45 Vol 1. pt. 45 Patch 8.0: How to Train Your Crew (2/2)
”Fair enough.”
Cassiel is regretting accepting the deal.
”Why do you want to join a crew so badly for the tournament?” he asks.
”Because! Everybody's always laughin' at me and doubtin' my ability. I want to prove to everybody that a few accidental explosions and failed experiments don't mean that I ain't the best engineer there is! What better way than to let my mods help a ship win the tournament? I've even got a schematic all prepared for catchin' the big baby in the final round!”
”Seriously? That's perfect, because I had no idea how I was going to catch that after hearing about it.”
Neither Serra nor Cassiel knows what they're talking about. They were too busy fishing to try and listen in on his conversation with the NPC captain.
”I just need about… forty gold to buy all the parts!” Tabitha says, smiling as widely as ever.
”Yeah, we don't have any money,” Fenrir says.
”Oh.”
”Yeah.”
”Twenty gold?”
”Nope.”
”Ten?”
”I wish.”
”Five?”
”Sure. Just kidding, no.”
”…”
”…”
”So ya want me to go and mod up your ship to be the best there is, install somethin' that'll capture a serpent bigger than your ship likely is, all without any fundin'?” Tabitha asks.
”You got it. Think you can do it?” Fenrir asks.
A fire lights up within Tabitha's eyes. ”You bet I can! I'm fired up! Such a tall order with next to no money available to fund it… I'm excited! We're going to blast all those other ships out of the water! We're going to capture the big baby and bring it home to take home the trophy! We're going to—”
”Win this together,” Fenrir finishes her sentence, offering her a handshake.
She accepts it.
Serra and Cassiel don't exactly know what's going on due to how fast it all just happened, but they're pretty sure they just saw the foundation of another… bromance?
Tabitha pulls out a thin cloth from her overalls' pocket to wrap around her forehead, going underneath her raised twin tails.
Serra likes Tabitha just because she makes Serra no longer the shortest crewmember. Tabitha is a few inches shorter than Serra and looks younger as well.
As Fenrir would describe her, she looks like a tomboyish loli.
”This is Serra, that's Cassiel, and the pup down there is Rock. We've got two more guys who I'll introduce you to later,” Fenrir says. ”Oh, sorry. And I'm Fenrir.”
”Nice to meetcha'll. Gotta ask though, Mr. Wolf. If anything, it's kinda suspicious that ya trust me so easily. What gives?” Tabitha asks.
”That's easy. You remind me of myself.”
Tabitha grins from ear to ear. ”Good! I can tell me and you are gonna get along, Mr. Wolf. Just show me where my new baby is and I'll bring my tools over!”
Fenrir leads her to The Shoebill's parking spot.
”Ya sure she's gonna be able to keep up with me?” Tabitha asks, looking the sloop over with wary eyes. ”Ships bigger and stronger than this girl have failed me before. Wouldn't want us all to sink in the middle of the tournament.”
”I believe in her. You just need to believe in her too,” Fenrir says, placing a hand on Tabitha's shoulder.
”That's the kind of thing I like to hear! A captain's trust in the ship is almost as important as the engineer! I'll go and bring all my stuff over and get to work right away. You won't even be able to recognize her by tomorrow!”
”You hear that, girl?” Fenrir asks. Rock looks up at him, assuming that he's talking to her, but he's looking at The Shoebill instead. Rock whines in jealousy. ”Tabitha here is going to take care of you and make you even more awesome than you already are.”
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Tabitha happily runs off to collect her things.
”Are you really sure about this? What if she screws us over?” Cassiel asks Fenrir.
”Who cares? It's just a game. Sure, I want us to do good in the tournament and hopefully win it, but even if we lose, it's just a game. What's the point in playing it if we're not having fun? We're going to have fun, and by taking her on, she's going to get to have fun as well. The more people having fun, the more successful of a game it is,” Fenrir explains.
Serra hugs his arm. Cassiel has no good response to what he said. ”Yeah… just a game. It's easy to forget that sometimes. That excuse never works up in the empire, but I guess it's true,” she says.
”We're going to have fun no matter what happens. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose.”
Hearing him say that removes a ton of stress that has been weighing Cassiel down. His belief is the exact opposite of everybody she's played with before him – of everybody who only cared about winning and being the best.
”Having fun is the true endgame, don't you know?”