She wanted to be mortified, horrified, vilified: they were monsters for what they had done. Dirty, no good, lousy stinking criminals. She watched in shock as the marine laid there, sleep-like and unmoving. She had made him that way, she'd ended his life before he knew what was happening. She was so absorbed into her own actions that she barely registered the second man springing from the closet, and subsequently being stopped by Tai. She gasped at the sound of bone snapping under the weight of the Fishman's assault.

How was he doing this so easily? Killing was not something that was supposed to come easily. She destroyed the sailor, probably someone with a life all his own. A love interest, a family awaiting yet another deployment overseas, little siblings that looked up to him maybe? Was this how he expected to meet his end? Because he'd inconvenienced two criminals. It was a lot to stomach, too much even. Tai had already begun to grab the men and drag them back into the pantry to hide from sight. Was this the vicious pragmatism of the entire Fishman people? The stories of shock and horror that made the race of people stand out as inhuman and not simply because they were... inhuman? She watched, unable to really speak or offer a hand in anything. She was numb to it still... until...

BOOM!

The pots seemed to explode and their contents released into the air. The sound rocked the kitchen and was likely going to bring unwanted attention to the kitchen. She needed to move, she needed to get her shit together. She was tougher than this, tougher than her fear or worry or regret. She had to accept what was happening and grieve about it later. Knocks came at the door and it was no or never. She could either crumble to the ground and accept her fate, or she could fight. Wasn't that what she was trying to do? To fight? To get stronger? To grow and learn and live? Her parents were not right. This was the life she was supposed to be living. She was not some little princess angel.

She ran and grabbed one of the pots and a spoon and began viciously mixing what little of the concoction was left to the pot. The doors of the kitchen finally slid open as a marine plowed his way through in anger. Before he could even open his mouth to scream or inquiry as to what the hell was happening in the kitchen, the silver pot impacted his face with force enough to bloody his nose and chip a tooth or two. As the pot slid away from his face, he was confronted with a vicious Rei-Rei, her eyes glowing with a rage that the man was not prepared for.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN BARGE INTO MY KITCHENNNNN!!!! WHEN DINNER IS SERVED, IT'LL BE SERVED, GODDAMNITTT! NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND IF ONE MORE OF YOU LITTLE GRUNTS BURSTS IN HERE AGAIN I'LL MAKE SURE YOU DON'T EAT FOR A WEEK!! NOW GET OUTTTTT!"

The man's face lost all anger and switched to fear immediately. He'd never seen the kitchen look as chaotic as it did, but he'd also never seen the hellfire that was Rei-Rei's rage. He gulped in the face of it all, looked around to Tai, then began backing up and giving in. He straightened up, fixed his necktie--though his face was really beyond a quick sprusing--regained what little dignity he could manage and pivoted and exited with a "Yes, Ma'am". As the door closed, the energy seemed to fall out of Reinaka and she put her hand to the wall to hold herself up right. She took a moment to shove all the feelings and emotions back inside her, exhaled out her worry and turned back to Tai with a new determination.

"Let's just finish this meal and get the hell off this ship. Fill the pots that lost a lot with water. We'll just have to stretch what little soup we have left."

She went to the stove and turned the heat down to a simmer on all of them before dumping in the final ingredients that the chef's were obviously preparing to top off the concoction. After a few minutes, they'd managed to construct a cooking station that said they maybe knew what they were doing. They only had to wait now for it all to finish. IN the meantime, Rei-Rei leaned against the counter, silent and arms folded, unsure of how to regain the casualness of their interaction. It had been slain with those two men in the closet, it seemed.

"I'm from Skypiea.........," she wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but she couldn't take the silence anymore. "I never lived there, though. My mom ran away with someone from the blue sea and never looked back. She hated that place, and she made me afraid of it. How odd, right? You're trying with all your might to get to your home, and I'm too afraid to stop running from mine. What a pair we are, huh?"
 

Hmm. Reinaka pondered on the Fishman's words, trying to absorb them and take the thoughts to heart, the courage in each syllable almost palpable. She kept her head down, hearing the man in all his advice. She felt ashamed. The horror stories and nightmarish tales about the feats of the Fishman race. The Fishman Island was said to be one of the most dangerous islands that there was. And yet... Tai was racing towards it.

Granted most people would think that all Fishman were welcome at the Island, but Tai said that he'd never lived there before, which meant that he probably would only be as welcome as any human that went to the island. Why was he so adamant? And why was he ignoring the risks associated with such a goal. Reinaka frowned in confusion at the idea but decided not to encroach any further on the topic. She could ask him a million questions later, but for now they could only focus on staying alive on this ship.

"The stew is ready, and I'm sure the crew must be getting really anxious. We should began taking this soap out. While they're eating, we'll sneak off the ship. We must be pretty close to Orange Island by now."

Reinaka grabbed mittens, wrapped her hands around one of the pots and turned and began to leave the room. The crew, if she figured correctly, would all be situated in the ships dining hall. She wasn't sure how the stew would turn out, but if it wasn't good they were probably going to have more problems than they could handle.

"Tai. You stay and get this lobster prepped and steamed while I serve the soup! And don't take forever. These guys clearly aren't the patient type."

Rei-Rei kicked open the door, and burst into the room filled with Marines. There were so many of them seated along long tables, plates and utensils in tow. The look of hunger on each of their faces was so anguished that they resembled starving wolves.

"ALRIGHT BOYS! ITS CHOW TIME, DAMMIT! FORM A LINE! YOU NEWBIE PETTY OFFICERS AT THE BACK! OFFICERS AT THE FRONT! MOVE IT!!!!!"

Reinaka stood there, arms crossed with a scowl on her face as the marines lined up and one by one lowered the spoon into the pot and filled their bowls. Every so often a sailor would try for too dips or comment about the wateriness of the dish, but with a quick and efficient smack of the spoon in her hand, their grumbles would be soon silenced. She was an iron chef, a wielder of metallic deadliness and no one seemed to want to cross her.

"Where's the lobsterrrr," she'd hear every so often but the heckling was always quieted with a directive from her.

Finally one sailor approached, a bit timid by the glowing whiteness of her scowl, but nonetheless hungry and approaching. He poured his soup but instead of returning to his seat like the others, he swallowed his fear and built up his courage for a singular protest.

"Tch. Where's Ramirez? She's never this mean to us at dinner time...," the sailor kept his eye's low and fixed on his soup and not anywhere near her badge that stated "Ramirez"... Not his anyway, but as for the next guy he could help but peer at her chest and noticed the irregularity.

"Hey...your chest says "Ramirez". Why you got on Ramirez' shirt?"

Reinaka left out a swing of her spoon and popped the man right in the nose. "STOP LOOKING AT MY CHEST YOU PERV!"

But the tyriad came too late, as others began murmurring about the badge as well, soon there were shouts coming from afar. Who are yous" and "What have you done with our lobsterrr" even. Fuck. This was bad. This was real bad.

"That's not Ramirezzzz"

Shit! Taiiii

Reinaka heard Tai's shouts. Now was the time to get the hell out of dodge. Before she could even react to it however, a roundhouse kick came crashing into her guarded arm raised just in time to shield her face from the blow. The momentum of the kick slide her back a whole foot and her arm felt like it was bout to go to sleep. The kick must have been a hell of an attack. In fact, she knew it was. Upon impact, the man's chi became readable and verified to her that she did not want to get struck by one of those.

She reached for the pot in the very next second and slung the open container towards the majority of the marines, spewing the hot soup over the bulk of them. She tried to turn but instantly punches were coming at her from the direction of Tai. Son of a bitch. Her body slipped into her dance, a form that came naturally to her. There were so many strikes coming at her that she could only miss every third or fourth blow, unable to stop a fair bit of the attacks from landing home. She needed to get out of here or she wasn't going to make it past the next five minutes, let alone the voyage to the pier of Orange Town.

"Fllluiiiiiid Foot!"

The girl began whirling and weaving through this body and that body, marginalizing the blows that actually landed on her and got her way through to the far wall near a window. They began to shout out her plan in hopes of impeding her but her momentum was too great now. She was going to make it through and once she was out in the air she'd be able to pick up the wind current and fly away.

Suddenly a hand grabbed at her wing and she could feel it's grip yank her backward. The force of it wasn't enough to stop her exploding dive through the window, but enough to hinder her wing from opening correctly for a while. She grabbed at her heavenly appendage in a wince as she plummeted down and through the surface of the open sea. The impact was a concussive force all on its own, followed swiftly by the freezing cold temperatures of the sea stabbing at her from every possible angle.

She managed to make her way back up to the surface and gasped for a breath of air that seemed like it'd never come. Her wing hurt too much to somehow get airborne anytime soon. Not that she'd be able to now that her wings were soaked and heavy. Her only hope was that Tai had thought of a full plan after their daring escape from the boat.

Hurry Tai!