Uncovering secrets

Mal arrived at Sal's trade shack with two friends in tow. While he was visiting the stores he decided to adopt some companions, a cool tortoise with roller skates so he could keep up with Mal, and a noisy bird with a cute sailor hat and chips. The bird mimics the tortoise pretending to roller skate as well and trying to copy the sounds that Turbo has made. He had named the bird Captain French fry, he has no idea how the bird got a captain title, but he does find it funny that the bird is pretending to skate. Turbo looked annoyed at the silly bird but he didn't seem to care that much. 

Mal had received a crestport badge from Siora, she had gotten a cold in summer? He thought that was weird but anyway, she caught him up to date with the clues and what's been happening. She even gave him the notes that she had found which led to this encounter with Sal.

Sal had said that he didn't steal the jewels but had returned them... what changed his mind about stealing them? Maybe he wanted to avoid the heat if someone recognised them if he did try to sell them? 

Mal comes from a background where he constantly lies and thrifts other 'maras as well- such as upselling items for twice as much their worth and even managing to convince people to buy junk from him. He does most of the treasure hunting himself though, and sometimes with friends. 

He glared at Sal, not knowing whether to trust him or not, but as he gazed into the depths of his eyes he couldn't think that he would lie about this. Perhaps he has lied to get out of trouble, but Mal thinks this time he's telling the truth. There's sometimes truth that has been told even if previous lies had been told. He feels off with everything that's been happening recently, but he does feel that he can trust his intuition which tells him Sal is telling the truth. 

"Mind if I pour myself a drink?" Mal asked Sal. "This is some serious talk and I want to loosen up a bit before we continue this conversation." 

Sal kicked back his legs, "sure." 

Mal poured himself a drink, and sculled it down the fiery liquor burning his throat. He shivered afterwards trying to get the after-taste off. He had accidentally spilled some on his pirate outfit, "Blast ye." He mumbled in annoyance. "It'd take many washes to clean this stain out." 

Sal only snickered at him, not a care in the world. 

"Anyway, I think I can trust you as these are serious accusations. You'd have to be compelled to tell the truth so ye, I believe ya story. Only someone as crafty as you could get the jewels back to their rightful place without anyone noticing. That's really impressive actually." Mal told him, admiring his cunning skill to return the jewels back. Mal feels good about his decision, after all it makes sense to him that he'd be telling the truth.