PIRATELAND

[cityship]

An area built over a bay, there is no actual solid ground anywhere to be found in Pirateland. It's a land made entirely of wooden walkways, nets to climb, and of course, wooden pirate ships to explore. And then there are the rides: A pirate ship that swings nearly upside down; bumper boats; a ride that starts out as a Tunnel of Love but quickly transitions into a drunken pirate-themed It's a Small World.

And then, of course, there are the souvenirs to buy in the many assorted gift shops. Flimsy plastic swords, pirate hats, stuffed parrots. Or why not go get drunk down at the tavern?

((OOC: Like with Kittenland, feel free to come up with your own rides and attractions at Pirateland in addition to these ones!))

Comments

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

Devlin had worried at first when he saw the different rides available. He was recovering well from the beating Vilgax had given him, but it hurt to breathe too quickly, and thrill rides were definitely out of the question. But he still managed to have some fun.

He stood at the helm of one of the old ships, grinning. Having learned a couple of things after blowing most of his money on a pet last Shore Leave, he'd been careful to only get a couple of souveniers on his first stop--in this case, some dreads and a lock-shaped necklace (https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/284533_10150330189638185_609063184_9249784_2671495_n.jpg) (the pirate hat had looked nice, but was more than he wanted to pay if he wanted lunch at any point in the day).

[splendid_roman]

Ian had spent all his money on parrot. He had been tempted by an eye patch and a hook, but it was possible to go too far and fortunately for him, he couldn't afford all three. It was just a pity the parrot was stuffed, but it did come with a way of attaching it to his shoulder, and he grinned as he walked around with it.

"Pieces of eight. Pretty polly" he said to the boy, in his best parrot voice.

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

Devlin grinned at Ian. So what if adults weren't usually supposed to be cool like this--it was pirates. Who didn't think pirates were cool?

That would be the ninjas, but he hadn't gotten to that park yet.

"Aye," Devlin responded in his best pirate captain voice...which was on the young side and cracking slightly from puberty. "We'll be sailin' the seven seas in search of that treasure!"

[splendid_roman]

"Don't mind the parrot, she can only say a few phrases," Ian said in his best pirate voice, which wasn't really intended for phrases that weren't typical pirate speak. He reached up to pat the parrot and nearly dislodged it.

"X marks the spot. If only we had a map."

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

"Aye," Devlin agreed. "Cursed be the bilge rats who got to it first. I'll see them in Davy Jones's Locker before they get that treasure!"

At last, he broke into laughter. "Sorry. Watched a lot of pirate movies growing up. The name's Devlin."

[splendid_roman]

Ian laughed along with him. "Ian," he said. "Pirate movies are the best kind." Well, along with science fiction, but they had that on the ship.

"Aside from rides and souvenirs there's got to be some treasure here. How about we try and find it?" Not least because Ian didn't have much money left for rides.

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

"Sounds good," Devlin agreed. With all the pirate stuff around, there was bound to be some kind of treasure--even if it was some kind of cheap giveaway. It at least would give them some kind of souvenier that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Or a kidney.

[splendid_roman]

"I picked up a map." Ian pulled one out of his pocket. He'd picked up a guide to Pirateland on the way in, but had ended up just wandering around instead, so now it was a bit screwed up.

He opened it up and flatted it out. "Perhaps we could start with the ships," he decided. "They're bound to have some treasure in their holds."

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

"Definitely," Devlin agreed. "Looks like we can get to some of them by climbing across the nets." It wasn't going to be very comfortable, but he could move his arms enough without pain that he thought at least a slow climbe through the nets would be okay.

[splendid_roman]

"That shouldn't be too hard." He stuffed the map back in his pocket and happily scrambled over the nearest net, stopping partway to look back and check Devlin was following.

[encourage]

How in the seven hells she'd ended up in Pirateland (without it being someone else's fault or prompting) was beyond Sakura. She wasn't enamored of any particular concept of a pirate, and unlike some she knew, wasn't intent on seeing herself pitted against one for any real purpose.

What she did like, and what did amuse her, was the orange stand. "Free orange slices!" a buxom pirate wench called out. "Ye may be yellow bellied dogs, but ye ain't got to be scurvied ones, too!"

Someone had a sense of humor. Holding her own orange in hand (a stand back a few meters had been tossing them into the passing crowd), she nodded to the pirate wench, and then deftly sidestepped a stumbling drunk. He paused, leaning against a post, and asked her mournfully, "Where... where 'as the rum gone?" He paused, as if he had to consider his own question. "Other than down into me gullet?"

Considering he had his own answer, she kept moving, figuring the people manning the medical stand she'd passed earlier dealt with far too many cases of alcohol poisoning around here. At least in the adult section, which may have accounted for her moving into the themed rides area, where much younger creatures were darting around in groups and screaming as a pirate ship swung up and hung perpendicular to the ground, before repeating the motion to the other side.

Stopping to watch this for a while, Sakura leaned back against the railing. Behind her, a waterfall dropped down into a lagoon where a water-based pirate log (raft) ride promised to soak those who climbed on board. It felt cooler, and she appreciated that, if the color of the sky was giving her a strange, rosy-colored view of all the world.

She began peeling her orange, thoughts turning inward. She appreciated shore leave for being able to get off the behemoth of a ship that substituted for "home," if she wasn't enamored of the world itself. The distance from the ship itself was more important than what this world had to offer. Sakura had a sinking feeling she'd just end up running mazes again, and she was rather fed up with that course of action.

[a_mere_human]

She wouldn't be alone with her thoughts for very long.

"Haruno Sakura," the, by now, familiar voice interrupted with his standard greeting. How Setsuna ended up in PirateLand was also a mystery, though he was visibly not at all enamored with the concept.

Of course, Setsuna never seemed very enamored with anything other than his Gundam, so that was neither here nor there.

He leaned against the railing, quietly observing her for a moment, then decided to observe the crows as he took a bite of an apple (fuck oranges, really). "I wouldn't expect people to find the idea of being an outlaw this amusing."

[farfrom-tree.livejournal.com]

Devlin was, taking it slowly so he didn't hurt himself. The next ship wasn't too hard to get to, at least.

[encourage]

She blinked back down into the present reality, turning her head toward Setsuna and smiling. He was the only person who bothered with her full name, and he never failed to say it properly. There was something to be said for that.

Flicking part of the orange peel into the near-by trash, she shrugged her shoulders just enough to demonstrate her own lack of understanding. "I'd guess the fictional idea is more appealing with distance than the reality. Outlaws don't live easy lives. All Earth historical accounts of piracy I've read doesn't add up to what I'm seeing here." Outside of rampant alcoholic tendencies. Pirates had a better excuse for it than most of those here.

[jesus_is_gundam]

"With fiction, you can leave out facts and details that don't suit you." It disgusted him, really, and a whole planet that basically revolved around that was really off putting, though he still only seemed as dour as he normally did.

"Very few of these people would have fun if they were faced with the reality."

[encourage]

She felt that was the case with far more than the idea of pirates. As a kid, hadn't that been the concept behind glory? Heroism? Right before the realization that most heroes were heroes for how they'd died, more than how they'd lived?

"That's the point of fantasy, right? Like any story. It's fun when you're not the one living it."

Which was partly a joke, considering the echoes of their stories across universes, including each other's. That thought made her shake her head. They were all living in someone else's story now, she supposed. She wondered if their readers enjoyed it half as much as she didn't.

[a_mere_human]

Setsuna looked around, and his eyes settled on a pair of guys. They were in their early twenties, both wearing plastic pirate hats that had a skull and crossbones on them, and were dueling with foam swords, laughing the entire time while they made fools of themselves.

"I think people have more fun when they are living the fantasy. It allows them to ignore everything about their lives that they don't like."

[encourage]

You don't need an active fantasy in order to do that. She kept that comment to herself.

"You might be right," she said. "They can't live there forever. Reality doesn't just go away or change because you've chosen to ignore it for a while."

Even when you wished that could be the case, this once.

[a_mere_human]

She should have said it. He would've agreed with her.

Finishing off the apple, he chewed the last bits, and tossed the core into a trash container.

"No, it doesn't. So problems remain and linger because they aren't dealt with."

[magic-weaver.livejournal.com]

"Pirates!?"

Sandry was, to say the very least, completely appalled by the giant sign in front of her. Pirateland? Had the creators of this so-called 'amusement park' completely lost their minds? They must have, she decided. No one in their right mind would ever create an world of entertainment based off of the cruel and disgusting beings that were pirates.

The noble gave an uneasy glance toward Daja, who stood next to her. "What do you suppose they've created?" she asked quietly, leaning as close to the entrance as she dared. All she could see at the end of the dock was a ship, large and crawling with excited park-goers. If only they knew! "I don't see how any of it could possibly be good. Just look at that ship! They haven't cared for it at all!"

[splendid_roman]

Ian was surprised to see Devlin going so slowly over the net. He would expect kids his age to scramble over it without much thought for their safety. "Are you all right?"

[encourage]

She tossed the rest of her orange peel away. "Which makes it no kind of solution at all." In her opinion.

Sakura pushed off the railing, standing on her own two feet. "As much as they might not want to, facing things head on is necessary to get things done. You don't move on by staying willingly blind your whole life."

Even when it hurt to open your eyes and see. What else have you been ignoring lately, Sakura? What else do you need to see?

[fireforger]

"Why would anyone want to turn pirates into...amusement?" Daja said, horrified. She stared at all of the people passing them by. How could they look so happy? Didn't they know what kinds of atrocities pirates committed?

"And that ship couldn't possibly sail - look at those sails, they couldn't carry along a rowboat, let alone a fully sized ship. Not to mention they aren't even facing in the right direction." And just as Daja was speaking about it, that ship - or to be more precise, that ride - began. Suddenly, it was swinging form side to side, squealing patrons whooshing along with it through the air. Daja gasped, in both surprise and horror. "Sandry, what are they doing?!"

[a_mere_human]

Yes, this girl and he were both on the same wavelength, which caused him to consider her again, for a moment. He had to wonder just what kind of life she lead for her philosophies to fall in line with his.

He pushed himself off the railing and, with a slight tilt of his head, signaled her to join him as he started walking. He didn't really have a destination in mind, so much as 'anywhere but here' seemed as good a place as any.

"And what of our 'crew;' how many of them do you think are facing the full reality of the situation head on?"

[at-a-peak.livejournal.com]

"I'm okay," he insisted. "Just a little sore. I got out of medbay not long ago." It wasn't bad enough that he couldn't pull himself over the side of the net and board the ship, though. "Just wanted to be a little careful this time."