angryfistofgod | Mun needs a refresher~

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Mun needs a refresher~

[It's cold out, but the blaze roaring in the firepit of this cozy tavern more than compensates. This particular tavern is furnished with plump couches and coffee tables on the second floor balcony; a bar, a few dining tables, and an open space for dancing in front of a small stage (generically set for any band they might convince to play) on the ground floor. Robin's curled up in the corner of one of the couches, watching the people down below. She's midway through her first tankard- still- and while she may or may not have arrived with company, she is currently alone. Feel free to chat her up, get in a barfight downstairs, get smashed on cheap booze and hot wings, whatever! Open world, open log, go crazy!]

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[A raised eyebrow at that. Come on, Marco. She's not that much younger than you.]

If I'm not mistaken, it'll be to the north of town.

[And she leads him there. The cemetery has a strange entrance, behind it, a massive crypt.

Robin hangs back a moment before passing through the massive gate.]

I've never seen architecture like this before...

[Oh Robin you're so cute. Marco will just... avoid disillusioning that. Okay.]

Likewise. [Helps her in and scrambles around, holding up some blue flames for light.] Though I'm not sure it's "spooky" as far as most cemeteries go, eh?

If spirits exist, I'd imagine they could live anywhere they choose.

[Aaaah, those flames are nice and warm. And they cast a kind of strange light, being blue and all.]

There's usually writing to mark places of the dead as sacred. We'll want to look for a plaque, or a section of wall that's more prominent than the others...

[Robin looks about for a second, then points and heads toward a giant mosaic.]

[Follows along and examines some of the walls as they go, looking for etchings or at the very least names.]

You've clearly done this before.

Welcome to the world of archaeology. [Marco gets another warm smile, then Robin turns her attention back to the mosaic. Which happens to be made of bones. Robin frowns for a moment, inspecting one of the skulls up close.]

This one's been stripped and boiled. Recently.

[Oh. Okay. Did he say this place wasn't creepy? Now it is.]

What would be the point of that... besides to add to this ah... artwork? [=\]

[A casual shrug.]

Or to hide a body.

[She leans in close, looking for marking of some sort, then moves to the next skull, running her fingers around the edges where it meets the wall.

And then the floor drops away.]

In that case the murder is probably the one who started the haunted rumor--

[And before Marco could expel the rest of this Scooby-Doo plot episode, there goes the floor, oops! Marco switches his arms into wings and grabs Nico Robin's waist just in case.] Sorry 'bout that.

[It's not the first time a guy has grabbed her with his legs. We'll conveniently not mention what happened to him later. Just please don't fart.]

Oof! [Snaking her arms around his leg. For a more secure hold, obviously.] There are worse things that could happen than for a woman to find herself wrapped up between your legs.

[Is she smirking? It's hard to tell.]

[He won't fart, but he will be trying to deal with a bright red blush. Like seriously, oh gosh he can't...]

Aha... Can you give me a hand and see down there? I'll see what I can do to lower some flames but I'd rather not fly straight into a death trap, eh?

[See? Totally cool and deadpan, except that he's still bright red like a tomato.]

[Robin tries, but it's too dark. And what with the collapsed floor kicking up dust, it's pretty impossible to make anything out with definition.]

It seems we'll have to chance it, sight unseen.

[And pardon her while she wiggles around a little bit. She'd much rather have her arms around his waist as they drop into the unknown. Even if it takes a bit of tricky maneuvering to get there.]

Here, let me set you down somewhere and switch fully to phoenix, eh? That way we can both fight if we need to.

[Flaps the wings and looks around for the exit, and barring that, some kind of ledge. Ledge at least he finds.]

Here, grab onto that, and then you can climb on.

[Robin grabs the ledge, then turns and carefully sits on his back once he's fully transformed. She tucks her feet underneath her and steadies herself with her hands on either side of his neck. She gives him a little pet, now that he's feathered, just enjoying the rejuvenating warmth his phoenix form provides.]

[Shivers a little at the pet with a happy chirp, and makes sure she's all settled before descending downwards, trying to flare brightly enough to see what the hell he's doing, even if the blue flames cast a bizarre blue glow.]

[There's a lot of debris settling below them, the architecture becoming less constructed and more hewn. At the bottom, there's a half filled tunnel cut into the bedrock. It doesn't look like anyone's been there in ages, but it's hard to tell with the settling dust covering everything.]

What do you think, Marco?

[He hesitantly lands on the dusty ground after checking it cautiously with his talons to make sure more of it won't fall through or spring up traps and switches back into human form, carrying Robin piggy-back style. It's hard to talk as a bird sometimes.]

Beats the hell out of me. That skull you were playing with probably led to this trap door, eh? Which means someone must have replaced the one there initially, eh? I mean, I assume. [He gives her a chance to get down should she want it, and otherwise, just holds up a fiery blue hand to the tunnel.] Shall we go look for what's haunting this place?

[Oh, yes, she'll take that chance to get down. Being carried piggy-back style in a dress isn't the most comfortable thing in the world.

Robin smiles at his response. She'd guess something similar enough.]

Indeed!

[It's a good thing he's back to human form, cuz that's a lot of crumbly debris. Looks like Marco gets to hold her hand for a little bit!

Ahead in the tunnel, there's the barest hint of blue glow, a little colder than Marco's. It's hard to tell, though, if it's just a reflection or something else.]

Douse your flames for a second!

[YAY hand holding. At the request he lets the flames go out completely, trying to strain to see what she does, and silently hoping to hell there aren't a billion spiders just waiting to attack now that there's no fire. Spiders man...]

What is it? [A quiet deadpan whisper as he glances up. Is that a spider now? No no, just being paranoid surely. He might be a little closer to Robin than he needs to be though.]

[A bird afraid of spiders? That's rich.

And yes, he is being paranoid. The tunnel is still glowing faintly, and it looks like the source is moving away. Robin doesn't mind if he keeps close. It helps her to know where he is in the darkness.

She turns to whisper, leaning as close to where she thinks his ear ought to be as she can.]

Looks like we ran them off. Want to follow?

[You get captured by Onigumo and his weird spider arms and seastone cuffs; you'll find them petrifying too.]

[And he nods quietly, still whispering in return.] With light or without?

[Bah, eight arms ain't nothin'. If this were actually part of their conversation, Robin would totally be giving him a lots-of-arms hug.

As it is, she considers the situation for a moment, then whispers back.]

Can you make a candle-sized flame? We'll need just enough to get out of this mess and into the tunnel.

[Multiple arms isn't the problem, it's spider arms of doom attacking him from behind with seastone. She'd probably make him skittish of multiple arms if she cuffed him too, but hopefully that won't happen.]

[He holds up a single finger of blue flames.]

How's this?

[Oh come on. It could be fun~]

Perfect.

[She starts cautiously over the crumbled floor from above. His little flame is just enough to show a step or two ahead of them, but still dim enough that the glow from the tunnel can still be seen.

Unfortunately, his light doesn't show what's under the debris, if anything, and as Robin hops onto a largish piece of tile, it collapses to the side, pitching her.]

[Grabs her around the waist again, this time with a free arm, not his legs.]

Guess we'll have to be light as a feather, eh?

[Robin giggles a little. The dark, the danger, the mystery, the company- it's all so exciting! She wouldn't be a Strawhat if adrenalin weren't her favorite drug. She brings her arms up around his waist to steady herself, the glow of his flame making her eyes unnaturally bright.]

You've caught me twice already. It's my turn, now.

[There's a little movement of debris, then innumerable hands burst out of the ground, picking them up until a giant elbow appears and allows the giant hand-made-of-hands to turn and set them near what's left of the entrance to the tunnel.]

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OMG how have I not noticed that guy before now? fffff

By not being insanely obsessed with Marco, it's all right, very common XDDD

He was part of the Buster Call at Enies' Lobby, too.

:O Oh snap, I'd forgotten that.

The things we learn.