[Saga] [Notice Conquest][Part I] Eviction Notice: Seafarer's Shindig

Layla quickly ascended the flight of stairs and phased through the door she found at the top of them. She was immediately hit with the sounds of warfare and chaos that raged on, it seemed the Party hadn’t begun yet . The mute woman quickly took in her surroundings and saw an entire deck that was abuzz with activity, but that had stopped as soon as she had made her appearance. Suddenly all attention was on her, at least thirty men now had their full attention on her.

The thief’s eyes shifted side to side quickly as she tried to quickly come up with a way out of this. The door behind her burst open sealing any chance of her escaping back through that way and she doubted phasing back into the ship would solve anything. The now fully gathered crew began to encircle her, filling her with dread as she slowly began to realize she had no way of getting out of this one.

"We are here for when you wanna go back to the ship, Madame Keket!" The shout broke through the tense air. Layla’s eyes zeroed in on the direction of the sound and she could make out what seemed to be one of the Dead Air’s auxiliary vessels. She suddenly had an escape route, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one to realize. The sound of guns being aimed at her from all around meant she had seconds at best, a split decision was made at that moment and she took a deep breath to steel her nerves.

Layla  dipped her head and hunched forward slightly, she closed her eyes and began to focus on phasing her entire body except for the soles of her feet, the pin and needles feeling that signaled her permeability began at her head and quickly worked its way down until the only part of her body that she felt was her feet. At the sound of the guns going off she stood up straight and stared listlessly ahead.. The bullets flew through the air, all striking her body before reappearing back out as if she wasn’t there. The cries of pain and shock filled the air as the bullets intended for her instead struck members of the crew.

Layla smiled sadistically as she began to walk forward while maintaining her permeability, each step slow and measured as it would be easy to lose her focus and phase through the floor by accident. This caused the few crew members who hadn’t fired the first time to panic and fire at her again despite the warnings the rest of the crew shouted. Another barrage of bullets flew through the air once again and once again Layla heard more cries of pain followed by the thudding of bodies.

The mute woman continued walking forward slowly, her smile slowly growing toothier as if she was truly enjoying this. A few brave souls threw their firearms to the ground and drew their sabres to charge at her. This resulted in them throwing their full weight into each of their attacks and into each other as they all phased right through her.

“What the hell is she?!”

“Why can’t we kill her?”

At their cries of confusion and growing fear Layla suddenly had an idea, it made her extremely uncomfortable but it might be enough to sow the fear into their thoughts and secure her escape. Layla slowly reached a hand up to her throat, the crew around her all staring in anticipation at whatever she was doing, and slipped a finger under the back of her choker where the clasp that held it was. She flicked it off allowing her choker to slip from her neck revealing the jagged scar hidden below.

“She’s already dead!”

“A ghost! An actual spectre!”

The crew members who were still standing all began to quake in their boots, their own features growing pale. Layla took this opportunity to continue her march towards her escape but refused to move at a faster pace and looked lifelessly ahead as if he truly were dead. The few who she walked past made sure to stay clear of the woman growing even paler than she was as their proximity lessened.

Layla stepped towards the edge of the ship, judged the distance as being close enough for her exit, and simply walked right through the railing of the ship. She quickly released the permeability on her body as she fell through the air and kicked off the hull of the ship she just dropped off of and rolled onto the deck of the ship awaiting her. As soon as she stopped rolling she was laid out flat on her back and saw a couple of her crewmates looking down at her. She gave a quick circular hand gesture signaling it was time to go.

Layla patted the pockets stuffed with the random intel she grabbed and was glad to feel it all there. Hopefully this would make up for her lackluster display on that ship. She remained on her back and simply allowed herself to relax for the moment while the small vessel returned to the Dead Air.

Layla boarded the Dead Air, tossing a quick nod towards Molly who was the one to welcome her back aboard. Molly had an interesting sense of style that wildly contrasted with Layla’s own drab muted style. Her words of encouragement made the mute woman close her eyes and force herself to not shoot the overly enthusiastic girl a heated look. She genuinely meant well. At the mention of the Grumble Party Layla again nodded at Molly before making her way towards the bow of the ship. Albeit without a skip in her step unlike Molly.

As Layla made her way to the bow she suddenly heard the booming command of her captain starting the show. By the time Layla had made it to the bow all that was left to witness was the aftermath of the Grumble Party. The thief took in the near instantaneous destruction of the fleet that had gathered in an attempt to defend their home. She felt no sympathy for them but the awe of just how powerful this crew and ship was made her shiver. She truly signed a deal with the devil when she joined Brood's crew.

---

The mute woman took her seat beside Kabetogama and silently listened to the reports given by her fellow crewmates. None of the responses surprised her as they all reflected upon each of the individual's well since the only difference was how each of them chose to apply their monstrous strength.

When it came time for Kabetogama’s report she listened with slightly more interest since she didn’t know him nearly as well. However she was disappointed when he simply joined the rest in showboating about his destructive tendencies. She hated to admit that she was slightly envious of everyone’s destructive strength in comparison to her own. The woman needed to prove herself during this invasion and actually earn her spot at this table.

When it finally came time for her own report Layla reached into her coat and began pulling out and piling up the various forms of intel that she managed to snag. A couple journals, a small stack of folders, some crumpled notes, a few annotated maps, and to her surprise that lone den den mushi she had spotted in the office. The thief didn’t remember grabbing it but figured she’d scooped it into one of her pockets in her rush.

She took a small moment to organize the stuff in the hopes it explained what she did well enough. Of course she remembered the order that they had to kill an officer and pulled out her memento, the golden pocket watch. She allowed it to dangle from it’s chain and clicked it open to reveal a small photo of the now dead officer with his small family, it seemed he had a lovely young wife and a newborn child. Layla placed it on the table for them all to see and spread her arms as if to say ‘this is all for you.’

Layla wasn’t surprised when Brood simply dismissed her findings, figuring his silence was better than any remonstrations on her performance. The mute woman was pleased when another crewmate gathered up her work for further analysis, later she’d have to follow up and make sure nothing is overlooked.

As the meeting continued Layla’s mood took a nosedive as she realized she was being paired with Desmond once again. No verbal complaints were aired from her but she did shoot the blonde in question a glare only to scowl in disgust at how he was handling the prisoner.

The rest of the orders all made sense and Layla shook her head at her captain's inquiry for questions. The orders were concise and she knew Brood trusted his crew to get the job done. With the meeting now adjourned Layla stood up, not waiting for Desmond, and decided to attend to several tasks now that their first battle was over. She had time before setting out and Desmond was obviously too distracted by his current task for her to dare interrupt.

She’d only stop if anyone attempted to draw her attention before slipping away into the Dead Air’s lower decks.