Dangerously Close

[Arabella Porter]

       There’s no better feeling than when you see a good ship, take it by force, and then come to find a whole cargo deck of wine from Bourgogne and champagne from Champagne. Well, there are better feelings but at the time, there was no better word for fun and profit. Dominique translated for the Captain and I sat by to make sure that she wasn’t twisting Captain’s words (it’s happened before apparently. I’ve never witnessed it though.) Either way, we made a night out of it.  The only one, who didn’t wake up with a hangover the next day, was oddly, Mercurian.  I found this extraordinarily strange because I always imagined that out of everyone on board, Mercurian Maxwell would be the most self-indulgent in any sort of mind altering concoction. So when I asked him why he wasn’t joining the rest of the crew for a drink or ten, he responded with,

         “I don’t drink so close,”

          It turns out; actually, that Mercurian will only drink when he is nowhere near his laboratory. I’ll leave the “why” up to your imagination.