[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/AqdOUgz.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/aGEu1iP.png[/img][h2]Two Normal People Having A Normal Conversation[/h2][sub]Outside the Captain's Quarters[/sub][/center]
It was only just a door– a standard door like any other on the [i]Fornacis.[/i] No golden frills, no heralds announcing guest entrances, and certainly no standardized bowing and scraping as one entered. So why was this door the most formidable one Steph had ever encountered?

She dipped her mop back into the bucket. It was the night of the 16th. Most of the other crew had gone to bed. To the left of the hallway, nothing. To the right, also nothing. It was the perfect chance to investigate.

[color=gold][i]Investigate my ass![/i] [/color]She was normally above such crude language, but a few days on the ship surrounded by unruly crewmembers had already sullied her vocabulary, nevermind her mood. The damned door was locked. Locked! What kind of a captain never shows their face to their crew?

It was a mystery all too perplexing. All of a sudden, a cadre of crew members of the legendary ship had come back after complete silence for years with no leader in sight. There was that Taruva, but from what Steph had seen of him, he didn't seem the type to go launching a call to adventure like this. No, the answer had to lie within the captain's chambers. Something, some[i]one[/i] had pulled the most powerful Empyrean crew ever to exist back to its home.

[color=8882be]"Mmm?"[/color]

A voice, from the shadows. Velvety, calm, and yet, unmistakably deadly.

[color=8882be]"Whatcha doing there?"[/color]

Smooth movements, totally relaxed. A man with hair the color of midnight, and a suit custom-tailored to his proportions. There was a smile on his face, unbothered and unthreatened, and he closed in without causing a single floorboard to creak.

[color=8882be]"Lookin' for something, Miss?"[/color]

Steph nearly slipped in her own mop water.  [color=gold]"Ah! No, nothing at all. I'm just, erm, cleaning the floor!"[/color] She hurriedly splashed some more cleaning fluid on the floor, nearly skimming the man's shoes with the soapy fluid. 
[color=gold][i]I didn't hear him approaching at all?[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]"Cleaning the floor?"[/color] The tall man nodded, swaying on his feet. [color=8882be]"Industrious, ain'tcha? Trying to get into that room too?"[/color]

[color=gold]"N-not at all. I wasn't doing that. Trying to get into the room, I mean. I most certainly [i]am[/i] cleaning the floor. Trying to get into the room would be something far above the station of a janitor like me."[/color]

[color=8882be]"Eh...you don't clean inside rooms?"[/color]

[color=gold]"Well... this one's locked. It's bothering me a lot." Steph said. "Oh, um, because of my janitor's soul! I can't stand knowing that there could be dust or grime or dirt on this legendary ship. It simply doesn't do! I've already tried knocking, getting a key, looking for anyone to follow inside, and–" she realized her words and shut her mouth fast.[/color]

[color=8882be]"Mm, can definitely approve of that self-starting attitudeee."[/color] He nodded heavily, arms crossed. [color=8882be]"Still, it's too late for you to be working, ain't it? Can't recommend that at all..."[/color]

[color=gold]"Hm? Who're you to be questioning my worktimes? It's a manner of pride for me to stay out of sight during the day. Workers must remain stealthy, inconspicuous so as not to disturb their superiors. I learned that from... my mentor."[/color]

He smiled, before taking off his hat and bowing slightly.

[color=8882be]"I'm the Captain."[/color]

A pause. Steph's hurriedly closed jaw dropped.

[color=8882be]"Just kidding. Cain Darlite, medic and all. Would rather not have to see you at the medical bay, y'know? Overwork's a killer."[/color]

[color=gold]"Ah. That was [i]quite[/i] mean-spirited of you. I am Stephanie Erona, janitor. Pleasure."[/color] Her expression indicated that it was anything but. 
[color=gold]"Do not worry for my health, please. I have trained for years to reach my current state of performance. This is perfectly within my limits. Have you much experience with those of the overworking sort?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"Sorry, sorry. Thought a joke would lighten things up a bit, y'know? You're looking hella tense after all."[/color] Cain laughed. [color=8882be]"Seems like everyone's some sort of nightowl, honestly. Just yesterday, I came into the kitchen to see Merry and Nia still going at it. And the head doctor basically doesn't even leave her office."[/color]

Another pause, this time more thoughtful.

[color=8882be]"What sorta training have you been up to though? Never thought there was anything that'd allow people to work so late without longtime drawbacks."[/color]

[color=gold]"Endurance training. Of... the janitor kind. I also sleep during the day. How about you? Surely a doctor has better things to do than slinking about in the late hours of the night. Do you not have any patients to care for?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"Nocturnal habits, I see. Noted, noted."[/color] Definitely noted. Gonna have to add that to the report. What was her name again...Stephie? [color=8882be]"And nope, not anymore. Thought I'd walk off the buzz n get some sleep. Anyways, captain's sleeping too, so you'd probably do well to wait till they wake up before cleaning their room, yeah?"[/color]

[color=gold]"The captain is... sleeping?"[/color] Steph thought for a moment. [color=gold]"Hold on. Who's the captain? Do you mean former captain Branka?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"Can't be former if she's still alive, y'know?"[/color] Cain shrugged. [color=8882be]"Old crew's making decisions all Izma-style right now, cause no one wants to replace her."[/color]

[color=gold]"I... see. Do you know who called the crew back together, then?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"The ship, obviously."[/color]

[color=gold]"You mean the ship as in the Taruva? Or like, the ship as in the boat itself? Forgive my question, but I'm rather unfamiliar with this sort of abstract speaking."[/color]

[color=8882be]"They're one and same, are they not?"[/color] Cain brushed his magnificent hair back, and began to philosophize. [color=8882be]"Soul and body, taruva and boat. We're all just pilots of our own vessels, whether crafted of flesh or wood or stone. When one speaks of your deeds, do they not mean both the intent of your spirit and the motions of your substance?"[/color]

[color=gold]"I... what?"[/color] Steph blinked. She'd never been one for philosophy, only bothering to go through the minimum motions at the Academy. [color=gold]"I suppose...? Mr. Darlite, thank you for the lesson. I'd never thought of it that way."[/color] She did a slight bow– it was only polite to do so after someone taught you something,.

[color=8882be]"Oh no, Cain's fine,"[/color] the slightly-drunk medic chuckled. [color=8882be]"Honestly, I should be calling you Miss Stephie or something, considering seniority n all."[/color]

[color=gold]"Seniority? Oh, but you are a doctor, strange as you might be, while I am only a janitor. What sort of seniority is this?"[/color]

[color=8882be]"The seniority of age? And technically, I'm an assistant. Super technically."[/color]

[color=gold]"Seniority of age? Why, I-"[/color] Steph stopped herself. She'd taken on a fake age for the sake of the mission, saying she was 25 rather than 29, but still... [color=gold]"Hmph. How rude. Were I not a woman of morals, I would put you in your own medicine bay."[/color]

[color=8882be]"Oh, you too practice the Janitor Arts, capable of crippling a man with a single broom sweep?"[/color] Cain raised his hands in mock surrender. [color=8882be]"Was jokin' bout the age thing anyhow. I'm like, one year older than you. But formality's just weird anyhow. We're both grunt workers, eh?"[/color]

[color=gold]"I suppose. Cain it is, then."[/color] Steph frowned. [color=gold]"I'm not specially trained, I simply go through life with adequate protection. Anyone working on a ship should be able to defend themselves."[/color]

[color=8882be]"You'll be the first one I run to when the pirates start boarding then,"[/color] Cain winked.

[color=gold]"...I've said too much,"[/color] Steph murmured to herself. [color=gold]"Erm... it's been a lovely talk, but I think I must be going. Um. Back. Is that what people say? I need to... get to the top deck and clean there. Goodbye!"[/color] She grabbed her things and began to leave.

[color=8882be]Ah, hold on a minute."[/color]

[color=gold]"W-what?"[/color] She stopped.

[color=8882be]"A tip from one floorsweep to another: clean rooms during midday, cause it's real uncomfortable for a janitor to slip into your room at the dead of night."[/color]

With that, Cain dipped his head down in the facsimile of a bow, before disappearing down the hallway, humming a quiet tune.