Ocean Eyes, Storm Cloud Minds

Chapter Seven

"Blue!" The harsh voice pierced the air and Lancelot instantly tensed, feeling his throat tighten but not allowing himself to get overwhelmed by the fear that seized him, instead taking a deep breath as he turned, coming face to face with none other than the captain himself, Captain Red, as he'd requested to be called. f*****g hell.

"Have you found something you're useful at, yet?" He asked, despite how the answer was obviously 'no' and judging by Elric's every little change in tone while he spoke, added to his confident yet arrogant demeanour - still as intimidating as always - showed Lancelot that the black haired male knew what the answer was. It was like he was only asking in the first place to humiliate the brunet, and Lancelot knew that.

The brunet didn't risk even the slightest hesitation, not wanting to give the captain a reason to think any more highly of himself. From the looks of things, this man was too fond of himself already, and was way too self-assured for Lancelot's taste.

"Actually," He began, his demeanour and voice containing the confidence of the captain himself. "I have." He said, leaning forwards and taking a half-step closer, something in his tone and attitude challenging, but in such a way that the look in Elric's eye seemed to become a little colder after that, but apart from that, his expression didn't change much. Instead, he c****d an eyebrow and let a small smirk curl onto his lips as he watched the others unchanging, irritated expression.

"Oh? Is that so?" He asked, his confident demeanour suddenly so much more challenging and smug than Lancelot could tolerate, something about this man just pissing him off to the point where all he wanted to do was punch him, but he knew better on that. 'Don't fight wars you can't win', he thought, but something in his mind seemed to decide that arguments were excluded in that.

"Yes, Captain, is it!" He snapped, anger pushing out not only the fear that this man invoked but all rational thought, as well. Elric only smirked, taking a step away and turning to address the onlookers, almost all of those on the upper deck having been attracted to the sudden attention the new kid brought onto himself.

Elric turned back to Lancelot, grabbing his collar and harshly tugging him closer, a twisted smirk growing on his lips at the fear in the weaker males eyes as he realised how dumb of an idea it was to be so damn argumentative, but now wasn't the time to back down.

"Now we know that you're loud enough to wake the very bowels of this ship, I'm sure you don't want everyone to find out you're a liar." He said, so close that Lancelot could smell the faint hints of alcohol on his breath, evidently not enough to get this man drunk or even tipsy. For that he was thankful, at least, as getting into this kind of fight with a drunk captain was NOT something he wanted.

The brunet looked round as best as he could, blushing in embarrassment as he realised how loud he'd been before his eyes landed on the sympathetic gaze Dandé gave him, but he only lingered on it for a moment before forcing himself to look back into Elric's eyes, glaring at him as best as he could while being undoubtably intimidated by the other. He forced a smirk onto his lips as he desperately tried to think of something - anything - he was good enough at on this ship to show the black haired male. Tying knots? That wouldn't be enough- and even if it was, he could only tie four knots (none of which he knew the names of), and it took him at least two minutes to do so.

He stammered to say something, unable to think of anything as his brain forced ideas into and out of his mind. Being a bilge rat was out of the question - definitely. As Dandé had said; his arms were too thin anyway. His experiences in defence/offence using swords, as few as they were, were mostly of losses rather than of wins, and that was nothing to be proud of. His navigational skills, on the other hand, with all the nights he'd spent sat by his window, memorising constellations and how to tell which was was north, which south, which east and which west just from the astrological positions, would prove useful. They had to, otherwise he was as useless as everyone always called him.

"What are you good at, then, Blue?" Elric asked, another step of distance being closed between them before Lancelot, who'd been focused on his thoughts instead of on the other, instinctively took a step back. Laughs and comments were passed around the deck, several insults that he couldn't piece together being scattered around the deck, making his embarrassed blush grow again, darker and across more of his face this time.

"Come on, Lancelot..." He could hear Dandé from behind him, speaking quietly so others wouldn't hear, and the brunet wasn't sure if that was the others way of telling him to quit, or to keep going.

"What's wrong, Blue? Are you really not good at anything?" Elric asked, grinning a little at the lack of responses he was getting from the brunet and if this irritated Lancelot, the black haired male knew exactly what to say to get into his head.

"I am!" He snapped, taking two steps forward in a somewhat challenging manner but only making Elric smile. Exactly what he wanted to happen. "I can navigate with the stars!" He said, even louder now as he glared into the others eyes, clearly hating the way this man acted and spoke to him.

"Oh?" Elric asked, standing still and c*****g an eyebrow, still smiling a little at his own, small triumph. Knowing that he annoyed this kid was good, and now he had the power he needs to make the other feel like s**t at any given time. Perfect. "And if you don't mind telling me, how am I supposed to test that during daylight hours? When there are no stars to navigate from?" He asked, everything in his tone just smug and challenging enough to irritate Lancelot further, despite how the embarrassed blush was only growing with each word.

"Lancelot, don't worry. Just-" Dandé said quietly behind the tall brunet, but this time as he spoke, Elric heard him.

"Why shouldn't he worry, Yellow?" He asked, cutting off the larger male and bringing the attention of those who weren't still focused on Lancelot onto Dandé, who didn't seem either fazed by it or willing to back down. He was apparently quite quick to defend new 'friends', but not enough so to cause a fight. That would only make the situation worse, anyway.

Dandé took a step towards Elric in a manner that was entirely passive, mostly to fix the attention further onto himself and save Lancelot from the intimidating pressure of having these intimidating pirates staring at him.

"He only returned to consciousness a few hours ago. All I've been able to do in that time is show him where most things are, explain how to clean a sword without killing himself, and tie a few knots. Give it a little longer." He said, Lancelot immediately backing out of the conversation, but being unable to physically escape it with the crews eyes on him like this, and with the Captains hand suddenly lunging out and grabbing his collar.