King of the High Seas Remastered (PWxAL)

Chapter 9 - Opening Up

11:42, Whistler's Rock

Robin pretty much drags Honolulu into a conveniently empty café, where Monarch is already waiting.

As Honolulu sits down at the table, Robin waves the barista off.

The barista nods and heads off into the back.

Robin hooks a thumb over her shoulder. "Now, I said I'd help him out back there since he won't be up here, so I'll see you in a few."

Monarch nods, and with that, Robin disappears, leaving the two alone.

The two sit there in silence for some time. Honolulu looks down at the table, while Monarch just watches her.

Honolulu looks up to see Monarch watching her. "Would you stop staring? Jeez..."

Monarch instead looks out the window.

Honolulu still looks annoyed. After another minute, she works up the courage to start talking.

"Maybe Louis wanted me to talk to you about my problems because you aren't going to say anything back."

Monarch turns back to look at her again, and doesn't say anything as he listens.

"Oh well. It looks like it, but I'm not actually grumpy all the time. Not entirely sure what's wrong with me, either. I guess I have trouble talking about how I feel, for one. Trouble starting conversations too, which I assume is another part of why I don't have any friends outside my sisters."

She pauses for a second.

 "Maybe now that I'm talking to you, I'm getting somewhe-"

"No, never mind. I'm just getting carried away."

Monarch shrugs.

Honolulu gives him a look. "Are you ever going to open your mouth?"

Monarch shrugs again. "When I want to."

Honolulu rolls her eyes and moves on. "Always have had a temper too, which I guess you've seen by now."

She changes the subject. "Helena is almost always sad, and none of us except maybe Louis know what's going on with her. Oh, right, you probably  haven't met them. Helena and St. Louis are two of my sisters. Brooklyn is another, and I assume you know her as she keeps talking about you."

"Anyway, whenever I try to ask Helena what's wrong, she won't tell me. Just says it's nothing, and I'm scared of pressing further."

"I wish I could talk to the other girls, too. I can't keep a single conversation intact."

Monarch speaks up. "You seem to be doing just fine right now."

Honolulu laughs half-heartedly. "This isn't a conversation, blockhead. At this rate, you're just listening to me complain."

She's silent for a minute.

"...Which, feels kind of good."

"Maybe it's just nice to get it off my chest, even if there's nothing you can do about it."

Robin almost walks in, and stops in the doorway. Neither of the two notice her for the time being.

"Well, thank you, I guess."

Monarch nods. "You're welcome."

Robin interrupts. "That's that, then?"

Honolulu nearly falls out of her chair. "How long have you been standing there?"

Robin walks over. "Not long. Just enough to see you say thank you."

Honolulu looks relieved that she didn't hear anything else, which Robin notices.

She pauses to give Honolulu some kind of look as Monarch is getting up. Whatever it was, he didn't see it.

Honolulu's face immediately gets almost as red as her hair.

"N-not like THAT!"

Robin laughs, then turns to Monarch. "Is it like that?"

Monarch simply shakes his head no.

Robin puts her hands up in mock surrender. "I'll take your word for it. Or lack thereof."

Honolulu opens her mouth to say something, but is cut off as explosions sound and the ground under them shakes.

Robin almost falls over. "The hell was that?"

Honolulu has to shout over the noise. "You think I know?"

Robin's cell phone starts ringing. She fumbles around with it, evidently not used to the new tech. "How the hell do you-"

Honolulu grabs it, accepts the call, and hands it back to Robin.

Dominic is on the other end. "Robin! You got Monarch there with you?"

Robin also has to shout. "Yeah, what's going on?"

Dominic also seems to be shouting over the explosions. "We're under attack! The entire island is being pounded! You two need to get back here and get airborne!"

[Short chapter. Exams are next week, and I'll be back after that.]