Gorobei Katayama

Be amazed as Gorobei lays some of his amazing insight down.

I hate memes so bad. Which is totally obvious, right?

So I don't clog up this journal with memes, please post here if you ever want an update on a relationship or you're new and haven't gotten an analysis yet.

( Haha. What do they know? )

[Public]

It seems we're all about to become famous on the network, yeah?

I've thought long and hard about this myself, and I've finally discovered what I've always wanted to do here in Licere. It may be difficult, but 500 dubloons is a lot, and this is definitely worth it.

There's a legend around here about tiny, glowing beings that inhabit the springs. They cause all sorts of mayhem, from taking your clothes to placing hexes on men and, well...the rest is not so pretty.

There's got to be a way to catch one. What do all of you think?

First of all, although it's coming a little late, I would like to say congratulations to Kensei. It's good to have winners aboard your ship, yeah? Well, besides myself.

Next, it occurs to me that we have a rather important problem to address here on the 4423:

There are very few of you left on the ship that know me on a friendly basis. As a natural entertainer and one of the friendliest guys you will ever meet in all of Reial, this simply will not do. It also occurs to me that many of you could stand to meet a few of your other crew members. If we're working together, we'd better get to know one another, so says your boatswain.

To remedy this situation, I will resort to the time-honored tradition of meeting new friends over a bowl of rice and a couple of bottles of alcohol. This technique was taught to me when I first joined the crew, and now I'm passing it on to you.

What say all of you? Good idea?

"Every night I talk to the stars pretending it's you;
It acts just like you though,
Far away and never replies to my questions."


I think someone found your poetry book and started copying lines onto these cranes, Hijikata.

As some of you probably already have noticed, it seems our friendly mechanic Heihachi is taking a leave of absence. Not to worry, crew. If I know Heihachi, and I do, I'm sure that his absence won't be too long and definitely won't be forever.

You see, Heihachi, being one of those sensitive-types, has some needs that a crew full of murderous pirates just can't fill, yeah? Haha.

He just needs to take a break to do a little soul-searching.

( Big and black the clouds may be, time will pass away. )

Do me a favor, everyone? No one come in contact with me until the showers are back in use.

I'm asking this for your sake as well as my own.

If you need me, leave a note outside my room or on the network.

It seems I can't even take a nap without the world coming down around us. As your boatswain, I should probably have some great advice that will give us hope and a plan to save our captain, yeah? Actually, no. We listen to the captain and don't get in the way of her decisions. You all know that a captain is responsible for her ship, so I'm a bit confused why you're not understanding this now.

It will work out, but even if it doesn't, life goes on. We, the crew of the 4423 of all people, should understand that.

Quit making her feel even worse than she already does. This is a difficult decision that she has given a lot of thought. Trust your captain's judgment. Let's behave and make sure her last few days with us are happy ones, yeah?

That said, any of you have any ideas that might cheer up the captain? I know she's not really into parties, but maybe cleaning the ship or something along those lines might help.

It's obvious that the 4423 is not at fault. This has made me a little worried that some of you might have been infected as well. If you ate anything or wandered around in town too long while we were docked, maybe you should check in with the doctors.

You're all feeling okay, right?

[Private // Unhackable]

...I would be dead if I was infected, right?

It'll be nice to have a much-needed break. I have been entertaining myself for far too long. It's a difficult job; I'm my worst critic, really.

What's unfortunate is that all my entertaining has left me a little worse for wear. I'm a growing boy, and need all the sleep I can possibly get, so I'll be catching up on my rest before the time to pirate comes. I suggest some of you should do the same.

Especially you, Hijikata. It must be tiring to be on an energy high all day long. Righting wrongs around the countryside while the rest of us lay around the boat. I don't want to pirate without you, friend!

[Filtered to Kambei, Heihachi]

Either of you familiar with the Badlands? I don't understand this place at all.

The network is flooded with a thousand of you angered about the recent news from Vohemar. Good for you. Your country and your rights should matter.

However, it's always been my job as the most interesting man on the ship to keep spirits high. So, who here is looking for a bit of fun? I have prepared an exciting plan for one or two others to join Souji and myself. There seems to be quite a lot of new members aboard this ship, so if you have yet to spend a day with Gorobei, you get first choice.

Of course, I can't exactly exclude any of you if you catch word of all the fun.

Anyone out there in Colvus making plans for the holiday yet?

With the Long Night upon us, I thought I might let you all in on a little activity I've always participated when I lived in Colvus. None of you want to go to any of those parties thrown by the rich and boring, yeah?

It's something like a scavenger hunt, only not quite as boring. So, any of you interested? I promise it's not dangerous though that's about all I can promise.

( Those of you interested? tl;dr directions inside. )

So. Has anyone seen the posters around town? What else did I miss while I was gone?

Apparently, they were put up by the captain, and this is definitely a personal matter. That is...a lot unlike her. Has the captain lost her mind? Captain, your thoughts? Were you even aware of these?


[[OOC: Strikes gone, of course.]]

[Private]

Hm. It looks like I'll be back at the hostel for the Long Night festivities. This will make the next drop off easier.

...What was it again? Oh, yeah! That damn pocket watch.

Where did I put that?

[Filtered to Kambei, Heihachi, Katsushiro, Komachi]

Komachi and I have made it back to Vohemar safely. We hitched a ride on the Way and are in Colvus.

When is the 4423 getting back? I miss all of you. I'm bored.

[quiet sobbing can be heard in the background]

There's a little girl in need of a doctor. We're somewhere in Melior.

It would be helpful if that doctor also knew something about magic. Or, maybe-

[long pause]

I'm not sure what my location is exactly, but if you're willing to help, I can give you a description of some of the buildings-

WHAT-

[cuts out]

Entry 1 of the reconstruction of The Book. 30 and 8.
See page 285 for start.

( Half of what I say is meaningless. )

For those of you hoping to collect on your bets, there has been a slight change of plan. I had to leave without much notice, but you'll still be getting what I owe you, not to worry.

I'm leaving your winnings with Kambei. He will have instructions on how to divvy them out.

( You only give me your funny paper. )

Because we are once again stuck at a dock with a lot of time to waste, I have come up with a fun activity for those of us aboard the 4423.

I'm starting a betting pool. Post a bet, here or on your own journal, and then start in on other bets. I ask that nobody bets on anything that could do any other crew member any kind of physical harm. Humiliation is always an option, though.

And the best part? If you donate a percentage of your profit to the repairs of the ship, we'll be out of here a lot quicker and on to some more exciting things! I can't find a downside!

I'll get this started. My bet is that I can make it all through the day without one of you surprising or getting the best of me. The terms of this bet will vary from person to person. Any takers?

[[OOC: Gonna get up a thread in a few for those ladies interested in helping Gorobei entertain Trewe. Uh. Soon...ish.

EDIT: I suppose I should specify. In real world terms, this "one day" in the game that Gorobei has selected as the time period for the bet will end Sunday night, right at midnight, US mountain time. H'okay? Okay.]]

Good news, 4423! The people of Trewe are completely taken by a few of my solo acts, so I was able to make quite a bit of money to put towards the repairs of the ship. Now that I've garnered a reputation in this city, I will be taking my show to the masses daily.

Anyone with experience in theater and performing is welcome to join me, but those crew members who already own a dress would be preferable. Either way, if you're willing, I'm sure I'll be able to find roles for each of you to play.

[Private to Heihachi // Hard to Hack]

I would be lying if I said that all the money I raised was going to the sole purpose of repairing the ship. I spent quite a bit of it on ingredients for a very large dinner for those crew members who are not feeling their best. The problem with this is that I'm a lousy cook, but I know you have at least some experience.

So, how about it? Would you like to play nurse with me?

I was searching my room for more of those bombs when I stumbled upon something peculiar.

That peculiar something happens to be in my bed. It's hard to identify the thing in the stage of decomposition its currently in, but it seems to have once had scales and fins. Now, I'm the last guy to get suspicious of the people on this ship, but I have a hard time believing a fish managed to crawl into my bed, no matter how comfortable it might be.

My sleeping quarters smells awful. We don't have exactly a surplus of water on board, so I'm kind of stuck with these sheets and a room that reeks of fish guts. That is, unless one of you out there, maybe the perpetrator of this prank - as if I didn't know who it was - might allow me to bunk with them until this smell goes away and I get some new blankets. I have rice.

If not, I'm sure Kambei would let me stay with him. Wouldn't you, friend? I could really use some rest.

( But wait, THERE'S MORE! )

[sounding a little put-out]

You heard the captain! Start organizing your searches so we can find if there are any more of these things on our boat. We'll find them faster if this is organized.

Let's get a list started here to let everyone know where you're looking, and - I shouldn't have to say this, but - try looking where no one else is, guys.