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Waking up in a lumpy, way too firm bed, she climbed out and stretched her back, the popping sounds of an uncomfortable night filling the room that would have made anyone else present cringe. She rubbed her neck wishing that this customer lived in Hamashira. The beds at the old Tumbling Coin are way more to her liking. She looked out the window and greeted the morning sun with sleep encrusted eyes and scowl. Erica never handled mornings too well before her first cigarette and a coffee. She walked into the bathroom, washed her self up, and got dressed to take on the day. Since she wasn't out scouring the world for the last remaining bits of treasure, she had to come in with some kind of income so today, she was fixing a clients busted De Havilland Humming Bird. A 19ft body, 30ft wingspan and 1 Blackburne Tomtit inverted vee, two cylinder engine, 26 hp. Recalling the specs, she wondered why she hadn't just stayed asleep.

Erica Melbourne could be described at worst as an old man in a young woman's body. Not that she'd act perverted like an old man, but her world view pretty much synced just right with one. Troubles were everywhere and as long as she could keep to her own business, she was happy, content to say the least. She walked out of the Free-Bird Inn, tools in hand and a rather odd object hanging at her side to bring on a simple house call repair, her sword 'Stormbringer'. It wasn't that she expected anything shady to go down, just that her sword never left her side. It's not like she was the only one on the streets that day with a sword on her, she scouted at least 3 other swordsmen on her way to work, though whether or not they were really swordsmen and just guys looking to be tough was a question to be debated later and never.

She arrived at her clients house which was located just outside of Citrus Town. A small house, big garage, small air strip. Out in the distance up in the sky, she saw trail of black smoke going down. Guess it's not his lucky day. she thought. Maybe after this job I can go over there and give that guy my card and get some throwing around money. She knocked on her clients door and an elderly man opened the door. It was time to get into business mode. She put on an uncharacteristically wide smile and extended her hand.

"Hi there, I'm Erica Melbourne from Melbourne Repairs and Services. You have a De Havilland Humming Bird that needs to be fixed?" she said in a cheery voice which would have creeped out those that knew her better. The elderly man smiled and received her hand.

"Oh yes and my, I did not expect such a beauty to show up for repairs. Perhaps I should break my plane more often" laughed the elderly man.

"Do it and I'll end you." said Erica through gritted teeth.

"Excuse me, what was that?" asked the client, cupping his ear and inching closer to hear her better.

"Oh nothing sir, now please show me to your plane." she said. The elderly old man led her to the garage and there stood the little biplane.

"When I tried to take her up for a leisurely flight last weekend, it would just sputter black smoke. The propeller would turn for a bit but then it would just cut off." he said.

"Oh really, that is a bit of trouble. I hope I'll be able to fix it." she said while she smiled while in her mind,[i] I CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR AN OIL CHANGE!!! OH I AM GONNA MILK THIS FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH!" "Well sir, you better let me get to working and seeing what is wrong with it."

"Oh alright, I'll just be in the house. Call me if you need anything." he said waving goodbye. Erica smiled and waved goodbye as well, but the moment the door closed, her smile disappeared she grabbed a wrench from her toolbox and chucked it into the ground.
                                                                ***

3 hours later, Erica was leaning up against the plane, the oil fresh and changed 20 minutes after the old man left her to her work. She was reading a magazine with one hand while banging on the engine with a wrench when the old man opened the door. She threw her magazine in to the bag and immediately arbitrarily turning bolts.

"So how is all of the work going miss?" he said.

"Great, as a matter of fact, I'm done."

"Oh? It'll fly now? he asked.

"For sure. If it doesn't work now, the job is completely free." she said.

Liking that deal, the old man opened the garage door and climbed into the cockpit. He turned the key to the ignition and just as Erica had said, the engined turned over. No black smoke putted out of the engine, and the propeller was spinning just as usual. The plane rolled out of the garage and sped down the small air strip till it lifted off. The old man was cheering and nothing but all smiles while he was up in the air. Erica looked on, seeing her guaranteed pay fly in the air. The old man landed and hopped out of the plane with the energy of a young man.

"Oh thank you Ms. Melbourne, you were wonderful. I don't know what you did but now it works better than ever. I can't thank you enough. Now, how much do I owe you?" he asked.

Originally, Erica had planned to charge him 50,000 berri for making her come all this way for such a simple and lame job, but seeing how happy he was in the air again sort of softened Erica up a bit. She wasn't happy with it but she knew it was the right thing to do.

"Just 5000 berri sir." she said, the voice in her head shouting many expletives at her. The old man happy with that price paid the paltry sum and resumed flying in the air above his house. Erica walked back feeling warm and fuzzy inside. She hated warm and fuzzy.

Successfully lighting another "coffin nail" as she so lightly put it, Erica leaned on the public Den Den Mushi on an empty road, waiting for her partner and old friend Sparks to pick up. A few bure-bure-bure's later, Erica's call was answered.

"Hello! Melbourne Repairs and Services. Plane, car,  even your old guitar, if it's broken the Melbourne Repairs and Services crew will come through for you! How can I help you?" sang Sparks.

"Hmm? You must have a lot of time on your hands to come up with a little jingle like that out of no where, but you would seeing as how you've been SENDING ME OUT ON THESE BOGUS REPAIR JOBS!" screamed Erica. The man on the other end, the short, slightly chubby young man with short spikey blonde hair and a bandage just below his right eye was knocked off of his feet from the force of Erica's scream on the other end.

"Ah! Boss, how did the job go?" he asked, crawling back up, smiling and giving an embarrassed and nervous chuckle.

"How did it go? It was just a stupid oil change! I had to spend a day and a half flying here, get hardly any sleep at the Inn here and now I have to fly back for a day and half to get back there! This job isn't going to pay for the first flight alone, why did you even tell me about this one?" asked Erica.

"Well, you've been looking a little paler than usual so I figured maybe you could use a job on the outside of the garage." He said, smiling and scratching his cheek, hoping Erica would see his side of things. "Wait a minute, Erica, don't you usually charge people insane amounts of money when your annoyed?" asked Sparks.

"It might not be one of my better habits, why?"she asked, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, why isn't this job going to be able to pay for the ride there?" he asked.

"Well....I guess I...." said Erica, starting to stumble herself.

"The old man made you go soft, didn't he?" he said with a smug grin on his face.

"WE'LL SEE WHO'S GONE SOFT WHEN I GET BACK THERE SPARKS!" yelled Erica over the Den Den Mushi sending Sparks once again flying and on the floor.

Erica threw the small snail back on the receiver where it made a loud CLANG sound. Frustrated, annoyed, tired and on the verge of being penniless, Erica made her way to the hangar where her plane was being kept when the 3 guys with swords she saw earlier appeared in front of her.

"'Ey! You got a lotta nerve making a racket like that!" said the tall one in the middle. His jaw was jutting forward, face turned up into a scowl.

"Yeah, this is a peaceful neighborhood. We don't need people like you upsetting things here" quipped his friend on the right with the greased back hair.

"When things get upset around here, folks gotta pay, ya understand?" said the one on the left with the toothpick in his mouth. Erica was looking downwards while they were threatening her, shadows covering her face, revealing no expression. She moved over to the side to get around the 3 oafs when the guy in the middle stuck out his sword from his sheath, keeping Erica from moving on.

"Are you hard of hearing girl? We says you have to pay us for disturbing the peace. We're the "neighborhood watch" as it were. For all of that ear splitting screaming you were making, I'd say that comes out to 2,000,000 berri. right boys?" he asked. His two friends nodded and laughed in agreement. "Though your not all that bad looking from what I can see so maybe you can pay us in some other ways" he then suggested, his friends laughing harder now.

Erica looked up at them, her face was completely stoic. She then moved her right hand over to the hilt of her sword. The 3 goons laughed harder.

"Hahaha, you fixin' to take us on with that stick huh? Hahahaha!"

Erica then walked back about 10 steps, spit out her cigarette and took her sword Stormbringer out of it's sheath and got into her position, her sword to her side and pointing at her enemy, her left arm jutted out to guide the blade.

"Look at her, she's for real about this!" said the one with the greased back back, the three still laughing themselves to tears. The one in the middle suddenly stopped laughing and just smiled at her.

"Well if she thinks she can take us all at the same time, lets give her just that!" he yelled, prompting the other two to take out their swords. The three then began to charge at Erica, their swords clutched in both hands, looking more like they were ready to swing a baseball bat than a sword.

"Hisan...." said Erica, her word barely audible from the loud screaming of the three. They closed in on her, when she then shouted "KIBA!" Erica charged forward herself. Pushing off of her right leg behind her, Erica, in a flash, was behind her charging foes, the three baboons suddenly finding themselves up in the air. When they landed, they each had a new gash on their chest, their mouths gaped open in disbelief, their eyes whited out, either unconscious or in shock. Erica calmly replaced the sword back into it's sheath and then lit another cigarette. She breathed it in deeply and blew out a large puff of smoke.

"That helped work through some of my frustrations." she said, stretching her arms up in the air. "Ah, now I gotta go find a way to get some more money." Erica then picked up her tool box and headed back to town.

Last edited by Okami Kugatsu (2008-03-14 14:52:52)

Thanks to a random stranger in a long, black jacket, whom regularly Kichiro would have stayed away from, (good luck never came in the form of shady characters), the slightly lost pilot was able to make his way into town with a burning stick of nicotine. And that, in his opinion, was far better than a non-burning one. This Yellow Tart Airfield, as Kichiro discovered was it's named from the large billboard plated above what must of been the entrance, was rather large and fairly busy. From the time it took him to arrive at the gate, he had seen 3 planes take off, 4 zepplins arrive, and pushed his way through several crowds of people waiting to gather their belongings. By the time he reached his destination, his cigarette was burned right through.
     "Well, ain't that a shame, mate." he mumbled to himself as he sucked in the last puff and flicked it off into the nearby sewer vent. Pushing himself off the fencing that framed the exit, he made a swift turn out the gate only to meet a solid object coming the opposite direction fast. Not only did this cause Kichiro to get knocked over, it also choked him on his own smoke, causing a rather severe coughing fit to ensue.
     "Oh boy, am I ever sorry, kid!" came a bellowing voice from behind a large parcel or some sort. Kichi looked up through his coughs, pounding his chest to help 'get it out'.
     "Yeah, yeah..." he coughed a little more. "...No worries. Jus' mind where you're going." He forced himself up and gathered his rucksack before clearing his throat and brushing himself off almost daintily. "I could'a been some old man with a bad hip, yeah?"
     "Again, my apologies. But ya'll hafta excuse me," the obviously large man continued, now peeking his head around the package, presenting the face behind the voice. "I'm in'a hurry and need to take off soon. Perhaps next time, I could buy ya a drink?" This was said more out of politeness than truth but caused Kichi to grin none the less.
     "Aye, I'll be holdin' you to that, mate." he finished with a lazy point at the now more obvious giant of a man. As he hurried on by the sky pirate, Kichiro noticed he looked close to seven feet tall with a huge body to match. Not only that, but the outfit we was wearing was beyond strange, even for the things he had seen on his travels, that crimson cape catching wind behind the large man. With a few misguided steps, Kichi eventually continued his way into Citrus Town, thinking to himself how he wouldn't forget a man like that any time soon.

Kichiro swaggered down the street which connected the airfield to, what seemed like, the industrial district of this town. In a lost daze, and some direction from the common locals he spotted walking around, he found his way to the commercial part of the city to where he could get his "errands" complete. Making his way through the steadily increasing crowds of people with a couple of "Pardon me, mate"s and "Excuse me, miss"s, he approached what looked like some kind of information kiosk. Only it was more like another one of those billboards he had kept seeing around this place.
     "Now les'see here..." Kichi said as he itched at his jawline, beginning to read what it said. "Don't miss the Wonderful Wingrider, Trace Schuyler, and his Amazing Acrobatics! Only at Citrus Town's Legendary Stunt Show Festival, today at 3PM! Also, be sure to catch... Ah, now that would explain the hordes of bloody people here then." Just as he finished that sentence, a sort of rough looking individual bumped in to him, following up with a nearly cliche: "Watch where yer goin', bub!"
     "No worries, mate." he said with a false cheery disposition. "But you wouldn't happen to know where I could find a... Repair... shop?" The stranger didn't even stop to listen. "Oi. Nevermind then." He sighed and turned around, supposing he was just going to wander around until he could get some help. That was his plan until his eyes caught the sight of a rather beautiful woman, with long, black wavy hair and provocative red dress, hurrying by.
     "Well, now." he whispered, studying her a bit more before taking his first step in her direction. "If nobody minds, I think it's time for your Cap'n to take a lil' R an' R break." And with that, he followed after her.

After a few minutes of near-stalker like following, Kichi finally caught up with her just as she entered one of the larger buildings that lined the streets. This establishment was called "Sunnie & Sourr's Bar and Inn", according to the sign, and Kichiro's eyes lit up.
     "If I can't have a smoke, then I'll be damned if I couldn't have me a pint with a fine lady too." Shuffling his rucksack strap up his shoulder a bit, Kichiro pressed open the door and entered what just might as well be good as any heaven could be for this odd sky pirate.

Ugh... I hate my job. Mac thought to himself as he sat awkwardly, in a chair too small for his frame, in the director's office. Sure, being a courier means I work when I want to. Freelance, if you will. It's so mundane though... and nobody ever has any information that I need. Is it even worth the hassle? Why do I bother? Is he still talking? Why is his suit bright yellow? That's a nice painting. Wait, is that a cat?

"MISTER IRVINE!" came a shout from over the desk.
"Whuh?"
"I asked if those conditions were acceptable. Do we have a deal?"
"Sure. What's the cargo, and where am I taking it?"
"You'll be making a delivery to the Moonshine Casino on Gambit Island. It's all lit up, even at night. Lovely place."
"Very nice, Mister Peel, but I need to know what I'll be taking."
"Lemons."

There was silence for a few seconds as Mac gathered his thoughts. "Lemons?" he managed to ask.
"Yes, lemons."
"LEMONS?"
"Well, yes. They are our major export."
"This was supposed to be an emergency delivery! Double the regular payment!"
"It is an emergency! They've nearly run out. Can you imagine such a thing? Life without lemons..." Mr Peel shuddered at the thought, but continued. "There's supposed to be a major baccarat tournament soon, and those high rollers will be wanting their lemon vodkas, gin and lemon, lemon spritzers, lemon brandy... all the usual drinks."
Mac felt a little ill by this point. Sighing, he stood up. "I hereby accept this contract, Mister Peel, and vow to complete the delivery in it's fullness, within the time period agreed upon, as is my duty as a courier." He glanced up from the scrawl written on his hand, and shook that of the director. After being shown to the sacks of lemons, he placed them in a box, and left the building, heading towards Yellow Tart Airfield, and his plane, Neko Coneko.
"What a strange man..." Mr Peel scowled. "He may have odd dress sense, but he could at least have the decency to wear a yellow cape..."

"I hate doing that bit." Mac mumbled under his breath, "Stupid courier licence laws..." Oblivious to those scrambling to get out of his way, he stomped his way down the street, until he felt a small amount of resistance pushing back on him. Glancing around his "emergency" lemons, he saw a small boy sprawled out on the floor. Then again, most men looked like small boys to Mac. "Oh boy, am I ever sorry, kid!"
Coughing, he replied, "Yeah, yeah..." More coughing. "...No worries. Jus' mind where you're going." He got to his feet, cleared his throat, and brushed himslef down. "I could'a been some old man with a bad hip, yeah?"
"Again, my apologies. But ya'll hafta excuse me. I'm in'a hurry and need to take off soon. Perhaps next time, I could buy ya a drink?" Mac lied. He hoped never to come back to this eerie place. Lemons as far as the eye could see. The kid could buy his own damned lemon whisky if he wanted one. The boy grinned however, as though to accept it.
"Aye, I'll be holdin' you to that, mate." He replied, oblivious to the fact that he'd never see Mac again. Ever. If he could help it.

Finally arriving at the airfield, and after pushing some pencils for a while, then filling out some forms, Mac was ready to fly. Or so he had hoped. In the distance, he could see a faint plume of smoke, and many of the airfield workers seemed to be gathered there.
"Mac Irvine requesting technicians for clearance."
"Mister Irvine?" came a voice from the snail in front of Mac.
"Aye?"
"I'm afraid there have been some problems. Most of the technicians have been called away to an illegal landing. You won't be able to depart for at least an hour or two. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Releasing the button on the shell, Mac began to curse the heavens. "GET ME OFF OF THIS BLOODY ISLAND! IT'S TOO DAMNED WEIRD!" He foamed, "IF I EVER CATCH WHO DID THIS, I'LL KILL THEM!"
A small explosion flashed up briefly before a thick black cloud began to rise into the air.
"Make that three or four." crackled the voice again, a little tenser this time.

I hate my job.

Erica saw the explosion at the airstrip while she was walking back into town from her brief altercation with the three thugs. That loud kaboom to her sounded more like a loud ka-ching! Erica was in need of money and if she could lend her services to whatever just blew up for some spare cash, then that's what she had to do. She ran as fast as she could to the site and when Erica got there, her eyes were greeted to the sight of airstrip employees and fire fighters rushing about the place trying to keep everything under control. She looked for the fattest one giving orders since those guys tend to be the ones running things. She scouted one yelling orders into a mini Den Den Mushi.

"I don't care what the Marines want, we need to get that thing off of the strip A.S.A.P! We have planes that need to land and we can't have that heap blocking traffic!" he yelled. Erica approached him and tapped him on the back of the shoulder.

"Excuse me sir." she said, as politely as she could.

"Eh? What do you want?" he asked in a grizzled, crotchety manner. Erica reached into her pocket and presented to him her business card.

"The name is Erica Melbourne, I'm a mechanic and whatever you need fixin, I can fix it and I saw an explosion just a little while ago."

"Oh yeah? Well what exploded was that piece of junk that illegally landed here just a while ago and I really don't care if it's in pieces, I just want my airfield cleared!" he yelled at her, clearly irate. His mini Den Den Mushi rang again and he answered while Erica looked on rejected and pissed. "What was that? Er....I think the tag on it was Radical Dreamer! Well if the Marines want it, they'll have to grab it before we send it out for scrap!" he yelled. Having enough of this, Erica turned around and walked away. This situation she thought, calls for a drink and with the little 5000 Beri she made on her earlier job, she might as well use it for some boozin. She walked to the nearest bar she could find in a haze, nearly a blind stupor caused by repressed rage. It was called the Sunnie & Sour's Bar and Inn. Erica opened the door and her mind was dead set on not only getting a drink, but making fun of everyone that caught her eye.

The first one that she noticed as she walked in was another fatty. He had a cigar in between his vienna sausage fingers and ton of rings on each finger. He was wearing an insanely expensive jacket, his hair was modeled in a large greaser style and he was accompanied by a bevy of beautiful women. Erica's thoughts of this one were Look at me, I'm the guy who's everyones friend, but only when I'm buying things for everyone else. I talk and laugh really loud to make up for my insecurities and none of these girls find me the slightest bit attractive, but as long as my wallet's just as fat as I am, it doesn't matter to them.

The next one was a big man with a beard talking to a marine. Look at me while I talk and stroke my beard at the same time to make you think that I'm thinking. What am I hiding under this itchy beard of mine I wonder? Must be last weeks barbecue. I only have this unhygienic thing attached to my face because I'm too lazy to shave it. Oh, I'm making a gun symbol with my fingers. I must be good at shooting things because that's what guys with guns do. We point at each other.

The last one before she got to the bar was another young man with a 4'o clock shadow and a woman who was looking interested right next to him. Unfortunately, Erica was within ear shot of this one, but that didn't stop her from her mockery.

"Believe me baby, you won't find any better than Kichiro Rakki right here."

There's so many other guys here better than me but I'm the only one here that can fit into pants that are about 4 times too small so I gotta have something special she thought.

"I'm an infamous sky pirate lass. Marauder of the sky ways, living the dream and flying free. Maybe I can take you up there some time, what'cha say to that?"

I once stole some bubblegum from a candy shop when I was 9 and was considered the bad ass of the schoolyard.

Erica ordered her drink and was served up a tall glass of beer. After this day, about 12 more of these should begin to calm her down.

"C'mon love, when I set my sights on something, I never miss the mark. I'd show you what I mean but my little pea shooter here (pats the stock of his rifle) is a bit on the fritz."

Erica nearly spat out her drink when she heard that.

"Teehee, your funny. Here, let me give you my number and we can meet up some....MMMMM!" she said when a hand covered her face and immediately pushed her down. It was Erica confronting Kichiro.

"Whoa! Ladies! No need to fight, there's plenty of me to go around for the two you!" he said with his arms out trying to calm things down. Erica threw him a card which he caught out of the air and read.

"You say you've got something thats broken?"

Last edited by Okami Kugatsu (2008-03-23 11:46:42)