Red

Whores and Bastards

They eyed me as I stepped into the room. The previous tension melting away as if it never existed.

" That Eustass must be real desperate if he's sending a whore to convince us to share our information." One of the men cackle and the rest join into his laughter. Wire takes charge of the situation by slamming his weapon onto the floor.

" We ain't here to make friends or kiss ass. We had a deal to trade information." They snicker still eyeing me, the random woman in the room.

" Our Lyrah here is going to be the one trading with you. " He pats the top of my head supportively before pushing me forward toward the lecherously staring men.

"Whatever information you have, you give it all to us and we'll give you the information we have on the new world." The other party grins holding up a small leather bound book.
" How do we know your information ain't shit?" They ask waving their little book and I grin. They are scheming. Kid is smarter than he lets on. There's no way that
a pirate will be truthful, no way that they will be fair so either way, they all die. Therefore, he's able to use me and still, keep me a secret. How smart.

" That's just a risk you're going to have to take sweetie, just like we are. Now hand it over, our information is worth more than your lives, you better hope what your giving us on par." I hold out my hand and as soon as i have their book in my hand, they start dropping like flies.

" Looks like compared to what we were willing to give, it was you who was giving us shit."  The last of them stare at his fallen comrades in horror. " This book was only worth one our your lives." I turn to leave and I hear a final scream as Killer finishes him off.

" How does that even work. " Wire finally asks and I pass him the book.
" My bargains are based on how much i think my trade is worth so because i think our information was worth the lives of the 5 of us, that means we're worth a lot based on our strengths and such. Based on that, their information was only worth on life, so the rest of them lost their lives as collateral. It just depends on how I word it. If I were to say that our trade was worth only my life, most of them would have been fine since I'm worth much." 

" i beg to disagree. I think based on your powers, you could be worth more than you think. 
not to mention Kid went our of his way to recruit you. " the masked man reappears behind us patting my back. 

" you think so?" I give him my best coy look and he can almost hear him chuckling under his blue and white mask. 

I watch as the three of them report back to our red headed captain and I him motion for me to come as well. 

" Reporting back isn't an option. You b-line back to me understood? "He all but scowls but his touch is gentle as he pulls me towards himself. 

" Understood." I feel his rough lips on my hairline before he pushes me up motioning us to follow  him inside the galley where a couple others were sitting around and all goes quiet as we walk in. 

" Scram." A single word from out captain and they disperse like roaches exposed to light. 

"Looks like you're a good fit for my crew sweetheart." Kid suddenly grins, grins like he's scheming. 

" I don't know what you mean. I fit in anywhere so long I have your bed to crawl into at night."  He laughs and pats his leg for me to sit on and i expected an important conversation, maybe some planning of some sort but these boys go on to talk non-sense, casual conversation and I realize that for whatever reason, I am a part of their inner circle. I see nervous glances from the rest of the crew that had found refuge along the walls where they are out of ear shot. I realize something else.

Kid's crew is a crew of need. They either need his protection or fear him too much to leave.  We at this table are the only few that he truly trusts. All the others simple follow orders and runs the ship. He could care less whether they leave or die. 

I makes me wonder if he is a good captain or not. A fearsome pirate for sure but a good captain, maybe not. 

"My love, I think I'll head in for the night. my adventures have tired me out." I feel his hand twitch slightly against my waist before he angles his head to face me. 

"I'll have heat take you back." He motions for the blue hairs giant of a man to stand.

" No need for an escort. I can find my way around already." As soon as the words leave my lips I see his eyes harden slightly. 

" Just because you can doesn't mean you should have to." He hides his warning in clever words and my thoughts are confirmed when i see the hungry eyes that had followed my figure as I stood. 

 This isn't a crew full of loyal followers, no, its a ship of whores and bastards.