captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James watched Mr. Smee as he spoke, unable to help but wonder who they was referring to.

Those that had spoken out against Gaston specifically? The town in general? Or...Magicks?

Because in that case, James was looped into that group whether he liked it or not, and it made his stomach clench with fear. A deep seated kind that had taken root in him since he had been a child. It made him swallow thickly as the feeling started to crawl its way up his throat.

He quickly washed it down, along with the hefty helping of irony that came with Mr. Smee telling him to keep his secrets close to his chest. As if he wasn't holding one right under the older man's nose and doing so because he was selfish, not wanting Mr. Smee to look at him any differently and leave.

"I will. No offense to Gaston, may he rest in peace, but I'm not going to go around shouting it from the rooftops. Or the internet, for that matter," he said with a little shake of his head before he paused, eyes squinting a touch. "You...you don't think whoever did it would come after us? I mean, I know we were his mates and dad wasn't exactly this town's biggest fan but...we haven't done anything particularly murder worthy, right?"

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

December 12th: James Jones II + Vampire

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

Happy Holidays ✨ @captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

Ah, therapy.

It seemed like that was everyone's answer to literally everything these days. Everyone needed to go to therapy for everything. It had turned over into a meme at this point. They were making shitty apps that everyone and their mother was getting sponsored by on YouTube.

And James didn't disagree at the fuck all. He didn't doubt that someone who got paid to help you sort out all the shit in the chemical mess that made up the human brain was very helpful. He had once wanted to try it, but knew he could never ask his father.

Now he knew he couldn't go to it. Because how was he supposed to talk about anything without lying to the poor bastard who sat opposite to him? Which wouldn't be helpful at all. They'd have to report him to the police just for half the stuff he'd have to say about his dad. And he couldn't even think about what they'd do to him if he let loose that he saw ghosts everywhere.

It just wasn't in the cards. As much as James would have loved to spill his guts all over one of those fancy fainting sofas, he knew he couldn't.

"Thanks," he told her, only to shake his head. "But I can't. I know what you mean but I just...I can't."

See Right Through You & [Pirate Fox]

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@pall0r-mortis

James snorted upon hearing giant corpse. He knew, from reading about the place and seeing things online, that Sid wasn't just saying that as some weird metaphor (like one might for Paris) but that he was being literal. It was just that things like that never could get old to him.

He who had lived in Swynlake all his life, who had only ever gone on the occasional trip outside of the country for school or when his dads thought a holiday in order, enjoyed the novelty of the unknown. The world was so big and vast and filled to the brim with things he could hardly dream of, since even Swynlake was better at that than him. He had managed to get a taste of the freedom he had so been looking forward to aboard the Jolly Roger, before it all turned to shit.

So he absorbed the new information about the Boiling Isles almost greedily. He hadn't gone on that Spring Break trip, seeing as his father wouldn't have allowed it. Sending his kid off to a magic hot spot in the world? Pah! Absurd! And he also just happened to be taking in information about Sid, too, since he was describing it through his own experiences.

Which made, and I'm still on this side of living feel like a rock had been thrown into the side of his head, making a ping! ricochet around his skull.

Not exactly something one should say to a Medium, seeing as even if he weren't and decided to stay top side, James would be able to still get that tour anyway.

"What? You planning on dying sometime soon, then?" he couldn't help but to ask. Because maybe he was sticking his foot in his mouth here and Sid would reveal that he had some sort of disease or curse that had a timer ticking down on him.

James was being stubborn on purpose and not saying something, which of course made Sid want to know more because he was just the type of person that hated not knowing things, he wasn't going to weasel the information out of James just yet apparently. He made a mental note to return to the topic later.

"Yeah, something like that," Sid trailed off, because James wasn't wrong and the fact that magic seems so stifled even there in that town was one of his biggest problems. It was a problem he had expected, but having never experienced it before it had thrown him off quite a bit.

"We have acid rain that you just have to learn to dodge or keep your cloak with you all the time unless you want scars," a fact that Sid had been taught early in life but sometimes he'd still chanced it and did indeed have a few scars to show for that, "It's probably about as tame as you would consider anywhere when you're living on top of a giant corpse."

Was it honestly that odd? Sid's brow furrowed; it wasn't, but it was likely going to be one of the reasons that he would never really fit in around that town. "Or, well, technically I lived in Bonesborough, which is one of the tamer areas; you get farther out into the forests and the limbs and it's more dangerous I guess. Less people and more animals, sentiment plants, that kind of thing." Ultimately that didn't really seem strange to Sid; the mainland seemed bizarre to him.

"It's not like I don't know what a lot of things around here are, I wasn't born there, my father has always talked about things off the Isles, but I had to get used to those things being real instead of just ideas." It had been something of a culture shock, it still was at times.

"Like your holidays; Halloween is the only one that seems even remotely familiar, and the limitations on magic here, or even the fact that everyone in this neighborhood looks like my house like it's something strange when it's probably the most exhaustingly mundane version of the idea we've ever lived in." And while he didn't want to say it outloud, and he wasn't going to, the conversation was just making him homesick. He lost most of the edge to his tone during the course of the conversation because the topic had his guard down a little.

"How about this; you ever decide to visit the Boiling Isles and I'm still on this side of living and I'll go show you around and let you make up your own mind how different it is or isn't." Sid trailed off; sure, why not, it wasn't very likely he was ever going to see home again anyway at the rate things were going, it was just as unlikely that James would ever go there.

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

Hook barely registered what the woman had said, too preoccupied with the knowledge that his son was only so far away from him now. Only minutes ago he had been trying to prepare for the thought that he would never have gotten to see him, let alone hold him. Maybe in a few hours, when he was more tired and annoyed and taking all of this out on the staff, he would complain. Right now, just getting to look at the boy would be more than enough.

(And, not that Hook would admit this, but he was scared to hold the baby. Such a fragile thing they were, and with his already precarious state Hook did not want to tempt fate with only one hand to support him.)

He looked to Smee, uncertain, both because he hadn't really heard and because he needed that confirmation from his friend right then. Once he gave his nod, Hook echoed the movement in agreement.

The woman gestured and Hook stepped forward into the room. It was dim, the lights turned down so that only one above the door remained on, and quiet. Usually, quiet in a place like this meant only bad things. Here it felt...tentative. Hushed rather than a lack of sound altogether.

There was a clear bassinet situated among various machines, monitors keeping track of their respective vitals. There were tubes and wires laying over the high walls of the bassinet, all running toward a bundle of colorful cloth piled in the middle. Hook took a step, finding it incredible that his legs could feel like they were back aboard the Jolly Roger in the middle of a heavy storm while on land.

How, he wondered to himself as he continued forward, he felt more terrified now than he ever had when facing monsters that had quite literally torn him apart was baffling. But if he had survived them, he could survive this, too.

When he was close enough to see into the crib, his height affording him some distance, he could make out the tiny face of a baby. His head was covered in a beanie with white and blue stripes, but dark hair stuck out from under it. Instantly, he closed the distance until he was standing over the baby, intent on looking over every detail of him that he could see. The dark brows to match the hair, the skin complexion that reflected Avani's though it had a distinctly more pink tone to it.

It made punched a breath of disbelief out of him and he looked around until he found Smee, urging him over, once again in need of the man's corroboration to know that this was real. That he hadn't fallen asleep in the waiting room, his brain giving him false hope only to wake up and find reality to be a far worse place to be.

The Beginning Of The End || Jolly Roger

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

He sighed, a touch annoyed, and looked up, prepared to give another nonanswer that would hopefully put a pin in this conversation. But the look on her face gave him pause, took the sarcastic round from its chamber and had him quickly tearing his eyes away from her.

Shame clawed at him in an instant. It always did when he started acting like this. Like...like his dad. The parts that had embarrassed James, when the old man would act like he was the only one in the world who mattered and who could spare no empathy toward others. And here James was, so riddled in his own sob story that he was missing the person in front of him.

"No. I um...I don't think it's something that feels like anything else," he answered honestly. James sniffed, running his sleeve under his nose harshly, and shook his head. "It's nothing you could give me something for, let's put it that way."

Not that he wanted anything for it. Stupid as it was, he knew it was there for a reason. Some would call it a good thing, that bullshit about grief just being love that was circling around inside and building as it had no place left to go. James would call it penance for having not given what he had when he could. When he should have.

See Right Through You & [Pirate Fox]

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@madmagicmim

James went through a face journey not unlike the TikTok that had sent Miss Brittany Broski viral. He frowned at the thought of a whole pie filling being of caramel, not being a big fan of the flavor of sugar on sugar (sue him, he needed a little depth to it, like artificial cherry or apple!), only for that frown to turn pensive with his brows arching and lower lip sticking out with the addition of chocolate. And then he went back to confusion at green dye since that meant it was probably white chocolate and bleck, was that even chocolate anymore?

"Thanks," he said with a nod of his head. "I'll be there. Not like I've got much to do these days besides wait around for callers."

He tapped at the buttons, doing nothing else besides transporting back and forth between the safe channel and the enemy infested one on the other side of the wall. Upon realizing what a downer that last sentence was, he went to amend it. "What're you up to these days? Still at uni?"

1cc || Maim

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@pall0r-mortis

The Boiling Isles, eh? Ingarian! That was interesting. It made James look at him again with this new lens framing his person and he frowned a little because...well he didn't really seem like the others who had come from there. At least, the ones that James knew of. Like The Great Sorcerer Howl Pendragon, who was all flourish and whimsy! Sid was more doom and gloom.

...maybe the Boiling Isles bred a different sort. It was supposed to be a flying island of a dead creature, wasn't it? Probably did make for the more Emo brand.

"Ah, no I did not! That was on purpose, but good catch," James said with a smile but offered no further explanation.

What? Like he wanted this guy to know he was being threatened and attacked by monsters of his dads' past? He wasn't here to compare their differing experiences of horrors, thanks.

"Anyway– think of it likes this. You're coming from a place where magic is free to wander as it pleases, right? People practice it, sell it, whatever. Here, Swynlake is the only place people can do that and even then, we've got red tape over the whole thing. So I imagine it all builds up somewhere, waiting to tip out eventually. It's bound to make things weird every now and then," he said. "Other than that, are we pretty tame in comparison to where you're from?"

He came close to grumbling about being told to be quiet, but he did want those answers. It was unlikely he was going to have anyone else to ask either, so arguing over that point wouldn't have gotten him anywhere.

Unfortunately most of what he learned was there was very little predictable about the dreams or how they played out, or even why. This left him right back at square one but without questions since none of his questions had direct, logical answers. That frustrated Sid about as much as it always did when he couldn't find reasons behind things, but he couldn't blame James for that.

Rather than complain outright he fell silent, mulling over the thoughts.

"Well, no, I'm from the Boiling Isles, kind of figured that anywhere on the mainland was going to be a step down on the weird factor, things considered. I didn't think it was going to be that much of an issue." Sid replied, his thinking had been fairly direct on that matter; growing up in a place where you lived on a giant corpse and saw things daily that most people would have considered nearly impossible led to the assumption that the mainland would be dull in comparison. "My father works mostly in the US and he always talks about how boring it is there, I didn't really expect this place to have its own version of bizarre magic."

At least that felt a little more familiar though.

"You also didn't tell me what you were doing in the last dream," he added, mostly as just a contrary point.

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@plutothe-pup

James leaned forward, hand coming up to cover his eyes as he shook his head in disappointment. No, he wanted to argue back. It's there to get people like you to click on so that the people who made the site can make money off of you! In an effort to not say any of that, he looked up, hand shifting down to press against his mouth instead as he watched Young while he continued to explain.

A snort left him, torso bouncing with the force of it, at the admission because of fucking course it had.

Then Young had to go and spoil some of his favorite words paired together in a sentence (You're and right) by saying he wasn't going to get checked out. James dropped his hand, letting it land with a slap against the mattress with his disappointment and frustration. His eyes widened, having to look away to shake his head for a moment before returning to look at Young.

"It's just like a thing that happens," James echoed back in a very poor imitation of Milo, leaning forward so he could prop his hands on his back and his arms bent at the elbow to illustrate wings like a chicken. Or rather, that Spongebob meme. He righted himself, frowning and glaring over at the other boy.

"You're a fucking idiot," he told him. "If it's been happening for this long it's clearly not going to recover. What's keeping you from getting it looked at, eh? You scared they're going to tell you something serious?"

Turbulence || Captain Barkossa

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James had started to argue, hand gripping the handle of the fridge a bit tighter as he opened his mouth, but figured it was better not to. If Mr. Smee wanted to fuss he should probably just let him, right? It's what his father had always done.

This thought made his chest ache with a furiosity because dammit. If the old man was here, he would know what to do. He would know what to say to Mr. Smee to...well comfort wasn't exactly in his father's vocabulary, but he'd know how to make him feel a bit better at least. James, on the other hand, didn't have a clue.

So he conceded and went over to the kitchen table to settle down there. Both because the table would make it easier and, well, because it was just closer than the living room was now.

When his mug was placed in front of him he pulled it between his hands, greedily taking the warmth it had to offer. James waited until Mr. Smee had sat down and taken his first sip before venturing to break the silence.

"Ironic that the man everyone said accused of being hateful toward others was the one they had burned at the stake."

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

Hook lifted his hand, in acknowledgement, in dismissal, and let his eyes fall back down to the purse as the sounds of Mr. Smee's footsteps retreated. His mind went elsewhere, the moment of time taking up a vast length and yet none at all.

Then he felt something and he frowned, eyes readjusting to actually focus on Avani's purse. He could have sworn he felt something within it shift and knew then he must have been really losing his grip on this reality. It served no other purpose (as this was it's purpose) than to get him to look up, searching for where his first mate was, and found Mr. Smee returning his gaze from where he was standing by the desk.

He swallowed, watching the other man as he came to deliver the news. His heart did not know whether to speed up with nerves or lie still with dread, rattling unevenly in its anticipation.

The relief that flooded was like a deluge, like he had just burst through the surface of the water that he had been kept under until longer than the last possible second. It filled all of the numb and voided places within him, turning him a touch insane as he gave a airy laugh.

The baby was stable.

The boy was alive.

He pushed himself to his feet, his legs which had previously lacked any strength at all carrying him across the waiting room in long strides.

Just before he reached the desk he glanced to his side and frowned, brows furrowing at the empty space beside him. Hook stopped and turned, finding Mr. Smee still in his chair. He opened his arms, giving an exasperated sound.

"What are you doing, man? Come on!" he said, expectant.

The Beginning Of The End || Jolly Roger

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@euterpe-of-hesiod

Wow, creative freedom? That was rare.

Then again, they were just two people standing and sitting around in the cold, so the stakes were pretty low! Or very high, since it was just going to be him and there wasn't anything else to distract her.

"Oi, that title belongs to Mr. Tomlin. I just work there," he said, stalling for time as he tried to think of what the fuck he was going to do here...but her reference to his job did flip the switch to make the light bulb go ping! inside his head. James pocketed the other cookie and gripped the handles of his crutches again, hopping over to the bench. He had to troubleshoot for a minute but, eventually, he lowered himself down to sit and propped the crutches up next to him.

He turned slightly, and giving the boards of the bench a slap. The sound was a bit hollow but eh. They'd do. He started working out the rhythm he could hear in his head until his hands matched the tempo, having to switch from striking with his fingers tips to the heel of his hand to making a fist sometimes to knock it with his knuckles for the different sounds.

And then he started getting after the first verse of Kool Moe Dee's I Go To Work.

Wintergrace || OPEN

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

James sat still as she went through her testing, though he did flinch a touch at first when the light shone into his eyes just out of instinct.

It surprised him how nice it felt to have her hand in his hair, only to immediately get self conscious about it and try not to think that since it was just...fucking sad, quite frankly. This was about as much physical contact as he got these days now that his father wasn't around to grab him in a headlock and ruffle his hair, or clap him on the back, or hug him.

Now everyone treated him like he was a thin piece of glass, ready to break if they got near him. Worse than that, actually. It was like he had already shattered on the ground and they were all too scared to wind up with a shard in their skin.

He didn't meet her eyes at her question, as if that would somehow give away everything. But since being around them as often as he was now, James got the feeling nurses had some sort of sixth sense for that sort of thing.

"I don't think saying everywhere would be very beneficial, would it?" he asked, trying to be a pill to hopefully make her not want to care as much and want to be done with him sooner.

See Right Through You & [Pirate Fox]

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@madmagicmim

...that was true, wasn't it? Except instead of spending his time learning useful skills, like a second language, he wasted it away usually doing things like this. Playing video games or watching silly videos. Reading books. Listening to music. He dedicated it to the drums or watching sports matches. Things that entertained him rather than making him feel like he was doing work.

Though, since the top of this year, he hadn't really been doing those either! He had been training. Learning how to use a weapon properly. How to shoot, how to fight, how to track, how to survive on his own with a select few tools, how to tie proper knots.

And look how fucking useful those all turned out to be, eh?

As soon as Mim's character hit the exit block, the screen shifted and brought them to the next level. One where they were in a narrow channel and the enemies were on either side, blocked off by the walls. But there were select blocks around that could transport them to the other side of those walls, where there was no doubt the key they would need to get.

"Chocolate slime pie," James repeated, not entirely sure the chocolate made up for the slime. "Interesting. Well, you know me, I'm not really a fancy shmancy person so, the regular sorts of bread'll be fine. Although...has he got any sort of cinnamon cakes?"

1cc || Maim

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James watched Mr. Smee carefully but even then, he wasn't prepared for the man to get up and leave the room.

And all he could do was sit there, watching him as he tore by, mouth open on a protest he couldn't muster up the courage of speaking aloud. The thought to reach over and get his crutches so he could follow was quickly cast aside, knowing it was useless.

Instead he was left to wait in that chair. He reached up to pull the beanie off of his head and run a hand through his hair, fingers having to widen as he reached the ends where his curls had been exposed to the elements and stuck together.

Maybe– no, James knew he was a massive prick for feeling more torn up about Mr. Smee's reaction than the actual news itself. It was a shock like any other that someone would actually resort to killing someone simply because they did not like nor agree with them, but it was more of a shock to see someone who had been such a sturdy figure in his life be rocked.

It served as another reminder that his fathers were not the untouchable heroes James' childhood mind had thought them to be. They were human. They grieved. They ached with pain. They could die.

With this depressing thought in mind, James did get his crutches and pulled himself back up onto his foot. At first he started toward the bathroom, but then thought better of it and swung into the kitchen to set the kettle on. He took down the tea and two mugs, staring for a while at the still nearly empty cabinets, and waited by counter. Finally, the water began to boil and he poured it into the awaiting mugs.

The creak of the door came, the one that usually annoyed the shit out of James because he wanted it to be quiet at night when Mr. Smee was asleep on the couch, but now found himself thankful for the warning. The older man always did have good timing, didn't he? Because James had no fucking clue how he was going to carry the mugs when he didn't have use of his hands.

"In here," he called from the kitchen, standing in front of the fridge to try prying it open for the milk.

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@euterpe-of-hesiod

Oof, she'd called his bluff.

Probably should have seen that coming! But sometimes his mouth talked before it really consulted with his brain and put him in positions like this. He sighed, falling a little more heavily on his crutches so the pads dug further into his armpits.

Unfortunately, he was going to have to do buck up and do this now. At least he'd get to prove her wrong, he supposed. And it wasn't like he really had much of an ego left to bruise.

"Any requests?"

Wintergrace || OPEN