Tide of Shadows Ch 14: Drying Out

Jos spent the next couple days fending off her impending hangover with more rum. With the open sea and little chance of running into more Risen, she figured the ship was safe enough in Nexx’s capable hands. Over that time, Danni hadn’t returned to sleep in the bed, so Jos had reclaimed it. On one hand, Jos assumed Danni had chosen to sleep somewhere else. On the other hand, she didn’t care.

By the morning of the third day, Jos had tapered her intoxication level from stumbling and barely coherent down to just a light fuzziness at the edges of her consciousness. The deck still seemed to move a little more than it should, but she could think clearly.

At least she thought she could.

Dust motes floated on the sun beams that punched through the windows. She hadn’t bothered to draw the curtains yet, even though it was approaching noon. Pulling herself up out of bed, she shuffled over to the table to grab her mug when a knock came at the door. She looked herself over to see if she was presentable and realized she was in nothing but her skivvies and scars. Then she realized she didn’t care. 

“What?”

The door opened to reveal Nexx and Jorg. Halfway in, Jorg stopped dead in his tracks. Nexx took a few steps, stopped and turned back to the norn Bosun. The asura cleared his throat. Jos stepped past the pair on her way to the rum cabinet as Jorg shook himself free of his daze. “Er, right.”

Nexx turned back toward the captain and straightened his back. “Captain.”

The last dribbles of the cask trickled into the mug, barely filling it a quarter full. Jos frowned at the liquid then took a small sip. “Yes?”

For the first time ever—at least as far as Jos had ever seen— Nexx’s brow furrowed in apprehension. He glanced up at the towering norn, but Jorg’s face was a mask of positive fear. Jos just rolled her eyes. 

“What is it, boys?” She scoffed. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to bite.”

Nexx cleared his throat again. “We, uh…”

“Would it help if I put a robe on?” Setting her mug down, she strolled back over to the bed. Without waiting for an answer, she snatched up gray, woolen robe and threw it over her shoulders. Though, she didn’t bother to tie the front. She was only going to go so far to make these idiots feel more comfortable. Jos unceremoniously plopped down onto the bed and sat cross-legged. “Better?”

Nexx blinked a few times and took a few steps forward. Jorg was a step behind. 

“Captain,” the asura said, his voice wavering. “The, uh, crew is um… I, I mean we feel that it might be helpful for the crew if you were to, uh…”

“Spit out Nexx.” She pointed at her mug on the ledge of the rum cabinet. “And hand me that.”

Jorg, with his gaze on the floor, grabbed the mug and handed it over. Nexx backhanded the norn’s leg. The norn just shrugged. 

Shaking his head, the first mate turned back to Jos. He sucked in a deep breath. “Fine. We think you should come out of here. Come outside and get some fresh air. Let the crew see you. It would be good for morale.”

Jos arched an eyebrow. “Morale? Whose morale?”

The two men looked at each other, but it was Jorg who spoke. “The...crew’s?”

She gave them a flat stare. “Uh-huh. Boys, I appreciate what you’re doing, but I’m fine.”

Chewing on his lip, Nexx took another step forward. “Permission to speak without restriction, Captain.”

“Excuse me?” She unfolded her legs and leaned forward. “Since when do you not?”

He gave her a small nod. “Very well. We’re worried about you. The crew thinks you’re sick, with a cold or some such. But I’ve known you long enough to see what’s going on. I apologize for letting Captain O’Quinn by but, er… She can be very um…”

“Pushy?” Jos offered. “Bossy? Overbearing?” 

“I was prepared to proceed with commanding, however your assessment is not inaccurate.”

See? Joss chuckled to herself. I’m not the only one.

“Anyway,” Jorg continued, his gaze still on the deck. “We hoped you might pop your head out for a bit to reassure the crew you’re all right.”

“Fine.” Jos let her shoulders sag in feigned resignation. She knew she’d have to come out of her cabin eventually, now was as good a time as any. Hopping off the bed, she slammed her rum mug on the table and took a couple steps but was stopped by Nexx’s voice.

“Um. It might be preferable for you to don some appropriate attire, Captain.” Nexx’s voice had returned to its normal confident smarminess. “Lest you instigate the rumor mill among the crew.”

She arched an eyebrow at the asura and pointed behind him. “My armoire.”

Nexx glanced back then stepped out of the way. “We’ll just escort ourselves out.”

The door creaked open behind her as she picked through her clothing. A couple seconds later it started to creak closed, but stopped. 

“One more thing, Captain,” Nexx said. “Would it be feasible to offer a small apology to our passenger? At least for relations-sake with the Council.”

Snatching a black blouse out of the armoire, she scoffed. “An apology? For the Council’s sake? You know those bastards brought something dangerous aboard my ship and didn’t warn us? It’s some kind of creature, I think.”

“With all due respect Captain, as smugglers, is that not our job?”

“Smugglers?” Jos pointed a finger at him. “I run an honest ship.”

Leveling a tired, resigned gaze at her, Nexx let out a deep sigh. He took a few steps over and angled her mug until he could see the last drible of brown liquid in the bottom. “Yes, clearly.” 

She scoffed again and shook her head. Jos silence hover in the air as she rooted through her armoire. Nexx eventually left and closed the door. Once she was alone, she sneered and whispered to herself in a snarky tone, “Yes, Clearly. Pffff.”