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

Placing a hand over his chest once again, the winged faunus' insults pierced him like crossbow fire; "It's a product ae nurture, nae ma nature. Had a ne'er bin kidnapped I would'nae be like this, I'd probably be teachin' aw ae you kids up at that school!" He took another sip, though he stopped earlier than he had prior; having been barraged by questions by the pair of girl's with peculiar hair. He swished the rum around his mouth, deep in thought, and swallowed."Well, simplest first ah guess. Nah, I've ne'er heard ae White wig, Livesly or that Hawkins. Nei'er as a boat or a person. Thought 'bout it faer a while but they dinnae come tae mind. But there'll be new sailors tur'n't pirate ae course, pro'lly just a couple ae them."

"As fer Barbecue's semblance, now that's a gid question. It is ma believe'in that he wis the one tae kill arrow, aw by himsel', not the whole ship. If it had git sae close it would have been seen. It's big an powerful, but it isnae the fastest ae ships... least, last I saw her. Naw ye see, Barbecue can walk on water. He can generate sand fae his foot an' manipulate it, make it manifest consistently tae keep 'imself up even as the sand sinks. If he gees it enough levy, he can hault up enough tae make a totee island. Ah 'hink he probably just wandert after Arrow 'imself. Took 'im out when he caught up." He answered quite fully; "Prob'ly just took a wee swim tae avoid the polis, they were'nae lookin' for somethin' as small as a person."

Beginning to feel the drink take hold himself he set down his sword; "Aye, sawfish ar'nae common in these parts. I 'hink it wis fae up north. Ah wis just about the only wan who didnae use a flintlock or some kinda dust cannon, had it's ups and downs." He seemed to stop in his tracks, musing with himself for a second. "I dinnae quite remember if Barbecue was one of Arrow's lads after the split... I did'nae think he wis, maybe he joined up later? Cap'n wis quite adamant 'bout seperatin' the crew out. Tsk, one ae those plonkers disrespected Cap'n; while I've been stamdin' awn this rock fae years! A bird wance free now a mining canary!" He seemed to scowl a bit but shook the look from his face; "Naw, the captain's orders were right. I wis the only wan who could take up this job. But disobeyin' the dead'll have consequence."

Valerie thought back on the answers Creek had given prior for a bit, but his words did carry some merit as to excusing himself somewhat. The old man could have been something else, but it appeared as though coincidence had other plans, or perhaps it was fate after all. Honestly, she saw a lot of herself in the old timer, they were similar in more ways than a few.

Val wasn't one to believe in fate or destiny, but she did believe in morals, and this man had some that could only be described as ambiguous. Most of the questions that she had, had been answered over the course of this session, save one thus far.

She took the bottle in the grip of her gauntlet and took a big gulp as she seated herself once more, having been standing for most of this period out of a sense of symbolic defiance and a demand to be respected. Now though, she was pretty much done.

"From the sounds of things," Valerie spun what was left of her drink within the glass, watching as the colorful liquid shimmered in motion. "We're going to be dealing with this situation one way or the other. All of my questions pertained to concerns that I have for the safety of us all and the island, and given that Arrow warned us that the crew of the Hispaniola is going to come for your Captain's fortune in their former force.... Then it's safe to assume that they won't be coming to ask nicely."

Valerie didn't look away from her bottle, instead taking a final drink from it before setting the empty hunk of glass down and sitting somberly. "And a group of pirates is very unlikely to stop at just the fortune, all the businesses and families that happen to be between the raids and the treasure are going to be heavily at risk. Eventually, they're gonna find the treasure too, and when that happens.... No offense, you're probably really strong but.... the strength of a hundred men is just a line from the fairy tales. So..."

Valerie looked up to eye Creek with a softer smile, probably the least piercing look she's given him all night. "In the suit of coinciding interest, tell us where the treasure is so we can protect the citizens, and I can promise you the support of the academy in completing your duty for the last time."

Rika listened carefully to the information she was given as the old pirate spoke. She really didn’t hate the guy, after all he told interesting stories and was trying to be helpful, at least she thought so. The thing about barbecue guy’s semblance, and the swordfish sword thing were interesting. Especially with Barbecue’s semblance, since that could probably be important, at least Rika thought it sounded important. She had to wonder why Barbecue guy had been with Arrow if they hadn’t after the split of the crew, maybe he’d shown up specifically to take the boat? Wanted to find the treasure? Rika knew there were too many possibilities there. Either way though she did think it was interesting to learn.

The redhead listened to Val’s and while she thought that Creek could more than handle himself, if the rest of the crew had dust cannons…the pigtailed girl frowned. Most would expect her to not take such things serious, but she could imagine how that would turn out somewhat, not good.

She did grin at Val proposal to the old man though, and naturally felt compelled to add her own two cents. “Yeah, those guys aint got nothin’ on us, sides plenty’a people at Syne’d love ta get inta a fight. Those jerks wont know what hit’em!”

Sakura listened carefully to the new information that Creak was telling them. According to him, he had never heard of any person or boat name White Wig. This answer revealed that White-Wig was not a nickname for a ship. However, Sakura and her fellow hunters were back at square 1 when it came identifying the name White-Wig. As she was mulling over the info for a bit, a thought came to Sakura's head.

"What if White-Wig was a callsign or a codename?" Sakura thought quietly to herself. Sakura was thinking that White-Wig could be a callsign or codename of some sort. She wasn't an expert in this field. However, Sakura knew the perfect person who might have some more instinct into the matter. After a few moments, Sakura took her scroll out of her pocket before speed dialing an unlisted scroll number. Soon after, the person she was calling answered.

"Good Evening to you." Sakura greeted. After exchanging peasantry, Sakura then informed her contract of the information she needed help figuring out. Her contract agreed to use her intelligence network to do some digging into the name, White-Wig in exchange for a free dinner which Sakura was glad to provide. After ending the call, Sakura listened in to the description of Barbeque's Semblance. Like Rika, Sakura found this very important. However, Sakura still was unsure about why Arrow and Barbeque had regrouped as there were too many possibilities. Soon after, Sakura soon heard Valerie suggest that Creak tell them where was the treasure in exchange for help in protecting it. Rika soon added her two cents on the matter.

"Miss Rika seems very excited to enter a fight. It would be very unwise of me to allow Miss Rika to charge in recklessly." Sakura commented in a polite yet teasing manner as she sat down next to Rika. Sakura then looked at Creak with a determined expression on her face. If fighting were to break out, Sakura was not hesitant to join in so she could protect her fellow hunters/huntresses.

Jack was getting tired of listening to the four others talk, despite having a positive opinion of two of them, and the mention of treasure and pirates was making him anxious. He had the itch again, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to fight a bunch of pirates just yet, and that fact alone started to frustrate him. He began to tap his foot repeatedly, and the urge to get out of this bar was making him irritable. "Honestly, I'm sick of all the extra, pointless details. I want to get out there, break a few people, and make sure everyone who's done nothing wrong is safe."

Jack's grip tightened on his bat, and he began to move slightly where he stood, his need to move being plain to see to everyone. "Just give me a place to go, and I'll go there. You're killing me, man." He was sick of this. He had to go, and if there wasn't anything to do tonight, he was going to have to find his own fun somewhere else. If he didn't hear something he liked soon, he wasn't sure exactly what he would do.

The smile immediately faded from his face; "I speak of my oath to the Captain, my refusal to break it, yet you immediately ask me to? Have none of you sense? ...Duty for the last time, I hope that's not a threat lass. I'll be doing this job till I die, there's no telling when the last will come. I hope it unexpectedly in the night following the last, I pass peacefully in my sleep; for it is my duty to guard that cache with all my vigour. The fewer know, the safer it is. As for you lad, any want to break people will be your undoing, I used to be young and wild; you'll do things you regret. Either that, or you won't live long enough to grasp regret. Truly the worse of the two." The thick accent wasn't gone from his voice but the grandfatherly tone and frequent slurring was, in its place naught but an uneasy vacuum. "If they come for this treasure you will know they come for it; for you see the treasure is nestled in the island's heart. They would come by sea, you'd have miles of land to face them on."

He closed his eyes, brows deeply furrowed, took in a deep breath and exhaled like a kettle; pursed lips blowing out a strong stream of air. He reached down, took up the glass, and finished it. Swallowing and heaving another breath a small smile grew on his face, "The Cap'n did might braw things fer this island. He wisnae a gid man, but he did a lot ae gid in the end. They dinnae tell ye much 'bout this island's history in classes, but a lot ae it is'nae nat'ral. They pro'ly focus awn the war an tha. Dinnae talk 'bout the blue nae maer, 'nae matter tae em. Auld auld Sprin'wid, a'for yer Ryu...pro'ly a'for yer Lilac, I dinnae ken if they'd even ken."  There was a look in the old man's eyes, he wasn't looking to the students anymore. It was obvious that drinking had overcame him in some way, probably not just that last drink... it had been building for a while. Tears were starting to well. "Shapin' land an fightin' sea. Ye can imagine it now can ye? Islands ar'nae suppos' tae be like this. It's luck' auld Dusty has'nae tried tae cross me... he's a gid man that auld bassa. Kept the entrance towtie like..."

He brought his hand down on the bar, the whole tavern seemed to shake; "Lemme tell ye'all. Back when t'e isl'n wis li... this." He raised a hand; scrunching down his forefinger until his eye wan't even visible through it. "Noo it's li..." He enlarged the hole, his whole eye visible; "Tha's the part ae the his'terry. Tha's whit he did, aw tha's left. Tha's the treasure. If ye dinnae ge' tha', ye dinnae deser' it! Nae as if any ae us dae, it's stolen afer awl'!" His hand met with the bar again and again, a fissure slowly growing through it; laughing as he cried. "I awl'ways bin and alw'ways will be, much tae honest fae the piracy."

Valerie wasn't smiling anymore, nor was she laughing with Creek either. She thought and mired, furrowing her brow as she considered everything he said before she drew a conclusion. "I get it...."

She drew out a long line in the air. This wasn't the scope of geographic size, but more metaphorical for the island as a whole. "That treasure. It's a staple for our entire economic progression for the entire province. Little by little, it's been helping the infrastructure build up throughout years and years of trading and governance."

Honestly, that only made matters more intense than before. Even if they managed to keep the citizens safe, if the treasure was stolen without warning, then the expansion of Bellmuse would be damaged irreparably for years to come. That meant displacements, anarchy, and poverty. Widespread detraction from quality of life, limited to no social class.

She thought on the importance of the situation and how to properly analyze this all to make it pan out. It wasn't all up to her, but if she did anything less than give 100%, then she may as well give nothing.

Valerie suddenly drew her gun, and rested it on the table. She popped out the magazine, and began to remove each of the rounds, speaking softly and gently as she did so. "I suppose with my attitude throughout the night, anything can be construed as antagonistic. That is fair." She began to take each round, and place it standing up in a straight line, similar to dominoes. She continued to speak in her softer tone as she did so. "But not everything is a threat you salty old man, even if your upbringing, or my actions may turn it to appear so. Besides, what would I do? Medic you to death? Hmmm, odds are that I'll be the one performing hospice care on you when the natural end begins to come. More than likely one of the many odd coincidences of reality."

By the time she was done speaking, Val had a small display on the bar of her gun and 13 rounds. "On that note, I want to clarify for understandings sake. This gun, can be seen in a few ways. A tool for killing? Maybe, but to me, it is an instrument for my job. It protects me while I keep people alive and healthy, particularly my team. To an extent, it protects my team as well... But what if the gun weren't there? Or what if the gun were there, but there were no rounds left? I could do my job still, yes, but something could happen to me and then I suddenly have no fallback plan. Then I'm not there, and my team suffers."

Valerie blinks and exhales, as she slides the gun across the table, away from the rounds. "Then that makes you the gun, protecting me, or the gold. Which means that, my team, or the Island can function unperturbed. Then where do the bullets fall into that? Well, a lot of things really. The bullets could be a metaphor for the years you are still battle-ready, or even alive. It could be a metaphor for your capability in combat, versus someone with more bullets or even bigger ones."

Val left all of the bits and pieces right where they laid, not touching any of them. "I'm not saying to turn your back on your promise, I'm not... But, all of these pieces can function to do their job on their own, but if something happens to any of them, or something new comes up, then it's okay for us to help each other."

Rika didn’t really get what the big deal was, but she understood Creak didn’t want to accept their help. The rest of what he said had confused her a great deal…wait the island was bigger than it was, she wondered if there was dust involved in that, it would take a ridiculous amount of work, and dust to do that. Not the type of thing that could be done quickly. When Val elaborated on the metaphor though, Rika nodded her head, despite being obviously completely lost when it came to the analogy that followed.

She did know that it sounded like it was something important, and that it was probably a good thing if they would have more room to face them. Still she didn’t like the idea of just waiting around for them to eventually attack. “Ya sure they don’t got some place they’d hide out or nothin’? Kinda boring just waitin’ round for when they attack. “She thought about the other fact of an attack, that which Val had talked about. Still she didn’t know enough but it sounded like Creek wouldn’t be tellin’ them about the treasure. “We don’t gotta know where the treasure is ta protect the island though, jus need to know more bout how they show up.” The pigtailed girl frowned, she knew people like that usually had some practiced methods and strategies, her own mentor Siegfried had mentioned somethin’ like that before in his stories. “sides’ won’t matter that they’re here for it if we beat’em ‘fore they get there.”

It sounded like a better plan to Rika than just waiting around for the pirates to come for the treasure after all, and they could probably minimize the damage.

"The name Dusty sounds so familiar. I wonder where I heard that name before." Sakura commented quietly to herself after hearing the name, Dusty. That name sounded very familiar to Sakura. She had heard it somewhere before but she she couldn't put her finger on where. Despite of this, Sakura decided to keep that in the back of her mind as she began thinking about the other information that Mr. Creak had told her. He had mentioned that the "treasure" was stored in the island's heart. To Sakura, that could mean a lot of things. This could either mean the actual center of the island or Central Bellmuse. Both are viable possibilities. However, Sakura decided to apply a bit of Occam's razor to the her assumptions. With this in mind, Sakura focused on the name, Dusty.

"Miss Rika. Is it true that there is a Dust Shop in Bellmuse that has the name Dusty in it?" Sakura asked after finally recognizing where she had heard the name before. She had just remembered the numerous flyers on campus which advertised for the Dusty Crystal Emporium. According to what the drunk Mr. Creak had told him, Dusty had some knowledge of the treasure. It wasn't much but it was a start.

He wiped a tear from his eye, bracing himself against the bar. He'd just about overcome his laughter, his vision of the world was gyrating. With his vision near out of commission, despite his gray-matter being near mush, the winged girl's words echoed in his head. He'd blurt out brief sentences in the pauses between her statements, being rather rude; "Nah nah ah widdnae call it purely eca'nomic, it's maer internally used... Aye, ah mean, yer pullin' out a gun awn ma desk, tha's a threat if e'er there was wan. Ah sh'uld knock yer block awf...Gun awlso seems tae make nice dec'ration...Pfft, a bi'er bullet than me. Whit, ye think ye c'uld tack me?... Ahhh... naw, yer talkin' 'bout lineage..." He blinked for a moment... then turned away from the blonde and toward the ginger, as if attempting to ignore her... feeling some kind of weight in the back of his head.

"As ah said! The o'ly way tae come is fae sea, if ye'll all just keep yer eyes open and awn it, ye'll see em comin' fae miles away. Silver cannae hide a hawl ship under the waves. If it wis awn a beach or awn another island I'd ah let ye know. But as a telt ye, it's at the heart!" He seemed more angry to be repeating himself than anything else, the rage wasn't really directed to the red haired girl. He turned to the... pink-ete? "Aye, he had his name changed a c'uple years back... oh... was that whit... fifty now?" He could feel the blonde's very presence... it was weighing on him.

He raised his hands, "Awright awright... ma successor... hmm. Well that Pluton bloke wis... well, he got beat doon by some patron... hmm. Dusty's... 'bout as awld as me. And nae half as strong... ehh... hmm." He clicked his tongue, breathed a sharp breath; "There's Petunia fae that pet shop... but ah havnae even telt her, she's a gid girl that 'un. Strong an' wise... bit she's very busy..." He scratched his white-grey chin; "No Larry...no Fletcher... Strykler? Strkyler's nae bad, strong enough... dinnae really ken him well eno' tae make a judgement awn him though. But ya'll have that same problem no? How dae I know I can trust any wan of ye?"

He pointed to each of them individually, lingering on the masked man. "Perhaps... makin' it public knowl'dge wid be better but... wid there be an outcry? Wid the other nations care, they're awl pretty busy right noo...wid Atlas care, it's bin a while since Flynt looted em ships... wisnae just Atlas dust either, went intae cap'n makin that dust mine. Usin' the canons on the isl- Billy's eyes widened, he smacked himself in the face; a sound like a hammer hitting a tyre. "Aww bowk and bawbag, now a'll have tae go public."

The man appeared to grow before them; his shoulders shifting back and his body shifting upright. With the smack and the realisation he had begun to sober; "Dinnae mak me regret that or a'll be commin' fae each ae you."

Valerie flipped a lock of her hair over her shoulder, smiling a bit as she ran the past few minutes through her head like a rewinding movie reel. Her smile had a bit of smugness to it, even though she knew that she had played very small part in the actual process. Still, she felt a sense of pride in taking responsibility for the causation itself.

With that, she collected the pieces of her gun, the ammo and all, reconstructing it to its original state with alarming quickness before she safetied and holstered the sidearm. "I think that I am content with this level of thoroughness, so I'll take no more of your time on this particular subject."

Val was practically beaming as she stood up and picked up the bottle, carrying it over to a nearby garbage container. She wiped her face with her open palm, still feeling a bit of tightness from her outburst earlier. Tonight had been a bit transitional for her, in all honesty, but she felt as though she would be content with delivering this information to Gwyn.

None of Creeks threats or threats of threats really shook her much. No, her mood really padded most of that from her, but there was something really lingering in her mind that was able to shake her a bit. Really, she saw a lot of herself in Creek, more and more with each passing moment, and yet he seemed so entrenched in the past. Maybe she was becoming the same...

Valerie didn't like that much, but she walked over to the door, about ready to take her leave. Suddenly she stopped with her hand on the door as she was gripped with a need to voice a personal question. "Do you.... How much do you think you've changed since back then, Creek? Back when you were a pirate." she paused as she swallowed a pit in her throat, not looking back at him. She hoped for one particular answer deep down, one that would set her spirits back to how they were and get her mind off of this topic. "I'm not being rhetorical or anything, I'm curious.... For my own sake."

Rika realized the significance of the name Dusty as well. “Yep, only dust shop ‘round I think…” Creak had begun speaking again and wondered if it would be a good idea to talk to him instead, after all the old man sounded too drunk for them to get anything else out of him. There was another option though, since the school didn’t know nothin’ bout this yet. She did take the time to respond to the threat though before beginning to walk away, having gotten up herself. “aw come’on ol’ man, how bad can it be?” The pigtailed girl would begin walking away herself, feeling bored of just sitting around doin' nothing.

She wasn’t normally the type of person to call for backup, but they didn’t know how many of this barbecue guy’s men there were, so the pigtailed girl decided she’d do the sensible thing, since it wasn’t like they could just go and beat the pirates up. she’d go talk to the Dusty guy after to get some more info, but even Rika knew it would be better to get this stuff to somebody first.

She was messaging the head of security, that one Ryu guy. It was lucky the guy’s contact info was easy to find for once. She thought for a moment, trying to decide what was important to tell the guy. She’d have to ask Sakura to make sure the message was correct though, writin’ wasn’t exactly her strong suit…

Soon after acquiring the information, Valerie got up and stopped by the door before asking Creak a question. At this point, Sakura was about to leave but decided to wait for Rika to leave with her as she wanted to pay a visit to Dusty's Crystal Emporium. Soon after, Rika walked away from the busily typing on her scroll. From this, Sakura made a guess that she was messaging the academy's Head of Security. Sakura then walked up to her friend before speaking.

"Do you need some help, Miss Rika?" Sakura asked as she rested her hand on her friend's shoulder. Sakura had noticed that Rika was having a hard time with the message. Soon after, Sakura took a look at the message that Rika was typing as she showed it to her. Sakura quickly began reading/skimming it. However, she had barely got past the first sentence when she noticed that the grammar and punctuation were pretty bad at certain points.

"I greatly apologize for what I am going to do, Miss Rika. This is for your own good." Sakura added as she grabbed Rika's scroll and began editing the message. After a few moments, Sakura handed Rika back her scroll which now had the corrected message before letting out a sigh and smiling at her friend. After making sure that Rika had sent the message, Sakura then made a suggestion for what they can do after visiting Dusty's Crystal Emporium.

"Oh, Miss Rika. There is a great confectionery/sweets shop that our fellow students have been talking about. Would you care to join me?" Sakura asked her friend as they both exited Creak Tavern together with the intention of heading to Dusty's Crystal Emporium.

"Ah poor oot me heart, and ya all run awf?" His brows furrowed, he brought a hand to his face; slumping against the bar. "I'm gonna have tae quadruple my seachin' shift now, yer doin' me out ae house an home! I'm gonna have tae walk awl the way 'round Finnek, lookin' fer anyone tryin' tae be slick. If I have tae kick ony ae ye awf this island I'll dae it. Ye'll face the stone ae ma knuckle an' the bone ae ma blade. I'll dae ye all worse than ony foolish kids, that's fer sure." He pounded on the table once more, glaring great-swords at the two girls leaving.

As he turned them upon the winged girl, they grew softer... mere shortswords, and he heaved a sharp sigh. "Ye cannae judge these things fae yersel'. I have done some gid, I'd say some at least, but wh're tha's penance fae me or who I am I dinnae ken. It's no as if I'm doin' the nicest ae work. I'm rattlin' folks heeds when they break the rules. Am no exactly... a charity or onythin'. I'm no really defendin' people, least... no directly. I guess I rattle Grimm when I come across em. Is that better than who I was... I dinnae think I'm the best I could be, tha's fer sure. I'm no the huntin' hero I wanted tae be, but I'm no the pirate I wis. Am no dividin' families, no killin' kids. But did I dae that by ma own will at all..." He paused, looking at the sealing, eyes now but daggers; "Eventually ah probably did. Ah pro'lly got sick ae bein' shoved around. Sick ae others killin' the folk I refused. Though it best tae put em down ma'sel'."

He shrugged; "I dinnae think it's worth redemin' mysel' or nothin'. Too busy fer that. 'Less this counts as redemption of course. Wasted a whole lot of life doin' it anyway... far longer than I spent as a pirate, guess that does make it kinda like penance... eh?" He shrugged again; "Go follow yer freinds, I'll gi ya all a bit tae claim the money."
---

Note, going to Dusty at this time is not possible. It is late and the store is closed, you would have to go tomorrow. I am making this clear for if you DM the authorities (Gwyn Ryu or Otherwise). Interviewing him would gleam the following info; he arrived during the expansion, legally the entrance to the Dust mine must be kept small with a legally limited volume being removed on a monthly basis. The mines span a massive distance underground, not very deep for a dust mine but ranging far underground; all around Finnek. Opening another entrance is a severe criminal offence, a sentence of over ten years being the result. Dust sold from the mine is heavily regulated and taxed, with no Schnee dust coming in prices have been locked to prevent issues.

Valerie thought on his words for a few moments, staring at the door and blinking. The air was heavy with the sound of her own breathing as she regarded all that had occurred. So maybe he wasn't a hero, but he surely wasn't a villain either. That title was reserved for her enemies now, the ones that she would show no mercy to until this whole ordeal was done with. But what did that make him?

It was a hard question to answer, but then again.... What was she? Was she even doing any of this from the kindness of her heart? The more she thought about it, the more it started to feel like she was only being the way that she was as an act of penitence for what she'd done so long ago. Did that make her better or worse?

...
...
...

Maybe it was time to just stop thinking about it? Maybe the more that she thought, the less that any of her actions actually meant...

That was reserved for when she was performing them, but she felt like the facade was gone, at least for a little while. It didn't sting anymore, and she felt like she deserved it for the first time.

She turned around and smiled. "Thank you..." Valerie very lightly bowed her head before looking back up and cocking it to the side. "If... If it means anything at all. I think you're a better man than you believe after all.~"

With those words in edgewise, she turned around and exited the tavern. Eager to file her report at the first opportunity.