A Routine Checkup

**Date Started:** June 27, 2020
**Date Completed:** April 25th, 2022
**Previous Role-Play**: Machines and Madness
**Next Role-Play**: The Island of Dr. Kazuko
**Users Involved:** User:Black Dwarf Star, User:Dal101
**Setting:** Paradise
**Characters Involved**: Henry Avery, Litana Liama, Litana Cama

## Routine Physical

Avery's injuries were mostly superficial now, the injection given to him Sasaki had worked wonders. But even so, Liama had insisted on a physical exam on each member of the crew. Avery had been putting it off for several days, "putting the lives of his crew before himself", but with every member of the crew checked, he had nowhere left to hide.

It wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. Liama placing her hands all over his body wasn't too bad, considering her overly affectionate behavior, her touching him all over wasn't something he was particular unaccustomed to. He couldn't quite say he enjoyed it though. "How many more tests do we need to do?" Avery asked. He was sitting on top of a doctor's bed, feet dangling over the side.

"Just a blood test," Liama responded as she pursed her lips at the sixth bent needle. She had tried a few times to draw blood during this physical, but no matter what she had tried she just couldn't pierce the skin. "One moment, I just have to prepare another needle." she continued as she brought a darkened mask over her face. Several sparks and one blowtorch later, she was cheerfully heating up the largest hypodermic she owned. "It might be a minute."

Avery lifted up his sleeve. Yet, for some reason he began sweating. He'd never been too afraid of needles, there was no need to be afraid, they couldn't pierce his body to begin with, but something about this hypodermic unnerved him. "Alright, Lia," he said, his voice shaking, "just... be careful."

"Don't worry, you won't feel a thing." Liama said as she patted her captain's head before turning back to heating the needle. "So, since we're going to be here for a minute, I did have a few questions about you, Captain. How did you get in this whole business anyways? You seem driven enough that surely you could have made it without resorting to this life. Know what I mean?"

Avery's gaze seemed to to drift somewhere else. A mile-long stare for only a few moments as he pondered the question, the origin of his drive. But as soon as he had drifted away, he snapped back to reality. "Well, I always wanted to be an explorer. Gi hi hi hi hi!" Avery laughed, but the laughter didn't last for very longer. He looked down at his feet. "Ya know what, you've been in the crew long enough. I don't talk about this a lot, but here it goes..." he took in a deep breath and let out an even bigger sigh. "My home island was attacked by pirates. It wasn't a World Government territory, so we didn't have any of those protections. So, I figured if I became a big enough pirate and declared the island my territory, then no one would dare mess with it again."

"I would point out something about the philosophical implications of becoming your demons. But I'm a doctor, not a philosopher. And well, you've heard my story about my past with pirates," Lliama mused for a bit, "Just try not to follow your demon's footsteps."

She paused for a bit before adding, "Cama still holds it against me that she doesn't know who her father is. So don't hold it against yourself if she's a bit frosty on the idea of being one herself."

Avery let out another sigh. "Yeah, I understand that. I have to admit, I'm a bit curious who her father is myself. I didn't think about it initially, but after we set sail from Amajap, I realized it was just the two of you in your family. Is he dead? Or maybe just a deadbeat? Sorry if I'm prying, just naturally inquisitive I guess."

"Just a passing pirate," Liama said with a passing sigh. "I'll be honest, the details behind it are not one I prefer talking about." She paused for a second before adding. "I couldn't even tell you if they are alive or not."

"I understand, I won't pry then," said Avery. He began to scratch at his exposed arm, when a thought occurred to him. "Are you going to put the needle in or not?"

"Oh, I already did." Liama chuckled as she showed off a red-filled syringe. "Told you that you wouldn't feel a thing." She paused for a second before pulling out a lollipop from her coat. "And here's for being a good patient."

Avery looked at his arm, noticing a band-aid having been placed on it. He hadn't even felt the needle go in. He looked at Liama in utter amazement before taking the lollipop away from her. "You're an amazing doctor," he said, taking the wrapper off of the lollipop and biting the candy clean off the stick.

"One second Avery," Liama said as she threw one of her needles off the side, a wire trailing the foot loong needle. Wrapping around the doorhandle the med bay, Liama quickly pulled on it to cause the door to fly wide open. A person leaning up against the door tripped into the room, revealing Litana Cama to now be lying on the floor.

"Cama, you know eavesdropping is rude." Liama sighed deeply.

"I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear. I was just passing by," Cama sputtered in reply.

Avery didn't appear worried or confused at Cama's sudden arrival. His lips curled into a soft smile, almost excited as he watched the quarter Mink pick herself off the floor. "Hi Cam!" he waved, "how are you today? Sunshine been treating you well?" The planks of Adam wood that made up the ship's hull seemed to vibrate around him. His gaze became slightly more concerned, but his smile didn't drop.

"Yeah... I've been just fine..." Cama replied with slight confusion to just how casually Avery was speaking. Frankly put, she had been avoiding most of the crew. Cama was not a fan of pirates, even if she was somewhat grateful for them saving her mother. "but I should probably leave you two alone, since mother is the middle of a checkup, if you would exscuse me." She said in an attempt to leave.

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Avery, hopping off of the examination table, "we just finished up." He rubbed his thumb over over the bandage on his arm before pulling back down his sleeve. "I can walk you to your quarters if you'd like. Or wherever it is that you're headed."

"That sounds like a great idea," Liama chimed in as she began to push the two out of the infirmary, an over the top cheeriness on her face. "Now have fun you two." She finished before closing the door behind them, leaving the pair out in the hallway.

Cama just stared at the door for a second before sighing deeply, ears drooping, "She always does this... Just because I don't particularly like people doesn't mean I'm going to become a hermit in the woods..."

Avery almost jumped at the movement of Cama's ears. Sometimes he forgot that they weren't just accessories and she was a quarter Mink. Although the level of dominance in Mink traits he found quite interesting. "Well, you can't end up in the woods, your on the ocean. Gi hi hi hi hi! So where to?"

"Uh..." Cama replied with a blank stare before poking her fingers together, "To be honest, I have no idea where I'm going. I was trying to find the cafeteria that mother talked about and got lost..." She paused for a moment before continuing, "We didn't really have stairs where I lived so trying to find things across the different floors is a bit confusing."

"Gi hi hi!" Avery chuckled, "is that all? Well, don't worry about that, I can take you there no problem!" He took Cama by the hand and began leading her through the the corridors of the ship. "To be fair, the Sol Arche's bigger than most other ships anyway. I can see how you got lost. Gi hi hi hi!"

Cama grumbled under her breath as Avery pulled her along, she had found her way to the infirmary to get directions, and while she was technically getting them it wasn't in the manner she expected. "Yeah, it's definitely a lot bigger of a ship than the fishing ones we had at home. Mother always had me go pick up some from their catch when they came in. It was one of Amajap's main food sources. They at best only had a single set, and that was to where they stored the fish."

"Oh, you were from a fishing town, too?" said Avery. He released her hand, thinking that Cama wouldn't exactly need to be led around like a dog or a child. Perhaps he had gotten a bit ahead of himself. "I guess I didn't get much of an opportunity take a look at Amajap when we were there, especially since I spent almost the whole time on the ship, Gi hi hi hi! Navis Island was a fishing village too. It's kinda why I barely eat it nowadays. Just too much fish growing up, ya know?"

"We did a bit of everything. Technically the biggest draw for the island was the university in the main town. But between the various farms in the countryside and the fisherman, we really didn't need to import much in the way of food." Cama replied as she continued walking. "Mother learned there, and she just took care of the people around the island who weren't rich enough to afford the fancy doctors by the school."

"As for eating fish, my mink side leans more towards carnivorous, so I never really get tired of any kind of meat really." Cama added as she pulled up on her upper lip to reveal a much more pronounced canine tooth than the average human. "Mother at the same time is more herbivorous, so she mostly eats plants. But you probably don't want to hear how mink geneaology works, so probably should just leave it there."

Avery cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "Why wouldn't I want to hear more about Mink genealogy?" he asked, "they seem like a pretty interesting race. You and your mother are both only half and a quarter Mink, respectively, and you guys are awesome! Or at least, your mom's a lot stronger than you'd expect for a non-combatant. I don't know about you. Regardless, that's not your role here, so if you have to fight that means someone really screwed up their job! Gi hi hi hi!" He rubbed the back of his head, somewhat nervously, a few beads of sweat came down from his brow.

"I mean, Mom just kind of relies on people not noticing the fishing line tied to her needles, it wouldn't be the first time we've had to deal with rowdy people." Cama shrugged. "I can fight, not going to say I particularly enjoy it though."

"As for the genealogy, Minks just show a lot different traits than most humans, so it's really just about trying to track ancestry. It's why my mother has traits people would associate with a Llama, and mine are more related to a dog. Just means one of my mink ancestors was a dog mink."

"Speaking of dogs and canines, that reminds me," said Avery, "as a part of my physical, your mother also gave me a dental exam." He lifted up his gums, showing off the top row of his teeth. They were surprisingly clean, despite the amount of citric acid he consumed through fruit and the amount of meat he ate in general. But there was a real reason he was showing Cama this in general. He released his lip and let his mouth return to its normal shape. "Lia pointed out that my canines are a lot sharper and a bit longer than an average human's. Said it was like I was some kind of predator. Do you think I might have any Mink heritage in me, too?"

"Possibly, or you could just be the descendant of a vampire." Cama said as she examined Avery's teeth. "Tell me, how rare do you like your steaks?"

"Gi hi hi hi!" Avery laughed, "you've got a better sense of humor than I expected. And I like my steaks medium rare, the only way you're supposed to eat steaks!"

"That's fair. I'm more of a rare fan personally, but well, meat is meat." She chuckled softly.

"You like steak, too, huh?" said Avery, "well, let's see if they've got any good meat in stock when we get to the cafeteria. I could use some red meat!"

The pair reached the cafeteria and was able to pick up a meal easily enough, though it would be obvious that Cama was still at least a bit apprehensive about the whole situation. She had spent her entire life living in the shadow of those who roamed the seas. While they weren't common on Amajap island, they showed up often enough that the citizens of the island were definitely not fans.

so now she just found it a bit odd that this crew was being so friendly. Frankly put, if her mother hadn't been the one to draw her here, there was no way she'd be on this ship right now. After all, she was grateful that she wasn't left alone. But that mix of disdain, apprehension, and gratitude was conflicting, and put the quarter-mink ill-at-ease.

Though that being said, she hesitated to put a voice to such feelings, especially since this was the first time she had really ever spoken more than a couple words to Avery, and definitely the first time she had spoken to him without her mother present. So as she was walking back to her room, she elected to remain quiet for the moment.

"And then I said, 'shut up!' and pinned him to the ground! He was just this grown man struggling under the grip of a twelve-year-old. Gi hi hi hi hi!" Avery had been telling Cama all about his past as a member of the Ramshackle Pirates throughout lunch. His smile hadn't left his face since he started talking about him, aside from a falter or two when he became worried he might be boring her. It wasn't long before they were at Cama's quarters.

"Well, here we are..." said Avery, his voice trailing off a little. He scratched the back of his head, tapping his foot a few times on the wooden planks below. A low hum traveled through the hull of the ship. Avery turned to Cama, his smile still there, but much more nervous now. "Do you mind if I come in for a sec? There's something I want to talk about. And don't worry, it's not about my 'glory days'."

"Sure. It is your ship after all," Cama replied calmly as she entered the room, closing the door behind her after Avery was in the room, "what did you want to talk about?"

Avery walked inside, sort of tapping his foot as he looked around, everywhere but at Cama, herself. It was a difficult topic to broach, but he was the captain, he had to be the one to make sure the grievances of his crew members were addressed. "I know you don't really want to be here," he said, "and, while I don't want you to really leave, I don't want you to stay if you don't want to. Everyone else in the crew got to choose to be here, but your mother, Lia, she made the choice for you. She's a caring woman, and I know she only wants the best for you. I know it might not be in the cards for you to leave right now, but, when you're in my crew, you're my family, so... I hope that, while you're here, you'll make the choice to stay on your own."

"So that's what this is about," Cama sighed as she sat down on her bed. "We've honestly talked about this pretty extensively when we've had a chance. Mother and I have, at least." She paused a second before continuing, "While nothing is set in stone, she wanted to make sure that I was ready before or if I leave. Even if I don't like to admit it, I would not have had a great time if Liama hadn't come back with you guys, so I am grateful for that. At the same time, I'm not going to lie, I'm not a fan of pirates. But you probably get that a lot. You don't seem as bad as I'd thought you'd be, but at the same time a lot of people have gotten hurt over the years. So I won't promise anything for now, but I will consider it. If that's fine."

"You call your mother by her first name?" said Avery. He seemed to bite his tongue after saying it, that wasn't the focus on the conversation. He coughed a few times into his hand, as if trying to clear his throat, but it was more like he was trying to clear the air. "I mean... I see, I'm glad you and Lia already talked about it. And I'm glad you don't exactly hate everyone else. I may want to be the Pirate King, but I don't condone cruelty either. It's hard to maintain your rule if your subjects don't even like you." A memory briefly flashed into his mind, his first time being a king, ruling a country, and had barely lasted even a few weeks.

"Well, I guess there isn't anything else pressing I need to talk to you about," he continued, "so I'll just take my leave." He turned around to go back to the door, but hesitated for a moment, turning back towards her with a smile on his face, "just make sure to patch me up as long as you're here, Cam."

"Sometimes," Cama smirked for a second before continuing, "But don't worry, I'll do my part. Just try to keep me off the posters, now that would really force my hand regardless of what I want."

Cama paused for a long moment before adding, "And thanks for taking the time to talk to me, it's been nice. But yeah, probably should get going. Have a good day... Captain."

*~Fin*