He knew what it was to be alone, perhaps not in the same sense as Elissa, but without his history, his identity, he had nothing and no-one to return to. He had to survive, and pirates did not substitute parents or a family particularly well, if at all. He was a strong young lad with a pair of sea legs, he was useful, and the men who pulled him up did seem to take some kind of pity on him - whatever had happened to him, however, it didn’t fend off years of hard graft and pulling weight on numerous ships and within a couple of crews, beatings and a little bullying until he filled out enough to hit back hard and earn some respect, a lot of respect.

Joseph turned his head to meet with her gaze, still leaning back against the door, he grasped her hand in his larger palm, “you don’t have to keep running, you know that? But, if you want to, that’s alright..” he began, he let out a breath as he expressed a wide grin, “Elissa I think you know by now you don’t have to ask me for anything”, he felt she was particularly good at reeling him in when she wanted to.