𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙢𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩-𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨 || ʲ. ʰᵒˡˡᵃⁿᵈ

_eight_

          "Have you seen Y/N?"
         
          "Wait shit you haven't??"
         
          The celebrations in the tavern went on late into the night, the captain being adamant that no matter how much they'd drink they'd have plenty more treasures to spare. He was right, as far as anybody guessed, but that little announcement was dangerous as basically everybody lost their control, and Fen was sure that she saw somebody puke their guts out by the window around midnight. Not out, but next to it. No party like a hunters party.
         
          "Didn't she go out last night?" Maria asks, taking a sip of her drink and tapping a ringed finger on the scratched up wood of the counter. The two women were currently one of the very few patrons in the early morning, many figures passed out on tables as nobody stood behind the bar. Despite that, they were welcomed to stay by the owner.
         
          "Oh my fuck Laszlo abducted her." Maria only glares at Fen who shrugged, having her own dose of coffee as to fight off both the sleep deprivation and hangover. "What? They left together last night! What else was I supposed to think?"
         
          "Well Laszlo isn't exactly a shitty person." Maria argued right back, and the helmet-wearing girl scoffs in indignance. "You don't know that."
         
          There was the sounds of a door creaking open and closing followed by footsteps, emerging from a corner coincidentally being the person they were just talking about. He had a wicked bedhead, and his shirt was barely tied well, and his chest peeked from underneath. Before Fen could make an unnecessarily condescending comment about how he looked like a sex-worker, Maria is quick to jump in, waving the man over who yawned and waved back. "Laszlo, good morning! Sleep well?"
         
          "Never better." He laughs, opening a small door as he goes behind the bar. "Right, sorry, good morning to you two." Laszlo shakes his head as he runs a hand through his hair in an attempt to both fix it and maybe wake himself up, Fen once again being stopped in whatever else thought she had by a discreet glare. Clearing her throat, Maria smiled at him. "Anyway, we were just wondering, have you seen Y/N? She was supposed to go with the captain and Sarah to go meet the king and queen."
         
          "And with Jacob. It was supposed to be the four of them." Fen adds unnecessarily, and pretends not to notice another glare aimed at her as she takes a sip of her coffee.
         
          Laszlo had a similar mug now, coughing momentarily as he drank the wrong way. Fen had to fight so hard not to make her grin any more obvious. "Shit. Fuck. Oh my gods I'm so sorry, I didn't. . .I didn't—"
         
          "Oh no no no, no need to apologize!" Maria quickly reassures as the man looked like he was about to cry, laughing awkwardly as she clears her throat and elaborates. "Y/N hates going up there anyway, said the palace makes her jealous. But you. . .you know where she is? Yeah?"
         
          He calmed down as she finishes explaining, sighing before he chuckles and continues drinking. . .whatever it was he had in his mug. "Oh thank the gods. Yeah don't worry, she's fine, I swear."
         
          Fen squints, and Maria isn't quick enough to shut her up when she asks, "How do you know that?"
         
          Almost like pure coincidence they hear the same door open and close again, followed by another pair of footsteps—hearing the obvious sounds of a stumble—before a hand grabs hold of the corner and you show yourself. Your hair looked okay at least, you've walked out of your cabin in the Inevitable looking a lot worse, so this was a slight surprise.
         
          You were dressed in your usual attire, but. . .wrong. Your scarf was tied at the wrong side, the small bags you had around your waist were sliding down, your dagger was placed facing the wrong way in its sheath, your gun—a temporary replacement. Long story short they had found your gun after the attack, but it needs to be repaired before you could even hope of wanting to use it again—looked like it was about to fall right off, your bracelet was on the wrong hand, and your shirt wasn't even tucked in. Maria was just glad to see you awake, while Fen was mortified of the implications.
         
          This time she shuts up out of her own volition, but Maria doesn't miss the way her eyes quickly dart back and forth between you and Laszlo. Upon realizing she was staring at her with a raised brow however, Fen's eyes widened as if to say 'is it not obvious?!' without having to actually say it. Maria's brow only raises more in even more confusion, and Fen had to fight back an annoyed groan.
         
          "Good morning! Didn't think you'd be getting out so quickly." You mumble some incoherent response as you basically crash into the stool next to Fen, your left hand being grabbed over the table and kissed by Laszlo. Maria found the gesture cute, Fen looked like she was about to shit her pants.
         
          "I. . .t's not my fault, your room's fucking cold." You cross your arms and lay your face in them as you placed them on the wooden counter, a chuckle from Maria as she turns and tried to look at you past a still, stunned Fen. His bedroom??? "You need a coffee? Morgana just got some more, and shit's stronger than being thrown overboard at the ass-crack of dawn."
         
          "I'll take five." She rolls her eyes as she jumps off the counter, stretching as Fen quietly hopes this meant they were going now. And apparently the gods loved her today because Maria is by your side in a moment and trying to get you off. "Alright, well it's back on the ship. Why don't you, uhh," She trails off when you look up and she catches sight of your face, trying not to wince at your almost-bruised lips and what it might've entailed. Gods, maybe she was starting to understand what Fen meant. ". . .fix yourself up, back at the ship, before you get back here? No?"
         
          "Why? Don't I look pretty?" You giggled before lightly slapping your cheeks, huffing in an attempt to get yourself back to acting like. . .well, yourself. "But yeah yeah no I. . .gods nevermind I'll take ten of whatever she's offering. Laszlo!" He almost jumps when he realized you three still knew of his presence, you getting off the stool and waving. "I'll go take them up on that offer. I'll be back, I swear!"
         
          "Try not to take another two years, yeah?" You stick your tongue out as he only blows you a kiss, Fen once again looking disgusted before you three finally step outside of the establishment.
         
          The sun barely peeked through clouds from your right, most of the plaza barely being lit up as not a lot of people walked around. The sounds of rushing water from the fountain was a peaceful thing to walk with, but that peace was soon disturbed when Fen basically plants herself in front of you with a glare.
         
          "Uhm, excuse me, what the fuck?!"
          
          "Fen! It's seven in the damn morning!" Maria scolded lightly, not being able to differenciate the two for a moment before you blinked and thought about it for a couple of moments. "Wait huh? What do you mean?"
         
          "What I mean is you fucking sleeping with that guy. . !" By now you've started walking again, getting further and further away from the tavern enough for nobody to overheard you. But still she sort of hissed it through her teeth, and you couldn't help but look away in embarrassment. "Like seriously! What do you even see in him?!"
         
          "Fen, it's not Y/N's fault that she doesn't have a burning hatred towards every man she meets." Maria tried to defend, but Fen scoffs before you could join back in the conversation. "I don't have a burning hatred towards every man I come across, I just don't like it when this particular man is fucking things up for her love life!"
         
          "Okay now—"
         
          "Laszlo's not fucking things up if he is the love life!" You get shut up again as the two sort of speed up and end up bickering upfront leaving you to just quietly follow behind, sighing as you realized that it'd take more effort to get to talk to them when they were like this than it would to shoot a beast dead. So you just followed, hoping that they'll calm down by the time you all get back to the ship.
         
          . . .
         
          You send a glance backwards and find the tavern in the far distance, the barely recognizable shape of Laszlo walking out holding trash to go throw.
         
          . . .
         
          You look back upfront and realized they've already left you, yelping in surprise before you could break into a jog to catch up. "Hey assholes! Wait for me!!"