15th Wave

[tentacruelest]

[Valentines]

Sylvanas;
Stay true to yourself.
Keep a weather eye on the horizon.
I'll guide you through the storm.

William Bush;
You keep me ship-shape,
Even if I loathe you for it at times.
Steer fast and true



[Spam]

[at dinnertime, a new face appears in the pub. He's old and he's an inmate, fiddling with an odd pocketwatch with one hand and hugging a Maine Coon cat in the other. Still, he navigates the Barge like he's been here for months. If anyone were to look closely they might determine that it's Tentacle Beard himself, disguised as a human.

He drops down in a booth, setting the cat on the table, and begins to order drinks.

Lots and lots of drinks.

Midway through, he starts singing;]

What d'yeh do with a drunken sailor..

What d'yeh do with a drunken sailor..

What d'yeh do with a drunken sailor, ear-lye in the mor-nin'...

Comments

[tentacruelest]

An' your point bein'?

[sickjoke]

Mmm. Not sure yet. I'll find one eventually. [ He drains the last of his glass. ]

[tentacruelest]

Yer an odd sort, Hood. I can't make head or tail of yeh.

[sickjoke]

[ His grin reappears, and it's-- very very broad, very wide. ]

That's fine by me.

[tentacruelest]

[The cat, an ordinary quiet sort, puts her paw on Hood's hand. Hello, sir. She would like some pets.

Davy only snorts and drinks more of the strange liquid he'd been offered]

[sickjoke]

I'm just a little screwloose, aren't I, pretty moggy? [ His pale fingers wind into the cats fur, scratching her chin gently. ] That's all.

[tentacruelest]

[He grunts, suspicious-like]

At least yeh continue to look human.

[sickjoke]

For a relative value of human, yes.

[ He tilts his head, green eyes fixing on the man instead of the cat; he doesn't stop petting the queen, mind, he just has to look at Davy while he does. ]

Is that a problem?

[tentacruelest]

[The queen in question deigns to purr, a slight rumble that adds tenor to the conversation]

I can't stop yeh from looking how you do.

[sickjoke]

No, not at all.

[ He kept giving the queen. ]

You haven't introduced your friend, either.

[tentacruelest]

She ain't my friend. She's the bloody animal my warden stuck me with last week.

[sickjoke]

You've not named her at all?

She looks like... [ Hmmm hmmm hmm ] She looks like a queen, so...

Mary?

[tentacruelest]

[Jones gives a snort, shaking his head]

Grace.

[sickjoke]

Grace; ah, lovely. [ She can have plenty of scritches. ]

[tentacruelest]

[Grace the cat appreciates such things, and sits very still, bumping her head up against Hood's hand]

Know much about cats, do yeh?

[sickjoke]

That they like to be petted, but only on their terms, mostly. Never really had pets.

[tentacruelest]

Nor I. This is the first one I've owned.

I didnae even know what to do with it.

[sickjoke]

You don't do much with cats. Feed them, clean up after them, pet them when they want it. They're good that way.

[tentacruelest]

We don't have mice to fend off, so she's only sitting around to look pretty.

[sickjoke]

And keep you company. That's their primary use in my day.

[tentacruelest]

I don't need company. I don't need a cat.

[sickjoke]

Well, then think of her as her needing you.

[tentacruelest]

[Davy stares at his cat, who turns to stare back at him before returning to licking her paw]

...She's self-sufficient enough.

[sickjoke]

Most are. They're most as work intense as say, a dog.

[tentacruelest]

Good. I barely keep after meself, let alone care for a creature. Cats don't even like water.