piratejournal | 003 Strike [Written/Action for Shepherds]

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003 Strike [Written/Action for Shepherds]

[WRITTEN]
what does strength mean to you? and how does a person become stronger?

[ACTION]
[Asbel sits quietly on one of the crates abovedeck. It's not really clear if he's in some sort of "time out" or if he's here for his own reasons, but what's plain is he doesn't have any intention of moving. A few hours have passed, and he hasn't so much as gotten up to stretch or even gotten up to his usual antics. Instead, the eleven-year-old appears to be thinking hard about something.]

[He said he wanted to become a knight someday; he still does. But what does being a knight really mean? How can he serve a king and protect a whole country full of people when he can't even protect his friends or his own little brother from danger?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Probably something like that!

[Asbel gives Finnian a look. Like being scolded has ever stopped him from doing something he really wanted to do.] Told off?

Well, maybe. But come on, it's not like we wouldn't put the lids back on once we've had a peek. They'd never even know we opened them.

[If you worked for Sebastion, you would soon learn what actual fear was. He is not someone you could mess with.]

Yes. Sebastian would always tell us off if we did something wrong. [Which tended to be often if not nearly weekly. He leaned over to take a closer look at the barrels. He wasn't sure if it would be a simple thing as taking them off. What if they were nailed down, how would they nail it back on?]

But I don't think the lids come off easily. I mean to keep them safe wouldn't they have nailed them down or something?

[Asbel isn't too impressed with this Sebastian guy. Maybe if he met him in person, he'd have a different opinion, but to him, it just sounds like he complains a lot and pushes people around.] Did he ever tell you why?

[Asbel shrugs, examining the lids in question. He...really has no experience with working around sealed storage containers, but if there's a will, he figures there's gotta be a way too!]

That's no problem. We'll just have to pry the nails out with something else.

Yes... but it was mostly because it was obvious what we did wrong. [That's how he knows he was in the wrong but then again when one can't control his strength sometimes, it's bound to happen.]

With what? [He pauses. He is not sure that they have the tools that one could use, but then again he doesn't look around the whole ship like one should.]

Then it's a good thing we're not doing anything wrong! We're part of the ship's crew, and whatever's in these is part of the ship, too. No one ever said we couldn't open them, you know.

[In his opinion, there's no obvious wrong being done here, so it should be fine. And if they do get in trouble, they'll know for next time.]

Good question. [Asbel taps his foot, thinking.] Some kind of hammer? Or maybe we could use a metal bar to pry the lid off, even with the nails in.

[Well since what the kid said is true, it meant that he could probably open it up himself. He slowly puts his hands on either side of the lid.]

If it will be okay, then I can easily open it.

[And just like that he lifts it up with not much effort.]

There we go. now lets see what is inside. [He moves the lid to take a peek. It just appears to be various foods.]

Holy cow!

[Whoa, he-- he just yanked it off with his bare hands! That had to be on pretty tight, too! Asbel stares openly, but the stare quickly changes to an impressed grin. He has to admit that was pretty cool!]

[Lid off, the boy darts forward to peer down the other side.]

Food stuff, huh? Well, now we know what we'll be having for dinner this month. I was actually hoping it'd be something a little more exciting, though.

[He didn't think right away of what could have been so surprising, but then again he was use to his own strength and so were people he knew back home. He had completely forgot it wasn't exactly the most normal thing to have.]

What were you expecting when you say exciting? [With the lid now to the side he looked it. The food actually looked pretty good.]

I'm really not too sure. I guess I was just expecting something a little more...unexpected. Like some kind of treasure, or new equipment, or a ton of candy.

[None of these would be too surprising in all honesty, but they're all things he could definitely work with.]

Maybe even a stowaway.

[She blinks a couple of times before looking confused. he was sure he would have noticed if he had brought on a stowaway. He thinks anyway.]

I can see how that would have been fun and interesting, but it's just the normal supplies sadly. [He smiles happily.] But at least this will help us for the next month.

Yeah... [Okay, so he might be a little disappointed, but in the end it's okay. There's still plenty more chances for something cool to happen.]

Even if it is something ordinary, it's good to know we won't be going hungry anytime soon. That would be pretty awful.

[He nodded, thankfully making sure the lid was on correctly.]

Although if we didn't have enough, I would of made sure everyone could have my shares. But I have to ask...You want excitement?

Really, are you crazy? I sure hope it never comes to that. I wouldn't want you to starve or anything.

[Good job! Asbel could never have gotten it back on right.]

Well, yeah? Why not? This is the most traveling I've ever done in my life. So I wanna make the most of it and see as much cool and unusual stuff as I can.

I-I'm not crazy it's just something I would do to help that's all if it was needed of course. [He wasn't exactly use to being called crazy so that was a little bit of a surprise.]

I don't know. I mean I can understand wanting to explore, I guess but at the same time I'd have to wonder about those back home.

Hey, relax. I don't mean that you're actually crazy. I just mean that it's really unusual for someone to be willing to just give their meals up to everyone else. You must be a pretty nice guy, huh?

But even if something did happen, I'm sure Mana and Jade would split the food up so everyone could have a bite. That way no one would have to go hungry right away.

[He considers.] Well, I do have some friends back home I'd like to check up on, but there isn't any way for me to do that right now. I'm guessing it's the same for you?

[He nods slightly, to be honest he just knew that it's what a servant would do like he would for his master.] I guess so, but I thought it would be a normal thing.

[He nods slightly.] There are some, but I have others that are here.

Well, I've never heard of anyone having to do something like that before. But maybe for other ships it's different.

Yeah? Like who? It must be nice having a bunch of friends here. So far it's just me and Hubert from back home.

Not friends, more people I worked for, but if you ever come across a Lady Elizabeth Midford, she is my young master's fiancée

Oh! So you're...like a butler or something?

But just because you work for someone doesn't mean you can't still be close, you know? Frederic's been helping out at our place for ages, even before I was born. By now he practically feels like one of the family, even though we're not related at all.

Anyway, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for this Lady Elizabeth, then.

[His shakes his head, that is a job he could never do in a million years.]

I'm just a simple gardener, but I did love my job back home. [He smiles and laughs slightly, although his work wasn't the best when he first started, especially when he broke the poor tree by being too harsh and not knowing his own strength.]

Thank you. Um... [He pauses for a moment. He wasn't use to talking to people for this amount of time usually, except for other servants of course or if he needed to.] Do you need anything? I know it isn't my job and all but I'm trying to do other things.

Ah, okay. So then you must really like flowers a lot! [Because why else would anyone be a gardner?]

That's cool. We've got a ton of flowers out in front of our house, too. But it doesn't really seem like a simple job.. Usually the gardner's still poking around out there when I come home, and that's around dinnertime.

[Asbel looks up curiously when Finnian stops talking for a minute.] Who, me? Nah, I'm good. Just a little tired is all. [He sure talks a lot for someone who's "tired".]

But yeah, I guess it would be hard to do any gardening on a ship, huh? What else can you do? --Besides busting open boxes, I mean.

I do! [Said in the most chipper voice he could muster.] It's not just flowers though, it's other plants and being outdoors a lot.

[Uh, good question. Finnian paused for a moment, he honestly wasn't sure himself.]

I don't know, I mean most of the things I do usually don't end up going very well, so I never noticed what I can be god at. [It wasn't a very long list either way.]

[A nod of agreement.] Yeah, I'd take the outdoors to being cramped up in some stuffy old room any day.

[But this isn't the kind of answer Asbel was expecting at all, and it takes him just a little bit by surprise, his mouth hanging open a bit.]

Geez, come on. Aren't you being a little hard on yourself? I mean, sure, everyone screws up sometimes. That doesn't mean you're bad at stuff--it kinda just means you need to keep working on it. [He rubs at the back of his head.] Besides, even if it doesn't seem like it, I'll bet there are tons of things you can do without any trouble at all!

[Maybe he was being a little harsh, but at the same time he fears his own strength and was always unsure if he was using too much or not. But he knew maybe there was other normal everyday thing he could do, he just needed to find them.]

Maybe I will find something, but for now it will take time. But maybe if people give me things to do when I'm needed, I'll be able to find out, right?

Yeah, maybe.

[He thinks for a moment.]

Actually, what I'm going to start might work for you, too. See, everyone keeps saying that in order to become stronger, I need to gain experience. And for that to happen, I have to try a bunch of different things I normally don't do. So I traded away my chores around the ship for new ones.

Maybe if you changed things up, too, it'd eventually help you find what you're most good at.

003 Strike [Written/Action for Shepherds]

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