Skyrun

Chapter 13; The map.

When Coin came to take over steering the ship, Liam thought he had never been so happy to see the man's stupid face.

He and Tophsy then proceeded to stumble below decks where Liam slept for a grand total of three hours before he was woken up by some twit shaking him awake.

Brilliant.

"I certainly hope the bloody ship is on fire and we're all going to die and that's why you're waking me up." Liam snapped, rubbing his eyes.

"You'd best get to the captain's quarters." Raven said to him, "Val's not doing well and Sinclair hasn't woken up yet."

"Can't Tophsy do it?"

With strength that surprised Liam, Raven hauled him out of bed and flung him in the general direction of the captain's quarters. "No, she can't. Because she's not the blasted cabin boy!" the woman snarled.

Grumbling to himself, Liam trudged to Valentine's quarters and, upon flinging open the door, he was greeted with the putrid smell of vomit.

Oh. So that was why they wanted a cabin boy taking care of her.

Valentine in the meanwhile--delirious from pain and the consequential whisky to dull the said pain--was rolling around on her bed, heaving over the side of it, then laughing uncontrollably.

Liam sighed, thoroughly done with everyone on this ship and proceeded to take the bottle of whisky out of the captain's hands.

"Here now," she slurred, blinking at him, "That's for-- for the pain. The pain, I say!"

"Yes, well, I think your pain is gone." Liam replied curtly, wetting a cloth in a basin of water on the captain's table and beginning to wipe down Valentine's reeking face.

Her shirt was twisted around her chest, her hat askew upon her head, her hair a hideous mess. Her clothes and body were smeared with vomit to the point where Liam nearly wanted to throw up as well. Once he had cleaned her face, however, he decided the best course of action was to get her into fresh clothes. Despite that being a generally good idea, he was rather uncomfortable with the idea, what with wanting to be a gentleman and all and thus that was exactly why he returned to get Raven.

"You've got to be bloody joking." the dark haired pirate said when he told her of his predicament. Nevertheless, she was the one who bathed and dressed Valentine's partially unconscious body while Liam changed the blankets and sheets in the captain's room, as well as cleaned up the mess on the floor.

When Raven came back with a clean and limp Valentine, Liam helped her put the captain in the bed, tucking the blankets up around her.

Sighing, they looked upon the captain's sleeping form, then Raven turned to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Not many men would have been a gentleman enough to do what you did, what with not bathing Valentine yourself and all that."

Liam shrugged; in truth, he was simply shy, but he let Raven go on about how he was a decent individual and all that for a bit longer before she finally said softly, "She doesn't get like this often, you know."

"What, drunk?"

"Aye. Val isn't the type to have more than an ale or two. It's only because she lost men that she hit the bottle hard. It gets to her-- the idea that she's responsible for their death. And though she won't shed a tear, it breaks her up in her soul. I can feel it."

Liam nodded, looking at the captain in a bit of a different light and, perhaps, pitying her.

Finally, Raven turned away from him, saying softly, "Get some rest, Hawk. You've earned it."