Black Fedora Anniversary

With a black fedora fitted securely around my blonde-haired head, I smiled and looked towards where the land should’ve been, my grey eyes dancing with excitement. It had been a year since our captain formed the Black Fedora Pirates and everybody knew what was coming – a party of the ages. We’d lost a few members of the crew for their own personal reasons but also gained a fair few. And now, for those that were on board, were able to throw a part of exceptional extravagance and have the time of their lives.

It was the beginning of summer and, already, the sun had bleached it to a paler, wheat-gold shade and it all hung in a loose braid about my waist. My eyes, though, remained the same misty grey, peering out from beneath long, dark eyelashes and pale eyebrows.

My heart-shaped, rosy lips pulled into a smile as Riddle and Angel stepped out from below-deck, carrying colorful lanterns. They’d asked that I help prepare the ship for the party and I, of course, had agreed. Angel smiled up at me. “It’s good to finally see you again, Sarah Grace. You’ve been shut up in your room for nearly a month now.” She smiled.

“I’ve been preparing for today, Angel.” I smiled and took the lanterns she handed me, tying them along the shrouds and booms. Taking one of the largest lanterns, I scurried out along the bow spirit and, swinging so that I could hang upside down, tied the lantern to the hook at the very tip. I then let go and hung from the bow spirit, listening as Riddle and Angel laughed about all that they had planned. Angel was talking about all the food Abbey would be making and Riddle was practically drooling over what she said.

“Sarah Grace, you should get down from there before you fall off.” Angel called.

I laughed and turned so that I could look back at her. “I’m not going to fall off.” I called back to her, smiling playfully. A moment later, however, much to my dismay, my legs slipped from around the bow spirit and I plummeted towards the sea water. Before I fell too far, though, someone swooped down and caught me around the waist, swinging back up so that we landed hard on the deck, sprawling out as Angel and Riddle hurried over.

“Next time, do us a favor and listen to Angel. She’s usually right about things.” Aisuru prompted, chuckling as he sat up and crossed his legs.

I sat up, chuckling as I rubbed my head. “I guess you’re right.” I laughed.

Angel knelt down beside me and reached over to tousle my hair. “Go on and get ready, Grace. We’ll keep going at it here.” She smiled. I laughed, apologized, and then made for my room. Hurrying inside, I closed my door and, from beneath my desk, I pulled out a relatively small box, around a foot long, half a foot wide, and three inches deep. Smiling, I opened the lid and moved aside the satin cloth that covered the contents. Inside the box were fifty-four pieces of wood, intricately carved and painted into various animal shapes, each hung on a length of leather. I had worked rather painstakingly on each totem and tried to carefully match the animal with each member of the crew.

Putting the box on my desk and moving over to the little chest at the foot of my bed. Opening it, I rummaged around for something to wear at the party.



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The hour of the party finally arrived and everybody was already up on deck except for a few who were helping Abbey. Once everybody was up on deck, as I had asked him to, Aslansa came down to my cabin and knocked before entering. “Come on, everybody’s ready and waiting.” He said.

I smiled, flattening my dress for perhaps the hundredth time. I wore a simple dress, nothing more than a sleeveless white piece with a low-cut back that puffed out around the bottom. Picking up the box from where I’d left it, I followed Aslansa out of my room and up to the main deck.

Once we were up on deck, I searched for Angel and found her talking with Scratch and Riddle. I noticed their outfits first off. Angel wore a long black dress with three-quarter sleeves and a large white flower on the left shoulder strap. Scratch wore black jeans and a white button-up, with a long white tie. Riddle wore a colorful cocktail dress with a ruffled skirt and halter-style top and black hose covered in her long legs.

“So did you finish them all?” Angel asked curiously, crossing her arms as a gust of wind whistled across the deck.

“They finished drying this morning. I’ll hand them out after Chen gives his speech.” I replied with a bright smile. Eventually, we fell into a discussion of the usual happenings on the ship as well as all the excitement that led up to the party. In the end, as we talked about the most recent addition to the crew, young Amy but were cut off when Abbey called us to the table to dig in to all the delicious food she’d prepared. We all dug in, happily taking heaping helpings of the food on the long table.

Aisuru, Angel, Riddle, Scratch, Kris, Sparky, Reaper, Athanase, Aslansa and I all sat together at one section of the table, talking quietly amongst each other. I sat with my box in my lap, happily listening to Athanase and Scratch as they discussed what they were going to do after the party. As they were talking however, at the end of the table, Chen stood and tapped his knife against the side of his glass.

Everybody turned to look at him, waiting expectantly for his speech. I looked down at my plate, wanting to listen rather than watch him talk. He spoke with a formal tone, dropping the pirate accent for his speech. “My fellow pirates and friends, it has been a year since my good First Mate and I formed the pirates you are a part of today. It has been a long and exciting year, filled with as many ups as downs. We’ve lost some but gained many. We’ve fought for each other and made personal sacrifices to protect each other, even save each other. And through such sacrifices, I believe, we’ve only grown closer as a crew and family. We have seen each other at our worst and been with each other at our best. I hope that, with you all continuing to be there by my side, we can see each other on further anniversaries.” He said and raised his glass for a toast. “Now then, I believe our dear minstrel has something for each and every one of us.” He said. The smile on his face was clear in the light tone in his voice.

I stood and held the box I’d brought up from my cabin before looking around at all those gathered. I smiled at them all and looked down at my box for a moment, pausing before speaking. “Today, we have fifty-four of the bravest and strongest pirates on all of the seven seas with us, aboard the great ship we call home. From our Captain to our newest recruit,” I paused to look over at Amy who blushed slightly. “We all have our own strengths and weaknesses but, together, we bring out the best in each other. Since joining the crew, I was accepted into a tight-knit family. Yes, we had our problems and even lost a few members that I called friends.” I said somewhat solemnly, thinking of Lilt. Forcing a smile back on my face, I looked back to the crew. “Some of you may have noticed that I’ve spent a lot of the past few weeks away from you, working on something in my room. Well, I decided that, in order to always remember this occasion no matter where we go, I crafted totems for each of us. Keeping personalities in mind, I tried to select animals that would fit each of us. I hope that you all see likenesses with the animal I chose for you.” I smiled and opened the box, reaching inside to draw out the first totem.

Each piece of carved wood was about two inches tall and carved into the shape of the chosen animal and painstakingly painted. The first totem, a scorpion, I carried over to our Captain Chenbeard. I held it out to him, looking at the totem rather than at him. I took a breath before speaking. “Our captain, of course, will be the first.” I said. He accepted the totem and praised it as I returned to my box. From where I stood, I glanced up at everybody. “When I call your names, I’d like you to please come up and get your totem. First we have Hayes, Frederic, George, Aisuru, Chase, Blake, Lyra, Linda, Tails and Lórien.” I said and, respectively, handed out a pigeon, snake, gorilla, wolf, seahorse, lobster, turtle, macaw, bobcat and cat. From there, Riddle got a crow, Abbey a dolphin, Kris an albatross, Sparky received a fox, Angel a dove, Shirayuki a falcon, Katelynn a camel, Alanna a crab, Zoë a monkey, Yukimaru an alligator, Salazar a salamander, Dylan a ram, Erik and octopus, Yvonne a whippoorwill, Dan a bull, Aslansa a shark, Crystal a hedgehog, Reaper a badger, Talia an elephant, Rowan a bat, Leelu a giraffe, Athanase a lion, Donovan a pony, Latte a rabbit, Elena a goose, Valkyrie an iguana, Miyu a butterfly, Kalixa a sparrow, Sunny a komodo dragon, Rattis a firefly, Scratch a mouse, Seacat an eagle, Jamal a praying mantis, Zane an armadillo, Aza’zen a spider, Katty a dragonfly, Zephyr a fox, Claire a beaver, Ifrit a horse, Mouse a whale, Xexn’I a cicada and Amy a cardinal.

Once they were all passed out, I sat down and sighed. Angel, Aisuru and Rowan stepped back over to me. Rowan looked a little confused as she looked down at her bat totem. I chuckled and crossed my legs in the chair. Bats are incredibly sensitive to their surroundings, Rowan. They’re said to be able to see through illusions.” I smiled.

Aisuru smiled at me. “Certainly you carved yourself something.”

I blushed faintly before reached inside the box, retrieving one last totem. In the palm of my hand, I held up a simply crafted barn owl totem. “Barn owls are known for their listening skills and, as a whole, owls are associated with their intuition, wisdom, and curiosity for the unknown.” I said softly. “A wise old owl sat on an oak; the more he saw the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard. Why aren’t we like that wise old bird? I’m not sure who said that but I like their point.

Angel smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. “Everybody loves them, Sarah Grace.” She said and looked down at her dove. “Peace,

Aisuru grinned from beneath his mask. “Loyal, cunning, generous, intelligent, friendly, compassionate, communicative… Yeah, I like mine.” He snickered and reached over to ruffle my hair. “Great job, minstrel.” He laughed and stepped out of the way when I went to smack him.

Then, without any kind of warning, I was attacked by a giggling Sparky and thrown to the ground. Riddle ran up behind us and, seeing Sparky and I tangled in each other’s limbs, she broke down into a fit of laughter. Aisuru knelt down beside us. “Well, this is certainly amusing.” He announced.

I tried to snatch the assassin’s ankle but, before I could, a large hand grasped the neck of my shirt and hauled me off the ground, throwing me over their shoulder. “H-Hey, put me down!” I shrieked, gripping the shirt of whoever held me so that I didn’t fall off their shoulder.

“Calm down.” Stone, one of Aslansa’s souls, chortled.

“Stone, put-!” I stopped and horrified realization dawned on my face. “Stone, is Vixen here too?” I demanded.

“Of course she is. Vixen, Jackal, Sorrow… We’re all here!” He laughed almost happily before setting me down in front of him. “You know, you’ve been kissed by one of us and you’ve punched two of us. How about you leave Sorrow and I alone, yeah? Unless, of course, you want to kiss one of us. That’d be nice.” He laughed and I tried to hide my face, that which was turning increasingly redder.

“Oh, Gracie~” Vixen sang as she and Sorrow approached.

“Vixen, stop right there or I swear to God, I’m going to punch you so hard Aslansa feels it.” I threatened as my face turned a lovely color of crimson.

“Hey, Sparks, perhaps you could talk Abbey into getting some popcorn. I imagine this is going to a hilarious party.” Aisuru chuckled and jumped back when I tried to hit him.

Instead of fighting, however, Latte appeared at my shoulder and threw her arms around my neck. A moment later, people dog piled on me and laughs filled the ship, carrying across the whitecaps of the sea all around us.

Despite Kris’s elbow in my ribs, Aslansa’s knee in my back and Spark’s ass in my face, a happy smile spread across my face. “This is our home.” I breathed, sighing contentedly – until someone farted.