#aphid as first mate is perfect because he fucking hates being a leader but knows how to get shit done

[afarcryfrommymain]

What you your OCs role on a pirate ship be?

Tagged by @strafethesesinners thank you for tagging me because I am so normal about pirates I swear (<-lying)

Aphid Hernandez

The First Mate

On a ship, the captain calls the shots. That's fine by you. You're not the sort of person who wants to be out at the front, dealing with the changeable moods of the sailors, being the one they blame if things go wrong. No, you're more than happy on the sidelines. The captain trusts you - they give you their ear, when you have advice on how the ship should run. The crew trusts you - sitting with them in the mess, you can understand how they're feeling. Other than the ship's cat, there's nobody who dislikes you. And that's the way it should be. While the captain's head is filled with adventure and raids and treasure galore, you're the one who makes things actually happen. You talk to the navigator to get a bearing for the ship, convince the crew to go on your captain's madcap schemes, listen to their concerns, relay orders to the boatswain. You're the one who pipes up when the captain's route would take you past a government patrol, who remembers the crew's birthdays, who argues for a bit of shore leave after a hard raid. It's not easy work, but it's yours. And you wouldn't change it for the world.

Captain Olive Laurier

The Topman

Of all the sailors on this ship, your job is the most dangerous. Oh, everyone climbs the rigging into the topsails from now and then, but you practically live up there, among the rope and swaying canvas. You know the sails better than any person, have clung to the mast through storm and swell in the pitch-black of night, when your limbs are freezing from the chill and your body is soaked to the bone. When there's work to be done in the tops, you're the first to climb to their dizzying heights and the last to lower yourself back to the deck. Some nights you have slept up there, balancing on a yardarm or in the crow's nest, lashed to the rigging ten feet above the deck. But never once have you fallen. Though your hands and feet and calloused and burned from clasping the ropes, never have you pitched into the water or slammed against the deck. Few sailors can claim such a badge of honour as that. When you're up there, the wind blowing a chill against your face, hair streaming behind you and clothes billowing, you feel more alive than you ever have. So when your captain calls, you are glad to place your hands and feet in the rigging and ascend once more. It's where you belong.

I'll tag uhh @adelaidedrubman @wrathfulrook @gxmergurl (@salad-says-hi hi sal) and anyone else who wants to join should do it!