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“Ros, what do they mean you’re a Nightingale?” Kab exclaimed as Ros raised her arms in defense. “What do you mean you joined a faction!”
“I’m sorry!” Ros apologized deeply. “I never realized you and Rae were from the Isles and disliked it so much! I swear I joined because I wanted to start my life over.”
“How did you join the faction, Ros?” Maddy asked, confused. “From what Kab and Rae told me, nobody likes rogue pirates here. So how did you join the Nightingales?” Ros’ expression horrified as her fellow Nightingales turned their heads towards her, shocked as well as horrified. “Oh.” Maddy realized she just fucked it up for Ros at that moment. “Oh shit.”
“You’re a rogue, Ros?!” Graecie exclaimed, shocked and horrified. “Ros, please tell me that’s a joke!”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Will stopped everybody from talking over them. “Ros, by rogue they mean when you left them, right? You became a rogue after leaving your old crew, right?” Will’s eyes widened when Ros looked away from him with fear. “Oh.”
“You were on another crew before them, Ros?” Graecie questioned them, a bit more forcefully than she intended. Kab stepped in front of them as she shielded Graecie from Ros.
“Hey, she doesn’t have to answer that,” Kab said threateningly, not wanting to ruin Ros’ new life at the Isles despite how much she hated the place.
“Ros,” Acho stepped forward, walking towards and putting a hand over her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I was also a rogue before joining the Nightingales.” Ros’ eyes widened as she stared at Acho in surprise while leaving the others shocked, with Will shocked at him for revealing stars secret. “Rogue or not, you’re still my friend and a fellow faction mate.”
Acho turned to look at Graecie and Will, the latter giving a thumbs up while the former was uncomfortable and trying to look away but couldn’t. Acho sighed at this, knowing Graecie didn’t like rogues and the fact that Ros used or was one didn’t seem to be helping her out either. “So are we going to keep chatting in the middle of the road or are we finally going to go and get some drinks at Marnie’s?”
Kab seemed to have forgotten everything that happened as she bumped her fists together. “Hell yeah! I’m actually getting kind of thirsty right now.” Kab walked alongside the Nightingales with Magic following behind. Maddy was walking alongside Rae as she fidgeted with her mask, nervous.
“Hey, Rae?” Maddy asked the conflicted girl. “Are you alright?”
“Ros’ a Nightingale now,” Rae said, trembling. “Does that mean she doesn’t consider us as her friends or–”
“Don’t say that!” Maddy exclaimed at them. “You know Ros. She would never leave us behind! You still remember when she came back to save us despite the fact she was poisoned by that cone snail monster?” Rae nodded confirmingly. “Then just because Ros is in a faction now, doesn’t mean she isn’t our friend.”
Rae smiled at that as she picked up her pace. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Maddy.” The two girls picked up their speed as they joined the group, the mood around them a bit more brightly than it was before.
~~~
Apo was sitting on a barrel as he counted his coins. Graecie told him that he would be staying behind while she, Ros, Acho, and Will went to the market to buy some things, which was total BS to him because he wanted to go with them. But after Graecie learned that Apo confronted Cleo and then consecutively proceeded to attack her without taking a bounty on her, which resulted in his near imprisonment (worst case scenario, his banishment from the Nightingales and as an even more worst case scenario, being thrown right into the volcano).
Apo grumbled as Graecie ignored his reasons, mainly because he was mad at how Cleo was so suspicious towards the Nightingales as a whole and treated Ros even more harshly now, but his protests fell on deaf’s ears. As he was counting his last coin, he noticed someone was walking towards them.
“Oh, Olive!” Apo greeted one of the few Herons he could think he could get along with. “How are you– Shelby?” Apo was taken aback when he spotted the Kestrel walking alongside Olive and carrying– “Oh, not him!” Apo said, disgruntledly.
In Shelby’s arms, Cruppy was carried by her. Apo took multiple steps back, trying to get away from the weird creature that appeared on the first day since the Factioning. “Get that thing away from me!”
“Apo, Cruppy doesn’t bite,” Olive reminded him. “He can’t even hurt a fly.”
“He killed a Komodo Dragon!” Apo retorted.
“How can this little guy harm a big mean lizard?” Shelby said, offended as she cooed at Cruppy. “How can such a little thing like you harm such a big mean lizard?” Cruppy was flailing his legs happily at the affection.
“What are you guys doing here?” Apo asked, on the defensive. “Are you here for Ros? Because I’ll tell you–”
“Actually, we’re here for you,” Olive said sternly. “Shelby apparently overheard from Martyn that you and him locked Cruppy once and interrogated him.” If Olive’s face could become more angrier, this was it. “Apo, you and Martyn have to tone your hate towards Cruppy down a notch.”
“Never,” Apo said, glaring at Cruppy suspiciously, something Shelby caught and glared back at him. “And why are you with Shelby?” The Kestrels didn’t put a lot of effort in establishing other-faction relationships, so they didn’t have a lot of friends outside their faction, if any at all. Plus not all factions were really fond of them just like they were with the Nightingales, more than they were with the latter.
“Oh, I stumbled upon her on my way here,” Olive responded, earning a raised eyebrow from Apo, who quickly caught on to it.
“Oh,” Apo should have known. Ever since Shelby set foot on the Isles, she just seemed to have an interest in Ros specifically. It all started with some small talk between the two of them before going on into a mild friendship, which was solidified as Shelby would visit Ros and spend time together painting some portraits after watching Ros paint Cruppy in one (Apo personally wanted to burn it but Acho stopped them and convinced them otherwise).
And from there forward it just became clear that Shelby was attracted to Ros. It wasn’t that big of a thing given that Shelby quite LITERALLY has flirted with and at least tried to ROMANCE EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the Isles. The flirtations were just subtle whenever Shelby spoke with Ros, then the teasing started when Shelby started to address Ros as “Queen of the Nightingales” as Sausage would often call Ros ever since she built her castle.
Honestly, Apo wasn’t that interested in romance and just found it normal and if not, boring. Graecie clearly expressed her concerns and worries about Shelby talking with Ros. Acho and Will found it normal given Aimsey and Guqqie’s relationship. Jojo thought it was cute and Michela asked the same question he did: “Is that not supposed to be normal?”.
“Say, where’s Ros?” Shelby suddenly asked, looking for the purple-haired girl as she let go of Cruppy. “I keep hearing the guys talking about how she just started sword dancing and I want to see it myself.”
“She’s gone to the market with…,” Apo was about to respond when he spotted the other Nightingales walking back, alongside four strangers he had never seen or met before. “Oh, never mind. They’re walking back.”
Shelby immediately whipped around to greet Ros, only to be taken aback by the four strangers. “Oh wow! Hi! Who are you?” Shelby immediately asked as the rest of the Nightingales and their four acquaintances stopped in front of them.
“Oh, Shelby!” Ros quickly piped up, seeing the Kestrel here. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi!” Kab greeted Shelby, interrupting Ros. “Hi, I’m Kab. I’m an old friend of Ros. These are her other old friends, Rae, Maddy, and Magic!” Kab addressed the rest of the strangers, each giving their own salutes and greetings.
“Oh, you’re friends with Ros?” Shelby repeated, astounded. “Ros mentioned having friends before the Isles. That must have been you, right?”
“Yep!” Kab said as she looked across the Nightingale base. “Huh. Not a lot change around–”
“AH!” Magic suddenly screamed, causing everybody to turn towards her as she was staring at Cruppy, who was standing there watching the pirates.
Kab, Rae, and Maddy immediately jumped back upon spotting the weird creature that Cruppy was, pulling out their weapons in reaction, scaring the other pirates as they backed away from them. Magic, being the young girl and innocent soul that she was most of the time, rushed towards Cruppy and picked them up and started to squish them into a hug, as if they were a plushie.
“Oh my god!” Magic screeched as Cruppy was flailing out his legs in surprise. “You’re so cute and adorable!” Magic rubbed her face against Cruppy’s body affectionately, the gesture completely calming Cruppy as they succumbed to the cuddling.
“Magic, get the fuck away from that thing!” Kab said as she had her sword ready. “Don’t hug it!”
“But Kab!” Magic showed her Cruppy, causing the blue-haired girl to back away. “Look! It’s so cute!”
“Well glad somebody reacted the right way,” Olive said as they walked towards Magic. “Hi! I’m Olive. I’m kind of Cruppy’s caretaker, and I just want to let you know just how glad I am for you to have reacted in the right way towards it.”
“Ah, you even have a cute name!” Magic said as Cruppy rubbed their body against her when she pulled him into another hug.
“What’s even Cruppy?” Maddy asked, her curiosity overtaking her, though not enough for her to lower her guns. “Are… Are they somekind of… sea monster? What even are they?”
“It’s a monster,” Apo said bluntly. “We found them on some corrupted island that almost killed one of us.” Apo shuddered at the memory of the Nightingales finding Aimsey almost on the brink of death at the corrupted island. It wasn’t pleasant at all. “Don’t let that thing manipulate you. I saw it kill a Komodo Dragon before!”
“You heard someone claim they killed a komodo dragon,” Ros quickly clarified. “Kab, Rae, Maddy. You guys have my word that Cruppy is harmless.” Ros said as she lowered down Rae’s scythe, who was the closest to Cruppy and Magic and the most likely to go on the attack.
“Ros, no offense,” Rae said, her face covered by her skull mask. “But I don’t trust that thing.”
“You should!” Apo exclaimed, prompting Graecie to start shoving him away. “Hey!”
“Look, I get it that you’re scare,” Graecie started talking as Acho pulled Apo away before he could say anything harmful. “But Cruppy has proved to be very harmless.” Magic nodded in agreement, despite not fully knowing anything. “He… He just enjoys walking around the Isles and spending time with us. Nobody has been hurt while he has been here.”
“At all?” Kab questioned as Maddy put away her guns and walked towards Cruppy. “Maddy!”
Maddy ignored Kab as she looked around Cruppy. She then poked at it, quickly noting at the gelatinous body it was made of. “Interesting. He’s made completely of some gelatinous substance! And he’s able to keep his body together?” Maddy asked Olive, since they were its technical caretaker.
“Well, I don’t know,” Olive admitted. “I just hang around with them and play games. They don’t spend all their time with me so we haven’t studied with him yet.” Maddy then took Cruppy in her hands as she studied them.
“What’s Cruppy supposed to be?” Maddy asked. “If you have to guess?” She has studied sea monsters and sea creatures before, but never had encountered anything remotely close to Cruppy.
“Well,” Olive said, rubbing their neck. “We believe he’s some kind of sea urchin and a crab hybrid. That’s the most recurring theory that we have.”
“That’s a crab to you?” Kab raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“I mean, you can see his little hands on the sides,” Shelby pointed at Cruppy’s smaller than tiny little hands.
“I say he’s more like a sea urchin that suddenly grew legs,” Rae said as she lowered her scythe and took a few steps towards Cruppy. “And also a pair of arms.”
“Rae, is okay,” Magic said as she held Cruppy closer to Rae, who tried to back away but Ros held her reassuringly. “See? He’s harmless!”
Rae moved her hand towards Cruppy, poking his forehead hesitantly. That was when she realized just how soft they were actually. Rae placed her entire palm and squished him before leaning in closer to them, her face making contact. She then took Cruppy from Magic’s hands and leaned into him as if it was a pillow. “Oh, wow! He’s really soft!” Rae rested her entire head against Cruppy, who despite lacking a face, seemed to be a bit annoyed that it was being used as a pillow.
Kab contemplated how an adorable mysterious creature just won over the hearts of her three closest friends, with wide eyes and mouth agape. She decided to throw the towel at this point. “You know what? What could possibly go wrong?” Kab put away her sword and walked towards Cruppy, placing her hand on the creature and affectionately rubbing it. “Okay, I’ll admit it. He is cute and soft.”
“Aw,” Ros cooed as she joined her old friends. “See? He’s not that bad!”
“I want him as my pillow,” Rae unconsciously said, which caused Cruppy to try to free itself from her grasp futilely.
“Say,” Will said, wanting to change the topic after that off-comment. “What are you doing here, Olive?” Shelby coughed. “And Shelby. What brings you guys here?”
“Oh, is it about the wedding?” Ros asked, interrupting Olive. “I’m still working on the castle but–”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Kab suddenly said, snapping Rae out of her sleep and accidentally freeing Cruppy from her grasps. Her eyes wide with shock and disbelief. “What do you mean wedding and a castle?” The others quickly followed her, looking at Ros in confusion.
“Oh, she didn’t tell you?” Shelby perked up at this. “She built a castle after joining the Nightingales, which is going to be used to celebrate Water’s wedding.” Shelby then decided that it would be a good moment to tease Ros a bit. “Also, she’s the Queen of the Nightingales.”
Ros was immediately bombarded by questions as Kab, Maddy, Rae, and Magic screamed at her in disbelief.
“You built a castle?!”
“You’re a queen?!”
“What do you mean you’re queen of the Nightingales?!”
“There’s a wedding?!”
“Guys, guys!” Ros quickly shut them up, regaining her bearings. “Look, look. First of all: No! I’m not the queen of the Nightingales…”
“Sausage disagrees with you,” Shelby innocently stated, seeing Ros getting red with embarrassment.
“That’s just a nickname!”
“Go back to the part where you built a fucking castle!” Kab shouted at her. “What do you mean you built a castle?!”
“You guys didn’t see it?” Apo asked as he waved at the towering towers of the castle and the building as a whole, far away from the Nightingale base. The four monster hunting pirates had their mouths agape as they contemplated Ros’ castle for the first time.
“How… how the fuck did we not see that on the first time?” Maddy asked shocked beyond disbelief.
“Maybe we should get those drinks that we originally planned to get?” Acho said as star guided them down towards the Nightingale’s tavern, still in shock but walked with stars without problem. Olive decided to join them, finding the monster hunting pirates interesting and wanted to learn more about Ros, with Cruppy following them, though also distancing themselves from Rae at the same time. Will and Apo followed next and Ros and Graecie were about to walk in before Shelby stopped them.
“Hello, my queen,” Shelby did a small bow at Ros. “Having a nice day with your friends?” She teased her a little as Ros’ cheeks brightened red with embarrassment.
Graecie huffed in annoyance. “Really Shelby, right now?” She stared at the Kestrel with disapproval as she looked at her fake innocence on her face.
“What? Can I not visit my friend now?” Shelby placed a hand over her chest as if she was hurt. “I thought Nightingales were supposed to be about friendship and family!”
“Yes,” Graecie responded. “And as friends and family, you should respect their privacy.” Graecie motioned for Ros to come in as she walked into the tavern.
Ros turned to face Shelby, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. “Sorry about them. Today has been… a lot to take in.”
“May I come in, my queen?” Shelby asked her, doing the same bow which caused Ros to chuckle a bit.
“You may come in, Shelby of the Kestrels,” Ros welcomed them in as Shelby walked into the tavern, greeting Marnie on her way in.
“Hey,” Shelby quickly said as Ros got inside, standing in front of them. “I keep hearing you know sword dancing now. Will you give me a demonstration since a lot of people are exaggerating now?”
Ros chuckled nervously as she scratched her red and warm cheek. “Well, I mean… Yeah! Maybe another–”
“Oi!” Marnie called them behind the counter. “Get inside already! Drinks are ready and I want mugs emptied!” Ros passed by Shelby as she took one of the mugs and carried one of the trays alongside Marnie.
“Dang it,” Shelby said as she almost got Ros to invite her. Despite not changing that much, she still looks beautiful in her purple dress, and even more with those sabers around her waist. The weapons seemed so out of place with her outfit, yet they seem so fitting for her.
Shelby’s attention snapped when Ros called her in, in which she quickly walked into the tavern, missing the green flare that flew up into the sky into bright lights on the now darkening skies.