Young Writers Society

Archibald mumbled something small and unintelligible at the loss of blanket. He slowly awoke to find his face resting on Orvin's shoulder, and his arm draped over the pirate's collarbone. Orvin's breath brushed softly on his skin in steady waves, in, and out.

Bashfully, Archie released Orvin's torso, but when he tried to lift his head he found that some of his hair had gotten stuck under the sleeping captain's head. Ow.

Several good questions tumbled restlessly in Archibald's mind, while he attempted to extricate his tangled honey blonde curls as painlessly as possible. Would Orvin remember this? How long had they slept intertwined, that Orvin could have rolled or shifted onto his hair? It mightn't have been all that long, Archibald reasoned, blushing faintly. Conceivably this could happen within the space of a few minutes.

Understandably, due to where he was currently stuck, the young prince found his eyes resting mainly on Orvin's objectively impressive chest. And naturally, this reminded him of when Orvin carried him through the forest, how it had been a sudden and confusing experience at the time, but when he thought about it now, the memory made him feel just a little bit... safe? Secure? Just a little bit. Under the influence of sleep, he had found that promise irresistable. As anybody could. A pedestrian craving.

This could be a problem if they had to share a bed again, but for now this was alright.

"Ah- sorry about that," Archibald awkwardly whispered to Orvin's sleeping form. He finally pulled his hair free, and got out of bed.

It was then the prince noticed that Lucas was already up, and most definitely had witnessed the entire thing. He blushed again. ...Had he bothered Lucas in the night, as well? He hoped not. Uprooted from his home, travelling with people he'd just met, the vampire was rightfully still a bit skittish.

Archie offered Lucas a fresh smile. "Bonjour," he said politely. Fine start.

"I hope you slept well. I'm sorry if I- hm." Archibald stopped. He decided he didn't want to finish that sentence for some reason.

"Might you need any help untangling the blanket?" he interrupted himself, sounding a little more stilted.

It was a little difficult to make morning small talk when every second of being freshly awake brought with it more clarity, and with that, the recollection of just how rude he'd been to both of them the night before. They came to an understanding, and the three of them had a good time with each other since. Archibald believed that Lucas' interest in his friendship was genuine. But it hadn't been twenty four hours since he had called Lucas a 'thing' carrying 'tropical diseases,' and that wasn't something one could reasonably expect him to just forget.

And then there was this other anxiety waiting in the wings, drumming its fingers, that Archibald hadn't been awake quite long enough to begin to identify but he was hopeful that if he ignored it, it might get bored, and leave. Sometimes this strategy worked.

Hmm. Maybe he should put some clothes on.

Lucas, of course, was still tangled underneath the blanket, so he completely missed the smile that Archibald gave him.

"I can do it," he said, cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He tried to untangle the blanket a little more, than realized that he really couldn't. Even though he wanted to because he really didn't want to make someone have to help him.

"...Actually," he said, voice quiet, "I think I do need help."

"Ah- hold on-"

Archie picked up what he hoped was a corner of the blanket, and held it up. This was a puzzle. Lucas would surely be extricable, with a little teamwork.

"Try turning clockwise?"

Lucas did as requested.

"...I think it's a little looser now," he said, but he wasn't really sure.

Orvin sat up in bed, and looked over at his newfound friends. Archie, leaning over the bed attempting to free Lucas from a rather expertly twisted blanket. Orvin sighed, laughed a little, and crawled over to the edge of the bed, and slid onto the floor at Lucas' feet. He grasped the blanket just a few inches away from where it held Lucas's ankle hostage and twisted it enough to create a bit of slack. And with that, he pulled the blanket free.

"I'm not entirely positive about how you managed to do that." Orvin said with a light amusement. "But I'm impressed nonetheless."

When Orvin pulled the blanket off of Lucas, it revealed a bright, bright red face.

"Thanks," Lucas said, ducking his head quickly. "For the help."

He stood and stretched his limbs, rolling his shoulders.

"I have to head on deck and assist Orthella with setting out breakfast. You're welcome to come up when you're ready."

Orvin offers an awkward smile to Lucas, hoping he didn't embarrass him. The memory of last night nags at the nap of his skull but he chooses to ignore it, instead pulling his boots out of the small cubby they reside in and pulling them on. He then turns and heads out the door, closing it behind him.

Archie got dressed again, and found a mirror without much trouble. Once he was done arranging his cravat, he began tidying up his hair. The prince was a work of art as always. He'd have to see about securing a hairbrush at some point, but for now this was fine.

"Oh, that's right, the sun." he remembered out loud, while securing his ponytail with a bow. He frowned for a second. It was only their first morning here, it would be unacceptably sad to leave Lucas out of things.

"I could fetch you something?" he suggested. "But then you'd still have to wait to meet everyone... hmm."

"Tell you what, just get ready. I'll go work something out." Archibald offered Lucas a reassuring smile, and headed for the door.

Lucas, who didn't have many clothes to begin with, just put his shoes back on. He hadn't gotten changed last night.

"It's alright," Lucas awkwardly reassured Archibald. "I'll just wait here. I can pass the time."

He had done it enough, back at the last place he had stayed.

Archie closed the door behind him, smiling. Lucas thought he was going to be left behind. Adorable. He was going to be included, and that was that.

The young prince made his way to the upper deck, feeling handsome and ready to make a good impression with Orvin's men.

As far as the eye can see is nothing more than the ocean and the sky. The deck is more lively than it had been in quite some time, Polly drags a small cherub-looking boy behind her as they rush to grab freshly cleaned cloths for the table. The boy with white hair from the night before is balancing trays atop his wolf-companions back. Two teen girls hold pitchers in their hands, cups rest between their arms and stomach. Orthella is kneeled next to a small girl, holding a piece of cloth with vague embroidery on it. She cries as Orthella dabs spilled juice out of it.

One of the teens speak up as theyre coming towards the door. Shes blonde, and taller than the girl beside her. "Hold that door open, if you would Archie."

Orvin nods in greeting to the prince from his position in the middle of it all, giving gentle orders to the children when they finish the tasks he gave them prior.

Archie stopped at the sight of the horizon, the pleasant expression froze on his face. A single sign of panic escaped in the form of miniscule muscle movement in his lower eyelids.

Oh my god we're in the middle of the sea and it's too late to turn back.

This fact may have seemed obvious, and it was, but the evening before was a strange and dreamlike sort of thing to him, it almost didn't feel real. Against his own reason Archibald had sort of imagined that the decision he'd made under the influence of human emotion wouldn't have lasting consequences.
This comfortable fallacy was left miles and miles behind them, along with Cortem, and any sight of it.

I actually ran away. I can't believe I did something so impulsive.

Damn that pirate for being such a convincing orator. This is all his fault.

Stop it. Someone was talking to him. It was time to be present. Archie shoved his thoughts to the side. Just in time to avoid an awkward pause, he processed the young lady’s request, and held the door for her.

“Good morning,” he said amicably. He smiled politely to the blonde girl, and then to Orvin.

His eyes were soon drawn to the rest of them- there was Polly, Orthella, the white haired boy and the wolf from the night before, and three more whose names he had yet to learn. If this included the figure he saw on the crows' nest, that would be six children.

That was more children than Archie would expect to see aboard a pirate ship, but he supposed if there was a sort of pirate crew that would have their children on board with them, it would be Orvin's crew. Where was that crew? Were they the night shift? But he'd only seen a few children and Orthella last night. They had orders somewhere else, and plans to regroup soon after? Maybe? It seemed reckless not to leave at least a few of them with the ship. But he could ask about that later.

These children were very lively, all moving at their own rhythm, independent of, but not without consideration as they moved around each other. They were well loved. This was a chaos that might have room for another pair of hands. Archibald was conscious that he was still an outsider here, but that came with starting again. He felt this was a place, and these were people he wanted to try to belong with.

…Sweet god. It wasn't just a crew of grown up pirates he was selfishly endangering. It was their six children, too.


“Um, I just recalled that Lucas won’t do well with the sunlight, is there some sort of accommodation we can make for that?” said Archibald, trying not to reek of guilt.

The girls slipped past Archie and took the small flight of stairs with a practiced ease.

"Way ahead of you." Orvin called out in response. The wolf turns to head for the staircase with the white-haired boy in tow, carrying several plates of his own. In the broad daylight, the boy looked almost sickly pale, though he lacks no energy and seems to be a good weight. They slip down the stairs together, the boy offered Archie a head nod in greeting. "They're moving the food now."

The cherub boy breaks away from Polly, turning around completely, choosing instead to book it for Archie. He stood directly in front of him and looked up into his face wordlessly. He carried a rather creepy doll. Its dress was made of patched fabric and its head was almost completely severed from its plush body, hanging loosely by the last bit of intact fabric.

"Benni!" Polly called, though she didn't move towards him, simply glaring at him from the far end of the ship.

Even though Lucas had said he was alright staying in the room, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He couldn't remember ever having been on a ship before. He could handle staying below deck, if he avoided the sunlight.

But it also felt strange, inviting himself to do something like that. He stood frozen in the room for what felt like an eternity. When he finally decided to commit to actually leaving the room, he peeked his head out in time to see two teenage girls, a teenage boy, and a wolf coming down. He froze in the doorway, head just barely peeking out, with his eyes wide in surprise.

He vaguely remembered seeing them above deck when he first came on, and their blood smelled familiar, too.

"Uh," Lucas managed to get out. "Hi?"

Archibald looked down at the little boy, and quickly realised that he didn't at all remember how to speak to children this little, especially when it was up to him to say the first word.

On top of that he was mildly intimidated by this silent and unclear demand, as well as the doll's head that seemed disturbingly ready to fall off at any second. Although that person shaped scrap bundle seemed comfortable enough within its own existence. Maybe there was something to be learned from it.

Already, the prince came to feel at ease. This was a sweet, innocent child. It wasn't as though he could smell fear, or anything.

"Good morning?" Archie said gently.

"My name is Archibald, it's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name?"