In Gentle Hands (Toby, Mariah)

[tripp]

Name: Tobias Aliases: Toby Location: Opal Rank: Navigator played by: Tripp created: likeness used: Gaspard Ulliel

-----------------------

Name: Mariah Aliases: Mari BD: June 12th Debut Age: 18 Location: Opal Rank: 'guest' played by: Lovely created: 2007 likeness used: Drew Barrymore

[Lovely]

June 18, 1740
late afternoon

A smaller young man or 'boy' with blond hair was making his way through the people gathered in different places along the docks, a large sack was slung over 'his' shoulder. He bent a little under it's weight as he walked, his long hair tied back and partially hidden under a rag like many sailors would keep theirs. With his head kept down he didn't stick out from the crowd much and seemed like any other young man who might be heading to a ship.

It wasn't until he was walking onto the deck of the Opal and paused to look up at the sky with a small smile, that it was noticable that he was not a boy. He was actually a pretty young woman who had a good grip on her bag and was looking around the ship now as if she belonged there, walking along slowly and studying things as she went. Octavia had already met with the Captain and first mate, she'd been told to return and join the crew, so here she was, very ready to leave Tortuga and the life she'd been born into behind her for the chance at something that she had some say in.

Crossing 'his' path with as much abandon as determination, a scraggleheaded youth stopped the passerby at the shoulder, almost as if he wanted to pick a fight. It wasn't a game he was after, however. "Pardonez. Où le bateau est appelé l'Opale?" He gestured to the ships docked there, not knowing one from the next, it seemed.

She turned at the hand on her shoulder, her free hand dropping to her hip as her head jerked to regard the man who had grabbed her. Well perhaps that was a bit more than he'd truly done, she realized as his words rattled through her startled mind. "You're standing on her deck, friend." Octavia smiled a little, setting her hand on her hip rather than pulling the dagger tucked there.

"English." His head bent and he appeared to struggle with his words and hers. He looked up with a kind smile, a scar carving it deeper beneath his cheek. "Her deck. Alors je suis arrivé. Connaissez-vous le capitaine... mon ami?" He returned the kindness of being called a friend, adding a nod. He most certainly had found he was in the right place and wanted to know if this person knew the captain.

"Oui, mais moi parler français couramment." Though it didn't appear he spoke English as well, living in Tortuga all her life she actually spoke a few languages and then knew bits of several beyond that. Octavia smiled a little more brightly and shifted to put her hand on his arm so she could gently turn him as she pointed out where the Captain's cabin was. "Le bout I a vu le capitaine, elle parlait avec Monsieur Turner."

"Turner? Qui est votre capitaine ? Un femme?" He asked who this captain woman was, seeming amazed that it was a woman at all as his face wrinkled into his visions of stories he'd heard here in port. Some names also resonnated with familiarity in myth and legend, others with no small amount of awesome fear and upset. There was one known as Turner that sounded familiar to him, but he was not the captain? Then who was? He looked closer at this 'boy' before him upon hearing that 'she' was speaking with Mr Turner. "Un femme?" He reached out to the shroud about this 'boy's' locks, questioning quietly with a smirk.

Octavia sort of smiled at his questions. "Oui." She gestured in the same direction as she had before, indicating that the captain was a woman and where he'd find her. The boy's hand rose toward her hair and he asked again, the way he was looking at her and smiling she knew he was asking about her now. "Oui." She said again and nodded her head. "I am a woman."

She was disguised and it amused him a little as he looked around them, his hand resting to her shoulder. "Vous vous cachez. Pourquoi vous cachez-vous ? Non tous les hommes sont les bêtes terribles." He chuckled, confiding in her that not all men were monsters. His gentle smile would confirm that he meant no harm to her.

She looked at him with an odd expression and then shook her head and chuckled quietly. "I don't hide. A dress would not be suitable attire for my duties here. I dress for that, not to hide what I am.. " She gestured to the loose fit of the clothes on her slender frame. "I do not have much... This was the best I could do for now. " She smiled a little and her eyes moved over him slowly. "And yes... all men are animals." It was said with a voice that held years of watching how men treated her mother.. even the nice ones were animals.

His hand brushed her cheek, tipping her chin in jest. "Femme sage," he grinned, nodding to her wisdom and looking around them again. He may have appeared simply empty headed and in need of proper grooming, but the scar said more as did his movements and expression. "Smart. Je pense... kind... smart girl. Merci. In there, the captain?" He pulled his hand to himself to adjust the sack he carried and nodded where she had, offering his hand for her to lead him and make introductions. "You will take me to her?"

Her eyes narrowed as he continued to touch her, her gaze intently watching his every move and expression. She didn't lash out at him but she didn't let her guard down either. "Yes, last I saw her she was.." Octavia sighed softly and nodded her head, she would take him there. Her hand reached out to his and she clasped it to shake it firmly, though her hands were soft rather than rough. "Je suis Octavia." She introduced herself as she held his hand.

He was taken aback at the abrupt planting of his hand in hers. Well spoken for not saying she disliked being touched. He noted it and smiled. "Tobias. Toby...," he clarified, shaking her hand firmly like a boy agreeing to a bargain, though his eyes gently flirted a kinder acknowledgment of her fair sex that he would not speak of aloud, despite the desire to take her hand as a gentleman should.

She let go of his hand and stood there watching him for a moment trying to figure out what he was thinking, of course she could only speculate and she gave him a soft smile in return. His expression was kind whatever his thoughts might be. "Come on." She adjusted her own sack of belongings and as she did the shirt she wore stretched and shifted enough for a slight outline of her more feminine form to be shown for a moment before she tugged the shirt to let it blouse loosely around her again. She turned to head toward the captain's cabin and assumed Toby would follow her.

He was in close step, paying attention to others who might be as well. His sack was over his shoulder but slack and clutched more loosely to his belly, guarding it close. "When is she leaving port?"

"You'll have to ask the captain that." She turned over her shoulder to flash him a quick almost teasing smile as she hurried her step and soon brought him to stand in front of a set of doors. She knocked of course to either gain entry or be sent away or even to find out if the room was empty.

For the moment he was timid, feeling bare and vividly in-the-open between a world he was ridding himself of and the door he feared would possibly open to worse. When he'd heard about the Opal he hadn't heard about these sirens and their masterful work on men. In the few minutes he'd known this creature, he was already convinced he wished to stay and learn more about the fire that lurked behind her eyes. He trusted few but she'd earned it, maybe only by the way she tried to speak with him and not make fun of his words as so many did. He was an outsider, but welcomed. Hopefully the captain would be as kind. His feet shuffled as he waited for the response with her.

"State your business." Came the call from inside the cabin, the voice was firm but not at all masculine.

Octavia cleared her throat and answered in return. "Captain, it's Octavia. I have returned as ordered and I ran into a potential crew member when coming on board, I've brought him to speak with you." She flashed Toby a brief smile while they waited.

Toby stopped rocking on his heels and clutched his satchel tighter. It was true. He looked at the door as if it'd grown molten jowls and tried to devour him, keeping his hand from pushing the door open or following the girl further. Potential crew. He was a terrifying step away from his first real voyage, one he desperately wished to embark on soon. A sharp swallow carved the air into his throat, making him cough unexpectedly. He'd announced himself well enough now and the meager grin he gave her was one searching for an answer on what he was to do next. Stand tall, he clawed at his thoughts, trying to heap them back together into a semblance of strength and willingness to serve. "Oui capitaine. Je suis venu pour vous joindre, si je peux," he nodded, speaking to the planks that separated him from his pending freedom, agreeing that was why he was here, as pending crew, if they'd have him.

"Enter." The command was simple and again the voice firm but not harsh. When Octavia pushed the door open, Treasure was sitting at her table awaiting them, there was a small stack on the edge of the table of neatly folded clothes. A few items for Octavia that would be a better fit for the slim girl than what she had. They were older items that had belonged to Treasure and since she had newer items, it was better to let these go to good use.

Octavia gave Toby another small brief smile, her dark green eyes lighting up a bit to encourage and reassure him before the smile tucked itself away and she opened the door to the Captain's cabin.

Toby stood in the doorway, a slender man, young, willing yet wary, with bright blue eyes that saw clearly and sharply into the dim cabin, smiling before the smile on his lips curled and deepened the scar on his cheek. "Bonjour," he chirped out with a rich voice, the kind that with training would give commands that could be understood well and clear.

**END SCENE**

[Lovely]

September 2, 1740


"We'll leave you tied til we're sure y'can be trusted not to steal our bread. Thieving from pirates... that would be a story," Nance said, flashing a grin and making sure she was securely bound, but not in a means to injure her worse. "I'm sure our navigator will find his way around you on his own terms. Oh, and... scream if you like, but it gives the captain a headache. Not likely to do much but start a line outside your door. Right? There's a good girl."

She stared at the man with wide frightened eyes which had seen much terror in a short time, she trembled and didn't say a word. Her whole body shook with a fear that was deep in her belly, making her eyes dart around as if every shadow might hit or tear at her. She watched Nance, finding herself in a strange place between scared and grateful, whoever these pirates were, they had treated her far better than the men aboard the ship they'd just taken her from. Her head nodded a little but she didn't seem to really know what she was agreeing to. Perhaps just that she wouldn't scream and didn't want a line outside her door, she'd already come far too close to such a fate. If the Opal hadn't attacked when it did.. she didn't want to think about what she knew had been about to happen to her.

His tongue worked a knot in his cheek... words better kept to himself once he saw the fear come over her again. Another smile flashed and he went to leave. "There now, nice and quiet like that and you might be allowed to stay," he said, considering a moment that he hadn't seen the boy stray from his maps so much as to really look at the other women that had come on board. Perhaps the girl would be wasted on him, or she'd simply be safe until she could be trained or let loose at their next docking, depending on what the captain had to say once she'd collected her thoughts on the matter. "I am certain of this... you'll be in gentle hands - whatever he chooses to do with them."

She was too afraid and uncertain to return the smile, but the fear did appear to diminish just a little at the reassurances Nance offered her. She actually blinked a few times and this time her nod showed that she at least somewhat understood what was being said to her. Her gaze suddenly dropped to the floor, worried that she'd be struck if she looked at his face too long, there was a cut and bruise on her cheek to tell where she'd get such an idea from.

Nance softened the grin only a moment before ducking away to help tend to the rationing of the other items they'd hauled up, knowing Toby wouldn't be far away after garnering his share.

The girl was left alone the space of a breath, the door hardly closed before it was again opened by a younger man with darker hair. His shoulder was ringed with a generously stout length of rope and he hauled a bucket of other items that appeared quite heavy, and several of them quite sharp. The bucket was set heavily down to relieve the strain as soon as he entered and he turned to close the door before addressing her. He'd be told he'd been left with a visitor to watch, but hadn't been given quite the full description of her appearance. When he'd turned back again to look on the visitor with a proper address, he nearly tripped over the bucket he'd set down, his mouth gently agape with an astonished smile that carved out the reminder of an angry scar on his otherwise kind face. "Pardonez. You .. are staying here?" He hadn't noticed the ropes yet as he tried to fathom whether he'd hauled his items into the wrong cabin.

The rope that was wound around his shoulder caused her to feel that knot in her tummy tighten. He had a bucket of things and rope and with everything she'd seen and heard aboard the other ship, it was hard to keep from squeaking but she managed to keep herself quiet as the other man had told her she should be. She didn't want to get in trouble and certainly didn't want to be punished. When this man turned and spoke to her, she lifted her gaze to his face and was surprised to find him smiling at her and looking a bit shocked himself. Her lower lip was pulled in slightly as she simply gazed at him uncertain for a long moment. Finally she slowly nodded her head, remembering what Nance had said about her being good and quiet and being able to stay. "Y..yes.." Her voice was naturally soft and so she didn't have to try terribly hard to keep it down.

He looked back at the door, uncertain still, then moved his way around the bucket over to her. sliding the rope from his shoulder to a heap on the floor. "Naturalement..," he muttered, seeming to curse other words under the weight of his breath... of course she was frightened. His shock gave way to pity and concern as he looked around her dress, seeing now why she sat so still despite her fear. He rose a finger, a threat of the point to her face to be good as the other man warned, or simply asking her patience as he tried first to untie what Nance had done. "You are dangerous? Why have you been tied?" He spoke in more succinct English, uncertain which she understood more.

Her eyes went wide at first as he put his finger toward her face, and then closed tightly against what she expected next but when she wasn't hit, she peeked one open to look at what he was doing. The other eye opened as he asked about her being dangerous and she shook her head. "N..no.. I'm n..not d-dangerous." She swallowed hard, trying to watch his every move as he was close to her. "I don't know.." She managed to take a deep breath and answer him more steadily.

He fumbled around the ropes, but Nance's expert knots confounded him and were too tight for his fingers after the weight of the bucket had numbed them. He glanced around for a knife. Settling on the bucket of new iron, he dug around the implements to get one with a sharp enough edge. "Waste of rope," he sighed clearly as he seemed reluctant to cut through it, then a moment later was sawing through it to free her hands. "What do you call yourself?"

Something about what Nance had said about her being in gentle hands stuck out in her mind as she watched this young man fumble with and then begin sawing at the ropes which held her. "Mari." She told him, her voice quiet as she was still afraid to raise it much. "Mariah." She clarified softly that Mari was merely a shortened version of her given name.

"Je m'appelle Toby... my name," he smiled back as the rope loosened enough for his liking for her wriggle free and he moved quickly away out of reach, tossing his scraggled hair from his eyes. It seemed he was being playful, expecting her to swing out or attack in some way, considering the strength of the other girls, especially Octavia, or so he'd heard.

"Toby." She repeated it in a bit of a whisper, gently untangling herself from the ropes he'd loosened for her, her expression showed her confusion as he seemed to move away from her. Did he really think she'd been tied up because she was dangerous? Something in his expression made her think he was being playful, she recalled her brother acting in a similar fashion when he'd tease her and then dart out of reach. She watched him warily wondering if he was playing some other sort of trick and planned to strike her if she dared to move. Her hands were free now and she looked down at them, slowly moving her wrists and wincing at how raw they were from being tied so tightly while she was aboard the other ship.

[Lovely]

The way she looked at him... he felt warm, ashamed, yet challenged to do something remarkable. He'd freed her, afterall, and here he was standing and gawking. His teeth caught his lip briefly before he looked at the bucket of strange iron implements. "I will show you," he exclaimed excitedely. It was his first real share since coming aboard and he'd told the first mate he didn't care what he got as long as someone could make it useful.

Kit curled her arms in around herself, her hands on her shoulders at first but then pulling them away as she felt more skin and less dress than had been there before. Other than some tears and tatters, her dress was mostly intact as was she and for both she was very thankful. Her fingers followed along the bodice finding it too had been torn, not gaping but revealing more than it had originally, she wondered what it must look like now and what this man must think of her. He acted as if he had no desire to tear the dress more or batter her as the pirates on the other ship seemed to enjoy doing. In fact he seemed quite kind, gentle as the man who had left here had told her. She watched as his expressions changed and he became excited over showing her what was in his bucket. Kit smiled softly, shyly, at him and slowly nodded her head. "Thank you." Her ordeal had not taken her manners from her and she was polite, gesturing to the bucket in question as if to ask him to explain and continue.

She wanted to see? Or maybe she didn't understand English, either. He was out of languages to choose from, so he hoped she was simply being quietly attentive. He moved as if he were used to dodging people on a crowded pier, ducking around where she was sat to grab a folded cloth - a worn, nearly rotted piece of sail that lay over his cot - and back past her again like a wish of breeze to spread out the cloth over the floor. Then, one by one, he set out the pieces that had been taken from the quartermaster's chamber, pieces their own quartermaster had little interest in from broken pistols and other pieces of tack that had little use as they were. "C'est pour des chevaux... le... horse?...," he explained, setting out the pieces of bit and bridle that needed a smith's care or a creative endeavor to fashion something new. Toby was nonetheless thrilled to have the heavy pieces he set out carefully. The next pieces were pistol parts, handle grips, some with exquisite inlay. He held one up and polished it off with a corner of the cloth to show her the brass and beauty with the smallest hint of some shining stone or pearl under the caked mud.

He seemed so happy, proud, and excited over the bits of things he laid out on the cloth, it was easy to smile in his company. She even forgot for a moment how afraid she'd been and she gently moved to sit beside him on the floor, she fussed with her skirt for a few seconds and then left it as it was. "May I?" She asked quietly as she reached for the piece he held up to show her. "What will you do with these?"

"Certainement..," he nodded, letting her hold the piece, or any of the others. She asked clearly in English and he had to think a moment about a way to answer. He grinned and shrugged, a little embarassed it seemed to tell his story. "A day when I have riches, I will have land and I will buy a horse," he laughed and looked away, seeming sadder than the laugh made him sound. "Until then, I dream, I fight, I steal... and I polish away mud from these until I have what I dream."

She took the piece, watching him while he told of what he would one day have, he dreamed of what 'everyone' who didn't have much dreamed of.. the day when they would have the things the rich people had. Kit nodded to his words, brushing a bit more of the mud away from the piece with her thumb. She seemed a little sad as her thoughts shifted to her past, her home, and her family, her gaze focused on the piece he'd let her hold. "Tell me more? .. about what you dream of?"

[Lovely]

What he dreamed of seemed foolish and too far to ever reach since everything he did have was in this small cabin. He watched her with the piece she seemed strangely fascinated with and settled his hand to cover it and pull her attention away, though he didn't take it away. "Dreams... only dreams," he said, shaking his head a little, though his grin stayed in place as it was before. His eyes seemed to dance a little when he looked up at her, like they had in his excitement to find the jeweled inlay the others didn't care about. A hint of a blush passed beneath them and he clasped the piece she held. "That day is far away and too many days on this ship. I will have a hundred years before I see a horse."

Her eyes were a soft green with hints of amber in them, they shone warmly at him as he called her attention to him by putting his hand over the piece she'd been holding and staring at. "Dreams are important." She whispered, nodding her head knowingly, before a sweet smile shifted to her mouth. "Dreams are what keep us going.. sometimes they are all we have.." It was her turn to blush for speaking so openly to him about things most men would think her silly for. "Do you really believe it will take you so long to get what you long for?"

"I have no money for bread. I read stars and maps... not books." He pointed skyward as he sat back on the floor and pulled up his knee to set his chin on. "I listen. I've learned your English. This does not put duccats or dubloons in my purse. It puts dreams in my head. Stories, though not like those you'll hear Dominick tell all through the night."

Her face fell and her mouth pulled down in a pout, she set his special piece back with his others and curled her arms around her middle. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to offend you." Her gaze stayed on the floor, she'd not thought that deeply on it before she spoke and had meant to encourage him, but it seemed as though she'd done the opposite. "I do not know this Dominick or his stories." She shook her head gently, her voice fading away with a soft sigh.

"What offense is there in truth? These I fix, or take apart more. Metal threads and chunks of iron can be sold to someone unaware that they are not mine. I will make them mine, unmarked, scoured, polished, melted, burned or burnished, but someday, that day, these will be my coins." He watched how she curled away from him and seemed sad, herself. He simply spoke about things as they were, things he observed. His head lifted and he stretched his leg back out, following it to lean forward, nearer to her and hoping she wouldn't move away. "Mademoiselle Nikita, I am to watch over you, he said. It could be days before we reach port. Offense or not, it is my order. Does this make you sad?"

As he spoke she glanced at him from the edge of her gaze, not turning her face until he asked about making her sad. That is when she lifted her head and turned her face toward him, where he'd leaned in closer to her. The smile was soft and barely there as she shook her head 'no' to his question. "No, Toby.. you have been kind and you are not what makes me sad." She brought her eyes to meet his, wanting him to know she was sincere and honest in what she was telling him.

"Your ship... the others, then. Naturalement..," he shook his head, whispering to himself. She must have lost much. He picked up the piece from the floor again and held it out to her. "C'est un cadeau... a.. mm... a gift."

She nodded, he was correct in what made her sad. "My family." She whispered as she looked at the token he held out to her, her eyes shone with tears that welled in them. "That's very sweet, but I couldn't.. it's for your dreams.." She smiled, sad and sweet at once for his kindness and she reached to wrap her soft fingers around his and the piece he tried to give her. "I'll keep it here.. always.." Her other hand rose to touch her chest over her heart. ".. but you need it.. so you can buy your horse someday."

[Lovely]

He shook his head and held it out in his open palm, insisting. "I will not live that long. It is for your smile." The playful turn showed itself again, his eyes dancing behind a grin that grew slowly. "I cannot buy that with coins, but with this...?"

She shook her head gently, but didn't push his hand away, her smile starting to show itself a little more brightly. "Not with this." She ran her fingers over the piece and lifted it from his hand with one of hers while the other held his fingers. "With this." She slipped her hand over his palm so that they were basically holding hands as two friends might. "..because you are kind to me.. you shall have my smile."

He felt warm again and was sure it was just the rocking of the ship that made his head feel light. "Merci," he muttered, letting his own smile light a little more. "It is better than tears, though you are no less sad. You are hurt?" He turned his hand a little, looking down to her wrist at the marks left by the ropes.

She felt sad for being sad in the company of such a kind young man, as if somehow she was being ungrateful for feeling the sorrow she did. Kit tried to smile again and it worked for a few seconds but then her face turned away, revealing the cheek which had been bruised and cut a little by a hard strike from one of the men aboard the other ship. Her eyes drifted over her wrists where Toby looked, she could not deny the marks that he could plainly see. Her head nodded slowly and she licked nervously at her lower lip. "Yes." She barely whispered the word, thinking she had no right to feel pained by her injuries when they were much less than what some others had suffered.

He looked at her strangely and stretched further, reaching up to her cheek below the marks there. His own cheek had a mark once that left the scar he had. He'd been thankful it had not been higher or worse, but he was a boy and such things were common. On a fair girl it pained him to know how it must have stung and brought a wealth of tears to her when she'd been struck. "Who did this... did he take your family from you or were there others?"

Her mouth parted to attempt to answer his question but for a moment there were no sounds, just the trembling of her lips and the shimmer of tears she fought to keep from bursting forth. "It was.. the captain of the other ship.. he.. he killed papa.. and Nicholas." The tears started to slip down her cheeks, meeting his finger tips where they touched her cheek. "He took mamma.... and other men.. they took my sisters.. and other ladies.. a few at a time, they kept the rest of us locked up.. and then they came for me.. had your ship not come when it did..." Her voice trailed off and she started to shake her head a little.

"But it did and our captain is not so merciless," he nodded, understanding the rest. He'd seen some of the men in Tortuga and what they did with women before and after they were done, and those were the nicer ones. He considered those on the ship a moment and what the battle must have been like between the two crews. "I have thanks for this also," he nodded, pulling himself to sit closer.

She took a deep breath and tried not to cry anymore, tilting her head a little after giving him another slight nod. "It did." Her voice was a whisper again and she let a small smile peek out at him to show she was grateful for that. "You do?" She asked about his last comment, not sure she understood what he meant or why he would feel such.

[Lovely]

Toby nodded and clasped tighter around the hand holding his, reminding her. "That you are alright, you can live on... find your dreams and to keep what they didn't take from you, these men."

Her eyes glanced down to their hands and her smile warmed a little more, her fingers wrapping more firmly around his. "I'm not sure I have any dreams left.. " She shrugged and her gaze lifted to his.

"You'll have new ones," he assured her - more than those who had been left to the sea. He took a deep breath in their memory and remembered more his own duties. "Night comes soon and I will be wanted by the captain.. my maps," he explained quietly, quickly with a strange grin to ensure there was no misunderstanding of his meaning.

The dreams she'd had before seemed so silly now after all she'd seen and experienced in this short time. She nodded though, not arguing with him about it, she'd already burdened him with enough of the things that were weighing on her heart. "Of course.. your maps.." A realization washed over her face and she suddenly smiled more brightly. "You.. you're the.." She motioned with her free hand, trying to figure out the word she was looking for to describe what he did.

"Le navigateur," he nodded, chuckling a little as she flustered and fumbled with words like he sometimes did. He remembered something else then and let go of her other hand to pull something else free from the bucket. It was a small spyglass he fought with a little against dents and dirt to open and show her, setting it down to grasp something else. It was a broken sextant, but something he could fix with other pieces he'd found. This above the others seemed to be his prize of the pile he'd strewn out around them on floor.

He put the word in that she'd been searching for and she nodded. "Yes. The navigator.. that's very important, yes? You are the one who guides the ship to where it needs to go?" She seemed quite impressed that he was the navigator and shifted herself closer to look at the other pieces he pulled from the bucket, keeping the one he'd given her safely in her lap. "What is this?" She asked about the last piece he pulled out and how it seemed more important to him than the others.

"The maths," he said, moving the parts that remained in tact and showing her the markings. "For the distance, how far turning the ship will make us reach the land quickly, or less quickly if the captain chooses to wait, like when we are looking for something... or someone."

"Oh.. and you know how to figure all of that?" It was not a slight or jest but a compliment that he was smart and learned in such ways. Her eyes were clear of the tears she'd shed earlier and now sparkled with a bit of happiness she felt, being close to him and having him share his treasures and knowledge with her. "This, you can fix it?" He knew of things she had no idea about and that made him seem very wise as well as kind in her eyes. She gestured to the other pieces, thinking he had to be terribly clever to not only know how to read stars and maps, but to use and repair such tools.

"Not to figure all things. I still learn," he admitted quietly, looking at the instrument himself and appearing lost in a dream. "But yes, I can fix this. Not tonight, but soon." He started to put the things away again into the bucket to keep them from pitching and rolling. "First, I am to keep you," he said, thinking that sounded differently than he'd meant.

There was a long moment where she didn't say anything and stared at him, not knowing how to take what he'd said. She didn't think he meant any ill will toward her, but it did turn her thoughts in a different direction. "Keep me.." She echoed it softly and perhaps her expression would show how the thought was settling into her and that perhaps it had given her something new to dream of.

[Lovely]

September 3, 1740
just before sunrise -
follows: In gentle hands


The waters were calm and the sky was beginning to peel back the black ink to show a soft and milky blue horizon. The morning star was all that was left to steer by now and from his information to the captain, they were only a day now from port. Toby cared little about what lay a full day ahead and steered himself wearily back to his cabin, drawn on with a strange vigor to rush back and not spend time with corsair quartermaster or his young friend and their stories over porridge today. A sweeter tale waited to be told from the pillow he found her still against as he quietly opened his door. "It wasn't a dream," he muttered happily, finding that Mariah was real and pushing up his thin blanket with gentle curves.

The girl was sleeping fairly peacefully for the first time in many days and truly needed the deep rest which she was finally getting after falling asleep on Toby's cot. Sometime in the night while he was gone, she'd stripped out of her tattered skirts and her dress was draped over the corner at the end of the cot. The sound of the door opening and his voice, caused her to stir beneath the thin blanket he had on his bed. "Mm.." Was the sound she made as she shifted and sighed before seeming to settle again.

"Dormez... dormez," he whispered, begging her gently to continue her slumber while he went about settling himself down. The way she settled herself made that task difficult, however, once he noticed the tattered clothing discarded nearby. His imagination needed little to build up a deep rouge in his cheeks beneath the smile of his realization that she was naked in his bed! Very much so, he noted from the covering that was hardly more than painted over her. Like he ran his fingertips past the marks and lines on his charts, he hovered them now above the blanket, close enough to feel her warmth, but not touching the surface to disturb her with his perusal. A wish or perhaps fear closed his eyes heavily a moment as his hand passed above her from her ankles to her ... He stopped with his hand above the edge of the blanket that had nearly left her bare to his view and felt his breath catch as he stared.

Her sigh was lighter this time as she shifted again, her dreams starting to fade as she slowly began to wake. Her legs shifted, pulling at the cover and caused more of her bare form to peek out from beneath, her arms slowly stretched above her head. A bit of a happy smile remained on her lips, left over from whatever pleasant things she'd been dreaming of.

His hand hadn't moved, nor had he intended for her to know he was there, but she stretched and he was too stunned to move quickly enough as the cover dropped away further and bare breast pressed upward to his fingers. He froze, intrigued, frightened, embarassed.. curling his fingers over the warmth and softness instead of jerking his hand away.

The first reaction to the unintentional and unexpected contact was a different sort of gasping sigh and another soft mmm. The touch in her half asleep state was enjoyed and nearly encouraged as she arched a little more beneath the curl of his fingers. Of course a moment later her eyes fluttered open and she was aware of his hand and her position, but she didn't shove him or pull herself away.

[Lovely]

Toby's smile fluttered between the pleasure and horror of the situation, giving in more to the horror and pulling his hand away with apologies and a deeper red in his face. "Pardonez...," he stammered, looking for anything he could say to ease the moment. He couldn't stand, finding his knees become weaker, sitting down on the edge of the cot beside her. "I was not... " What were the words he wanted? Attacking? Taking advantage? Wishing beyond any hope that she would want to be touched by him after all the horrors from the ship they'd rescued her from? His mind swirled with the seeming anguish that if she in any way felt he was meaning improprieties and the captain were told, he'd be hanged for sure, or keelhauled, if not both.

Her own cheeks deepened to a warm deep red as she slowly sat up, pulling the blanket up to cover her chest and hiding the flesh he'd just cupped in his hand. She nodded to the apology he started and gently placed her hand on his arm to reassure him that she wasn't angry. If anything she was embarrassed for reacting to him and for how much she liked the feel of his hand on her. "I.. I was the one.. I.. undressed.. I.." She curled the blanket a little tighter in her fingers and looked to his eyes, begging him to forgive her and not to think her a horrible wicked girl.

His breath shuddered through him and she would feel the tremor under her fingers. He nodded after a moment, finding it difficult to look away from her. "I ... didn't find it terrible," he admitted shyly, turning his palm up to finally glance down at it, where her tender flesh had been held so sweetly for that moment. Toby glanced back and reached out to her hand that clenched the cover so tightly, coaxing her to let go of it if she would. "Not at all terrible."

"You didn't?" Though she still blushed, his assurance that he didn't find her terrible made her smile softly at him. Her hand gripped his arm more firmly but not in fear of him as he reached for her other which held the blanket over her. Her fingers flexed a bit and she slowly released her grip on the cover, though her teeth took a gentle grip of her lower lip as she let the cloth fall away. Her breath was a bit heavy, because of being nervous about him looking upon her so openly and being excited by it at the same time. Her chest rose and fell with these breaths as she waited for what he would say or do now that she showed him.

"Do not be afraid," he whispered, gazing only at her lip she caught. He'd been placed in charge of her and to have her fear him would keep him from protecting her properly. His gentle, more confident grin peeked out for her now and he pulled the cover over her then reached for her hand again. "Not at all, but this is not the right way. I do have this dream...," he started to tell her about the thoughts he'd had in his mind as he stood over her moments before, but wondered if perhaps in time he should show her instead.

"I'm not afraid of you." She whispered as her fingers wrapped around his, she smiled sweetly at him now, being honest that her fear was not of the man sitting beside her. She wrapped her arm around the blanket and held it up with her other hand so it wouldn't just fall back down again. "Another dream.. please tell me?" She asked him as he paused, shifting closer and genuinely wanting him to tell his dreams.

[Lovely]

Toby chuckled a little and found himself yawning a bit despite his heart jumping like rabbits in his chest. "It is like telling a secret. Once I've told you, it's ruined," he teased a little, moving so she could become comfortable and he could be closer. He was ready for sleep but so far away from it at once. "I can tell you it is a dream about a girl."

"Oh." Her smile faded a bit as he told her his dream was of a girl, she assumed someone he missed. That must have been why.. She tried to hide the way that crushed her, why did it matter if this boy had a sweetheart somewhere? She hadn't actually thought he'd or hoped.. but somewhere in the hours he'd spent tending her and holding her as she cried, she had hoped. She dreamed of a boy with dreams and who was so kind and gentle. "I don't want you to ruin it." She told him softly, shifting to make room for him but holding the blanket more tightly around her.

The smile drifted away and the rabbits jumped harder. He'd said something wrong and sought his thoughts, his words, wondering if he'd chosen the wrong one in his translation. He'd only learned so much English and for some things he longed to say there were scarcely the words in his own language let alone a means to explain them in another. He tried to coax her grin back with his own that trembled with uncertainty. "I won't ruin it with you in it," he said, clenching her fingers more securely as if she tried to drift out to the sea away from him.

Her gaze went to his hand that clenched at hers and then slowly up to his face, the questions in her expression shone out at him as she studied his. "With me in it?" She asked him softly, fearing that she was misunderstanding but at the same time hoping that she wasn't. Just as she'd shied away a moment earlier, she drifted closer to him, forgetting about the blanket as she leaned to test her theory by kissing his cheek.

She kissed his cheek and a new tremor ran through him, though he couldn't stop grinning. "You're the girl," he said softly, convinced of it now with the way he felt, like he'd felt in the dream, as though the gulls had captured the rabbits and flown off the bow with them, leaving his heart yearning to be beside ... "You."

"Then I am the luckiest girl in the whole world." She whispered to him, she felt like she might cry happy tears. She didn't want him to think she was sad, she wanted him to feel how he made her heart leap. Her blush was different now, her smile shy but happy as she brushed his lips with the softest of kisses.

He yearned truly for sleep, to rest his eyes and his mind from the numbers that swam around them, but her kiss melted those thoughts away. There had been girls on the pier once or twice who had kissed him and given him shallow promises and not-so shallow glimpses, but those had been brushes of fancy completely different than this touch that mesmerized him. Stunned again, he glanced to the small porthole and imagined he'd have to swim after those gulls for the way his heart soared, but no bird took flight and no other was in the room with him than this girl who was every bit the dream he'd had made real. He'd only looked away from her for a breath, but it was too long and Toby turned back to bestow her a kiss in return.

She wondered what his thoughts were but didn't ask him to share as he brought a kiss to her, her smile trembling beneath it as she reached to cup his face in her hands. Perhaps his kiss was his way of sharing the dream with her, the one he said he could not ruin with her in it. She wanted to kiss him for days and days but she knew he must be tired, he'd been up taking care of his duties while she slept.. in his bed. She was still there now and as she pulled away from the kiss, she smiled at him and shifted the covers, inviting him to stretch out and lay beside her.

Boots and strappings aside, he could have simply fallen in beside her, but he was reminded quickly about his far too-clothed form. The girls on the pier had never caused him the peculiar ache and pinch he delightfully suffered at the moment that in turn caused him to chuckle and his face to again redden as he leaned back. Was it improper to accept an offer given when he was, afterall, meant to be her caretaker? Toby took the corner of the cover and tugged it gently, further away this time. He was not telling her no and he wasn't going to shy away this time. The darting and playful mirth fluttered through his expression again as he reached to pull off his boots.

She nearly giggled as he tugged the cover further away and revealed more of her, her blush rose up in her cheeks as her eyes flowed over him. Her teeth pulled at her lip and she was full of nervous excitement as she waited for him to take his boots off. Mariah wasn't quite sure what he expected or what she was doing, all she knew is she wanted him beside her and how his touch and kiss made her feel. She wanted more of that feeling, more of his kisses.. to see the way his eyes gazed at her and made her feel all warm inside.