Chapter 55
Previously: The Rose of Whitby – Chapter 54
Arthur nods- he’s still not sure what’s going on between Darcy and John and why they’re fighting, (if they’re fighting?), but at least she can kind of say his name now, so maybe it’s getting better? Anyway, he doesn’t want to upset her more, so he nods and smiles at her and tells her he’s looking forward to it!
He gathers all the tack, and Hannibal happily follows him into the stable, where Arthur finds a box stall that used to be empty already set up for him, with a thick layer of straw on the floor and a name plate on the door and all. Arthur puts his armload of leather and straps and things down to have a hand free to open the door.
Hannibal walks inside, does a circuit, sniffs into all the corners, and then lies down with a satisfied chuff to have a nap, it seems like. Arthur smiles at him, and assures him he’ll check back in on him later (his own horse!) and then goes to put the tack away and rejoin the others for whatever they’ve prepared for him.
Darcy leads him by the hand into the dining hall, which has been decorated with a full pirate theme, down to the buffet having a distinct ship’s food theme, and John (in a full replica of his dreamscape John Silver outfit) y’arring at Arthur to get to it before the ship’s cat decides to eat it all.
Arthur’s eyes go wide- he’s already exhilarated from the ride- on his own horse! er, nightmare!- but this… he turns to Darcy, feels disbelieving. “All this for me?”
~~~~
“I thought food first before you get your pirate outfit and John takes you on your big treasure hunt.” She doesn’t quite dare to look at John, it hurts too much. She wanted to plan the treasure hunt with him, wanted to walk all over his island and find the best spots.
Instead, all she could do was write him a list of clues for Arthur to hunt after. She trusts John to have built something wonderful, but she can’t help wanting to cry that they were meant to build it together. Build their lives together, too, and now his is so far away from hers and it’s all her fault.
But it’s Arthur’s birthday, she can’t be sad on his party, so she pulls him to the table, over to his birthday cake with the candles and tells him to blow them out, it’ll keep bad spirits away from him for the next year!
~~~~
Arthur’s never seen a cake like that outside a shop’s window (though he supposes they had them at the ball they were at, in the kitchen), and here’s one dedicated to him! He takes a deep breath, and just about manages to blow out all the candles before he runs out of air, smiles at Darcy, and at John, and at Gregory, who’s taken human shape again at some point. “Thank you. This is… really great.” He doesn’t know how else to express how much it means to him, that they’d go to so much effort for him.
~~~~
Giving him a hug, Darcy smiles brightly, then starts into singing him a birthday song, nearly manages to bungle it because from over in the kitchen she can hear her papa chiming in, and she can also hear John, quietly under his breath sing along.
~~~~
Arthur blushes, because no one’s ever sung him a birthday song. It makes him kind of feel put on the spot… but it’s also nice. Like it’s not being put on the spot in a bad way.
At seeing him a bit unsure, Darcy lifts the cake knife up to him and tells him that’s the next thing he should do, get his cake started! And when they’re all full enough to take a nap anyway, they’ll go do that so John has it easier to get them into his dreamscape. She’ll just have to run to the phone and tell her daddy that it’s nap time over in his place, too, so they can all go together!
Arthur gives John an astonished look at that, asks him if he can reach that far with his power? That’s amazing! Then he hesitates over the cake cutting- it’s not something he’s done before, either, of course. He does his best to cut out a slice starting at the middle, but can see that it looks pretty wonky when he’s done.
While John rubs his neck and admits it’s not easy, Darcy giggles over the wonky cake slice, yes, that’s exactly how it should look like, now he needs to cut them all pieces. Please, only a tiny, tiny one for her, but this specific cake, yes, she’ll take a bit.
Darcy’s giggle makes Arthur laugh as well, and he does his best to cut her a thin sliver of a slice, as much as the cake will allow without falling apart. That slice ends up rather short, so the next one for John is more a distorted rectangle than a triangle. Gregory jokes that that means the rest of this is for him, right?, and in revenge, Arthur cuts him a slice that’s smaller than his own and John’s, making him pout and Arthur grin.
~~~~
Telling the boys not to fight, Darcy takes a seat with her tiny slice and nibbles on it. It’s still terribly sweet but she always loved when Papa made her something, so she’s definitely going to take some cake, even while she finds herself throwing glances at John, sitting so far away from her and always looking away immediately when his own glances at her make them meet each other’s eyes.
~~~~
The cake is dark brown, and moist, and Arthur’s read about chocolate cake, but he’s never tasted it. It’s delicious, sweet and rich. And there’s a pirate hat and crossbones on top of it in powdered sugar- or there was, now it’s only a partial picture, of course. He hums in pleasure. “This is really tasty!”
~~~~
“Of course it is! I’ll tell the chef you liked it!” She knows that her papa will be glad to hear it, even with him hiding in the kitchen, because it’s not hard to tell that Arthur is just as shy as him. Papa and she thought Arthur would be more relaxed like this, but she insisted on her papa being around for the treasure hunt, it’s the biggest one yet, she’s only ever had them across her own room before. Also, if her papa is there it won’t hurt as much to not be running hand in hand with John.
~~~~
Arthur’s a little confused- he assumes the house made it? Maybe that’s just a thing people say? But anyway, once he’s had a second slice of the cake, and they’re all finished eating, he looks expectantly at John.
While Darcy dashes off to let her daddy know it’s time, John chuckles and tells Arthur to get to his room. He has about twenty minutes before he’ll pull everybody in.
Arthur smiles, thanks him, and hurries off, too. In his room, he finds not only the promised pirate outfit, loose shirt and trousers and sash and all, but also a set of pyjamas on his bed decorated in little pirate ships. He laughs, and puts those on to climb into his bed- cool as the pirate outfit is, those will be more comfortable to sleep in. Of course, being very excited isn’t that conducive to falling asleep, but he’s also full of tasty cake, and it’s not like he’s had that much sleep these last two weeks, and outside, the November dusk is falling, making it very cozy to be in his warm bed in the darkening room. So, as he makes himself let go of tension, he manages to fall asleep.
“Managed on your own, eh?” That’s John’s voice, always a good few tones deeper in the dreamscape, as he claps Arthur on the shoulder. “Let’s get the rest of your crew, Captain, and then we’re off!”
“I’m the captain?” Arthur asks, surprised, looks down at himself- he’s wearing the pirate outfit, with a sabre and sturdy boots, and there’s something on his head- a proper pirate hat with feather and all, he sees when he takes it off to check. He grins as he puts it back on. “Thank you, I’m feeling very pirate-y!”
“It’s your birthday, of course you’re captain today! Now, you got your navigator,” John thumbs at himself then points at Arthur’s pocket, “and the treasure map but we’ll need specialists to make it through this quest, Cap’n.”
Arthur stops himself from bouncing like Darcy does when she’s excited- that’s not very captain-like, after all. Instead, he straightens up and lifts his chin. “Thank you, uh… Mr Navigator?” It occurs to him that he has no idea how ships and all of that actually work. But it’s just for fun, so he doesn’t think John will mind, and instead pulls out the treasure map to give it a look. “And, um, how do we find those specialists?”
In his best pirate growl John tells Arthur about the rumours he heard about a mighty fine boatswain who’s sure to find them whatever they need. Tapping the map he tells Arthur that her fees are steep, they’ll have to tell her a good story for her to tag along.
Never he fear, over there yonder in the pub on that island is a master gunner who can yarn a tale as tall as their mast.
But they’ll need a good doctor to convince him to stop drinking. That doctor only comes along on journeys on a clean ship though, so they’ll need a ship’s cat. “Doesn’t my Cap’n already have one?” The grin John gives him is maybe just a little bit mischievous.
The first cat Arthur thinks of is Katharina, funnily enough. But a moment later, he realizes who John must mean. “A brown tabby one? Yes, I have one like that…”
“Did you leave it in your quarters?” Still grinning, John gestures around them, and where before only the air smelled of salt and the sound of soft waves was surrounding them, now the sunset colours that had been their world fade away to reveal them standing on a pirate ship and John is pointing towards the captain’s cabin.
Arthur looks around in delight. “Oh, that is so cool! I mean, uh, yes, the cat is probably sleeping in my cabin,” he adds when he remembers to play along. After another look at the ship, just as detailed as he remembers from when they were trapped in John’s dreamscape, he turns and opens the door to the cabin in question.
~~~~
With just a moment of concentration John pulls Gregory into the dreamscape, once more fixed in his cat body, and he doesn’t feel one bit bad about that. He has the worst suspicion that he was a giant dolt for just believing Gregory.
There has to be something more to why his words hurt Darcy so much. And he only said them because the only info he had came from Gregory. In hindsight, he really should have known better. But until he can hopefully talk with his girl again, he can at least show some of his anger.
Yes, there’s a pout on Gregory’s cat face and John is going to relish it, just about as much as Gregory’s first attempt at talking coming out as a loud “Mew!” John plays all shocked. “Has the enchantment worn off again, Cap’n?”
~~~~
Arthur does his best to bite back a grin- Gregory looks really annoyed, all flat-eared and what not. “Yes, I suppose it has…” he agrees.
~~~~
“He’ll still do for cleaning the ship if you can’t remember how that spell went. More importantly, the good doctor lives that way. Give the word and I’ll set the course!” Walking over to the helm, John doesn’t even try to pretend that he couldn’t care less if Gregory only mews for the rest of this party. That really amounts to about the same amount of useful communication.
~~~~
Arthur doesn’t really want Gregory to be annoyed with him, and it probably would be kind of mean to keep him from being able to speak… He finds himself torn, because on the other hand… he feels like Gregory might tease him or something. John is clearly leaving the decision up to him… But really, he doesn’t want Gregory to be mad, so he says: “I think I might remember it by heart… Something like…” He sketches some random nonsense with his finger in the air above Gregory’s cat head and pretends to be casting a spell: “this?”
Of course, Gregory does tell him that that was mean once he can, and pouts, but then John grunts and says while he does the navigating, the ship’s cat should get to his job, too, and Gregory vanishes- to the ship’s hold, John informs Arthur with a bit of a grin.
Arthur does feel a bit mean about it, but he finds himself grinning, too. But it’s his birthday present, so… so he decides Gregory can either play along or be in the hold, and instead walks up to John to ask him if it’s far to where the doctor lives.
“Nay, I’ve charted us a short course, but Cap’n, we’ll need your skills at the helm to get safely through that.” Holding the wheel steady while stepping aside to let Arthur at it, John points his bearded chin at the massive storm front pulling together ahead of them while they watch.
If this was real life, Arthur would be really worried now- but it’s a story John is making for them, like a play, and so it’s a safe adventure, and he only feels excitement as he steps up and takes the wheel. “Alright, leave it to me!” He’s not sure which skills John means, if he as a pirate captain is very good at steering a ship, or if it’s some magic… but maybe that’s for him to make up? But in that case, what would they be?
An idea occurs to him, and he’s not sure whether John can do that, but… well, it’s what he’s figured out how to do with magic, maybe if he was a pirate captain, he could do it with storms? But how does he ask if John can do that without breaking character? Well, he’s sure John is going to let him know if that won’t work: “It’s not the first storm I’ve figured my way through by following my nose.”
~~~~
That gets John to laugh. If he didn’t know that Arthur detects magic with his sense of smell, that sentence would just be fucking weird. As is, John stays in character and makes that laugh a whoop, tells Arthur that he believes in him, they can make it through.
~~~~
If he didn’t know it was just a game, that storm would really be scary- John does a great job at making the ship creak and shiver around them while they’re lifted high on towering waves and then crash down into their valleys in curtains of spray while cold rain whips at them and lightning flashes overhead to show the roiling clouds.
It’s not quite as intense as the scent he gets from magic, but Arthur steers the ship where the air smells less charged and more like a gentle rain, and that seems to be the right way, because despite the rolling of the ship, it doesn’t break apart, though a few lines snap.
John rushes to fix them, so Arthur assumes that’s fun for him. Though, just when things seem to let up a little, John curses, and holds his arm. Arthur’s first instinct is alarm, to yell at him to get over here so he can heal him- but they’re in the dreamscape. If John got injured, he did it on purpose. Arthur still yells over whether he’s okay, they’re almost through this.
“Aye, Cap’n! It’ll hold until you can take me to the doctor.” Taking up a spot near to the helm, John makes a show out of tying himself safely to the railing with his one good arm and grinning at Arthur.
“At least we’ll know if he’s as good as advertised, then!” Arthur returns the grin, and sails them out of the last swells and showers of the storm. When the sun starts breaking through the clouds and the waves quiet again, he gives a big breath of relief. “Whew. That was fun!”
~~~~
“Not the first time you kept me safe on a ship. I know you got my back.” John allows himself a wink, that’s as close as he’s ever come to really telling Arthur that he appreciates him helping to get him off that fucking post ship, but he doesn’t want to end up being all soppy. Instead he lets their destination appear on the horizon.
~~~~
“Of course! That’s what being crew is for,” Arthur says- and they are a bit of a crew, aren’t they? Of the barony and the castle rather than a ship, but they’re working together on a common purpose. “That our goal?” he asks.
As he unties himself again, John nods and gets up. With his trusty spyglass he can ascertain that indeed, they’ve made it to the doc’s island, they’ll be there in only minutes. He’ll go to the front and anchor them as soon as the captain gives the order.
Arthur nods his thanks, and, when he thinks they’re about as close as they can get with the big pirate ship, calls “anchors aweigh!” with some relish.
~~~~
No matter how often John has done this before, he loves how the chain clicks and the ship shudders as the heavy anchor hits the waves with a resounding splash. This iteration of it is still as satisfying as the very first time he got a dream model right. Saluting the captain, he walks back to where their boats are stored. “We’ll have to row over. I can’t get the boat down on my own, Cap’n, with my bad arm. Let’s do it together.”
~~~~
“Of course.” Arthur walks over, and together, they lower the boat down- again, much easier in the dreamscape where you don’t have to worry about it smashing against the side of the ship and getting damaged.
On the beach, Jack is already waiting on them, tells them in a surprisingly convincing French accent that he saw their ship come out of that storm. Did one of their crew get injured? If so, they are in the right place, he’s a doctor of some renown and in need of a ship to go find his friend, who he worries is stuck somewhere again because he gambled his last lifeboat away.
Arthur says that yes, they’ve heard of him, and they can indeed use his help- also to find themselves a certain master gunner who’s in need of a doctor, too. Since they’re playing this, and Dr Seward agreed to join in the first place, Arthur feels just a little more comfortable talking to the man in his role as pirate captain.
Smirking, the doctor declares he suspects they are looking for the same person. He is a master of guns, not of wits, so yes, let him treat this brave navigator here, then they can venture forth. With an overplayed wrinkle of his nose Jack adds: if the captain is running a clean ship of course.
Arthur assures him they have a cat on board who’s making sure of that.
With a nod, the doctor accepts that reassurance and sees to John’s arm.
After just a few grimaces, for show, at the various medical instruments Jack produces from his oversize leather bag, John exclaims and wiggles his fingers, this doctor is worth his grog, the arm’s like new.
That’s some amazing work, Arthur agrees, with a bit of a grin for dreamscape magic healing. Then he indicates the boat to the doctor- unless he still needs to pack something?
~~~~
“A good doctor is always packed and ready,” Jack declares as he lifts the bag (which really, half the things in there belong in a museum,) but the children are having fun and it’s been a while since he got to so much as read his rose petal a story while doing voices for her. This is even better and he’s playing a role, no reason to be insecure. John briefed him and he likes him, he’s steady and earnest and very dedicated, he reminds him a bit of Art really, just much more reserved with his emotions.
~~~~
So Arthur leads the way back to the boat, and back onto the ship, where he asks John where they’re going next.
John and Jack debate the latest rumours they heard and come to the conclusion that there’s only one place the gunner could be: Old Nancy’s Tavern, a den of debauchery, violence, and sin. “Just the place for my wannabe Blackbeard friend. He’ll be deep in the bottle, but there is yet hope.”
Arthur certainly hopes the debauchery and sin won’t be too much on display, but he definitely doesn’t want to spoil the mood, either, so declares: “To Old Nancy’s Tavern, then!”
The course is easily charted, but not long after they set sail, the air is filled with a voice sweet as honey, a voice irresistible not to follow, singing to them.
“Oh, no! Sirens?” Arthur exclaims, claps his hands over his ears- which promptly reminds him that he’s wearing his defence bracelet on his left hand. If John gave it to him, he wonders… (Also, wow, John can even make a compulsion happen in the dreamscape? It’s not just pretty singing, it’s actually tugging at him, wants his thoughts to slide into how he really should follow it, really wants to follow it… Right.) He tries to shift the bracelet’s defences to shield his mind- but nothing happens. Okay, it doesn’t work by itself here, so John needs to make it work, so he needs to let him know that it can do that… “C’mon,” he mutters to the bracelet, “mental shielding should do it… I hope.”
John winks at him as the bracelet shines for a moment (which so isn’t something it actually does) and the compulsion fades, but clearly only for Arthur. John and Dr Seward look kind of ready to tackle him to get at the helm so they can keep following the voice.
Arthur bites back a grin at John, then concentrates back on the adventure crisis. Beeswax worked for the Greeks, so it ought to be good enough for them. But if he leaves the helm to get some, John and Dr Seward will be free to reverse course towards the sirens. And he can’t fight them both. “Hold your ears shut!” he tries. “Captain’s orders! Then get some candle wax for earplugs!”
Although John growls at him at first, he holds his ears shut and grunts an “Aye, Cap’n!”
~~~~
Jack feels himself stuck, it’s a story, of course he should just play along but part of him is… let him examine that emotion. Resentment, he thinks that’s resentment. He is done simply following orders against his better judgement; he got out of the military so he didn’t have to anymore!
Does he dare make himself the villain on this ship? It’s a story, but he’s always told his rose petal that stories are there to grow from, and Arthur is rather far too shy, so no. Fixing his eyes on him with determination, he shakes his head and takes a step towards Arthur. “I only follow orders when I know I can trust the competence of the man issuing them.”