Rise of the Forgotten v.2 (Closed to New Members!)

"Clearly not good ones."

Almost as if the Quartermaster had realized his own bitter tone, he grinned and shot another quip towards the Sailing Master.  "After all, lad, she didn't give us so much as a curtsy when she got here, haha." Mair put his arms behind his back as they walked, then put his hand to his chin as if in deep thought. "Some really good friends, letting her go somewhere and forget basic manners." Because haha, that's what he was concerned about, right? Clearly not the behaviors of the Auradon Elite.

After all, Tana's friends in greener pastures had let a tyrant drag her off to hell to rot. Cut off from everything familiar, both in her world and herself, to live with a bunch of assumedly dangerous criminals that could have potentially gutted her as soon as looked at her. He didn't know that Tana would find a new family and friends here. He was throwing her, figuratively, to the wolves.

And that was a level of carelessness towards his family that he wasn't particularly partial to.

"Think they'll curtsy to us, Ferry?"

Azura felt a little bad for giving Elvira a supportive smile, if only for the fact that Billy was glaring daggers at her cousin in something that was easiest to be described as un-amusement. The princess looked so serious and tension was strewn across her body for reasons Azura didn't know. Surely Elvira wasn't that much of a bother already.

She gave a sympathetic look to Mino as he answered Billy's question, whereas the girl gave a short nod. She understood that he had essentially been dealing with the on and off again nature of his magic, but it always seemed like it'd be a far different experience when there wasn't the option to access it again.

An unnerved shiver shook through her body as that thought crossed her mind. Easier to ignore magic when it wasn't permanently lost to oneself.

And yet, better lost than lose any choice.

Her eyes glanced back towards her cousin who was now answering the question as well, with very little worries. Well, Azura wasn't going to judge her for that. But, Azura would lightly wince as Billy's glare seemed to increase tenfold upon being tapped with the staff. Her voice seemed to be lined with irritation despite how evenly the words were spoken, "Thanks. I'm sure it'll do a lot of good."

Farris winced, but there wasn't much to say against the jab. If Farris was right about where the emotion came from, there was no defending people who couldn't successfully stand up for the girl. Farris loved Tana and loved the input she brought into the crew, but the Isle wasn't a good home for anyone.

Mair seemed to recover from the mood rather fast, but Farris wasn't going to focus on that. He gave a smile in return, responding just as well, "She really didn't, did she? The lack of curtesy, is a couple years after a sign of disrespect a bit too long to feel disrespected Mair?" Farris wasn't really offended over it now. He wasn't even offended over it back then either.

"Think we're that deserving of their respect?"


And Hibi stopped agreeing with the words that Dande said. More or less. Hibi still agreed with the assumption that the kids weren't going to be enthusiastic or responsive to their 'good intentions.' As if the words 'good intentions' hid the fact this was just to make up for people suddenly feeling guilty for putting warlords, murderers, and whatnot in a place where they wouldn't hurt anyone and forgetting that those people still had the ability to produce kids.

"You're saying that like things would be any different if they were brought to Auradon when they were born. It took 20 years for anybody to care about them now, so don't pretend like they wouldn't have been neglected and living in poverty if anyone did anything different." Everyone could claim it would have been but given the state of San Fransokyo, the city that kept its criminals because they didn't cause any real damage, Hibi had different thoughts. It wasn't like any of the criminals were given any support and she's talking crimes far less important than murder like some of the villains on the Isle had done. "Their lives weren't stolen because that implies they had a chance for a different kind of life."

"And it's not like everyone on Auradon meets the perfect standards of civil conversation. You guys are really putting these kids on whatever the opposite of a pedestal is, huh? They're human. Or, I guess, a majority of them are."

And yes, Hibi understood that even the poorest neighborhood in Auradon wouldn't be as bad as the Isle, but the basis was the same either way. The only unique aspect about their situation was they were living on an Isle with no magic and no contact to the world. If you casually forgot that Yen Sid exists.

Then Akram shouted out her last name in an obvious attempt to try and remember what it was. She looked at him with dead eyes before blandly responding, "Agrabah. My first name is Hibiki if you care to know."

"I have to disagree with you there," Kore mentioned to Hibiki, thinking of the different aspects of Auradon life. "Of course they would have had better lives on Auradon. Public schools provide two meals at day for poor children, and when they're in their later teens, they could get jobs to support themselves." She shook her head, since a merger job like that would only support one level of necessities a month, "Obviously they would still be in poverty, but we have social programs. I don't think a Prison Island has that kind of support or economy." Kore wasn't sure why she was fighting this point, it wasn't like they could do anything about it now.

"They're not going to have Queens and Kings," Dande scoffed. It was arrogant, of these rich and noble members of Auradon society to be speaking of those in poverty as if they had any real experience with it. "We can't put our life knowledge into their society. It's not just a different culture or society, it's like a different dimension where they have no escape." It was ridiculous to think of the Isle as anything close to what happens on Auradon. Cinderella was a maid before she was a Queen. None of these people could dream of such an advance. The ability to become royalty simply didn't exist on the Isle. 

Kore sighed, seeing this conversation go further and further with no end in sight. "Whatever we guess now, we'll find out the truth soon enough." The Englishwoman looked out to the beach as it became closer and closer. "It doesn't matter what we theorize, we'll learn what they've done when we set our feet down." 

"I don't think we can keep faulting her for it, pal," Mair tossed back easily, putting his hands behind his back as they walked. Bitter tone aside, the Quartermaster was actually in a good mood today. It was about as lovely as a day could be on the Isle of the Lost, after all. The smog was almost see-through, today, as if the purity and kindness of their coming tyrants sucked away some of the gloom and poison, or that the poison recognized the stronger source and was deferring to the toxic brats coming their way.

Or, realistically, opening the barrier for a second sucked some of that smog outside.

"After all, she came to the Isle not knowing any better manners from her royal pals, haha...then she was raised by the likes of us." Mair gestured towards himself and Farris, smirking at his old pal. He'd known the Jaohari boy for his entire life, it felt like. Ever since the fragile boy had wandered his way into Tortuga, after fighting with his older brother. And from there, it was history. Farris quickly took to his and Ian's friendship like a duck to water -- or like an albino to a curtsy, for that matter. There'd been a hole left in their friend group from where Nanji had left, and Farris fit there perfectly. He was a good kid, loyal and smart, a little more predisposed to common sense, but not averse to actually having fun.

He was a good pal.

"Hahaha..." Farris's final question struck Mair as hilarious, not that this was a likely surprise to the Sailing Master. Were they worthy of the Auradon transfers' respect? They were a pack of liars, murderers, thieves, and scoundrels. They'd been breathing crime and brutality from the moment they arrived in this world, taught by their monstrous parents, who never thought them worthy to begin with. Never showed a scrap of love or affection, save for a few who were quickly and frequently overrun by their less paternal fellows. Did they deserve the respect of Auradon's transfers? Proud future kings, queens, and leaders?

"I think that's the wrong question, Ferry."

Before he could elaborate on what he thought the right question was, the Quartermaster's attention was conveniently diverted once more, to the ship now drawing close to their sludgy shoreline. Grabbing Farris's hand, he started bolting forward, an excited, boyish spring in his gait, leading them both rapidly to their docks.

"Look! Look! Nevermind that, they're here!"

Truly, a one track mind. Apparently.

"Do you think we should wait on Billy's orders to leave?" Akram changed the subject quickly, not wanting the conversation to drop further towards an actual quarrel. He didn't entirely agree with everything being said, but now wasn't the time to push the issues. They had to present a united, friendly front to the transfers, especially right out of the gate like this. This was their first impression, and as much as Akram had high hopes for making fast friends with the Isle kids, he'd like to not show weakness if they were intending on seeking division in their ranks. "We're already making a bit of a spectacle, it seems." 

So that was purposely a bit of an understatement, but watching the shoreline, Akram could already see Isle residents starting to gather. Two women waiting expectantly by the docks, two men making a...hasty arrival, and three people who looked to be nearly identical -- triplets? -- anxiously muttering amongst themselves.

So much for making a quiet arrival on the Isle.

"That's a minefield of it's own, though, if ya think about it," Homie mused, looking towards her brother and sister for their thoughts on the matter. "I mean, we don't know what'll set 'em off." And she hated that. Sure, they could sit there and play nice all they wanted, but they didn't know how Auradon did that. For all they knew -- hell, they knew -- Auradon's society was entirely and totally alien to them. The similarities quite literally stopped at the fact that they were humans, animals, and mages. That's all they had in common, and Homie knew that for a fact. That, and these kids were probably aroundthe same age as them. But that could hold two entirely different interpretations, depending on culture, which Homie knew was different.

"I guess we'll just have to stay on our toes, listen out for clues, and deal with what we have," She conceded her own points, crossing her arms and not entirely sure. She wasn't a coward in any sense of the word. She constantly led her guys in battle against Beagles, Cybugs, Outlands Rogues, and any other wise bastard that picked a fight with the mafia. But fighting a war like this, a war where they weren't genuinely fighting, was out of her range of knowledge. She wasn't stupid, but diplomacy was always Montana's thing, she felt. Her diplomacy, and California's diplomacy, always came with the loaded threat that niceties could possibly end in a fistfight and vandalism. They couldn't fight their war like this, not with these princes and princesses. "Boy, they're gettin' close, aren't they?" She added, flicking a nervous glance towards her triplets.


At Eddie's question, Maggie shrugged. "My mam was one'a the ones speakin' up fae this," She began, since that was the true start of her involvement in this cause. Maggie hadn't been involved when the discussions and summits first began about this situation, but Merida had quickly drawn her into the loop. And Maggie had jumped eagerly to support her mother's point. "Ain't right, this place, ye ken? This lot needs help, parents an' kids, an' lockin' em up like this wairn't ever the way tae go aboot it. This is our mess tae make right, an' those kids are the biggest losers'n alla this." The kids had been totally innocent when they were born, and any monsters they'd become was directly because of Auradonian royalty and their punishment to the original villains. The villains needed to be locked up more securely, where they couldn't reproduce, which, to Maggie, had been a stupid oversight on the hands of their parents. And the kids? They needed actual support and help. "If we're talkin' actual 'pionions, ah think this whole pageant is a right lot'a shite to begin with, aye? But if it's the only solution Beast'll allow, then ah guess ah'm on board." It didn't sit right with her, making the Isle kids perform for the "right" to come back to Auradon, and she couldn't quite place what felt so...menacing about the prospect. She wanted the kids brought back, no conditions, to be rehabilitated, sure, but Beast had promised them that this was mostly a pre-habilitation, whatever cockamamie bullshit that meant, so they'd learn what Auradon expected of them before they left.

But as Maggie's gaze wandered the boat, to Billy, to Alicio -- Beast's own kids who could be here for publicity or far worse causes -- to some of the others, whose own parents might have problems with this mission...

...she didn't trust it, not a bit.

"I never thought of it, not like that." Kassi swung her legs from where she had been sitting on a barrel, thinking over what she thought Maggie was saying. Truth be told, it was pretty hard for the Robinson girl to decipher the princess's accent, but she caught enough to where she thought she knew what she was saying. "I mean, you're right. There's no telling what's happened to these guys over here. Beast -- er... --" Kassi's eyes flicked over to Alicio, not sure how he'd take to his own dad being called a Beast, correcting herself since she truly didn't know, "King Bete hasn't ever sent anyone over here to check and see what's going on, not since the Isle began. Not that we know of..." There was Yen Sid, sure, but his words weren't broadcast to Auradon so that they knew constantly what the state of their prisoner neighbors were. Her "mutant" discussion came to mind, but that seemed to have annoyed the boys earlier, so she figured it was best to not press that point. "This almost seems like a job for adults..." And the only ones they had there were one of her own conversation-buddies: Eddie, she thought his name was, and the girl with three eyes -- three eyes, how cool was that?! -- that was on the other side of the boat.

"Ay, listen up though, we're gettin' close. She'll prob'ly be tellin' us tae get off soon." Maggie wasn't sure if "leading the Southwark transplants (whatever the hell that meant)" started right now, or after they got off the boat, but she wasn't going to offend Billy or whatever, not right here. There was still the odds she could get sent back to Auradon for not behaving, so she guessed she had a line to toe.

She still didn't trust it.

As much as Billy hated to agree with Elvira like this, she gave a small nod in confirmation before following it up with the vocal counterpart, "We are docking." Albeit, the choice had less to do with the amount of transfers on board headed to the island and more to do with the fact that Beast hadn't thought it necessary to include multiple dinghies. By all accounts, supplying this ship with three or four dinghies would have been well enough for both the passengers and their luggage.

Wonderfully, he only thought to include one and that was more for show. Which certainly gave off the appearance of having too many on board headed to land on the Isle to all use it. The first of many deterrents Billy supposed, but ever so lucky for the group, the captain of the ship certainly didn't mind docking on the Island for whatever ill-intentioned reason they had. If the captain dared to get close enough for that, Billy supposed that was what they were dealing with then.

A rather shoddy attempt at a deterrent she supposed on further thinking.

She did watch cautiously as it appeared their arrival wasn't as silent as it should have been. She supposed it was another mark on the list of pre-prepared incidents to simply get them off on a bad start.

Unfortunately, unlike the lack of dinghies, the people gathering on the docks left a much wider room of unpredictability. It wasn't as simple as talking with the captain in order to judge how close he was willing to get to the island. These were the strangers that lived on this island for 20 years, raised by villains. And they were waiting so patiently for the ship to steady in the docks and for the transfers to come down.

Azura noticed Billy's eyes narrowing at the sight of the people standing on the island, merely waving as Elvira waved back. She hadn't expected to hear Billy mutter to herself, something that Azura doubted Billy for any of them to hear. "What are their intentions?"

"Well, assuming waving means something similar to what it means in Auradon, I'd assume they're standing there and waiting to say 'hello?'" Azura offered quietly in return, unsurprised and yet feeling a tad bit bad as the girl's sharp teal-blue eyes flicked towards her in surprise at any answer.

Despite having obviously heard Azura's answer, Billy refrained from answering. Something Azura wasn't going to blame her for. Billy did, however, turn away as well, which felt a little rude until Azura realized why Billy was pretending the little exchange didn't happen. She was trying to catch the gazes of the co-seconds of the trip.

Each little group, separated based off of the school (more or less, given the two adults on the trip weren't actually going to the school), were having their own conversations. Azura could only assume they were more interesting than the small talk present in the Witch School's transfer group. 

Azura had no idea what Billy was even trying to communicate with Hibiki and Maggie. Unlike Billy's brother, she largely doubted other people understood the vague looks and gestures she made in order to indicate whatever point she wanted to get across. She supposed Maggie was at least lucky to have a Bête interpreter (even if he was one himself) in her group.

But it looked like Hibiki seemed to understand as she turned back to her group to likely tell them what instructions lie ahead? Good on her, Azura supposed.

As Alicio, at the least, from the other group seemed to grasp the information and inform Maggie, Billy did turn back to this group. "We'll be docking any minute now and the captain will be out to get us safely off the ship. Given the company already waiting for us-" Azura took a quick glance back at the land to note the other people waiting aside from the woman waving at them previously. How... convenient they seemed to have themselves grouped into three separate groups just as the transfers had... "- it's likely in our best interest to divide and- to divide."

Azura wasn't willing to wince aloud seeing as Billy seemed to catch herself on the full phrase. The princess continued onwards, "We'll pick a group, ask them if they can direct us towards Buchannan, and start our search for someone in charge and a potential place of living before meeting back here with the Southwark group and Tortuga group. So, I guess the best question is which 'welcoming' group should we try out?"

"How about the one Elvira was waving at earlier?" Azura offered.

And then the ship gave a lurch as, or what Azura was assuming, was the ship stopping in place. She tried to steady herself with the ship's railing and after what Azura could only imagine was Billy also regaining footing and stability as the captain did like Billy said he would and opened a way out to the wooden dock, Billy gave a short nod and some murmur of acknowledgment and agreement to the suggestion.

Once the pathway was opened to them, Azura could only follow as Billy took the first steps off the ship and made way for the two girls waiting.

There was a pit in his stomach that grew a bit deeper each time one of the fellow Southwark transfers took a glance at him. He didn't know if they thought they were being discrete or if they simply didn't care that it was considered rude to stare at people simply based on their existence.

He got it, he understood. He was the son of this horrible person that no one liked, so therefore everyone expected him and his siblings to be just as horrible. It wasn't like anybody bothered to look at the deeper reasons for why Beast may be a horrible person, choosing to instead focus on the outer facts revolving around his actions as king. Sure, making a prison island wasn't the best idea to handle villains, but people certainly didn't complain about it 20 years ago at the same level they were doing it nowadays. So, yeah, sure, blame him for his dad's wrongdoings even if they weren't even good wrongdoings.

It was probably dumb to be upset about the fact that people were judging him over Beast being a horrible king rather than a horrible father.

But hey, his fault for assuming that he could even reach the Isle before somebody made some kind of reference there. He should have expected that. He should probably expect this wouldn't be the end of it either once they actually landed and all attempts to befriend the isle inhabitants flushed downhill once they figured out his dead put them there. It'd probably be a bit much to hope they'd gleam past that if other Auradonians couldn't.

And, in a wild state of hypocrisy over the whole staring at people controversy, Alicio did the same thing and took a glance at Billy. Rather glad he did too as she seemed to be trying to get the attention of Maggie, albeit nonverbally which would cause some issues. She caught his gaze at least quickly enough.

He gave her an encouraging smile which was returned with something of a relieved one. Her expression steeled up a bit a as she nodded towards the shore. He took a glance to see what she was trying to reference and realized some Isle people had noticed the ship entering the barrier and, likely, now waiting for the ship to dock. He glanced back to Billy to confirm with her if she thought they knew they were on the boat. There was a curt nod already on it's way from her and he gave a small frown. She shrugged in response, which was rather calm for her by all accounts. Alicio expected more panic to be involved with it.

She continued by raising three fingers on one of her hands and made a small circular motion, which Alicio figured was in reference to the three groups on board, especially when compared to her waving the three fingers in the direction of the people waiting. Ah! He understood upon looking at the people once more, a transfer group for one of the currently formed Isle groups. He gave a nod in understanding.

A smile in return for the ease of understanding before she moved onto to explain a tad bit more. Alicio believed he got the gist of it by the time she was done with some handwaving and facial expressions, each other giving a small smile and nod before turning away- Alicio so he could try to update Maggie about the situation and Billy so she could try to do the same thing she just did with someone in the Tortuga group.

"Yeah, we'll be getting off when the ship docks and the captain sets us up to leave the ship. Pretty sure that she's going to be leading her group off first and we can just follow after that..." Alicio added aloud, after Maggie's statement.

Realizing that it was probably weird he knew that information, and yet trying to explain that he and his sister just communicated without saying a word felt a little strange, he settled on just continuing what they had just discussed. "Well... uh, there's Isle kids that we're guessing are waiting for us to leave the ship since they've just been waiting around for a bit now. Billy thinks it'd be a smart idea for us to just pick a group and see if they can direct us towards our day one objectives, y'know?"

Oh, it surprised him when he realized Billy was even willing to talk with people right off the bat, but it seemed she was trying to alleviate some amount of stress on her and if that included asking for directions, then so be it.

Fairly quickly, it seemed like the ship stopped and the captain came out like was expected. All that was left to do was follow Maggie down and figure out who they were approaching.

California gave a loud, vocal groan at the thought. They had no idea how long the Auradon kids
would be here. She was going to scream if she had to play 'don't step on any buttons' when the buttons would be covering every surface. Here she was thinking 'if' as though there was some possibility they wouldn't have to.

"Has anyone considered we all just hide and pretend they don't exist? Can't anger our overlords if they never meet us in the first place," California tossed out, perfectly aware of how unrealistic it was. But hey, if her siblings were dead set on the idea they could die from this, who was California to not pay it some credit.

Plus, the kids would probably be offended at the lack of welcoming party... which was why they were doing the whole dinner thing in the first place. Ugh.

She was willing to take Homie's semi-diversion, semi-alert though. Nothing like a conversation about how they could do just about anything wrong to a conversation about how they have to put their people skills to the test in a good couple of minutes. And as much as California hated to admit she wasn't good at something, people weren't her thing.

"Well, huh, would you look at that. They are indeed." To the point the ship was stopping in them docks. To the point that in small little groupings, they exited off the ship and California could only imagine what was going through their minds upon the sight of a solid 7 Isle natives watching them, even if the 7 were split into little groups of their own. Hoo boy, this would be interesting, specially as it seemed them kids had the gall to approach and start some conversations.