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Post by Lockdown on Jan 2, 2017 22:57:09 GMT
The building around you all creaks and settles, the little-used cell doors rattling slightly as the wind rushes through the barred windows. Outside you hear raucous laughter, and nervous female tittering as a Marine passes by with some village girl on his arm. Inside the light from the lamps flickers, throwing shadows wildly as the sun begins to set. There are four cells, each secured by a barred door, lining two sides of the dead-end corridor. At the other end a disgruntled looking Marine has he feet propped up on a chair, taking a very occasional swig from a flask, and casting a baleful eye down the corridor; while at his feet a Houndour sleeps fitfully, occasionally sneezing and producing noxious fumes from its nostrils.
None of you had started the day expecting to end it in the jail of Shimotsuki island...
After you'd each been aprehended, you'd been subjected to a through search, anything of value or as a potential weapon stripped from you and dumped into a chest that had been deemed the "evidence locker"; though going by the calculating eyes of the Marines that had taken the things, you doubted much if any of it would be officially catalogued. The two biggest and most physically imposing had been handcuffed, the cuffed then chained to a ring bolt in the floor; while the other two less intimidating individuals had simply been roughly shoved into their current cells.
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Post by JPThunda on Jan 3, 2017 1:20:38 GMT
"Uggh...ow, my head," came a grumbling voice from the fourth cell. It was accompanied shortly thereafter by the slap of skin on stone and the clacking of chains. 'Clacking...?,' the man thought, looking down at his wrists, which felt particularly heavy. There was a brief pause, punctuated by slight clacking. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"
How had he ended up here? And where exactly was here? ...And where was his stuff? And why did his head hurt, for that matter?
He started to piece things together. First things first, where was here? The man sat cross legged in his cell and looked around. Stone walls, metal bars, chains, a Marine giving him the stink-eye...definitely a jail.
So, next question. Stuff. Where was his stuff? The man stood up in his cell, the metal chains clinking away. 'Armor? Gone. Sword? Also gone. Shield? Gone too. Aquila! Nope, pokeballs gone too. Damnit.' He took a few steps around the room, his bare foot splashing in a small puddle. "Really? Even my shoes?," he asked indignantly. He plopped back down in a huff, sitting cross-legged by the ring in the center of the cell he was chained to. "This sucks," he said in a frustrated tone.
When he plopped unceremoniously down, something jarred in his head, which hurt...but was accompanied by a few memories. Lots of drinking, and singing. He was up on the table, particularly enjoying this song. He jumped off as the song finished, then...wham. The man Touched the back of his head. Sure enough, there was a big ol' knot there. As he gently pressed on it, another memory flashed in his head. People putting his stuff in a box. He remembers stirring, kicking one of them in the jaw...and promptly getting slugged again. 'Well, that answers that...,' he thought to himself.
"Yeah...this really sucks, gah, hate cages...," he said, his tone annoyed. He looked around at the other three in situations similar to his own. A tall, skinny guy. No cuffs on him. A girl...maybe he'd seen her before? Maybe not. No chains on her either. Lucky bums. Then a really big...kinda off looking guy...chained to the floor like him. And then that Marine jailer. He jingles his chains and pulled on them, as if testing the floor bolt, and let out a deep breath.
"Well, might as well make the most of this," he said calmly. "Hey!," the man said loudly, looking over at the Marine. "Yeah, hey, can we get some food? Maybe something to drink, too? You are supposed to feed us, right?," he asked the Marine. "Besides, I can't be the only one in here who's hungry, right? You guys want something too?," he asked, looking each of the others in the eye in turn.
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Dec 12, 2017 10:45:02 GMT
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Post by HeadPikachu on Jan 3, 2017 2:56:59 GMT
This was bullshit.
A very upset barmaid leaned against the back wall of her cell, not wanting to sit down on the grimy stone floor, contemplating her night so far. A bunch of Marines came barging into the tavern and started drinking, one of them slaps her rear end, she slaps back, and suddenly she's charged with 'assaulting an officer' or some crap. Even the pirates and sailors took rejection better...Most of the time. Or could just be thrown through a window by Mom if they didn't. At least they hadn't taken most of her things, though they had been REALLY 'thorough' searching her; everything important had been in her special storage while she worked, save for Dolly's pokeball. Poor bird was returned and thrown in 'evidence' with everyone else's stuff; granted, a Chatot wasn't the best pokemon and she'd likely get it back after this was all said and done, but she still hated being separated from her friend.
...And who in the world was she locked in here with?! She vaguely recognized one from the bar shortly before she was dragged off, though he was wearing armor at the time. Almost broke a table standing on it, too. The other two she hadn't seen before, but she had heard a few regulars talking about some white-haired bloke setting up shop in town. Seems his 'miracle cures' didn't hold up. The two buff guys were chained up, as to be expected, but at least they hadn't bothered to chain up Gina. Maybe she could play a song or two to pass the time; she wasn't in here for anything SERIOUS, after all, and surely she'd be let out in the morning after the Marines sobered up.
One of the chained guys spoke up as she was considering her options, and she looked up. "Huh? Oh, sure; haven't eaten anything since breakfast." She absently agreed, not really expecting much of anything as far as food went from this place.
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Post by Vazad on Jan 3, 2017 6:15:02 GMT
Ezra sat with his arms crossed behind his back trying to get as comfortable as he could in the cramped confines of his cell. This really wasn’t how he had expected to be spending his first night on Shimotsuki, he’d barely gotten his head around the town before some neighborhood busybody had recognized him and tipped off the marines. The town had seemed like a good place to hit, plenty of trade, friendly community, All the hallmarks of the perfect mark. He supposed that he’d gotten a bit too lax, gotten a bit too complacent.
Letting out a soft sigh he looked at the occupants of the neighboring cells, there was an unassuming woman and two muscular men chained to the floor. In the back of his mind Ezra was rather grateful that he wasn’t chained to the ground, being locked up was bad enough without the added discomfort. Glancing at the guard he noted the guard and the occasional sips he took from some sort of flask, maybe he’d get drunk and pass out early in the night? That Houndour was going to be a problem though. Well one hurdle at a time. His gaze finally fell on the chest they were using to lock up the prisoner’s goods, Ann was most likely in there. A pang of guilt hit him at the thought of losing her, but he shook it off. He needed to keep a clear head and figure a way out of here.
One of the chained me said something about shoes, this was an odd time to be worrying about foot ware but Ezra wasn’t one to judge about one’s connection to their clothing. He listened as the man mumbled some more about cages before finally shouting at the guard to get them some food. Ezra didn’t think that was such a bad idea at all, he hadn’t eaten since he’d hit land, even if it didn’t end in a meal it’d give him a gauge of the guard’s demeanor. The woman gave some sort of halfhearted response and Ezra followed with his own quip. “Yeah! I haven’t had a bite all day. Don’t we get a bowl of gruel or something?”
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 10, 2024 12:51:43 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 3, 2017 9:24:22 GMT
What would I say to them all if they were still here? Victor sat hunched over in his cell, hairy forearms resting on his knees, broad fingers laced and hanging in the open space in front of him. Not one blink of the eyes, nor rise and fall of his chest signifying life about him, though the latter may have been his sheer size and the distance between him and his cell mates. Everything was stark contrast from the moment he'd been 'made well', perhaps had he simply accepted the devil fruit that was offered once upon a time, he wouldn't be in this circumstance.
You did it, ya bunch of scallywags! Haha! It played out in his mind a few times, but each iteration the faces of his crew became more bold and driven by love and pity until he could stand it no more and he sat up with a suddenness that might startle. Listening to Glay complain brought a small smile to his bearded face, which only grew as the other three inmates started discussing prison food as though it were something to look forward to.
"You won't have an appetite, eating what they serve here, that's for sure. Call it the 'cure for hunger'. Don't imagine it's too filling, but one bowl and done, so I's heard." Scarred one is probably in here for fighting, hard to say with the other two. Ain't locked up, but that don't mean they aren't dangerous.
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Post by JPThunda on Jan 3, 2017 14:26:59 GMT
The man looked over at the big guy who spoke, naysaying the quality of food, and let out a laugh, a big smile grew on his face. It was a little unsettling.
"I dunno, I've eaten some pretty nasty stuff before, and I still eat plenty of food," he said with a light chuckle. He stood up, chains clacking away, and walked over to his the door of his cell, getting right up against the bars.
"I'm Gladius, by the way. You three have names?," he asked, looking between the other inmates. "I figure we should all get to know one another, seeing as how we're gonna share a meal," he said, looking over at the Marine guard and pressing his face against the bars.
"About that, what do they have on the menu? I could really go for a nice steak, or maybe some fresh fish. You taking this all down?," he asked, staring at their jailer.
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Post by Lockdown on Jan 3, 2017 22:08:29 GMT
The guard's ears begin to redden from where he's sitting as the prisoners catcall him, before finally lurching to his feet, sending the pup sprawling with a yipe and a flicker of flame as it's accidentally kicked. The Marine doesn't notice as he stalks down the hall, banging the haft of his billy club against the bars. "You filthy criminals can all shut the hell up! I ain't got anything to eat, and even if I did I wouldn't be givin' it to the likes of you!" He pauses briefly in his rant to consider Gina with naked speculation, before a frisson of fear snakes over his expression, followed closely after by frustration and then even more anger.
"You'll be given gruel in the mornin' and that's if Captain Damien doesn't decide to hang you criminal scum." He's addressing Ezra and Victor specifically now.
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Post by Vazad on Jan 3, 2017 22:50:26 GMT
Keeping an eye on the guard Ezra listened as the one of the chained men, the one with the white on white eyes that Ezra could only assume was blind, began talking. He guessed that the man had been through this sort of thing a few times, sounded like in worse places than some small towns cell too. The scarred man then spoke up, sounded like he’d been in slightly… Dirtier situations before. He then introduced himself as Gladius, asking the others to introduce themselves before going back to talking about grub. Finally, the guard got up and strolled over to the cells. He was visibly uncomfortable and in his discomfort, he knocked over his guard dog. That wasn’t any good, Ezra’s thoughts toward the guard cooled quickly. The main started spouting some uninteresting speech about lawbreakers and not having food, as soon as he realized the man wasn’t going to say anything worthwhile Ezra decided he was better off getting to know the other cellmates.
Turning to Gladius Ezra spoke over the guard as he mentioned a “Captain Damien”. “A pleasure to meet you, the names Ezra. Wish we could have met somewhere else.”
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Post by Robot on Jan 3, 2017 23:35:11 GMT
"I aready met yer Cap'n, seemed like a decent fella." Victor's broad fingers combed through his beard, raking long rows through the bristle as he admired the guard's face for a moment. "Victor Stone there Gladdy, not that the name carries much weight when you go missing fer a bit but eh." Clapping a meaty hand over his knee, he settled his chin into the other hand and stroked his beard thoughtfully admiring the guard.
"This place could use a little livenin' up, ya look tense." There was a bombastic cut about the large man's features, and a sly slant to his eyes as he addressed the guard. "Might be all the hangings ye'er on about, but that's okay." Both broad hands made a placating 'settle down' sort of gesture, which was comical coming from a man his size. It was also extremely patronizing. "Ol' Stone knows just the tune to raise the spirits and keep 'em up afore my body lies cold in th' mornin!"
There was a long, slow inhale. In a way it was almost ominous the way his chest swelled with breath. "Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh!" Came an opening baritone note, one hand moving to his bench to tap out a rhythm, the other jingling his manacles for accompaniment. "WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A DRUNKEN SAILOR, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A DRUNKEN SAILOR, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A DRUNKEN SAILOR EAR'LY IN TH' MORNING!"
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Post by HeadPikachu on Jan 4, 2017 3:48:16 GMT
...Wait. Why was that guard looking at her like that? Wait, she knew why. At least the initial expression; one she'd seen before on the even less savory customers, before her mom stepped in and put a stop to it. The fear was familiar, too, as that was what they immediately looked like after Mom threatened to remove one or more 'troublesome' body parts and shove them down their throats. Likely, the guard was told something similar; touch Gina and face dire consequences. Perhaps this Captain he kept ranting about had some sense of decency about him, at least, which was comforting...Wait, didn't one of the Marines shout 'Captain' at the guy talking to her mother when she was arrested?
Gina's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar song starting up from the big dude across the cell from her, and she couldn't help but smile. Almost on instinct, Gina removed her hat, reached far deeper inside than should have been possible, and pulled out...A guitar. Just an old, beat-up guitar that had clearly seen better days. She should get it fixed up one day. She slung the guitar over her shoulder, put her hat back on, and began to play a familiar tune to accompany Victor's song.
"Put him in the longboat and make him bail her, put him in the longboat and make him bail her, put him in the longboat and make him bail her, early in the morning~" Her voice was a lovely alto, though she seemed like she had some range, and a stark contrast to the deep baritone.
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Post by JPThunda on Jan 4, 2017 4:19:54 GMT
Being thoroughly ignored by the Guard, Gladius was about ready to start shaking things up when the tall guy spoke up. "Hey, we can only go up from here, right Ezra?," he shouted back, over the Marine's voice.
It was at roughly this point that Stoney started singing quite loudly and distractingly. 'You beautiful big bastard, Stoney...,' Gladius thought to himself with a laugh. Then the girl chimed in with...a guitar! Yeah, Gladius did remember her! Nevermind where she got the guitar, this opportunity was golden.
Gladius quietly crept back to the bolt holding his chain to the floor, at least as quietly as he could, and squatted down, trying to shield it from the Guard's view. He held his hand out over it, fingers spread, palm above the bolt, and started to focus on the bolt. It began to rattle and shake in its hole, loosening little by little.
"Way hay, and up she rises; Way hay, and up she rises; Way hay, and up she rises; Ear-ly in the moor-ning...," Gladius muttered under his breath as he focused on the bolt.
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Post by Vazad on Jan 4, 2017 5:19:58 GMT
Gladius spoke over the Marine in reply to Ezra as well, Ezra laughed and gave the man a nod as the other chained man who called himself “Stone” started singing a bawdy tune. As soon as the singing broke out he saw Gladius walk to the back of his cell and start fiddling with his chains, if the man thought he could do something to get the chains off the most likely could do something about the door lock as well so Ezra decided the better part of valor was to let him get on with it. It wasn’t like Ezra would be able to take down the guard single-handedly anyway, the more distraction the better. The woman across the way pulled a guitar out a hat and began playing and singing along. He decided to worry about that AFTER getting Ann. The song was a pretty common tune so despite not being much a singer Ezra was sure he could follow the tune and lyrics. Standing up he walked over to hold the bars of his cell as close to the guard as he could, belting out the tune shakily but as loud as he could.
“Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor ear-ly in the morning!” Ezra pounded on the bars of his cell to the beat, trying to crank the sound up as much as he could. He made sure to keep his eyes on the guard as intensely as possible. As he burst into the chorus.
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Post by Lockdown on Jan 4, 2017 14:27:43 GMT
As Ezra begins talking over him, the guard whirls, bashing his club against the bars, before Victor's singing causes him to snarl in rage. "Shut up!" He begins to spin like a very angry top, lashing out at each of the cells in reach as all the prisoners begin to sing; though he does a double-take when he spots Gina with her guitar.
Unseen by the guard, the bolt holding Gladius' chains in place begins to shiver, before the top half of the ring simply snaps off, the relatively low-quality metal simply giving way before the tremors. The guard however hasn't noticed, focused on Gina with a half-mad leer.
"Don't know how you got that in there girlie, but obviously you were hiding a transport ball somewhere. Gonna make absolutely sure you ain't got anything else hidden somewhere, even if it takes all.. night..." He chucks his flask over his shoulder and fumbles for his keys, unlocking the door to Gina's cell, his Houndour taking up position in the door to keep Gina penned in.
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Post by JPThunda on Jan 4, 2017 15:06:22 GMT
When the bolt snaps, Gladius grins. 'Ignore me, will he? Smug bastard...,' he thought to himself. He stood up, turning around, and heard the guard and saw him advancing on the guitar gal. Gladius grabbed his chains, holding them like a whip, and got as close to the bars separating his cell from the guard's as he could.
"Hey, you three might want to hold onto something," he said, a confident smile on his face. Then, without further warning, Gladius lifted his left leg high, and his foot seemed to be surrounded by a glowing white orb. He quickly stomped down onto the floor, and there was a cracking sound similar to breaking glass. Lines and cracks spiderwebbed out from where he stomped in all directions, including up the bars of the cell wall...and underneath the Marine's feet.
After only the briefest of moments to register what had just happened, the area around Gladius began shaking violently. Stone cracked and splintered, practically exploding in the ground. The floor heaved beneath them, and the metal bars groaned and squeaked as they were shaken to their cores and twisted by vibrations they were never designed to bear.
Throughout all of this shaking and shuddering, Gladius stood steady, a widening smile on his face.
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Post by HeadPikachu on Jan 4, 2017 15:07:02 GMT
...All right, this may not have been the smartest idea. Gina temporarily forgot that, unlike her, many others didn't have secret pockets to pull out things in comedic situations. Not to mention, her jailer was already drunk and had been giving her not-safe-for-4Kids eyes. And was now trying to act on it. She backed up against the back wall, her fingers automatically finding their way to a certain, very explodey cord...But with the close quarters, there was no way to hit just him. However, the other cellmates seemed like good men, and surely they wouldn't let anything happen to such a sweet young woman! ...Right? With little other choice, Gina trusted in the kindness of these weirdos, shifted her hand to another chord, and strummed. The others would find themselves gifted with a surge of energy and a bit more kick in their attack. Assuming they actually helped out, of course. Gina spent 1AP and used Song of Might, giving all allies +5 to their Damage Rolls until Gina's next turn. DO NOT DISAPPOINT HER.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 4, 2017 15:29:05 GMT
It's really no wonder the GW never caught up with me in those days that I was 'a filthy pirate'. Do they even keep record of devil fruit users? Victor mused thoughtfully as he squared his shoulders and planted his back firmly against the wall. Through it all, Gina kept singing, hardly a hint of nervousness in her tone as vibrations rolled through the structure. Felt kind of nice on the back, but the Marine was startled and confused in that second, probably better to keep him from laying hand on the girl.
Casting a sideways glance to Ezra, Victor clasped his hands in his lap, those strange, glassy pectorals lighting from within with a greater and greater intensity, till a prismatic beam of such brightness it was hard to look at lanced through the bars of his cells and into the Marine's back.
"PUT HIM IN A LONGBOAT TILL HE'S SOBER, PUT HIM IN A LONGBOAT TILL HE'S SOBER, PUT HIM IN A LONGBOAT TILL HE'S SOBER EAR'LY IN TH' MORNIN!" Hadn't even broken tune.
(30 Special Normal Damage to the Marine)
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Post by Lockdown on Jan 4, 2017 15:49:58 GMT
The suddent attacks, from the side and behind, are more than enough to take down both Marine and Mon. The poor Houndour goes down with barely a whimper in the spray of dirt and debris even as the separating the cells wrench out of place, leaving a gap wide enough for Gladius to slip through. The Marine has no time to contemplate this new wrinkle, a blast of light slamming into his back and sending him collapsing to the floor, eyes glassy and one hand still stretched out towards Gina as he falls, leaving her way unbarred.
Victor's laser blast has had much less effect on the surrounding stone and steel than Gladius' attack however, leaving the bars of his cell smoking and charred, but otherwise intact.
In the sudden stillness within the jail, the sounds of outside filter in. It's quiet, no one calling out an alarm, no panicked cries from a villager. It seems that the Marines had left the general area around the jail to pursue their preferred pastimes further in the town.
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Post by HeadPikachu on Jan 4, 2017 16:04:04 GMT
Finally, Gina had made the right choice. Gathering herself, she quickly slung her guitar to her back, grinning to the pair who saved her from certain unpleasantness. "Hey, thanks." She said, grabbing the keys from the unconscious guard and starting to unlock the still-intact cells. Wasting no time, it seemed; probably didn't want to be around when the lecherous guard woke up.
"Oh, um, I'm Gina, by the way. Forgot to mention it earlier." She finally introduced, putting a name to the boobs face. Victor's cell was unlocked first, followed by Victor's cuffs(after some key fumbling), Erza's cell, and finally Gladius's cuffs. Looking at the guard, she paused. "...Hey, can we lock him and his pokemon into one of the other cells? Just in case they get up." She asked one of the buff guys who looked like they could actually move him.
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 10, 2024 12:51:43 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 4, 2017 16:16:34 GMT
Victor didn't move from his bench while Gina went through the motions of freeing the others. He hadn't really intended to jailbreak but it looked like that's where things were going one way or another. Glady had a good head on his shoulders, Gina was a free spirit, Ezra was a bit harder to get a bead on, but good men didn't belong in jail. He also wasn't about to throw the life away he'd been given and sacrificed for. With a little nod, he rose.
"Yeah, but if you're gonna embarrass someone, you gotta really make a scene out of it." Dragging the guard to Ezra's cell, as it had taken the least damage, he proceeded to strip the unconscious man of his uniform, continuing to whistle 'Drunken Sailor' to himself. A bit roughly, he laid the man out on the cot. "We'll take the Pokemon a bit more a'field so he can't just get out again."
Click Went the cell door. "Aright, fish for yer stuff."
(One GW Marine Outfit Acquired, Using Illusionist to copy our Guard.)
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Post by JPThunda on Jan 4, 2017 16:42:46 GMT
Gladius stepped through the hole between his and Gina's cell, making sure to get his manacles unlocked. He rubbed his wrists as they were, a smile still on his face.
"Y'know, I know I was talking about getting some fish or steaks or something," he said, walking over to the footlocker and breaking the lock, "but there's really no substitute for the sweet taste of freedom."
He heard the click of the cell behind him and saw the...less-clad guard being locked up. "What, you didn't want to chain him to the floor? You're too nice, Stoney," Gladius said as he retrieved his gear, putting it on. Armor, shield, sword, pokeballs, bandages, rope...and shoes. With all of his stuff out, Gladius kicked the crate over to the others.
As Gladius tightened his armor's straps and shoes, he added a new verse to the song they'd been singing, waiting for the others to gather their things.
"Lock-him-in-a-cell, and make our es-cape; Lock-him-in-a-cell, and make our es-cape; Lock-him-in-a-cell, and make our es-cape; Ear-ly in the moor-ning."
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