Swamped

You have to pause and take a deep breath just to grasp what this even means.

Well, to start with, it means even if this ship sinks, at least one person's going to make it out alive. Or is capable of it, at the very least. You hadn't even thought about the potential for changing history until right now.

But another thing it means is, there's someone here you have some experience with. You were on Bigfoot's squad for a while, before she moved up the ladder and you fell down it. Of course, Marshguards being the secretive sorts they are, she never told you about her past as a sailor on a cross-continental voyage, let alone what ended up happening on it.

What you remember is that she was real stubborn. You felt like you were always fighting against her worst instincts; she was always fond of picking fights that didn't really need to be picked. It took a while before you figured out how to argue productively with her. You couldn't get anywhere unless you made her think something was her own idea.

Hmm. Hard to reconcile that with her working as a sailor, though. It's a job where you've got somebody else barking orders at you all day, and you just can't imagine her taking to that kind of life. Then again, you're in the past. Maybe whatever made her so bitter hasn't happened yet.

Well, you're doing her a disservice by only remembering the grumpiness, common as it was. It wasn't as if she was never happy. The main times you recall seeing her smile were after some fights with Bogknights, including a couple you lost. She also looked up to Mudviper, and seemed eager to talk to her whenever the chance arose.

Oh, right. There was another thing that made her real happy. You only saw it happen the one time, but it definitely made a strong impression.