The North's Galleon

Chapter 7: Introductions

Denise had been sat in the mess hall, right between Big Man and Paul, for lunch. The reasoning Sebastian had given was that if the Captain happened to walk in, he wouldn't see her between them, which was probably true.

"Wait, so none of you are actually sailors?"

"Nope. Just a bunch of guys who ended up on a ship together." Millard chuckled. "Ain't that right, Lawrence?"

"Why am I always the one you point to?" Lawrence scowled.

"Because you're the most distinctly not-a-sailor." Gunther sneered.

"Oh, am I?" Lawrence gave him a look. "As I recall, you hadn't even been near the ocean until you hopped on this ship."

"Shush." Gunther returned the look.

"So...where did you all come from me if you're not sailors?" Denise looked up at Big Man.

"I was butcher." Big Man nodded slowly. "Wanted to try my hand at fish. Ended up here by some sort of mistake. Never left. Haven't butchered anything in years. Well, unless you count people."

"O-oh." Denise fell quiet.

"I was a chef." Sebastian came up behind them with a platter of meat. "Left my kitchen disgraced. Some bastard sabotaged my cooking, and this was the only place that would hire me after." He set it down on the table. "Wouldn't go back. These boys are much nicer than land folk." He paused. "Well, Gunther is an ass, but not just about my cooking."

Gunther chuckled.

Paul stomped his wooden leg on the floor. "My father was a builder. I came along with only one leg, and he always hated that, wouldn't let me join his crew. Cap'n came along, back when he was still a first mate himself, asked if I needed a job. Course I did, no one would hire a guy missing a leg, so he brought me on board. The old Cap'n was missing a leg too, and had an extra peg leg. Our Cap'n fixed it up to fit me, and I've been stuck here ever since." He laughed. "Cap'n said if I ever left, I'd have to return the leg."

Denise giggled, but it was still a very intimidating story. She glanced to Tommy. "You've got the accent of Belvin."

"Ah, yeah. I'm probably the closest we've got to a sailor." He smiled sheepishly. "I was working as a fisherman with my father in Belvin. One of the priest's acolytes didn't like him, sent him out during a bad omen and he died in a storm." Tommy fiddled with his hands for a moment. "Of course, I was more than a little upset. Murdered the bastard in a back alley. Didn't do it right, got caught, had to run. Only place that'll hire a murderer is a ship." He smiled. "It's a different world out here. No bad omens or good omens, only a temperamental ocean."

"Doesn't stop you from freaking at a piece of driftwood..." Gunther scoffed.

"Oi, driftwood is a perfectly reasonable thing to worry about. Nearby shipwrecks mean something's out there."

Lawrence and Gunther both rolled their eyes.

"What about you, Millard?" Denise looked at him.

"Oh, I owed a debt to somebody and needed a lot of money real fast in order to keep my house. 'Course I got my wife, so can't risk being homeless, this ship promised a good amount of money... Well, now the crew's basically a second family to me. Plus, I get the promise of stopping home to see my wife once a month."

"Millard, we would all leave the ship if we didn't get to see your wife anymore." Tommy laughed. "Denise, you ever find yourself in Lorelai, look for Sarah, tell her you know Millard, she'll take good care of you."

"Tommy, it sounds like you've been eyeing up my wife."

"Oh no, I've just been eyeing up her cooking. Woman almost beats Sebastian."

"Oh no, she does beat me." Sebastian nodded. "Gives me a good break from feeding you lot."

Everyone laughed.

Jackal was picking a bit at his food when Millard slapped him on the back. "Time to come clean, Jackal. Tell her about how you used to be the village crazy."

"I was not. My father was. I just took the brunt of it." He scowled. "Long story short, my dad was a bit off the rails, managed to completely screw me over on getting any sort of job or anywhere to live, so I just ended up wandering. I was apparently quite drunk when I ended up here, because I still don't remember it."

Millard roared with laughter. "I won't say you weren't, considering I haven't seen you cry since the day you came crawling up the dock to me begging for a job, but even Cap'n agrees that I was right in giving you a chance."

"And...uh...Possum?" She looked to the youngest of the crew.

He finished stuffing his face and wiped his hands before starting to sign. Stowaway. Brother died. Cap'n took me in.

"Uh..."

"Oh, sorry." Gunther choked down his mouthful of food. "He said he was a stowaway with his brother. The brother died on the ship, and Captain found the body. We found Possum a couple days later, dead in the crow's nest. Turns out he wasn't dead, he just sleeps like a rock. Thus, Possum."

We? Possum signed. You weren't here for years after.

"General term, you little brat." Gunther signed back. "The crew at the time, sorry."

Possum nodded, finally satisfied.

"Uh...I don't know if I should ask, but are you deaf?" She asked Possum.

No. Mouth doesn't work.

"He can hear, can't talk. I just sign to him so he can learn." Gunther explained.

"Ah. You're...um...educated, compared to everyone else, no offense."

"None taken, sweetheart. We all know Gunther sounds smarter." Paul smiled.

"Uh...yeah." Gunther rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm formerly noble. Not very high ranking. Lost my position and ended up broke and homeless, so hopped on the first ship I could find to get a fresh start."

"Lied his way onto the ship, claimed he was an experienced sailor, got promoted to first mate right off the bat, stealing the position from me..."

"Okay, thank you, Lawrence." Gunther scowled at him. "Don't forget that I lost an eye, and almost my life, saving all of your asses. That's why I'm still the first mate."

"Yeah, yeah. You still suck at sailing."

"You're not any better."

"What about you, Lawrence? You're...um..."

"Pheisian." He interrupted. "That's why I look foreign."

"Oh." Denise had barely heard of Pheis, as it had been destroyed before she was even born.

"Oh, come on, Lawrence, tell her the whole story." Gunther slapped his back. "It's a good one."

"Ugh." Lawrence sighed. "Alright, just don't freak out. Most people do."

"I won't." Denise sat up straight.

"It starts 21 years ago..."