Afternoon antics, Sunday

And... Danny was tagged, Johnny slapping his calf so there could be no doubt of it. Oxley chuckled as Danny reached for a stay, just too late, and began the hand-over-hand journey back down to the deck.

"Run now!" De Guarde yelled before he could silence himself and grinned. " Danny's tagged!" He shouted and scolded himself inwardly. Damn the yelling, he was acting like a.... well, a ship's boy not a gentleman.

But the next moment he was grinning again, for he didn't care at the moment. Couldn't anyway, it was too much fun.

They were running - scattering away from the stay Danny was using. Some of them flung themselves into the shrouds, but Oxley decided to wait and see what the other boy would do . He grinned at de Guarde, who was indistinguishable from any of the other boys. Maybe it'd show him that you didn't have to be all stiff and formal and all to be liked - that you could have more fun if you relaxed a bit, like them two middies that Oxley could see who seemed to have come down from the main shrouds. Well, one of them had, anyway, judging by the way he was standing there.

Danny was down, and the boys were mostly a good distance from him. Except of course Oxley, who was there waiting. And it was the closest that the boy went after, grinning as he sped up, easy on his feet.

De Guarde felt more at ease, that was for sure. He was enjoying himself so much that his mouth had begun to hurt from all the smiling and grinning. He had to move his jaw a little, but was soon back in his merry mood.

"Oops!" Oxley said, darting back out of Danny's reach. "Time to go!" He turned to cross to the other side of the ship. He couldn't make things too easy for the younger lad, but if he ran and kept running, he'd make things too hard - he was older and that much bigger than Danny, after all. The younger boy grinned, shrugged and turned to go after someone else.

De Guard waited, learning that it wouldn't do to run around unless threatened. By saving strength he could have a benefit of it once the other boy really went for him. One of the smaller boys was zigzagging infront of Danny, going between the several Tars that were in the way. He might not have been the faster of the two, but he was certainly not lacking in agility. Though if he was to continue laughing as hard, he'd run out of breath sooner than not!

De Guarde looked over his shoulder. He wondered what the lieutenants were up to at this time, but then they didn't mind the racket here, so all was fine!

Danny grinned. Seamus Finnegan was fast, but not fast enough, and as he slowed a little to twist around another sailor, Danny got him. "You're it!" he crowed, dancing away as Seamus turned, laughing, to run after one of the other boys.

De Guarde moved a bit from the crowd and sat himself down, watching at Seamus ran after one of the smaller boys, just to turn tail and go after one of the marines. But as they were faster he changed again , reaching out at an opportunity. They've nearly stumbled over a Tar. Luckily it was one of them more good natured, and the man only laughed and moved out of the way, as the boys ran past.

This was what skylarking was like. There was war, there would be a battle soon, they would probably loose more people than they bargained for. The other midshipman, Kinsella by the looks of it, was coming down now and would probably head of to confirm the sightings of the two midshipmen.

The guests were soon to be gone, the Frenchman that quite a few Tars and marines did not like aboard, the doctor and anothe army's person who had been in a terrible to better state while aboard. The later he knew little about, well a lot less through rumours than about the first two.

He leaned back a little, stening to the bell and counting its strokes.

"You're it!" And from Seamus the tag went to another boy. Again it was not one he'd exactly known the name of. But the lad was a fine catch, seeing as he was faster than Seamus. And of the one went, after the closest marine drummer.

Oxley grinned as Seamus turned to go after one of the Shepherd lads. He wasn't sure which of them it was - they were practically identical, after all, and even when you lived in the same are of the messdeck, it could still take a moment to work out which was which. And they loved confusing people and swapping duties and all sorts, too.

"Ain't fast 'nough!" Thomas cried, ducking around the boat tier. He was not as swift as his brother, but he was still quick. Yet Seamus was hard on his heels anyway, as he was lighter than Thomas.

Unfortunately for Seamus, Andrew Shepherd was waiting on the other side of the boat tier and when Thomas came around the corner of the tier, Andrew took off in the direction Thomas had been travelling. Thomas managed to duck behind one of the Tars for cover, leaving Seamus chasing Andrew instead.

"'M gonna get you, Shepherd!" Seamus called cheerfully, which made Oxley wonder where the other Shepherd twin was. Having one of them tagged could cause problems for everyone else, if they both decided to go after someone.

Seamus' declaration made Andrew chuckle as he ran. "You still ain't fast 'nough!"

As if to prove his point, Andrew skipped nimbly around a pair of Tars with mops and used the patch of water on the deck to slide past them. He picked up his run again with a light hop and laughed outright.

"'M fast 'nough to catch you, Shepherd!" He weaved around the sailors, his bare feet finding purchase on the wet deck where Andrew's shoes had not.

Oxley laughed at the chase. If he was tagged, he was not going to go after the Shepherd twins, ever.

"Ain't likely!" Andrew wove through another knot of Tars and scampered out of sight down the aft companionway. His brother, having been lurking near the amused group of seamen, quickly took his place as the chased party.

"C'mon then, can't be tired yet!" Thomas cried cheerfully.

This time, Oxley saw the switch, and grinned. He was definitely not going to tag either of the Shepherds - if he could even do it. He hadn't realised how close the chase had come to him until he felt a slap on his arm. "You're It!" cried a jubilant Seamus, dancing away as Oxley shook his head ruefully before heading after Jacky Fisher.

He hadn't thought that anything was wrong, till the last moment. Then.. no, both of the Shepherds looked so fresh well one did, constantly, while he saw no trace of the other. Was it a trick? The two boys were far too similar to be able to know which was the one and which the other. Like two mirroring images of each other and dressed both in red. It was the never tiring part that made it all suspicious enough. But then he heard a cry followed by laughter, of Jacky Fisher, who was running from the new red coated catch.

He grinned as he saw Oxley running after him, and the rest of boys quickly scattering out of the way, whenever Fisher turned towards them. The Tars were by now, watching the boys attentively enough. So if ever one meant to catch a Shepherd, they needed to be ambushed - however impossible that was on the ship!

Oxley grinned at Jacky darted round de Guarde, grabbing him to use as a shield. "One's as good as the other!" Oxley crowed, charging at them.

De Guarde blinked and turned quickly to run around Jacky and break free from his hold. "Oy!" He said, but laughed gently nudging the boy towards Oxley.

And then he ducked around between two of the sailors that had both been working on their shirts and looked up sharply at the patter of feet. Jacky was quickly ducking around to again run infront De Guarde and further away from Oxley.