Time and Ages and Salty Wounds
Ch. 2: Wind-Whistling Songs
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Roman raised his eyebrows at Logan and smirked.
“No.”
He grinned.
“Roman, no.”
“What shall we do with a drunken sailor, what shall we do with a drunken sailor, what shall we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?” Roman sang, dancing around the deck as mopped.
“Why.” Logan groaned over the maps it’d been scrutinizing.
“Because! I’m bored, and this whole trip has been boring! We need something, and since we aren’t to see land for at least another month, I’ll just have to make some fun!”
“Eh, let ‘im sing. Better than just watching the waves crash.” Virgil yelled down from their perch on the bowsprit.
“Ugh, but he’s been singing that same song every time he’s sang this week! Pick a different song, man!” Andy shouted right back, turning to face Roman for that last part with a growl.
“Fine, fine, if it’s a different song you want, it’s a different song you’ll get!” Roman bounced the mop handle between his hands a few times in contemplation, trying to choose something they hadn’t heard from him yet.
Roman began to mutter to himself, still swinging slightly as he thought. “I could sing- no, they heard that from me just last week! Oh, what about- no, I sang that one for a whole night at port. Maybe- oh! I know what I can sing!”
Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. “Finally got one, Princey?”
“Shush, kelp-for-hair!” Roman scowled at him. Virgil just laughed.
“Sorry, sorry,” they paused. “Your Highness.”
“Why you little-!”
“Hey, hey!” Thomas interrupted. “How about you sing us that song you chose, ok Roman?”
“Alright, alright, but dark-and-dreary keeps their lips closed if they don't want to wake up buried in sea salt!” Roman acquiesced.
Virgil raised their hands in surrender, they did actually want to hear their crewmate sing, after all. They just wouldn’t admit it.
“Now we are ready to sail for the Horn
Weigh hey, roll and go!
Our boots and our clothes, boys, are all in the pawn
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
Logan rolled its eyes at the song Roman had chosen, and Thomas and Janus joined in on the chorus as the crew went about their daily maintenance of the ship.
“Heave a pawl, O heave away!
Weigh hey, roll and go!
The anchor's on board and the cable's all stored
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
Climbing down from their perch, Virgil went down below deck to go help their siblings Andy and Anton fix the crew’s lunch.
“Soon we'll be warping her out through the locks
Weigh hey, roll and go!
Where the pretty young girls all come down in their frocks
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
Thomas pulled Janus into a swinging dance, the two of them spinning around the deck with aem leading aer laughing twin.
“Heave a pawl, O heave away!
Weigh hey, roll and go!
The anchor's on board and the cable's all stored
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
The wind started to pick up a little, joining in with Roman’s fun by curling itself playfully around his clothes and through his hair.
“Come breast the bars, bullies, heave her away
Weigh hey, roll and go!
Soon we'll be rolling her down through the Bay
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
The boredom that had gripped the crew seemed to have been completely dissolved, turning to mist like the foam that curled protectively against the ship’s sides.
“Heave a pawl, O heave away!
Weigh hey, roll and go!
The anchor's on board and the cable's all stored
To be rollicking randy dandy-O!”
Remus smiled down at her crew from the wheel he was leaning against.
They were happy. They were finally happy.