Logs:A Sailing Lesson

From From Dusk till Jawn
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Content Warning

includes link to a song that references sexual assault

Cast

Jasper Wright, Cian Doyle

Setting

The Delaware River

Log

In advance of the lesson, Cian texts Jasper the address of a marina on the Delaware River, close to center city (and probably within walking distance for the sailor.)

Given that it's Rhea's yacht, the place is pretty swanky, and Cian is leaning against the outside wall of what looks like the office as he waits for Jasper to arrive. He's chosen linen, to wear tonight - a loose fitting shirt tucked into wide legged, fall front pants, both in warm neutrals that complement his Blushed skin nicely. He's staring up at the crescent moon, and seems to be lost in thought.


Seaman's trousers - loose and billowy until one can get to the shoes, were perhaps a bit strange on the man. The short jacket with the shirt - minus a neckerchief, well, that was less out of place. The stockings and shoes fit though. Perhaps erring towards mock 18th Century attire? It wasn't yellowed enough to have been vintage so to speak.

Jasper is quiet, but his body reacts as if alive still. The pitter patter of the heart that betrays him as he approaches the Gangrel. "Penny for your thoughts?"


Cian pushes away from the wall the moment he sees the other man, and perhaps the Blush was an error in judgement as his face warms. A smile eases onto his face, too fast for him to feint any sort of aloofness, and he takes a moment to eye Jasper's wardrobe choices.

"I'd have hoped for a fuller moon, for our expedition, but a clear sky is better than clouds. I see you...extrapolated, on the list I provided."


"Of course. And I read a bit in my journals - found the picture I'd drawn of a man both before and after we'd enjoyed our evening together," says Jasper with a smirk. "I thought it might be nice to see a blast from the past."


"It..." Cian takes another look over Jasper, his smile warming. "It is unexpected, but not unwelcome. Did that evening involve him teaching you something, like this one will?" He seems genuinely curious, and turns away slightly to swipe an access card into the office.


"It only taught me what I already knew - sailors are much less uptight about their partners than some," quips Jasper with a smirk.


Cian looks back, an eyebrow raised above his blue eyes. "You're drawn to sailors, then?" He ushers Jasper inside the empty office - one can access one's boat at any time, but why staff overnight? Very few sail then - and back out through the door to the docks.

"Though I suppose two does not a pattern make."


"Not in particular. At least not before." Jasper eyes the area as the pair walk about, hands sliding to hook thumbs into the top of those trousers. "Though perhaps I'll develop a taste for them, given the circumstances."


It's a well kept marina, and small watercraft of all sorts float snugly, moored to the piers. The water of the Delaware laps softly against wood, fiberglass, metal, and taught lines creak gently.

Cian's mouth quirks up in a grin, and he pauses. "You seemed rather interested in developing that taste, the other night."


"Something tells me that you'd very much like the taste of Shadow in turn," comments Jasper with the smallest smirk. He glances about. "But yes, I did enjoy it"


"As did I." Cian pulls a scrap of paper from a pocket and scans the piers before nodding and leading Jasper to the one furthest left. "What I wouldn't give to take any of these out for a night..." He eyes a more old-fashioned looking wooden sailboat among the more modern ones, and huffs out a small sigh. "Rhea's will do nicely, from what she tells me. If you're a quick learner - it's too large to sail alone."


"We'll have to test that," says Jasper. "Though in the future... it isn't too far a thought to simply let ourselves in and then have a night of that."


"I have...some familiarity with teaching, and while much of it is from an academic perspective, I have successfully instructed a handful of people in the ways of sailing. Ah - here she is."

Cian pauses in front of a sleek and modern boat - one of the larger yachts here. "She tells me it's rigged to sail with two people - lets see if she's right." He flashes a grin at Jasper, the heartbeat provided by his Blush speeding up just a touch.


Jasper's own follows the tempo as he hops onto the vessel before looking over to Cian. With all of the melodrama of the moment he can summon, he says, "I've just been pressed into service. I'm nothing but a normal scholar, but we don't want to die out here, do we? So please, teach me to sail. Whatever you say, I'll do." A pause. "And I'll even lift your spirits with a shanty."


"We're simple scholars both, my friend - I've no doubt we can learn this rig together. Rhea calls her Despoina. Lets start with a tour?" Even on a boat significantly smaller than the battleship Cian's been spending most of his working time on these days, he still had his sea legs, his gait rolling with the slight movement of the yacht, and he gestures with his head for Jasper to come closer.

It proves to be a fairly extensive tour, as Cian learns the ins and outs of the Despoina, and instructs Jasper along the way. And this is all before he even thinks about setting her loose and taking her out on the river.


Jasper is nothing if not a proper student. Stopping, asking questions, demonstrating that he's followed the material before asking if they can move on. Still, he's not entirely graceful, and it does seem that grasping and executing may be different concepts for him should weather prove an issue.


Cian does reassure him that he's kept an eye on the weather, and tonight promises to be calm. And in turn, he keeps things pretty professional as he goes, his quiet demeanor focused on the teaching, not on...well, Jasper.

For the most part.

He does have a little difficulty keeping his eyes from raking the other man occasionally, taking in the figure beneath the slightly out-of-character clothes.

By the end of the tour, Cian does seem satisfied with what Jasper's demonstrated, and directs him in a dry run of setting sails and changing directions.


Jasper seems to have taken everything into account fairly well. Since he's the newcomer, he's still a bit hesitant to make a play, but when Cian calls an order, he jumps to it immediately.


"You're an excellent student," Cian says with a nod and a smile, and begins the process of unmooring - with Jasper's assistance, now that he's proven himself.


"I've been told that before. From one of the Defiant, in fact," says Jasper as he moves to work. Now more confident, more time is spent eyeing his teacher.


"Well. That certainly holds more weight than any praise I might give you." There's a hint of sourness in his voice, easily overlooked, and Cian moves to start the motor - easier to navigate out of the marina with that, than with sails.


"Were you not one in your day?" asks Jasper without the good grace to leave well enough alone. Mekhets and secrets, after all.


"For a time, yes. I...did not find it to my liking." His voice gets a touch colder. "I am not one any longer, so I fail to see how it's relevant."


"It's relevant on the basis that you believe your praise somehow tarnished by the fact that I'd heard such things before," comments Jasper. "Try not to let your distaste for someone in the past influence your present. It doesn't help."


"It's not that you've heard such things before - it's the covenant you heard them from." Cian intersperses the comment with a few instructions to help them get underway, and the boat slips away from the pier and eases around the rest of the ships in port.

"To be quite honest, I'd much rather we change the subject."


"Ah yes. The much desired need to hide your past from me," murmurs Jasper with a smirk. "Would you care to have me sing to you?"


"That all depends on whether or not you can sing." Cian's frown softens slightly, and the corner of his mouth quirks up.


"Not a lick," says Jasper before launching into a particular song.


Cian sighs with resignation, and shakes his head, but at least he's smiling now.

It's not a song he's familiar with, though he nods politely along for the first verse - love songs sung by sailors are a pretty popular theme, and all - and he starts in surprise when it becomes clear that it's, to put it mildly, gay as fuck.

He lets out a quiet laugh, and directs Jasper while he steers, watching the other man intently and correcting him if need be. Once they're into more open water Cian kills the motor and moves to help, following the same procedure he'd taught Jasper earlier.


The song seemed to have lifted his spirits somewhat, and certainly the mood on board. Jasper considers the surroundings before going silently to work in tandem. There are pauses, waiting for Cian to direct before continuing, but it seems the companionable silence sits well with the Mekhet.

Now, though, he studies Cian much more openly. He can't or won't seem to bother actually obfuscating his attempts to maybe catch some insight here and there as the other man finally explores his element.


The man's not really built for the physical labor of sailing - he knows the theory, and is solid in the practice, but there are a few times he needs assistance with something requiring more than an average amount of strength. He makes up for a little of that with pure excitement. Though the previous conversation had soured his mood, as they continue over the water, Cian continues to relax, and his teaching turns a little more casual. He knows what he's talking about, and he knows Jasper will obey him, and eventually he's able to stand on he deck actually grinning. It's readily apparent now much he's missed experiences like this.


Jasper eventually makes his way over to the side of the deck, peering out over the water for a moment before looking back at the captain. "You look like a natural at this."


"If I could spend every night like this, I would." The wind over the water has brought a flush to his cheeks and ruffled his hair out of its usual neatness, and there are speckles of water dotting his shirt and pants.

"On the water, with the moon above me...I do miss the sea, but I can settle for this."


"Why settle? Could you not put together a crew still? Maybe take on tourists going the long way over to places along the coast or god forbid, all the way to Europe?"


"We're nearly a hundred miles away from the ocean, by boat. No one sails by night, like this, across the Atlantic, I don't...know of anyone who would be willing to do that, and...I am more than unwilling to force them." He grimaces.


"Are there not idle rich who love unique experiences?" poses Jasper. "I was recently told of people who pay to be forced to bike across the states for months at a time."


"...I suppose there might be, yes. I don't wish to sail with a crew, or...have idle rich pay exorbitant amounts and expect me to wait upon them. That very much isn't the freedom of the ocean that I crave. Does that make sense?"


"Have you considered a house boat?"


"I haven't considered any boat, it's not the sort of thing I'm currently able to afford. And I know your solution would be to...merely obtain one, yes." He smirks.


"Exactly. It's very handy. Want. Take. Have. It's a life lesson I learned long ago," murmurs Jasper as he looks back over the waters.


"I doubt I would be successful in that sort of venture. And the guilt..." At that part, Cian seems to be going for melodrama. "I was able to pick up the night shift, on a few pleasure cruises out of Boston. Again, better than nothing at all. And if Rhea keeps this offer open...she's built for ocean travel. I don't know if I could convince her to let me go too far, but..." He sighs, a little wistfully.

"I'd need a sailing partner along, too..."


"You would, wouldn't you?" asks Jasper with a little smirk. "You should really do something nice for Rhea. Perhaps a flower bouquet?"


"Does she like flowers? I don't know that I know her well enough to put together a proper arrangement...But I will be the first to admit that I've never been a particularly skilled gift-giver. Flowers might be best."


"You can always make it based on your intent rather than the knowledge of the other. She may or may not understand, but the effort is there nonetheless," offers Jasper.


"That is true." A beat. "Jasper - come here." He says it the same way he's been giving the man directions all evening. Quiet, but his voice carries over the water more than it would on land.


Without questioning it, Jasper comes over to the pirate sailor as directed. "Yes?"


Cian hesitates for a moment - perhaps thrown off by the immediate response. "I'm loath to mix...business...? with pleasure, but..." It starts as a chaste kiss, at least, with one of Cian's hands resting against Jasper's jaw, lightly stroking it with his thumb.


"Loath, huh?" asks Jasper into their kiss. Jasper moves to mirror the kiss, though with less chastity in it, pressing his lips down into the other man's as if to leave him with an impression. His strange hands come up, thumb rolling over the other's ear. "You know, if you want, you can still order me around, captain. This is my official aye aye for the evening."


"Didn't entirely expect that to work -" He breaks off with a laugh, and slides an arm around Jasper's waist, pulling him close with a little force. "I do want you out of this jacket, though. Shirt, too." It's really a good thing that Cian's found a place to anchor the boat, furl the sails. This isn't the time to let the current and wind take them where they may.


Celerity's a hell of a thing, especially when it means between the blinks there's clothes and then there's a shirtless redhead pirate wannabe with a fine smattering of strawberry blonde body hair. Both hands come to seize the sides of Cian's face before the words, "Aye aye" were smothered there against the other's lips.