Sunny morning

Padstowe blinked for a moment, then smiled.

"Ah yes, Westdale. The lieutenant just mentioned you to me; yet I admit I did not expect you to appear so suddenly. How do you do?"

WEstdale was tempted to grunt. He'd been told what was probably an age ago he should turn up, and the news had only just been passed on? ah well. He was here, and doing his job, too.

"Well enough, sir. And yerself?"

He didn't know huge amounts about Padstowe, though not from lack of listening to others. He decided to continue treading fairly carefully till sense told him any better.

"Better I must say; much better," Padstowe smiled again, leaning more against the rail. "I think the fresh air is doing me good. The lieutenant told me that you would be free to help me, but if I might ask, what is your usual duty?"

And how did you answer that? Westdale didn't know how much of the ship's rigeme Padstowe understood, so went for a fairly bland answer.

"At the moment I've nothing I must be doing, sir. I have ter do the sails and such when it's our watch, but that's not right now. And, anyway, if lieutenant Leat has sent me ter you, sir, then that's where I'll be. Unloess it comes up ter blow, or there's another sail, in which case yer won't be needing me anyways, sir."

[ooc- I'm pretty sure that's right. No doubt if it's not you'll not hesitate ter let me know?}

"No, indeed."

So he would not necessarily be interfering with Westdale's duty. That was good, and made the captain feel slightly less guilty.

"I understand that your dinner is not long away. I am perfectly fine standing here and can walk back a forth along the deck, but it's the companionways that give me trouble. If after you've had your dinner you could return to help me down to the wardoom then that would be most appreciated. After that I think I shall stay the rest of the day in my cabin, and if you could return at nine to help me into the cot - I sadly cannot manage it with only one working shoulder - the rest of the day is yours to do as you and your duty pleases."

Westdale nodded, then thought a bit. If he was to help someone, he prefered to know at least a little about them. "Would yer like me ter walk with ye, before I go and eat, sir? There's still a little time. And you'll be eating later'n me, anyway, so that wouldn't be a trouble, sir."
Not that anyone normally worried about what would be a trouble to him, that much.

Padstowe remembered what Stephen had said about active recovery, using and exercising his limbs and building up his physical strength again, and he nodded.

"Yes, I would like that, thank you. A few times up and down the length of the deck?"

Westdale nodded and fell into step with Padstowe, wondering how he could frame the start of a conversation.

Short steps and ambling; that was the way to manage it, and Padstowe automatically tucked his left arm behind his back. He wavered a little, the sea getting better of his balance a liitle, but not affecting him much, and he carried on in more or less a straight line.

"I am not often on the sea," he said, by way of explanation.

Westdale nodded, "It takes a bit of time ter get used ter, sir." he allowed.
"Mind you, we have similar problems getting used ter dry land, sometimes."

Padstowe gave a small smile.

"I suppose it comes as a shock when it does not move beneath your feet."

Westdale grinned, "It does. I've seen men come back from months, years at sea and hav ter sit there for hours, feeling as sick as the newest landsmen on board."

he paused, and then added, "Do yer like it, though, sir?"

"It is a pleasant change, yes; but i do not believe I should care to adopt it full time."

"Fair enough, sir. There's less chance of.." He looked the man up and down, "a hunt, or a concert or such on board."
He wasn't sure at all what Padstowe was interested in, but thought he'd done a pretty good job of picking things most people seemed to talk about.

[OOC: Sorry, my internetz are being slow tonight. *pokes them*]

"True," Padstowe said lightly, resisting the urge to shrug with his good shoulder. "If you care for that sort of thing."

[ooc- s'all good.]

Westdale nodded, taking from that this man wasn't.
"Of course, we sometimes find time ter do a bit of music or such ourselves." he added, as an afterthought.

"I know our lads enjoy a bit of a song and a dance whern they can," Padstowe agreed. "Though I think they tend to have more leisure time than sailors - 'Hurry up and do nothing' it's often said of the army. There always seems to me to be so much to do on a ship; a veritable hive of activity!"

Westdale grinned at the thought of being told to hurry up and do nothing.
"WE have ter keep her sailing, sir. There's always plenty to do. and If something goes wrong we can't always turn aside ter try and fix it. We might have a storm coming up, or a chase to be about."
He didn't know how to say that any better, and wasn't sure he had to, anyway.

Padstowe gave a soft chuckle.

"Busier to be sure."

Westdale looked around him trying to take it in as a stranger would. Certainly there were lots of men about, and most of them were moving, but it wasn't as busy a deck as it would be in various other circumstances he could name. He didn't say so, walking along at the same slow pace as Padstowe

His legs were definitely feeling stronger, so much so that he half wondered why at his attempts to use them before he'd failed or fallen. He had seen a marked improvement since between now and yesterday... Which meant that if he had been just his mind keeping him sick, like Stephen had suggested...

The thought was not a comfortable one, and perhaps a little of his discomfort showed on his face. If it had been just him, then all the fussing and stress he had caused Stephen needlessly over the past weeks...

Westdale continued in silence, unsure why the man next to him was pulling such faces. But he wasn't here to questiopn someone, especially not in such a public place.

"I do not wish to keep you from your dinner, Westdale."

Westdale squitched. He knew a dismissal and took it as such. "Aye, sir. I'll be right back, and help ye down. Unless yer'd prefer fer me ter do it now?"

Padstowe considered this.

"Yes, perhaps that would be better," he said. "It will be less of an inconvenience to you."

He could walk paces back and forth across his little cabin whilst he waited for dinner...

[OOC: And I too shall be off. It's freezing down here and I need to retire to bed. See you later. xx.]