[Closed; Mushverse Past] Basco/Marvelous voice testing/history sharing.

[captainmarvelous]

It still feels like I'm inside a dream as the startlingly red captain takes me onto his ship. I have the image of it first coming into view still burned to my eyelids; when I blink I still see it as it rose in the sky behind him, as red and bold as its captain. I haven't felt so drawn to something in my life, its call as strong to me as the song of the stars. It's as if even the blood in my veins longs for it; I don't think I could have refused the captain's offer to join his crew, even with how strong my pride can be.

He shows me the engine room, the impressive inner mechanisms that keep the ship airborne, keep it humming with life. And it does have life, more than any ship I've been on before. I can feel it humming under my touch as I grip a railing. This ship has a voice, has a story to tell me, or maybe one to make with me.

The brief yet concise tour eventually comes to the main living room, what I can feel just with my first steps is the heart of the ship. It's sparsely furnished, a small table with a pair of chairs, a tiny couch with coffee table, the main controls for the computer screen on the far wall. And of course the captain's chair.

I hover at AkaRed's elbow for a moment, drinking in my surroundings as he points out the stairs that lead down toward the crew quarters, the doorway that leads to the galley, and the other stairs that lead up to the crow's nest.

It already feels like home. Like I've lived here all my life.

AkaRed moves to sit in his chair, tells me to make myself at home, pick out a room for myself. I shoulder the small pack I brought with me, all I usually travel with, and spin around, drinking the room in all over again.

Comments

[curryjolokia]

As AkaRed takes the helm again, I know my role in raising the Galleon for my captain's escape is completed. From the crow's nest, Navi and I had brought the boat up to meet AkaRed, steering her narrowly between the bones of this half-razed city. Now that he's aboard, he doesn't even have to have touched the controls; the Galleon knows when her master is aboard, and my job's done.

So I'm already coming down the stairs from the crow's nest, Navi chattering away on my shoulder, when I hear a new voice on the bridge. "Sounds like we have a new member." I announce my presence before I'm far enough down to see the newcomer; when my head clears the ceiling and brings him into view, I grin to see the green, wide-eyed expression on his face.

AkaRed is in his chair already, but he tips his head just a bit over his shoulder toward me; that's as much of an acknowledgement as I usually can expect from him, and I grin, hopping the rest of the way down the staircase to approach the new kid. Walking a partial circle around him, I grin, appraising his form and his attitude. I like what I can see so far. He's got spirit, maybe enough to keep up with AkaRed and me.

"Captain, do we have a new cabin boy?"

[A few days later.]

[curryjolokia]

It's been a few days since the new kid came aboard, and I'm pleased that my initial take on him was accurate. He's enthusiastic, almost cutely so, but at the same time he's not the naive greenhorn I first took him for. He's earned his stripes one way or another, and learned more than a bit of subterfuge in the process. Several times he's caught me in a false assumption, correcting my presumption with that crooked little smirk and goodnatured challenge in his eyes. It's a balance to the frequent necessity, as he gets used to life on the Galleon, that I show him the ropes and rules.

Not like I'm going to give him any ideas about the pecking order - I outrank him, and that's that - but he's not dead weight, far from it, and he's done nothing to upset the relationship between AkaRed and myself. Far from it - with Marvey-chan to tease, I've got a safe target for my 'authority issues' and have found myself treading delicate ground with AkaRed much less frequently. I can appreciate that.

He's developed a habit of hovering just outside the galley doors while I cook meals. I'm not an extraordinary cook, but I'm willing to try (unlike AkaRed) and unlikely to kill us with culinary disasters (unlike the kid). And I have thumbs - which Navi lacks - so really, it's me or we starve.

Regardless of the quality of my cooking, I am the cook - and I've learned this gives me an additional bit of leverage over the kid. I'm just waiting for the day AkaRed gives me a really unsavory task, so I can start calibrating Marvey-chan's food-to-bribes exchange rate. I'm going to bet it's skewed in my favor.

I'm facing the range, grilling some vegetables to toss in with tonight's noodles, when I hear the click of his boot passing the doorway. Leaning backward, I grin over my shoulder at him. "Hey, Marvey, hand me that spice, willya?" I gesture at the spice rack with my chin, both hands busy tossing the skillet's contents so it doesn't burn. "That light yellow-brown one."

[weeks later]

[captainmarvelous]

I can't imagine AkaRed wasn't aware of the Zangyack ambush waiting for us when he sent Basco and I planet-side ahead of him, but I also can't figure he'd just let us fall blindly into this kind of trap.

There a ranger key down here, I don't think the Empire is after them like we are, but they sure seem to show up a lot when we're looking for them.

"Basco!" I shout, firing a shot at a Goumin coming up too close behind him. My bullet cuts close to Basco's face, brushing his hair aside on its way past.

I let out the breath I was holding when the Goumin goes down, though I don't have much time to worry about Basco. I have just enough time to turn and raise my sword to stop another Goumin from taking my head off.