Rag and Bone

Crispin wouldn’t strike anyone as a tough sort. Some might call him pansyish, even, what with he wouldn’t be the first into a fight, talked light, wore his feelings on his sleeve. Ned didn’t see a problem with any of that. So what if Crispin cried easy? Ned’s father had prided himself on being the toughest mother’s son on the docks, and had probably never shed a tear in his life. He’d used gin and his fists to vent his feelings instead. If that was manly, Ned would rather have a molly. And also, if you were going to draw comparisons, Crispin could probably melt Ned’s old man into bubbling pond-water with a scratch of his pen, so who’s harder now, Pa?