"Where do you think they'll take us?" Rob asked from the side while we stood at the railing of a marine ship looking out at the endless reaches of the ocean that stretched further than the eye could possibly see.

"No clue." I returned. Not because I had no interest to continue our conversation, as that was pretty much the only interesting thing we could do at the moment, but simply because I truly had no clue. Something I didn't like all that much.

"I've asked Catherine but she wouldn't say…what do you think how long we'll be on the ocean for?" Rob asked once again, obviously on edge even if he didn't show it openly on his face, though I quickly forgot about his question at the mention of Catherine, the woman that had been present in Shen's office only yesterday.

"You spoke with Catherine? What's she like?" I was intrigued and not only a little bit curious of her, due to the cool presence the woman carried with her at all times. Still, I preferred this way of gathering information on the woman to not accidently poke at a hornet's nest when confronting her directly. Thus, Rob's enthusiasm came just at the right moment.

"Nice. A little reserved maybe but we haven't known her for that long so that isn't very surprising." I didn't voice my thoughts to Rob's reply. After all Rob was still a boy, even if he had seen horrific things for his age. And yet, he still held some of that naivety all children possess. Not that I could blame him. It made life a lot less cruel to watch it through selecting googles that made you believe life was all sunshine and roses.

"Though, she told me that she would be one of our instructors. Maybe she'll train us in our fighting? What do you think?" Honestly, I couldn't tell. Again.

"Possible…" At my half-hearted answer Rob only sighed a little, probably not too happy with my short answers but I really couldn't care less at the moment. Yes, Rob was probably the closest thing to a friend inside this world but it was hard to truly form a connection to somebody that wasn't of your own age group. A fact I knew I would have problems with in the future with my body being this small and all that crap.

And yet, we shared a few similarities as I found out whenever I talked with Rob. We both knew, in our own experiences, that life was fucked up, and we both were looking for ways to improve ourselves.

Him in order to do something against crime and me to find another purpose in life and see the world without worries to pass on too early, again. Not that I had told him about that but still. It was the sentiment that counted, right?

Turning away from the calmly moving waves I walked over to some of the marines that had maned the masts only minutes ago and were now going through the rooster of who had to stay on deck on hold a lookout for danger or irregularities at sea.

The rest soon bustled down into the canteen and I followed behind them, curious how they would spend the rest of the day. Rob not far behind me, possibly bored as much as I was since setting sails.

Walking down the wooden stairs into the interior of the huge ship, one made of wood still but of a size I had not seen before in my lifetime.

Sure, there were the cruise ships but I didn't really consider them to be ships. More like luxury hotels that swim. Why? Well, they had no majestic air about them and didn't require much knowledge to navigate and steer, at least not of the level a sailing ship requires. On top of that I had never liked the motors with which these steel mountains moved, always causing waves that threw you around like a wrecking ball whenever they passed you on the sea, all the while yours truly had tried to enjoy a beautiful day with the wind in his face, and nothing else.

But I'm getting of track here. Lost in my thoughts I had only passively registered how the group I was following ventured through the loud canteen, filled with eating sailors, and took a turn to the left and went down a pair of stairs, leading even further into the ship's hull.

Soon we arrived at the sleeping quarters where the sailors didn't waste any time with discarding their uniforms and afterwards hastily scrambled together at a board of some kind.

Wondering what this was all about I naturally asked these guys. "What kind of game are you playing?"

At my words only one sailor turned his eyes slightly after which he motioned for me to come over, which I did without hurry.

"You got a name, boy?" The man asked with a glance directed in my direction, all the while he picked up a hand of cards he had been dealt in the meantime.

"Daz. And you?" I asked back, though my eyes never strayed from the board were some of the sailors muttered slightly after checking their cards while others outright cursed like only a sailor could.

"Eric. Dis game don' have a name. Least I don' know of any. You guys know o' a name for dis?" Eric asked into the round with a small lisp to his words.

"Nay. Now shut your trap and play. The boy can watch or fuck off instead. Gotta earn me self some cash before I get home…" Another sailor answered which caused my brow to tick slightly but otherwise I remained calm. Behind me though I could hear a little snickering from Rob, the traitor…

"Why? You blew all your earnings into some wench at the pimp-house again, Gran? If so I can't wait to get back to headquarters! Your wife will skin you alive and I'll get to watch, hahahaha!" The now speaking sailor, a rather round fellow responded which caused quite the laughter around the table, myself included of course.

With humour dancing in my eyes, I observed how a vein began to pulse on the man's forehead, now identified as Gran.

"Shup up Parrot or I'll make you!" Gran retorted, not realising that he had revealed his cards in his anger to the other ones sitting around the table, who grinned knowingly at each other and I couldn't help but snicker a little to myself.

Gods, it felt good to be with a bunch of equally stupid morons as myself again after working myself to the bone day in day out for the last couple weeks, only surrounded by children and ranting maniacs!

Rolling over a nearby barrel I sat down on top of it and enjoyed the shit show this newly discovered game of cards slowly evolved into. Hopefully I could get a turn myself in it the next couple of days. Who knows?