Nitro and Tina both took their drinks (the former immediately drinking from his rather heartily, it seemed he was acquiring a taste for it), and nodded as they recieved their instructions.

"It would probably be less suspicious if we let her lose a few hands anyway," Tina said quietly. "Constant victories would probably hint at some dishonesty."

"Yeah, what she said," Nitro replied. He nodded to Jolly as she beckoned them over, lifting his drink to her. "We'll be right over!" The two took their respective positions, Nitro helping himself to a calzone at his, and waited for the game to proceed.

Apologies for the semi-extended absence (this mostly applies to Aim), I've just been looking for a new room, as my lease ends with this month. The good news is, I've already found a place, so come August, I should be posting with more regularity.

Nitro was a bit surprised to see the diminutive captain as he came up over the side of the boat. From the nature of their true assignment, he would've figured that all the captains would be modelled after a more adult frame. However, from the sound of things, it seemed that she wasn't always so childlike. At any rate, though, it seemed that any pictures they got of her wouldn't be worth much to Boss Oni... unless he liked that sort of thing.

As Cutlass got everyone's attention, Tina was still mulling over her self-demotion to first mate. It seemed to her that there was more to it than what she let on. She figured it'd be worth getting to the bottom of, but she'd hold off on questioning her for now.

When the two Teksqp operatives were given the floor, Nitro stepped forward, giving a quick glance around for Triangleman. He decided it wasn't worth calling attention to, and there must've been a good reason for his absence. With that in mind, he began speaking.

"Okay, so, first off, I'd just like to say again that, on behalf of the Teksqp, we're happy to have the opportunity to with the Jolly pirates," he said with a grin. "Here's hoping for a mutually fruitful partnership for today, tomorrow, and the forseeable future.

"Secondly, I'd like to say that it's a pleasure to meet the three of you as well; Bomba, Clipper, and I'm guessing you're Power," Nitro nodded to the shorter captain in greeting. "Here's hoping today goes well for all parties involved, and we all come out of it in one piece!" Nitro chuckled a bit to show he was joking, but with the way everyone was at each other already, it was certainly a legitimate concern. He hoped the alcohol didn't exacerbate things.

Nitro and Tina both looked up as they heard Cutlass call out from outside. Tina, however, glanced back as Jolly flubbed the name of her first mate. She tried not to dwell on it as they all got up to leave, but she had a sneaking suspicion that the Teksqp weren't the only ones that had had a hidden agenda. She resolved to keep an eye on Cutlass and Jolly as the day went on.

------------------------

As they came to Clipper's ship, Nitro and Tina were a bit surprised with the captain's appearance. She seemed a bit more high-class than the typical image of a pirate.

They were surprised yet further as she guessed their faction. Had they met before? Tina searched her memory, trying to figure out if she was familiar.

"It's nice to meet you, Clipper," Nitro said. "I'm Nitro, and this is TNT." He sat back as much as the boat would allow, and looked toward the next ship as they ventured over, the one belonging to Bomba.

-----------------------

After Bomba came aboard and they began to head back to Jolly's ship, Nitro was starting to feel the tension building between the passengers on the boat. He figured he'd take it upon himself to start a conversation.

"So, you're Bomba?" Nitro said, addressing the burning navi. "Nice to meet you, I'm Nitro, this is TNT. So, I'm told you have a talent for firebombing. I've actually got something of a passion for explosives and the like, so I'm really interested to hear more about that."

Tina, meanwhile, decided to talk with Cutlass. "So, Cutlass, Jolly mentioned that you only recently became her first mate. Why don't you tell us how you came to be employed by her."

"Well," Nitro said. "I've never been expressly told not to share this with others, and I've kind of made it my business to let people know about these guys... They're known as the Right of Operation Templars, they're a pretty radical group. Basically the whole meeting was a set-up, they had no interest in partnering with us from the word Go, and they intended to attack one of our operatives through the meet-up. Of course, it blew up in there face, quite literally considering I was involved." While Nitro trusted Jolly, his words had a bit of a warning to them, whether intentional or not, that he wouldn't stand for any double-crossing on her part.

Tina, meanwhile addressed Jolly's concerns regarding the parley. "I'd just tell them what you've told us, that you stand to make more money working together than you do as enemies. Each one of you has resources and abilities that, when put together, form quite a formidable team. And if they're upset with your working with us, just remind them that if they work with you, then they all stand to benefit from the Teksqp's partnership as well."

"TNT's right," Nitro said. "I also think that the atmosphere could help things along. If everone's relaxed, they're more agreeable and open to hear you out, right? I say we get some drinks passed around, maybe play some cards, and we're set!" Nitro took a swig of his own drink to punctuate his belief.

Nitro and Tina each took their mugs with a polite smile and nod, the former having no reservations about having a somewhat generous swig almost immediately. Tina, by contrast, elected to keep her mug lowered. They both raised their mugs to Jolly's toast, and each took a seat in the armchairs as they were motioned to.

"Well, to start with the second question," Nitro said, before taking a quick drink, "I'm Nitro, and this is my partner and SP, TNT, and my colleague, TriangleMan." He motioned to each with his free hand. "Let's see... TNT and I are demolitions experts. We wreck things... professionally." He paused for a moment. "At least, that's ehat we signed onto the Teksqp for."

At this point, Tina jumped in. "Please, call me Tina. And of course, the Teksqp is a veritable melting pot of skillsets," she began. "We get all sorts in our family, demolitions experts like myself and Nitro, cunning strategists like TriangleMan here, phsyciatrists, jailkeepers, morticians, forensic investigators, you'd likely be hard-pressed to find a field that at least one Teksqp navi wasn't involved in... of course, demolitions isn't mine and Nitro's primary area of expertise." She said. "This isn't our first time being sent to represent our family in the interest of forming a partnership with another organisation. We certainly hope all goes well between our family and your crew today and in the future." As a bit of an afterthought, she took a small sip of her drink, so as not to seem rude.

Meanwhile, Nitro gestured to his fellow Teksqp navi. "What about you, TriangleMan? Why don't you tell about yourself?"

"Strip Bowling?" Chris said. "Do you see a bowling alley? No, I mean, maybe a game of poker or something would be a good means to talk things over. Things would probably be more relaxed if it were in a more casual setting rather than a stiff, official meeting. Maybe even toss a few drinks around, and just maybe they might start betting their boots and tricornes, so to speak. Just so long as they're relaxed. Things might go smoother for us that way too. They might be too wrapped up in the game to notice that we're snapping a few pictures." Eight sentences. Chris figured that TriangleMan would be itching to fill in that last one to make the ninth. A triangle of triangles would likely be too good for him to ignore.

As Chris and TriangleMan talked and Tina listened attentively, Nitro peered past his fellow "genius" and caught a glimpse of the Navi approaching. He saw the sun glinting off the handles of the blades, and figured that she was Jolly's first mate. Realizing that their time for private conversation was short, Nitro turned back to TriangleMan. "So, one last thing before Cutlass gets here," he asked. "Are you providing us with a camera at all, or is that something we're meant to handle ourselves?"

Nitro, Chris, and Tina both stood by and listened to TriangleMan's explanation, though the latter two were having a bit of difficulty wrapping their heads around the fact that he had called Nitro a genius. If he thought Nitro was a genius, that would certainly say a lot about TriangleMan's alleged genius.

As they listened to his explanation of the various captains, they did indeed pick up on the pattern laid out. "So, they each hate their elemental 'superior'?" Tina inquired. "Tell me if I'm correct."

"Makes sense," Nitro replied. "If I were a pirate, I wouldn't want to hang around the one that could blow me out of the water." Speaking of blowing things out of the water, given Bomba's name, element, and talent, he had a feeling he'd be able to strike a chord with her. The others, on the other hand, especially Clipper, might be a challenge. "Does the whole 'hate circle' run the other way, too?" Nitro asked. "Like, Jolly hates Bomba hates Clipper hates Power hates Jolly?"

As they discussed the captains further, Chris was trying to work out how they were supposed to organize a parley. Especially considering that they had absolutely no experience in piracy to speak of. He rubbed his temples a bit, groaning. This was going to be a tough one. It wasn't as if they could just get them playing a game of Strip Poker...

"Hey, TriangleMan, I have a question," Chris said, popping up on a video screen. "These pirates... do any of them like to gamble?"

Nitro and Tina trudged along the beach as they jacked in, the given coordinates putting them about seventy feet away from their intended destination.

"Pretty sure I joined the Teksqp to blow stuff up," Nitro complained. "Not play frickin' diplomat and spy for them. Why do we keep getting stuck with these lame recon missions?"

"Remember Gala's party?" Tina said. "Remember the Bowl 'n' Bones? You've seen the other people in our family; along with Jailbird, we're probably the sanest, most normal looking programs in the Teksqp."

"So we were doomed to play emissary for the crazies since we joined?" Nitro said.

"Sounds about right," Chris said.

Nitro kicked the sand a bit. "Should've joined the Bloodhounds or something. Maybe I'd see a bit of action then."

"Come on, Nitro, we've met some good people," Tina said.

"We've met Jail and Melissa, everyone else is either crazy or someone we were helping have their homes broken into." He sighed a bit, and looked up to see the fire a little ways away. "Whatever, let's just go see Jail. Least we can hang out with her again. I wanna see if she likes that GMO we got her."

"Uh... we're not working with Jail this time," Chris said.

"Great," Nitro groaned. "Is it someone we know, or is it some random whack-job?"

"It's, uh... TriangleMan."

"Seriously?" Both programs said in unison.

"Swell, now we have to deal with his pointy, pompous ass too, and that triangle obsession he's got." Nitro lamented.

"Hopefully he doesn't know too much about what the party was really about," Tina noted.

"Well, just play it cool," Chris said. "There's a lot of money riding on this."

The two nodded, and they approached the fire, and the Navi waiting beside it.

"Hey, TriangleMan," Nitro said with a wave. "Good to see you again." Not...

Chris here.

I suppose I've got no choice but to accept, with that kind of money up for grabs. Let Boss Oni and TriangleMan know that we're in.

-Chris Harper