Libertymen Ashore, 23rd May, Oporto

"I ain't staying with Dyer n' that's a final!" He stomped his foot for a better emphasis on how convinced he was he would not remain behind while everybody was going to this fun place, called the cat-house. "You's jus' saying I'd get pox, so you'd not let me have any fun. Couse I know none of you would go an' do it, if you knew you'd get pox yourselves! Ain't that daft, are you?" He inquired and grinned, satisfied with his logic. He wasn't a little child, who would believe that monsters were in his cupboards or under his bed and would eat him up, if he didn't obey his parents. There were none. People were monsters, but those would come, no matter whom he did or did not obey!

"An' now you'm actin' like a spoilt brat of a kid," Thompson said, raising an eyebrow. "We'm grown men, an' what's more, we'm got permish'n to be ashore. Surgeon won't worry if we get the pox, though if you do, everyone's goin' to fuss, 'cause you ain't s'posed to be here." Though he would best his last farthing that de Guarde had never seen a woman in the state of undress that was common to cat-houses and places of that sort.

"Well then, I'll just arrange it so that I'um get ter go on land tomorrow's." Which was something he did not believe happening, but so Thompson did not know! "N' then.. a day on or off.. don't matter does it?" He looked at Thompson, his eyes narrowing on him. "There's ways one could get pox on ship too.. so you bes' don't tell me no..." He bit his tongue, as there was a bit of his old self there, coming up with a threat, an accusation which would not end only in a flogging.

He looked almost surprised, and certainly ashamed and sorry the moment he came to the point of saying it. ".... one day on or off.... it wouldn't matter."

Thompson's other eyebrow shot up. "Was you goin' to threaten me?!" he asked incredulously. "An' after everythin' I've done for you, too." He shrugged. "I might've gone with a woman first time when I was your age, but I don't reckon a gentleman ought to risk it. An' you still are a gentleman even though you'm a common Tar for now. You ought to go with better than a common whore. An' you ain't doin' even that much today, no matter how much you try to persuade me elsewise."

"I didn't..... I did. But.." He frowned, sticking his chin up in the air in defiance. "..i'll decide where I go, how I go, n' with whom I go. ....but." His voice softened as he moved closer a bit, and he knew he should've taken some money with him, for now it was sorely needed, and he had none any longer. "..could you let me borrow some of yer money.. please?" He bit his lip. "N' ..till I am a proper gennleman again.. ..I can't be callin' m'self one. Now...now you all call me a Tar, so I'll do wot' a Tar does!"

"No. I said as I ain't goin' to let you risk it, an' I ain't. Stop askin', do. There's plenty o' time ahead of you to spend your money on whores, seein' as you'm only young yet." He smiled and would have ruffled the lad's hair, if he hadn't been wearing a hat. "If you got no money, mebbe you ought to stop with Dyer here."

"..I won't risk it nothin' more more than you would." He wasn't happy to learn that while the Tars and marines could all go ahead and have themselves poxed, he had to not do so. Of course he did not want to get poxed, but he wanted to see the inside of a cat-house, and he wanted to... well, honestly he wasn't exactly sure what he watned and maybe he would know when he got there. He did know that Thompson saying no, just made it wanting to try just what he was against, so much more.

"Then...then I'll lie ter 'em.. n' tell 'em I'll pay after.. and then won't." He said haughtily. He was not street wise, nor whore wise, and lastly, not even wise enough to keep his ideas to himself. Not being able to order THompson into giving him his money was frustrating. "I'll not go back to Dyer n' be babysat!"

"Ain't nobody is goin' to do anythin' with you till they see the colour of your money, an' if you think they will, you really ain't got any common sense," Thompson replied. "You should stop actin' like a spoilt brat if you don't want to be tret like one, that's what. You can tag along if you stop fussin', or we'll make you wait behind, your choice."

He hung his head. He wanted to come along, and have the opportunity to convince Thompson about lending him some money later. He did not even consider stealing. He had so little knowledge of that, and so much pride, that he'd probably .. if the pride was ignored, be caught the moment he even looked the way of somebody's purse.

"....i'd like to come along. " He said more subdued and took to take a spot alongside Thompson.

"All right, though you might think diff'rent when you get there," Thompson said, relenting at the downcast expression on the boy's face. "It ain't goin' to be what you'm used to, but then, I 'd be worried if you was used to it all, at your age."

The boy did not answer for a few moments. He stared silently at the floor, and then as if stirred from his thoughts his shoulders lifted, dropped, he looked at Thompson and spoke. "...You treat me like I was jus' born, n' knew nought of the world. " He sounded sulky, a bit offended too. This did not stop him from tagging along though. It was already exciting enough that he'd sneaked off the ship!

"I don't, but the way you was brung up means you don't know stuff that even some of ship's boys know, 'bout life on the streets and things like that." Thompson grinned and put his arm around de Guarde's shoulders. "You got to 'member that even if folks don't know how to read an' write, they might know more stuff than you ;bout other things. Like... what I showed you the other day." He indicated his pocket to show what he meant.

"Oh." De Guarde nodded. "I guess you are right." It wasn't easy to admit to it, but Thompson had a good point, and he remembered him showing how easy it was to loose something 'that way'. He smiled, looking up, and let the arm stay in place, resting his own over it in a very matter of fact sort of way.

"..But.. you know. I can't learn if I'm not there to see it or ter experience it." He suggested, and grinned. "You only learn that way, don't you?"

"Seein' is one thing, but you oughta wait till you'm a bit older afore experiencin' some things, you know, lad," Thompson said. "C'mon, I think Chase an' the others're gettin' away from us. Let's catch up with 'em, then."

"You didn't wait." He said after a few moments of thought, his step quickening to answer Thompson's urging. "They won't find us in there." He spoke of the cat-house. "t' provosts.. or anybody. They're pro'lly too shy fer that." He added with a grin, looking up to see if his slight at the provosts had been noted. Still his steps did come quicker and he took a few glances about them just in case. He hadn't recognised anyone yet, but with several ships that had let some of their men out,.. well he decided, he'd still not recognize anyone, except Terpsies.

"I didn't wait? Oh, that's rich, lad. I was bred an' born in a brothel, Mathew lad, as well you know. Well, it was rooms over a tavern, anyhow, an' the room acrost from ourn was used by whores an' their customers, when they had men with 'em who had a run ashore. They'd go out to the ships as well, when the tars couldn't get leave to come ashore."

There were other sailors and Marines around and Thompson wondered suddenly where Dickin and the other Marines from Terpsy had got to.

"Still. You didn't wait. You wen't right ahead and done it.. at about me age, you said it yourself. " He pointed an accusing finger at Thompson. "So, it ain't fair you preach 'bout something you've done yourself. An'.. another thing too. You didn't get poxed. " He glanced at the marine as if to see if he was right about that. Thompson looked like a perfectly healthy, strong individual, with a few blemishes of undernourishment when younger, but hardly looking as though he suffered from such an ailment.

"It makes me almost wonder.. if t' lot which does get poxed, didn't get poxed in places like that..."Though maybe, in the other way neither, he knew so much, "..well...maybe, they jus' didn't get poxed durin' such .. entertainment altogether! An' you're only using it, ter stop us young ones ter be competing against you fer them.." He was only wanting it because it was forbidden, probably.

"Could've done it when I was younger, so mebbe I did wait," Thompson pointed out. "An' how d'you know I never bin to the surgeon to be treated for the pox?" Which he hadn't had the need to, yet, but that was beside the point. And the sailors were getting ahead again.

"C'mon, if you'm a-comin'," the Marine added, and lengthened his stride a little.

With his feet shorter than Thompson's he had to make two steps in the time that George made one. He hurried along, glad he was allowed even if Thompson has not yet been entirely convinced in allowing him anything but to sit back and wait for them to be out again. What made him start though was Thompson's words. Did he know? Well, he had not ever asked about any deseases, the sort or other wise. He just assumed that George was healthy, because other than when his ankle was twisted, he was also.

"...Um.." He had the urge to nudge Thompson's legs into slowing it down a little, or shortening their step. "... ..Well, I jus' assumed, couse you look alright an'.. if you had pox.. wouldn't it show?" He had no idea how one would know if they had pox, clap or most things, but he was certain that it would be quite obvious. "Did you?"

"I look all right?" Thompson glanced down at the lad and slowed down. "Sorry, didn't mean to keep you hotchin' after me. Look all right," he repeated. "Well. Now I'm all growed up an' get three square meals a day, I s'pose I do. An' you'm right, I never had the pox, though I'm sure it ain't through anythin' I've ever done or not done. It don't gen'rally show unless a body don't get it treated when they've got it."

"What're we got a straggler for?" Taylor cried, having glanced back upon noticing that Thompson had fallen behind.

Chase frowned. "The bloody hell're you doin' up here, lad?"

"Hmm..so you have been treated for it, even if you didn't really have it?" He asked, thinking that if one was healthy, giving them a cure was a waste of the resources. Of course, if they were ill, it wasn't. He grinned. "Aye, you look alright." Then he paused and more subtly he added. "For.... a marine." He appreciated the slowing of their pace , even if for a little.

"I assume you was skinny as a twig, when you was young as me." It was easy to assume after having known it before, but the lad didn't allow himself to be bothered by that. He looked ahead at their fellow Tars. "Should we make a bet?" But that bet would have to wait as the Tars did notice he was brought along.

"'Couse George said, I can go!" He said, and tried not to sound haughty.

He'd done what? The seamen stared at Thompson in dismay.

"He is goin' to sit in a corner downstairs an' be'ave, is what he'm a-goin' to do," Thompson said. "Ain't got no money for anythin' anyhow. Surgeon wouldn't thank him for comin' down with the pox when he ain't bin ashore, neither."

"Shouldn't be here'bouts at all," Chase remarked, then he sighed and added, "Fine then. Long's he sits and doesn't get any notion of doin' anythin' more."