[indent]Shouta enjoyed the song, although no one joined him. A lot of pansies, if you asked him. Any man that could skewer another, but refused to get on stage only had one ball. What kind of pirate didn't enjoy spotlight? Hell, they spent most of their time, if they were good, avoiding it. The few moments they got to boast should be proud ones. Of course, these were just the general thoughts of Shouta to the whole damned tavern, not anyone in particular. It wasn't until some girl was grabbing at his hand when his song was finished that he even took real notice of the crew. In all reality, she procured his attention far better than Runali did.[/indent]

"You all talk a helluva lot," Shouta said in his slurred speech. He wasn't aggressive nor did he really sound rude. Despite the obvious poor choice of his words, his light tone made it sound more like a request to slow down. He was, after all, fairly intoxicated. The amount these people spoke was getting too him, and he was hardly in decent shape to effectively communicate in a more poetic manner. He could sing, sure, but these were drunken sea shanties, not some eloquent introduction. Most of what both women said slipped right through his drowned ears, aside from a few select phrases. Before he added anything, however, he grabbed a bottle of whatever spirit he had, then allowed his hand to glaze over a black sheen before cracking it open - literally. Shouta guzzled down the half-filled bottle with a far wider opening, somewhat debuting his abilities while mostly just getting even more intoxicated.

"Ne'er heard of any Stardusk pirates. Guess that's what chur after," Shouta said with a somewhat melancholic tone. He wiped off any remaining liquor from his mouth onto his sleeve before he continued. "If youse want'n judged, you'll have'ta wait," he explained, "there be three whole crews waitin' before ya. An' yes, I killed that rat. Half's crew tried ta pull a mutiny on's ship. Whadn't none of my business 'til the idiot almost sunk the damned ship. I probably busted four'r five other skulls, too, jus' gettin' that wreck back here. I'm sure youse can piece together the rest a that story." Shouta popped off the cork to his other glass, looking around at the small crew. As drunk as he was, he saw a band of merry murders, sure, but he didn't see any collective goal. They didn't seem like criminals on the run, and aside from the captain they didn't seem like kids trying to play pirates. They were an odd crew, if anything.

"If youse ain't familiar with how this goes," he began explaining while pouring his drink, "I'll tell youse what I can without ruinin' my drink. Name's Shouta Takan, but most know me as teh Rookie Judge. Most Rookie pirates lookin' to make a name seek me out after dey hear teh rumors, then I spend a whole month in their crew learnin' about'm." After he explained the very basics, Shouta took another swig of his drink, but it was apparent by his quick paced body language that he wasn't quite done. "Now see, ya basically can't kill me. I haven't met a Rookie in six years that could e'en hurt me; I bet that sword he's got won' leave a papercut," Shouta added. He spoke as if his words were absolute fact, and to him there was little room for deviation. "I publish my judgments once a year in November. About ten or so. It goes out to other crews, some employers, smugglers, the Navy. Can getcha nice jobs, can getcha killed. But teh point is, it gets ya out dere. Ain't nothin' in this whole world more valuable than that."