~Round [] and {} round we G0 <> (Jimmy)

[Ren Takashi]

A thread for Ren Takashi and Jimmy T. If anyone else wants to join, go nuts:

Ren moves along the side railing off the ship, walking slowly along the deck, peering over the rails into the water and over at the town they had docked at for the time being. He'd been to the town once already, and really didn't have much interest in going back to see that town. So here he was, on the ship, wandering around back and forth on the deck, not being very familiar with this ship yet, after all, he hadn't been here all that long. He'd only been hired a short time ago, and so this place was like some large, wooden, flying new home.

He skulks around on the deck, peering off into the water for a while. He tosses some debris from the deck over-board, watching it fall and clatter on the ground below. He's snapped into a focus by a loud, low rumbling erupting from his stomach. Another loud growl quickly follows the first, causing him to stand upright, placing a hand on his stomach as it churns. He was hungry, and why shouldn't he be? It had been 2 days since he last ate. ....Or....was it 2 and a half? Either way, he could use some food, and he was now on a mission to find some.

Had he been in town, he would have just sought out the closest grocer and robbed a decent meal out of them. He wasn't though, he was here, on the Freedom ship, and he needed some grub. Logic, logic should dictate action, at least that's what a sane mind believes, right? So logic dictates that if this is a properly maintained, full size vessel, capable and expected to travel, it should have a Galley. That galley should be stocked with food, especially since he though he'd heard a whisper that there was supposed to be a cook on board this ship. He hadn't met him yet, had no idea what he'd be like, or even what he looked like, but this was no time for semantics. This was time for food.

He hussels along the deck, skipping over a railing here, a step there, jumping down a deck and swinging around a railing pole to descend a flight of stairs. He creeps down the stairs, keeping his eyes peeled for that weird Captain of his, or this mystery cook. He swerves another corner, slinking along the hallway, making mental notes about where hallways are leading, what doors are where, that type of stuff.

He peeks his eyes around a corner, urged on by the scent of food. He slowly pushes the door open with the tip of his shoe, easing it apart so that it won't creak. He slowly opens it all the way, moving seamlessly from the shadow of the hallway into the somewhat dim light of the galley. He immediate spies some close at hand food, which urges him to drop the thieves act of guile, and go for gluttony. He scoops up a handful of fruit and begins to shovel it into his mouth. After a moments feast he picks up a bit more, slowly stalking around the front of the galley.

He peeks into this cupboard, and that cabinet, making more mental notes on locations of items and storage spots for food. He rounds a bend and comes to an ice chest, storing perishable items and then closes it, wheeling around on his heel. He wanders a bit, aimlessly, hands moving of their own accord, snatching some of this, and bit of that as he moves along, silently eating the food. During a trip around the back end he notices that the gallery actually has two parts, and a small divider separated them. He moves behind the divider, eyes constantly staring around and around.

He shuffles along the floor, finding mostly stacked dry storage items around here, nothing truly of note, at least without the effort of needing to cook or prepare this food to fully enjoy it. He finds a sack of bread and takes a half a loaf, slowly devouring it as he wander around, peering at the galley from the back end. He stops moving, head snapping towards the door as his mind reels. Had he heard a sound just now? Was that a sound, or just him being stupid? He wasn't sure so he shrugs it off, going back to eye-balling the pantry for missed goodies.

Word Count 774

Tags Chu-man-fu

OOc Ren's 2nd post, still trying to get his style down. Any questions, comments, concerns: just let me know.

[Jimmy Terranova]

How big was the crew of this ship? Whatever the exact number, suffice it to say it was rather a lot. And each of them had an apatite, most quite large. Too much for one man to look after most would think. Well most had never met Jimmy Terranova. Not only did he manage to make a meal for the entire crew of the ship at pretty regular times, he also looked after the supplies of food on board. When he had joined the crew he had made the options clear; they could eat whenever they wanted, or they could eat well. The latter decision was pretty much unanimous. They were generally willing to give up picking from the food supplies at will when they were being given regular meals with actual substance. It was amazing how the crew could stand, their diets weren’t exactly balanced. Most of them just cobbled together whatever they could when they had a spare minute. Jimmy had changed that, taking up near permanent residence in the ship’s galley, keeping everything going. It was a job of organization. The actual quantities were simple, what mattered was getting everything ready at roughly the same time. Luckily Jimmy had been around restaurants since he was young, and had been working in them for a good while, he knew how to manage timing. Of course he couldn’t spend all of his time in the galley, he did sometimes have to leave. When that happened he would allow the crew a little free reign, within reason.

He was on board today though, and wasn’t planning on going anywhere. He hadn’t gotten a meal out around today. The crew knew what they were allowed to take if they needed something to start the day, and he was confident none of them would have dipped into his stores of other food. It was rather funny how this one boy, barely a man, had been able to direct the actions of pretty much the entire crew, most of who were a lot more intimidating than he was. But those who had seen Jimmy in his element knew that the fire in him burned a lot hotter than the one in the stove. He had spent a good deal of his first week yelling and cursing, flung a few knives, burned some knuckles, and they had realized that they were better off leaving him to it than trying to have their own way.

Down on the lower deck, Jimmy had been re-stocking the water supply for the galley. There was normally a good supply, but he had let it run low recently. The bulk of the water supply was kept in the lower deck, and even that wasn’t much. One of the advantages of being in the sky as opposed to the sea was that it was a lot easier to resupply, having only to find a safe place to descend and dock. Still, it was good to have a reserve. A good few crewmembers were likely in the town now getting some more supplies. Jimmy had personally sent a couple of deckhands down to get him some more food. If they brought back the kind of scrappy, fatty meat they had last time he would personally shove it down their throats. Still, you can only make the same mistake so many times, right? He found a barrel, it wasn’t full, but it was enough to last him. Being partially empty made it a little easier to carry, but it still wasn’t exactly easy. After all, it was a barrel of water. Water had a habit of shifting about, and barrels didn’t leave a lot of places to get a good grip. Still, he managed to get a solid purchase, lift the barrel up and make his way back up to the galley. He hardly passed anyone as he headed back, and no one at all who wasn’t already busy with something. Shame. If he had spotted someone who hadn’t been otherwise occupied he would have passed the barrel on to them, saved himself the energy. Ah well, couldn’t be helped.

Climbing the stairs slowly, Jimmy eventually made it to the higher deck, though he was now losing his grip on the barrel. It was an annoyance he could do without, when the crew returned from whatever they were doing in the town they would be practically knocking down his door for something to eat. He still had time, but it was best to be ahead of things in his game. That way if something went wrong you were still on time. Jimmy ended up practically staggering the next few steps as his grip on the bottom of the barrel failed and is slid lower and lower in his hands, making normal motion difficult then impossible. Reaching the door to the galley, Jimmy let the barrel fall the final few inches to the floor with a little thump. Releasing his grip for a moment, Jimmy stared it down as though it were an enemy. It would not get the better of him, it would not put him behind on his schedule.

Reaching down once again, Jimmy grabbed the sides, lifting, hoping his grip would hold just a little longer. He lifted it, leaning back and using his knee for a moment to allow him to get a grip on the bottom of the damn thing. Once his grip was solid… solid enough anyway, he kicked the galley door open, making his way inside as his grip loosened again. The problem was once your hands were sweaty you couldn’t keep your grip for long. Still, he could make it to the back room, he thought, it wasn’t far, and his grip was going, ah it was fine where it was. Setting it down, Jimmy needed only to push it to the side a little to get it out of the way.

Turning, Jimmy sat on the barrel, resting for just a moment. He wasn’t worn out, but his arms were a little tired. Anyway, he has some time to take things slow now. Sit for a second, get an early start on cooking then take things at a decent pace from there. Sounds like a plan. Of course all the best plans hit snags but really, what was the worst that could happen.

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Tagged: Demon
Words: 1059
Note: kinda weak ending but still…

[Ren Takashi]

Ren slinks against the wall, still stuffing his face slowly when he hears the un-mistakable sound of heavy footsteps coming toward the door. Awkward, heavy footsteps. They weren't pure, weren't even. They were the sounds of someone smaller, carrying a heavier weight. The shuffling and thump outside the door proved him right as he presses against the wall, peeking out through a slit between cabinets, eyes fixed on the door as he breathes silently. There is another thump, and then breathing, and then a grunt of exertion before the door is flung open via a foot. Ren focuses, unblinking on the door as a barrel enters the room. The barrel is closely followed by a young man carrying it, or doing his best to carry it at least. The man drops the barrel to the ground with a resounding :thud; before sliding it off to the side and taking a rest down on top of it.

Ren slowly slides out from along the wall, gazing cautiously at the man now resting in the front of the room. He had a few options to consider. He didn't know this man, it might have been the cook, might not have been. He'd assumed the cook of a ship with such a bustling crew would be a man who looked more capable of commanding respect and holding off starving pirates, but then again, what was the worst mistake then to underestimate ones enemies? This might just have been some other deck hand though, forced to toil by the cook. He had seen multiple people carrying food and water cargo about the ship, and not all of them could be the cook. The cook might have been amongst them, or maybe he just made them do his chores, he wasn't sure. He wracks his brain, trying to recall if he'd seen this boy doing work carrying food or water before. He couldn't be too sure, so he considered it a maybe.

He could run for it, just to be safe. The boy might have been quick, who knows, but after carrying what seemed like a heavy barrel, who knows how far, he must be tired. Ren could probably run out, and sprint past him, out the door and be home free before the boy knew what hit him. He could also show himself and brandish a weapon in an attempt to scare or intimidate whoever this was, but if it was any pirate worth his salt he wouldn't be scared. Ren had met a lot of the crew though, there weren't that many quality members, but enough to keep the captain happy...for now at least. He could just go out and talk to the boy, that was always an option, by far the most friendly one at least. What if this was the cook though? Would he be mad? Maybe he'd be a nice person? ....Nah, not with Ren's luck. What to do, what to do? Hmm~

Ren decides to just test his luck and go for it. He slips away from the wall, taking 2 apples off a shelf as he walked. He slowly rounds the corner and walks into view of the sitting man and takes a seat across from him, sitting on a large sack of flour. "Hello. " he says. " Lovely day, isn't it?" he asks, biting into one of the apples. "So what's up? You another starving crew-man like myself? Come to nick something to eat? I did, but hey, I'm starving and I have no clue as to when you guys eat around here, so... " Ren shrugs his shoulders. " ..I figured, what's the harm? Right?" He takes another bite of his apple, sliding his bow around from his back to rest in his lap. He un-strings on end of it, examining the string as he tosses the second apple at the boy. "Here ya go. "

word count;; 803
tags;; Jimmy
OOC;; Doo dee doo

[Jimmy Terranova]

Sitting on the barrel, Jimmy planned out his next moves in his head. What he would have to do and when. If he didn’t have such a passion for cooking he could always get a career in administration, the way he had learned to organize, he would be a super-secretary. But that would never happen. It was far too mundane for him. Too samey, boring, obedient, depressing. He didn’t see how his mother could do it. And do it for the government of all people. She was a sheep. Her and all the other run of the mill, every day citizens who spent their lives blindly following the government, listening to their lies, accepting the propaganda and continuing on their merry way, blindly helping them to remain in authority. If only more people would take a stand, refuse to play along. But of course, when that happened it was disorganized, and quickly put down, often violently.

Just as he was about to rise and get on with his job, Jimmy heard movement. Someone stepped out, into plain view. Someone in his kitchen. He didn’t recognize them, which was a little strange, but not unknown. After all, not everyone on the ship knew each other personally. The crew wasn’t small. And they were getting new arrivals on a semi-regular basis. This guy could have appeared as recently as the town they were currently at. The thing that did surprise Jimmy was that this guy was eating some of his apples. Even though it was the crew who ate most of the food on the ship, it was Jimmy’s until he let them have it. That was the rule. It was just an apple, he hardly ever cooked with those anyway, but it was the principle of the matter. Fruit was harder to come by, being grown in controlled orchards and almost exclusively government picked. They were something you had to get at the market, and didn’t often come cheap. They were something Jimmy let the crew at only at certain times.

The person spoke casually, obviously he didn’t know who Jimmy was either. He didn’t seem to care that he was just taking the food, and even threw an apple Jimmy’s way. The cook caught it, and his first instinct was to throw it right back into the guy’s face. It wouldn’t help though, the fruit bruised easier and was harder to fix. So he settled for turning it over in his hands, looking down at it for a second, and calculating his next move. He wanted to tear this guy a new entrance to his stomach, it seemed a fitting punishment for someone whose current entrance was full of food that wasn’t his. He would give it a second, though.

Standing for a second, Jimmy looked up from the fruit to the guy sitting across the way from him. He looked about as professional as your average pirate, probably had a temper to match too. He would play it slow for a second or two. ”You, er, haven’t met the cook yet have you? He’s a little… er… temperamental when it comes to people eating whenever they want. If he found out I’d eaten this he’d skin me alive. Says it’s his kitchen and his food. I mean, credit to him, he does prepare it all but… Well, he’s one of those people who doesn’t like his rules being broken.” He placed the apple down on a table. He had kept his tone reasonable, almost tentative, as though he was just some deckhand who had been ordered to carry the water up.

Jimmy had never really thought that he would really turn in to one of those people like chefs he’d seen at his uncle’s restaurant when he was a kid. They were nice guys, but they got angry very quickly. They could be joking happily, then just a few minutes later sound like they were ready to kill someone. He had intended to actually lead this guy on a bit before letting him know who he was, but now he thought about it he really didn’t have the time or the patience. ”Of course, there are other crew members about. I mean, I know we have a load of people out getting supplies and stuff, but there are still a good few of us about. Wouldn’t it be easy to just, y’know, ask someone when we ate? I mean, that way you don’t mess anything up. But of course that would be too easy. Someone like you, obviously so above reason that you can just come and take whatever you like. You know what chaos looks like? It looks like the entire crew of a ship raiding the galley whenever they feel like it, then before you know it you’re all out of everything and you have to resupply, wasting time and money, and before long the ship essentially becomes a huge floating buffet, too busy feeding everyone to do any actual work or, indeed, sustain itself. Now, you might say ‘it’s only a couple of apples, it doesn’t matter, it’s just one occasion. But one person becomes five, then ten, then the whole crew unless order is kept. Exceptions can’t be made, otherwise the rule itself becomes meaningless. You have any idea how hard it is for one guy to coordinate and manage the food preparation and distribution for the entire ship? I do. Because I do it. Every day, every crewman, I prepare their food. And now, assuming you’re becoming a regular here, I prepare yours too. Now, I don’t know if you dine much, but there’s one rule you should observe; don’t screw with the people who handle your food. You do that and you may get a little extra garnish in your meal, you understand? Now, since it’s a first offence I will refrain from removing certain parts of your anatomy, but you’d best get this into your head. This place is mine, you mess with anything and I don’t care if you’re Sankari’s best boy, you’re going to feel the consequences. We have meals at certain times, you want to know when? Just ask any of the other crewmen, or just follow them when they all head down here themselves. It’s not hard to work out.” His tone changed from how it was before, becoming more agitated the more he spoke. It really made the day fly by, a good shout.

Part of him wondered how the newcomer would take this, he didn’t even know who he was. Well, no matter, even if he was some new fighter, he wouldn’t dare to attack a pirate in the middle of their own ship. Or if he did he was extremely stupid. One call and half the crew would be breathing down his neck and re-proportioning his body with vigor. Not to say that Jimmy wouldn’t fight himself, but a lesson was best learned properly. Death by one pirate was one thing, death by all of them was something different. And anyway, Jimmy wouldn’t allow someone to bleed all over his kitchen, he just couldn’t be doing with the cleanup. Worst case scenario would probably be a shouting match between Jimmy and whoever-this-was. And Jimmy would win. If not the actual argument, he would get his revenge in some way. Boiled potatoes for dinner maybe? Just the potatoes in water. And he would let the whole crew know whose fault that was. Or maybe a normal meal, with a little something extra just for him. The possibilities were endless as they say.

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Tagged: Ren
Words: 1266
Note: hm, I really got going with this post.

[Ren Takashi]

Ren blinks casually as the blond one in front of him mills about, thoughts passing behind his eyes as he peers down at the pilfered apple in his hands. Ren takes another bite of his, blinking again as the boy begins to talk. He appeared to be just another wayward member of the crew, and that would suit him just fine, no matter how scary he was making the cook out to be. Of course, there wasn't any real chance that this wasn't the cook. As grateful as the pack of mutts on board might be for well prepared meals, there's no way any of them would talk up the cook so much. Not without maybe being his brother or something, and as far as he knew, everyone on this ship was on their own. So this had to be the cook, but maybe he'd be so kind as to just keep on rambling before shutting up and letting Ren be on his way. However when he started up on his second tirade, Ren knew he wouldn't have that luxury.

The boy got more and more pissy as he spoke, raising his voice and sending what most likely were only half formed threats his way, speaking as if he was the say all, end all in this situation. Well as strong as he might be he wasn't. In fact the only one who had any power like that was the Captain, and that was cause she was a psychotic bitch with no regard for anyone's life but her own. Moving on from that however, Ren had a bit of a temper himself, but was far better at controlling it than this boy was, that much was for sure. What was that last part? A threat on his life, or well being huh? Well that wasn't going to be allowed to just go in peace, now was it. Ship's cook or not, nothing gave him the right to just run his mouth at whoever he wanted, however he wanted.

"How very interesting....interesting indeed. " Ren says, a note of sarcasm evident in his voice. "Well then I suppose... " he says while standing to eye the man on his level. "..perhaps I might owe you an apology. I also might even have been so inclined as to give one, but I can't say I agree with your macho attitude. I'm sure it's fairly well back up, probably a lot more so than the rest of loud mouths on this ship, but in a lot of ways you're all too like them. " Ren shifts around a bit, loosening up his muscles, bones shifting, joints popping loudly. "You can go ahead and make all the threats at me and try to intimidate me all you want, but I'll be nice enough to give you the forewarning that I don't care much for anyone's words or rules. "

"You can think yourself high and mighty all you like, Mr. Cook, but that doesn't make you innately right, as you seem to have given yourself that grace. Let's assume, you've been here a good while longer than I have, which I assume is correct. Lets also assume that inflated ego of yours comes from being the winner of some scraps you've had in the past. Given that I wouldn't expect anyone on this ship aside from the fighters to put up a decent fight, I wouldn't go giving yourself too much credit. Another point of fact you might find interesting, I don't care what your attitude dictates as right, but only facts, are in fact, right. I assume you make a living off of this job? Which is to say you're paid. I'd have to think so, why would anyone do a job so thankless as yours without some type of compensation. Now lets assume ALLLLLLL the money you make at this job, is spent to cover the costs of maintenance and food. Then 2 things are true. 1. You make FAR too much money to cook. And 2. I might actually owe you an apology. However I doubt that's the case with this. Which would mean that this is actually all say Captain Sankari's food, or who ever's money has paid for it. Granted you are in CHARGE of all of this, it doesn't make you the owner. I'm not on to taunt rank on people, I find it stupid, but if you wanna play THAT game, then as the First mate, I'd say I out rank you, and that would make this more mine then yours. "

Ren smirks a bit, looking over at the man, absentmindedly rolling around another apple from the counter in his hands. "It's not to say I'm ungrateful for what you might do around here, I love a good meal as much as anybody. However, the sheer fact that you cook this stuff up for us shouldn't give you authority to feel like you control us all. As much as you might boss around the other lackeys into carrying this or shopping for that for you, it doesn't make you King Shit in anyone's book but you own. I'm sure you've noticed this, but they're not the smartest bunch of people out there, are they? Good for the manual labor I'm sure, but have you BEEN around pirates? Or do you spend all your time in here? Cause I mean, ANYONE will tell you how their attitudes fair. Just because they don't cross you and give you that modicum of "respect" doesn't mean they have to give two shits what you do or think. Did it ever OCCUR to you that maybe I did ask some of them about eating? And did it occur that maybe the only response I was give was to either, Piss off, take it up with the cook whom no one pointed out to me, or starve like the rest of us until we all eat, were the only answers I ever got? And that maybe I wasn't going to starve away on a bunch of idiots words, so I decided to do something about it? "

" It also touches my heart to see another subscriber to Chaos Theory, it really does. If one does it then two will do it. If two do it then four. If four then fifty. If fifty then all! Then the world comes tumbling down, laaaa di daaaa de daaa." he says in a mocking tone. "However, if you're SO in charge of all this, then why in the hell would one crew member feeding himself ONCE, cause your total control of meals to fall out of line? I was hungry, I fucking ate. End of story. I'm "sooooo" sorry Mr. Cook. But you can take the stick out of your ass and then go sodomize yourself with all over again if you think for one second I'm going to sit here and be lectured on how terrible I am for fending off starvation on the Captin's dime. You know the Captain? The woman in charge of me and YOU? The woman who makes this all possible? So think what you will, think of punishing me, spit in my food, see if I really care? I ate rats to survive growing up, you think serving me seawater and dirty bread will slow me down? I'll take to storing so much food in my room when we dock it'll go rancid. I'll beat and mug other crew members for their food until it's second nature for them to just hand it over to me. Sure you can punish the whole crew and try to have them insight their anger on me and make me the bad guy, but it'd be just as bad on your part. "

"You can call me the captin's "lap dog" all you want, but when it comes down to it, you and I both know only SHE matters. If I die, if you die, if the whole crew dies, so what? As long as she's alive and can carry on, then everything is just fine in her book. And do you honestly think, knowing how much pleasure and wanton disregard she has for our lives that she wouldn't happily kill either of us? Sure, sick the crew on me, and maybe they could kill me, but don't think for one second that if I die you're safe. My bet is not long after I'm dead she'll be killing you, if even just because she couldn't off me herself. " he says with a wry grin. "So you can stay down here and just do your job, and we can go on like 2 fellow crew-mates and move on with our lives, or you can continue to flout that attitude of yours, and we can step onto the deck and settle this like men. " Ren says. He walks over to the doorway and leans against it, staring Jimmy down, pulling out one of his swords and picking at some wood on the door frame with it. " It's your call."

word count;; 1616
tags;; Jimmy
OOC;; Yea...i got a bit into it too >.> sorreh

[Jimmy Terranova]

Jimmy had the amazing ability to sound a lot more annoyed than he was, an ability normally reserved for certain parents and old people talking about the world today, he found it helped him to get his point across. Sounding mildly put out wasn’t as effective as full-blown pissed. He wasn’t happy with this guy being here, but it wouldn’t ruin his day. What would was the inevitable rush of hungry bodies flooding the galley if he didn’t get his meal started. He still had time, but he didn’t want to waste it. Credit to him, the guy matched the Cook’s rant pretty nicely, a lot of it was assumptions and runaway reasoning, some of it seemed downright made up. Jimmy may have been a cook, and had the attitude to back it up, but he was also a sucker for a good debate. It shocked some people when the cook who had shouted random insults at them a few seconds earlier was now deconstructing their counter-argument.

Making mental notes on what the man was saying, Jimmy put together a little checklist as he listened, ready to go through them when it was his turn. One thing he did notice though was the guy’s speech style. Jimmy’s was usually a little sarcastic and sometimes patronizing, but some of the words coming out of this guy’s mouth were more than a little silly. When he had finished Jimmy gave a little half laugh, a singles short sound, just patronizing enough to cause a little annoyance hopefully, though not so much to be considered childish. ”You were a brat as a kid, weren’t you?. He’d caught something about him eating rats while he was growing up, and would likely have to endure some sob story about his tragic childhood, but oh well, give them what they want. If he brought it up this quickly it obviously wasn’t traumatizing enough for Jimmy to care about, it was more bragging than anything. ”I mean, I can’t help but wonder; do you really think that drawing a word out gives it any more of an impact? There’s no difference between all and ALLLLLLL, or so and soooooo, all it does is make you seem that little bit less mature. Oh, and just to be sure, by ‘all too like them’ do you mean that I’m too much like the guys on this ship? Because I’ll tell you now, you won’t get much of a reaction by calling a pirate a pirate. I maintain no delusions of nobility or entitlement, I just know how to make this work, as has been shown.” Right, it had begun now. Hopefully this guy would back down to an actual argument, debating was a lot herder to do when preparing food.

Keeping the flow of a point was important for a well-presented argument, and Jimmy saw an opportunity to link a few points together quite nicely. ”If you ‘Don’t care much for anyone’s rules’ what are you doing here? Unless you’ve got a mutiny planned in there somewhere, which would fail miserably by the way, then you’re going to be following someone else’s rules. Not just mine, but the captain’s. I might have a go at you, but she’ll just shove a sword through your guts and throw you from the deck. Now that would be a good sight, if you do plan on insulting her let me know in advance, I’ll set up a buffet, make a thing of it. And speaking of the captain; of course the food is provided courtesy of her coffers, but she’ll barely feed herself, let alone the crew, so to prevent a free for all she delegates. To me. That gives me responsibility over the food in this place, and I’ll not have people screwing with that. And, you’re kinda right that that the captain is the most important person here, but she still need a crew, which means we’re not worthless, just replaceable, and unless you know where to get a full crew of willing and able fighters at a moment’s notice then I think its safe to assume that she isn’t going to kill us all off just yet. She may be unhinged, but she’s not undirected, so long as there’s an enemy to fight she won’t turn on the crew, so long as you don’t do anything stupid. Speaking of her though, she gave me authority over the kitchen and allowed me to run it, meaning your rank means precisely nothing, as by your own reasoning you are outranked by her orders. Now, you say I have some sense of entitlement about me. It’s not, it’s a sense of responsibility. I saw the chaos this place was in when I got here, and I changed that. And it’s not chaos theory, it’s the truth. You’ve seen the guys we take on, right? Opportunists, every one of them. They see an opening and they’ll take it. You undermine my authority, show that you can do it and get away with it, and then others will start, that’s how these people think, by and large.

This guy seemed to have taken rather a lot from Jimmy’s one rant, assuming the reasons behind his words and not actually listening to everything that was said, or so it seemed. ”I am not sure where you got ‘high and mighty’ from, and I don’t remember saying I was right because I was me. Like I said, I have experience in this, I’ve been doing it for a while and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, as results show. That’s why I know what works. I’m not claiming to be some saint, better than you and the rest of the crew, I only claim to know how to run a kitchen. You shouldn’t assume; it leads to some bad decisions. I told you that this was my kitchen and I ran it a certain way, and you somehow heard ‘I am always right and imposing my view on you for the hell of it’ or something of that sort. I can see why the crew shrugged you off if you did in fact ask them, and I have to say that if that’s the case… tough. Surely the first mate should be able to command some respect. Corner one of the deckhands and beat it out of him. You are happy with breaking some knuckles to get food, but not to get information that leads to much more food? Nice reasoning there.? If this guy was first mate things around here were about to get a lot more annoying. Either that or a lot more interesting when someone cut him to ribbons.

Watching the young man make his way to the door, Jimmy couldn’t help but give another laugh, this one more of an amused chuckle than the previous one. ”You said it yourself Guv, I’m no better than the pirates out on deck. What makes you think I won’t just knife you in the back as we make our way to the deck, or get someone else to off you from behind, or just shoot you. You may be a decent swordsman, I don’t know, but I doubt you can deflect bolts at close range.? It might help if Jimmy actually owned a crossbow, or indeed any kind of bow, but this guy didn’t know that. ”I’m not going to have a beat up over an apple, I just think you should know that it’s not something I tolerate. Like I said, it’s your first time. But regardless of who you are, if you make a habit of this I will take action. Call it emulating the attitude of the captain if you want. “

He wanted this guy out now, so he could get to work in peace. He doubted that would happen, though. The debate was on, and unless this man had all the conviction of a small animal he would stick around to play it out. Oh well, at least he could help a little… actually, probably better not let that happen. Jimmy had trouble organizing the work with people who could actually do it, someone with little to no kitchen experience would be more of a hindrance.

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Tagged: Ren
Words: 1376
Note: eh, it’s not too bad.