(Untitled)

[captjacksparrow]

Jack wanders down near the docks early that evening. The sun's not yet set.

Norrington's shut up in the study with his papers, utterly oblivious to the fact Jack's been lingering through their rooms like a ghost, vying for attention from the butler or the maids. They were starting to look at him odd (more odd than usual, at least), because proper

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[bertiewwooster]

He'd told Jeeves he was going out, and out he had bally well gone. Leave Jeeves with his Miss Susan, whoever she was (and Bertie couldn't help feeling a little appalled when he found out that this woman was coming over to his flat without his having any prior knowledge of the fact), let them dine and flirt and kiss and- no. Bertie wasn't even going to entertain those thoughts, not now. Not Jeeves, his Jeeves, as shameful as that sounded, doing that sort of thing with a woman. Doing that sort of thing with anyone really, he'd acknowledged glumly, anyone who wasn't Bertie himself. But dash it, it didn't want to think about Jeeves now. Now he needed a b and s or three, very, very light on the soda. Possibly lacking the soda at all. He'd gone to the Drones at first, but the constant noise of the place had bored through his skull and given him a throbbing headache, and when Bingo Little had slumped into a seat next to him and asked, staring absently over his head, what Bertie thought of the name Judith, he'd had to leave

[captjacksparrow]

'Ehh?' Jack says when the stranger speaks, then realises it's meant to be a greeting. He thinks. He's pretty sure, anyway, and an excuse for conversation is not something he feels prone to pass up lightly. Rum and comapany -- that's what he wants.

The smile he's given is promising. Jack quirks his mouth into an interested smirk as the man drains his glass. 'Don't mind if I join you in that.' He knocks back a large swig of rum -- half the glass -- and savours the familiar burn.

'Haven't seen you enlighten this establishment with your presence before,' he tells the liquid in his glass aimiably. His voice echoes a bit, and he smiles at the effect. He glances at the stranger out of the corner of his eye.

There are only so many reasons new people go down to the docks. And from the man's clothes, he's probably not here to swindle some rodshot merchant out of half his pocketbook. Perhaps be swindled by. Jack's curiousity starts getting the better of him.

'Seem a bit...' He screws up his face in an exaggerated hunt for words. '

[bertiewwooster]

The man next to him seems to be speaking more to his drink than he his to Bertie, but Bertie flushes a little nonetheless under his sideways scrutiny and gestures to the barkeep for another b and s. The man's eyes are almost unnervingly dark, and Bertie feels rather like he's being stripped to the core. It's the same effect a keen Jeevesian stare has, but somehow it's different coming from this pirate-looking chap. He's unfamiliar, he supposes; he's unused to withstanding the force of the gaze day after day. He shrugs when the man finishes

[captjacksparrow]

The little laugh the stranger gives, half-flustered and half-playful, charms Jack. Completely unexpectedly. There's something warmingly boyish about the man, and straight-forward. Jack can count on one finger how many bare-faced types he's met during his stay in London. Everyone always wants something, which Jack is used to when at sea; it makes sense there, to want supplies, to want company, to want a reprieve. But he will never grow used to the emotional grappling London society entails, forever gunning for higher status or intrigue or gossip. This man doesn't seem to play by those rules. Jack identify with someone who lives outside the norm.

Mention of roll-throwing hooligans catches his interest, and he opens his mouth to comment when the man steamrolls on. Jack clacks his teeth, not quite sure what to do with this onslaught of words.

'What?' he echoes, tone landing somewhere between not paying attention and entirely dense. He scrolls back through the last few words, picking out Bertie and personable. Personable is something