Cam Albatross's Story

From the tippy top of the mountain overlooking the city of Grandpaix, the quiet air that had been whooshing across the peak was being interrupted by the more digitalized sound of someone appearing out of thin air. Tiny specks of light that blended in with the blue sky started to come together, forming a mass of energy that began to mold into shape. The blob grew and grew, in size, and molded it's stature into something familiar. Something that had two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. The pulsing blue light began to shape features like a tiny nose, spikes on top of the head that gave the impression of male hair, and clothing that seemed to jut around it. Yet, it took no definition. That is, until the blue light began to fade away, revealing more prominent colors and separating fragments that should be separated. Like the blue collar of the overcoat he wore detaching from his long neck and the knobby knees showing just below the edge of the beige shorts he wore. His spiky head began to turn jet black and above the minuscule nose two blue eyes piercing pupils edged out. The red goggles with amber glass took shape and morphed on his forehead and his comfortable looking moccasins stabilized themselves on the slope of the barren mountaintop. The last blip of blue on the triangular stone on the necklace he wore blipped out of existence, leaving the face of Cam Albatross to view the city from above.

And immediately cross his arms and shiver.

"Holy fuck, it's cold!" Cam exclaimed shakily as he got his bearing on exactly where he had landed. With a flick of his finger, he brought the goggles down over his eyes and glanced precariously at the device in his right hand...an ordinary looking smart phone that was currently spitting out coordinates on the screen as well as landmarks, cities, and other useful stuff like that.

"Dull Peak overlooking Grandpaix...yep, I got the right place," his eyes widened slightly as he noticed the battery life gauge on his cell phone, "Oohp! 4% charge?! Better replace that!"

Immediately, he clicked the phone's back casing out of place, revealing the high-tech looking battery placed in the slot. With a practiced hand and a fluid motion he'd utilized thousands of times before, he flicked the cartridge out of place, grasping it smoothly with his fingers as he dropped it into the pocket on the inside of his royal blue coat. When his hand re-emerged, he had another similar looking battery in hand, sliding and locking it in place before placing the casing on the phone once more. He pressed the button on the side and waited for the phone to reboot.

"Heyeahnowoah" came a voice from behind a rock. Linus had seen technology, space nonsense, and even weird magic shit; but what the ever living King Trident was that? Linus emerged further from behind the rock. He was dressed for the weather, albeit a little gruff looking. A sherlock pipe was clenched between his teeth.

"Dude," He fished a lighter from his pocket and re-lit the bowl. Only after a long inhale, and a cloud of an exhale, did he continue, "What was that? I ain't ever seen a trick like that, kid. N'hey that's some neat tech y'got there."

Linus creeped closer. Nothin' to be afraid of, it seemed. Just a kid who could appear out of thin damned air, apparently? He took another puff and decided, whatever. The kid was cold, so Linus pulled off his scarf and tossed it at him.

"I'm up here to meditate daily, lately. Been doin' some soul searchin'. Never seen you."

Cam jumped, half due to the sudden voice behind him, half due to the cold, sharp wind biting at his face. He whipped his head in the direction of the voice, his eyes falling upon an older man with rugged clothing with a warmth around his persona. An unsteady warmth, but a warmth nonetheless. A glimmer of light caught his eye and he glanced down to see that his phone was online and operational once again. No bars, of course. Not all the way out here anyway.

But it's screen glare was perfectly timed to the man's question and he lifted the phone up in the air for the man to get a better look, "Like it? It's a cell phone, but WAAAAAY cooler! RAM and battery life tuned up to the max! A terabyte of memory. Though the kind of apps I run on it, it better have a terabyte."

He pocketed the device for now to catch the scarf flung at him. He had to reach a bit for it as the wind nearly caught it and sent it whistling down the mountain, but his reflexes held up. Examining the scarf in his hand, he found the material to be coarse, but warm on his skin. He hesitated at first, unsure of whether to take offerings from a man with a tobacco pipe. His shivers down his spine won out and he wrapped the scarf around his neck. It was a little improper, the two sides of these hanging awkwardly on his shoulders rather than on his chest and back.

"I'm just scouting the area," he replied, his voice a bit calmer now that he was warming up slightly, "Settin' up my network. Putting some towers through the area. Was wondering if I would need to put one up here." He scratched his bare chin at this. It was always good to set up towers regardless of whether he thought he'd ever return to this place or not, just in case his jobs led him down here. Of course, he'd probably need to ask for permission or something like that before he place a huge hunk of metal to loom over this quaint city.

"Oh! My bad! I didn't introduce myself!" he quickly turned around and extended a hand to the gentleman, "Cam Albatross! Native of Wing City and Bounty Hunter for hire!"

"Bounty hunter, eh?" Linus raised a brow and gripped Cam Albatross's hand. That could come in handy. Below them the city of Granpaix began to hum, literally, to life. It was about that time for the morning song. Linus glanced anxiously down towards the metropolis. He hated the morning song.

"Linus, and you say Wing City?" He had heard rumors of a place, deep in the city, where you could buy anything. Literally, anything. If you could envision it, there was a price you could pay for it. Linus dreamed of such a place. A quick shiver ran down his spine as visions of illegal goods danced through his head. For a moment there Linus was puffing on his pipe and living in a fantasy. He snapped out of it quick enough. It was the time to lay low, not go gallivanting about where people might know his face.

"Should get a permit, or somethin'. This place's weird about that kinda stuff. They don't give a damn what you do, so long as yeh file the right paperwork n' aren't hurtin' anyone or anything," Linus shrugged and jerked a thumb towards the city of Granpaix.

Cam sighed at the thought, "Aw man...I don't wanna have to do that. That means talking to people about stuff! Why can't I just...build a tower somewhere and leave?" He shot a stare towards the tallest building of Grandpaix, a large tower erected above the smaller buildings around it. He had to guess that was where he needed to go if he wanted to build the network tower he wanted. He sighed again, knowing he'd probably have to suck it up. No need to piss off the locals.

"Alright...I guess I'll head down there," he started to move, lifting his foot as if he was about to slide down the incredulous slope when he heard it. The small humming reaching his ears stopped his attempt to descend as he began to look around for it's source.

"Huh? Wuzzat?" Cam asked aloud to himself, his voice showing his intrigue as he glanced back at Linus, "You hear that too, right?"

"Yeeaaah, about that," Linus glanced back towards Granpaix, "They do that every, uh, morning. It's..." He looked around and his face slipped into a grin. It's the main reason he was up here at this time. The city of Granpaix was nice, and pleasant, and exactly the opposite of every environment the pirate had ever been comfortable in. Don't get him wrong it was nice. It's just that it was ... nice.

As for pissing off the locals, Linus shrugged. He didn't actually give a crap. He didn't know why he made it seem like he gave a crap. Too much time off the water, he thought to himself, I've started to set down roots. Again he shivered, but not a good one.

"S'cold as shit. Say," Linus looked off towards Granpaix, then in the opposite direction towards the Luxlands. His time in this city was just about spent. Ah, well. He figured he could do one good deed before he left. Show this odd one in town, and then get outta dodge. The Undermarket popped back into his head. Maybe he would go there. First he had to procure a ship...

"You hungry? I know a place: great grits. Ya like grits?"

"They sing?" Cam was catching on as the melody began to break through the air. It was faint, but given how high they were he could only assume how powerful that sound would be within the city walls. The tone was perfect and strong, proving how long they had kept this tradition for. And due to the man's attitude towards approaching the subject, the bounty hunter could tell he didn't abide by that song and dance. But, such was life sometimes. Paradise was finding one's own zen...

Which was not grits in Cam's case.

"Ew," Cam's face visible wrinkled in disgust, "You mean that lumpy bowl of viscous oats ground up into the consistency of baby food and yet still tastes like cardboard? Uh uh! Noooo way dude! Do they have bacon and eggs though? Preferably between two biscuits?
Cause I'm absolutely game for that!"

He peered over the edge of the cliff once more, realizing if he had gone down the way he had before the song interrupted his first attempt, his trajectory would bounce him off a jutting piece of jagged rock and send him careening down the rest of the mountain with a few broken bones, some internal bleeding, and a massive depreciation in bravado. Granted, he would've seen it through the goggles and altered course a tooth skin away from actually biting it, but...risks were risks. And he'd avoided a huge one right there.

"Hell yeah," Linus grinned, and off they were. In the right direction! The path down wasn't arduous, but it wasn't the easiest. It kept Linus in shape.

As they navigated closer to Granpaix, details of it's make-up would emerge from the shadow of the mountain. A large wall gleamed around the entirety of the city. Casting rainbow rays from it's vast peak was the center building in the city; the Musipal. It seemed the music was coming from there, though it was beginning to fade as it's end came near. People would be going about their days soon.

Getting in wasn't much of a bother, it would seem. Just a relatively long walk on a path separate from where vehicles whizzed by. The gates were wide and made of the same shining stone as the outer walls. "Granpaix" was written on it in no less than 46 languages. Linus could read twelve of 'em by now.

"So ehm," Linus said to Cam, "Wing City bounty hunting. Must be a high paying gig."

The path down was not easy going for the typical individual. It wasn't slippery, but it did get steep at points and the wind didn't help. Cam was constantly going ahead of Linus, sometimes full on sprinting down a few sections or sliding on gravel for a ways. His method for climbing down this mountain would have any parent sick with worry. But he went about it as of he had a practice for going across precarious terrain.

He always stopped at certain points in the journey, letting Linus catch up before he went on.

The entire way, the music was present in the background and Cam had multiple thoughts to blare his music in counter and drown it out. He never did though. If he needed to get a permit to do what he wanted to, he would need to be on their good side. And if this was tradition, he might be breaking an unknown code. So it was best not to chance it.

The visuals weren't exactly striking in his eyes. He'd seen so many places that had their own quirk that the quirks just started bleeding over into mediocrity. He came to expect massive walls with rainbows jutting out from the central palace and glittering stone giving it an Emerald City standard. He could read the "Grandpaix" carved into the gateway with his own eyes and although he couldn't read the other languages surrounding it, it was safe to assume that they read the same thing. It did give him an idea though.

"I should really build a translator into these goggles," he thought aloud, his mind already going through the process of what it would take. He'd need a translator app on his phone (or maybe he could just pull up Google Translate, but he heard it wasn't too reliable) and a processor log built into it so it could appear the way he wanted it to on screen, like his battery gauge. He'd have to customize and code like a wizard, but what else was new?

His thoughts were interrupted by Linus's question and he shrugged in response, "Depends on what jobs you take on. I could take down a plethora of easy bounties and pull the same income as I would taking down a couple hard ones. The hard ones are more fun though. Like a puzzle ya need to solve. Only...with humans! Either way, it pays the bills and then some so I can continue to do what I do. My energy bill is through the roof!" He laughed at the thought that he might practically fund half of Wing City's electrical company.

"So what do you do around here?" Cam asked earnestly as they went through the illustrious gates.

Linus shrugged. He didn't do much around here, not compared to what trouble he ran into elsewhere. The urge to leave began to nag at him. His palms itched for rigging, his lungs for salted air.

"Well, I guess I'll be movin' soon," Which about settled it. He looked off towards the port. The song came to a close. He recognized it as a hymn to some harvest god from some village in the Luxlands. It was definitely time to go.

"Hard ones, eh? Y'ever go after any pirates?" Linus's eyes darted around; changing the subject quickly, "We're almost at the place. Good food, y'know, breakfast." He pointed to a building stylized like an old country cottage. A large neon sign above it indicated it was a diner. Colored puffs of smoke came out a fake chimney every now and again, forming bunnies and hens and birds.

Cam had to think for a moment before he could answer the question, "Mmm...don't think I have. Though from what I've read, they don't sound too hard to take care of. At least...old school pirates don't. I don't exactly know what new pirates would look like, but I figure that's part of the fun!" He rambled on and on as they walked into the cottage-like diner, the warm scents of baked bread and sizzling meat permeating the air around him and infiltrating his nose, "I like a good challenge...something that makes me think and allows me to develop something new. Of course, I can't just walk into a bounty unprepared."

They sat down at a freshly polished table, a round table that could fit four people if need be. Cam sat directly across from Linus, hands laced together except for the pointer fingers, which were pointed up and occasionally tapping together as if he was on a constant adrenaline rush.

"So why do you ask?" his brow raised slightly out of curiosity as he waited for the waiter to come, "Do you have a pirate problem you'd like to pass on?"

Crimson looked around as he hopped, skipped, and jumped across the town in the early morning. As the city was becoming lively with music, it filled him with energy and delight, so much so that he felt like dancing. As someone who enjoyed life, even though his father was Death itself, he was someone who tended to be considered odd and eccentric.

But as he summoned forth his scythe in the middle of the street, he began his footwork as he swung his scythe around. At first, the people nearby became concerned that he might hit someone, but it never even came close. In the first place, Crimson was not holding it combat style, with a hand facing either side, but both hands were facing up when he first gripped the handle, and he held it in the center of the handle. This was the position of a Scythe Dancer, something he learned long ago from his father.

As the song commenced, many were even taken aback by the innocence in his smile, the amazingness of his appearance, and the elegance of his movements. Although most of CR's movements were often silly or childish, or brutal and efficient when in battle, this was just another side to him. It was a way to use a Scythe without taking lives, but instead enjoying life. And as he danced and danced, he encountered many types of people who enjoyed and appreciated it, that it made him smile just a little bit more.

"What trouble?" Linus scoffed and leaned back, trying his best not to appear nervous and throwing on his poker grin, "Nah. No trouble t'be had here."

Inside the pirate was sweating bullets. He would not want to get on this guys bad side, or even worse bounty list. Maybe there was some sort of parlay he could pull here. He did show the kid around. Gave him something warm. Hell, maybe Linus could pay him off enough when the time came.

Out of the corner of his eye, Linus noticed a spectacle out the window of the cottage-like establishment. Someone was juggling scythes, and what a show! Wow...Linus got a little distracted and didn't notice the waitress come up for their order. He pointed out the window.

"Check it out! Oh uh, sorry ma'am, uh, grits n'butter please."

Unlike Linus, who regained composure at the sight of the waitress asking for his order, Cam completely ignored her at the spectacle being displayed outside.

"Woah! That's so cool!" he stared in amazement at the fluidity of the boy's movements, the eb and flow of the sharp scythe he was twirling, and the charisma in his endless smile that attracted everyone to the show. The townsfolk let the music continued at the hope of not seeing the kid stop his dance. His bright red hair seemed to bounce in time to the beat as he went on, the black clothes providing a stark contrast to the energy he was putting forth. He looked younger than Cam did...and definitely shorter. Almost like he could pass for his little brother or something.

Immediately he took his phone out, activating the "Camera" function and began recording some video, "Better start filming," he half thought to himself, half informed Linus, "Documenting the process."

His view of the dance was from the cottage-like diner they were situated in, so his seat to the entire show wasn't the greatest. But he'd long perfected the zoom and enhance technique on the lens and that was all it took to make the recording as if he was standing in the front row.

Crimson was in full blast now, as his Scythe dance picked up into the most energetic part. Conveniently, the singing and the music also appeared to be approaching a similar stage, so it was meshing well with each other. As he did, it also became one of the most difficult movement's to master. It was a part that was difficult to pronounce in this reality...but Shelesha Mosayia would be the closest. It's closest meaning would be "The Song of the Death Blade, Returning the Lifeforce back to the World to Begin Anew".

It was a dance that celebrated the coming of new life into the world, and continuing the tale of the old. The dance itself was known to show a poetic feel, and would even make onlookers cry of joy. It commanded such a powerful emotion such as that in it's mere performance. And as one of the main parts of the Shelesha Mosayia, the Scythe was spun into the air and he jumped up into the air along with it. The people were so entranced, or maybe so used to the abnormal, that no one questioned a physical ability beyond that of even high schooler students. After all, they were still enjoying his smile.

And as he landed, he had the Scythe handle come down and hit the ground first, with then the edge of the blade pivoting as he slid down the handle and slowed himself down using the grip to just have his shoes rest on the blade, without it cutting into them. He then stepped off of it as it swung around and forward, returning to his grip as he performed the final bow. It was convienent the tune stopped right there, but there was no lack of applause as everyone enjoyed the performance. A number of people came up and patted him on the head, giving him praise like "That was amazing, kid!" and "Such a cute boy with so much talent..." and "Here, for you! You earned this!"

And he could have stayed like that forever, except...his stomach began to growl. And so spotting a nearby café with a warm feeling for it, he decided to head over there, skipping with joy as the crowd that had applauded this whole time finally realized they still had work to do.

And so sitting at an empty table nearby, he immediately ordered...

"One Ice Cream Sunday Please!"

...his usual favorite, ice cream.

"Damn," Linus muttered as the scythe-weilder outside finished their dance. It was an impressive display of weaponry. Something about it that brought a tear to the eye. Linus wiped it away and hoped nobody noticed. The waitress certainly hadn't: she hadn't heard the order and was instead completely entranced by the display outside, cheeks wet with emotion.

The door jingled and in came the impressive scythe dancer, who upon closer inspection wasn't a small human but a child? A wrinkle formed between Linus's eyebrows. Children were impressionable. He needed someone skilled with weapons. This kid was alone.

Abandoning them entirely, the waitress rushed to fill the order of the scythe dancer. A scribble and a ding later, "One Ice Cream Sunday! Coming right up!" Linus resurfaced from his scheming long enough to realize his grits were not, in fact, on their way at all. Hey wait just a damn second!

"Uh...MISS?" Linus called after her, then to Cam, "Didja get a good shot?" His eyes kept wandering back to the scythe-dancer.

"Think so," Cam replied as he brought up the video for Linus to see, "A bit of a weird angle thanks to that curtain in the way, but I got it."

As he was showing Linus the playback, he also kept glancing in the direction of the redheaded boy and the amount of attention he was getting for his performance. Many of the people in the establishment were patting him on the back, complimenting him on a job well done. Most of them had wet, salty cheeks. In fact, it seemed like he had garnered the attention of the entire town as others came crawling in from the streets just to see the boy. The place was getting more packed by the minute...a little too packed for his comfort. Not that Cam had claustrophobia or anything, but he didn't like so many people in one place. It was a weird social threshold he needed to cross one day.

As for why he was seemingly unaffected by the power of that dance...well, the lens helped. A lot of his focus was spent on his technology, like always. In this instance, making sure he had the proper zoom placed on his camera and keeping a low enough angle to avoid that blasted curtain while keeping the scythe dance in frame was enough to keep him from getting too emotionally attached to the performance. In fact, he hadn't even seen the whole video yet. He was only showing Linus because he asked for it. He wasn't even watching the playback.

But he was watching the boy order an ice cream sundae and the entirety of the staff scrambling in the back kitchen to make it for him. It was almost as if he was intentionally bringing people under his spell, making them easy to manipulate and get what he wanted. But then a question remained...

What did he want?

His mindset turning more professional, Cam pulled up his phone, checking the charge to see he was at an 89% battery life, and activated the camera function again. This time, he wasn't recording a video or even taking a picture. Instead, he pulled up a simple energy radiance signature to try and pinpoint what kind of power he was pulling from. He figured the more he knew about this boy's make-up, the better chance he could find a motive. He simply needed to know everything he could about him before he dared attempt conversation.

But his brow furrowed slightly in confusion and his eyes pulled up a questioning look at what he saw. The way the technology worked, it pulled up a heat signature from the life form and started scanning for anomalies, applying the proper energy filters until it landed on the one that actually showed something. Even standard humans with no impressive abilities had a standard heat signature as their body was silhouetted in a light blue aura. But this boy...

This boy gave off nothing.

No heat reading. No energy supplement. No apparition in human form or anything of the sort. The camera told him this boy basically didn't exist, but even ghosts had an ectoplasmic tint shadowing their body as that was one of the filters.

It was like he was a dead man walking.

"Huh..." Cam verbally claimed his puzzled demeanor as he held the phone in front of Linus for him to see, "He doesn't put off anything. No energy, no life reading. Not even a pulse."

Where does his power come from?

Eventually the waitress returned with CR's dessert while mentioning it was on the house, and so he began to eat. It wasn't even normal sized, but jumbo sized. And he was devouring it like it was nothing. As CR started to finally notice the two people staring at him, the waitress who came back to supposedly take their orders focused more on CR instead, and broke the ice.

"How did you learn that...it was so...moving..."

CR looked at the woman, and subsequently the two others, and just smiled in a way that radiated innocence.

"Well, I guess it's part of the dance. It communicates the concept...I guess is the best explanation. Some might call it magic, but it's not. There is not really a word for it. As I dance, the concept gets communicated to those nearby. It doesn't force or manipulate people, it doesn't use mana. It simply is. The concept for that dance is celebrating the lives that people lived, as their essence is born again into the life of the new generation. It's...sad, but a happy song also. It's happiness being formed from sadness, might be the best way to describe it. I probably am not describing it the best, but that is the best answer I could give".

And after that, he took another bite and finished the ice cream.

"Can I get another, please?"

"Sure!" She said, running off again. "Another jumbo ice cream Sunday, on the house!"

And she forgot about the other two again.

Linus grunted and scooted his way out and around, over to the scythe weilding kid. He motioned for Cam to follow. The pirate had an idea. Linus pushed his way through the crowds until he fell into CR's booth.

"Eyyyy," Linus grinned at CR and made room for Cam, "That looks good."

Cam listened closely while the redhead provided an explanation to the dance and how it worked, but was a bit skeptical of it. No force...no energy relay...no mana...just compassion and the purity of the movements themselves. It just...seemed a bit too far-fetched to qualify as the answer to the question the waitress asked. But then again, he didn't know exactly how this civilization dealt in dances of that magnitude and skill. And Cam was uniquely immune to it. He couldn't speak for Linus as he wasn't paying attention to him, but a dude with a hard exterior like the one this man presented himself with, he couldn't see a tear brimming there.

Perhaps it was possible.

Only one way to find out, he thought. But Linus was quicker to the draw as he got up from the table and motioned for Cam to follow. He was a little hesitant to approach, given what little he did know, but he knew the best way to obtain information was from the source itself. Examination from afar wouldn't cut it.

He took a seat on Linus's right, but didn't say anything. He would let Linus make the first interactions.

CR just looked at the two who came over, and shrugged.

"But like I said, I am not the best at explaining it...or maybe, there are no words that exist to explain it...how would one explain memory to someone who holds no memory, or sound to one who cannot hear....its kind of like, that difficult question. Well, each 'Concept' can hold a different meaning for people, and even the same 'concept' may hold a difference in meaning for two different people. That dance holds more power in those that have experienced loss, so that was probably why most of the people that approached were adults or the elderly".

After explaining a bit more, CR then proceeded to continue to devour the ice cream, which Linus seemed to show interest in.

"It's very good! Ice cream is the core essence of life! Truly, without the existence of this perfect food, the universe would not be as great as it is! With ice cream, we shall forever...mhgfgmhmhm....gulp....forever have hope, prosperity, and joy!"

And then, he added....

"...which is why theft of ice cream from me is punishable by death..."

...something really scary at the end.

Linus slowly moved his eyes from the waitress's back to the sundae. They slipped slowly up the dripping deliciousness, landing firmly on the gobbling mouth of the scythe twirler. He watched, unblinkingly so, as the kid all but inhaled the ice cream.

"Yeah yeah," Linus waved a hand, never losing eye contact with the ice-cream, "ice cream's super ehyaah...important, eh. Suppose you've another round comin yeah? Suppose you don' mind adding one on ya bill and i'll throw ya the cash for it, eh?"

Cam shrugged, the explanation of the dance going over his head, "Sure...I guess that sounds fair." He also dismissed the tone change as an attempt at a lighthearted joke. which made more sense in the bounty hunter's rationale, despite having seen a lot.

What was grabbing his attention, in an amusing way, was watching Linus eye down that ice cream sundae as if it was the last thing of pleasure that existed in this world. He put his head down in laughter as Linus began to try and be coy about the redhead ordering him some ice cream or grits or a sandwich or anything that could possibly sate his stomach. In response, Cam leaned across the bar and broke the ice with the boy by giving it to him straight.

"I think he's jealous that you got the waitress's attention before he could order and has been starving ever since," he said, a smile escaping his lips. "It's up to you whether or not you can save his life right here and now," he added in fake dramatic fashion.

Crimson continued to eat the ice cream until he finished, at which point....

"AHHHHH! I just realized we have not introduced ourselves yet!"

One of the most common manners had totally escaped him.

"My name is Crimson! Crimson Reaper! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Crimson just smiled like nothing was wrong, and extended his hand to shake. It appeared he was genuinely nice, but even that might be misinterpreted. Cause if you squeezes his hand too tightly, he might do the same back...and accidentally crush it.

His smile was one hundred percent innocent though as well.

"Oh...I see...well, I just finished this one, so she should be back soon..."

No sooner did he say that, did the waitress appear.