#how many duvall-goes-to-marrowcreek duds will i write? who knows!

[wereshrew-admirer]

@mariusperkins and @ringneckedpheasant tagged me for WIP wednesday and it’s sunday which is the wednesday of my work week, so below is what i’ve got so far of a fic based on art’s joking about duvall running off the jade moon after the marrow creek party.

idk the tagging etiquette since it’s not wednesday for most folks, but i’d tag @laminatednewspaper, @twinewool, and….somebody who has apparently deactivated (funny way to find that out 🥲 so i guess @<anybody reading this that wants to share>) if you haven’t already been tagged!

on the eighth day aboard the Jade Moon, duvall woke with a long stretch, kicking crumpled sheets off the bed and pushing his arms up under the pillows - sending several cascading down on his face. Laughter tumbled out of him as he extended his spine, fingers, toes - rejoicing in his newly remade body; in the sensation of being whole and alive, regardless of his actual composition.

It took a moment to realize the bed he was on should be small enough that he’d have come into contact with chine already if they were still in bed with him. He stopped and listened, a little out of breath, and the silence of the room settled in on him with a hint of disappointment, he felt so good and would have liked to share his good mood, to have heard chine’s laughter join his own.

It was only a hint, though, and erupting from the pillow avalanche set him to laughing again. Bubbling with joy he looked towards the window, irrationally, perhaps, expecting a sunny day to reflect his mood - but the port hole had been covered, blocked by curtains on the outside of the boat.

Even this gave him only a momentary pause while he connected the blocked view with what he’d read on the itinerary: Days Nine Thru Eleven, Stay Inside.

he couldn’t remember being so happy. three days with no planned activities and nowhere to go, and chine and the baby all to himself - if they’d want him.

<tense change, began translating present to past and only got this far>

he goes to pull on his pants and remembers belatedly that he’s got to unbutton them first; chine hadn’t bothered last night and he’s got enough of whatever counts as flesh now that it’s not so easy to pull them back up alone. smiling to himself, he thinks that they’ll probably want him.

chine’s probably taken the baby to get breakfast. It eats a lot, he’d been told. that makes sense given how young it is, they’re lucky it can eat solids at all, really. if It hadn’t been able to chew it would have been a nightmare, and one that he’d almost certainly have to bear alone if It was to get any nutrition at all - chine certainly wouldn’t have had the patience to search out an appropriate milk replacement.

duvall slaps himself lightly on the face, catching himself thinking already as if he were included as part of chine’s new family. but he’s too giddy to care, and the hum of the inhsects inside him sounds a little bit like the lullaby chine had sung as they put It down for the night. not that there’d been much night left by the time they got back to chine’s room.

the captain had kept them waiting so long. under other circumstances duvall might think them rude for it, but right before closing the door on his way out to the dining hall he remembers his new mustache and hurries back in to make sure it’s presentable. the man in the mirror is so happy that he’s impossibly grateful the captain had been willing to see him at all. it’s an unbelievable relief to have new bones, new flesh - rebuilt this time with the guiding hand of a a being to whom the act of becoming and unbecoming was old news.

properly freshened at last duvall hurries out of chine’s room, excited to see what It’s favorite pastry is, what mess it’s made, whether or not chine has done anything at all to stop it.

neither chine nor the baby nor any sign of chaos greets him in the breakfast lounge. there’s only pickman looking grumpily out a window, and she doesn’t greet him either.

fine. he’d eat and then go find them, there weren’t many places they could have gone to. his optimism still mostly intact, duvall imagines a considerate version of chine; gathering It up and struggling to keep it quiet as he dressed for the day, saying something like, ‘hush now, duvall needs his sleep if he’s going to play with you later’

the crew had been exceptional, too, so it wasn’t too difficult to imagine that they might have already cleaned any mess the two of them might have made.

still, something nags at him such that he stops pickman on her way out, asking, “have you been in here long? Had you seen chine this morning?”

She frowns and says, “no” in the dismissive tone she’s taken to directing at him lately. She pauses in the doorway and turns back to squint at him, ever accusing, “why?”

Easy enough excuse at the ready, duvall answers, “oh i was expecting to see them at breakfast is all, i wasn’t sure if i’d missed them.”

Pickman stares at him flatly for three excruciatingly long seconds before responding, “have you checked their room?”

he bluffs, says “no, i hadn’t thought of that, i.. I just thought they’d be here. Baby eats a lot, you know?” and mostly doesn’t stumble. He’s proud of himself for it and deems it a success when pickman huffs at him and leaves without further comment.

He shares his pastry with the insects - they must get it eventually anyway, but it feels good to offer and see them take it, and it seems to make the process of eating much faster, which is good because he’s anxious to finish and start his 3-day-chine-special.

It’s pickman who finds the note duvall hadn’t thought to look for, left forgotten on a side table.

when duvall is finished he steps into the hall in time to see pickman trundling back towards him. she briskly says, “they’ve gone” and keeps walking as if she’d said something that made sense on its own.

“What?”

She pauses just long enough to say, “chine has left the boat. I will find out if any of our other companions have proven similarly foolish.” before continuing down the hall - which is just as well because duvall has just found out that he’s got no time to lose.