Linda Savage

It has been five years, seven months, and nineteen days since Linda left her home in Briss Kingdom for one of the few marine strongholds that could be found in the North Blue. She was stationed in Rubeck Island for the first three years of her career. She had been under the command of Thomas Warner, a middle-aged man that managed to attain the rank of captain. He was far too serious for her taste and the sort of man she just couldn’t get along with due to his strict behavior. She could tell he didn’t like her either for she was far from ambitious and content with doing the minimum required of her. The two had butted heads over those three years, their personality and different way of approaching situations causing them to clash over the most minor of things. Definitely not a man she would sit down and have a drink with even if he would allow himself to down a bottle of beer.

Linda was moved to Swallow Island when she reached the rank of ensign. Her commander was a young man in his late twenties. His name was Scott Saint and he to had attained the rank of a captain. She liked him better than Thomas for despite their differences, the two had a lot in common. He expected nothing more from his group than the bare minimum for the young man saw no reason to go above and beyond what was expected of them. That was inviting unnecessary trouble and Swallow Island was a pretty peaceful place to begin with. All he asked was that they upheld the peace he had established in the town and to arrest any who disturbed it. That was good for Linda and she got along well with her new commanding officer.

She’d like to say that she was on good terms with her teammates and friendly with the residents. She had performed very few arrest during her two years in Swallow Island and it had become apparent that she had no desire to move on to the next rank on the marine’s ladder. Ensign was a comfortable rank for Linda. She had no real responsibilities beyond keeping the peace and she rather not risk being moved somewhere else. She had quite a few drinking buddies in town and she didn’t want to leave the friends she had made behind. Add on the fact that she was far from ambitious and her stay in Swallow Island was pretty much a guarantee.

None of that mattered on this particular Monday afternoon. Per usual, Linda was having a drink at one of the few bars that could be found on Swallow Island. She was nursing her second bottle of rum that afternoon. She had been there since nine o’clock that morning and had already downed two shots in addition to three bottles of beer. She had a huge tolerance for alcohol, so she didn’t feel buzzed just yet. It was an advantage since she could make her arrest with a clear mind. She hated it though since she rarely got that feeling of invincibility that came with being drunk.

Either way, Linda had no plans of making any arrest this day.

oka takanashi, princess of lvneel

Linda Savage

Linda had not been expecting anyone to approach her. Everyone who she considered a drinking buddy should’ve been holed up at work until the evening. Her fellow marines taking shots at the birds which she skipped out on in order to drink. So, she was surprised to hear her name. She put the now empty bottle of rum down and looked to her left. What she saw was a white-haired female that she had never seen before. She assumed the young female to be a tourist since the unambitious marine knew everyone on the island which was fine. The only problem was why the female approached her and why her name was in the female’s mouth.

She continued to stare at the young female. Observing the girl’s general appearance as to put a name to her face. Perhaps she knew the white-haired female from the previous island she had been stationed. Or the parent(s) of the girl. Either way, Linda was trying hard to find a logical answer to why she had been approached. Eventually, she gave up for thinking about it made her head hurt and she wasn’t getting anywhere. It was a good thing she wasn’t the sort of person who hated to talk to random strangers or the two would’ve sat in awkward silence until the young female spoke up.

Linda shoved the empty bottle away from her. She turned her body to face the white-haired girl and propped her elbow on the counter. The side of her face was cradled by the palm of her hand. Another bottle was placed in front of the woman who swore up and down that she didn’t have a drinking problem without a word needing to be said to the bartender. Erika knew her well. She didn’t immediately go for the bottle. She had to satisfy the slight twinge of curiosity that found itself coursing through her veins. She blinked.

“Yes. Who is asking and what do you want?”

oka takanashi, princess of lvneel

Linda Savage

Linda was lucky that she wasn’t downing her third bottle of rum or she would have choked on the sweet liquid. She was genuinely taken aback by the white-haired girl’s request for her of all people to teach her martial arts. She raised an eyebrow in surprise though it could also be taken as interest. No one had ever requested to learn something of any importance from her besides how to hold their liquor and that lesson had been an absolute disaster. This was a little more unexpected than that though. Someone actually wanted to learn something of value from her and that caught her off guard.

She didn’t show her mixed emotions though. Linda maintained the raised eyebrow and questioning look in her eyes as she considered several things. She wanted to know who told the young girl that she of all people was the person to seek for martial arts training. Last she checked she hadn’t offered her services before and she rarely got to use the various strikes she learned during her youth. Swallow Island was sort of a place where arrest were rarely conducted so she had very few opportunities to flex her muscles.

When she believed that thought completely and utterly irrelevant she moved her mind onto something else. Like rather or not she wanted a student. She sort of wasn’t the ideal teacher with her ‘drinking problem’. Whoever had recommended her had failed to communicate this with Oka.

Linda considered declining to take up the position of mentor. She was comfortable with the schedule she had followed since arriving on Swallow Island. Taking on a student would disrupt it and require that she readjust the schedule to accommodate the teen. It would be a hassle and she didn’t like those too much. At the same time, taking up a student would get her back into the groove of things as far as training went. She’d have a live person to punch, kick, and grapple. It could also be amusing and she could always drop the kid if she ever decided it was too ambitious for her.

She would agree. Which may surprise Oka since there was no cliché test to prove herself.

Linda smiled at Oka. It was one of those smiles that showed all her teeth and made the weary uneasy.

“You got it, kid.”

She replied. She took another gulp of her rum and sat it back down with a loud thud.

“First… how old are ya, kid?”

oka takanashi, princess of lvneel

Linda Savage

Linda had expected for Oka to cheer or show some signs of enthusiasm. She had just accepted the teen as her student which was something the teen wanted and seemingly without any strings attached. Instead she got a look of surprise and though it wasn’t the reaction she wanted it was one she would accept. Perhaps she should have tossed some sort of task in there that would have no bearings on rather or not Linda took the girl on as her student. It may have eased the teen’s mind and resulted in the desired reaction. It was of no matter now. She couldn’t take it back for she had already moved along to an entirely new subject.

Oka quickly recovered from her initial surprise much to Linda’s appreciation. Her smile was returned by the teen. She noted that it reached the girl’s eyes and she seemed genuinely pleased to be in her company. She didn’t know why the teen was so excited about learning something like martial arts though. It was common amongst the marines because of a certain style utilized by the group that seemingly everyone wanted to know. The next group down were those who liked to use melee weapons instead of their fist or a firearm. And the last group were the sharpshooters which had become more popular since two years ago.

That was actually the primary purpose of Swallow Island. It was the ideal place to train the sudden influx of sharpshooters since the birds were so dang hard to shoot. They were fast and prepared to munch on delicious human faces at a moments notice. The marines stationed here for training had to balance aiming with staying alive. Plenty had died on this island and plenty had gone off to become some of the better sharpshooters on the marine’s payroll. It wasn’t for Linda though. She was a martial artist and she had absolutely no experience with a gun. She fought with her legs and she wasn’t stupid enough to wrestle one of those carnivorous birds. Not when there was alcohol that required her attention.

She finished off the last of her rum as Oka finally answered her question. Oka was excited now and Linda couldn’t help but think the teen changed her mood a lot. It was to be expected since the girl was a teen and untrained in the art of concealing her emotions behind a well constructed façade. If the girl lasted long enough perhaps Linda would teach her that.

“Hm… not today since its hot and I sort of had several drinks.”

Linda replied nonchalantly. She shifted her gaze to the ceiling.

“Uh… tomorrow. I got nothing to do. So, you can show me where you are at then.”

She paused for a second and combatted the urge to add ‘and how hopeless you are’. It was smooth with her gaze on the ceiling. It looked more like she was thinking about something. She looked at Oka.

“How does that sound?”

oka takanashi, princess of lvneel

E X I T

Linda Savage

Whilst Oka figured out if tomorrow was an acceptable time to do training of any kind, Linda would request several shots from the bartender. She had intentions of downing them as soon as Oka left. Yet, if the teen continued to think any longer the young woman would be ‘forced’ to drink her shots now. As Linda made a move to down one of the shots in front of her, Oka snapped out of her stupor with a question.

She raised an eyebrow at the simplicity of the question as well as how Oka seemed like she was ready to leave. It made her quite happy that the teen asked questions instead of assuming things. Assumptions get people killed and so the white-haired girl had earned points with Linda. She earned some more points with how quickly she wished to leave for the only reason she could be rushing was the sense that she had taken up enough of Linda’s time - which was true. Despite this, the woman was still unsure of how long Oka would be under her tutelage until she got tired or Oka realized that martial arts wasn’t for her.

“Yes. Of course!”

Linda finally replied. She downed a shot immediately afterwards and she watched Oka from the corner of her eye. The teen rose and bid her farewell which she returned. Upon Oka’s departure, Linda returned her attention to the remaining shots before her. With a small smile on her face, she drank the rest.