Brockton Bay
201'
On a field of desolation, bird sounds, and a great swab of fog, a sound of horse's sprint could be heard as a figure goes over a hill..galloping an invisible horse with someone behind it running along while banging coconuts.
"Woah there!" A closer look at the figure shows a girl with glasses and dark curly hair with a crown belonging to that of royalty. A much closer look shows her wearing chainmail armour with white cloth over it, the middle showing what appears to be a dark mask with large yellow eyes, the entire image looking bug-themed.
She has her arm up, stopping her companion that was carrying a large and stacked bag full of resources the royal may require on this journey.
They overlooked a semi-fortified castle with a clear view, although the top of the structure looks worn-out, unmaintained. However the rest still looks stable and made of stone with a few holes as windows here and there.
Dropping her arm, she begins galloping with her invisible horse towards the fortification, with her squire following along.
"Halt!" A voice called out, forcing the duo to stop as they arrived at the large castle wall in front of them. Looking up, they can see a figure at the top of it. "Who goes there?"
"It is I!" The royal announces with a straight posture, a look and sound of confidence can be seen from her, the companion pulling out a flag with her royal symbol of a bug-themed mask with large yellow eyes. "Queen Taylor, Daughter of Danny Hebert, from the castle of Dockyards.
"Queen of the Bay, Defeater of the Tyrants, Sovereign of all Brockton Bay!" The newly announced Queen says in a proud and loud voice.
"Pull the other one." The castle guard snorts after a few moments of silence and built-up expectations of letting the royal through.
"I-I am!" Taylor bits out in shock with a face of confusion, she turns to the person beside her. "And this is my trusty squire, Veder." The duo looks up at the guard, the royal's face drifting back to her previous confidence. "We have ridden the length of the bay in search of capes and enthusiasts who will join me in my court at Dockyards..I must speak with your Lord and Steward."
"What?" The guard snorts again as he looks down on the duo. "Ridden on a horse?" He barks out while covering his mouth in amusement.
"Yes." She states, as if that was an absolute fact. Internally she is wondering why the guard is questioning her on the fact that she is riding on a horse when she is doing exactly that.
"You're using coconuts!" He pointed at the squire, who was still holding two halves of coconuts.
"Excuse me?" The Queen questions with confusion in her tone and eyes.
"You're just holding two empty halves of coconut and banging them together!" Laughter could be heard from the lad's voice.
"So?" She looks at the guard with narrowed and scrutinising eyes, as if she was facing an idiot. "We have ridden since the snows of winter that covered this land."
"Through the Lands of New England," She pulls out a finger. "Throug-"
"Hold on a minute there lady!" The guard interrupts the Queen's rant as he waved his hand to Veder. "Where did you get the coconuts?"
"We found them." Annoyance begins entering her eyes as she looks at the guard, questioning his competence.
"Found them?" He speaks out in confusion and amusement. "The coconut's haven't been sent here since the Brockton Bay Economic Collapse!" He shakes his head with a chuckle. "This place looks to be tropical to you?" He gestures to the lands around the castle.
"S-Shut up!" Taylor's annoyance bleeds through her speech.
"Well lady, this is a temperate zone." He looks down at her, wondering if her brain cells were damaged.
"The swallow may fly south with the waves, the pigeons or the geese will seek warmer climates before the onset of winter..yet these are not strangers to our land." The Queen bits out with annoyance in her tone.
"You daft woman?" The guard speaks out with amusement and a tone laced with concern. "Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? I don't think they'd even survive the journey through the currents of the Atlantic!"
"Not at all!" Taylor speaks out as she places her hand on her chest, as if insulted at what the guard is insinuating. "Coconuts can be carried! Especially in the Atlantic!" She crosses her arms and taps the ground with the tip of her boot, growing impatient at this guard's questioning of her logic.
"What? A swallow carrying a coconut?" Taylor grits her teeth in anger.
"Saying I'm an idiot are you? Of course it could grip it by the husk." She bits out with irritation before blinking in surprise, internally she is questioning and berating herself why she said the last bit. "I mea-"
"It's not a question of where one grips it! It's a simple question of
weight ratio!" He smirks, knowing she was attempting to regain her rational dignity. "A two-ounce bird carrying a one pound coconut? That's logically infeasible!"
"It doesn't matter!" She facepalms, eyes peeking through as she glares at the guard that was riling her up. "Go to your commander and tell your Lord and Steward that Taylor from Dockyards is here!" The Queen commands in a demanding tone, having enough of the unnecessary conversation on coconuts.
"Listen," He speaks out in a whisper, she leans in, wondering if he was creating a front..
"In order to maintain air-speed velocity.." ..before she turns around and begins galloping away on her invisible horse.
"Come Veder! We can find another one that'll take us seriously!"
'That'll show him..no one disrespects me!' The Queen calls out to her squire with a hidden thought along with it.
Shrugging, her loyal servant follows along, banging coconuts together.
"What was that mate?" Another guard pops his head, watching the duo going away from the castle.
"Just some group of jesters passing through, besides, Lord Coil said to keep away anyone from entering the castle." The first guard turns to his partner. "Now, why do you think he has a fixation on swallows?"
"Ahh..one day a scream was heard from the Lord's bedroom." The second guard recounts. "Along with a shout of 'WHERE IS IT?!' That led to the entire servants learning a thing or two about birds..ever since then us guards are on the lookout for swallows and inform the Lord when found."
"That makes sense..thank you Uber." Leet the guard speaks in thanks.
"Don't mention it, Leet..by the way, an African Swallow could carry a coconut.."
"So..you've got the death?" A member of the ABB asks the Merchant in front of him, leaning against the wall.
"The sticks will only arrive with the dough." The Merchant replies, only receiving seven packs of Pizza dough in return. "That'll be enough." He hands over two packs of sticks.
"Thank you." The ABB member thanks the Merchant with a smile, turning around he..
Splats onto the ground, a bloody cardboard box falls beside the fallen man.
"Another one bites the dust." The member of the Merchants comments as a colleague of his arrives beside him.
"Another order of the stick special?" He hands over a pouch of coins to the killer before walking to the dead man, placing him on the cart.
"Yep, a bounty off the table." He sniffs the air.
Then, two familiar figures 'ride' by the Merchant duo with sounds of banging coconuts accompanying the passing duo.
"Who's that?" One of the Merchant questions his compatriot.
"Don't know, must be a rich kid." The other answers his query.
"Why?"
"Because she's not wearing any shit-me-downs."
The travelling duo passes by many farmer's fields, with the peasantry doing their jobs in tilling the soil and planting. The sky is clear with no fog in their sight.
The two then see a castle in the distance. Smiling, the Queen of Brockton Bay begins slowing down to ask someone on the road for more instructions..
"Old Man!" Taylor calls out to the person carrying a cart down the dirt road.
"Woman!" The annoyed person with brown hair with freckles upon freckles compacted from forehead to chin and maroon scarf covering her neck, answers in an irritated tone while the Queen and servant arrives beside the cart.
"Woman..sorry." The Royal apologises while she turns towards the horizon that shows a castle. "What cape lives in that castle over there?"
"I'm 17." The woman snarks back, glaring at the Queen beside her.
"Sorry?" Taylor's face scrunches in confusion.
"Wasn't it 15?" Greg muttered as he placed his hand on his chin in a thinking pose.
"I'm 17, not old!" Irritation could be heard from the brown haired woman, her glare intensifying. "You need a prescription and maintenance check! Your glasses are out of style!"
"I can't just call you woman!" Taylor deliberately ignores the aggressive remarks from the woman.
"You could say 'Amelia'." The dubbed Amelia speaks out with the same snarky tone.
"Never knew your name was Amelia." The sovereign turns and blinks in surprise at the peasant.
"Never asked, didn't bother to find out." Amy turns her gaze back to the castle in the distance in front of her.
"I did say sorry about the 'old man' comment a while back..but if one were to look at you from behind.." The royal begins rambling before the peasant slaps her hand on the Queen's face to shut her up.
"What I object to is that you treat me and my people like an inferior." Amelia swipes the palm of her mouth with one of the rags on her person.
"Well..I am the Queen." Taylor straightens her posture with a proud tone entering her voice.
"Administrator? You're a terrible one." The person who shut her up remarked scathingly. "All that Queenship looks nice through your yellow tinted eyes.
"How did you get that? By exploiting the masses!" Taylor flinches back at the sharp and angry tone the person she is conversing with is using. "By hanging on to obsolete elitist dogma of suppression and 'know you better' attitudes that perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society!" The peasant continues her rant at the shocked Queen. "If there's ever going to be any progress-"
"Amy! There's some lovely filth down here!" A tall woman with platinum blonde hair with bits of it being dirtied by mud, her clothing can also be seen as attire the same as the other peasants the Queen and servant passed by.
"Oh! Visitors!" The peasant calls out excitedly, waving at the confused look Taylor is giving her. "How do you do?"
"How do you do, good lady?" The royal greets back as she once again stands proudly. "I am Taylor, Queen of the Brocktonians." She points at the fortification they are near to. "Whose castle is that?"
"King of the who?" The woman questions with a confused look on her face.
"The Brocktonians." The Queen looks back at her in confusion.
"Who are the Brocktonians?" The woman scrunches her face, showing more signs of thinking and confusion.
"We all are." Taylor decides to answer her question, additionally she brings out her arm and gestures to the people around her. "We're all Brocktonians..and I am your Queen." Then she gestures to herself.
"Didn't know we had a Queen Administrator." The woman blinks in surprise, the emotion filling her voice. "I thought we were an autonomous collective."
"You're fooling yourself, Vicky." Amelia responds to her sister in a tired feeling. "We're living in a delusional-autocratic dictatorship." She stops before continuing.
"A selfish-directed delusional autocracy where the working and peasantry class.."
"There you go again Amy! Class this, and class that!" Vicky shakes her head in exasperation.
"That's what it's all about." Amy looks back at the Queen with a heated look. "If only people aren't focused on themselves, blanting away how life is cruel and unfair at the same time they won't and don't do anything about it! If only people.."
"Please good ladies, I am in a bit of a hurry." Taylor speaks out impatiently, with a few glances thrown their way and the fortress. "Who lives in that castle?"
"No one lives there." Responds Vicky, casually without batting an eye at that statement.
"Then..who is your lord?" The Queen's face scrunches in confusion and concern at that fact, additionally how casual she said it.
"We don't have a lord." She scoffs, the comment making Taylor's eyebrows rise with confusion.
"Sorry..what?" She speaks out after taking some moments to take the thought inside her mind.
"I told you." Amy scoffs at the royal. "We are an anarcho-syndicalist collective." She closes her eyes to think further before continuing her statement. "We take turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week." She cuts off the confused and irritated Queen's next statements as she looks her right in the eye. "But all the decisions of that officer are ratified at a biweekly meeting."
"Alright, alright." The Queen of Brockton Bay places his hands out, palms facing the peasantry duo. "I see.."
"By a majority in the case of internal affairs-"
"You've said enough..Quiet please!" The royal's tone is now laced with irritation.
"By a two-thirds majority in the case of.."
"ALRIGHT! SHUT UP PLEASE!" Taylor scolds them in irritation. "I ORDER YOU TO SHUT UP!"
"Order? Who does she think she is?" Vicky scoffs at the aggressive Queen that was yelling at them.
"I?" The aforementioned royal's patience dealing with the duo is near its end. "I am your Queen!"
"Well I didn't vote for you." Vicky rolled her eyes at Taylor.
"You do not vote for Queens!" She says back sharply.
"Well..there was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with their elective-based system for the monarchy.." Amy begins rattling off to the Queen.
"You've made your point.." Taylor's next reply was cut off with a question from Vicky.
"How did you become Queen then?"
Taylor blinks as she takes the question in, nostalgia beginning to enter her tone and eyes as she replies.
"The..Shard of the Locker.." She smiled. "It with its unseeable figure, held aloft Queen Administrator from the bosom of the sea of trash that one should never see, smell, and live in..signifying by shardist providence.." She lifts up the sword from her hip. "That I, Taylor, was to carry Queen Administrator.." She points the tip of the sword at the peasant duo. "That is why I'm your Queen."
"Listen." Amy calls out after the explanation. "Unseeable figures with questionable tastes for the mentally vulnerable and given in shady environments distributing weapons is no basis for a system of government!" She points a finger at Taylor. "Supreme executive power is given from a collective of the masses!" She spits on her boots. "Not from some farcical traumatic ceremony."
"Be Quiet!" The Queen calls out in outrage at the peasant's words, accidentally dropping Queen Administrator.
"You can't expect to wield supreme executive power because some guy you can't see threw a sword at you!" Amy begins a rant, ignoring the Queen's calls for her to shut up. "If I went around saying I was a Queen because some questionable individual had lobbed some red biokinetic scalpel at me, they'd put me away!" Her arm was grabbed by the Queen, demanding her to shut up.
"See everyone?!" The peasant calls out loudly, getting the farmers around her to watch the furious Queen. "The violence inherent in the system!"
"SHUT UP!" A red-faced Taylor with steam-filled glasses shouts out, attempting to strangle Amy, but she manages to escape.
"See the violence inherent in the system!" The Queen catches onto her and begins attempting to strangle her again. "HELP HELP! I'M BEING REPRESSED!"
"Y-YOU PEASANT!" She lets go of Amy after glances from the peasantry, she quickly goes back beside Veder and quickly rides off with the sounds of banging coconuts behind her.
"See everyone! That's what I'm on about!" She points at the fleeing duo. "Did you see her repressing me?"
The Queen rides on in a forest and a small dirt road, it is heavily covered by trees and long but thin branches that carry leaves along with it. Fog of small proportions but better visibility fills the air from below and above.
It was until a few minutes later that the duo stopped at the sight of two capes fighting against each other.
One was a man with blue armour, exposed mouth and chin, and a halberg, while the other was a green-themed cape that can use any type of weapon they can wield. What was interesting about the blue cape was its combat style against his opponent, who died quickly after a thrust at the opponent's exposed eye holes as he tried charging at him with an axe.
With Veder's agreement, the Queen rides until being face-to-face with the man with a distance of several feet. The cape stood still with the halberg's tip facing upwards while looking stoically at the smaller individuals in front of him.
"You fight with the strength of many men, Sir Cape." She compliments the cape, but receives silence in return. "I am Taylor, Queen of the Brocktonians." Silence was all she received.
"I seek the finest and bravest capes in the land to join me in Dockyards." She announces with a smile..that turned to a frown of confusion with more silence from the man. "You have proven yourself worthy, will you join me Sir Cape?" The cape stays silent.
"You make me sad." Taylor sighed before turning to her companion. "So be it, let's go Veder."
"None shall pass." The cape stops them with an announcement.
"Sorry?" She jumps back in shock, not expecting the cape to say anything after being quiet to her statements from earlier.
"None shall pass." He states again in a stoic voice.
"Excuse me Sir Cape, but I have no quarrel with you." She gestures to the definitely long bridge and river. "But I ask you to allow me and my companion to cross this bridge."
"Then you shall die." The blue cape states again, his voice sounding like most of the sociopathic SIs in the Worm Fandom.
"I request for you, as Queen of the Brocktonians, to stand aside." She asks again, impatience running in her voice.
"I move.." He glares into Taylor's eyes. "For no one."
"So.." She unsheathes Queen Administrator, a fierce look from her eyes. "Be it."
Her opponent jumps back, having the tip of his weapon facing towards the attacking individual before charging at her, thrusting the weapon to stab her. However she caught on quickly, creating a blocking manoeuvre. She moves the motion of her opponent's strike to the side while attempting to slash at him, forcing a withdrawal to a distance back.
Again, the blue cape attempts a thrust once again at the Queen, but she was prepared after predicting how he'll fight against her.
She side steps and taps the sword on the side of his shoulder, making the arm somehow cut off from the cape's body. This made the halberg, the weapon he was holding, to fall down on the ground with the detached arm.
"Now, stand aside Sir Cape." She asks him, sword and posture ready in case anything unexpected happens.
"Tis but a scratch." The blue cape waves off with his other hand.
"A scratch? Good sir, are you alright?" Her face contorts to that of confusion, her free hand gesturing to the slump that once held her opponent's arm. "Your arm's off."
"No it isn't." Again, he waves it off with a casual tone.
"Well.." She draws out while she points the sword at the detached limb. "What's that, then?"
"I've had worse." He shrugs as he looks down at the arm before looking right back at her.
"You liar." Taylor scoffs at him. As he threw out a taunt she quickly cut off the other arm that was still attached to the cape. "I'll call that a victory, then." She smiles, finally having a victory against someone recently.
"We thank you, Scion." She kneels as she begins a prayer, her forehead touching the guard of the sword as its tip is embedded to the ground. "That in your.." She was then interrupted by a kick by someone at the cheek, forcing her to fall over at the side.
"Come on then!" She was then repeatedly kicked by the enemy she was sure was defeated by her.
"What?" She calls out in disbelief at the still alive man kicking her down, with gritted teeth she rolls back and quickly jumps, facing him while standing. "You are indeed brave, Sir Cape." She points her sword at the opponent. "But this fight is mine."
"Ooo..Had Enough?" He taunts her as he jumps back, looking at her in the eyes.
"Look you moron!" She says with great exasperation at the cape. "You've got no arms left!"
"Yes I have." He states casually, making the Queen's temper rise at the ridiculousness of the fight.
"LOOK! ARE THOSE LIMBS FOR YOU?" She gestures to the stumps that once held his upper limbs, he looks at her in confusion.
"This is just a flesh wound." He states with a shrug before kicking her at the side, which she jumps backwards and swiftly cuts off his leg.
"Please stop it, I'm sorry that I have to cut you into pieces, but you weren't allowing us entry to the bridge!" She pleads with resignation in her tone.
"Chicken!" He calls out with a taunt back before charging at her. "Come here!"
"What are you going to do? Bleed on me?" She deadpans, at this point she is done with this fight against the individual that refused to go down.
"I am invincible! The Armsmaster always triumphs!" He calls out while battering ramming her with a weak force that wouldn't even push a trash can, her face still showing resignation, exasperation, confusion, and done.
"You're a loony, Sir Cape." She commends before cutting his last leg. "Finally.." She sighs as she walks to the bridge, Veder coming out from the bushes to join her.
"Alright.." He shouts at the duo. "We'll call it a draw!"
"Let's just go Greg, that one's a lost one." She mutters to him before the duo leaves, ignoring the Blue Cape's taunting and demands for another fight.
N/A: Cross-posted from SB. Enjoy
Also..is there a stand-alone "Monty Python" Tag?
