the widow bonnet

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[ CONTINUED FROM HERE ]

It's very strange, having father home, in Alma's opinion. She can tell that there is quite a lot she isn't being told. But she'd been mad at him for leaving, and now she's sort of mad at him for coming back - then again, she doesn't know why he left or why he returned. If only he would tell her instead of pretending like nothing happened.

Louis, meanwhile, is not thinking of anything so philosophical, merely that he does not want to go to bed yet. He does however, like stories.

" Tell us where you went, "   Alma says, nearly challenging. Staring at Stede from where she sits in her bed. She may be getting tired, but they've been avoiding the point this whole time.   " Something good must have happened. "   For you to have left us.   " Tell us that story. "

“ a treehouse? ”  ed’s got about the vaguest sense of a notion of what that might look like — a whole house up in a tree? not fuckin’ likely, but then again this place is huge and a bit intimidating, honestly, so a house up a tree sounds fucking fantastic. like a crow’s nest — sounds fantastic. ed sneaks a glance across the group at stede, nervous there, too, because he doesn’t think stede’s gonna, like… worry about ed sneaking off with his son, or anything, the whole point of this is so ed can get to know the rest of them, but— 

out of place, right? so he just wants to make sure. 

it takes a second to actually make eye contact, and ed tips his head to the side in a way that he hopes conveys hey we’re just going outside, no need to worry, it’s all good, and it’s gotta say something like that because stede sort of… nods at him, and smiles, and ed’ll take it. 

“ — yeah, alright, let’s go see this treehouse, then. ”

ed just sort of . . . looks away, and it takes louis a second to realizes he's asking for permission from stede (he didn't realize adults had to do that) but when he does, he offer his best puppy eyes towards his father to support the cause.

they are, as suspected, given permission. louis smiles a bit at the victory.

" come on! "   still in that raised whisper as he grabs ed's hand to tug him towards the door to go outside. he lets go as he gets there, opening the door and holding it open for ed, politely closing it behind him.

and then they're free, and louis is happily running forward and then circling back to make sure ed is following like an excited puppy as he leads him toward the treehouse.

                                  if he’s honest, he doesn’t know a lot about kids. israel hardly knows what family looks like without screaming, without bloodied knuckles and battered features. he doesn’t know family without pain, and perhaps this is one of stede’s lessons, something he can’t just wiggle his way out of. captain’s orders to go along, so he does, sword at his side though any firearm remains aboard the ship, bonnet’s insistence he wouldn’t need either, ed had hardly talked him out of bringing both.

                                  something no one told him was kids are very much like cats, the less interest you show them the more they want. playing pirates. he is a fucking pirate and here this little girl is telling him about something he’s been doing since before she was fucking born.

“ aye. we are, but if every pirate is scary, then you’ve got to look tougher than whoever you’re shooting at. ”     he informs with a softer tone than he might use when teaching stede.     “ or they might shoot back. ”   he hums, thoughtful as she speaks, mulls it over in his head. louis is a good first mate to alma’s captain, really.  they seem to even one another out, hesitant and headstrong,    he wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them followed in bonnet’s footsteps, though he’s sure he knows who that will be.

  “ and what does your first mate think of the idea, hm ? ”    he looks to louis now.    “ should we give them a chance to surrender ? ”

" i'm scary! "   the lesson is noted, though alma responds with the same brash confidence she is often prone to.   " i'm scarier than you, "   she tells louis.   " . . . . could be scarier than you, "   she muses, turning to izzy and sizing him up.at the very least, she'd have to put the effort in, there. she's fairly sure he'd shoot back anyway, though.

louis is just sort of looking around, beyond used to these antics by the time mister hands turns to him. he has been given a choice to deliberate, and he considers it carefully. if they have a chance to surrender, then there may be a chance this raid will be wholeheartedly boring, but alma wants to fire the cannons.

" the queen anne is one of the fastest ships on the sea! "   louis says after a few seconds. this is true, he'd read it in a book.  " there's no way they'll outrun us, captain! "

alma considers this, too, but for far less longer than louis - he always has his head in a book, and if her first mate says that the ship is fast enough, then it's fast enough. no cannons needed.

        shit – fuck. he’d forgotten that one. being on the sea for so long and having his own shitty upbringing made it hard to realize just what was and wasn’t allowed to be said around children. but he was trying. 

      ❝ right – sorry, mate. ❞ he mumbled, sheepishly fidgeting with the lobe of his ear as he made one more quick check that no one was around to yell at him. though, the voice of stede was clear enough in his head to feel a little bit of shame for it. but that was quickly tossed aside in favor of immediately taking two pencils and coloring on the paper to see if they would actually make a new color. a bit surprised that it does. 

      ed’s seen mary’s paintings, stared at that damned lighthouse for months on end it felt like. and he liked her paintings. he did. but actually seeing how art is made – well, it was really fucking cool. 

         but he really doesn’t know what he wants to draw. staring at the blank page for a moment before looking at the drawing louis had made. a amused smile on his face, ❝ look like a real pirate, like your dad. ❞ it’s almost an after thought when he realizes that he’d said it at all. though he’s careful not to mention how he doesn’t like pets aboard his own ships. didn’t wanna ruin the kid’s dreams or anything. ❝ i’m sure you’ll be bada– really cool, kid. ❞

      he paused, before turning back to his own piece of paper, finally sketching something. 

like a real pirate, mister ed says. he hadn't meant to draw himself as a pirate, he'd been drawing a hero. hero is a whole career on it's own, he's not sure he manage being a pirate and a hero. that's probably a lot of work. he wonders if mister ed is tired of being a hero and a pirate at the same time.

he considers this career course, and eventually adds a little bandanna tied around his head to his drawing - a must have for pirates. he's not sure why ed doesn't have one. maybe because he's on shore right now. that must be it.

                  ❝  well – uh, your dad and i are getting married, love. i think uncle ed probably isn’t the way to go with these things.  ❞ it’s soft, though his head is spinning a bit just mentioning that fact to her. had they really told his kids about that yet? they must have – right? but then there’s the subject of actually teaching her. 

                oh, mary was going to chew him out for this answer, wasn’t she? 

                ❝  go grab those play swords, yeah? i can start you out on those.  ❞

He's not my dad. She thinks it, but she doesn't say it because she's really intent on getting fencing lessons from someone who actually knows how to fight, who can show her pirate tricks like kicking sand into your opponent’s eyes.

So instead she says -

" Dad, can you teach me how to swordfight, please? "   With a carefully affected doe-eyed innocent look.

It works, apparently, and she's sprinting off to go get the swords, waving her hand and yelling  "Nothing, mom! "  when Mary asks where she's going in such a hurry.

She's back in the yard and throwing a sword at Ed within the minute.