Dude Fortifi(v)ed Gaiden: Heavenly Bottle Ships of Fortified Souls

MethodicalSlacker · #1

Undisturbed for the better part of a day, the glass-bottomed boat floated triumphantly in the water at the edge of nightfall. The glass hull remained intact, offering an unobscured view of the fish swimming below. The relative lack of corpses floating in the water had left the composition of the local fauna relatively unchanged, making the way for the area's native sting-rays and catfish to gingerly weave around thick clouds of silvery mackerel in the dusty depths.

The first to come to occupy the boat in its re-opened state stumbled in shortly after the lift of the area's curfew, ducking between the crates and barrels of cover that littered the jetty approach to the boat's open door. She grabbed the teal metal railing on the side of the boat, pulled herself up onto the metal deck and stepped inside. With the point of her harpoon she entered the passenger deck swept the empty interior, taking heavy intimidating steps as she walked from one end of the ship to the other and back again, establishing command over her surroundings. The hull of the ship creaked softly under the gradually lightening steps of her patrol until midway through her third lap she planted on her left toe and stopped. Apparently satisfied that the boat was empty, Mariko put her bag down on a bench and sat down on the opposite side.

There were no lights beneath the glass. The waters were dark and impossible, their contents unknown, hidden by a curtain of slowly rippling waves. The placidity of the waves did little to mask the noise of plastic crinkling as Mariko unwrapped her dried squid and began to eat. Ever watchful, she turned her head to look from door to door in the dark. There were no lamps on at all in the glass ship; light could pass through it, but could not come from within.

Mariko lowered her head beneath the side window so that she could just see the tip of the smiling moon shining in the water and nothing above. This was a perfect place to hide—small, nestled closely between two other boats, inconspicuous in the larger waters. Like a cloud in the ocean-spray the boat would float on into the night undisturbed, and Mariko could get her much needed Long Rest.

[Mariko Whitney continued from Investigate!]

But the night was still young. She kept her flashlight in her bag. With her back turned to the ferry and the cruise ship there were no other lights to contend with, and her dark vision could switch over in peace. The shapes in the dark were clear enough. There was one tall rectangle on one side of the room, thick wood with a plated glass window, and another opposite of the same composition. The door she opened to enter the room was not particularly heavy. Extrapolating from that and assuming each door was of the same make, as they seemed to be, then each had a nautical heft and weighting to contend with the shifting seas but neither took much strength to push open. She would rely on the changing shapes to tell her when and where to point and shoot.

Somewhere far away a gun went off, the periodicity of the echo conjuring the image of an empty casing skipping like a pebble across the still waters.

#2

The late-night waves of the ocean kept bobbing to and fro, much like Larry right about now. A whole day wandering, a whole day wasted. Story of his life.

Couldn't find Alaska. Completely lost Ivan. Didn't even have a mentor anymore.

He maybe always felt a little lonely, but now he truly felt alone. At least it was pretty. And he didn't come across any dead bodies, so hey, maybe it wasn't too awful bad.

Sigh. Who was he kidding. Some kinda knight he was. This whole thing was wack in every sense of the word, and he never took that lightly.

It was getting real late, and hunkering down for the night again seemed more and more appealing. But where? He considered doubling back to the submarine; it seemed like maybe the safest space, but... well... that was maybe too much of a confined space for his tastes. He could head back to the boat from before, maybe Alaska was back and wondering where he went. But that was probably a sunk cost at this point, better to just keep moving in case what Ivan said about the guerilla team of kids was true. Plus, the further he stayed away from Seo-yun, the better. She definitely sounded like she came to play. Scary stuff.

Anyway, Larry figured it was in his best interest to just keep walking. Going forward was about the best thing anyone could probably do given... well, everything. At least he had Sir Wilson the Buckler and also this table leg he snapped off of one of the boats. Definitely wished he had a real sword, but soldiers probably had to make due with what they had even during the Crusades. Probably.

And so Sir Laurence dragged his feet along with wooden jetty, up until he came upon a certain boat. A big, dark boat.

There was someone there. He couldn't get a good look exactly, but it was someone. Looked like a girl, though he couldn't be exactly sure. Maybe it was-?

He got closer to the boat, got closer to the door into the main cabin. But as he went to grab the handle...