Everyone had a bit of a rough time waking up the next morning...although some had it rougher than others. Melia and Bara were still exhausted when they were woken up because of how late they'd been up and all they'd been through the former day, but they had it easy compared to almost everyone else, who had to deal with not only the same thing but a stomach (and bladder...and...head...) full of grog.
As Benn had predicted, Shanks himself wasn't even able to wake up on his own. Lucky Roux, the ship's chef and a "good friend" of the captain, crept into the captain's quarters at about 11 in the morning and, seeing the two girls cuddled up together and asleep, tried to think of a tortuous way to wake Shanks up without bothering them. He finally decided the best method was to drag the captain's sleeping body out of the cabin and sit on his face. It did the trick, although understandably, Shanks wasn't exactly happy about it.
"Ugh! What's your problem?" the captain demanded to know as he shakily stood up, holding his aching head in agony.
"Goooooood morning, Captaaaaain!" Lucky sang out obnoxiously, banging Shanks "affectionately" on the back.
"Ioughtakillyou..." Shanks groaned loudly and went back into his room.
"Don't fall back asleep now! Or I'll have to wake you up again," Lucky Roux called after him with a smirk.
"I know, I know, I know, I know, I'm AWAKE, thanks. And I don't plan on going back to sleep, at least not around here," Shanks said irritably before slamming his door, ignoring the obnoxious "Just checkiiiiing!" coming from the other side of it. He then turned to look at the two girls asleep in his bed. He frowned in thought, gently sat on the bed, and yanked Bara out of it. "Rise and shine," he commanded her as she groaned, barely awake despite the thump she received. He then turned to Melia and gently shook her shoulder. "Time to wake up, kid."
Melia slowly opened her eyes and focused them, remembering where she was. She sat up and yawned then smiled sleepily and said, "G'morning." Her eyes trailed to Bara who was on the floor still and she blinked.
"Bara must've fallen off the bed," Shanks commented with a serious expression, then dragged Bara back up on the bed and slapped at her cheek a bit to wake her up.
Bara woke up, alright, and nearly bit off his hand. "RAPE! ABUSE! RAAAAAAAPE!" she screamed as Melia tried to calm her down. Shanks just snorted.
"Shhh! You're not being raped. Stop that." Melia scolded the red-headed girl and shook her shoulders gently as Shanks nearly withered away from the headache Bara had worsened. Women...
Bara stopped screaming abruptly and turned to look at Shanks. "I had a dream that you got your arm bit off by a Sea King," she informed him calmly.
"You're such a sweet child," the captain said mellowly, tempted to give her a noogie but knowing that might very well get him castrated, and he already felt he had lost the use of enough of his body parts for the morning. So he went on. "Hey, you two, we've docked at an island that I wanted to show you. Well...YOU, mostly," he specified, nodding to Melia. He stood up and, looking at them, commented almost to himself, "I suppose you wouldn't very much like to stay in those same clothes much longer..." He laughed a bit. "Well, after breakfast I'll give you some money so you'll be able to go out and buy whatever you like. Try to make it practical though. I doubt you'd want to be wearing those tooth-pick shoes that I see women wearing if we have a storm. I'm going to go make sure the crew's all in order. See you at breakfast. Or...lunch...or whatever Lucky's serving." And with that he left the two girls to get themselves up and about.
They both freshened up as best as possible under the circumstances, and 10 minutes later Melia felt awake enough to leave the room and see what was happening. Bara stubbornly refused to leave the room, so Melia simply shrugged and left without her, knowing her sister wouldn't budge from her decision for awhile.
Melia stepped out of the room and looked around timidly, a little unsure of where to go or what to do. All of sudden she was attacked by two huge sets of paws that nearly knocked her backwards. Trying to regain composure, she realized the horrible monster attacking her was merely a large Rottweiler-ish mutt with merry but intelligent eyes and a pink collar. Melia gasped a bit for breath and sighed in relief. She wasn't exactly the bravest girl in the world, but if there was one thing she'd never been afraid of it was dogs, no matter how intimidating they seemed.
She smiled and, removing the dog's paws from her chest, scratched it behind its ears. She didn't exactly feel like checking for a gender, so she decided to assume it was a boy until she found out otherwise— "…oh, wait, you have a pink collar, don't you?" she murmured thoughtfully as the monster wagged its tail. "I suppose you must be a girl then."
"AURÉLIE." Both Melia and her new friend looked up hearing a firm, authoritative voice. The dog went bounding happily over to the owner of the voice, who looked at Melia and smiled.
"Sorry about that. I thought someone would have warned you before they let her go bouncing around." Benn Beckman shook his head at the dog but patted her head affectionately at the same time.
Melia laughed a bit. "I don't mind. I love dogs. And cats. And…birds…" she paused, realizing how long her list could go on. "I like animals!" she said with a giggle. "Her name's Aurélie? Is that what I heard?" she asked curiously.
Benn nodded. "Yes, her name's Aurélie. She's sort of the ship's guard dog."
"But she likes Beckman the best of course," Lucky Roux complained as he walked by. Benn rolled his eyes.
"I'm the only one that feeds her and gives her water. The rest of you are too busy trying to get her to fetch something when she wants to take a nap."
"Yuh-huh, whatever you want to think." Lucky Roux said, then looked at Melia. "Oh, your brother's eating breakfast, dear. Follow me if you'd like, I'm headed back toward that area right now."
Melia paused a moment to scratch Aurélie's head one last time and nod to Benn, then followed Lucky Roux into a large room that looked like a lounge. It probably WAS a lounge, actually. Lucky motioned for Melia towards the direction where Shanks was sitting, talking with some of his crew good-naturedly.
She smiled thankfully at Lucky Roux then sat down next to Shanks and smiled sweetly, waiting for him to notice her. After a moment he glanced in her direction and stared at her. "Oh! It's you!" he said, seeming a little spacey.
"Yes, it's me," she replied, with a puzzled smile. "You're still not really awake, are you?" She laughed timidly.
"Mm, I guess not." Shanks laughed as well and tugged one of her pigtails playfully. "Sorry, I'd eat breakfast with you, but I need to go make sure some things get done before anyone can go ashore. Come find me if you need anything." He patted her shoulder and she smiled and nodded as he walked out.
"You hungry?" Lucky Roux appeared beside her rather suddenly, making her jump ever so slightly. She looked up at him and blinked and he placed a plate of fruit and bread on her lap. "There's a lot there, I know. I don't know how much you normally eat so just eat 'til you're full. And if you do happen to need more come to the kitchen." He nodded to her and walked away with surprising agility.
"Th…thank you!" Melia called to him politely after the moment it had taken her to collect her scattered thoughts. She picked up a piece of pineapple and nibbled at it gingerly, observing the crew. They seemed to her like the typical pirate crew…although they did seem to be able to back up their words with actions a lot better than most pirate crews she'd seen. That wasn't a bad thing, really. Pirates who made empty threats weren't really pirates at all, as far as she was concerned, since they were nothing to worry about...not that she wouldn't worry about them, but that was just who she was. But in any case they appeared to be, for the most part, extremely rowdy, though very hard-working as well.
"Hay, baby," a deep voice suddenly growled seductively into her ear, startling her considerably. "You free tanight?"
She looked up at the unknown pirate with bewilderment. "P-pardon?" she asked timidly.
"I said, whatcha got goin' on tanight? Wanna come back ta my cabin with me fer sumthin' ta drink 'n...stuff?" He grinned suggestively, and there was liquor on his breath.
Even so, it took Melia a good ten or fifteen seconds to register the true meaning of the invitation. Once she did, though...
"ExCUSE ME?" she jumped to her feet glared at him furiously, her face red with anger and embarrassment and her voice's volume rising to an "outdoor voice". "Just who do you think you are, you...you pig?!" Her tiny fists clenched involuntarily.
The strange pirate's grin was replaced for a moment with a puzzled look, but the perverted grin came back quickly. "Hay, c'mon Doll, wut's yer problem? You dun needa play hardda git. I'm a reel pleeser, y'know wut I meen?"
Furious beyond words, Melia couldn't think of anything to say and turned away from the man and tried to calm herself.
"...waidda minnit. You think yer too gud fer me or sumthin', bish?" she heard him drawl angrily as his eyes narrowed at her with vexation and sexual frustration. This man could not take a hint.
That little comment, however, served to snap Melia's inner rubber band. Whirling around, she snapped at him, "No, I KNOW I'm too good for you, you swine!"
"Why you little--!" the pirate made an angry but drunken swipe at her with the intention of grabbing her. Melia easily ducked the swing and slapped him across the face with all her strength, then grabbed his thumb, and, knowing that the thumb is the body's weakest joint, twisted it almost, but not quite, hard enough to break it. Her opponent went into a string of vicious swearing and all sorts of colorful language as he nursed his thumb. He glared threateningly at her through his blurry vision and stumbled out of the lounge area.
Arms crossed resolutely over her chest, Melia watched him leave, a little shaky. Once she was sure he was gone for now, she sat back down, embarrassed about having made a spectacle of herself, good reason or not. She felt some murmuring and chuckling about her going around the room, but she tried ignore it. Huffing to herself and still a furious red color, she tried to pick at her breakfast some more even though she wasn't hungry anymore.
"Waita handle 'em, kid," a slurry-voiced man behind her said and laughed heartily, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped defensively and the hand withdrew. "Sorry," its owner chuckled. Melia looked up warily into the eyes of a yellow-haired, tall, skinny, and clearly somewhat buzzed man. He grinned at her in a friendly way, as if he'd known her since she was in diapers. "Can't blame 'im too much. You 'n yer sister are kinda cute. But you jus' tell yer big bro 'bout what he tried. Capt'n'll straighten 'im out good. REAL good." He laughed uproariously.
"Leave her alone, Yasopp. You're not sober enough to be holding conversations." Lucky Roux shook his head disapprovingly as he passed by again to serve someone.
Yasopp just smirked at Lucky Roux's back and turned to Melia again. "You think fast on yer feet, eh kid?" he laughed to himself again and staggered off to go do his chores. Melia merely sighed shakily and, deciding she was done with her breakfast, went to find Bara.