Skye whispered to herself, trying to pump herself up and get over her shyness. She was pretty good with the rest of the crew so far, but that anxious side of her still never faltered every time she wanted to meet someone new. Over time though, she seemed to have grown a lot more confident in herself..she just had to get over this one obstacle as she stood at Brian’s door, wanting to meet him.

Brian heard the young angel dragon whisper to herself and give herself a pep talk from the other side, and quickly answered the door with a big grin on his face. 

"Yo, you gonna stand there all day or are ya comin' in?"

Skye eeps in surprise and jumps back in shock, her hands clutching the edge of her outfit as she blushes and looks down and away, embarrassed at the fact he caught her.

"Y-You..heard me, didn’t you.."

“You whisper to yourself a lot louder than you think you do, sweetheart.” 

Brian replies, a sheepish laugh accompanying his words as his husky tail subtly wagged.

“But feel free to come in, I don’t bite!” 

She nodded her head while her cheeks were still rosy, clearly embarrassed. As she walked into his cabin, she looked around with a smile. The cabin felt very cozy; beige colored wallpaper that accompanied soft green and blue butterfly silhouettes, and various vines growing and dangling across the walls, some with flowers on them too. 

Brian closed the door behind them both.

“So. What brings you here, Skye?”

“Oh. Uh…I was curious to know stuff about you and what you do..that’s all.”

“I see, I see. Well..”

He pat the spot next to him on the bed as he sat down, inviting her to sit with him.

Skye hesitated for a moment, but inhaled softly before she walked over and accepted his invitation. She wasn’t willing to let her anxiety stop her from making a new friend.

“I’m the rigger and linehand of the airship. I work with ropes, pulleys, and anything else that has to do with lifting, and hauling! More often than not I do that with my powers.”

He says with a smirk as he gave a quick glance to a corner of his room, as there was a box of all different kinds of ropes and things, and it was pretty much visible from the bed.

Skye nodded her head in understanding, when she glanced at the box of them in the corner. It took her a minute, before realizing what they were made out of since they didn’t seem to be normal ropes.

"So you manipulate plants! How fascinating!...you must be good at, ah, tying them together too..."

Brian sheepishly chuckled.

“I do my best.”

"C...Can you demonstrate some techniques..?" 

Her tail sways more as she asks, her voice getting a bit more confident, and allowing herself to be more open and fulfill her curiosity.

He chuckles lightly at her reaction. 

"Oh hell yeah! I can teach ya!" 

He says excitedly, his tail wagging as he stands up, standing in front of her. 

Holding his hands out, he waits for her to take them and stand up as well, 

"First, we start with the basics. The Double Bowline, this is one of the strongest knots you can do with em." 

Brian says as he gives her a little smile. Within the moment of Skye excitedly placing her hands in his and standing up, her power activated in a subtle fashion, her paws glowing a soft green. 

"Alright, copy my movements. First you gotta make a loop, then wrap one part around the other," 

He says as he does it perfectly, looking back at her for a moment. 

"Now you do it, and I'll adjust ya if you need to be!" 

He says confidently, as he watches her copy his movements. He knew about her ability to mimic others’ superpowers, so he was quite curious to know how this would turn out for her. Her hands worked in sync with his, as she tied the rope the exact way that he tied it. She's a bit slow but gets pretty close to a perfect replica, just a few stray strands being a tad longer.

"L-like this?" 

She asks quietly.

"Mhm, that's right! You're doing great, and you're a natural!" 

Brian would reply with genuine praise, soon smiling as a thought crossed his mind. 

"Now we're gonna tighten it, wanna see how much we can lift?" 

He asks as he wraps one of the long plants around his arm.

Skye couldn’t help but smile brightly, practically glowing with excitement, knowing she was doing it! Her tail sways even more happily as she nods.

"P-please, I'd love that! I wanna know!"

To her, the idea of lifting things with this rope...how much it could lift..now that was an exciting concept and one she desperately wanted to see come to fruition.

Brian moved his arm forward, and then back. 

"Then let's see how this bad boy holds up! Try lifting those weights over there." 

He says with a grin, as he puts his arm out infront of her, pointing to his 45lb weights that sat by his bed. Brian also worked out sometimes when he wasn’t occupied with his job on the airship.

Skye gripped the rope and pulled back with her whole body, practically standing on her toes, doing all she can to pull, and Brian could see the rope stretching as it began to lift...it was working!! He could see her struggling but trying so hard; she wanted to succeed lifting both these 45 pound weights, and Brian was quite impressed to see her do so well.

“You're doin' great lassie, keep it up!" 

He cheers her on, as a bead of sweat trickles down his face and onto his chest as they continue to lift the ropes together.

She beams with pride as she succeeds in lifting both weights at once, clearly feeling accomplished from pulling her own weight, and his, in all technicality. It gave her such a sense of self worth and confidence, and that feeling was one she wanted more of. She rubbed her arm gently after letting go of the rope, already feeling a little sore.

"Thank you so much! I-I wanna learn more...but I think that's all my arms could manage right now. They're so sore so fast..!"

“Now you know how I feel sometimes, heh heh.”

Brian replies, softly chuckling. This was something he did often every day. Skye could just imagine..every day, he did this; maybe every hour, and then some! It was so impressive to the young angel dragon, imagining him casually tying knots and ropes strong enough to keep the airship anchored at bay.

"Do you think maybe I'll be able to do it as well as you someday?" 

She asks sweetly, looking up at him.

“I think you’ll be a natural, as long as you continue to practice. You’ll be as strong as steel! You did real great.”

Brian responds with a soft, genuine smile. 

Skye shyly rubbed her arm.

“I guess so. My..power’s not really anything too special though, I think. I can hardly hold anything on my own.”

Brian furrows his eyebrows, and looks at her with an expression of disbelief.

"That's not true, your power is awesome! I mean, the ability to copy someone's power!? That's pretty cool, lassie!" 

He reassures her in a much needed comforting tone.

“I know how it feels to compare yourself to others, as someone who’s basically the youngest of the crew..well, second to youngest now, besides you. I often felt like I was out of place sometimes, but recently I realized something..Everyone on this crew relies on each other in some sort of way, that’s just how a crew..a family, works.” 

Skye gave him a look that let him know she understood.

“Right.”

“I say all this to say..”

He poked her forehead gently.

“You. Are. Important. Got it?”

“R-Right. I got it…”

Brian smirked, softly ruffling her hair playfully.

“You better. I’ll be sure to drill it into ya if I gotta.”

"Anyway, want some water and a snack? You did a lot of heavy lifting, gotta stay healthy and hydrated."

“Sure thing.”