Plans For The Trip

A guy on a table looks at a piece of paper he got off one of the walls outside. it was a wanted poster with a hefty bounty on it. their faces were covered by a cloaked hood, but their mischievous smiles were all well present as an idea crept up to their heads. "Oh, this is going to be fun," they say as they take a spoon full of their soup while keeping their gaze on the paper. a diabolical plan hatching under the seams while the three were unaware of it. speaking of,

"Okay, let me get this straight: we're escorting her to her house because her butler can't," Tetsuga asks as he and the other two embark on the cruise ship after surviving a pirate disaster. "Yeah, is there a problem with that, Mr. Tetsuga? I'm sure she won't be much trouble," Derrick says to the man. Cherry, on the other hand, was leaning in a much more teasing fashion. "Yeah, is there a problem with that? she says, and Tetsuga decides not to entertain much as he takes his flask out to drink. "I guess I'm outvoted. again," he expresses before downing a swig and storing the flask back in.

"Just make sure you don't make too much trouble on the way there," he tells her, which was a little intrusive to the girl. Her, troublesome? to him? preposterous, she thinks. "says the drunkard," she points out. though it wasn't too hard to figure out when they literally took a swig from a flask, which all drunkards like him have at least once. "Practicing alcohol, get the right fruit basket," Tetsuga corrects her. "Fruits basket!?" she exclaims, all offended.

"I'll be back on the sea, you'll see! you'll all see." To the side of them, they see the leader of the pirates. Red Beard, who was being arrested and cuffed by the local coast guard while they filed out the remaining pirates from their ship,. "Huh. guess little red head over there got what he deserved. sucks to suck," Tetsuga comments as he chuckles to himself. "Hey, isn't that your wanted poster, Mr. Tetsuga?" Tetsuga immediately chokes on his own as he looks over to see Derrick pointing towards a wanted poster with his face on it. He then quickly snatches it off the wall and crumples it. he then meekly tries to hide himself as he covers his face behind the cloak Derrick had provided him so as not to raise suspicion, as the coast guard men were now staring in his direction for some reason.

Luckily, though, they lost interest and went back to focusing on the pirate and his men, which made Tetsuga sigh in relief. "Okay, how about we find a place where we can rest our legs a little bit, preferably not teeming with knights that aim to arrest me?" Tetsuga expresses his distaste for the situation and suggests the two find a place to unwind before continuing on their now-newfound quest to escort the young lady back home. "Right, we need to discuss our game plan! we need a quiet and secluded place to..." but as Derrick listed off ideal components of where they should go, Tetsuga was already beelining it at the local Tavern that they had for visiting ships and people. "Derrick, he's gone." Cherry was quick to tell him as soon as she saw Tetsuga walking away.

"Oh, I guess the tavern it is. I guess that's a good place too," Derrick says as they both follow the man into the tavern. The tavern was definitely not one of the first things to come to mind for Derrick but with all the patrons drunk and minding their own business, i guess he could live with the fact that no one would pry into into their conversation as they discussed plans for their escort quest. "Ah, you smell that?" Tetsuga says as he breathes in hard to really soak it in.

"the smell of booze and no shower makes middle-aged men sweat? yeah, it's kind of hard not to," Cherry quipped, as she wasn't too fond of places like these, unlike Tetsuga, who felt almost at home. the only downside was that the bartender he used to know wasn't the one running the place. instead, it was a gruff old man with stitches on his arms and an eye patch to boot. clearly some kind of pirate, or maybe a reformed one by the looks of it. but Tetsuga wasn't one to judge much, as he had the two pick out their seats or the three of them.

"Oh, how about this one? its off to the side, away from prying eyes," Derrick suggested as he presented them with an empty table off to the side of the tavern, which they could use to discuss plans. "Alright, nice going, kid," he congratulates as he takes an empty seat, but not before ruffling the kids' hair a bit. Cherry was more polite with her way of seating, as she took one next to the drunkard, which she minded a little bit, but she knew that in situations like this, you get more conversation out of someone if you are face-to-face. so she was willing to suck it up for that for now. Derrick obviously sat across from the two. right behind the hooded man from before, but I haven't seemed to notice yet.

"Hey, ya'll! What are you looking to order at this fine establishment?" the waiter of the tavern approaches them. asking about what they wanted. Cherry obviously wanted some sugary sweets, but she knew what kind of establishment they were, so she settled for just bread. Derick ordered himself some fish and rice, while Tetsuga ordered himself some booze. 3 glasses at the least. hopefully his wallet can afford it, or else things might end up bad for him. "Alright, while we wait, we should discuss where we'll go next. anyone got any ideas?" Derrick proposes.

the hooded man behind him was eager to know what they were talking about. as well as who was talking about it, so he took one of his silver spoons and tried to see, from its reflection, those behind him. he couldn't make them out yet to be anyone notable, with the two having cloaks hiding their faces, save for the one girl with them. she seemed wealthy—definitely too good for a place like this, he deduces. but he wasn't really interested in kidnapping her for ransom. instead, he got the shock of his life as soon as one of the hooded men decided on something.

"Okay, I'm getting really itchy from this thing," they complained, as the fabric was starting to irritate his skin, which made them take it off, revealing his face to everyone around him. "There, much better." Tetsuga sighs in relief as he is now free from his itchy prison. "Mr. Tetsuga, are you sure you should be doing that?" Derrick was, however, more cautious with his identity as he asked the man in front of him. "I don't know Derrick. I think he's just stupid like that," Cherry insulted, which earned her a stink eye from Tetsuga, which she responded to by sticking her tongue out. "Look, no one in here cares. they're too busy drinking and having fun." Tetsuga then proceeds to gesture towards the other patrons, who were indeed drinking and having fun, as he said. not minding who he was or what he was wanted for. all except for one.

"... jackpot," the hooded figure behind Derrick whispered as the man he was looking at on the wanted poster miraculously appeared behind him. maybe this was fate? who knows. all he knew was that he was going to rake in the big bucks if he could pull this off well. "Okay, I guess you have a point," Derrick thought as he took his cloak off too. the hooded man swore he'd seen his face around recently on another wanted poster. but with him, their bounty was a little lower than the guy's, so he wasn't really interested in him over the other guy once he revealed himself. "Alright, now let's discuss where we mean to go from here," Derrick says, which gave the man a perfect idea as to how he could turn them in without ever knowing.

"Heya! I heard you guys were debating where to go! May I help?" they say as he gets up from his own chair and decides to mingle with them with his hood off to show them that he was there in his good, well-intentioned will. Hopefully, they'll take the bait. "Oh, well, we were just talking about where to go after this." Derrick was the first to mention this, but the guy was laser-focused on Tetsuga as he basically forced himself to sit beside the boy. "Yeah, what a saying. I'm sure I can suggest a place you could go to," they say as he wraps his arm around Derrick in order to show them he was not there to harm them. at least not for now.

"Slow your horse, there pal. how do we know we can trust you?" Tetsuga was skeptical of his still. which Cherry kind of agreed with, as she was also miffed that someone was butting in all willy-nilly like he did. but despite her feelings, she let Tetsuga speak his mind. "Well, I definitely haven't seen your faces around here, so you wouldn't know where to go, so why not?" he reasons. Hopefully, it was enough for them. luckily, before Tetsuga could open his mouth to question him, his eyes were then drawn to their orders being brought to them by the waiter. making him forget what he was about to question this man for. "Alright, three beers, fish and rice, and some bread; hopefully I didn't miss anything," the waiter says as she sets them down on their table.

"This is alright. thanks again." Tetsuga spoke as he watched them leave to take another order. "Alright, what was I about to say to you again?" he says. as if genuinely asking what it was he was about to tell the new face, which made Cherry mentally facepalm. "You were just about to let me help you?" though the guy wasn't too picky about his opportunities. he takes it, and somehow Tetsuga thought well enough to believe him as he relaxed his guard. "Oh, right. so what is it you were going to suggest to us?" he asks him as he takes a swig of one of his beers.

"Well, if you want a touristy spot, there's a kingdom situated to the south of here," he tells them. "Oh, that kingdom. Yeah, I've been there once before," he says as he leans back. of course, the guy knew of him there since the place was definitely teeming with his posters. his notoriety, however, doesn't seem to precede him as far as he's concerned. all he looked to be was a washed-up caretaker with two kids. how was he wanted? the posters never say. all he knows is the money placed on his head. and that's all he wanted. "What kingdom?" Derrick asked.

"Oh, just the Xeoason Kingdom. its basically a hotspot for rich folk and tourists," he tells him. clearly, he cared for this place, seeing as its another place he's not welcome in, which was obvious from the posters around. Clearly, his notoriety has reached even there, and other kingdoms he's been too for most of his years. "hey, even if you guys know about it, how about I tag along?" this was his ticket in. he could try showing them the way, while they could be none the wiser. "But we already." Derrick wanted to interject, seeing as Chris had joined the group just hours before, but Tetsuga was willing to give him a shot.

"no worries! the more, the merrier!" Tetsuga says as he raises his mug. odd since he wasn't like that when Cherry joined them to be escorted back home. something was up, but Derrick definitely didn't know what it was