3rd Wave

[tentacruelest]

[Jones is a deep, deep sleeper but he wakes with the sunrise. Each day is a new, hellish experience on the Barge but he scowls and stomps his way through them regardless.

Imagine his surprise when this morning he opens his door - releasing a small flood of his usual seawater, which, thanks to Maintenance, is contained by a make-shift dam - and spots children running about.

Not the handful of children he knows to be part of the Barge. New ones. And smaller people are easier to bully than full-grown ones.

Resolving to go about his day unbothered by the mechanics of the Admiral, Davy instead storms his way to the mess hall, literally using his claw to forcefully swat aside anyone smaller than four feet]


I'll thank whoever remains their true, full size to keep the vast majority of whelps under control. I've a mind to toss them over the side one by one; no ship is in need of this many cabin boys. No navy is.

Mind your brats. Or I will.

Comments

[tentacruelest]

Never.

[with_my_teacup]

Well, then. You have little enough room to complain about it. Some day the death toll will work in your favor as well, likely.

[tentacruelest]

Where is the satisfaction in killing an enemy that comes back?

[with_my_teacup]

There is astonishingly little, in my own experience. I would most strongly recommend against making it a hobby.

[tentacruelest]

I only murder in just cause. Or if a grave insult has been paid to me.

[with_my_teacup]

Your standards for grave insults are so far extremely low.

[tentacruelest]

I do not see much of people besides my own crew on a regular basis.

[with_my_teacup]

Set your sights higher.

[A message comes through, and he sets his jaw.]

The admiral declines your sword. Can I tempt you to expensive alcohol, instead.

[tentacruelest]

[Jones gives a derisive snort and waves his claw]

So he answers to someone. Stow your permissions. I'll do without.

[with_my_teacup]

And the little ones-?

[tentacruelest]

The woman Beatrix has already made herself quite clear how I'm to handle myself around the wee ones.

[with_my_teacup]

Always a woman after my own heart, Miss Kiddo.

[tentacruelest]

Thankfully, not after mine.

[Oh look, Davy made a funny. That no one else on the Barge will understand]

[with_my_teacup]

As long as she is not provoked, at least.

[Tangential and under-informed funny!]

[tentacruelest]

It would be the end of her if she tried.

[with_my_teacup]

A surprising conclusion to come to. Miss Kiddo is not a woman easily ended.

[tentacruelest]

It may take time, granted. But her end, as all others, eventually would come.

[with_my_teacup]

Yes, if we are to take the entropic view, the universe will end in its heat death, eventually. But I feel safe not concerning myself with that yet.

[tentacruelest]

Hopefully sooner than that.

[with_my_teacup]

Likely a very little sooner. Only a very little.

[His prim, finicky smile is still obviously a straight-up troll.]

[tentacruelest]

Such blind confidence.

[with_my_teacup]

You should laugh at fate more often. There is a great deal to be said for being facetious even while one knows one is mortal.

[tentacruelest]

A great idiocy, more like.

[with_my_teacup]

You are very sullen. Mockery adds spice to life. It has made mine peppery.

[tentacruelest]

I have good cause to be sullen. There is nothing in my life worth laughing about.