Serious: A Chat over Tea. (Sealed to Gael and Admin-Sama)

Jukuri Sangetsan walked through the front door of the Tower of Fallen Angels, sighing. He had done terribly on this round of golf: he had put far too much power into this round. He had been, like... fifteen over par. What was that bullcrap? He needed something to take his mind off these things... He passed one of the servants of the Tower: a rehabilitated prisoner. "Oh, Warden Sangetsan? It's almost time for your daily tea with... Madame Kuchula." Ah, how wonderful. An excellent distraction. "Thank you, Bill. I shall proceed to our meeting place immediately." He turned and hurried off to one of the guardrooms. "Tea... tea... tea..." Jukuri mumbled as he searched for the canister of tea leaves he had stashed so that the rehabilitators wouldn't steal any of it. He finally searched in the cupboard, and... "Aha! There you are!" He quickly set water boiling, retrieved mugs, and prepared the tea bags. After the water began to boil, he poured it into the separate mugs, before placing the tea bags into the mugs. He let them begin to steep as he put away the various trappings, before picking up both mugs. He walked out of the guardroom, and began walking to the meeting room. Once he reached the door, he knocked gently to announce his presence.

The doors appeared to slowly swing open by itself, the dim light of the stone basement giving way to a strangely iridescent glow, this was not, however by itself, something had opened them. The room inside was rather strange looking, a very large, circular one about forty meters in daiameter with a glass ceiling, sunlight seemed to dance upon actual grass from the sun above the water above the thick glass ceiling, the scenery of the very high roofed room was exceedingly vivid, the sun’s reflected light against the trim grass of the garden being especially large. Containing patches of flowers lining the small court yard, opposite the entrance another door. Half way between the two doorways a white wooden table with a matching parasol, glimmering in the dancing light from above the waves. Under this parasol, seated at the table, which had only two chairs was a woman, younger than Jukuri but by no means a girl herself with very long, very smooth strait hair that had a shine to it all its own, far different and more subtle than that of the gardens light falling to the seat of the chair she was in behind her shoulders. She too wore a prisoners uniform but it seemed different from the others, it seemed more fitting, more comfortable and was coupled with a longer maroon coat worn open to show her prisoners number, ‘#00001’ the eye that wasn’t covered by her bangs looked up at him, a stunning grey color “oh, hello there Warden-sama” she said with a mixture of what may have sounded like affection with what may have sounded like malice, but was in reality neither, something that only Jukuri would be use to from her. “is it time for tea already?” the chair opposite her moved out, as if by itself. She placed a newspaper on the table in front of his place “look here, we’ve made the news~” she said plainly, as if a prisoner who had been under a fortress like tower for years suddenly having a newspaper from the outside world was nothing out of the ordinary and that the mention of that tower in said newspaper was a much bigger to do.

The newspaper read “One of the largest scale prisoner transfers in history! A large number of criminals from ‘Prison Hell Impell Down’ will be reaching the new world to serve out their sentences in the world governments new prison island fortress ‘The Tower Of Fallen Angels’, high ranking marines will be overseeing the move as it will likely come under the attack of sympathetic pirates looking to free the criminals, details on page 11” with a large black and white photograph of the tower.

“It’s sure going to be exiting all right, this transfer <3” for anyone else it would have been impossible to tell weather her tone was one of interest or one of malevolence, but Jukuri would likely assume the former. “will you be going to attend it yourself?” her soft lips curled in to a smile just before the stitched tissue on each side.

Jukuri wasn't surprised to see the door open of its own accord. "Thank you very much, Kuchula." He walked into the room, being careful not to step on any flowers or to spill the tea. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting, I just returned from a round of golf... first time in a year that I've been this high over par." It was a disgrace to him, really. "Sorry, but the tea needs a little more time to steep..." He cut off from speaking just as he put the mugs in front of the chairs. "Kuchula... how on earth did you manage to get your hands on the newspaper?" He took a seat on the chair opposite Kuchula, checking to see if the tea was done. "Ah, yes, the transfer. I'm looking forward to it: I might see some old faces... if old Lucifer didn't end up killing them by accident." He sighed before continuing: "How these news people get all this information, I'll never understand. But yes, Kuchula, I will be ensuring they all arrive safely." He fell silent, tasting the tea to ensure it was steeped enough. He then asked a question he had been puzzling on since he saw the newspaper, "Is this the first batch of news you've received since the Tower's completion?"

Kuchula took a moment to lift the tea up to her face, it was particularly sweet smelling today. “Why it certainly has been, apart from what you tell me” her grey eye looked over the mug, poised at him “When I was last out, the world was a very… superfluous. All those people senselessly fighting over the symbols on their flags, it was a lot of fun, but just mindlessness entertainment” The sunlight caught her silken black hair, which flickered ever so slightly, causing the pages on the newspaper to turn, from just a single, almost totally invisible hair touching the paper “then again, has anything really interesting happened in these two years, Warden-Sama?” Kuchula was especially chipper today, her smile was as intimidating as it was strangely captivating, framed by her famous stitches. The paper inside talked about the death of some pirate or another, unholy something. “as far as this article goes not much has changed, but I don’t trust the news for the really fun information”

Jukuri chuckled before sipping his tea. "Well, since your view of 'interesting' is... not my view of interesting, I could tell you about what's been going on in the world. Piracy has been on the uprise, far more so than during your days, Kuchula. It's gotten so bad that the Marines have resorted to signing pirates on to serve for the Marines. These pirates are known as the "Shichibukai", and they are... rather powerful. The newest one, Namor Oceanus, is a fishman responsible for striking a World Noble... I'm not sure if you know who they are... and he fought with our newest Admiral, Nishki D. Rock. The World Government gave him a pardon so that he would work for them... I'm not sure how strong he's supposed to be. One of the other Shichibukai, William, has been... rather inactive. I wonder what happened. Besides those two, there's Gael... I'm guessing he's one of the most powerful pirates in the Grand Line at the moment. He recently interfered in a quarrel between two pirates to destroy the stronger one, and he's built quite a lot of power... I've heard he's gained the ability to resurrect the dead. I don't know how true that is."

One might expect a woman in Kuchula’s situation to be awestruck by what she was hearing, but Kuchula just cooed in mild amusement “so its about the same, fighting here, justice there, all around a free for all” taking a sip of tea she tasted a touch of honey “no one gains any ground, as much as pirates battle it out against their government, it just keeps going but that’s where strong people like you come from, right warden-sama? The world would be so boring without people like Nishiki and Gael to amuse me… Im suppose I should be grateful the world still creates games like that” She leaned in on the table and looked up at him, now almost child like “Tell me more Warden-sama <3”

Jukuri took a sip from his tea: it was starting to get cold. This was worrying. He drank a deep quaff from his glass, before continuing, "Besides our Shichibukai... 'allies', we've taken some damage to our main fighting force. We lost Admiral Jiper in a campaign into the city of Atlantis... he was killed following combat with a man named Iken. Another Admiral, Ran Miryan, is a... unpunctual individual, but she is rather powerful... though, since her power relies on blood, I have no doubt you would easily trounce her..." He quickly whispered, "No offense, ma'am." He took another sip, and then continued, "Our newest Admiral is Nishki D. Rock. He's a very charismatic individual, and I think that he was probably the best choice the Gorosei could have made. He was a better choice than the Vice Admiral Derge Namikaze Senior... I think the man is unstable.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “The Marines do have some promising talent, though. The Archangels are growing quite powerful, and Nishki’s specific division is full of amazing talent as well. The Hooded Knights, though they’re new, have a chance at greatness too.” He sighed as he glanced at Kuchula. “I’m hoping that our balance of power remains absolute… because if one side gains too much power, we’re looking at calamity… but you’re not one to care about that, are you, Kuchula?”

Kuchula took a delicate sip of tea, the warm mug in her hands and the soft hint of honey "on the contrary, though calamity might be a game changer, its no fun if the game starts all over again, besides the 'new era' seems enugh like the first... hmm vice admiral Derge, seems marenes are less choosey now a'days, not like when they took you on at all" she set the mug down and looked breifly up at a passing fish in the "sky" then said passivly "the world hasnt changed a bit, but something tells me things around here will get much more intresting very soon"

Jukuri smiled gently at Kuchula, raising his glass in a toast to her. "You flatter me, Kuchula. The pirates, however... they've even got what the higher ups are calling 'emperors of the sea'. The first was Anubis... he's been taking territory that once belonged to an ally of his... his ally was killed by a variety of people working as a team. Anubis' crew is the largest in the world at this point... he's got the equivalent to twenty crews under him, and that's not even including his allies. Another Yonkou, Wally, defected from the Shichibukai in Atlantis, and he's been lying low... I'm pretty sure you could defeat him, considering you don't have a Devil Fruit power for him to negate." Another sip of tea... oh how Sangetsan loved these discussions with Kuchula. "Oh, and there's one other 'emperor': Iken Namikaze. He was involved in the destruction of one of Anubis' allies, and he has gotten involved in far more than he should. He wields weaponry the likes of which I've never heard of before. Besides him, the Bare Fist pirates are on the rise, and the Dire Desperados seem to be trying to be on the down low... but they're always somewhere. Most of the other crews are rather tiny, at the moment... It's alarming, but very few of them are ever captured." He glanced at the newspaper, "Oh, how strange. This is the person who was Anubis' ally: this "Unholy"." He pointed at the relevant article, which detailed how Unholy was taken out.

Kuchula thought a moment "Derge Desperados and Vice admiral Derge? Hmm two years ago such an association was enugh to have a man discharged from the navy... yes I realize those three tin soldgers at the top are getting desperate after all <3" she took another drink, this tea time was a rather unusual luxuery in prison, and for her a unique oportunity. "as for the pirates their newfound organization amuses me, a hiherarcky among criminals? What an obsurd yet, somehow deeply facinateing idea" her curiosity was peeked "and between the three of them, one has the ability to negate devil fruits yet got chased in to the water, the other has his own army and holds territories of his own, and this theird one, the new one... got that far with simply a few trinkets? That one I think, is the most amuseing of all..." a few of her hairs stood up on their own and waved slolwy, almost like haze, which was something she did when she was intrested, not unlike a dog wageing its tail, yet it looked so ominious, so imposeing, like shadowy tendrils of pitch black mist, then subsided and returned to its normal style "what did you say his name was? she said giving the first actual smile, the stiches stressed a bit.

Jukuri chuckled. "Kuchula, it is the 'Dire Desperados', not the 'Derge Desperados'." When Kuchula's hair began floating, a minor, nagging sense of dread flowed into Jukuri. The last time he remembered that happening was when she had fought him... this didn't say anything good. However, he could hopefully keep Kuchula here... "His name is Iken Namikaze. He's young, and rather... new to the art of piracy. No one really knows where he's come from, but I've heard that the name of his crew, "the Steel Village" is supposed to be related... but I've never heard of any sort of Steel Village before. It's surpising how many people have gotten on his crew in such a short time... but as pirates go, he's not that bad of a person. I feel that if he were sent here, we could seriously make an impact on his life." By 'we', he meant himself and the other rehabilitators, but in the corner of his mind, he knew that anyone who met Kuchula when she was 'interested' by them would never be the same.

Kuchula was turning over pieces of information in her head, after what seemed like countless eons of total boredom wearing her very mind thin many new peices had emerged all at once, perhaps this two year rest was just what she needed "you always did tell a good story..." now she felt like teasing him "you dont think one of the new prisoners will replace me do you warden sama? <3" toying with him was part of thease visits, nothing out of the ordinary

Jukuri was taken aback by Kuchula's suggestion. Fully flustered, he exclaimed, "Don't be ridiculous, Kuchula!" He placed his mug on the table before continuing, "You're the only one I'd ever want to have tea with." He rose an eyebrow at her, before sighing. He realized that he had just been screwed with. "That's not nice, Kuchula... I didn't need that."

Her grey eyes could chill the spine of any man and yet they were oh so endearing, eyes that looked back at him pittifully before he explained "but Im glad, I like being your favorite <3" she cooed, her hair takeing a very soft consitancey and delicatly caressing the edge of the table where his hand was as she rested her head on her arms folded before him looking up to say "I know you'll be busy soon enugh, but I am glad you make time for me" she did need to keep tabs on him, after all. Soon enugh shed have new toys in the tower but her mind was elsewhere, her mind was on the unendeding zero sum game of the outside world, the game no one could win, a game she missed.

Jukuri couldn't help feeling he had dodged a bullet somehow. He released a long, drawn out sigh, releasing the tension that had somehow built up when he wasn't looking. He felt Kuchula's hair gently touching his hand, and he noticed it tickled. Quite a bit, actually. "Aaah, Kuchula, that tickles..." Wow that sounded weird. "Well, I don't think it's going to be long until the transfer... man that's going to be boring. I'd bring you along, but I'd either get in trouble, or you would." He smiled, "I don't think either of us want that."

Kuchula smoothed out her hairs in to a soft, almost towel like texture and withdrew it "I spouse so, but Ill find something to do in the mean time" she said placidly. Turning over ideas in her mind she drank some more tea and smiled back at him "Just be cairfull, tea would be so boreing without you"

Jukuri smiled back, responding with, "I always am, Kuchula." He wanted to get her to be able to get out and about for once... "Hey, Kuchula. Want to go for a walk? It's been a while since I've been allowed to let you out and about, and it's not like you'll be leaving the island... it should be fine." Plus, considering he'd be with her the whole time, and she was generally well behaved, she might be allowed out. Everyone always steered clear of her anyway.

Kuchula finnished her tea and looked warmly at him "yes, a walk sounds lolvey" she wanted to get a nice look around her island, as she was thinking of heading out for a bit in the near future. "please lead the way, warden-sama <3" she took note of her suroundings, needing no cairfull plan to escape her prison, needing only to know the way out, as shed be calmy walking away later that night, not a single gaurd would dear to stop her.

Jukuri stood and walked around the table, offering his hand to Kuchula. When she took it, he helped her rise to her feet. He then escorted her outside into the daylight, as it was around noon. "Come, let's see if there are any seagulls out." He talked as a man would to his girlfriend... exactly what relationship did these two have?

(End, as you know. We'll wait for Nikz for the next thread.)