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

[jumpeduplittleshit]

Did you just call me a fucking girl?

[tentacruelest]

You only wish yeh were a girl.

[jumpeduplittleshit]

Say that to my face, asshole.

[tentacruelest]

Gladly. Have yeh sense enough to detect how to go up to the top deck?

[jumpeduplittleshit]

I'll be there.

[tentacruelest]

Good.

[And so will Jones, sweeping about the deck in his powerful but stunted stride]

threadjack (/spam?)

[deadliestviper]

Fuck both of you.

[Someone's going to be waiting on the deck before either of you get there.]

Re: threadjack (/spam?)

[tentacruelest]

[Oh hi Bea. Jones turns around and narrows his eyes at her, scowling]

Off with you. This is between me and the boy.

[deadliestviper]

Didn't I make it clear I have no intention of letting you harm a child? Or letting a silly boy try to harm you, for that matter.

[tentacruelest]

You said nothing of the second sort of situation.

[deadliestviper]

Now I have.

[tentacruelest]

I do not accept your terms-sah.

[deadliestviper]

I didn't give you a choice.

What do you have to gain from fighting this boy?

[tentacruelest]

Satisfaction in knocking him over the side and little else.

[deadliestviper]

Is that fleeting satisfaction worth imprisonment or death?

[tentacruelest]

It is for this particular upstart.

Lock me in your brig; free or behind bars, it is the same misery.

[deadliestviper]

Respectfully, I ask you to reconsider. What has he said to you that any hotheaded boy wouldn't? Is that truly worth the blood rusting your sword?

[tentacruelest]

You listen to me, woman..

[Jones limps his way over to Beatrix; not to hurt, but to rant at, dripping seawater across the deck as he goes]

Every day on this ship drifts into another! It is a purgatory the likes of which I can scarce imagine, hour after hour of inanity and servitude and imprisonment! When I tell yeh that putting me in your Level Zero or running me through will make no difference, know it to be true! And when I say that running an upstart brat through with a sword or tossing him over the side would only bring a single spark of satisfaction before returning to the torturous drudgery that's become my existence, take me at my word as well! It is not out of cruelty, although that would be reason enough; it is to break the monotony, to force this Admiral to place me off his ship, to do something to show that you will still have to fight tooth and nail to control me, even as I lose time and time again!

[deadliestviper]

[Beatrix senses this, and has the respect for Jones (whatever he is) to stay in place. And she listens. Her hand twitches; part of her is tempted to draw her sword and slice him through before he even realizes it's unsheathed, but she holds back. It isn't time, not yet.]

The Admiral will only see a murder as a sign that you belong here for even longer than he first imagined. If you want to fight and lose more battles, you can do that infinitely here.

Talk to me about imprisonment and inanity when you've spent a year in this hellhole.

[tentacruelest]

This 'hellhole' is only the extension of a longer, equally terrible situation. And it has been far longer than a year.

[deadliestviper]

Then challenge the ones who imprisoned you and not a child so young he'd hardly be fit to serve as a cabin boy.

[tentacruelest]

You can read plain as day he's rushing up to challenge me and not the other way around.

[deadliestviper]

And you know he has no hope of beating you. Fight me in his place, or I'll know the reason you answered is only cruelty.

[tentacruelest]

[with a tired scowl, Davy at last turns away, starting to head towards the stairs]

I'll fight neither of you today. Call me a coward all you like; it makes no difference.

[deadliestviper]

[That's a battle won more easily than she thought. As Jones turns she gives a nod that might be taken for a bow.]

Thank you, Captain.