Chapter Text
Lucius had seen a lot of strange things in Stede’s cabin. ‘Objects d’art’ ‘local curiosities’ and ‘eclectic outsider pieces’ the Captain called them. A waste of money, Lucius called them.
The Captain certainly had the money to waste. And not all of the pieces were ugly. Some of them were quite nice. Stede’s tastes were as puzzling as the man himself; he was just as likely to pick up a simple vase from a craftsperson as he was a bejewled necklace (often half set with glass gems). It wasn’t about the worth as much as it was about whatever caught Stede’s eye. He often switched out the pieces, tucking older ones away or moving things around to try and get the best ‘flow’.
But the merman carving was a new one.
“Look at this, Lucius! Picked it up during our outing in St. Augustine,” Stede held the figure aloft. It was a long-haired man from the waist up, with a short beard, the hair darkened with paint. A thick fishtail curled up from the waist down. He held a trident in one hand, and had what could charitably be called a stoic expression.
The resemblance to the Revenge’s Co-Captain wouldn’t be lost on anyone (outside of Stede, seriously, the man had the observation skills of a newborn kitten). “Yeah, s’great.”
“The artisan said they modeled it after a real Merfolk he spotted once while fishing.” Stede added, grinning conspiratorially.
“Sorry, what?”
“Oh, I know that was added for color to make the sale, but--”
“Stede, you need to get rid of that thing,” Lucius flinched as Stede came closer. “Mermaids are bad luck.”
“What?” Stede’s grin dropped away, replaced with an expression of confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“C’mon, everyone knows that.”
“What? No.” Stede looked over the figure, frowning. “If Merpeople are bad luck, why would so many ships have them on the front?”
“Figureheads are one thing. Decorations are another. Especially if they’re inspired by real Mermaids.” Lucius took a step back.
“Oh Lucius. Merpeople aren’t real.” Stede said in the same tone he used to use when telling Alma and Louis that there were no monsters under their beds.
“Right, and the rest of the crew are just gonna believe that?” Lucius raised an eyebrow. “Seriously Stede, you should chuck the thing overboard.”
“Nonsense! I haven’t even shown it to Ed yet.” Stede waved the scribe off. “He’ll tell you it’s fine, you’ll see.”
“The man whose father was killed by the Kraken?”
Stede’s face went funny at that. Interesting. “Look, just…don’t worry about it, okay? Dismissed.”
“Yeah, alright.” Lucius made a mental note not to say anything about the figure as long as he possibly could. Which would probably be about an hour. Whatever, he hadn’t been hired for his secret keeping, he’d been hired to write things down.
And if things started going wrong, he sure as hell wasn’t waiting an hour.