Where the sea sleeps [HoonHao] ✔

05

They stop the ship when they see land.

He watches in silent amusement as the entirety of the crew rush around, lowering sails and throwing out the anchor. It's not as easy as he would have assumed.

"You and Hoshi stay here," Minghao calls before disappearing off the side of the ship. The rest of the crew follow after, one of them reassuring them that they'll bring something for the two.

The silence is odd, considering. From his position, he can see the entire deck. When he first discovered this, when needing to take a break from looking at the ocean, he would turn around and observe the crew from here. It was oddly satisfying at times, and somewhat discovering. For instance, he made note of the close proximity between Scoups and Dino ninety percent of the time. While right now, which is completely empty save for Hoshi who is making his way across the deck and yeah, he's clearly more used to climbing up than Woozi because not only does he do it more smoothly than he would expect anyone to, but he's up in the blink of an eye.

"Mind if I join you?" he queries, though he's already taking a seat.

"Did you ever get lonely up here?" Woozi dares to question. It's a genuine question that popped into his mind over the course of the few days that he's known them. It's mostly because while he's up here alone all the time, he doesn't feel lonely. Not once. So, of course he couldn't help but ask.

Hoshi looks at him for a moment with an unreadable expression, though in the next second, a smile is curling across his face. "Not really," he admits, looking out onto the ocean. "I haven't been part of the crew for as long as everyone else. Even so, lonely is one thing I've never felt around here."

Hoshi stands up, looking into the telescope. Today, he hasn't got a large hat on, so Woozi actually gets a sight of the exceptionally blonde hair on his head, moving with the faint breeze, and somehow, even though nothing is said, the atmosphere is calming. He half expected it to be awkward considering he hardly knew him, but Hoshi has this atmosphere around him that makes someone want to relax. It was just that comforting. As not to fall asleep, Woozi chooses to spike up a conversation.

"So, why do all of them have to go?" he queries.

He can already hear the grin in Hoshi's voice from the first syllable. "They all go into town for a specific reason," he says, stepping away from the telescope and swinging himself around to face him. "Dino's the medic, so naturally he goes into town for new supplies. Any chance he can. Rather have too much than a crisis happen only to find out there's nothing to help, you know?"

He nods, because he thinks he may know, and because he wants Hoshi to continue talking. Though the look on Hoshi's face says he's just thought of something better than simply telling him.

"Mingyu."

Woozi's face scrunches in confusion. He turns around, eyes scanning the deck before he's turning back to Hoshi, the confusion morphing into an expression of curiosity; brows pinched together, cheeks pulling up and his head tilting. Hoshi chuckles at this, and it's the sort of chuckle that has Woozi wanting to smile. It's light and gentle, if that was even possible.

"Try and guess why he goes into town," he says, like it should be obvious. Which it should. He has no clue why that hadn't occurred to him. Though he brushes it off quickly enough and looks at Hoshi.

"Cooking ingredients?"

"Lucky guess," he replies with a roll of his eyes. "Alright. Vernon."

This time he pauses. He tries recollecting the introductory moments as well as the supper they had just the other night (because that night, they used their names more often than he thinks they would had he not been there.) It takes him a moment longer before he eventually responds. "He is the navigator, correct?" When Hoshi nods, he proceeds on. "Something regarding maps?" It's more of a suggestion than an answer, but judging from Hoshi's expression, he knows that he's correct. He looks displeased, like he's just been caught out in something which clearly was unexpected.

"Yeah," he says. "He goes into town in search of any new maps. They're always updating." he explains, lips curling up, nodding his head in a gesture that goes completely over Woozi's head. "Minghao."

"I am not too sure about this one," he admits after having processed it for a good few minutes. He cannot think of a reason for a captain to go into a town other than for supplies the others may not get, though the moment he asked that, Hoshi shot it down.

"He goes in to get any news we may have missed while out in the ocean. There are particular, designated bars and inns where he has connections. Only him too. Once they almost got my head because I went in place of him."

"Though clearly you kept it," he notes aloud.

Hoshi's lips quirk. "I had to prove myself."

Just as Woozi is about to ask, he diverts the topic. "Scoups."

"Well, I barely understand what a first mate is, so I cannot guess this one," he responds softly into the brief moment of silence. He really can't and he didn't feel much for being guessing when he couldn't understand the concept of the first mate.

"Fair enough," he chuckles. "He goes into town for the supplies that everyone else is too busy to get. Plus, he likes grabbing a souvenir from every town."

"Sounds fun."

"He enjoys it." Hoshi shrugs. "Especially with how very little we're able to revisit a town or city."

"How often do you get to revisit a place?"

"Very rarely. You see, we're pirates, so the world views us as criminals. To them, we're nothing but this group of uneducated, no good, sea thugs."

"So that affects your revisitations to certain places?"

"Well, yeah," he murmurs, an unreadable expression crossing his face. "We carry the name pirates. Right down to the bloodline for some of us. We're wanted by half the world just because of their assumptions."

"That's terrible—"

An exclaim interrupts him, followed by a series of yells and a mixture of voices, which he can distinctly make out are instructions being thrown into the air. They're on their feet in seconds in time to catch the crew running over. Still a ways behind them are men dressed head to toe in a uniform that sends a jolt through his body. He's barely managed to process the situation by the time Hoshi is on the deck and working on the sails. Rather than allowing himself to overthink it, Woozi hurries down to help.

"Hoshi, go, go, go!" It's Minghao yelling. He's still not on deck yet; he's helping the others get on.

Vernon and Dino are already on deck, pulling up the anchor. The others are still getting on; Mingyu's got his hands on the board which he lifts the moment Minghao has gotten onboard. There's a series of heavy breathing and then, the sound of something going off—a gun—startling Woozi who takes a step back, bumping into one of the pillars, and he starts folding his hands together, trying to remain calm. Though that's certainly a difficult task given all the commotion.

His gaze flickers over to Dino who has pulled himself together just enough to approach the captain. "Minghao-hyung, are you hurt?" he queries, concern flickering across his face briefly. Though there's a semi-distracted look in his eye.

"I'm fine," Minghao insists. "Are the others okay?"

The relief that washes over Dino's expression is something he's almost sure he's not imagined and though he has already responded with a quick 'yes sir', he's approached Scoups who looks at him with a soft and relieved expression. One of them has a hand on the other's cheek and there's the soft exchange of words between them which Woozi is unable to make out given the distance between the three of them.

Finally mustering up enough courage to speak again, he asks, "What happened?"

"Informants turned," Minghao says between his teeth and even Woozi can tell that he's absolutely seething. "Tried capturing us and handing us over."

It seems to be only him that's confused. While he's trying to figure out who they wished to hand the crew over to, everyone else has a grim expression on their faces. He wants to understand, so he pushes away the concern of looking stupid and speaks up. "Hand you over to whom?"

Vernon scoffs. He's on the floor, pressed up against one side of the ship and lowering his hand from his hair. "Who else?" he queries, looking Woozi dead in the eye as a bitter smile forms. "The palace. The king and queen themselves."