Risky glared at the two girls. Shantae's pirate talk was hard enough to deal with the first time. She'd learned to tune out the high-pitched drone of the genie's voice over the few hours she was with her, but now she'd have to relearn how to do it again.
It wasn't like Shantae was trying to mock her. In fact, Risky was quite sure that the girl was only trying to be like her. Except she had never spoken in a such a way and had little patience for Shantae's gimmicks.
Secretly, she found it adorable that the genie acted so innocently and happy all the time, seemingly naïve to the cruel rules of the real world, where kindness was often exploited, and emotion taken advantage of.
Yet, the purplette had a lot of friends, was a renowned hero, and kept rather humble about it. Perhaps the world wasn't so cruel to her. Perhaps she was smarter than she acted and didn't let it get to her.
Perhaps Risky was expecting Shantae to be treated the same way she was in her earlier years, something that would crush the pirate if it were to ever happen.
Shuddering at the thought and the memories it brought up, Risky was brought back into the real world by a particularly loud squeal of glee from the genie's accomplice. This had to stop.
"ENOUGH!" She roared, stomping out onto the deck. Both zombie and genie turned towards her, goofy grins on their faces.
"Good mornin' capt'n! What can we do ya for?" Rotty saluted as she talked.
"Need us ta moisten the main snails?" Shantae offered, also saluting Risky.
"Keel the port blubber?"
"Swab the plank?"
"None of those are real!" Risky shouted, silencing the two girls. "You," she pointed at Rotty, "give me that bandana, now! As for you," she snarled, directing her attention to Shantae, "put it away and keep it away unless you want me to take it back!"
"Aww, why does she get to keep her one…" the zombie whined, placing the bandana in Risky's outstretched hand.
"Because she did me a favour concerning a certain captain. Now quit whining and go inside," Risky snapped, pointing to the stairs the led below deck.
"You have a crush on her, I get it. I'll give you two a bit of alone time, see ya!" The zombie winked at Risky as she left, showing no fear from the pirate's threats.
"Why you little…"
She turned around, surprised to Sky there, but her face returned to a scowl very quickly.
"Can I help you?"
"Thanks for getting them to shut up," Sky said with a hint of anger in her voice. Shantae fidgeted where she stood. It appeared the blonde had been sleeping until the friendly pirate acting between the two youngest girls started. "Anyway, I came here to ask where the bathroom is."
Risky sighed. Couldn't this ballast find it by herself?
"Down the hall, to the right. Don't use all the paper. It costs a lot."
"Like you even pay for it, pirate," Sky growled, turning heel and heading below deck. Risky clenched her fists, fuming. She did pay for living necessities. It was far too much of a hassle to steal them, unless they just happened to be around during other raids. Still angered, she turned back to Shantae, who was standing there with a worried expression on her face.
"You are the most annoying little brat I have ever met, you know that?"
"You remind me every single time we meet, Risky. Can you give my friends a break? I started the acting, shout at me instead."
Risky sighed. This girl was too good for this world. She shook her head, walking to one of the sails.
"Help me turn these. Remember what I taught you; keep the wind in the sails so that it fills them up and gets us to the destination quicker."
Shantae wordlessly followed her orders, feeling a little awkward. The pair made quick work of the sails, and the ship felt like it was moving faster. It was hard to tell, though. The older woman then beckoned Shantae to follow her to the captain's quarters, who complied happily, though she couldn't help but whine a little.
"If I have to help you clean again, I'm just going to go ask one of the Tinkerbats."
Risky stopped in her tracks, facepalming. She had Tinkerbats. How on earth did she forget that. She quickly leapt down the stairs below deck, and the genie could hear her yelling at some poor involuntarily volunteers to deal with the sails for the next few hours.
Coming back up, Risky glared at her, nodding her head towards her quarters again. Shantae took this as a command to hurry up, and hurry up she did.
Sky sighed to nobody in particular when she heard Risky yelling a few select words at some Tinkerbats to help her with the sails. The blonde was seriously starting to question why she had even volunteered and forced the violent woman to let her and Rotty come. Shantae could look after herself easily, and would've probably had an easier time without them.
'Why do you always think about these things after you're halfway through them?'
She exited the bathroom after washing her hands, beginning to head towards her room. With a squeak of surprise, she was swiftly deviated from her path and into another room, falling atop her captor.
"Hey, beautiful."
Sky rolled her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for this. She just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Let go, Rotty."
"But I wanna hang out with my favourite non-genie!"
"Let go!"
Shoving herself off of the zombie, the blonde frantically straightened her outfit with a huff, turning back to the door with the intention of locking herself in her room for the next few hours.
Two arms snatching her away from the doorway reminded her why such simple wishes would always be so hard to obtain. She was spun around, finding herself face-to-face with a grinning Rottytops, who had managed to find another bandana.
"Rotty, I just want to be left alone," Sky whined, while she tried to wriggle her way out of the zombie's surprisingly strong grip, but to no avail.
"If I let you do that, I'll die of boredom. And I'm already technically dead!" Rotty giggled at her own joke, pulling Sky in for a hug which she reluctantly returned. "Besides, I want to talk to you."
Sky grimaced. "Can't you talk Shantae's ears off today?"
"I would if Snack Cakes was here. Sky, I want to talk to you." Rotty finished her sentence by booping the birdkeeper on the nose, who glared at her. The zombie's smiled faded, turning into a sad expression. "Are you just trying to avoid me because… you know?"
Sky's expression softened at the low tone of Rotty's voice. She leaned a little more into the zombie, wrapping her arms around her again.
"No. I'm sorry. I'm just having an off day, with you and Shantae being noisy, and Risky being the pirate that she is." The undead girl saw right through her words.
"Am I making this awkward for you? Too pushy?" Rotty asked, letting go of Sky. The blonde shifted uncomfortably.
"A little, yes. But that's not the main problem. I… I'm…" She trailed off, unable to say what she had on her mind.
"You're finding it hard to decide how you feel about me because you want to present yourself as the perfect girl that you've always been, but are also trying to follow what you feel is right, which just happens to conflict with each other, causing you to question which one is actually right and which one you actually want," Rottytops finished for her. Sky stared at her in shock, her mouth slightly agape. She had not been expecting that from the zombie. After a few seconds, she managed to find some words to say.
"U-uh, yeah. That. Speaking from experience?" she teased in an attempt to lighten up the mood. She then mentally slapped herself. By the way she spoke about it, it was a painful memory for Rottytops. What a great mood lifter, Sky!
Not.
"Maybe," Rotty smirked, but not as widely as she usually did. "Or at least most of it. I've never been perfect, but to me, you always have been."
"T-Thank you, Rotty, truly. But, I still need a little bit of time."
'You do not. You've already made up your mind.'
'Still, she's a girl and a zombie. What will everyone think of me?!'
'Everyone who cares about you will support you.'
'But…'
"I understand," the green girl whispered in reply, though Sky did not miss the way she quickly averted her eyes. Truthfully, she had already made up her mind. She felt bad for stalling every time, knowing that it hurt Rotty a little bit more each time she did so. But it was still a big choice for her, so Sky wanted to be absolutely sure of herself before announcing it to the undead girl.
"Want to play cards?"
Rottytops pulled out a pack of cards from seemingly nowhere, proceeding to sit down on her bed. Sky raised an eyebrow.
"Where did you steal that pack from this time?"
"Why do you always assume I steal things? Is it too card for you to think of another reason?"
"You are awful, Rotty." Nevertheless, Sky sat down next to her friend as she tore the wrapping open. "What did you want to play?"
"I was thinking strip poker," Rotty said with a smirk.
"If you just so happen to convince Shantae to play, fine. Which means it's never happening."
Rotty's mouth dropped, and she stared at the birdkeeper incredulously.
"Is that a challenge?"
Sky coaxed the pack of cards out of Rotty's hands, making sure to brush against them.
"Maybe. But until then, we're playing Go Fish."
She was beginning to feel a little more confident with what her choice might turn out to be.
'Maybe… maybe I'll admit tomorrow, Rotty.'
Entering the captain's quarters of the Tinkertub, the genie was surprised to see a bathtub filled with water there, though the firepit under it wasn't lit. How did Risky manage to get a firepit into her ship? The ship is wooden! Wood is flammable!
Her chain of thought was interrupted by Risky's voice: "Come here."
Meekly, the younger girl walked right up to Risky, who stood in front of her desk. She didn't look happy, and Shantae was worried about what sort of punishment she would receive.
"You will tell no one what I am about to do, understood?" Risky asked, her voice stern.
Shantae nodded out of habit, swallowing in fear. If Risky was going to hurt her, she would instantly go running to Sky or Rotty, no matter what.
'Why wouldn't you just fight her back?'
'I… don't want to hurt her…'
'Are you serious? She's made so many attempts on your life, and you've had no qualms about fighting her before.'
'Things are different now.'
Instead, she was shocked when the pirate threw her arms around her, dragging the purplette into a hug. She was stunned for a few seconds, before realising that she wasn't hugging back. Quickly remedying that issue, she let out a small, concerned croak.
"R-Risky?"
"J-just let me have this. Please," the pirate replied shakily. Shantae found no reason not to grant her the simple request.
A few moments passed without any noise between the two, until Shantae found her arms beginning to get sore from the awkward positioning. She unwrapped her arms from Risky, who followed soon after. The pirate appeared to have tears in her eyes, but she wiped them away as quickly as possible so the purplette didn't notice. But she had.
"Wha-? Risky! What's wrong?" Shantae moved in for another hug, disregarding the soreness in her arms, comforting Risky a higher priority. What had happened that made the usually hard and fiery pirate turn into a teary mess?
"Nothing," came the expected reply.
"Like I'm going to believe that. Tell me, Risky," Shantae pleaded, her eyes wandering over Risky's face, settling on her crimson eyes.
Risky sighed. "It was a moment of weakness. Nothing more." Within her mind, she was screaming at herself, demanding to know why she had let that little bit of weakness crack through her walls. Her anger began to seep throughout her as Shantae piped up again.
"That was not 'nothing,' so why don't you—"
"Why don't you mind your own damn business, runt!" Risky yelled, spinning around and unsheathing her cutlass. "I've gone out of my way to help you defeat that moron of a baron, and I've let you bring your stupid friends, so the least you can do is stop questioning me about my past! Now get out before I strangle you like I did with your mother!" The pirate said the words before she even realised she was saying them, and it put a quick end to her tirade. She slapped a hand over her mouth in an uncharacteristic display, but it was too late. Shantae was backing away from her, a mixture between fear and sadness on her face, tears threatening to spill out from her eyes.
"I-I never asked you about your past. I just w-wanted to help." With that, she ran out of the quarters, leaving Risky alone. The pirate fell backwards against the nearest wall, sliding down, all her anger replaced with guilt.
"All of the things you could lie about to make her listen," she murmured to herself, "it had to be her mother."
It wasn't long before Risky herself broke down into tears.
Poor Risky. She doesn't really deserve this, does she?
And it's 4am. Why do I always decide to write/upload at this time?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm starting to worry again that I'm going a little OOC, so I might relaunch the games to review their character and personality. Although, they don't venture too far outside what's shown, whereas I'm writing outside of what's in the games...
I'll learn.
Anyway, I have no idea when the next chapter will be up (again), totally not because I'm writing another fic at the same time. Not at all. It's because... yes.
I've been playing a lot of Sea of Thieves lately so I might try to implement some adventures from there into this fic, but I'll have to see if anything really fits the theme of this.
Anyway, typo pointers, criticism, reviews and faves/follows are welcome and appreciated!
Till next time,
-Tommycats.
(I actually had to go back a chapter and see what my usual send-off was because I'm that much of a dolt. I don't know why you needed to know this. But now you know. You're welcome.)