1 June; Stargazing

De Guarde flushed red as Chase told him he'd done it wrong. He looked at the snuff and guessed that perhaps it was not the sort that one would sniff but the other sort, which was also not smoked. Of course it would be more commonly 'snorted' by the higher class and Chase was not exactly that.

He nodded and looked up uncertainly. "May I... try it t'.. right way, Chase?" He hmphed looking at Dyer. "....i ..made a mistake." He lost the indignant look and looked more forlorn as if checking himself for his temper and attitude. It was a success.

Chase palmed his snuff pouch. "Dunno how anybody can stand haulin' 'baccy up their noses. Don't it hurt?"

" 'Magine it should," Edwin remarked curiously. He glanced at Danver with raised eyebrows. He'd never seen the like of that before.

"I ..I think it's ground up more.. so..it's easier." He looked at Chase nervously, appearing eager to please with an adequate answer. ".....it did not feel nice now....'cos.. it was not t' right sort n'....well it does always make you sneeze. What I saw. So.. you are better o' havin' a handkerchief...for.. t' sneezin' part." He shifted to lean to the side because his knees were starting to ache.

"Take another pinch," Chase said, holding the pouch out. "Tuck it inta your cheek this time, though. 'Less you'd rather a smoke!"

Edwin gazed ruefully at his pipe, which no longer glowed. "Won't be from mine!"

"Give him a puff off yours, Toby?" Dyer prompted.

The big petty officer seated nearby shook his head. "No pipe for da boy. Bad for him!"

"Aw c'mon, Boyles," the other three protested.

"...I keep it there, jus' so?" De Guarde asked taking a second bit of snuff from the older Tar. He glanced between Edwin and Dyer, curious as how each deliberately forgot that the petty officer told them not to give any smoke to him. It was really amusing to see. As if he had not said anything!

"...I'll.. rather take this 'cos.. 'e.." The petty officer. "..said I shouldn'.. take a smoke. But. .thankee fer offerin'. " He put the pinch of snuff into his cheek. And now? He tasted it already at least.

"No, silly, you chews it - ain't you seen anyone chewin' bacca afore?" Terry said, nudging de Guarde in the side. He could chew it without all the coughing and stuff that happened when you tried smoking it, and hoped he'd get offered a chew as well.

Though, really, who on earth wanted to set the stuff on fire when you could chew it without burning yourself, or coughing half to death?

"..i've seen 'em snuffin' it.. smokin' it... chew....possibly chewin' it." Well, it couldn't hurt to try. He made a face while he did it, not yet sure whether he liked or disliked the taste.

He touched his side where Button nudged him and gave him a somewhat bitter smile. "You smoked it?" He was still not completely at ease, though glad that he was allowed into the company.

"One puff, jus' now," Terry replied. "Dunno how they can bear it, them," he added, indicating the two smokers in the group. "You ever tried it?" He was curious; he couldn't imagine de Guarde ever having tried it... and yet, he' be surprised if the ex-midshipman hadn't had at least one puff before now.

"Smoke?... smoked, me?" He shook his head. "How'd you get ter smoke. I was tole several time I can't have a single puff." He smiled and pointed towards the petty officer who was the reason he was forbidden.

"I never tried it 'fore , me. Not smoked, not gambled.. ever." He shook his head. "Jus' drunk m' ration.. .or two." He said that more hushed.

Tobias found himself smiling at the boys' antics. He supposed that he'd once been just as affected by tobacco, as a lad, but he couldn't recall it. Not that he'd ever had much interest in snuff, mind, just the pipe like his da had smoked. He pulled his pipe from his mouth, and glanced at it thoughtfully. "Tha gets used ter it," he said with a shrug.

He replaced the pipe, taking another quiet puff, and turned his gaze to De Guarde. "A reight weel behaved lad, is't?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "No' a sailor aleive wot's 'ad nowt ta drink, don' ye warry."

"We let him have a smoke 'fore Boyles here came 'round," Edwin explained, tucking his empty pipe away into a pocket.

Chase grinned. "Couldn't do this any other time of day, neither. Not really!" He tucked his hands beneath his head and tried to pick out another familiar group of stars.

"Who ain't had any grog to drink?" Terry asked. "We gets an issue of it every day, don't we, arter all?" He couldn't picture anyone getting used to it, not if it made you cough and choke every time. He eyed Chase, hoping to be offered a bit of a chew, although he didn't quite dare ask for one - in his experience, he'd be as likely to get his ears boxed as get the chew of baccy, if he actually asked.

"Ain'.. 'bout how I's behaved." He hesitated and continued more softly, carefully as if afraid he might thread on the wrong food by saying something he should not. Or arguing about something he should agree to. "Is... jus'..didn'a do." He glanced from the new arrival back towards Chase and then Button. "..They never do cough, them." He motioned to the smokers on deck. "...even when they puff their pipes... dunno how they do'it.. mebbe .. mebbe ..summat didn't go full right when you smoked." He rested his chin on his arms. The fresh cuts still ached, and the slops needed washing more frequent than he liked to do it.

Dyer helped himself to Chase's snuff pouch, which he'd deftly removed from the other topman's pocket. "Trick's not to breathe in too quick," he said, holding the pouch up after he'd took a pinch. It was an unspoken offering to anybody else who might be interested.

For his part, Chase pretended not to notice. "Ever' day's a new one," he remarked philosophically.

Terry perked up a little as Chicken Dyer held up the pouch of snuff, offering it to anyone else who wanted. "Can... can I 'ave a bit? Please?" he asked, hoping the request wouldn't be ignored. "An' not to breathe too quick? That don't make sense, that don't."

"...Mebbe.. you shouldn' in'ale like you's tryin' ter breathe under water?" The lad chewed tobacco thoughtfully. "...Is it...." He touched up his shirt, shoving it under his belly. The deck was cold. "...like that, Dyer?.....bu' how do ye get it ter come out'a your nose?" He thought Chase suggested that they could retry smoking another day, when they were not watched over by the mother hen petty officer.

"'S summat tha learns," Tobias put in. "A pipe's no' a race t' get smoak in tha lungs. Tha 'asta let i' linger."

He took a slow puff on his pipe to illustrate the point, blowing the smoke out into the clear night.

"That's it, aye," Edwin said with a nod.

Dyer tossed the pouch to Button. "Ain't mine, so help yerself."

Terry sent a sideways glance at Cob Chase, whose pouch it was, and helped himself to a bit, rather smaller than the amount the men had, before nervously offering the pouch back to its owner. "Dunno if I'd mind tryin' again," he said quietly, eyeing the petty officer, and put the baccy in his mouth to chew.

"You don' breathe while yer lettin' it linger, right?" He tried to wrap his mind around how smoking worked. So, first he had to breathe in slow, then let it rest inside and then exhale it, all the while trying not to cough his lungs out? He had not seen Button, and he wished he had. He could have compared what he did wrong, then.

"..Cob...where'd ye learn' all 'bout.... t' stars?" He knew he was admitting to having listened in on their conversation earlier, but he could not help it. The question nagged at the back of his mind till it was spoken.

"Every sailor gots to know his stars," Billy said, lumbering up upon the group. "Shift over, Tommy. And in the south seas, they got different stars too. Can't see 'em from here." He looked at the two boys and grinned. "You lads ever been to the south seas?"

Terry shook his head, wide-eyed. "'S me first ship, Mister Barrow," he said, shifting the quid of tobacco into his cheek so he could make himself understood.

"I ain't a mister, lad!" Billy laughed, giving the boy a shove on the head. "I'm just Billy, me. So, you ain't even crossed the line yet, eh?"

Edwin shifted over, grinning. "Good to see you up'n about, Billy. Feelin' whole again, eh?"

"Barrow!" Chase sat up on his elbows. "South seas? Nope, not me, so much. Been off to the Med though. Fine stars out thattaway."

"Well in the south seas, everything's upside-down," Billy said sagely. "Stars are upside-down, the sun and moon are switched, the whole world's upside-down. And anything that ain't upside-down is backwards."