Wow I'm on a roll with updates lately lmao

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

A few days went by until Scott finally came out of his room again, too upset at Joel to even come out for meals. Though even after coming out, he refused to even look at Joel, much less engage with him.

"I know I was a dick, but damn," Joel grumbled, ignoring the card game he was playing with Scar. "This feels a little unfair."

Grian glanced over his shoulder from where he was leaning against the railing, watching over the sparkling waters. "I wouldn't take it too personally," he said, shrugging. "He's bound to be a bit petty, especially being a..." He looked at Scar for a moment. "Well, you know what he is."

Joel sighed. "I know, but it's getting annoying," he said, looking over to where Scott was sitting with Martyn and Jimmy on the other side of the deck. "He acts like I killed his entire family and ate the babies."

"That's... oddly specific of you," Grian said with a disturbed look on his face. He sighed when Joel rolled his eyes. "Look, you were pretty rude to him. I doubt he's used to that." He looked back out over the sea, then sneezed.

"Bless you," Scar said quickly, to which Grian thanked him.

Grian opened his mouth to speak again, then gasped, leaning over the railing to see around the front of the ship. "Is that land?" he said excitedly, recognising the familiar dock. "Is that home?!"

Joel and Scar both got up from the makeshift table (which was really just an upside down barrel), the three of them running toward the bow of the ship. Jimmy and Martyn weren't far behind with Scott following in confusion.

"I thought you guys lived on the ship," Scott said to Martyn, who was celebrating with the other boys.

"We do," Cleo answered from behind the group, "but we didn't always. This is where the boys all grew up."

Scott nodded and looked over at the land again. He wondered to himself if anyone would be suspicious of him and find out he was a siren, but... If I've passed for human this long with these guys, then surely I'll be fine in a village of humans. He shivered. The thought of being in a whole village of people that could possibly kill him frightened him, even if it was unlikely for anyone to figure it out.

Grian and Joel seemed the most ecstatic out of any of them, jumping up and down and squealing whilst holding each others' hands.

"We're going home!"

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

Scott was very overwhelmed by the amount of people in the market, though he was just happy he had Martyn there with him. He couldn't help but hold on tightly to his hand whilst staying as close as possible to him. The last thing Scott wanted to do was get lost and he was just making sure that wouldn't happen. There was no other reason for him to be holding Martyn's hand at all.

Why would there be?

"Cleooooo," Grian whined, tugging on her arm. "I wanna go to the weapon smiiiiiiiith!"

They'd been stood at a farmer's stall for a while now whilst Cleo picked out different vegetables and meats for them to take on their next voyage, though Grian was obviously much too antsy to stay in one place.

Cleo sighed, a slightly agitated sound, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right," she said, turning around and letting Bdubs pay for the food. "We're going with the buddy system. Everyone pick another person to stick with and you all can go browse the market until dusk. Then we'll meet back at the ship. Just stay. Together. Got it?"

The boys all nodded, then divided themselves into three pairs: Joel and Grian, Scar and Jimmy, and Martyn and Scott.

"Good." She reached into her bag of gold coins and pulled out a handful of coins. She counted them up to a total of forty. "Everyone gets forty to share," she said, handing the coins to Scott and Martyn before getting more to give to the other boys. "That's twenty for each of you. If you want anything that costs more, you better have the money saved up yourselves. Now go, have fun." She shooed them away and they all happily left to wabder around. Sighing contently and placing her hands on her hips, she smiled in their direction. "I love those boys."

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

"Grian, you do know that you won't be able to get anything with twenty coins at a weapon smith, right?" Joel said as Grian dragged him through the crowd of people toward the weapon smith's market stall.

Grian scoffed. "You think I don't have my own money?" He rolled his eyes. "You offend me." They stopped in a relatively empty space, and he pulled out a leather bundle, shaking it. It made the beautiful jingling sound of gold colliding with itself. "That's over three hundred in there," he said, making Joel's eyes widen. "I've been saving up for a mace."

Joel looked confused. "The hell do you need a mace for?" And how do you have so much money..? Joel spent months saving up, and he had barely a hundred to his name.

"For killing things," Grian answered simply before walking over to the stall.

It was in the same place it always was in with the same kind old man that always owned it. It was Grian's favourite place to shop, mostly because he went through weapons like they were made of paper. There were weapons of all kinds hung from the supports of the tent as well as spread across tables and laid on top of barrels. But Grian was immediately drawn to the bright and shiny mace that was propped up against a wooden crate to his right.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite customer," the weapon smith said with a kind smile, leaning against the table. "What can I get you today, son?"

Grian reached down to pick up the mace, struggling at first to grasp the heavy weapon. He grunted and lifted it up, using a good amount of strength to do so. "How much?" he asked, letting the mace fall onto his shoulder.

The old man chuckled. "I don't know, how much you got, kid?"

Joel could tell Grian was holding back a grin as he hummed and sighed.

"I've only got about a hundred, sir," Grian lied, pouting and making the smith laugh.

"Well," the man said, shifting and crossing his arms. "They usually go for about two seventy, but I'll give it to you for two hundred even."

Grian let his sneaky smile slip as he said, "Come on, can't you compromise a bit for a little lad who just wants to be as cool as you?" He stuck out his bottom lip and batted his eyelashes at the man, who was clearly amused by his act.

"One sixty."

"A hundred even," Grian said.

The weapon smith laughed. "Come on, kid, that's almost giving it to you for free," he said, shaking his head. He was smiling, though, which showed Grian that he was finding this negotiation fun. "One forty-five."

Grian hummed to himself and lifted the mace off of his shoulder to examine it better. "One ten."

"One thirty."

"One fifteen."

"Deal."

With a smirk, Grian fished the money out of his bag and handed it over to the smith, waiting to leave until he counted it all.

The man looked up at Grian, quirking a brow at him. "This is one twenty-five," he said.

"Keep the change," Grian said with a wink.

Joel looked between Grian and the weapon smith. It wasn't uncommon for Grian to swindle people out of their money, but for him to pay more than the deal called for was a rarity. Joel supposed Grian just liked the smith.

"Anything for you?"

Joel blinked, taking a second to realise he was being talked to. "Oh, uh..." He stepped forward and checked out the array of options. There wasn't much that stood out to him, and he rather liked the obsidian blade he already had. "I don't think so," he said, "but thanks."

The old man smiled. "Any time. You boys have a good day."

"Thanks!"

.•● 𓇼 ●•.

"If you give me five coins, I'll give you two."

"Scar, that means I lose three coins."

"No, you'll get two in return."

"Yeah, after I've given you five!"

Scar whined, stomping his foot on the dirt ground. "But you already have some!"

"Because I know how to save my money," Jimmy said, crossing his arms. "You spend all yours on dumb, useless stuff like slow falling potions."

"Slow falling isn't useless! It's very helpful for jumping off cliffs," Scar said matter-of-factly, to which Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"How about I give you two?"

"Yeah, two and then three more."

"Scar!"

Crossing his arms and pouting, Scar mumbled, "Fiiine," and took the two coins from Jimmy. "Can we go to the cleric's stall?"

Jimmy rolled his eyes again, but gave in anyway. "Sure," he said, then followed as Scar skipped toward the cleric's stall.

Jimmy never typically went to the cleric's stall, but Scar was into magic so it was often the first place they went when they came here. In Jimmy's opinion, the place was kind of creepy. There were all kinds of body parts from dead creatures, like spider eyes and rabbit feet and scutes from turtles. Not to mention all the rotten flesh laying around. Though the tent smelt rather nice despite being full of grotesque things. Not that all of it was gross. There were some valuable minerals for sale, like gold, redstone, and lapis, as well as enchantment bottles. And tons of potions.

"Jimmy, look, they have nether warts," Scar said, fascinated with the display of the plant. "I could make my own potions if I bought some of these and some soul sand to grow them on."

"You need a brewing stand, too."

Scar waved a dismissive hand at Jimmy. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just look at all this stuff!"

This guy, Jimmy thought, his eye twitching. He almost wanted to hit Scar. "Yeah, sooo interesting," he said sarcastically, glancing at the other stalls nearby.

It was pretty crowded in the market as per usual, so it was a bit difficult to see anything from far away. He looked to the other side where it wasn't so crowded, seeing Grian and Joel not too far from them. Was Grian holding a mace?! He's actually mad... Jimmy watched as the two walked away from the stall they were at, Joel walking in front of Grian. Suddenly, Grian stopped and looked off to the side before being dragged away by someone Jimmy couldn't see. He assumed it was Joel until he noticed that Grian had dropped the mace and didn't go back to pick it up. Neither did Joel.

If Jimmy knew anything about those two, it was that neither of them would ever just drop a weapon, especially a mace, on the ground like that and leave it there.

Weird...