THE VIRGIN IN WHITE
This is crossover Fan Fiction, the boys of Moby Dick versus the girls of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Please comment nicely!
MIDNIGHT, STARBUCK ON WATCH
"Oh, gentle mother of storm-tossed man, send to me a comforting vision of maidenly meekness and modesty! Create from the soft white foam a vision of soft white womanhood! Help me to turn aside from mad Ahab's demonic quest to slay the White Whale!"
Starbuck, alone on watch, thus soliloquizing, came upon a slender maiden in the night. She stood by the bowsprit, dressed all in white, radiantly beautiful with supple limbs and shining eyes.
"Maiden! Your soft and shapely figure suggests glad memories of meek and tender womanhood at home. Tell me that Ahab is mad. Tell me that his quest is cruel and evil. Give me the strength to thwart his impious rage and frustrate his cunning madness!"
"Wait . . . what now?" The girl's voice held a twang of unknown shores, her bold brown eyes a glimmer of unmaidenly mischief. "Are we on the ocean? A minute ago I was in a cave in Australia!"
"No winds or storms or laws of science could account for your ocean-crossing in a single moment," Starbuck ruminated. "No doubt a benign providence has sent you here to help me stop the mad and blasphemous designs of Ahab! What is your name, fair maiden?"
"It's Miranda," said the maiden, with the breezy confidence of a girl let loose from all the laws of time and space. "What's yours, Yank? And who is Ahab?"
Swiftly Starbuck explained, marveling at the maiden in white. Not only was she comely and smooth of feature, but she showed no fear of being all alone on a lawless whaling ship in uncharted seas with thirty wild sailors drawn from every race and nation.
"So this Ahab wants to kill the White Whale because the whale bit off his leg. And you want to stop him because you're afraid." Bewitching skepticism sketched itself on Miranda's fair features. "Not very brave for a sailor, mate! In my country the men love a good fight, and we girls are just as grand. Advance Australia!"
"I am the bravest 'mate' in the entire Nantucket fleet," Starbuck said, puffing out his chest in a vain attempt to impress the Australian maiden. "But Ahab's purpose is blasphemous. He seeks to penetrate mysteries unknown to man, to question the cosmic order and to boldly go where no man has gone before!"
"Good on him," Miranda said stoutly. "That's just what I was doing with my chums when we snuck off from the picnic at Hanging Rock. The other girls were all whispering about boys, stuffing themselves with cake and snoozing in the shade, but I wanted to climb and explore and find out all about the ancient mysteries. That rock was my White Whale!"
"But what did you learn?" Starbuck asked. "What was the point?"
Miranda shrugged. "Hell if I know, mate. But when you've got a chance to do something different, or learn something new, you've got to take it. Otherwise you might as well be dead!"
"Are we dead?" Starbuck asked. But Miranda never answered. All she left behind was the sound of her laughter, as wild as the wind howling over a sailor's watery grave.
A/N: This story is dedicated to my friend Katie, (A Mild Looking Sky, Empires of Water) who writes the best Moby Dick stories ever and who inspires me every day with her amazing talent!