Pirates! (The Roleplay)

"Hold on," he said again. "We may not need to fight."

The girl opened her mouth and began to speak. The movement of her mouth did not match her words, and it took Natalia a moment to realize that there was a small device at the base of her throat. The voice didn't come from the girl herself, but more from the device. "Probably some kind of translation device," Natalia thought idly.

"Greetings travelers," said the girl, opening her arms in a welcoming motion. "We mean you no harm."

Natalia arched a brow, her skepticism obvious.

"Do you make a habit of containing people that you intend no harm to?" Although she kept a steady gaze, Natalia's heart pounded. The walls were too tight. The ceiling was too tight. Everything was too tight.

The girl's head cocked as she listened, and then she nodded to show understanding.

"Please excuse our doors," she said, gesturing behind them. "We have not had visitors in a long time, and we wished to gain the opportunity to talk to you."

Natalia frowned.

"Who are you?"

The girl shrugged, a movement that swept through her entire body. She was oddly graceful, in an alien way.

"The name that you may recognize us by has long faded from our tongues," she said, sighing slightly. "We are just... us."

Natalia was uncomfortable, but she didn't show it. She considered her options, and then finally spoke.

"Open your door," she said. "Then we will talk."

The girl stared at Natalia for a moment, yellow eyes meeting blue. Finally, she nodded and gestured vaguely. Almost instantly, the door raised, exposing the area beyond.

 

"I don't like them much either," he said. "We'll have to wait and see."

"What exactly do you wish to speak about?" Natalia said, turning back to the girl.

The girl hesitated, trying to figure out the best way to pursue the conversation.

"We believe that there is potential for a... erm... win-win situation here. We both require each others' help to achieve our ends."

"What do you mean?" Natalia asked, her curiosity taking over.

The girl gestured upwards.

"Both of our groups wish to return to the surface," the girl said. "But neither of us can get up without the other. You see, there is a curse upon our land. It is very long and extensive, but in short, it basically commands that a group from above and a group from below must unite powers to open some sort of..." She twirled her fingers in the air as she searched for the word. "Portal, I suppose. It should allow us both to get to the surface, completely intact."

Natalia frowned.

"My crew and I came here to claim the riches of this land," she said, gesturing to the gold in the walls. "Why would you care to go up to the surface?"

The girl's face turned grim.

"Many years ago," she said, "there was a mistake that was made that plunged us into the sea. We have been doomed here for eternity, never aging, never dying. Our colony needs to have a resting place. We need to return. Once we get to the surface, we will die instantly. It will be a sigh of relief for us, like going to sleep after a very long, difficult day."

 

"Our deaths on your land has nothing to do with you," she said tranquilly. "You would return to your land alive and well, and we would be escaping from this curse. You cannot imagine, young one, how hundreds and thousands of centuries weigh down on a being. We are ready to go. In truth, we are scarcely more than spirits at this point. Beings that drift on this land with no purpose and no end in sight."

Natalia drummed her fingers on her thigh, thinking.

"My crew and I, we came here on our ship. Would that be transported too?"

The girl nodded.

"Indeed. And... did you say you came for riches? Anything you desire from our lands will certainly be given to you," she said. "After all, we certainly won't need it up there, and we would be in your debt. My people will even help load the treasure onto your ship. In return for our generosity, all we ask in return is your involvement in a few procedures that will trigger the portal. A couple of Nevean Transmissions, and the like."

"Nevean Transmissions?" Natalia asked. "What is that?"

The girl hesitated.

"Nevean Transmissions are the worst that you will be facing in our care. In the procedure, we simply hook you up to a few plungers, and show you three events that may trigger anger, fear and sadness. The plungers then absorb these negative emotions and put them into a physical state. The portal only requires one transmission of each kind, so one from your crew and one from my colony. Besides that, we would also require DNA from each one of your people who are intending to go through the portal. The process is simple, really, but we have not had people from above manage to get this far. You are the first, and hopefully the last."

 

The girl tilted her head as she thought.

"It depends on the person," she said. "It certainly won't be more than two or three people. The average is about one and a half.

 

(I'm going to wait for @Proxy and @Starlight Speedster, because I just realized that we've covered a lot of ground without them, and I don't want to leave them out of the loop.)

 

(Oh? Did you gain any insights? Also, bump bump. Please.)

 

"Of course not!" the girl said, frowning. "While I will admit that the process is... uncomfortable, there will be no physical harm inflicted upon you. Most of the time, we only need a person to go through the entire process, and another to do part of the process."

 

"We would let you decide," she said, "although we'd prefer someone with a stable mental state." She eyed Natalia cautiously, who remained silent and thoughtful. "It's not a sacrifice, just a procedure that we need to go through. You simply are shown three scenes that will cause you anger, fear, and sadness."

 

Natalia spoke up.

"I'll need time to discuss this with my crew."

The girl waved a hand in the air reassuringly.

"Please. Take all the time you need. In fact, as a gesture of good faith, I will have my colony begin to load the ore into your ship." She paused for a moment, and then looked down at the ground.

"We will do anything for your help."

 

Natalia stood still for a moment and then nodded.

"We will return to our ship now. When we have an answer for you..."

"We will be here," the girl finished.

Natalia turned on her heel and left without another word, her thoughts buzzing too much for formalities.