Long Journey || ATEEZ

All To Zero

The eight soon-to-be pirates-in-training stood at the port, the weather not as stifling hot as it usually was, and instead, a lazy, chill sort of warmth embracing them. Salty sea air ruffled their hair, as they looked upon a large galleon ship floating in the water before them, and the woman standing proudly at the centre of its deck.

She looked rough – that was one way to describe her. With long, shaggy magenta hair, and an abundance of scars across her arms and legs, only matched by the amount of tattoos she bore, she was the spitting image of what one would assume to be your typical pirate. A battered-looking cutlass rested in its scabbard at her hip, though the jewel embedded in its hilt seemed to gleam with a blood-thirsty, unsatiated malice. A golden tooth glinted in her mouth as she grinned at the lot of them, and beckoned them over.

"'Urry on up, then," she called impatiently. "I 'aven't got all day."

The eight guys jolted into action at her word, and hurried to the gangplank connecting the pier and the ship.

Once they'd all trotted onto the deck of the ship, she gave them a cocky grin.

"So," she said, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg, "which one of yous is the captain?" she asked.

"M-me," said Hongjoong, raising his arm, albeit a little uncertainly.

The woman's grin, if anything, grew wider.

"Awesome!" she half-bellowed, stepping forwards and extending her hand. As soon as Hongjoong took it, she jerked it up and down in what she thought was a friendly manner, but almost took the little demon's arm off (though he didn't complain because he was a nice person, and nice people didn't do that kind of thing).

"H-hello, sir—I mean ma'am," Hongjoong corrected himself. It seemed that his bones weren't the only thing that had been rattled by the woman's extravagantly aggressive handshake.

"Call me sir," the woman said nonchalantly. "I don't mind."

"Oh – okay then, sir."

The woman's grin re-lit up her face.

"'Ow 'bout we trade names first? I'm Mariynne Scholder, ex-pirate, captain of The Grimer, and you guys' new mentor."

Each of the pirates-in-training bowed and introduced themselves.

"Awesome," Mariynne said, clapping her hands together. "Shall we get started, then? Today we'll go over basics on 'andling ships – how to do the sails an' all that. I 'eard you can't do till the evenings when it's already darkening on any other day, so we'll do sword-fighting lessons indoors then."

And so, Mariynne led them over to the mast, picking up one long, coiled, and very thick rope and handing it to the boys to test out. She grinned as a couple (Mingi and Wooyoung) exchanged shocked looks at how much heavier the rope was than it had seemed. She gestured to the vast sails hanging just metres above them, and began to explain how they all worked.

The sails were attached to the masts by horizontal beams called yards, and ropes called lifts held them in place. Other ropes, known as the halyards, would hoist the sails into position where needed, and using these, the ship would move on the power of the winds alone.

The ship could also change its direction using the sails – and these were controlled by ropes called braces, attached to either side of each yard for each sail. One would be loosened on one side, whilst the other tightened in order to swing the yards around, and this was the key secret to changing directions swiftly.

There were two types of sails Mariynne had used frequently as a pirate on the seven seas. First, there were the traditional square sails, and the ones atop The Grimer were these exact ones. These were used for speed, and were the favoured type of sail aboard any ship by those of the pirate culture. But, as Mariynne told them, as impressive and convenient as they were, they were just as hard to handle. It required teamwork – something the eight pirates were still working on improving – and one wrong move could ruin the entire thing. The square sails, according to Captain Mariynne, had two sheets, two braces, two clewlines, four buntlines and two reef tackles, all of which had to be manned as the sail deployed and yard raised. But this didn't mean much to the newly-hatched chicks that the eight pirates-to-be were. So at first, they were taught how to handle these through sight alone, meaning each pirate had a specific line to handle, and they would have to stick to that until they got the terminology drilled into their heads.