This request was for Harlock and Zero for the prompt scarf. It kind of fell apart into a headcanon story.
We ran into the Karyū on the strangest planets, places I never expected Zero to so much as glance at. His latest venture landed him on one of our resupply stops. The whole place lived off farming and agriculture, each hemisphere trading between production in the summer and distribution in the winter. Because Zero stopped on the winter side in the same city as us, I hoped he wasn't arresting our supplier. Giving food to pirates wasn't that illegal.
Instead, we found a handful of the crew surrounding a packing facility. Their red uniforms dotted the gray walls, most of them sitting and yawning. Some fell asleep, bundled in blankets to keep the biting winds away.
"What's with the Independents and that factory?" I asked our supplier, who looked slightly more drunk than usual.
"The red shirt guys?" she asked through a slur. "That's the Earth's main source of processing grains or something while they're rebuilding the factories there, and someone broke in and messed with some machinery a couple weeks ago. The red-shirts showed up, but since all evidence leads to a group of kids just screwing around, no one figures there'll be anymore problems."
I couldn't help but laugh at Zero's misfortune. The government sent him on the most useless little missions at times. But just like any loyal dog, he followed every order. And as we headed back for the ship, I spotted a splash of yellow against the gray. I told Tochiro I'd catch up and to not leave without me before running over to the factory.
By this time, the black sky hung heavily overhead, factory lights drowning out the stars. The head guard dog looked just as bored as his men, but as I neared, I noticed him fiddling with something. Other than a quick glance to check my identity, he kept his eyes on the strip of black cloth or something hanging from his hands.
"Having fun?" I called.
His voice was dry with all the enthusiasm I'd come to expect from him. "I was," he said. Finally, I neared enough to see the twin metal sticks in his hands and the string of yarn stemming from a basket beside his chair.
My brows shot up. "You can knit?"
His hands paused as he looked up to me, then down to the near-finished scarf touching the tops of his boots. "No," he said at length, before starting up again to show that he was done talking.
Because he was clearly not in the mood to deal with me, it was important for me to stick around. Someone needed to cheer the old dog up. "Your boys seem bored," I said. "If you want, I could try breaking in so they have something to do."
The corner of his mouth twitched toward a smile. I considered it a victory. "Harlock, I have two pointy metal objects besides my saber that I could easily shove through your gut, so I wouldn't recommend trying to break in. If you so much as breathe on any of that equipment, my boss will have my head."
My head tilted as I watched the seamless, repetitive movement of his gloved hands. One row appeared right after the other. The scarf must have grown half a foot since I arrived. "You don't seem all that worried about protecting it," I said.
"Well when you find someone who actually cares about messing up a grain factory who isn't under fifteen years-old, you let me know, and I'll start worrying."
The Earth government freaked over every little detail and may have been the most paranoid group in the galaxy. Zero, not so much. That was part of why I found his work so amusing. "How long are you stuck here?" I asked.
His brow furrowed, and his eyes rolled up in thought, but his hands kept spinning yarn like clockwork. "What day is it? Wednesday? We'll be relieved Monday."
"It's Thursday," I said, but he just shrugged. It looked like the scarf was about finished, the end of the yarn trailing up as he pulled each loop from one needle. "So how many of those have you made?" I asked, peering into his yarn basket. Balls of every color filled it on one side, folded scarves on the other. Seemed more like a cat's paradise than a dog's.
"Too many," he grumbled as he pulled out a pocket knife to cut the extra string. "Most of the boys don't want one, because they say they can handle the cold without them. I guess they just feel weird since I made them." He smiled at that, shaking his head. "But since you're here, I guess you can do me a favor."
Standing, he grabbed the finished stack from the basket and handed them to me. The black one he wound around my neck and face until it covered my eyes. "Perfect," he said, the warmth of a smile in his voice. "I know you run across a lot of kids in sorry states, so give them those for me if you would."
"Is that a rumor about me now?" Though it was true, I wasn't sure I wanted Zero to know about it. I had to be a tough, cocky pirate, or he would go all soft on me.
"Okay," he sighed. A plastic sarcasm covered his voice. "If you happen to see any kids who may want one, have one of your nicer crewman give them one." The weight of his hands pressed on my shoulders to turn me around. "Now get out of here before I arrest you, you pirate bastard." A light shove against my back prompted me forward, and I pulled the black scarf down from my eyes as I headed out. I had to admit, they were cozy.