NOTICE: The following section is canon. It is also irresponsible, reckless, and evidence that Sello is never getting help.

…

Tale #7: "What Kinda Drinking Game is This?"

In between jobs and when they were close to Skyrider Port, Link would allow the crew to have some free time while he checked in with the main office. It was mostly so that he could get a break from his crew's antics. Only four months after they had been rewarded by the king, and discipline was already slipping through the cracks. The largest offenders seemed to be the Gel—well, the largest offender seemed to be Dholit. Between harassing him, stealing from some of their stores without letting anyone know, provoking Layna into stabbing Line with a tranquilizer, and hitting on any man that happened to come aboard, she was beginning to drive him nuts. Line seemed to be going through some sort of perverted streak and had been caught sneaking into the girls' side of the berth deck. Link was able to keep count of this because, every time they caught him, the Gelto would put him to sleep and tie him up between the stairs on the quarter deck so that he was blocking the doors to the launch deck. And it was beginning to feel like Dubbl married Leynne just so she had a punching bag. As far as antics not involving the Gelto went, Sello was becoming a handful. A lot of his scrounging had to be taken to scrappers because the Island Symphony was having trouble maintaining its ballast every time they docked at an island. That was on top of having to deal with Sello's unfortunate collection of bottles from around the kingdom. Link let him keep one bottle of each label and had Cale and Harley throw out the rest. These changes left the orlop clear, but Sello did not take long to restock. Link had recently decided that all scrapping proceeds went straight to the ship's funds since Sello just could not keep his salary in his pockets. What Sello did not use to buy his junk went toward alcohol. Everyone else at least had a plan for their pay.

Except when it came to gambling with each other.

Link had decided that he wanted to go to the Sail Tavern after his visit to the main office. When he got there, he had not expected to find half of his crew standing on opposite sides of the room while Sello stumbled down a narrow walkway made of tables. Sello seemed to not mind, but he was stuck in the middle while the crew tried to call out to him and tell him which direction to go in.

Link was distracted. So he was taken by surprise when Lady Leeta approached him from behind. "Ya-ha!" he cried out before Leeta's hug crushed him against her body.

"Welcome home, Link!" she declared. Link struggled and slipped her grasp a bit. As a result, her arms were around his neck, and he desperately tried to call attention to it. However, with his voice choked off, the best he could do was mouth "Mom" while tugging at her arm. She let him go soon enough, though. "So, did you come to join your crew?" she asked.

Link coughed a moment. Then he turned to her and said, "I didn't know they were here. How long have they been here?" He pointed. "And… what are they doing?"

"Hmm. Some kinda game, I think."

Link sighed and covered his eyes with a hand. "This must've been what Dad felt like when he discovered 'Dodge-Link'."

"Oh, I think I remember him telling me about that," Leeta said with a cheery tone. "He was embarrassed, but I thought it was kinda cute. And they named it after you."

"Because they made me part of the equipment."

Leeta's response was a blank look into the distance while Link approached his crew. "Oh. I don't think he mentioned that part…"

"Guys!" Link snapped at his crew, opening his arms to help indicate his presence.

"F—Cap'n on-deck!" Gold shouted from the closer group. The only ones to snap to attention were him, Flower, Line, and Cale. The rest of the crew simply looked in Link's direction while Dholit gave Link a smug grin and a small wave. Sello managed to come to a complete stop where he was, appearing as if he had been frozen with one leg in the air and looking toward the tavern's stairs with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Line, standing near Gold, dropped his saluting arm and used it to elbow Gold's stomach. "Geez, Gold, what's wrong with you?" he chastised. "It's just Link."

"Force o' 'abit," Gold replied as he dropped his salute. "No offense, Cap'n."

Link indicated Sello, who was still frozen in place. "What are you guys doing?"

"Drinking game, Captain," Flower replied.

Link moved aside so he could see the two groups. The side closer to the door was composed of Line, Cale, Flower, Gold, and Harley. Opposite them were Dholit, Twali, Lwamm, Lilly, and Dubbl. Beside each group were single tables bearing an array of shot glasses filled to the brim with varying types of alcohol. Link was unsure how to process this. With the singular exception of his permanently inebriated chief engineer, none of his crew appeared to be drinking.

So Link simply told them, "I don't get it."

"The drunk drinks, and we make bets on him," Flower explained, pointing a finger at Sello.

Link pinched the bridge of his nose. "Guys, I've already told you you can't make bets while we still have a small crew."

"No, nuthin' like tha', Cap'n," Harley quickly said.

"We just threw our Rupees into a pot," Flower said. "The winners split the pot at the end."

"We ain' tradin' shifts or anythin'," Harley pointed out.

"Okay, so, what's in it for Sello?" Link asked, indicating the drunk with one hand.

The guys all gave him stupid looks and glanced at Sello. Line then told him, "Are you kidding?"

"He's the one getting the drinks," Flower said.

Link sighed. "Guys. What's the game?"

"We give him a drink and send him to the other team," Line explained. "If he makes it, they give him a drink and send him our way. The team who gives him his last drink before he passes out wins."

Link nodded and said with a skeptical tone, "Uh huh. Who pays for the drinks?"

"Are we playin' or not, Captain?" Lilly asked impatiently from the other side. "I gotta a new hairbrush on the line!" Link sensed someone walk up behind him and glanced over his shoulder to find Leeta standing there.

"Go, Sello, go!" Line shouted. This prompted both teams to start shouting things at Sello, which brought Sello back to life to continue his drunken stumbling toward the girls' team.

Link turned to Leeta and asked, "Who bought the drinks?"

"No one," Leeta replied. "When the game finishes, I get half the pot."

"L—Mom!" Link whined as soon as he corrected himself.

"Link, I've seen airmen doing this sort of thing for years," Leeta replied with a laugh. "Granted, your crew seems to be more inventive about it, it's the same, harmless fun anyone has around here. They work hard enough, don't they?"

Link sighed and gave a slow nod. "Yeah…"

"So don't you think they deserve a little fun?"

Link turned just as Sello reached the girls' team. Sello had his head leaned backwards while Lwamm poured a shot of amber-colored alcohol in his mouth. "Yeah, but I wish they won't encourage Sello. It's gonna make his behavior worse."

Leeta put a hand on his shoulder. "Link, don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?" she asked. "You're fourteen years old. Other boys your age are… I don't know, outside! Running around! Chasing girls! Getting into trouble! You can't be a captain all the time. Sello has a staff that can do his job; Harley and Lawrence told me as much."

"Oh, no," Link groaned as he put a hand over his eyes. "You know my crew by name?"

"They're my son's first crew," she pointed out. "They're like my own airmen, like your father's crew. But the point is that you are the only one who has a problem with this. You could invite Captain North in, and the only thing he'd do is sit down with a mug and watch the action."

Link peered at her through his fingers. "You know North, too?"

"Link…"

"Fine, they can have their game!" Link declared over the sound of his crew shouting.

"Link." Leeta grabbed his other shoulder and turned him around. "Why don't you try joining in?"

"Aw, Mom…" Link whined.

"Just make a small bet," she told him as she pushed him forward. "Go on."

"Do you know how weird it is… that you're making me bet on how much my engineer can drink?"

"Full and by, my dear."

Link sighed, reasoning that she was trying to say that he did not have to be a whole lot just to satisfy her. So Link dug into his pocket and pulled his wallet out while he walked around behind the boys' team. He located the pot, a pair of mugs holding what must have been about two hundred rupees, and added a blue rupee into the half-full mug. His decision about which team he would take sides with was reduced to reciting "Catch a Keaton" silently while his finger pointed back and forth. He settled on the girls' team, but the combination of being the only boy on the team as well as being around Dholit made him consider ignoring the stupid rhyme and go to the boys' team. He then realized that Line being on the boys' team meant that there was a good chance they would lose; Line had had some really horrible luck when it came to games of chance. So he settled on the girls' team, figuring that if he was going to waste his money betting on Sello's antics, he might as well try to at least win.

"We have the captain!"

The moment Lilly called that out, Link felt that he should have just taken the loss and joined the boys' side. Because this followed.

"What 'appened? Yar balls fall off?!" Link crossed his arms and stared daggers at Harley. Cale, standing next to him, tapped his shoulder and whispered into his ear. Harley nodded and then amended, "What 'appened, yar balls fall off, Cap'n?!" Cale smacked himself on the forehead.

Dholit reached past Lwamm and Lilly and pulled Link closer so she could squeeze his head against her chest. "My Captain is only embracing his emotional side," she argued while she seemed to be more interested in pressing his right ear to her heart. "Is that so much to ask of a maturing boy?"

"Dholit, let him go!" Leeta snapped at her.

"Yes, My Lady," Dholit said, releasing Link's head.

Link rubbed a hand on his neck while giving Dholit an annoyed look. Then he called across the room while Flower was pouring a shot into Sello, "You guys have a jinx with you; Line's never won at gambling in his life."

"Not true!" Line called back. "I won at stitches before!"

"You were playing against me and using a marked deck!" Link hollered back. "I called you on that!"

"I still won!"

"You cheated!"

"Oh, yeah!? Well, if I'm so bad at winning, how about you break your rule and bet with me?!"

"Line, I don't have a shift to bet you with!"

"I'm not talking about a shift. I'm talking about your command!"

The whole room fell silent again. Looks turned toward Line at first and then to Link. Even Sello had stopped to watch for Link's reaction. Link's immediate response was a flat look. "I'm not betting my command," he told Line.

"Bet me a whole month of command," Line dared him. "You're so sure you'll win, let's see it."

"I'm not even giving you a minute, Line," Link replied, pointing a finger at him. "My command is not up for grabs."

"You're a chicken!"

Link was a little surprised by the accusation. Then he replied, "I am not."

"You are so!"

"No I'm not!"

"Chicken, chicken!" Line then folded his arms against his sides to flap them in imitation of said bird while clucking.

"Flower?" Link asked. "Smack him for me."

Flower put a big grin on his face and delivered a healthy whap to the back of Line's head. "Owwww!" Line whined, arms now covering his head.

"Line, let me point out that you don't have anything I want. What could you bet me that would be worth my command?"

"You could have him scrub out the heads foh a whole month," Lilly suggested.

"And swab all of the decks foh that month as well," Dholit added.

"I can always use some help ahranging the cahgo and supplies," Cale pointed out.

"All of it," Line declared, pointing at all three. "All of it for one—no, two months! And I'll give up my shore rotation, too!"

"I pig ma doezz!" Sello declared.

"Shut up, Chief," Flower told him.

Link sighed as he thought. It would be a bigger treat for the rest of the deck crew than for Link, but he had to admit that Line's misery regarding the tedium aboard the Island Symphony would be more enjoyable if he was not on-deck the whole time he felt like complaining. Still, there was no way he wanted to give Line command of his ship for a whole month; that was just asking for trouble, both from the company and from what Line's need to assert command might lead to.

So he came up with a solution. "One task, Line," he said. "I'll give you command of the Symphony to do only one thing."

"You're still chickening out!" Line accused him.

"Line, there're regulations at work here," Link argued. "I can't let you have command of the ship for any length of time unless Leynne and I are both out of action. And, well, good luck finding anyone who wouldn't wanna chuck you overboard. But I can do this. One job. One job that doesn't go on the record."

"That's a total rip-off!" Line accused him. "Two jobs!"

Link shook his head. "One job for one month, Line. Or are you too chicken to take the bet?"

"Hey, I'm not the chicken here!" Line accused.

"Biggest chicken ever!" Link replied. He then started clucking at Line.

"Okay, fine!" Line declared. "One job for one month! You're on! Captain!"

"Good!" Link shouted. "C'mon over, Sello."

Sello, however, stood still where he was. The whole room had fallen silent in concern that Sello was about to pass out. He had a spacey look on his face, as if he was somehow fascinated with the ceiling. He belched. And then, to Link's horror, Sello fell backwards.

BAM!

…

Tale #7 of the Island Symphony – END

NOTICE: As stated above, this is completely canon. And the reason why Link has now banned gambling everything but money between the crew.