[KAI & PRINCE]

"Wow, that smells good," Kai said, smelling the dinner that Winter cooked all the way up to him and Prince's joint room. After they got back on the ship they headed straight to their room, in which Kai started fixing up Prince's leg from the small battle in Ballard. He wasn't a professional but he knew his way around the mechanics after fixing Prince's mechanical body parts multiple times. Prince whistled as he was sharpening a new set of arrows after wasting some away from the fight in Ballard.

"Yeah," Prince agreed, putting away his arrows. He yawned, stretching his arms above his head.

"Are you coming to dinner?" Kai asked. From the small time he's been part of the crew, Prince had never once joined them for dinner and instead ate during the next town they docked in or by himself which is why he kept such an insane amount of food in the room.

"Nah," Prince shrugged, taking his leg as Kai passed it to him and attached it back on. "I'll pass," Prince said, waving his hand to shoo Kai away.

"Alright, I'll see you later then," Kai said, getting up from his seat and leaving the room. Kai walked over to the galley, following the scent of dinner, he entered seeing Winter putting down the food on the table. ""Hey Winter," he greeted, taking a seat on one of the chairs surrounding the table. "It smells good."

Waiting while Winter cooked was torture. The smell made his stomach growl and his mouth water. She had shooed him and the rest of the hungry crew out of the galley. He did as he was told and cleaned up around the forming scab on his neck. He winced occasionally when he pressed to hard, but once it was clean he felt better.

Although it realistically didn't take that long for Winter to finish, Aubrey was convinced he would starve. The day's adventures had left him wiped out. He waited with Jax, as patiently as he could. He stuck his head through the doorway, making sure he was allowed back in. Winter was just setting bowls of stew out on the table. “Oh my gosh that looks so good.” He said, moving inside. A moment later Kai came in. Now that he thought about it, Aubrey realized he hadn't seen him all day.

He slid into the seat next to Kai, saving the other one next to him for Jax. “Hey, Kai.” He greeted him, smiling warmly. When he sat down, Aubrey pulled his hat off like he usually did, stuffing it in a pocket once more. “How's life?”

Taran was munching on a biscuit that he managed to swipe from Winter's cupboard. However, when it mixed with the smell of food, it seemed to simply be making him even more hungry than if he had chosen to skip the ...four...that he had already. He pulled in one of the chairs from the other table and sat down next to Aubrey, he smirked at the boy, raising a finger to press it lighting into the cut on the boy's neck."Looks like breaking into a house was a little bit safer than going to get some coffee, who'd thunk it," a few crumbs fell from his mouth onto his lap. He brushed them off promptly onto the floor.

"Winterrrr," he called out, watching the soup fill the bowl. "I'm so hungry, I could die, you look even more lovely than usually because you are feeding me. And I want you to know that I love and appreciate everything that you do. I also like the fact that you could poison me, but you are kind and choose not too. I don't think I say that enough," His voice was neutral and he fought to keep a straight face, but there was a slight glint to his eye when he spoke.

Jax despised being shooed out of the kitchen when she was hungry. She hadn't eaten all day and just wanted to raid the Winter's food cupboard. However, Winter was having none of it and urged her and Aubrey out of the kitchen. After which they both waited outside of the kitchen desperately for her to let them back in for dinner. Jax watched as Aubrey cleaned his wound, it looked rather painful and she felt guilty for letting him get hurt. I'm sorry Aubrey, she wanted to say but didn't. Once the smell was wafting from the kitchen they knew that it was time to eat and hurried back into the galley.

"Finally! It seemed like it took forever, my stomach was singing the song of its people to me for like hours" Jax joked around and went to sit next to Aubrey who had saved a seat beside him when Taran sat down next in a chair next to them. Jax folded her arms across her chest and smacked him on the back of the head as Winter would. "What do you think you're doing? Don't poke at Aubrey!" She fumed

After which she sat beside Aubrey, glancing at Taran with a threatening glare. "Winter! Oh thank goodness, I can't wait to eat!" She was setting the table and the somewhat suspicious, probably poisoned soup looked delicious. She'd suffer it, she was that hungry and it wasn't like she hadn't had the experience before. Chills went down her spine thinking about it, silently she prayed to the God of the Air and Sky that Winter wouldn't choose now to poison them all for causing trouble.

Winter

Winter was leaning against the counter, a hand resting on her hip as she watched the crew start to stream in. She gave a smile to Kai and Aubrey as they came in, gushing over the food. She took a moment to eye Aubrey's cut. He'd done a good enough job of cleaning it up, though Winter figured she should still have a look at it. She turned around to wash her hands and heard Taran make his usual ruckus. She didn't turn to look at him as he attempted to shower her with flattery, but if one were to see her face, they would see an amused smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh Taran," she said in a teasing voice, "you really do think too highly of me."

Winter dried her hands and walked over to another cabinet where a few small jars sat, filled with various colored liquids, along with a needle, some thread, and several rolls of gauze. She kept these little stores all around the ship – it was always best to be prepared with this bunch. Winter picked out a small jar of translucent green liquid, gauze, and medical tape, along with a clean scrap of cloth. Turning back, she walked over so she stood next to Aubrey, opposite of Jax and Taran.

"Hold still," she murmured as she to inspect his neck. It was directed just as much to the young boy as it was to Taran and Jax. Winter brought up her hand and gently lifted Aubrey's chin, turning it a bit towards her. Placing the gauze and tape on the table, she took the cloth and dabbed it on his skin, absorbing any leftover water, along with a few drops of blood. Without looking, Winter tossed the cloth onto another area of the counter, well away from the pot. Then she uncorked the bottle and a sharp, minty smell filled the air, mingling with the aroma of the stew. Dipping her finger into the jar, she delicately smeared the liquid across the gash at his neck, as well as on the surrounding skin.

Winter put the stopper back on the bottle and placed it on the table, picking up the gauze and tape. She made quick work of covering the wound and then placed her clean hand lightly on top of his head, almost as if to pat him, and gave him a small smile. Then she picked up the jar from the table and put all her supplies away, washing her hands in the sink.

"Let me know if it starts bleeding again, alright?" she told Aubrey over her shoulder. With that done, Winter turned back around to lean against the counter again. Kai, Aubrey, Jax, and Taran. Prince and the captain usually never ate with them, Angelo only came down from his roost if she served pork and garlic bread, and if Levi were eating with them, then she'd be here by now. That just left Winston and the twins. Something told her Winston wouldn't be at dinner tonight, but Rin and Sakuya were something of a toss-up. She supposed they could just join in when they got there, then.

Winter pushed off from the counter and took a seat at the table. Picking up the mug she'd placed by her bowl when she'd been setting up, she raised it, a playful glint in her eyes.

"To another close call, then," she said in a mock toast. She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip, signaling it was officially dinner time.

[KAI]

"Hey, Aubrey," Kai greeted, a smile forming on his lips. While Aubrey was only a year older, he admired him. Only a year older and he can fight with the rest of the crew, unlike Kai who doesn't like the thought of fighting. He'll fight if he had too, but he just forces Prince to do his fighting for him, also because Prince just goes around looking for trouble so anything works for him. "I'm doing good, you?"

He watched as the others entered the room, smiling at them as a way to greet them. Everyone took their place around the table and Winter patched up the wound on Aubrey's neck from earlier. No matter how long he's stayed on the ship, he could never get used to all the blood and wounds that showed up on a daily basis. At uncomfortable times like these, he wished Prince was here.

"To another close call, then," Winter said, raising her cup in the form of a toast. He smiled, lifting up his cup too and taking a sip from it.

Angelo sighed as he relaxed in the crows next and looked up in the sky above him watching the clouds roll by. They were already off and avoiding the storm Angelo called to the captain earlier so now all he needed to do was to keep an eye out for enemy ships. which Angelo could do easily by just looking in all directions every once in a while. Between that time he could just relax and enjoy the quiet by himself

“Not too bad.” Aubrey replied to Kai, “But I got a lil - ow, Taran, stop it, that hurts!” He swatted away Taran's hand, who at some point had drug over another chair so he could be close enough to bother him.

Winter took his attention away from Taran, when she tilted up his chin, telling hims to keep still. He did as she asked, careful not to wiggle as she dabbed gently at his neck. She spread that minty stuff he liked on it, the kind that feels all cool and tingly. She taped the bandage to his neck, and placed a hand on his head before she moved away. Aubrey smiled and thanked her. She was one of few people he actually liked to pat him on the head like that. For some reason it didn't feel like she was teasing him – like Prince did – but it was more like an act of affection. “Okay, I will.”

Winter took her seat and raised her glass in a toast, giving them the okay to eat. That was one of the simple things Aubrey liked about these pirates – they ate together like family. Well, most of them, anyway. It gave them all a chance to be together before everyone got busy with their own tasks.

Aubrey took a swig of his drink and then pulled his bowl of stew closer. He took a bite of it, relishing the rich flavors. “You're amazing, Winter.” He said, taking a few more large bites in rapid succession.

She watched with interest as Winter tended to Aubrey's wound on his neck. It was sweet the way she treated them like crazy children who needed a good mother. And she was a good mother, firm but she could be kind and gentle when she needed to be. Jax often got jealous when she attended to the others like Prince and Levi but not her. However, she had just gotten amazing and comfy new gloves from 'mother' and couldn't be happier. Thinking about them, Jax cast her gaze down at her lap where her hands were rested. The gloves were all soft all the inside and made a sound when she clenched her hands into fists. "Cool" She thought out loud.

Jax reached out and took her bowl in both hands, knocking back a drink of it as if it were a cup of water. It left her with a soup moustache but it felt good and warm on her upper lip. Holy crap this is delicious., "Winter you've almost out done yourself" Jax said smiling over to Winter who had just toasted to their close call. Jax nodded, reaching for her cup and raising it than taking a swig from it too wash down the rich, flavorful soup. It was amazing.

Licking her upper lip clean she continued to drink her soup, chewing slowly on the chunks that were in it to enjoy the flavors. There was nothing better than Winter's cooking, especially not the plain old kitchen snacks she was going for before. Thanks momma.

"Does it hurt more when I do thi-" He was cut off from poking the injury harder by Winter intervening and mending the wound. She looked...like something else when she healed, or when she did anything really that required focus. Her eyes just seemed to light up and she looked...serious, but at ease, like she was letting her guard down. It made her look...really, really, pretty. He found himself just staring at her, not hearing any of the conversation that was going on around him. He found himself trying to see what was suddenly so different about her. At first he thought it must have been make-up, but no, that was the same. Maybe she changed hair? He couldn't tell. Suddenly Taran felt a little less hungry, but he couldn't explain why. He glanced over at Winter again, half tempted to just leave the room, but figuring he should probably eat some of the soup. Taran shook his head and berated himself for being silly. Here he was getting all worked up for no particular reason.

He was able to will himself back to normal after a few seconds while Winter finished healing Aubrey. Soon, Taran was giving Winter a thumbs up as he chowed down on the soup. He paused only to do a half hearted cheers and slightly choking when he tried to drink with a mouth full of food. After a few minutes, his bowl was empty. "Well,"he said, standing and grabbing his bowl to rinse it out. "I guess I better go give Prince his share of the treasure, although why he should get any of the jewels is beyond me. He got an ashtray, I find that to be more than equal. But whatever," He rinsed out his bowl and set it on the counter to dry. "Most of it is old lady crap anyway, only worth it's weight in gold, but there was this one," His eyes flicked over Winter and he felt himself reaching into his pocket and pull out the one necklace that he deemed 'decent'. He held it in his hand, showing it for a second before walking over to Winter. "Um, you should...have it," he said, holding out it out to her. He took her hand and set the neckless in it, he held onto her hand for another second after.

"Yeah, well," he said suddenly, flushing a little red. " AH, we are out of milk. I'm going to the store...I'll be back later...with..eggs. Yeah," Then he fled the room, vaguely heading towards Prince's. Clearly he had forgotten that they were on a flying ship and could not, in fact, go buy milk, or eggs.

Winston had waited long enough. He stood and walked to the metal cup and bag, carelessly left on the floor. His hand reached into the bag and pulled out a bundle of stalks, dry, thick, and hollow. He pushed them into the metal cup. The ends of the stalks extruded from the top by two inches. The oil was almost at the top. Winston waited 30 seconds and pulled the stalks out. Winston moved them in a circle as he removed them, leaving a dripping spiral in the cup. Much of the oil was still there. Winston went back to the bag and pulled out the jar of dust. He opened the small jar, dipping the oil-covered tip of each stalk into the dark powder. Once he had all of them, he put two sticks into the cup filled with dirt.

Winston took a well used piece of flint from his pocket and pulled out a small key of steel from the other. He scraped the flint with the steel above the stalks, the sparks falling on the powder and making a quiet bang. A line of a dull pink smoke constantly drifted into the air. A soft scent was emitted by the stalks, changing the room's scent of nothing to a very slight flowery smell.

Winston put his hands together and put them near his head. He was silent for a moment. He dropped his hands, and pushed him self up. From there, he walked to the door, opened it, went out to the hall, and locked his door. He went to the mess-hall.

Once he got there, he instantly was bumped into by a fleeing Taran. Winston saw almost everyone there, all eating. He walked over to an empty seat, and sat there. He began to eat his meal, not speaking to anyone, and covering his mouth with his empty hand.

Winter

Winter was content as she ate, listening to the sounds of her crew. Meals were the one time no one was rambling on, and yet they still managed to cause a ruckus with all their slurping and munching. Winter just smiled to herself. Taran finished his meal earlier than usual and started running his mouth about something or other. Winter didn't pay it any mind though. At least Taran was cleaning up after himself this time.

Then he turned back to the group and she saw him pull out a necklace. It was a delicate thing with a silver chain meant to look like tree branches and bronze flowers set in different intervals. It was beautiful.

But then Taran walked over to Winter's side and picked up her hand to gently curl her fingers around it. The cold bite of the metal was a hard contrast with the warmth of his hand, seeping into her own. She was frozen as Taran shifted his weight, clearly awkward. He made some poor excuse to leave and fled the room.

Winter's mind was blank save for a long string of curses in every language she knew. She jumped when the sounds of Winston enter the room and her mind snapped back to reality. Which meant she was thinking again. Winter felt her skin begin to heat and suddenly all she wanted was to get away.

"Clean up when you're done," she told the others in clipped tones. At the same time she pushed herself up, her chair scraping along the floor. Winter walked quickly out the door, not looking at anyone. She didn't slow her pace until she reached her room, the door slamming shut behind her. The entire time, the necklace she'd thought was beautiful only a few moments before lay heavy in her hand.

It had been roughly 32 hours since the Leviathan had departed from Ballard. It was a relief to have that place behind them. Dexter hoped they wouldn't have to dock there again, because the whole place made him twitch. He liked things neat, clean, orderly... and Ballard was the exact opposite of all those things. Although that kind of place was common, he was very careful to stay on the ship when they visited those types of places.

Now he sat around the mapping table with his crew. It was a little before noon, after the crew had cleaned up from breakfast and everyone gathered in the navigation room, where most of their plans were discussed. The sat around the circular table, everyone facing inwards to make it easier to converse. Dexter spread his charts in front of his crew, letting them examine them on their own.

The crew looked well-fed, and some of them had even taken the time to bathe. With the exception of Aubrey, who Dexter noticed was wearing a bandage on his neck, everyone appeared to be in good health. When everyone had taken their seat, Dexter spoke.

“In about three hours, we will be arriving at the location of our next raid.” He said, “It's a remote island, and I only heard of it through a special connection. Gathering info on it has proven difficult, so there is a lot we might not have on the place.” He gestured to the papers on the table. “This is everything I have. Although the name of the place isn't officially documented, it had been referred to as The Crumbling Keep.”

Aubrey opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but Dexter cut him off by raising a hand. “No, Aubrey, I don't know why they call it that.” The boy pouted and sat back, and Dexter continued. “We can expect high security. This place is meant to hold some very advanced... inventions. Large, robotic weapons are housed there, though it's hard to say if they are just being stored or if they are active and being put to use. Either way, this is going to be a tough one. We will not only be worrying about the possibility of these machines coming after us, but there is also a large amount of human guards. Ideally, we would get in without being noticed, take a few things, and then get out. However, you have all proven over and over that you are not good at keeping things low-key. That, and the added problem of that we have a huge ass mothafuckin' ship trying to sneak up on a small island, there is about a 90% chance of a confrontation.”

He paused to scan the faces of his comrades, judging their reactions thus far.

She had spent the last day or so working on enhancing her eye piece so it could read heat signatures. But for some reason she just couldn't get it to work and it was terribly frustrating. However, she refused to give up and kept trying. Jax took a deep breath, her hat was off, her hair a mess and her arms and face covered in sweat and grime from working on different things. "I need to bathe. badly, I smell like a military dog" Te pirate took off toward the lavatory and stripped, setting her nice gloves aside carefully to get in the tub she had filled prior to removing all her clothes. It wasn't necessarily warm water, but it wasn't freezing either, she and a few other mechanics on the ship had designed a system to make it so the water wasn't icy cold when you had to wash off.

Once she was finished, dried off and put her clothes back on, she was notified that the captain had called a meeting... and she was late for it. Crap, why me? Not only had she missed breakfast that morning, but she wasted time bathing and now had to go face the captain, after being late for the meeting. Jax ran to where she knew everyone would be and crept in and took her place beside Aubrey who she smiled at and started to listen to what the captain had to say.

Curiously she examined the charts and maps the captain had laid out on the table, what the heck were the charts for? Then he mentioned their raid in about 3 hours in a place called The Crumbling Keep and she knew it would be the perfect place to test her Hand Cannon. She also couldn't wait to take a lot at the "advanced" machinery that the place supposedly held. Once he was finished, Jax broke out into laughter over the fact that he had said huge as mothafuckin' ship, that didn't seem like something her captain would say, it didn't match his usual tone or expressions at all.

Winter

Winter was completely focused on the captain's explanation. Or at least, that's how she looked on the outside. In reality she was trying very hard to look anywhere but at Taran. She'd holed herself up in her room for the remainder of the previous evening, only leaving this morning to make the crew breakfast. As soon as that was done, she left the food in the kitchen for the others to find, instead of waiting for them to arrive as she normally would. It was cowardly but Winter honestly had no idea what to do with this situation. Taran… he…

Winter tightened her fists behind her back, nails nearly cutting into her palms. The necklace was hidden in her desk drawer, and her mind kept on wandering back to it.

The captain stopped talking and it took a moment for Winter's attention to snap back to reality. The raid. Weapons. High security. She contemplated the situation as all of his words finally registered.

"Captain," she started, "what exactly are we after?" It must've been something of exceptional value for him to risk such security.

Winter and Taran probably would have had a better time of avoiding each other if they hadn't tried to avoid each other in the same way. His arms still ached from the half hour in which he hid under one of the tables while Winter cooked breakfast. Usually, he'd send one of the others in to do a look out before he would enter the kitchen, before denying that that was what he was doing. But, on that morning, Taran thought he was up early enough that he wouldn't risk seeing the girl. He was wrong. When he dared enter the hallway, he'd usually end up climbing something because he thought it was Winter coming around the corner, usually it wasn't.

He spent the last thirty-two hours kicking himself. Why did he feel the urge to give her that stupid necklace? No only was it the most valuable piece of jewelry that he took that night, but it made things weird. He glanced over at Winter, who was almost pointedly not looking at him. It was dumb, and he wondered if the problem could be fixed by simply asking for it back? Or would that make it worse? 'She isn't that great anyway' he thought to himself ' With her face, and her hair that always smells nice and her eyes that --' he thought was cut off as she spoke and he promptly looked at the Captain, his face flushing slightly having zero idea about what the conversation had been about up til this point. He'd just have to ask Aubrey before they got there...



The sound of a meeting was what drew her. After watching the 'Pirates' she decided that she should probably make herself known, help where she could, and hopefully keep them from killing her. Both straight out and by their own incompetence. Kara Saun situated herself in a vent with a clear line of sight towards the man who must have been the captain. If she was being fair, he didn't look nearly old enough, but...on the other hand, this Peter Pan man seemed to have a whole ship of lost little children.

Shiyami couldn't help but to mentally sigh as he stared out the triple-layered tempered glass in the captain's quarters. He glanced down at the table in front of him, with multiple papers scattered everywhere on it. There were written reports of all variety mixed in with what appeared to be multiple blueprints of different ships of the government fleet. The first and foremost on was the blueprint of the warship Sovereign, the one he was residing in.

Towards the corner of the desk however, was a small, weathered envelope, containing two parchments. One was a rather childish drawing, of three people. The other, was a more well-done drawing, of the same three people. Looking at it, Shiyami couldn't help but to smile faintly. "I wonder what those two little rascals are up to?" Muttering these words to himself, he was reaching over to pick up the envelope, when a knock at his door interrupted him.

Quickly pocketing it, she called out, "Enter." A soldier came in, clicked his heels, and saluted. "The first mate requests your presence on the bridge, sir!". Shiyami sighed aloud this time, before rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. "There's no need to call me sir." un-energetically speaking these words that sounds like they have been spoken once to often, Shiyami stood up, before walking towards the bridge.

Walking down the corridor, Shiyami kept his eyes shifting, making sure to keep every detail memorized. However, no matter how times he seen it, he still felt amazed that this metal behemoth of an airship actually flew. Thing should be heavy as hell. When he arrived, the crew onboard all saluted, with the commander calling out, "Officer on deck!".

"At ease that shit..." Annoyed, Shiyami muttered the usual lines, with the response of, "I see you still dislike formalities." coming from the right. Glancing over, his eyes stopping at his observer, the merc shrugged. "Formalities are a tool to be used only when required." Tossing back his words, he walked up, before looking at the map, before checking the ship's status report. "Alright, we need to refuel and resupply the Sovereign. Take us to The Crumbling Keep." Calling out his order, the Sovereign started to move, slowly getting up to speed.

Angelo sighed as he hung out in the corner listening to the captain explain the plan of their next raid and when he said that their was no point in being sneaky Angelo had to point out something. "for future reference its not that im not sneaky its that my way usually leaves a trail of bodies" Angelo explained to the captain since Angelo used claws Angelo usual way of killing while unseen meant to literally tear out someone's throat. it was easy with the sharpness of his claws and the fact that when he did they couldn't scream and died in a matter of seconds but because of that method their was a lot of blood and bodies and by the time Angelo gets halfway inside somewhere the alarm sounds. "as far as im concerned to what you feel is right captain ill kill either way" Angelo said simply glad he had already taken a shower before coming here, his claws usually end up smelling for hours if he doesn't shower before putting them on...

Winston looked along the various charts that they have laid out. His eyes followed the charts. He remained silent since they left the docks, but his silence was broken by his plan. "We can't do a full scale assault, but we can't do a stealth mission with everyone. There are a few... ruffians among us," he said, his eyes shifting to Angelo "but I digress. Winter, Prince, Taran, and I to sneak in, and check to see if they have any super secret tide-turning weapon. We disable that, and everyone else enters. They're going to see our huge ass mothafuckin' ship a mile off, so we need a large scale fight to happen while we sneak in."

Winston had said the description of the ship jokingly, but in a poor impression of the captain. "But it will most likely damage the ship. If we don't want to damage our huge ass mothafuckin' ship, we need to park out on a nearby island, and then drift on boats onto the other island. Which is pretty dangerous, if you ask me." He said, still carrying the joke with him.

”Captain, what exactly are we after?”

Dexter's eyes rested on Winter for a moment. He tuned Jax out, who seemed to be having some sort of ecliptic seizure, or perhaps was just laughing at something. He wasn't sure what was so funny. He pulled out a blueprint that was covered by some other papers and laid it on top. One finger tapped the paper as he spoke, his mind seemingly elsewhere. “This single creation, one that is about the size of small bookshelf, has more firepower then our ship.”

He paused again, letting his words sink it. He could tell some of his crew were preoccupied with something else, but he was not curious in the least. Perhaps at a different time, he would have looked more into it and discovered what the issue was, but at the moment he was simply to focused on the task at hand to care.

“I don't know if we will be able to use these things.” He said, “Our understanding of the technologies used are just not enough. However, we cannot allow something with this much power to be used to the military's advantage. Should they get these things up and running, and find a way to reproduce them, we wouldn't have a chance. If nothing else, we need to destroy them.”

Winston spoke up, and the corner of Dexter's mouth twitched when he repeated the phrase 'huge ass mothafunkin' ship' several times. Ah, that's what was so funny.

“Yes, actually, that's exactly what I was thinking, Winston. Thank you. We have three paddle boats that are currently functional. Each one can hold about four people, plus perhaps an Aubrey.”

Aubrey crossed his arms and snorted in distaste, not appreciating the captain's dry sense of humor. Dexter continued, “So, Winston, Winter, Prince and Taran will take one and be our stealth team. Everyone else will create a diversion. Any more questions?”