strawberry and pistachio
Story: Timeless { backstory | index }
Title: Graverobbers
Rating: PG (language)
Challenge: Strawberry #1: strawberries, Pistachio #18: I should have known
Toppings/Extras:
Wordcount: 598
Summary: Adele Merritt tastes her first real strawberry.
Notes: Eh? Timeless has a plot? You learn something new every day! This is before Isaac and Adele have any kind of sexual relationship, by the way.
Isaac didn’t really know why he felt the need to take a stroll around the wreckage of the Fat Baron but he did so anyway, dismissing Jacob Graham’s smirking promise to sink the vessel while he was on it with a wave of the hand.
It was strange and sad being on the wasted ship. Since becoming an employee of Lord Ashdown, Prowse had spent a lot of his time on ships; he’d grown to know them, even grown to love the thrumming lifebeat that reverberated from their wooden depths, the way they rollicked on choppy seas. It seemed a shame to blast holes in them.
Unfortunately, it was his job. He moved into what had once been a kitchenette and spotted something on the table.
-----
Adele had resurfaced from the brig of the Kraken by then and was stood upon it with her arms folded, dark purple lips unmoving and grim. A brackish breeze made strands of her hair blow around her head, though most of it was tucked up in a gleaming bun. Her eyelids-thickly lined with artificial black eyelashes-dropped a fraction as Isaac Prowse came back over the gangplank.
“What took you so long?” she asked, cold as usual.
He thrust a bowl into her face. “Strawberry?”
There was a total change in her demeanour; Adele froze and her eyes widened, staring at the bright, bursting fruits before her, blushed the most natural shade of red she had ever seen. After a moment, she reached out and took one, stumbling away towards the railings. Seeming a little confused by her reaction, Prowse followed behind her.
“Where did you…?” she managed.
“More plunder.”
“But they… where the hell would the modern pirates get these?” she demanded, sounding astounded.
“They’re pirates,” Prowse said. “I expect they stole them. From your boss. That’s… the whole reason we’re on this ship in the first place.”
“Nutriware strawberries don’t look like this,” Adele said, shaking her head. She took one from the bowl between a thumb and forefinger and lifted it in the air, watching the afternoon sun gleam from its moist surface. The strawberries her beloved company manufactured were false, half-strawberry at most, hard and dry and crayon-red. She squashed it a little between her fingers and watched pinkish juice run down her finger. “They’re growing them!”
“Oh,” Prowse said, not seeming nearly as alarmed or astounded as he should-in Adele’s opinion, anyway. The fact that the modern pirates had found some way to grow food while living out at sea was of monumental importance to her and probably would be to Newson.
“There isn’t arable land for…” Adele trailed off and gazed longer at the strawberry. “Eden Island?” she pondered aloud.
“Are you feeling all right?” Prowse asked, seeming concerned as she stared hard at the fruit. There was a cannon blast behind them and the Kraken rocked slightly; the Fat Baron was finally being sent to the depths.
“Should I eat it?”
“I presume that’s what they were grown for.”
Almost hesitantly, Adele bit into the strawberry, her lips darker than its ripe skin. It was the most gorgeous thing she had ever tasted in her life. She tried not to let it show on her face.
“Congratulations,” Prowse said dryly. “You’re a full-fledged grave-robber.”
And he pitched the strawberries over the railings and into the ocean. Most of them disappeared under the waves instantly. Some of the fruit floated momentarily, tugged this way and that by the constant currents, glimmering rubies against the green-blue opalescence of the ocean. Soon they sank too.
Title: Graverobbers
Rating: PG (language)
Challenge: Strawberry #1: strawberries, Pistachio #18: I should have known
Toppings/Extras:
Wordcount: 598
Summary: Adele Merritt tastes her first real strawberry.
Notes: Eh? Timeless has a plot? You learn something new every day! This is before Isaac and Adele have any kind of sexual relationship, by the way.
Isaac didn’t really know why he felt the need to take a stroll around the wreckage of the Fat Baron but he did so anyway, dismissing Jacob Graham’s smirking promise to sink the vessel while he was on it with a wave of the hand.
It was strange and sad being on the wasted ship. Since becoming an employee of Lord Ashdown, Prowse had spent a lot of his time on ships; he’d grown to know them, even grown to love the thrumming lifebeat that reverberated from their wooden depths, the way they rollicked on choppy seas. It seemed a shame to blast holes in them.
Unfortunately, it was his job. He moved into what had once been a kitchenette and spotted something on the table.
-----
Adele had resurfaced from the brig of the Kraken by then and was stood upon it with her arms folded, dark purple lips unmoving and grim. A brackish breeze made strands of her hair blow around her head, though most of it was tucked up in a gleaming bun. Her eyelids-thickly lined with artificial black eyelashes-dropped a fraction as Isaac Prowse came back over the gangplank.
“What took you so long?” she asked, cold as usual.
He thrust a bowl into her face. “Strawberry?”
There was a total change in her demeanour; Adele froze and her eyes widened, staring at the bright, bursting fruits before her, blushed the most natural shade of red she had ever seen. After a moment, she reached out and took one, stumbling away towards the railings. Seeming a little confused by her reaction, Prowse followed behind her.
“Where did you…?” she managed.
“More plunder.”
“But they… where the hell would the modern pirates get these?” she demanded, sounding astounded.
“They’re pirates,” Prowse said. “I expect they stole them. From your boss. That’s… the whole reason we’re on this ship in the first place.”
“Nutriware strawberries don’t look like this,” Adele said, shaking her head. She took one from the bowl between a thumb and forefinger and lifted it in the air, watching the afternoon sun gleam from its moist surface. The strawberries her beloved company manufactured were false, half-strawberry at most, hard and dry and crayon-red. She squashed it a little between her fingers and watched pinkish juice run down her finger. “They’re growing them!”
“Oh,” Prowse said, not seeming nearly as alarmed or astounded as he should-in Adele’s opinion, anyway. The fact that the modern pirates had found some way to grow food while living out at sea was of monumental importance to her and probably would be to Newson.
“There isn’t arable land for…” Adele trailed off and gazed longer at the strawberry. “Eden Island?” she pondered aloud.
“Are you feeling all right?” Prowse asked, seeming concerned as she stared hard at the fruit. There was a cannon blast behind them and the Kraken rocked slightly; the Fat Baron was finally being sent to the depths.
“Should I eat it?”
“I presume that’s what they were grown for.”
Almost hesitantly, Adele bit into the strawberry, her lips darker than its ripe skin. It was the most gorgeous thing she had ever tasted in her life. She tried not to let it show on her face.
“Congratulations,” Prowse said dryly. “You’re a full-fledged grave-robber.”
And he pitched the strawberries over the railings and into the ocean. Most of them disappeared under the waves instantly. Some of the fruit floated momentarily, tugged this way and that by the constant currents, glimmering rubies against the green-blue opalescence of the ocean. Soon they sank too.