|
Naples
Sept 5, 2010 11:46:50 GMT -5
Post by Ladorak on Sept 5, 2010 11:46:50 GMT -5
The weather was turning more moderate for the onset of autumn, and already the shortening of the days signaled the commencement of the molt of Ladorak Fugate's summer coat. His brown was receding and being replaced by the familiar "pepper" pattern of autumn, with flecks of brown here and there in the middle of white fur where once brown had been.
But it had only just begun. Autumn wasn't quite here yet, and thus his receding line was only an inch or two from where it had started. There were graver issues on the stoat's mind at present. Molly Serra had been acting strangely the past week or so on the way to Calgary, but despite his personal gloom, the ship's crew were elated to be making port. Fresh food, fresh beer, and a chance to set foot on dry land after spending more than two months at sea. They had not gone ashore at Toulon for safety reasons, and had been sent off almost right away with all speed to Calgary in order to garner reinforcements for the cause.
The albino pine marten Caden Fugate may have tried to hide from his friends during this time, and would in fact have done so had not Carrow found him prior to their departure in the gun room. The mouse's determination to violate rules and find his friend had changed things for the marten, and he had had a new light shed on him that day.
As it was, today was the day he was getting his splint off. The albino looked forward to it eagerly and had marked the days to their arrival in Naples, for he knew that that was the day he'd be free of this makeshift constraint. Standing before Surgeon Kasal now, the older marten was checking the younger stripling's wrist, feeling it up and pushing down on certain spots.
They were both standing on the upper gun deck, just outside the Sick Berth, sunlight streaming in from the mid morning sun to cast its rays on the cannon all around them. "Any pain here?" Caden shook his head. "And how about here?" another shake of the head. "Right...well then you're medically cleared." Kasal declared, giving his fellow marten a nod and sending him on his way.
Taking off for the companionway, Caden raced upstairs to the weather deck, emerging into bright sunlight and dazzling blue ocean all around him. The harbor was sparkling today in the September morning, and ships jostled about, heading in and out of Naples port carrying various goods to distant corners of the world, or arriving to offload valuable commodities from the east and west.
Four warships lay in the harbor as well, consisting of the entirety of the Neapolitan fleet. They were all 74s, so slightly bigger than the Agamemnon. Tancredi, Guiscardo, Samnita, and Parthenope were the names upon their sides, and they used a high amount of gilded paint and elaborate carving to make them very decorative, almost like floating cathedrals in a way.
A tall, squarish fortress guarded the harbor entrance, the name of which Caden was unfamiliar with. In Calgarian, the name translated to "Egg Castle", due to the legend that a magic egg had been placed there a long time past by a wizard in order to support its foundations.
"So this is Calgary..." Caden breathed out the words as they began gliding up to the pier they were assigned to. "Well...a kingdom in the Alliance rather." he reminded himself. Calgary was a loose confederation of various states, mostly serving under Kostritz protection. The region had a long history of Kostritz influence, though the creatures living here were an ethnicity and culture all of their own, quite separate from the Kostritz Empire to the north. Some were resentful of Kostritz meddling and imposition of power, whilst others welcomed the safety it brought. Naples was one such kingdom in support of Kostritz protectorate status.
The albino made his way over to he gunwale on the larboard side, as that was the side the pier was growing larger on as they approached. He flexed his wrist a few times, making sure it was OK. No pain...no swelling...no nothing. He seemed good as new. And Spender had been whipped for it. He'd heard the story from various crew who'd watched. At least there was some justice to it.
Using his bettered wrist to hoist himself up into the "chains", the marten stripling stood on the small platform on the side of the ship that supported the ratlines that led up to the maintops.
It amazed the albino stripling to think of just how far they had traveled in the space of five months. In a straight line from Welkin, Calgary lay roughly 1,200 miles away, but as the Agamemnon could not sail over the continent, they had traveled many more miles than that to reach this port. So far they had visited one country, had briefly seen another, and were about to visit a third. It was mind blowing to the marten to think of how much he had seen just on this first cruise! They hadn't stopped for a refit yet, and thus were still considered as on their first cruise.
"So now for Calgary..." Caden muttered. He looked about him, his pink eyes searching the deck and the gathering crowd for his friends. They would be somewhere about...it was just a matter of finding them...and at least he stood out as he was standing in the "chains" and a bit exposed from everyone else. It would make for easier spotting of the white furred marten by his friends, that was for sure.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 5, 2010 14:46:49 GMT -5
Post by Carrow on Sept 5, 2010 14:46:49 GMT -5
Cerinus Apodemus had always believed in the healing powers of a good night's rest. He knew that a few good hours of sleep every night was comforting, both to body and mind. Unfortunately, he could not say that he had learned this from experience; slumbers of that sort were few and far between for the rodent, who had periodic insomia. Archie had told him that once, however, and he recalled chuckling at the time, well aware of the weasel's talents.
He'd been thinking of the mustelid quite a lot as of late. As he had lain in his hammock the previous night, helped into a pleasant slumber by the slow and steady rhythm of its swaying, his thoughts had turned to his carer once again. He had fallen under the influence of the gentle rocking moments later. It was slow and peaceful, very reminiscent of how she had used to help him rest on certain nights when he had been younger, and before his eyes slid closed and he was taken away to dreamland, his last thought was of her.
He had caught a total of eight hours of blissful rest the previous night (having been too tired to make it past 8pm without collapsing, something that had become a little more common for the wood mouse than usual), and had awoken refreshed for breakfast. He was sleeping more easily at nights now, and the only yawning he had done so far that day was in the immediate wake of, well, waking, as his body readjusted itself and prepared to face the following day.
After breakfast, the Dibbun had taken the Forenoon Watch, and had come off duty as the Agamemnon had finally begun to approach Naples. After more than two months at sea, the young creature had become quite fond of life out on the briny, but he was most certainly looking forward to docking and feeling dry land beneath his paws again. He couldn't deny that to step back onto solid ground would be absolutely wonderful. Naples! Naples at last! It sent his spirits soaring.
Speaking of which, he knew that Caden was feeling better after his month-long ordeal (triggered by Spender, who as a direct consequence of said action hadn't been approached or spoken to by Carrow in weeks. Every time the rodent thought of Spender, his thoughts couldn't help but stray to what the ferret had done to Caden, and the repercussions of his actions - which had sent the pine marten spiralling into despair, and had had much the same effect on the mouse.
Seeing the mustelid in better form than he had been in quite a while had had the knock-on effect of lifting the wood mouse out of his despondency, which had been brought on by a combination of stress, anxiety and exhaustion. It had hit him like a ton of bricks, and Carrow couldn't deny this no matter how much he wanted to, but now he was over it, and he felt sure that he once again found himself within the throes of happiness. Such a feeling scarcely ever lasted for long. but now it seemed that there were no clouds on his horizon.
He had spent the previous few hours learning about the orders that the Captain - in this case, the wonderful creature that went by the name of Ladorak Fugate - ordered, as well as brushing up on the procedure that needed to be followed when a ship was being taken into port, and had listened attentively as always. While his spirits had lifted in the previous few days, his self-confidence had not increased one iota, so Carrow found himself being self-critical after he had been dismissed, but, for a change, had quickly shoved it aside due to the circumstances.
Now he headed downstairs to the weather deck, wondering where Selvis Frenata and, more importantly, Caden, had gotten to. He soon found out the location of his weasel companion, however, figuratively bumping into him once he had touched down on the weather deck. Selvis had been hoping to catch sight of Carrow anyway - he had waited below as he wasn't allowed up on the quarterdeck - and their paths crossed now near the stairs. "Hello Selvis!," he exclaimed cheerfully, knowing that the longtail would be in good form. he usually was, and he had made no secret of how much he enjoyed his Ship's Corporal work.
The weasel simply wouldn't keep still. So revved up by his recent activity had he become that he was filled to the brim with energy. "Hello there, Carrow!," he responded in just as excited a nner, hopping from footpaw to footpaw as he did so, the smile on his face making the day seem quite a bit brighter even than it was already. His ears twitched and his tail swished almost as though they both had lives of their own. It was the kind of day that made both companions feel good to be alive, and, in Carrow's case, that was saying something.
"Can't believe we're going to be on dry land soon!," the mustelid told his rodent companion, and the mouse nodded eagerly in response to Selvis's statement. "I know! Can't wait to be back on terra firma! I wonder where Caden's got to," he wondered aloud. "Wasn't he going to get that cast of his taken off today?" Selvis smiled at this. "Absolutely, that's what he told me at breakfast." (For the previous few weeks, Caden's three friends had been keeping to a schedule whereby they would go to visit him at mealtimes.)
The pair were soon on the weather deck, threading their way through the growing crowd of crewbeasts, hoping to spot the albino pine marten. His position had made him easier to spot, and it was Carrow who located him first. I'm becoming rather good at this, he thought, smiling as he recalled the circumstances in which he had found the marten a few weeks back. He was in the area of the ship known as the 'chains', and he took off like a shot over to his best friend, Selvis (who prided himself on his speed) finding himself hard put to keep up.
"Hello Caden!," they chorused as they came to a halt seconds later, looking down at their friend and smiling at him. "What are you doing all the way down there? Will we come down there or do you want to come back up here when you've finished admiring the scenery?," Carrow asked playfully, in higher spirits than he could ever recall. It was so good to see his friend without that cumbersome splint on his arm. Caden was back in action, it seemed, and it did Carrow's heart good to see him like this once again.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 5, 2010 15:17:29 GMT -5
Post by spender on Sept 5, 2010 15:17:29 GMT -5
Bother. Another day off. When would it end? Was it too much to ask, for more than a few months to go by without stopping in some port so everybeast could go out and carouse and come back smelling of weird things and leaving bags of chocolate to spoil all over the place?
As with Ferlusan before, Willard had no intention of going into town. His place was on the ship. Where it was quiet, and he could study, with no beasts around to disrupt things. All this hubbub just sickened him.
Pushing through the crowd, Willard tried to get to where his hammock was stored.
"'Scuse me... pardon me, sir... beast with actual work to do coming though... sorry..."
Fishing 'round in his hammock role, he tugged out his glasses and slipped them into a pocket before anyone could see what they were. If he wanted to make Admiral someday, he'd have to take this secret to the grave. Surely they wouldn't promote a blind beast...
The weasel wasn't very blind. He was far-sighted; a common ailment in his family. The condition wasn't bad enough to restrict him from his regular duties, but reading was an issue. Books, obviously--reading someone's face was another. Too close, and everyone became a blur that he had to guess at. It was, he was sure, half the reason he'd tripped and hit his face on that cannon. If it weren't for the colour of peas, he would have trouble telling them apart from his oatmeal at dinner.
Furthermore, when it came to personal possessions, the glasses were all Willard had. As a joke earlier on in his career, somebeast had gone through his things and must have thrown his off-duty clothes in the ocean, never to be seen again. He'd heard snickerings that since he was so in love with his uniform slops, he need not ever take them off again. Which, he thought, just because it was true, didn't necessarily give anybeast the right to toss a bloke's knickers in the blue.
Apart from the clothes he'd signed on in, he had nothing. Not so much as a trinket or a bag to put his money in. He had requested his pay be sent to his mother and sister back home, and that spared him any responsibility for storing it around. He was free as could be, and compensated by being as attached as possible to the ship and its regulations.
Nipping in and out of the crowd, he made his way over to Caden and the others. Standing on the deck behind the chains, he nodded at the pine marten.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Apodemus, Mr. Freneta, Mr. Fugate," he said, stressing Caden's name, as that was the one he was trying to address. "Are you going to be away in the town today? I was hoping you might lend me some of your books again..."
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 5, 2010 23:28:40 GMT -5
Post by Ladorak on Sept 5, 2010 23:28:40 GMT -5
Caden was pleased to see his friends catch up to him with relatively little problems. Turning around and holding on to one of the thick lines with his left paw, Caden shook his head, chuckling a bit as he shook his head. "Alright fine...I just wanted to get away from the crowd.
They parted a tad to let him in, and Caden hopped back over the gunwale and onto the weather deck. He found the press of beasts around him a bit claustrophobic, and looked at Willard straight on. "My books? You're seriously going to study when we've JUST arrived at the Calgary Alliance? Don't you want to come with us?"
The albino fixed the weasel with his pink gaze, and placed his paws on his hips. "I mean come on! I must insist you go with us this time, even if we have to rope you along." Caden flicked his rather long tail behind him. "What if I told you...that I wanted to ask Captain Fugate to go with us too?" he almost exclaimed, eyes shining now and a very large smile creeping out on his face.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 6, 2010 2:23:05 GMT -5
Post by Carrow on Sept 6, 2010 2:23:05 GMT -5
"Good afternoon... er... Willard..., Carrow murmured, politely offering the Welkin weasel his paw in greeting. "You'll have to excuse me, but I don't believe we've ever been formally introduced, so I'm not entirely sure what your last name is." The mouse's voice rose in pitch on the word 'entirely'. Carrow was rather good at remembering names, most of the time, but hadn't yet gotten a pawdle on Willard's last name. It was... something to do with water, right?
The mouse stepped back, motioning to Selvis to do the same. Carrow wasn't overly fond of being surrounded on three sides by other creatures either. He wasn't claustrophobic in the slightest, but he was much more at ease when he had a little wiggle room, and didn't wish to impose stifling conditions upon his friend. After all, they were out in the open air, so he wanted to make sure that every creature had some room to themselves. Just to be sure, the two companions took a few paces back so that everybeast could be accommodated accordingly as they clamoured around Caden, who was clearly in demand at the moment.
"Hello, Mr Waters," the Ferlusanian longtail said gently, shooting a glance at his mouse companion. That settles that, the mustelid's eyes told Carrow, and the rodent smiled in response to this. "Allow me to correct you, if I may. My last name is pronounced 'Fren-ah-ta', and not 'Fren-ay-ta' as you have been addressing me since we met. I just thought I should let you know." It certainly wasn't a big deal to Selvis anyway; Spender was constantly getting his first name wrong, but he didn't mind that. Heh, Shellfish, he thought, smiling briefly. It was one of the ferret's more tolerable habits... quite unlike his fondness for causing all and sundry harm of both the physical and mental variety.
Just like their albino pine marten companion, both mouse and longtail were rather taken aback by Willard's request. Carrow held his tongue until after Caden had finished speaking - though the mention of Ladorak did cause him to gasp softly in surprise and, more importantly, delight. Once Caden had finished, the mouse piped up. "We've not even arrived yet, and you're thinking of not setting paw in the Calgary Alliance? Fair enough if you want to study, and I can see where you're coming from, but for the entire duration of our time here?
"Are you absolutely certain you wouldn't like to explore with us, even a little bit? Like Caden said, there's a good chance that Captain Fugate might be coming along as well. I'm fairly certain of how much you'd like that, of course. We're not going to force your paw, though; just think about it a moment and consider your options," the youngster urged, smiling at Willard. From what he'd seen of the creature, he could be quite stubborn, but oh well: he had tired, nobeast could deny that. Selvis kept siilent throughout this exhange, his thoughts running very much along the lines of his wood mouse friend's, Come on, Willard, he thought. Live a little.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 6, 2010 6:46:11 GMT -5
Post by spender on Sept 6, 2010 6:46:11 GMT -5
"Well, I, er... I don't... I don't know..." Willard stammered, his white cheeks flushing pink from all the sudden interaction. He'd come to ask for some books, and now they wanted him to go... go off the ship? With the Captain?
The Captain part he liked. Somewhat. It would be a chance to get to know Captain Fugate better, but, at the same time, he really didn't feel proper, imposing himself on the stoat's time like that.
The going off the ship part, he not only didn't like, but honestly scared the daylights out of him. He hadn't left the ship since coming aboard earlier in the year. It was his home. It was his life. He felt that, should he lose sight of the Agamemnon, it might cease to exist. Just as Welkin had ceased to exist. Just as his mother and sister ceased...
They were still there, the ideas of them. He knew he still had to support them financially. He knew that Welkin still needed protecting. But at the same time, he knew he would never return; and if by some mad chance he did, it would not be the same. If he left the ship, and something changed--the idea scared him more than the thought of going up against one of Ferlusan's giant warships with nothing but a rusty musket.
"I don't have any money..." The weasel scratched the back of his neck, his voice a tiny squeak that was almost lost among the clamoring of the crew around the decks. "...and I really should get on with studying... I, um... haven't had much t-time lately... wouldn't w-w-want to impose... on Captain Fugate's t-time... and, um, t-to be honest, the, er, the, um, the place looks, er... looks... boring..."
There! He said it! Willard bit his tongue afterwards, though, and cringed his head downward. He hadn't actually declined the offer--he was far too polite to. And he liked the idea of, well, of going off and enjoying the day with his fellow shipmates... It was just...
Off the ship...
Why would anybeast want to leave it?
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 6, 2010 7:11:49 GMT -5
Post by Carrow on Sept 6, 2010 7:11:49 GMT -5
Carrow nodded understandingly, smiling a little at the weasel. He was clearly flustered as a result of this invitation, and the mouse could see that the mustelid was torn between the idea of staying and setting paw on foreign soil. Personally, he couldn't understand why the weasel was treating this like such a dilemma. Carrow valued study just as much as the next creature, but he was not about to pass up some exploration. He could never bring himself to do that, no matter the cirumstances.
"Boring, you say? Well you can either go by assumption and choose to stay here, or come with us and head into town to explore a bit. You might be pleasantly surprised, you know." Here, his voice became softer. Willard seemed quite shy, and Carrow knew how to deal with shy creatures; being one himself, the rodent had learned from experience, and now he glanced upward into the least weasel's eyes, knowing that he could do his best to appeal to the creature's more reasonable side.
"Look. You enjoy your studying, right, and everyone here," he told Willard, indicating his friends, "knows it. Tell me, though, have you ever considered that you might be overworking yourself, even a little? I mean, far be it from me to tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing, but I'm merely making a suggestion here. Come with us, if you would, and loosen up for a bit. You're a bright creature anyway, I can tell, so perhaps you don't need to study quite as much as you do."
Selvis smiled, nodding, figuring that he may as well throw in his tuppence-worth. He addressed his fellow weasel in a voice that practically radiated friendliness and charm. The longtail was rather good at winning others over, and he wondered if he couldn't help Carrow out in appealing to Willard. He was stubborn, sure, but hopefully not so stubborn that not one piece of advice would get through. The least weasel spoke up, meeting Willard's gaze as he stepped forward, bright blue eyes sparkling mischievously.
"Carrow's right. Perhaps this is what you need. All that time spent with your head buried in textbooks can get on top of you every now and then, Willard. You should ask yourself whether or not it would be best to take a little time out and see some of Naples, with Carrow, Caden, Elliot and myself -" he hadn't seen the aforementioned beech marten yet that day, but knew she was around somewhere - "or to plough on ahead with what you've been doing. You seem tense about things, Willard, and I reckon that some exploration will help you to loosen up. What d'you reckon?," the longtail enquired, wondering just how the Welkinite would respond.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 6, 2010 19:53:53 GMT -5
Post by bookity101 on Sept 6, 2010 19:53:53 GMT -5
Ellie was looking for her friends... and having very little luck. Being female, she lacked a certain amount of aggressiveness when it came to getting through the crowd... but getting stepped on was no fun at all so... Moments latter she was dangling ten feet over the crowded deck. Hanging from ropes, she shaded her eye's from the sun, sweeping the deck to find her friends. Maybe they would be easy to find... ah there they are!
"What are you doing up here lad?" With a yelp Ellie lost her grip on the rope, unable to catch onto again, she fell the short distance to the deck... only to be caught by... who is this? Ellie looked up at the beast who caught her.
"Good catch Jal Calone!" Miri slid down the ropes to the ground, landing lightly beside Luxe. "Sorry about startling you lad." She ruffled Ellie's ears as Luxe set the lad lightly on the deck. "It's ok Jil Talian," The young beech martin fixed the fur between his ears, which he kept longer than most of the lads on the ship.
"Not a problem." He smiled down at the kit. "You don't weigh very much at all, barely noticed you at all." He glanced up at the ropes, shading his eye's as he looked almost into the sun. "What were you doing up there anyway lad?"
Ellie smiled up at the older pair. Jis Talian she had met during her time up in the rigging, and Jal Calone had been very forgiving when she had barreled into him at high speeds in the passageways...
"I was trying to locate my friends... which I did." She pointed over to the chains, "I think they are going to go exploring and I want to find the post office, I have some letter's to send."
Luxe looked over where he was pointing, and with his superior height, was able to see the group that Eliot had pointed out. "Do you mind if I join you on your search for the post office?" Ellie shrugged as she made her way towards her friends.
"I don't mind, your height might be a help looking for things..." Ellie wiggled her way through the crowd to reach her friends. Breaking through to them, she waved to them.
"Hey guy's you getting ready to- Oh hey Willard, are you tagging along too?"
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 6, 2010 23:37:48 GMT -5
Post by Ladorak on Sept 6, 2010 23:37:48 GMT -5
Captain Fugate made his way down to the weather deck, ordering his officers on shore leave now that the ship was entering port. The Marines who were normally off duty now went on duty to guard the ship while the crew went ashore.
He was concerned about several things. First and foremost was his love Molly Serra. She had become so...distant from him these past few weeks. Rarely spending more than meals with him, it was causing him consternation, and he only hoped to resolve things with her before she cut off contact entirely.
The second was his ward. Caden had been distressed over his broken wrist...and Ladorak had heard a story that the marten had been so despondent that he had tried to end his own life. There had been no such attempt of course, but the motivation had been there at some point. The poor thing...developing such a hatred for his mother and his own existence. Distressed Caden meant a distressed Ladorak, and he wanted to make it up to the stripling now that they were on down time.
Caden, for his part, was going to work on convincing Willard when Elliot showed up. It caused the marten to suddenly clam up. He felt...bad whenever Elliot approached him now. He hadn't written a letter to Elliot's sister Elle in so long...he had felt shame over his broken wrist, and then began to despair that perhaps she didn't want to hear from him anymore after his hiatus. He was certain that Elliot had passed on word to his sister though, so Elle probably had some inkling of what had happened to Caden.
He only hoped Elliot wouldn't be sore at him for not writing to Elle. It made him uneasy being this way, and he would have to find some way to make it up to Elle at some point if he could.
"Yes Jal Waters...will you be joining us?" the voice came from Ladorak, who was standing over the group now, the sailors having cleared the way for their Captain quite quickly. "I plan to spend some time with my crew...and Caden in particular." the stoat's eyes came to rest on the albino, a knowing smile on the Captain's face. "I'm sorry Caden...I know how you've been feeling and how you've tried to hide it. Despair is a terror...and you shouldn't have to feel that way at your age." he knelt down amid the circle of shipmates, and placed his paw on Caden's shoulder, squeezing slightly. "I know I haven't been able to spend much time with you these past few months...but I'm off duty now...and before I go to see the King, I want to spend the day with you...all of you are welcome to join us in fact." He looked around at the group.
"Off duty time is a different me...I don't have the responsibilities and duty I do whilst working...so any of you that want to come along are welcome to do so." he suddenly drew Caden to him with his arm, wrapping it around the astonished marten. "I don't want you to feel alone Caden...because you're not." the stoat Captain spoke softly in one of the marten's big ears.
Caden was immediately comforted, warmed and felt at home in the stoat's embrace. Ladorak was a god alright...a god who had forsaken his immortal guise. He might even be Jinks, the one from Molly's story. Whoever he was, the albino was sure that he was here for a reason...to help others, especially ones like Caden himself.
Pulling back to avoid embarrassing him too much, Ladorak stood back up. "I'd say the usual crowd of Selvis, Carrow and Elliot are a definite...how about you Jal. Waters? Coming with us? I think it would do you some good to get off the ship." Ladorak suggested, trailing off as they bumped up next to the pier and dock workers on shore began to tie the ropes down that had been tossed to them from the ship.
|
|
|
Naples
Sept 7, 2010 2:12:07 GMT -5
Post by Carrow on Sept 7, 2010 2:12:07 GMT -5
Carrow was waiting on the Welkin weasel to respond to him, when suddenly the soft patter of two pairs of paws upon deck timbers became audible. The mouse looked up, and spotted two familiar faces. One was Elliot, and her presence caused the mouse to smile. Ah, so he had finally made it, he thought. They were indeed getting ready to do something, head off the ship and go into town, but the beech marten didn't complete his sentence, instead addressing Willard. Everybeast wanted him to come with them now it seemed.
The other visage that became visible to the wood mouse was that of Captain Fugate himself. He couldn't help but grin at the sudden arrival of the stoat. He always felt better when Ladorak was around, and by now the rodent had reached the point where he hadn't felt so good in quite a number of years. Caden was better in more ways than one, Elliot and Selvis had become even firmer friends of his since the incident (the longtail especially so), there was a possibility of a friendship with Willard, and now - joy of joys! - Ladorak was here.
The stoat and mouse had a shared goal in regard to this trip into Naples: they both wanted to help Caden feel better. Carrow knew that the pine marten had turned out to be anything but suicidal - at least in the long run - but nonetheless he had seemed quite depressed. Distressed, too, and Carrow never felt right when his best friend was feeling glum. Now, he hoped that they could start making up for the time they'd lost due to Caden's inflicted injury. Their fourth member in the circle of friends was back; it had been missing someone, but once again it was complete, and possibly set to grow to five.
He couldn't help but smile as Caden was comforted by Ladorak's display of affection. The stoat spoke words that only the albino mustelid could hear, but both Carrow and Selvis were certain that Ladorak was encouraging his ward, telling him perhaps that he wasn't alone and could count on him. Carrow had said much the same thing, and kept saying it, to make sure his friend had dug in and held on through the turmoil he'd been through over the previous month. There was nothing creatures liked more than knowing that they were cared for... knowing that they were loved... even knowing that their presence meant so much that others felt empty when they weren't around.
Carrow realised then and there that this was the reason above all others that he liked Ladorak as much as he did. That stoat had a natural talent to make others feel better by his mere presence - something Carrow had experienced himself a number of times - and he valued the stoat's friendship now more than ever before. Ladorak may have been able to see less of his crew than he no doubt would have liked, and Carrow less of the Captain than *he* would have liked, due to their various commitments, but just knowing that creatures like him and Caden were there cheered him immensely and gave him the strength to go on. He knew this was something he'd never had before, and now he treasured it more than ever. He wasn't just the Captain of the ship. He was so, so much more than that to him.
Five separate suggestions that Willard Waters should come along with the assembled group had been put forward now, and Selvis in particular was quite interested to see his fellow weasel's response to the expected arrival of Captain Fugate. He wanted Willard to come along - they all did - but he could tell it would be a struggle of head versus heart for the Welkinite, and the Ferlusanian mustelid was hoping that their potential new friend would see the light and come along. Take a risk or something, why don't you, he thought. We've done all we can, but it's up to you in the end. You know what we all want, but it's your call. I just hope you make the right decision for yourself. He awaited Willard's response, having acknowledged the arrivals of Elle and Ladorak with one of his best smiles.
|
|