One Other Thing (PG-17)

Writers: AL, Devin, Kurt
Date Posted: 14th August 2008

Characters: Jerroll, Edele
Description: A new crewmember tries to take advantage of Edele and Jerroll intervenes, with harsh consequences.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 11, day 19 of Turn 4
Notes: PG-17 - This post contains an attempted rape. Those sensitive to
such things may not wish to read it.
Rating: PG-17

The night was warm and pleasant, the waves gentle as they caressed the boat, rocking it gently and singing a lullaby to all who occupied the ship. Despite that, Edele found herself unable to sleep. After a good couple of candlemarks tossing and turning, she gave up and headed to the deck. She glanced up to the crows nest, but couldn't see a form. Probably on the other side where he was out of sight. She made her way to the railing and peered over to the sea, watching the moonlight as it skitted across the water.

"Mmm, beautiful, iznit?" The remark came from a sailor who was now approaching Edele. He was a big fellow, with a bit of a belly, but still plenty of muscle. His movements were slouchy, and loose, and he swayed just a bit before he grabbed the railing and stood directly next to Edele. "Love me a night like this, I do. Air's cool, water's calm. Lovely it is, lovely. Only one thing'll make it better, though." He leaned in close to Edele, far too close for comfort.
"Well, two things, if you count wine. All out of wine, though. Only leaves the other thing."

Edele jerked back as the man approached her. Well, she knew where the fellow who was supposed to be in the crow's nest was. He was new,the crewmember they had picked up when they had last docked.
She hadn't really gotten to know him very well as of yet. Frankly, she didn't think at that point it was the time to get to know him.
The woman tried to take a side step, glancing back to the door that opened to the stairs leading below the deck. "I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Hey, hey now," he might have been drunk, but he was spry enough on his feet. He came around quickly, interposing his bulk between Edele and the stairs. "Don't be modest. I'm sure you can help me plenty.
Mmm, yes." He looked her up and down, in an extremely lewd fashion.
"Oh yes, plenty. Nothin' to be shy about. Got to do what you got to do to make these voyages bearable."

"I think you've got the wrong woman." Edele tried to side step the man and move past him. Inside, she shivered and her nose flared at the smell of the drink upon his breath. Why had they let him on board? Of course, neither Lerra nor Jerroll would have had they known he would have acted in such a manner, of that she was certain!

"I'll be the judge of that, I will." His hand shot out and seized her upper arm as she tried to move past. His grip wasn't cruel, but it was firm. He pulled her around to face him. "Looks like the right one to me. Sure enough." He leered in the dim light, and his other arm encircled her waist to pull her body up to his. "Oh, sure enough indeed."

"Let go of me!" Edele's voice cracked as she spoke and she began to pull at him in a desperate attempt to jerk out of his grasp. The man's grip was strong and there was no way she could wrench out of his hold. Fear began to well up in her chest. "Leave me alone! You're supposed to be watching in the crow's nest!"

"Oh I was watching, all right," he laughed low in his throat. "Tired of watching though. Time for something else entirely." His hand clutched at her rump and he pulled her face up to his, attempting to kiss her. At the close proximity, the smell of alcohol was nearly overwhelming.

Edele turned her face away from his, pushing against the man's chest. She coughed and gagged at the foul stench that enveloped her. She attempted to kick at him, foot striking toward the knee and she writhed in his grip.

"Fiesty, aren't we?" the sailor laughed and caught her leg. Her twisting, however, pulled the two of them off balance. He attempt to correct, but, perhaps in part to his inebriated state, was far too slow, and the two of them fell back to the deck, with her below and him on top.

Edele's head cracked painfully against the deck as the two crumpled down and she stopped fighting, the pain and the man's weight knocking the wind from her.
She blinked up, her sight blurry for a moment, but the odor of spoiled breath reminding her of her soon to be fate. She began to fight again, the pain in her head trying to split it open, but her fear overcoming it. "Get off!" She tried to shout, tried to call for her help, but the man pressing upon her left little room for speech, much less shouting.

"There now, pretty, let's not ruin the moment," the sailor placed his hand over her mouth and began pulling at the front of her clothing with the other. "Since we're already down here, let's just make the best of it, yes?"

Edele somehow managed to get a hand free and she struck at the man, smacking him in the face. Her legs continued their gyrations, kicking at him, but she was less successful, his weight too much for the rest of her body to move well.

He grunted and shifted his weight, pinning one of her arms to her side with his body, still keeping his hand clapped over her mouth. His other hand slid up to her collar and curled around the edge of the material. He gave a sharp tug, and there was a sound of rending fabric, the fabric giving way and exposing her skin to the night air.

The woman let out a sob, her mind throbbing with pain and the denial that what was happening was really happening. She cried again as the man's hands began to wander and she wished that she had not chosen that night to come up to the deck, that she was back, safe in her own bed.

Jerroll, yawning, walked up the narrow steps to the deck to check on their new crew member. When he reached the top of the stairs, he took one look at what was happening and ran. Reaching them, he lifted his foot mid-stride and delivered a sound kick to the man's head.

"Shardinbloodyshells!" The sailor was rolled off of his unwilling partner by the dull blow and and sprawled out upon the deck a few feet away. He almost immediately staggered up to his feet, and took an unsteady step, then stumbled and fell down upon the deck again. He clambered to his hands and knees, but, instead of standing again, occupied himself vomiting quite a large amount of bile and liquor upon the wooden floor.

Edele took a gasping breath as her body was suddenly relieved of the weight of the man she lay there, trembling, then slowly rolled to her side. The smell of liquor and vomit turned her stomach and she just barely managed to keep from losing the contents of it. She stared at the man as if she couldn't quite fathom that he really was off of her.

"Are you alright?" Jerroll asked her, his voice rough. He glanced at her, then turned back to the vomiting sailor. The look in his eyes could have flamed Thread.

Edele's mouth opened and closed a few times. She tried to form words, but they stuck in her throat. After a moment, the only thing she seemed to be able to do was burst into tears.

Jerroll's jaw clenched tighter. "I'm very sorry. We made a mistake letting him join the crew." He took a few steps over to the sailor, grabbed him by the back of the shirt, and started dragging him toward the stern of the ship.

"Jerroll..." The name was hiccuped as Edele managed to gather enough wits about her to realise what the man was doing with the sailor. The sailor himself writhed pitifully in his grip, the wine and the headache given to him by Jerroll making his efforts rather feeble.

"What are you doing?" The woman tried to get up, but her head ached and spun so that she couldn't. She felt like she had when they had first pulled her from the water.

"I made a mistake," he said, still dragging the sailor. "I'm going to fix it."

"Don't!" Edele gasped out, her voice not cooperating for a moment.
She struggled, then finally managed to rasp, "Not like this."

He hauled the sailor to his feet and pushed him against the rail.
"There are things I can't forgive, and this is one of them."

"Y-you can't do this!" the sailor yelled as he became aware of what was about to happen. "By the egg, stop!"

"Jerroll, please..." The throbbing in her head became more pronounced and Edele had to squint to see. "We can do something about him when we next land..."

"No." Jerroll stared into the sailor's eyes. "You made an agreement when you joined this crew. You broke that agreement, so now you're leaving my ship." Jerroll shoved the sailor over the side.

"No! No! Shardit, no!" The drunken sailor struggled to the last, but to no avail as he was dumped kicking and very much screaming over the edge. He bellowed as he fell, and a splash could be heard, but, in a very short period of time, nothing at all could be made out over the sound of the sea.

"Oh Jerroll..." Edele winced at the movement she made in an attempt to rise once more and decided to give up. She found herself strangely unsympathetic to the sailor's plight, despite her calls to Jerroll not to throw him overboard. The sailor had certainly deserved it. Yet, Edele wondered if they should have left such decisions up to those at the next hold where they docked. Then again, she was still not familiar with all of the rules of sailors. They seemed to have their own system.. Edele struggled, head pounding even worse at the thoughts that ran through her mind. She looked up at the first mate and sighed softly. "Thank you."

The cold rage faded. He'd wanted to strangle the man, beat him, but he'd taken the simpler, less violent option. Now all that tense anger had nowhere to go. Jerroll started to tremble as he walked back over to Edele. He knelt down next to her. "Your dress is torn." He averted his eyes.

Edele's fingers fumbled at her dress and she did her best to cover herself. "I'm sorry Jerroll." She didn't know why she was apologising. For some reason she just felt like she should. The tears stung at her eyes again and she closed them in an attempt to hold back the flood.

He put a hesitant hand on her arm. He didn't know if she'd want to be touched by a man, after that. "Don't apologize. Don't you dare.
There's nothing to apologize for."

His touch seemed to open the gates and the tears rained down once more. Edele's hand reached up, clutching at his arm as if she were afraid she might fall and drown in the salty water that streaked down her face.

He pulled her into his arms, guilt washing over him. The sailor was gone, drowned, but that didn't change what happened. Jerroll had allowed that man on the ship, and he was responsible. Responsible for Edele's trauma, and her injuries.

Edele clung to Jerroll, face buried against him, tears staining his tunic. She sobbed, her body heaving, trembling in his embrace. She wasn't sure how long they stayed there, how long he held her, but eventually her cries subsided and all that could be heard was the occasional sniff, muffled against his chest.

"I'll take you to Rainia, to make sure you're alright." He slowly got to his feet, helping her up.

Edele gave no resistance, though she leaned heavily into the first mate as he carefully led her to the stairs and below deck. The nightmare was over. For the moment.

Last updated on the August 16th 2008

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One Other Thing (PG-17)