open to all investigators. (3rd day of Maiden)

[creatic]

[ okay so he's pretty well known to just drive you people up a wall in telepathic conversation but in rare instances he can be serious.

And one thing the veterans, at least, know? He never starts open conversations unless he's serious and with something worth hearing. And he only says things worth hearing when he finds it dangerous. ]

Right, so, I think we might suddenly have a really big problem. Like, really big.

[ yeah he means it literally concerning it physically as much as simply metaphorically. ]

Has anyone heard of anyone around the ships talking about something called "the Grasper"?

Comments

[howexciting]

It may be difficult for us to do much except convince the crews to help out the mermaids, but... given this other ship might not know il Leviatano is coming, they might attack it, if it moves too close. And if not, they will either decide we are not worth the trouble, or focus at least part of their attention upon it instead. The Leviathan may still come for us, but the ship will be less of a threat, then.

[unabatedly]

Or if we can manage, even briefly, to divert the Leviathan into the path of the other ship. Hopefully, it will feel so threatened that it will be too preoccupied with destroying the beast to do much else.

[It's not a guaranteed plan, though.]

We'll need to get the Leviathan's attention focused on that ship as well. Otherwise, it will make a beeline for us simply because we have the mermaids among us.

[creatic]

Direct its attention to something else? How do you even get something bigger than one of these ships to notice you and then get it to go away and play with the other one once you're done? I can't even train Hijikata-san to do that.

[ BUT UH BACK ON TOPIC... THIS COULD BE INTERESTING, SPEAK TO HIM ABOUT THE CRAZY PLAN YOU'RE BOTH ABOUT TO COME UP WITH FOR THAT ONE... because he'll probably go along with it. ]

[hakodate]

Don't make me come over there.

[howexciting]

We will need to keep a close eye on the waters, regardless. It is a bottom-dweller, in most stories, so it may stay in the deep for a time.

[creatic]

That would be really terrible of me.

I only have one tinsel ball to keep Hijikata-san's attention because Hime ate the others. [ kiyohime please, these cat toys are rare expensive artifacts... ]

[hakodate]

One what the fuck now?

[creatic]

That shiny stuff I decorated your room with back on Belljar.

[ and by decorate he means pretty much trashed with that shit everywhere like there was a war that happened. to this day he has yet to give hijikata that full and true version of exactly what happened in his room while he was gone. ]

[hakodate]

I'll scratch you behind the ears for half an hour straight if you eat the last one before he does anything with it, Kiyohime.

[She's part of Souji, she should be able to hear this shit somehow, right?]

[unabatedly]

We make the other ship more enticing.

[creatic]

That's such a vague word when you use it, I have found. [ so they need to basically find monster candy to tie to the navy vessel. ]

[unabatedly]

If the Grasper is after the mermaids, then perhaps we can fake having a mermaid on their ship. Or give them the scent until it becomes too distracted by the Navy ship firing on it to worry about its mission.

[creatic]

...Fish people smell different, huh.

[ oh god, he didn't even consider this. ] And what he hell is that Navy ship's problem with these guys, again?

[unabatedly]

Possibly.

[She sighs, shrugging loftily...not that Souji can see it.]

Exiles from court, pirates, and former soldiers? I imagine they're on the run from the gallows. They might not all have committed any crime, but all of them fleeing down the same channel is bound to cause them further trouble.