282/A Privateering We Will Go

A Privateering We Will Go
Date of Scene:	22 August 2023
Location:	Clover Tower
Synopsis:	The Dread Pirate Jolly Roger catches up with Hannah after the attempt on her life, while the latter fruitlessly searches for her Uncle. A bargain is struck, and Jolly gets a friend and a letter of Marque.
Cast of Characters:	Hannah Steiner, Erika Shimizu

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Hannah Steiner has posed:
The Clover Tower is an excellent observation point, if one has the capacity to reach its' top! Luckily for the growing population of Tokyo's magical population, by flight, float, or crook, it's something many can lay claim to!

One of those happens to be Hannah Steiner, or more accurately Tragar des Blauer Greif, as she and her beloved companion Lyra float atop the thing, soon using Fluss: Anlocken to create a vaguely standable area atop the Tower for both parties.

So much as Hannah's in love with theatrics, after being dragged out of a quite literal Depression Shower by her wonderful room mate, she's decided to pour her morass of feelings into something productive.

Currently, most of that 'productivity' is trying to find her traitorous Uncle all with the very toxic desire to claim his neck. Hannah's not one to generally pursue vengeance on a petty scale. She's willing to let the shifting sands of politics run their course, and has always loved people in general. But this wound already is festering, and the attempt on her life has only made it /ache/!

It's difficult to forgive your parents' killer. The normally bright Steiner heir taps her cane on the gravity-forged 'platform', and mentally gives her Device a command.

Nothing. She has her Uncle's vitals. But doesn't know his magical signature, because he was never once granted a Linker Core. Just another mundane. But with his new ally? Obfuscation is key.

And leads into Hannah's frustration as first an Area Search in Belkan style, followed by a Wide Area Search?

Nothing. Again and again, nothing, until she's sweating at her brow from exertion.

<Mein Herrin...>

"Noch einmal, verfluche dich!"

'Again, curse you!'

Her words catch the wind as supremely oddly accented German. Her magical efforts are immense despite their futility, if one somehow manages to miss her rage while out on patrol!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    You know what Jolly Roger can't do? She can do many things; steer a ship, fight youma, excel in PE class, and such but one thing she cannot do?
    The pirate cannot FLY.
    Which means her approach is fairly obvious when the Clover Tower elevator kicks to life, opens with a soft ~ding~, and then footsteps can be heard clunking up the stairwell to reach the very top of the tower.
    It is not a subtle arrival, but sometimes it's necessary to throw subtlety to the wind and hoist the black flag...
    There's also no missing the soft whistle of a merry tune as the door to the top of the tower swings open and a figure stands silhouetted in the darkness of the shadowy doorway, green eyes practically glowing as they lock onto the lone occupant of the tower top.
    "Ye don't think this is a little cliche, lass?" The pirate-themed magical girl asks, lips spreading into a wry grin. "Secret meetings by midnight atop high places just ain't my style." She notes, remaining right where she is in the shadow rather than fully step out into the moonlight.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
The dramatics in that entrance is, well, normally something Hannah appreciates. A Steiner is supposed to be loud, proud, outgoing, and the biggest voice in the room at any and all times. And if someone else one ups things? Well, escalation is a watchword on Tharkad.

The 'ping' has Hannah whirling around and Lyra barking! Her Device pings her at the presence. She may not be able to /see/, but her Device's help and her Guide Lizard's bark has her reacting uncannily fast. Dispelling the gravity-platform, she /falls/ towards that rooftop with all the weight her apparent Knight Armor implies, only to suddenly arrest her own fall in a swirl of dramatically floating ponytail, and cape as if she's some ancient Ruler descending from on high!

Which, technically, she now is aside from the ancient part.

Armored heels clack down, she already has the sword portion of her Device slashing violently in the air hard enough to cause a burst of wind, and it's all she can do to keep a snarl deep in her throat!

"Und whom exactly do I have the pleasure of such a rude interru..." Starts the Steiner Royal, before the /voice/ hits her.

"Oh by the Sankt's own blood." Hannah interrupts herself, as she /recognizes/ one of the people that saved her own life. The veil can, of course, be her saviour here. But it's less than a split second's consideration to not even bother. No. Her Uncle is on the move.

And didn't that girl smell like a privateer by her attacks?

"Come now! Certainly one can enjoy the classics, hm? However should you enjoy a moonlit duel of appreciation for saving mein life to spice matters up, I should be entirely at your disposal mein freund!" There's that warm, slightly condescending noble bark of a Steiner brought back to life for a second. It peters out fairly quickly however.

"However I fear mein heart may not be in it tonight. I should hate to prove ill entertainment, frau...."

She realizes names aren't a thing yet. A deep sigh.

One heel taps the other, she bows with Blauer Grief at her waist, and then tips her flapping Bowler far too easily down.

"Countess Palatine-Apparent Hannah Emilia-Lina Araki-Steiner XIV. Or, otherwise known as Tragar des Blauer Greif, in this form. Or as the worthless hunk of meat you rather most kindly saved from death by trechery, Hannah Steiner. By the Sankt's arms, I trust you honorable enough to keep secrets lest we both suffer!" That's a lot of trust being suddenly thrusted onto a pirate. Then again, saving your life has a tendency to do that to a young royal.

And by the fact she still has a blade in her hand, maybe she's offering the appropriate threat in return for such 'free' information.

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    It is a rude interruption. Then again pirates were never exactly known for their manners were they? Even on the best of days. But that grin spreads wider, teeth practically gleaming white against the corsair's shadowy visage in the darkness as she doffs her hat with one hand and dips into a flourishing bow.
    "Ye can relax, I ain't here for a duel, lass. Especially under the moonlight." She says before replacing her hat to a jaunty angle atop her head. It is, indeed, introduction time.
    Though she waits patiently for Hannah to finish, one hand does come up in the face of that still-raised device.
    "Ye can lower yer blade, Countess Palatine-Apparent Hannah Emilia-Lina Araki-Steiner XIV." The pirate-themed girl replies, tone still low but jovial. "I ain't one to spill another person's secrets, of that ye can be sure, when I've got plenty enough of my own." She says.
    "Now... I normally ain't one to meddle in another's personal affairs. But see I tend ta notice things. And that. Was obviously a targeted attack on yer life."
    Now she's not grinning anymore.
    In fact, she steps forward, just as the clouds part to reveal the light of the full moon... Shining right down on her.
    The girl that emerges in the moonlight is VERY different from what Hannah might remember what she had probably barely seen of her already; threadbare hat, ragged hair, ghastly grey skin, dark bags under her eyes... Her greatcoat is as haggard as she is, littered with tears and holes, and her breeches and vest ae just as tattered.
    It lasts only a moment before the clouds shift in front of the moon once again.
    "While I can enjoy the classics, what I can't enjoy is seein' someone get killed right before me eyes. Puts a bad taste in my mouth, and that's sayin' something. So fess up. Who wants ye to feed the fish?"

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Hannah considers her new piratical friend, her promises, and the...well, frankly /odd/ vibe that Jolly Roger is giving off. Which only redoubles as the moonlight reveals the truth. Lyra goes from barking, to growling. Blauer Greif's inload becomes /very/ concerned as the Device suddenly focuses its' Area Search to her saviour with a cutlass.

"Und given your...manner." A vague wave of her hand. That brow is /very/ furrowed the more she 'reads' the data BG is providing her. She's actually stumbling with her words a bit, torn between drinking in more precious data - vitals, temperature, magical calculations - and trying to be polite.

After all, here's one of the people she owes her life to. A bit of undeadness isn't something to let keep from having a new ally or friend.

A smile finally forms on her lips, then a grin of her own.

In fact having a magical undead pirate friend may just be the sort of things she needs.

"Forgive me. Mein curiousity makes mein tongue most clumsy. To the point, then." She raises Blauer Greif, and suddenly both are consumed by the dimensional sidestepping of a Barrier for extra security.

"You are correct. Count Otto Bismark von Karstein-Steiner is the only one whom knows both mein cognomen, und mein 'mundane' flesh and blood. Königtum sanguine is the tell from that monster, und the rather...well. Sadistic nature of the beast. Back home, mein Uncle attempted a coup. Left mein parents dead." Her voice hitches, and it's pure will and pride and lingering anger that has her mostly keeping her composure. From how she grips her Device, it's a near thing. Lyra presses close against her leg.

"Und so I came here intent upon granting him Justice. However he has been elusive, und seems to have allies or resources that allow him such a monster. He is an ambitious, spiteful soul with no morals or qualms about killing good people that desires power und mein home planet's rulership. Killing me und taking Blauer Greif would make him next in line to the throne by rights." Explains Hannah.

Space Noble politics!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Heart Rate: 0BPM
    Blood Pressure: 0/0
    Core Temperature: ... Uh.
    Blauer Grief's readouts tell all. The girl staring Hannah down is a walking zombie, held upright by magic and who knows what else. Jolly Roger's grin is the only visible feature of her face aside from those glimmering green eyes as she listens.
    "Har... Fergive ya? My manner? Ye don't know the half of it." She says with a low chuckle.
    "Ye'd best start believing in ghost stories, miss Steiner. Yer in one." She points out before letting Hannah continue.
    Things make much more sense then. a coup d'etat. Dead parents. An uncle wanting the throne.
    IT sounds, a lot, like Noble politics.
    Just in space, this time.
    Well that doesn't stop Jolly Roger from reaching into her greatcoat. A beat later she produces a bottle of Jan Ken Pop soda and thumbs off the cap before offering it over to Hanna, regardless of Lyra's growling.
    "Well... I've got problems of my own." She does admit. "Buuuuuut..."
    There is a but.
    "If there's anythin' I've learned, it's that us magical types are a lot stronger *together* than we are standin' on our own. So I've come with an offer fer ya." The pirate-themed girl says, grin spreading wider.
    "I help keep ye alive... And ye help me find my lost treasure. Together we kill this hated uncle o' yers, gather up my goods, and then we'll be more than square."

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Erika is, by all reasonable magical-science measures an utter abomination. Part of her twitches. Some small part of her wants to put the poor thing down. Briefly she wonders if Erika is the product of some Lost Logia, one of the tragic pieces of superscience that her ancient ancestors were responsible for. Wouldn't that be an irony? That the fools of merchantile and industry horrors of her family's long disavowed past would crop up on this backwards little dirt ball prior to their alliance with Saint Olivie and eventually the TSAB?

It's just a moment's impulse. She's a Steiner, and she rather likes her strange new ally in waiting. No, whether this is some strange Earth Logia or a product of Belkan depravity doesn't matter. A pauper Countess can't be a chooser.

"I should like to hear it's full telling! Bluntly mein new freund, I can imagine worse hauntings! Something about ropes. This country is...morbid." Somehow the acknowledgement that Erika's a pirate ghost actually settles her a bit. That curiousity remains, but is packed down in her mind for later.

Hannah doesn't immediately take the offered soda even after both BG and Lyra collectively signal, instead tapping her Device's head to her own chin thoughtfully. A brow this time rises. She, in fact, looks slighted!

"How bold of you! Und while I find such /amusing/, mein graces have limits!" Ah, yes, there it is. She's grinning, a brow is up, and one heel clacks about the other. If not for Erika's work in saving her life? Her Dueling Glove on her person would already be out and thrown.

She laughs, and it's humorless. An attempt at intimidation? Maybe. But it just sounds tired at the end of the day. She's been ran more ragged since the attempt on her life than Erika's coat.

"What happens to mein Uncle, should we succeed, is at the behest of the Great Belkan House of Steiner!" Comes Hannah firmly, and resolutely with her voice rising to that used to speaking in a very large throne room. Not really a snarl. More of a very large rumble like a giant fist being reeled backwards.

She lets that hang for just a second, then she's smiling. Warmly this time.

"However I take your meaning. You are one of the /mercenary/ trade, ja?" There is a very specific meaning meant in that word mercenary. One doesn't need to be a Space German to understand, as Erika's the unliving embodiment of a trade that goes on yet today. The kind the TSAB hates, and any smart planetary governor or other ruler would be wise to watch, combat, and yet use all at the same time.

"Grant me the honor of your cognomen, kneel, und I shall see to it that our pact is official." Comes Hannah, finally wheeling back around to the initial offer. She draws the blade of Blauer Greif, even as her hand is in turn offered to the pirate's bottle of Ja Ken Pop!

She's no stranger to traditions!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    An abomnation yes, but she's an abomination that's offering a neighborly bottle of soda. Though that seems to slight the Belkan noble, the pirate doesn't seem shaken in the least by the intimidating response.
    "Ye'll find me to be quite the bold one, aye." She simply replies with a widening of her grin into a full on smirk. But then? Then she waggles a finger of her free hand at the Steiner heir.
    "Are *ye* not the true heir to the throne? Does that not make *ye* the greatest member of the Great Belkan House of Steiner? I may be simple pirate folk, but if there's one thing I've learned..." She says trailing off, before her eyes harden.
    "Take what you can. Give *nothing* back." She says, in a tone just as firm, a tone befitting a great dread pirate or pirate king, more than some simple captain. "What happens to that scallywag be in *your* court not in that of some far away place where the nobles have no say *here*."
    That out of the way though, she DOES dip into a surprisingly graceful and flourishing bow, before lowering to her knee with a chuckle.
    "'Mercenary', aye... That be one way of putting it. But I'll have ye know you're speakin' to the dread pirate, Captain Jolly Roger." She says, giving her name as she passes over the bottle of cola.

Hannah Steiner has posed:
Teeth grit a bit. The 'greatest'? No. That was her parents, of course. But, the open stroking of her ego is both noted, and appreciated. She can't help but smile, shaking her head at the pure /cheek/ of this 'lowly' pirate. She, in fact like many of her line, loves those considered lowly. They are often ruthless, strong, harty, and full of wisdom. Case in point, this bag of bones!

"No. No I am not. ...Not yet, at least, so long as another contender for the throne yet remains in play. I've much to live up to. There is just /one/ of me, und mein parents left rather massive shoes to fill. However! I shall surpass them both in mein own person!" Proclaims the Belkan proudly. Erika's words work despite her own attempts to deny them. It just feels /right/, and now? Well, she's happy to let her ego rage.

"Keep up such wisdom und you are like to find a more...permanent position amongst mein court." Comes Hannah intriguingly, before she draws herself to her full height. The flat of her Device's blade meets a shoulder firmly.

"Frau Jolly Roger. As Countess-Palatine of House Steiner, I hereby grant you reign to conduct such actions of privateering as you see fit upon mein Kinslaying Uncle, und all whom claim him as ally. Any such spoils shall be yours to keep, save any Device parts or tools you may come across. The House of Steiner rightfully claims such things, und shall grant boons as negotiated by their quality in the future. Furthermore, I, Hannah Steiner, do swear to honorably assist you in all endeavors in recovering this lost bounty you desire. Und should I acquire such a thing independently, I shall in turn give you what is rightfully yours, und act as your lifeward as I am able."

That blade comes away, and she slashes the air with a duelist's salute.

The neck of that soda bottle falls off, and then she begins to loudly chug down exactly half of its' contents, only to sheath her sword, lean her cane against Lyra, and offer a hand up.

"Rise. I shall issue a formal Letter of Marque once Blauer Greif has processed the formalities and due considerations of such a contract, mein dear ally." On this, she's smiling, openly excited for this new partnership!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "I have my moments." Jolly Roger remarks on the topic of her wisdom, still grinning as Blauer Grief's blade touches to her shoulder. But then she falls silent and waits. The terms are acceptable; she'd have no need for Devices, their parts, or tools, for herself and can hand those over without qualm. But the *plunder* to come... That's what she's after; be it taken from a corrupt uncle and his allies, or from the monsters around Tokyo that carry her own lost treasure.. THAT'S what she's after here.
    So once the blade cuts the air in that salute and Hannah partakes of a celebratory soda, Jolly Roger accepts the hand up.
    "I'll warn ye." She does say. "I fly no colors out here, and praise the lack of 'em. I let the Black Flag signal my allegiance to man's natural freedoms, and I fly it proud. I'm a dastardly, dirty, low down, keel haulin' pirate. But I'm a pirate of my word. I've got yer back if ye've got mine. We'll be square in no time."

Hannah Steiner has posed:
There's something....relaxing about Jolly Roger. That enjoyment of violence. The jovial nature. The sheer /greed/ with which she carries herself. Their social standings are a chasm, but merchants and pirates are nothing if not kindred souls in many ways, particularly those with Noble leanings. She likes the unabashed, well, desire in the undead girl.

Jolly Roger easily slides on her notch board of relationships dangerously towards 'friend'.

"Hah! Well, a söldnerin with coin in promise und with an honorable tongue is welcome amongst the House of Steiner! All the better, that you fly the flag of darkness. Plausible deniability, und somehow I imagine you should chafe amongst the traditions und ways of the Tharkadian Navy." She's referring, of course, to the space one. Not much need for a terrestrial navy when you have things like hover-future-jets.

Suddenly, there's a business card being thrust towards Erika. There's a number on it, little explaination, and /far/ too much gold filigree.

"Call or text should you need mein blade, frau Roger." Smile!

Privateer get!

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    It's once said that every pirate had the dream of 'earning' enough coin to be made men; grow rich and fat enough to join the ranks of the noble and elite. Jolly Roger's greed is on a whole other level.
    So when the business card is offered, she plucks it gingerly from the Belkan heir's fingers, green eyes dancing over the golden lettering and filigree.
    "We've an accord, then!" She decides. The matter is settled, and once that IS settled, she dips into another bow, doffing her hat and holding it before her heart as she does.
    It lasts but a moment before she rights herself, flashing that greedy grin.
    "We'll be in touch..." And with that said, she turns on her heels and starts heading back down the stairs.
    The elevator goes ~ding~. ...
    And she's gone.