[Peridot]

Carina fell into step beside the captain of the fishing vessel keeping a firm grip on the paperwork for his ship as they headed over to the registry. She listened intently as the seafarer began to look off into the ceiling, recounting this first experiences with the Grand Line. His voice rang with such wonder and excitement that the young marine was convinced he must have actually visited the miraculous islands he was talking about. And then he stopped mid speech when his arm fell off.

The lass startled with surprise as the limb suddenly dropped to the floor. The severed end was completely bloodless, and there wasn’t a trace of bone or sinew sticking out of the flesh. There was no way that was a normal arm. Casually, she watched wide-eyed as the captain smoothly reattached the arm and tested the finger movement. Wow, I wonder if a Sea King ate his arm! Carina giggled softly, “Heheh, that surprised me! Your arm looks so realistic, it doesn’t look fake at all!”

She then answered his question as they reached the verification office. “To tell the truth, I joined the Marines so that one day I’d be able to visit the Grand Line. My father spent his whole life getting there, but ran afoul of a Shichibukai his first week and never had a chance to explore the Grand Line. I’m determined to see how far I’ll get!” Her words weren’t spoken with any bitterness or frustration, but with enthusiasm born of knowing the dangers and simply not caring.

When they arrived at the door to the verification office, Carina turned to the ship captain. “Sorry sir, you’ll have to wait out here a moment. It’s just protocol in case you were looking to tamper with our files or something, hahah. And oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I never even caught your name.” She could have just read it off of the paperwork, but it was bad protocol to go snooping around all of the documents, and it seemed a tad rude to do so.

[Peridot]

The harsh tone of the marine waiting for her made Carina flinch slightly as her mind already pictured her precious free time slipping away and transforming into an extra hour of punitive cleaning duty. Then to her surprise, the captain of the fishing boat trying to enter the Grand Line spoke up and defended her. Her gaze switched over to the elderly yet still fairly handsome captain who had just spoken when he began to speak directly to her and completely overpowered the marine standing next to him with his presence.

It was strange because under normal circumstances, a civilian captain would be terrified and cowed by the marines since his whole livelihood depended on their permission to enter the Grand Line. Yet, the man in front of her wrested the authority from the marine in charge easily without even a threat or harsh word. He would have made a great Marine Captain. I wonder why he chose fishing…

Realizing that he had asked her two questions, Carina adjusted her gaze just a bit upward to look at the captain. He was giving off a friendly feeling rather than a lecherous one which would have put her senses on guard. She blinked to snap herself out of her musings.

“That’s right, this is my second year here at the base.” She gave the kind captain a cheerful smile back, fighting down the slight blush she had at the unexpected compliment. “They can be a little difficult, but it’s not too bad. I guess it’s just a tradition to haze the new recruits.” She didn’t want to say anything too incriminating since once the captain left she would be left dealing with the fallout. Nonetheless, Carina couldn’t bring herself to lie to the kind man with the forceful presence and she found herself being a little more open than she initially planned to be.

“And people here are pretty suspicious of Devil Fruit Users, so I get the short end of the stick.” She spoke slightly consipiratorially. She probably shouldn’t say anything more, but the marine had backed off so she took a risk and asked the question burning in her mind, her eyes shining with curiosity, “So what is the Grand Line like? Is it really just like all the stories say?”

[Peridot]

Carina dashed into the mess hall and quickly obtained a square plastic tray with some scrambled eggs and bread as well as a glass of diluted orange juice for breakfast. Placing her tray down at an empty spot where a few of her fellow troop mates were enjoying their meal, Carina began to shovel the food into her mouth at a steady yet speedy pace using a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other. The marines sitting directly next to her looked on in horrified astonishment at the speed with which this girl was eating. Every two seconds or so, Carina stopped to wipe off her face with a napkin before chowing down again.

Then, one of the snails situated in the mess hall began to speak, signaling the need for a Marine to head over to the gate dock and run some paperwork around. The mess hall went silent as everyone pointedly stared at Carina. She noticed the quiet yet meaningful gazes and gulped down her remaining mouthful of fried egg. “Alright, alright. I’m going,” she called out before someone out-right ordered her to go fetch the documents and got to her feet.

She saluted the chief petty officer in the mess hall and then grabbed her uneaten slice of bread. In one swift move, Carina crammed the entire slice into her mouth and then dashed out of the door. The marine officer sighed, but sent a transmission back from the snail. “Roger that, just dispatched a seaman to your location.”

Carina headed over through the halls towards the dock where the new ship was waiting to be processed, devouring the last remnants of her breakfast as she did so. When the girl arrived at her destination, she gave the marine in charge a salute, “Seaman Apprentice, Carina Skylark reporting for duty.”

[Peridot]

Carina’s hands finished tying the deep blue handkerchief around the collar of her Marine uniform and then brushed the front of her white sleeveless shirt and blue pants to get rid of any pieces of fuzzy lint remaining. Shooting a winning smile at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the young marine put on her standard issue hat and then rushed out of the door on her way to the mess hall. It wasn’t too early in the morning, but her troop had recently been put on an altered schedule for night-time training. After all, Carina thought to herself, pirates won’t always attack on bright, sunny days. The switch did throw her sleeping schedule out of whack though, and Carina couldn’t help but yawn loudly.

The drilling, training and late night exercises Carina had been put through the last three days had really done a number on the girl’s appetite and now she could eat as much as any full-grown sailor at the base, and just as often. As Carina passed by a couple of windows looking out onto the sea, the young Marine had to wonder whether any ships would be attempting the journey into the Grand Line today. When a few other Marines passed her on their way to the mess hall, Carina picked up the pace. There would be enough food for everyone, but with only a limited amount of time to eat, she didn’t want to get stuck in a long line.

[Peridot]

Name: Carina “Krieg” Skylark
Age: 17
Hometown: Mirrorball Island
Location: Marine base just outside of Reverse Mountain
Affiliation: Seaman Apprentice on the Marine Brig: “One of Ours” stationed at the base until further notice

Character Song: aLIEz
Casual Theme: Port Royale
Battle Theme: Treacherous Waters

Abilities: Doku Doku no Mi

1. Medical/Pharmaceutical Knowledge (Assistant to the ship’s Medic)
2. Poison Production: Carina can create enough of a toxin to cover her entire body. When creating such large quantities, she is only able to produce one type of toxin at a time, and currently can not combine them.
3. Poison Gas Bullet: Carina spits bubbles that release paralyzing gas upon impact.
4. Basic CQC Training

History:

Carina Skylark is the daughter of the infamous pirate Don Krieg, and is very proud of his fearsome reputation and of the piratical exploits he enjoyed before he was defeated by the Strawhat Pirates. She grew up on the trendy island of Mirrorball, and had little to no contact with her biological father, so her knowledge of him comes from scraps of rumor and hearsay she could come across. Her most prized possession is her father’s Captain’s Log, which details his misadventures terrorizing villages in the East Blue and the brief seven day journey he took into the Grand Line. After reading these entries, Carina decided that she wanted to explore the Grand Line for herself and see if she could last longer than a week as a way of proving herself.

Despite her family history, Carina has no ambition of becoming a pirate or starting her own crew. The vicious and executions of the most famous and notable pirates abruptly smothered any of those plans. Plus, she is well aware that in the end, Don Krieg was lucky to have survived the assault by Mihawk, so she is content to live vicariously through his journal. Being pragmatic, Carina decided that her best chances of entering the Grand Line and of having a life where her Devil Fruit Powers could be explored and developed was to enter the ranks of the Marines.

She trained under the island’s doctor, mentally struggling between stepping up to take a job on the island or running off to go explore the seas. On her 14th birthday, Carina found a Devil Fruit and scarfed it down like the miserable little glutton she is in the hopes of getting “really awesome powers”. In retrospect, Carina realizes that she could have sold the fruit for a ridiculous amount of money but she also was wary of trying to sell the fruit as a young girl with little to no fighting experience and having the money or fruit stolen from her. Carina continued to train under the island doctor both in order to gain useful knowledge and a good position when she joined the Marines and also to familiarize herself with the process of how developing antivenoms and antidotes worked, as well as taking the opportunity to sample and acquaint herself with the doctor’s various medicinal drugs. On her 16th birthday, Carina hopped onto a Marine recruitment ship with her belongings and never looked back.

She now finds herself at a base outside of Reverse Mountain for training, and hopes that one day she will be allowed to enter the Grand Line herself. Her previous medical knowledge put Carina on the path of training to become a ship’s medic, while her Doku Doku no Mi power kept her estranged from the majority of the other Marine recruits. Carina currently undergoes a mixture of basic marine training where she practices close quarters combat and marksmanship using her Poison Gas Bullets in place of training with firearms (which have a devastating kickback for the lithe girl) or cannons. Her time outside of physical conditioning is spent assisting the base medic whenever new marine ships come in, using her power to restock some of the base’s supplies and dreaming of the day her own adventure will begin.

[Peridot]

Smek

[Peridot]

“As long as you’re sure the wine is the only thing tampered with,” Manticore muttered to herself, not particularly wanting to get caught in the blast of a car bomb.

The Arcobaleno accompanied by Carmen then followed the mafia boss into the elevator. She wasn’t going to protest using a hired limousine since she didn’t particularly want to share her own transport. The Mortelupi boss appeared to be in deep thought, and Leon was busy calling his own bosses and explaining their little field trip so Manticore kept quiet in turn and asked Carmen to transform into a phone. She placed a few requests for the footage from the surveillance cameras of the Starbucks the wolf-loving mafia head had made his call from.

If there was any chance of picking up dodgy behavior or some anomaly, she wanted to seize it. Also, it was something to do to ease the awkwardness of the elevator ride. There was nothing (besides Leon or Bell’uomo’s shoulder) for her to stand up on, and the Arcobaleno very noticeably did not appreciate having to crane her neck up just to look at the two men in the eyes. Manticore watched as her mobile device began to download the video files.

[Peridot]

“You fiend! Leave her alone, there was no call for that!” Dimitri shouted angrily at the cafe owner when he gave Fallen a good drumming on the head with his frying pan even after she had paid the fee. Mage or no, he really detested people who would just attack someone like that, especially in a scenario like this one where their “eat and run” was clearly a simple mistake.

Once the cafe owner had left to go put the money in the register and attend to his restaurant, Dimtri turned his attention towards Fallen clutching her head in pain. “Darling? Are you alright?” He tried to gingerly stroke her hair while checking for a lump or anything that might suggest a concussion while using his other arm to stabilize her so she wasn’t falling over in pain. He gave Fallen a soft kiss on the top of her head to ease the pain.

The commotion was so great that Dimitri didn’t notice the assassin slashing their tires, otherwise he would have given an alarm. So he planned to help Fallen over to the car where she could rest and sit down if she wanted to.

[Peridot]

The owner of the cafe noticed that the teens hadn’t paid for their lunch and began to follow them outside, shouting angrily for them to pay the bill, waving a frying pan around erratically.

[Peridot]

Dimitri sighed, “A little, but I’d rather be in pain than dead.” The dull pain in his side had begun to flare up again with all of the excitement of driving like mad from an assassin, and the numb tingling feeling from the medicine she had given him in the closet was beginning to fade away. The mage was too worried about what effects taking more pain medicine would have on his mind to ask for any more. If rogue mages were attempting to take his and Fallen’s life, then he didn’t necessarily have the luxury of being confused or slowed.

“How is your arm doing? And how are you doing? I can’t imagine you got much sleep last night.” He spoke with noticeable concern in his voice.

[Peridot]

Dimtri paused mid-sip of his coffee when Fallen responded. “You control the wind?” His eyes were sparkling with admiration, “That’s amazing! It must be so amazing to be able to fly! What is it like?” Wind manipulation was such a flashy and versatile ability, and sometimes Dimitri wished he could have element manipulation.

“I use Requip magic, that means I can summon armor, weapons or other useful items from my own personal pocket dimension.” He paused for a moment considering before responding, “Currently I only have one suit of armor, but i keep a variety of weapons on hand. Mostly polearms.”

[Peridot]

Dimitri looked up with interest when Fallen mentioned that she recognized the tattoo of the assassin, and listened intently while adding a small amount of milk to his coffee cup. The mage took a sip of the caffeinated beverage, his eyes widening as he swallowed the rest of his coffee in surprise and then grinned at the flattery his date was dishing out. Fallen made him feel loved, and all of the pampering and attention was really stroking his ego in all the right places. “Ah, you’re flattering me, Fallen.”

“I’d love that,” he said taking the gun from Fallen and giving the firearm a once over to see what type it was. “I never asked, but what type of magic do you use?” She had been skilled with a gun before in her bedroom, so he was thinking Guns or possibly Requip Magic but figured it would be useful to ask.

[Peridot]

Dimitri nodded in response to Fallen’s explanation and then gave her another smile before responding. “Ah, I realize I never mentioned, but I’m 17 years old. And yes, I’m currently on my last year of school. That’s the main reason Blue Pegasus hasn’t given me a lot of missions. Juggling class and the guild’s tutoring is a bit of a hassle, but I’m almost done and then can start working more on my magic.”

“So how do you usually spend your time when not bewitching young men with your beauty, of course? When the waitress came back with their drinks, Dimitri thanked the woman and asked to borrow her pencil. With the writing implement, he began to sketch out the tattoo he had seen on the back of the assassin’s neck while she poured a cup of coffee for Dimitri and the hot cocoa for Fallen.

[Peridot]

(( Sorry for not responding, I got sick…))

Dimitri blinked with surprise at hearing Fallen mention her age. She was a good two years older than him, but certainly didn’t look it. “Well, I’m certainly grateful you learned so well from her. You must have been an excellent student, Fallen.” Dimitri said as they took a seat out of view of any windows in case someone was still looking for them. He gave her hand a squeeze.

A waitress came by to take their orders so he asked for a small cup of coffee and the cafe’s quiche of the day for himself.

[Peridot]

Dimitri nodded when they pulled out to the cafe after testing his legs on the sidewalk. He didn’t immediately feel any jolts of pain in his side, and his legs didn’t give out which was a promising sign. He tentatively took a step forward and let out a sigh of relief when nothing catastrophic happened.

“I should be fine walking, Fallen. You did an amazing job dressing that wound.” He walked over to Fallen’s side of the car with only a slight limp so that he could open the door to the car and to the cafe for his date. Normally he would have expected to be dead or hospitalized for several days with a wound like that, but he had recovered quickly. “Are you a doctor, by any chance?”