Chapter Text
You’d do well to get yourself away from here, little crow. You have far too much trouble about you, you know you don’t belong somewhere like this.
It was an.. odd conversation at a bar in Kuervo’s hometown. He wasn’t even sure how they had gotten onto the topic, mind too clouded with alcohol to have been able to remember any of it. It did know the conversation ended rather abruptly, though, the man he spoke with giving him a flyer for something called the “ Faction Isles ”.
Kuervo, expectedly, had no clue what in the world that even meant . Looking into it, though – digging through old library books, mainly – it found his answer.
The short version of which was, pirates.
Now, a couple years ago, it would’ve been appalled at the suggestion of doing something like that – sure, he was rebellious , but never that bad!
..Kuervo was also a very different person a couple of years ago. He had a fiance and both eyes back then.
It found itself rather quickly tempted by the idea. So, one day, it got himself a ship, packed up its more important belongings, said goodbye to his family, and sailed off to these Isles.
Which is exactly where he found itself now. He’s just arrived, and it seems quite a lot of other people have as well.
He’s not too fond of crowds. It finds rather fast that these people are all far too loud and far too rowdy for his tastes.
..He also finds that none of them seem to speak much Spanish, and he himself speaks very little English. So, even if he wanted to, conversation was pretty much out of the window regardless.
It decides to hang back, fussing around about his ship for a while.
A.. long while.
He looks up again once the noise has died down entirely, only to find that.. well, it probably missed some very crucial information, as everyone seemed to have disappeared off somewhere into the island.
It curses to itself, climbing off the ship and making its way towards the end of the docks. He stands on his toes, squinting into the distance to try and see if it could tell where anyone went. There is still someone, he notices, a bit away from him, but it doesn’t really pay them too much mind.
It also, in turn, doesn’t notice when they seem to notice him. It takes them getting right up in front of his face and leaning down to be eye-level with it until he notices.
“ Hey! You all good? ”
The loud, chipper tone nearly gives Kuervo a heart attack. He gasps and stumbles back, turning its attention to the person standing in front of him. He tilts its head, not actually answering them and just.. studying them.
He’s tall. Much taller than Kuervo, obviously, with how much he has to bend down. He’s got olive skin, just a bit off from Kuervo’s own, and hazel eyes. Brown hair pulled into a braid over his shoulder, and going off his clothes, he seems pretty well-off.
..He’s.. pretty.
It’s not until he waves his hand in front of Kuervo’s face and calls out to it again that Kuervo actually answers him.
“ You good, mate? ”
“ Uh– ” Kuervo cuts itself off nearly as soon as he starts speaking. “ E- Estoy perdido. ”
It’s– admittedly, a pretty fruitless endeavor to try Spanish first, given that.. nobody else seemed to understand him. It figured it was worth a hopeful shot, though, but– that’s rather quickly dashed by the confused look the other gives it.
Kuervo sighs and tries again. “I’m– lost,” he clarifies, gesturing vaguely towards the island.
“ Oh! ” The stranger straightens up. “Yeah, you missed what that recruitment guy was saying too, huh? I mean– I saw where everyone was going, but I got a little distracted–”
He just.. keeps rambling on, Kuervo notes. It picks up most of what he’s saying, at least. Hey– he could understand English fine enough, just.. wasn’t all too used to actually speaking it himself.
Kuervo nods along to his ramblings, resting its hands in its coat pockets.
“Here– we can go together! I’ll show ya!” he says rather suddenly. He doesn’t give Kuervo any sort of time to respond, grabbing onto his wrist gently and tugging it down the path. “What’s your name?”
Kuervo’s quiet for a second, just– processing what just happened. He stumbles over his feet slightly before he rights itself and starts to walk alongside him, turning its head to look up at him. “Uh– Kuervo,” it responds finally.
“ Kuervo, ” he echoes a few times over, and Kuervo mildly notes that it sounds like he’s struggling a bit. Before Kuervo can actually open its mouth, though, he cuts it off again. “ Oh! That’s, uh– That’s Crow, right? Can I call you Crow?”
Kuervo goes quiet again, this time to think it over. He looks away with a faint frown, giving it a fair bit of thought before he shrugs and nods. “Krow with a K ,” is all he offers as a correction.
“I’m Owen,” the stranger responds, just giving a small nod in response to Kuervo. “It’s nice to meet you, Krow! Where’d you come from?”
They.. go on like that for a fair while as they walked. Owen talking and asking a lot of questions, Kuervo answering the best he can manage.
Kuervo also notices that, at some point in the trek, Owen shifted from holding onto its wrist to just.. entirely holding its hand.
The thought’s enough to make Kuervo turn just a bit red. It tries his best to ignore it.
He spends a lot of the time just listening to Owen talk, really; vague ramblings about where Owen came from or how he found out about the Isles, though Kuervo notes a fair amount of the latter is incredibly vague in information, and certain things almost make Owen seem uncomfortable. Sore subject, Kuervo figures.
Kuervo can relate to that.
It rather suddenly becomes aware of the loud commotion from the building in front of the two, fighting the urge to flinch away from it. He hears Owen mention something about a recruitment hall, so it figures this is probably where they were supposed to be?
Sadly, though, once they get into the building, Owen’s letting go of his hand, disappearing into the crowd to speak to someone else.
This.. leaves Kuervo standing near the edge of the crowd, next to a couple people that are talking a bit quieter.
One’s a bit taller than Kuervo, with pale skin and bright orange hair. Kuervo can’t really make out any features, just that he’s got a blue coat and a sword hanging at his side.
The other is much taller than Kuervo, with brown hair and skin just a bit darker than the first person. He’s wearing a black cape and Kuervo can just make out the handle of a gun in its holster on his hip.
Kuervo forces himself to suppress a shudder. Guns. It hates guns. Can’t stand the things.
It tries not to dwell on that too much. He’s almost ready to move away from the two and keep his distance, maybe try to follow Owen–
.. Until he hears the tall guy speak Spanish.
Kuervo swears he didn’t notice this guy before. It rather awkwardly makes its way to stand.. near the two, though, trying to act like he wasn’t specifically doing so on purpose. Not that it matters much, though, because he’s somewhat aware of the shorter guy nudging the taller and gesturing towards Kuervo in a hushed whisper.
“ Oh! Hey! ” The taller guy turns his attention fully to Kuervo and reaches over to tap his shoulder. “ ¿Cómo te llamas? ”
Despite the mild social anxiety, Kuervo almost lets out a small sigh of relief. “ Kuervo ,” it responds quietly, turning its head to look up at him. “ ¿Quién eres? ”
“ Me llamo Sausage. ”
That almost makes Kuervo snort and laugh. He stifles it, though, covering its mouth and just clearing his throat to cover it. That’s a new one. It nods at him. “ Encantado. ”
They talk quietly back and forth for.. a shocking while, actually; Kuervo hadn’t really expected to talk to anyone at all, but this was the second time he was getting proven wrong. It’s not a super in-depth conversation, granted; really just basic small talk and “get to know you” sort of things, but it’s enough to make Kuervo smile.
He vaguely notices when the person in the center of the room starts talking. He glances up, taking a quiet note of the fox mask they wore. He figures that might be the recruitment guy Owen mentioned earlier.
The guess is proven right when they start calling people forward by name for the recruitment process.
It’s.. surprisingly simple. Called up, told what group is offering for you, and decide. That’s.. entirely it. Kuervo moves a bit closer to the center of the room as people get called up and move out of the way.
He’s rather quickly distracted when Owen is called up. Its gaze is locked onto him nearly instantly, just.. watching him.
Look– it’s not weird. It’s not a crush, either! He’s just.. interested. Owen was interesting. He was friendly, too.
Kuervo’s rather shocked to hear that, apparently, all four of the Factions offered for Owen to join them. From all the other people that have gone up so far, and the crowd’s reaction, that’s.. pretty unusual.
Even more interesting.
Its attention stays on Owen after he decides – Herons? Kuervo thinks he heard Heron. – and walks back to his spot at the edge of the space. It gives him a small smile when Owen looks over and notices it, waving at him.
Kuervo’s.. vaguely aware of someone else’s name being called, but it’s not until it feels somebody – that red-haired guy that Sausage was talking to earlier – nudges him that he realizes they were calling his name.
He makes its way rather awkwardly to the center of the room, mumbling a shy apology to the officer. They don’t pay it much mind, though, waving it off before they start the same little speech they’ve given to everyone else.
..Admittedly, Kuervo isn’t really paying attention a lot of it. He only tunes back in when they give it its offers.
..He’s kind of sad that Herons weren’t one of them. It decides it’ll deal with that particular emotion later.
What it does hear is Kites and Kestrels . It picked up the gist for both from the earlier little speeches.
Kestrels believe that the key to happiness is wealth, and will do anything to earn a few more doubloons. They live lavishly and enjoy the finer things in life.
Kites seek the thrill of battle, and sail the high seas looking for worthy opponents, be that sea creatures, the navy, or even other pirates.
The mentions of wealth are enough to make Kuervo cringe. Yeah, it grew up wealthy, but.. does it really want his entire identity here based off that?
..And nobody knows where it came from, so..
Maybe it could pretend for once.
Besides, battle sounds fun. And an excuse to go after Navy men? Even better.
It feels like forever before he manages to respond, though it’s only a few seconds. “Kites.” Kuervo says confidently, holding his head up a bit straighter. “I’ll join the Kites.”
That draws a loud cheer from one of the smaller groups standing off to the side. Kuervo doesn’t pay it too much mind, fully intending to ignore them; when the recruitment officer announces the end to the whole ordeal – seems Kuervo was the last one up – he makes its way rather quickly over to Owen.
The taller is talking to what Kuervo assumes to be other Herons, though he looks over with a wide smile when he sees Kuervo.
“
‘Scuse me, guys.
”
Owen walks over to meet Kuervo with the same little grin, resting his hands on his hips. “So, you’re a fighter, huh?” He teases, leaning down slightly to look Kuervo in the eyes. “You look the sort, now that I think about it. That what happened to your clothes?”
Kuervo can’t fight the small laugh that leaves it, rolling his eye with an exaggerated sigh. “No, that’s not what happened.” He shakes its head, moving an arm to show one of his sleeves. “My dad’s. Didn’t fit right.”
Owen nods along. “ Oohh.. ” He hums and picks up a hand to rest under his chin. “Well, I think it suits you! Looks, uh.. rugged. ”
Rugged. Yeah, sure. Kuervo has to fight another small snort. “Thanks.”
Its tone must be pretty obvious, because Owen’s leaning further forward, reaching over and starting to fuss with the collar of its coat. “I mean it!” He says with a smile, smoothing the fabric out and trying to flatten the sleeves as well. “It looks good on you!”
Oh.
That all’s enough to turn Kuervo bright red. He clears his throat and gets out another quiet thanks, trying to ignore the way his heart starts nearly pounding out of its chest. Geez, what’s going on with it?
It doesn’t get the chance to respond anymore before somebody walks up next to it and grabs onto its arm. “ Hey! Keep your Heron hands off our factionmate!”
Kuervo startles at the voice, looking over at the speaker.
They look to be around Kuervo’s age? She stands around Kuervo’s height as well, her hair pulled into two braids.
..They also look incredibly roughed up, covered in dirt and mud and multiple bandages wrapped around his arms and such.
Owen just laughs and rolls his eyes. “Well, I met him before he joined up with you lot, so I think I can do whatever I’d like.”
Regardless, he waves it off and looks down at Kuervo. “Hey– I’ll see you later, yeah? I think we both had some stuff to unpack.”
“Uh– yeah, ” Kuervo nods and smiles back at him. “Yeah, I’ll– see you.”
It sounds like a promise. Are they friends now? He hopes they are. It likes him.
It only barely pays attention as the Kite – Bek, he heard her say – nearly drags him away and down the paths to a further part of the Isles. It’s far too distracted, really; on the red of its face, the smile it’s fighting, and.. well, everything else Owen’s made it feel so far.
For the first time in a couple years, Kuervo feels a familiar feeling burrow its way into his chest. Fuzzy tendrils that settle in next to his heart, set with hazel eyes and a bell-like laugh.
..For the first time in a couple years, Kuervo thinks it might just be in love.