Stuff isn’t Cheep
If there was anything Tane absolutely despised, it was hot weather. Not just a warm sunny day, no; the miserable, burning, perspiration-filled days under the fiery sun. These are the worst days to go outside, let alone to do a job, but earning money is earning money. The crew needs funds, and robbing other ships isn’t always enough for a sustainable lifestyle as famous pirates. Power can only get you so far, but money gets you everywhere.
These thoughts occupied the gunner’s mind as the two wandered around, searching for some stupid lost bird, but Shino’s mission statement snapped him out of it. Sweat ran down his face as he nodded to her, processing the information that she was feeding to him. It was unusual, still, seeing her as a member of his crew now. She’s the newest addition, and even though Tane respects her for stowing away on their ship for so long, there are still judgments to be made. “This should be easy enough, right? A jumping bird isn’t that serious.”
“What’s so special about this bird, anyway? If it can’t even fly well why is it so important?” He frowned, swinging his gun around in a bored manner. The hot metal burned his fingertips, but he’d felt worse injuries before. He simply continued to play with it, then looked over at the archer curiously. “Are you excited? About being a part of my crew, I mean.”
His questions dripped into their conversation heavy like syrup with the same kind of bothersome stickiness. Not so much annoying as it was overwhelming in delivery, Shino did her best to sort through the 1, 2, 3, 4 questions he had asked in the span of time she had given him the paper and picked her way from beneath one tree to another. To count in a measurement that wasn’t in trees, it had been a few minutes at most. But if there was anything she was glad for, she would probably be glad for the conversation.
Looking down at the poster she held, she glanced up the branches of the tree she stood under in search of the elusive bird. “Well, cap,” Shino began, already shortening his title to something that she figured fit with his authority, casual as it seemed to be and not much (maybe she would add the rest in later or if he asked), “I dunno if you’ve ever caught an animal before but that requires some fancy footwork and we’ll need to be gentle so we don’t injure it.” Finding nothing up the tree, she pressed onward.
“And according to the lady who wants this bird they can jump up to 6 feet with ease and those are the young ones. When they get older they get tougher so their jumps can have the strength of cannonballs...Isn’t that cool?” She paused again to inspect a particularly tall tree. “The lady’s bird has a lil hat on its head. It keeps running off to this forest to eat the berries and fruits here so we’re supposed to find it and bring it back.”
Finally arriving to his last question, Shino rested her back against the tree she had been looking up at. Shino pursed her lips. “Nope.” But then her features break into a grin. “Kidding. I’ve always dreamed about adventuring so this is all really exciting and you all seem interesting to be with.”
