Bones Hiding in the Closet (Open to 4/Plot)

Groups of lecturers, students and qualified volunteers patrolling the beaches had become a common sight following the death of Mr Arrow. Individuals would sign up at the academy for work and would later be assigned into a squad of four to wander a specific segment of Bellmuse’ many beaches; being paid for their work a small grant of 2000 lien. Kompress was the beach students typically wanted to be assigned, not only was it where the incident had taken place but it was generally regarded as the party-beach for its abundance of amenities. One in particular had become a common stop for the groups following their patrol, that being Creek’s tavern.

The bar was regarded as the best value for money on the island, albeit it also had a rather limited selection of beers and rums. The meals were good though, simple good greasy food… burgers and chips, cheap pub snacks to. Creek believed in good strong drinks with little of the sweetness, many a youth had been laughed out the old pub after asking for the likes of a Strawberry Sunrise. This was an old man's pub, and it showed in the drinks as much as it did the patronage. Many sailors would come to the pub following a long day fishing, most others were retired farmhands.

One would assume the nature of the patronage and the limited selection would turn off most young hunters… but what drew them in was more likely the mystery surrounding that deadly night. Not to mention; Gwyn Ryu had offered a reward for further information and apparently Mr Creek hadn’t spoke. Students were certain he knew something that would bring in lien. Billy had once been a prominent face in the community, often telling tales at the bar, but now his appearances had become more… subdued, and most certainly less common.

Tonight however, as the shattered moon hung high and a party of four made for the tavern, they would find themselves face to face with the ex-pirate Billy Bones Creak. He wouldn’t be surprised by the arrival of a patrol, he would look up from the glass he was polishing and simply nod to them before reaching down to collect a notepad in preparation to take orders.

On this rare night the bar was rather empty, being a tuesday only a retired regular was present… and the less said about the sad look in their eye perhaps the better. Billy was a tall man, but he had aged quite obviously. Wrinkles crowded his face, particularly beneath his eyes and on his forehead, his hair was grey and assumedly hadn’t always been so… but surprisingly his body still had a rather defined musculature. He was big, broad and clearly looked after himself. Billy appeared human, though there was the potential for a hidden tail or minor trait. The bar was quite well decorated, various sailing paraphernalia, like fishing goods and big catches, were mounted near the roof as trophies. All of it was bone or wooden however, there was the likeness of an anchor but no metal anchor in sight. Particularly noticeable was the hanging jaws of a shark above the entrance. Most everything was made of wood, from the two big tables in the room’s centre to the booths to the bar itself and even wooden paneling stretched across the walls. All of it was tinted a cool blue so assumedly it had come from Finnek.

“So, what can I put ya’ll down for?”

Valerie was denying herself most of what she had been trying to do for the past several days simply by being here. If she was being honest with herself, the time she had spent at the hospital was mostly just to cleanse herself of the trauma that her front row seat to the demise of Captain Arrow had caused her, but also bide time while she waited to get an opening into the investigation of Creek. Sure, she was directly defying the will of Mr. Ryu, but she did warn him that she would be inserting herself into the investigation no matter what.

Even more, she had been present with Arrow, she was keeping him alive up until then. She had seen the killers, so it was just plain irresponsible if she ran from this. Valerie was there, Arrow was her patient, and this was her burden from start to finish. Odds are that she was not going to be alone in this, as the case became common knowledge some time ago. Every amateur gumshoe, junior detective, and glory seeking student was going to be here trying to make this their case, but Valerie wasn’t going to be having any of it.

She stopped herself in front of the door to the tavern, clenching her fist as she tried to center herself and gather any inner peace she could before she headed inside. She made sure that she had her gun on her hip just in case. Val didn’t anticipate violence from this encounter, but… just…

You never know…

She took one more breath, before giving herself one job, speaking aloud as she did so.

“Don’t screw up.”

She then pushed the door open and walked her way into the bar. Heading for the bar itself. She was too young for alcohol, but a lot of people around here were. She just flagged old Creek down and pointed at a random soda on the shelf behind the bar, not yet saying a word.

Rika wasn’t the type most would consider signing up for extra-curricular activities, simply because she tended to be too easily distracted for such things.  However, in this case the promise of a potential reward, her own need for money, and the potential to kick bad guy butt had convinced her that the prospect was a good idea.

The bar seemed a good place to look, she’d agreed to the idea that they should seek out Creek, Rika was a stranger to places like this, as well as the beach in general, and thus had followed the lead of the other members of their patrol. One of her squad members seemed to know what she was doing, and Rika followed behind whilst showing her usual lack of subtlety likely attracting more than a bit of unneeded attention both to herself and the group at large.

The pigtailed girl was far less on edge than some may have been and would plop herself down on an empty barstool near the ex-pirate. “Ya got anything sweet?” She asked, not acknowledging that she was considerably younger than legal to drink. As she wasn’t even aware of such laws or restrictions existing.

Sakura was in a rather good mood this particular evening. She had just reconnected with a fellow student and an old friend named Nyx T. Thanatos. It had been a long while since they last met. Sakura was completely relieved that Nyx was doing fine and was making a life for herself. However, Sakura was saddened to hear that her close friend had end up following the path of the Assassin. This was hard for her to bear since she had tried her best to shield Nyx during their time at the Atlach-Nacha facility so that she wouldn't end up as an assassin. Despite of this, Sakura was glad to hear that Nyx had not forgotten how much she had helped her. Nyx had given her a present and some information regarding some rumors that had been floating around on campus.

"Nyx has told me that this bar has the best drinks and food available in all of Bellmuse." Sakura commented to herself as she entered the bar. As she entered the bar, she was surprised by how the bar looked. It was rather quint but has a homey feel to it. After looking around for a bit, Sakura entered the bar. As she entered the bar, Sakura saw a familiar red haired girl. Sakura recognized her as Rika Titania, a girl she met during her tea time in the courtyard of Syne Academy. After identifying her, Sakura then decided to walk up to the red haired girl so that she could say hello.

"Good evening to you, Miss Rika." Sakura greeted the red-haired girl in a very polite and lady-like manner.

For the first time in a long time, Jack found himself losing someone innocent and not being able to do a thing about it. He was there to witness the death of that beached pig guy, but he couldn't chase down someone if they weren't even on the same island. After finding out that others were signing up to patrol the beaches, he couldn't help but join in immediately. If there was nothing else he could do, he could at least help with this. However he couldn't help but constantly think about that night while he walked the same beach. That repeated message from the dying man on the beach talking about Bones. He wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably tonight if he didn't at least go and check up on the guy he mentioned.

Jack stepped into the bar, holding his bat by it's middle in his right hand, which was his way of showing that he didn't intend to use it right this second. Immediately upon entering, Jack regretted walking into the bar. He spotted Valerie, one of the people who witnessed the death on the beach with him, and Rika, someone he was already familiar with. He didn't really want to get involved now, seeing how someone cheerful had already arrived and somebody more focused than he was also there. Before he tried to leave, he accidentally made eye contact with the bartender. He cursed under his breath, realizing it'd be kind of weird for him to leave now.

He took a seat next to Rika, preferring to be around someone he knew a little instead of alone or worse, next to the guy he was trying to check on. When the bartender spoke to him, he'd just say, "Just... somethin'. Nothing expensive." After this, he'd nod to Rika as a greeting, not saying anything else for now. For the moment, he'd just wait for an interaction between Bones and the others to begin, memorizing whatever words would be exchanged.

As Creak turned to the shelf, reaching up and grasping for a bottle of what looked to be lemon flavoured Soda for the pair of faunus, the marks on the back of his hands would be shown to the group. It was just general scar tissue, looking to have originated from lacerations and maybe some minor burning; most notable was the line that ran across the centre digits on his right hand (top digit on his pinky, the nail seemingly lost). He undid the top with his bare hands, placing the bottles down before Valerie and Rika before placing the caps in a container (filled with other pieces of junk metal). He placed two half-pint glasses down next to the bottles, the drink was entirely non alcoholic. The bottles looked to be quite dusty, it was apparent that non-alcoholic drinks weren't particularly common in the Tavern... judging by these bottles though, even mixers looked to be abnormal.

He would look to the group, gritting his teeth for a moment and frowning as he did the mental maths, "Call it one hundred lien each, as for you lad; you'll need to show me some ID if drink is what ya want. That means ya wull have to take awf that mask 'ae yours." He awaited the payment, running a hand through his beard as he began to spin a tale; "Had a bloke try tae order in full plate mail, the other day, refused tae take his helmet awf. Putt the bevvy doon in front ae 'em, he had tae take his helmet awf, and ye should'a seen the crop ae' pimples! Swiped it oot fae under the bairn, ya shouldae seen his face!" The old pirate deeply laughed, slapping the bench before himself; the force could be seen as somewhat impressive, the glasses not only on the bench but behind him shook. He brushed a tear from his eye; "Ahck aye, aye... so, how wis there much oot tonight or naw? See anythun, interstun? Been quiet fer weeks, I hopped oot the bar fae a while but... seems calm now ae?"

What he had said was true, things had been much quieter following the Death of Captain Arrow. He was a man Billy "Bones" Creak apparently knew, as well as one Barbecue Black Silver.

Valerie read the room a bit. It was solemn and calm, it almost made her want to relax a bit and just take some time to just stay at the bar and chat for a while, but that wasn't going to happen, not tonight at least. The best she could really hope for at this point was that the air or calm would not dissipate. As she looked around the room, the hesitance would be seen in her eyes by anyone empathetic enough to take notice, but she looked back at the old timer relatively quickly.

Valerie dragged her credit card out and placed it on the bar. Recent events had left her flush with cash, more than she knew what to do with. She slid the card forward on the table, "Drinks will be on me tonight."

It seemed like a half-decent waste of lien, better than most of what she could be doing with it anyway. She grabbed the bottle, and dusted it off, glancing at the glass. She didn't really feel like making dishes for Creak, so she elected to just drink from the bottle instead, nodding her thanks before taking a sip.

When she set the bottle down, her wings curled around her shoulders a bit, forming a bit of a cover while taking up less space. At least Creak didn't seem to be prejudiced against her. She did eye the scars on his hands suspiciously, her medical background letting her gauge it a bit. The scar was straight and clean, reminiscent of a cut made by a blade, though accidents can happen in the kitchen so jumping to conclusions was not for the best.

"Calm..." she echoed. "Yes. Given recent events on the beach, calm would be the operative term for tonight I suppose." She mulled around the subject a bit, almost tiptoeing to keep things civil, but she remembered what Arrow had said that night. Creak knew more than he let on with the police.

"Must have been very sharp." she said as she looked up from her bottle. Valerie specified a bit, realizing that she had been vague. "The blade that cut your hand. Excuse me, I'm a medical major, so it's a habit to make note of scars and marks from time to time. Kitchen knife, garden knife, or...?" She led on a bit, trying to sound innocent and doing her best not to be accusatory. She was young after all, so she hoped that the man wouldn't take her words too deeply.

The pigtailed girl returned the greeting enthusiastically while the bartender went about his business, remembering their meeting. Though she was quickly distracted again when the bartender brought her and Val their drinks.

Her blue eyes widened when the old pirate brought up the price for the drinks, realizing she didn't have any money on her. She frantically checked her pockets and began searching her clothes despite knowing full well that she had none of the required funds. The thought hadn’t even occurred to the pigtailed girl. When the other faunus said she was paying, the redhead let out an audible sigh of relief. “Thanks!” The old man talked kinda funny, but Rika knew that she wasn’t necessarily one to judge on that subject, given how many people had said similar about her.

Her attention returned to Creek as she took a drink of the soda. Nodding with Val’s answer to the question before adding her own response.  “Yeah, been boring, lotsa sand an’ stuff…. nothin’ interestin’ or nothing though.” She didn’t really get what Val was seeing with the guy’s scars, but she didn’t know much about medical stuff.

Instead a different fact had been caught by the pigtailed huntress about the old pirate that seemed somewhat strange, one she verbalized with her usual tact. “Ya know, your pretty tough for a geezer.” The pigtailed girl pointed out, frowning a bit. “don’t think Bartendin’ makes ya that strong…” She added. She wouldn’t have thought a random pirate would keep up with the type of conditioning that the strength he displayed required.

Jack's shoulders tensed up as Creak told him he'd need to show some I.D., and he definitely wasn't willing to take off his mask in public like this.  At the same time, he didn't want to cause any trouble for the guy, since he seemed like a decent enough person.  "Well, I can lift it up a little bit, but you're not going to see anything above my mouth.  Plus, I don't have any I.D. on me.  If that's going to be an issue, you can just give me the same stuff as them.  Wouldn't want you to lose your job just because I didn't show you a driver's license or somethin'."  He lifted his mask up to reveal his mouth and a few scars could be seen on his chin and jaw, but nothing else.  After this, he'd turn to the kind soul who offered to pay."Thanks, by the way."  

Taking a look at Valerie, he couldn't help but feel a bit of concern for her.  Out of all the people that were there to witness the horror on the beach, she seemed to be the most affected by it.  He couldn't imagine that it was easy to come back to the same beach.  Jack wouldn't ask her about it, though.  He wasn't sure how she'd respond to questions about her mental health, but he didn't think that there would be a positive reaction.  

He wouldn't say much else to the bartender.  Jack wasn't really the best at interrogating or getting information out of anybody in general, so he figured he'd leave this to the others and listen to what they'd say instead.  As he listened, he couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about Valerie's mentioning of the bartender's scars.  Of course, he had no problem showing some of his, but he felt uncomfortable asking others about theirs.  Some scars have stories, and many people who bear such scars would like to forget the history they hold.

This uneasiness was subdued when Rika started to speak to the guy, her happier attitude heavily contrasting the subject of scars.  Plus, since what she said was a compliment, he had the feeling that Creak would be less hesitant to speak to her.  Knowing Rika, however, Jack had the feeling that she wasn't asking about how tough he looked to get information.  If anything, he figured that she was just being nice.  If that was the case, he doubted that she'd ask very many more useful questions.

Sakura let out a smile as she watched Rika reply enthusiastically to her greeting. Soon after, Sakura sat down in the stool next to Rika. As she did so, she placed the case which held her Aegis MK 10s down next to her before greeting the bartender. He was currently in the process of serving Valerie and Rika their drinks. Sakura waited until he had served them before greeting him.

"Good Evening to you, Sir." Sakura greeted in a rather formal fashion. Sakura had been taught to be an extremely polite and lady-like teenaged girl by her parents. As she waited for his reply, Sakura began going over the information that Nyx had provided her about the bartender.

The man was quite muscular and had the look of a man who had experienced a lot throughout his life. In addition to this, Sakura caught a glimpse of some of his scars. According to the information she received from Nyx, the bartender had been through a lot. So far, Nyx information on the guy was correct. However, Sakura was the type who preferred to make her own determinations on a person's character.

The old man scratched his head at the lukewarm reaction from the crowd, reaching up to fetch the masked-man a bottle of the lemon soda; cracking the lid, setting out a glass and again storing the cap in a sealed container. Seeing the man's chin and scars he squinted but as he seemed to be the only one enjoying his joke he opted not to push. As the pink haired girl introduced herself Creak would bow, far too seriously and much too fast; it almost looked as though he'd hit his head on the bar. He would then speak in a much more controlled tone, without a speck of slur nor slang; "And a good evening to you Madam. I hope this eve finds you well?"

As he rose, hearing the question about his scars, he shook his head and returned to his jovial tone. Taking the girl's card he charged her, "Nah nah, wisnae so tekul as that. Let's see here..." He placed his right hand down on the bar before them, the lines clear on his fingers and an amorphous red mark on the back of his palm. "Least impressive ae the lot; the cuts along ma fingers wiz a clatterin' fae the cap'n. Cutlass swing, as he wis prone to. He like to gae us bairns a good smack every noo and then. The burn though, now that's a good 'un. Dust load'it cannon, just 'bout lost ma hand tae that one... would ae lost ma head had a not though." He flipped his hand over, revealing a deep crevice running through it's centre; "That's ma lifeline, shows ya why am so youthful, a wis enough ae a twit tae try'un catch a sword on a raid. Didnae need a second tellin' not tae but hey, I'll git some extra years oot it!" He beamed to the group.

Suddenly a wrinkle would appear on the man's nose, a cunning grin overcoming him, he turned away from the group and stroked his chin. "Noo, let's see here. I think it's time fur some ae the magic." He took a long, hard, sniff of the air before turning and looking directly at the red haired Rika; "Now lass, ye would'nae happen to have dust on ye, would ye? Specifically ae the water variety? If a had tae bet, which I dinne, I'd say it's crystaline form...?" He took another long hard sniff; looked to the girl with wings. "Aww, now this is a chance tae show awf. Bairns I havnee looked at yer weapons but, I ken that this lass is packin' heat. Thirteen... fourteen... fifteen, yeah, fifteen bullets on 'er she has. A think they pierce awfee deep to, no? Specifically made tae." He grinned wide, light reflecting off a single golden tooth near the back right of his mouth, tapping his nose. "Ye cannae hide much fae me, I'm auld and wise as they say!"

He would laugh at such a notion for a bit, banging out an earthquake on the bar again, before breathing a sigh and standing back up straight. "Look bairns, I ken whit you ken. Av had so many ae you students through here. That... Gwyn Ryu, dinnae think I don't hear the news eh? I ken whit some ae ye will want me tae do, but tae be honest I dinnae trust that reekbeek goon. It isnae fur anythin' he's done, naw he's bin braw up at the academy, but he isnae really... he's... he's a tad perplexin'. I dinnae know how much he'd let oot at once, I'll leave it ae that." He seemed to struggle to say that, scratching his head and grinning like a buffoon; "As fir the information you kids are seeking well... if ye can convince me I might ge ye enough tae green yer pockets, he's offerin' a pretty penny fae information ain't he? Well, get on it, give me a good reason tae."

He'd cross his arms, waiting to hear a response. He was like a weird grampa dealing with teenagers who probably didn't think he was cool anymore.

Valerie listened to the stories attentively, wondering if he was a pirate or a privateer, From the sound of the abuse, she could assume that pirate was the way to lean on this one. Then the old man began to flex his abilities a bit, and rattled out details on a few of their weapons. Instinctively, Val grabbed the handle of her weapon to make sure that nothing had happened to it to give him that information.

It was still there.

She eyed him nervously as she returned her hand to the bottle. Valerie was confused, but not all that convinced that his knowledge was a factor of his age. She was a woman of science after all, so to believe that he could have that knowledge supernaturally on account of his age was preposterous.

She thought on it for a while, before the man began speaking directly about the events of the recent weeks. He spoke about Gwyn, about his distrust for him, he spoke about a reward for the information that they could gather from him. Her brow furrowed until her gaze dropped, and her face lost expression.

"I..." He talked about trust. "I.." He talked about being convinced. "I....."

But he just seemed to be like the rest of them.

Valerie stood up quickly, slamming her hands on the bar. "I don't give a damn about the money, you old blackheart! I was there that night! I saw that man, bleeding, broken and crippled on the channel!" Her eyes flashed purple as her temper flared up.

She looked almost on the verge of tears as she leaned over the bar. "I. Was with him! I tried to help him, to keep him alive. I did my best. Do you hear me? I did everything that I could. We all did."

She pointed at Jack then. "He was there, before he was even a student here. I remember it, everything from that night. His name was Arrow. Captain. Arrow. He told us who he was. He told us what he remembered. Names, events, everything he remembered."

She paused for a moment as she looked down at her shaking hands. "There was a mutiny on the Hispaniola.  Barbeque at the helm, flanked by Livesly and Hawkins." The words echoes behind her own in her ears, as she recalled every detail. "They are coming for the Captain's loot in force. Warn Billy Bones Creek, tell him Captain Arrow is here and--"

Val paused for a long while, very long. "Then nothing... In a flash, dust. And the worst part? He saw it coming, the shot. He knew it was over, that he was dead before he even fell. I saw that ship, that behemoth. I saw the man with the limp..."

By this time, the tears had already fallen down her face as she spoke, but it was evident that she was coming down from her anger. "I'm sorry.... I couldn't... I..."

She sat down, running her hands through her hair as she gripped her head. "Please... I don't want anyone else to die. Not if we can stop it. If we can just do... something!" She sits in silence from then as she tries to regain her composure.

"I am doing quite lovely this evening." Sakura replied in a polite tone as she smiled at the bartender. The bartender's response to her greeting was somewhat surprising. The bartender bowed in an extremely serious and fast fashion. The bartender's head nearly hit the counter of the bar. After bowing, the bartender then straightened up before answering Valerie's question about his scar. The bartender then replied in an extremely jovial tone.

The bartender then began recounting about how he got those scars. He started speaking in a rather unusual dialect which she hadn't heard before. It took Sakura some time to fully understand what the bartender. Sakura couldn't help by giggle in a lady-like manner as the bartender recounted his the stories from his previous occupation. From these stories, Sakura couldn't help but think that the bartender was a pirate or something like that. Soon after this, the bartender then began talking about recent events. In particular, he was talking about the announcement that Gwyn Ryu made some time back. In addition to this, the bartender began talking about his mistrust with him. However, Sakura's attention was soon directed towards Valerie who let out an angry outburst. Sakura then looked past Rika and towards Valerie. Sakura saw that tears were running down her face. Sakura then responded by getting up and walking up to Valerie in a concerned fashion.

"Pardon me for my intrusion. Are you alright, Miss Valerie?" Sakura asked in a polite manner as she took out a pink handkerchief from her jacket pocket and handing it to Valerie in an very concerned yet caring manner.

Rika's expression changed at Val's rant, realizing that she herself had been thinking of the money. While the pigtailed girl had seen most of the announcement herself, the fact was she hadn't really thought much about the implications of somebody dying. The fact that Val had seen it and was affected by it only made her feel guiltier.
It wasn’t like she was doing anything bad, after all the pigtailed girl had still wanted to stop the bad guys. Was she being selfish? If one were paying attention they’d notice her normal cheerfulness fade a bit before suddenly reigniting as a revelation occurred to her.

She shook her head, deciding not to think about it before her face became one of determination. She’d just have to make sure they could stop whatever it was that was going to happen. To the pigtailed girl the only option was to

“Alright ya ol’ coot, whatcha want us to do?” The pigtailed girl leveled her gaze at him, determination shining. “Ya wouldn’ta said nothin’ If you didn’t already want somethin’ after all.”

Jack watched with a sad expression behind his mask, knowing the pain behind what Valerie was trying to say, but his expression turned into one of shock as she suddenly shouted at Creek. He was in awe, not wanting to stop her from yelling at the guy, but still worrying about her at the same time. After she finished, Jack contemplated putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to support her, but settled on leaving her alone, his hand falling to his side. He was sure that the last thing she would have wanted was to be comforted by a chicken-masked maniac with a bat.

"Sorry, man. Witnessing Arrow's death was tough. Please, just tell us whatever you can, alright? Unlike most people, I'm sure it's safe for me to assume that we're not doing this for the money." Although Jack would normally be happy to accept money for helping out with something like this, at this point accepting a reward for doing what felt like the right thing would make him feel disgusting. You shouldn't have to be paid to avenge a death, or to prevent more from happening.

After saying this, he turned his head slowly to look at Rika who, as usual, didn't seem to pick up on the situation. He'd usually be fine with it, knowing that this is just how she talks to people, but Jack couldn't help but feel irritated with her for once. Then again, he wasn't sure what else would have made sense for her to say. Despite this, he'd be staring her down until something else caught his attention.

Billy raised a brow; "Ye appear tae have misunderstood whit I wis sayin'. I don't care fir whit reason ye dae it, tell Gwyn if ye want, 'prolly be gid fae the island if ye did, but yer gonna huv tae convince me tae talk. Am nit gonna just spill me guts, at least missus here is gi'in it a go." He pointed to Valerie before disappearing under the bar, drew up a bottle of dark brow-black liquid; collecting a half pint and pouring it full. The smell was strong, clearly rum, but it was... it was almost enough to water eyes. It did not seem fit for consumption, it seemed more suited to powering a car. He didn't seem to have a problem with the smell however however, resealing the bottle and taking a sip. "Callin' me a Blackheart, after I dae ye magic and share me stories. I invite ye openly intae ma tavern, act a gid host, and ye wound me so? Startin' tae bawl affor me, breakin' ma black heart? Turn't me tae the bevy ye have. I can only drink sae much ae this, who kens, maybe drunk me'll loosen their lips aye?" He gave a wink; "After all, they'd be right peeved if I telt ye all stuff I didnae tell em."

"I didnae ken Arrow well bit he wis another lower deck hand, afor he became Cap'n's favourite, whit little I did ken ae him he wis a hackit and clipe tube ae a man. Always runnin' tae auld Flynt, tellin' him I'd took fae Barbecue. You'll ae heard 'bout Barbecue eh? That big speech Ryu gave, tae think that twit has gut so big... tae big fae his britches. And he wis already plenny big back then. He git that name cause he wis the cook ya see, wis the only thing he could really cook though... ask him fae rice? He'd prob'ly burn it. Well... maybe that's just cuz he didnae like me." Creak seemed to ponder this for a second, take another sip and shudder. "Well... go on, convince me tae bevy ye Doaties. Ask me questions ye nitwits. Honestly, I've git half a mind tae stop at that. Yer all nae gid at askin' me to tell ma stories. Whit dae ye wanna ken?"

Valerie took quite some time to listen as she came down from whatever it was that just overcame her, and in time she began to feel so silly for having exploded like that in the first place. She graciously accepts the handkerchief "Thank you."

She blots the moisture from her face and sets the cloth on the bar in front of her, but doesn't look up for some time. The gears in her head were turning, and she thought about what was so different about her since before she came here, since before all of this began to happen. She thought back on her last moments with Ormu, and the man she'd killed without hesitation when he threatened her, even when she was broken. Val looked back at Rice, who left everything behind when the going got tough.

He was weak.

He was weak, and I have been too.

The exact words she had said to him, said to Ishi, made her a hypocrite now. Where she pretended to be her best, she was holding herself back... and it made her sick. 'We live for the people that fall, we don't give up because they're gone.' Arrow's life mattered, but at the same time, it didn't. He was gone now, but... he died to warn him, and warn us in the process.

Valerie pushed the chair back and stood up again. She would NOT be talked down to by this man, and she would NOT tolerate his smug demeanor anymore. She looked up at him with something ignited behind her eyes. "You are a Blackheart because even though you know that this is serious, deadly serious, and lives are at stake, you still would have us jump through hoop after hoop for what could potentially be the saving factor of the island. I lost my composure there, for sure, but don't think that I didn't mean every word that I said."

Val looked around the room briefly, just trying to gauge everyone's feelings so far. "Fine. I'll play ball. You were pirates, the three of you served under Captain Flint, but that's hardly enough to sail a ship. How many of you were there?" Valerie thought about it for a moment as well. They were pirates after all, criminals. This man was a criminal at one point.

"And for that matter, how have you managed to remain in Bellmuse for so long without your bounty getting clocked in?"

“Aw come on Val, he’s a geezer.” Rika said, thinking on her own experience with old men, especially when the retired from some exciting profession. “Old guy jus’ wants an excuse ta go talkin’ bout the old days…sides’ it aint like we got nowhere else to be.”

The Pigtailed girl could understand why Valerie was upset but something told her that insulting the guy probably wasn’t the best way to go about this. She could tell the other girl had some issues, but Creek hadn’t been completely against talking. Which Rika took as a sign that he likely would…especially given how strong that drink smelled. She frowned at the scent, that stuff couldn’t really taste good, nothing that smelled that bad could. She didn’t really get it, but she did think it would only help them. After all Siegfried had always talked more when he was drunk, so maybe it was like that for all old guys.

The pigtailed girl frowned realizing something about the old guy, especially given his current profession. “Hey, why didja end up here anyways? They kick ya out because you were too old or somethin’?” The pigtailed girl made a show of looking around the tavern before continuing. “This place don’t look very excitin’ or nothin.”

She didn’t get why anyone would leave an exciting life like what the old pirate had mentioned already for something so boring, especially since he still seemed plenty strong enough still. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rika still was a bit excited, she always used to love the stories that Siegfried would tell her, and this guy probably had some good ones too. It would be easy to read these emotion on the expressive redhead’s face, especially through her terrible attempts to hide the excitement.

They’d get to the reason they were here eventually, why not listen to the old guy for awhile first.

"Miss Valerie. I am on the side of Miss Rika. Mister Creak has been kind enough to tell us stories about his past. it would be disrespectful to interrupt him." Sakura commented in a polite fashion. Sakura was in agreement with Rika on this one. Rika had a point. It would be more productive to let Creak continue to talk about his past as it might provide them with he information they need.

"I deeply apologize for my fellow huntress' rudeness, Mister Creak. I hope that you can forgive her as she has been through a lot in recent days." Sakura added in an extremely polite and formal tone. Sakura had heard about what happened from Nyx who had received information on the matter from her information network. She could imagine herself in Valerie's shoes. Sakura would have acted the same way if she had seen what Valerie had seen. However, Valerie's outburst had the potential to cause problems in their attempt to achieve what they are trying to achieve. Sakura then paused for a moment before speaking once more.

"I have one humble request, Mister Creak. I would like to hear more of your stories. I find them extremely interesting." Sakura added in an extremely polite tone. She had found the stories that Mister Creak were telling extremely interesting and she wanted to hear more.

For a minute, Jack wasn't exactly sure what it is he should say or do in this situation. Everything about this made him really uncomfortable. He wasn't used to being around emotional people or getting information out of anybody, and this was an extreme version of both of those things. He did have to do something though. He did his best to try and read the room, the emotions on everyone's faces, and their body language. While he did this, a thought occurred to him. This was the first time Jack's ever really witnessed someone acting like this, and part of it was pretty confusing.

The way Valerie changed her mood so incredibly quickly didn't really add up to him, and he tried his best to figure out what was going on. If she was really distressed to the point he thought she was a minute ago, she wouldn't have been able to calm down this quickly. Was it an act? A way to interrogate someone? As she looked around, Jack met her gaze and, under his mask, he grinned. He wanted to play along.

"Listen. Not all of us here are gonna be nice with you just because you've got info. Right now, not telling us what we need to know is putting others in danger, and I really, really don't want to treat you like every other dangerous person. Listen to her and help us out." As he spoke, he let his bat slide down a bit until his right hand had a firm grip on the handle in an attempt to intimidate the guy.

He clutched his hands over his wounded chest, letting out a low gasp; "Blackheart 'gain? Ye wound me so! But three times is pro'lly one tae many, might wannae find a knew wan." He took a quick sip of the rum, again... the stench was abominable. He looked to the masked man; "Err... it's a bit hard tae be demandin' dressed like that lad. I'm already givin' you all mare than I gave the poliss, I'll take ma time and dae it as a please." He gave a small slightly stern, nod before facing one of their companoins. "Alright. First awf, little reed-heed, have you nae bin readin' the news? If ya did you'd ken, as Gwyn Ryu said, that Barbeque wis pardoned as a result of the crew's service. He wisnae the only wan, all of us were but Cap'n Flynt himself. He, by his own volition, marooned himsel' on an island and assumedly starved tae death... I 'hink he took it 'oer life in prison. However, the last action of the Cap'n and crew wis to bestow a grand fortune upon Bellmuse. I recieved a further pardon than the rest, on the groonds that ah wis to defend the fortune and see tae it that it wisnae misused... that and maybe me bein' stolen helped. Still dae guard that loot tae this day."

He grinned, full of pride, clearly flexing his muscles in a cross-armed stance. This made it clearer, the power he had... it wasn't just him showing off, he put it to some sort of use. By the look in his eyes and the volume of rum remaining, it was clear the man was lightly buzzed. "In fact... lemme show ya somethin'." He vanished beneath the counter and slowly emerged with a smile on his face, hiding his right hand. Slowly he raised it from beneath, first what looked to be a wooden handle emerging... then it gave way to two long wooden rows of spikes on a flat piece of wood... then it was discovered that, at the tip, the two rows met. This was a sword forged from the bones of a creature not native to Bellmuse waters, this was a sword made from the saw of a sawfish. None of it was metal, it's handle but filled bone with old rope wound around it. It measured two meters long, was a light brown in colouration, and he had no issue holding it with a single hand. There was no dust on it... had it been out recently? He smiled; "This lil' wan has helped me see awf most ae ery'wan. The sight ae her's enough tae sent maest intae shock." He rested the weapon in the crook of his shoulder, spikes dangerously close to his neck.

"Now tae you pinky... maer ah me stories eh? Hmm... ah wull, I could tell ye ae the Cap'n, Argyle as he wis back then. Just as Arrow wis, he started oot as a privateer. In the wake ae the Great War, wae no one left tae fight, a number ae soldiers turned to banditry and thus piracy. Argyle Flintlock, citizen ae Bellmuse... back when it wis much smaller, fightin' awn the side ae Beacon. Usin' he's tact wi dust tae use whit little they had. I 'hink I corrupted that old sod, when he met me as a bairn." He grinned even wider, as though reflecting on cherished memories. "I wanted tae be a hunter ye see, first true hunter ae Bellmuse, so I'd got ma aura unlocked. Ma semblance manifested wi' the loss ae ma smell, and in it's place at first wi focus but now aw natural like, I could smell dust, an gold, an silver, an diamonds, an awl the metals Anythin' worth anythin', I could smell it. Well... 'pon meetin' me he darn near kidnaped me! Ah wis sixteen at the time! Ma Maw wis terrified... wis that maybe his first act ae piracy? He stayed a privateer fae a couple maer years but... ah guess ah wis tae enticin'! He wis soon pilagin' and lootin' aw the fancy ships, fae Atlas tae Mistral tae Bellmuse awn. I wis the navigator, took me a while tae get braw at it tho. He took Barbeque as cook fae a similar reason... that man's semblance, it can dae a ton useful tae a pirate. Even if he always just have that one leg..."

He looked back to Valerie, "I guess ah kinda already answered yer second question, that bein' due to the gift the auld Cap'n gave tae the island. As fer how many ae us there were... could'nae be mare than... hundert? Maybe much less, been years ye ken? Awl of us would be dead bit me though, well me an' seemin'ly Barbeque. I dinnae remember squat about the other names that Gwyn gave... dinnae think they were on the crew, some blokes called Hawkins and Livesly wis it? Ah wis the youngest awn the ship after all, ah should be the last tae go. The White-Warus she wis called... guess she's goin' by the name His... Hispi... Hispaniola now, whit a stupid name... ah can hardly say it. She wis decked out wi the best dust cannons ae the time, blasin' fire and electric like it wisnae nothin'."

Valerie glared at Sakura for a moment, but only to reinforce her act a bit. In reality, it was relatively easy for her to hold her tongue here, those two were playing their part pretty well in the grand scheme of this, even without knowing what they were doing. Perhaps, because of it? No matter the correlation, they were making progress, though she was unsure how directly threatening him was to go over if Jack's 'subtlety' had been any indication.


Regardless of that, the old timer had made a bit of a show of of ducking behind the bar to grab something, only to return but a few moments later with a weapon. Valerie appraised the weapon slowly with her eyes, evaluating every inch of the item as she scanned it. The spikes that lined it made her shudder at the thought of that cutting through flesh, a weapon sure to cause a slow, excruciating demise. She couldn't help but mumble a backhanded remark. "Why not? Because sadism seems to be the flavor of the evening."

In a moment's notice, all of her positive feelings toward Arrow were gone, save that he had done SOME good in his last moments. It quickly became apparent to Valerie that she had said that earlier remark out loud, which she quickly looked sidelong and, instead of trying to cover for it, reinforced it with another mumbled additive of "Damn pirates..."

Though something that he'd said about the treasure did catch her attention. She thought on it and wondered where in Bellmuse that someone could stash a literal fortune and not have it vanish in the blink of an eye. She did want to know, but bit her tongue as it was quite soon after her snarky insult to be a wise decision.

“I read some of it!” She exclaimed, not willing to admit she’d gotten distracted less than halfway through the main events regarding the Gwyn Ryu’s announcement. She listened to the man’s story nodding, not really understanding much of the historical significance. As the pigtailed girl’s knowledge of The Great War came down to that there was one, and that was pretty much it. Still it did make for an interesting story, though she felt bad for that captain guy, though the guy must have been a jerk if he’d kidnapped Creek when he was a kid.

Rika wouldn’t have noticed Creek’s level of intoxication, largely due to her inexperience with alcohol, though she understood what the end state could be if the ex-pirate were to drink further. But when he revealed the large unusual looking sword her eyes widened. Not with fear however and the redhead needed no encouragement to vocalize her thoughts on the weapon, largely not noticing Val’s comment or reaction to the sawed blade. “That’s awesome, where’d ya get somethin’ like that? Aint seen no fish like that before!” The pigtailed girl didn’t really think much on the prospect of being on the receiving end of such a weapon, the thought never coming into her mind.

The continuation of the story only further entertained the energetic redhead, and she had to wonder at the old man’s semblance. She didn’t think she’d like to lose her sense of smell, but she guessed it could be useful. She had to wonder at something he’d said though. “Hey what is Barbecue guy’s semblance?” She asked, thinking that might be useful with the bounty on him.

Shortly after this question another thought occurred to the redhead as the man addressed Val. “Wasn’t there another name, there White wig or somthin’?” She remembered something about that but couldn’t really recall, as it had been after she’d largely gotten distracted from the broadcast.

"You are correct, Miss Rika. Mister Gwyn's announcement did mention the name of White-Wig." Sakura commented as she thought about all the information that they had heard so far. From what the now drunken Mister Creak had told them, He was part of the crew of the Hispaniola back when it was called the White Walrus. Also part of the crew were Captain Flynt, Arrow, and Barbeque. In addition to this, Hawkins and Livesly were also supposedly part of the crew. However, there was no mention of White-Wig in all of this. Sakura then started wondering if the names White Walrus and White Wig could be related.

"Pardon me for asking, Mister Creak. Did the White Walrus have a nickname that you used amongst yourselves?" Sakura asked in a polite tone. She had decided to ask this question to see if her hunch had any merit. Even if the question didn't get the result that she wanted, it could help Sakura and her fellow hunters/huntresses figure out who or what this White-Wig was.

As Creek pulled out the sawfish sword, Jack couldn't help but chuckle almost inaudibly at the weapon. Something about it just sort of felt... humorous to him, and he almost couldn't believe that it's been used without breaking in the middle of a fight. After letting himself be amused for a moment, he'd bring his attention back to Creek and his tales, only to be amused by another thing. Smelling metal and dust? It had to be the most boring semblance Jack had ever heard of, and he was starting to respect this guy a lot less because of it.

What was making him lose the most respect for this guy was the nearly worthless information he was giving the four of them. So far, he couldn't really do anything with what he was being told in these stories. Jack's fists tensed up a bit, and his grasp on his bat tightened. He wasn't planning on attacking this guy, but this certainly could be a lot more productive, and he was getting pretty pissed about how little progress they were making. If this guy was giving them more information than what he gave the cops, then for once, he actually felt bad for the pigs. Jack sighed and waited for more valuable information to be provided.