Sometimes, you had to dare the storms to drink the finest rums.
Anne didn't trust Nyx, not a single copper crest. But what could she do? She desperately needed a crew. She needed to start from somewhere. And is not like you could find trustworthy people that easily.
Trust was something that needed to be built, and that required time. Time that our slacker wished she had.
You must be thinking, why was the lazy pirate suddenly working so hard? To please the ship's system? Not at all, but it sure was a bonus.
Anne knew the only way she could return home was if she reached the level of a Pirate Lord. That was something her parents had told her since she was a kid. They would only return to their true home when she was powerful enough to survive the cursed seas by herself.
Her true home? She did not know where it was, but her parents had promised that she could live her lazy life there. So, she will work for the future! As her current present didn't give her ways to have the life she wanted.
And Nyx… if they could learn to trust each other, she would be a powerful ally. The system gave her a little help by not allowing the crew to kill her. But that didn't mean they couldn't hire someone else to do the dirty work.
At least, even if she was a worthless human with no bloodline, she still had her wits and good bluffing skills to survive. And she was counting on that.
[FIRST MATE BOND FORMED.]
Anne nearly sighed in relief. Silently minutes had passed before the system alert. She almost thought Nyx would reject and kill her right there. One more minute and she might have freaked out. Dealing with people was way more stressful than she remembered.
"Welcome, lass." Pretending to not care, Anne took a seat in the small rowboat. "Come." She waved her hand, signaling for the Vethari to take a seat at the side of the oars. "Shall we go to our little ship, First Mate?" Anne smirked.
"Already making use of me, Captain. I see." Without ceremony, Nyx jumped to the little rowboat, landing silently as a feather, the dark waters not even noticing her. "I must confess, that took me by surprise." She started rowing, barely even sparing Anne a glance, as she didn't need directions. Somehow, by being part of the official crew, the location of the ship was engraved in her soul.
Anne leaned back, letting the sea breeze brush against her face. "Well, welcome aboard. It surprised me too." She brushed it off.
Nyx side-eyed her. "You really shouldn't go around popping up ghost messages to people. Or whatever that was."
"I won't. I just needed you. That's your job now!" Anne grinned, way too pleased with herself.
Nyx's rowing slowed. "My what? Suddenly, I am thinking I got the bad end of the deal."
Anne chuckled, stretching her arms behind her head. "Oh, don't worry. I know you're thinking about killing me for the ship."
Nyx raised a brow. "Wow. Bold of you to just say it."
"But…" Anne continued smugly. "...you don't really know how it works, do you? Killing me will guarantee you will be the owner of the power? Or can it even be passed to someone else? If it can't, you can't really torture me because I won't be able to give it to you either way." She smirked. "Oh, and my parents? My parents gave me this ship. Would you think they don't have a way to know where I am and if I am alive?"
Nyx's hands tightened slightly on the oars.
"So many questions." Anne went on. "And assassins, the real ones, don't work if they can't clean up all their traces. Right?"
Nyx let out a slow breath before shaking her head with a smirk. "Aye, Captain. I guess you thought this through." She sighed. "From what I can sense, I don't think you'd answer me even if I asked about these messages of yours. Guess I'll have to earn your trust for that."
Anne snorted. "You're not wrong." Had her bluffing worked?
Nyx rolled her eyes but moved on. "Anyway, these new abilities? Not bad. From what I can sense, it basically gave me better senses near you so I can protect you better. Very useful, considering that you look like an easy prey."
Anne crossed her arms, pouting. Rude.
"It also gave me authority over our future crew, so they won't disobey me. Not that I think they would, either. I can be very persuasive, but it will be good for the early days when we don't trust each other." Her smile was sharp, like the tip of a dagger. "And it also boosted my assassin's skills on a target, making it deadlier and screwing the target's mobility."
"Great, you gave an assassin an even sharper dagger. Well done, Captain Slacker!" The rat finally said something, clearly unhappy with the situation.
Nyx arched a brow. "Huh. So the dumb rat really speaks."
The rat stood on its tiny hind legs, puffing out its scruffy little chest. "Oh, come on, I am THE RAT. And you better respect me. I am the spirit of the Rogue's Embrace and you are barely a crew member."
Anne lazily waved her hand. "This is Rat the Rat, Nyx. And yes, this rude ball talks, unfortunately."
"How unfortunately? I'm the spirit, I'm the ship. Can you have some respect?"
Nyx smirked. "Well, at least he's got personality."
"Personality? I have wisdom! I have power! I …"
Anne yawned. "Aye, aye, mighty Rat. We'll be at the ship soon. Let's rest for the night, and we can continue this whole respect-the-rat thing tomorrow." She smirked, her hazel eyes shining in the night. "We have a bilge rat to plunder tomorrow, after all."
First mate was done, now money was the next step she needed to take.
"Huh?" Both rat and shadow mate didn't understand what Anne meant by that, but she closed her eyes and refused to talk more.
She was tired of talking and thinking.
And with that, the night sea carried them home.