Jeff the Accountant Escapes the Wretched Burning Depths of Hades

Is It Just Me, Or Is Captain Gettin' Worse?

Cat and Kirk listened to the Swede's version of what happened onshore, as they watched Cinna head back to his cabin, muttering as he went. "It's like he's got a death wish or something" the Swede complained. "Sissies! He said the pirates here are sissies!"

" 'So called pirates' " Wee John corrected. "That's what he called them."

"Where's Stones?" asked Kirk, aware of his absence among the returning crew members.

"Stayed behind. Said he could talk to people he knows who also know Blackbeard" Pete said.

Satisfied that her brother would be okay, Cat asked "Is it just me, or is Captain gettin' worse? Seems like he's ready to retreat to his quarters too often, too easily. Talking less. Calling for Olu less." Everyone had gotten used to Cinna relying on Olu as a sounding board, usually with a positive outcome. That had been happening less often, the past week or so.

No one actually answered, though they all agreed. How could serving on their ship - a ship that had become feared wherever men who survived an attack by her had told the tales of the fierce, ice-water-in-their-veins pirates and the absolutely diabolical Captain Cinna, come to feel so directionless?

"Things aren't right."

It was Stones. He'd made his way aboard, unnoticed, while the others were talking about Cinna's changing disposition.

"No one was able to tell me about a single raid, not one, solitary sinking of a ship at Blackbeard's hand. Not in weeks."

Cat looked at Kirk, whose expression was a barometer of just how serious the situation might be. "Has Blackbeard been captured by the English again?" she worried. She remembered that, though there was news of the Revenge being seen, along with some of the others they were looking for, at The Republic of Pirates, no one had actually seen Blackbeard. "Is Blackbeard still alive?" her mind forced the question into her thoughts.

Silence can be so heavy. In the twilight of a day spent hoping. On the deck of a ship whose captain seems bound to retreat further and further into his own private hell. When you're anchored near a place where good news - news of the whereabouts of the person who would probably pull your captain back from the brink, would've made things so different.

Silence can be so heavy. Alone in your cabin. On a ship anchored off the shore of a place you've never been to before. With people who you're supposed to hold sway over, but who you're starting to care less and less about. As you let thoughts like "You can't find someone who doesn't want to be found" creep into your mind. Thoughts like "The almighty Blackbeard probably realized he was too good for a fancy man like me."

"25 days men, and Cat." That's what the crew heard when Cinna joined them topside. That's all they heard from him, because he swiftly left,  seeing no reason to wait for a response, no reason to listen to their concerns.

"Not without Lucius" Pete reiterated.

"Not without Jim" Olu said, shaking his head.

"Not without the rest of you" Roach had changed his tune. "We'll find them with or without Captain."

Wee John and the Swede nodded in agreement.

"Aye." Buttons said, seeing no reason to report to the captain the possible stirrings of a mutiny.

The newer crew members did not see it the same way. "Are you talking about mutiny, then???" Cat asked, her disbelief evident.

"What? No." they looked at each other. "Wait, is it still mutiny if you just leave?"

The newer crew members could barely believe what they were hearing. "Just leave"? "And how, exactly would that work?" they asked. "Pirate captains don't generally let their crew members 'just leave'. "

"Kirk, Stones, Cat" Pete started. "No offense, but we know Cinna better than any of you."

"And...didn't the two of you 'just leave' after the duel between Stede and Izzy?" asked Wee John.

Half the crew were stuck thinking if that compared to what they were talking about now, and half were thinking about how long it'd been since anyone spoke the name "Stede" out loud.

"Stede Bonnett is dead..." Cat let the thought she'd spoken aloud trail off. "Or is he?" she thought to herself. "Maybe he and Cinna are fighting it out right now. Fighting for where the person she'd come to serve as her captain would land. Who he would be.

The fact that Wee John could say his name so easily led them all to believe that the changes he'd undergone weren't complete. Not set in stone. Or flesh and blood. They saw the former captain in him still.

But, they probably should make their demands known before the setting in did occur.

"I'll talk to Captain. Tell him we want a meeting." Olu said, after they all agreed that it was time to broach the subject of the possible leaving of the crew members who were rescued from that tiny island, what felt like forever ago.