Young Writers Society

"The glass actually filters out what makes the sunlight harmful to vampires." Orvin says. "Though we could close the curtains if it made you more comfortable, Lucas?" Orvin is 90% certain what Lucas just said is a lie to avoid sleeping in his bed. He looks over the inlet his bed is set into. He sees nothing wrong with the bed itself, nor the blankets. They're clean, the beds made. Is there something he's not seeing that Lucas finds fault with?

"No, I'm..."

Lucas faltered. Maybe he was just blowing this out-of-proportion. He had only really interacted with Raine growing up, and she was like him but even more so. She cared a lot about him and her woodworking, but never liked people in any sort of romantic kind of way. He wasn't sure what was normal. Most of the time, it was just the two of them working away in the shop.

...His chest ached at the thought of her, but he did his best to push the grief away. It didn't want to fade after all these months.

"...I'm...I'm good," Lucas said. His sleep schedule was terrible after becoming a vampire and he had never liked the lights coming in when he slept into the morning what felt like an eternity ago, but he knew those excuses wouldn't mean anything. Archibald and Orvin were fine with this. He was just making more trouble than he needed to be.

He looked away. "I'm...okay with sharing the same bed."

Yay! It was settled.

Archibald was too sleepy to bother waiting for Orthella to return with the tea, or for anything really, so he started getting ready for bed as though no-one was there.

Archibald undid the ribbon from his hair, removed his clothes down to his underwear, and casually folded and placed the items on a nearby chair.
One might ascribe this neatness to his station, but regrettably he was actually in the minority of tidy people in his household. (Belle and Harriet were terrible. The actual worst.)

Archie slid under the covers and rolled around a little bit, like he owned the place. He settled, and closed his eyes, cheek squished against the pillow. He hoped the others would understand he was open to a little sleepy chatting before he passed out, but did not make the effort to say words.

Orvin politely looks away when Archie is undressing, turning his head to Lucas instead. Plenty of guys had changed in front of him before. Not a big deal, he tells himself.

Yet still, his heart flutters and sinks all at once. He tries to focus on Lucas, though that doesn't seem possible. A hand reaches to his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he looks towards the door to his room, willing Orthella to return soon. Orvin always felt less nervous with her around.

Lucas was (reluctantly) okay with sharing a bed right up until the moment Archibald got into said bed wearing just his underwear. Lucas's cheeks turned bright, bright red. He frantically glanced away from the bed and made brief eye contact with Orvin, but that only made this whole situation worse.

Knowing he had already sealed his fate, Lucas took off his shoes in front of the chair Archibald had put his clothes on. He was careful with how he placed them; he didn't want to be messy in a place that wasn't his.

Then he sat down on the side edge of the bed, still wearing everything minus his boots.

Hm. The room had gotten quiet, all of a sudden.


"That was a lucky thunderstorm," Archibald mumbled pleasantly. "But I hope it doesn't come back when we've set sail."

Orvin, not wanting to feel left out, takes off his shoes as well, placing them in a cubby next to his bed where he usually does. Though he opts to grab a chair from the table instead, moving it near the bed and sitting down. No, he does not realize how unnatural that is to do, especially in his own bedchambers.

"Yes, I suppose it was lucky." He can't bring himself to tell Archie they will certainly hit a storm of some sort soon. Likely within the next week. It was spring, the storms hit frequently, and with a fierce punch.

Lucas's anxiety of this situation was momentarily replaced by anxiety at the thought of being on the sea when a thunderstorm hit. There had to be ships that had survived thunderstorms before, but Lucas hadn't ever been on one.

(If he had, it had been before. Long before becoming a vampire, back when his biggest concern was not being able to remember where he came from.)

"...What do we do if the thunderstorm does come back?" Lucas hesitantly asked.

"We've hit several before. Everyone knows what do if that happens." The biggest issue would be Polly, but as long as Marina is nearby, everything will be fine. "Orthella will ensure everything runs smoothly and direct you to your quarters, or where help is needed."

Lucas gave a small, small nod.

At least everyone else on the ship knew what to do. He glanced over at Archibald, not sure if it would be rude to ask if he knew what to do if a storm hit a boat while at sea. Lucas didn't know what royalty was taught growing up. Maybe seafaring skills were an important part of being a prince.

The jumbled cloudy mess of giddy that was Archibald's brain at the moment woke up just long enough for a single nearly coherent thought to slip through.

"Diversion..." he slurred. "Hopethediversionn went welll..."

Nope. No start that. Plenty of time to worry about it in the morning.

Archibald lazily mumbled something optimistic in response to himself, and fell asleep midsentence.

He began to snore softly. It was a princely snore. It’s difficult to explain, but if you were there, that’s how you would have described it.

When Lucas realized that Archibald had finally fallen asleep, he took in a sharp, deep breath. He still wasn't remotely close to laying down then. He was sitting up on the bed with both of his legs now on the mattress (an improvement from before) but they were pulled closer to his chest instead of being flat.

In the first moment that followed, he didn't say anything. He just awkwardly glanced over at Orvin, hoping that he had already fallen asleep, too.

Orvin has in fact, not fallen asleep. For a multitude of reasons, the main one being that he was sitting on a chair. He watches the door to his room with intense patience until Orthella enters it, carrying three mugs, a pitcher of hot water, and tea leaves, as well as a rather fancy tea strainer placed upon a tray which she balances on one arm. On her other arm, draped over her shoulder is a set of clothes. She glances at Archie's sleeping form but makes no comment.

"I dug up a set of pajamas that should fit you Lucas. If you'd like to try them on. I brought a set for the prince as well, though it doesn't seem he needs them." Orthella sets the tray on the table in the middle of Orvins' room, setting the two sets of pajamas next to it.

"Thank you," Lucas said. Orvin hadn't fallen asleep yet, so Lucas was very hesitant to actually get changed into the pajamas. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to sleep after Orvin fell asleep.

He eyed the tea set.

It had been awhile since he had tea. Drinking and eating was hit-or-miss most of the time. He either could stomach it just like he had before becoming a vampire, or he spent an hour in the bathroom coughing whatever he had ate or drank back up. Lucas wasn't really sure if there was actually a pattern to it or not, but he was usually better with stomaching things other than blood after he had a decent amount of blood.

He tried to remember the last time he had some. It had been from rats around the castle, and it hadn't been all that many. The population was starting to get scarce after he had been drinking from it for so long.

But the thought of tea sounded so good, and it had been so long since he had some. It might have even been before Raine...

He pushed the thought away.

"Do you, uh..." Lucas faltered. If he didn't want to ruin having tea—because ruining that would be ruining something Raine had treasured—by throwing it up afterwards, he had to ask for something that just felt so wrong to bring up. "Do you have anything like rats on your ship? Not that I think you would, since this is a very nice ship, but..."

Lucas hesitated again, took a deep breath, and then let it out as a quiet sigh.

"I...haven't had any blood for awhile," he quietly, awkwardly admitted. "I want to drink that tea, but my body can't handle it unless I've had blood recently."

Orthella makes a soft "Oh!" sound and opens her satchel. She pulls out roughly a pint of blood in a glass bottle.

"My apologies. I'm very forgetful at the moment. Here," She hands it over to you, placing it on the table next to your cup.