come_sailaway | [open] dreams of you all through my head

Who: Vance Hopper & (mostly) ota
What: Fixing Judith and generally being around
When: Early November
Where: all around
Warnings: eventual discussion of child torture/murder

1 / it's all right now (the drunken sailor)

[ Before the party, Vance was gifted with the mangled remains of Fio's teddy bear, Judith. One of the ghosts did it, and he feels kind of silly doing something so sentimental for a teddy bear, but he knows it's because the ghost was avenging him for Judith's previous attack. So, in a way, he feels responsible.

He chose The Drunken Sailor because it's where Knife Club is held, and also because he thinks Fio is unlikely to wander in and see Judith before it's all fixed up. There's some threads in all different colors set out and everyone is encouraged to take a different one and fix the bear a little bit at a time. That way, Fio will know how many different people all came together for her.

Vance is sitting at the table with a bit of read thread, starting to sew the arm back on. He isn't very good at it, but this is a group effort anyway. ]

[ ooc note: If they know Vance, assume your character got a text and was invited. If they don't know Vance and you want to participate, feel free to handwave that someone invited them. ]

2 / but don't give yourself away

[ Sometime after fixing Judith, Vance can be found all around the ship. He's not as devastated as he was in the aftermath of the party, but he's not entirely back to normal, either. He's...somewhere in between.

If someone saw him take down not-Friday, he's willing to talk about it. He also wants to catch up with anyone he knows who was possessed and isn't anymore.

Once in a while, too, he lifts up the corner of his white tank top and (for the first time since he's been here) takes an actual look at the knife-wound scars that were left behind. He's hated those scars since the first time he saw them and has done whatever it takes to keep them covered. After seeing Judith - all full of stitches but still wanted and still okay - he thinks, finally, that they might not be so hideous after all. ]

3 / it's only teenage wasteland (closed to clarke)

[ As much as he tries to play the tough guy, the last month weighed on him something fierce and he feels like he's about to burst if he doesn't get some of his feelings out into the world. Clarke's been trying to nudge him into sharing a little ever since they went to beach, so he just lets it slip. ]

I lied. I am scared. Of a lot of things. [ About ending up like the ghosts here and being sent to the Nothing, yes, but also of the monsters from his past even if they aren't here anymore. ]

wildcard

[ surprise me. I'm at callico or chimera#5926 if you want to plot. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I promised Omori I'd try to bring him back. But I'm not sure there's anything we can do about it.

[ Omori's not here to hear his uncertainty, so he can express it now. ]

Maybe, maybe not... but we can't give up without trying. We owe them that much...

[He ties off the thread, and voila. The stitch is almost completely hidden, and Judy's side seam looks almost good as new.]

Hm. [You know what, he's just gonna use the tail of this bit of thread to stitch two X's, one on top of the other, resembling a little flower. Gotta leave a mark, right?]

Yeah. I promised him I'll keep trying, so I will.

[ Except there is just one problem. ]

I only had one idea and I've been told it won't work. [ The idea is, of course, 'fight the captain to get what you want', the only idea he's had since coming here. ]

Ah, yes. Punching the Captain until he lets us go. [There's a little bit of humor there, because he admittedly can understand the desire. It's a much simpler plan than his own, that's for sure. What was once an attempt to help the Captain find peace has ballooned cartoonishly into helping the Captain find happiness, which is likely going to be a hard pill for most others to swallow.]

The problem with that plan is that it's predictable. We can't afford to be predictable if we want to survive. That's why the ghosts failed. They could have chosen a different route, but they went for the most straightforward one. Fight until we're free.

[He finishes the little flower, then sets the needle aside.]

To be honest, I think you'd have better luck challenging him to pinball than trying to beat him physically. You'd certainly have more fun.

Ha. I wish I could get shit done with pinball.

[ Not because it would be more fun. But he's really good at it, and it's nice to be good at something. ]

I'll try to think of something less predictable, I guess. [ Less predictable but still violent enough to satisfy him. Vance isn't exactly the most brilliant person here, so that may take a while. ]

You're clearly creative, so I have no doubt you'll come up with something clever. [Matter-of-factly. It's literally up in the air whether or not Skulduggery saw Vance's gambit unfold against Friday, but that's the exact kind of thing he's thinking about.]

Most people would want to fix Judy so that Fio never noticed anything was wrong with her. I think it's better like this, though.

No one's ever called me that before. [ Creative, he means, but clever, too. Nuisance was more common, along with trouble. Now that he thinks of it, no one here has called him either, have they? ]

You think so? I was worried she might think it's...ugly, or scary. [ He doesn't think either of those things, but he doesn't know what other people will think. ]

Really? Well, there's a first time for everything. [This, however, is not the first time Skulduggery finds himself comparing Vance and the Captain. Maybe it would help them both to talk... But Vance is equally as obnoxious as Darcy, and without guaranteed protection, that confrontation would likely end in violence.

He chuckles faintly at the suggestion that Fio might be anything other than appreciative of Judy's repairs.]

Fio is a good kid. She knows things aren't just what they appear. And I have it on good authority that she adores scary things. [As long as they're sweet to her.]

I guess there is. I never would've sewn up a teddy bear before I got here, that's for sure.

[ And he still hasn't quite figured out that it's a good thing on its own merits and not just because he isn't tough enough to get away with being mean here. ]

Glad she'll like it.

To be honest with you? Neither would I. Mostly because children and I don't tend to interact. [He taps the side of his skull.] People find my staring a bit unnerving. Not Fio, though.

[ Ah, right. The whole skeleton thing. ]

Pff. I barely noticed. [ Okay, so he definitely noticed, but he isn't freaked out like he would have been before joining the mangled boys ghost club. ] She doesn't seem scared of much. Must've seen some terrible shit back home.

[He chuckles.] A tough guy like you probably didn't think twice. [Although he's teasing a bit, he does genuinely believe it when Vance says at much. He noticed, but it doesn't phase him the way it does others.]

She did. Her life was harder than it had any right to be. [The same could be said about Vance, he suspects, although he doesn't say as much.] It's hardened her in some ways, but she hasn't let it ruin her spirit. I wish I had half of her tenacity.

I spent the last six months covered in blood before I got here. It's nothing.

[ Ghosts can't usually take showers, so being blasted with water was a bit of a shock. Not worth breaking anyone's nose over, but it's too late to consider that. ]

Life's hard. You gotta be hard, too. [ Fio's a little young to be learning that, but as far as he's concerned everyone has to learn it eventually. ]

I suppose that's true. I'd like to make a big deal of disproving you, but in the end, you do need to be tough, sometimes. But not all the time.

[He pats Judy on the head.] I think that's the hardest part.

Hard is right. [ He sighs. ] Sure was easier back home where I could kick everyone's ass.

[ Easier, and lonelier. ] But I guess I don't want that to be all I leave behind this time.

[open] dreams of you all through my head

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