Groves returning to the Indy

[british_pickle]

OOC: um. If any of you saw/see this in my own journal, it's because I was being dumb earlier today and forgot to switch the "post to" drop down menu. *headdesk* So here it is for you proper.

... and I just did it again YARGH.After leaving Aubrey and Kennedy talking, Groves can barely contain himself as he hurries to the side of the ship and

Comments

Theo

[british_pickle]

The false bravado falls away, and with it goes his smile. He hadn't realized how hard this would be to say. "Um. That's what I came over here to tell you.

I don't know much more about my cut than I did before. Dr. Maturin couldn't discern anything just by looking at it, except that the salve you brought is probably making it worse, but he can't tell for sure unless he sees it." He takes a breath, having spit everything out all in one.

"But that isn't even the beginning of the bad news, Andrew. I talked to Kennedy after Maturin, and he said that he and Sparrow had read that... that we only have ten or twelve days before this thing I have takes hold. He also said that whatever ship attacked that one," he gestures out towards where the cursed ship had been, hours before, "is harbouring the witch, and that they're Spanish.

Then I talked to Sparrow, and he said that there's only ten or twelve days before I start going insane, yes, but it only lasts for twenty-four hours, and then it fades after that until the next New Moon - because it's going by the phases of the moon, apparently, and every New Moon I'll be crazed, or something - but he also said that every time it happens it feels like it's getting stronger.

He also said I should be locked up when it happens." Theo pouts slightly at that prospect, crossing his arms and looking more like a young boy not getting his way than a grown man.

Gillette

[ex_galadhir]

Andrew closes his eyes briefly and breathes out, feeling a terror he'd barely dared acknowledge leave him. Suddenly the worst insult in the world is bearable; forgettable, unimportant. "Oh, thank God!" he says, fervently. "I thought you were going to die. I thought we had days, and you'd be gone, and you'd either have killed me or I'd have killed myself, and that'd be the end to us. But it goes away?! Thank God!"

Theo's unhappy look and rebellious posture finally registers, and he damps down on his urge to laugh with relief, and instead reaches out to touch Theo reassuringly on the arm. "I'm sorry. The prospect of dangerous madness once a month can't be appealing. I'd have it for you if I could - with me, no one would notice the difference. But this is controllable, and I'll be with you, and we'll get through it, and no one has to die before we can get hold of that bitch and put it right."

He has to look away and breathe carefully for a moment to fight down the shudder of relieved tears. "Ah, Theo, we'll beat this yet. I was a little worried there, for a moment, but now I'm sure of it."

Groves

[british_pickle]

"You mean you won't lock me away like a raging dog?" He clasps Andrew's hand in a manly, non-lover-like way and shakes it a little. He then proceeds to take an over-cautious look around the deck, across to the Euryalus, and then he quickly steps forward and kisses Andrew lightly on the mouth, stepping back again before he can get carried away with himself.

"Couldn't we just skip the whole dinner thing?" Even before Theo finishes speaking, his stomach pipes up in protest, rumbling loudly. He grins sheepishly. "Perhaps not."

Gillette

[ex_galadhir]

Taken by surprise, Andrew gives Theo a startled smile and stands for a while thinking, unconsiously licking his lips to savour the taste of the kiss. Truthfully, he would have expected Theo to suggest himself that he should be locked up or tied up during the worst excesses of madness - it seemed so much the sensible thing to do. But to have someone else suggest it?

After the argument with Edrington he can completely sympathize with Groves' feelings; so many men on board seem not to understand a gentleman's pride. Theo might have taken such a suggestion from the Commodore, but hardly from anyone else. He should not have been expected to take it from anyone else.

"I trust you to know your own limits," he says eventually, "and to ask to be restrained if you think you need it. But if we have ten days before it gets bad, lets think about something more pleasant. Definitely dinner. You're going to need your strength."

Groves

[british_pickle]

Theo raises his eyebrows in mock surprise. "And what, pray tell, would I be needing my strength for? Dinner will only last me so long, and there's only so many things happening in that span of time." He loves this vague walk along the border of indecency, accompanied by innuendo. It's the only way to keep himself in check when there could be eyes watching.

"Who is to take watch, by the way, when we're all eating?"

OOC: gah, that was kind of crap. I couldn't really think of a reply, but I figured I should get something off to you soon, eh? :)

Gillette

[ex_galadhir]

"Edrington can take the watch. He seems to think he knows everything there is to know about being a Sea-Officer, after all."

It isn't going to be pleasant, sitting in the same room as that man. Now that he's less worried about Groves, he has time to wonder whether honour demands that he make the challenge again - in public, where it can't simply be ignored.

"Theo, if I force Edrington to fight me, if I do something at dinner which will put it out of his power to refuse me, will you be my second?"

Gillette calls the senior midshipman and hands over the watch to him, ordering a boat to be made ready to take them both to the Euryalus. Might as well get this dinner out of the way as soon as possible, so that he can look forward to more pleasant things.

Groves

[british_pickle]

Groves follows Gillette to the boat. "Of course I'll be your second, but what on earth did he say to provoke such an action?"

As they climb into the boat, he sits as close as possible to Gillette as he can without drawing suspicion. Just being close to the man has helped to calm his nerves, and he doesn't feel quite so panicky, despite the prospect of having to be restrained in a week and a half. He shakes the thought away with a shudder.

Gillette

[ex_galadhir]

Gillette sighs - it looks like such a petty incident when it's explained, but it means a hell of a lot more than it seems. The right relations between army and navy, for example; the fact that the ship already has a Captain and doesn't need Edrington trying to do the job.

"He gave me an order," he explains. "Do you remember when we came up on deck and you had diverted somewhere. At that point we didn't know how fast this curse took affect, so when I noticed you weren't there, I was worried. I had just explained the situation to Kennedy and was just turning to look for you when Edrington took it upon himself to *order* me to look for you.

Firstly, I was already doing it - so he called my competance into question. Secondly, he's in the Army. He's a *passenger*, and a passenger who knows *nothing* about life on board ship. To presume that he knows better than I is arrogance in the extreme. Thirdly, it's an insult to James - who is the only one on this ship with the right to give me orders.

I laughed at him, of course, and he demanded an apology. For the ship's sake, I gave him one; grudgingly. Later I gave him a better apology for mocking him. Then I waited for him to apologise to me for insulting me and insulting the Service. But he chose instead to marvel at the idea that an educated man like Maturin might choose a life in the Navy. At that, I demanded an apology from him. He refused to give me one. Then I demanded satisfaction, and he refused that too.

I won't be treated like this, Theo. I will have an apology from him, and some assurance that he understands he has no right to give orders to *anybody* on this ship - or I will have blood."