Chat on the Foc'sle

(Thompson and de Guarde come from here.)

They arrived topside and Thompson led the boy over to a quiet corner of the foc'sle where they could be out of the way of the sailors on watch. He sat down with his injured foot outstretched in front of him and his other knee drawn up and looked up at the boy. "Draw up a plank an' tell me straight was you was sayin' below, then."

Mathew followed along skipping a step or two, for his feet didn't have any trouble to lift him a bit higher and his bottom now rather healed, the fabric hadn't bothered him either, stretching wherever. It felt good not to ache but for that muscle ache that came with hard work.

He looked after Thompson and waited for the marine to settle, before he would do so himself. "This'um good, inn'it?" He asked with a small smile.

"Don't see t' outline o' t' table on yer face, there." He said with with a grin and flopped himself down , soundly.

He began, then looked more thoughtful. "'bout t' things below?"

"What you was askin' me. Or tellin' me. I ain't got any problem with you makin' friends with the other lads. Fact is, I'm pleased you are, an' I won't stop bein' your friend just 'cause you're makin' friends with them, neither." He leaned back against the bulwark, gazing up at the canvas on the foremast. "So, d'you think any better of bein' a Terpsy now you've tried it, a bit?"

"... Aye. I jus' dun want ter be exchangin' them like. I thought that's what you meant then. That, I would have them as a friend but no longer you. 's wot' I wouldn't want, yer know." He sighed. "..I'm confused 'bout them, n' being a Terpsy. It's... in a way it feels nice. Been chasin' around with Oxley there, and that was loads of fun."

He thought it was, and it was better than fighting and recieving a bruised eye or ego. "It's a ....it's better than the other sort o' thing."

"Oh, Mathew, lad. Just 'cause you make more friends don't mean you have to give up the ones you've already got. I never meant to make you think that, honest." He looked over at the younger boy. "So what's got you confused, then? Tell me, an' I'll see if I can... can 'splain it a bit for you."

"Well, alright. Firs' thing that's.. sort of confusin' is.., how far can you trust 'em?.. You know. How do you know when to trust them n' if'um it's not jus' a trick. Your frown earlier. That made me start thinkin' about it."

He sighed and looked up, seeing the sky in its glittering simplicity and yet the complexity of stars, planets, worlds.

"See, is hard to explain wot' I want ter know really. Just,..thinking no good 'bout others is simple. You know not ter let yer guard down. But as with'um a friend, you don't. For if you do, n' say no to every fun, thinking it could not be fun in t' end.. you are probably missin' out on things. But all the same you could become t' laughin' stock too. Sort of. And bein' all good,... well it's like those stories in books, right?.. something that's only in faerytales. But then you say Terpsy is good, and wot' I've seen confirms it..." He flushed and frowned. He was babbling again and probably Thompson was already feeling frustrated with him. He didn't want that.

"Ah. Well, try thinkin' about it this way. You took Oxley's drumstick off him earlier, didn't you? Not as a serious thing, to keep, but as a bit of a joke. It's sort of like that, teasin' and bein' teased. It ain't ever meant to hurt, only for a bit of a laugh. If folks see that someone's upset by it, they'll stop doin' it. And folks tease their friends, and their friends tease them back d'you see? Like, Fingers got hold of Sticks' hat. I bet Sticks'll do summat to Fingers, if he ain't already."

"So.. so Oxley'll do summat to me to? I should be careful?" His eyes widened. He considered it more thoroughly. It would be for laughs, and if he would be upset Oxley would come to apologise. Well he did mean to keep his new shirt on him at all times. Just to be safe. Oxley could take anything but that and chocolate. But chocolate for a different sort of reason than his shirt.

"Would you pull a trick on me too then? N' that mean I can do so on you?" He smiled, looking curious and a bit amused.

"Didn't mean to say he will. Only that friends tease each other, like. It ain't always the same person teasing, or the same one gettin' teased. An' I ain't a boy any more. It's more... the sort of thing that lads do, if you get me meanin'."

"But I can still tease you, can I? Yer bein' me friend?" He looked hopeful. "N'.. now yer makin' it all t' more complicated. This friendship sounds to be more trouble than I thought. Watchin' out ter be teased n'all. " He shook his head not sure if having friends like that made it harder or better. Though playing games sounded like a fine thing.

"..George. I wos'.. thinking. Why did you decide ter be me friend when I was.. yer know, not t' friendliest sort? Is not that I'm complainin'! Just, wonderin'. One'd think yer not t' become a friend with a sort of, a fallen.. right?" He smiled sheepishly.

"I dunno that it's complicated, ezackly. It's summat you learn, though I can't really explain it prop'ly."

He sighed contentedly, leaning against the bulwark, looking up at the sky. "I dunno that I did decide to be your friend, really. It just happened. I mean, you were asking me all sorts of questions and things during the storm, and then when you got sent to the middies' berth and Mister Bush sent for a Marine to stand sentry, and I come down. Well, you was lookin' all sort of miserable and, well, I don't like seein' folks upset, see. And then the captain sent for you, and Mister George was there to take you for'ard. I knew you didn't need a whole load of folks gawpin' at you, so I legged it to tell the pusser to get his store open so you could get your things quick. And afterward, it just seemed to me that you needed a friendly face. That's all. The best way to make friends is to be a friend, after all."

"Yer right. N'.. thanks. Fer gettin' me things n' all that. Then I felt miserable enough that I wished I could've just disappeared or fallen into those depths." He nodded sideways towards the sea. ".. I thought 'twasn't possible you know and then to know it was. I was.. wos' scared. N' ..." His hold on his old shirt tightened, his hand slipping to tug at the sleeve of the other.

"...it helped. That you did all that. ..talked to me, n' you didn't have to. You could've just relished in it. Seen that middie that they disliked get his ... well this. You know, I still , it still baffles me yet .. I'm here, n' I talk with you, n' I actually tell you things. Like my fears, which I'd never do!" He nodded sharply showing how strongly he felt that. "But I do... And,.. and you don't tell them to others, right? You don't?"

"I could've, but that would have made me as bad as the folks on your old ship, an', well, that's not the sort of man I am," Thompson replied. He glanced at the boy as he spoke before turning his head to look at him properly. "An' I'd never tell anyone what you've said to me. I promise. 'Cause you'm my friend, and friends don't go talkin' like that other folks."

"No?.. No." He nodded. "Friends don't." He looked up at the sky and the twinkling stars and as some clouds that obscured a few. "Thanks for bein' different." He whispered and pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his chin against his knees.

"I won't tell either. Never." He murmured and looked back at Thompson. "..Will you stay m' friend when... if I am returned to my post? Like now, that you are? Ter be able to talk like tonight, or other times. Just like that, no.. no demands jus' for, because we can?"

Thompson nodded. "Aye, I will. Only, don't go givin' me special duties an' tryin' to keep me out o' the fightin' or whatever jus' 'cause I'm your friend, will you? 'Cause I've got me duty to the Captain and Terpsy as well."

"I won't. I'll treat yer fair, that is, If I get ter be a middie again." He did want it, hope for it and wish for it to happen, however with the days passing, he doubted it would be soon.

"N' I'll only have yer stay out o' fightin' with t' Terpsy's people." He said with a smile: "N' if yer have yer leg achin' n' so, well.. It won't be me anyhow, but your own officers. " He looked to the stars, speaking more softly. "But, I know we all fight, fer t' cap'n, t' King, country, n'all. I do, too. N' I hope I will. " He scowled, or so pretended to: "But, no special duties?.. I'd have wanted yer to do all t' additional cleanin' n' all. Ye see, duty 'fter duty n' no peace inbetween." But it was all a joke and a tease.

"Well, if'n I'm to be put to extra duties like that, means I won't have no time to talk with you like we are now, will I?" He smiled as he spoke though. "Dunno 'bout fightin' for the King, neither. Never seen him, have I? I fight for me mates, for me ship and me Cap'n. So. if that's fightin' for King an' Country, that's the only reason why I do."

"T' King's ...Um, we say we fight fer 'im, so we do." He frowns. "Hmph, you take t' joy out of givin' yer additional duties, you do! " He shifted a little where he sat, but felt comfortable enough as he was, and relaxed, not even quite as sleepy as he was before.

"In that order yer fight? Cap'n last? " He asks teasingly. "Best he not learn of it, then! Though t' Terpsy'll be glad ter know you fight for her second!"

"Well, I don't fight 'longside of the Cap'n, you see, like I do with me mates. And Terpsy's where I live. So, I s'pose it is the Cap'n last, but it's not a long way behind sort of last, if you see what I mean."

"Aye, He's last but not' like.. sayin' there's yer mates, ye ship.. n' then nothing for ages, then King and captain together. Right?" He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. "You fight ter get t' prize money too, don't you?..so you can send it home or summat, no?"

"'Zackly. And yes, we do get prize money, but that's sort of afterwards. I mean, we get it 'cause we fight, we don't fight 'cause we get the money. And it's safe for... if anythin' happens and I have to leave the Marines, or if I get killed it'll go to Mum an' Annie."

"But you.. n' well, we all, get disappointed if we didn't get t' fight, to get t' money, no? Jus' remember when that Frenchy escaped and then we had to pull the ship. I wos' lookin' forward to it...well more ter t' fightin' but I wouldn't have minded t' money neither."

He reached up and placed a finger to his lips in a sign of silence. "Don't say summat like that. Is bad luck ter do so. " He said sharply. " T' get...ye know. .. you don't think like that or it happens. It happens too often if you don't think it too. And it never happens ter t' bad people, that I tell you!" He shrugged. "Well almost never."

"Well, there's that, sure. We all like a bit o' prize money, after all and we don't get any if we don't take the prize."

He grinned against the boy's finger. "I know, an' I won't say it. But I got my money safe, so when I do leave the Marines I won't have to worry 'bout things."

"No. No you won't. Because on Terpsy we'll fight and win many a battle and that means lots of prize money too. More n' on some other ships , being as what Terpsy is. Though, some of t' men, can earn from t' prize money n' not even fight, yer know?.. t' ones that are higher than even t' cap'n."

He placed both hands to either side, resting them on the now colder wooden planks. "..Wot' yer want t' do, when you won't be a marine no more?"

"I know the Admiral in command get his money, an' other ships in sight get some as well, 'cause they might be the reason the Frog ship surrenders." He shrugged. "Hadn't really thought about it much. Wouldn't mind openin' a tavern somewhere. The Jolly Marine, mebbe, summat like that, I'd call it."