Ah, the ocean. Wide, vast, infinite... a beauty to behold. Viktor hated it.

Well, he didn't hate it that much, actually. More that he hated sailing. And the boat, the Defender. It was so cramped, all the time. The food was... less than ideal. And the rocking--God, the rocking, he could hardly even limp across on most days.

Obviously, he kept silent. At least he had his own small cabin, not like the sailing crew that all slept in the hammocks down in the mess. Perks of being one of the two lead scientists, he supposed. The Queen was probably to thank for that. And the food was definitely better than the sailors. He had stepped into the mess only once at meal time, and the smell had sent him reeling. At least the officers and scientists got spices to cover the taste.

And the best thing was that he was technically living in the captain's quarters. Your quarters. There were multiple rooms, one for him, one for Jayce, and the last for you. But it meant that Viktor could technically spend the whole trip in isolation, grabbing his meals from the officer's mess and disappearing back to his room afterwards. Which was what he usually did. The only moment he came out was when he needed to use the large table in the centre of the captain's quarters, for cartography mostly. Or that time he dissected a massive fish that one of the sailors had pulled out.

There were traces of you around that main room, but he rarely saw you directly. A teapot and a cup were always in the centre of the table, emptied, with tea leaves stuck to the saucer. A journal was near the window, that he hadn't dared touch in fear of getting scalped. The door to your room was always locked.

It was on a particularly boring day--no land in sight, the water almost flat--that he had seen your for the first time in a while. Viktor was attempting to draw a funny bird he had seen fly by. When you opened the door and your eyes met, there was a second of pause.

"Captain," He acknowledged with a small nod, going back to his work after a beat.