latibule [jj maybank]

0.19

chapter 19

the group sits surrounding a fire, their moods high from what happened at the midsummer. 

"so what's this mandatory meeting about?" pope asks, looking at his teammates in the glow of the fire. 

john b shoots jj with his finger guns, motioning for him to talk. 

"might as well tell him man, before we're gaffed" jj replies, poking a stick at the fire. 

"you ready for this?" john b asks, turning to the only two people that hadn't heard about the plan. 

kiara nods, looking at john b. "yeah" 

john b nods, his gaze turning to pope "so, the gold never went down with the royal merchant." 

pope rolls his eyes, sighing "oh, my god. here we go again with this" he mutters. 

"pope, this time he actually has a point. hear him out, all right?" india replies, looking at pope. jj nods to her words, supporting what she's saying. 

"it's been here the whole time" john b finally says. "it's on the island" 

india sports a big grin as she sees kiara and pope's shocked faces. she adjusts in her seat, waiting for john b to continue explaining. 

beside her, jj turns to look at her with a weird gaze. 

"you okay, india?" he asks, amused. india turns to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. 

"i'm just drunk. ignore me" she mutters, still staring at kiara and pope's faces with admiration. 

jj chuckles, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in.

"i'd like to voice my skepticism" pope replies after a moment, looking at john b. 

"i'm sure you would, pope, but" he stands up from his seat, digging into his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper "can i please present you with my evidence, sir?" he holds out the paper for pope to take. 

"that's a letter from denmark tanny" john b points out. 

"who the hell's that?" kiara asks, looking up at him with a frown. 

"denmark tanny was a slave that survived the royal merchant wreck." he explains "slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. that was his big discovery" he goes on to say. 

"so tanny used the gold from the merchant to buy his freedom. after that, he brought his farm" he pauses "drumroll, please" 

india starts to drumroll excitedly as she states at john b. 

"because that farm is... tannyhill plantation" 

"tannyhill?" kiara asks, surprised. a smile adorns her face as she finally starts to understand. 

john b nods, finishing off his explanation to the team. 

when he's done, pope hands back the letter. 

"wait, so this might have a small chance of being actually true" 

jj stands up from his seat, running up to john b and wrapping him in a hug before lifting him up in the air. 

"i'm so proud of you right now" he tells john b, putting him down and grabbing his face between his two hands. 

"thank you" john b remarks, patting jj on the cheek "that's really sweet of you"