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]

Yeh locked me in the brig for a week. For killing one of your own.

[with_my_teacup]

And one of my dearest friends spent an equal amount of time recovering from the death toll, and what did it avail any of us?

[tentacruelest]

It told me that you care little for justice on this ship.

[with_my_teacup]

Not in any widespread way. We're all animals, cherishing our families and disdaining intruders-- only by consensus can we agree to leave other individuals' families and friends unmolested that ours generally might be unmolested as well.

But when it comes to crime? No, no justice, only squabbling amongst ourselves. The admiral doesn't much concern himself.

[Being hyper-articulate is fucking annoying. And makes him sound like a huge jackass. He can't wait for this flood to be over.]

[tentacruelest]

Even I, who did the murdering, know I got off with hardly a slap on the wrist. Do ye value life so little?

[with_my_teacup]

We value it as much as we have the leisure to. And we each manage the idea of resurrection in our own ways.

[tentacruelest]

You play at powers you should not keep.

[with_my_teacup]

Graduate, and you may do so at your convenience.

[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.