~Jonathan~

He hummed to himself lightly as he tinkered away at the radio device. On his head rested a contraption that he referred to as head-speakers- two magnetic coils held together over his ears that translated a voltage waveform into sound. By his desk, a music disk spun on top of a box like contraption that fed a wire to the head-speakers. Jonathan didn’t tell Melody about his music disk collection. With his head-speakers on, Jonathan wasn’t able to hear the exploding flashbang from Charlotte’s room, nor the exploding flashbang in the kitchen, nor the thump of a body falling down the stairs, nor the call from Melody to assemble.

Jonathan continued humming away at his desk, happy and aloof.

~Song~

Answering Melody’s call to assemble, Song peered up at the deck as she ascended the stairs. Melody stood over a young boy who was lying in defeat on the deck. He had dark hair, a soft pink scarf and… cat ears?

Song poked the boys ears with her sword’s sheath, curious if he would react.

“A new pet, captain?”

After Milly's boast, Char picked up Pico and ran out of her room without saying anything. She really didn't knew why she was so flustered, but she didn't wanted Milly to continue starting her down or else she would never be able to keep her cool and surprise the white haired girl.

The next thing that Char knew, she was in the bathroom, soaking away her nervousness while washing Pico's feathers with his favourite shampoo. Char wasn't really mad at Milly for blasting her because she really had it coming, but she wasn't feeling well about Pico having been afflicted too, "I'm sorry, Pico, I'll get you something delicious to ready later."

Char dressed in a set of clothes that were slightly more fancy than what one would usually wear on a pirate ship and went to the lower deck to put her devious plan into action. While she was preparing everything, Char didn't noticed the commotion upstairs but it was good in that because of it no one noticed that Char set the party supplies in place. When Melody called the whole crew to the upper deck Char and Pico had already set everything in place and planned to wait for the appropriate time to announce their surprise party.

During Melody's explanation about their cat-boy stowaway, Char still kept her wicked grin, but she actually found the boy to be kinda cute. Specially when he was curled up in fear like that, however she couldn't help but say,"Oh my, what a cute little kitty, perhaps now we can solve the ship's pest problem." while poking the boy's ears with a finger. After that she shot a suggestive glance at Milly.

When she was sure that the smallish girl was puffing her cheeks and balling her fists on anger, Char deftly presented her with a wrapped package that she was hiding the whole time, "Don't be like this Milly-san it's not good for you to be so furious on your birthday."

"...!?" It looked Milly was more surpised that Char called her by her name than by the sudden announcement of her birthday. She didn't picked the package right away however, fearing that it might be prank in revenge for the earlier flashbang.

"Come on, it's not a trap... do you think I'm that low?" Char forced the package in Milly's hands and urged her to open it. Just as the white haired girl unwrapped the package, Char couldn't her but notice how Song was looking wistfully at the (admittedly expensive) beautiful red wrapping paper as well as the bottled away disappointment when the paper was carried away by the wind.

Anyway, Char wasn't able to guess what was going through Milly's mind when she opened the package and found a beautiful summer dress, perfect for the kind of weather they usually faced in their travels, the dress also had a few extra pockets where Milly could stuff things (much likely bombs) so that it not only pretty but useful too. But when Milly took the dress out she found something that Char was sure that would surprise her, because Char guessed that it would be the very first bra that Milly ever had since a girl like her probably wouldn't go into a store an ask them for a custom one.

Char would leave the boasting for later since she had a party to begin, "Hey, everyone don't stand there like this, there's a party in the set in the cargo hold, hurry up and let's party! But, before that, where's Jon-sama?"

During the party...

Char sneaked away from it the rest of the crew and went to the same corner where Song was standing a little away of the others and, taking care for no one else to notice, gave her the sheets of colored paper, two yellow and one red, "I bought extra just in case messed the wrapping, if you want you can have this," Char said before turning her head to the side and scoffing, "...but don't think that I'm doing this because I like you or anything like this, it's just that I cant have my rival for Jon-sama's heart being so sad about some sheets of paper..."

After that Char turned to Milly and said, "Well, for the grand finale, my last present for tonight!" she then removed a cloth that was covering the bundle of fireworks that she had purchased earlier. "If this doesn't make this party go boom, noting more will."

Melody stood over Aedos who still lay sprawled on the ground curled up in a ball. All the crew was filtering onto the deck, some of the members curious, others really didn't care. Milly and a few other crew mates touched the strange boy's ears. Melody once again picked Aedos up off the deck with her left hand and shook him until he looked at her. "Why are you on this ship. What were you doing in the kitchen? Speak Pup!" She waited for an answer from the boy, boy he didn't answer. Seeing that more extreme measures were going to be needed to make him talk, Melody went to the edge of the ship and held the boy over the edge. "If you don't speak pup, you'll find yourself in hell soon enough. Now what are you doing on my ship!" Aedos looked at Melody, then at the sea of rolling thunder clouds below him. He was actually very frightened at the moment, and he did his best to hide it. "If you set me down on the deck, I will tell everything you need to know." Melody thought of her available options and decided to drop the boy on the deck. Pulling out her sword, she pointed it at Aedos' head. "Now speak, before I change my mind." Aedos gulped slightly then began to speak. "My name is Aedos. I come from a nearly extinct race of magic users. I boarded this ship in hopes of escaping my captors. I was stolen off my home island and I would like to go back. I don't have any money, but if you are willing to take me back to my home, my people will reward you handsomely. I have the co-ordinates to where my island, I just pray that you guys are more kind than the last pirates." Melody thought for minute than looked at Aedos. She smiled and sheathed her sword. "Aedos was it? Today is your lucky day because I am very bored at the moment. I think I will take you up on your offer, however, if you are to be on this ship while we are traveling, you will be required to work. Therefore, I am going to send you to work in the kitchen as a dishboy, and when you are finished with that, you'll start scrubbing the deck. And when you are done with that, come find me and i'll decide what to do from there."
As Melody was continuing this conversation, Char had given Milly a present and declared that we were having a birthday party for Milly. Melody just shook her head and left Char and the other crew to do what they wanted for that party. During the whole party, Melody stood off on the edges watching Aedos as she enjoyed the small party. She was starting to relax and and she was smiling now. She was happy that this Aedos fellow came along, things were about to get interesting. Looking at the map co-ordinates given to her from Aedos, Melody calculated the time and distance. It was pretty far away, about a month's worth of travel. Good she thought. This would keep them bus for a while. Continually smiling, Melody stopped to announce her decision to the crew before the fireworks were started. "Alright crew! Things are about to start getting interesting and due to the fact that the destination is very far away, I want to get a good start on it. Therefore, we are going to be flying through the night, meaning that we will need a late night meal, lookouts on multiple areas on the deck, and we need to watch this Aedos fellow as we fly. We will begin after the party ends."

Waldemar looked at Aedos, honestly feeling a bit sorry for the little guy. Although now that he thought about it, it would be nice for Char to be able to travel with someone her own age. The nobleman couldn't help but smile a little bit as the captain bullied the poor boy.

At the party, Waldemar heard the captain's speech, requesting a larger night shift. Waldemar nodded and raised his hand. "Dame, I will be glad to take this task." He had spent the entire party drinking, and then he took another swing of his liquor. It was nice to be able to relax like this.