Cyclonis was eyeing Hibiki oddly. "Exactly how did you get an entire pirate ship to surrender by yourself, again?"

The tiny vocalist smirked. "Ramiel."

Cyclonis furrowed her brow. "Who or what is that?"

"Basically our sentient death gun, and you're pretty adorable," Hibiki clarified, smirk still firmly in place. And hold up, was that a blush? Cyclonis shook her head, looking over the surrendered pirates. Huh, they looked surprisingly un-shabby for pirates...

Louise placed her hands on her hips, looked down, reconsidered, and crossed them across her bare chest instead. "Okay. I have two requests from you lot. One, I want to see your captain. Two, I want a Founderforsaken shirt." She narrowed her eyes. "And by that I mean GET ME A FUCKING SHIRT!"

A man fled into the bowels of the ship almost immediately.

Ramiel giggled at her side, spinning about and letting out a self satisfied hum at the fact that the sheer terror instilled in these puny humans by her relatively light attack caused them to bow to Louise's will so easily. It idly shifted forms, going from octahedral to a more cuboid shape, then into a dizzying array of spikes and spines, rhomboids coalescing and dissolving until it settled into the shape of a regular dodecahedron, then slid back into its original octahedron shape.

"Don't think you've gotten away with destroying my shirt in the first place," Louise snarled at her hopefully-unperverted familiar. "As soon as I figure out what to punish you with, I fucking will. Got that?"

A F F I R M A T I V E

Ramiel quieted down, suitably cowed by Louise's hellish rage. It continued to spin, quietly though, as if scanning the ship just in case someone tried something stupid.

The man who had fled earlier returned, reverently holding out a puffy, white, and notable male shirt. Louise wrinkled her nose.

"Oh fine," she sighed, donning it while glaring at everyone. "But if anyone makes a classy remark, I will rain down the fiery wrath of the Founder to every single one of you! Got that?"

So focused was she on sniffing out potential Zerbstisms that she completely missed Tabitha's disappointed sigh.

Ramiel, however, did not, and did the verbal equivalent of a sneaky wink at Tabitha in response. Which, really, just ended up being a quiet giggle and a small flash of light off of one of its exterior surfaces. The girl simply looked at the angel oddly.

Moments later, the tense situation was broken and turned thoroughly awkward by the somewhat pompously dramatic arrival of the ship's captain, a blonde man wearing an outfit that seemed more like a pirate costume than an actual pirate's outfit. He kicked open the door to his quarters, wand at the ready and then immediately faltered when he saw Team Nocturne (and Cyclonis), who had their weapons ready the moment he began to make his entrance and was now glowing ominously as if just daring him to do something stupid.

Louise was not impressed. "You're the leader of this merry band of ragtag incompetents? No wonder you surrendered this easily. What's your name, 'pirate'?"

The man faltered even more. "I... must confess to a deception, young noble. I am not a pirate, nor, to be quite fair, is my crew."

The state of unimpressedness had yet to desert Louise. "Sounds like a scoundrel denying to be a scoundrel. Out of sheer curiosity, who is it that you claim to be?"

The man twisted something on his finger, making a ring fade into sight. "I do not claim, fair lady. I am Wales, the Crown Prince of Albion."

There was a pause. Then Louise slowly turned her head to stare at Tabitha. "I refuse to believe that this is that easy."

"Improbable," the other girl replied, "Yet possible."

Her sigh almost a growl, Louise crossed her arms. "Prove it."

Probably not!Prince Wales raised his hands in a placating gesture. "My ring, the Ring of Andvari. It is the Royal Wind Ring of Albion. See it glow faintly? It means another Royal Ring must be nearby. Perhaps one given to an emissary...?"

Almost reflexively, Louise glanced down at her hand, where the Water Ring sat on her finger. Indeed, it glowed with a faint light. Sighing, she stretched her hand out. "Put it next to the one I wear. No tricks."

Maybe!Prince Wales stretched his own hand out, the ring on his hand reacting with the one on Louise's. Both glowed a lot brighter.

Louise sighed in aggravation. "Oh fine. You are the one I was sent to look for. Now..."

Her voice took on a menacing tone. "What in the Founder's name were you thinking, running around as a pirate? You could be killed! Hell, you nearly were killed! By me! The fact that you're still walking around was a fluke! What was going through your mind?!"

Cyclonis, not entirely giving a shit but still realizing the stupidity of what Wales had done, nodded in agreement, her staff still charged up and ready to fire in case anyone got any ideas, or if some other idiots came around while everyone was just standing around awkwardly watching a tiny teenage girl lambast a man who happened to be taller, older, and of higher station than her.

Wales gulped. "It seemed like a good disguise at a time. The Reconquista is busy with their war on us royals. Who'd attack a random pirate ship?"

Louise answered with incoherent sounds of rage. Tabitha, slightly behind her but in full view of Wales, pointed at Louise. A tiny smirk was on her face.

Then she patted Louise on the shoulder. "Mission," she reminded, once again. The amount of tangents her travelling companions could get up to... oh well. Still less than Kirche.

The blue-haired mage's interruption had done wonders to calm Louise's temper to the point she could form words again.

"Right! The mission. From the princess. The mission from the princess. That mission." Louise snapped her fingers and pointed at Wales. "You have a letter from her majesty Princess Henrietta! She'd like it back, please, so that there's no risk of, well… you know what's in the letter and how badly it could turn out for Tristain if it were to fall into the wrong hands."

The man blushed slightly and took a letter from his coat. Wait, seriously? Why was it there? "I keep it above my heart," he said. Oh. "But I can understand why she might want it back. It was foolish of me to keep it in the first place... here."

As he held out the letter, Wardes walked forward. "Let me see that," he said. "It might not be the real thing." And before Wales could voice a protest, he snatched the letter. Walking back, he surreptitiously shot a tiny bolt of lightning from his wand.

Unfortunately for Wardes, the bolt of lightning arced across the air, made a subtle snap-hiss… and struck Ramiel right in its crystalline rear, which, with Ramiel still holding a charge, resulted in an unfortunately large beam of hellfire blasting out of it with an almighty shriek of surprise straight at Wardes, wiping him from existence like a particularly unpleasant stain on an otherwise pristine window.

Even more unfortunate was the fact that both Wales and the entire rear end of the ship were in the path of the destructive blast.

Cyclonis was left staring at the aftermath. It warranted a special kind of reaction, of that her subconscious was sure of. And as such...

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Madness, Cyclo, just plain madness." Hibiki stated.