An Ocean

[Dracos]

OOC: A bit  confused, not that it would be unreasonable, just there has been no posts tying up the first mate.  Bolt's angle really depends on Cy being a bit more active.  There's been a number of 'Hey, everyone attention here' that he's just sort of backgrounding on.  But then, Bolt might just be going the stealth angle.  If neither of the two of you are aware of him, he's in a good place to cheat you two out of the prize if the opportunity avails itself.  While it is good (expected) for everyone to be acting, you guys aren't necessarily on a team, just in the same scene/area together.

I shall assume you aren't shouting.  If you guys are, the first mate will wake up.

IC:
Bolt:
The debacle on the deck seems to have quieted, with the captain wandering below deck following the former deck swab.  Folks seem to be going back to their jobs, the clouds getting grey overhead.

The man snored a bit loud.  It was kind of strange really, as he wasn't tied up, but he didn't seem like he would wake up as long as neither of them were shouting at each other.  The room seemed reasonably fancy, in a similar way to Ika's captain's room.  It was quite likely the man was lying in part to Ika, but he was also the only person not submissively going along with her and who didn't seem to know what was going on either.

[Arakawa]

_{OOC: Okay, back to our scheduled mind games. Wait, is the man tied up, or isn't he?}

Ika toys with the shiny golden thingy she's still carrying (so... shiny...), and looks at Lord Alberto expectantly.

"... well? You should answer when your captain asks you something!"

[Jon]

OOC: I'd specified that Alberto "bound the man hand and foot". If he's no longer bound, Alberto will be startled to find this out. I also have no idea what this shiny golden thing is supposed to be. A sextant? A crossbow? A squid toy?

"I suspect he suffers from the delusion he is the first mate of the ship. Then again, who's to say he's wrong; you seem to think you're the Captain. You certainly seem accustomed to giving orders." Alberto paced back and forth. A ship at sea was an island; in order to reach land again he might have to put up with situations he otherwise would never have countenanced. He made up his mind.

"For the time being, let's assume you really are the Captain. What do you intend to do with your ship?"

[Dracos]

It seems the captain, that strange young girl with white squit tentacles, is toying with a fancy expensive looking navigation tool in her hand, possibly a simple sextant.

[Arakawa]

"I was thinking of taking things slowly and carefully. You seem so convinced that I'm another one with delusions. Maybe. But then I have to figure out which of my delusions are actually true! Should I stay with this ship and chase the Whale, or should I jump overboard and swim for land?"

She realized she could take a stab at resolving this issue with minimal risk.

"Does the term 'ribbon' mean anything to you?"

... hopefully with minimal risk.

[Jon]

"A ribbon? A child's decoration, yes? Or perhaps a symbol of ultimate power." Alberto's good eye gleamed. "So you too are a contender for the prize? I wish you good luck, my dear; you'll need it."

Alberto's mind raced. This squid girl had been placed in the scenario as captain, which might be compensating for her lack of a power, if this "Q" fellow were a sporting man. For the time being, then, it seemed best to cooperate with the 'captain' and look for future advantage.

[Arakawa]

"Heh, I think that answers my question. Keep in mind, though, being the swab (I heard that, you know!) you probably have no skills particularly valuable to the running of a ship. So unless you feel like sharing your more valuable insight regarding the ribbon," Ika giggled, "I doubt your contribution to keeping my deck clean will outweigh what you've done to this poor man. Even if he is insane, what's one more madman on a ship full of mad people? In fact, I have always longed to enslave and conquer, and since becoming the captain of this vessel I've been in a keelhauling mood in particular... and if I woke up this man, he'll probably have a more specific idea than you have of which sailor on this ship is ripe for a keelhauling, really, I doubt you've got a tenth of the experience invading and dominating stuff that I have, I remember this one time I..."

She was getting off track.

"... so, who will you be? Would you rather be the thoroughly insane swab, or Mr. Jones, my trusted associate who I'd secretly stowed away, cleverly disguised as the swab?"

[Jon]

Alberto's eye turned cold. "My dear girl, you clearly have no idea who I am," he said, his voice rising to a theatrical pitch. "You have the distinct pleasure of making the acquaintance of Alberto Casanegra de Nueva Castilla, commonly known as Shockwave Alberto, leader of the Magnificent Ten! While I will gladly be your trusted associate, I am no mere 'Mr. Jones'."

With that, he seemed to relax, and a gentle smile entered his expression. "Now then, to business! This White Whale; do you suppose it to be an immediate goal, or merely a distraction?"

[Arakawa]

"Well, you can be my trusted associate Lord Alberto then! That's an even more trusted-associatey sort of name, actually!"

Ika glanced towards the tied-up first mate, wondering what to do about him.

"... as for the White Whale: who knows what it signifies? All the sailors have their eyes peeled for it, you know, so its importance is something to decide if we actually see the creature. It's not like we could be doing any more to search for it -- I'd suggest some other approach. Although, personally, I think finding the ribbon swallowed inside the whale or something like that, would be far too obvious."

_{OOC: I trust the sailors do have their eyes peeled for it, and I don't have to reenact the 'first man to spot the White Whale earns x amount of gp' scene from Moby Dick? I could if it's absolutely necessary, though...}

Meanwhile, Ika was thinking additional thoughts which she kept private from Lord Alberto -- Besides which, there's the question of why Chizuru kept refusing that guy Q's offer. And Chizuru is the only thing that scares me in the whole entire universe, so the real mystery is what about this guy is so scary that even Chizuru would want to avoid his challenges. I mean, he seemed like a friendly guy, and I get to be a captain and stuff! It's not that bad! But that means I can't see the problem. If I figure out what the problem is, that would definitely get me closer to this ribbon, and then I can win the challenge!

"... by the way, I don't think this mutiny farce is going anywhere. Would you like to untie this man quietly so that you don't have to go through the tedious duties of first mate in his place... not to mention the tedious duty of explaining to everyone why the swab would now be the new first mate? I'm sure you'd much prefer to be a passenger, first-class... well, whatever class we can manage for you... and focus your energies on your actual objective."

Before Lord Alberto could formulate an answer, Ika swept out the door. (It reminded Lord Alberto a bit of an ordinary squid releasing its cloud of ink and scooting away.)

"... and after you do that (I'll trust you to untie him properly), come up on deck and I'll show you something I think is pretty interesting! Happy hunting!"

_{OOC: I hope that wasn't too much fast talk for one post (about to get away from computer for several hours, but wanted to keep things moving properly). Thanks to Drac for giving away to Ika that Alberto is just the swab. Otherwise, I'd have no choice but to pretend as though he's the first mate.}

[CyMage]

Bolt passed the time at the wheel by checking his pockets and inventorying his equipment while keeping an eye out for any other 'strange' people.

OOC:  Sent Drac the list of stuff Bolt has eaten before getting here. 

[Arakawa]

Finding herself above decks without any further, Ika found herself needing to make some additional arrangements. Unfortunately, the first mate was tied up just at the moment. Ika found herself mentally running through what her notes had listed as the next people down the ship's chain of command, but, not being able to recognize the faces of her crew members, it was pretty useless and would require an embarrassing amount of asking around to find this or that person.

Umm...

The guy standing at the helm would have to be pretty responsible in the grand scheme of things, wouldn't he?

_{OOC: I'd prefer to involve Bolt in this rather than force Drac to pull out some other NPC...}

Making her way up to the helm, Ika greets the silver-haired man at the wheel.

"He-llo! How goes the search for the White Whale, may I ask?"

[CyMage]

'Well, I haven't seen it yet, captain.'  Bolt answered truthfully.  'But according to the maps, we're on the right track.  If you'd like to go over the maps again, we can do that if you wish.'  He waved the maps for emphasis.

[Dracos]

Alberto:

And so the small girl...his competitor?  His captain?  Had left him in the cabin with her orders.  Truly, this was annoying, as if she expected him to take a swab's role in this ridiculous farce, but what would he do about it?

Ika/Bolt:

The clouds were getting a bit grey.

"Need to take a break, Bolt?  I can take the wheel if you need to check the course with the captain."  Another man climbed down from the rigging, offering.

[CyMage]

Bolt nods and heads off to the captains cabin.

OOC:  I'll assume Ika follows if you don't mind.

Spreading the maps out on the captains desk, he points to the course they're following.  "We're near here, and heading this way."

[Arakawa]

"I see..." Ika said, not really seeing at all. "I suppose nothing can be done to improve our search patterns. Out of curiosity, how far are we from the nearest land? I'm wondering whether our location might be having unpleasant effects on the crew's morale."

To be thorough in her captaincy duties, Ika reaches for the captain's log and begins considering whether to make an entry, while waiting for the navigator to answer.