full speed ahead 'til I'm dead in the fast lane
Jack's glower, all by itself, might have been enough to tip Eloise off to the fact that she had the measure of him. The captain was a paranoid man, a man desperate to stay in control of the life he had built. Because Jack had stared into the eyes of madness, and it sometimes stared back out of him in turn. Anything to keep that fragile toe-hold on his own sanity was more precious than any friendship or bond with a person.
"Doin' an injury to myself is hardly the same as you winnin' a scuffle," he said dryly, when he had compartmentalised whatever bits of him that were necessary. A cursory glance down at his ruined shirt drew a reisgned sort of sigh from the captain, and he raised an eyebrow across at Eloise. "I haven't let it happen so far, have I?" he muttered. "And it'll be another season before we go anywhere - time enough to get a new navigator if I have to."
"Doin' an injury to myself is hardly the same as you winnin' a scuffle," he said dryly, when he had compartmentalised whatever bits of him that were necessary. A cursory glance down at his ruined shirt drew a reisgned sort of sigh from the captain, and he raised an eyebrow across at Eloise. "I haven't let it happen so far, have I?" he muttered. "And it'll be another season before we go anywhere - time enough to get a new navigator if I have to."
