08-19-2017, 09:41 PM
"Ssssssssss"
"Are you sure?"
"Sss!"
"Fine, fine, but he wasn't in the last three places we checked. You're usually much better at this. Can't you just feel his avarice and find him that way?"
"...Hssss" the snake sounded almost embarassed.
"You-" Larfleeze paused in his flight, raising the Battery to eye-level so he could look the Embodiment of Avarice in the eyes, "...You can't feel other people's avarice, any more?"
"...Ssshsss..."
"But you're an Embodiment! Sensing emotions is what you are! Damn Omniverse! Ugh, fine, we'll use my nose." Larfleeze grumped, placing the Battery back under his arm and taking a long, deep, breath.
The man was his.
"The man is Mine."
He could always find what was his.
"I don't lose what is Mine!"
He shot across the sky, aiming back for the Gate, and lowering to street-level. He made a deep snuffling noise as he carefully glided over the area. "Ugh, there's way too many people coming and going here... now, if we were running from us, where would we go?"
"Hssss"
"But what does he want?"
"ss"
"...Well, to live then. To flee. To flee from me?" he snarled, bringing his face close to the street once more, and concentrating, "I won't let someone who belongs to me run around free!"
He took in a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed.
...Rum. Sea salt. Mud. Gunpowder.
It was practically everywhere. Everything smelled like that! Giving up, Larfleeze left the road behind, feeling tired, he simply decided to walk down the streets. Occasionally a trinket on a cart would grab his attention... but priorities! The trinkets would still be here when he caught his Thief.
But he had to admit, he wasn't getting anywhere. His nose wasn't what it used to be- either that, or the smells of Costa Del Sol simply overpowered the scent of a single pirate. Spotting a white-armored trooper standing on a street corner, writing something on a little sheet and putting it on a parked vehicle-
oh he wanted it.
But priorities! Besides, the white-armored people wanted him to... pay for things.
There was something else the white-armored people could give to him, "Hey! White-armor guy!"
The stormtrooper looked up from his ticket, "Is this your vehicle, sir?"
"Y- No. No not yet." Larfleeze grumbled, "But I am looking for something else. Something that is mine."
"Are you reporting a theft?"
"Yes! The thief stole himself!"
"He... I'm sorry, what?"
"This guy-" Larfleeze raised his ring, and created the image of his missing pirate. The trooper stepped back upon seeing the glow, but calmed down once it seemed to just be an ordinary hologram, "-He tried to steal my Battery! With some other guys, said they were pirates."
"Pirates you say?"
"Yes. I got five of them, but he got away."
"...Are you a bounty hunter?"
"Hm?"
"Someone who... kills or captures others, for Omnilium."
"Oh, yeah, I've done that." Larfleeze grinned, "Yeah, I'm a bounty hunter then!"
"Well... let me see if I can get anything on this guy for you."
"Good!" Larfleeze said. He always enjoyed when people gave him things.
The trooper opened a small device, and began going through a database, "Let's see... part of a group of six pirates, wears eye patch- human, Caucasian... Hm... Okay, it says here that your target is named Charlie Jagrobe. He's been sighted committing theft and piracy for years, in a few different places in Costa Del Sol."
"Is there a place he goes to a lot?"
"Hmmm... It says here that his group has been seen more than once at a disreputable dockside bar called the Bread and Trilobite. I hope that's useful."
"It should be!" Larfleeze said, smiling. Taking off into the air, he reached into his bag and pulled out a formerly-discarded Power-Ring-cleaned tourist brochure. It included a map.
The establishment wasn't listed by name, but grabbing a random person off the street and lifting her in the air while demanding the definition of what the word 'disreputable' meant, pointed him towards the slummier parts of the seashore, where poorer citizens docked their boats.
From there, more 'asking' around pointed him in the right direction.
As he approached the old bar, he took a deep whiff of the air- scents similar to that of his missing pirate were abound in the air outside the saloon. He wasn't quite sure if the scent of Jagrobe was mixed in with the others, but he took it to be a good sign. It also smelled like rum and sandwiches.
He pushed his way through the swinging doors, and looked around at the small place. It was late at night, now, but there were still a number of customers. Larfleeze sniffed the air, and found his attention being drawn towards the open door to the kitchens. The smells coming from the room were inviting, and for the first time since he arrived in the Omniverse, he realized he hadn't yet eaten.
He marched up to the bar, and didn't really pay much notice at the way the bartender was staring at him- but he did notice when the man's eyes looked down to his Battery.
"Is that the Orange Lantern?" the bartender asked, "Are you the Beast? The one who trapped Delilah's soul?" he asked. The man didn't seem scared, but he did seem cautious. He kept one hand close to a breadknife tied to his apron.
"Delilah-" Larfleeze said, "Oh! Yeah. Yeah, I did that." he said, "Now get me some food! I want food! I'm hungry, and I've been busy all night!"
"What do you want?" he asked. "I don't do soup."
"I. Want. Food." Larfleeze repeated.
The bartender looked at the Beast for a moment, before nodding, "And a lot of it. Right?" he asked, almost amused.
"Yes!"
"Got it." The man disappeared into the kitchen.
The other men in the building were also beginning to try and move away, muttering and whispering amongst themselves.
"He's real..." a man whispered to the sailor next to him.
"I hope Charlie's plan works." he whispered back. Larfleeze turned his head slowly towards the two of them, before launching himself from his seat at the bar to land in a crouch on their table. Both men went still.
"Charlie Jagrobe." Larfleeze said, "He was here? Not too long ago?"
"Y-Yes." a terrified sailor said, "Please don't trap my soul in your devil lantern."
"Hm." Larfleeze slipped between the two of them, settling his Battery between his crossed legs, and wrapping an arm around both men's shoulders, "Charlie is mine- he was a thief, and so I claimed him as mine! Anyone who tries to steal from me will join my collection! But he ran away!" Larfleeze muttered, "And I don't let things I own run from me."
The bar was deathly silent.
"Where did my Thief go!?" he roared.
There was another moment of stunned silence, and then a frenzied rush for the door, as well as calls of "Don't leave us!" from the two that Larfleeze was holding down personally.
"How dare you?!" he cried, and the symbols on his chest and shoulders blazed like the sun, orange light pouring out in every direction. His Power Ring frazzled with Avarice, orange light glowed from his eyes and poured from his skull like flame behind his head, "Thieves! All of you!"
In a furious pulse of energy, everything in the bar began to glow orange as he took hold with his Power Ring. The men, the dishes, the bottles, the chairs, the floorboards... soon the entire Bread and Trilobite was held in his telekinetic grip. He slowly lifted his arm, and strained with effort as the building shook and pulsed, the orange light pouring from his symbols and his ring dimmed and brightened.
The people closest to the windows shuddered, as they saw the view of the outside shift. There was a horrible groaning noise as the restaurant unrooted itself from the docks, ripping wooden walkways from their supports and sending nearly an entire portion of the dock into the shallows. The restaurant itself was slowly moving further and further towards sea.
"I have your food! For god's sake, put us down." the bartender said, rushing out, clutching a newly-scrubbed silver plate, piled high with a variety of sandwiches.
Larfleeze nearly broke concentration. Instead, he released his grip on the people who had been trying to flee, yanking them into the center of the restaurant, and focusing on pushing it out onto the sea.
"...All of you, are thieves." Larfleeze growled.
"We didn't take anything from you!" a foolish one shouted back.
The restaurant lurched, and everyone tried to keep from slipping to the left side of the bar as the angle of the floor changed. Larfleeze groaned, straightening it, and glared at the one who had spoken up and nearly broke his concentration, "I asked you where my Thief went! You have information I want! Information that belongs to me!" his voice got lower, "And then you tried to run away with it. You all tried to steal my information!"
"Well I didn't." the bartender said quietly, "I was just gonna serve you fine food, Mister... Mister the Beast. Me and my gran'daughter- we only helped you. Now put my restaurant down somewhere safe, and work out your differences with my paying customers on your own terms, alright?"
"But it's okay if he kills us?!"
"Shut it! I've got a family to look after!" the bartender snapped back, "I know his type." he gestured to Larfleeze, "Stubborn as rock, and nearly as smart. But strong as hell. Not to mention he's a goddamn Prime."
"..." Larfleeze looked to the bartender, and then back to the clutch of shaking sailors in the center of the creaking and groaning restaurant, "They're all thieves." he muttered.
"Look! You're ruining my place here, if you want your sandwiches-"
"Are you going to try and steal too?! Steal my sandwiches!?" Larfleeze hissed, turning on the bartender, looking hungrily at the sandwiches. The entire restaurant rumbled and shook as his concentration flared.
The bartender clapped his mouth shut, and looked at the platter in his hand, "Uh, I was just... thinking... if you let my restaurant fall into the sea, you're going to ruin your sandwiches." he quickly tried, saying the first thing off the top of his head, "You know- because the sea water would ruin the bread."
Larfleeze considered this logic.
"And uh, I was going to make you even more. More than just this one plate. But I can't do that if my sous-chef is dead, and I'm dead, and my ingredients are underwater and my kitchen is crushed. So."
Larfleeze considered this logic as well. His gaze turned on the sailors, "...Where is Charlie Jagrobe going? Give back the information you tried to steal."
"He's sailing farther than he's ever sailed before!" one man shouted.
"He wants to lead you inta' tha' depths."
"He wants to ambush ya', and throw yar Devil Lantern to the Sea, so thah' Dear Delilah and all the rest' souls can find eternal rest in the waves."
Larfleeze let out a breath. "Fine." he muttered to the bartender. "But I want a LOT of sandwiches."
"G-Got it."
The restaurant lurched once more, and with a pained groan of effort, Larfleeze moved the mass of wood further inland, until it was over dry land rather than brittle docks. He let go all at once, with a sigh of relief, that left everyone but him suddenly on the floor, and the restaurant nearly cracked in half.
The orange glow of his outfit subtly faded, and his ring, once a brilliant orange, was almost a dull gray.
"...I'll have to recharge." he said, surprised. It had been... thousands and thousands of years, since he had to actually recharge a Power Ring.
The sailors, realizing they were on stable ground, fled for the hills, screaming about the Beast.
A young woman, shivering in fear, slowly made her way out of the kitchen, and looked to the bartender, who was standing nearby, tray of sandwiches still in his hand.
"...But first I eat!" Larfleeze decided, reaching out a clawed hand and yanking the entire tray away.
The girl turned green as she watched Larfleeze eat, but her grandfather merely shook his head and sighed, "Well then. Come on sweetling. We've got more sandwiches to make."
"But-"
Larfleeze looked up dangerously.
"-Of course, Grandpa." she squeaked, before ducking back into the kitchen, yanking her grandfather along with her.
"Are you sure?"
"Sss!"
"Fine, fine, but he wasn't in the last three places we checked. You're usually much better at this. Can't you just feel his avarice and find him that way?"
"...Hssss" the snake sounded almost embarassed.
"You-" Larfleeze paused in his flight, raising the Battery to eye-level so he could look the Embodiment of Avarice in the eyes, "...You can't feel other people's avarice, any more?"
"...Ssshsss..."
"But you're an Embodiment! Sensing emotions is what you are! Damn Omniverse! Ugh, fine, we'll use my nose." Larfleeze grumped, placing the Battery back under his arm and taking a long, deep, breath.
The man was his.
"The man is Mine."
He could always find what was his.
"I don't lose what is Mine!"
He shot across the sky, aiming back for the Gate, and lowering to street-level. He made a deep snuffling noise as he carefully glided over the area. "Ugh, there's way too many people coming and going here... now, if we were running from us, where would we go?"
"Hssss"
"But what does he want?"
"ss"
"...Well, to live then. To flee. To flee from me?" he snarled, bringing his face close to the street once more, and concentrating, "I won't let someone who belongs to me run around free!"
He took in a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed.
...Rum. Sea salt. Mud. Gunpowder.
It was practically everywhere. Everything smelled like that! Giving up, Larfleeze left the road behind, feeling tired, he simply decided to walk down the streets. Occasionally a trinket on a cart would grab his attention... but priorities! The trinkets would still be here when he caught his Thief.
But he had to admit, he wasn't getting anywhere. His nose wasn't what it used to be- either that, or the smells of Costa Del Sol simply overpowered the scent of a single pirate. Spotting a white-armored trooper standing on a street corner, writing something on a little sheet and putting it on a parked vehicle-
oh he wanted it.
But priorities! Besides, the white-armored people wanted him to... pay for things.
There was something else the white-armored people could give to him, "Hey! White-armor guy!"
The stormtrooper looked up from his ticket, "Is this your vehicle, sir?"
"Y- No. No not yet." Larfleeze grumbled, "But I am looking for something else. Something that is mine."
"Are you reporting a theft?"
"Yes! The thief stole himself!"
"He... I'm sorry, what?"
"This guy-" Larfleeze raised his ring, and created the image of his missing pirate. The trooper stepped back upon seeing the glow, but calmed down once it seemed to just be an ordinary hologram, "-He tried to steal my Battery! With some other guys, said they were pirates."
"Pirates you say?"
"Yes. I got five of them, but he got away."
"...Are you a bounty hunter?"
"Hm?"
"Someone who... kills or captures others, for Omnilium."
"Oh, yeah, I've done that." Larfleeze grinned, "Yeah, I'm a bounty hunter then!"
"Well... let me see if I can get anything on this guy for you."
"Good!" Larfleeze said. He always enjoyed when people gave him things.
The trooper opened a small device, and began going through a database, "Let's see... part of a group of six pirates, wears eye patch- human, Caucasian... Hm... Okay, it says here that your target is named Charlie Jagrobe. He's been sighted committing theft and piracy for years, in a few different places in Costa Del Sol."
"Is there a place he goes to a lot?"
"Hmmm... It says here that his group has been seen more than once at a disreputable dockside bar called the Bread and Trilobite. I hope that's useful."
"It should be!" Larfleeze said, smiling. Taking off into the air, he reached into his bag and pulled out a formerly-discarded Power-Ring-cleaned tourist brochure. It included a map.
The establishment wasn't listed by name, but grabbing a random person off the street and lifting her in the air while demanding the definition of what the word 'disreputable' meant, pointed him towards the slummier parts of the seashore, where poorer citizens docked their boats.
From there, more 'asking' around pointed him in the right direction.
As he approached the old bar, he took a deep whiff of the air- scents similar to that of his missing pirate were abound in the air outside the saloon. He wasn't quite sure if the scent of Jagrobe was mixed in with the others, but he took it to be a good sign. It also smelled like rum and sandwiches.
He pushed his way through the swinging doors, and looked around at the small place. It was late at night, now, but there were still a number of customers. Larfleeze sniffed the air, and found his attention being drawn towards the open door to the kitchens. The smells coming from the room were inviting, and for the first time since he arrived in the Omniverse, he realized he hadn't yet eaten.
He marched up to the bar, and didn't really pay much notice at the way the bartender was staring at him- but he did notice when the man's eyes looked down to his Battery.
"Is that the Orange Lantern?" the bartender asked, "Are you the Beast? The one who trapped Delilah's soul?" he asked. The man didn't seem scared, but he did seem cautious. He kept one hand close to a breadknife tied to his apron.
"Delilah-" Larfleeze said, "Oh! Yeah. Yeah, I did that." he said, "Now get me some food! I want food! I'm hungry, and I've been busy all night!"
"What do you want?" he asked. "I don't do soup."
"I. Want. Food." Larfleeze repeated.
The bartender looked at the Beast for a moment, before nodding, "And a lot of it. Right?" he asked, almost amused.
"Yes!"
"Got it." The man disappeared into the kitchen.
The other men in the building were also beginning to try and move away, muttering and whispering amongst themselves.
"He's real..." a man whispered to the sailor next to him.
"I hope Charlie's plan works." he whispered back. Larfleeze turned his head slowly towards the two of them, before launching himself from his seat at the bar to land in a crouch on their table. Both men went still.
"Charlie Jagrobe." Larfleeze said, "He was here? Not too long ago?"
"Y-Yes." a terrified sailor said, "Please don't trap my soul in your devil lantern."
"Hm." Larfleeze slipped between the two of them, settling his Battery between his crossed legs, and wrapping an arm around both men's shoulders, "Charlie is mine- he was a thief, and so I claimed him as mine! Anyone who tries to steal from me will join my collection! But he ran away!" Larfleeze muttered, "And I don't let things I own run from me."
The bar was deathly silent.
"Where did my Thief go!?" he roared.
There was another moment of stunned silence, and then a frenzied rush for the door, as well as calls of "Don't leave us!" from the two that Larfleeze was holding down personally.
"How dare you?!" he cried, and the symbols on his chest and shoulders blazed like the sun, orange light pouring out in every direction. His Power Ring frazzled with Avarice, orange light glowed from his eyes and poured from his skull like flame behind his head, "Thieves! All of you!"
In a furious pulse of energy, everything in the bar began to glow orange as he took hold with his Power Ring. The men, the dishes, the bottles, the chairs, the floorboards... soon the entire Bread and Trilobite was held in his telekinetic grip. He slowly lifted his arm, and strained with effort as the building shook and pulsed, the orange light pouring from his symbols and his ring dimmed and brightened.
The people closest to the windows shuddered, as they saw the view of the outside shift. There was a horrible groaning noise as the restaurant unrooted itself from the docks, ripping wooden walkways from their supports and sending nearly an entire portion of the dock into the shallows. The restaurant itself was slowly moving further and further towards sea.
"I have your food! For god's sake, put us down." the bartender said, rushing out, clutching a newly-scrubbed silver plate, piled high with a variety of sandwiches.
Larfleeze nearly broke concentration. Instead, he released his grip on the people who had been trying to flee, yanking them into the center of the restaurant, and focusing on pushing it out onto the sea.
"...All of you, are thieves." Larfleeze growled.
"We didn't take anything from you!" a foolish one shouted back.
The restaurant lurched, and everyone tried to keep from slipping to the left side of the bar as the angle of the floor changed. Larfleeze groaned, straightening it, and glared at the one who had spoken up and nearly broke his concentration, "I asked you where my Thief went! You have information I want! Information that belongs to me!" his voice got lower, "And then you tried to run away with it. You all tried to steal my information!"
"Well I didn't." the bartender said quietly, "I was just gonna serve you fine food, Mister... Mister the Beast. Me and my gran'daughter- we only helped you. Now put my restaurant down somewhere safe, and work out your differences with my paying customers on your own terms, alright?"
"But it's okay if he kills us?!"
"Shut it! I've got a family to look after!" the bartender snapped back, "I know his type." he gestured to Larfleeze, "Stubborn as rock, and nearly as smart. But strong as hell. Not to mention he's a goddamn Prime."
"..." Larfleeze looked to the bartender, and then back to the clutch of shaking sailors in the center of the creaking and groaning restaurant, "They're all thieves." he muttered.
"Look! You're ruining my place here, if you want your sandwiches-"
"Are you going to try and steal too?! Steal my sandwiches!?" Larfleeze hissed, turning on the bartender, looking hungrily at the sandwiches. The entire restaurant rumbled and shook as his concentration flared.
The bartender clapped his mouth shut, and looked at the platter in his hand, "Uh, I was just... thinking... if you let my restaurant fall into the sea, you're going to ruin your sandwiches." he quickly tried, saying the first thing off the top of his head, "You know- because the sea water would ruin the bread."
Larfleeze considered this logic.
"And uh, I was going to make you even more. More than just this one plate. But I can't do that if my sous-chef is dead, and I'm dead, and my ingredients are underwater and my kitchen is crushed. So."
Larfleeze considered this logic as well. His gaze turned on the sailors, "...Where is Charlie Jagrobe going? Give back the information you tried to steal."
"He's sailing farther than he's ever sailed before!" one man shouted.
"He wants to lead you inta' tha' depths."
"He wants to ambush ya', and throw yar Devil Lantern to the Sea, so thah' Dear Delilah and all the rest' souls can find eternal rest in the waves."
Larfleeze let out a breath. "Fine." he muttered to the bartender. "But I want a LOT of sandwiches."
"G-Got it."
The restaurant lurched once more, and with a pained groan of effort, Larfleeze moved the mass of wood further inland, until it was over dry land rather than brittle docks. He let go all at once, with a sigh of relief, that left everyone but him suddenly on the floor, and the restaurant nearly cracked in half.
The orange glow of his outfit subtly faded, and his ring, once a brilliant orange, was almost a dull gray.
"...I'll have to recharge." he said, surprised. It had been... thousands and thousands of years, since he had to actually recharge a Power Ring.
The sailors, realizing they were on stable ground, fled for the hills, screaming about the Beast.
A young woman, shivering in fear, slowly made her way out of the kitchen, and looked to the bartender, who was standing nearby, tray of sandwiches still in his hand.
"...But first I eat!" Larfleeze decided, reaching out a clawed hand and yanking the entire tray away.
The girl turned green as she watched Larfleeze eat, but her grandfather merely shook his head and sighed, "Well then. Come on sweetling. We've got more sandwiches to make."
"But-"
Larfleeze looked up dangerously.
"-Of course, Grandpa." she squeaked, before ducking back into the kitchen, yanking her grandfather along with her.
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![[Image: Green+Lantern+%2321+Larfleeze.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4knYjWR4Ftg/UbffBSdAvAI/AAAAAAAACoU/SGQqiRnByVA/s1600/Green+Lantern+%2321+Larfleeze.jpg)