Blow the man down

[seekingcrocodile]

WHO: Killian Jones
WHERE: The inn
WHEN: February 14th
OPEN TO: Everyone
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Open

---

Someone's in a good mood. Which is probably a little strange for this place, but that's just how it is right now. He's got something to look forward to, namely his wedding with Emma (or as much of one as they can manage to put together in this place, at least), and the weather's finally improving, a little at a time, and the whole situation is helped along by the occasional sip from the flask in his pocket. (Although he is rationing as much as he can, since he knows that he has a finite supply of rum to fill it with.)

He got a particularly good haul of fish today, and he's out of the way in a corner somewhere, with a basket of his catch and a bucket that he scrounged up somewhere, to use for catching the insides of the fish as he cleans them out. This (hopefully) avoids a mess all over the floor, and the contents of the bucket can then be used as bait or possibly as animal feed.

As he works, he finds himself setting a rhythm, which then leads to humming, soon followed by singing. That had been the point of these sea shanties, after all, to set the rhythm of a task for the crew. It comes naturally to him now, and the mood and the rum mean that he doesn't care what others might think.

"I'll sing you a song, a good song of the sea
(To me way, hey, blow the man down)
I trust that you'll join in the chorus with me
(Give me some time to blow the man down)"

If only random bits of metal would stop sticking to his hook while he's working.

Comments

SEA SONGS

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana was sitting by the fire, working on the fishing net that she had promise Thorfinn. Her finger worked quickly and skillfully while she hummed beneath her breath. Her song quieted as she heard Killian's song, her chin lifting up to look at the man singing.

It was about the sea.

She placed her palm on the floor and pushed herself to her feet. There was a moment of pain, where her muscle relaxed instead of contracting like she told it to do but Moana moved past it, trying her best to ignore it. "Is that a song about the ocean?" Killian will quickly notice that Moana wasn't wearing shoes and that she had a scar twisting painfully across her right shoulder.

[seekingcrocodile]

When he hears someone approaching, he notices those things and also the net in her hands. He's made more than a few himself since arriving here, as well as repairing them. She must know a little something about the sea herself.

"Aye, it is. It's a song sung by those who work on the sea."

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana's dark eyes brightened. "You're a voyager then? Can you tell me where you've been? I'd love to hear about the ocean."

She looked a bit like an eager child despite being a young adult. There was a bounce to her toes and an innocence in the sheen of her gaze. "I've always wanted to go out to sea." Though her first attempt failed horribly.

[seekingcrocodile]

"If we find one here, then perhaps you'll get your chance to go out to sea." There has to be one here somewhere, if there's a river large enough to need a bridge. Every river leads to an ocean somewhere.

"As for where I've been, I've been all over. That's the advantage of my own ship. Going when and where I want." Which is what makes it so hard to have to be stuck here. That he didn't choose to be stuck here.

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana nodded her head. "The ocean connects everything. Even if we can't see it, it's out there and it's calling me." She spoke from her heart, bright and happy as she imagined the bright light of the sun as it shined and glittered of the ocean.

"What was your ship like?" Moana was a bit starry eyed at the moment. She wanted to hear about everything that he's seen.

[seekingcrocodile]

"We haven't found it yet, but it must be out there somewhere and we'll keep looking." The question is whether or not it's outside the boundaries of this place, and those haven't been found yet, either. At least not in any way that makes it obvious that there's a boundary. But there must be, because whoever is watching them, toying with them, must have a limit as to where they are allowed to go.

"She was the fastest ship in the fleet." Back when the ship was part of a fleet. After that any ship he'd had would have been the fastest just because it was the only ship in the fleet. "The jewel of the realm." Literally, until he'd renamed her. "Two masts, square-rigged. She took us everywhere, took care of us." Few things will bring up his nostalgia like talking about his ship will. "I still hope that one day I'll see her again."

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana smiled at him. She felt the call from the ocean, the same pull she'd felt on her island. She can't explain how she knows but the ocean was out there somewhere. They just needed to keep searching.

"That sounds amazing. The boat that I used was very small. It was a canoe. I can't imagine sailing something larger. How many people did you sail with?" She had no way of knowing that they were talking about two different types of boats.

[seekingcrocodile]

"My crew was anywhere between 12 to 15 men." Depending on comings and goings, or accidents, or the events in Neverland where the crew kept getting lost until they'd learned the island's secrets. "There were times I was forced to sail all on my own though."

Yet somehow he'd still managed.

[chosenbytheocean]

"That's what I was trying to do. Well, me and Pau." Though she hadn't gotten very far. "That was before I ended up here. Are you from an island too? Does everyone sail there?" She had a lot of questions and she was trying to keep her excitement manageable so that he might be able to answer all of her questions.

Moana didn't want to scare him away.

[seekingcrocodile]

"You were trying to sail on your own?" Or maybe she meant something else.

He considers his answer for a moment. "I'm from a lot of places. Where I was born and raised though, was a very large island. Not everyone there sailed, but the navy was the king of the sea."

Not the literal king, of course. That would be Poseidon.

[chosenbytheocean]

Moana nodded her head. "Yes but... I couldn't make it pass the reef in my canoe." She'd tried and she had failed.

"Navy? Is that the name of those who sailed? Like those who fish?" Navy was a color, Moana wasn't sure if it was supposed to mean something else though it was a good color for those who loved the sea.

It also happened to be the color of her scrubs.

[theroadremains]

It's the song that draws Casey out of the cellar where he had been trying to remember and place the names of the food stored away. He had stocked the wood furnace back up and swept the floors, and his tattered, multi-layered clothing was faintly darker and lighter in places for the ash and dust that had collected across it.

Kira had mentioned some people like to sing, and Casey had taken the encouragement for the permission it offered, to play his harmonica from time to time, soft sad tunes on the roof.

He slips out of the cellar as quietly as he can, a curious gaze following to the fish. He didn't have a knife to offer his help with the task, and he knew enough about cleaning them not to need to ask to be shown, so he let his curiosity take precedence over his need to work for once, settling unobtrusively in a corner opposite to Killian.

He rests his arms on his knees, and for a moment he just listens before slipping the metal instrument from his pocket. Casey picks out what he thinks are the notes to the song. He gives it a few verses, and then Killian's sea shanty finds an unasked for instrumental backup. A series of notes on the harmonica that find and follow the rhythm and tone of his words with the ease of a young man who had had nothing but time all his life to learn to play by ear.

[seekingcrocodile]

He's so involved in his work, and his song, that he doesn't notice when Casey sits in the other corner. People are in and out of the inn all the time, so why should today be any different? Besides, he has a pile of fish to make it through.

He looks up in surprise when he hears the harmonica, but there's only a momentary pause in his song and he's back to it again. He hadn't expected anyone to play along; he didn't know there was anyone that could.

Then, when he runs out of verses, he just starts making some up. Why not? Everyone sings this song differently anyway, and he's still got fish left, and accompaniment.

[notabirdcostume]

Sometimes it's easier to prepare for dinner when you can chop up the ingredients before hand. Sam had decided he had some down time and was doing just that, the wooden board clipped by the sound of Sam's knife as he kept a staccato pattern across its surface.

He wasn't thinking much about it, but a tune was carried from the back of the kitchen to his ears and he found himself humming to it. Of course, a simple sea shanty wasn't too complicated so before too long his own voice started to join in the mix -- why not? Gutting fish wasn't the only chore made easier by a song.

Of course, if he'd had his way, they'd be singing something a little more up to date.

[seekingcrocodile]

The chorus is easy enough to pick up on, for sure, which is a big part of the reason that he'd chosen this song. That way others could join in if they wanted, as sea shanties are intended to do.

Killian pauses in his cleaning efforts to toss a salute in Sam's direction as he joins in. It makes him one of the group now, at least for as long as the song continues.

Next time there's a sing-along, Sam can choose the song.

[notabirdcostume]

Sam had grown up singing in church -- not really a part of the official choir, but just in general. His voice wasn't half bad, but he hadn't had the opportunity to sing in awhile. He sometimes forgot how fun it could be and he was certainly getting in to it now. He slid his knife along the cutting board as he pushed the cut vegetables into a bowl waiting for him.

He smirked and nodded at Killian, a return of the salute he'd tossed his way, acknowledging the other man's presence in the shared space that was the kitchen.

[seekingcrocodile]

This isn't exactly church singing -- even the most religious sailors find their faith tested in the middle of the ocean -- but it's definitely not as bawdy as it could be, either. This is a work song more than anything else. Which is why he picked it.

He cleans the last of the fish and steps over to the sink to rinse the knife off. "The work seems to go faster that way."

[notabirdcostume]

"It does," Sam remarked, already grabbing some seasonings to start sprinkling on the veggies. There wasn't a lot to work with, but he could make do with what he had for the moment. He sprinkled it over and then started tossing.

"You always sing when you're cleaning fish?"

[seekingcrocodile]

Making do it what they've all been having to do lately, although after the pile of gifts during the winter, making do had become easier to do. Even if their attempts are far from perfect.

"Not always. Only when I feel like it."

[notabirdcostume]

"And what made you feel like it today? Just a really good haul," Sam asked. He's mainly making conversation. He gets company in the kitchen from time to time so for him this is just what you do. Prepping for a meal just isn't as fun if there isn't someone to talk to.

[seekingcrocodile]

"A good haul helps." Especially when there are some days where he doesn't have much to speak of. "Today it's for more personal reasons though. Even in this place, there can be good things that happen."

[notabirdcostume]

Sam thought that was a good point. For all his dislike of this place, there were some good things that had come out of it. If nothing else he certainly enjoyed the company of some of the people he'd met. Of course, nothing particularly worth singing about had happened any time recently -- at least not that he knew of. "Oh yeah? And what's so good about today?"

[seekingcrocodile]

He'd met some people here that he never would have met before, that's obvious. If nothing else, it has confirmed to him that he has an easier time befriending people now than he did when he was an unashamed villain, which is how he likes it now. It also helps that only one person here knew him when he was like that, so no one else has any preconceived notion of him that he now has to work against.

"This morning, like every morning for the last couple of months, I woke up next to a woman who for some unfathomable reason agreed to marry me."

[thesavior]

Emma hadn't seen Killian all day, not that it was unusual, but she found now that they were engaged, she didn't want to go so long without seeing him. She looked around the house a bit, and found that his bottle of rum was missing. He could really only be one place, so she pulled on her jacket and hat and headed to the inn.

She slipped in quietly, and stood listening for a moment, before she sidled her way over to him.

"Looks like someone's having fun?"

[seekingcrocodile]

"I always do, when you're here." He was having fun even before she got here, but a lot of that is still because of her presence in this place in general, and the fact that while this isn't the future either of them probably would have imagined, it's still a future of some sort, with each other.

He slides an arm around her waist, the one with a hook on the end of it. This is followed by a metallic tink as the hook draws her ring closer and sticks to it. He reaches out with his hand to pry them apart, doing his best not to get blood all over her. "Though I'd have more fun if that would stop happening."