Ranto Academy

Chapter 2: A Day in the Life

The sound of tears was dwarfing the crashing waves against the ship's bow. Within the captain's quarters sat a bawling Darryl, his crewmates trying to cheer up his sunken mood. "Come on captain, you knew this day was coming."

"That doesn't make it better..." he took a long sniff. His high-pitched robotic voice full of distraught garbles, "It only makes me heart hurt worse."

"She's gonna come back, captain. She has her first break in two months."

"TWO MONTHS!" Darryl fired his double-barrel shotgun upward through the deck. His crew ducked hiding from his sudden outburst and wooden debris, "I don't want to wait two months for my princess." He got up from his seat shambling towards a nearby photo. He stared longingly at the picture showing Darryl and Tick holding a small baby with pink hair swaddled up in a blue fabric. Behind them was a large fire and explosions as what looked like a raid was happening around them, "Ever since we found her alone in that burning orphanage, we knew she was destined for greatness. All the other children in that fire were screaming and crying for someone to save them. But for some reason Penny was silent as a mouse, just watching the carnage. I didn't think she would want to go to school."

"Isn't it good she wants to go to school?" a crew member spoke up.

Darryl picked up a paperweight launching it at his head, "PIRATE SCHOOL! But of course, my darling girl would make friends on land and want to go to school there. She could make friends anywhere." Darryl's mood started to shift as his eyes seemed to shut while talking about Penny, "Oh I remember her first time leading a raid. She was so excited to order you boys around." The men within his cabin chattered their agreement as they reminisced on her youthful excitement. "Remember when she first got her Plunderbuss and loaded it with coins instead of gunpowder."

"Who knew it would be a stroke of genius?!" The other crew members cheered as they agreed with the statement.

"Or when she first invented her mortar turret?" another chimed in as they all laughed thinking about her first raid land mission. "Those poor fools thought they were safe behind their little walls."

"Yarr-har-har." Darryl joined in the laughter, "Yes, Penny makes every adventure on this ship a blast. Now she be staying on land every year with her friends, miles away from us."

The mood started to get bleak once more. "Well sir, what about all the amazing things she learned. Like how to overload her mortar when it explodes for a final volley?"

Darryl picked up a random compass using it to attack the member that spoke out, "I COULD HAVE TAUGHT HER THAT!" Darryl rolled around the room knocking over random items and knocking down random crewmates. When he stopped, the hoops around his barrel body were glowing a bright golden hue. "I didn't go to no landlubber's school to learn this."

The other crew members started to calm him down by returning the story to their favorite moments with Penny. They were laughing and drinking with Darryl, the bot getting drunk on a strange oil they found during their last raid. A member of the crew came through the door announcing the return of Penny's escorts. Darryl cheered as he went to greet his first mate, Tick. When he exited the members still within his quarter started to converse. "Darryl gets way too upset this time of year."

"Yeah but give him a couple weeks, he'll be fine once Penny makes her first visit." They all cheered at the hope of Penny returning sooner rather than later, "Look on the Brightside, at least Tick is always here to cheer him up."

"WHERE THE HELL'S HIS HEAD?!" they heard Darryl slur from the top deck.

~--~

"Nothing, like, feels better than a hot shower in the morning," Emz stepped out of their shared bathroom with a green towel wrapped around her body and hair. She moved for her dresser, an oak wood table with a circular mirror to her right. She started to tend to her face before moving into her closet looking for clothes.