THE GOTTALA TREIFYU

[capemods]

WHO: ImPorts.
WHERE: Gottala Treifyu of TíraFórsae.
WHEN: April 21st 2013 noon to April 25th 11:59 PM.
WARNINGS: Possible violence, gore.
SUMMARY: Off-world adventure on EARTH KLADSUO834LKSFDLKJ8718=LAJD
FORMAT: Whatever.



[It looked like a Frigate ballooned out, twenty times its natural size. This Gottala of wood and steel does indeed conjure the idea of a Man-O-War, with its thrusting, skybound mast and intimidating array of long, cold gunlike cannons lining its front and side. There's a warlike air about the bearing of the Gottala, something instinctively offensive, as if the entire concept of this city-ship is to scavenge the flayed flesh of those less fortunate than they are.

Which rather befits a piratical ship, doesn't it?

This mammoth of a ship is remarkable, and seemingly deviant of normal floatation physics -- but it's by no means the largest of the Gottalas. This one houses perhaps 8,000 people, and most of that populace is made of young adults, the equivalent of your hip twentysomethings and almost as rabid on board as in a trendy thrift shop.

Upon its slight concave back, in the very middle of the ship, stood what looked to be a village. Upon closer inspection, however, one might notice that very few buildings were dedicated to personal housing: with the exception of a flurry of hostels, most were taverns and entertainment zones – either theatres or gambling dens or even a rare library. Streets are illuminated with strung lanterns, which exudes a real devious atmosphere.

Those on board, for the most part, seem amused by the idea of imPorts. A few will snicker if you introduce yourself as an imPort -- it almost sounds like an unflattering word, doesn't it?]

Comments

[notadartboard]

Satisfied, Sanji held his ground and kept the area clear of enemies for a while. It had been far too long without a fight, the feel of his feet slamming into jaws and breastbones and soft, fleshy abdomens brought a visceral joy he had missed so. He kept half an eye out for where Jack might be in the melee, but for the most part he simply abandoned himself to the pleasure of fighting, twisting and leaping and gracefully weaving through the throngs of pirates. He wouldn't have recognized a civilian compared to their attackers, except for who was or wasn't carrying a weapon of some kind. Fortunately, most of those came running at him to be kicked, compared to the innocents who tended to run away from the action.

The narrow channel of water that separated the two gottalas was, in his estimation, the shortest distance to safety. Even if the pirates had attacked them, the farmers would be safer on the gottala than in the water. Sanji decided his strategy would be to clear the area nearest where the zip lines had been attached, and hold that ground as the escape route unless circumstances dictated otherwise. It left him dancing in the range of shots and harpoons, but he easily dodged the former and kicked a few of the latter right out of the air. The stymied pirates on the upper deck of the Treifyu jeered at him; Sanji gave them the middle finger to dare them to focus their shots on him. They certainly took him up on the offer, regardless of whether they understood the gesture - he was an obvious target, and drawing fire away from the peasants was child's play to him.

[out_of_time]

A gunshot announced Jack's return from his reconnaissance. He came running up with an empty pistol in hand as the pirate he had shot in the back fell dead. The others backed off for the moment, surprised and also very tired of being kicked around by this super-powered 'Empoortah.'

"I found the civilians!" He yelled over the sound of the fight and the burning ship. "There are hundreds of them leaving in lifeboats! Hostiles are firing at them from this ship, they're not going to let them get away!" Jack had seen it and been helpless to interfere. Apparently the pirates thought it was grand sport to take potshots at helpless families huddled in crowded escape craft, presumably as a form of target practice.

"Break the ship! Do it now!" He pointed at the deck for emphasis as the pirates Sanji had been holding off closed around them once more. Jack was certain the thugs firing at the refugees would break off their attack once the very ground they stood on broke beneath their feet. The fact that it was also the ground him and Sanji were standing on didn't seem to matter much to Jack.

[notadartboard]

"You'd better know how to swim," Sanji retorted as he whipped around on the deck fast enough to send a flame licking up his right foot. "Don't make me rescue you!"

With the Diable Jambe powering him up, he kicked off on the air in order to gain height, taking little flying steps upward. At the apex of his climb, he did a flip in midair and began to spin in a Concasse move. The fiery foot became a blur of light as he flipped and came spinning straight down onto the deck, slamming his blazing heel on the deck. The entire ship shook down to the keel, and huge cracks split the deck radiating outward from where Sanji had landed. Pirates flailed and grabbed the air as the pieces each tilted in their own way and pitched everyone into the sea.

Springing lightly from slab to slab, Sanji lifted a few with his toe to make sure they broke and sank, and gave a quick heel-strike on some burnt sections to increase the damage. The largest section that didn't quite break apart drifted crazily away on the shockwave, and then tilted as water filled its ballast decks. No one was getting free, except him and Jack. As the last piece of decking shot into the air, Sanji dove off it and plunged into the water, swimming away to find a safer place to re-board the pirate town-ship. As he swam, he checked to see whether Jack had survived the dunking as well - and if there were any hungry sea creatures zeroing in on the bloodbath.

[out_of_time]

Jack was completely unprepared for the sundering of the Gottala, for the totality of having the whole city-ship quake and shudder and disintegrate beneath him. Fortunately, he reacted quickly. Moments after he hit the water amidst a rain of debris, he dove beneath the surface to get away from anything particularly sharp or heavy landing on his head. He kicked downward into the ocean for as far as his lungs could carry him, then resurfaced.

Blinking salt water out of his eyes, Jack saw a suitably raft-sized piece of wood bobbing nearby and struck out for it. A few powerful strokes carried him to its edge, and he climbed aboard, gasping. Further out to sea, past the wreckage of their homes, he saw the survivors of the pasture-Gottala, fleeing away in their small evacuation boats. They were safe- occupied by the sudden cataclysm that had befallen their boarding party, the pirates were giving no chase. Then he saw Sanji swimming.

"Are you all right?" He called.

[notadartboard]

Sanji had surfaced safely as well and was treading water, mostly looking at his own handiwork with smug satisfaction. He heard the yell and grinned in Jack's direction. "Sure as hell beats sitting in a bar getting drunk!" he retorted.

He could easily swim laps around the gottala if he wanted, given his enhanced stamina, but the sea was rough and he was weighed down by clothes and shoes. Riding a raft seemed like a better idea. A few breaststrokes brought him up to the one Jack was on, so he could cling to its edge for a bit and rest. "Enough of them saw us that we can't get aboard here without another fight," he noted, tossing wet blond hair out of his face (except on the right). "It's probably wiser to drift around to the other side and sneak aboard there."

[out_of_time]

Jack grunted. "Glad you're enjoying yourself." For his part he was thinking about how many dead civilians he'd seen aboard the town they had just destroyed, people he hadn't succeeded in saving. Because for Jack, even a successful mission that should have been total suicide was no reason to feel good about anything.

"You're right," he said. "Once we're back aboard we'll have to stay out of sight and get off as soon as we can. They'll be looking for us." He looked at Sanji, clinging to the board. "You took a big risk, helping me out. Thank you."

[notadartboard]

Sanji hoisted himself out of the water just enough to fold his arms securely on the raft. As long as nothing tried to take a bite out of his feet, he didn't mind drifting with the makeshift raft. It wasn't like he was going to get any wetter than he already was. "Don't thank me, I did it for my own reasons," he sniffed. "It wasn't to help you or be heroic, so don't get any ideas." He glanced up at Jack and huffed a small, sarcastic laugh. "Callie will tie my balls in a knot if I let you die. That's all it is."