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Sunlight poured in through one of the open Nightingale tavern windows as a cool breeze blew through Ros's hair. The weather has been calm today, a more relaxing mood settling across the Faction Isles. Winter was approaching, meaning Ros might have to put a hold on working on her castle due to cold weather, but maybe she could work on the inside.
She was currently sitting across from Sausage in a surprisingly comfortable wooden chair with one leg over the other, carefully peeling away a piece of gauze from the roll she found tucked away in one of the barrels upstairs. Marnie had told her where it was while they offered Sausage a seat at one of the tables.
"Sausage, you should be more careful next time," Ros explained gently. She tore off the piece of gauze and took hold of the Kestrel's arm, bringing it closer. The man's gloves were discarded off to the side as Ros pushed his blood-stained sleeve up to get a better look at the wound. It looked like a deep gash that cut across the skin just underneath his elbow and Ros winced as fresh blood leaked out of the "scratch" as Sausage kept calling it.
"Yeah, yeah," Sausage said, sounding completely unbothered. "Where's the fun in careful, though? A pirate needs their excitement!"
"You can find something exciting that doesn't involve fighting," Ros suggested.
Sausage chuckled, "Hah! Like what?"
"Well there's always treasure hunting," She reasoned. She leaned down and shuffled through the bag of medical supplies Marnie had handed to her. Marnie kept glancing up at them every so
often from the bar they were cleaning to check if everything was okay.
This time, she said, "The disinfection stuff should be towards the bottom." Ros looked up and gave the older woman a warm smile as a thanks and a few seconds later pulled out a bottle and a rag.
"This might sting," She warned as she dumped some of the liquid onto the rag.
Sausage replied, "It's fine! I can barely even feel it as it is."
However, this statement was shortly proven false as Ros gently placed the rag on top of the cut and his body tensed at the contact. Ros didn't remove the cloth though, just glancing up to look at the Kestrel. He wasn't looking at her though. He was staring out the window.
She removed the now dirty rag with the same gentleness she had when placing it, and Sausage relaxed again.
"Treasure hunting gives you money," Ros continued her conversation from a few minutes ago.
"Oh, I do love money!" Sausage exclaimed. "But it doesn't give me the same excitement."
Ros hummed as she picked up the piece of gauze she ripped off earlier and brought his arm closer. His body tensed again and he let out a low hiss as the gauze rested tightly on his wound. Ros didn't stop though, and he didn't protest.
"How was the rest of your day?" Ros asked, trying to divert the subject and help Sausage become distracted from whatever pain the cut is causing him.
"Oh, it was good. I tried selling my bananas back to Pip, but he was only taking them for 8 gold!" Sausage complained and Marnie let out a laugh from the bar that made Sausage turn in her direction. Ros scrambled to keep his arm still and accidentally placed part of the bandage in the wrong spot. She ripped it off and Sausage yelped, subconsciously grabbing onto the area where the skin was now tainted red. "What was that for?!"
Ros winced, but was trying to hold back laughter at the higher pitched sound that had escaped the man's lips, "Sorry! Stop moving."
"Marnie's laughing at me!"
"Because you remind me of a past Kestrel. He used to call the other banana seller a scammer," Marnie replied.
"Pip is a scammer!" Sausage replied with a sort of eagerness Ros almost laughed at. She hasn't heard Sausage be so determined to make a point before.
"You just aren't catching Pip on the right day," Ros explained. She wrapped the last bit of the bandage and rolled down his sleeve to cover it up. "You'll probably need to change that at least twice a week until it fully heals," she explained softly.
"Marnie are you rich?" Sausage asks, acting as if he didn't hear Ros. She knows he did though because he always listens to her.
Marnie laughed again as they picked up a leftover glass and scrubbed the inside of it, "What is your definition of rich, Mr. Sausage?"
Sausage pretended to be thinking for a second with a hum before saying, "At least ten thousand."
"Then I am not rich by your definition," Marnie responded.
"You're a Nightingale, so I wouldn't expect you to be."
"Watch your words, Kestrel. You're standing in the middle of the Nightingale Tavern." Marnie reminded him in a playfully warning voice, but Ros managed to pick up the hint of a protective undertone.
"Ros, how is the castle coming along?" Sausage asked, staring out the window again.
"It's coming along well!" Ros answered excitingly. She loves talking about her castle with people, especially Sausage. Maybe it's the fact that he is a Kestrel and loves giant and fancy things that are quite expensive, but he is always asking about her progression on the castle and it's quite nice. "Do you wanna see it?"
"Oooo yes!" Sausage marveled.
He got up from his seat while Ros closed the bag and slung it over her shoulder, also standing from her chair. She pushed it in and started for the exit with Sausage, keeping in mind that she'll have to return the bag to Marnie later.
"Bye Marnie!" Ros called before exiting. "Thank you for your help!"
"Of course!" Marnie replied happily. "Stay safe you two! Don't let him cause you any trouble."
Ros smiled and hurried down the steps to catch up with Sausage who was already gaping at the castle in the distance.