LSS: Voyage of the Starry Seas

"Umm...well I'll have you know that I can do that too," said Daisy.

"Well I don’t doubt that," replied Harry with a smile,” I know for a fact that you can read me like a book when you want."

"Hmm...well you’re not wrong," said Daisy," like right now I can say that you are..."

"Okay enough postponing the problem with this talk of reading each other's expressions. Back onto what’s bothering you. Our parents," said Harry," I think that's what we're both worried about right now."

Daisy's smile vanished instantly and her face fell as the thoughts she'd been having earlier returned to plague her.

"Like I said, they'll be fine Daisy. Sure the aliens will be suspicious for some time but when they realize that there is no way for them to link the escape to our parents they will be forced to let them go. I don't think the aliens will sink low enough to actually go with anything harsher than that or else everyone will be rebelling against them citing unfair punishment and the last thing the aliens want is for everyone to be actively against them. At least from what I’ve seen of their history here."

"If only they knew what was going on right under their noses at the moment," added Daisy, a small smile returning to her face," do you really think that the aliens will want to do things that way?"

"Definitely, if the history that we learnt is anything to go by, they did not get Earth to surrender by just brashly attacking. They are planners and they will not just go around executing people simply out of anger until their problem has been solved."

"Well I hope you're right...not that I'm going to stop worrying about it until the day that we get to come back," said Daisy.

"Well that's true. But then that's probably going to be nothing compared to how they will feel once we are not at home. Maybe them being assigned some new work would be good in that sense because it'll give them something to worry about besides the fact that we're all gone."

"Now that is an angle that even I didn't fully consider. Of course all the parents, especially your parents Harry are going to be hit the hardest by us not being here."

"Well if the look on mom's face as she announced our names wasn't clear about that I don't know what is."

"Oh yeah she did look like she was trying very hard not to show any emotions on the stage but it was slipping through," said Daisy," and who can blame her when both her kids are going to be leaving."

"Exactly," agreed Harry.

"Maybe we should pay attention to what's happening on stage now," suggested Daisy.

"Right. We have to listen to that too."

"Yup. We're the ones that are going to have to actually execute those strategies."

Daisy turned back towards the stage.

"So the ladders can be built out of those. That's definitely a good idea. We're going to go with that then," Mrs. Kane was saying.

"Thank you. We'll think of exactly how best to acquire it and finalize as soon as possible."

"Did we...?" began Harry, turning.

"...just miss the entire plan for getting information from the cameras?" finished Daisy. Oh dear. Aria is never going to let this one go is she?

"The answer to that question would be yes," came Aria's voice as predicted.

"Of course...just spaced out a bit you know. I'm sure it could happen to just about anyone," said Harry, smiling weakly at Aria while Daisy nodded vigorously.

"Hmm...staring at someone else and discussing in whispers probably would be more of a reason," said Aria," wouldn't it?"

"We were not..." began Daisy.

"Did I say that you did that?" asked Aria," I just said that talking like that would make you much less likely to pay attention."

"Whatever," said Harry, waving his arms around," now tell us the plan."

"Later," she said, smiling," or else we will all miss the next plan. I'll tell you on the way back."

"Fine," said Daisy quickly. Please forget about us talking. She then quickly tapped Harry with her foot before he could open his mouth to argue.

He turned towards her, frowning and she subtly nodded towards Aria. His mouth opened in a soundless "Ohh" and he turned quietly towards the stage.

"What...now arguments?" asked Aria.

"Shhh...stop talking and pay attention sis," said Harry, muscles clearly straining to maintain a straight face. Daisy laughed and turned towards the stage herself. Aria let out a snort.

“Alright, guys,” said Mrs. Kane, “looks like we have a final plan for our ladder situation. We’re going to need quite a bit of manpower to pull that one off. I’ll hold a separate meeting with the rest of the volunteers to try and do that. If we pull it off as planned everything should be perfect. Okay then, all we’ve got left is to figure out when you guys can get together and plan out a route. It all has to be scouted well in advance. You guys can do it by yourselves right?”

Alex interrupted them. “Would it not be better to have a professional in the field of navigating the more technical aspects with them. Now I am not doubting Kathryn or any of the others, I have seen their resourcefulness first hand in class but would someone more experienced not be a valuable asset for such a project?"

"Well Alex, I'll first say that you raise a very valid point. Definitely not something I would object if it wasn't for the circumstances. Now for better or for worse we all agreed that in the end having these five admittedly rather young teenagers having the weight of the world on their shoulders will be the most viable way to pull this off and as such they must be able to execute perfectly on that day. So them using their limited knowledge to figure it out would train them better in my opinion."

"And them mastering whatever techniques used by someone else in five days would also be very difficult and overall add a level of difficulty to this that we really don't need," added Kathryn.

"Thank you Kathryn," said Mrs. Kane," that is also a huge factor in how we want this to play out."

"I have to say I am not the happiest at that but I can't find a reason to disagree with that argument. No further objections," said Alex, sitting down.

"Thank you Alex. Is there anyone else that would like to bring up any other problem that they have with this course of action?" asked Mrs. Kane again. This time she was met with silence. “Okay then. I suppose we can all sit down and discuss this part, instead of you all being down there and the rest of us being up on stage. Yeah, this is starting to get awkward."

"That does seem like the most practical," said Harry.

"Of course," said Mrs. Kane, and made her way down to the chairs, Mr. Haber in two.

"Alice, what exactly are we going to tell them in planning," began the other lady, now standing right by their row of chairs.

"Just a couple of guidelines Evelyn," replied Mrs. Kane," grab a chair and let's sit down next to them. Jake, come on down." Jake went over to nudge Alex and both of them made their way to the kids where Evelyn and Mrs. Kane had already taken their seats.

Sidney finally huffed quietly to herself and put the book down. It was getting too hard to ignore the need for lunch at the moment. There was just no way she would be able to pull through if she didn't go ahead and find something to eat. Whether it was chips or if she risked braving the kitchen.

Maybe the others would be there. Surely Sefarina and Idris would appear. Sefarina was the kind of person who was much too responsible to miss a meal right. And she'd surely bring Idris along. She was hoping it would be only those two. The others on the ship. She shuddered quietly. She really wasn't sure if she could face too many of them at the right now. Urgh. She would have to do some sort of mental inventory now. Not for now. Problem for later Sidney. Problem for later Sidney.

She managed to get herself up, rubbing the cobwebs out of her eyes and doing just a couple of stretches. Her pillow nests were of course of the highest quality. Naturally it meant when she really got cocooned in there with the blanket to fill it all in and put finishing touches on everything she tended to enter this slightly sleep like state except it was not because she was still engrossed in the book. She let out a yawn, taking advantage of the ability to not have to cover it now that there was no one in the room with her. After making shapes with her body, she didn't think were possible, she set about putting her book away. A proper lunch would take some time. It would be best to clean up for now and remake the little nest if it was needed again later into the day. It probably would be. It'd barely been six or seven hours since the group left and they'd talked about mapping out the entirety of the huge landmass laid out before them. Well exploring at least.

That sounded like the kind of thing that would take more than six hours. More like six days. Okay maybe two to three days. She was pretty sure Gray had mostly packed for two or three days. Maybe. She remembered the meeting fairly well but it was just a little bit marred by the whole incident that had taken place with Darvi. She really needed to look into that more once Darvi finally came back. Maybe even come up with a cool gameplan and things to do for Darvi along with Sefarina. She was sure Sefarina would love to do that.

Plots and plans already cooking up Sidney put the book and finished up with tidying all of her pillows. Before she could think twice about it and get ambitious she quickly ran out and dumped the pillows right back to Darvi's room. She had no idea if they were in the same spots that she'd stolen them from, but she was pretty sure after three days Darvi would probably not remember.

Giggling to herself, she did one final check of her room, before locking it all up behind her and then trotting off to the kitchen. It was time to brave the dangers of lunch.

As much as exploring a creepy death-trap island appealed to Will, he had repairs to do. Serafina's trick of parting the storm had been pretty epic, from what he'd seen and heard from Darvi, but it had left a scorch mark on the steering wheel. Besides that, the ship was rattling off a list of things for Will to do.

So, there's the barnacles, as usual. Pesky things. If I were a constellation, I'd smite all barnacles in the world. Why were they even created? They don't serve any purpose at all. Tsk.

"I think the point about barnacles has been thoroughly covered," Will said dryly. He finished wiping away the soot from the wheel. Thankfully, it still seemed to be operational, and the cosmetic fix he'd had to do was minor. "What else?"

Fine, fine. There are also some scratch marks on my sides and on the crow's nest, and... Oh! The rudder is bent!

"You couldn't think to mention that earlier? Your vanity, dear ship, is just the slightest bit concerning."

Hey. Oh, also fix the lifeboat's cover when you can, hmm? It got ripped a little when the stowaway was discovered. The ship creaked, and Will imagined it sounded a bit patronizing.

"I'll have you know that 'mechanic' doesn't actually mean 'servant of the ship,' thank you very much." Will grumbled under his breath, but he headed towards the rudder. That seemed to be the most pressing issue.

He'd likely have to dive underwater for this one. Will made a quick stop to get a diving suit and tank as well as his tools, then tethered himself to the railing and jumped off the ship.

The water was cold but clear. The engines churned out bubbles. Will scattered a few bubbles as he swam towards the rudder, which was indeed tilted slightly to the right. Bracing himself against the material of the ship, he got to work.

Meanwhile, the ship continued to chatter. Thanks, bro! Have no idea how that happened. While you're there, could you get the barnacles too? Pretty please?

Will rolled his eyes, but got out a scraping tool once he finished with the rudder. He started scraping. The barnacles fell off, bit by bit.

Ahhh, that hits the spot! You're catching up to Idris. Well, not really. Just by a few points. If you do this regularly, maybe you'll catch up faster.

Will didn't think he was particularly motivated by the thought of rising in the ship's rankings, but he kept scraping. Maybe now the ship would stop bugging him about barnacles every two seconds.

Finally, Will swam back to the surface and climbed back onto the ship. He'd used up nearly the full tank of air, but at least the ship's hull was cleaner, right? The ship hummed contentedly in his mind.

He was honestly exhausted, but he still had a few tasks left. Namely, the scratches and the lifeboat cover.

Will. Hey, Will. Do you want to hear a story?

Will paused in the middle of putting the diving suit away. He hadn't expected that, but his curiousity was piqued. "Sure."

Okay, okay. I'm going to tell the story of a ship. It's a play on words. Like, both a boat and a relationship. Get it?

"Yeah." So far, this wasn't doing much to raise Will's expectations of the story, but it was distracting him from his tiredness. He walked towards the lifeboat the stowaway had been found in.

So, this ship was an old, beaten-down ship. Lots of barnacles, very crusty, the works. Naturally, the ship was a grump and not nearly as fabulous as I am. The ship sailed the seas each day, helping fishermen earn their keep.

Will pulled out a needle and thread and started mending the tarp.

The ship had loved and lost before, and now they were content to just fish in the day, grumble at night, and exist until they eventually were destined for the scrapyards. They thought they had a monotonous life, but far better to be alive and bored than living a dangerous life of adventure as a pirate ship in the high seas, right?

"Right." Will finished mending the tarp and replaced it over the lifeboat. He scaled the rigging and headed up towards the crow's nest.

Then... Somehow, the ship managed to modulate their voice to sound dramatic. One day, the ship saw the love of their life! It was another ship, oh so glorious in the rays of the sun that bounced off their polished wood and white sails! Love at first light!

"I'm sorry to say this, but that is very cheesy." Will stopped right below the crow's nest and waved to Naim. Naim blinked back at him silently. Always silent, that one.

Shhhhh. I wasn't done. Anyways, this new ship was actually a pirate ship! They were wearing white sails as a disguise. And whoosh! The new ship fired on the main character ship! Bang! Cannonballs! the ship crowed.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but would you consider giving the ships names so I can distinguish them more easily?" Will painted over a few scratches, shifting his position as he did so.

If you insist. Erm. Shippy and Shwoopy. Shwoopy is the pirate.

"I regret asking."

Well, I don't regret telling! Now, back to where I was before a certain someone interrupted me. Shwoopy attacked Shippy! The fishermen were in chaos! Shippy listed towards starboard! Oh my stars, what'll happen next?

"Lemme guess. Enemies to lovers trope?" Will finished with the crow's nest, nodded to Naim again, then descended the rigging.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Well, not exactly. For dear old Shippy, it was love at first fight. Shwoopy saw Shippy only as their latest target. It was meh at first sight. The fishermen were in chaos, the pirates started boarding, and Shippy nearly fainted to see Shwoopy draw so close. They thought Shwoopy was like an angel from the depths, brilliant in their firepower and sleek curves and shiny figurehead.

"Wow." Will started patching up scratches on the ship's deck and sides.

The reason the pirates targeted this ship was that they'd lately found a rare species of fish. This fish had silver scales and was said to heal all illnesses! It was a wonderfish! Right now, the fishermen had bushels of these wonderfish on board Shippy. The fishermen, though stout of heart, were no match for the pirates. Soon, the pirates had taken all the cargo and were leaving Shippy. Shwoopy started to sail away.

"Oh no," Will deadpanned. "What will Shippy do next?"

Shippy was not about to give up this time. They'd been too hesitant other times, and that had gotten them nothing but barnacles. Forgotten were thoughts of a boring life. Now, Shippy went on a high-speed chase.

"How inspiring."

Shippy pursued Shwoopy across the sea, the fishermen hanging on for dear life. The pirates worried. Had there been a law enforcement force aboard Shippy? That would be the only explanation for the ship now chasing them... although if that was the case, why hadn't they stopped the pirates from taking the fish? The pirates urged Shwoopy to go faster.

Will listened as he finished covering up the scratches. He'd checked up on the engines earlier, so he was nearly done with his tasks for today.

As Shippy drew nearer, they confessed their interest! Not love, actually. I misspoke. It was more like a crush, cuz that's more realistic. Shippy composed a poem for Shwoopy on the spot. "Oh ship I see in front of me! Thou art the beauty of the sea! Majestic and capable and even better than tea!"

Will did a final round of inspection by walking around the entire ship.

Shwoopy's heart was touched by these words, and they slowed down. Unfortunately, the pirates manned the cannons again! Shippy's life was hanging on by a thread! The fishermen ducked for cover. A cannonball tore through Shippy's hull, but Shippy was not going to back down.

Despite himself, Will found himself becoming absorbed by the story.

Shwoopy would not back down either. They were intrigued by Shippy and wanted to give the relationship a chance. And they saw only one choice to get the people on the ships to stop fighting.

Shwoopy rammed into Shippy!

Some pirates and fishermen were thrown overboard. Water rushed in through holes in both ships. Soon enough, they were both sinking into the depths.

The people floundered and, in a few hours, drowned. Finally, some peace and quiet. Shwoopy held on to Shippy as they continued downwards together.

The water enveloped them in a soft blue. Fish swirled around their masts and strands of kelp invited them to stay there forever.

Shippy, then Shwoopy, came to rest on the seabed. Deep sea creatures began to explore their interiors. Shippy, though missing chunks of their hull, was still alive-- and the happiest they'd been in a long, long time. Shwoopy settled down next to Shippy.

"So, my dear poet. How shall we start the rest of our lives?"

The ship creaked proudly. Not bad, huh?

Will nodded. "You'll become a storyteller yet."

Why thank you. No other matters need your attention today, by the way.

That got a real whoop out of Will. "Thanks, mint century potato swordspear!"

You're welcome, not-my-servant.

(1554 words)

Darvi doubled check that all of her knives were in her bag, sighing. It would be good to go with Rune. Explore the island to check for threats. With Belinda? Maybe she'd be distracted by all of the new sights to say anything.

Sidney walked up to them."Darvi? Hello?"

"What’s up?" Darvi eyed one of their daggers. It was a trustworthy weapon. Perfect for unknown territory.

"You're leaving."

"I am." Why was Sidney so surprised? She should've known she was leading the expedition. "Not for long."

"Am I still not allowed near you?" Sidney pouted.

“You’re near me right now.” Darvi looked over. Why was she being so weird? They weren't going to completely disappear for three months. Unless they died. That was always a possibilty.

Sidney huffed. "Are you. Are you okay?"

“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Darvi decided to sit down in the desk chair. Sidney seemed like she'd be going on for a while now.

"The incident?" Sidney shuddered as she spoke.

“Are you and Sefarina still mad about that?” Darvi crossed their arms. Of course it was that. He should've guessed.

"We're not mad about you Darvi or at you. We're worried for you." Sidney crossed her arms right back.

“What are you worried about?”

"You?" Sidney frowned.

“What about me…?” Darvi gestured for her to elaborate. She thought she made it perfectly clear to Sidney and Sefarina not to wory.

"You seemed deeply hurt." Sidney was back to pouting.

Darvi sighed. “I’m fine. I was fine.”

"So you say. Aboslutely nothing has gone wrong. You only left because you were done."

“Exactly!” Darvi put on a big grin. Maybe it was a littler forced but Sidney was being a little too Sidney right now.

Sidney nodded. "So I should act like absolutely nothing is wrong and everything is fine?"

“Is it acting if it’s true?” Darvi rubbed their temples. Sidney and Sefarina would not drop it. “Why are so obsessed with what happened? “

"Sorry. I guess we just like... I don't know. Care about your wellbeing. Are a little concerned you did something a bit unlike your normal routine. Are worried that you were hurt. But then all of those concerns are wrong right?"

Darvi’s face heated up. “You don’t have to sound so sarcastic…”

Sidney flushed. "Sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean to be mean." She patted Darvi's shoulder. "I just. I want you to smile. Like you do when Sefarina kisses you. Like all the time. Don't want see sad Darvi smile."

Darvi flushed harder. “I don’t smile any different for Sefarina. And you’re not mean. Just sound like you think I’m a liar.”

Sidney huffed. "Well you see I do think you're lying. Especially when you release a bald faced lie like how you don't smile different for Sefarina. I know that goofy wide eyed look very well."

“It’s bold face, Princess.” Darvi drummed their fingers on the table. Maybe that would get Sidney off her ankles.

"Bold face?"

“Yes. It’s a bold face lie. Not ‘bald face.’”

"I'm lying you're saying?" SIdney questioned.

Stars, every conversation was a minefield with this girl. “I’m saying you’re wrong. You are mistaken.”

"OKayy thank youuu." Sidney grinned.

“Okay…” Darvi turned back to their bag. They had to finish this.

"So I'm making bad assumptions?"

What a naive thought. She turned back. “What? You got the saying wrong. That’s all I’m saying.”

"Ohhh grammar. Sorryyy. I didn't realizee thattt. Thank you for helping me outt." Sidney genuinely smiled at that.

“You’re very welcome.” Darvi turned back to their task for the final time.

"Can I hug you Darvi?" Sidney for once actually asked.

Darvi blinked. “Hug me?”

Sidney nodded. "Yeah. Hug. Hold you. Cradle you to my bosom. I don't know how else to say it."

Darvi rubbed their temples. There was two ways of escaping this. Let Sidney hug her or start an eight hour debate. “Sure, Princess.” At least a hug was shorter.

"I cannnn? Reallyyy?" Sidney jumped up and down in excitement. Oh planets and moons this was a mistake.

“Don’t strangle me please." Darvi scooted the chair back.

"I won't strangle youuu. Only huggg."

“I’ll trust you.” No he wouldn't but it was too late.

"Thank youuu." Sidney beamed.

“So when are you going to come and do it…?”

SIdney gently wrapped around Darvi.

Darvi stiffened for a moment, but gripped the table to stay calm. No freaking out this time.

Sidney stroked Darvi's back gently. Unnecessary, but whatever it took. "I'll miss you."

Darvi didn’t quite know what to do with herself. It was a lot of touch. And why would Sidney miss them? “I’ll be fine.”

She pulled away after a bit more. "I like you."

Darvi blinked. “Huh?” What? Who? Why?

"What?" Sidney pouted.

“You like me?” Darvi raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?" Sidney looked mildly confused now.

“That sounds extreme.”

"Huh?" Sidney looked even more confused.

“I would guess you tolerate me at best.” Darvi frowned. Sidney literally complained about everything he did for the first few days of knowing them.

"Turns out I like you actually." Sidney made it sound like an obvious fact.

“Well, I’m glad we’re chums then.” Darvi awkwardly patted her hand.

Sidney beamed brighter than they'd ever see her smile.

Darvi nodded. “Anything else?”

"Umm...that was a sudden revelation actually."

“What was?” Darvi frowned.

“I mean. Wouldn’t you know if you wanted to be a friend pretty early on?”

"I meann it was a rocky start okayy. Its still a little weird." SIdney pouted.

“Okay. Sorry.” Darvi patted her wrists again.

"Wait why are you sorryy?" Sidney pouted again.

“That it’s weird.” That was an obvious connection.

Sidney pouted. "It allowed to be weirdd."

“Okay. Sure.” Why Sidney would complain about it then makes no sense.

Sidney sighed softly, slumping into herself. "Sorry."

“Don’t be sorry. If you’re okay with it, good for you.”

She slid right onto the floor, sitting down, her voice very quiet. "Okay Darvi."

Oh not again. “What’s wrong now? What did I do?”

"Nothing."

“You sound like I just punched your dog.”

"I don't own a dog though?"

Darvi would not snap at the princess. Darvi would not snap at the princess. Darvi would not- “I stole your favorite dollar bill! I don’t know!”

"You could neverrr"

“Let’s say theoretically I did." Darvi tapped the side of her hand on the table. "That’s how you would look.”

"Really? I look that bad?"

“I mean not ugly! Just upset.” Darvi groaned.

"Ohh. Yeahh. I'm pretty upset. Maybe a lot upset." Sidney nodded slowly.

“Why are you upset? What did I do?” Darvi frowned. There it was. Why was it like pulling teeth?

"Huh? Why would it be you who made me upset?" Sidney just looked confused now.

“Because I said something and then you got upset.”

"That's a fair point. I can see why you would think that."

“So do you want to correct me?” Darvi nudged her leg with his foot.

Sidney nodded. "It's not youu. Well not reallyy."

“That’s not reassuring.”

"Sorry. I can explainnn. Just feeling a bit confused and weird right now." Sidney pouted some more.

“Confused and weird about what?”

"Just myself. Life. You know the stuff." Sidney shrugged.

“I can… talk to you… about it.” Darvi winced. They were probably the worst person to ever interact with on this sort of thing.

"Are you sure?" Sidney looked a little surprised.

Darvi nodded. “If you want.”

*Do you want to?"

“I would like to if you want to.”

"I want tooo." Sidney beamed.

“Well, it is your chance to speak.” Darvi turned the chair to face floor-sitter Sidney.

"I.. I feel like I'm very bad at comforting you." Sidney pouted.

Darvi blinked. “That’s why you’re upset?”

"Yeah." Sidney pouted and looked down.

“I don’t mean to like… belittle your feelings. But… why?”

"I just. I keep misinterpreting your moods." Sidney shrugged.

“Okay, but why do you care is more what I’m getting at.” Darvi frowned. “Like why does that upset you?””

"Cause I care if you're happy or not?" Sidney sounded like that should be obvious.

“Okay but like, that’s not your responsibility.”

"Yeah but I can still care?"

“I mean, yeah.” Darvi shrugged. “But in a, ‘Oh you’re happy, that’s cool? Oh you’re sad, that sucks, can you get over it?’ way.”

"You just described a person who doesn't care." Sidney huffed

“Huh? What?” Darvi crossed their arms. “I think that’s… perfectly reasonable to think.”

"No its not." Sidney pouted. "That's rudee."

“Oh. Sorry then.” Darvi was starting to regret offering to listen.

"Why are you sorry?"

“For frustrating you so much when you cared.”

"What did you mean you frustrated me?" SIdney looked confused again.

“I don’t know, okay? I’m just…” Darvi groaned and covered their face. “I’m just saying words because I don’t know what you want from me. That’s how Belinda is. And yeah, it sucks sometimes. Sometimes it really sucks, but I can’t do anything about it.”

"That's what I want to know. If it sucks for you. Becaue you looked like it was starting to really, really suck for you." Sidney scooted closer

“It’s how it’s always been. Belinda’s… a flower. A beautiful rose. The finest rose.” Darvi cupped her hands. “And I’m a weed.”

"I refuse to believe that." Sidney looked serious again. This was new.

Darvi blinked. “What? Weren’t you so happy to call me Poopy Head three days ago?"

Sidney shrugged. "It was funnyy."

"Right. But that isn't exactly a nickname for someone you admire." Darvi narrowed her eyes.

"I mean yeah. It wasn't going to be your nickame though. I just thought it was funny to tease you in the moment. I mean you were being a bit strict there. I know you were just doing your job, but that was one moment where maybe you went a bit far. I mean. Not that I know how to tell you to do your job. ANd I really appreciate what you do for me. But I think some people want you to take it a little easier sometimes. For your sake really. Not even theirs."

Darvi felt their heart sink. "Okay. I understand. I'm too rough and strict. Okay. No one likes me like this." They looked around. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you so much."

The only thing they could think of was Belinda.

Belinda sat on the couch, kicking her feet in the air. She was reading some ficition book. One that she was not supposed to be reading.

Darvi was staring at her over her essay, glaring. "Belinda. Hey, Belinda!"

Belinda squeaked and dropped the book on her face. She groaned and picked it up again. "Aries' wool, Darvi. Where's the fire?"

Darvi huffed. "We need to work on our essays. They're due in a week!"

"You... actually work on them ahead of time?" Belinda snorted. "Don't make me laugh."

"Mrs. Smith said that procrastinating makes bad essays."

Belinda let out a full laugh. "Darvi! Don't tell me you actually care about that. Mrs. Smith is so easily impressed. She'll give you full points for an essay you wrote in a half hour."

Darvi flinched. "She gave me a B on my last one. It took weeks."

Belinda stared at her before she cackled, kicking her feet in pure amusement. "Teacher's pet! With bad grades! Please, Darvi!" She took a few deep breaths to calm down. "You need to stop caring so much about all of the little rules. They're not going to help you. You're sooo uptight. It has to be exhausting." She giggled. "Maybe that's why your crush didn't invite you to her birthday. She could smell your stress a mile away."

It never when away. It never changed. Darvi always pushed everyone away because they couldn't change. They followed the rules because that was the only thing keeping them afloat and everyone else pointed and laughed because rules were never followed.

"Huh? Did I accidentally not say what I meant to? I quite literally said everyone cares about you, and are worried for you and your interpreation is that no one likes you?"

Darvi frowned. "I just... everyone keeps telling me that. And it never happens."

"What do you mean? What does everyone keep telling you that never happens?" Sidney actually got up this time.

"I never get better. I never calm down enough for people to stop asking."

"Stop asking what exactly?"

"For me to calm down!" Darvi groaned. "To stop caring about the rules, to relax, to give up everything that got me to where I am in life! The only thing that kept me from becoming nothing!"

"I'm not sure I'm following. Putting yourself through hell and back and forcing yourself to become that paranoid is the only thing keeping you going? I mean I understand following the rules and enforcing them. You're a guard. Its your thing. People are just saying you can do that and still like. Treat yourself as a person. You're not a program forced to obey all the rules."

"I barely scrape by following the rules, what happens when I stop? What happens when I have nothing keeping me useful?"

"How are you not useful? Sefarina adores you. You do so much. I adore you. You help me so much. Taking care of yourself once in a blue moon isn't going to change that."

Darvi's brain fritzed. "You... adore me?"

"Duh?" Sidney shrugged like this was perfectly common information.

Darvi blinked. "I... I should..."

"What?" Sidney huffed.

"I need to go." Darvi stood up. "I... I need to go."

"Why are you running away this time?" Sidney pouted.

"I... I just..."

SIdney get closer to Darvi. "I am trying to say I care about you genius. And I like youu. And I'm just trying to get you to understand a lot of people like you. How do I convince you? Do I have to..." Sidney leaned in and kissed Darvi's cheek agian. "Do that again. That seems to work when Sefarina does it."

Darvi burst into tears, sinking to his knees as he was completely overwhelmed. It felt like a volcano exploding with every chunk of hurt and loneliness and jealousy. They buzzed and burned and shook and they just sat there and had to let it roll over them like a tidal wave.

Sidney just stood there for a moment, not really moving or reacting to it, like she really didn't know what to make of that reaction or where to go next. Darvi scrambled back until he hit a wall. This wasn't supposed to be happening. This was wrong. This was bad. This was why she needed to leave.

"What's going on Darvi?"

Darvi shook her head.

SIdney knelt in front of Darvi, trying to get in closer, probably trying to understand what was going on at the moment. Darvi let out a wail. Why was she like this? This was time to run.

"Darvi? Can you speak to me? What's happening? I'm getting a little scared."

Darvi shook their head again. They couldn't breathe.

"You can't speak right now?"

She nodded.

Sidney knelt down carefully in front of Darvi. It didn't look like she had the faintest clue what exactly she needed to be doing in this moment but she seemed commited to not running away. She wasn't even glancing behind her, just focused fully on Darvi and the predicament that she was in. Darvi covered his face. This was just embarrasing.

Sidney scooted beside Darvi. She awkwardly placed a hand on their shoulder, starting to gently make a soothing pattern on it. She was hardly touching Darvi, her fingers featherlight on Darvi's clothes, barely enough force to be felt through the tough fabric that Darvi had chosen to be going out to this dangerous looking island. Darvi felt herself slump on her shoulder. She had no idea why. She couldn't stop it.

Sidney seemed to flinch for just a moment, like she hadn't been expecting it but then she settled into it almost immediately. She pulled Darvi a little closer in fact, now daring to put her entire other arm around Darvi from the book.

"There there Darvi. I'm there for you." She groaned out loud. "Urgh I sound like the worst character in a book about teens right about now. You can do better SIdney. You can be comforting. You can help Darvi. You've got this."

She pulled Darvi just a little bit closer. "I'm here for you Darvi. I, Sidney Picklock hereby pledge to stay here..."

Sidney groaned louder. "I suck at this. Darvi is doomed."

She groaned again and tried one more time. "I like you Darvi. Yes. That is true. Its not going to change now. Not because of this or not because of anything you can say because I've seen you Darvi and I like who that is. A lot. Like a lot a lot."

"A lot...?" Darvi hated how pathetic she sounded.

"Yes Darvi. I a lot. I don't even know how to tell you this. Maybe this is a good time to tell you actually. You can't chase me away with a big sword or shoot me in the face with Nicky's guns. Or throw me overboard. Or do something worse. Like tell Sidney I actually hate you get away from me. We'll figure it out." She groaned again like she was completely rethinking her entire life somehow but at the same time getting a weirdly goofy grin on her face. It reminded Darvi of the smile Darvi had whenever Darvi thought of Sefarina.

"W-what...?" She gasped. "Are you saying..?"

Sidney took a deep breath and leaned into Darvi. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she got in just a little closer for good measure, practically touching Darvi's ear with her lips.

"I umm. I like you. Look. You help me. You taught me how to fold my bedsheet and put it in the closet. You told me how to properly throw away trash."

Darvi nodded.

"You just. You don't judge. I mean maybe you do quietly. But you haven't judged me openly. So many people pointing at me and telling me all kinds of things but you don't. I mean you do, but that's only when I'm too stubborn to listen and when I'm just going off about something and you just badly need me to listen to you, which I get that. I am a little hard to be around sometimes so that's fine. You help me when it counts and you're willing to help teach the things other people consider too dumb to teach because you understand that I just genuinely never had anyone teach those things to me. Those were not required skills where I grew up. It was just how things were."

Darvi nodded again. "I-I know..."

"So...I guess what I'm trying to say is. You're the first person who i feels like really cares about me. Me me. You know. I've had a lot of maids. Believe me. They end up changing kind of often sometimes, but the majority of them just do their best to please me. I mean my mother's nice to me. I think she cares for me but that's my mother. Like she doesn't technically count. I mean I could ask her how to throw away trash but she'd probably give me a lecture about the concept of trash rather than actually helping me. If you get what I mean?"

Darvi nodded again.

"So umm. Yeah. So I guess you're special to me. Like really special. I don't even know how to mention it. Like I feel these feelings like I really need you around nowadays. You know when I said I would miss you I really meant it. Being away from you for too too long is getting a little. Hard right now? I don't even know how to properly put that into words to be perfectly honest with you. Its such a weird thing to think. Not being able to be away from a person right? But that's how I feel. I feel like I just need to always be close to you and if I'm not. I don't know. I feel this itch. No wait. That's just gross. Urgh how does one go about making profound statements about one's feeling? That was one lesson those tutors were really bad at teaching. Always hide your emotions my ass. Umm sorrry got distracted. But what I mean is that. It feels like umm. Oh yeah. Not having you with me is like not having my favorite hairbrush. Will I die if you weren't there? I mean logically not. But my brain. My brain cannot compute that logic. It thinks that I am in fact going to die. I will perish if I don't get my perfectly combed hair. I will perish if I don't get my time with Darvi. Like that's the vibe you see?"

Darvi nodded, eyes wide. "O-Okay. Um... I'm your favorite hairbrush?"

"No genius. I umm. I like you a lot. I need you around. I want you. Oh god. I think I like like like you. You know like how you do with Sefarina. Like I want to kiss you kind of like you."

Aquarius hummed quietly to herself as she settled in for the afternoon. Lunch had been a pretty good time and Aquarius had managed to have maybe a tiny bit more than she ought to have because Gray was not present to make sure Aquarius stopped at a reasonable time. It would probably be finee. Gray had separated the food out by meal and not by person and Aquarius had only dug into some of the leftovers once everyone still on the ship had eaten so it wasn't like it was going to cause a food shortage for Aquarius in the future. Or for anyone else on the ship for that matter.

This was quite naturally a success story. One that Aquarius was pretty grateful for in fact. It was going to really help when it came to focusing up on everything and getting things done this afternoon. The first island. The first island. They'd actually ended up reaching it. It was finally time for Aquarius to make some space for that particular bit of writing. Well Aquarius wasn't going to be on the initial bit of exploration. That is why he was stuck on an anchored ship after all. That wasn't a big deal though.

Truth be told, Aquarius was honestly fairly happy about the fact that he'd get to stay back on the ship and be on land for the moment. Aqua really hadn't liked the look of the storms around them. Sure Sefarina had dispelled some of them. Enough of them to get all the way into the island in fact. That was still not a lot though. As soon as the ship was safely through. Those storms were beginning to slowly come back. That was on top of the rest of that perimeter, at least as far as was visible to Aqua's eyes were still fully filled with storms. It was unnatural.

Aqua wasn't exactly an expert on weather or nature in general for that matter. Aqua was however possessing of this little thing that was called common sense. Common sense suggested that storm fronts didn't just form in a random perfect circle. Even if it wasn't something completely created by the inhabitants of or some sort of attacking for on this island it was taking natural storms and funneling them in some way to form this straight line. It had to be. Unless Aqua really knew that little about storms. Surely it wasn't a case of that. There was no way this was natural. Because if that was Aqua needed to seriously reevaluate her opinion on nature.

Aqua sighed and shook her head again. Even beyond the storms the island just didn't look... welcoming. It was hostile somehow. Aqua couldn't see too much of it even from the front deck, but it looked for lack of a better word...dead. Maybe it was the various shipwrecks. Maybe it was the fact that there appeared to be something just generally blackened and off in the distance. Either way it was enough to make Aqua prefer staying back. Someone else could do the initial exploring. Then perhaps later Aqua could go, when they'd identified all the dangers or lack thereof. Aqua really hoped it would be lack thereof but it was hard to say. This island didn't feel like it would be a surprise wholesome one.

Aqua shrugged and let out another sigh. There was probably no point to worrying too, too much about that. It wasn't like there was a tremendous amount to be done about it. Not until everyone came back. Hopefully they would all be safe. That was the main thing that Aqua actually could do right now. Hope for the people out there that they'd be safe and come back safe. They were probably having their lunch now, having been adventuring for quite some hours. Aqua had no idea how expeditions like that worked, but given the amount of food they'd taken, this was barely a quarter of the time they'd have to spend out there. It was going to be a long wait.

Aqua groaned softly again. Waiting was the one thing Aquarius didn't like very much. It just had wayy too many uncertainties. And unlike the uncertainties one got with something like a surprise ice cream tasting, the unpleasant uncertainties that could emerge were just wayy too directed towards being bad and evil and the kind that tended to result in tears. It was very rare ice cream would result in tears. Unless the ice cream was just that good, or just a bit too cold although that second option was pretty rare with how well Aquarius could take the colder parts of ice cream.

Aquarius wasn't immune to it of course. No one was. Well unless your constellation gift was somehow inexplicably being immune to the effects of cold temperature. Aquarius had just gotten rather numb to the more well numbing feelings of ice cream and its ability to induce those fancy headaches. Aquarius racked her brain trying to think of that. She'd definitely picked up that super random fact at one point in time. Yes. Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. Aqua was proud of that one. It was totally useless but confusing people into thinking Aqua was smart was a great perk.

She giggled to herself as she flipped open her journal. It would hopefully only be a day maybe two more before she could start adding more information to this based on the actual island and its quirks. Even if it ended up only being more second hand accounts from Darvi or Belinda. Aqua could of course try and write down the first impressions, but before she did that Aqua did have to consider whether to update her opinions on everyone or not.

It had been a couple of days since things had gone down in the previous one, but Aqua wasn't sure if she'd actually discovered too much more. Sure there'd been two meetings that introduced a couple of more interesting facts, but nothing ground breaking. The worst part was Aqua hadn't learnt too much more about the few people that she was really missing out on information about. That was the part where Aqua would really have liked to add more. Maybe she could make just a couple of notes on top of some of the earlier ones. She had left plenty of space for expansion even on the people she'd had the most to say.

Then Aqua glanced at the book she'd paused on for the past day, what with all the storms and meetings and then helping Gray pack up some of the ice cream for that expedition out. She would love to get a bit more reading done. The island thing would take over a day. The things she had to update were miniscule. She groaned. Difficult decisions like this one made her head hurt. She finally relented and put her journal away, grabbing the book. She'd earned a little break surely. Especially with all the ice cream related helping she'd done yesterday. She was going to pointedly ignore how she'd done almost nothing this morning. All things considered that was also definitely just another well deserved break.

Flipping open the book to where she'd left it, she began to read again:

Safi very nearly screamed and whooped in glee as they were escorted into the armory. She decided against it at the very last moment, given that she was almost definitely not meant to be acting like a five-year-old in a candy store in front of such dangerous weapons.

It didn’t stop her from internally celebrating though. This was an incredible moment to be allowed to set foot in here so, so early and even though she’d studied so much about the places this could be accessed from and the weapons here, it was absolutely nothing like stepping into the real thing, not to mention they might get a glimpse of the top-secret weapons they didn’t teach to trainees.

Safi risked a glance at Serafina and smiled. She was showing possibly the most emotions she had shown so far, well besides that moment when she’d gone and comforted her earlier. Safi absolutely definitely certainly would be touching that thought. Nope. Not at all. That little smile had not managed to make her feel like she was floating for some reason and her stomach was feeling funny just from her nerves. That thought was locked up forever never to be touched ever again and where was she… Right Serafina had a slight gleam in her eyes at the moment.

Safi swallowed heavily and looked the other way. Anna and Sally were a safer sight to look at and probably an important one too given how they were immediately heading over to a shelf like they knew what they wanted to be getting and given one of them was up for a promotion to team leader and the other one already was one, they definitely should know what they wanted.

“Safi, you’re allowed to run around and pick, you don’t have to stand there waiting for permission.” It was Anna, causing Safi to almost jump a foot in the air. She needed to stop getting lost in thoughts.

She managed a smile. “Sorry, sorry. I was just. I wasn’t sure. Its dangerous. And things. And blah.”

Sally chuckled. “Cut the poor girl some slack, Anna. She’s new, remember.”

“You know I can’t help myself.”

“That’s not an excuse you can just throw around like a shield.”

Safi tuned out their argument, turning almost fearfully to Serafina again. She didn’t need to hear those two flirts at the moment but going with Serafina to get something would also be just as much of a punishment. Wait no. Safi’s brain threw up another red alert. Why was that a punishment? Serafina was an old friend, an acquaintance really. She wasn’t half evil so. So, it should be a good thing to walk with her getting weapons. Serafina was good at picking out the best things too. She knew that much from experience.
Before Anna could call her out again, Safi jumped in the general direction Serafina was headed in, vowing to follow her without any mishaps, not that there was even the slightest chance of any sort of mishap. Why would there be a mishap?

“Planning on getting anything?” Serafina’s voice turned out to be the second thing that would shatter Safi out of her thoughts and this time she almost fell unconscious. Okay that was an exaggeration. Slightly.

“Mmm hmm ah hmm,” was Safi’s rather intelligent response if she did say so herself.