Ulrich just stared at the contents of the page for a few seconds. In it was an anime drawing of an angel with a trench coat and jet-black wings, alongside a blood red scar on his left eye, with his poorly drawn hand holding a jagged black katana.
"Uh, dude? What is this exactly?" Ulrich asked, trying to hold in his laughter.
"Uh, that? It…it's nothing important." Dominic quickly yelled back, starting to sweat.
"Is this why you went back to your house?" Ulrich yelled out, now on borderline hysterics.
"Look, since we were going to japan, I figured that in case I met a manga artist, I could…you know…" Dominic was stammering.
"Ulrich, dude. Lay off the guy." Lainey interrupted. "It can't be that bad."
Ulrich walked up to her, face red from laughing, but Dominic punched him in the face and took the sheet before he could, slamming his head against the edge of the boat.
"Dominic! The hell?!" Lainey yelled.
"You fuck off, Lainey!" Dominic screamed out, storming into the inside of the boat, which Lainey followed in case Sapphire had anything to say.
Lainey was about to open the door to Dominic's room, when Sapphire came out of the kitchen.
"Everything good?"
"Y-Yeah." Lainey replied. "Just gotta ask Dominic about something. When's the fish ready?"
"About ten minutes."
"Cool, cool." Lainey responded, going into Dominic's room.
When she walked in, Dominic was sitting on his hammock, on his smartphone.
"Go away." Dominic mumbled, without looking up from his phone.
"You doin' okay, man?" Lainey asked.
"I'll be fine, yeah." Dominic replied. "You know the green-eyed carrots?"
"Like, as a band or personally? Because I haven't met them."
"Nah, just their music." He pressed a button on his phone, and that one song about the Iraq war started playing. "So, why'd you show up?"
"Eh, just wanted to see what Ulrich was laughing at." Lainey replied, before panicking slightly. "No, wait! I wanted to appreciate it! Ulrich is definitely being an asshole right now! I'm not making fun of you!"
"Eh, it's fine. Wasn't even my drawing." Dominic replied.
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, I came up with the concept, but my friend is the one who actually drew it."
"So, you got mad on her behalf?"
"I mean, she moved a couple years ago, so I guess I just miss her."
"Yeah, I feel that." Lainey nodded.
"So, I figured, I have a lot of the story for this still thought out, so maybe I could find some kind of manga artist and make it a full series, you know? For her."
"I get ya, I get ya. Tell you what? I could strike you a deal."
Dominic paused his music. "What kind of deal?"
"Well, you know how easy it is to share music these days? I could pretty easily make a single, making that picture the album cover, and with any luck, she could see it."
Dominic sprung out of his hammock. "Wait a minute! Your band. It's Trik Mystik, isn't it?"
"Uh, yeah?" Lainey replied, confused.
"Yeah! Before she moved, she mentioned something about buying the new Trik Mystik album, so the chance of her actually seeing it is basically one hundred percent!"
"Hey, what do you know? And I'll be sure to mention that you helped save my bandmates." Lainey responded, with a confident smile and a hand outstretched. "Also, try to be nice to Ulrich. I get that he's kind of a dick, but play nice."
"That I can handle." Dominic responded, shaking her hand. "And to top off this deal, I'll help you bang Sapphire!"
"Wait, what?" Lainey reacted, retracting her hand.
"Nah, bro. Whoever gives you a wedding ring is cool with me. It's just…you really remind me of my friend. She too covered her eye and had a thing for the ladies. So, I just…feel I owe it to you for some reason."
"Uh, sure?" Lainey replied, confused. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess."
"Yo, Axe and Pink! The food's ready!" Sapphire yelled out from the outside of the boat.
"Okay, time to make my move, I guess. Don't mess this up." Lainey opened the door, and her and Dominic went up to eat the fried mackerel and mushrooms Sapphire made, with some apple cider on the side.
After about a minute of eating, Dominic started his plan.
"So, Sapphire. How long has it been since somebody else was on this lovely boat of yours?"
Sapphire swallowed her fish, and looked into the sky, which was slowly turning orange. "About…two months. A lady from Italy, if I remember correctly."
"Interesting, interesting." Dominic replied, taking a small bite from a mushroom. "What were you doing in Italy?"
"Eh, it's a job for myself, you know? Buying things from certain countries, selling them in others. I won't be some man in a suit buying a mansion, but it's a living, you know?"
"I hear you there." Lainey replied. "So, what were you and that girl in Italy doing?"
"Eh, found her looking at some lovey-dovey stuff. Turned out her boyfriend dumped her after she put on some weight. So, I hung out with her for a few days to get her spirits up."
"Well, I can get behind that." Dominic said, tipping his cider to her. "Always nice to help somebody in need."
"So, what happened to the girl?" Lainey asked.
"We went our separate ways. She stayed in my room for a couple nights, but she had things to attend to, and I had to go to Spain. So, nothing really happened between us."
"Nothing happening, huh?" Dominic asked. "What's that imply?"
"Ah, not much. Sometimes me and a girl I'm helping will spend the night together. A small bit closer, you know?"
"Hm. I get you." Dominic smiled, tossing a side glare towards Lainey. "So, you currently single?"
"Been a while, why?" She responded with a slight hint of caution.
"I mean, my friend Lainey over there is in the same situation as you. Stuck saving the world, and a lot of…tension." Dominic gave a sly smile and leaned back on his chair.
Sapphire turned to Lainey, with a look of slight concern on her face.
"Is what this…man is saying true?" Sapphire asked, tucking her hair behind her left ear.
Lainey was quickly throwing glances at both Dominic and Sapphire, while Ulrich just kind of stayed out of the whole thing, barely looking up from his mackerel.
Lainey quickly started stammering.
"W-well, I'm not into girls, b-but my wife is. Ex-wife, I mean. We, uh, got divorced after a while, things weren't working out."
"Well." Sapphire slowly began talking. "That's…certainly a shame to hear about."
"Yeah, it certainly sucked." Lainey looked over at Dominic, while mouthing a quick 'help me.'
'With what?' Dominic mouthed back.
'just…say something that lesbians would be into.'
After that, Dominic looked over to Sapphire.
"Big Tits?" He asked, before the realization hit him extremely hard.
Lainey looked at Dominic, horrified, while Dominic quickly stood up.
"Well, Sapphire, gotta thank you for the mushrooms, but I just remembered I'm allergic! So, if you excuse me, I gotta go die peacefully. See ya later!"
"Same here!" Lainey also got up, and both of them ran into their rooms, while Sapphire turned to Ulrich with fear.
"I wasn't told about this! I was only told about the guy who can't eat nuts!"
"That…would be me." Ulrich replied, confused at basically everything that happened. "I have no idea about the others."
"Oh, god! You have one of those jab things?" Sapphire asked, panicking. "Wait. I bought you one." I'll be right back!" And she too, ran into the inside of the boat.
Ulrich just returned to his food, leaving them to their alone time with Sapphire. Besides, these mushrooms were pretty good. And when Sapphire was out of his view, he took Dominic's.