Scene #725: On A Boat

Owner	Pose
Jin Kisaragi	Somewhere in one of the scintillion worlds, a humble vessel plies the mighty seas. It is neither as intimidating as a looming dreadnought or slight as a skiff, but somewhere in between: A white-festooned ship of modest-size and considerable sail, fortunate enough to be surrounded by calm, peaceable weather as it gains headway towards its destination. Things seem calm and orderly on the bridge, and a number of the passengers make time going above deck and watching the waters to see signs of any exotic fauna known to travel alongside ships. Though Jin Kisaragi is abovedeck, he's not come to sightsea. No, he's only here because his intradimensional communication device (which just so happens to look exactly like what some people called a 'smartphone') got far better reception for whatever strange kind of cosmic background medium it used to communicate with anyone anywhere. The darkening expression on his face suggested he wasn't any happier to be a strong signal, though: JKisaragi: Still don't see why I had to take a boat. KaguraTheGreat: You could use the fresh air. Consider it a new experience. JKisaragi: New experiences tend to go badly out here. KaguraTheGreat: Are you still grumpy about that mission to Akibahara? JKisaragi: Maybe. KaguraTheGreat: I swear, if I had known what 'moe' was I never would have sent you. Would have just gone myself. JKisaragi: sigh KaguraTheGreat: Did you just text me a sigh? JKisaragi: In any case, could you at least tell me what i'm looking for? KaguraTheGreat: Not sure, you'll know when you see it though. G2G, gonna ask Makoto out. 457th time is the charm! Jin groaned audibly, stowing the infernal device and setting his eyes on the horizon. Midday, still plent of time to travel...and Yukianesa felt 'itchy' at his side for lack of a better term. It was an ominous thing, generally, and kept Jin's hackles up a touch higher than usual.
Cruz Schild	A pleasant enough boat ride, unwelcome texting conversations aside, and even now Jin just can't find time to relax. Typical. Perhaps it is for the best, though, as the other passengers and other crew are enjoying themselves so much that they almost lose sight of what's around them; that can spell trouble on the high seas, especially this far out from any known civilizations. Every so often, a tiny, uninhabited island wafts lazily by in the distance, otherwise the blue of the ocean stretches easily and uninterrupted into the horizon. A relatively calm sea making the trip go smoothly. Another good thing about Jin's distraction away from enjoying the hospitality and chance to unwind, however, is that when something out of the ordinary does happen, he's in a position to catch it. None of the other passengers seem to catch it, and it's faint, but after the event repeats, and then a third time, before continuing in sequence, it's hard to dismiss as an optical illusion. There, in the distance, on one of the islets, is what can only be an intelligently sequenced reflection of the mid-day sun; anyone that knows Morse Code would be able to spell out the short 'H-E-L-P'. ..the question is whether Jin will act, or merely see it as an unnecessary distraction on an already annoyingly pedestrian trip to his real destination. -- Previously, on the island. As the sun had just passed the midway mark on his crudely created sundial, his wristwatch having long since fallen to water and the elements, a wiry hand marks another day passed on a similarly roughly fashioned calender, by dropping a pebble into a slot, representing the days of the calendar. "Three weeks," he recalls, no particular inflection in his voice to show that he feels one way or another about it. That is, until he heaves a sigh. At least there's no chance Simeon would find him all the way out here, but it has gotten extremely lonely, and the shipping traffic through this area hasn't seemed particularly lively, delaying any hopes of rescue. His only means of communication have been the radio that washed up with him, and that he barely managed to get back to working order. Two weeks since, for whatever reason, a similar ferry he'd taken through the area had come under attack from forces unknown. Everything was cast into the sea, including Cruz - and he had no idea what had happened to anyone else. But through some stroke of luck or cosmic sequence of events, he had woken up here, and his will to survive and instincts had kept him alive from here, along with what had managed to drift along the same currents. Wiping some sweat from his forehead, and really wishing he could take a shower, he picks himself back up and glances out at the as-always empty sea, "Well..no use sulking any longer, time to get something to eat! Father, Major, keep watching over me - I'll get off this island yet and make you proud of me!" With that, he fetches a rough-hewn rod, mostly made of things he'd found, and heads to the beach to cast into the shallows. By good fortune, that puts him in the right direction and earshot of..something approaching. Air traffic and ships, he'd seen before, but this one was louder than usual. So you're saying there's a chance... "Ah..!!" He glances around quickly before remembering his seized up wristwatch, and figuring it still has enough utility, quickly polishes up the flat, metallic back as best he can on what remains of his jacket. "C'mon," he utters while scrambling to point it with his hands, somewhat shaking in desperation, having long since discarded the fishing rod and forgotten about catching dinner. "You've got to see me!" H-E-L-P. H-E-L-P.
Jin Kisaragi	Children who are often forced by circumstance and position to observe long periods of boredom and unable to amuse themselves develop a certain kind of coping mechanism, a way of disassociating that allows them to lie about uselessly for along as needed. Once learned, the trait often continues well on into adulthood, where there was no shortage of application. Jin puts the same talent to work now, leaning on the railings and watching the horizon, barely mindful of the sea breeze against his face or the gradual motions of the waves. He has no idea how long he remains like that, taken out of his trance only when a sharp stimulus forces him to: The sun gets in his eye, or so it seems. The Major rubs at his right eye, muttering until her realized it made no sense: The sun was high overhead, unable to glare at him from that angle. Squinting his eyes, he finds the source-that island overhead-and with a few cautious moments of skepticism realizes the winking reflections aren't just coincidence but an intentional artifice. A code, old and archaic but so encoded into the dna of society that even the NOL Academy still taught it as a rudimentary survival skill. "H...E...L...P..." Jin mouthed each letter silently, cognizant of the implication. Someone was..stranded? "I'll know it when I see it, huh...?" Quietly repeating Kagura's words to himself, the blonde found his arms crossed. No...infuriatingly well-informed as the Colonel was, there was no way he knew about this..or could he? If the purpose was to deliver a message or mission to him, this was certainly a way to do it with almost no chance interception, much less phenomena intervention... After a few more moments of thought, he decides to gamble on it. A quick invocation of Yukianesa's power puts the ship amidst a spontaneous ice floe. Nothing so severe as to recreate the titanic, simply a little obstacle to keep the vessel from going anywhere while the major investigates. There's a slight discomfiture as the ship drops sails and whatnot to halt it's advance, a gret commotion rising up from the bow as dozens gathered to see what had happened. So much the better, as it afforded Jin the opportunity to drop over the edge and onto the water, neatly forming an icy surfboard of sorts and propelling himself towards the not-so-deserted island. It take perhaps a minute at most before his foot sets down on the sandy shore, the other striding forwards, "Hello?" Jin calls out, "Is there anyone here?"
Cruz Schild	A few tense moments pass, turning into what seems like minutes, as the ship seemingly keeps its heading and previous speed. Cruz isn't one to curse, but he definitely feels like it, as he feels his chance slipping away..! And then, just as he's about to give up on the signalling and run to the half-working radio in a last ditch, the ship seems to seize in the water, lurching to a stand still. He can't see the ice all the way from here, at least not without the benefit of some binoculars, but the way it abruptly halted rather than swung around was a bit peculiar... While that nags at the back of his mind, though, the important thing is that it did stop, which means he must have been noticed by someone aboard, "I..I did it!" Any dancing around the beach is delayed, though, as he quickly scampers back to what amounts to his base camp: a primitive shelter he had assembled out of what little material was available, more to keep the sun off than anything else, a few waterlogged crates he'd dragged out of the water with surprisingly strong arms (when he had reason to be!), and the remains of the previous night's meal that he hadn't gotten around to disposing of yet. And of course, that radio. He briefly switches it on to attempt to make contact with the vessel, but when he does only a high-pitched squeal issues from its speaker as the lamp behind the dial pulses its disapproval. Yeah..he was afraid of that, and it's exactly why he didn't try it first. A few thumps of concussive maintenance don't improve matters. He's smart and capable, but he's no electronics engineer! "Augh..well, hopefully I won't need it anymore, anyway," he figures, putting down the microphone and switching it back off. At least it'll be here in case some future castaway needs it. For now, he has to gather what little is worth keeping and get back to that beach; quickly assembling a few bottles of purified water into a bit of shorn-off tarp, he hefts it over a shoulder and returns to wait. When he gets back, something catches his attention. The boat has barely moved at all - if any - and while he didn't notice it at first in his excitement, with his ragged shirt and jacket exposing his arms and torso to the elements, the goose bumps let him know something's a bit off. "..wha..when did it get so cold," he wonders, wrapping his free arm around the other and rubbing for some warmth. And that's when his eyes spot something approaching, from the direction of the ice-lodged vessel. He blinks, rubbing a balled hand lightly into one socket. There's no way that there's somebody surfing where there's no breaking waves, right? But then, this is the Multiverse, and people have all kinds of strange modes of transportation. From this distance, he still can't quite make out Jin's voice, but he does call towards the oncoming figure, "Hey! I'm over here!" Making exaggerated jumps and waves!
Jin Kisaragi	Hm, that was odd. Jin surveyed the island with one hand shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun overhead. Though deserted, it seemed capable enough of supporting it's own local ecosystem...enough for a person to conceivably survive upon for quite some time. How could anyone have wound up all the way out here, though? The Major took a few more tentative steps forward, briefly plagued by the thought that he was foolishly wasting his own time, "Hello? Again, is there anyone here?" A note of annoyance entered his voice. This has better not to be 'that island' again...or wait, wouldn't the be /good/? "...Brother?!" Jin raced for the nearest hill, "Brother, are we here again?! Are you one of the rocks?! I'M COMING, BRO-" Jin tripped as his knee hit something (Quite possible Cruz's face) causing him to tumble over himself and roll several feet in a cloud of sand, wincing at the dull pain as he rose to his feet, coughing at the commotion. "Ugh...what was I doing just a second ago?" The NOL Officer frowned, scattering the dust with a wave of his hand and narrowing his eyes. Wait a minute...that green hair, that diminutive figure, that naturally compliant posture. After all this time, it couldn't possibly be... "Ensign?" Jin squinted hard, "Ensign....Schild? Is that you?"
Cruz Schild	It's a little hard to believe that the two would meet here, like this, purely by chance. What weird twists of fortunate had to happen for this? Perhaps, somehow enacting its will over even this distance, the Master Unit was playing a prank at Jin's expense. But no, this is not the Quiz Island, that surely existed only in Jin's strange dreams and not in the world between worlds formed by the Boundary. His feet skim over real sand as the water gets shallower, the ice beginning to crunch under each hurried footstep. Cruz, for his part, looks just as surprised as Jin himself eventually would be, as the figure comes into better focus. "Wh-what..no way, it couldn't be! Major--" He's not slowing down! Cruz, not having prepared for the need to, is right in the way as he comes cruising on up the beach, and gets comedically thrown away from the impact, Jin's bootprint briefly still visible on his forehead, where he'd been pressed into the (thankfully, soft) wet sand. Coughing up a bit of it and then rubbing his mouth on a mostly-destroyed sleeve, he practically peels himself out of the depression, rising unsteadily at first to his feet. Indeed, that lanky figure, posture and emerald green hair would be hard to mistake, which is probably a good thing for him given others that might match the same physical description. "Ah-gwuh," he sputters, still coughing out a few granules of sand, before shaking the remainder out of his hair. After the immediate discomfort, though, Jin would see something he probably hasn't in most of his adulthood, save for maybe one other person: Someone that is genuinely happy to see him. "Major Kisaragi, it really was you! Wow this is--" He glances around, and then down at himself. If it were practically anyone else that had come, he might not be so self-conscious, but he immediately looks away with a trace of red embarassment to his cheeks. "If I knew it were you I'd have tried to clean the place up a bit better, ahahah.." A rub is given to the back of his head. While he's managed to survive, it's clear even his normally rail thin frame has gotten a bit thinner. It wasn't exactly easy living, you know. So it was probably quite fortuitous that Jin came when he did, even if he wasn't in danger of outright starving. The people of the Blackspot are tough as nails! It all adds up for the ensign, too -- the drop in temperature, the ship's sudden stopping. Realizing that he was seen, and by the Major no less, the fact that he's still a mid-teenager kid briefly shows through as he dabs at the corner of an eye, "I've been stranded here. The ship I was moving on got..attacked, or something. It all happened so fast I didn't get a good look! Ah.." Perhaps the sheer emotion has gotten to him, as he sways a bit before he starts tipping over with faint headedness, the bag that was in his hand slipping free of his grasp involuntarily. "Thank goodness, Major..uhh.."
Jin Kisaragi	It was such an ridiculous coincidence Jin had to resist the impulse to call entire production absurd, dismiss Cruz as a figment of his imagination and carry himself back to the ship to continue his journey. But no...this certainly all seemed real enough, however unlikely it might be. "So it was you, Ensign..." Jin tilted his chin downwards in thought, "I was wondering where you had gotten off to, though I wouldn't have expected this." The story seems to check out, though Jin hadn't heard of any such activities in these waters...what could that have been, he wondered? Cruz's apology earns only a scoff, nonetheless, "Don't be ridiculous. It's impossible to clean an island. Still, i'm impressed you've managed to survive this long.." The Major scratched his chin, casually analyizing the state of his old assistant: A bit malnourished and thinner for the wear, yes, but on capable on the whole, and..well, someone happy to see him was a rather unexpected custom, true, "You always did proved harider than to looked. In any case, his little distraction wouldn't hold the ship forever. "It's fortunate for you that I haven't managed to find a replacement. If you've any things then go ahead collect them, we'll want back before..." He catches the involuntary slump of the youth's body before Cruz does, moving despite himself to steady the young Needless, "Careful...you must be a little dehydrated, or perhaps it's shock." Then he felt himself frown-was this...the kind of thing he did now?
Cruz Schild	So it seems. Even the Grinch eventually had to grow a heart, though. With Jin helping to catch him before he buckled completely, he's able to recover after a few moments, giving a long exhale. "Sorry..I was just so relieved, is all," he explains, though despite his words, it's clear fatigue and the weight of coincidence still played a part. ...come to think of it, this is probably the first time Jin would have been able to see the scars on his chest and arm laid bare, thanks to all the rips in it. It'd almost be a logical leap to assume they happened in the wreck that stranded him here, but the don't look nearly fresh enough for that. Curious. This isn't really the time for those kinds of questions, but perhaps after he's got some real food in him, after fish and shellfish for the past few weeks... Returning to his feet and seeming to find some of his vigor again, which made him a worthy secretary to begin with, he hops forward, "Ah, right..my stuff! Err, not that there's much worth keeping but.." It doesn't take him terribly long, the bottles of scavenged water easily gathered back into the makeshift sack; perhaps a token of his worry that he might just end up in the same predicament before long. Also by good fortune, his personal luggage - that had gotten a bit waterlogged on the way drifting here, but he'd dried out as best he could. Jin would recognize a few of the papers among them, despite the water damage - old cases and busy work his office had been handed all those months, perhaps even longer to Jin by this time, ago. Had he been fulfilling his duties without supervision all this time? While he gathers things up, he continues talking, since it's clear he hasn't had much of an outlet besides listening to people on this half-broken radio, "When I was growing up in the Blackspot, we usually had to make do with what we had. It was tough, especially in the beginning..but at least the fish are safe to eat. You know, the ones that don't want to eat me, instead..ahahah.." ..the nervousness of his laugh conveys well that it wasn't really that much of a joke. Collecting everything, he once gain makes his way to the beach itself, giving another glance back to the camp that had kept him alive. "You know, Major.. If I was able to make it, and have you find me, maybe I'll also see my old friends again someday. This might just be where my luck starts turning around." But he smiles broadly as he steps up, "I'm ready to leave this island! Err.." ..he suddenly realizes, "..you froze the sea around the ship, didn't you." He'd sigh if he weren't just so thrilled to be leaving.
Jin Kisaragi	"It's fine." Jin insists, and once he's sure Cruz isn't going to keel over he'll step away from him, though his observant eye does make note of those scars-had he ever seen those before?-and the contents of his belongings, the papers in particular appraised with a raised brow. "How have you been keeping yourself busy all this time exactly, ensign..?" He'll turn sharply before any elaboration though-best save some conversation for when they're back on the ship. "I suppose such a harsh lifestyle would make even the most seemingly useless members of society a hardy asset." Jin dwells on that some, shrugging his shoulders at Cruz's endless positivity, "I suppose stranger things have happened." Perhaps he would even still be able to find Ragna, somewhere out there in the mess of multiple worlds. The subject of the ship sits on his shoulders as easily as the Major's own tassles, "Only a little bit." He admits, rubbing the side of his temple, "It seemed easier to delay them rather than cause a commotion. Besides, I wanted to investigate on my own when I saw your signal. I thought it might be what I was looking for.." But again, talk later. Jin will allow Cruz just enough time to gather whatever he has left before escorting themselves to the beach and summoning another iceboard, this one a bit larger to accommodate a second person. The water slid frictionlessly beneath them, the ship growing large and more looming with each passing second. "It seems I did find you at a fortuitous time, ensign." Jin remarks before reaching for the first rung up the hull, "It just so happens i'm on the way to a mission. I may well have need of your skills."