Work Text:
Dawn had barley touched the harbor when Manju was jarred from his sleep. His persistent tosses and turn against his ships cot bed has been futile in blocking the groans and sharp thuds of wood from outside him.
Manju could barely recall when it had started, as his own body had become drowsy from lack of rest already. He wanted so desperately to cling to the comforting rest that came from sleep, but that seemed unlikely amidst the ruckus on the harbor late at night. For witches sake, who is out plaguing the dock with that horrible noise?
A pillow was thrown over his head as the ears of the Anako bun Guildmaster buried deeper to ease the sound.
THUD.
It only grew louder. Especially when the desperate and rapid hitting of wood sounded as if it was struggling itself.
CREEK.
the dock moaned in exhaustion.
Manju could have sworn he heard someone curse under their breath out there. Gravity seems to weaken as his eyes slowly fluttered open, despite their longing desire to close.
By the fifth bash against wood, the foxes hands already were throwing his kimono loosely over his shoulders. If the sound was to continue, he’d have to put an end to it himself.
The creak of his ships floorboards were the only sound that came with every step he took to the gangplank. Of course, aside from the grueling symphony that came from the possible construction sight next to his bedroom window. His crew had long turned in for the night, so they couldn’t possibly be working. And Manju would have known if there was construction under way, as he wouldn’t have anchored his ship there if there was.
So what could possibly be the ruckus?
Several different ideas were floating around in his drowsy, sleep deprived mind as he made his way to the scene of the viciously loud crime. Only to be met with a rather odd sight.
Far down the gangway, accompanied by several loose wood boards and a collection of nails, was Jagae cookie.
“Of course…,” he sighed through his teeth. He analyzed the mess around the woman. His gaze following the heap of tools and constructive parts that littered the floor around her. Eventually, his eyes landed on her.
And to put this as lightly as he can- or honestly? not lightly. She looked like she had been dragged through the lower trays up and down. That was not a secret.
Her long iridescent hair cascaded down her back as the tips of her now untied hair sprawled against the wood surface. A single lantern illuminating her as it waned. Black circles acting as a landing sight for her eyelashes that now threatened to fall. She was falling asleep amidst her own work, something Manju hadn’t seen for her…ever, really.
But regardless of her sickly appearance, that clanging racket continues to plague his ears.
“My my, Madame Jagae. Resorting to wrestling the stern isn’t a good look on you.” His wry grin allowed for a humorless chuckle to escape from him.
Jagae could feel the tension in her forehead groan louder at his aggravating tone. She paused and looked at him with tired eyes.
“Zip it fox,” She spat as she resumed her construction. Manju’s ears flicked at the sound.
“Would it kill you to be quieter, Miss Jagae?”
She didn’t look at him. Or more likely, she didn’t hear it, as her eyes once again closed momentarily for a beat too long.
“You look as if you’re about to fall into the water.” His gaze now analyzing. Her teeth gritted as she pointed the hammer closer to his chest in irritation.
“I’ll be quieter if you leave.”
He paid no mind to her words, instead more focuses on the way her eyelids struggled. Manju was right. The black rings under her eyes has long since bin becoming heavier by the second. How long has she been working? The thought left as quickly as it came once she spoke again.
“I clearly have much more important things to do than humoring you, Mandu.”
“Such as tearing the wood off your own ship?”
Jagae groaned under her breath. “Repairing the wood of my ship!” She scolded.
The silence between them wasn’t exactly uncomfortable. Just..full. As he silently scanned the ways her bruised fingers grazed the splintered boards carefully almost made him feel almost brought his ears lower. She had been at it for hours, that was undeniable, but without the help or knowledge of her crew? That was certainly strange. She wasn’t one to work without alerting her crew. Certainly they should know given how loud she was being. It was their ship after all. Manju couldn’t exactly understand why he was worrying so much on it, she was his rival. What ever decisions she wanted to make, whether good or bad, was hers to make…
But even as a rival, he couldn’t deny it felt wrong. Which is what justified his decision to walk closer behind her sprawled black hair, leaning over her slumped body as she slaved at the stern. He reached a hand over to the messy pile of tools next to her and picked up something without glancing at it.
“well, if you are so adamant on overexerting yourself…,” He began as his legs crouched to her side. She paused and looked at him with suspicion.
“At least let me help.”
Jagae didn’t know whether it was the lazy laugh that followed his own absurdity or the calm trust in his logic, but something in her took a large halt. Her train of thought coming to a jolting conclusion as she analyzed him like he spoke the words of the devil. Her teeth began to grit as she tried to snatch it from his hand. He pulled back in quick thinking as words spilled from her mouth.
“I don’t need your help, Mandu,” She scolded.
“I’m perfectly fine, like I mentioned five times over.”
His ears flicked in response to that. An almost puzzlingly look grew on his face also.
“You are in obvious need for assistance. Or is Madame Jagae too prideful to let her rival be of service.” A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. Jagae, however, finally managed to get a firm grip on his wrist that held the tool, and it effectively got him to yelp in surprise.
“Why should I accept help from a conniving, slick Fox like you!” The venom in her tone was evident.
That hit. Far harder than he anticipated it to.
“You are in need of it, so why not accept it?”
“I said I don’t need it, Mandu. Just leave already!”
“So you would rather sit here as you crumble from exhaustion than set your own pride aside?” The fuel began seething.
“I would rather get it done without the spite of a sleaze!” The venom seeped out before she could stop it.
“Jagae, you are carrying the work responsibility’s meant for a team!”
“Because I can handle it!”
”What makes you think you should bear the responsibility by yourself!” The words came quickly, his irritation pushing them out before he could think twice. He realized it when it was far too late. Jagae’s eyes widened, her vision blurred. Her thoughts became clouded by the seething anger. Words began escaping between her lips as she spat it out.
“Because I have too!”
The impact of her sentence hangs loosely at the rim of her lip, dangling as if hesitating to fully be said. Manju looked at her with a mixed expression. Clearly confused by it, but unable to process what she said as quickly as he had earlier. Hundreds of words could’ve been said in that mass of heavy silence. Thousands even. Yet neither dared to say it. Her fingers fumbled at the handle of the tool she stole back. Manju noticed immediately. It was hard not to. Everything she did in that moment seemed to hold his attention longer than he would admit. Especially that unfamiliar flicker of something wavering in her gaze as she refocused back to the stern. Manju watched her again.
He hesitated for a good minute, second, witches he really didn’t know how long. Not that it mattered anyways, as time itself seemed to have froze in an instant the moment that sentence was uttered. But eventually his brain caught up and reminded him who he was, and more importantly, what happened. He began to speak up once more.
“What do you mean?” He started. Jagae didn’t glance back to him like before. Her hands just stilled, cautious. She was thinking something assuming by the way her pupils shrunk back in on itself as if hiding in the cool tones of violets there. Her brows furrowed. She slowly began to explain.
“What kind of a leader would I be if I didn’t?”She mumbled softly. Almost so quietly he couldn’t hear properly. He didn’t pressure her to continue, but lended her a reassuring gaze as he watched the way the corner of her mouth falter.
“I’m a Guildmaster, a leader, someone who people depend on,” She began. “It’s my responsibility to keep things running. I’m supposed to be strong. It’s what’s required of me. I can’t just let problems go unattended. I can’t choose comfort over duty. If I do, someone can lose trust in me. See me as something inadequate or inferior.”
Her bottom lip wavered, almost out of her control. Her eyes scanned anywhere but the person she spoke so openly too. She took a long, breathy sigh as she finally looked back up from her defenselessness.
“What kind of a Guildmaster would I be if I was considered that?”
Manju thought he wouldn’t be used to hesitating, But the witches must’ve had something planned for him tonight if he dared think he wouldn’t. Such words coming from his hot-headed, confident rival who he had known for being gritty and strong seemed otherworldly. Jagae was one to speak her mind, yes, but nothing this vulnerable. She prided herself of resilience and resolution, so watching her strong leader persona falter under her own struggle was something Manju had never come to expect.
He didn’t speak for a good minute, simply taking in what she said with every slow breath he took. He wasn’t exactly sure what to say for once. His eloquent speaking talents had -for once- come to a fail.
“Jagae—“
“No,”
She interrupted him as he tried to speak.
“Forget I said anything.”
She didn’t say more after that. Instead just returning to her work. The silence was almost weakening. Jagae could feel his eyes burning holes in her back, feeling the weight of his pitiful gaze. She pondered on why he didn’t leave. This is what he wanted right? The silence that finally allowed him blissful slumber? He got what he wanted now that her hands trembled wearily every time the hammer came crashing into a nail, resulting in her becoming quieter. So for the love of witches why was he still standing there?
Manju was still nearby, watching her silently as she fumbled through the fatigue she suffered. He was hesitating, judging by the way his bottom lip trembled as if he was going to speak. But he didn’t. Frankly, not even he knew why he stayed. Maybe he was anchored down the by the heavy weight of her words. No matter what, he could understand that it definitely hurt, whether for him or her. Such vulnerability coming from her pearl heart, tucked away inside the valve called skin.
“You don’t have to.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to, Jagae.”
Jagae’s mind was already full enough with her thoughts becoming overwhelming. But of course he had to open his trap. Of course he just had to add to it.
“What could you—“
“You’re more than simply a leader,” He started. Jagae could feel the floorboard creak as he slowly approached, kneeling down at her side. She scoffed, returning back to her work. But Manju wasn’t done.
“A leader is someone who guides their people. Working with them towards a greater goal.” That got her attention. She finally stopped her work to gaze up at him with tired eyes. His gaze was abnormally softer, Less tense than she anticipated. She expected him to laugh in her face, call her pathetic for this. And yet, he hadn’t yet.
“Someone who bears the weight of ten isn’t a leader. It’s a workaholic.” He watched her eyes widen at these words. The black rings becoming far more evident as she turned, the moons glow lighting every angle of her delicate features.
“They care about you, Jagae. And I’m sure they wouldn’t want you devolving to a workaholic. Breaking her spine for the sake of her career.”
That made her pause.
“It isn’t for my career..,” she whispered, hesitance evident in her tone. Manju didn’t interrupt, instead giving her the time needed to speak once more.
“I refuse to have another ship be taken by the ocean. Have anyone else be taken by its greed.” She sighed heavily as she trailed off. The blending hues of her eyes found their way to watching the water ripples below them, the same she insulted. Manju softened slightly as the analyzed the way her shoulders were dragged down by her sorrow.
“My mother…she passed in a storm ages ago. Ship sunk in the DuskGloom ocean on her travels,” she recited. Her fingers absently traced her work knuckled the gripped the hammer harder.
‘Bukkumi cookie…she was never seen again.” Her lip wavered, trembled even. Soft breaths filled the silence that followed. Manju could feel his ears falling involuntarily. Her vulnerability was something he hadn’t expected or her to reveal, let alone with him. In the middle of the night, loosened by fatigue, she spoke of a woman with kind eyes and a lingering warmth that she loved all her young life in Choco Pearl Bay. The woman who mysteriously vanished, leaving a young Jagae alone, waiting patiently at the docks.
It made sense to him then. The work she bears on the bridge of her back was not done out of persistent determination toward success, but instead a relentless fear of ending unfulfilled. She won’t let her dreams fail like her mothers, and especially not her crew’s. It saddened him more than he admitted.
“Still. You’re more than just a leader. You’re still Jagae after all,” he spoke quietly.
“And I do believe your mother would be proud of all the work you’ve done.” He gave her a genuine smile. Something she deemed rare from him, especially towards her. For some reason, for some abnormal swayed reason, she smiled also. Softly a gentle. Something she never thought she would give towards a man who always had his hands extended to wealth. And yet, his hands were extended towards the worn stern of her ship, as if asking for permission to assist. She let him. Under the rule that he did what she said. He agreed, even if he teased her for being ‘Demanding.’
They worked silently at first, aside from single worded directions that he followed suit in. When she ordered him to nail a plank, he did so calmly. When she told him hold another down while she screwed it, he mocked an irritated tease and did just as she asked. They worked like this for hours. It was somewhat awkward in the beginning, but they were slowly getting closer as time went on. Both figuratively and literally.
He learned more of Bukkumi. He found out she was a dancer from the north eastern coast, becoming infatuated with the ocean. Which is where Jagae must have learned it from. The tours she took to perform around the winter region is where Jagae first met the great ocean, learning to fall in love with it. He could see the way she missed her. The undeniable way she loved and cherished her.
Such passion and love for her mother told him so much about the woman Jagae was. He didn’t expect to learn so much about her tonight. Not the way her nose scrunched as she smiled, nor the way her fingertips brushed her lips as she covered a laugh. It was new to him, especially coming from a rival.
Slowly, the stern of the ship returned to its former glory. The black and lilac colors returned as she repainted it. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was in awe of the way her hands delicately reimagined the iridescent waves from before. By then the sun was peaking over the horizon, greeting the dark sky with warm rays and familiar humidity. She stood up and whipped the lingering sweat beads from her temple as she turned to meet Manju’s gaze.
“Finally,” she sighed out of exhaustion. She fiddled with the othoreum ribbon of her coat, tying it back to its original place. He watched the way her scuffed fingers tied the ribbon in its asymmetrical fashion with far more vigilance than he wanted to acknowledge. No matter to his abnormal infatuation. She spoke again, tearing him away.
“You know you can leave now, right?” She asked. It took him a minute longer than expected to respond, but he chalked it up to fatigue.
“Ah, yes. Of course.” He smiled teasingly, as he turned to leave, he heard her familiar accent call for him hesitantly.
“Thanks, by the way.” Jagae’s eyes rolled as she said it. She didn’t bother to look him the eyes afterwards, but the faint embarrassment hue in her cheek was evident. She awkwardly scrapped the floor with her foot. It didn’t seem like she wanted a response as she was already heading towards her ships gangplank. But he gave one anyways, catching her by surprise.
“Anytime,” he let out an amused chuckle. He could have sworn he caught a hint of a smile on her face as she went up to the deck.
Manju watched as she disappeared in her quarters for the rest of dawn, smiling softly to himself as he walked away. He found himself reminiscing the situation. Sure, he spent the last night by his rival’s side, fixing up her ship. He willingly spent time with her in the middle of the night as the gentle moonlight bathed her delicate features. He learned more and more about the wonderful woman who made the hot-head, loud and confident rival.
His guilds rival,
His career’s s rival…
His rival…
“Damn it…”