I'm like a bird

[MatthewC]

The weather in south blue is always nice and on this particular day things were no different, the sun was high in the sky warming the earth below and a gentle breeze was sweeping through the city streets to keep everyone cool. Onsen Island… it was always a popular tourist spot; the hot springs drew people in like moths to a flame. This was a place people came to relax, to get away from the stresses of their normal lives, and live in luxury for a little while at least. This is why the large marine ship docked in the port was drawing such a crowd; marines normally had no business with a small luxury island like this one. Rumor had it the ship was here to pick up a criminal who had arrived in custody only a few days prior, who was being held at the small marine base stationed on the island. No one really knew who the criminal was, but it was odd for such a fuss to be made over no one, so whoever they had captured must have been worth causing so much trouble over. Three marines stepped down off the large marine ship and marched down the dock, all in full uniform and decorated with many medals. They walked right up to the local Marine who had been sent to meet them, the poor boy was shaking in his boots and it could be seen from the very nervous salute he gave the officers. “W-w-welcome to Onsen Island sirs, the prisoner in question is being held back at base, I was sent to escort you!” The young boy stammered, trying his best to avoid the cold stares.

“Hmm, you think we would get lost runt?” Asked the tallest Marine who was standing to the right of the most decorated officer, he had a large sword on his back and a pair of sunglasses dawned over his eyes.
“Try not to be so mean…” a rather feminine looking man whispered, who was standing just to the left, who was wearing his coat over his shoulders and has a bright pink fedora on top of his head.
“Silence… we thank you for holding this trouble maker until we arrived… please young man, take us to where he is being held.” The center marine said in a deep commanding tone, he carried no weapons, and yet he seemed to be the most threatening of the three. The young boy couldn’t even speak now; he simply bowed his heads and motioned for the men to follow him as he told the small crowd that had gathered to part. “Oh how I’ve looked forward to this…” The captain whispered, licking his lips hungrily.

The three men were all her to claim the criminal who had been locked up in the minimum security marine base, it was more a place for drunkards to sleep off a bender than a prison. However, despite the low security and the lack of guards willing to watch over the man, no incidents had occurred, he kept pretty much to himself. He had only asked for a few things over the last few days, mainly he wanted a paper and something to write with, which the guards were happy to provide if it meant he kept quiet and calm. The prisoner had taken to writing quietly while sitting on the small cot they had provided for him, never really speaking and only stopping to eat the meals he was brought. He accumulated a large pile of crumbled up balls of paper as everything he wrote he seemed to destroy only moments later. Finally though he finished writing something and read it over, and only a smile crossed his lips, the letter was saved from joining its crumbled and destroyed allies on the ground.

“Yes… this will do” Whispered the inmate, walking to the window he made a few clicking noises and held out some bread as he had done for the last several days. Just then a bird and began eating the bread allowing the prisoner the grab the bird gently and pull it into the cell. He had been building up trust with this bird since his arrival, feeding it every day, and the creature seemed to respond in kind by not even struggling as it was brought into the cold gray cell. The inmate wrapped a small amount of string around the letter and attached it to the birds’ leg. “Make sure this gets to our friend okay Bobby?” The prisoner asked with a small smile, walking back to the window he released the bird once again, watching as it flew away into the sky.
“That’s a female bird you know…”
“I know… shut up.” The prisoner whispered seemingly to himself.

The small bird flew with all its might, covering the distance of almost the entire island in only a moment, before swooping into the window of a small hot spring hotel. It landed and began cooing at everyone that walked by, strutting around on the windowsill with the letter dragging behind it. The bird had flown here searching out one person in particular, someone who had started working here only recently as a way to earn a little extra money.

[Violet]

Mika had been working at the hotspring hotel for the past week or so, she hadnt gotten any new mission in a while so she decided to pick up work where she could find it, which just happened to be here.
She wore her hair in a tight brown bun on top of her head and wearing a basic coloured kimono with a simple obi meant for the staff that works there.
She was working in one of the outdoor springs when she saw a little bird, it was the same one that she had seen a few times in the last week. It wasnt that the bird looked any different than the one that hung around the hotsprings, it was the way it acted, as if it was following her around. Today was different though, she saw the bird and there was something hanging from it, a piece of paper.
She put her mop down and slowly walked over to where the bird was to retrieve the piece of paper.
It didnt look particularly like a messenger bird so she wasnt sure how it would react and when she went to untie the letter it went to peck at her hand a few times as if it was expecting some sort of food.
She retrieved the letter and began to read...

[MatthewC]

Once the little bird realized it wasn’t getting any food for delivering its message it cooed unhappily and took to the skies once again, not even waiting for her to give a reply or tell it to leave, it clearly was not a messenger bird by any stretch of the imagination. The important thing was that it had gotten the note to the correct location and into the hands of the correct person at that. The note was not overly long and seemed to be rather straight forward, though the handwriting could have definitely used some work.

“Dearest Mika, how’s it going? It’s been a long time I know, I’m sorry, I had some things to take care of and I got a little sidetracked. I hope you have been doing well, it took me a long time to track you down you know, and I’m glad you just happen to be here. Truth is, I’ve been captured by the marines and I need your help. Today I am to be transferred off the island to a higher security prison, if this happens I’m probably not going to see the light of day for a while so it would be real nice if you helped me get free. I mean you probably don’t even remember me but you’re the only shot I got. They will escort me through the central street until they reach the dock; you need to find a way to get me out of their custody before we reach the ship! That’s an order A Cup!”

… What the hell kind of message was that, was someone really asking for her help to escape marine custody… no… they were ordering her to help them escape from marine custody. Then calling her a name that was probably also meant to be an insult. The fool hadn’t even signed their name; they had just stopped writing there, who could have been so stupid and so arrogant? Why in god’s name would anyone want to help someone escape from the marines and be labeled a criminal themselves, and why would anyone do it for someone who writes them a message like that?! It was completely idiotic; the whole premise of it was stupid… though it had a strangely familiar stupidity…

[Violet]

Mika read the letter over a few times,
"A cup?" she scowled at the letter and she looked at her chest, it had grown a bit in the past few years so it wasnt that small anymore, but she wondered if that was what it really meant or not, and who it was that sent the letter. It must have been an old friend of some sort, that was really creepy by the sounds of it.
"Took a long time to track me down?" she read as she undid her bun and grew her hair longer and into a sandy colour.
It had to be better than working at this hotel, so she decided to go anyway, or at least she would try to figure out who it was that sent her the letter.
She ran to get changed grabbed her things and headed off in the direction of the prison.

badpostisbad

[MatthewC]

The streets seemed to be very lively today, more people than normal were in the market and walking up and down the main streets, with all the commotion that had been stirred up by the strange marine activity everyone wanted to figure out what was happening. This large crowd of people had managed to slow the three marine officers a small amount, having to push through the excited crowds as they made their way to the small minimum security holding area. When they finally arrived the young local marine motioned for the three to follow him inside and waved goodbye to the crowd that had been following them. The young marine was rather excited by this series of events, he had never seen so much excitement, let alone been part of all the excitement. The small base looked more like a shop than anything; the three officers looked around at all the marine merchandise sitting on shelves, hats, coats, stuffed animals and action figures. “Tch… only on Onsen could the marines make a mockery of themselves…” Whispered the sword wielding man as he picked up one of the small ceramic marine ships and crushed it in his hand. There was a much older looking marine sitting behind the front desk that jumped awake when the small toy was smashed. He blinked a few times and stared at the three marine officers for a long time, the three men staring back, an awkward silence falling over the crowd.

“You are going to pay for that, right?” The old man asked with a small grin, the big marine let out a low growl and took a step toward the old man, only to be stopped by the leader of the trio. “What can I do for you gentlemen?” The senior marine asked in a warm and friendly tone.
“We are here to pick up the prisoner you have in lockup sir, we thank you for caring for him until we arrived.” The leader whispered with a small bow of his head.
“Oh right! I heard you all would be coming by today, so I got the transfer papers all ready to be signed. Just give me a second here…” He reached under the desk and picked up a single piece of paper, placing it on the counter with a smile he crouched back down.
“Mm good, this should take no time at al-“ The leader did not get to finish his thought as the old man stood back up and slammed a stack of about a hundred papers down on top of the original one he had laid on the counter.

“You’re kidding right?” The feminine marine asked with an annoyed sigh, the large one also letting out a growl of protest, only to have the leader wave for them to hush up. The leader snatched a pen off the desk and began to fill out the mountain of forms that lay on the desk in front of him, dotting all of the I’s and crossing all of the T’s. The other two marines leaned against the deck and went about sighing and moaning in complaint to all the paperwork just to get one prisoner released into their custody, while the old marine just smiled at them.

Meanwhile as Mika was racing toward the prison she might notice the pitter patter of little feet, someone… or multiple someone’s were following her. Running along the rooftops and ducking in and out of alleyways, it seems she had picked up a small gang of pickpockets somewhere along the way. “What’s the rush A-Cup!” Shouted one of the little boys who was running along the rooftops just to her right.

[Violet]

Mika was racing towards the prison, she didnt know what time the marines from the high security prison would be there to pick whoever it was that sent her the letter, so she had to be quick about it. She was about 3/4 of the way there running through the overly crowded streets when she heard it. It was that nickname that was in the letter, she stopped for a second and looked around, it was just a little boy and his friends. She continued to run and wondered if he was just being a brat or if it was actually related to the letter or if he knew anything about the person that sent it.
She kept running and noticed they were following her, she jumped up and started running beside them on the roof tops, which was incredibly awkward but at least it wasnt crowded.

"What do you know?!" she yelled to the boy that called her the name.

[MatthewC]

“What kind of greeting is that? He was right… you are a rude little bitch!” The young boy hissed up at her as they ran, leaping over to the next building like a monkey, the rest of the little gang following along as well. The boy suddenly pushed her, making her change her course and head away from the prison, the rest of the gang turned as well and began to head in the new direction, toward one of the less crowded market streets. “He hired us to help you, he figured you would try to do something foolish and get yourself caught, so he told us to keep an eye on you…” The boy explained as he then pulled her behind a small chimney, trying to catch his breath as he looked out over the side of the building to the street below. “This is the spot, head said we should wait for them here, they will definitely come down this street. Then me and the rest of the guys will cause a big distraction, and they will cut down one of these side streets to try to avoid it, see that’s when you can jump in.” He explained as he looked at her for a moment, tilting his head to the side, it was rather strange to be given orders from someone so young and so tiny.

“Is any of this getting into that thick skull of yours? Or are you just another one of those girls who is all boobs and no brains!” The kid sneered as he reached up and poked his fingers against her breasts, the whole lot of kids bursting into laughter as he did this. This kid… it was almost like a miniature version of someone she once knew, arrogant, rude, perverted, and the leader of a gang of misfits. “You can take the easy part of this plan since you’re the girl, just leave the hard work to us got it?!”

[Violet]

At first she just brushed the insults off, he was just a kid, she couldnt hurt him... right?

This kid just kept talking and pulled her behind a chimney to explain the plan and treated her as if she was a weak little girl. He really did remind her of someone, she couldnt put her finger on it...
As she was thinking this the kid put his finger on her chest, her face went red with anger and there was a large veinpop on the side of her head. As they went to jump off the roof to the the ground to start the plan, she set a trip wire, causing the leader of the little group of pickpockets to trip just as he landed, followed by an amused grin from Mika.
As she waited she began comming up with ideas as to who it was that she was planning to help escape.

[MatthewC]

The leader of the pickpockets slammed face first into the ground and then glared up at the roof where Mika was still standing, he couldn’t see her but he just knew she had a big grin on her face now. He growled and pulled himself to his feet, glaring at the rest of the kids to make sure they weren’t laughing and then gave them the signal to all hide in various places. He would get her back for that before this was all over, he vowed this. No one made a fool out of him and got away with it, she would be sorry, yes, she would be so sorry! The leader slipped into the shadows of an alley and disappeared, he headed toward the prison to scout things out, and he wanted to make sure everything went off with as little difficulty as possible.

Meanwhile, back at the marine station the officer in charge of the group had finished filling out the final form and set the pen down, letting out a relieved sigh as he turned his gaze back to the elderly man behind the counter. “Now may we take the prisoner, we truly are in a hurry, and we wish to waste no more time here!” He growled to the old man, though the old man held no fear in his eyes, he simply smiled and nodded as he started back toward the holding area. The three marine officials followed him as he led them through two locked doors to a small room with a single holding cell. Standing in the center of the cell was the lone inmate, with a rather large grin on his face as he looked at the three marine officials entering the holding area. “Hmm, happy to see us are you Hal? Or are you Fred today? Which one is it hmm?” The lead marine asked in a taunting tone as he walked right up to the bars of the cage.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me fuckwad? How’s the house doing by the way? I heard that fire was pretty bad…” Hal whispered as the grin on his face only got wider, especially upon seeing the rage burning in the marine’s eyes. Hal had run into this marine a long time ago on this very same island; Hal had a bit too much to drink at the time and was ‘relieving’ himself on the man’s front steps. Then the marine had only been a private, but he had tried to arrest Hal when he awoke and found the drunken bounty hunter pissing on his home. There was an incident with an oil lamp and next thing they knew several fireworks had launched up into the man’s house, turning it into a raging inferno only moments. Hal of course had fled from the scene leaving the stunned marine private in front of his burning home, without so much as a sorry.

“You son of a bitch, come here, I’ll choke the life out of you!” The marine captain growled as he clawed at Hal through the bars, but was nowhere near even touching the man. The other two marines grabbed their commander by the shoulders and dragged him away from the cell kicking and screaming, his rage only increasing as Hal started laughing quietly at the man. The old marine walked past the three of them and waved over the inmate Hal, who obediently moved to the bars, allowing the old man to place a pair of cuffs around his wrists.
“There you go lad.” The old man whispered with a smile, patting Hal on the shoulder to know he was good to go, he then slid his key into the doors lock and turned it till he heard the click.
“Thank you Harold and say hi to the misses for me will you? That meatloaf you brought me was absolutely delightful.” Hal said with a small smile as he walked out of the cell and right up to the three marine officers, all of which were glaring at him, though he simply returned that large grin he had since the moment they walked in.

“I’m tired of this bastards face already, bag him!” The captain growled, the big man with the sword pulled out a sack and placed it over Hal’s head, tightening the strings so it wouldn’t fall off. “Mm is that comfy you son of a bitch?! Huh?!” The captain shouted before slugging Hal right in the gut, making him fall to one knee with a soft grunt.
“Yes sir… it fits well, shall we be on our way now sir?!” Hal asked in a militaristic tone as he got back to his feet, only to receive another punch from the captain for being a smart ass. Harold approached the ground and held out a bag and a halberd, offering to the large man carrying the sword.
“These were all they had on him when he came in, I assume you will want them now.” Harold whispered.
“Yes, take them; I want to make sure we have everything so we can learn as much as possible before we throw this bastard in a hole for the rest of his life!” The captain shouted angrily, grabbing Hal by the back of the head and pushing him forward toward the exit to the cell area.

The group of three marines exited the small base with the bagged inmate now, pushing him along through the streets and drawing even more attention, and just as expected they headed toward the small side street Mika and the kids were waiting in ambush. The young leader of the pickpockets suddenly tapped Mika on the shoulder, huffing and puffing he must have run all the way around after scouting out the marine base, impressive to say the least. “They are coming A-Cup! Three of them, one of them is really big and looks like a meat head, with a big old sword… the other one looks like a girl, but has no boobs… kind of like you! Then there is the leader, he doesn’t look like he’s armed, but he is… scary.” The kid explained, pointing down the street they could see the group just barely visible through the crowds, with their prisoner in the middle of them, with a large sack over his head.

[Violet]

Mika had that sort of look on her face that said 'are you kidding me' when the kid came up behind her calling her A-cup again.
She tried to just ignore it and got herself prepared. She made herself a few spears and swords out of hair, ready to extend and use at anytime.
She looked down the street to see the three men and the prisoner walking this way, just her luck, the prisoner was wearing a sack over his head so she still couldnt tell who it was, though at this point she had a few sure ideas in her head.
"you guys distract him and I get him out of there... got it."

She narrowed her eyes towards the direction trying to focus on the handcuffs around the prisoners wrists, they didnt look like seastone but she would find out soon enough.

[MatthewC]

The little boy nodded to Mika and then hopped down off the roof again and went to make sure everyone was ready to go, with the marines quickly approaching he didn’t want anyone out of place. When he had made sure everyone was good to go he slowly moved into the middle of the street with a small hat in his hand, holding it by the beak so people could drop money into it. He walked up to everyone who passed and gave them a pathetic look and shook the hat as if silently asking for money, a few people dropped coins in and others just pushed past him. The group of the marines was slowly approaching now with their prisoner marching in the very middle of the protective triangle they had around him. The leader of the pickpockets slowly walked up to the group of marines and held out the hat as if trying to get some coins from them, but as he did so he ‘accidently’ lost his grip on the hat, sending it and all of the money inside of it to the ground in front of the big guy with the sword.

The moment the coins hit the ground about two dozen children from the little gang of pickpockets came running out from every direction, diving and leaping at the shiny coins on the ground. “What the fuc-!!” The big marine stumbled away from the kids and landed on his ass, the other two looking back at the mob of kids that had suddenly shown up. Fearing it could be a trap of some sort he pulled Hal to the side and waved for the feminine marine to follow him down a small side street, they could follow these side streets for a while and get ahead of any ambush that would have been laid on the main street. They simply left the big guy to deal with the army of munchkins that had leapt all over him a faux attempt to pick up the coins on the ground. The big man squirmed and called out for help as he was swallowed by the army of kids, who were jumping on him and pinning him down with sheer numbers. The young leader of the pickpockets gave a small wave and a grin in the direction of Mika, the group had veered off just as he said they would.

“I suppose it would be giving you too much credit to think you had managed to organize an escape effort from inside the prison, none the less I shall not leave anything to chance you scumbag!” The lead marine growled as he punched Hal in the back of the head to force him to walk a little faster.

[Violet]

Mika watched as the little gang of misfits distracted and managed to separate the big guard away from the rest of the group. She questioned helping them for a second but then began to chase after the rest of the guards and the still unknown prisoner. If she could get the handcuffs and sack off of his head he could probably escape alot easier and by himself a bit. Before she got too far though she set up and threw some ropes with spikes on the end and used them to bind the big guard that the kids were fighting, they probably wouldnt last long but if the kids needed, or wanted to, they could use them and tighten them.
She continued to chase after the marines and Hal, spotting the handcuffs around his wrists as she kept up with them. she jumped off of the roof and down to the streets behind where they were and made herself look as normal as possible, as if she was just doing some shopping and got lost in the streets or something.
She studied the two guards, the one behind had to be the stronger one, he didnt look entirely that strong, she thought the prisoner could have easily taken him, but the kid did say that he was dangerous. There must be something about him that makes him stronger than he seemed.
She set up a couple of blunt ended spears, hard but not sharp, and had them ready to aim and the guy from behinds temples, planning to try to knock him out. She waited for a good time when he was looking ahead that she could get both and set them free, sending them towards his head as fast as possible.

[MatthewC]

The sounds of struggle and laughter faded in the distance as Mika moved into the side street, until she could no longer hear them at all; she was almost alone now with the two marines and the prisoner. There was only a few other people who seemed to just be taking the side streets as shortcuts to get to the main shopping areas. The marines did not seem to pay any mind to her as she followed them, they did not even turn to look back at her as she came closer to prepare her attack on them. Then suddenly as the two strands of hair moved in to strike their target, the split second before they made contact the marine leaned back so the two strands of hair collided with each other. He bent right back to look at Mika with a large grin on his face, suddenly reaching up and grabbing both the strands of hair he yanked on them to attempt to pull her toward him. “Well hello there, little lady!” Growled the lead marine as he tried to pull her in, it seemed he was a lot more aware than he let on, and the moment he pulled back on her hair she could feel his extreme strength.

The feminine marine turned around and pulled Hal closer to him, making sure no one else was around to attempt to free the man while the commander was distracted. “What’s going on, come on, don’t leave me blind here!” Hal growled at the feminine marine, trying to hear what was going on, he could hear the small sounds of a struggle but that was about it.

[Violet]

The kid was right, this guy had a lot of strength and wouldnt be an easy opponent. As she was being pulled towards him with great force she made multiple spears and a sharp edge, getting pulled closer to him, she stabbed at him towards his chest, sides, knees and stomach. As she did this she thinned the hair around where she would cut and cut herself away from the strong guard, lengthing and strengthening the hair again into spears, she stood in a fighting stance and inched her way around, trying to get to their prisoner.



(short bad post is short and bad)

[MatthewC]

The captain of the marines began to dodge all of her attacks as if it were second nature to him, bending and moving to the side over and over again until she pulled away from him. He seemed to be keeping a rather relaxed stance, and had yet to draw any sort of weapon. He was just staring her down now and circling around her as well, not really caring that she was getting closer to the prisoner. Supposing she did manage to get close the other guard was still right next to Hal and would be able to put up a fight of his own should she try anything, and even if she did get him free he was unarmed and had a sack on his head. “What you planning to do girl? This obviously wasn’t a very clever plan… this was your doing wasn’t it shit for brains?!” The captain shouted to Hal, who straightened up and turned around to show off his cuffs and flip the marine off. The captain laughed and folded his arms as he watched Mika, intrigued to see what she was going to do, she must know she was outnumbered and out matched as things currently stood. “Come on, why don’t you forget this whole thing and just leave, I promise I won’t even chase you… what do you owe this shit stain on society hmm?” He asked with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he motioned one hand toward Hal who was still flipping the marine off.