The Foc'sle in the Sun - 4th June

"Go on. I'll be all right. Might even join in with that lot over there." He used the pipe stem to point at Cob Chase, who was dancing with Chicken Dyer, the two of them both grinning their heads off.

"Don't marrer if you don't know 'em all, you can learn, cantcha?" Oxley said. It was obvious to Thompson's mind that the younger Marine would already be tugging at de Guarde's arm if the other boy was standing up.

"If you want me, I'll only be over here. Or over with them," Thompson said, indicating the other sailors. "Run along and enjoy yourself. After everything that's happened lately, you deserve to."

"...A'right. I guess so." The boy gave in slowly and nodded. He knew he could not waste more time of Oxley's by his own indecisiveness. Especially when he too had wanted to go off and play.

"..You join with 'em." He told Thompson and then more timidly. " I mean.. if you'd like, corp'ral." Then he moved up towards Oxley. "Well.. you go firs' then. I'll come along 'fter ya." He glanced at Thompson. What the man said made him pause and smile faintly. That was nice to hear. "Thanks." he mumbled quietly, meant for the man.

They definitely needed a talk, in Thompson's opinion. He had no idea quite how he was going to get the lad to realise that, just because he had stripes on his arm and a bit of rank, he hadn't suddenly turned into somebody else.

He smiled. "You'm welcome, lad."

The smile turned to a chuckle as Oxley grabbed de Guarde's arm. "Oh, c'mon, do!"

De Guarde blinked startled and then nodded to Oxley. "I'um comin' You ain't needin' to be so impatient, you know!"Though it flattered him to be in the process of being half dragged across the deck. He looked up at the people dancing together by now, lifted a brow and then chuckled. It was all mad. But with laudanum it felt all just the right sort of mad.

With a face of pure innocence and seriousness he spoke. "...Um.. may I Ask yer fer a dance?" He gave Oxley an awkward bow, part because he was held by him.

Oxley blinked in surprise, before letting a slow grin appear on his face. "Jus' so long as yer ain't gonna try kissin' me, arright?" he said.

And the adult sailors were dancing together - well, two of them were, anyway. He turned to see that Fingers and Terry Button were dancing together, slightly more awkwardly.

"Gonna be one of them days, ain't it?" he said, and shrugged. "Don't usu'lly dance like this, you know. It's hornpipes and stuff normally. Still."

De Guarde shrugged. He did not know what Oxley meant by one of those days, but decided it did not matter. He chuckled though. " Ain't kissin' you. Who knows what sort of evil I could get if I did! " He paused, as if to wait for a reaction and hoped that it would not be a bad one. Then he offered to take the boy's hands into a proper dance hold.

"Shall we then? 'fore they stop t' playin'." He was feeling a little embarrased now.

"I'd thump you if you tried," Oxley answered, frowning a little in confusion as de Guarde shifted their respective positions. "Dunno what you's doin' there," he said, with a shrug, though he didn't stop the boy.

"They ain't goin' to stop now - they just started," he added, once he'd grasped the idea.

"...that's wot' i was thought ter dance like." The lad admitted. They were still some way off from the 'dance floor' but they could dance onto it just as easily. "You'um never done it that way?" There would be lots of stepping on feet if that was so. Oh well, it was better that he would brace himself for it for the sake of the skylaring.

"Um. How do you start in your way then?" The tap of his foot indicated he had already found the rhythm of the tune.

"'S all right," Oxley said, though he didn't want to stand on de Guarde's feet. He kept a bit of a gap between them so he could watch where the other boy's feet were. "You never seen a hornpipe done?"

"Only wot' I saw earlier. If that was hornpipe. He started off, and thought it was awkward at first, because he knew one way of dancing, and it did not appear that it was the same as Oxley.

"This is how I learned it. If'n you'm willin' yer can show yer part n' then..." He was thinking too much." Well.....we follow t' music." His cheeks were pink with embarrassment. "M' sorry fer bein' .." What he wanted to say was simply, ignorant.

Oxley looked at him in concern. "Ain't no need t'be like alla that - how can you know it if'n you ain't never been showed?" He shrugged a shoulder. "Can show you, if you want - though I ain't the best hand at it."

"Please, if you would." He nodded with a renewed grin. "Jus' no steppin' o' toes. I'll need those an' I don't have t' boots you do. They'll be squished flat if you stand on 'em." There. He appeared less tense. He was having fun, just like Button and Fingers, which were a sight to see, and Chase and Dyer, who were just being real silly and serious!

"I ain't wearin' me shoes," Oxley pointed out. "And they are shoes an' all - bit like the officers wear, when they got their really smart uniforms on." He did his best to follow de Guarde's lead, and it was a moment before he spoke again. "Don't you go standin' all over me own feet, neither, then."

"Won't, promise. " De Guarde may have started with the sort he knew, but by the time Oxley spoke up, he made an attempt at a few steps and moves, that were in resemblance to what he had seen, rather than done. This included a part where he had hooked his hand under Oxley's and made a more 'bouncy' turn, shifting and turning after four steps to go the other way.

"What the...?" Oxley blinked then shrugged. "Whatever." He vaguely recalled people dancing this way at home, but of course back there they had women to dance with. He seemed to recall some of them doing the move de Guarde had just done, too. "That'd look better in skirts, o' course," he said. "Still. You'd look pretty silly wearin' skirts."

"Who's to say I'd be dancin' in skirts? "De Guarde replied with a chuckle. "Wot' if it were you, who's wearin' them?" He took his earlier post, taking the lead yet again. "S' t' man who's leadin' an' wearin' t' breeches." He indicated with a broad grin.

"Well, you's shorter'n me, so it'd make sense - women are shorter'n men, ain't they?" Oxley pointed out, reasonably. "You's only leading 'cause I ain't got an idea what you's doin', after all."

"That... ain't true. I'm only shorter n' you, couse you're older n' me. Bu'.. if you want to show your prowess. I'll let you lead a lil'! Jus' watch m' feet!" He grinned shifting his hold on the other boy a little.

Perhaps THompson was right. Skylarking was fun and he needed it and he even forgot about his injuries just now! Well, forgot up till he remembered that he forgot about them.

"I tole you - I ain't done this afore, have I?" Oxley returned. "I ain't got me shoes on, neither." The sun-warmed planking of the deck was nice under his bare feet, too. "You all right?" he asked as the younger boy stiffened a little under his hands. "I ain't stepped on you, I know I ain't," he added, glancing down to their feet.

"I'm a'right.. Only a little sore still." He smiled reassuringly. "..It'll be a bit, till it's all full better." If only he had not been in trouble so close together. If he had had some time to mend. Well, no use crying over spilt milk.

"Why ain't you wearin' your boots. You'um a marine.. they wear 'em." He murmured his own feet bare too. He reached down, gave his trousers a good thug and nodded. The fabric relaxed around his frame again and it was all better. "So, shall you show me your sort o' dancin' or will I have ter beg it out of ye?" He said, playfully.

"'Cause it'd look daft tryin' to do a hornpipe in shoes. An' I tole you - we don't wear boots. It's shoes, see. Though you can't see that it's shoes, not under the gaiters, o' course." He grinned and stepped back from de Guarde, giving the younger boy a wink. "I ain't so good as all that, not like some of them," he said, indicating the sailors with his thumb. "Still. A proper hornpipe's summat like this."

He folded his arms and tapped his foot for a moment before beginning a quick measure, feet tapping and toes pointing in time with the music.

De Guarde watched in surprise and amazement. "...THat's fast." He said blinking. "...tapping.. that's t' point o' it?" He would have liked to try, only he was afraid he would do something terribly bad and make a fool of himself. Or he'd trip over his two feet and fall flat on his face, equally embarrasing.

"...you'um good." He could not keep his thoughts silent.

"T'ain't that fast," Oxley said. stopping. "Like I said, I ain't so good as some of them sailors, like." He nudged de Guarde. "You oughta try it. You know where both your feet is, don'tcha?"

"They's on the floor. But..." He looked very hesitant. "I don't know. I'm ..You'll laugh. I've no idea how ter do it proper." He glanced towards the sailors and thought that they were rather amazing the way they did it too.

Sure he wanted to but how? "I'd like to, jus' i don't know how." He said again, showing honest want, but regret at having no confidence in his skill in that.

"I mean, you know where they's at so you ain't goin' to go standin' on 'em," Oxley said, rolling his eyes and elbowing de Guarde in the side. "Ain't no right or wrong way to do it, neither, jus' watch some o' the older hands."