An Ocean of Memories || noctisinterrupted
@noctisinterrupted - A Titanic AU because we are sentimental fools for that movie.
Night aboard the ship was very cold. Sailing across the Northern Atlantic meant it would be chill, he’d known that. At the moment he didn’t much care. The freezing wind felt good to his soul, even as it stung the scars on his face.
Much better than the smoke-filled sitting rooms all the high class men and women were currently occupying. Not that he’d been invited in the first place. Not since the accident that left his face marred with scars and half blind. Shameful to look at had been one of the whispered phrases he heard. Not welcome in pleasant society had been another. His hearing was exceptionally good these days.
Whatever. Ignis was just glad to be able to breathe. And more than that--he was sailing to freedom. Once his feet hit American soil he would be free of the high class culture that had suffocated him his whole life. There was so much he wanted to do--He still had money in America, and he planned to travel. See things he only ever heard about. See them before he went fully blind.
The cigarette he was smoking was almost gone--he took a last puff of it and put it out on his shoe. He currently sat somewhere near the rear of the ship, sagging into the back of a wooden bench, the wind chilling him more, he drew his coat tighter around himself.
A rapid tap-tap-tap caught his attention. Far along the deck but quickly approaching him. Running feet? And the shoes on those feet sounded nicely made and little used, with how crisply they clicked on the new wood of the ship’s deck. Ignis didn’t move as the running feet come close enough to sound over-loud and booming in his ears. Then--the person passed him. Possibly not even realizing he was there. How worrisome.
Ignis opened his good eye, tracking the movement of the person as they passed out of sight toward the stern. His curiosity was caught, and well as worry. Perhaps he should check up on this person. He rose and followed, the cold that seeped into him made him stiff. He still carried his cane, an instrument he used in brightly lit halls or sunlight. His remaining eye was sensitive to light, it was often easier to find his way completely by feel and sound than try to see through the brightness. It was night, though, he didn’t need the cane’s assistance out there.
He thought, perhaps, his hampered eyesight was lying to him when he found the other person. He was--standing on the railing of the ship! Panic and concern started his heart racing. He reached out, though obviously he was took far to touch him.
“Don’t do it,” he called softly over the sound of the wind and churning sea far below. He was about ten feet away, but feared trying to step closer. If this young man really planned to jump, Ignis’s trying to stop him could push him to let go.
