Tender Cruelty ~ A Ratigan Romance

P5

Pᴀʀᴛ Fɪᴠᴇ: Mᴀʀᴏᴏɴᴇᴅ

Something was amiss in his world and Padraic Ratigan endeavored to figure it out....

Strolling through thick mists that seemed to line London's streets that evening his nose twitched in confusion at the curious smells left to light upon the air. He felt his stomach grinding with anxiety and excitement because it did not smell like London to him, it smelled exotic and like perfume. He could see the fog that clung around him fading from grey into a pale blue and the sound of exotic birds starting to reach his ears. Nervously he stretched his arms forward, grabbing what felt like a curtain of vines and pushing them aside.

"Where am I?" He questioned as the picture before him became that of a tranquil lagoon swarming with mists Caribbean blue to hide whatever might be in here. He pondered briefly, was he back in the Orient seeking out the pygmy felines or was he merely lost? He had no memory of being at sea and at first, he was unsure if things were even as they appeared.

He stepped forward, not only feeling mud and water trickling around the indent he made in the lagoon mud but something else. His ears rang with the sound of clapping irons, chains and he looked down at himself. Oh God! Anything but this! He could see his hands were still chained, his ankles ones were broken though and his body was covered in cuts and bruises. His trousers were black, more like pantaloons with great holes and his chest was covered by a thin white shirt. He felt a sickening dread, fear and more powerful then them was hatred.

"Basil must have found me out! He must have drugged something I ate this morning and sent me on a ship for a penal colony... but it must have crashed... am I the only survivor?" Confusion twisted his gut and Ratigan felt his lips curling as he snarled. This would not do, he had to return to his beloved and depressing England – there was nothing sweeter than the misery and melancholy of London and all the beings within it he could bribe or bother. He wanted to return home... but where was he?

A strange sound made his ears twitch, his heart began to pump hard and his blood seemed to boil with excitement. He took in great gasps of air and felt as though he were about to die when unclear but beautiful long notes swam from the center of the lagoon to his ears. Familiar but unfamiliar they were alluring and he felt a sudden relief and joy in them. He heard the definite sound of someone's reassurance, telling him that they were present and he was not alone. He was sure he knew that voice and the excitement of knowledge caused him to march onward through the mud.

"Where are you?" He questioned the air and it seemed to call him further on. Padraic growled gently in irritation as he thought over what was leading him on and why he should even care. He felt anger spilling into his body before the fog cleared enough as he strolled through the muck to see... HER!

Rowena!

It had to be her, didn't it? The only siren he could ever imagine, an embodiment of beauty and music but also in the form of his greatest fear... another rat.

"Rowena? Oh, why can't you be a mouse like me? Won't you be a mouse?" He seemed to question the figure that remained fae and unreal. She just stared and gave sounds, songs, which filled him with even more desire and sorrow. He suddenly felt the realization of what he had nearly done to her three weeks ago. Lowering his head he gave a snarl. "This is a dream... I've done something terrible and I've been blaming you.... Why can't I accept myself?"

Suddenly Ratigan was sitting up in his bed, coated in sweet and crying into his great claws. For the first time in three weeks, he had realized what had nearly taken place and he was scared. It was not just for Rowena he was scared of himself now, but rather he was scared for the world around him.

He truly was a monster!

* * * * *

The opinion was sadly shared by Rowena at that time, who had found herself clinging to Captain Doran and ignoring all possible attempts at seeing Ratigan. She refused to sing, thinking it was what had angered him and despite all of Captain Doran's attempts to make her stay at the hideout she'd been so frightened of him coming to her room at night that she'd located other lodgings. Her new lodgings were along a similar sewer pipe, only this one was underneath one of the local naval areas and to her surprise, there were a lot of rats there... black rats.

Captain Doran made sure to visit her and collect her to take her to work every night, almost as if he feared the sea rats more then he did Ratigan. But Rowena had regained her confidence thanks to the smaller rodents and the sea rats often came to visit her for advice or even a chance to give her some letters to mail for them to assure their families they were home. In fact, she was doing so much dealing with the foreign rats that visited the docklands that she barely had time to think about singing at the Rat Trap.

Doran was still not as convinced and eventually, he decided that he would voice his true concerns to her. He was anxious of course because already he'd been through life once to know that there was a lot he could not offer someone like Rowena that someone else could. He also was not the kind of rat to rush anything... he did not want her to pick up his feelings straight away and so he'd come up with a clever way of dealing with the situation.

One afternoon, when it was dull enough in the air that he could step through the docks without being given a second glance, Doran headed to Rowena's new home polishing his greyish glass eye in his jacket as he shuffled on. He wanted to make a good impression because lately the future had been weighing heavily upon his mind. He didn't want to be alone, especially not at his age and in his line of work... he had learned that an army life drove the family away but finding someone who worked with you that was just as lonely... well, could she deny him?

When he arrived in her new lodgings she hastily pulled him in and settled him down for a tea. She looked so much happier and healthier, not to mention confident now that she was in her own mindset. Rowena seemed content to serve him and content to talk with him, nothing was putting her down but he noted how little she spoke of the professor. Then it came, that moment of respite in which Doran could ask the vital question.

"My dear Rowena... I was thinking the other day about how lonely you must be. Not, pray in the sense of company rather than uh... male companionship. I do not know how you were used to living in a caged environment, but I assume you still had dreams and aspirations of marriage." Doran hoped it did not sound too formal, he felt his whiskers singe in anxiety. This could be his only chance to learn what Rowena expected and to slowly woo her... he did not want to make it difficult between them just because he'd brought up the subject.

"Actually I was going to ask you that very same question..." Rowena smiled confidently and Doran felt his stomach doing back-flips in excitement. Was she really interested in him? Could it be as simple as he had only dreamed of it is? Would she really be this fond of him already? His hopes were dashed and his stomach boiled with the rest of the question. "I mean... has the professor ever courted anyone at all?"

"Uh... well..." Doran did not know what to say. He did not want to think that Rowena might be interested in another male let alone his boss. Oddly he had never figured Ratigan would even be in her mind after what had happened... but it would seem he had not guessed correctly. He knew that in truth, the Professor had steered clear of all females, but he knew that a good lie that would put her off would be to say that he had many females.... "When he feels the need for such company he merely finds a maiden willing for one night in his company and that is all. He does not wish for eternal partnership, he feels it will get in the way."

It seemed a logical compromise, only he could not help but feel sickened by his own words as he looked at Rowena sigh. She seemed so sad but not the manner of one whose hopes were ripped apart or who had expected better. In fact, he could honestly say that she was in pity of him. Well... that was quite unique, not one pitied the professor because he was so wild and angry at times from his traumas that every time he got irritated everyone was balancing on the tip of an iceberg hovering over Hades! Nothing was ever secure unless it was correct....

"Then... is there much hope that I would find someone for a committed thing? I come from the same background as he has and..." The moment Doran heard Rowena's words he reached out with his hands and patted them gently. His reassurance made her smile more brightly but there was something else in Rowena's mind at that moment. She knew how lonely it could be and so she had already decided to try and talk to Ratigan about what had taken place.