Pirate Radio

Wind of Change - Scorpions

 One particularly windy day Madelyn showed up on deck - after she'd missed breakfast and the setting of the sails - in a t-shirt and what appeared to be John's boxers. Before anyone had the opportunity to say anything about her out of character choice of clothing she kindly stated: "I'm having serious menstrual cramps and just want to be comfortable. I'm sorry about not looking presentable." Both George and Clerk laughed quietly at that. Madelyn always wore a dress, rain or shine, summer or winter, even while she was pulling her weight on the boat, and the fact that she felt like she had to apologise for not doing so one day was sweet.

As it turned out Madelyn's menstrual cramps where above average on the pain scale and she spent more time curled around a hot water bottle then anything else, but she had no complaints and only had an odd comment or two to make about how difficult it's was to empty a menstrual cup in the middle of a tack.

"Oh, babe. Sorry." John cooed, making everyone laugh more then the actual comment did. Well everyone except Ezra, who quite frankly looked rather uncomfortable. Was it possible that he felt the way most 15 year old boys did about periods? Surely he of all people wouldn't be that immature.

A little past noon Madelyn retreated below deck for a pain killer and a nap which was all fair and good but it meant that they had to take in the sails and throw anchor with out her and that turned out to be the ultimate test of their ability to work together. Madelyn had been a bit of a buffer between George and the rest of the crew on the previous days. She even did a pretty good job at being the glue of the bunch while laying with her head in Johns lap. With her asleep, George had to do his best not to yell at anyone when they didn't immediately understand what he wanted them to do.

Due to the pretty strong winds George and Nina decided it best if they anchored separately and used the dingy to transport people back and forth for their radio segments. That in itself turned out to be quite the challenge and George feared what the wind would be like the next day.

After Ezra's segment was over and he had been brought back to Guinevere via dingy, he - drenched in water - reported some of the stats to Clerk before getting out his book and taking a seat to read it.

George, Dante, John and Madelyn, who had been mucking about in the boats living quarters and overheard the whole evening report. Madelyn was in the middle of giving John a haircut, which was turning out less then ascetically ideal, given that she was in pain as she did so. Since their arrival on the sea almost everyone had given their hair a trim, George did so on the first day. Nina followed suit, letting Heth cut almost all of it off. Within a few days everyone had jumped aboard the 'short and manageable' bandwagon. Everyone except Ezra, Madelyn and Dante.

As a result Madelyn was constantly picking her hair out of her mouth and Ezra struggled to keep his curls in check, how could he not with the wind constantly tangling them. Dante however had some secret he was keeping from the others because his hair didn't seem to be affected at all. It fanned out behind him when he stood on deck and found itself in a loose braid once they'd anchored but it never tangled, never got messy and it was as big a mystery as Calvin's radio successes.

"Magic." Dante had said and winked when George asked him about it.

"Your hair or Calvin's radio thing?"

"Both. But I think Calvin's magic is of the black variety. People like him don't just suddenly get good at something."

"Be nice." Madelyn warned.

"We're not being mean. Calvin's just an unlucky guy. We know it. He knows it."

"Not to mention he's stumbling over his words all the time. Not exactly radio material." Dante added. "But maybe that's the appeal. Maybe his relationship with the listens is a 'I'm a trash human, you're a trash human, we can be garbage together' kind of thing."