Suddenly Red's view was obstructed by two sweaty palms and a ridiculously heavy body jumping onto him from behind. Every possible action to this kind of ambush went through the red-head's mind in a second until he decided to go all limp.He and his attacker ended up plummeting face-first onto the floor, where Red decisively rolled around, so the ambusher was under him. 

"Chill out, chill out Red boi!" squealing came from under the young man."Fish girl?" he mumbled, getting up. "The name's Mei and you know that," she pouted, also getting up. Red rolled his eyes and grumbled annoyedly:" I'll start calling you that, when you stop giving me dumb nicknames!" He went silent for a second and then added:" Seaweed-hair" "Ah, and here I was, thinking of giving you something more than a dumb nickname and a heart-attack," she grinned, pretending to be insulted.

Red's brows rose a bit in surprise." YOU, wanted to give ME something?" he asked, confused.Mei giggled, letting go of the act:"Well, yeah! As a peace-offering! Also, in case you needed something to comfort you. You didn't really get a chance to pack your personal belongings, did ya?" Her hand pulled something out of the little shoulder-bag she had. 

It was a teal coloured ribbon. It's ends were cut split and it was pretty long. From what Red could tell, it was probably silk. The sun reflected off of it and made the tiny strands, it consisted of, visible.

"I accept your peace-offering," the boy said, reaching his hand under his coat, to take out a tiny shiny trinket "I guess, I should give you something back." Mei wanted to interrupt him and say that it wasn't needed but her mouth didn't comply as she landed her eyes on the small gift. 

A golden dragon with emerald eyes lied still on Red's palm. It was obviously meant to be put on a necklace, yet it was so very life-like. Her eyes teared up at the sight in front of her and she gently took the tiny piece of metal, not daring to raise her gaze. 

"It's beautiful,"she cooed, ever so delicately placing the trinket into her shoulder-bag, to later put it on a chain "I love it!" Mei leaped forward, to hug Red, who yelped in surprise as a pair of hands wrapped around him. He made a weak attempt of resisting but gave up fairly quickly, realising that he can't overpower Mei in a hug.

It was nice actually and he felt his ears twitching. 'Ah, nuts, they're ruining the hug!' he screamed inside his mind as one of them brushed against Mei's hair. The girl pulled away, surprised and Red immediately started frantically apologising, before he realised that Mei was laughing, as the rest of the crew looked at them surprisedly. 

Finally suppressing the laughter, the sea monster managed to croak:"It seriously was nothing! Why were you even apologising?" Red's face turned red and he spun around, flashing the tail of his coat challengingly:"I-I just...wanted to!" 

He walked away, not actually knowing where he's going. It wasn't like the ship was big or anything. He just needed...to think. In quiet. Away from that touchy...yet strangely endearing fish-girl. Once again opening his book, Red sunk into a darker corner, away from people.

Happily patting her shoulder-bag, Mei started whistling, not actually knowing what to do. It WAS pretty quiet if you take away the screeching seagulls, crashing waves and the wind threatening to blow some hats away.

Once again putting her hand in the shoulder-bag, the girl started looking for something to wear the gift from Red with. Finally her fingers caught the end of a string and she pulled it out. It was brown, worn, and made of harsh strands of rope, but it was the best she had. Now taking out the tiny dragon, she attached its golden form to the string and tied it around her neck.

With that important business out of the way, she started looking around. Her eyes landed on the two surgeons a bit farther away and she started walking towards them, beaming with joy from her new talisman.

Yep, that dragon was now a talisman. It was from the prickliest, rudest, the most easily annoyed person she personally knew. It had to be important for that sole reason. Also, it was pretty and Mei just really, really liked it. She promised to herself to never take the small, yet detailed necklace off. As long as she was at peace with the red-haired sea serpent, she was gonna wear it. And she was sure that must bring some luck.

Willow waved at her, smiling. She was short and chubby, in contrast to Zane, who was tall and lanky. Many guys in the crew were built similarly, including Red. Slowly beginning to get annoyed by her inability to throw the boy out of her mind, she waved back, with a slightly duller smile. 

Surprised at her sudden change of demeanour, Willow whispered something into Zane's ear. In a split second Mei's ears perked up and she scooted over, which made the surgeon girl yelp in surprise. "Haha, calm down, I just wanna hear some gossip," Mei's eyes lit up. Nervously the greenette fiddled her thumbs and mumbled:" I-I, you j-just changed moods really fast, I w-was surprised! I w-was nor-worried I-if we d-did something- if I did so-something to u-upset you."

Mei's eyes widened before she explained:" Ooh no! No! You guys didn't do anything! I was just thinking of Red, was trying to figure him out!" Willow nodded, a gentle smirk appearing on her face:" Red w-was the red-headed demon boy who you hugged before, right?" "Red isn't a demon. He's just-" Mei realised that perhaps her new acquaintance would not appreciate her telling strangers about his curse "It's complicated. But he's not a demon." Zane nodded, looking deep into Mei's eyes with his ice-blue ones:"I see. It really is better if you don't tell everyone your  boyfriend's secrets."

"Do y-you read minds?" Mei blurted out before realising what Zane had said on a wee bit deeper level:" And he's NOT my boyfriend!"Her cheeks were now tinted with barely visible pink, but that little change in skin-tone didn't go unnoticed by Zane:" I do not read minds, my friend. I just analyse people when I see them, to make a rough summary of one's feelings and conditions."

Mei's face went blank, as she rapped her head around the idea of people-observation. "Interesting..." she hummed. "I'll better go annoy someone else now though! Baiii!" The two waved as she went inside and Zane smirked at Willow:"Looks like your golden boy isn't the only one who says 'baii', Will"