Gilded History (Nu, Quinn) (Double XP)

It was hot.  Too hot for someone like Jardin.  Down here, in a coastal town in the Dominican Republic that no one had ever heard of, the thief was miserable.  Sweat beaded his pale forehead and slid towards his eyes where they vanished behind a pair of Ray-Bans that were sorely needed here.

It was about 10am, and now Jardin stood at the pier of a harbor full of varied fishing craft.  He was looking for a larger craft called the Diaz del Sol.  Probably a joke name considering the skipper was Francisco Diaz.  Still, the man had agreed to to work with them on a salvage expedition.  Jardin had neglected to mention the value of said salvage...

The youth walked the piers, clad in a loose fitting, white button-up shirt with no sleeves.  He also wore a pair of khaki shorts and sneakers.  A bag of supplies was slung over his shoulder.

There was the boat.  "¡Hola!" he shoulded as he drew near.  Speaking in fluent Spanish, he asked, "Are you Francisco?"

The dark skinned native turned from a GPS he had been studying.  "Si.  Ah, you must be Señor Wolfe."  Stepping to the edge of the vessel's cockpit, the skipper's hand shot forward and Jardin shook it.  "Please, come aboard.  Were you planning on leaving now or..."  He trailed off as he continued to set a course into his GPS.

Jardin hesitated.  He hated boats.  He knew there would be chum in the water by the end of the day.  Finally, he mustered the resolve and stepped aboard, leading with his left foot.  "No," he said.  "We have two more coming with us."

Indeed, Jardin had gotten in touch with the woman named Nu, one of the few people he had met that knew his real name, a sign that he trusted her.  He was not sure about this associate but time would tell...

It wasn’t very often that Nu found herself traveling, as a matter of fact she had only ever left her hideout for extended periods of time on only two occasions. That being said, the young mute had been contacted by one of the few people that she had opened up to and befriend. An older looking yellow cab pulled up several blocks from the pier where Nu was told to meet Jardin. As she set foot out of the car a gust of warm sea air caressed her face. It was in this moment that the mute was glad she had dressed lightly in a pair of short shorts a blank tank top and a looser fitting white shirt on top with the sleeves cut off and a pair of sandals. Nu rounded off her attire with a wide brimmed straw hat and a pair of sunglasses. At a glance one could easily tell the young woman was not from around here, but her dark skin balanced it out, almost making her look like a local.

Nu tipped the cab driver and removed her duffle bag from the back seat and slung it over her shoulder. She had been given a list of things she would need for Jardin’s little venture, but she also packed a few extra things just in case. Nu pranced down the pier, her head shifting from side to side as she read the names of all the boats as she passed. Nu perked up as she heard a familiar face in the distance and broke out in a brisk jog until arriving at the boat.

Jardin was in the middle of conversing with another man, whom Nu assumed was the captain or owner of the boat so she silently and patiently just stood there unsure of how to proceed. Though Nu had begun to slowly come out of her reclusive shell over the past couple of months, she still remained rather awkward and shy in new situations. Because of this Nu was unsure of how to get their attention especially since she couldn’t speak, so instead she began to cycle through the ringtones on her phone until both of the men noticed her.

Quinn skips along, heading towards the piers where she was to meet the person that had contacted her. They had offered her a job, saying that it was going to be interesting, which was enough to get her out of Africa. They had her the moment that they said it was going to be interesting. Her outfit caught people's attention, being very close to a military style that she had acquired during her time in Africa, but the fact that she was acting like a ten year old girl didn't help matters.

It wasn't long before she got to the boat that they were to use. Of course, the two men weren't very interesting, they were just talking which was boring, so Quinn instead turned her attention to the woman who was just standing around checking her phone. Quinn thought about what to do for a second before taking the only real action that anyone could take. She glomped Nu from behind, giggling a little as she does so. "Hello! My name is Quinn, who are you? Are you also getting on the boat with us? How is your day? Are you having fun?"

Quinn just dumps a ton of questions onto Nu, her eyes shining at the thought of getting a new friend to have fun with.

Jardin dropped his duffel bag into the cockpit just as he heard conversation behind him.  Turning, he easily recognised the olive skinned girl.  You never forget your first time...travel.  Still, a slight smile crept onto his face.

The other girl was younger than he expected, and seemed younger than she looked at the moment.  Moving to the pier, Jardin reverted his speech to English, saying, "Good morning."  He reached a hand out to the smaller girl, noting her pink hair.  "I see you've met Nu.  Sorry, she's not much of a talker.  By the way, I'm..."  The ever cautious thief paused for an instant, wondering if he should use his alias.  A moment's glance toward the captain reminded him he had already used one so, "Dorian.  Dorian Wolfe."

He invited the pair aboard as he did his best to assist.  As far as Jardin was concerned, it was fairly easy to board a boat but not everyone felt that way.

Jardin took this moment to explain why he had invited these to and commissioned the boat.  "I assume you're familiar with the Golden Age of Piracy.  Sailors turned to raiding merchant vessels in the vain hope of getting rich quick."

Well, he continued.  "I was doing some digging and I found some information on a Spanish brig lost enroute to Havana.  It was seperated from the treasure fleet durring a storm but before it could make berth for repairs, it was attacked and sunk.  It was one of dozens of wrecks and no one paid much attention to it."  At this point, Jardin could not help but grin like a lunatic.  "But I think I found it.  And the gold is still there 'cause no one else ever bothered to look."

At about this point, Francisco finished his preparations and turned to the conspiring trio. "Is this everyone? We ready to head out?"

Jardin turned back to the girls and shrugged, as if to say it was their call. He was ready but if they needed to do anything first, it was now or never. "And even if it does turn out a bust, you got a free trip to the Caribbean out of it. After all, covering the airfare was the least he could do. It was not his money anyway, a fact that made the thief smile even more on the inside.

Nu nearly jumped out of her skin when she was surprise glomped from behind. She leapt a good few inches forward nearly falling off the pier and turned around to see her assailant. To her amazement the person responsible for startling her, appeared much younger than she had expected and she was even dressed strangely to boot. The young mute wasn’t given much chance to recover before she was bombarded with questions, but before she could answer, Jardin’s voice rang out from behind, beating her to the punch in explaining her lack of speech.

Nu simply nodded in agreement with her friend and pointed to her mouth before shaking her head back and forth. When Jardin introduced himself to the pink haired girl, Nu arched a brow. He had done something similar the first time they had met, so Nu assumed this meant he didn’t fully know or trust this other woman, at least not yet. After being helped onto the boat, Nu took a seat and listened intently to Jardin’s explanation of why he had called everyone out to the Caribbean. Nu’s emerald cat eyes went wide and lit up at the mention of pirates. One of Sionas’ computers back home had an entire library on pirates and Nu read through it almost daily, she had become infatuated with the tales and to actually be going after sunken treasure made the young mute exceedingly giddy. She gave a small clap of excitement and applause after Jardin had explained himself and the research he had done.

Shortly after Jardin had finished speaking, the other man turned around after making his preparations for the trip and asked if the trio was ready to head out. Obviously Nu was too excited and she violently shook her head up and down in agreement. She then turned to the pink haired girl assuming that based on her introduction that she would be as eagerly excited to be going after sunken treasure.

Quinn tilts her head to one side, her smile turning into a frown since she can no longer talk to the girl, who she was still hugging. She nods once before wearing her smile again, already deciding to figure out a way to talk to Nu, putting it as a sub-process so that she can continue on her merry way without having to actively worry about it. She lets Nu go to shake Dorian's hand, returning his greeting. "I am Quinn, Quinn Ashford."

Quinn listens to Dorian, waiting for something interesting to come up so that she can get all excited about their undersea adventure, only to find out that it's going to be a completely normal and super boring salvage. Quinn raises her hand after Dorian was done speaking. "I have a question! Is there going to be killer sharks? Oh oh or maybe the treasure is cursed and we have to deal with it? Or is it guarded by the ghosts of the crew? That would be fun!"

Quinn's tone and shining eyes shows that she expects something different to happen, and for some reason her idea of fun differs greatly from a normal persons. While asking her multitude of questions, Quinn easy leaps onto the boat, bouncing a little in excitement, though for completely different reasons than Nu was.

With both of his companions excited for adventure, Jardin gave the signal to disembark and after only a moment to cast off, the little craft was off...
-----
Jardin hated everything.  The yellow sun, the blue sky, fluffy white clouds and laughing waves all conspired.  They were all out to get him.  They hated him.  All of them.  Even that seagull that drifted by.  Well he would just hate them all right back.

For the three hour trip, Jardin had clung to the sides of the boat, ready to feed the fish last nights dinner.  Three hours was three hours too long to be on a moving boat.  Why did that damned ship have to be so far from shore?

The captain throttled back and dropped anchor.  "These are the coordinates you gave me, Señor Wolfe," he announced glancing at the happless treasure hunter.  Jardin could only shoot the man a thumb-up over his shoulder before he finally sprayed vomit into the sea.  Chow time, little guys.

The thief heaved himself back onto his unsteady feet.  He tried to open his bag but it was a chore thanks to the numbness in his fingers, an odd side affect of his motion sickness.  "So," he rasped to his the partners.  He pulled out a pair of strange yellow ballon-like objects.  "The ship should be near here.  We will have to split up and find it, though."  He passed each girl a "balloon," saying, "These are deployable bouys.  Pulling the cord will cause it to inflate and signal your location.  Deploy it when you find the ship."

Jardin clutched his stomache and sat on the settee.  "You two should probably go on aheard."  He dumped out his bag: there were rather few items in it.  A diving knife with a shoulder scabbard, an ankle pouch containing a couple dozen glow sticks, a custom monofin and an Oxygen harness.  Passing a glance toward Quinn, he asked, "I did tell you to bring what you needed for diving, right?"

As their voyage began and the boat departed from the docks, the excitement began to well up within Nu. The sheer thought of actually finding long lost sunken treasure made her bob in her seat and kick her legs about playfully in the air, all the while Jardin hung himself over the side of the boat ready to burst at the next jog or shake of the boat. Nu giggled silently at her friend’s condition, before turning to face their coconspirator. She too seemed rather excited about their excursion though for entirely different reasons.

The climate of the Caribbean was something Nu found comfort in, something about the bright sun, crisp sea breeze and the vastness of it all, brought the girl some peace. Definitely nothing like the cold, dark, and damp hideout she called home. Minutes turned to hours as the boat glided across the crystal blue sea and ever onward to the destination that had been designated as the sight of the long lost ship. Ultimately the boat finally came to a slow crawl as their destination had been reached. At this point Nu was ready to just leap off the ship and begin exploring, but she managed to restrain herself.

This wasn’t so much a time to have fun as it was a chance to make history and to act professionally about it, was probably best. After their extensive trip, all the bouncing and writhing the boat had done, finally took its toll on Jardin and out came his lunch. The young mute leapt up to her feet and gave the man a comforting pat on the back followed by a wide childish grin and a thumbs up.

The little mute stepped back and Jardin began to fiddle with his duffle bag, before giving a confused look at the two yellow flotation balloons. She cocked her head to the side, still unsure what the balloons were exactly needed for, even with Jardin’s explanation of their purpose. Nu turned away for a moment and began typing away on her phone before handing it to Jardin. |-Couldn’t I….you know, rise the boat to the surface?-| she questioned, banking on hope that he remembered her impressive display of power from their previous encounter.

Quinn was very excited for the first twenty minutes of the trip, that is, until she learned that it would take them about three hours to get to where they needed to be. So, instead of just sitting around moping while they traveled, she did something far better with her time; Hugging her new friend Nu.

After they finally got to the location, Quinn jumps up, staring into the water with a huge smile on her face. Before she can jump into the water, Dorian starts to talk, explaining even more boring things to them. She takes the yellow balloon from Dorian as he tells them to go on ahead, which is good enough for Quinn. She pulls off her bulky clothes, only having a swimsuit under it before giving Dorian a large smile. "Silly, I always have what I need."

With that being said, she just dives into the water, seemingly completely unprepared, though she did take the balloon with her. Quinn only surfaces long enough to put on a pair of goggles that she didn't have when she dived it before vanishing back under the waves, quickly disappearing from sight as she heads down towards the ocean floor. She already made herself a re-breather and a pair of fins after she dived down, so she made it down to the bottom rather quickly.

Quinn ponders for a second before deciding to have fun while swimming around. She might find the wreck while she does, but she had far more important things to do before that. First on the list was to pet a shark, so with that in mind, she swims off, looking for a giant fish with a lot of teeth.

Jardin cocked an eyebrow as Quinn leapt into the water.  He noticed that she wore goggles that had come from nowhere and remarkably, dismissed it.  He was growing unnervingly numb to the extraordinary.

His attention returned to Nu as the man glanced at the offered phone, taking in the message.  Indeed, he remembered the girl's psychokinesis and had some idea how powerful it was.  Looking up, Jardin said, "I suppose you could but there are a few issues with that plan..."

His stomache had finally settled so the would-be treasure hunter stood, removing his shirt and shorts.  Beneath his khakis were a pair of close-fitting, gray and black swim short.  He grabbed the scuba tank and began to easily sling it up to his shoulders.  "I figure you still have to find the ship before lifting it; if Quinn or I find it first we'd still have to signal for you."  Tank in place, he moved to grab his knife and belt it to his arm.  "We also don't know the condition of the brig.  It may well be in pieces or suffering some other sort of structural damage.  I'd like to survey the situation before and see if that's the best option.  Also..."  The thief trailed off, reaching into his bag again grabbing an odd looking headset with what looked like a camera attached.  "This is a historic find and I would like to take some pictures if I can," he admitted, smiling as he put the device on.

He had removed his sunglasses earlier and only now tossed them into his bag.  He offered the telepath a few glow sticks, just in case since he only needed a few.  Then, grabbing his 'fin, he sat on the back of the boat.  "See ya' down there."  A breath and a lean and Jardin was under water.  It did not take much for the flexible youth to put on his curved fin and suddenly he could dart with the grace of a mermaid.

Below was a garden of colorful sea life; a motley of corals and fish and algea.  They were not his business though.  He was looking for more classical treasures.  Switching on his camera, Jardin flexed his body, propelling himself like a razorblade through he water.  Little did he know that he had drawn the attention of one particular inhabitant of the reef and the area nearby...

OoC Note:

The young mute listened intently to what Jardin had to say in response to her question. On the one hand it made sense for them to be cautious with the decaying wreck, but it also just seemed more logical for the naïve girl to just use her powers to make things easy. She began to blush a little as the man undressed before her, embarrassed with this she spun around immediately and began to fiddle around inside her duffle bag until he was done talking, only turning around once more to grab the glow sticks and give him a thumbs up as he dove into the sea.

Despite all her pent up excitement to go on a real life treasure hunt, Nu stuck around onboard the boat. The reality of what she was going to be doing had set it and she realized that even though all three of them would be in the sea at the same time, all looking for the same thing, she was going to be alone. She sat and pondered on the thought for several seconds before jumping to her feet and striking a superman pose to help build confidence. Nu removed her clothing to reveal a light blue and white striped bikini. She stuffed her regular clothes into her large duffle bag and placed her phone on top before sealing it and approaching the side of the boat.

With her impressive strength Nu gave a powerful kick off the boat and launched herself several feet into the air. She hadn’t bothered to take any scuba gear with her, instead she formed a force field around herself and sunk beneath the waves. As the bright pink bubble sank ever deeper to the briny depths Nu clenched the yellow balloon tighter and tighter. All of her anxiety had washed away the moment she hit the water and the excitement was beginning to well up inside her once more. She finally touched down on the sea floor and was greeted by a welcoming site. Laying just a few feet away from where she had landed, was a chunk of the ships fore-mast with bits and pieces of the sail stilling clinging on for dear life.    

There was just enough light being produced by Nu’s barrier that she ended up tucking the glow sticks she had been given into the side of her bikini bottoms. She studied the mast for several minutes with fascination, before realizing that there were more pieces of the ship scattered about just a few feet away. Nu floated over to the shards of wood that would have most likely made up the ships haul. She had deduced that these chunks of wood and the mast were more than likely the first casualties of the ships final engagement. This meant if she continued to follow the wreckage she would most likely come across the ship sooner or later. Completely excited by the thought, Nu began to bounce around the sea floor from pile of debris to pile of debris in search of their sunken ship, all the while unaware that the bright pink hue of her force field was most likely garnering the attention of something most unsavory.

Quinn found a shark almost instantly, and although she was super happy, the shark did not share her excitement, freaking out when it was suddenly hugged by some random girl. It was just slippery enough to get out of her gasp before turning around and attempting to bite her. Quinn manages to suppress her giggling, seeing as how she is underwater, and just let the shark attempt to bite her arm off. After it lost a lot of it's teeth, the shark finally learned that she wasn't something it could eat and quickly swam away. Quinn huffs a bit at being left behind, nowhere near fast enough to catch up to the shark.

Turning back towards her job of finding some ship wreck, she starts to swim with the fishes as she looks around. She moves around different objects on the ocean floor, studying each one in turn before moving on, taking her time on deciding if any of them was the wreck that they were looking for. After the tenth object, Quinn stops and glances around, trying to get some sort of plan since wandering around aimlessly didn't seem to be doing her any good.

That's when the light started to shine through the murky darkness, Quinn stares at it for a moment before shrugging. Not having any better plan she swims towards it, though it was hard to, seeing as how it was dancing around randomly, moving quickly. Luckily, Quinn managed to catch up to the light source and found that it was her new friend Nu. Repressing another giggle, she swims up and pounds onto the bubble, trying to catch Nu's attention before she darts off again. Hopefully the other girl would be kind enough to let her in, because while swimming through the ocean was fun, doing it as a job make it far more boring.

Jardin had massive lungs and in the time he had now spent underwater, he had not taken a breath. But his lungs were just starting to sting so he grabbed the mouthpiece and slid it into his mouth, his first large lung full escaping as he took his first pull.

He spotted a shark zipping towards him and twisted his body aside. It did not try to bite him, as though it was fleeing from something. Glancing the way it had come, he found Quinn, chasing fish and such without a care in the world. Then she darted towards an odd ball of light. Wait, that was Nu; the psychic was jumping around the sea floor following a trail of debris...

Jardin visibly sighed. "Best layed plans of mice and men," he supposed. Flexing his body again, the man in the monofin darted down to join the pair. He stayed a bit higher than them, giving him better field of view. That was where he would see the ship best from.

As he swam on, Jardin's camera recorded as he crested a rise. The great vessel came into view. It measured about 100 feet long but as expected, large holes had rotted out of the hull, and the masts were ruined stubs. Some of the cannons were missing on deck, though that was expected considering how many guns had been spilled. But based on what he knew of the ships design, it seemed the hold itself was mostly intact.

He swam close to the aft of the ship, looking for the name. Santa Maria could be read but sadly the rest of the name had rotted away. Swimming up to the helm, Jardin released his bouy, calling Francisco closer. He swam back to the girls, missing the movement inside as something, or someone watched the strange man who swam like a dolphin.

Rejoining the pair, Jardin tried his best to communicate without words. He shot his thumb back over the rise, indicating that was where the ship was. Then, pointing to Nu, he made a palm-down "C" with his right hand and pulled up like a claw machine device; the ship seemed mostly intact, after all, and this could make the investigation easier.
---
Meanwhile, the nearby spectator grew worried. She counted only three but among the three, one was imune to shark bites and had absolutely no fear, another seemed to deny water itself by commanding light and that last seemed to swim with grace to rival herself. Not only that, but as they drew closer, she realized her sister may well be in danger. Yet she hesitated, as she still feared these monsters from above...

Nu continued to hop and waddle along the ocean floor, following each piece of the ships debris as through it were a trail of breadcrumbs laid out for her. She eagerly awaited the moment the ship would come into view. A quick thud against the top of her barrier made her leap up and let out a silent yelp before turning to see the other girl they had brought with them. She clenched her chest and let out a few pants to signify that she had been startled and then shot the girl a confused look as she was unsure what exactly it was that she was up to.

A few minutes passed as the two girls continued to follow the wreckage. Jardin eventually joined them noting that they had found a trail of wreckage. He swam on ahead and eventually came across the downed ship. Nu followed close behind and burst into a series of joyful hops. She severely wanted to run down to the ship and check it out, but she was cut off by her friend as he did his best to sign to her. Though this was one way Nu communicated, she somehow found Jardin’s gesturing to be a bit confusing till it finally dawned on her. She couldn’t see the ship to well, but Jardin could, and it seemed it was in good enough condition for the young woman to try her hand at raising it off the sea floor.

She took a few steps forward and came to a sudden realization. Lets say she could lift the ship off the sea floor, would she have enough mental prowess to do that and maintain her barrier? Even if she did, the boat they brought was obviously not big enough to house the decrepit vessel and she was pretty damn sure she wouldn’t be too thrilled having to “hold” the ship all the way back to shore.

With all these questions arising, a new problem presented itself. Nu was no longer in possession of her phone and had no way of communicating all these thoughts to either Jardin or Quinn. Nu pouted and sat down in her bubble as she reflected on her options.

Quinn somehow managed to sit on the bubble and stay there as Nu moved around, being dragged right along with her, not caring in the least. Nobody was exactly sure how she managed to do this, since she should have slipped off at the first movement, but there she was, treating the bubble like it was a car or something. It wasn't long until Dorian joined them, swimming above them to get a better view as they continued to search for the wreckage.

It was in pretty good shape for how long under water it was, though it also looked like using a little too much force would rip it apart like it was made of paper mache. Quinn, of course, did exactly what she was told to do and instantly pulled out her yellow balloon thingie and set it off, watching it rapidly float towards the surface. She clearly didn't care at all that they were all already here. Quinn follows the balloon as it rapidly makes it way out of view before nodding to herself and looking back at the ship, just in time to catch movement going on inside. Getting all excited again, she swims around, getting out of view before rapidly closing in on the boat, hoping that there was another shark inside that she can pet.

Quinn had finally managed to get the hang of swimming under water, so she was far quicker than one would expect, allowing her to get to the ship without spooking the creature inside. Slipping through a small crack in the side, she sneaks through the ship slowly, seeing a dark shape watching the other two. She manages to get around behind and above the creature before rushing forward, tackling it into a hug as it reacts badly to the tiny girl suddenly grabbing it. Unlike last time, where the shark managed to get away, Quinn was far more prepared this time and managed to keep hold of the rather human sharped fishie.

Quinn pauses for a second, something not clicking but she wasn't exactly sure what, then it dons on her. The shark that she thought she was hugging seemed like it was another diver, which got Quinn even more excited. Two new friends in a single day? Quinn pulls apart slightly to check out the other diver only to rapidly notice that it was, in fact, a fishie, just like she thought it was. Well, more like a half fishie, seeing as how only it's lower half was fish-like. The girl was still trying to get away, so Quinn pats her on the head a few times, trying to calm her new friend down without letting go, not actually hurting the poor girl, but still hugging her.