Crates

by TwizzleDragon

The Crows Nest

I felt uneasy going up to the top deck. I didn’t belong there, and surely I would’ve stood out. There wasn’t any work to do below deck from the looks of it. Even Runt was sitting on a barrel, smoking from a pipe. Nopony took notice of me lifting the hatch, not even those above.

We were out at sea already, or maybe it was the ocean? I never went to school. For all I knew, we could’ve been on a river. The most I knew was of Baltimare, and those cold streets were never kind. Sailors scurried about, tying and untying ropes, moping parts of the deck, but it was overall calm up here. I didn’t give much attention and kept my head down just in case being up here was going to get me punished. I remembered Stargazer talking about the pony above all the others in his crows nest, Blind Eyes, or something like that. I wanted to talk to the seemingly lonesome pony, so I headed up the ropes of his tower. It was hard, not physically, but mentally, fearing the fall down, afraid that I would just splat down on the deck and end my life, but also afraid that my wings would suddenly burst into the talent I had been missing from my life, that I would fly and survive, live another day in this world, but it isn’t living, not in the slightest, because fear isn’t apart of life, it’s an illusion of death. Though I would not fall and end everything, so unworried of the consequences of death or survival, I made it to the crows nest and climbed over its edge. There sat Blind Eyes, an old pony with an eye patch, staring out into the abyssal waters.

“Is that you back with my cider already, Snitch?” Blind Eyes said, turning his good eye towards me. “Oh?” he said, expecting another in my place. “And you are?”

I hesitated at first, only for my voice to crack, “Two Bits, I’m new here, sir.”

“I know damn well you’re new here, I wouldn’t of asked ya who you were otherwise, boy. Now why ya up here without a drink?”

“I didn’t know to bring one for you, sorry.”

“For me? No, boy, the drinks for you! Life up in the nest ain’t nothing without a spot of rum.”

“Must it be so dreadful?”

“Ain’t dreadful at all, kid, just a world waiting to be altered. Here,” he handed me what was left in his whiskey canteen, “drink up,” and so I did.

Its taste was not akin with my tongue. I struggled to keep it down, not to insult Blind Eyes and his invited habits. “It’s a bit strong for me, anything different down in the decks?”

“I ain’t one to go down there, kid, far as I know there’s only rum other.” There was a mild silence afterwards.

“So,” I began, trying to continue conversing with the stallion, “what’s your job?”

“Ain’t it obvious, boy? I’m the scout. I help the quartermaster navigate and see to it we’re on the right course that the captain wants set.”

“What would our current course be?”

“Don’t know anything for sure, alls I know is Captain wants us northeast for a bit, looking for some merchant ship flying crystal flags. Kinda odd of a trade spot, out in the open seas, we’ve never done one before, just hope the cargo is something important that we can’t carry it out from the city docks, ya know?”

“What if it isn’t a trade?”

“Captain wouldn’t be having a meeting set if it weren’t. Gotta keep your honor on the sea, I suppose.”

“Honor is just a word.”

“Only if you want it to be, kid.”

“How long till we get to the spot?”

“Depends if we reach the right place. Accuracy is a problem most of the time. Should take us a day or two at most, seeing as how it isn’t far from a few islands. Just a notch off Irleia, not many fly crystal flags past that point.”

“Whys that?”

“Them folk always more reserved to their lands, plus I can’t imagine they want to focus on the sea in such a cold climate. Water is for the desert pony.”

“That it is.”

“So what’s your aim, kid?”

“My aim?” I had never shot anything in my life.

“Your goal here, we all got ‘em, mines simple, my skills just pertain to this.”

“What skills, your ability to drink that dastardly stuff?”

“Ya tell me your goal, I tell ya my skill, sound fair?”

“Alright.”

“Let’s hear it then!”

“I’m here for…” I didn’t think my actual reason of having a better life on board the ship due to my race would fit the best answer for him, so I gave him a different one, “Stargazer.” The word was like a refugee escaping the genocide of my thoughts.

“Ah… Well… She is a very promising one… You’re not the only here for her, believe it or not. The girl has a certain charm to her, that manipulative bitch.”

“So what’s your skill then?”

“My sight.”

“What do you mean?”

“Despite this patch across one, the other is very dysfunctional in short distance. I make for a better scout than most that fair on the nest.”

“Quite the talent.”

“Aye. Though I can see for afar, anything up close is a blur, it is not a great talent, but a talent none the less.”

There was a sailor climbing up to the nest.

“Here’s your bottle, Blind, almost out in the decks,” said the newcomer.

“Finally, Snitch, took ya long enough!”

“Aye, who’s this?”

“Two Bits,” I said, with a unexpected crack in my voice.

“Would’ve brought ya a bottle if I knew, sorry, Bits,” he took a swish of his rum. “Cook was being a damn hassle looking through the stocks, damn boy got in my way so many times.”

“He looking for that wine o’ his again?” Blind Eyes asked, now looking out towards the sea.

“Not like he drinks it himself. Stargazer was about to give him the hoof if he kept misplacing the cargo. If he didn’t make the food decent, I’da done the same.”

The second mentioning of Stargazer had reminded me that I had not seen her at all since my boarding. I felt my time up in the nest was reaching its end soon anyways, so I said my goodbye, and climbed down. Still, the floors were clear of work, only filled with partially drunken sailors and a bored quartermaster watching the sails ride the wind. I went below decks, parched for a drink that didn’t alter my touch with reality. I kept towards the kitchen, hoping one of my acquaintances would know where some sort of fresh water was kept on the ship.

The two were arguing when I entered the room. “It works much better than your usual quills, Kuil, have you changed your diet?”

“My diet is none of your concern, Chap!”

“Right, right. It’s just odd, so different than your other plucked feathers, much softer, less coarse, and the tip is so fine. Are you sure?”

“It’s probably just a young feather tugged out. Why must you make such deals about things like this?”

I had no idea how Kuil hadn’t strangled Chap by now. Though the two appeared to be the closest things they could be to friends, they didn’t seem to be fond of that relationship.

“What’s the problem?” I cut in.

“Oh, hello again, Bits!” He had been scribbling in his research book with a very small feather, my own. Kuil turned and faced me, greeted me, and got back to her work.

“What is that?”

“Just one of Kuil’s feathers, found it lying about just in time to record more notes. Have you met Blind Eyes yet? I’d like to know how he is doing, he hasn’t come down from there in ages, always have to send Snitch up with his meal. Becomes quite the bother after a few years of knowing how close he is.”

“He’s fine. Why don’t you just go up there and visit him yourself?”

“Chap can’t climb for shit,” Kuil chuckled.

“Oh…” It wasn’t even a difficult climb to the nest. “Say, Chap, do you perhaps know where I could find a drink? Nothing hard for me, I’ve not the body for that stuff.”

“Oh, yes, stay here, I shall get you a canteen,” he went off, leaving me with Kuil.

“Finally,” Kuil started, “some less annoying company. So, Bits,” she put dropped from her occupation. “What’s your story?”

“No story at all.”

“None? Did you not exist until this ship came by?”

“No, I just don’t have any events. My life is the same as it always was until now.”

“Oh, and what has changed?”

“Just the scenery.”

Chap reentered the room, carrying a canteen. “Here you go, Bits! If you need more they are next to the starboard bunks, right against the dividers.”

“Thanks, Chap.” I took my canteen and went off towards my bunk.

Author's Note:

This chapter was just for character development.
If it really matters to you about Bits and his inability to fly, he will not fly ever in this story, for realism, that he has a deformed wing, like nemo, and will never be physically capable of flight.