Rapture [Ver. II] •SNEAK PEEKS INSIDE•

CAPITULUS V | SHROUD

Needless to say, Captain North was not happy to be bothered twice in the same night.

Finn received a seething glare from the man, but there was nothing to be done. His options were insubordination to North, and insubordination to Rory-and if their first impressions were anything to go by, he wasn't keen on either.

He had half a mind to know Rory for a liar, seating himself once again in the chair bolted into the deck beside the captain's table, but what he had expected quickly fell to the wayside as the young, expressive blond took an entirely different approach.

"I think he should be one of our topmen."

Finn felt his face twist in confusion. "What's that?"

But the captain's face finally spoke of shock. Considering the stoicism the man always seemed to wear, he took a peek at Rory to see the watchman's reaction.

The younger man's eyes were electrified, his cheeks ever so slightly flushed. No doubt, he wanted to win some small glory in service to this captain.

"A topman?" The captain tested. "What in the hells qualifies him to take such a critical position?"

Rory looked briefly to Finn, and the less brave of the two slunk further in his chair. Rory charged on. "He's not afraid of the heights. Not a single shake of the boot. Mouse looks like he enjoys it, even. He'll have a steady hand reefing the sails."

"What's going on," Finn tried again.

The captain gave him a look that meant shut up.

Finn obeyed, but frankly, he still thought it a valid question.

"He was near death not a week ago and you want me to have him scale the mast and work aloft? He can hardly balance on both legs," the captain growled. "Nor has he earned his salt."

"That's the thing," Rory breathed. "I think he has. He's from the Brass Cities, he talks like he knows the sea sciences-the real sciences, from before the Rapture."

The captain squinted at Finn from the corner of his eye. "How d'you figure that?"

"He reads the crests like they're words on a page. He didn't even need the spyglass!"

"You saying he's got a better eye than you?" North challenged.

Rory tensed, but charged forward. "I'm saying that he's not an omen, he's a blessing in disguise. Who even sees Abyssrians around the mainlands anymore? Selling him is a waste," Rory insisted. "A waste when he could aid us."

Finn bit at his chapped lip, watching Captain North carefully. It was clear North only selectively discussed his intentions with Rory. Finn was surprised the brooding man entertained it at all.

Sure, he didn't remember much, but it wasn't like he forgot how the world worked. What little he knew of captains at sea, that they were revered and hailed as gods. They maimed and killed their own men to appease the slightest of whims. Pirate captains just had to be worse.

Didn't they?

Finn eyed the captain again, pensively. North should've been crueler. So many lines had already been crossed and not once had Finn even caught sight of a cat o' nine.

The crew revered him, surely, but there was less...trepidation.

Captain North laughed humorlessly. "Gods help the lad, I'll have 'im trim the mizzentops at dawn. If," he emphasized, stalking toward Finn. "He survives, and makes good time...he'll have a pint to ease his pain."

...

The captain was indeed cruel, Finn decided. He had to be, forcing the other man back into the hammock slung out of place in the treasury.