Manifest Destiny: The Blade or the Torch

[Aidoneus]

The sunrise was peaking; violet opened her eyes. Her memory was hazy. She had eaten some mushrooms the day before and had a strong reaction to the alcohol she had that night. The sunlight stunned her further in her stupor, dazing her. She shook her head; no hangover would best a mink, even a rogue mink like her. She was on the shore of a beach. She remembered where she was: the volcano island of the west, Vulcania. But what had actually happened? She had no idea. She looked down at the gray sands and a trail leading from it toward what appeared to be civilization. Curiosity overwhelmed her weariness and she wandered, slowly examining the many exotic trees, mushrooms, ferns, berries, and flowers. This tropical island was oddly cold, but the soil itself seemed to radiate heat. An interesting place unlike anything she had experienced before. She smiled, for an instant. She had a feeling in her gut that she was going to have fun.

[Sweet Dreams]

West blue,not often thought to hold great treasures,but lately there has been a rumor going around one of its islands. It is said hidden away behind trees and bushes of a forest that sat at the edge of a village of the islands stood a house that held a secret treasure,but if one were to find it they would easily see that the charred rotted remains of the building hadn't been lived in for decades. 

Large chunks of roofing and wood laid scattered everywhere looking as if a bomb went off,a large dark hole was in the middle of the floor in the very back room.The trap door that hid it laid near by looking as if it had been ripped or blow off,by the looks of the broken twisted hinges. Once entering the dark hole it would be revealed to be the entrance of an underground tunnel that split off into an entire network of tunnels many of which lead to dead ends due to cave-ins. The walls and floors covered in rusted metal that long ago must of been shiny and new,the long network of cables and wires that once crawled along the ceiling were hanging low broken a few still sparked lightly casting a flicker and shifting light along the dark tunnels.Many of these dead ends had skeletons leaning against the rubble and walls, a many of them wore old fashion marines outfits of different ranks but a few looked to be of pirates and thieves,people who had gotten lost and died looking for this treasure.

At the end of one of the tunnels it opened up to a large circular room that looked the be a inventors space at one time but the soot covered walls,charred and half melted metals laid throw about,what once had been a table and chairs laid shattered as if something heavy had landed on them or riddled with a large amount of bullet sized holes.A large amount of books lined a wall blacked and burned,the titles no longer readable eaten away by the fire and time that so hungrily consumed them. A nearby door,the once bright blue pint faded and chipped with time stood rusted shut the small window on it gave a slight view into the next room.An entire wall being taken up by monitors,most cracked or completely shattered and dark but a few that were intact and still somehow had power only showed the fuzz of static,the cameras no longer showing the places they were in. A figure was sitting unmoving slumped over the control panels a old tattered and stained lab coat blocked them from view. 

Suddenly the screech of metal filled the quiet lab before a large chuck of the soot and rust covered wall gave away,finally losing its battle with time,only to reveal a doorway leading to a secret room,that unlike everything else looked untouched,a small room just big enough to fit three people only the flickering light from the cables being the only light source in the room. It was empty of all furnishings,a layer of dust covered everything including the girl sitting on the floor,her head tilted to the side,her eyed closed,but her chest wasn't moving,but that didn't mean she wasn't alive,inside her head her mind was starting to wake up,her battery had reached less then five percent,activating her emergency override forcing her to slowly start turning back on. Mizuki was starting to wake up,long codes of data flashed quickly from behind her eye lids,but most of it was ignored do to the flashing low battery warning,to her this was her overdue wake up call.

[Aidoneus]

Violet continued walking up the long winding path. Soon she realized that civilization had never been there.... At least for a hundred years. She was a biologist: she could tell by the trees, and the rotting of debris. Plus she couldn't smell any trace of human or fish anywhere that wasn't the shore. Vulcania had died. She continued on the path deep into the forest. One time she had read that a great treasure was hidden in Vulcania. It wouldn't hurt to explore a little. At least then it might not be a wasted trip.

She smelled a fowl smell coming from a narrow side trail around the base of Mt. Vulcan. Like death. She decided that exploring the trail would be alright, and took a few steps. She could see an entrance to a cave almost immediately in the distance; that being said, at the same moment the thin shale rock beneath the ash-soil gave way, letting Violet slip underground. Worried that she might be crushed or otherwise die from the fall, she tried to turn intangible and succeeded. When she landed on the hard cavern surface, her body shattered into pieces and slid down the cave. She put herself back together fast enough, but now she was lost in a cave network. 

She breathed, then tried to smell her way out. She could smell death in one direction, and oil in the other. She figured that oil was more likely to lead the way out than death and followed the scent until she came across a laboratory of some kind. She didn't get too close. Paranoia made her wary. Could this be dangerous? Absolutely. 

The fact that she had poor control over her devil fruit didn't exactly help. But she was not frightened by any means. She was likely invisible. Her fur was dark faded color blending; good camouflage for a cave. She sent a ball of glass into the room to see if it would trigger any traps. Lucky her; if she hadn't she'd have died. Two torches appeared in the wall and blasted the glass with fire. The glass was unfazed, but if it had been Violet she most certainly would not have been. No other traps appeared to be intact; the glass set off three more traps but each one just blew up before it could do anything. It had simply been there too long. She took a step inside, curiosity overwhelming caution.

[Sweet Dreams]

The movement of footsteps could be heard in the room with her before the flickering sparks from a hanging cable would light up the room revealing a figure on the other side of the room. On closer inspection she would see it appeared to be a cobwebbed and dust covered girl only a inch or two taller then Violet. With the way she was stumbling towards the fridge,be it do to tiredness or drunkenness it was impossible to tell. The door of the fridge laid on the floor having broken off and rusted long ago. But her focus was not on the door but something on the shelves inside. Reaching in she pulls out a small juice box,but on the front of the box instead of an apple or vine of grapes it had a teardrop shaped picture of a black liquid. She sucks the first one dry then a second and then a third.
Finally done with the third she tosses it and the others into a nearby trashcan,before giving a slight hiccup. It was when she turned around that her boot lightly knocks the glass ball. Looking down she reaches down and picks it up studying it slowly.

[Aidoneus]

Violet watched and listened as what appeared to be a disheveled and dirty humanoid walked over to a broken refrigerator and drank what appeared to be petroleum of some kind. She also seemed rather interested in the glass ball which was rather out of place given the setting. She thought for a moment, observing her surroundings, then smiled. Why not just go with the flow? She stepped forward, seeping out from the shadows as if she was never there to begin with.

"Good evening. You seem to be in minor distress, given your... less than optimal appearance. My name is Violet. I'm here because I fell down a hole. What about you?"

Violet slowly stepped forward as she spoke, carefully neutral as to be equally seductive, intimidating, and stealthy. She wanted to maintain control over the situation, an flexibility helps with that. Or at least that was her reasoning for acting with so much forethought. As per normal, she wore her small hemp bra and split-sided skirt, leaving most of her body exposed. Today she was wearing a silver chain with a porcelain skull amulet and onyx eyes. She was just a hair taller than the femanoid being before her. She observed the difference in the new person, comparing their figure and their skin. Her skin appeared the same, but the scent of skin wasn't on her. Was she a robot? It didn't make much sense for people to go around drinking petroleum. But maybe she was just a little different like herself anyway. That's when she remembered the glass.

"Oh and I made that ball. Like it? I think its pretty."

[Sweet Dreams]

Slowly the girls head turns almost like one would if they were still half asleep.She blinks at this strange creature that seem to of suddenly appeared before her seemingly out of nowhere,she was not human that was easy to see,but the way she moved and walked,the way she talked was all very humanoid. She seemed to take a moment just to take in her form before finally speaking "This..is my...home" She says with a slight almost drunken sounding slurr. She looks down at the sizeable ball of glass and nods "It is very beautiful.." She says the drunken slur in her voice slowly fading away as well as the tired look "You fell down a hole you said?"

[Aidoneus]

"Yes, I fell down a hole. I explored to find a way out, and instead I found you. Speaking of you, why do you smell like Petroleum?" 

Violet shifted her weight, analyzing the girl's demeanor. She was obviously disoriented. And the girl had called this place her home, but they both seemed to be in shambles. It seemed a peculiar situation. Perhaps she would prove useful.

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