[hr][hr][center][h1][color=000000][u]B[/u][/color] [u]L[/u] [u]A[/u] [u]C[/u] [u]K[/u]   [color=000000][u]F[/u][/color] [u]L[/u] [u]A[/u] [u]G[/u][/h1][/center][hr][hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sM9n6XU.jpg?1[/img]
[sub][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhF3yIeDSc]♪[/url][/sub][/center][hr][hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/G4W7pyd.png[/img][/center][hr][hr]
[color=f7976a][i]Wvysen is dead.[/i][/color] It should've taken Penny like a gut punch. To some degree, it still struck her. Wvysen was the most inoffensive person she'd ever met: just a normal girl from a normal family who'd wanted to spend a normal year at school. [color=f7976a][i]And I just left her, too.[/i][/color] That also wasn't strictly true, however. She'd tried to convince her now-deceased classmate that it was a bad idea, but her entreaty had fallen upon deaf ears. Wvysen had made her own poor decision. 

The larger truth was just that death didn't affect Penny as much these days as it once had. She had watched dozens die during the attack on her father, some at her own hands. Anesin had died defending King Horik. The Perrenchwoman had fought for her life against abductors. She'd had her brain poisoned by chemical magic, her bones broken, and her skin burnt. She had killed to survive: at first out of pure defense and then much as she imagined a soldier would. [color=f7976a][i]Kill them before they kill you.[/i][/color] The girl that she had been a month ago - kind, weak, and sheltered - would've recoiled at the actions of Penny Pellegrin but, had she remained that girl, she would've died. [color=f7976a][b]"I am... sorry that Wvysen is no longer with us,"[/b][/color] she said quietly. [color=f7976a][b]"I tried to convince her to follow me."[/b][/color] That was all that she had to say. It was all that she [i]could [/i]say.

Trypano continued, at length by her standards, and her Perrench counterpart heard a great many things. She became struck by the pointlessness of it all. One person or another sits on a throne and, either way, other people who don't sit on that throne fight and die. Why should she risk her life for them? On a purely selfish level, what in the five hells was in it for anyone who wasn't directly affected?

The problem was that, while there was little to nothing to gain for Penny Pellegrin, printer's daughter, there was a great deal at stake for Penelope of Perrence, fifth in line - by letter of law - for her nation's throne. Prospero Malatesta was a sworn enemy of Perrence. He had hounded and humiliated her father. His agents had worked diligently in the shadows to spread rumours of her family's 'curse' and those rumours had so influenced her parents that they had rejected her strange body and kept her hidden from the world for her first seventeen years of life. To strike a blow against such a man was to lessen the unrelenting threat that he posed to her well-being. 

Then, everything happened at once. Trypano had taken the lamp and was testing it in some manner, finding it to be surprisingly mundane in nature. Ingrid and Desmond were on their way, landing ungracefully. Amelea arrived with considerably less disruption and Onarr... the distinct crackle of Temporal magic was fading from the air, he had disappeared completely, and there was a note tucked into her belt. It was all too much. She took out the note and read it.

[hr][sub][i]Dear compatriots,

I’m afraid that duty has compelled me to return back to my homelands. Trouble has come onto my doorstep and I must confront what I tried to leave behind in my past. I wish you all fortune in your quest and may you become great mages. 

May happenstance favor us to meet again in good tidings. 

Onarr Yidlob.[/i][/sub][hr]
Just like that, Penny's hardened shell cracked. [color=f7976a][i]Onarr...[/i][/color] he'd been one of the first people she'd met, one of the first who'd impressed her and maybe even been impressed [i]by [/i]her. They'd shared laughter and drinks and a sense of camaraderie and now... [color=f7976a][i]Why didn't you say anything?[/i][/color] she wondered. [color=f7976a][i]I would've listened. I would've helped![/i][/color] Yet, Penny had only been helping herself as of late: conducting herself in a manner wholly unbefitting of the royalty that she was. She had been petulant, reckless, and self-centered, leaving her allies to die. Without consciously meaning to, she staggered a couple of steps back and sat on the gunwale. [color=f7976a][i]You didn't make a real effort to convince Wvysen. You saw her as a burden you didn't want to carry, so you left her alone with potentially hostile pirates. You didn't head back to the others immediately because you were too preoccupied with proving yourself. People [b]died [/b]for your inferiority complex.[/i][/color] 

She realized that, of her original group of four, Anesin was dead, Onarr was gone, and Linah had been all-but pointedly avoiding her. [color=f7976a][i]Do I poison everything that I touch? Am I truly cursed to be beloved of Echeran?[/i][/color] Penny could feel tears welling up in her eyes. [color=f7976a][i]No![/i][/color] she railed at them. [color=f7976a][i]Stupid weak girl![/i][/color] 

Amelea was looking at her strangely and the Perrenchwoman did not have the energy for it. Dully, she remembered that they had met, as children: Penny, all of seven years old, during that brief period where Papa had come out from under Mama's thumb and tried to introduce her to the world; Amelia a thirteen-year-old exile from her home country, future uncertain, staying as a guest of the Perrench monarchy. [color=0054a6][b]"Your highness."[/b][/color] The Segonese princess bowed her head slightly to the Perrench one, unknowingly outing Penny in front of her classmates. Something inside of her chest snapped and she responded as an automaton or puppet might, the invisible strings that had controlled her since her childhood returning. [color=f7976a][b]"Your highness."[/b][/color] The secret, which had remained only among her closest friends - Yvette, Madeleine, and Carmille - to this point, was out and there was no sealing it back in. 

If Penny Pellegrin was to give way to Penelope of Perrence, then the latter had best make her presence here meaningful. Further self-concern would not do. [color=f7976a][b]"I am who she says: Penelope of Perrence, daughter of King Rouis."[/b][/color] Penny paused, and her eyes quickly took in the others. [color=f7976a][b]"It is in my best interest to strike a blow against Malatesta, for he has ever sought the ruin of my family and humiliation of my people. I have a clear motivation to support my fellow royal, but I would also pose her the question: what do each of the rest of us have to gain from siding with you? How would this benefit us beyond simple 'riches if we win' - riches that many of us possess or that can be readily manufactured at the Academy. I will risk my life for my [i]own [/i]reasons, but I believe that our initiatives, as the ruling class, should burnish our people's quality of life, else they are just selfish and antithetical to our sacred duty. So, in short, I exhort you to be a better sort of royal - the sort that I haven't been but hope to be."[/b][/color] She paused, regathering her thoughts. [color=f7976a][b]"I ask what you can offer my fellow students beyond an emotional and moral entreaty that is ultimately subjective."[/b][/color]

Ismette had quietly appeared aboard during the intervening moments and now turned to Amelea expectantly. The princess took a step back, her eyes darting about the group. They flashed challengingly in Penny's direction. She flipped some hair over her shoulder. [color=0054a6][b]"I can promise that Segona will forever be a safe harbour for you and yours,"[/b][/color] she began. [color=0054a6][b]"I can promise to share whatever spoils are ours fairly."[/b][/color] Amelea shrugged. [color=0054a6][b]"Beyond that, I promise nothing and, instead, ask you a pair of questions. First: why is it that something subjective - a thing that makes people think and feel as opposed to simply answering with a 'fact' - less valuable? It is feelings and opinions that move us to do what we do, not only the facts that they are linked to. Second, and in that vein: why are you here? Unless Ersand'Enise has changed greatly from what I've heard, I doubt that any of you were forced to come. You all volunteered at some point, either for the sake of some personal gain - which you shall receive - or, perhaps, because you wanted to have a positive impact on the world."[/b][/color] She was pacing now. [color=0054a6][b]"Some agency,"[/b][/color] she concluded, nodding. [color=0054a6][b]"Well, you can make life better for a great many people in Segona because I am a better person to sit that throne than Prospero Malatesta. I am [i]of [/i]those people: born and raised among them, and I know their voices and their concerns in a way that some foreign despot who visits twice per year cannot. the Doge views Segona and those who live there as simply another jewel on his crown, another resource to be used in pursuit of some grand design."[/b][/color] She turned to them, eyes pained. [color=0054a6][b]"To lead my country, my people, is all that I was raised with. To see them thrive is my most sacred duty, by Dami, I swear it. I beg of you to help me set the world right - at least, the one small part of it that is my prerogative - to stop a tyrant from encroaching further, from imposing his will upon more people."[/b][/color] She was quite worked up, it seemed. Her chest heaved as she came down from it. [color=0054a6][b]"That is all I can say. You are swayed or you are not."[/b][/color]

Penny regarded her fellow royal - albeit one who was actually queen uncrowned - and felt something stir inside of her chest. She had come across as cynical, perhaps. She wasn't certain, but she found herself nodding towards the end. [color=f7976a][b]"I was perhaps too harsh with you, Amelea,"[/b][/color] she admitted, remembering the decency that the elder princess had treated her with some ten years prior. [color=f7976a][b]"and for that, I apologize, but we've little time to discuss."[/b][/color] She pivoted to take in the others. [color=f7976a][b]"The Nera was having her hull cleaned in the sea cavern, but I was unable to damage her and she will surely be underway by now and headed our direction. Between our three vessels, we have the flexibility and firepower to overwhelm her. Those of us who are joining the fight had best confer with Captain Falzon and set sail. Ideas are very welcome."[/b][/color] Indeed, he was headed over for just such a purpose at present, his skiff drawing close. [color=f7976a][b]"Those of you who are not-"[/b][/color] Penny cocked her head to one side. [color=f7976a][b]"-Kindly remove yourselves and [i]only [/i]yourselves from the deck of my ship."[/b][/color]
[hr][hr] 
[hider=Action Opportunities]1) This is a simple one: you're either in the fight or you hang around in town and help clean up the mess. There won't be any real storyline or updates for the latter, so you're essentially removing yourself from the remainder of the plot in Black Flag unless you create your own, subject to my approval.

2) Captain Falzon is arriving in a skiff. He, Penny, and everyone else who stays are going to come up with a strategy and then sail off to implement it. We can either propose our ideas here in our posts (you can definitely post more than once or collab, too) and then have the best one chosen at the start of the next cycle, or we can play the discussion out in #on-campus on discord.

3) The lamp appears quite mundane.

4) Desmond has been appointed captain of the ketch. Penny retains ownership of the snow, but is willing to cede actual in-battle leadership if someone clearly better for the job and more experienced wants to step up.

5) we conclude this cycle with setting sail to face the Nera. There is a nasty surprise waiting for us there, but we don't know about it IC yet.[/hider]