Ocean Eyes, Storm Cloud Minds

Chapter Fourteen

The thought only plagued him for a few more moments before his attention was caught by the heavily dislikable male beside him- someone he didn't like but didn't even know the name of. "You got much of an 'eadache, Blue?" He asked, delving into a conversation that Lancelot neither expected nor wanted to get involved in. He shook his head after a moment and turned his attention to the other, clearly not wanting to be around him much longer.

"N-Not me, no. I excused myself before I could drink too much." He explained in a quiet voice, hoping the shakiness in his voice wasn't too obvious. Hell, he wasn't even sure that this male remembered what he'd done, but he really hoped he did. He was clearly reluctant to have acknowledged this man in the first place, let alone to have had to respond to him.

The males head dipped a little as gave half a nod, before suddenly leaning forward and letting alcohol-flavoured bile rise from his stomach and escaped his lips. Lancelot turned his attention away from the stranger - he had no interest in his name - and sighed, not wanting to be around him now and definitely not wanting to be near him if he had any alcohol. He slipped away while the male was throwing up and cursing, soon finding himself back at his hammock and seeing that Ivy had only just woken up Dandé.

Lancelot watched the man sit up, staying silent as he didn't want to draw any attention to himself, whether it was from people he felt he could trust or not. He diverted his focus onto the ground as the male changed his shirt, though, deciding it was the best place to keep his gaze when he noticed that almost every other person in the room who was awake and/or out of bed was in a state of undress. The last thing he needed was to end up having his gaze linger for a second too long, as he was sure that it'd not end too well for him.

Dandé got his attention after a few long moments of keeping his eyes averted, and Lancelot looked up at the man with a slightly tilted head, staying silent to give Dandé the chance to speak first.

"You alright, Blue?" Dandé asked, only using the nickname while everyone else was around.

"Yeah, just... thinking about the captain, 's all." He murmured, his eyes on Dandés as if to derive a sense of comfort from him- something he'd been doing from Dandé since the first time they met eyes.

"Aye. Mind being privy?" He asked, c*****g his head to the side slightly, as if he expected Lancelot to have another reason that he seemed to have no choice but to share with the larger male. The brunet sighed a little, recognising Dandé as the kind of person who was either trusted with this stuff by whoever he was asking, or would find out on his own eventually, and deciding that it would be easier just to tell him now. Besides, it's not like the sword fight was meant to be kept secret- he just didn't want people starting to joke about it to and around him, as he really disliked the idea of people telling him how he'd end up once he lost.

Lancelot took a breath as he looked up at Dandé, shifting his weight between his feet in an awkward manner. "He's ordered a 'duel', of sorts, between us. Due sometime later today, but I wouldn't say I'm exactly... experienced, or in any way skilled with a sword." He said, laughing a little as if to make it seem funnier than the situation actually was. Besides, he didn't want to show that he was actually terrified of it because he didn't know how skilled the captain was but he did know that he was not skilled, at all.

Dandé nodded, tying an orange bandana around his head- something Lancelot didn't pay attention to the day before- his eyes lingering on Lancelot's for a few moments before he gLancelotd back at Ivy.

"Good luck in regards to that, then, should I be unable to watch." He said, and although there wasn't even a hint of malice in his tone, Lancelot seemed to take it like it was a warning rather than as a genuine thing.

Ivy had just pulled on a shirt, taking hold of his glasses and putting them back on, then approaching them both and focusing his attention onto Lancelot.

"Should he be sober for it?" He asked, and although it may have just been the brunet's imagination, he could have sworn that Ivy had asked like it was something his life depended on.

"I believe so." He nodded, but before any of them could get one more word in, a voice- he recognised it as that of the man earlier- commanded everyone onto the upper deck, were they dressed decently enough.

Lancelot didn't wait for the others to walk alongside him despite wanting to, as he knew that while he wasn't everyone's favourite - being anyone's favourite would surprise him, honestly - he had no excuses for lingering around out of sight. Besides, he was sure Elric still had plenty of time to change his mind about either Lancelot staying alive, or Lancelot staying out of the bilge (whether to pump it or to... 'sharpen blades', as the captain had gently described cutting him.)

He made his way to the upper deck, seeing it was noticeably sunnier than it had been when he was sat up there alone, and let the gentle ghost of a smile onto his lips. He wasn't as stressed as he'd been the day before, so he let this sink in as much as his own mind would allow. Despite how this happened and the dishonest means of it all, Lancelot was relieved- glad, even. This was what he'd wanted to be since before he could remember (admittedly, the 'pirate' bit he wasn't a fan of, but that wasn't hard to figure out), but before he could spend too long dwelling on it, someone called out "Cabin boy!" And his day began.