Crimson Threads ♡Sinbad X Oc♡

Chapter three: Adventurer

Grabbing the girl by her wrists, Sinbad locks eyes with her. Her face was a mix of fear and surprise. "I won't let you fall into the ocean again, I promise. I won't let go." He calls out to her, using all of his strength to hoist her back onto the ship.

Once safely back on the deck, Sinbad looks at the girl. She was pale and her body was trembling. "Are you alright?" Sinbad asks, worried. "I'm okay.." The girl whispers ,turning toward him. "Are you alright? You didn't hurt yourself trying to pull me up, did you?" She asks hurriedly, worry evident in her eyes. Surprised by her concern, Sinbad smiled. "No, I'm completely fine. I'm actually pretty strong despite how small I look." Sinbad answers with a vaunt smile, earning a tiny smile in return.

"Thank you.. for not letting me fall overboard.." The girl says softly as she slides down the side of the gunwale, wrapping her arms around herself. "Don't worry about it." Sinbad responds with a charming smile. "Mind if I sit with you?" He then asks, gesturing to the spot next to her. "Not at all." The girl responds, much to Sinbads delight. Before he sits down next to her, Sinbad notices that the girl is shivering. "Hold on, I'll be right back." Sinbad then dashes back into the hull, leaving the girl a little confused.
Yanking his blanket out from under Hinahoho, Sinbad carefully sneaks past Vittel and Mahad before swiftly making his way back toward the deck.

                               ~~~~~~~
Staring at the door the boy just went through, Yunalesca frowns. "Why ask to sit down if you're going to run off?" She thinks out loud. Shrugging the boys' strange behaviour off, she closes her eyes and listens to the sound of the water and the wind. "It's pretty cold without a blanket though.." She thinks before sneezing. "Here. We can use this to keep warm. " Yunalesca opens her eyes to see the boy, holding another blanket in his arms. "Please excuse me."

Before she could say anything to him, he kneels down and wraps the blanket over her shoulders, tucking it in under her feet before also wrapping himself in it.
Yunalesca stares at the boy, speechless. "I thought you might be cold. You know, since you did come outside with a blanket." The boy smiles playfully at her

The girl was nonplussed and Sinbad found that to be quite adorable. "I didn't catch your name the first time we met." He gives her a charming smile. "Ohh oh.. right, it's Yunalesca.." The girl stammers as she looks away, unable to meet his eyes. "A lovely name befitting of a lovely lady." Sinbad says, not taking his eyes off of her. Her face looked softer in the pale moonlight compared to the sharp jut of her bones in the daylight. "And your name?" The girl asks, still not meeting his gaze. Finding her behaviour a little bit amusing, Sinbad chuckles. "My name is Sinbad, and I am an adventurer and a merchant, it truely is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Still not meeting Sinbads eyes, Yunalesca tucks the blanket closer to her chest. "Likewise." A little disheartened by her curt reply, Sinbad keeps staring at her. "You don't seem that much older than I am." He starts. "Im 17." Yunalesca cuts his sentence short. "I was right! We're not that far apart in age! I'm 15." Silence. "You don't seem to be very talkative around me." Sinbad states displeased, leaning closer to Yunalesca. "It's not that I'm not talkative, I just... don't know what to talk about." She responds quickly.
Pondering Yunalesca's statement, Sinbad furrows his brows. "I heard you sing earlier. It was quite beautiful." Sinbad says, hoping to draw out a conversation. Succeeding in his attempt, Yunalesca quickly turns her head to look at Sinbad, her face beet red. "What...?" Yunalesca's voice is almost a whisper. "You thought it was.. beautiful?" Perplexed by her question, Sinbad nods. "Yeah, I do think so.." Yunalesca smiles at this, her heart skipping a beat. Feeling her face warm up even more, she quickly jumps to her feet, letting the blanket fall from her shoulders. "It's pretty late, I mean, the moon is pretty high in the sky, so we should probably head back to bed. Our own beds!" Yunalesca rambles, clearly a little flustered.
As Yunalesca continues to ramble on, Sinbad rises to his feet and drapes the blanket over her shoulders. "You're right. It is pretty late. Here, this should keep you warm." Although she was a little taller than the boy, this gesture made Sinbad seem a lot more mature than her.

"Ah! Uhmm, good night." Yunalesca fumbled through her words. Rushing back to her bed, she leaves Sinbad on the deck, but before she disappeared through the door, she stops and turns on her heel to face Sinbad again. Sinbad tilts his head in response to Yunalesca's sudden decision to turn around. "I apologise for freaking out earlier. And.. I hope we can become good friends." Yunalesca says, relieved that he couldn't see her face in the shadows. "Well then... sleep well, Sinbad the adventurer." Yunalesca bids the young man goodnight as she hastily pivots and rushes back to bed, leaving Sinbad alone on the deck.

"What a strange girl." Sinbad chuckles to himself as he looks at the stars. A cold gust of wind hit his face, causing a shiver to run down his spine. "Well then, time for bed." Sinbad says as he scurries back to his own bed.

                              ~~~~~~~
"Rise and shine Sinbad. The sun's already up." Hinahoho's voice pulls Sinbad out of his dreams. "I see you had a midnight rendezvous with the girl." Hinahoho says smugly as Sinbad yawns, rubbing the sleep from his half open eyes. "It wasn't a rendezvous, I just happened to run into her on....wait a minute, you were awake the whole time!?" Sinbad yells, feeling a little bit ridiculous for sneaking around. "Not the whole time, just when you two were snuggled under the blanket, whispering in each other's ears." Hinohoho says with puckerd lips, poking fun at his friend. Sinbad just rolls his eyes in response to his friend's ragging.
"On a more serious note. Rurumu is looking for you. Something about morning lessons?" Hinahoho says with a sly grin. Seeing his face, Sinbad rushes outside, fearing the infamous 'chop'.

"I'm so sorry, Rurumu! I promise I didn't mean to sleep in! I'll start with my leasons right away!" Sinbad shouts.
Surprised by Sinbads rowdy entrance, Rurumu places the plate she had in her hands in front of Ja'far. "Good morning, Sinbad. I'm happy to see you so eager to learn, but you need to have breakfast first." Rurumu smiles. Hinahoho suppresses his laughter, barely containing his amusement.
Sinbad scowls at him as he sits down to have breakfast.
"Oh, you can put those over here, Yunalesca dear." Rurumu gestures to a spot next to Ja'far. "Okay." Sinbad hears the familiar voice and looks up from his plate. There, Yunalesca stood with a plate of seasoned fish in her hands. The sun highlighting the golden streaks in her hair. She kneels down and takes a seat next to Ja'far, placing the plate in front of Sinbad.

"Good morning, Sinbad! Did you sleep well?" Yunalesca smiles at him. Her hair was swept away from her face, falling in uneven strands down her back. "Ah, good morning. I slept pretty well." Sinbad smiles back, surprised that she was out and about. Noticing this, Ja'far clears his throat to speak. "When she woke up this morning, she asked me to introduce her to everyone." He explains gesturing with his hand. "That's great news!" Sinbad beams. "Don't get me wrong, she's still a little apprehensive about interacting with Vittel and Mahad, but it seems like she has warmed up to the rest of us ." Ja'far explains further.
"Getting to know someone takes time. And there's no better way to do that than to share a meal together. Now, table manners boys." Rurumu says sternly, her piercing gaze causing both Sinbad and Ja'far to start sweating.

"Speaking of meals." Hinahoho looks at Yunalesca. With her hair pushed away from her face, it was easy to see how gaunt the girl actually was.
Feeling the pressure of everyone looking at her, she shrunk back, trying to make herself tiny. "Don't mind them." Ja'far places a comforting hand on her shoulder. She raised her head, smiling weakly at Ja'far before rejoining everyone around the food. "Eat as much as you want. Don't be shy. There is more than enough for everyone. " Sinbad gives her a warm smile. Yunalesca's heart fluttered a little, and she couldn't help but smile back. Everyone was still looking at her, but their gazes were filled with concern and warmth, making her nervousness fade away.
And thus began Yunalesca's journey with the Sindria trading company.