$40

Hailing from a small town near the ocean, Stowaway is not unfamiliar with the sea. In fact, it’s one of her favourite things, apart from squids, that is. She’s mostly survived off doing lots of small, quick jobs, earning her keep and laying low. It’s a good life, simple, and safe, and she’s certainly not having a bad time, but Stowaway still feels like she can do better.

This leads to sneaking onto a pirate ship while it’s docked, flitting through the cabins and staying in the shadows, making sure that by the time she is, inevitably, caught, the ship will be far enough out in the ocean that they can’t force her back onto land. Of course, she’d completely forgotten that, being a pirate ship, it’s crew wouldn’t be that fussed about just throwing her overboard.

Fortunately, the Quartermaster had taken a liking to her, for reasons that Stowaway is unaware of. She’d decided a long time ago not to question her own good fortune, gratefully accepting her new, rather illustrious, position of ‘cabin boy’ aboard the ship. Stowaway never received a formal job description, but she’s mostly happy cleaning up after everyone. Pirates, after all, are exceedingly messy sometimes.
Sometimes she daydreams of being a real pirate, with a peg leg and everything, maybe a pet parrot, but the rest of the crew always laughs whenever she brings this up, saying she’s far too nice to be a scourge of the seas like the rest of them are. Stowaway is optimistic in the face of their denial, sure that one day her dream will come true.

Not that she’d ever admit it, but Stowaway is slightly afraid of the rest of the crew, because even though they’d taken her in, she’s extremely aware of the fact that they could be rid of her in an instant should they wish to. She’s friends with the majority of them, though, and the Quartermaster is something of a parental figure to her. Stowaway does her best to stay on everyone’s good side, lest they start getting ideas of throwing her into the ocean, and she knows there are sharks in there, she’s seen them.

Being on the crew is nice, most of the time, when none of the pirates are having an argument about something stupid and shouting up a storm on the starboard deck. Stowaway thinks she’s actually matured a little, working for them, she’s definitely a lot more responsible than she’d been before, back on land where she’d only had to look out for herself. Being in charge of keeping things clean for everyone has gifted her with a more well-rounded view of the world.

She thinks most of the people who grow up on land aren’t actually aware of how smart pirates are, how smart they have to be to survive on the ship. They like to talk while they work, and Stowaway hears most of their conversations, which range from discussing the weather to arguing about the least messy way to slaughter an enemy. Not that she’d ever do that, she’s much too sweet to even hurt a fly, but Stowaway thinks it’s useful information to have, nonetheless.

by afire