Cornelius Hickey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spotsalone) wrote2025-04-11 07:04 pm
spotsalone) wrote2025-04-11 07:04 pm
Entry tags:
angelo and the hickster's post-belle arctic adventures
mutineers:
- Sgt. Solomon Tozer, marine (T)
- Magnus Manson, AB (T)
- Lt. George Hodgson, lieutenant (T)
- Charles Des Voeux, mate (E)
- Pvt. William Pilkington, marine (E)
- John Diggle, cook (T) - lung damage from inhaling goodsir's evil cloud
- THE STUPID FOX
Pvt. James Daly, marine (T)- mauled by the TuunbaqEdmund Hoar, captain's steward (E)- throw into the water by the Tuunbaq"Pvt." Thomas Armitage, gunroom steward (T)- mauled by the TuunbaqHarry Goodsir, surgeon (E)- rescued by Silna after the Tuunbaq attack
boat boys:
- John Lane, boatswain (T)
- James Rigden, coxswain (E)
- John Sullivan, captain of the maintop (E)
- Robert Ferrier, AB (T)
- Robert Thomas, mate (T) - actively dying of scurvy for the crime of having two first names
- and perhaps eventually lt. little depending on how much of our minds we lose along the way
Thomas Terry, boatswain (E)- died from scurvy before the mutineers showed upThomas Work, AB (T)- died from scurvy before the mutineers showed up
angelo cr chart
mutineers cr chart...
timeline:
- arrival; late july, mutineers' hill
- tent chats; early august, temporary camp
- spotting the ships; late august, terror camp
- tuunbaq attack; sept 1, ice floe camp
- boarding terror; fellas it's gay; early sept, hms terror
- dog to dog communication; early sept, forecastle
- bark bark bark; early sept, on deck
- coat! and post-tozer debrief; early sept, angelo's cabin
shortly after arrival
[ A match strikes and Hickey lights his cigarette. He did anticipate some friction between Angelo and Tozer, so that much is not a surprise. The rest... well. Anyone would be startled and suspicious after their abrupt and strange arrival. Those reactions will ease in time, he knows. Some of the men are likely to be over it entirely by the time he and Angelo return to camp, after they've sated themselves on the supplies brought from the palace.
In the meantime, Hickey has walked the two of them to the top of the hill overlooking their camp to get a better view of the area. Hell, maybe they'll even see the Tuunbaq, if it's as nearby as Tozer reported. Wouldn't that be something? ]
He'll recognize your presence as an advantage once he's got a full stomach. We'll let him believe that he's convinced me to direct us back to the ships.
[ It was Tozer's idea, after all. It just wasn't Tozer that changed Hickey's mind on the matter. ]
no subject
It's the first thing Angelo had braced himself for when agreeing to come to the arctic, but he's realizing quickly that he hadn't truly understood cold before. Even though he'd woken up with the ice reaching towards his heart every Monday these past few weeks, that had been different. Situational. This cold seeps through all, constantly. Temperatures lower than colony management would allow, lest the water supply be compromised.
It's cold and it is vast.
Angelo is used to the endless expanse of space, so this shouldn't be a matter of concern, and yet. And yet.
The squabbles with the filthy, starving men at the camp just some short distance away already feel irrelevant in the face of that vastness. Angelo couldn't care less about the man called Solomon and how he feels about his arrival. ("An angel has fallen into the cesspit" - horrible words to remember now, words from a distant past, but seeing the sorry state of the camp for himself has them run through Angelo's head like a strange chorus. Angelo takes in the vastness to drown it all out.)
He exhales, and watches his breath form a small cloud in the air. Cold. ]
The foot soldiers back home didn't like me either. Forcing these in line won't be any different.
[ His eyes aren't on Hickey at all - it's all the endless stone ocean in front and the expanse of the sky, meeting in a straight line. It feels unnatural, though even Angelo can tell that that's a ridiculous thought to have about Earth. ]
no subject
Didn't like you? But you're so charming.
[ An opportunistic flirt coated with just enough sarcasm to keep Angelo guessing. However he interprets the meaning, it's sure to irritate him a little.
Angelo takes in the landscape, and Hickey watches him, analyzing his reaction, collecting data to file away for later use. What must he be thinking, confronted with this reality? Hickey knows some part of him must regret this choice. A life alongside Sariel or Hwylryn would certainly have been more comfortable, despite Angelo's reasons for denying them. Even with the supplies brought back from the palace, their odds of survival—Angelo's odds of survival—are far from a guarantee.
Focusing his attention on Angelo spares Hickey having to reckon with their surroundings himself, too. He's eliminated the concept of regret from his reality, but it's... disturbing, to be back here again. He'd built up a resistance to it before Ish yanked him away, and he's neglected those defenses these past few weeks. There's an uneasiness in the way his eyes dart around. It's subtle, but Angelo knows him well enough now to pick up on those momentary glimpses behind the curtain, if he's paying attention. ]
Sergeant Tozer and Manson are loyal enough, and Tozer can keep Armitage and Pilkington with us. Hodgson and Diggle are here for lack of alternatives, but they won't be any trouble. Fear drives them. The rest...
[ He exhales heavily, smoke swirling around him in a thin haze. He's not stupid; he knows his men have been reduced to feral things, just as likely to bite the hand that feeds as they are to turn tail the second a better opportunity comes along. ]
Des Voeux will challenge you, but he's just a coward with a sharp tongue. You can handle him. Goodsir may become a problem, as well. The doctor.
[ Hickey would be very surprised if the man had the stones to try anything, but he's been testy ever since the Billy incident. It's only a matter of time before that dam gives way. ]
no subject
In his mind, he goes over the names he's only just had listed at him - deciding from Hickey's advice which to memorize and which he can bother to only learn later on.
He finally turns his head to glance at Hickey - in his... well, this isn't really his natural habitat either, is it? He's not an explorer, he wound up here by happenstance. But this is still closer to where he belongs than the illusory world Ish had them confined to, isn't it? ]
I can handle them all - they're in no condition to be anything more than a nuisance, are they now?
[ They look... more miserable than Angelo had expected, actually. It's a little disturbing but he wouldn't say so out loud. ]
But how come the doctor is an issue?
no subject
True enough. I've faith in you.
[ His eyes drift down to the camp below. Some of the men are still eating, while others have moved on to taking inventory of their new supplies and packing them away on the boat. Good. They should take advantage of the energy this meal will provide and set off north as soon as possible.
He does catch Tozer glancing up at them, though. More than once. ]
Goodsir is not here by choice.
[ It's a risk, revealing the truth of their situation to Angelo, but he's going to find out regardless. Best that it comes from Hickey himself. ]
There is another, larger group a few miles south of us, led by our former captain. Goodsir's loyalties remain with him. When we split from the crew, we stole the doctor away. He's too much of a bleeding heart to deny us his expertise, though he hates us for it.
no subject
The name says it all, is it...?
[ Truly what is with naming here...? (Says Captain Full Frontal's most loyal follower, once more with no awareness of irony.) ]
... his loyalty can't be too great if he has yet to try and cut you open for that transgression. I would have.
[ And he immediately respects this man he's only glimpsed at a little less for not having the same amount of devotion.
Angelo crosses his arms, a gesture that is meant to read entirely as judgemental but in truth also serves to ward off the cold by folding into himself a little bit. His uniform is of high quality fabric, but it hasn't been made with arctic temperatures in mind. Once he gets back down, Angelo will dress with more layers, but... well, there was both vanity and sentimentality in wanting to step before Hickey's group wearing his pristine Neo Zeon royal guard outfit. A way to set himself apart, to remain as Frontal's even in this strange new place. ]
no subject
[ Of course Angelo would. He's more than shown that he has little patience and a lot of follow-through. Hickey remembers how invisible Angelo was to him until the man outright clocked him in the face, regardless of the consequences. What a move that was. ]
Above all else, Goodsir has a loyalty to his precious morals. To harm any of us would be to climb down off his pedestal and admit that he's not above the very thing he'd persecute us for.
[ And that truly is the issue with Goodsir, isn't it? His insistence that he's above all this, his refusal to accept that he is a human being trying to survive, just like the rest of them. He's as bad as Crozier and the rest of command, in that regard. There's no point in upholding decorum in a place like this.
Of course, Hickey will think this as he lets the other men haul the boat and do the rest of the work around camp, but that's different. ]
No, he won't challenge us directly... but he may inspire stubbornness in the other men. We need him to fall in line.
no subject
It's the type of person who would always crush someone like Angelo underfoot, and claim to be compassionate in doing so.
Angelo also turns to look at the camp instead of the landscape. Though the smell of unwashed diseased men doesn't reach up here, the air of misery is still palpable. Everyone is thin and wearing rags. Their cheeks are hollow. There's not much that separates them from bodies Angelo might once have walked past in the gutter. ]
Our situation has given you a leg up against him on that front, at least. It doesn't take much to see these men are desperate - and you've just provided them with an unimaginable miracle.
[ For some reason. Having seen the camp now, Angelo truly wonders why Hickey didn't just abandon them all. ]
Compared to solid bites of food and clean clothes, what does our good sir have to offer? Lectures? Even if he casts doubt on you by accusing you of trifling with dark forces, are any of these people in a condition to care about the source of their meals?
[ Evidently not, given they've already eaten one of their number. ]
no subject
And what about you, lieutenant?
[ He flicks his cigarette and watches a bit of ash flutters to the rocks, lost immediately in the monochrome. ]
You know where that miracle came from, and you know that a second won't follow. You know exactly what I'm capable of.
[ He taps his chest with a finger, where he's got his cigarette case stashed in the inner pocket of his coat. Just below it, a cut in the fabric from his final encounter with Lt. Irving. ]
The men will not care; you're correct on that. But it will take a month or more to return to the ships, and I can tell you our numbers will be fewer by then. We've bought some time, but the desperation will come back. You'll be in the thick of it, then.
[ There's a threatening camaraderie in the way he smiles at Angelo. ]
So, what happens when we reach that point?
no subject
A scenario you've notably left out of discussion before the gates closed on us.
[ Angelo won't consider it entrapment - he chose this path knowing that it would be a hideous one. He hadn't held complete understanding of just how hideous, but... Well, he can't back down now. Even if he wrestled Hickey for his fox and begged Ish to pick him up again, he doesn't think the man will. It's not worth even considering. He has more pride than that.
The arctic is icy and vast. There is nowhere here to run. It's just him and Hickey's razorblade smile now. Angelo wonders if Hickey thinks he should be afraid, if that's what this is about. (Being scared would mean a fear of death, an honest desire to live - things Angelo can't lay claim to right now.)
He turns so his whole body is facing Hickey, fixing him with a stare. ]
Unlike your hungry mutts down there, I'm not asking you to save me. What does it matter to me if you can't perform a second miracle? You haven't even performed a first one. I'm here by choice - and not exactly out of loyalty to you. You knew that when you brought me.
no subject
Hickey hopes it doesn't. Wouldn't that be something? ]
And you knew what this was going to be when you accepted my offer.
[ The cannibalism, the bear... Hickey may not have prepared him for every reality, but he hit the major beats. ]
Why did you accept, then? Other than to evade your better offers.
no subject
It's the sharp edge to the way Hickey says 'better offers' that soothes Angelo's frustrations. Struck a nerve with that, huh?
Still, he takes his time in answering. Takes a deep breath of cold air that still feels off in his lungs, and lets his gaze wander over the endless white and grey of King William's Land for just a second. Why did he accept? Not for the view, no matter how strangely breathtaking it is. ]
... you say you want to 'truly live', at the end of it. I want to see what that looks like.
[ It's not the full answer, but it's the least revealing and least insulting part of it. ]
no subject
It looks like a sex cult in Vermont, buddy.Hickey watches Angelo closely as he considers the question. For a moment, he thinks maybe there is no answer, as Angelo hasn't quite unpacked it for himself yet.
When the answer does come, it's not new information, not really, but it is unexpected. One that could be interpreted in a number of different ways, though ultimately they all boil down to a single reality: Angelo is here for Hickey. And more than that, he's willing to admit it, at least tangentially.
Good. ]
Am I to take that to mean you want to live now?
[ The last time they spoke on the matter, Angelo hadn't seemed so sure. There's a huge swath of grey area between truly living and simply "refusing to die a pointless death". ]
no subject
[ Want is a strong word. There's nothing but emptiness inside Angelo and around him. His brilliant guiding light has disappeared.
Live is a strong word as well. Angelo fails to imagine a version of it that doesn't make him recoil in disgust. To join in with a world he'd much rather see burned to the ground, to live in hedonistic pleasure, meaninglessly... Just imagining it makes him want to shed his skin. A more modest life is easier thought of, but continues to feel hollow.
So what else? What next? ]
I am going to survive - I'm certainly not going to lose my life in this desolate place.
[ Not wanting to get literally cannibalized helps motivate him for that, also. ]
As for living... You said I should get to invent an opportunity for that. For now, I'm making you my opportunity.
no subject
He takes a final pull from his cigarette before flicking it away. Then, he steps closer to Angelo until he's near enough to have to look up slightly to meet his eye. ]
I did promise to make it worth your while, didn't I?
[ His smile brightens. His head tips to the side, attention dropping briefly to regard Angelo's uniform. He hopes Solomon is watching. ]
We make a good pair, the two of us. You won't die here, lieutenant.
no subject
Hickey is looking at him with a strange hunger, like a hunter holding a snare. Angelo knows that look, has seen many variations of it, and it makes his hairs stand on end.
He can't be surprised, not when knowing this about Hickey is the very reason he came along with him. But he does feel uncomfortable, with Hickey so close. It reminds him of being 'defended' at trial. The same double edged kindness that digs sharp fingernails into the scab of his deepest wounds.
Angelo raises an eyebrow, sarcastic. He resists the urge to step away. ]
You work no miracles yet you still talk as if you're the God who can decide all that, Elias.
[ The men can't hear them now. So Angelo clings to the end of the leash that he has leverage on. That makes him feel better, so he gives a proper nod. ]
... but we're certainly both tenacious enough to make it through.
no subject
[ He says it kindly enough, but the way his chin ticks upward in irritation betrays that Angelo has struck another nerve. Elias. There's a thrill in that shared secret, in Angelo seeing him in this moment, but Hickey knows the name was deliberate. It's a stark reminder of where they stand with one another—and that his vulnerability can be used against him. ]
I've escaped death more times than I can count, and now I've escaped it forever. The very fact that I've managed so well for myself is a miracle.
[ And what other than divine intervention could've set him up for such a thing? He knows damn well he didn't earn his way out of every predicament he's found himself in. Often, it's luck—lucky that he ran into Cornelius Hickey when he did, lucky that he stumbled onto Crozier's resignation, lucky that he was taking a piss when the fire broke out at Carnivale. Lucky that Ish snapped him up, of all the many options in the many universes.
Angelo can deny it all he likes. Hickey is chosen. ]
I'm not deciding your fate, Angelo. I'm betting on you.
[ ...And on his own ability to keep Angelo alive despite the odds. He can bet on two things. ]
no subject
Angelo. He likes being called by his title and has no mind to tell Hickey to stop, but in this particular moment it feels freeing to hear his name without any further ado. He doesn't interrogate that feeling, accepts it for what it is and let's it pass. ]
Ah. Well, I don't take you for a man who makes bets he doesn't expect high reward from.
[ And that, too, makes him feel better. They're still standing in rather close proximity, but some of the tension that made Angelo feel is melting. ]
Not to worry. I'll clean up that camp of yours. Speaking of...
[ Angelo glances at the slits in Hickey's coat. ]
Is that an intentional badge of honor or did you just never care to mend it?
no subject
It's interesting, though. When dealing with Angelo, Hickey finds himself bouncing between strategies that worked with either Billy or Tozer. A sharp wit works well, as it did with Billy, though Hickey knows he can't push too far. Billy always cowed eventually, but Angelo has as much bite as Tozer when he's willing to use it. Also like Tozer: a softness for being called by name. Noted.
This is what people do, right? Memorize these sort of small details about their friends? Like remembering someone's birthday.
Anyway, he pokes a finger through one of the slits in his coat. Ah, Irving. Hickey wouldn't consider his murder a point of pride, so the true answer is that he just hadn't thought to repair the coat, but... ]
A badge of honor, I suppose. Though not in the way you'd think.
[ The stabs, to him, aren't a celebration of his ability to take a life, but a reminder of what he's capable of. Irving used his faith to condemn Hickey over some imaginary moral stance, and yet his God let him die by Hickey's knife. Crozier condemned Hickey to death, and yet which one of them stands here now, wearing his officer's coat and unable to die?
The incident with Irving is not a fond memory, but it was worth it. ]
I had reason to believe the Tuunbaq would intervene at my execution, you know. It happened once before. That's how I earned this coat.
no subject
... and that's why you were so calm.
[ Even though it didn't do anything for you. Even though it just watched your demise so dispassionately. (In the back of his head, a memory of a familiar red robot plays, barely in the periphery of his vision. He won't think of that.
He'll think instead of how it feels to be saved by something much larger than yourself or your tormentors. He remembers it.) ]
What did it feel like? That first time.
no subject
But as soon as it's asked, he knows the answer: It felt like stepping onto the deck of the Terror for the first time, like seeing Billy's smile at the ring on his finger. Like waking up in the graveyard. Like immortality.
Relief. ]
Vindication.
[ It's barely a lie. What better confirmation that the universe had chosen him?
He takes a step back and glances back down the hill. Tozer is dismantling a tent with the other marines, and Mr. Goodsir has finally made an appearance, hauling a crate of medical supplies over to the boat.
A little ways past the camp, Hickey can just make out an unnatural hump of shales at the base of the next hill. He hadn't known what else to do with the remains of Billy's body. ]
But I was calm because I chose to be. Fear doesn't serve me.
no subject
If it were someone else, Angelo might recoil at it, intimately reminded of how much of the castle experience he'd spent very publicly controlled by fears and his past. It could feel like a jab.
But from Hickey... Well, he just believes this, doesn't he? Lives by it earnestly.
Angelo has declared him the very emblem of base humanity before, but it's moments like this where the allegory just doesn't hold. Fear controls humanity. Fear of past losses makes it weak. Fear of loss of dignity makes it violent. Hickey is selfish and brutal and dirty, but he's calm. Calming, if Angelo is honest. That's why he's here. That's why the cold is allowed to dig into his skin. ]
You make it sound so easy...
[ Angelo shakes his head, but it's with a thin smile. No wonder all these people down there cling to Hickey.
No wonder he-- No. Let's get back on topic. ]
Well, I'll let you keep your meaningfully torn clothes then, but if you do want it fixed up, let me know.
[ Simple things. Making himself useful. Fixing something that's bothering him in its messiness. ]
no subject
[ He says it like he's offering advice—and really, he is. He sees a distant version of himself in Angelo's volatility. Controlling his own fear is easy now, but it wasn't always. It's a skill forged in fire, that. ]
It does take practice, but... Don't you want to be untouchable? You can choose not to give others power over you. Then you'll never lose.
[ There's another smile, though it's a gentler one, like he's letting Angelo in on a secret. Now's not the time to prod at this particular point, at least not directly, but of course Hickey noticed how Angelo suffered at his own hand this past month. That's Angelo's business and whether he resolves it is up to him, but there will be no repeating that here. They've enough problems to deal with.
And if Angelo is able to harden some and learn control in the process, well. Good for him. Hickey wants to see what that looks like.
A breath of wind gusts over the shales, catching them from behind as if to urge them along. That's enough hilltop brooding. Hickey pauses to cast one last glance from this vantage point, briefly attempting to unravel the twisting discomfort in his chest. The decision to make camp here felt unnaturally right at the time. Now, he wants nothing more than to be gone from this place, for a reason he can't quite pinpoint and can't bear to examine too closely.
His tongue presses against the inside of his cheek as he watches Solomon climb into the boat below to rearrange some supplies. Underneath him somewhere, a length of chain.
Hickey huffs out the faintest laugh, his eyes closing briefly. His destiny has changed, and that of the others will follow. ]
Come.
[ He catches Angelo's sleeve at the wrist just long enough to tug him into motion. It's time to return to camp. ]
no subject
He does want to be untouchable, but without the Captain to cast his mantle of absolute power over him, he sees no path towards that goal. It is only the Captain who can give him the safety of clean white sheets, the faint smell of detergent.
Yes, Angelo does want to be untouchable. Hickey grabs his sleeve anyway.
And Angelo, unusually docile, lets himself be prompted along. He's being looked down on, certainly. One of these days, Hickey might find himself with a pistol against his temple for that insolence. (A useless gesture. Symbolic, even if potentially satisfying. Angelo can't kill Hickey, not in the way that matters. Not here.) Yes, some day... Some day, he'll bite the hands that presumes to feed. But right now, there is no need to lament his weakness or assert his rage. Not when that smile felt almost gentle. And not when there are crates to be moved.
They have a bet to win. ]