#( SLKBDLDFK she's shameless. sorry dehya- )

[daybreakrising]

@immobiliter: Port Ormos was the usual chaotic hive of activity, sailors and students of the Akademiya and mercs all gathered together in one cacophonous hub. Dehya didn't often frequent the port, but a particularly interesting merc contract had been forwarded to the Blazing Beasts that had kept her here longer than she'd intended to stay. A personal request for her services from a sea captain in Liyue — claiming to have seen her skills in action apparently. Escorting a delivery across the desert was a reliable job for mora, but across an ocean? It was new and exciting, and hadn't she talked for weeks about wanting to travel to new places?

Upon finally meeting her employer, however, Dehya's curiosity was piqued even more. Not some grizzled older sea captain, but a woman. Bold and assured, giving orders as confidently as she herself would command her Beasts. “ I gotta say... these are generous terms for an armed escort on board your ship, captain. ” Dehya held the newly signed contract in her hand ( from the nation of contracts itself: she had no reason to doubt that this Captain Beidou would honour her end of their deal ), but her eyes were more drawn towards the slew of men and women who were making final preparations on the wharf to set off back towards their ship. This wasn't to be her usual kind of bodyguard gig, huh. “ Though I can't help but notice you and your men seem more than capable of defending yourselves. ”

If there is one thing Beidou has learned over her years at sea, it is always, always, worth taking on extra hands with local knowledge. Often, these extra hands come in the form of other sailors, borrowed from crews that can spare them, or those hopeful souls seeking a life upon the ocean but yet to secure a ship to call home.

This time, however, she has sought the expertise of someone who couldn't be farther from a sailor if she tried. Some might question why a sea captain required the assistance of a desert mercenary - and, in truth, there was a certain degree of curiosity involved. She'd heard tales of Dehya and her Blazing Beasts prior to her arrival in Port Ormos. Who could blame her for wanting to see the Flame-Mane for herself?

"Full pockets make for happier crewmates than empty ones." The captain shrugs a shoulder lightly, an easy smile upon her face as she studies the woman standing before her. Every bit the warrior she expected, Dehya strikes an imposing figure with an unmistakable presence to her. Already, Beidou knows they're going to get along great.

At the mercenary's observation, she barks out a hearty laugh, hands settled upon her hips as she, too, quickly scans her crew at work. "Ah, but it never hurts to have another set of capable hands at the ready, no?" There's a wink delivered from her only visible eye. "You never know what you're going to come across out on the water, after all."

She leans in closer, lowering her voice to a more conspiratorial whisper. "And I confess, I can never resist the opportunity to check out a local legend."