The North's Galleon

Chapter 10: Sea Shanties

Denise wasn't quite sure what she'd expected from a bunch of sailors after dark, but it certainly wasn't singing and dancing. The drinking she'd expected. But not...whatever this was.

The crew cheered as they wrapped up another song, Gunther huffing and puffing as he got a refill on his rum.

"Gunther, we're gonna run out before shore at the rate you're going!" Paul scolded him, but he was laughing anyway.

"Eyyyy, Seb--Sebastian said I could have extra for taking care of Denise." Gunther was...more than a little intoxicated.

Possum gagged and made a sharp sign.

"Translation?" Jackal barked.

"Rum's gross." Gunther replied before taking a hard swig from his mug. "Woo!"

Possum gagged again and signed to Gunther.

"Hey, until you've had beer, don't complain about how rum tastes. Wine isn't great either."

Possum made a hook with his index finger.

"Oh. Beer." Gunther switched his mug to his left hand and began signing. "B E E R." He raised a sign to the side of his face. "Beer."

Possum nodded and signed back.

"Wine. Not water. W I N E. Wine." Gunther corrected.

"I like wine." Denise mumbled.

"Of course you would, you're a girl." Gunther retorted.

"Gunther!" Sebastian smacked him upside the head. "Be polite!"

Gunther finished his mug and set it down with a sigh. "Lawrence, you drinking tonight?"

"When do I ever?"

"Can I have your share?"

"You've had enough." Lawrence leaned back. "Try going one night without drinking, I bet you can't."

"Nah, that sounds boring."

Millard and Jackal were chuckling to each other and elbowing each other.

"You're an alcoholic."

"Yes, and?" Gunther slumped down next to him.

"If I was bored enough, and had enough disrespect for our Captain, I could get you drunk enough to simply walk you off the edge and let you drown."

"But you won't." Gunther leaned onto Lawrence's shoulder.

"Hey, Gunther, we picked out another shanty!" Millard was clearly trying to stifle his laughter.

Jackal was failing to stifle his.

"Ah, come on, I'm getting tired." Gunther grumbled, but stood back up to dance again.

Millard began tapping out a beat with his foot, and instantly the whole crew burst into giggles.

Gunther looked significantly less amused as Jackal began strumming out the tune, but he took right to dancing to it.

And then the whole crew began to sing. "What will we do with a drunken sailor What will we do with a drunken sailor?What will we do with a drunken sailor?Early in the morning! Way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, early in the morning!"

Gunther looked extremely irritated as Sebastian took the lead. "Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, early in the morning!"

The crew joined together for the chorus again before Paul started the next verse. "Put him in a longboat til he's sober, put him in a longboat til he's sober, put him in a longboat til he's sober, early in the morning!"

Again the whole crew joined together for the chorus. This time, Big Man sang the verse. "Stick him in the scupper with a hosepipe bottom, stick him in the scupper with a hosepipe bottom, stick him in the scupper with a hosepipe bottom, early in the morning!"

A few chuckles ran through the crew as they went into the chorus again. Denise caught a mischievous glint in Lawrence's eyes before he stood to dance with Gunther.

Gunther met the action with a glare just before Lawrence began to sing. "Put him in the bed with the Captain's daughter, put him in the bed with the Captain's daughter, put him in the bed with the Captain's daughter, early in the morning!"

"That's what we'll do with a drunken sailor, that's what we'll do with a drunken sailor, that's what we'll do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning!" The whole crew cheered, and Gunther whipped around to sock Lawrence in the jaw.

Laughter rippled through the small crew, and for a short moment Lawrence and Gunther shoved each other around before finally sitting down.

"Welp, it's gettin' late, boys...and girl." Sebastian chuckled. "One more, then we oughta turn in for the night."

Possum flapped a hand in the air before rapidly signing to Gunther.

"Oh, that one?" Gunther grinned. "Millard, Northern Crew?"

"Aye aye, first mate." Millard chuckled as he took the guitar from Jackal and began to play.

Gunther stood up and cleared his throat. "So, you really wanna hear about the unsinking galleon? The Northern Crew? Ha! Well then, let me break it down for you."

His voice turned sweet as he began to sing. "First there is their Captain North, a man of silver hair and scorn. He runs that ship so fierce and bold, the Navy can't get a hold."

"Sailing yonder, don't look down! The Galleon is coming around. Careful if you turn your back, the ship may scream and then attack!" The whole crew belted.

"Next up is the red first mate, the bearer of a flaming chain. The second in line, a vanishing act with frozen Pheisian veins." Gunther continued.

"Sailing yonder, don't look down! The Galleon is coming around. Careful if you turn your back, the ship may scream and then attack!"

"Then there is the cast 'n crew, the gunsman and a firework too, three big men, and a foreigner, and that's the Northern Crew!"

"Sailing yonder, don't look down! The Galleon is coming around. Careful if you turn your back, the ship may scream and then attack!"

"Don't you ask if these are true, I lost this eye," Gunther tapped his eye patch, "and my leg too, the stories I tell from the sea, are all the things that I have seen!"

The crew cheered again before gathering their things and heading below deck for the night.

Gunther was the last to clean up, and Denise walked up to him quietly. "Is that...really true? Is that really what the Northern Crew is like?"

"Eh, who knows." Gunther shrugged. "I heard it from a different crew, and they heard it from someone else who heard it from someone else."

"Have you never met those pirates?"

Gunther snorted. "Why would they attack us? We don't carry anything valuable and we're not the Navy."

"What...do you all do?"

"Sail. Fight sea monsters. Y'know, the basic stuff."

"So...what happened to your eye?"

Gunther chuckled, and then lifted the eye patch off his face, showing his eye still mostly intact, minus a gash running through his lower eyelid. "Hag. Caught me right under my eye. I won, kept my crew alive. All of 'em. That's why I'm still the first mate.

"So why the patch? Your eye is fine."

"Well, that little gash there has been there for ten years and has yet to heal." Denise gasped. "Not to mention, even if it looks fine, I can't really see out of it. It's all blurry. Better off with it covered." He lowered the patch again. "Now come on, it's getting late. Let's get you back in your hidey-hole. I stuck some pillows down there for you tonight."

Denise nodded and followed, casting a gentle look toward the Pheisian perched in the crow's nest just before she disappeared below deck.