Ocean Eyes, Storm Cloud Minds

Chapter Nineteen

What had happened outside clearly had not been good. Elric was almost seething in anger as he slammed the door shut behind him, not even bothering to lock it yet as he stormed inside, groaning loudly- and somewhat melodramatically- out of irritation or frustration as he stomped in.

Whimpering and trembling out of fear for the angered captain, Lancelot quickly sat himself up and let his eyes begin following the black-haired male around the cabin anxiously, worried for anything and anything that could possibly happen within that moment or any of the next that he spent in here. The captain was evidently pissed, walking across the room and - as was expected - grabbing the closest bottle of alcohol that he could in that moment. Lancelot was entirely silent as he watched Elric drain almost a third of the glass, his heart lurching in his chest as the bottle was then slammed down so hard that the brunet was surprised when it didn't break upon the impact.

Silence hung over and Lancelot hated it, soon forcing himself to speak up to avoid the tension from choking him.

"S-Stressful day, Captain?" He asked hesitantly, a playful tone hiding the fear plaguing his mind and threatening to arise in his tone so that Elric wouldn't notice how evidently terrified he was to be around a man like the Captain- especially not with the rare rumours he'd heard about the captain back home, as rare as they were. Elric's steely grey eyes narrowed into slits at Lancelot's remark, and the suddenly harsh glare made the brunet's throat tighten almost dangerously, fear bubbling up in his empty stomach.

He laughed nervously to shake off the anxious butterflies, opening his mouth to apologise for his own talking before the captain intervened, stepping toward the bedridden brunet by only a few paces. His grip on the bottle tightened as he cleared his throat to speak louder and in a more brash tone.

"Aye," a pause to drink another swig from the bottle. "A stressful day." His tone was harsh and malicious and so much more maledicent now as he stumbled closer, the bottle's contents sloshing around loudly before the alcohol was, once more, tipped into his mouth, and another portion was removed from the green bottle.

Lancelot shifted uncomfortably whilst waiting for the intimidating alcoholic before him to speak again, as he was aware that Elric wasn't finished speaking- meaning he was sat in awkward silence with chokingly thick tension in the room. Captain Red them disarmed himself of his bottle before shedding his lavish scarlet coat, using the dirty, off-white sleeve of his shirt to wipe his mouth. Lancelot just appreciated that the reckless captain hadn't been careless enough as to filthy the coat that the brunet envied.

"A-Aye?" He echoed, trembling and only speaking to break the tension and silence while pushing away the choking anxiety he felt. Elric then pressed the cover of the compass down, trailing his fingers over the simple, silver design on top - the same mark as there was on the wall and as was on the small gem currently tucked away in Lancelot's pocket. His frantic and hazy eyes scoured the room, occasionally lingering on a few items that altered the angered expression that Elric had in his eyes, but the brunet didn't have the nerve to follow his gaze, despite his curiosity trying to tempt him into doing otherwise. Inevitably, though, Elric's gaze landed on him, and his tongue darted over his lips before he spoke again.

His words were more paced this time. Dragged out- emphasised, yet slurred from the amount of alcohol that had been drained from the bottle in such a short amount of time- especially with the lack of food that the captain had been able to eat.

"Ayyye," he repeated, nodding slightly. "Sommme blunndering oaf got himself innnjured from his own ina-competence to defennd 'imself while armed, thus distractin' me from doin' my bloody duties as the goddamnn captain of this vessel!" Voice raising as he spoke, the bottle was once more against the captain's lips, emptying, before his arm was raised and then slung forward, flinging the unlabelled and now empty bottle clumsily toward the brunet.

Terrified eyes followed the bottle for a few, stunned silent moments before Lancelot flinched away and cowered, whimpering a little as he heard the bottle smash- finding that it had broken a little under a metre away from his trembling form. The floor littered and gleaming with broken glass bottle shards, while the shaking and tearful male slowly uncurled and looked over at the captain, who had entirely lost his composure; eyes wild and full of malice, his face red with such a sudden rush of adrenaline while his breaths were ragged and heavy. His entire form seemed to tremble after such an aggressive display of emotion.

Parted lips once more attempted to speak, but only a whimper escaped his lips as opposed to the offer of leaving. The brunet was eager to leave, not wanting to be so close to such an abusive stranger any longer, and so he was about to offer to leave, provided that the captain didn't decide to kill him beforehand- but a harsh glare and a slight, threatening growl quickly quietened him, making him convince his own frantically spinning mind to endure whatever would or possibly could happen to him while he was there.

Quickly closing his mouth once more, Lancelot watched as the adrenaline rush seemed to finally pass and Elric slumped into his chair, causing several chains, amulets and coat pockets full of golden coins and foreign currencies to jingle loudly, blending in with the captains quiet and stressed murmurings. Curses seemed to stand out further than the rest, and it wasn't too long before Elric's voice raise and it became apparent that he was badmouthing the male sat almost directly opposite him- not even two full metres away.

The brunet slowly lay back down, his heart pounding against his ribcage out of fearful adrenaline, and he watched with tired yet scared eyes as Elric opened a drawer full of miscellaneous crap, soon pulling out a sun-dried and bleached, black leather notebook that appeared to be older than the ship itself- meaning that it evidently didn't belong to Elric.

The dirty, ink-stained pages flicked open as Red began searching for a certain page or section, so focused that his eyebrows began to furrow and his forehead creased- as if he were struggling to read what was written. Hell- provided he could read, anyway. Whether or not he was that educated, Lancelot wasn't interested in finding out, and whether or not it was the alcohol that prevented the captain from being able to comprehend the writing, Lancelot didn't seem to care; just wanting to pass out and not worry about the man he was trapped with.

He was already beginning to feel guilty about getting injured, for f**k's sake, and he'd only gotten hurt because he was preventing himself from getting a jab to the stomach from a sword he would likely have taken a step into otherwise.