Skyrun

Chapter 6; Being a pirate is not as easy as it sounds.

By the end of the dreaded hair-cutting, Sinclair had copped off a good majority of Liam's once magnificent mane; the sides of his head had been shaved to a stubble, whereas the hair on top of his head was jaw-length and pulled back into a small knot at the base of his scalp. This part Liam appreciated the most, since it was an echo to what his previous hair had been. It still wasn't the same, but it looked...better somehow. 

After that, Sinclair made him sit still while he pierced Liam's ear. 

Normally, Liam would have protested at the thought of pain, but he had always wanted an earring so now was a good opportunity. It hurt horribly, and many times he flinched, only for Sinclair to snap at him and tell him to stop wriggling around like a fish. But finally, Liam had a glistening hoop earring hanging out of his left ear.

Next, Sinclair had him strip off all his old clothes and replace them with things more suitable for the sky; goggles to keep out the glare of the sun and the biting wind, as well as a warm leather jacket, sturdy boots, and warm trousers. 

Now, gazing at himself in the mirror, Liam felt as though he was seeing another person entirely.

 He looked older perhaps and more like a ruffian than his mother would have liked. Yet one thing was for certain; his earring looked bloody good on him.

"I believe my work here is done." Sinclair said stiffly, beginning to put away the cutting shears and tossing Liam's old clothes into a chest in the corner of the room. "You'll be assigned chores later on today. With any luck, I'll only have to order you about and nothing else."

Liam resisted the urge to groan; more chores. It seemed like wherever he found himself, he had to do chores. But before he could argue, a thought came to his mind-- a whisper of something that had been at the back of his brain since he had first come on the ship.

 "When you found me behind those boxes," he began, turning toward Sinclair, "Why didn't you--"

"End your life?" the pirate shrugged, "Perhaps it was that rousing speech you made about how all life is precious. Maybe you melted this heart of stone."

Liam felt his eyes light up, "Really?"

"Of course not! The only reason I didn't flay you was because we needed a new cabin boy." Sinclair then roughly ushered Liam up on deck, handed him a mop and bucket and barked at him to get to work.

Grumbling darkly, Liam began swabbing the deck-- moving his mop back and forth in a rhythmic motion till his arms grew sore and his back ached even though he could not have been working for more than fifteen minutes.

Bloody fantastic.

As he worked, he could feel the eyes of the other pirates on him, watching him and snickering as they whispered behind his back.

"I heard 'e challenged the capt'an." Liam overheard one say.

"Aye," another replied, "She went easy on him, she did."

"We needed a new cabin boy anyhow."

They carried on like this as if Liam couldn't hear every word they were saying, which only served to irritate him even more. He would have said something, but he didn't want to get in a fight with anyone.

Especially since Sinclair was keeping a close eye on him.

Not only that, but his sword fighting skills were rubbish at best... and he only knew this because the other pirates told him so. In fact, as he was working, the fluffy-haired girl came bounding cheerfully up to him and said as much;

"You could use some work with a sword, you know that right?"

"I'm well aware of it, yes." Liam growled.