When the three of us arrive at the galley we see that my sister and Nikki are already there waiting on us together with Captain Taylor.

“Ah good, you’re here. Auguste just began preparin’ our food.”

“What is he making?” I sit down between Hilda and my girlfriend across the table from them.

“You’ll see. But fear not, Auguste is the best cook employed on any ship sailing these seas. We freed him from some nasty people a couple of years ago and he has been an extremely valued member of the crew ever since.”

“People are a lot less rowdy if they have a nice meal to look forward to.” Hilda pets my head.

“Just so, just so.” Captain Taylor laughs.

“Captain Taylor…”

“You can just call me Taylor if you want. Don’t wanna get stuck in formalities too much.” She smiles.

“A-alright then… Taylor, where did you find the rest of your crew?” I ask.

“Most of ‘em, like Auguste, are people that we freed or helped over the years and who decided to hang around and help us do the same for others.”

“So how did you start out then?” Hilda continues.

“That’d be six years ago. Back then a group of us who were tired of the navy decided we wanted to make a difference for people in need. When we were still in the service we saw a lot of bad shit happen... but sadly we couldn’t really do anything because we were bound to strict guidelines. So around ten of us quit, collected all our savin’s and bought our first sloop. We used to have a rotation for the captain seat but ultimately we ended up in posts that fit us most, so I ended up as the captain. From the original ten there’s only me, my lieutenant and the ship’s surgeon left.”

“W-what happened to the rest?”

“You are wonderin’ if they all died a gruesome death?”

I gulp.

Taylor laughs. “Don’t worry ‘bout that. They just found someone they wanted to settle down with. We set them up with plenty of resources and part ways. Occasionally we still go visit them if they aren’t living the nomad’s life. As for me, this ship is practically my home so I’d never think about leaving it, even though my little sister tries to convince me otherwise almost constantly. ‘Come live in Honnes, it’d be nice to see you more than twice a year.’ Don’t get me wrong, I understand ‘er feelings… but...”

“It’s just not you.” Élise nods.

“‘xactly. Maybe one day… but right now? Not a chance.”

“Here you go.” a big tiger beastman interrupts us by putting some plates with a silver cloche over them on the table, his long fluffy tail was distracting me a little.

“Ah, thank you Auguste.”

“No problem, I hope it’ll be to your liking.” He makes a little bow.

“I’m sure it’ll.” Taylor lifts one of the cloches, revealing the biggest sushi platter I’ve ever seen. The smell of fish immediately makes me start salivating. I could also hear Sam next to me gulp.

“Well, I’m sure at least two of ‘em will like it a lot.” Taylor laughs.

“Want to sit with us Mister Auguste?” Nikki asks.

“I’ll have to finish something up in the kitchen and make my own plate, but sure.”

And so it went. Mister Auguste joined us after preparing some more food for the rest of the crew and then sat himself down next to us to eat his own meal. We discussed life at sea and exchanged a couple more experiences before my sister finally asked him a question.

“Hey, Auguste, could you let my baby sister there fluff your tail? She’s been staring at it almost non-stop for the past hour.”

I almost spit out my drink. “Wha!? Lise!”

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“You thought no one saw?”

“Eeeeh!?”

“Yeah, Ami, you were quite obvious about it.” starts laughing.

“Haha.” Auguste’s deep laugh fills the room. “I was waiting for her to say something herself!”

“Ami is a bit shy, she wouldn’t ask it herself. But she’s going to regret it if she doesn’t.” Hilda agrees.

“Stop, you’re embarrassing me!”

“Y’know, Auguste loves to get his tail fluffed. Especially if we meet children, they always wanna do it.”

“Like the time on that island off the coast of Sharab. Those were some good times. Making kids happy is always fun. They ran away with the captain’s hat. It was great to see her chase around after them.”

“I know one of y’all gave it to them! One day I’ll find out who did it.”

“So if you want to, you can definitely come and fluff it.” He deliberately swishes his tail from left to right as to tempt me.

“A-are you sure?”

“Mhmm.” He friendly nods.

“A-alright.” Sam lets me take her place next to Auguste as he puts his tail in my lap. Even though my own tail is already very fluffy, it just couldn’t compare to his. Especially the little tuft of fur at the end is just heavenly soft.

“Whaaaah. How did you get it so soft?”

“That’s a trade secret.” He pets me with his hand paw.

“Tell meee, I need mine to be so soft too.”

Auguste laughs. “Alright, apart from my entire family having pretty fluffy tails you also need to comb it and use this special substance. I found out about it in a little town called Halney which we helped supply during the winter. The locals were so happy this sweet old lady told me the secret to her pudding.”

“We found out it wasn’t really edible but incidentally worked wonders on yer hair.” Captain Taylor fills in.

“One of the crew was so upset he had it as dessert that he threw the bowl at me in jest. The day after I noticed my fur was a lot softer than normal.”

“That’s quite a funny little story.” Élise had been listening attentively.

“If you want I can write down the recipe so you can try it out yourself!”

“Yay! I’d love that.”

The day rolled over into night as we spent even more time talking with each other.

“Somethin’s been intriguing me.” Taylor puts down her sixth glass of ale although she didn’t look or sound drunk at all. “Why did you call Amicia ‘ere yer sister?” She turns herself towards Élise.

“Ah…” My sis rubs the back of her head. We have been so comfortable with each other that it had become a reflex even around others. “I guess that does sound weird, huh?”

“Sorry if it's none of my business.”

“Well, it’s a difficult and long story I guess...” Élise waves away Taylor’s apology.

“You see, we are actually sisters, but something happened and that’s how I turned out like this.”

My sis looks over to me in shock at what I just revealed.

“There’s no point in lying to her.”

“I guess that’s true…” Even though what I just told her wasn’t exactly the truth either.

“Wow, that’s definitely somethin’.” Taylor says, and the reaction of Auguste isn’t as shocked as I thought it would be either.

“You two don’t seem too surprised?” Nikki points out what we were thinking.

“Ah no, it’s definitely miraculous, but y’see, once you’ve been at sea as long as we’ve been, you see some pretty weird shit. Like the giant squid from earlier.”

“And some place’s magic is like none you’ve ever seen before, I can tell you that.” Auguste ads.

“‘xactly.”

“Anyhow,” With one last swig Taylor finishes her mug. “I’m going up deck to do some captainin’”

“And I need to clean the galley.” Auguste also stands up.

“Alright, we should probably head to bed, it’s been a pretty long day for us.”

“I can see that, yer other Nekote is already in dreamland it seems.”

I look to my side and see that Sam has indeed dozed off, resting against one of the wooden support beams. “Hey, Sam.” I nudge her softly.

“Oh, huh…” She rubs her eyes. “Sorry, I think I ate too much and sapped my energy.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? We could’ve gone to bed already. Or at least you could’ve leaned on me.”

“I’m sorry babe.” She gives me a kiss on my cheek.

Taylor laughs. “Y’all know the way back to yer cabins?”

“Yeah, should be easy enough.” Hilda nods.

“Alright then, see ya in the mornin’.”

“Goodnight!”

With that Auguste and Taylor leave us and we make our way to our cabins. Saying good night to my sister and Nikki in the process too.

“Which bunk will you take, Hilda?” Sam asks.

“The top one on the right if that’s okay.”

“Alright, we’ll take the bottom one on the left then.” We both get undressed and it doesn’t take long before we are all nice and cozy in bed, with me nuzzled in between the strong arms of my girlfriend. The ship, gently rocking on the waves, it works incredibly soothing.

“I think I’m going to fall asleep Sam…” I whisper.

“Me too, night night Ami.”

“Night night, love you…” I give her a kiss. “And good night to you too, Hilda.”

“Good night kittens.” She replies.

And just as expected, only two minutes later, my lights go out.