voice + action for Murderess;

[gokai_red]

[Immediately after the mayhem on the 3rd.

Very soon, Marvelous is marching across the deck, book out.]

So, Draco, you think that earthquake was just a little strong, too?

Alright, no screwing around! We won't find out anything by just sitting on our asses. And I sure as hell don't want to have something coming for me.

Murderess! We're setting out. If you don't want to, you've got until we're pushed off to jump onto the island.

Frankly, I'm not gonna hold it against you.

We're not going to attack, unless we have to. Someone needs to look into what the hell's going on out there, and I guess that's us for now, unless anyone else is coming along. We look first hand, then we can actually make a choice on what to do besides sitting here and waiting for something to come to us.

So... let's go.

Comments

[gokai_red]

[You're expecting Marvelous to explain Super Sentai science? He just gives Sasuke a giant shrug.]

It flies. It goes into space. What else do I need to know?

[thethundersaid]

... this is like your suit, isn't it. [The tone of realisation is the same one with which Sasuke had addressed Marvelous' talking weaponry before.] It just works.

[gokai_red]

[You get exactly what's in the icon Sasuke. Just that. I might be sorry, but he's not.]

[thethundersaid]

You're a man of faith.

[gokai_red]

[Marvelous cocks an eyebrow, and lifts his head. That's a new one, and Sasuke is certainly the first person to claim that of him.]

Now let's not get crazy here.

[thethundersaid]

No? You seem to be content to just believe that your technology will work when you need it.

[gokai_red]

Well, it does and...

[He smirks and rubs the back of his neck.]

Okay. Maybe see your point.

[thethundersaid]

[He shrugs one shoulder at the acquiescence. It's weird, but he's not concerned as long as nothing fails at a critical juncture.]

The one thing that's been clear in this world is that everyone fights a different way. As long as your faith is justified, fight with it.

[gokai_red]

It's gotten me this far, straight down the throat of an empire that was in control of most the universe, and then whatever was left of it after. Not to mention any other upstart that showed up along the way.

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty justified, so you don't have to worry about me doing that.

[thethundersaid]

[His expression grows first curious, then openly intrigued: it's not been his habit to dig into people's pasts here, but this is the first inkling he's had of the extent to which Marvelous and Luka might be something other than typical in their worlds. It's enough to make him sit up, scrutinizing the man more closely.]

What was it this empire was doing, for you to fight against it?

[gokai_red]

[Marvelous looks at him a moment, but then just shrugs.

Hey, can't hurt.]

The Zangyack Space Empire was a ruthless bunch of bastards. They overtook planets only to destroy them. They lorded their power over anyone who stood in their way. At one point or another, we were the only ones who really had anything that could do that.

[He purses his lips, debating on the next part before nodding to himself.]

Let me give an example.

There was a member of my crew - not Luka - who got to watch first hand her planet burn, and then her own parents right before her eyes.

[He stopped for only a beat, his tone dark for just the following moment.] You can bet your ass we took care of that guy, also.

[thethundersaid]

[It takes a moment to wrap his mind around the idea of multiple planets, for all that he's been forced to accept that Marvelous and company apparently went to space. But once he does, the story resolves into familiarity -- to have the entirety of space and more than one planet available, and still power cycles the same way it does.

And those were at one point no concern of Sasuke's, narrow of scope as his own goals had been once, but Itachi's life is on his shoulders, now, and the brother being used for violence here had a wider vision.

But he knows the violence of vengeance as intimately as anyone can, and the story makes him narrow his eyes, posture growing tenser.]

And did it work? What took the place of that empire once you had destroyed it?

[gokai_red]

Killed the Prince, killed the Emperor- [he counts them off on his fingers as he goes] -and then whatever was left hanging around of the royal family as they came for us later on. But when the Emperor hit Earth, he brought the majority of his fleet with him.

[He smirks.] Killing his brat of a son made him a little mad.

[He waves a hand.]

But that just let us blow up most of it in one fell swoop.

[He taps his chin for a moment.]

There's always these kind of guys, but Zangyack was definitely the biggest. Right now, it's just the people they subjugated trying to pick up the pieces. Us searching for treasures they might've kept underfoot.

Hell, last I was there, Earth already had this new army called "Vagras" trying to stir up trouble. [He smirks, just lightly.] But a new Sentai, at the same time.

It kind of manages to even itself out. Zangyack was just different.

[thethundersaid]

[Yes, the story is larger in physical scale, but he recognizes the pattern. Part of him wants to ask: and does it end when the next army is defeated? (And another, older, more insidious, I hope you left no one behind.)

But that is no concern of his, really, when he has his own world and his own endings to return to. He turns his attention instead to the terminology Marvelous uses, eyebrow lifting when he considers 'searching for treasures' and the earlier words that made it sound like fighting this emperor had been more happenstance than deliberate.]

Looting doesn't sound like the sort of thing people who take on empires do. Was that not your purpose in your world?

[gokai_red]

[Well, Sasuke certainly read that a lot better than some folks did back home, Marvelous realizes.]

I was recruited to the Red Pirates originally to be a thorn in the Zangyack's side, and search for the greatest treasure in the universe. Mostly the treasure, but then I formed the Gokaigers, and...

[He tilts his head back and forth for a couple moments. He's not usually this up front about it unless the situation called otherwise, but...]

That changed. We could have run once we got it, probably. We didn't.

[thethundersaid]

[Huh -- so pirating is actually Marvelous's career. It makes sense why he was chosen to take the position of captain after that other pirate had gone, now, instead of Sasuke's assumption that it had been some combination of loudness and having that type of character.

Which is not to say that Marvelous isn't that type of character, as his explanation makes clear.]

There are times when running is no longer an option. [His voice is cool, a statement of fact, but he's reassessing the captain of the crew he only reluctantly considers 'his'.]

[gokai_red]

Turns out, that's most of the time.

[He answers pretty quick.]

You won't solve much by running, typically.

[thethundersaid]

[From combat or conflict, Sasuke agrees, but there have been things in his life -- people -- whom he's left behind, and he's not so blind as to imagine that he wasn't running from Konohagakure to some extent. He's run before, and he's lived the low, crawling life his brother once demanded of him, so long as he was alive.

But Itachi's plans have fallen through in as many ways as they could, and even trying to leave Konoha behind him has failed, if only because no one could have expected idiots to remain idiots as long as his former teammate has.]

The shinobi world is much like yours, except no one has actually succeeded in becoming the controlling power yet. [Not for lack of trying.]

This world seems ... complacent, in comparison. Maybe they prefer simply listening to their navy.

[gokai_red]

It'd sure explain why this Navy didn't seem ready for dealing with folks like us, anyway. Or... a whole lot of resistance, in general.

[thethundersaid]

They're terrified by us, but then they apparently have to live with this Davy Jones person and this witch.

... or maybe that's why they think everything we do is witchcraft. [His tone is still deeply unimpressed: he'd have assumed that having it on this world would have inured its military and civilians to seeing magic (or anything similar to it) used.]

[gokai_red]

Maybe. That actually makes some sense, especially if this Witch was really dormant for as long as it seems. That stuff becomes legend, which scares the shit out of people when they see folks coming in throwing fire and jumping over buildings.

And I've not seen an inch of this Davy Jones' hide since we arrived.

[thethundersaid]

[It makes sense, in a weird way; even more immediate stories have a way of growing in the retelling until all the facts grow twisted and nothing but the underlying fear remains.

Davy Jones, though ...]

The girl I spoke to who saw him said he was a -- [What were the exact words?] -- 'huge grumpy ghost pirate guy'. Gibbs has one in his world, too, and some other people besides. The thing in common seems to be the ocean in some way.

... also, Gibbs said he had tentacles on his face.

[gokai_red]

[A long, thoughtful pause.]

I killed a guy who looked like that, once.

[thethundersaid]

... is this a common thing in other worlds?

[What if there's some kind of octopus sage thing in his own? Sasuke doesn't really want to think about it -- as if Kabuto's snake sennin weren't ridiculous enough.]

Was this person also a sea god ... thing?

[gokai_red]

Pretty common.

Dunno, though, I think he was a... demon? Sort of? Maybe.

He was another Sentai team's enemy, we just did 'em a favor by putting him out of their misery.