johnny silverado. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hornswoggle) wrote2021-03-07 01:23 am
hornswoggle) wrote2021-03-07 01:23 am
i carry a yearning i cannot bear alone in the dark—
 | You gleam as you lie back breathing like something taken from water, a sea creature, except for your two human legs which tremble and open into the dark country I keep dreaming of. How shall I touch you unless it is everywhere? I begin here and there, finding you, the heart within you, and the animal, and the voice; I ask over and over for your whereabouts, trekking wherever you take me, the boughs of your body leading deeper into the trees, over the white fields, the rivers of bone, the shouting, the answering, the rousing, great run toward the interior, the unseen, the unknowable center. — mary oliver |
linear notes.
- walrus docked in nassau, waiting to see what turns up
- "That's Weird They Should Be Here By Now"
- rogers + eleanor crashed onto maroon island, captured by inhabitants
- eleanor becomes driving leadership of that force due to relationship with madi, enough sway so no one instantly dies
- when rogers eventually falls ill eleanor takes opportunity to eviscerate his control of the island
- jack successfully rescued in carriage heist, vane escapes custody
- eleanor's plans drastically changed, but That's Fine For Our Purposes Actually
https://i.ibb.co/tx77DZ1/w-2250038.png
No, that is not the question.
How does one remake the world?
That is the question, even if it sits behind more immediate goals: Defend Nassau. Repel whatever retribution is coming. Fortify their uneasy alliance with Eleanor Guthrie.
The Walrus men have set up camp on the far side of the island, out of grasp if Eleanor Guthrie' allegiances shift. But she stands to gain as much as they do, and Eleanor Guthrie both loves this island and wants to see those who humbled her brought low.
John knows this about her. He had seen the same clenched fury in the line of her jaw, marked it even at a distance. If she turns on anyone, he thinks it unlikely to be them.
They've chewed over this before. Discussing strategy around a water-warped round table with Rackham blustering over charts, Vane's ankle propped on the arm of a chair, Bonny prowling in and out of the light. Billy had been there this time, discussing what amounts to little more than gossip.
A fleet is coming from England or from Spain or from France, depending on who is telling the story. Eleanor Guthrie has had a letter meant for Woodes Rogers demanding the progress of pacifying the island. Captain Throckmorton has been threatening to raise his men into a militia to retrieve Woodes Rogers from where he's been safely stowed in the fort.
Conflicting information that all leads to the same conclusion:
They must continue their preparations. Billy will continue his writings in Miranda (Hamilton) Barlow's cottage. John will again appeal to Max. And Flint and Vane and Jack will go out among the pirates of Nassau to sway them to their cause.
They need Max. John's thinking of that afterwards, when they've emerged into the muggy night air and parted ways. (For the best, having tested the limitations of tolerance over the course of the night's conversation.) John does not go so far, only down to the surf, to lay aside his crutch and attempt to tend to his leg.
He has a few moments to himself, alone with the shadows of the camp fires cast long and distorted along the sand. John's meditation on how best to put his case to Max, however, is soon interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps, the flap of coat hem in tandem with each step. It can only be one person.
"I hope you've brought something with you to drink, after all that," is said lightly, easy in spite of the flicker of tension sparking up in his shoulders, drawing John a little straighter.