The lecherous business man walked around Arthur as he took in the magician's form. It felt wrong, uncomfortable, and almost perverted for him to be appraised in such a way. Sure, his armor looked very presentable alongside his general well-cleaned appearance, but that didn't mean he appreciated anything to this degree. Before Arthur had even made the trip to the bay in the first place, he had shaved himself, washed his hair, and taken a nice bath in an Onsen. With all of this combined, the paladin thought he'd be very well presentable. in all honesty, he just wanted whatever this was to end so that he could get to it in terms of his job. The sooner he could protect whatever it was that needed protecting, the sooner he could get the fucking hell out of dodge and work on something he enjoyed. It had been a long time since his visit to the monastery, Arthur would enjoy visiting them another time. Communing at the top of the temple was something he hadn't gotten the chance to do since before he even joined Dies Irae. Sure, they had a chapel, but it was nothing in comparison to the altars and effigies to the sun held by the temple of Helios. The inside of this boat was dark, royal, and just a little cramped. Sure, it was ritzy in one of the best ways, but he didn't like the character held within its walls. It felt dirty in a way almost comparable to that of an unclean prison. Its walls had probably seen so much corruption and greed over the years, that the paladin was afraid it would rub off on him. What he did like, though, was the red wallpaper with golden floral print, alongside the wooden paneling near the baseboards of the wall. He didn't know the word for such a style, but he could appreciate it's elegance. Arthur nearly flinched when the short disgusting man reached out to inspect his armor. Questioningly, he gave a tap to the large jewel set into the fixtures of his armor. Fighting the urge to draw back away from the guy, Arthur did his best to calm his breathing and put on a handsome smile. It bothered him way too much, for a guy who had slain some type of interdimensional fleshy parasite, to be essentially checked out by an old miser. Perhaps, then, this was how it felt to have his privacy completely violated. Not in the eldritch spiritual way of the magician woman and her wares, but more of the 'he's assessing the value of my life' type of invasive. Finally, Arthur let out a sigh as the perfume-spelling man retreated his hands and continued over to a large bay window. Looking out over the ocean, the business man said. "I think he'll do fine, Richard. God knows it's been a long time since we've got an actual mage up around these parts.. From the looks of it, you look quite combat capable, unlike most of the bookworms that try to accept our job. You see, you aren't going for a short trip where nobody will bother you. Instead, you'll be part taking in a long voyage across the coast of Fiorre in order to deliver my precious cargo to an undisclosed location. Why I'm not telling you? None of your business. All that matters is that I'm paying you to make sure my cargo gets there, and that it doesn't get damaged. You don't have to protect your crewmates or anything like that, just protect the cargo please. They are replaceable, my cargo is not. You understand, right?" Arthur held his tongue. He wanted nothing more than to say something snarky and just leave the office as confidently as he had entered it. Of course human lives were more valuable than a bit of cargo, Arthur would never be able to rationalize such a materialistic thought. The man stunk of greed in the worst possible way. He'd be willing to sacrifice actual human lives if it meant that he would make a higher return of investment or however he made money from this delivery scheme. But there was still more Arthur needed to know. Crossing his arms, the paladin asked. "Alright, so what exactly is it that I'm protecting this extremely valuable cargo from?" From how he was feeling towards the man, it was difficult for his tone of voice to remain neutral. Instead, his voice sounded somewhat annoyed. The business man made no note of that, however, and continued his explanation of what the job would ultimately entail. "With the route we are taking, I expect you to run into a plethora of dangerous creatures and monsters. Primarily, the thing that will cause you the most trouble has to be Grosslo Popplo or the Leviathyn, both offering quite the brawl if you do encounter them. Oh, another thing you could end up facing off against would be a pack of sirens, or maybe a pirate invasion. The high seas are dangerous, you know, not the type of place I'd be sending your average milk-drinker kind. Your crewmmates are mostly stupid brutes just trying to make a buck, but your captain will be above average in both skill and intelligence. He's very good at his job, just don't manage to piss him off because otherwise you will find your meals becoming smaller and smaller whenever dinner is served. He runs his boat like I run my business, ruthless without a care in the world for whatever happens to his mates. I wouldn't worry though, as I'm sure you'll be able to handle him just fine. What kind of magic do you have, anything flashy, expensive maybe?" After finished both his question and explanation, Arthur fought back harder against the urge to say something utterly profane to the man. Not only did he treat his own employees like shit, the guy was sending him to work on a ship where the exact same type of thing happened on the regular. Neeedless to say, Arthur did not feel as if this would be the average cruising experience. Let alone the fact that the lecherous conman spoke of great sea monsters and sirens and what have you. He was sure that he could handle him, but he wasn't sure how well the boat could do the same. Realistically, if they were out at sea and were somehow damaged by a monster, he didn't think his crewmates would be able to swim along to the shore. If worst came to worst, though, Arthur would have been more than happy to let somebody hitch a ride on his back. All in all, the paladin highly doubted that it would come to any of that. The way the business man had asked his question regarding the paladins magic left him feeling a little on-edge. Not because it was a secret, because many people knew of his supposedly rare demon-slayer magic, but it left Arthur on edge because he had no clue what the man could do with that sort of information. Could he sell it to an assasin, talent scout, some sort of depraved scientist? Arthur had heard such tales while travelling the country, but had never actually come across any of these scientists. Surely they couldn't have been that bad, given their natures of logic and reason, but Arthur had been wrong about similar assumptions before. Focusing on the task at hand, Arthut cleared his throat before responding to the bloke. It was hard for him to hide his discomfort and displeasure at this point, so the paladin did his best tu put on a neutrally contemplative expression. And it was somewhat true anyway, given his current status as what amounted to a bully."Just a little solar magic and requip, nothing too crazy in all honesty. I'm just here to do my job and get this done, so if you could tell me where I could find the boat I'm boarding, that would be great, thanks." Given the man's general nature, Arthur doubted he'd be participating in the trip itself. No, Arthur didn't doubt it, he hoped that the short man wouldn't be joining them. Avoiding the whole contents of that man's existence was now a life-goal for the medic as he flexed his hands out of nervousness. Looking out through the window and out across the calm sea, Arthur understood why people lived in boats like this. There was just something about being able to look out anywhere at endless ocean that gave him a sort of humbling feeling, like he knew he was little in the grand scheme of things. The short fat man hopped down from a bench he used to stare out the window before walking up to Arthur once more. Fighting the urge to step back, he looked down at the gross and greasy little man. The urge to roll his eyes was strong as the man rubbed his non-existent facial hair. "It's four boats to the right of this one, her name is S.S Solidarity. They're leaving tonight so I hope you've got your bags packed." At least he had the information he needed now. Knowing the location of the boat made it a lot easier for Arthur to just nod and leave the ship entirely. The butler tried to stop him, but he really didn't want anything to do with the luxurious boat any time in his present or near-future.
Walking back out onto the dock, Arthur enjoyed how free and open the air was in comparison to the dank and somewhat dirty-seeming ship. There was no miasma of lechery to be found out in the open ports of Hargeon. The smell of saltwater soothed his mind alongside the soothing rays of the sun's embrace. It was always so reassuring to know that the light would be there to calm him when he needed it. Leaving the shady businessman behind in the dust was probably not a good idea, given his probable access to power and things of that nature, but he probably didn't make the midget mad. If anything, it maybe could have given him a sign that he was determined to get the job done and that he wasn't a bullshitter or whatever the fuck it was that those business types thought about their workers. Arthur ran his hand through his chestnut-brown locks before approaching the docked ship. In comparison to the one he had been on earlier, it definitely wasn't as ritzy or anything of the sort. It was definitely a ship full of character though, and it didn't look bootleg in any sense of the word. Instead, beautiful mahogany trimming were molded alongside the carved railings. A long white and blue striped mast was drawn closed in their docked position. A wooden-carved mermaid pointed strayed out across the front of the boat that she was splayed. It was a charming boat actually, just a little big smaller than the one he had just exited. wondering how he'd get up on the thing, Arthur looked around at the various clutter of the dock. This part was particularly busy, ropes were strewn apart everywhere, men carried boxes and passed each other, everybody had their own little busy-bee tasks they were attending to. It made him think of home, reminded him of how all of the farmers used to organize around at the market to sell their wares and specialties. It caused a pang of home-sickness to echo out into his chest, but Arthur still savored the feeling instead of wishing it away with other comforting thoughts. He savored the feeling of homesickness because it let him remember who he was and where he had come from. In Arthur's opinion, it was one of the most important parts of developing as a person, as it kept them grounded and humble. Now, he wasn't too sure if it kept Arthur humble by any stretch of the imagination, but he was sure that it kept him just a little bit grounded at worst. Arthur had seen way too many mages lose track of what was important in their pursuit of end goals, whether it be power or money. The paladin wouldn't lie, he was on the journey for power in order to defeat those abominations in the face of his god, alongside protect those who needed saving. While he would have argued that to be a noble goal, it was still a pursuit in power at the end of the day. This pursuit of power, then, is what Arthur would need to be grounded from in order for him to keep a healthy respect for his magic and abilities in general. At the end of the day though, in Arthur's opinion, staying grounded just meant not going absolutely bonkers in a mad grab for immortality or whatever it was that evil villains were after these days. He liked to have these little talks with himself because it let him put everything in perspective, the perspective that dealing with greasy men like that was nothing in comparison to the pain he probably actually inflicted on others. He'd have to make a note of that man's activities and return to him at a later date. That business man and the magical fortune teller women were on his list of people with whom he needed to have very stern talking toos. A man with a maritime accent not unlike the pirates from his Amber Island adventure, called out to him from the deck of the ship he had been directed to. "Hey, you that mage we're s'posed t'have on our deck? Ya look weird enough to be a mage, c'mon get on up 'ere then. Planks on the other side of 'er 'arse, right this way look." Not needing to be given directions on how to walk around the dock of a ship, Arthur complied anyway as he listened to the man while walking. "I don't s'pose ya got the magical ability to summon us some food when we'll be out at sea. I think our chef would mighty like ya for dat, he would." There was nothing Arthur could do but smile widely at the accent. It entertained him, caused a slight chuckle to erupt out through his deep-voiced words. It's not as if he was laughing at him, but instead incredibly amused by its unexpectedness. It was definitely a lot different than the more piratey accent of the- well- pirates he had witnessed and conversed with during his last adventure. Maneuvering around a pile of awfully positioned barrels, Arthur responded to the man. "Yeah, I'll come around in a second. Sorry, I didn't expect you to be as friendly or open from how the man, who I assume to be your boss, described you. I figured you'd see me and start yelling about me slacking off. This gangplank here?" Arthu said, walking up the gangplank to meet the man with ginger hair. Now that he was on the well-cleaned deck of the ship, he could see that he was considerably taller than the seaman, who wasn't particularly short either. The man took one look at him and his generally large frame before responding. "Sure look at the arse on ya, some big fella yous 'are. And whattaya talking about, asking if dis is de right gangplank, dere's only oneofum!" Again, the same rosey dusting dusted Arthur's face as a cheerful sound was brought out of his throat at the man's dialect. It was like the seafarer's voice was singsongy in nature, on top of his whole contractions and slang. Nothing like the paladin had ever seen before in his travels. It made the ginger somewhat charming in a captivating rareness kind of way. Hopefully he'd get to know his coworker very well during their sea travels. Laughing confidently, Arthur scratched at his shoulder, although it didn't really do much considering his heavy armor. Taking a gander at the ship, Arthur could no appreciate her true beauty. Nautical carvings covered most of the wooden surfaces, if not undiscernible from contact friction wear. This vessel was well-worn but well-kempt, a sign of love and dedication. This was more like the type of ship he could get used to, as if he was in one of those novels he had read as a kid, like they were going out to hunt some type of giant whale. "You've gotta slow down there friend, I can hardly make out a word you're saying. Now, you said something about my arse?" Raising an eyebrow with amusement, the other man cackled and slapped a hand on the paladins heavy armor. Probably a mistake, the marine realized as he gripped his hand in his other's with a pained expression on his face. Still, the other man was having a merry time despite his currently throbbing hand. "I jest, I jest, though I'd say ya still measures up to a lass now don'tchya? Right on, feller, got armor hard enough to kill me, though I'd say that'd be might useful for when we sets out on the ocean and goes up against one of them sea monsters. That ratty little short fella tell you bout some of that? What ya'd be up against?" Hardly able to underrstand a word the jolly man said, the paladin simply nodded in confusion, hoping that was the right response. From what little he did manage to make out of the words, though, was that he was being asked if he knew about the trip's dangers. "Aw, oh yes, I've been warned. I'm not worried about none of that. I can promise you and the rest of your crewmates that I'll do the best of my ability to protect this ship. How's that sound?" Arthur leaned against the mast as he took in his surroundings. Yeah, this was a lot better than being anywhere near that gothic themed ship. Instead of a lecherous miasma, this ship had a bright energetic aura to it that seemed to re-energize him as much as the sun could. Another wide smile from the ginger marine. "Sounds perfectly good t'a me, skipper. I'm Terrence O'mally, captain of this fine vessel here."
Having a man like Terrence as the captain of the boat would surely lend for a good time, Arthur thought instinctively, and not just because he wanted to bed the man. Instead, he found his demeanour pleasurable and just comforting as if they were old friends just hanging out. If this is how the captain of the ship acted, he could imagine how fun the actual crew were to be around. Everything leading up to this moment- the gates- lecchery and all, had been incorrectly portraying the end result of his venture. Not until five minutes ago, Arthur thought he'd be stuck on a miserable boat with a bunch of creepy weirdos. Instead, he got placed on a nice-feeling boat with a pretty man as its captain. Definitely a turn for the better, in his opinion of course. Knowing that they probably needed him to be doing more than just standing around and oogling the captain, Arthur introduced himself as well as offering his aid. "Yeah? Interesting last name, must be kind of foreign. Name's Arthur Harrington, ya need help with anything?" Nodding, the captain motioned for the paladin to follow him as they went arount the side of the ship's deck. Making it to a door not too far from the gangplank, Arthur watched as the man peered in through a porthole window. Before opening it, Terrence yelled out while knocking on the door. "Hurry up and make sure ya got yer skivvies on 'cause I gots our mage right here in the flesh and by god he's a looker." Knowing what a few of those words meant, Arthur laughed and winked at the captain, letting the ginger know what was on the go. Yeah, this would definitely be a most-enjoyable trip for sure. Opening the door, a close smell of sweat and general odor wafted out. It wasn't great, but seeing as the knight had seen all types of infections and decay, this was honestly nothing but a little house order. "Now look at what ya filthy rats got done, I gots ta leave this door open cuz of your sorry selves stanking up the place. Get up out of bed b'ys, it's noon and I only gave yas so long to get over your hangovers." A collective groan rang out as the crew of raggedy-looking men lifted themselves up from their beds and into a door beyond their sight. Nodding his head somewhat, the ginger man glanced back to the knight and offered a word of advice. "I'd get used to the smell, it's an enclosed space with twelve men and no open windows, and our ship's mana was running low so I had to cut off some of the shower times. Should be fine now that we've got a mage on board, a little drip of ya power would fill up the ship's tank in a jiffy. We'll fill her up at the docks too, coarse, couldn't run ya dry now could we?" Again, with that lilting accent and general tempo of their dialect, it was hard for the paladin to make out much of anything really. From what Arthur was in fact able to make out, was that he should get used to a smell because their tanks were low on mana and something about showers? Arthur could put the dots together, figuring their systems ran on elemental generators for resources like water and power. Water generators weren't particularly pricy or mana intensive anyway, mostly used as a common fixture in the more remote of establishments such as cabins, resorts, ships or even trains too. Sure, his residence room back at the guild had one of them fancy fixtures too. They were more practical in some regards than analog pipes because they did not have hot water tanks and the average mage could refill their tanks with enough energy for months with a few seconds of physical contact. He'd have to get a good look at the marine's showers later and see if he could tweak it to be a bit more efficient. It's not as if he was that technologically inclined, but he was good at figuring stuff out with his magic, maybe he could decrease its rate of mana consumption or something of that nature. "You'll have to get used to me then, I'm not particularly used to life of a seaman in all honest. I've never been on a boat for longer than a day. It shouldn't be anything too bad though, we'll figure it out I'm sure of it. How long have you been in this business?" Small talk was always a good way for him to get to know the people he'd be working with. It was almost enough to figure out their intentions, but he was never the best at actually reading somebody who was putting effort into any sort of poker face. Terrence got the paladin to follow him once more, bringing him down into the hull of the ship. The hull was dark, damp, and not generally as pleasant as the ship's upper portion. A long dark hallway stretch out before stopping at an iron reinforced door. "That's the safe controlled by the sleazy greaseball that runs the port. Dont' like 'im very much, I'd rather keep'em out of our conversations bc he don't deserve a spot on here, even if only through spoken word. Dunno whats in there, don't really care, i'm just that captain that runs things around for'em." Arthur nodded, but noted that the contents of the safe were unknown. He couldn't feel any particularly strong magical signatures from the room, but concealing materials were always a possibility, especially in a secure location such as a safe room. It wouldn't surprise him to find some magical item in there behind sense blockers and said iron-reinforced door. There were probably also wards, but maybe not considering the magically deprived port of origin. Arthur could rest assured knowing that he probably was not sleeping on top of some magical ticking time bomb, as such would probably require several other layers of reinforcement, and the man had said he wanted the delivery to be delivered undamaged, meaning that it was probably rather rare. Explosives were not rare, just generally illegal to posses. Had to be something rare then, since they weren't allowed to know what it was. The thought tore at his mind, but thinking about it would get him nowhere. It wasn't his job to know what it was anyways, it was his job to keep the crew safe from whatever assailants appeared on their journey. Although yet again, it could also be interpreted that he was keeping the crew safe from the cargo as well."Yeah, that makes sense. I can understand not wanting to bring specific energies into safe spaces. Anything else down here I should know about? Just trying to get my bearings about me on this ship, although I guess when we're at sea it's going to be hard for me to not know exactly what parts of the ship are where. I'm kind of a wanderer if that makes sense haha, I'll explore every inch of this place." As if taking a mental note of that fact, the ginger man nodded his head before leading him to a specific room down in the lower end of the hull. Pushing a door open, Terrence introduced Arthur to the porthole-illuminated room. It was damp, sure, but held a private bed and nice desk. "Look, I don't expect you to be on board with the whole crewmate bonding thing, so i've got this private room for you if you really need it. I think it would be great for morale though if you joined us in the general residence rooms. As an away to officially welcome you into the crew if that makes sense. I don't even have my own separate room, I sleep in there as well. We are all equals here, regardless of our position on the ship. I try to run this vessel as best as I can for everyone involved, regardless of who they are. That means- of course, that this bed is here for you whenever you need it. And if you need this place just for your magic and whatever you do with it, go right ahead, I hope you'll have a great time here. My boys have been awfully excited about getting to know a new crewmember and what kind of magic they potentially had." Arthur was not the type of person to have to be asked twice in order to participate in what were essentially male-bonding sleepovers. Yeah, no way he'd miss out on that ever. Arthur sad down on the bed, laying out somewhat and looking up at the man with a satisfied grin. The sheets were soft-well kept for a ship in all honesty. Not too shabby at all. But he couldn't stay tucked away in the hull like that. It was lonely, really lonely to be honest, knowing that there was a whole group of people not completely isolated up above, and not even counting the fact that he found a type of specific appeal in the other sleeping option presented to him. Arthur would have to come up with a way to pronounce that though, without coming off that type of way. It would be a long weeks journey if he ended up making the wrong assumption about their crew and what they got up to. Not the time nor place, like usual, but as always he knew he'd find a way to mess up somehow for better or for worse, but it was usually for the better in terms of outcomes. Arthur was not one to judge, but he'd be disappointed if it turned out any different than how a room full of sailors would be expected to turn out. But that'd only be a benefit to the job, and not the reason he was here in the first place. Arthur was practically hired muscle, and he could accomplish that for sure. It made Arthur wonder though, made him think back to his regular non-magic life, and what that had been like. Sure, back in town, Arthur knew magic was a thing, but it was a thing just as in royalty and mansions. Forever beyond his grasp to the point where he never really thought about it. But now, he was in that position, thinking about it near constantly, it was practically always on his mind. Magic was practically a way of life for him now, the way he brought in an income and went throughout his life. It made him sad, it had been so long since he visited home, visited his parents, etc. He still sent them money of course, but he was never able to schedule time to visit them. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized it wasn't that he didnt' have time, but he didn't make the time for himself to go see them. He was sure his guild would understand if he took some time off for that type of thing, that's for sure. For now though, he had to focus on getting through this very-lengthy trip out at sea and get himself situated on the boat. This job paid extremely well and to be honest, he could use the money for a lot of reasons. It was also always just good in general to get out of one's comfort zone. Between his last monster hunt and this job here now, he had mostly been doing crack little requests that had been offered to him by the guild. Nothing serious, just general busy work to keep himself busy and earn a few jewels on the side of his magical teachings.
Walking back out onto the dock, Arthur enjoyed how free and open the air was in comparison to the dank and somewhat dirty-seeming ship. There was no miasma of lechery to be found out in the open ports of Hargeon. The smell of saltwater soothed his mind alongside the soothing rays of the sun's embrace. It was always so reassuring to know that the light would be there to calm him when he needed it. Leaving the shady businessman behind in the dust was probably not a good idea, given his probable access to power and things of that nature, but he probably didn't make the midget mad. If anything, it maybe could have given him a sign that he was determined to get the job done and that he wasn't a bullshitter or whatever the fuck it was that those business types thought about their workers. Arthur ran his hand through his chestnut-brown locks before approaching the docked ship. In comparison to the one he had been on earlier, it definitely wasn't as ritzy or anything of the sort. It was definitely a ship full of character though, and it didn't look bootleg in any sense of the word. Instead, beautiful mahogany trimming were molded alongside the carved railings. A long white and blue striped mast was drawn closed in their docked position. A wooden-carved mermaid pointed strayed out across the front of the boat that she was splayed. It was a charming boat actually, just a little big smaller than the one he had just exited. wondering how he'd get up on the thing, Arthur looked around at the various clutter of the dock. This part was particularly busy, ropes were strewn apart everywhere, men carried boxes and passed each other, everybody had their own little busy-bee tasks they were attending to. It made him think of home, reminded him of how all of the farmers used to organize around at the market to sell their wares and specialties. It caused a pang of home-sickness to echo out into his chest, but Arthur still savored the feeling instead of wishing it away with other comforting thoughts. He savored the feeling of homesickness because it let him remember who he was and where he had come from. In Arthur's opinion, it was one of the most important parts of developing as a person, as it kept them grounded and humble. Now, he wasn't too sure if it kept Arthur humble by any stretch of the imagination, but he was sure that it kept him just a little bit grounded at worst. Arthur had seen way too many mages lose track of what was important in their pursuit of end goals, whether it be power or money. The paladin wouldn't lie, he was on the journey for power in order to defeat those abominations in the face of his god, alongside protect those who needed saving. While he would have argued that to be a noble goal, it was still a pursuit in power at the end of the day. This pursuit of power, then, is what Arthur would need to be grounded from in order for him to keep a healthy respect for his magic and abilities in general. At the end of the day though, in Arthur's opinion, staying grounded just meant not going absolutely bonkers in a mad grab for immortality or whatever it was that evil villains were after these days. He liked to have these little talks with himself because it let him put everything in perspective, the perspective that dealing with greasy men like that was nothing in comparison to the pain he probably actually inflicted on others. He'd have to make a note of that man's activities and return to him at a later date. That business man and the magical fortune teller women were on his list of people with whom he needed to have very stern talking toos. A man with a maritime accent not unlike the pirates from his Amber Island adventure, called out to him from the deck of the ship he had been directed to. "Hey, you that mage we're s'posed t'have on our deck? Ya look weird enough to be a mage, c'mon get on up 'ere then. Planks on the other side of 'er 'arse, right this way look." Not needing to be given directions on how to walk around the dock of a ship, Arthur complied anyway as he listened to the man while walking. "I don't s'pose ya got the magical ability to summon us some food when we'll be out at sea. I think our chef would mighty like ya for dat, he would." There was nothing Arthur could do but smile widely at the accent. It entertained him, caused a slight chuckle to erupt out through his deep-voiced words. It's not as if he was laughing at him, but instead incredibly amused by its unexpectedness. It was definitely a lot different than the more piratey accent of the- well- pirates he had witnessed and conversed with during his last adventure. Maneuvering around a pile of awfully positioned barrels, Arthur responded to the man. "Yeah, I'll come around in a second. Sorry, I didn't expect you to be as friendly or open from how the man, who I assume to be your boss, described you. I figured you'd see me and start yelling about me slacking off. This gangplank here?" Arthu said, walking up the gangplank to meet the man with ginger hair. Now that he was on the well-cleaned deck of the ship, he could see that he was considerably taller than the seaman, who wasn't particularly short either. The man took one look at him and his generally large frame before responding. "Sure look at the arse on ya, some big fella yous 'are. And whattaya talking about, asking if dis is de right gangplank, dere's only oneofum!" Again, the same rosey dusting dusted Arthur's face as a cheerful sound was brought out of his throat at the man's dialect. It was like the seafarer's voice was singsongy in nature, on top of his whole contractions and slang. Nothing like the paladin had ever seen before in his travels. It made the ginger somewhat charming in a captivating rareness kind of way. Hopefully he'd get to know his coworker very well during their sea travels. Laughing confidently, Arthur scratched at his shoulder, although it didn't really do much considering his heavy armor. Taking a gander at the ship, Arthur could no appreciate her true beauty. Nautical carvings covered most of the wooden surfaces, if not undiscernible from contact friction wear. This vessel was well-worn but well-kempt, a sign of love and dedication. This was more like the type of ship he could get used to, as if he was in one of those novels he had read as a kid, like they were going out to hunt some type of giant whale. "You've gotta slow down there friend, I can hardly make out a word you're saying. Now, you said something about my arse?" Raising an eyebrow with amusement, the other man cackled and slapped a hand on the paladins heavy armor. Probably a mistake, the marine realized as he gripped his hand in his other's with a pained expression on his face. Still, the other man was having a merry time despite his currently throbbing hand. "I jest, I jest, though I'd say ya still measures up to a lass now don'tchya? Right on, feller, got armor hard enough to kill me, though I'd say that'd be might useful for when we sets out on the ocean and goes up against one of them sea monsters. That ratty little short fella tell you bout some of that? What ya'd be up against?" Hardly able to underrstand a word the jolly man said, the paladin simply nodded in confusion, hoping that was the right response. From what little he did manage to make out of the words, though, was that he was being asked if he knew about the trip's dangers. "Aw, oh yes, I've been warned. I'm not worried about none of that. I can promise you and the rest of your crewmates that I'll do the best of my ability to protect this ship. How's that sound?" Arthur leaned against the mast as he took in his surroundings. Yeah, this was a lot better than being anywhere near that gothic themed ship. Instead of a lecherous miasma, this ship had a bright energetic aura to it that seemed to re-energize him as much as the sun could. Another wide smile from the ginger marine. "Sounds perfectly good t'a me, skipper. I'm Terrence O'mally, captain of this fine vessel here."
Having a man like Terrence as the captain of the boat would surely lend for a good time, Arthur thought instinctively, and not just because he wanted to bed the man. Instead, he found his demeanour pleasurable and just comforting as if they were old friends just hanging out. If this is how the captain of the ship acted, he could imagine how fun the actual crew were to be around. Everything leading up to this moment- the gates- lecchery and all, had been incorrectly portraying the end result of his venture. Not until five minutes ago, Arthur thought he'd be stuck on a miserable boat with a bunch of creepy weirdos. Instead, he got placed on a nice-feeling boat with a pretty man as its captain. Definitely a turn for the better, in his opinion of course. Knowing that they probably needed him to be doing more than just standing around and oogling the captain, Arthur introduced himself as well as offering his aid. "Yeah? Interesting last name, must be kind of foreign. Name's Arthur Harrington, ya need help with anything?" Nodding, the captain motioned for the paladin to follow him as they went arount the side of the ship's deck. Making it to a door not too far from the gangplank, Arthur watched as the man peered in through a porthole window. Before opening it, Terrence yelled out while knocking on the door. "Hurry up and make sure ya got yer skivvies on 'cause I gots our mage right here in the flesh and by god he's a looker." Knowing what a few of those words meant, Arthur laughed and winked at the captain, letting the ginger know what was on the go. Yeah, this would definitely be a most-enjoyable trip for sure. Opening the door, a close smell of sweat and general odor wafted out. It wasn't great, but seeing as the knight had seen all types of infections and decay, this was honestly nothing but a little house order. "Now look at what ya filthy rats got done, I gots ta leave this door open cuz of your sorry selves stanking up the place. Get up out of bed b'ys, it's noon and I only gave yas so long to get over your hangovers." A collective groan rang out as the crew of raggedy-looking men lifted themselves up from their beds and into a door beyond their sight. Nodding his head somewhat, the ginger man glanced back to the knight and offered a word of advice. "I'd get used to the smell, it's an enclosed space with twelve men and no open windows, and our ship's mana was running low so I had to cut off some of the shower times. Should be fine now that we've got a mage on board, a little drip of ya power would fill up the ship's tank in a jiffy. We'll fill her up at the docks too, coarse, couldn't run ya dry now could we?" Again, with that lilting accent and general tempo of their dialect, it was hard for the paladin to make out much of anything really. From what Arthur was in fact able to make out, was that he should get used to a smell because their tanks were low on mana and something about showers? Arthur could put the dots together, figuring their systems ran on elemental generators for resources like water and power. Water generators weren't particularly pricy or mana intensive anyway, mostly used as a common fixture in the more remote of establishments such as cabins, resorts, ships or even trains too. Sure, his residence room back at the guild had one of them fancy fixtures too. They were more practical in some regards than analog pipes because they did not have hot water tanks and the average mage could refill their tanks with enough energy for months with a few seconds of physical contact. He'd have to get a good look at the marine's showers later and see if he could tweak it to be a bit more efficient. It's not as if he was that technologically inclined, but he was good at figuring stuff out with his magic, maybe he could decrease its rate of mana consumption or something of that nature. "You'll have to get used to me then, I'm not particularly used to life of a seaman in all honest. I've never been on a boat for longer than a day. It shouldn't be anything too bad though, we'll figure it out I'm sure of it. How long have you been in this business?" Small talk was always a good way for him to get to know the people he'd be working with. It was almost enough to figure out their intentions, but he was never the best at actually reading somebody who was putting effort into any sort of poker face. Terrence got the paladin to follow him once more, bringing him down into the hull of the ship. The hull was dark, damp, and not generally as pleasant as the ship's upper portion. A long dark hallway stretch out before stopping at an iron reinforced door. "That's the safe controlled by the sleazy greaseball that runs the port. Dont' like 'im very much, I'd rather keep'em out of our conversations bc he don't deserve a spot on here, even if only through spoken word. Dunno whats in there, don't really care, i'm just that captain that runs things around for'em." Arthur nodded, but noted that the contents of the safe were unknown. He couldn't feel any particularly strong magical signatures from the room, but concealing materials were always a possibility, especially in a secure location such as a safe room. It wouldn't surprise him to find some magical item in there behind sense blockers and said iron-reinforced door. There were probably also wards, but maybe not considering the magically deprived port of origin. Arthur could rest assured knowing that he probably was not sleeping on top of some magical ticking time bomb, as such would probably require several other layers of reinforcement, and the man had said he wanted the delivery to be delivered undamaged, meaning that it was probably rather rare. Explosives were not rare, just generally illegal to posses. Had to be something rare then, since they weren't allowed to know what it was. The thought tore at his mind, but thinking about it would get him nowhere. It wasn't his job to know what it was anyways, it was his job to keep the crew safe from whatever assailants appeared on their journey. Although yet again, it could also be interpreted that he was keeping the crew safe from the cargo as well."Yeah, that makes sense. I can understand not wanting to bring specific energies into safe spaces. Anything else down here I should know about? Just trying to get my bearings about me on this ship, although I guess when we're at sea it's going to be hard for me to not know exactly what parts of the ship are where. I'm kind of a wanderer if that makes sense haha, I'll explore every inch of this place." As if taking a mental note of that fact, the ginger man nodded his head before leading him to a specific room down in the lower end of the hull. Pushing a door open, Terrence introduced Arthur to the porthole-illuminated room. It was damp, sure, but held a private bed and nice desk. "Look, I don't expect you to be on board with the whole crewmate bonding thing, so i've got this private room for you if you really need it. I think it would be great for morale though if you joined us in the general residence rooms. As an away to officially welcome you into the crew if that makes sense. I don't even have my own separate room, I sleep in there as well. We are all equals here, regardless of our position on the ship. I try to run this vessel as best as I can for everyone involved, regardless of who they are. That means- of course, that this bed is here for you whenever you need it. And if you need this place just for your magic and whatever you do with it, go right ahead, I hope you'll have a great time here. My boys have been awfully excited about getting to know a new crewmember and what kind of magic they potentially had." Arthur was not the type of person to have to be asked twice in order to participate in what were essentially male-bonding sleepovers. Yeah, no way he'd miss out on that ever. Arthur sad down on the bed, laying out somewhat and looking up at the man with a satisfied grin. The sheets were soft-well kept for a ship in all honesty. Not too shabby at all. But he couldn't stay tucked away in the hull like that. It was lonely, really lonely to be honest, knowing that there was a whole group of people not completely isolated up above, and not even counting the fact that he found a type of specific appeal in the other sleeping option presented to him. Arthur would have to come up with a way to pronounce that though, without coming off that type of way. It would be a long weeks journey if he ended up making the wrong assumption about their crew and what they got up to. Not the time nor place, like usual, but as always he knew he'd find a way to mess up somehow for better or for worse, but it was usually for the better in terms of outcomes. Arthur was not one to judge, but he'd be disappointed if it turned out any different than how a room full of sailors would be expected to turn out. But that'd only be a benefit to the job, and not the reason he was here in the first place. Arthur was practically hired muscle, and he could accomplish that for sure. It made Arthur wonder though, made him think back to his regular non-magic life, and what that had been like. Sure, back in town, Arthur knew magic was a thing, but it was a thing just as in royalty and mansions. Forever beyond his grasp to the point where he never really thought about it. But now, he was in that position, thinking about it near constantly, it was practically always on his mind. Magic was practically a way of life for him now, the way he brought in an income and went throughout his life. It made him sad, it had been so long since he visited home, visited his parents, etc. He still sent them money of course, but he was never able to schedule time to visit them. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized it wasn't that he didnt' have time, but he didn't make the time for himself to go see them. He was sure his guild would understand if he took some time off for that type of thing, that's for sure. For now though, he had to focus on getting through this very-lengthy trip out at sea and get himself situated on the boat. This job paid extremely well and to be honest, he could use the money for a lot of reasons. It was also always just good in general to get out of one's comfort zone. Between his last monster hunt and this job here now, he had mostly been doing crack little requests that had been offered to him by the guild. Nothing serious, just general busy work to keep himself busy and earn a few jewels on the side of his magical teachings.
