Private/Closed Murder on the SS Vitae - A Gijinka Mystery RP

[Hisseki]

The SS Vitae, a majestic marvel of a ship. Famous for being chosen by many celebrities who wanted a vacation, as well as for being the set of many movies, people are considered lucky to be able to get tickets. Speaking of those able to get tickets...

Vega skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over his own belongings. He was stoked about this vacation, and he still couldn't believe he had snagged tickets for himself and someone very special to him~! There were about 10 tickets left, and he jumped at the opportunity to grab two of them. This left him as excited as he was currently broke - VERY. "Hey, are you excited! I know water isn't your thing exactly, so you don't have to swim and stuff, but... still~!" Vega called back to the one he was bringing, his wings buzzing so much that the loud noise they were making was accompanied by a bit of levitation, just about an inch or two from the ground.

The ship's crew was preparing to have people board, so nobody but the staff was on it just yet. However, people were in crowds at the docks, lining along the edge just to watch people get on the beautiful cruise ship. Vega's excitement grew exponentially as time passed. This vacation was going to rock, he could feel it!
=============================================================
(This RP is meant for @Il Fantasma, @Nova Ace, @Pen-and-Parchment, @DragonFlye, @WolfyPop, @MegaAbsol, @Nebula-Newt, and - of course - myself. Signups are closed, so please do not post on this thread unless you are one of them.)

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Ariella Grey was ready for a vacation. Her earrings and bellybutton piercing shining in the sun, she crawled towards the docks with her luggage in a silk sack that she dragged behind her. Although she was looking forward to this whole cruise deal, she had gotten look after look after look from people nonstop on her way over. So, naturally, she was pissed.

"Oi! I get it! I'm tall and I'm a spider! Quit staring and cowering in fear already!" She hollered. Those staring immediately stopped, it seemed, but she still hissed at people as she walked by. She got to the docks and saw the ship. "...Hn. About time I got here... ... I need this break bad." Ariella murmured. Her parents had bought her a ticket for her nineteenth birthday, and she had had about enough of the jerks in her hometown getting up her abdomen about... ... well, her. She just wanted to be left to do her own thing. Could she do that without people flipping out? No. Of course not.

She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. Said annoyance only increased when she heard an obnoxious buzzing noise. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it, until she finally looked around for its source. Once she saw the kid responsible, she immediately was glaring down at him, her hands in fists. "Could you maybe quit it?! I can't even hear myself think with your stupid buzzing!"

 

[Il Fantasma]

Even though the sight of the glorious ship brought sparkles to her eyes and the excitement of who could easily be her favorite person hyped her up significantly, the short kitsune girl couldn't help but shiver at the thought of water, sticking close to the dragonfly's side as they eased over to an entrance of the ship, biting her lip yet smiling. "Yeah, this should be pretty really nice...!" Kagami Blinn responded to his question, trying to seem as ready as he did by holding up a fairly shaky thumbs-up. She knew she really didn't have much of anything to worry about, but the thought of being around so much water frightened her to no end, but she attempted to remain looking excited so as to not worry Vega, fiddling with the collar of her hoodie and kicking a leg. "You seem pretty psyched, hm~?" she jokingly asked with a chuckle and small smile, forcing herself from thinking about how cute he looked.

Her pained happiness was quickly cut off when she heard someone practically hiss at Vega about the buzzing of his wings. With a twitching brow, she glared daggers at the lady that had spoken- but she felt another shiver run up her spine as she realized that she was a spider. Kit-Kat didn't let this deter her much, however, stepping in front of Vega protectively, turning back to look at him. "Don't listen to her, Vega, okay? She's just super rude..." she told the dragonfly guy, trying to sound strong through her fear.

Not far away from all this was a tiger guy, practically hopping around as he stared up to the Vitae in awe. "Whoa...! This is awesome~!" he said to nobody in particular, looking around to the people around him as if he expected a response. Rubbing his neck with a hand, his tank top not hiding his toned body very well at all, Zavier's tail swished around behind him as he, too, made his way over to the ship's closest entrance. He wasn't about to let the fact that he wasn't here with anyone get him down, no sir~!

 

[Hisseki]

Vega gasped softly when he was confronted by someone who was angry at his buzzing wings. He had gotten so used to Kit-Kat saying that she liked them that he forgot that others don't. His wings stopped buzzing as much as he grounded himself once again. He appreciated to no end how protective she was being of him in the face of this spider girl. "I-I'm sorry, but, uh... they don't stop often. Not when I'm excited, at least," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

One of his hands shot directly to one of Kit-Kat's own. In a whisper, he spoke to her. "Don't be scared, alright? It'll be fine," he reassured the kitsune girl. "You don't have to act tough for me, I'll make sure you have fun. Mmkay, you fluffy potato?"

... Oh boy, Vega. Here we are again. FLUFFY. POTATO. Why potato? As if I need to state that you're an idiot again... nope, gonna do it. You're an idiot!

Vega mentally silenced his judgmental voice inside of his head, blushing ever so slightly (if, by slightly, one would mean blatantly red-faced) at his potato-related nickname. No, it wasn't the first time such a title was bestowed upon her, and it probably wouldn't be the last, but it was still enough to cause him to blush.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

The spider raised an eyebrow at the two before rolling her eyes. "If your room is next to mine, just keep the wings under control, or I'll have em silked. Get me?" Ariella nodded to behind her, where her silk-sacked luggage was, before crawling away. Her silk was no joke. The stuff was tougher than tough to break, unless you knew how to break it. And seeing as she made it, she was usually the only one who knew how to break it.

Continuing to wait for boarding, she spotted an overly-excited tiger running around. She sighed in annoyance, but couldn't help looking him up and down. Hn. He's actually pretty hot... ... ...I wouldn't mind having him in my web...~ She smirked at her thoughts before looking around more at the others waiting. Wanting to keep her things safer, she yanked on the silk and had them rest on her back, by her hips. Ariella then wrapped the silk that she pulled on around her waist securely, like a belt. She nodded when her fanny pack (essentially) was finished. She looked at the water from the dock, wondering when she could get set up in her cabin.

 

[Il Fantasma]

Kit-Kat wasn't given much of any time to respond to this before the spider in question mentioned rooms and then walked away, but at this point, she was a bit more focused on what Vega had called her. Sure, this wasn't the first time she'd been called a potato, but it was still fairly odd to her- but if she was being completely honest, she really didn't mind it. The fire kitsune couldn't help but grin stupidly and giggle cutely at the name, patting Vega's shoulder as she did. "Alright, alright, I'll calm down. You're such a bean, though! I love it so much~!"

...What a way to start a vacation such as this. Kit's face was quick to redden, and she looked off to the side in a vain attempt to calm herself down after realizing what she had said. Behind her, her seven fluffy fox tails instinctively and automatically flicked and fluffed up as a sign of her nervousness and awkwardness. She quite literally brought her hand up to her cheek for the sole purpose of hiding her obvious blush from Vega, made worse from the literal fire that was brewing inside her body, which only made the blush even darker and more pronounced. Attempting to say a few words that wound up sounding like mere squeaks, she spotted the slider from before... was she checking someone out...?

Instead of mulling over the thought of this sight, Kit-Kat focused on calming herself down, glancing back to Vega for a moment.

Zav, on the other hand, didn't notice the spider lady's look since he was snapping his fingers to a catchy beat and dancing around like a child hyped up on candy. His long tail's swishing also fell into the beat, and he was laughing to himself as he danced, trying to get all his excess energy out before the interior of the ship filled him with any more.

 

[WolfyPop]

A blur slipped into the ship, her eyes darting around. Kia made sure her brother and mother hadn’t of seen her leave. “Ooh Alastor, what are you going to do without me~?” The werewolf smirked. “That twin of mine will have ta destroy things by himself for a while. And finally, I can escape my mother’s scolding.” Kia spat, her tail fluffing out slightly. Astral would definitely be pissed to find out her daughter had run away, so....

Kia strutted down the path of the ship, before bumping into someone. He was dancing around and looked like a wolf pup after finding out they had a tail. Kia looked at him with confusion. “Someone’s happy.” She snorted.

 

[Nebula-Newt]

Already on the ship deep in its bowels was Regulus, currently fighting a loose valve that was doing its very best to steam his face off. The blasts of boiling moist air weren't enough to deter the reptilian Gijinka and with one final heave he managed to titan the valve, effectively cutting off the steam. With a sigh he leant back against one of the walls, his face now moist with condensed water. At least he noticed this before they set off, complaining customers were not something that he really wanted to deal with it.

Glancing around at the dimly let maintenance corridor he was in Regulus was happy to note that there were no other leaks he could see. That was the advantage of his species being engineers, being able to literally see heat could come in very handy. This area was extremely toasty and dark and....sadly not somewhere he could go to sleep. Wiping the last of the moisture from his face the young cobra pulled himself away from the warmth or the hot water pipes, picking up his tool box and began climbing back up towards the public decks.

 

[DragonFlye]

Alec watched the city fly by through the window as he chatted cordially with the driver, a humble antelope whose horns raked sharply back and scraped the roof of the car occasionally. Alec felt his pain; his own tall, black-furred ears kept rubbing uncomfortably against the surface as he talked, a common problem unless a space was adapted for tall Gijinka. He was fairly skinny, though, so that relieved some of the discomfort in the cramped space. Their conversation quieted as they left the city behind and the ocean came into view, a huge cruise ship looming over the horizon. "It looked smaller on the pamphlet," the hare commented, and the driver laughed.

So this was it: the famous SS Vitae. He usually wouldn't do this kind of thing, but a friend of his had given him a ticket on the esteemed ship after a crude remark about his relationship status. Alec huffed at the memory, but a fond smile still made its way onto his face. However, his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed they'd stopped and the driver was staring at him expectantly through the rearview mirror.

"I said, 'this is as far as I can take you,'" the driver repeated with an amused grin.

"Oh, of course." Alec's long ears folded back in embarrassment as he fished for his wallet. He paid the driver with a generous tip, and the man removed Alec's suitcase and pulled his car away from the docks.

He stretched his stiff body and took a moment to scan the crowd of fellow vacationers as they waited to board. Most of them, he noticed with an uncomfortable chuckle, were predators. They seemed excited and friendly for the most part, though, so he forced himself to give them the benefit of the doubt. While he waited, he leaned on his luggage lazily and breathed in the salty air, excitement and nerves making him tap a large foot against the ground.

 

[MegaAbsol]

Val sat hunched over on a post at the edge of the docks, staring out to sea. She was squatting on her haunches, but still managing to keep her balance by occasionally twitching her tail feathers, and gripping said post tightly with her clawed feet. Her massive wings were slightly splayed open, and just about brushing the lapping waves, but not quite. Crowds suited her ill, so she preferred to wait about by her lonesome self, tightly clutching a precious slip of paper in her hands. Even if it hadn't got her to a fancy cruise ship, it would nevertheless be precious considering she had won it by her own toil in a competition. Her luggage was minimal, haphazardly stuffed into a backpack that she wore around her shoulders, hanging in the front - courtesy of her wings. Her posture wasn't the most comfortable, especially when combining the bag to the mix, but Valeriya herself didn't seem too perturbed, contemplatively gazing out to the blue expanse, enjoying the sea breeze playing about her open hair.

Getting to her feet to turn and face the ship, emerald eyes swept over the cruise ship, noting that it still might be some more time until boarding began. That is, if she didn't simply sneak on by flying over from the other side. Val found herself smiling at the absurd suggestion her brain had tossed up, before returning to face the horizon ahead. She preferred solitude, but the reality that she was travelling alone on a cruise ship seemed to sink in; she was facing a long vacation, but she wasn't sure if it was anticipation she felt, or trepidation. She hadn't brought along any company either, so being thrown into a confined vessel with strangers was really quite harrowing. Well, she knew she wasn't the best with making friends, but she could at least try - even one would be progress. After all, despite being advertised as a romantic cruise, she was sure she wasn't the only one going stag...right?

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Ariella raised an eyebrow at the excited tiger. She looked around, then decided to get a better view, despite her height. She crawled over to a lamppost and crawled up it, looking over all the guests. She smirked at the sight of a lone hare in the crowd. She also saw a wolf and a... ... was that a bird all the way over there?... Eh, whoever it was had the right idea to stay away from everything. Deciding to mess with the bunny as she waited to board, she crawled back down the lamppost and crawled up behind him, smirking as she towered over him. "Aw...Poor widdle bun-bun all alone...~" She crossed her arms over her chest as she jeered at him.

 

[DragonFlye]

Alec stiffened at the sound of a voice from almost directly above him, making him instinctively stumble forward in surprise and whip his head around to look at the intruder. He was met with the sight of one of the tallest women he'd ever seen; a spider that leered at him in a way that sent chills down his spine. However, the usage of the nickname clicked and fear was won over by irritation, because really? He backed away a few more paces to put a safe distance between them and narrowed his eyes. "Like I'm the only one who came here myself, huh?" Alec snapped defensively. "And 'bunny' is demeaning enough. Let alone b--" He shook his head. He couldn't even say it, as horrid and humiliating as it was.

 

[Pen-and-Parchment]

Ariella laughed a bit as she circled him, looking the poor bunny up and down with her red eyes. "While I did come alone, I'm not the prey here...~" She leaned down and smirked at him, her shining white, pointed eyeteeth on show. "As for the nickname...well..." She chuckled lowly as she pat his head with one of her spider legs. "I thought it was cute...~"

Ariella laughed a bit as she straightened up again and stretched a bit, her bellybutton piercing - a ruby - glinting like her eyes were whenever they looked at him, it seemed. "Good luck partnering up with somebunny else, Carrotcake...~" She turned to head towards the ship a bit more, laughing at her pun. "Oh, pardon me..." She glanced over her shoulder at him, smirking still. "...Bun-Bun...~" With that, she crawled closer to the ship. When can we get on?...My cabin better not be small, dammit...

 

[DragonFlye]

Alec recoiled and opened his mouth to retort, but the spider had left before he got the chance. Fantastic; he'd been here for less than ten minutes and already had carnivores getting under his skin. He watched her go with wariness in his eyes, mouthing the name 'Carrotcake' in perturbed silence. Oh well, the hare definitely wasn't sure what to make of this crowd yet if that was how the vacation was going to start, but he couldn't let one negative encounter spoil it. He had a feeling, however, that that wasn't the last he'd be seeing of her.

She did make a point though, so he figured he should make an effort to mingle with his fellow passengers...at least, the friendly ones. Ears perking once more, he dragged his luggage towards a more populated area of the dock, picking his way over to a blushing couple. Safety in numbers after all, right? "Hey, how's it going?" He asked, forcing a friendly smile.