Uneasy Alliance II.

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #16

The Wolf King tilted his head to the side, when Shinsei mentioned, that he needs a ride to the next island. For a moment, he thought about the possibility, that he would simply take the money and leave him there out of pure spite for the disrespect this red man was showing him, but then decided otherwise, as Agnes seemingly found a genuine interest in him.

“Whatever, just get on the ship before the locals will find their pitchforks.”

He growled, pushing the cyborg on the deck, before finally embarking himself. As all the Wolves were finally there, they released the ropes that were holding their ship in the port, and Martin at the helm directed them to the open sea.

As they were getting further away from the island, Eric found the red man on the deck, while Agnes was splitting the money into ten equal shares.

“I don´t really like you.”

The white-haired veteran growled bluntly, waiting for a second before he added.

“But she does.”

He nodded towards his sister.

“And you are not a bad fighter either, so if you want you can stay as a member of wolves.”

Eric paused again, looking as if he couldn´t believe that he was saying this.

“Of course…”

He added after a short while

“There will be rules. Rule number one, you will vex me, I will throw you into the ocean. Rule number two, you will break her heart, I will tear your head off, understand?”

He asked as Agnes raised her eyes from the money announcing.

“Alright, it´s done come to take your shares.”

As she said that, she took one of the ten stacks for herself, heading downstairs to put it among her stuff. Their ship was relatively small so aside from the captain´s cabin there wasn´t much private space for the individual members where they could hide such an amount of money, but it wasn´t necessary. Everyone knew that stealing from others wasn´t worth it.

[Bobbie]

As Shinsei was suddenly pushed, he stumbled forward and nearly tripped over, then turned to glare at the leader of the Wolf Pack he was currently in alliance with. “Really unnecessary,” he grumbled just before Agnes took the bag to start splitting the money.

For a few seconds, he stood there and watched, to make sure one pile was reserved for him, then he moved to give her a bit of space, but didn’t go very far. She was the nicest to him out of the entire crew, and he assumed she'd be the least likely to rip his head off if given the chance, so sticking close to her appeared to be the smartest option. Eric’s approach made Shinsei uneasy in an instant, but he tried to hide it behind a brave face with an irritated frown plastered on it. It wasn’t very hard, as he really did not like Eric.

His frown shifted into a grin, however, when Eric seemed to echo his exact thoughts, and it was a struggle not to laugh. Raising his eyebrows, he watched the growling old man, waiting to hear what he had to say next.

As Eric nodded toward her, his gaze moved to Agnes, "Does she now?" he muttered, a foolishly lovestruck smile on him, then he turned back to the man. He could suppress his laughter, but not his smirk as a bit of a snicker escaped him as Eric continued. “A compliment?” he raised a hand to his chest, acting exaggeratedly shocked. Of course, it was indeed quite flattering - such kind words coming from a man who seemed to hate his very existence, as well as an invitation to join his pack must have been very difficult for him to say. Had he not been busy grinning, Shinsei's jaw would have dropped to the floor of the deck.

“Well… I knew you’d miss me once I’m gone, but to actually extend an offer to become a member of your pack is just… unexpected.” He muttered, pausing as he seemed to be thinking about it. “I’m flattered, really, but do you really think you and I could stand the sight of each other for that long?” Another chuckle followed his words, but then he glanced toward Agnes again. Whether he would be successful in taking her away from these people or not, joining the crew would definitely take him one step closer to that goal, and also keep him physical close to the woman he was so enamoured with.

Taking a deep breath, it was Shinsei's turn to share the look that Eric had on his face just moments before, as he himself couldn’t believe what he was about to say either - but he was doing it for her.

“Sure, I'll join your pack, why not?” He shrugged and held a hand out to Eric to shake on their newfound ‘friendship’, although the twitch in his slightly skewed smile and his eye was enough to indicate that this would be a difficult decision to live with, for the both of them, most likely. “Two rules, got it. I can promise to follow the second one but not so much the first.”

Agnes' voice caused the cyborg's muscles to relax and his smile softened toward Eric. "Look, we just got off on the wrong foot... I'm sure we can both work on making amends."

---

Shinsei: #ba0303

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #17

From the very moment he decided to invite Shinsei to join him, Eric had a feeling, that he will regret this decision and this feeling only grew stronger, the more the red man talked.

“No, she doesn´t. It was my idea, so you can be the one, who will tell her this…happy news.”

The two words, happy news was said with a badly masked sarcasm, that grew even stronger, when Eric growled

“Sure, I would”

When Shinsei mentioned, that he would miss him. No, truth to be told, he wouldn´t miss him. But after all, she went through during the past few weeks, Agnes deserved a bit of happiness. And their group could really use another experienced fighter, so personal feelings had to go to be moved aside.

“Probably…”

He growled in the response to the next question Shinsei gave him.

“If you´ll manage to follow these two rules…despite breaking the first one five seconds in, congratulations…”

The Wolf King turned to Shinsei looking at him as if he couldn´t decide if he wants to throw him into the ocean or accept his peace proposal. It was only after Agnes showed back up on the main deck, that he chose the later.

“Yeah, just…try to not get on my nerves too much.”

The white-haired veteran extended his right hand to the red cyborg in a universal peace offering gesture, which didn´t escape the attention of the remaining crew members.

“Hey, what´s that? Is he becoming a new member or what?”

Adam, who was standing nearby asked so loud, that it was probably heard even on the floor see beneath their ship.

“Oh really?”

Gin, the tall, kind-looking young man asked.

“Does it mean…. WELCOME PARTY!?”

He yelled pulling a bottle of sake from God knows where.

“Oh, come on, you have to be joking…”

Muttered Martin who was standing at the helm.

[Bobbie]

At Eric’s request for Shinsei to at least try not to get on his nerves, the cyborg chuckled, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze, shaking it firmly. “Oh, I’ll try,” he snickered, though his response was honest - he would genuinely try. The problem was that even when he did try, he seemed to bother him even if just for breathing in the presence of this egotistic self-titled ‘King’.

He did like the plan, however, and breaking the happy news to Agnes seemed like one conversation that he would enjoy having. His gaze swept the deck until it spotted the cabin where Agnes had disappeared to with her share of the money, but before he could make his way toward it, Adam shouted, and then Gin, and finally Martin added a comment of his own. Shinsei shrugged lightly to Adam, a pleased smile on his face that soon widened into a grin as he shifted his attention to Gin. “Welcome party it is!” he replied, figuring most of the people here could loosen up a little bit anyway. A party would do everyone good, especially if they were out at sea and safe from the angry locals.

Before he could approach Agnes, he did need to address Martin’s comment, so he walked right up to him at the helm. “No joke, Martin. I’m sticking around a little longer, so you and I should probably figure out a way to get along.” Despite his playful tone, the cyborg was sincere and he lightly patted Martin’s shoulder, “Just point your guns elsewhere, and we’re good. Now, where’s that rock-concert goddess?” he slipped away and headed toward the cabin.

“Agnes?” the newest addition to the crew swiped up his share of the money along the way and pocketed it in his vest and trousers, having to split it up due to the large amount. “I’ve got some pretty great news~ are you down here?”

The man’s heart beat for this lady, despite barely knowing her and the bit that he did know making it clear that they came from two very different worlds. Yet there was something about her that he found irresistible on a less superficial level. “What would you say if I told you I'm joining the crew?” Unable to wait to deliver the news, he blurted it out before he caught a glimpse of the woman.

---

Shinsei: #ba0303

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #18

Because Shinsei headed to the rest of Eric´s pack to announce and possibly even celebrate his introduction to their group, the white-haired veteran headed for his share of the money, grabbing the rather big pile of bank notes, taking it to his cabin and the small safe, that was under his bed. While he was there, Martin, the only member of the Wolves who disliked Shinsei even more than Eric stared at the red-wearing man with a mix of contempt and disgust written all over his face.

“Yeeey!”

He cheered sarcastically.

“Well, if you are afraid, you could get shot from behind, you don´t have to. We don´t kill each other even if that other means an insufferable piece of disrespectful s*it like yourself. So as long as you won´t do anything stupid, you are safe…”

He said it with a tone that was clearly showing how much he regrets and at the same time despised this fact.

Martin´s angry look followed Shinsei even after he headed below the deck, where he found Agnes just as she was heading back upstairs.

“That you are doing what?”

She asked, initially surprised, before her face brightened with a wide smile.

“That´s wonderful news!”

Her laughter ringed through the whole ship, as she jumped around the red man´s neck hugging him tightly.

“Well to be honest, I was already thinking about it but I didn´t think you would find the courage to ask Eric yourself. I am glad you did.”

She smiled, kissing him on his cheek, before releasing the cyborg from her arms and taking a step back. Misunderstanding who asked who to join.

“Wait, we have to celebrate this. Did you already tell the boys? I should have…”

She quickly went through her stuff before pulling out a pack of expensive-looking cigars.

“These are the real things, stolen from a shipment for some fancy noble. Much better than these cigarettes you are smoking.”

The black-haired woman opened the box and handed him one together with cigar tong that was part of the package.

[Bobbie]

Shinsei almost bumped into Agnes as he descended to the area below the deck and meeting her there was a pleasant surprise to bring more of a smile to his face as he uttered the news to her. Seeing a smile of her own in return seemed to make the room brighter, and before he knew it, she had her arms around his neck.

The cyborg let out a soft laugh, the ever present threat of both Martin and Eric suddenly seeming so trivial and unimportant. He wrapped his arms around her, nearly lifting her off the ground in excitement. As if the hug hadn’t been enough, a lovely kiss was planted on his cheek by the beautiful Agnes and his cheeks warmed right up. “You’re wonderful!” he replied with a playful grin once she released him.

He felt a little guilty as she said she wanted to celebrate and break the news to the others, since that had partly already been done, “Oh, they heard… they definitely heard, some were happier than others.” He paused for a moment and watched Agnes go through her stuff in search for something before he went on. “Martin wasn’t the least bit pleased.” He laughed as he remembered the amusing look on the man’s face as well as his words.

As she returned with the cigars, the redhead raised his brow. “Wow, these are nice,” he muttered, a lot of his playfulness, if not all of it, gone as he stared at the open box and appreciated the gesture. Taking one, he raised it to his upper lip to get a whiff of the tobacco and spices, having not had a cigar in a very long time and it was certainly not one of this quality. Picking up the cigar tongs, he snipped off the end, before flicking his nail against his ring to make a spark and ignite a small flame to burn the end of the cigar.

“Just one little thing, to be completely honest, it was… well, Eric asked first.” Shinsei muttered, lowering his tone slightly in fear of that piece of information changing how the woman felt about the situation, before sticking the lit cigar into his mouth.

“Are you having one?” He asked, meaning to both move on from his most recent comment as well as to invite her to join him. He then gestured toward the stairs to head back out onto the deck together so as not to fill the cabin with smoke, but as with any gentleman, ladies first.

---

Shinsei: #ba0303

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #19

Agnes raised her eyebrows in surprise when Shinsei mentioned it was Eric who invited him and not Shinsei who asked to become the member.

“Is that so?”

She asked, but didn´t comment on it any further and instead reached to the fiery cyborg with her own cigar to get it lit.

“We should probably get upstairs. Eric hates when someone is smoking down here, and I guess you don´t want to be thrown into the ocean on your first day.”

She laughed, before adding.

“Yes, he does it a lot, especially when someone annoys him, but you will find out. Also, don´t worry about Martin too much. He didn´t like most of the newcomers but in a month or two he will get used to you. You just have to survive that month.”

She said teasingly, kissing Shinsei on his cheek.

Meanwhile, Eric was standing on the upper deck of their ship discussing something with Shio. From the look of it, they were debating if and how should they relocate his family in case the whole crew got a bounty on their head after what happened in the past month. Apparently, these people have done more than just rob naïve excuse for a noble man of his millions, so the risk of becoming wanted was actually quite real.

When he noticed that the two lovebirds appeared, he turned in their direction.

“Hey, you know what I think about smoking under the deck.”

He snapped at them, to which Agnes reacted with an innocent smile, after which she released a big smoke ring, that slowly dispersed in the air.

Eric watched them for a moment, before waving his hand over the incident.

“Aaah whatever, I think I can forgive you just this time. Alright band, just in case you missed this, Shinsei…”

He paused as if he was trying to remember his surname before continuing as he realized that he probably never heard it in the first place.”

“will join our group, so lets party!”

[Bobbie]

Agnes was right, he preferred not to be thrown into the ocean on his first day of joining the crew, and considering he had already irritated Eric moments after the invitation was extended, Shinsei felt that he might be running out of chances.

“Oh, didn’t he? Now that’s hard to imagine, he’s such a friendly character.” The cyborg said of Martin in a sarcastic tone, “Surviving until then is the hard part, but judging by how angry he seemed by the fact, I think I can trust that he will not be compromising the crew’s morals and shooting me in the back.” The kiss from Agnes quietened Shinsei and he smiled, following her up onto the deck. For the first time since becoming afflicted with what he considered nothing short of a cruel act by a child who wanted to play god, he felt that perhaps there was a place for him after all. He could probably get used to Martin and Eric, and if the latter insisted on throwing him through walls, then let that simply be part of the fun in his new home.

Reaching the deck, the devil himself stood there and he seemed to be discussing something serious, until the Wolf King turned to them and snapped his jaws. Remaining silent for a moment, Shinsei glanced at Agnes to see the innocent smile. Involuntarily, a smile appeared on his own face as well, then he turned back to Eric. He was about to apologise before the unthinkable happened - the large beast of a man decided to let it go?

Before he could express his confusion at the fact, his name was announced. The silence that followed his first name was awkward as the cyborg flicked his eyes across the deck from one crew member to another, some of whom he had never actually properly met. A cloud of smoke soon obstructed his vision when he exhaled, and the order was given to start a celebration.

Taking the cigar out of his mouth and raising it in some form of a toast with one hand, he let his other hand rest on Agnes’ lower back as his company for whatever social event this would turn into. “Excited to have a spot here with you!” he said to every listening member, then he leaned down to Agnes and kissed her cheek, a hushed whisper reaching her ear, “Especially with you.”

---

Shinsei: #ba0303

[Mr. Moon]

Eric #20

The Wolf King´s order was clear and absolute and so the party began. Shio, Adam and Semjon headed beyond the deck to get up a small table, large keg full of mead and what kind of food from their supplies that could be used for a celebration. The party quickly gained a momentum with only Martin keeping his distance at the helm, ignoring any and all attempts to make him participate in this celebration as well. Even Eric seemingly decided to burry the hatched and joined his celebrating men. Even going so far a to offer the red wearing man toast.

The time went by and their ship got close to small, nameless island, when suddenly, Agnes grabbed Shinsei´s hand, pulling him away from the main group while holding a bottle of whiskey, another spoil from the transport ship they raided few months ago.

“So, what do you think about our little group, not so bad as the first impression was suggesting right?”

She laughed, still surprisingly sober given how much she drank in the past hour or so. However, out of nowhere her joyful face became completely serious even showing signs of shock and fear as she was looking at the shore of the small piece of land they were passing by.

“What the…”

She whispered waiting to Shinsei to look in that direction only to slam his head with the heavy bottle from behind.

“What the…!”

This time it was Eric who cursed in surprise as he noticed what just happened.

“What happened, I though you like him.”

He growled with a mixture of frustration and anger, while the rest of their pack was watching her in silent surprise.

“I do, but...he didn´t even asked you if he can join us and stay with me. So how am I supposed to know if he is worth me or not?”

This made even Eric, creating a rare moment when he didn´t have any sarcastic remark at hand.

“So…who will help me to drop him off over there…”

She nodded towards the small island, while swiftly picking Shinsei´s pockets. 
“If he finds his way back to me, he is the right one and if no…then dying there alone would be a fitting end for him!”

For the first time since they left the Cinna Island, Martin laughed.

“Well this is something I gladly help you with!”

[Bobbie]

Shinsei would be lying if he said he wasn’t tired after everything from beginning to the end of this rollercoaster of journey with these wolves, but the party was fun and he enjoyed integrating with the crew in a setting that wasn’t quite as violent. While he was dying to prod at Martin, he decided to leave him be and didn’t pester the man to join in at all - the red head stayed close to Agnes most of the time anyway as he limited how far from her he really went.

A drink of his own in hand, he was laughing and conversing with her, until she suddenly grew very serious and appeared to be shocked. Just as she predicted, he did turn his head to look in the direction that she was looking to try and figure out what was worrying her, but his vision of the small piece of land was soon swept aside with a blow to the back of his head, leaving him to see nothing but darkness as his body collapsed to the deck floor and he was unconscious.

* * *

When Shinsei awoke, he squinted his eyes, the sun directly above him as he lay on his back, and his skin exposed to the heat as all he had on was his shorts. “What the…” he groaned and sat up, his body sore and his head throbbing. Looking around him, he found that he was sitting in the sand with a single packet of cigarettes by his side and everything else taken from him. He soon realised that this was the little islet that had shocked Agnes when he was still on the ship with her. Looking out to the horizon, the cyborg froze - there was a ship, Eric’s ship, sailing away from the shore.

It was at quite some distance already, but that didn’t stop Shinsei from quickly rising to his feet and running to the sea, stumbling in the sand and then splashing in the water as he waded through it until it reached his waist. “Hey!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, not going any further. “HEY!” he frantically waved his arms as he was filled with anger and dread. This is a joke... this is a sick joke, some dumb initiation thing... It has to be, he thought to himself, yet it wasn't enough to calm him down.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? COME BACK!” Slamming his fists into the sea in a futile manner like a child throwing a tantrum, he watched as the ship was getting smaller and smaller. He had been left stranded on a sandbar.

“YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!”

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Shinsei: #ba0303