrim in the air. Several rough-looking types turned angry eyes to Avery as he burst in. A single figure didn't move, though; Seppy, down the bar a ways, remained motionless, his head tilted over the bar, a single small glass of something clear between his fingers.

"I can' think t'day..." Seppy growled to himself, lifting the glass. A moment later he put it down. "Like I been any good at it..."

His nose twitched and he turned to Avery, a look of deep and troubled thought on his face. Still, he managed his standard smile and waved with one hand, his sharp claws almost invisible in the dim light.

"Ey man," Seppy spoke cheerlessly. "'M busy thinkin'. Y'any good at thinkin'?"

------

"You have a fondness for animals," Doc stated flatly as Miyu reached her hand forward. "That can be a problem sometimes, isn't it?" Rocking back on his chair, Doc gave a dusty old laugh.

"Animals are usually born with good hearts, but their instincts rule their heads...ultimately, no matter what you say or do to or for them, they act as they were born to act." Letting a tired sigh go, Doc's voice seemed to pick up a note of cheer.

"No matter what, in the end, you have to remember...an animal is nothing more, nothing less. If you treat them like a friend, you'll get bitten sooner or later..."

Chuckling, the old man flashed Miyu, in the shadows that cast cruel and wicked streams of light across his ancient face, what some people would call a smile.

"...Still..." Doc coughed, reaching forward to place the back of his hand on Miyu's head. Nodding, he sat back down.

"...Their company can be fun, for a while."

Avery

“Kind of,” Avery replied. He returned the glares of each person in the bar and reached up to pull his bo staff off of his back. Then he crossed over to where Seppy sat and he leaned on his bo staff, staring back at Seppy. “What are you thinking about?”

Lawrence

Lawrence saw her hesitation and he complied too the gesture by walking forward and sniffing her hand. Then he pushed his head up against her hand. As the doctor was speaking, the dog turned his heard slightly to stare at him reproachfully.

"Aaaw..."
miyu couldn't help it, she just loved animals! It was so cute when Lawrence sniffed her hand and let her touch him! She crawled him behind the ears carefully, not sure whether or not he'd like it, when the doctor spoke to her.
"But I really want to treat them like friends.... They're such good creaturs...."
She murmured, looking at the dog thoughtfully. She could tell he wasn't only talking about the dog, or even Ebony, the cat, or any other thing that'd look like an animal on first glance.
"If I could, I would be glad to have them around me as long as I can, even if they bite. I can shake off a little bite easily..."
He wasn't only talking about animals. But neither was she. Her head was spinning a bit, so it was hard to come up with even this much, but it came from her heart, after all. All her brain had to do was to find words to describe it.

"Y'know...'bout stuff..."

Seppy stared at the drink a while longer. The bartender, in turn, stared irately at the ex-hunter. A shot of thunder wasn't the sort of thing you nursed; usually, it was gone as soon as it hit the table and the order for the next was in-bound. Watching a man stare at one like it might bite was a sorry sight for a man of his trade.

Still, Seppy felt guilty for even coming here. Drinking was a leisure activity, something you did to relax when you didn't have anything to worry about. He couldn't, for the life of him, recall why he'd thought it'd be a good idea in the middle of a stressful situation like this. Then, Seppy thought, he could recall, and had bet his own life in vain. He'd gotten her all sick.

"I made a bad choice," Seppy said, pushing the drink away. The bartender mistook the words and walked over, a mean look on his face, and pushed it back towards him.

"Whether ya like it er not, it's yers!"

Reaching into a side pouch on his sack, Seppy pulled out a few coins and slapped them a little too hard onto the counter, knocking over the shotglass in the process. The bartender thought about yelling at him, counted his tip, thought better of it and simply wiped the mess clean with a dirty rag and moved about his business. Looking back at Avery again, Seppy repeated himself.

"I made a bad choice."

-------------------

"Hehehe..." The doctor's voice was still unusually deep for a man his age, but his cackle had a sort of break to it that made it sound just a touch manic. Nodding he turned a baleful eye on Lawrence in return for the reproachful one he'd gotten.

"There's a 'bite,' and then there's a 'Bite,'" Doc stated, picking up a pipe next to him and sparking it. In the light of the match, Miyu could see every last wrinkle on his time-worn face, the valleys carved by ages that had come and gone long before she'd ever been born to the world. Still, there was something in the weathered countenance that was comforting, reassuring. Not one of those ancient, deep lines looked like the kind you took from frowning.

"If you can handle a 'Bite', girl, then do as you please. Not every patient takes the medicine their doctor prescribes."

Avery

Avery didn’t say anything at first. Honestly, he didn’t know what to say. He hardly knew these two and had just met them a few hours back. Seppy could be talking about any number of things, all of which Avery did not know about.

So, instead of replying, he slid into a seat next to Seppy, placing his staff back onto his back. Then he waved the bartender away to indicate he didn’t want anything before turning to Seppy and at long last speaking:

“I’m listening.”

Lawrence

The dog let out a soft growl and leaned into Miyu’s hand, his eyes closed in ecstasy. His tail thumped against the floor. Lawrence loved his master dearly and would never place anyone over him, but this girl was earning second place in his eyes.

Thinking to himself for a while, Seppy pushed himself up from the bar. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for just a moment, then put on his regular smile.

"Nevermin'...It'll jus' get too confusin' if I mix up someone else's thinkin' with mine..."

Taking a few steps towards the door, Seppy looked back over his shoulder.

"'M gonna go wait fer Mew t'wake up. I don' really feel like drinkin' at all anymore."

((Sorry, didn't realize I was probably the more sensible next post, regardless of rotation. Apologies on the super-short one, just trying to catch up the plot so we can all RP together.
Also, didn't we pick up some new members that were supposed to show up? Did they all flake, or are they waiting...? Anyone know?))

((It does seem odd that they haven’t shown up. NekoYuki is still around, I think. She changed her avatar. And SpiffJones appears to be someone who’s going to stick around for a while, so I have no clue where they are. As for Eight, he just completely vanished back in November of last year.))

Avery sighed. “Fine, fine,” he said, standing up. “I’m coming too.” He crossed the room, ignoring the other customers as he went over to join Seppy.

Miyu pondered over the old mans words for a bit, still stroking the dog. Her arm was starting to get tired, after all she was still not as well as she would want to be. Carefully, feeling save now that the dog was here, she laid back on the bed, not leaving the old man out of her eyes. She continued stroking the dogs head for a bit, then pulled her hand back. She was feeling a bit cold again, even though she knew her skin must be hot. The Bite that the old man was talking about... What was he saying? If she would be able to handle it when Seppy... bit her? It wasn't literal, most likely, that she knew, but.... Up until now, it had been her causing all the trouble.
A weird thought formed in her head... She was thinking about the dream she had before, and the men in the room.... Maybe...
No, that had just been a stupid dream. Nothing in it had been real or anything! How should it have been?!
Miyu shook her head as if trying to fling the thoughts out of it, away from her. She really wished Seppy and Avery would come back soon.
To make herself think of something different, she decided to get another thing cleared up, which had bugged her quite a bit.
"Mister, uh..."
She wasn't sure how to ask this. She wasn't even sure how to address him. Still, she went on.
"What did you mean when you said Seppy was feeling guilty? Why would he feel guilty?"
And how would the old man know all that?

"Why indeed..." Doc responded, nodding. "And how, too, I'd wager." The corner of his lips were visible in one of the stray, pale strands of light coming in through the blinds. It showed something like a smile, thought it had a sorrowful ambiguity.

"How do you know what the words on a page mean?" Doc asked Miyu after a short pause. "You've learned what they mean, and know their meaning as simply as it is to look at them. I've been alive...a long enough time to know the meaning of a man's face. The one who brought you to me had wrote upon his countenance that he, himself, had inflicted this injury upon you."

--------------

Seppy walked to meet Avery half-way, then past him towards the door. His spirits seemed to have improved slightly; that, or he'd better mastered his display of them. As he passed his recent, chance companion, he paused for a moment to speak a single word.

"Thanks."

Heading to the door, looking over his shoulder for just a second to make sure Avery was still following him, Seppy departed the dive and walked up the steps back to the street. His stride picking up, he made his way to Doc's "office" and opened the door, carefully, quietly, hoping not to disturb Miyu's rest.

His eyes much more sharply adapted to low-light conditions, he instantly noticed that Miyu was in fact already awake, a bright and healthy smile returning to his face for the first time the entire day. A moment later, however, the smile faded, a much more sober and practiced look of dire calm taking his features. His backpack writhed silently as he walked towards the table.

"Y'...feelin' any better?"

When Avery followed after Seppy, Lawrence left Miyu and tackled his owner to the floor. This, of course, initiated yet another wrestling match between the two of them.

“Gerroffme!” Avery snapped. “Stupid mutt!”

"Seppy!"
Miyu sat up again after only recently having lied down. She had wanted to actually get out of the bed, but it seemed she lacked the energy to do it. Her head was spinning, but all in all...
"Yes, I... I think I am feeling better..."
But it wasn't herself she was worried about, and now that her huge feline friend was here, even though she should be incredibly happy to see him, she was more worried about him. Still, she felt a bit awkward to voice her concerns openly. After all, it was all a little.... well..... yes, like that.
"Uhm.... How about you, Seppy? Are you... Fine?"
Yes, smooth! Great try concealing what she was getting at here! She tried to look at him directly, but couldn't even get herself to do that. If what the doctor had said was true, she felt so guilty for making him feel guilty!
Quick! Change of subject!
Now what could she... Oh my god, what was going on there!?
"Avery! Lawrence!"
Now she did stand up. But it didn't really matter, since she fell straight back into the bed anyway. So she decided to get her worrying on from there.
"Please, there's no reason for this! Someone could get hurt!"

"Sit," Seppy commanded Miyu, much harder than he meant to. As she fell back onto the bed, he stepped up to it, putting one hand on her stomach, one on her head.

"Don' needja gettin' up..." His words were confused, searching for a tone that would imply how desperately he needed her to feel better, while at the same time not being mean. "Not jus' yet, Mew."

"She's well," Doc commented, leaning back in his chair. "She can get up any time now." Seppy frozen, removing his hands from Miyu, taking a step back. "She'll be healed completely...in just a few hours."

Seppy stood in place, glancing down at Miyu. A smile crept up on his lips; the thought of her being happy, healthy, free-spirited and happy, just the way he met her, took his thoughts. The implication that it would soon be time to pay missed the ex-hunter. Right now, he felt something like relief. His stupidity had hurt Miyu, but now he'd fixed it. In less than an hour she'd be fine, okay, like he'd never done anything. Smiling brightly, Seppy bent down and licked Miyu's face the way a dog might it's owners.

"Yer gettin' better, Mew!" Seppy announced cheerfully, before turning to Avery. "She's gettin' better!"

A primal smile still plastered on his careless face, Seppy sat down in one of the chairs along the front wall. His backpack writhed impatiently, his clawed fingers twitching. After just a moment, he spoke up.

"We got...a lotta people t'ki-...t'beat. We needa strategy, Mew."

Both Avery and Lawrence stopped at Miyu’s words and stared at her as if they had never seen her before.

“What do you mean there’s no reason?” Avery asked. “There’s plenty of reason! He…he…jumped on me! Not to mention, he’s a big, boneheaded, good for nothing mutt!” Avery bopped the dog on the head lightly to punctuate his description of the creature. This led to another all out brawl when Lawrence retaliated by biting Avery’s arm.

"But that's st...."
She had wanted to say stupid, but stopped herself from doing so. Maybe they did have their logical reason, and who was she to judge.
"I'm just... Just... Just be careful, okay?"
Let the boys be boys... As long as they didn't destroy anything.... Which was highly unlikely, seeing how they were a huge dog and an even bigger man rolling around on the floor.
She turned her attention to Seppy again´, only for him to suddenly lick her face.
"S-Seppy!"
What was this all about?! She had not thought anything weird of him touching her before, after all, she seemed to be sick, but normally, people didn't just lick others! Especially since Seppy was a cat, and... Wait, this didn't have anything to do with anything!
She rubbed her cheek, her face dark red. N-no judging... No judging. There had to be a logical reason for this... Just concentrate on answering.
"Yes, I... I'm getting better, I hope.."
Her friend had now taken a seat and reminded her of the reason they had even been hiding. It seemed so long ago...
Miyu thought of every possible opponent in this town.
"Well, we have... Esther, Theo, Nerissa."
Those were the ones she could think of. Three against three. Why couldn't they just run away? Did there really have to be blood? Miyu disapproved of the idea of hurting anyone, even people like Theo. She dragged her legs closer to her.
"I.... am not good with battle strategies..."
She didn't have experience in those things, after all. She had experience in running away.