Serious: The random people around (Open to Frog Dragon and Lost only) (CLOSED)

The Aspirant Galley drifted lazily towards the harbor. The wind was favorable today, allowing him to reach the island with little work on his part. He stepped out of the sailing boat as it reached the docks, tying it to the poles from both ends of the vessel. He looked around for a bit. He actually had had clients here, but after he had ditched their contracts due to the pirates, they would likely consider business with him a sketchy venture.

Most of all, he was hungry, and the food that could be carried on a boat had grown somewhat stale to his palate. A restaurant dinner would serve as a nice change of pace. This in mind, he started walking along the streets, looking for a restaurant that appeared to be somewhat respectable. Eventually, he located one that seemed appropriate, though he mostly noticed the establishment due to the striking hairstyle of the girl who was just entering it.

He walked through the door and scanned for empty seats before finally sitting down on one. Then he started reading through the menu for something to order.

Jordan ordered lamb and sat down to eat, keeping his hat on as no one was actually talking with him and everyone else seemed to be staying hatted. He looked around nonchalantly while eating, but missed the mohawk-adorned girl standing up from her table and approaching him.

Jordan looked up from his meal. It wasn't often that perfect strangers started conversations about hats. He looked at the girl that had randomly struck up conversation. She couldn't have been older than 20. "Probably younger than that." Jordan thought as she segued into talking about her foster parents. He took off his hat. "I.. see." He started, somewhat at a loss as to how to respond to this girl. Then he recalled his manners. "Nice to meet you, miss." He started, changing tone completely, offering a handshake and standing up, moving the fedora to his left hand. "What got you so interested in hats, miss?"

Jordan sat back down, leaning back on the chair as he listened to the young lady's explanation on her interest in hats. He noted the apparent contradiction in Katherine saying that she thought it was irresponsible to spend money on hat, yet spending money on restaurant dinners. However, he decided not to make any note of it as the subject of her brother seemed to be making her sad, despite her best efforts to hide it.

"I'm Jordan Towers" He started. "I lost my shipping business to pirates a month or so ago. They sank my ship you see. Me and my staff managed to take their ship while they were fighting over loot division, but the marines confiscated that one because it was a pirate ship. Then I bought a sailing boat and sailed here. I could try to start my business again, but I probably don't have the best of reputations among merchants at the moment." He said, hat still in his left hand, leaning back on the chair. He wondered what prompted him to share all that with this random girl. He glanced back at his plate. Almost done anyway. "But are you truly interested in that?" He asked.

"Apologies for the implication, miss." Jordan rose up, leaving the bill with a small tip on the table. "Nobles were pretty liberal with what they said to those below their station." Jordan said, putting his hat back on. "I got used to all kinds of stuff. To be quite honest, miss, I've heard a lot stranger than what you just said."

Jordan started walking towards the door with the assumption that Katherine would follow. It did seem like she had finished her meal. Originally, he had thought to avoid the subject of her brother, but as she brought him up a second time, he figured that she did not actually mind the subject despite the sad memories. "Where did all this happen? You've traveled after that, miss?" He got the impression that this lady was probably not a local, considering her wildly differing attire from most of them.

Katherine smiled, she wondered what strange things Jordan had heard from other people, as she was REALLY strange to start with, maybe some psychopaths or something like that, or maybe he was just being polite and not pointing out that she was a weirdo, it was possibly that, but Katherine didn't mind, because she was finally getting along with someone. She stood up when he went to the door and followed him. He asked her about her brother, she smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Well not really, my parents died when I was little and I had my brother but when he left for something that I didn't know at the moment, I was left alone, although I could handle by myself thanks to the colaboration of everyone in the village. He came from time to time until he said goodbye forever, and then I was forced to go to a foster house, my foster parents weren't that bad but they didn't love me either, so when I was old enough, I left. And you're right, I'm not from here, I wouldn't be able to stand these prejudicial people" she commented and then stopped in front of a park. "Wanna sit on the swings?" She asked, her cerulean eyes sparkling from joy.

"I didn't know this town had swings. Jordan said. "I'd rather pass, miss. Never really liked swings. They feel too.. swingy." He said. He was starting to wonder how old this girl actually was. He originally thought that she was almost 20, but she didn't really sound like it. She sounded rather immature, actually. The story didn't exactly give a positive image of his brother. He sounded like a neglectful fool, but that may have been a condensed version.

But again, he chose not to voice any of this. That might have upset her further, had he chosen to do so. He walked towards the swings, but didn't sit on any of them. "Do you have any plans, miss, if you don't mind me asking?" He asked. "Are you looking for something on this island, maybe?" He wasn't sure why he was asking these questions. The girl posed a bit of an enigma. Perhaps her willingness to share her story had caused him to want to know it.

...Right Jordan muttered, somewhat dumbfounded. He tried to avoid seeming too weirded out, as most other people might have. He coughed, looking around. Not too many people around the park. He extended one hand at Katherine to help her up. He was still wondering why he had wound up in this conversation. "To be quite sincere, I don't have much of a plan either, miss. I came here to figure out a plan, since I couldn't think of anything on last island. I didn't have any connections back there, and it was honestly a bit of a backwater. I used to have connections over here, but those are the same people whose shipments I had to ditch so they're probably not my best bet. Frankly, I'm not sure why I even stopped here." He said as he pulled Katherine up from the ground. From her speech, it sounded like she had never had that much experience with people. Her foster parents probably hadn't interacted with her much. "You don't sound stupid, miss." Jordan said, seguing back into what she had said before. "People rarely plan that far ahead. It can be quite hard when you don't know what's coming."

Suddenly, every entrepreneurial instinct in Jordan's head started shouting. "Achtung! Achtung! Abort! Abort!" As a businessman, you didn't pair up with people you knew next to nothing about, especially ones who specifically promised not to stab him in the back. Those were always the ones who were poorly concealing the fact that they intended to do exactly that. That, however, would be extremely impolite to tell her, so he wouldn't do that. But he didn't want to accept this offer right off the bat. That would rank among decisions that could backfire very easily, and successful entrepreneurs didn't make decisions like that. Also, she had the appearance of a juvenile delinquent.

"Miss, are you sure you wish to make a decision like that right now?" He asked. "You seem like a nice lady, and I believe you won't stab me in the back, miss, especially since you don't look to be carrying a knife, but this still seems like a snap decision. I'm not sure pairing up with me will better your situation."

Jordan pondered for a second. How much harm could it do? This town was almost as bad as the last one. He would be moving on soon anyway, and he didn't see much harm that could happen by taking this girl with him, if she wanted to come. Entrepreneur instincts only applied when you had a business, and at the moment, Jordan did not have one. And even Jordan had to admit that this girl was somewhat interesting.

He shrugged. "Well, I don't see a problem with it then." He said. Something in his head went "Damn it!" Ah well, it probably wouldn't be that bad. Perhaps the girl would even be pleasant traveling company. "Well, my boat is rather small, but I doubt that will be a problem." Had he really just invited a perfect stranger to travel with him? Still, as an entrepreneur, he wasn't the worst judges of character, and she didn't seem that bad once you got past the mohawk. The blue mohawk. He had to wonder how she even maintained that hairstyle. I'd be pleased to travel with you, miss.

...No problem, really. Jordan adjusted his hat. He thought for a moment about what she had said. Something about "not disobeying". Ugh, he clearly hadn't properly conveyed what he was looking for. "But miss, I'm definitely not taking you as a subordinate of any kind." He said. She talked as if she could not handle herself on the sea, even though that was clearly not true, given that she was not a born citizen to this place and was here anyway. "I'm honestly not much of a sailor myself, since I used to just hire people who were better sailors than I was." He said. "So please don't think of me as an authority on the ship, miss. Besides, if we ever do run into a storm or anything similar, I'd sink like a stone..." He finishes.

"But anyway." Jordan said. "I still need to resupply. Do you have anything you need to do, miss?"

"Well, I mostly need to resupply on food." Jordan said. "I only bought enough for one island hop last time. You're welcome to come help me resupply if you wish, miss, though I doubt it will be a very riveting activity." He started walking in the direction he expected the general foodstuff stores to be in. It was fairly predictable in a town like this. The markets gravitated near the centre, so that's where he would go. He picked a random street that possibly led to the market district and started walking.

Clearly, this place didn't get much tourism. Nothing was properly listed. Everything was "common knowledge". In hindsight, this probably explained the poor reception Katherine had gotten. These people didn't get outsiders. They didn't see them, they didn't want them, they didn't need them. Jordan tried to do his shopping as quickly as possible and get out. These people were almost rude, but he could never say it to their faces. "Do you think we need anything else, miss?" He asked Katherine, hefting the bags to a more comfortable position.

"I have one on my boat, miss." Jordan said. How could he have made it this far without one? After all, he didn't exactly have navigator's instinct or anything, and he certainly wouldn't have bet finding islands on luck. Most of the world was sea, after all. He then noticed Katherine staring straight into his eyes. He met her gaze for a moment, but then turned his sight seaward. "The next inhabited island is not very far away." Jordan said. "The trip should take a few days at most, miss." He glanced at his suit. It had stayed clean even in this dusty little town. Then he started walking back towards the docks and his boat. It had been a strange day. He had accidentally picked up traveling company, and they were going to share the boat for the next few days. Jordan hoped they'd get along in the long run as well.

Katherine nodded and decided to not say anything else, as she didn't really have anything to add, she was pretty comfortable with things that way and decided to head to the docks with Jordan, in the way to the docks Katherine didn't even spare a glance at Jordan, she just kept walking and staring at the scenario before her, the people walking, talking and smiling, the soft sound of their laughter filling her ears and making her feel slightly happy herself, even if they had treated her horribly before.

Katherine allowed herself to smile freely and then they started nearing the docks, she wondered how Jordan's boat looked like and if they would fit comfortably, but she wasn't scared or anything like that, she was just wondering. Simply wondering. "So, Jordan, how does your boat look like?" Katherine asked out of curiosity, she wondered how Jordan acted like when he was alone, what kind of things he found funny, and silly stuff like that because she was really bored at the moment. She grinned at Jordan while waiting for the answer.

The girl had finally fallen silent, and Jordan was somewhat glad about this. She seemed like a nice enough person, but she had a tendency to say complete complete non-sequiturs, and she wasn't exactly easy to converse with. He looked around the docks, not having familiarized himself with the layout. It took some looking to find where he had left his sailing boat. The darkwood boat sat in the place where he had left it, still securely tied to the posts, though in his absence, another, larger vessel had been docked right next to it. Jordan sighed. Maneuvering their way out of the dock might be a bit of a challenge with the ship in the way.

"Well, this is my boat." He climbed into the 7 meter long boat, setting his supplies down on the deck before climbing onboard himself. "It's not very large, but it's seaworthy, and according to my map, more than sufficient to get us to the next island." He extended his hand to Katherine from the boat. "Are you coming, miss?"