Much, much later that night...it was early the next morning, actually...Shanks was ready to sleep his drunkenness off. He had already sobered up enough to make his bed, which he would make Melia sleep in while he took the floor. Melia had already dropped off once, but of course that didn't last long what with the partying going on.

Melia sat on the bed sleepily, answering questions from Shanks as he put together a crude bed on the floor for himself. "So, why is it that little Bara animal calls you her sister, eh?" he glanced at her curiously.

Melia's eyes narrowed just a bit with frustration. She heard that question just a little too often. "There's more than one way to make a family," she informed him a little snappishly, then sighed, gave him an apologetic look and softened her tone (although he really never noticed it being harsh in the first place). "There's lots of 'families' that can't find it in their hearts to do anything but hurt each other. If Bara and I love each other more than that, I believe we can be a more of a real family than that."

"Makes sense to me. Of course, I am drunk," Shanks laughed a bit, then a frown crossed his face. "Speakin' of families and whatnot...whatever happened to that whore you call a mother?" he inquired.

Melia dropped her face a little. "When I was seven...Mama got really drunk and drowned herself."

"Really? That's too bad." The sarcasm was light but obvious in Shanks's voice. Melia merely sighed remembering the traumatic day. Shanks wisely decided to change the subject.

"So...you got a job?" he asked, taking yet another drink of grog. Melia nodded. "Well, what IS it then?" he prompted her with a laugh.

"I'm on the entertainment crew on a cruise ship. One of the ones Daddy used to work on, you know? He got me a job there."

"Ah yes. Dear old Dad," Shanks nodded, putting his bottle down. Though he managed to find a job on a prestigious cruise line, their mutual father was involved in illicit activities (namely drug-dealing and pimping...both of their mothers, in fact, had worked for him and had been his favorites at the time of the siblings' conceptions). The cruise line job itself, however, though it was a cover-up, was completely legit, and he worked as hard for that job as he did for his other "job".

"How'd he get you such a neat job?" Shanks inquired, surprised that she wasn't running a buffet or cleaning cabins.

"It wasn't hard actually. And it was partly luck. They had an opening for me…well, they made one. They were doing daddy a favor, mostly. But I got the benefit of it. Of course, I almost got fired when they found out what daddy did on that ship in his spare time. That was pretty dramatic."

Shanks burst out laughing, which hurt his head. He winced and observed, "Well, you must've become pretty important to them if they didn't fire you."

"Yeah, maybe...Daddy was usually nice to me." Melia said thoughtfully, disregarding the fact that this had little to do with their previous conversation. "Well, whenever I saw him anyway. He'd always bring me pretty things."

"God knows he can afford it," Shanks said with a laugh. "So, you're an entertainer? What do you do? Not the same thing as your mother, I hope."

"Oh, no no no. Not at all," Melia shook her head quickly, blushing a little in shame for her late mother. "Well, mostly what I do most is sing in the little cafes and such on board the ship. Sometimes they make me a stagehand or something though." She made a face. "I don't like that."

"Oh, you sing, do you? Let's hear it then," Shanks said with a grin.

Melia shook her head again, a little startled. "Oh, no...I..." she tried to think of an excuse.

Shanks laughed. "You make a job of singing to any number of people and yet you're embarrassed to sing in front of your brother?"

"It's...it's...different..." Melia faltered, not sure how to explain it. "Audiences are...anonymous. And...when I sing to them...the most intimate relationship we have is fan and performer. But when it's in front of...an individual person...it's just a lot more unsettling."

"Even a drunk individual person? Okay, okay...I'll take your word for it." Shanks rolled his eyes playfully. "Maybe you can sing for the crew sometime then." He glanced at a small watch on his wrist then looked back up at her. "We'd better get at least a little sleep. I'm gonna have one heck of a hangover tomorrow as it is." He groaned at the thought.

"Oh, okay...but wait! What about Bara? Can she sleep in here too?"

"Oh maaaan...you've got to be kidding me..." Shanks made the mistake of looking into Melia's heart-melting "puppy eyes". He sighed and stood up. "Fine, fine, I'll go get the little beast." He went out the door and was gone so long that Melia nearly fell asleep, but jerked her head up hearing footsteps at the door.

Bara stomped inside as obnoxiously as possible. She paused once inside and announced on a whim, "It smells funny in here."

"Th...thank you..." Shanks rolled his eyes and pushed her toward the bed where Melia was. "Go to bed with...your sister."

"EW! Don't touch me! And you're crazy if you think I'm gonna sleep in that bed! It's probably full of FLEAS."

"YOU, sweetheart, are going to be full of BULLET HOLES in about 2 BLOODY SECONDS."

"Bah! You don't scare me! I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Are you sure? That's where I'm sleeping. I don't want to contaminate you with my scurvy."

"If you have any sort of disease or condition or...or disorder that I catch, I'll drain your bloodstream and replace it with kitchen cleaners!"

This went on for awhile, and Melia knew it would do no good to get involved, so she merely curled up in Shanks' bed and went to sleep over the noise. I swear, they act more like siblings than we do, she thought.