tushanshu | video;

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[Well this sure is a video post. It opens on Kidd, who's looking rather casually bored, dressed up in all the stolen finery one might expect of a pirate. His accent is vaguely British-y, and his tone is casually bored.]

I've heard tell this turtle of ours stops off at locations along the course of its journey. And these shores— would anyone say they at all resemble the Caribbean? Nassau, perhaps?

[He assumes otherwise, but it never hurts to ferret out little bits of information. If nothing else, mention of Nassau might weed out any who know the region and what it stands for. Stood for. He cocks his head to one side, there's maybe a hint of something predatory to his expression.]

I find it curious, aye, to be plain, that we can be so long at sea without fear of outside attack. Pirates, and the like. This place is grand enough, but hardly impregnable. Has anyone considered proper fortifications for it t'all? A blockade, perhaps, or cannons? Or something a sight more modern, I understand there's all manner of things not common to my era.

Thanks be to you, listeners.

[A casual salute, and cut feed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We went through a really warm spell of water once, but there hasn't been anything like the Caribbean in terms of land and islands yet. I'm assuming it's the Nassau in the Bahamas you're talking about, and not the county in New York. [Yeah, this person is probably from the past by her timeframe, but w/e w/e.]

The only big threat we've had from the ocean to get through the barrier so far were zombies. [Pause.] No piracy, but considering it's a giant swimming and powerful turtle, with the city six hours from the edge, I can't see how it'd be a convenient target for normal pirates.

[Interesting. Kidd files the information away for later, along with the rest of everything that's been accrued. Pity about the lack of anything resembling Nassau, but honestly it wasn't much a priority anyway, simply idle curiosity.]

Pirates adapt plenty, lass. It'd be shameful for them to do otherwise. There's spoils here to be had, and that's lure enough for any.

Well, yeah. Everyone adapts when they need to. I haven't heard any talk about pirates on the ocean at all though, even as a potential threat, and I've been living here over a year now.

Obviously there are people and other things who might want in, but the barrier and the turtle are stronger than you seem to give them credit for. It's not infallible by any means, but it's better than walls that can be broken down with just the right amount of calculations.

Besides, there's plenty of people here that are better than weapons at handling defense, too.

It's true, I'm not keen to put faith in the barrier. I've heard tell it's failed in the past, and with the recent strife over that Emperor of yours being dead--

[A very slight shrug.]

Those with eldritch powers and the like? Those 'supermen'.

[Kidd seems remarkably unfazed by this, given being only lately in the golden age of piracy.]

Some wreckage has fallen through, yeah, though it's still pretty powerful even with discrepancies. But I don't think walls and cannons are going to keep out what we're here to fight.

[...she snorts.] I don't know that I'd call them all eldritch sort of powers. But they're plenty useful. I wouldn't say necessary, though, because you don't need them to be just as useful.

Perhaps not what we're meant to fight, no, but there's less to fear from lords than common criminals. If there's been no direct conflict with this creature in all the time folk've been brought here, it seems equally as important to prepare for the lesser battles as the larger ones. A pistol shot can kill a man as sure as a cannon, lass.

[And in a place where the dead can be raised up to fight anew? Defense is defense. Perhaps what'll shield you from a storm will fail against a hurricane, but that's life in every respect.]

You'll forgive me if I'm not keen to trust me and mine to the goodwill of those I don't know. Not a trusting lot, pirates.

[Or assassins.]

Edited 2014-01-15 06:18 (UTC)

Well, the gangs can be pretty violent, and they've definitely broken out into open warfare before, though they're already within the city walls. So being able to defend yourself without magic and show is pretty important, too. But people don't seem to stay dead here. Have you gotten the cloned body bit yet? [...does he know what a clone is, should be the question but hey.]

[A shrug.] Nothing to forgive, but I don't think that's a trait strictly born of pirates. [She can probably count on one hand the number of people here she trusts implicitly. But she doesn't seem to care much about the pirate reveal either.] Defending Asti is something most people seem to agree on, at least.

I've heard tell the dead rise again, safe and sane as any living creature, and in a different body than the one they died in. The word 'clone' means little to me, though I can infer its relation.

[Though that next bit earns a tilt of the head.]

Asti's not a name I've heard before. The Emperor's called Evandau, these days, aye?

Pretty much. If we die here, we return. Clones - well, it's basically a copy. Our souls were summoned here, and our bodies are duplicates of ours back home. There was a cloning facility under the turtle but it kind of... exploded.

Asti is the turtle's name, though you might also hear him referred to as Tu Vishan. And yes, the current Emperor is Evandau - the late Emperor was a woman named Eshai. And yes again, the title is unisex here.

[Well that's existentialist of you, Annabeth.]

You've been here a while, eh? You seem to know your stuff a sight better than most.

About seventeen months at this point. [No denying the latter statement though!! 8D]

Edited 2014-01-28 01:23 (UTC)

Bloody Christ. And of all the great minds here, no one's conjured up a wicked way to return us to our proper places?

[... Admittedly Kidd's place is. Dead. But. There's a strange sort of peace in it, all things considered. Passing the torch on to the next generation, knowing your work goes on.]

Eshai could have done it, but she's dead now. There's some sort of failsafe in place, but it's not like anyone knows it, and she did claim it would kick in if she died. [which... everyone's still here, so it doesn't seem to have kicked in at all.]

Something technological would seem our best bet, but there's limited resources and all that.

[Dryly,]

So a ship that sails the stars, then. But if our universes are so separate, how is it mere cessation of distance would steer us to rights?

A spaceship. [That's what you call a ship that sails the stars okok.] But I'm not sure just a spaceship would be enough. It's inter-dimensional travel more than just simple space travel, and honestly, I'm probably not the best person to talk to about that sort of thing.

Or, you know, good old magical transportation, which seems to be how we got here in the first place.

[Kidd raises his hands as if warding off some lengthy explanation.]

I'd sooner understand Greek than this talk of magic and the like.

[Her mouth quirks with amusement.] Greek's not that hard either, actually.

[She's got an advantage though.]

I beg to differ on the subject, but I suspect you're about to tell me you've some magic that allows you to read old languages.

[Because that's just the way this day has been going.]

Not magic exactly, more like a hardwired brain, and only one. I can speak and read Ancient Greek fluently.

You'll probably have to get used to the magic thing in this place though.

[The term 'hard wired' has an entirely different connotation in the 1720s, unfortunately, and Kidd raises an eyebrow faintly.]

Was it a sort of torture, then?

[Because wirework generally meant gold and all that, but a 'harder' wire could certainly be used to harm the brain. Trepanation may not be as common as it once was, but it's not unheard of, neither, and that's the mental image it conjures.]

What else is there, but to adapt? Wouldn't be the first time I've found myself blown to some foreign shores, lass.

What? [She blinks, and then the misinterpretation occurs to her.] No. It's, uh. More genetics, not tampering. [Even if the gods don't have DNA.]

Then you're already better off than some people.

[Except the term 'genetics' didn't exist until the 1800s, and Kidd here is from a century prior. Brb, trying to parse...]

Lineage, you mean? Never thought that was much responsible for language, save learning what your parents knew well.

[Holy crap Annabeth you are officially the most complicated person Kidd's talked to. STOP USING WORDS THAT WEREN'T WORDS ONCE UPON A TIME AND JUST CALL SOMEONE A HARLOT ALREADY.]

[NO SHE HAS MANY MORE STRANGE WORDS TO USE FIRST!!!]

Lineage, yeah, that fits well enough. Saying my mother knows Ancient Greek well is kind of an understatement though. [Patron goddess of Athens and all that.] But I can speak it because of her.

[Kidd's silent for a time, giving this due consideration.]

'Magic' really might've worked a sight better.

[It's wry, a little self-deprecatory. Kidd doesn't like being from so far behind, knowing so little about the world. A wise man knows he knows nothing, and all that, but a reasonable grasp on the world of kings and queens, piracy and plunder don't stack so well against this modern age.]

I'll leave you be for the time, lass, but I'll ave questions for you at a later time if you're amenable.

It could sort of be applicable, I guess. [She'll give the guy that for now, given everything else he's probably gotten about this place.]

[But then Annabeth nods.] Feel free. Might as well make use of the time I've spent here somehow.