Serious: The Fair Pirates, chapter 1: A new Beginning?

Avery sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "This is getting ridiculous," he muttered. "Why don't you just use a bird's eye view?" To show what he meant, Avery ran over to a two-story building. "Follow me from the ground, Larry," Avery called. The dog barked an affirmative and Avery sprang upwards, locating the nearly invisible hand holds on the building. He scrambled up the side of the building and found himself on the roof less then five seconds after he had begun. Avery looked back at Seppy and waved at him. "Come on up," he called. "Or do you only smell like a cat?"

Seppy stared up for a moment at the rooftop, blinking a couple of times. A light drizzle began to fall, filling his eyes. After a moment, he let out a short but genuine laugh.

"I didn' think that...nyah hahaha! Didn' think too many people'd walk on my roads..."

Crouching down to touch the ground with both hands, Seppy gave a quick booty shake as he appraised the distance between himself and the rooftop and hopped into the air. His feet and hands landed on the roof's ledge at the same moment, his glowy green pupils fixing on Avery even before he'd landed. Everything about the act had looked like a cat hopping onto a tall fence.

"Th'rain'll clear th'smoke faster..." Seppy tested the air again, looked around. He lifted his nose, then lowered it, finally turning his head to the east.

"I think...that's where it's th'strongest'."

Bolting off, deftly hopping from one ledge the next in graceful arcs, never unsure of his footing for even a second, the ex-hunter stalked his un-prey in the growing rainfall. His backpack writhed more and more with each passing minute.

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"R-right...! Of course, Lord von Rosberg!" The braver of the two marines was unmanned himself by now; they saluted and hastily fell in, walking abreast of eachother and leading the way to East Post Green.

((Sorry, I'm short for time. I'll edit in a meeting between the NPCs tonight, hopefully.))

Miyu was slightly out of breath when Esther dragged her through the alleyway they had begun their chase in.
Esther herself seemed to be perfectly fine. What was it with that girl... so... much... energy...
Suddenly, Esther stopped, and Miyu almost crashed into her, but could stop herself. she was bibbering, her dress was wet already and she wouldn't be able to use her powers that well now...
"W-what is it?"
Esther laid a finger on her lips and pressed herself and Miyu against the wall. Then she pointed down the main road.
there, four figures were approaching.

"Damn, I hate rain!"
Theo complained loudly. And, just to make it clear that he was not happy, he went on.
"And next time, you'd better send some cute chicks to pick me up! No fun in guys!"
The poor marines, he knew, had no choice but to stay quiet and nod, and he was using that to its fullest.
Finally, they could see the building in front of them.
"Ah, here we go! I sure hope that bounty hunter or whatever is cuter than you! And boobs would be nice!"
Nerissa sighed gave the two soldiers an apologetic look. Theo was in an especially bad mood today... she hoped he'd keep back once it came to meeting those bounty hunters...
Theo pushed open the door roughly and they stepped in.

Avery sprang after Seppy, using his more powerful mechanical leg to launch himself across the gaps between the buildings. He glanced down at his dog, who was having trouble keeping pace with his master and the cat guy, but Avery wasn't worried about Lawrence. That dog could track him virtually anywhere, as long as he was on the same island. So Avery turned his focus back to running.

The rain had been a godsend. Before long the distracting, misleading smoke was a thing of the past, a memory of a memory. Seppy followed the real trail like an arrow, never resting for a second, growing faster by the moment as he sought Miyu with growing anxiety. All at once he stopped, perched on a roof's ledge, his eyes cast towards the ground. His spine arched and his teeth were bared as he look at whatever was happening below.

"No fuckin' way..."

The backpack, which had been suspiciously active for a glorified linen bag with a few pouches, burst open and revealed a pair of long, slick purple tentacles ending in broad, flat, barbed tips. They whirled madly in the air for a moment before finally mastering themselves, sinking down to the rooftop along Seppy's back.

"Jus' no...they can' be here..." Seppy seemed incredibly distressed, the ledge of the roof crumbling and breaking to bits in his fingers. Tiny rocks rained on the occupants of the alley below; fragments of stone bounced harmlessly off of a semi-sentient witch hat just beneath the ex-hunter.

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As Theo and entourage walked into the office, a pair who had been waiting in the uncomfortable benches in the lobby stood up. One of the two bowed politely; the other merely nodded.

The one who had nodded was a man of young age, fair of skin and with an instantly likable face. He was youthful, beautiful in his own way. Everything about the look on his face gave him away as being serious, but he still had an approachable softness to him. His hair was brown, short and choppy, his eyebrows a touch thick. There was a canine feel about him, something that made you like him instantly, a sort of unspoken loyalty to his cause that was obvious within seconds of seeing him.

Raising from her bow, the second was a sight of a different sort. She was thin, fragile looking, her fair impossibly beautiful and fair. Her body was hidden beneath a double-set of robes: the first and outer robe was loose and gossamer, a translucent lace affair that seemed to catch every last bit of light and make her form glow radiantly. The second was tight, form-fitting as a dress, and of a opalescent white cloth, showing off her impressive curvature while hiding the skin beneath.

What was visible of her was her skin, perfect alabaster, flawless and unmarked. The woman's eyes were almond, her irises flawless platinum, stealing away the light from all that were not them and taking it for themselves. Her lips were a pale pink, a subtle passionate colour, full and thin at once, any shape they took automatically pleasing to the eyes. Her face was grace personified, and her mere presence took effort to bear. The only thing unusual about her was a foot-long, spiraled gold horn protruding from her forehead.

"Is it Theo?" the first, the man, asked. "We are here because we have an interest in seeing your quarry kil-..." The man cleared his throat. "Brought to justice. If you would just-"

The radiant girl with the horn put her hand on the man's shoulder, silencing him. She stepped forward and then bowed again, rising to half-height and keeping her eyes respectfully downcast, the way one would infront of royalty, a sign of ultimate respect and subservience to the noble.

"What my partner means to say...is we welcome you, Lord von Rosberg, to this humble outpost. Please see fit in your grace to hear our words, that in your surveyance and suiting your whim you may feel fit to help us..."

The girl's words were velvet and silk, smooth and elegant and playing on the ear like music. Her voice was high but unwavering, every word a lyric in the song that was everything she said. Her platinum eyes rose, hesitatingly, to meet Theo's; in them was a desperate plea that could not be ignored.

What was this?
It felt weird... It made him uncomfortable... It made him feel like the boy he had been a long, long time ago, so long that it might not have been so at all.
"Ah..."
His eyes widened a little when the girl looked into them. Uncomfortable. He didn't want this warmth, he didn't want to admire her beauty. Yet she was perfect in a way he hadn't seen before...
"I....."
His voice was so thin all of a sudden, so quiet, so insecure.
He had to keep himself together!
"N-nerissa..."
His sister understood immeadeatly, in spite of this never having happened before. For the first time in his life, it looked like Theo didn't actually admire a girl because he wanted to sleep with her, but rather just because of her beauty...
She stepped in front of her brother and pushed him back kindly before she took the conversation over.
"We are glad that you could make it here. I can assure you, my brother and I have a great interest in catching those two pirates, Miyu Delaney and Septera McSeppymerc..."
Behind her, Theo was staring at the wall with that weird expression on his face. When he heard his sister speak of the pirates, he snapped out of it in a second and spun around again. His eyes were filled with anger, as was his expression, burning anger and cold hate.
"Get out!"
He hissed at the soldiers. Only when they were alone did he start talking again, careful not to look at the girl. He was completely sure that she was some kind of hypnotist, and damn did he hate magic. Behind him, just before the door closed, a small shadow slipped in, perfectly quiet, making no sound as her paws touched the ground.
"Dead or alive, I don't care when it comes to the man! But I want the girl alive! Think you can handle that?"

Outside, Miyu was dragged by Esther again, away from the base, away from Theo.
Why Esther was helping her, she didn't know. But she looked desperate... Miyu felt so incredibly sorry for this. If Esther hadn't gotten to know her, she could simply have handed her over to Theo and maybe she would have gotten his acceptance, even if only a little...
"Esther... I... I'm sorry..."
Esther wiped her eyes before she looked back and put a fake smile on her face.
"For what? I mean, no big deal. I'm sure I'll be able to make it up to Theo somehow..."
Miyu looked down. She knew as well as Esther did that, if this got out, nothing she could ever do would ever make Theo love her...
After a while, they found an old, empty house. One of the abandoned cafes that no one cared about any more...
Esther looked around inside, took in the broken tables and the spideerwebs gathering where there had once been bottles of whiskey and wine, stolen long ago by juveniles.
"Going to the docks won't be safe enough, I guess... They must be guarding the ships by now..."
Miyu stepped in as well, careful not to step into any splinters or shards of broken glass. She had a worried look on her face, her wet hair sticking to her face and neck, her shoulders and the seam of her dress soaked.
Esther sighed when she looked at her and made a weird movement. Just like the knives before, she got a piece of cloth out of her sleeve in a swift movement. Then she stretched and ruffled Miyus hair with it, drying it as well as she could.
"You'll get sick if you stay like that. Keep it. Just stay here until it's over. And for gods sake, cheer up! I can handle it!"
She waved at her and was gone out into the rain again, heading back to the marine post. Maybe it wasn't too late to call the whole thing off...
Miyu staed behind, the cloth in her hands, looking out into the now pouring rain.

"Dead. Absolutely, definitely dead."

This time, it was the man who spoke, a look of dire resolve on his face. His eyes caught Theo's, a sort of understanding comradre in them. There was no fear of his status, no respect nor dislike. There was only hatred.

"We will not bring you that man..." The male hunter's hand closed into a fist on thin air, but it was clear he was wishing something else had been inside of it. "We will only bring you his head."

The girl trembled a bit, but nodded. She stepped forward, her hands reaching out to take Theos.

"It's...it's very important," she said, a wavering reluctance in her voice. "I don't know who this girl is, but we'll capture her for you..." The girl turned her eyes down, remembered her place and released his hands, stepping back. "But we..."

She seemed to hesitate at the word "we," a faint aura of shame taking her face as she said the word.

"He...won't rest until Sep...Until Seven is dead."

The man threw the woman a glare. His eyes softened, instantly, as he realized what he was doing, and he put an arm around her.

"I excuse my earlier rudeness. You may call me Duo...my partner is Uni." The man extended his right hand towards Theo. "We've been on this prey's trail for a while. I know nothing of this girl pirate, but if she is an outlaw with a bounty, we will not let her escape. As for the other..."

"As I told you, you will have his head."

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"This is jus'..." Seppy looked down into the alley where Miyu and the strange chick with the hat disappeared into a doorway. Every instinct told him to chase them, to make sure Miyu was safe, but the familiar scents from the other building held him fast. "I'll kill 'm...I swear t'whatever fuckin' god's listenin', I'll kill 'm!"

A moment later, the purple-clad girl burst out of the room that she and the ex-hunter's partner had ducked into. There was a sudden urge to drop down behind the mystery girl, to fix her neck and not let go until she stopped breathing. Whoever she was, she'd lead Miyu to them. He neither stopped to think on whether it was chance or design. Hatred for the unknown figure took him.

"'ll kill you, too..." Seppy promised silently to Esther as she rushed off into the rain. Rage coursed through his blood, devoured his mind and being. It seemed as if he'd forgotten entirely about Avery, up until the moment he turned his head over his shoulder and nodded to him.

"She's righ' below us...jus' follow me."

Dropping down silently into the alley, Seppy crept his way over to the door the hated witch-girl had ducked into with Miyu. He burst through the doorway carelessly, unmindful of anything but finding his partner. Bad things were happening, and the green pirate's tiny, limited mind was too focused on other things to take safety into account.

The moment he spotted Miyu, however, his grief seemed to lighten and the familiar smile took his face. Darting over to crouch down, warily, directly infront of her, he looked up and fixed her with a serious gaze, his tentacles wavering nervously overhead.

"Mew...! Yer safe...! I'm really...I mean, it's really good t'..." His emotions getting in the way of his words, he looked straight down at the floorboards and Miyu's toes. After a moment he looked back up, an unfamiliar and distinctly savage light in his eyes.

"We got bad trouble, Mew..." Seppy began, standing to full height at last. He took her hands again, this time tightly and with a foreign intensity. "Theo's 'ere...also, someone else. Someone...bad."

Theo looked at the man, Duo, felt that their hatred might have different reasons, but was the same at the core...
A grin spread over his face, not the smug grin he normally had, but a really dangerous, nasty one. Normally, men were of no interest to him, other than rivals or objects to kill, but this one, he liked.
He grabbed his hand.
"Glad to have you with us!"
Nerissa cleared her throat, unwavering in her loyalty, though clearly not liking the idea of having someone else take her revenge from her.
"Be careful, Miyu Delaney is a logia user, though I think the rain should limit her powers... she also seems to have a very close relationship to Mc.... Seven. You have an hour to catch them yourselves, after that, my brother and I will join you. Is that all right with you?"
She adressed the girl more than Duo. Somehow, she had the feeling she'd better leave the men to their manly bonding moment... Theo had little to no friends, safe for that mercenary and a few of his old marine comrades... Which got the count up to three in total, and one of them hated him more than he liked him.


Miyu was standing in the room, dripping, when suddenly, Seppy stormed in.
She stood still, safe for bibbering (it was getting cold, and she was wet, too...), and listened to him. She was so, so happy he was safe!
It almost made her forget the situation they were in.
The last sentence made her remember. Her eyes widened, and the coldness of the world got back, made her bibber even more. She was scared.
"Bad? Who? W-wait, are they after us too?"

Avery had been waiting outside, listening to their conversation. Finally, he walked into the room, his staff in his right hand, leaning against the shoulder on that side.

"Excuse me, but is this really important?" Avery asked. "So you've got some guy named Theo after you. Does it really matter who the other person is? Either you get off the island or deal with the threat. There's not much else to it, is there?"

"Yeah, it's ah...someone I grew up with," Seppy confessed, looking over his shoulder. "If 'e's here, it's t'kill me. If it weren' fer th'rain, he'd a smelled me by now fer sure..."

Turning around to face Averya, Seppy seemed to lighten up a tiny bit for just a moment. He held out his hand to the man and his dog, beaming proudly at Miyu.

"I foun' 'm safe 'n' soun'. Brought 'm back here t'show you jus' how safe he is..."

Cut off by the man's words, the ex-hunter turned and listened for a moment, then shook his head. He turned back to look at Miyu, a look of concern in his eye, but his face hardened in resolve. He let both of her hands go again, but didn't let her gaze go.

"I don' wanna run, Mew. I don' like runnin'...I only ran las' time 'cause you were in danger, but..." He smiled a bit grimly, his tentacles settling down along the ground.

"...But that asshole's jus' gonna chase us anyways, an' I make a better hunner 'n' I do prey." Turning to look back over at Avery, he gave the man a genuinely thankful smile and nod, extending his hand.

"Thanks fer showin' Mew yer okay...y'can leave any time now if y'want."

"Hang on," Avery said, brushing Seppy's hand aside. He looked over at the girl. "What were you doing with that girl with the witch hat? You know, the girl that just left here."

"Eh?"
Miyu looked at avery in confusion for a moment, then her face lightened up.
"You mean Esther chan? She's on her way to try and convince Theo to stop this! She's just such a wonderful person!"
...Even though she's technically an enemy.
Miyu was worried a lot more about what Seppy had said to her. She definitely did not approve of hunting. she was more of a runner... Less people tended to get hurt when you simply ran away from obstacles instead of attacking.

"Nice person, huh?" Avery frowned. That didn't sound like the annoying girl he had met earlier. "Still, she's a Marine and I would assume from everything that's come up that this Theo is a Marine as well." Avery heard a bark and looked around to see his dog finally catching up to him. Ignoring his pet for the moment, Avery returned his attention to Seppy. "If you're going to hunt Marines then I might just stick around. I owe some of them a few lumps for arresting me for no reason. Of course, then they'll have a reason, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

In spite of his seeming obliviousness, Seppy seemed to take Miyu's hesitation instantly. His shoulder slumped a bit, and he lowered his head down to her face-level, trying to catch her eyes.

"I promise, 's not 'cuz I wanna hun' er nothin'..." He smiled and flashed her an incredibly cheesy double thumbs-up. "'M a pirate now, just like Mew."

Getting a bit more serious, his hands dropping, he turned to Avery.

"I usedta be a hunner...but I found somethin' a lot more importan'. I don' think Theo's a marine, probly a hunner, like his sister." Seppy threw an apologetic look back at Miyu, then turned towards Avery.

"There's two more...a dog-breath 'n' a...a..."

Amazingly, Seppy actually blushed in the middle of his words, before a seething look of anger and tortured memory took his face. His eyes shot down to the floor, and his tentacles squirmed nervously.

"'N' another. If we wanna fine any peace, we gotta take 'em all..."

Miyu looked at Seppy, wondering if she should lay her hand on his shoulder or something like that, and even stretched her hand out, but remembering how he wasn't exactly experienced in such things, she drew it back.
He seemed to have a connection to those others... And what was that blushing for? Could it possibly be...
"Seppy... That other one wouldn't happen to be... your, uh........"
She was desperately searching for the right words. It was made a lot harder by the fact that she herself was a little, what was it called.... jealous? She had always thought she had been his first partner in crime, but now she noticed that it was very possible that he had a partner before... But it was him blushing that made her suspicions so... suspicious.
She decided to drop the subject when she simply found herself unable to voice her suspicions without sounding jealous. Which she was... But that didn't mean they had to know. Jealousy was such an ugly thing to feel. Besides, there was no reason to feel it anyway. Of course Seppy could have all the partners he wanted!
She turned to Avery, voicing another, much more Miyu like worry instead.
"But what will you do then? I mean, is it really fine for you just giving up your freedom for such a thing? You'll be hunted, for sure..."
And it would all be her fault, nonetheless! This was all because of her!

Avery sighed and pulled out a bounty poster from his pocket. It didn't have his face on it, but instead there was a rather good composite sketch.

"See this?" Avery pointed at the poster. "This the poster for my head. My half a million belli head. It's not huge, but it's big enough that some hunters would nab me if they spotted me in the market. I'm already being hunted, so it wouldn't really matter if I do something like this. Although, I suppose I could disappear for a few years onto some backwater island and wait until I didn't look like this anymore." He thought about this for a moment, but then shook his head. "Nah, that would drive me crazy! So...are we going to do this?"

Miyu kept silent for a while. Why was everyone into fighting so much?
Then she raised her head. The normal softness in her eyes was gone.
"All right. Let's do this."
It wasn't like she wanted to fight, and it wasn't like she wanted to kill or hurt anyone, but she knew Seppy was right: She couldn't erase troubles by running from them.
So, at least this once, she would fight. But before that, her determination took a little break to return her to being more Miyu like. She turned to Avery and bowed slightly.
"I'm really, really sorry about dragging you into this... I-if there's anything I can do to repay you, please... I'd be happy to do it..."
Then she turned back to the exit and the break for her determination was over as her face, though still a little frightened, filled with it again. She looked a little like a white bunny about to bite the fox back.

"It's not like I was dragged into this by you guys," Avery muttered. He shook his head and followed after Miyu.

"Huh?" Seppy asked, his head popping back up, a blank look on his face. It seemed for a moment that the hunter-turned-pirate had just come back from a long trip somewhere else. It took him a moment to realize that Miyu and the other guy were already on their way.

"Uh, y'see..." Jogging to catch up with them, Seppy fell in shortly to the side of behind Miyu. "They're both sorta like my pack, or were when I had one," he mused, his earlier emotional outburst seemingly forgotten. "Least, 'till they tried t'kill me."

Seppy followed along in silence for just a short while, a dumb smile taking his face. After a moment, he resumed talking.

"'M gonna try real hard, Mew. T'not kill anyone we don' have ta, t'get outta here with as little fightin' as we can. We gotta fight this time, but I won' make a habit of it...'kay?"

[[OOC: Sorry, short post while I try to get back into the swing of this character. A doofus like Kalamity is much easier to post with, when you don't have to consider anything like real emotions or motivation or anything...heh!]]

That was a relief. For a moment, Miyu had thought she'd have to do this again...
"Thank you, Seppy."
It was a truly heartfelt thank you, and Miyu really, really hoped that it would turn out the way Seppy said it would. But she also knew, somewhere, that it couldn't just end like this. This wouldn't be the last battle she'd ever be in, as long as the bounty was on her head, and as long as Seppy had those... enemies, they would always have to fight.
It made her so sad... And she felt egoistic thinking it was worth it as long as Seppy got his peace, and she got hers...
The rain was cold on her skin, and there was a cold wind coming up now. she shivered a little. But it wasn't from the coldness...
From omewhere above them, a black cat watched them. It shook it head and ran off over the rooftops.

(Tell me about it, this was hard as hell to write. Had forgotten all about this storyline...)

Even through the rain and the wind, Seppy kept a fairly good catalogue of every scent in the area. It took hours for rain to clear a scent trail; he;d be able to tell whether that pesky black cat was still following them, how close Dutera was, what direction they were in...everything, for hours more.

Somehow, the notion that the dogface, his nose even better than Seppy's, would be able to do so as well penetrated the pirate's thick-as-sin skull and caused him to freeze in his tracks.

"'S no good..." Seppy mused, a slight growl to his words. "Basterd's nose's better'n mine. We can' hide if..."

There was another pause, and Seppy reached out quickly and with no warning for Miyu's hand. His passed through hers harmlessly, in a puff of smoke. He gave another sniff of the air, a slow smile creeping across his face.

"Tha's it! Make a lotta smoke, Miyu. A lotta lotta smoke, like...the most y've ever made! Tons and tons a smoke, enough to fill up a few blocks! It don' smell much, but it makes ya impossible t'track, and it blocks out all th'other scents." Seppy looked at her with eyes brimming with admiration and pride. Who else had a partner that could baffle even the amazing hunting skills of one of Dr. Awful's Final Ten creations?

The look of awe and flattering pride faded almost instantly, though, to a look of deep concern. Seppy reached out again, not taking Miyu's hand (which instinct now told him would turn to smoke if he took it too fast) but simply holding his own out for her to take. His brow creased with the effort of deep, intense thought, a look of comic concentration on his face.

"But...if they can' smell you...I can' either. So stay really close, okay Mew? Don' let goa my hand. We needa find a safe place t'plan are attack from, so jus'...jus' don' leave my sight 'till then!"

Miyu wanted to say something, but didn't. She wanted to tell Seppy how she wasn't so sure about her being able to make that much smoke. How, even if she was, the rain would be weakening her, and the smoke, being the product of a devil fruit, would lift soon. How she didn't know whether or not she'd still be able to fight after that.
She also wanted to ask lots of questions, about the people who were chasing them, or about what they'd do if they actually beat them, what to do about Theo...
But instead, she just looked at him, worried and insecure, and kept her mouth shut. She couldn't disappoint him like that. He needed her help. And they needed a plan, or else they, at least she thought so, would have lesser chances of actually winning this fight.
So she took his hand and, after a last, small smile, answered him.
"Okay, Seppy... I trust you to make a good plan, a great plan for you to get out of this alive..."
...And please remember: If you are in danger, then run. Nevermind me.
she wanted to say it, but she didn't. Instead, she concentrated, the hardest she ever had. All the smoke she could produce, all the energy she could muster up... And all at once, so they couldn't tell where it came from...
For a few moments, she stood there, quietly, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks and neck. Then, she stretched out her hand. At first, nothing was to be seen. Then, slowly, the place started filling with... fog...
very light fog, crawling through the alleyways and making its way through the town slowly, hardly even noticable.
It became thicker and thicker very quickly, until one could hardly tell where they were standing anymore, an ocean of white on the ground and up to the lower windows of the houses... Then, Miyu let her hand fall. She was breathing heavily. This hadn't been what she had wanted to accomplish... she had wanted it to go higher, so that they could hide in it, not only from their adversaries noses, but also their eyes...
But she was out of strenght for now, this was all she could muster up.
She looked at Seppy and tried to hide her tiredness as well as she could.
"Will this... do?"

(Actually, since Newspeak is back…if you don’t mind I would like to reactivate Avery.)

Lawrence whimpered and Avery crouched down to scratch his ears.

“Hey man, calm down,” he said. “Your nose’ll be fine. Trust me. The smoke won’t cause permanent damage.” Avery stood back up, but then he put a hand on Lawrence’s back, grasping some of the dog’s fur. “We’ll use your ears to keep up with those guys,” Avery said. “So be ready.” Lawrence barked a confirmation.

(No, not at all! Glad to have you back!)

Seppy watched the fog billow out all around them, the smoke spreading in all directions. His smile crept larger as he tested the air, and found only a single, directionless, dominating smell present. For a moment, he felt the elation at his partner's skills and prowess, at her mastery of a power that was mystifying and confusing to him.

Then, just a split moment later, he felt remorse.

It was clear to every one of the remaining senses Seppy had that Miyu was exhausted. Something had cost her strength, vitality, energy. Something had turned that girl from a beaming beacon of youth and energy into a drained and tired old woman. Even a dense brain like his could puzzle out these pieces, given such immediately present circumstances.

"It...it takes effort, huh...?" Seppy mused, stepping forward to support Miyu. "I..."

Seppy chewed on his words, carefully considering what to say next. A raw moment ago he had issued the words that had caused this, asked of her a feat that would cause her pain and exhaustion with no consideration. The Devil's Fruit was a bizarre thing to him, a curse he couldn't begin to imagine. In his mind, it has always been this fantastic thing that gave powers beyond anything normal, anything imaginable...beyond even those he'd been given by The Doctor. He'd heard that there was a price to pay, that it truly was a curse and not a blessing, but he'd always written it off as folktales.

Until now.

"'M sorry, Mew..." Seppy groused, bullishly sweeping an arm under her legs to sweep her up, taking her in a bridal carry. "Y'know...y'should really explain that curse t'me a little more, when y'get the time."

He didn't expect she'd like the unwarrented, un-asked for treatment. After he'd learned his lesson with Uni, Seppy had done his best to respect the wishes of others, particularly when those others were women. Society, he had learned, frowned upon men who did things with or two women who didn't verbally express their consent first; carrying her like this was probably a violation of that tenant. Still, though dense, Seppy knew that she had tired herself out to the ends...and she had done it because he had asked her to. Until she had recovered every last bit of that strength, he would carry her.

"Does he have good ears?" Seppy asked, changing his mind from Miyu to the man following them. "If y'can follow us jus' by sound, then we'll take back up to the tops...and drop back down a few blocks away. Jus' keep repeatin' this 'till we're back at the Rat Trap."

Before leaping, Miyu still in his arms, Seppy turned his head over his shoulder one final time.

"An' if y'see that black cat followin' us...scare 'er off, whatever, but don' hurt 'er. She's a pest, but notta enemy."

Turning his head back forward, Seppy smiled down at Miyu. His ears were already deaf to whatever protests she might issue, already steeled for the important task of staying open to the telltale sounds of ambush. Once again in his life, Seppy acted without asking. She was his passenger until he was ready to stop.

(James, I love you. I really do.)

Miyus protests were weak when Seppy picked her up. It reminded her of Haru a little. He used to pick her up all the time...
"Seppy, I can walk... Don't strain yourself like this, please..."
She was sure that, if he'd set her down, she wouldn't be able to follow him on the rooftops so easily anymore. But she could... hide around here... she didn't want to slow him down if they, except all her tries to prevent it, would run into those enemies.
But he didn't listen anymore, she could tell. And she didn't have the energy to protest any more. No, even if she had, she most likely wouldn't have. Seppy had his will, as well, and she didn't want to force him to leave her if he didn't want to. Not that somewhere, inside her, she didn't want to be saved as well. Hiding in those dark alleys and houses didn't seem so nice to her.
Now that it was dark, there were no people on the streets any more, the merchants had all been driven inside, and even the last tourists or civilians attending the festival had been chased away from the streets from the rain. The fireworks had to be called off, as well....
Of course, Miyu didn't know all that. She had her eyes closed by now, the cool nightair was almost soothing, the wind had calmed to a cold breeze. She had to recover whatever power she could while she had the chance to.

Fog. How interesting.
And that otehr cat called her a pest... Would chase the dog after her if she dared to show her face... How rude.
Ebony looked at them from the shadows.
And here she had been, trying to warn them. Then again, it looked like they already knew a lot. Not all, but a lot.
Time to go see how her master was doing. She cast a last look at the small group, then disappeared into the shadows.