A Dangerous Game (H 1.6)

Location: Car Lyle
Time: morning

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Helix,

You were woken early by the arrival of the Merrimack at the Car Lyle port. Music blared from speakers and even the people in the penthouse floor came down to see the big ship. Salem climbed down with you after you both ate some oatmeal sweetened with a bit of honeysuckle. Salem clung to you as you moved among the Sippians who boarded the ship and took a look around at all the guns and the huge engine. It is the closest to a party atmosphere you've seen here. The Sippians celebrated the Merrimack - Lucky brought out an expensive-looking bottle of some alcohol and smashed it against the bow to cheers.

After the christening, the Sippians split back into work groups and Lucky started naming off the crew for the "official maiden voyage" - you were not on the list. Nuport wasn't either. When the crew began loading up to ship out, you spotted Regal. It seems he wasn't added to the crew, either.

Was Bristol chosen for the Merrimack crew?

With Salem still clinging to you, what do you do after they leave?

Salem has stuck to my side not realizing that the barnacle riding the ship's hull is the first thing to get smashed upon the rocks. She feels safe with me, but I know I'm sailing ever closer to the shallows and I don't want to be the cause of her demise. I allow her to stay near as we start the day and explore the Merrimack though, endeavors that are in a safe enough harbor for her company. Part of me even finds comfort in her closeness as we come close to the weapons onboard the ship. I don't like what they imply about the Merrimack's future.

But when the Merrimack empties of its gallery and fills instead with its assigned crew, I know it's time for me to leave port - and Salem - behind for the day. Spotting Regal left behind gives me hope for an opportunity. With many of my usual minders, including Bristol, on the Merrimack, we might steal a moment alone. I haven't spoken to him in years, but he is the closest thing to an old friend I have here.

I crouch down to get on eye-level with Salem. "If I remember right, you usually have lessons around this time, right?"

Salem pouts a bit, but she's easily pushed off to climb up for lessons. When you approach Regal, he's fishing off a balcony by himself, tending to a bottle of rum.

Accepting the bottle has less to do with the liquid inside and more to do with acknowledgment of equal standing - very much unlike accepting the charity taste of Wells Fargo's whiskey last night - so I take the bottle and tip it back for a quick swig before handing it back to Regal.

"Hey," I echo. I move up to lean my elbows on the railing, gaze following his line down to the water, then I turn my head to look up at the building continuing above us. I'm quiet for a beat before I ask, "Do you still climb at all?"

"The upper tiers would make it fun," I comment on the building. It strikes me that Regal referred to them as "the Sipps" and not "the other Sipps." I guess it's true what they say - once an Ivy, always an Ivy. Even when you get too big to be useful to the Gardeners anymore.

"I climb, sometimes. But it's..." I think about how loud the Whispers can get when you're hanging onto a ledge no wider than your pinky. How I had to stop being an Ivy because of them. How they taunted me even just climbing up to the penthouse last night. "It's not like it used to be." I turn my attention away from those heights and look at Regal instead. "I saw you going for your gun that night." That night being the night I smashed Karo's hand and got myself into this mess.

I exhale a huff that is equal parts amused and sardonic. "Are you getting support from other Ivies I don't know about? Because you're the only one who's even looked like they might help me since I left."

His confident response reminds me of what the Whispers tell me. We liiiike you. How did I get to be so fortunate?

"Clearly you have them all fooled," I tease back, though I don't smile with the levity. I work a little pebble out of the rug with the toe of my boot, kicking it over the edge of the balcony and watching it fall until it disappears. "Why'd you end up with the Sipps? Did you choose them or did life just land you here?"

"It wasn't that much trouble. I just had to climb faster than you could fall."

I don't mention, of course, that the real trouble came after - when the Ivies who'd unhooked Regal's harness in the first place found out what I'd done. I saw the looks and whispers after that though, of course. He's not wrong about what everyone assumed and his naming it aloud now makes my lips feel the breeze in a new way.

I turn my back to the water, leaning back against the railing lightly as I look at him. "I bet none of them thought we'd end up together quite like this though. Stuck with the Sipps."

I nod, exhaling. "I know. I wouldn't have wanted you to anyway." I'm not worth it. I did this to myself. I push those thoughts away. "What are the Sipps saying about it? Does everyone assume I'm here to give Lucky an heir? I mean, not many people can slap a gang leader in the face and walk away from it."

A crease forms between my eyebrows at his words. "You know that for a fact? Are they planning something?"

But even while that's what I give voice to, the part that truly sticks with me is his assertion that I'm undermining Lucky's position just by being alive. He's not wrong, of course, but what surprises me is the fact that I feel guilty about it. What other course could I have possibly taken though? I don't want to be killed or tortured or nailed to the side of the building as some sort of beacon. Still, I find myself wondering what I could do that would help Lucky save face with his crew. Would staying on as his advisor make it better or so much worse?

I frown at his words, pondering them quietly for a few moments and trying to reconcile the guilt and responsibility colliding in my chest with the thought that keeps playing over and over in my head: this isn't my gang, these aren't my people, why should I care what happens to any of them?

"Yeah. It's not a good look." My lips tighten at the bitter taste in my mouth, the one that tells me I need to fix this anyway and that it won't be fun. "Having Lucky in charge of the Sipps is a thousand times better than having any of those other idiots running things." I run a hand through my hair. "I can make that happen." I push off the railing and straighten, moving closer to Regal and lowering my voice. "You'll help me, right?"