"Beautiful." The word was murmured to himself, catching into the ocean breeze that lifted the sails of the
Wretched Siren. No flags had been raised yet, even as the sun was beginning to rise along the horizon. Captain Drayon ran a hand through his white hair, enjoying the silkiness between his fingers for the short moment during which the act lasted. He couldn't remember the last time he'd left port with such hope and with so little hesitation. Everything was planned down to the last detail, but he couldn't tell the crewmates just yet - there were other things to do first, like share their first drink together.
Turning around and placing his hand once again on the Tiefling's shoulder, he gave him a sympathetic smile and didn't squeeze as hard as earlier.
"You deserve a drink. Go pour yourself something, the first night on deck is important. I'll trust you won't be yelling like a little bitch to my darling Elanso again, hmm?" Despite the pleasantness of his words and the warmth in his face, the tone was serious and almost threatening. Draynor hadn't had to get Belanor to whip one of his crewmates into obedience in quite some time, and as much as he enjoyed the violent spectacles like any other pirate, he would prefer it not happen with this particular crew.
Without waiting for Rude's acknowledgement, the captain headed down to the lower deck for his office and immediately fished into his cupboard full of his favourite drinks. The creaking of the wooden floor behind his back betrayed the newcomer's presence, and he didn't even have to turn to check who it was.
"My beautiful Elanso." A second glass appeared next to the first one and an audible
pop echoed in Draynor's office. Sweetness filled the air as he poured the amber liquid into the glasses and handed one to his First Mate.
"Are you pleased?"
The dark-skinned elf woman accepted the glass and walked toward the small window that gave onto the deck. She took a few quiet sips of her drink and crossed an arm across her chest.
"They'll do. The others did a good job of keeping quiet at least, and Fooky's gonna be busy enough with repairs and training his new mates to have time to stress about it. We shouldn't keep it a secret for too long, Draynor. They'll start asking questions." Elanso finally looked back at the Captain and raised an eyebrow, emptying her glass without a blink.
Draynor, on the other hand, scoffed and waved a hand dismissively.
"It'll be fine, I'm sure. Mea's a good girl, and I've got my eyes on Fooky. If they start asking questions before we get there, I'll deal with them privately." Elanso shook her head at his decision and extended her arm holding the glass, which he refilled without taking his eyes off her face. The crooked grin on his lips only grew wider as the warmth of the alcohol settled in.
"You worry too much."
This time Elanso rolled her eyes and laughed before taking a healthy gulp of the amber liquid.
"Dray, if I don't worry, this whole ship will fall into chaos. We don't want that. Now we should get going, the sun's coming up and they've all been told to join you on deck. I'm sure they're all expecting some kind of grandiose speech, I hope you have something ready."
"Ehh, I'll wing it." He winked and took long steps to exit the room, the bottle of alcohol in hand. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone was present on the upper deck, looking around and not talking very much. It was normal, he remembered his days of piracy when he'd be thrown into brand new crews with every mission. He made sure to nod and smile at every single one of them, making eye contact and letting them see the unyielding confidence in his own eyes as he headed towards the edge of the upper deck.
"Thank you all for coming up here, I know you all probably wanted to be sleeping right now but - this is a special moment. To us -" he raised his glass, taking the time once again to look at every single member of his crew,
"The Burnt Hands, the best crew hailing from Oshanlenor. May Zainth guide this beautiful Wretched Siren to glory and to its destination safely. Cheers!" And he downed his glass with an audible gulp and smack of his lips, the crooked grin never leaving his face.