Passing the meeting room on the ship, Gil heard some aggravated whispers and hissing coming from the other side of the door. Piquing his curiosity, he entered to find Sinbad leaning in to Jackal and giving him an earful. Not sure what was going on, Gilbard cleared his throat to make his presence known. "Here we go, Gilbard. Speak some sense into him." Sinbad was uncharacteristically annoyed and his captain was trying hard not to crack a smile. The fishman was regretting entering the room already.

Gil just raised an eyebrow and waited for the inevitable. "There is this girl who had been hanging around our boat. She's been getting in the way. The last thing we need is this distraction right now." That was true enough. With the ball and the Zeta Phi raid right around the corner, getting involved in anything else could hinder them. Was Jackal getting caught up in something meddlesome again? "Then let's trust Gilbard on this. Give her an examination and tell us what you think." The mink cracked a grin. "Is that fine by you, Sin?"

"Yeah, yeah." He said, throwing an arm up and walking away. The navigator was sure that the shrewd and suspicious doctor would agree with his assessment, but the captain was not so sure. "Her name is Fibi, she is a half human half fishman. Last we saw her was on the docks." He described her loosely so that she could be found.

Gil nodded and left. He wasn't sure what to make of this just yet, but he figured he would find out soon enough. After packing up his things, he made his way up to the deck of the ship. He made a few quick movements to scale the mast and look out at the landscape around them. If he happened to see her then he would jump down and approach.

Fibi wasn't far this time, she was frequently visiting these docks in Baltigo, mostly out of the convenience of the closeness to her ship. Well, it wasn't her ship, but, it would be soon if she didn't find a way off of it. The Perish Song, the Flagship of The Kraken, the fishman legendary half a century old pirate.

In truth, it was supposed to be her inheritance, like her predecessor and so on and so forth back five hundred and fifty years. A tale that no one knew but the Kraken's crew. Maybe some in the World Government knew, but, that remained to be seen. For now though, Fibi was going around as herself, not her persona, happy to try and find a means of exposing the truth, so that she could live her own life.

But, she was easily distracted, mainly by the fact that she was trying to spray paint more ships. She had a habit of wanting to leave murals everywhere. The other day she managed to tag the entire flank of The Pegasus with a mural that spanned most of its side, it had since been cleaned off, and she was waiting for her chance to tag it again, but now, she was two ships down, using two of her tentacles on her back to hang on to the railing of the ship while the other two shimmied back and forth to allow her to suspend herself so she could paint the side of this random ship.

She had a rebreather on today, something like a gas mask that any self respecting spray paint artist used. At least a dozen spent cans were left on the ground, stomped on and crushed under those tentacles that she was using. Just as she was finishing up, the mimic octopus girl lowered herself to the ground and stepped back, framing up the paint job with her index fingers and thumbs forming the frame while she shut one of her magenta eyes.

She certainly stood out in a crowd. A human looking girl with four tentacles that congealed together in to the shape of a long eel like tail, glowing magenta eyes, grey skin and pale hair. A black hoodie and scarf on her person with leather biker shorts on her posterior and legs.

The painting in question was a giant effigy of The Kraken, painted as if it were swimming up to claim and crush the symbols of jolly rogers of other ships, eight tentacles coiled around eight well known jolly rogers from The Kraken's past. A nice homage to the story of the great beast.

What Gil managed to spot first was the splashes of bright colour that stood out compared to the rest of the dull grey and brown landscape of the Nil District. Bright pink and green that almost hurt to look at. Something that seemed incredibly invasive to the eyeline but had some curious quality to it. He jumped down from the mast and directly into water below, using another kick to propel him up onto the wooden boardwalks that comprised the docks. Like a footprint, the swirling patterns of colour stretched out from boat to boat. Tendrils of paint drawing him further away.

The only art that Gil had ever taken an interest in were the amazing tapestries that lined the halls of the Kappa Conclave. Such fine pieces had inspired his young mind back then. They were said to be stories of a long lost past. Great tradgedies, turmoils and tests, but also great triumphs and celebrations of the culture in that deep. Tales from a time that the world had all but forgot, thanks to the isolation of the sect, they had managed to hold on to the whispers of the past. What were the meaning behind each woven thread? What did that shape there mean? Was it a monster that an apostle once fought off, or did it symbolise some internal struggle? The young could only guess at the meaning and those very few who were old enough to have lived those experiences did not breathe a word of that past.

But he was no longer that kid. Having some emotional reaction to an arbitrary pattern of paint made no sense. If history was worth remembering, then surely accuracy and permanence should be valued over artistic value, whatever that meant. These murals had him wondering what sort of individual Jackal had sent him out after.

The trail came to an end with a small body shrouded in a cloak and some sort of mask. It fit the dimensions he was giving at least. He approached with a lithe, noiseless step. "Would you know of a Fibi?" The doctor croaked out. He stood behind her with his hands behind his back, his heels together and his posture as straight as an arrow.

As she had finished her paint job, she stretched backwards, her fingers laced together and palms turning outward while bending at the knuckle. Her joints popped while she let out a grunt of constant anguish, and relief. That ort of stretch you do when you first get out of bed, and you feel the strain in your joints so that you can move your body better. It was when she bent backwards that her magenta eyes met with those of another fishman, someone asking her if she knew of a Fibi.

"I don't know of any other Fibis, I know me, I'm a Fibi. Does that count? That should count right? You have to know of yourself, that's like, existing, right?" So, while the paint fumes didn't get through the filter on her mask, she certainly had a tendency to talk and act like she smelled the fumes. As she turned around and coiled her tail up around her legs, she pushed it in to the ground so she could rise up, legs folded while sitting in a hovering position.

"What's up? Are you here to complain about the ship? Because, I know most people don't like it, but, I don't wanna beat someone up over my paintings, again." She sighed while pulling her mask down, letting it rest around her neck so Gil could see her face completely. A big grin on her face, showing off those interlocked serrated teeth.

"Hmm well, I suppose... That makes sense." He pondered her questions for a fair few moments, assessing them like a philosophical conundrum rather than the over complex answer that they were. So this was the Fibi he had been looking for, he decided to assume. She didn't look like much more than a girl, like one of the street children that roamed the grimyer parts of Baltigo. Except for, well, his attention was drawn to the large tail that she now used as a limb to balance on top of. What a strange appendage for a human to wear. Maybe a mutation? The pollution of the island's water sources could be to blame. Things like six fingers on the hand were heard of but such a huge thing sprouting from the lower back was simply unnatural.

The little girl's last words were something like a threat, or at least that is what the scaley boi interpreted it as. "Are you going to beat me up?" She didn't seem to bare a threat, beside the inhuman sharp teeth. There wasn't any detectable malice in her voice. Gil was suspicious by nature and as far as he was concerned, this being could be a threat. He took his right hand out from behind his back and held it outstretched, pinching his thumb and fingers together. It was the beginning position of one of his many katas which presented himself as ready for confrontation.

"Jackal asked me to come and see you. I would like to know what business you have with our crew." The girl may or may not notice that it wasn't a question or an order. She had ruffled the feathers of the usually calm and collected Sinbad so who knew what this was all about.

Fibi was far from a human, not that she had eaten a fruit, she looked mostly human though, so, the confusion was understandable. In actuality, she was a half fishman, leaning on traits from the mimic octopus, it just so happened that her limbs were close to the base of her spine right now, maybe later she could rearrange her body like an octopus. But, for now, she was having a pleasant conversation with this other fish person.

She mimicked what his hands where doing, forming a loop between her index finger and thumb, but lifted it up to her eye to peer at him through. She seemed much more child like than her body showed, and, her body certainly showed with that leather or latex based bikini top she was in. As she mimicked Gilbard a bit, she promptly stopped at the name of Jackal and rushed forward, again, not in a threatening manner, but, in an excited and happy manner.

Her smile wide, her eyes alight with excitement, "You know Jackal?! How is he? Did he say anything about when we went spray painting that other ship? Did you see the other ship? It was a blast painting his home land. Did you know his homeland was a giant elephant that walks through the water? I wanna see something like that someday, have you seen something like that?"

She was firing off words faster than what most would assume are humanly possible. Of course, when you spend your whole life learning to be someone else that doesn't talk to others, you would be excited to when you got the chance to socialize!

Gil's eyebrows furrowed and returned to a neutral position, though he didnt relax completely. She seemed like a little girl who was filled with boundless energy. He waited for the deluge of words to stop washing over him before answering her questions. "Jackal is my captain. No, nothing about a painting. I've only seen this painting here. Zou is the homeland of the mink tribe, yes. I have not spent much time in the New World, and have not encountered such a thing as Zou. It would be a sight to see though, I would imagine." He rattled off the answers in a structured response.

So what was going on with this creature? Why was she getting involved with the Calico Pirates? If he was to fulfill his crewmate's requests, he would have to discover these things. "You do know that we are bandits, do you not? We are in the middle of a dangerous feud here on Baltigo and we have declared war on the World Government. Even being around us will draw attention as if you are associated with us. If you continue to stay here, you will be in danger whether you would wish for it or not. I do not know whether you understand this or not. But now that you do, why are you concerning yourself with us?" The first port of call was making sure the girl understood what was going on. Understanding her motives was critical to feeling her out.

"Jackal asked me to examine you. I am a doctor. May I?" He reached one hand into his bag to produce a stethoscope. With her permission, he would go ahead and begin poking and prodding her. While the context of the initial request by Jackal had been an examination of her character, Gil felt that knowing someone's body was essential to learning about them. As both a martial artist and a doctor, he could read the body like a book and it could tell him many things that a tongue would not.

Fibi listed lazily to the left and to the right. Her tail moving her about in the air like a snake would slither, while she just kept her gaze locked on to Gil's own. She wasn't looking away from him, not yet. She just smiled the whole time he explained what was going on. She may have seemed young, and vulnerable, and rather unaware of her surroundings, if he only knew. She was being trained by one of the oldest names to sail on the ocean.

She was a monster in the making, probably more so than anyone that Gil knew barring Jackal from that list. "Fibi is just looking to enjoy her life, that's all." She said curtly, succinct, concise. Not even taking a moment to think about what she was saying. To Gil, this would be her answer, to her, it meant so much more that she just couldn't reveal information about, just, not yet.

When he asked if he could examine her, she blinked, before starting to disrobe right there, only to stop as she took off her jacket, standing there in what could be considered latex underwear, or some sort of a bikini. "Right here? Okay."

Gil put the stethoscope buds in his ears and leaned over the petite figure. The cold instrument was placed over her heart and he listened to its repetition. It was cool and natural, like a trickling mountain stream. She stood there without a drop of pressure or ill temper. Her body in a relaxed and neutral state. Being both a martial arts expert and a proficient doctor, he could tell a lot from examining one's body. From what he could discern, she believed what she said. Simplicity inside and out. Gil didn't know whether she truly understood his words but he could tell that they didn't worry her at least. Well, that was fine. He bore no responsibility over her. If she wished to commit herself to a dangerous lifestyle with such a carefree attitude then that was her business. As long as she didn't get in their way, he Gil didn't see why she couldn't do as she pleased. At worst, her ignorance would bring her an awful death at the hands of the enemies of the Calico Pirates, much like their past comrades who had found that very fate. Gil felt comfortable that he had done the due diligence that was required of him. The rest would be determined by Fibi herself. But rest assured, if she did cause trouble for them, it would be Gilbard that she would be dealing with.

He completed his examination, poking and prodding her up and down her body. She had a vibrant health to match her disposition, her life energy as sweet as her face. She bore some fishman genes, that came apparent rather quickly. Sack-like tails sprouted like a tree's roots. A half breed was unusual, the mechanics of reproduction not in favour of the odds of producing a healthy child. But the event wasn't unheard of, either. She probably wouldn't be able to reproduce, herself, as he had learned from the literature. With that done, he felt as though he had come to know the girl with deeper detail than a conversation could provide. He was confident that he could make his judgement now. "Alright then." He straightened up and put away his things. "You are in near perfect health. I would recommend adding an occasional seaspinach meal to your diet to improve your vitamin C levels." He stepped back and nodded once to conclude their meeting before strolling away. "We may be seeing more of each other. Until next time."  

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