Patton clambered into the crows-nest. He jumped back when he realised someone was already there.

"Careful!" Janus grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto both feet. "Jesus, Patton."

"Thanks Kiddo." Patton looked down carefully. "That's a long drop. What are you doing up here?"

"Anything I can do to get away from that creature in the brig." Janus said, resting his forehead against the mast.

"Remus?"

"No Virgil- who else d'you think, Patton?" Janus sighed and dragged a hand through his tangled hair. "Sorry. I'm just so, so tired."

"Why? What's up, Kiddo?" Patton sat down cross-legged in the crows-nest and pulled Janus down with him.

"Remus won't stop singing. And it wouldn't be so bad if his voice didn't get stuck in my head so much." Janus rubbed his eyes. "I haven't been able to sleep a wink for three nights because his stupid Goddamn singing is stuck in my head." Janus sighed. "You know, he'd be kinda cute if he wasn't so annoying." Janus clapped both hands over his mouth. "That was not me."

"You okay Kiddo?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know." Janus shook his hair out of his eyes. "Anyway, how are you getting on with your merman?"

Patton rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. "Pretty well, actually. We talk to each other a lot and I'd even say we're friends."

Janus laughed humourlessly. "You can't make friends with these creatures, Patton."

"Yes you can." Patton protested. "You just need to try."

Janus threw his head back and laughed longer than what Patton said probably deserved. "Yeah, catch me doing that with Remus. He's a liar and a dirty one at that."

"You were too, once." Patton said, thinking back to when Janus had tricked him into joining The Mermaid's Pride when they were both 12. "But you changed."

Janus shook his head, a slightly regretful smile on his face. "I didn't change. You did. You accepted that this was your fate and you... forgave me, I guess." He hugged his knees to his chest. "I wish I could've changed."

"You still can."

"No." Janus sighed and met Patton's brown eyes with his regretful blue ones. "No, I can't. And neither can that thing down in the brig so don't say that he can." He dropped his gaze back to his bare feet.

"Why d'you think that?" Patton shrugged. "Anyone can change."

"Some people can. You can, Rose can, Virgil can, maybe even Logan can. But not everyone. Some of us are just... too set in our ways. We can't help it and we can't change, no matter how hard we try." He grabbed the side of the crows-nest and pulled himself up. He held a hand out for Patton. "And you need to learn to distinguish between us, Patton. There's you, who can change and will, happily, if it helps others. And then there's me. I can't change and I'll never change."

"Why?" Patton asked, grabbing Janus' hand and pulling himself up. Janus shrugged.

"I don't know. But I know I'll die before I change my ways."

Janus smiled a tad sadly at the other pirate before climbing over the side of the crows-nest and scaling down the rigging. There was nothing else to say on the matter.

Writing this chapter made me want to write moceit. Why did writing this make me want to write moceit?
Bye,
Blaize