[sylvanSpider]

The twins, ever conscious of the non-expressive countenance of their new find both grinned at her, Damon waggling his eyebrows at her, and tugging at the collar of his shirt revealing his left shoulder. Darkened black skin in the shape of noose squat on his shoulders with the silhouettes of two presumed to be ravens circling within the loop, one larger and one smaller. “See, the thing is, ye can't burn it off,” the brunette continued, attempting to get a rise out of her, “Well, ye can, but it'd leave a naaasty scar that says that ye were a pirate. See, all pirates get a brand there if they get caught an' escape 'fore execution. A scar is enough t'tar a perfect, squeaky clean record.”

“Ye'll be bound t'the Cry fer life!” Roek chided.

“I ain't cheatin', I ain't! Yeh, it's true that I won 'em all, but I won 'em fair and square!” Marco said sitting up suddenly. That's what this was about? Cheating? The thought had never occurred to him. How the hell does one go about cheating in a shooting contest anyway? Perhaps they were sick of paying out the prize? But if that was the case, why even hold the competition?

The captain stood up, looking down at her prize with folded arms, “Well, ah fer one am fine with seein' it first 'and when we find our next target. We'll brand ye both when we're airborne. Jes 'ave t'wait for the cap an' crew t'get back. They'll be back any minute now.”

“Terrified” could have been a word to describe Marco at that moment, his eye that wasn't covered going from one member of the small party to the next in rapid movements. He wanted to get out, to find somewhere else to live on his winnings. There was certainly enough that the man could have gone into an early retirement, and he'd considered it once he found out he was wanted. Now, however, he found himself aboard the most known pirate ship in the galaxy—the most vicious pirate ship in the galaxy. One wouldn't think it looking at the grinning faces of the twins, or the glint in A'vi's eye. They weren't anything like brutal pirates should be. The boys were little more than extremely dangerous troublemakers—and more wanted than many in the galaxy. But seeing them in person, one would never expect it. The gunslinger wanted to protest. He didn't want a brand to further cement his wanted state. He didn't want to be a pirate; he sure as hell didn't want to be here around all of these people either.

“Boys,” A'vi uttered, the Orovoros then snapping to attention, “Take 'im t'the kitchens and get this lad some ale. 'E needs t'lighten up.” The boys in question both beamed, Roek giving a small fist pump of joy, and the captain straightened and looked from Tennan to Marco, “'E needs t' learn a little somethin' from ye, lass. 'E needs t'see that we're all one big family, so as another new member o' the crew, watch 'im for me, will ye? Make sure the twins dun kill 'im.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Qian looked down fiddling with her hands, a ton of bricks lifting off of her chest with the girl's confidence. She'd done this type of travel before, by the looks of it. Of all of the things that she could have said to her rescuer, the most prominent was the simple word “How?” How could she have such confidence when fleeing from the species that had literally wiped her planet out? Before the Great Catastrophe, the name that Qi had just then decided to give to the destruction of her home and race, she had never flown. She never expected the feeling of her stomach lifting into her throat as they left the gravitational pull of the husk of Quzhujian.

Her hands pressed into the seat, her body vibrating as she tried and tried to will herself not to look out of the less than immaculate window back at her home, breaking, and eventually doing just that, her eyes drifting to the blackened sphere. Quzhujian had once been a place of lush greenery, dense forests and jungles, a wide array of wildlife. Now it was the black, gray, and white of ash, some of the plumes of smoke large enough to even be seen at this distance. She let out a choked sob, a tear streaming down her cheek as she forced her eyes away. It was only then that she realized she was being spoken to and lifted her eyes toward her savior. Of course the name was wrong. She wouldn't expect many to be familiar with the language and customs of her planet, so it made sense. And now? There was much too large of a chance that now, she would be the only one in the universe to know her own tongue.

“Qi is fine,” she rasped, bowing her head. “What's your name?”