James sat bolt upright as the door to his cabin burst open to reveal LieutenantGroves and Lietuenant Gillette, carrying several rolls of bread.
"Morning, James!" Groves called jovially to his friend who lay entangled in his sheets on the floor.
"mphhh" Gillette added, his words of greeting unintelligible due to the large amount of food in his mouth.
James threw the sheets off of him irritably as he climbed to his feet, using his cot for support. "Why is it I can never seem to get ANY sleep around here?"
"And, from what you've told us, you seem to spend an awful lot of time falling out of bed." Groves supplied with a grin, oblivious to his friend's ire. "Now, Andrew, as I was saying- DRAT! You're not dressed James! That ruins EVERYTHING!"
"Terribly sorry to inconvenience you…seeing as you've never done that to me." James said dryly.
Gillette, finally able to swallow his bread spoke up. "It doesn't matter anyway, Theo, you know I'm right. We all do it the same, it's obviously the Waterfall."
"NO! I'm telling you Andrew, he's either doing it WRONG or it a completely different type! It looks more like the Oriental to me." Theo replied agitatedly staring at James in a calculating manner.
"Gentlemen, what-?" James attempted to interrupt their tirade.
"Theodore, you're so THICK! He doesn't use the Oriental one! It's naval protocol to use the Waterfall one!" Gillette argued back, completely ignoring his former commanding officer.
"NOW who's being unnecessarily insulting, Andrew!" Groves shouted, looking hurt.
James watched them with an increasingly dark expression as he tried various methods to get their attention. Tapping them on the shoulders, loudly and pointedly saying their names, stealing Andrew's food…when nothing worked he growled in frustration and then recalled an old trick he used to call the dog back in England. He put his finger to his lips and whistled. LOUD.
Instantly, the two lieutenants turned to him in alarm, Theodore, clapping his hands over his ears yelling "Bloody Hell!"
"Well, SOMEONE woke up on the wrong side of bed today…" Andrew muttered.
James glared at his two friends. "Thanks to someone's exceedingly rude, and apparently pointless interruption of my sleep, I did NOT wake up in a bed at all, Andrew. I. WOKE. UP. ON. THE. FLOOR. Now, I suggest you tell me why you've barged into my room at…" James paused a moment to check his pocket watch, "-ONE in the morning, before I ask Sparrow to return you to the island we found you on!"
"Well, Gillette got hungry…" Theodore began.
"So we went down to the galley…"
"Where we got Gillette some food…"
"Then the cook got mad because we woke him up…"
"So we left…"
"But I managed to steal some bread on the way out." Gillette added.
"Then we went up on deck because Gillette was eating INCREDIBLY slow…"
"Where Theodore said something about his cravat…"
"Then I figured we should COMPARE cravats, because I was bored…"
"Which dragged YOUR cravat into the conversation…"
"Well, after that the conversation sort of turned into an argument…"
"We couldn't remember how you tied yours…"
"I think you tie it Oriental style, but Andrew…"
"But I know you tie it Waterfall style, since that is naval protocol…" Andrew cut his friend off again.
"But I'm sure Andrew's wrong…so we decided to come here and see for ourselves…"
"Then we got here and you weren't wearing your cravat…"
"Which means, you'll have to get dressed now, James!" Groves finished, as Andrew took another bite of his bread.
James stared at them, not sure quite how to reply to something like that.
"C'mon Jums…'ou goft ta get dreffed now." Gillette persisted, his words muffled by the bread.
"So, the two of you, argue for 20 minutes…completely ignoring me, but the way, and it was all about how I tie my CRAVAT?" James exclaimed incredulously. Of all the insane things he'd seen on this ship, this either topped the list, or came VERY close to doing so, and they weren't even part of the crew!
"We knew you'd understand, James!" Groves beamed, holding out James' cravat to him.
Gillette nodded enthusiastically...
James took all of five second to think before stalking over to the door. "Out."
Gillette and Groves began protesting. "But our well-being depends on how you answer this question!"
James stared at them. "Then you'll just have to deal with being rather less well than before, because I. DON'T. CARE. Now, OUT!"
Gillette sniffed dramatically, and Groves stared at his former commanding officer with a look of extreme shock and exaggerated sorrow. "You are a truly wonderful friend, James." He said dejectedly as they were unceremoniously shoved into the hallway.
"Well, we both know I was right anyway, Theo." Gillette said after a moment, as they retreated to their own cabin.
"You wish, Andrew."
James climbed back under the sheets that had trapped him earlier, determined to get some rest before he was woken again to begin work. He rolled over several times, trying to find his comfortable spot. Unfortunately, no matter how comfortable he got, his mind refused to stop replaying the incident from earlier. For hours he laid in his bed staring at the wooden boards that the ceiling was constructed of. Finally, he threw off his comfortable sheets and rolled out of bed. He tiredly walked up to the Captain's Cabin and picked up the quill pen lying on the small wooden table and dipped it into the ink.
12. Conducting an argument about a third person and completely ignoring said third person even though they are present.
13. Holding a conversation about cravats during said argument.
HEELLOO! It's another chapter for you! Gillette and Groves for your pleasure!
We've just noticed...James rarely gets any sleep because of us...and he tends to end up on the floor quite a bit too. *feels a bit guilty* Poor guy! Also...do you know how incredibly stupid you feel when researching the different ways to tie a cravat? I mean people even have YOUTUBE tutorials for that...*shock*
ANYWAY! So sorry for the sporadic updates! Due to circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with my new drawing tablet which happens to be exceedingly addicting and hard to put down...we have...issues with writing. ^_^
Thank you so much for sticking with us! And please remember to review! I luffs reviews! They make me happier than a bird with a french fry!
