World Tree MUSH

    Night falls on San Juan and by now most ships have docked for the evening and their crews have taken to the town for a night of revelry and relaxation.
    The crew of the Blue Dutchman is no exception; having settled on the deck of their ship, by the firelight of the various hung lanterns, passing around cups of grog and hearty cooked local food. Voices are lifted high in chatter and song- especially one certain new voice joining the crew.

    "Come all you young sailor men, listen to me!
    I'll sing you a song of the fish in the sea!
    And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys.
    When the wind blows we're all together, boys!
    Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds blow!
    Jolly sou'wester, boys, steady she goes!"

    Emerald Leviathan balances on the ship's railing, grinning brightly as she leads several of the men in song, much to everyone's amusement.

    "Up jumps the eel, with his slippery tail!
    Climbs up aloft and REEFS the top sail!"

    The words are not something Lian Kamoya knows. But the joy in the air, the camraderie, those she can feel. She's quite happy to spend a triumphant evening with Leviathan and the crew of the Blue Dutchman, sitting to one side with a bowl of simple stew. The star of the show is most definitely the newly-recovered singing voice, however. That, she's happy to sit and listen to.

    Scavenger perches on the side rail of the deck, nursing her own cup of grog with a faint, wistful smile. A ghostly expression that's like as not to vanish if observed. She's enjoying the atmosphere, and the companionship, even if she's sitting isolated from it.

    Dante sits with a drink o' grog as he listens to the shanty, grinning wide as he sees Scavy all by her lonesome. "Hey you, what are you doin' all alone like this?" He says with a chuckle, sitting with Scavenger as he produces his guitar.

    Scavenger huffs softly, scooting just a hair further away from the demonhunter. "I prefer being alone." she lies as naturally as she breathes.

Itana took some time to relax after the fight beneath the sea. A desert dweller by nature and lifestyle, she's unaccustomed to swimming for long periods, much less deep dives into ocean caves. She's just as happy not to swim for a little while.

She eventually does come wandering back to the top deck. She left her cloak and hood behind and didn't bring her bow, but the rest of her outfit's intact. In one hand she's carrying a bowl of stew. Pushing pale hair back with a rake of her free hand's long fingers, she tips her head as the music reaches her. Wordless, she listens to the tiny girl exercise the voice robbed from her for so long.

In spite of herself, she indulges in a faint smile. It fades after a few seconds because Itana's stoic like that.

    "OH c'mon, don't be like that. We just got Levi's voice back and killed a big fuckin' squid!" Dante says, nudging Scavenger playfully. "I'm about to play~, come on and enjoy the music."

    Scavenger huffs again, then pulls her commpad from its pouch. She fiddles with it for a few moments, then turns it to show Dante. "Y'know how to play this?" she asks, letting the devil hunter look for a few moments before answering.

    "Up jumps the shark, with his nine rows of teeth!
    Saying: 'You eat the dough, boys, and I'll eat the beef!'
    And it's windy weather, boys, stormy weather, boys!
    When the wind blows we're all together, boys!
    Up jumps the whale, the largest of all,
    'If you want any wind, boys, I'll blow ye's a squall!'"

    The song eventually reaches its end and a giggling sea-nymph hops down from the rail. To say she looks happy, well... That's almost an understatement as the crew resumes their chatter and--
    Scavenger gets a sudden hug from the side. 
    "Dante is right! You should not be so alone, sing, sing~." She urges, flashing a grin of several rows of shark-like teeth.
    Being a grumpy gumbus isn't allowed right now apparently as she releases Scavenger and scoots towards Lian and Itana, "Join in, join in!"

Itana can't quibble with Scavenger sitting alone. She's not exactly a social butterfly either.

Left to her own devices, she seems quite intent to lean on the mast and finish her meal. But Leviathan's being tiny and cute, and not even Itana el-Zayl is immune to that sort of thing. Blinking once, she tilts her head to one side with a faint blush.

"I am not a good singer," she murmurs with a glance to the side.

    "That," Dante points at Itana. "Is totally bullshit. You were singin' just fine on our way to the sea hag!" He teases. "C'mon, both of you join in!"

    "We older sorts are best on the sidelines, enjoying the company," Lian replies to Leviathan, though she watches the interplay between Scavenger and Dante with amused curiosity. She does, however, reach over to give the sea nymph a gentle ruffle atop the head. "It's good to finally hear your voice."

    However, her eyes next swing over to Itana. "I agree with Dante, personally. But if you'd rather not sing, perhaps a dance instead?"

    Scavenger oofs at suddenly getting hugged. She looks down at Leviathan with yellow eyes as round as dinnerplates for a few moments. Her expression then sours again before softening as she huffs out a sharp sigh.

    Once Dante starts to play, Scavenger's voice lifts, a soft ballad to the plinking of the guitar strings.

    "We could just go home right now, or maybe we could stick around for just one more drink, Oh yeah."
    "Get another bottle out, lets shoot the shit, sit back down, for just one more drink. Oh yeah."

    "Here's to us, here's to love. All the times that we messed up. Heres' to you, fill the glass. Cuz' the last few days have kicked my ass."
    So lets give'em hell. Wish everybody well..."

    "Here's to us... yeah, here's to us."

    And there's that sharp-toothed grin again. Leviathan meets Scavenger's sour look with a beaming smile. But then she sticks her tongue right out at Itana and points at her own neck.
    "Li~ar~. You did the throaty-thingy." She points out, apparently having taken note of that before the fight with the kraken.
    But then she's nodding emphatically. "Dancing is good!" She agrees before fin-like ear-spurs splay and spread as Scavenger starts to sing.
    "Oooh."

Itana's shoulders tense slightly as she's put under something she absolutely hates: /Social pressure./ She presses her lips together and looks out over the water, quiet for a period as she restrains her initial impulses: Brushing everyone off and going to hang out with her chocobo. Leviathan piling on spikes /that/ option, though. She can't bring herself to be mean to someone that tiny and cute. "That's different," is all she says, unconvincingly.

Nevertheless she listens for a moment as the others play and sing. She finally sighs, closes her eyes and steps forward, a spurred heel clicking off the deck as she sweeps into a graceful spin.

Turns out Itana's a pretty good dancer. She sweeps across the deck like she's dancing on the wind.

    ...and entering the area is a man who looks completely out of place. Wearing his own suit instead of a suit of armor, Lancelot arrives on the scene. The man catches eyes as he moves through the docks, flirting with the women and participating in manly jest and jab with the men. He appears to follow the music, and upon arrival at the ship, cups his hands to call out "Room for one more?"

    There is a moment where Lian nearly reverses her own course, offers Itana a way out. She can feel the girl's distress over the social pressure. However, the dance ends up happening, and a warm smile breaks out across her face, She looks in Lancelot's direction just before he calls out, as if expecting him - or at the very least, sensing his arrival. Either way, her greeting is warm. "Good evening, sir knight. We'd be happy to have you."

    Dante keeps playing, as Itana dances and Scavenger sings. It's a lovely sight, and Dante's all too happy to keep the scene going as he plays. He knows the song well enough, and he can't fault Scavvy for her music choices.

    That's not different at all! But Leviathan lets it go for now. She'll have to ask Itana to teach her how to do the throat-thingy later; as the desert archer starts to dance.
    This is all well and good as Leviathan perches herself on the rail again, legs kicking lazily as she basks in the joyful atmosphere.
    "Eheh heh~."
    Then Lancelot appears.
    "I don't see why not!"

This is a lot harder for Itana than she wants to admit. She's used to keeping people at arm's length. Letting her guard down is an emotional challenge.

She nevertheless spins, arms sweeping along with her in broad, graceful movements. Eventually, reaching the edge of the railing, she lets herself slow. She comes out of the dance by smoothly boosting herself to a seat on the rail, crossing a leg over the other and folding her hands in her lap.

"You seem to have a passion for music." That's to Leviathan.

    Scavenger's voice isn't what one may call 'pleasant', but it's deep, and rich, and she's clearly pouring her heart into the song. 

    "Stuck it out this far together. Put our dreams through the shredder. Lets toast, cuz things got better."
    "And everything could change like that, and all these years go by so fast. But nothin' lasts. Forever."

    "Here's to us, here's to love. All the times that we messed up. Here's to you, fill the glass."
    "Cuz the last few nights have kicked my ass. If they give ya hell, tell 'em 'Forget themselves', here's to us. Here's to us."

    "Here's to all that we kissed, and to all that we missed. To the biggest mistakes that we just wouldn't trade. To us breaking up, without us breaking down. To whatever's comin' our way!"

    "Here's to us! here's to love! All the times that we messed up. Here's to you. Fill the glass! Cuz' the last few days have kicked my ass! So let's give 'em hell! Wish everybody well..."

    She lets the music begin to fade out, "Here's to us..." she lingers on that final note, before opening her eyes, seeing everyone looking and immediately blushes a brilliant shade of crimson.

    Cheering, Lancelot leaps up onto the ship, bypassing the gangplank. Brimming with positive energy, and likely a bit of Mana, he gives Leviathan a courtly bow. "Glad am I to hear your voice renewed, my lady." He begins to make his rounds, offering Dante a fist-bump in passing, a step over to Lian - "Good to see you, futuristic warrior." - while admiring the dancing and singing of others. "Is this a common gathering in this world, or are we celebrating the young lady's recovery?"

    Itana's dancing comes to an end and the desert dweller plops on the rail beside Leviathan, who plops her hands on her knees while her legs still kick.
    "I lived for a hundred years under the water, never allowed to walk on land. I was curious though, so I liked to swim close to the passing ships and listen to the sailors singing!" She explains brightly, before flashing Lancelot her sharp-toothed grin.
    "A bit of both!" She chirps as the Zalak's song comes to a close.
    Leviathan starts to clap. Vigorously.

    Dante returns the fistbump with a grin once the song ends. "I think she's actually from the past. It's weird and confusing." He says with a laugh to the knight, cocking his thumb at Lian. "Actually, what _ARE_ you? I've never seen monk types with laser swords before, I gotta admit. Or those crazy mind powers of yours."

    He winks at Scavenger, and mouthes 'You did fucking awesome.' to the Zalak.

Itana doesn't know any sea shanties because she doesn't go to sea all that often.

"I don't know. I do not live in this world," Itana answers Lancelot with a shrug.

It's the little sea-singer who grabs her attention, though. Chasing back a few locks of pale hair, she tilts her head to listen, before nodding quietly. "You have learned it very well," she concedes. "The song, I mean. I've known sahaguin who can imitate the human voice... but not with such, um." She grasps for a word.

"Ability to evoke emotion in a human heart."

    Lancelot's question is answered quite well by Leviathan and Itana in different ways, so Lian replies to Dante instead, bowing her head politely in acknowledgement. "I typically call myself 'adventurer and seer' as a simple encapsulation. But it's perhaps more accurate to call me a warrior-monk, and a knight errant." She smooths out her cloak a bit, and continues, "I come from an order known as the Jedi. We're like monks, in that we meditate and study an energy we call the Force, the energy of the universe, of life."

    At Lian, Dante nods slowly. "Oh. That explains why you like Lancelot here so much." Dante grins, giving Lancelot a friendly clap on the arm. "Sorry we didn't have time to socialize earlier, Sir Lancelot. I'm Dante, demon slayer. It's an honor to meet a knight of the Round Table, I'm a huge fan."

    Scavenger gives Dante a withering glare, drinking from her cup again to hide the tiny little smile betraying her mood. As attention falls from her and onto others, the Zalak seems to relax again, fading comfortably into the background once more.

    Lancelot nods along with answers, and turns to Lian. "Knight Errant, eh? Your weapon was... well, impressive." He shrugs. "Something out of the future, or the past, or what have you." He pats the weapon on his hip. "I wonder how your sword of light would fare against mine... perhaps we could arrange for a proper spar?" He leans his weight against a nearby railing, looking around, taking literally everything in as much as he can.

    "Sahaguin? Those are mer-people yes?" Leviathan muses. Her brow knots. "Are you not from a place where there is no water though?" She asks Itana.
    The whole thought of merfolk in a desert makes the sea-nymph's face scrunch as she tries to clear the hurdles of some INTENSE mental gymnastic math.
    But then her eyes drift to Lancelots' weapon.
    Even sheathed that blade sends a shivering thrill of primal terror up Leviathan's spine, causing her to scootch into Itana's shadow for a moment.

"They are. Where I live, they mostly live in the sea, or in oases. They're more... monster-like than human-like, however," Itana concedes with a shrug. "You can find them in the sea caves, too."

Her gaze drifts between Lancelot and Lian, lingering a moment on the Jedi's laser sword. Technology is one of those things that doesn't compute for Itana; she just chalked Itana up as a magic knight with glowy parts. When Leviathan scoots in, the archer unthinkingly moves her hand.

It settles in Leviathan's hair and she gives her a little comforting stroke without realizing she's doing it.

    "Indeed," she replies to Dante. "A defender of the weak is someone I can get along with quite well." At mention of her weapon, she reaches to her side, and unclips it. "We call them lightsabers. Every Jedi must build one as part of their training." Curiously, she's careful to hold the weapon in such a way that it stays just out of Leviathan's line of sight. There might be a bit of a learned lesson, there. "Lian Kamoya," she adds, putting her own name into the mix. "Knight of the Republic, lost though I may be."

    But she does return it to her belt, and smooths her tunic out a bit. "I'd be quite happy to do so, Sir Lancelot. Pacifistic though my order may have leaned, we are 'knights' for a reason. Though, perhaps not on a night of celebration," she adds, with a nod to the rest of the ship's festivities.

    Lancelot waved his hands as if warding off an attack. "Perish the thought, my lady!" He turns to fully face the festivities. "I am just glad to be out and about. It has been far too long... and so much has happened in my world, let alone all of this now." His visage took on a wistful look. "She would have loved this, I think. Such a simple gathering, yet so much more than she was used to."

    "You ever want to see what I'm made of, gimme a ring too." Dante offers. "Looks like all those myths about ya weren't all myths after all judging by before."

    The hand running through the aqua ringlets of Leviathan's hair soothes her enough to pull her back from her instinctive, and righteous, fear of a dragon slaying sword like Arondight. And she peers over as Lian unclips her lightsaber from her belt- leaning- leaning- leeeeeaaaaaaaaning- trying to get a view of the shiny that she knows is clearly out of her sight.
    "Oh." She does pout at Itana though. Hearing that the merfolk where the desert dweller is from are more monster than people.
    "I lived with my sisters for ages, but eventually we got separated. ... That's when I met Calypso. And everything happened.

Itana strokes a couple more times before drawing her hand away with a slight blush and a drawn-in breath as she realizes what she was doing.

She looks out over the water for a moment, listening, but a little unfocused. Her shoulders rise subtly before settling again. "I can understand how someone alone in the world would be enticed by a person like her," she murmurs. "You are wiser for the experience, perhaps."

    Lancelot folded his arms as he leaned against the railing. "I should have realized that mine own sword might cause you distress, lady. I apologize, but I cannot remove it." He scooted down the railing, away from Leviathan, and gave Dante's words a consideration. "I do not know you, friend, but... you have a very stylish way of fighting, if the past event means much. I do also appreciate your words."

    "It's when we're alone in the world that we're most vulnerable," Lian says, giving Leviathan and Itana both a sympathetic look. "I'm glad all of us were able to help. I shall probably move on soon, but I do wish you the best in finding your way, Emerald Leviathan."

    Dante and Lancelot, however, get a more amused expression. "He's certainly unorthodox. And I can't fault his skills, either. His fighting style suits him well."

    "Eheh heh~." Leviathan doesn't seem to mind having her hair stroked. She even pouts when it comes to a stop, but she doesn't pester Itana for more.
    "Maybe." She chirrups at being wiser for her experience. Hopefully anyway, but she dips her head in a nod when Lian says she's probably going to move on soon.
    "Now that I can walk on land... I wanna see more than just the seas." She admits. So it looks like she probably won't be hanging around, much longer, herself.

/It's when we're alone in the world that we're most vulnerable./

Itana is quiet for a moment, looking across the deck of the ship with a stoic expression. Behind her eyes, her thoughts churn. They drift back to the ruins of Damcyan, where it was more than the tiresome old man and the soft prince who lost. They lost out loud and someone else lost in silence.

Itana rises, pushing her hair back brusquely. "I should also move on soon. There are matters I am needed for in my own world." With a breath, she nods back to Leviathan. "...If ever you wish to see a desert, I can show you. Sometime."

    Lancelot chuckles. "It's when we're alone in the world that we're most vulnerable. The King would have loved that saying..." He chuckles, shaking his head. "I think, if the festivities are winding down, that I may continue my walk. As I stated once, it has been far too long for me, and everything is so..." Lancelot inhaled deeply and, for the briefest of moments, the ghosts of the past vanished from his face. "...alive!"