Emerald's pov, enjoy!

"Hey, beautiful…"

"Uh… I'm sorry, what?"

"You the gosh dern prettiest girl I ever laid eyes on, gorgeous…" Yep… I wasn't mistaken… Strider was talking to me. He was looked right at me and calling me beautiful. I, uh, my cheeks were a little more pink than usual… at the prospect… of that. He was being so forward with me. Why was he being so forward with me? This came a little out of left field, I thought. Did, did he mean it? He didn't seem like the type to lie about this sort of thing, but this was so sudden, he hadn't said anything like this before.

"Oh, thank you. You're pretty handsome yourself, Strider." I said, smiling at him… then realized what I said. I mean, sure, I felt it, but why was I also being so bold. I mean, it was one thing to be honest about feelings, but to come out and say it like that so that he could hear it and…

I could see Ray in the corner of my eye rolling his eyes. He thought this was ridiculous? Or maybe… he was jealous? Or maybe this was a huge slap in the face to him? He was about to be married when I called him to this world, and now I dared to even hint at a relationship in front of him. Well, I wasn't about to let Ray get in my way. I was, quite frankly, fascinated by Strider. I legitimately wanted to get to know him. If we were staying on this ship for a while, we would have plenty of time to do it, plenty of time to get to know each other. Ray was not about to stop me, not with this, not with anything.

"Strider… who's that? That's a cool sounding word. I like it lots…" His voice was different, a tiny bit slurred and his accent, or whatever it was, affectation was different than normal, stronger. It was more difficult to understand what he was saying. I could make do, of course, but it was a challenge.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm afraid you can't hold him accountable for anything he says right now. He's a little out of it, an effect of the anesthetic. This happens to people sometimes. It can be pretty funny, at times." An unknown voice spoke to me. I turned around to see a huge muscle bound man with a white apron and a kind smile, and tattoos everywhere. He was a dark skinned man. The markings on his skin looked like a bunch of abstract art. It looked pretty awesome. I wondered how I would look with tattoos. As a princess, we weren't supposed to, but let's face it, I was no longer a princess. I really wasn't. I never… really was, in name only, in name only… And now, not even in name. I was lost to the world, lost to my kingdom. And now I had been kidnapped by pirates… and now I had a new place to belong. At least, I thought I did. I would learn this substitute to magic and then send Ray home, and me and Strider could spend time together and learn more about each other… and adventure together and be in each other's arms, and…

I was getting a little carried away.

"You are awesome…" I said, still in awe at his tattoos. Seems this was the medic? Probably? He at least seemed to know something about this anesthetic stuff… I was really interested in how it worked. It had slowed down my brain itself, my thoughts. There wasn't a lot of magic that could directly affect the human mind, at least, not that I knew about. Now that I thought about it, there was probably a whole lot of magic techniques and types that I did not know about… Magic that may have required a lot more power than any of the normal magic needed. I didn't even have enough to do normal stuff… I didn't actually want to do it, but I wondered if I gave myself over to the dark lord guy… if that guy would even know how to make my magic powerful. It would be hilarious if he tried to amplify my power and just… I was so horrible at it that not even some all powerful force of evil could make me competent. That would just be the funniest thing. I was laughing so hard. Ray was going to yell at me from how hard I was laughing.

"Oh, thank you. I'm glad you think so." The medic scratched his head all self conscious and stuff. Was he not used to getting compliments? Did he not know how to take one? Or was he just that… bashful? Uh, what was the word I was looking for here… opposite of pride- HUMBLE! Or was he actually just that humble. I wouldn't have put it past him, even though I didn't know the guy. This ship, this crew, had that kind of feeling. Nobody had a huge ego, and that was refreshing, considering my old home was a literal castle with princesses, pretty much all thinking they were Arceus's gift to the world…

The medic didn't say anything else to me, but checked the other two. He put his hands on them, but then he also pulled out a few different weird things and like… used them on Strider and the old coot. He wrapped something around the old man's arm and squeezed a bulb thing. There were other things, too, just as incomprehensible to me. I wasn't really looking at them, even though I should have. My eyes were drawn to Strider. He was still in a daze, he was still smiling at me, this stupid smile, like a little kid looking at his favorite thing in the world.

I… I would have to wait to talk to him about this until he was in his right mind. He was an independent contracted guard for me. That was our relationship right now, even if I was quickly realizing I might have wanted it to be more than that… I needed to talk to him before we did anything to change that. For now, I would just… I would focus on the medic.

"We were told you would explain anesthetic and also some of the other things going around here like how the ship is staying in the air without magic." Ray asked. I was just about to ask that, I really was, but I guessed it wasn't fast enough for Ray's liking, and so he beat me to the punch, and was quite a bit ruder about it too. Oh, actually, I wasn't sure if it really counted as being rude, but I was going to say it in a way more curious way, because I was actually fascinated with what the answer might be. Ray just wanted the answer so he could get home already, or, get on the path to going home.

"It's medicine. Made from various plants and chemicals. What I did was inject you with it so it traveled through your veins and reached your brain. This particular medicine put you to sleep, but other medicines can do other things." He explained. He seemed happy to explain, like he didn't get to talk about this stuff very often, and it was clear he was fascinated with it all as well.

"Veins… so, the stuff that like… the stuff where my blood goes, other stuff can go in there too and affect my body like magic."

"The word you are looking for, is science. We are doing science here. Although, I suppose, to an outsider, it would be hard to tell the difference, huh? It isn't, though. Well… maybe it is, a little. It's like… long form magic."

"Long… form magic?" Ray asked. The medic inhaled, he was going to have a lot to say. Either that or he had this speech memorized because he was passionate about that. Science and magic… huh.

"Magic works by using outside power, energy, magnifying it inside your body, and then releasing it as something else. We gather nature too, gather information, observe from nature and from testing things, to see what affects what. We then take those observations, and use them to apply solutions to problems. So essentially we do the same thing as magic, take something on the outside, digest it, and regurgitate it as something we can apply in the real world. It's more or less the same. The only real difference, and I think that is what makes science better, is that when we're done, we understand exactly what is going on, because we actually went through possibilities until we get to what works, so we know how the anesthetic works and why it works and what doesn't work. The pros and cons of one method of solving a problem as opposed to another!" Even though he was a rather reserved seeming guy, he got pretty excited over this, didn't he?

"But it takes a whole lot longer, doesn't it?" Ray replied. "That was why you called it long form."

"Yes. And… sometimes, it does also require some sacrifice, like powerful magic. Sometimes a medicine goes wrong and hurts or even kills people… That is always quite sad and unfortunate. However, it does not require nearly the amount of sacrifice demanded of high level magic uses, and once we find out that a medicine is somehow dangerous for the general population, we take it away and destroy it, so as few people as possible are hurt. Magic, historically, is a selfish endeavor, sacrificing others for the benefit of the user to become strong… Science is for the people." He cleared his throat and blinked a few times, as if he had only just realized just how long he had gone on about magic and science. It was very helpful, though. I was pretty sure I understood now. "Sorry, sorry. I've gone on too long. I should really be attending these two. I may be a while. You two are free to move about the ship, meet the crew if you want, from what I heard from the captain, you'll be here a while."

Something about that sent a shiver down my spine, he said that so casually, that it sounded creepy, like they were going to be keeping us against our will in cages unable to get out or do anything… even though I had joined the crew… I think I had, at least, unless they gave me this sweet jacket as some sort of weirdly awesome prison clothing? They would not have untied Ray. Logically… I was pretty sure we were not actually prisoners here… but that was the thing, I didn't know what we were. We had not been told why they took us. It would be fine if they had some stupid reason like they just saw us and felt like it because this was their turf and pirates could do whatever they pleased, but no, they didn't even give us that. They just said we would find out in time. At least they were treating us friendly enough.

"No, wait, why are we here?" Ray asked. Seemed he wasn't so willing to let it go. He got zero response from the medic, though. He was already busy, using more and different science thingies to, I assumed, check how healthy the two of them were? I didn't know, but that was alright. I thought, maybe, we could introduce ourselves to some of the crew on deck. If we were going to be here awhile, it would be cool to know who we were going to be spending our time with. I got up off the bench I was sitting on and started to walk towards the door, but something pulled my arm back. I looked back, it was Strider… he was holding my hand.

"No, wait… don't go, lovely… don't leave me with the witch doctor, here…" Strider said, his voice was slurred and his hair was all sort of messy on his face. I had a sudden impulse to run my hand through his hair. I didn't actually do it, I stopped myself in time, but…aww… that was so cute, that was adorable. He didn't want me to leave his side. I looked between him and Ray.

"I don't want to stay here, Emerald." Ray said, quite definitively. He was absolutely set on this, but I… I wanted to stay with Strider, especially if he wanted me here. Maybe I could, um… lengthen the tether? That way, we could both get what we wanted? Compromise, you know? That was the best solution, huh? I closed my eyes and concentrated, but all I could feel was Strider's warm hand enclosing my own, I could feel a steady beat from him that was not my own, a pulse, a different way of life… and yet, they could complement each other and make a harmony.

And then I was hit in the back, and again felt this flow of bright blue energy flowing through me and blasting outward, and suddenly Ray jerked away. I guessed I had… pushed him? I swung my head around to look at who had hit me, but at this point, I knew who it was. The Old Coot… The old coot was back up, standing up next to his bed with his stick in hand.

"I unblocked it for you not a few hours ago, don't you go and block it up again." He said in what I guessed was disgust? I wasn't really sure what he was feeling, the strange old man. How in the world did he get up and how was he being more, um, more aware, I guessed the word was? How was he less out of it than Strider?

"Wait, what, old man, I thought you were pumped full of that anesthetic stuff?!" I frowned. His mind seemed so clear in comparison.

"If the-" The medic started to say something, but the old coot shot him a weird sort of look. "If a man that old was given a significant amount of anesthetic, he would be at risk of dying." The medic mumbled, as he continued to work on Strider, checking something on the arm that wasn't still holding on to my hand.

"So you didn't have that stuff going through you?" Ray asked.

"Just taking a nap. Can't an old man take a nap in peace?! Now I want to go out. Ray, come with me. There is something we have to talk about." He said. I could feel Ray's eyes boring into my, boring into Strider. He really didn't like it, wasn't a fan of what was going on here. "Come on, Ray."

"Ow! Old man, I could kill you!" Ray, I could only assume, had gotten his own taste of the "magic stick." The old coot only laughed.

"You could, but you won't. I know too much, ain't that right, boy? I know far too much. Well, let's be on our way." Then, without further hesitation, the old man walked slowly out of the room. Ray looked back at us for a second, and then began to follow the old man. Was that… was that on purpose. Did the old man was to leave me with Strider on purpose? That crafty little old man. He knew I wanted to stay with Strider, didn't he? And he was creating a situation in which I could be alone with him… well, almost alone with him… there was the medic, but he was… did he count? He seemed like he was staying pretty quiet, pretty intent on his work. And, well… If I was going to stay here, that meant that anything I did, my entire life would be on display for these guys. There was no way you could hide things from people on a ship this small, in a space this compressed. I might as well get used to having to share my life with these guys. I was used to not having a lot of privacy, so that wasn't the problem, this was just a new group of people I would have to share with.

I looked him in the eyes, they were slightly cloudy. He still wasn't completely there, so I couldn't really speak seriously with him. Still… this was cute. I could not deny that… and he was still hanging on to my hand, like if he let go, I would disappear forever.

"Witch doctor, huh?" I asked, trying to go with something light hearted. That was a really weird thing to call the medic guy. I had absolutely no idea what it meant, and I wasn't convinced he knew what it meant, either? "What's that supposed to mean, now? Insulting the man who's treating you?"

"He does the thing with the needles… I don't like it Emerald, I don't like it. Make sure he doesn't do it, ok?" Strider said. That did not help at all. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I had a feeling he wasn't going to be making sense until the anesthetic got out of his system. I didn't know if it was true, but it felt like it was stronger in him than it was in me. How did that work? There were a lot of questions. The medic guy, who's name I still hadn't gotten, I would sometime later… get his name, that is. I had a feeling… I was going to be here for a while before I got any definitive answers. So, I sat back down on the bench I had been sitting on before. My hand was still in his, we had not broken the connection. I felt like he would not let me break the connection. And… as I was there, holding his hand, it was almost like I could feel this energy around him and it felt like it was… dark gray with traces of bright reds and blues dancing about him in tiny wisps.

I gasped and pulled away. What in the world was this? Why did I see that? But, I did not see that. I didn't see anything when I was looking at him, it was just him… but then where did the colors come from? Was I just hallucinating or something? It was like I… felt it, not saw it. But… how do you feel colors? I stared at him. Was it… was it something he did? Or, maybe it was a side effect of the anesthetic? I did not know, I hadn't touched anyone else when they were under the influence of it, so I had nothing to compare it to to confirm or deny that. When I pulled my hand away, the color… feeling… thing fell mostly away. I could still sense it a little, but it was just a hollow echo of what it had been.

"No, don't go… I need you…" Strider said. I didn't want to take him too seriously. I had no idea if he would feel similarly once he got that stuff out of his system, like it did for me. I did not think I acted like this when I had the anesthetic in me. I couldn't deny, though… those words made me really happy, even if he didn't mean them or would change his stance as soon as he was in his right mind… right now, it made me really happy, and I went ahead, with a little hesitance, and ran my hand through his tousled hair, scratching his head in a circular motion, entangling his hair in my fingers. This was nice… I never needed to leave here. If I could just hold on to this moment. And then he fell asleep, apparently a light scratch on the head was enough to completely put him to sleep.

"Goodnight." I said, a smile playing on my lips. He smiled too, and settled down into a deep sleep.

Have an awesome day!