Fanfiction: Cabin Pressure
Final Straw: Chapter 3
Notes: I really don't like this chapter myself, but I tried so many different ways of doing it and none of them seemed to work. I hope it will do.
I'm going camping on Saturday and won't be back until 14th August, so I'll apologise in advance for the wait (and the awfulness of this chapter)!
‘What - were - you - thinking?’ Carolyn demands in a dangerously low voice, pacing in front of Arthur, who shifts uncomfortably, his cheeks flushing a guilty red,
‘I -’
‘Never mind. I’ll tell you what you were thinking. Nothing. Nothing is what you were thinking. Or at least I hope to God it was, because if you actually paused to consider what you were doing and went ahead with it anyway then you’re even more of an idiot than I took you for to begin with. What on Earth possessed you to do something so stupid?’
‘But Mum, I didn’t know he was allergic!’ Arthur protests earnestly, ‘I wouldn’t have done it if I did, honestly! But - but it was what they told me to do, they said it would stop Douglas and Skip arguing!’
‘Who is ‘they’? And how exactly was this supposed to result in some sort of miraculous reconciliation? Do you even know what could have happened?’
‘The people on the internet,’ Arthur sniffs tearfully. ‘They said that if Skipper and Douglas had a common enemy they would forget about being angry with each other, and I couldn’t really think of anything else because they get annoyed with me all the time so I didn’t think that would really work, and then when I passed the flowerbeds on the way in -’
‘If those people had told you jumping out of the plane over the Atlantic would get Martin and Douglas back on speaking terms, would you have done it?’ Arthur opens his mouth to reply, but Carolyn cuts him off quickly, ‘no, don’t answer that. For future reference the correct response is no. Do try and remember,’ she pauses, then when he doesn’t reply, ‘Arthur?’
‘You told me not to answer!’
Carolyn rolls her eyes and huffs, some of the anger draining away at the sight of her son’s pleading face, ‘Arthur, do you know what anaphylactic shock is?’ She asks, in a considerably gentler tone. Arthur briefly considers answering with a confident yes, just to prove a point, and begins to do just that, then changes his mind halfway through.
‘Ye...no,’ he admits reluctantly, ‘is it bad?’
‘It’s very, very bad,’ Carolyn assures him seriously, ‘if Martin had been stung, that’s what could have happened. He could have died,’
Arthur’s eyes widen in horror, ‘no!’ he exclaims, ‘no, I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have - I’m sorry Mum, honestly I wouldn’t have, really -’
‘I know,’ she cuts him off truthfully, ‘I’m just trying to make you realise why this is a big deal.’
‘I get it,’ Arthur replies sullenly, ‘is Skip going to be okay?’
‘He’ll be fine. Just promise me you aren’t going to follow any more of these ridiculous schemes,’
‘I promise,’ he hangs his head shamefully, though he is mentally ticking off which of the list of ideas he has made might count as ridiculous, and which he might still be able to get away with.
0000
Arthur spends most of the night writing the note, short as it turns out to be. He isn’t very good at mimicking Douglas’s handwriting, and he just can’t seem to get the wording right.
In the end he gives up, and chooses the one with the smallest number of scribbling-out on it to leave on Martin’s desk.
Dear Martin, it says,
I’m really sorry about what happened and about what I said. I was being an idiot and I didn’t mean any of it. Please forgive me and start talking to me again.
From Douglas.
PS: Arthur says he’s really sorry too, about the bees. He was only trying to help and he didn’t know about anafalactick shock or he wouldn’t have done it, really.
It is no surprise when he finds it in the bin later that day.
0000
Threatening a drinks ban until they start talking again doesn’t work either, even when Arthur steals the thermos flasks both pilots take to bringing in to work.
0000
Along the same lines, Arthur hides Martin’s hat with the promise to return it if he apologises to Douglas, but as it turns out, beneath the Captain’s seat of the aeroplane is not the most subtle place he could have chosen.
0000
If he can’t make them band together against something, Arthur reasons as he adjust the newly made hat on his head, he can at least try and unite them for something.
Douglas laughs uproariously at his jokes, and participates with falsified enthusiasm in the game of charades Arthur suggests.
Martin ignores both of them.
Notes: I really don't like this chapter myself, but I tried so many different ways of doing it and none of them seemed to work. I hope it will do.
I'm going camping on Saturday and won't be back until 14th August, so I'll apologise in advance for the wait (and the awfulness of this chapter)!
‘What - were - you - thinking?’ Carolyn demands in a dangerously low voice, pacing in front of Arthur, who shifts uncomfortably, his cheeks flushing a guilty red,
‘I -’
‘Never mind. I’ll tell you what you were thinking. Nothing. Nothing is what you were thinking. Or at least I hope to God it was, because if you actually paused to consider what you were doing and went ahead with it anyway then you’re even more of an idiot than I took you for to begin with. What on Earth possessed you to do something so stupid?’
‘But Mum, I didn’t know he was allergic!’ Arthur protests earnestly, ‘I wouldn’t have done it if I did, honestly! But - but it was what they told me to do, they said it would stop Douglas and Skip arguing!’
‘Who is ‘they’? And how exactly was this supposed to result in some sort of miraculous reconciliation? Do you even know what could have happened?’
‘The people on the internet,’ Arthur sniffs tearfully. ‘They said that if Skipper and Douglas had a common enemy they would forget about being angry with each other, and I couldn’t really think of anything else because they get annoyed with me all the time so I didn’t think that would really work, and then when I passed the flowerbeds on the way in -’
‘If those people had told you jumping out of the plane over the Atlantic would get Martin and Douglas back on speaking terms, would you have done it?’ Arthur opens his mouth to reply, but Carolyn cuts him off quickly, ‘no, don’t answer that. For future reference the correct response is no. Do try and remember,’ she pauses, then when he doesn’t reply, ‘Arthur?’
‘You told me not to answer!’
Carolyn rolls her eyes and huffs, some of the anger draining away at the sight of her son’s pleading face, ‘Arthur, do you know what anaphylactic shock is?’ She asks, in a considerably gentler tone. Arthur briefly considers answering with a confident yes, just to prove a point, and begins to do just that, then changes his mind halfway through.
‘Ye...no,’ he admits reluctantly, ‘is it bad?’
‘It’s very, very bad,’ Carolyn assures him seriously, ‘if Martin had been stung, that’s what could have happened. He could have died,’
Arthur’s eyes widen in horror, ‘no!’ he exclaims, ‘no, I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have - I’m sorry Mum, honestly I wouldn’t have, really -’
‘I know,’ she cuts him off truthfully, ‘I’m just trying to make you realise why this is a big deal.’
‘I get it,’ Arthur replies sullenly, ‘is Skip going to be okay?’
‘He’ll be fine. Just promise me you aren’t going to follow any more of these ridiculous schemes,’
‘I promise,’ he hangs his head shamefully, though he is mentally ticking off which of the list of ideas he has made might count as ridiculous, and which he might still be able to get away with.
0000
Arthur spends most of the night writing the note, short as it turns out to be. He isn’t very good at mimicking Douglas’s handwriting, and he just can’t seem to get the wording right.
In the end he gives up, and chooses the one with the smallest number of scribbling-out on it to leave on Martin’s desk.
Dear Martin, it says,
I’m really sorry about what happened and about what I said. I was being an idiot and I didn’t mean any of it. Please forgive me and start talking to me again.
From Douglas.
PS: Arthur says he’s really sorry too, about the bees. He was only trying to help and he didn’t know about anafalactick shock or he wouldn’t have done it, really.
It is no surprise when he finds it in the bin later that day.
0000
Threatening a drinks ban until they start talking again doesn’t work either, even when Arthur steals the thermos flasks both pilots take to bringing in to work.
0000
Along the same lines, Arthur hides Martin’s hat with the promise to return it if he apologises to Douglas, but as it turns out, beneath the Captain’s seat of the aeroplane is not the most subtle place he could have chosen.
0000
If he can’t make them band together against something, Arthur reasons as he adjust the newly made hat on his head, he can at least try and unite them for something.
Douglas laughs uproariously at his jokes, and participates with falsified enthusiasm in the game of charades Arthur suggests.
Martin ignores both of them.