Harlock's Palace - The Endless Orbit of Loneliness Deux

[freearcadia]

Who: Yor, Nikkolaus
When
What: Palace time
Content Warnings: same as the first.

In the same ruin-filled wasteland, Yor and Nikkolaus would find themselves some distance away from where the other group had landed, the darkness that momentarily blinded and tried to choke them them receding.

The featureless void is not so featureless now, as the dimmest of stars struggle to make themselves known, still and not twinkling as stars should - the spaceship Arcadia hovering, unmoving on the northernmost horizon.

The winds still howled, alternating between the blistering heat and arctic chill, carrying a faint melody in the air from the east and a vague shape surrounded by a localized sandstorm, and low groans from the west with what looks to be a withered tree in the distance.

The ground shakes as the Arcadia fires - debris and dust flying up as it attacked something too far away to see - hopefully no one got hurt.

Comments

[badsunrising]

It's fine.

What's an ocarina?

[briarliar]

It's a small instrument you hold in your hand. Usually clay or wood, so we can look carefully and see if it's hidden in this tree. L-like between the roots or in a hollow.

[ she goes to investigate the Withered Tree! starting at the ground first ]

[badsunrising]

[Nods and will do this as well, ugh sure would help to be a woof right now]

cw: Lookie, a body!

[freearcadia]

[The wind shifts when the pair starts heading towards the tree, the cold air coming in less frequently, and the hot winds becoming drier.

Getting close enough reveal the tree's trunk is in a strange, almost double-helix shape with twisting branches, a few leaves that remain on the tree and scattered around it on the ground look more like pages someone had torn out of a book.

...And there's something hanging from one of the branches, a person-shaped something whose face is obscured by a tilted, broad-brimmed hat]

[briarliar]

[ at the sight of the body, she covers her mouth with her hand, horrified. but that turns into action immediately as tries to climb up the tree and get to that branch. ]

Help me get them down!

[badsunrising]

[Pulling back sharply at the sight of the body before quickly looking around them for a culprit]

We need to make sure nobody else is around.

[briarliar]

But we can't just leave it this way!

[ Nikkolaus can keep watch. because Yor is already clambering up, something small and sharp suddenly in her hands as she tries to cut at the rope. good news is, if there is someone around they'll target her first? ]

[freearcadia]

[Nikkolaus would only see the ship far off in the horizon, and signs that things had been buried around the tree recently - big things, but there's a sense of being watched that wasn't there previously.

As Yor climbs the tree, it creaks in protest - the rope is actually a severed steel cable that is tangled rather than tied around the branch, wiggling it around should get it free]

[badsunrising]

[Does not like that... But also doesn't like the thought of Yor getting jumped.

Growls under his breath]

Tch, fine!

[Also grappling his way up the tree to help free the corpse]

[briarliar]

[ together they can do it! Yor tries untangling the cable then, one hand trying to find the scruff of the corpse so it doesn't just fall to the ground. as she leans down to ease the body from where it was swaying in the wind, she whispers: ]

Please be careful, Mr. Nikkolaus. I think we're being watched...

[badsunrising]

That goes without saying. Focus on untangling them with both hands. I'll make sure they don't fall.

[freearcadia]

[With their combined effort the body barely avoid crashing to the ground with a sound not unlike the clattering of bones despite the form being intact and landing on his feet.

A low groan from the body was slowly followed by a streak of oaths that flawlessly switches from English to German (all equally intelligible thanks to the palace's nature) that's strong enough to peel off the wallpaper in a sailor's room in a voice Yor would find familiar as he tries to yank the cable off from around his neck]

-What did that goddamn son of a bitch think he was doing givin' me a hemp necktie...

[He stops, seeing the two in the tree, pale yellow eyes glinting from under the shade of his hat, hands warily reaching for revolvers on his hip]

Who the blazes are you two?

[briarliar]

W-we were trying to rescue you! Or at least find a respectful place to put you down...

[ her face is confused, wondering if she should ask if he's Harlock, or a version of it, since he clearly doesn't know them. ]

Are you okay? I'm sorry if the landing was a little rough...

[badsunrising]

[How is this guy not dead? Also still on edge about that being watched thing...]

Are you Harlock?

[freearcadia]

[At their answers, he moves his hands from the weapons, gasping for air as the cable finally falls]

Usually don't mind being roughly handled by a pretty thing...

Yeah, I'm Harlock - but not the one you're here for.

[He tips his hat back, showing a scar on each cheek, both eyes having that faint yellow cast over hazel eyes, which like Nikkolaus is searching their surroundings]

Franklin Harlock Jr. I'm whatyacall an ancestral memory.

[briarliar]

[ Yor is going to not so casually remove her hand at that comment and take a step back. ]

So you're Mr. Harlock's great, great...great...?

[ how far back should she go? ]

[badsunrising]

[I have no idea what's even going on right now]

Do you know what's watching us? Why were you strung up like that?

[freearcadia]

[Only Leiji Matsumoto truly knows what is going on with this family]

Let's say it's an extremely long time ago.

See that flying ship up there? It changed itself real quick-like, didn't look so damn creepy before, and started leveling the whole place down. Got strung up by one it's cables. If y'all didn't come around, might've been gone for good.

Think we're being watched by nightmares - we Harlocks ain't stranger to havin' 'em.

[briarliar]

Nightmares? Do you mean things like monsters under the bed? Or being late for a test you didn't study for?!

[badsunrising]

[Eyes darken at "nightmares"]

There's things much worse than that.

[Back to Franklin:]

What happened to the ship? And what do these nightmares look like?

[freearcadia]

[He gave a sharp barking laugh at Yor's question, before grimly nodding at Nikkolaus]

It went black and changed shape, only the Sterncastle's really the same - there's where the Captain's Quarters is usually located by-the-by - think somebody hijacked it. Only thing it didn't try to level is that vault eastward yonder and the-

[As he explains, disembodied, mocking giggles fill the air]

Well - you'll get to see 'em real soon, be ready.

[briarliar]

Who would hijack a pirate's ship? Isn't that a little...?

[ like trying to hijack a hijacker? ]

It didn't destroy this tree either. Is there anything else that's here we might be able to use?

[badsunrising]

Sounds like the Sterncastle is what we're looking for. How do we access the ship?

[Hand reflexively goes the amulet on his neck as the giggles sound]

[freearcadia]

[The sands shifts as dozens strange figures rose up looking rather like tree-shaped people, shambling towards the group - the giggling only getting louder and more cacophonic]

Can either of you shoot a gun? if not - y'all can dig, there should be some weapons buried here.

[briarliar]

[ a brief dismayed look at Nikkolaus suggests that, no, Yor is not very gun savvy. but she kneels down at puts her hand into the sand just in case. ]

Can't we talk to them? I...m-maybe being possessed by a tree means they won't see me as a threat?