o/ ‘hoy, Cap’n! (also I’m just going to do this for both Arcbane siblings bc shenanigans)
Good Pirate Tired Cop: Serella and Xevtan
1. Serella’s occasional assistance provided to Xevtan is less an endorsement and more an acknowledgement of “Piracy is just complicated whether you’re in the sea or sky but you’re clearly not entirely evil so we have an accord,” though on a personal level Serella genuinely enjoys Xev’s company. She tries to gently nudge him towards making “less awful” choices sometimes (though rarely, to be fair) because, “I don’t need you to do good, Xev, I just hope that sometimes you do better.”
2. It’s sort of a running joke that Serella, being a Paladin and all, should be apprehending him or something. “Or something,” Serella always says as she orders them another round of drinks. Really, no one’s all pretty, and she respects that he wears that on his sleeve. That, and she accepts that Sky Piracy is just living in a constant state of “It’s Complicated.” Sometimes that’s how Xev gets away if there are bounty hunters pursuing him: Serella “arrests” him (and by that, of course, it just means he sits there with his hands behind his back but not bound while she’s just like “sorry guys the early bird gets the worm, et cetera,” he makes a comment about lovers and rope or some such, and then she’s like “alright I’m tired u get off easy this time, buddy.” (And then they just go get drinks and laugh themselves to tears over it.)
3. Xev is genuinely surprised that Serella isn’t more green when it comes to piracy. She compares it to privateering: technically illegal in a lot pf places for a lot of reasons but there’s more good reasons to keep them around than not. She explains that she’s practically spent her entire adult life around sea pirates. Xev jokes, “’Sea pirates?’ What do you call the ones on land?” “Please, Captain, we just call them ‘privateers,’ and ‘mercenaries.” (No they don’t they’re the Dirt Pirates now.)
4. Xev has tried to goad Serella into a full night of matching him drink for drink many times. She actively refuses to drink anything but juice after like the third drink because the last time he said, “we’ll stop before we get a hangover,” they did not, in fact, stop before they got a hangover. Whether drunk or sober, however, they do enjoy strumming along and singing to shanties and tavern songs and just relaxing together.
No Impulse Control: Uthengentle and Xevtan
1. Uthengentle becomes a willing and eager participant in sky pirate shenanigans alongside Xev. Likes shooting the guns and doing cool crimes. Digs Xev’s style and presentation.
2. Uthengentle have a nasty habit of winding up defending themselves from gunfire in a tavern with only tables and the bar to shield them. It’s less that they want to start trouble and more that trouble tends to follow them…because they left a trail of blood and loot from their last big gig. Probably. Oops. Any bottles that haven’t had a bullet put through them (and the one that somehow remained in tact despite the bullet in the liquor which still baffles them to this day) is theirs for the taking. Uthengentle is just soft enough to leave his own gil to repay the bar owners if they didn’t die in the crossfire.
3. While Xevtan is hardly a “good guy,” there are things he does not abide by. Uthengentle is aware of this, so whenever his work in the Immortal Flames leads him to something that could be both profitable for Xevtan and have something genuinely good coming from it, he’ll tip off Xevtan and, if he can, give him the time to get in, take care of business and make off with the loot, and get out before Uthengentle “stumbles upon,” the person the Flames wanted. It’s a decent set up. They do not speak of it.
4. Both enthusiastically drink and sing and dance in taverns together. If they don’t remember the night, it was a fucking good night. They’re comfortable enough to unwind and have a rowdy good time together. Sometimes Xevtan will even just call up Uthengentle inviting him for a night of bar hopping. On special occasions, Uthengentle brings Arak and/or mead made with the honey from his sister’s bees (no that’s not a euphemism she keeps bees and makes mead lmaooo)