AN: I'm working on posting some of my favorite Tumblr-Only stories to this account. I'm pretty proud of this one, which started a "short" story I wrote on a reblog of a Tumblr post. A Good Sort Of Problem and Spilled Drinks should be updated quite soon if I can get to work and you might also get another one-shot with Stampy and Squid as their avatars.
"What the hell is going on?" Squid asked abruptly. All around him was chaos; people frantically trying to board lifeboats and being rebuffed by the crew. Shouting could be heard as first class men tried to persuade the crewmen to let them on a boat and a group of first class women were sobbing as they were led into the lifeboats.
Seeing his friend enter the promenade deck, Squid hurried over, pushing past distressed families and grimly calm valets. Stopping in front of his friend, a young man with long curly black hair, Squid asked if he had any idea what was going on.
Stampy looked uncharacteristically grim. "Some of the other passengers on the way here said we hit an iceberg. One of the bottom floor corridors is apparently flooding and the crew is trying to get all of the women and children off."
Squid sputtered in shock. "What? I don't- you know what, never mind, I can believe it. I suppose I have to, if we want to survive." Squid stared at his friend. "So what's our plan then? We're not going to die here."
Stampy exhaled sharply. "I guess I don't have one. What are you supposed to do when you're stuck on a sinking ship?"
"I don't know, mate. Let's go wait inside and come up with a plan, I guess." Squid admitted, grabbing his comrade's arm and pulling him through the crowd into the gymnasium, where the rest of the passengers were trying to keep warm. All of the first class passengers had taken the spaces by the door and were being served drinks by the crew. Squid and Stampy were forced to squeeze through them and stand by the back wall, watching the crew attempt to explain what was going on to the other passengers.
"I don't suppose," Stampy said slowly, turning to look at Squid. "that there will be any room on the life boats for us?"
Squid slumped against the wall and sighed. "All the women and children will get on first and if there is extra room then the first class men will get on. And even that's pretty unlikely, Stamps. If there was extra room after that the second class men would get on and only after that could we get on."
"I'll take that as a 'no' then, Squid." Stampy said patiently. "Okay can we, I don't know, make something that floats and get on that?"
Squid kept staring at the other passengers, mostly the first class men, who had a better chance of surviving than him. What was depressing was that even their chance of survival was slim. "I don't know, Stamps. I doubt the crew would let us take apart the ship to try and build a way to survive." With a sudden thought Squid jerked his gaze over to Stampy. "But if the ship was already in pieces, we might have a chance."
Stampy shifted impatiently. "Come on, Squid. We're about to die here, just tell me what you're thinking."
"Some parts of the ship are already in pieces!" Squid insisted. "If I jump into the water before the ship had sunk we can find a bit of, I don't know, a bit of wood, or something else that floats."
Stampy looked skeptical. "It's freezing out there! We'll die of hyperthermia, even if we aren't in the water!"
Squid looked slightly put out, but he was determined to survive now. "Not if we can get dried off. Here, I'll go into the water and you can jump onto the board at the last second. Gather as many towels and blankets and you can. Bring them on and I can dry off. Plus they can keep us warm even if we are soaked. That's why you aren't supposed to take off wet clothes if you're in cold water."
"There's still a lot of luck involved with this plan." Stampy pointed out. "How do you know someone's going to ever rescue us? We could starve to death while still at sea! Or more likely die of thirst, I suppose."
Squid straightened against the wall. "Do you have a better idea? I mean, I'm open to suggestions here. I don't really want to die, you know."
Stampy laughed. "We're going with your plan. I don't have any ideas, so I guess we have no choice. I'm trusting you on this, Squid-Nugget, okay? I'm literally trusting you with my life. Ooh, that doesn't sound promising."
"Oh thanks, mate." Squid said sarcastically. He pushed off the wall and gestured at Stamps. "We need to find some blankets. Come on." Squid started to make his way through the crowd. "Keep up, Stampy!"
Stampy grumbled and exasperatedly said that he was coming.
After a little while of searching the A Deck, they found a bunch of towels from one of the nicest suites with a bathroom in it. Knowing they were running out of time, they grabbed as many full length towels as they could carry, about four each, and ran back the way they came, down the corridor and up the stairs back to promenade deck.
Bursting through the entrance of the promenade deck they were forced to slow down as they were met with a crowd of women and children trying to board the remaining lifeboats. The boat was visibly tilting now- everyone could feel it- and there were only a few people left who refused to believe what was happening, that the Titanic was sinking. The chaos had settled down now. Most of the passengers were grimly saying good bye to their friends and family as the women and children were boarding the ever dwindling supply of lifeboats. The others were wandering around the boat, waiting for it to sink. The band was playing, which surprised Squid. He hadn't heard it earlier during the chaos. Enough people must have left or quieted that the music could be heard now.
"We gotta go, Squid." Stampy reminded him. "Come on, most of the lifeboats are already gone and there aren't many women and children left. Soon enough people will realize the lifeboats can't take them and they might get a similar idea to us. We need to get going."
Squid was jolted into action. "Lead the way then. Let's go."
Stampy led their way through the remaining men and woman on the ship to the edge. With a screech another lifeboat was lowered into the ocean. By Squid's count there were only two left and the bow of the ship was only a few feet above the waterline. Most of the remaining passengers had headed towards the stern as the ship sank, so the bow was sparse expect for Stampy and Squid as they jogged toward the far end of it.
"We probably want to wait for as long as possible before you jump in." Stampy pointed out. "You shouldn't have to be stuck in the water any longer than you have to."
Squid nodded. "Let's wait till they're filling the last lifeboat." He dropped his towels and leaned back against the railing of the bow.
Stampy and Squid watched as the crewmen frantically filled the second to last lifeboat. There were only a few women and children left, but Squid still thought it unlikely that all of them could make it into the remaining boats. The other men were watching from the stern and some of the upper class were having cigars. Finally the second to last lifeboat was lowered and Squid watched nervously as it reached the water and the remaining crew began loading the last boat.
"Alright, Squid. This is it." Stampy said nervously. "I'll take all the towels. Try and find us a nice big board, will you?"
"Yeah, sure." Squid replied sarcastically. "Anything else while I'm at it?"
"Cake and a proper lifeboat would be nice."
Squid rolled his eyes and looked over the edge of the bow to see the water almost overwhelming them. "Wish me luck, mate."
"Good luck!" Stampy replied hopefully.
"I'll need it." Squid said grimly as he pulled himself up onto the rail. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself into the water.
Exhaling in a gasp, Squid propelled himself away from the Titanic, shivering slightly. Around him were scraps of wood and other odd pieces of material, but nothing that could feasibly even hold him up. Breathing heavily, he swam further out, swatting at the useless debris. Fisting his numb hands briefly to try and return some feeling into them, he tread water and spun around in a circle. He couldn't see anything big enough to support the weight of both himself and Stampy. There was a deck chair big enough to support one of them if it came down to it, but he fervently hoped that it wouldn't.
Back on the ship, Stampy was being forced to retreat back up the bow as water started to overwhelm it. He had been watching Squid's progress up until that point, but when he had backed off from the rising water and moved to the left side of the boat to return to his vigil his friend was nowhere to be seen.
"Squid-nugget?" Stampy called out nervously. "Squid?" Silence except for the music of the band. Scouring the ocean for his friend, Stampy looked around desperately. Close to Stampy's position, to his right, was a floating deck chair and beyond that he couldn't see pass the bend of the ship's bow.
"Stampy!" a familiar voice called out from the left. Stampy's head jerked to his left and saw his bedraggled friend clinging to a large piece of wood which appeared to be the table from the third class common room. Stampy released his breath.
"Oh whew! There you are!" Stampy exclaimed. "I lost sight of you for a while. You alright, Squid?"
"Been better!" Squid called out nonchalantly. "It's a bit cold over here!"
Stampy hurried along the edge of the boat toward Squid, carrying the towels. "Is it safe to get in then? Is that big enough to support us?"
"It had better be! Because we're running out of time!" Squid said, pointing to the bow of the ship. The place Stampy had been standing at just a second ago was now being submerged.
"Alright!" Stampy called back. "See if you can steer the table closer to the boat! And preferably toward a shallower drop!"
Squid started kicking his freezing legs, pushing the table towards the ship. He was shivering violently now and his fingers were blue. Squid was certain that if he could see his toes they would be as well.
"Let's go, Squid-nugget, let's go!" Stampy called out cheerfully. "You have this!"
Squid and the table bumped the ship. "I made it! Now get on!" Squid said anxiously.
Stampy looked around the deck. Most of the other passengers were still huddled by the stern, although several people were looking at them as Squid impatiently waited from Stampy to get on.
The water started to intrude on the deck further and Stampy leapt over the railing and lowered himself onto the table after dropping the towels onto it.
Squid hauled himself onto it as well before Stampy pushed them away from the sinking ship.
Squid shivered violently and Stampy noticed.
"Oh yeah, here." Stampy handed Squid a few towels and unfolded a few others. Squid struggled to dry himself off while lying down and Stampy watched with interest.
"Stay still, Squid, and I can dry you off." Stampy pointed out.
Squid tilted his head to look at him. Both of them were lying on their stomachs and Stampy was hugging the remaining towels with one arm and holding onto the table top with the other. One of Stampy's legs was hooked around Squid's in an attempt to make sure neither of them fell off.
"Alright, I'll hold your towels then and make sure you don't fall off." Squid agreed.
Silently, Stampy shoved the towels at Squid and grabbed the other ones. Stuffing the extra towels under him, Stampy dried Squid off, focusing mostly on his head and chest at first. Then he put one of the dry towels over Squid's head and shoulders before drying off his legs and covering them as well with a dry towel.
"Use those towels as blankets and to dry off if you get splashed." Stampy instructed. "I'll use these two and we can save the other ones for later, I guess."
"Sounds good. I'll hold onto the ones you used to dry me off. You can take a turn trying to hold us on." Squid told him.
"Fair enough. Now we just have to wait for rescue." Stampy said, shifting as the board bobbed. "And we should probably push this a bit farther away from the ship."
Squid looked back at the ship, which they had thankfully drifted away from. Most of the passengers had jumped off it by now, but a few lone figures were still cowering at the top of the stern. As he watched the stern went higher and higher until those last few figures had surely fallen into the water.
"Yeah." Squid said hoarsely. "Let's get away from that."
Stampy picked up a board and paddled them away from the dying vessel. When they were far enough away they both looked back. The ship was almost vertical and to Squid it would have seemed comically if not for the fact that hundreds of people were in danger from it, themselves included. The lights flickered and went out. There was a large crash, as something happened with the ship, what it was Squid didn't know, and then the shadowy shape of the ship's stern started to crash back into the water. It soared back upward once more, stayed for a second, and then it fell down to the water, taking the ship with it.
Squid turned away. There was really nothing you could say to that sight. Stampy turned back to look at Squid and they waited in silence to be rescued.
AN: I hope you enjoyed and I apologize for any typos, spelling errors and grammatical errors.