Safe

Legacy

"It's the suit, isn't it?" Delbert asked, and as he stomped his way down the short flight of stairs to follow you, he continued to complain frustratingly, but you weren't listening. You were only keeping your eyes peeled for the ship. You finally saw a ship ahead hovering over empty space and marveled momentarily at its magnificence. It was certainly bigger than your old ship.

You looked over at Jim. "Do you think that's our shi-" You were interrupted when Delbert stumbled into you and Jim.

Jim gave him a look but Delbert paid no mind as he looked at the ship you and Jim marveled over. "Oh! This is our ship! The R.L.S Legacy." He gestured dramatically at the ship with his mittens.

"Woah," Jim said as he looked above at the closed sales as the crew Delbert hired pulled precious cargo on to the ship.

Jim looked back at you with a smile. "Wanna race to the top?"

You gave him a smirk. "Last one will have to do whatever the winner says."

"You're on."

You raced each other to the gangway, causing a slight ruckus along the way but you didn't care. Stygian flew beside you and managed to dodge obstacles. When you approached the gangway, Jim beat you by a second and his threw his hands at the rails and blocked the entrance. He looked back with a smirk. "Haha. I win."

You rolled your eyes. "I admit, I lost. It is unfortunate there is only room for one person.

Jim smiled. "What do I get as a prize?"

"The satisfaction of winning. Now, as the winner, what is it you command me, the loser, to do?"

"How about...you kiss me?"

You blinked, taken slightly aback by his request, but you should have expected it. "Are you serious?"

"I mean, why not? We did almost-"

"Okay okay. I know."

"Just one." Jim held up a finger.

You sighed and reluctantly walked over to him and inched your face closer to his. Jim began to close his eyes when you leaned in his ear and whispered, "Not today, Jim" before pulling his leg with your boot which caused him to trip.

"Hey!" Jim shouted as he fell backward, but you were already halfway up the gangway.

You and Stygian reached the top and you heard a loud voice shouting orders to the crew. You looked around the mostly empty deck and saw a man in red to your left with his rocky hands cupped close to his mouth barking orders.

"Hey!" You looked behind to see Jim catching up with a scowl. "You dirty cheat!"

You laughed and said, "You didn't win to begin with. I said whoever reaches the top wins. Guess who has to obey my wish now?"

Jim growled softly and tried hard not to smile as he leaned into you to tackle you into a bear hug. You managed to dodge out of the way but Jim was unfortunate as he crashed into a giant pink slug creature with many tendrils flopping on it's back.

You giggled as Jim began to apologize to the crewmember but he was interrupted as the member began to spit fart noises into his face. When he was done, Jim's hair was left in a disheveled mess.

Delbert, just arriving to the deck, looked at the slug-creature with a strange look. He then patted Jim's shoulder and said confidently, "Allow me to handle this." He then proceeded to make similar noises with his mouth and finished off with armpit noises.

The slug creature apparently understood him, and threw its head back and farted as laughter and facepalmed himself as if to say 'Oh, how could I have not known sooner? I am sorry'. Delbert must have told him he funded the expedition or something similar.

You and Jim looked at Delbert in wonderment. He said, "I'm fluent in Flatula. Took two years of it in high school." He blew a raspberry and saluted the creature while walking toward the man in red you saw earlier.

"Flatula," Jim mused and smoothed his hair. "Cool."

You raised your backpack higher onto your shoulders and stepped toward Jim while staring at Delbert. "I've discovered the most interesting things while knowing that man and each time I seem to find myself more intrigued by him."

"More intrigued than me?" Jim asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ha! You wish. Now, where's my kiss?"

Jim wasted no time in bringing his lips to yours. You savored the moment until you had to pull away.

You looked up and noticed a fast moving figure on the yardarms. They sprinted towards hanging rope and swung from it before spiraling mid-air and landing perfectly balanced and upright on the deck, arms folded neatly behind her. The figure was a very thin woman with feline features and a squinted eyes that looked pleased. Her hair was cut short and she wore faint blue eyeshadow over her rather small eyes. She wore a navy blue waistcoat with long tails, elbow length gloves, and rather high high-heeled black boots.

You and Jim stared at her in awe as she approached the tall, rocky man in red, who stood formally erect upon her arrival. She must have been a higher authority than him..

"Mr. Arrow," she addressed the man in a stern British accent, "I've checked this miserable ship from stem to stern, and, as usual..." Her ears perked up and turned at the last second to him with a genuine smile. "It's spot on. Can you get nothing wrong?"

Mr. Arrow, as is his name, grinned and raised his hat and bowed. He said, "You flatter me, captain." before returning to his rock solid position.

"That's the captain?" You thought aloud and you and Jim glanced at each other, almost stunned.

The Captain returned to her erect position with her chin up and turned back around and stopped abruptly once she realized Delbert was in front of her. She widened her eyes for a moment before grinning and looking at him as if she found him amusing. "Ah, Doctor Doppler, I presume?"

Delbert stuttered and she interrupted him by knocking on his closed helmet and said loudly and playfully, like a kitten: "Hello? Can you hear me?"

Delbert waved his arms angrily in front of him. "Yes, I can! Stop that banging!" He then tried to pull off his embarrassing helmet, but to no avail.

You only giggled at the scene before you.

The Captain rubbed her chin and examined his suit. "if l may, Doctor, this works so much better. when it's right-way-up and plugged in." She pulled a cord from a box on his suit's stomach and whirled Delbert around and plugged it in his backpack. "Lovely! There you go."

Delbert gasped and hastily took off his helmet and unplugged the cord and pointed it at the Captain. "If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!"

The captain ignored him and shook his hand hastily and introduced herself as Captain Amelia then gestured towards the rocky man and introduced him as her first Officer and began to ramble on the great things he was.

You sighed, seeing this conversation was going nowhere, but you fought yourself to pay attention. You need to know as much as you can about your new superiors and get on their good side.

Delbert interrupted them and introduced you and Stygian first--properly, this time, as your friend not pet. You grinned briefly before averting your gaze on Amelia's. Stygian bleated softly and flew over to Amelia to lick her face (a sign to show he likes someone), but Amelia narrowed her eyes and covered his mouth with her gloved hand. Stygian's eyes grew big and he crawled behind your legs in embarrassment.

Delbert began to introduce Jim proudly as the person who discovered the Map when Amelia suddenly whipped her sharp-clawed hands and clamped his mouth shut in a funny position.

You looked over at the crew members carrying cargo and noticed they seemed to have been standing there a while and listening. They glared at you and continued to carry out orders as if nothing happened.

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