//------------------------------// // Chapter forty-four, Lacking Overly Violent Enmity: Blimp. // Story: Airship Mauled // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -A month or two later, The Ardent Survivor, Jacky- “So yeah, things have been pretty awkward between us, but at least Flotsam is trying more now to improve on things to make my job as captain easier. I’m not about to tell her I’m thankful for that.” I’ve been so busy making the changes to The Ardent Survivor, but you’d never know by looking at its outside. “So what have you been working on while Savannah, Flotsam and I make changes to the ship?” The outside of the airship looked exactly the same as it always did, but the changes I made to the inside will give the ship something new that it can do if it’s ever shot out of the sky. I had almost had the finishing touches in place even, it was only a matter of time. “I’ve been teaching Belfry to read and write.” Gene says it so blandly that I just had to look in his direction. “He wants to write an apology message for the whole watering hole thing, but he wants to do it himself.” “I’ll accept it when he’s done writing it, then maybe I’ll go out on a walk with him again.” Not that I cherished the idea, but I was willing to try as I had promised Belfry that I would. The butterfly had to meet me halfway on this. “You do realize that butterflies tend to represent chaos right?” “Of course I do, but what would Fluttershy say if she saw you refusing to be friends with Belfry over a simple mistake of being overly excited to be at your side?” Gene was now staring at me curiously, if I was hearing this right and the barest of tonal shifts. Gene was probably interested to hear what I had to say about him being at my side in comparison. “Yes, but I want that apology first, I’m still willing to make an effort to like him.” I was not about to force it though, I’m sure that Belfry understood that right? “I haven’t kicked him off the ship so he should know that I still want him around at least right?” “Well yes, I think he realizes that he’s still part of our crew and he’s been trying to get to know the others in the meantime.” Giving Gene a curious look and sitting up from my reclined position on the deck. I gave him my full attention. “Flotsam is alright, but she’s a little nervous around him. Nefer and Belfry are best buddies and as for Savannah, well Belfry only approaches her when he needs to relax.” “What about you?” I was correct in knowing that he could have started with his relationship first. “Well as for me, I’m kind of like his big brother and he wants you to be happy more than anything so… he wants our relationship to work more than anything.” Well you couldn’t get us closer to one another unless you glued us together. Snorting at Gene’s words, I started to giggle. “Like he could get us any closer without gluing us together and sticking us in a room to talk about things for a night.” I guess today was a day I’d be spending time with Gene, he’s been taking care of the smaller things for me and I should really show him he’s appreciated. “So how about a date?” “I’m okay with that.” His beak pressed some of my feathers out of the way of my neck and he gave me an affectionate nibble. “Do you think the zebra have any good restaurants?” “Does it really matter if they did?” I smiled at him and wrapped my right arm around him and pulled him close. “We just need to spend some quality time with one another without our crew members getting in the way.” I heard a cheerful squeak, I turned to Belfry as he approached us quickly. He skidded to a stop in front of us and gave us two a highly affectionate look. “You’re going to keep the others away from us aren’t you?” My question was met with Belfry nodding and holding up a piece of folded paper. I took the paper from him and unfolded it. “I’m sorry I got you trampled by wildebeest… eh, that’s good enough for an apology from you Belfry. Though if you can keep the rest of the crew out of our business while we go on a date, I’ll spend the whole day with you tomorrow.” Belfry’s eyes got all watery and happy, he nuzzled up against my chest affectionately and then pulled back while saluting me with one of his six legs. “So you think you can keep Nefer, Savannah and Flotsam under control? Hah, you’re going to have your legs full just keeping Savannah away from trying to give us tips.” I then leaned in to say something that would sound conspiratorial if anyone other than Gene hear. “Aim Savannah at Flotsam, they should take each other out and keep Nefer under control by keeping him entertained, you can do that right?” Belfry took on a serious look, about as serious as a giant butterfly could manage anyway. “Right then, let’s ask the locals if there’s any place that’s special around here to eat.” I turned to Gene and clapped my talons together while smiling cheerfully at him. He tilted his head and raised a brow. “Look I’m sure the ship won’t be on fire when we get back.” “That’s happened five times already, in the last seven days.” He stated blandly. “Yeah, but we stopped all of them before they cause too much damage!” He put his claws on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “Jacky, can you honestly tell me you can stop worrying about The Ardent Survivor long enough to relax and have dinner with me?” Staring Gene in the eyes I didn’t know how to answer him, so I had to go with honesty. Savannah knew it was the best policy in any relationship to be honest with your feelings. “Yes, I can do that.” I was being honest and I was going to be entirely honest. “So long as nothing life threatening happens and our friends survive it, I won’t care if the ship goes up in a fiery explosion. Just so we can get one night together, but we both know my curse won’t allow it.” “Jacky, please, we can do this. I promise you tonight will go well and that nothing horrible will happen to the ship. Now let’s go talk to a zebra about where we can get some food around here… that or we can just ask Savannah.” He paused and looked to me. “I agree that you’re curse will be a problem, so we can’t actually do anything overly fancy.” “We’re asking a zebra, I don’t want to hear anything Savannah has to say at the moment.” With that we were disembarking on a date come hellfire, I wasn’t about to wish high water as Flotsam is reasonably hydrophobic. We didn’t expect there to be any fancy places in Zebrica, but the first zebra we saw actually seemed cordial to us. “Hello, you wouldn’t happen to know a place we can eat together as a couple?” “Oh my yes, you have been quite pleasant guests.” The zebra mare said with alacrity, it was one of those shaman types judging from the attempt at rhyming. “Thanks to you being yourself, the village has never been more peaceful like the good luck totem sitting upon my shelf. Though a meal with a special someone that won’t cause an issue. Yeah that’s not going to happen, it is sad to say, from all the crying and laughter I’ll need a tissue.” “Recommendations please, and not the story of my life?” I tapped my foot claws against the ground impatiently and leaned over the zebra. “Of course friend, we all know you are cursed to the very end. It is part of who you are, for facing it so bravely you are quite a rising star.” She bowed to me. “So to a legend like you in the making I suggest mister Cassava Nova’s food for your lovely date, I would also suggest you order some takeout for being a known chew toy of fate. We all are who we choose to be, but you are an inspiration to many as from your fate you refuse to flee. Strong are you in spirit and body, survive you will to have further good times and party. We know you are nice, we’re sorry that your curse is making you pay a constant price.” “Thanks, we’ll take that takeout suggestion under advisement!” So the zebra around here knew I was cursed and actually liked me because I kept attracting all the dangerous stuff to us instead of them? Well I guess I was correct to send Gene and Belfry for the supplies we needed. Cassava Nova’s sounds likes a lovely place to go to for a meal… we’re doing takeout as suggested. Zebra shaman says to do it, you listen up and you would be smart to heed such advice give clearly and succinctly as that. “Takeout?” Gene asked as we went into the village. “Do you want to sit down for a meal or do you want to find a nice quite spot before my curse kicks in?” I tripped over a wooden box and ended up with a big chunk of wood in my beak. Spitting said offending wood off to the side I held out my tongue and the large splinter in. “Ow…” “Hold still Jacky, I’ll get it.” He deftly plucked the splinter from my tongue. “You okay?” “I’m fine, let’s do this quickly before anything else happens!” I started off in a run and Gene followed after me. -Later into the evening- Cassava Nova’s was a nice restaurant, local Zebrican foods were interesting and I couldn’t wait to taste my order. They accepted pirate treasure well enough, they also accepted the average Equestrian Bit and we were going to sit down to eat our food. Too bad we couldn’t stay or the entire restaurant my dissolve around me. Even as we left, we were quite wary of our surroundings and made for the savannah to sit in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t even anywhere near where the giant tribal meerkat warrens this time. “I’m kind of surprised that they have so many starchy foods.” I took out the stuffed chili peppers I ordered as an appetizer, Gene pulled out some dough and dipping sauce from his sack as his opener. Popping the chili in my mouth and crunched it, I felt the heat immediately start burning its way through my beak. “Spicy… but oddly satisfying. The locusts they stuffed these pepper with make it quite flavorful.” “I think this dipping sauce and dough is neat… you know, every day is an adventure with you Jacky. Heh, I don’t know when the next tree will fall out of the sky.” We heard cannon fire and something exploded high above us. A whistling noise was soon heard and an anvil slammed into the ground twenty feet to our left. Gene gulped, while I just continued eating. “… Right, no talking about that, just enjoying each other’s company.” A wagon hit the ground fifteen feet to Gene’s right, I just popped another chili pepper in my mouth and had a disinterested look on my face in what I knew was coming. Some Pegasus delivery company is obviously involved and I could hope that this wouldn’t ruin my food. “Um… are we going to…?” Gene started to ask. “Just keep eating gene, don’t worry about it and let’s enjoy the evening sky while we still can.” I sighed as a crate full of gooey tar hit the ground ten feet to my left and spilled everywhere. It’s a good thing we were sitting on rocks for our meal, said rocks were now surrounded by a bunch of icky black muck. “It’s a beautiful night.” “I’m with someone just as or even more beautiful.” Despite the bland tone, it warmed my heart because I knew that Gene absolutely meant it. “The stars are kind of nice, if you can look around the large cloud of falling objects.” “I’m so sorry about the cannonball!” I could hear Flotsam screech and I heard fighting going on, we even heard several explosions and we tried to ignore it. “It was an accident I swear!” We continued eating even as Savannah flopped into sight, somewhat boneless on the ground nearby, and groaned audibly. Belfry quickly scooped her up and dragged her out of our sight while shooting us constant worried looks. “Do you seriously think we can really make this work Gene?” I said through a mouthful of my appetizer. “Getting your sister back or our relationship. If so, then yes to both.” He says it so plainly, he put his left wing around me and held me close. “Want to try some of my food?” “Sure.” I took a chunk of dough and started to dip it into the sauce, while I ignored anything that may or may not be happening behind us at the moment. “Mmm… good, I might have to order some to go before we leave soon, I can finish the modifications off tomorrow and then I’ll spend the day with Belfry even if the rest of this evening turns out horribly.” A barrel smashed into the ground five feet to our right and nearly splashed us with the substances within. Said substances started mingling with the tar surrounding the large rocks, it smelled like alcohol. Why would a moving company have alcohol? Eh, not my problem, snuggling with Gene. Yep nothing to see going on around us. “Help me, they have an evil monkey!” Nefer screamed and even then I was going to entirely ignore it because I was comfortable. “No, my tail tips are not food!” “We’re not moving from the spot are we?” Gene finally asked as I put my head against his chest and popped another locust filled chili pepper in my mouth and chewed. “Nope… not even for that crashing airship.” Said airship missed our spot by the barest of a foot and lit the tar and alcohol on fire, but the rocks stayed cool to the touch. “Let’s just let the world burn around us for a bit… okay Gene?” “Sure thing Jacky.” He pecked me on the cheek and gave me a tiny smile. So he could emote on his own, it was just hard for him to do that for anyone other than me. I felt special at this moment as we huddled together in the middle of a disaster zone looking up at the bright stars. “We’re going to have to move eventually though.” “Let’s finish our food first, then we save everyone’s butts and our own while we’re at it.” We continued on into our main course ignoring all the horrors going on around us. I started to laugh. “This is all going to end so poorly, but I really just want to drag my feet on this one.” “You’re comfortable, I’m comfortable, and it’s understandable that we worry about eating our food first before it gets destroyed by what’s happening around us.” Gene held me closer and we started sharing our food with one another. “I’ll always want to protect my greatest treasure, that being a lovely pirate parrot.”