The captains of the sunset wind.

Jays pov

Chip grumbled as I shook him awake. "Not now... five more minutes..." He slurred his words, still very much asleep. I kept shaking his shoulders.
"Chip! Come on, wake up! Gil ran off!" He stopped letting me shake him and blinked at me.
"Gil... ran off...? What time is it- Are you sure he didn't swim?"
"You know what I mean! I tried to talk to him about his grumpiness and- Chip! Pay attention!" He rubbed his eyes and yawned, causing me to yawn as well. Dang it! Maybe we really are useless. "So I- I tried to talk to him and he said something about a bad smell and he was mad that we didn't wake up and he swam away! I don't know what we should do- put down anchor and wait, or should we keep sailing and hope he finds his way back? Chip-"
"Shush, Jay. You're talking too loud-" Chip tried to put his finger to my lips to shush me, but poked me in the chin before falling asleep.
"Really, Chip? You know- ugh. Guys..." I'll just put the anchor down and go back to sleep. Gil can take care of himself. I dragged my feet up the stairs and was about to plonk the anchor down when I saw Gil walk past me, probably not even noticing me. "Oh!" I tried to stop him but I could see it probably wouldn't end well.
"Idiot." Earl came up from out of nowhere, hands on his bony hips looking at Gil, and then at me. "Who, him or me?" I tilted my head, exhaustion in my tone.
"Both of you. I don't flipping care. He seems off, and you seem tired. If something bad happens, you both will be useless, and I already know I can't rely on Chip." He waddled around in an angry circle, turning to face a bed-headed Chip. "Uhm, ouch?" He ran his fingers through his hair, combing the fluffed up mess.
"I meant what I said. You're useless when you're tired." Earl gripped again while Chip yawned. "Y'know what, since you both are awake now, it's time for me to get some shut eye. You crazy kids make me steer the boat all night-" I patted Earl's frail shoulder.
"Yes yes, we're very sorry Earl. Go rest. I can steer the ship now." Earl huffed again and made more angry old noises before he finally retreated back to the kitchen. I cast a look at Chip who still looked groggy. "Chip... Gil is below deck. What should we do?"
"Leave him alone. He'll be fine if he's below deck. What's he going to do, blow something up?" He paused, pointing his finger in the air-matter-of-factly. Images of Gillion's crazy lightning magic flashed in my mind for just a moment. "Yeah... For no reason in particular I'm just going to go downstairs..." Chip hurried below deck while I trailed behind, laughing to myself. "Hey Gil?" Chip called before leaning over Gil's barrel. Gil was inside, cross-legged in the tight space, arms folded and looking down at the bottom. Chip turned back to give me a worried look, before lightly touching the surface of the water and flicked it a bit. "Gil- you awake?" Chip loudly whispered, putting on the aura of a curious child. He leaped back when Gil looked up at him, offering nothing more than a sigh.
He stood up, face to face with Chip. "Listen, guys." He started, his face no longer scrunched up in anger like earlier. He just looked disappointed. "I don't really know what's wrong today. I just need to be alone so that I don't accidentally blow up. I don't know why I'm so..." He looked at me. "'Prickly'- but I am." Chip clapped his hands together, clearly not expecting that but trying not to let anyone know that.
"Well, I'm sorry for bothering you, champ." He had an awkward smile on his face, already backing away from the ticking time bomb. "I'll leave you to that." Gil nodded slightly, and I gave them a look. "Do you think something is going to happen?" I noticed he had been tensed up like he usually did right before he was hit by an attack. Try as he might to roll away that stress, it was layered in everything he did.
"I... Don't know. I feel something amiss. When it will surface, I can't tell. But for now, I'd rather steer clear of any unnecessary anger." He rubbed the mark on his hand almost subconsciously, tracing his finger over the crescent moon. I nodded my head. "Okay. Whatever you want. We'll be here in case any demons appear." I nudged Chip, who nodded vigorously. "Yeah, we're not just going to... sleep through it." He chuckled breathlessly. He turned around to start walking away, muttering something to himself. "We'll see who's useless-"
I rolled my eyes at him, then started following after him before looking back to Gil one final time. "We're going to be okay." I gave a reassuring smile and hurried after Chip.