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On Khali's recommendation, she'd gone down to the docks to look for a Trading House to sell the 'salvaged' warship to. Rifles, ammo, even scrap materials and the like were easy to sell to smaller traders and craftsmen, or even to Ghira's guardsmen directly. But full on ships were much more expensive, and harder to keep, so fewer people could afford to - or wanted to - buy one. Especially for a Mistralian warship covered in bullet holes and only recently cleared of its former crew's bodies.
So, her options were a bit more limited than she'd have liked.
The Trading Houses themselves were... Kind of like guildhouses, in a lot of ways. Office complexes fronted them, thronged by clerks and sales-people that ran the day to day and made the money the House needed. In the back they were warehouses and, further out, over the water, sheltered dockhouses where their trading ships were stocked with cargo to send out, or maintained if they needed it. There wasn't much of that going on right now, of course, but the Trading Houses had savings for whenever that happened.
Of course that made selling even harder for her...
"That's the best you can offer?" She laughed, shaking her head and turning to gesture at the Mistralian ship with a hand, "That's a near-mint, military grade interceptor! And its model is only a few years out, too!"
"Yeah, maybe, but that don't help it none." The scale-covered old man grumbled, toying with his wide-brimmed hat while he looked out on the public dock, where ships up for trade were docked to be looked at and walked over. "Military it might be, aye, and I ain't arguin' that. Seen enough of 'em to tell jus' lookin '. But there ain't much market 'round here in Kuo for military ships."
"Not yet there isn't." She wanted to say, biting her tongue and sighing agitatedly before she could.
But Ghira had made it very clear that while they were in talks with Sienna, they didn't want anyone knowing about the problem or them contacting the White Fang. Why they decided on that was fairly obvious, given everything to do with the furry bastards trying to eat everyone.
"Look, I'm just going to need more than fifteen hundred Lien for it, alright?" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose against the building headache. "Can you at least go for seventeen and a half?"
"Nope." The man grunted shortly, eyeing the boat boredly as he spoke, "Best I can do is sixteen. And that's me bein' nicer 'n I oughta, too."
"Fine." She gave up, waving for the man to get it over with. "Sixteen hundred Lien for the boat. But I'm not fixing any of the damage from taking it."
"Didn't expect ya too." The man grunted, turning and heading back into the warehouse. "Wait here, I'll get ya some paperwork and your Lien."
"Yep." She sighed, leaning back against the railing that ran between the two neighboring trading houses at the water's edge.
The old Faunus came back a few minutes later, a small leather pouch of little, plastic cards in one hand and a clipboard of paperwork in the other. She took both without much more than a hum of thanks and leaned against the railing again, filling out the paperwork that transferred the old interceptor over to the Trading House so they could sell it. And probably for more than twice what she'd sold it to them for.
Assuming they didn't just fix it up and use it themselves, of course. Which would completely negate the whole 'I can't sell it for that much' argument. But then, being honest wasn't very profitable. Yay, capitalism…
"Captain Forge." Spark greeted cheerily, if stiffly, as she walked back up the road towards the Belladonna's private docks and the Spirit of Fire where he had been told to meet her. As they walked, he rattled off boredly, "I sold the weaponry to the local guard, as you ordered. They couldn't pay much, but I managed one thousand two hundred for the lot. The surplus supplies we couldn't use also went well. Oddly, for more than the weapons did."
"How much?" She asked with a quiet little sigh and a frown.
"One thousand five hundred, Captain." He answered smoothly, mechanically. She hated it as much as she knew he did, but he was still playing the part of the simple automaton, doing its work for her. "This totals approximately-
"Four thousand three hundred, yeah. I can do math too." Rion cut him off irritably, running her fingers through her hair and growling, "I can't believe you sold the damn food for more than they were willing to even talk about selling a whole damn ship for."
"Oh?" Spark murmured, "And how much was that?"
"...sixteen hundred."
"I'm sorry?"
"Sixteen hundred!" She snapped, shaking her head and murmuring an apology when her synthetic companion flashed a surprised red and raised his mechanical eyebrows at her. "Sorry, I just… Thought that full ship would go for more."
"This is a state at peace." Spark offered simply as they walked, the Faunus still ignoring them outright for the most part. Or, well, at least those that didn't turn glares on them. "Also, well, I did quite a lot of damage to the ship, when I took it. The mast will very likely want to be replaced, as will the sails and the rigging. Also, the entire ship will need to be cleaned and rep-"
"Spark." She grumbled, "Remember the off button idea?"
"I remember that you could not install it if your life depended on it, for more reasons than you not knowing how, yes." He snarked quietly, turning a little smile on her when she raised a challenging eyebrow at him, "But don't worry, I catch your meaning."
"Good." She sighed, "You know why I'm agitated, anyway. Don't you?"
"Mhm." He nodded curtly, summarising the lot of it breezily, even almost flippantly, "You do not know what is happening right now, and have been excluded from the loop of information. Why that would bother you is fairly obvious."
"Yeah, I guess it is…" She sighed as they rounded a corner and came into view of the private docks, just down the main docking area. Several guards were milling about outside the gate onto the dock and, when one spotted her, the others turned to look in her direction as well. Then, together, they all started pushing through the crowd towards her. "Uh, why do I feel like they're coming for me?"
"Because they are, Rion." Spark sighed, folding his hands in front of himself and tutting quietly. "Honestly, you are not the most observant person, are you?"
"Oh, great, snark and a trio of guards coming to maybe arrest me for… Well, something, I guess." Unconsciously, she half-turned to run, instincts screaming against waiting while guards came for her. "Think we should run?"
"Rion, if I believe they have hostile intentions, or you do, then I would sooner kill the lot of them than run." He explained simply and quietly, sounding and looking for all the world like he was explaining the day's weather. "Tell me what to do, Rion."
"...Nothing."
"You're certain?"
"No." But it was too late, sadly, so she shoved down the anxiety and put on as friendly a face as she could manage. Which wasn't much, but hey, she was at least trying. "Need something? I was just headed for my ship to stow some goods and take inventory."
"Chieftain Belladonna sent word to the guards at the docks that he needed you to come see him as soon as your business dealings were finished." The leader Guard, face split by an impressive horn, answered simply. As bad as it was, she couldn't not look at the horn, and the man seemed to know, sighing and going on tiredly, "He said it was urgent, and he apologized for the inconvenience."
"Apologized, but insisted anyway?"
"I'm afraid so." The man drawled, adding a belated, sarcastic, "Ma'am."
With a tired sigh she handed the sack of Lien to Spark, who was much more intimidating than her and so less likely to be pick-pocketed, and turned to head inland, "I guess you can let him know we're on our way then."
"Sure." The man grunted, "Why not?"
'Like it's not literally your job?' She very nearly said, eventually only shrugging and stalking away tiredly.
Even though Ghira hasn't put out any information about the lockdown being held, or Sienna being called, the city was a different beast to how it normally was. The streets were mostly quiet, and oddly empty even if they were still more than thronged with people. Those that were out and about, shopping or headed to or from their jobs, kept their gazes ahead or down. Hell, most didn't even spit at her as she passed by, and that had to spell the end times if nothing else was going to.
And, she noticed, every single weapon, Dust and armor trader was either out of stock, or only selling the lowest grade of wares.
"He's not very subtle about any of this..." She murmured, just loud enough that Spark would hear but not loud enough that anyone seemed to notice. And if they had, then she seriously doubted that they'd know what she meant anyway.
"Preparations need to be made, no matter what happens." Spark answered quietly, thudding along directly behind her so closely that she was sure if he was a normal human instead of a giant Forerunner automaton and she stopped, he'd run into her. "Subtlety and nuance are… Less important than, say, survival."
"I know." She sighed, "It's just…"
"Getting to you?"
"Maybe." She nodded, "Who could ignore the feeling in the air, you know? It's like… Like a storm is coming, and everyone can see it, but they can't do anything except wait for it to hit them and rip the world apart."
"That's… Descriptive." Spark murmured, "And a bit dramatic, too. Have you been taking lessons when I haven't been watching, Rion?"
"Ass." She rolled her eyes, but his words did the trick in spite of her hating it, and she felt a smile tug along her lips. Quietly, as they neared the manor, she asked, "You have a Watcher up, yeah?"
"I do." He answered, "Watching thermals, alternating regulars and cataloguing signatures from both. Mainly looking for anyone I don't see around us."
"Good. Keep at it" She nodded as the Chieftain's Manor came into view, surrounded by men and women of literally every description.
Craftsmen, merchants, and a lot of ship crewmen in a wide swathe of uniforms were milling aimlessly across the, for Kuo Kuana at least, wide plaza that surrounded the manor. A pretty large, again for Kuo Kuana, contingent of guards had surrounded the manor preemptively, but they looked bored. And just as aimless as the people they were watching, too. Hell, a few of them were talking to each other, their polearms slung lazily over their shoulders or leaning against benches.
But then, on the other side of the plaza, she could see a handful of cloaked figures setting up a stage. White Fang… But then, she'd suggested inviting more White Fang, so who was she to be uncomfortable seeing them?
Well, she was a Human facing a large, and soon to be larger, number of Faunus that had a lot of reasons to hate Humans. But also a hypocrite, and that wasn't something she was going to stay. Her father would rise from the grave just to bend her over a knee if she did anything but, after all.
"Ah, Rion, good." She heard as soon as she came through the door, looking up as Khali rushed towards her. She looked… Off, in a way Rion couldn't place. Like she was somehow exhausted to the point of nearly falling over, but at the same time elated, with a spring to her step.
"Missus Belladonna." She smiled, "How are you do-"
"Please do not ask how I am doing right now, Rion, I'm going to need very strong drinks before I can start processing how I am doing right now." Khali rattled off quickly, adding 'bordering on a nervous breakdown' to the long list of things Rion could pick out that were worrying her right now. Taking a breath, the woman waved the whole matter off and said, "Thank you for coming, though. I know you had stuff to get done today, too."
"I did, yeah." She shrugged, "But I got most of it done, and handed the Lien off to Spark."
"Yeah, no one will get near it with him holding it." Khali chuckled, paying the silent machine a long, wary look and then turning to head further into the manor. Waving a hand over her shoulder she asked, quietly, "If you'd follow me? I have someone I want you to meet. Or, well, a couple someone's, actually, but… Well you'll see."
Shrugging, and by now used to being dragged around even if it still agitated her to no, she followed the Faunus.
"I have to warn you ahead of time, she can be… Well, a bit abrasive, sometimes. Especially if she's in one of her bad moods, which she definitely is right now." Khali rattled off as they walked, meandering quickly through the manor's wide, wandering halls. "She hates sailing, and had to sail here, so she's not very happy."
"Yeah, sailing can be… Rough." She chuckled, "Especially when the seas get rough."
"Well, she had to fight a Grimm on the way, too." Khali sighed wearily, "A Sea Dragon, I believe. Those can be tough."
"Sea Dragon?"
"A type of Grimm which dwells in the ocean, capable of breath attacks and flight. They prefer the shallows and lurking among reefs, ambushing passing ships." Spark answered mechanically, no doubt drawing on online resources available in Kuo Kuana. "Eliminating a Grimm of that class is slated as a high tier accomplishment, typically pursued by veteran, highly accomplished teams of Huntsmen."
"Well, she managed it." Khali boasted, smiling in a strangely proud sort of way, "And only with one person helping, too. Or, well, a person and a cannon."
"That's… Impressive." Rion blinked, nodding and adding, "But I guess that's to be expected from the White Fang, right?"
"Come again?" Khali almost squeaked, coming to a sudden stop and turning to look at her, brow raised in confusion. "Who mentioned the White Fang…?"
"I, well…" Rion blinked and crossed her arms, confused herself now, before she shrugged and said, "Well, you said you wanted me to meet someone important enough I needed to come right here. Someone with a cannon too, apparently, that sailed here. So…"
"So you assumed I meant Sienna and her White Fang." Khali huffed, laughing and shaking her head amusedly. Turning to go on, she explained, "No, Sienna will be a few days yet, I'm afraid. She needed to handle a few matters at her base before coming to meet with us, unfortunately, so she's only actually leaving Mistral today."
"Ah."
"And we… May need to send you to meet up with her, to ensure she gets here safely." Khali added nervously, rushing to explain, before she could say anything, "We need to keep our guards here, while we prepare. But there might be Grimm out there, or more worryingly, privateers. And right now, you're the only anti-privateer expert we have."
"I suppose so, yeah." Did one successful fight really make them experts? But then again, Spark could essentially eradicate anyone that didn't see his drones coming. So maybe the point was moot. "When do we leave, then?"
"I don't know yet, unfortunately." She shrugged, "Ghira will, though."
"Alright." She sighed as they reached the door to Ghira's office. Curious, she asked, "If not Sienna, though, then... Who am I meeting, exactly?"
"Oh, I wanted you to come meet Blake and her friend." Khali answered with a wide, warm smile, knocking on the door gently. As familiar footsteps thudded heavily towards it, Khali added, "She's my daughter. Ran off with a terrorist when she was about thirteen, but she's back from Beason now that it's, you know, closed."
"Oh." Rion blinked, "Wait, she did what?"
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The Baz :
Consider for a moment how long it took them to eliminate two of these ships and come home, when they were headed oughly straight to them. About a week, due to a storm and hauling in cargo. Now even if I only assert there are three more such fleets out there, North, South and West of Kuo Kuana, then it is easy to see that they simply can't intercept them all.
Which would mean that the majority of the privateers are free to, unmolested, hamper Menagerie's supplies.
A more solid solution is just necessary. And more permanent, too, since as far as Ghira and Khali would be concerned and know, Rion intends to leave eventually. So even that small counter-action isn't permanent. Whereas a standing defense force would be.
Cool Dude :
Yes! I mean both, more or less, though as an American writing for American made characters, most of my representation of that particular evil of Humanity will be American. Just because I feel better suited to show that.
Rein Tenebres :
Glad you enjoy it!
Combine 117 :
Lol.