Piratectuck AU (DualXPsii) Chapter 2

      Castor hadn’t slept, as he had said he would. He had found a book on Mardek’s desk, and was curious about it’s interesting design. The moment Castor opened the book, he was drawn to the odd markings upon the pages in place of normal text. “Well now… What are these supposed to mean..” He murmured to himself, paging through the text carefully, the odd markings seeming to shift into readable text after a few moments. Every now and then Castor would murmur a line of text, not noticing a slight change to the room or something near him...



Castor had apparently passed out while reading the strange, yet interesting book, awaking with a start as someone knocked on the door, finding it to be Zeanon upon exiting the cabin.
      “Sorry to wake you, but dinner is ready. The captain asked me to come get you while he gave orders to the rest of the crew.” Zeanon states with a soft smile, trying not to hint at the slight bedhead the Australian man had.
      “Ah, thank you Zeanon!” Castor smiles, not noticing said bedhead. (cause he’s a dork)
      Zeanon chuckles and fixes the odd lump in Castor’s hair. “Not a problem, Castor. If you’re ready, I’ll lead you to the mess hall.”
      Castor chuckles softly and nods. “Lead away!”
      “Follow me then.”


      About 5 minutes later, they arrive in the mess hall, Aradia, Arabel and Athula were all chatting with a few of the other crew members, Karin, Tyson and Ranada. Another crew member, Aranea, was flirting with the Captain, only to be shot down and politely told to leave, along with a second, not so polite request from Markin to go away. With a soft growl of annoyance, Aranea turns and starts to walk past Castor and Zeanon to go above decks, only to stop in front of the Australian.  
     “So you’re the new guy huh.” Aranea smirks and looks Castor over.
     Before Castor could comment, “Move along, Aranea.. The Captain is cross with you already, no need to make it worse on yourself.” Zeanon says calmly, a hint of irritation in his voice.
     Aranea glares at Zeanon and, though he looked calm in his stance, she could see in his eyes that if he had to ask again…. “Fine, you two were boring me anyway.” She scoffs, brushing past the two.
     Zeanon sighs and turns his attention to Castor, a much kinder look in his eyes. “You must excuse her.. She doesn’t play very nice with others..”
     Castor chuckles and pats Zeanon’s upper arm. “Not to worry, Zeanon! I know how to deal with those types of people.”
     Zeanon smiles lightly and leads Castor over to Markin and Mardek.
     “Ah, there you two are! I do hope Aranea didn’t bother you to much..” Mardek had smiled, then his expression grew oddly calm and flat at the mention of the french woman.
     “Really, what’s so bad about her? Seemed like a bit of harmless flirting from my perspective.” Castor stated. True, Aranea had looked at him with an odd look in her eye...but he looked past that.
     Markin had made a sound between a chuckle and a cough as he rolled his eyes. “Let us hope you never find out..”
     “Alright, alright. Enough gossiping, all of you! Zeanon worked hard on tonight’s meal, so we should get started before his hard work goes to waste!” Mardek orders, which the rest of the crew was happily about to do anyway.

__time skip__

    “Zeanon, you made all that? It was amazing!” Castor asks as he and Aradia help Zeanon clean up after dinner. Mardek had insisted against it, wanting to discuss something with the two of them, but Castor’s mind was made up before Mardek even had a chance to argue the fact.
    Zeanon blushes lightly and gained a sudden interest in the plates and goblets he had been washing. “I-it really wasn’t all that.. I, truthfully, wasn’t even trying my best tonight, though, don’t tell the captain that.. Tomorrow’s meal will be much better, seeing how we will be going into port for more supplies.”
    Aradia rolls her eyes and pats Zeanon on the back, surprising him with her strenght. “No need to be so modest, Zahhak.. Tomorrow you will not be cooking alone, after all. The Captain wishes for me to help you out.”
    Zeanon looks to Aradia, who gives him a smirk and he realizes there’d be no point in arguing with the german woman. Sighing softly, he smiles lightly. “Then I suppose there’s no way out of it, right?”
   “Glad to see we are in agreement, my friend!” Aradia smiles and Castor chuckles.
   “Good to see the two of you are getting along.” Castor smiles. “Now let’s finish this up.”

__End of Chapter 2__