The Rest of the Ladies

Captain Bastian Black sat for a moment, making his brain remember all the names the best way he could, putting notes next to the mental image of each girl like some kind of a machine.

Name: Deanna

Traits: unusually desaturated hair color, smiles a lot, always cracking jokes but also cries easily, high emotional intelligence, huge bosom, hands softer than average so perhaps not a great choice for work in the rigging, told me that she had a horrible life at home, 24 years old, likes animals and especially dolphins, dresses like a historical version of a goth

Extra: show her a dolphin, she will love it

Next one…

Name: Sammy

Traits: in her early thirties, beautiful and blonde with a girl next door face but dresses like royalty, probably very much into gold and jewels, loud, a bit boorish in a charming way, good sense of humor so she likes Deanna a lot, good with people and still not a doormat, would make for a great social leader so maybe make her the first mate

Extra: but Amanda will be jealous since she was the first one who decided to come with me, need to deal with this some other way

Name: Wilda

Traits: wild, red and curly hair, she might be a witch, has a red tattoo near the nape of her neck, likes pink clothes, always licking her lips nervously, strong yet neurotic personality, nice, round eyes, talks with consideration for others whenever she does talk which is not often, passive and receptive, 23 years old, has a cat that she has brought abroad, makes friends with the help of said cat

He had to pause to fully appreciate the cat. It was black and white, seemingly very clever, a slender and a bit doglike thing that valued play and mysteries over treats. It was very easy to like Wilde the cat, since it never bothered Bastian unless he was visibly idle. At those times, Wilde came to him, actively seeking attention and curiously making sure that every person aboard the ship liked to play with him.

Apparently a tomcat could still sail with the cursed captain, since Wilde obviously was not a human male..

Name: Sharona

Traits: pale, looks a bit anemic but is agile and energetic despite her extreme fairness, the penultimate brunette with light skin, a bit scary in the sense that she seems to read people's minds, loves Wilda and probably knows her personally, 27 years old, long legs, actually the longest legs I have seen in a while, unnerving and possibly clairvoyant if that is even possible

Name: Victoria

Traits: platinum blonde hair, pear shaped beautiful and soft body yet still slender, cute and bubbly, stereotypically for a blonde she is not too clever but makes up for it with her optimistic, catchy and fun attitude, has the cutest laughter ever, interested in Melinda's knife collection, likes gold as she has told me so, she is 23 years old

Name: Rowena

Traits: amazing black hair, very dark skin tone and she smells so good, she is hiding the fact that she can read a bit as I see her eyes scan text whenever she sees letters or numbers, helpful to everyone but she prefers to work smart, very good at aiming, might become excellent at shooting if I teach her, 24 years old and from a family of fishers, knows everything about marine life

Extra: Rowena caught a fish without even trying, impressing everyone, we need to do something with that ability and also, I need to know what the skin of her slender neck tastes like

Overcome with his lustful thoughts, Captain Bastian had to rest and avoid thinking for a moment, and thankfully, Tilda came up to him with a perfect solution for that.

He made the final notes about her.

Name: Tilda

Traits: smokes a really good-looking pipe, the perfect ratio of bosom to posterior, slender, but with an athletic look, she likes to wear white, a bit thoughtful, maybe a hobbyist philosopher, among the smartest of this crowd, generous, short hair that perfectly frames her heart-shaped face

"Is this tobacco from our hold?" Bastian asked.

"Aye," Tilda nodded. "Reckon I'd start talking like a pirate since that is apparently what we are going to be from now on. Cracked open a container to keep me sane for a while. Pipe smoking, it gets under your skin, Cap'n, there is little you can do when you are already hooked on it."

Bastian took another puff of the invigorating yet annoyingly thick and tangy tobacco smoke and looked at Tilda, the way her short brunette hair glimmered with the wetness of a salty sea spray that had baptized her earlier as she had been standing near the bow.

Bastian looked at the meerschaum pipe. It had all sorts of engravings on it, but no text, it spoke merely with images, symbols that a person not of this world could not understand. He shrugged and gave the pipe back to its owner.

"You know that there is a long voyage ahead," he said to Tilda with a knowing smirk. "We have to get comfortable being around each other, or insanity will swallow us."

"Have you been thinking about entities swallowing you a lot?" Tilda asked with a poker face that could have won her millions of dollars in the other world. "It is rather clear that one man on a ship full of women will eventually succumb to thoughts that threaten to taint his nature. Unless he deals with those thoughts in a suitable way, he might fall victim to self-contamination in its most pathetic form."

"There should be no rushing when it comes to processes that have an innate evitability akin to that of gravity," Captain Bastian Black replied, completely aware that they were not discussing abstract things.

No, it was about naked bodies colliding in pleasurable ways, and he had some nice luck there. Tilda had been the one to bring up this carnal topic, not him.