Min had been sitting above deck, meditating on theirr next destination. Whatever happened, happened, and yet she was nervous. Ruby was so foreign to her, to everything she believed in.
Min decided to wander below decks, nearly cursing when a splinter dug into her bare feet. Nearly, she had some dignity after all. She hopped around a bit, attempting to pick the little annoying sliver out of her foot and failing.
Somehow, she ended up in the kitchens, where she met Bastien.
"Hey, Bastien. You alright then?" she greeted.
(Sorry this is short, I hit my head so I'm gonna be weird for a while.)
(are you okay??)
Bastien turned, a roll already in his mouth. He took it out and swallowed, smiling. “I’m pretty good, obviously a bit nervous,” he admitted. “How are you doing today, Min?”
(Yeah dude this happens basically every week, I'm just a klutz)
"Nervous as well. Are the stories about Ruby… well, true?" she asked, sitting down and drumming her fingers on the table. "I just… you're from there. So you'd know. Do all the people there have faces like rats and is it really a place of lawless bastards, like Grandfather always said? Probably not, given you, but still." she shifted, worried about her bluntness.
Bastien chuckled, his spirits lifted, then took a bite of his roll. He swallowed, then smirked at her. “Well, you’re talking to a lawless bastard, so I would say they’re true,” he responded with a flip of his hair. “Though the rat-faced part is just mean. I have the face of angel. At least, according to the travelers who saw me on the street when I was younger. Little did they know, I picked their pockets while they were walking away.” He shrugged, then took another bite.
"Oh. Oh. Alright." she said, embarrassed a little. Was he laughing at her? Did Bastien hate her? She began to spiral down into depressive thoughts, before taking a breath and orienting herself. "You do have a very pretty face, that's just a fact." she smiled, hoping she hadn't offended the man.
(I'm logging off for the night, my meds are kicking in and they aren't helping my headache any lmao.)
“Should be another day at sea, yes…” Emery murmured as they began tapping their foot again. They didn’t know much about Tori’s past, but they knew a thing or two about bad memories. They grew quiet as they tried not to remember them, or imagine the ship going down in a storm. Emery followed Tori’s example and took a deep breath, inhaling the ocean air.
Luna gave a quick nod as she looked over at Emery. She knew most of her crew had bad pasts, and it wasn't her business to stick her nose into any of them. However, she knew quite a few of theirs, like Tori. She gave Emery a tight lipped smile, "I'm glad. Keep an eye out for other ships, we don't need conflict this close to our desitination."
Bastien grinned at the compliment, his dimples showing. “Thank you! You’re not bad looking yourself,” he replied with a wink. “Besides, rat-faced is far from the worst thing I’ve heard about people from Ruby,” he added in a confidential tone, hoping that she understood that he wasn’t actually offended.
(okay i hope you feel better!)
Emery’s head snapped upward, and they tried to return Luna’s smile. “What? Oh, right. Of course, Captain.”
They pulled out a spyglass and scanned their surroundings. Nothing too close… ah! “There seems to be a merchant ship from… Pearl? A Pearl merchant ship on port side. It’s not too close, but it’s possible they could spot us from over there.”
What was a ship from Pearl doing here? The question was held at the tip of Emery’s tongue.
(https://www.pirateglossary.com/anatomy just gonna leave this here in case anyone needs it)
"Pearl?" Luna asked glancing over the port side. She pulled her own spyglass, even though she had gotten quite good at seeing distances without it. Her frown grew as she pulled it away, the ship definitely bore the crest of Pearl on it, "What are they doing here in Ruby? The only reason they would be here is if they were dropping criminals off, but Pearl doesn't do that. Unless they're here to buy wares, but what wares?"
"Oh, well, if you're sure. Anything I should expect?" she asked, blinking a little bit and staring intently. "You know, what's the street life like? Do I need to be prepared to kill anyone? Please say I won't have to kill anyone."
Bastien chuckled lightly, before tilting his head, considering. “No, at least I don’t think so,” he responded. “Try not to carry too many valuables with you; there are pickpockets everywhere. Also, it’s not to most friendly or clean of places. Just stick with the group and you should be fine. Probably.”
"Probably?" she squaked, her voice reaching a new high she was surprised she could actually quite reach. "Whats 'probably' supposed to mean?"
“It means you can never be too careful,” Bastien replied, the humor leaving his face for a moment. “If you get into trouble, I’ll have your back, okay? It’s part of my job to make sure that everyone gets through this in one piece. Besides, we could use a little excitement now and then.” He grinned again.
"Excitement is a fun play or a dance, not getting robbed blind and left in a ditch." she grumbled, giving Bastien a side-eyed grimace. "But thanks for having my back anyways. It's reassuring. And I'll have your back too!" she added.
“Thanks,” Bastien said with a small nod, grateful. “And you clearly haven’t attended any parties in Ruby if that’s your bar.” He laughed. “Waking up penniless in a ditch is pretty tame compared to all the shit that goes down there if you’re not careful.”
"Parties. Why am I not surprised you are the way you are?" she smiled, grabbing a piece of sad looking fruit and biting in. "That's a compliment, by the way."
Bastien gave her his customary smile, dimples and all. “Thanks, though I would have taken it as one whether that was your intention or not,” he admitted. “Parties in Ruby are something else. You’d hate them, but they’re a hell of a time. Speaking of parties, why don’t we ever have one?”
"Because the captain is bo-ring." Min singsonged, frowning. "And apparently parties are a waste of supplies I guess. We really should have one though, why not one tonight? I'll be entertainment, as usual, and we can sing and dance and have an amazing time!"
“But what about the others? Some of them are kinda wet blankets,” huffed Bastien. “So are we not going to tell them?” His eyes actually seemed to sparkle a bit at the idea of a little rebellion. “And whatever we waste I can probably steal new versions of in Ruby so they never have to know.”
"Yeah, why not? Who else shall we rope into our delightful scheme?" she asked, grinning at the ideas she'd begun to come up with. "Oh my goodness, I can sing a shanty. I can get everyone to sing a shanty. Quick, Bastien, what's your favorite shanty? I need ideas."
“Oh god,” Bastien groaned. “I’m definitely going to have to steal some alcohol for this. The only time I sing sea shanties is when I’m drunk.” Despite his complaining, he was obviously excited. “We could go above decks and try to figure out who we can rope in from there.”
"Yes! Ooh, do you know any ballads? You know, some people mix the two up, but shanties are call-and-response meant to maintain a working rhythm, whereas ballads are supposed to tell a story of some sort, among other things…" she explained, beginning a long information dump that didn't really go anywhere, but Min was excited all the same.
