#TOTK Countdown D-14

[karama9]

14 Days Remain

Ficlet 2: Seagulls

Tetra scowled at the stain. It had been mostly washed up by yesterday’s rain, but the problem was, it hadn't been washed up by her crew. It was only visible from here in the Crow's Nest, but that was really no excuse since there was someone here regularly. 

“You'd think they’d all be pros at this by now,” she muttered.  “Best guano cleaning pirate crew ever. That should be us.” The thought made her chuckle and she suddenly knew exactly who she'd get to climb to the top of the mast and clean the bit of seagull poop that was still stuck there. 

"Liiiiinnnnnk!" She hollered. "Get up here!" 

From her vantage point in the crow's nest, she saw Link emerge from behind a box and yawn, stretching. She narrowed her eyes at him: he'd been napping. Again. Oh, he was cleaning up every bird poop she could find for the next month. Retired Hero of the Wind and World Saviour or not, napping instead of finding something useful to do on her ship was not acceptable. 

Seemingly completely unaware of his incoming trouble, Link looked up, spotted her and waved with a smile like the goofball he was before climbing up to join her. 

"Anything interesting?" he asked, grinning and obviously ready to be entertained.  

Tetra felt a wave of fondness for him. He was ALWAYS ready for excitement. Maybe that was why he slept so much, he was hoping for nightmares he could bravely turn into victories in his sleeping mind. It was either that or he was so bored he just dozed off all the time. Either way, she couldn’t decide whether it was cute or concerning.  

She steered her thoughts away from that and scowled, pointing at the offending leftover guano. 

Link deflated immediately. "You want ME to clean that up? It's not my tu..." 

"You and I both know this is probably STILL Aryll's fault," Tetra declared. That was a ridiculous lie, Aryll hadn't been on board for months. The idea that Link’s mind defyingly cute and sweet little sister was responsible for birds doing what birds do in perpetuity was just funny.  

Perks of being a Captain: your crew didn't get to call you out for lying.  

Link's eyes widened before narrowing in annoyance. "Okay, one, Aryll's seagulls DON'T poop everywhere. Don’t ask me how because I don’t know how she’d train them and she says she didn’t, but they don’t. It’s freaky. Two, that's not THAT old." 

Tetra frowned. Okay, MOST of the crew didn't get to call out their Captain for lying. Link was an exception. She supposed saving her life and basically the World bought him a bit of leniency. But just a bit. 

"You did NOT just seriously question me and call me a liar," she said warningly. "So, with the understanding that the seagulls got used to hanging around back when Aryll WAS on board, this is 100% your responsibility as big brother to Aryll the Flying Poop Machines' Best Friend." 

Link rolled his eyes but started climbing back down. It was pretty clear Tetra thought this particular nonsense was funnier if he didn’t argue with her about it. Captain’s Perk, he supposed. “As you say, Captain. I'll go get the cleaning stuff," he said with a sigh. 

Tetra called back. “Don’t forget to stick a fairy in your pocket! SAFETY FIRST! And then we don’t have to clean splatter if you go and fall!” 

Link snorted as he continued to climb down. Fairies only sort of cleaned splatter, they did a lousy job of it and left tons of stains. Maybe he’d fall just to remind Tetra of that. Or not. She’d probably make HIM clean it. 

"I do have good news as well," Tetra said, leaning over the ladder and trading her scowl for a smirk. 

Link stopped and looked up. 

"You'll get to complain to Aryll in person. We're just an hour away from Outset and we're stopping by for a couple of days. Your grandma bribed me with promises of soup." 

Link grinned. He loved being on the Sea, but visits back home were ALWAYS welcomed. He started climbing down faster, any annoyance at being made to do chores out of turn gone, and suddenly very keen on making the ship as clean as it could be - sailors have their pride, after all.