Alrighty, first chapter of Strange Waters. I haven't written much over the past few years so I'm a tad rusty.
Summary: Benny is a woman with nothing left to lose, so when she see's an opportunity, she's quick to grab it. But her way of seeing the world may become her downfall, especially when it comes to a certain Pirate leader.
I do not own Far Cry 3 (dammit) or Vaas (dammit) but one can dream huh? I do own Benny and Mango though. Huzzah! Wondrous adventures ahead involving traps, crocodiles, horrific pasts, friendship, torture, drugs, alcohol, sexual content, and unique outlooks.
Kudos to my lil sister Shawnna for coming up with the title. God I suck at titles -.-
PS: Writing video blog scenes sucks as well...I can do one, but I can't freakin write one. Ugh. Enjoy though :)
XXX
Strange Waters
Chapter 1
Well This Is Quite The Pickle
XXX
"Hello everyone," Benny announced into the screen of her video camera. "It's me again. Long time no see." She smirked and brushed a long wavy lock of brown hair behind her ear, examining herself in the screen, making sure her eyeliner wasn't smudged and that her hair was in place. Her smile was pleasant but dark green eyes told otherwise. "As you may know," she continued, placing her elbows on the table, fingers twiddling together, "my life's been a little, hm, shall we say, blah for a while. The past few videos have been anything but glamorous I mean, what can I say? Same shit different day." She brought one hand down to the table, thumping her thumb on the wooden surface and biting her lip, eyes casting down to the side. She thought. "I'm gonna be completely honest with you people, I'm starting to lose my grip here. It's been, how do you say, hectic without being hectic. My mind's fucking gone but yet, I've still been sitting in the same old place doing the same old thing. It's enough to drive a person fucking crazy." She chuckled, sitting back in her chair, a chain holding a small set of brass knuckles lay against her chest. "But since when have I been called otherwise?"
Green eyes struck the camera and she smiled. "I've seen the comments you fuckers. But take into consideration the fact that a year ago, you didn't know a single thing about me. And then when I let you guys in on little snippets of my life you get the balls to call me crazy." Another chuckle and she shook her head, leaning in towards the camera. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Her eyebrows rose with wonder at the invisible audience before her, the one that would eventually see her video and leave her the same old comments they had been for the past 11 months. "Fucking kidding me," and she lent back again in her chair.
Benny rubbed at her chin with her index finger, once again staring off to the side of the room, coming up with something to say next perhaps. Her eyes focused on the hotel door and to the one bag of luggage at the foot of the queen sized bed. Too big a bed, she thought shaking her head, but at least I get some elbow room now. She inhaled deeply and let it out with a whir of her lips. "I don't even know why I'm doing this." She reached across the table, behind the camera, and grabbed a pack of cigarettes, digging one out of the near empty case and depositing it between her lips, then reached into her jeans pocket for her lighter, and lit.
Perhaps making this video was a big waste of time. After all, though there were many that were entertained there were still the douche bags and the assholes and down right cunts trying to preach to her what life was all about, what her mistakes were, what she should have been doing. Maybe starting a video blog in the first place was a bad idea. She never took too kindly to people telling her what to do. And though she enjoyed being in the lime light, advertising her life was beginning to be more of a downer than an upper these days. She normally enjoyed the arguments and snarky comebacks but, like she had said, same shit different day.
The smile returned, her burdened like demeanor quickly turning to perked up and happy. "So here I am...in freaking Bangkok!" She laughed, taking another drag of her cigarette. "Can you fucking believe that shit?" She sniffed and took another drag. "I followed some leads, talked to a few people and here I am. Am I having the time of my life? Haha, well, maybe soon I will. It's not home but...then again, that place never really did feel like home. I mean," another drag, "wandering around has been, well, second nature to me. Would I like to find that special someone and maybe settle down? Heh, what girl hasn't had that fantasy hm?" Her perky demeanor drooped a bit and she once again started thumping her fingers on the table. She bit her lip.
"I met a guy last night," a small smile followed. "He told me he may know of a place, off the map...might just be the break I've been looking for. You know me, never satisfied."
A moment of silence followed as her smile quickly faded again and she cast her eyes downward, sighing, then looked back up into the camera, a hint of loss in her jungle eyes. "This might turn out to be a bad idea," Benny said regretfully. "I think I know of the risk I'm taking here. And I've taken a lot of risks, but, hey," she chanced a smile if only for a second, "maybe this one is worth it." The cigarette between her fingers burned slowly, the smoke milling up around her, an open window—the only light illuminating the room-with no air behind her did nothing to keep it from coming between her face and the camera. "Maybe, maybe I can finally find what I've been looking for." What are you looking for? A voice in her head asked. "I don't know maybe, a chance at freedom or something big, something amazing! Wouldn't that be fantastic! To finally feel at peace...or at least you know...satisfied." The look she presented to the camera was one filled with doubt and she finished her cigarette.
"What the fuck am I even talking about?" she scowled as she mashed the cigarette butt into the ashtray beside her. "I'm totally fucked." She hung her head in her hands, long dark locks falling through her fingers and she raked them back behind her head, bringing her eyes back up to the camera and whirring her lips again. "Fuck it," she muttered, looking to the edge of the table where a bowie knife was stuck into, out of sight of the camera. "I've got nothing left to lose." She reached for the camera and picked it up, still keeping the lens on her face. "Before I go, I'll shoot some Bangkok for you, take you on a tour of this wondrous place," she said with a smile. "Keep in mind, this my be the last time you see my beautiful face after that." She placed the index and middle fingers of her right hand to her lips and blew a kiss towards the camera. "Peace out." And with a click the camera turned off, and Benny turned to the window of her hotel room.
Another sigh, this one a bit more peaceful than the last, and she lent back in her seat once again, the heels of her boots dragging across the carpeted floors as she stretched her legs out before her. Grabbing the knife off the table she looked towards the open window, squinting as the bright sun shown into her eyes and bobbed the weapon in her hand, playing with the weight, She tossed it up by the handle and caught it by the blade, tossed it up by the blade and caught it by the handle; she repeated this gesture another five or six times, wondering to herself, about the possible outcome of this venture. 90 percent probability that I will die; she tossed the knife by the handle. 10 percent probability something fucking awesome is going to happen. She caught it by the blade. Benny nodded "It'd be a nice change of pace," she murmured to herself and scratched at an itch at her temple with the blade, listening to the shinking noise it made on her scalp.
XXX
24 hours later...
She had not expected this kind of greeting. Well maybe she had, but she didn't expect this kind of violent greeting. Well maybe she had, but she didn't expect to be knocked unconscious, dragged to the nearest outpost then be slung up by her wrists to a beam...okay maybe she had expected that. But seriously, being a nobody with nothing to give or gain, she would have at least liked a 'hello' first.
Her brain was bouncing around in her head, her skull aching and her vision blurred. Like a long night of drinking had left her with the worst hangover of her life. The bright sun beat down on her and the humidity was driving her crazy. This was no way to spend a morning. Green eyes squinted in the sun, trying desperately to focus in on their surroundings in the brightness, to bring the blurred, doubled visions together. The first color to come into focus was red. All around her men dressed in red, whither it be shirts, hats, bandanas or strips of cloth around their arms...she groaned. Why did the first color she saw have to be so fucking bright?
One of these red clad beings caught he sounds emitting from her mouth and called to another. God don't fucking yell! She thought as her head lolled to the side, causing her brain to once again roll aroudn in her skull causing even more discomfort. Another groan and the world was becoming slightly clearer. She could no see the dirt below her, the brownish-yellow hues of the earth striking her eyes. Then the sounds of boots scuffling along on wooden floors, a knife being stuck into a body, muttered words in a language she couldn't understand, then sobs, then screams, then pleas, then low guttural sounds...someone's dieing her mind told her. Then she started to feel the aches in her shoulders. The burning pain on her wrists. How long have I been hanging here?
The world slowly started to become clearer. Visions started to match sounds and ignoring the excruciating pain in her skull, she moved herself to look up. Just what I expected; Pirates. There was no denying that she was in a world of shit once they realized she was awake. Each one was equipped with either a gun, knife, or both. She noticed a few with Molotov packed neatly around their bodies. One man had a string of grenades. Expecting a war, are we? Well they were definitely prepared for shit to go down if it did. No doubt about that.
More pleas followed by streams of crying and stuttering. God her head couldn't take much more of this. It was so close she imagined there must have been a person not too far from her, in a slightly similar predicament, but taking it much more differently than she.
Another groan, this one for the pleading woman near her.
She wriggled her wrists, fingers flexing; these bonds were tight. A small whine came from her lips from the chafing she caused her poor wrists and she gave up for now. Grimacing from the headache, she thought it best to look around again, past the men in red with their over excessive need for weapons. Well it wasn't the Ritz. Shanty buildings made up of tin walls and wooden windows, walkways of worn out lumber and rope, crates used as tables and chairs, men sitting at them drinking, playing cards, smoking cigarettes or joints. A pitbull wandering, sniffing objects here and there, and marking a barrel and moving on its way. Chickens kept in wire pens and a goat tied to a post, lounging lazily in the dirt and picking at the grass around it. And around the settlement; jungle. Jungle, jungle, and more jungle, no doubt home to many a carnivorous beast. Well this is just peachy, she rolled her eyes at the predicament. How the hell am I gonna get out of this alive.
Green eyes closed again, her body aching and begging her to release itself from these bonds. Try as she might, no matter how hard she squeezed her eyes shut the pain would just not subside. Someone had knocked her out and hard. One more look. The world was blurry once again and took some time to clear, and when it did, she found herself staring into the eyes of a pirate...she was a tad disappointed.
This pirate didn't fit the bill the others did. He was short for one. No taller than 5-3, maybe 5-4, but that may have been stretching it. He was also skinny, scrawny, and his stance was less than intimidating, like he was confused, worried even. Big brown eyes stared wide at her, mouth slightly agape, at a loss for words probably? His black hair was askew over the red bandana around his his head, soaked with sweat from the day's heat. He looked rather, shall we say, cute, and heaven forbid, innocent, like a puppy. Completely out of place was a good phrase to use for this young man. She squinted at him. Hell he couldn't be any older than 18, but she'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say 20. His voice rang in her ears and she closed her eyes again, wishing this god awful headache would just go away. She couldn't take much more of the noise, aches or pains anymore. It was ridiculous.
His boots stomped on the dirt as he ran from her, no doubt to alert the others of her conciousness. A sigh, or rather, another groan and she forced her eyes open. But this time, in place of the miniscule sorry excuse for a pirate, was a much more intimidating adversary. What she saw first were his eyes, a mixture of browns and greens...would they be considered hazel? Then that shit eating grin. She couldn't help but notice that the man definitely took care of his teeth, they were quite clean compared to the rest of him, what with the dirt around his eyes and shoulders...rather nice shoulders connected to rather nice, well muscled arms that were connected to dirt streaked and bandanged hands which laid casually at his hips. Forgive me logical part of my brain but he's quite the looker. Another look up and she noticed the green stone held around his neck, that shit eating grin again, those brown eyes, and then up to the scar which went from his left eyebrow and over the top of his head. Ah he has a mohawk too, how quaint. "Good morning sleeping beauty," he said pleasantly. "Sleep well?"
"Ugh," was all that she could come up with as she squeezed her eyes shut again, begging the horrific headache to just go the fuck away.
A whistle. "Hey," his voice sounded again, more authoritative and threateningly. "I believe I asked you a fucking question."
She watched his brows furrow and his grin quickly turn into a scowl. "Like a baby," she grumbled, doing her best to remain calm in front of the scarred man before her. She cursed herself mentally for humor being her best way to deal with a dramatic situation. The woman quickly noticed the puppy like pirate standing behind the man, still looking a tad worried. How does a boy like this get welcomed into a world of piracy and murder? Dumb luck perhaps?
A scoff brought her attention to the authoritative pirate. "Funny," he snickered. "That's fucking good. You got a good sense of humor I see." He rubbed at his nose with a knuckle and sniffed. "That's fucking awesome."
"Oh you're too kind," she grumbled, trying once again to ignore the throbbing of her brain. "Now if you'll be so kind as to cut me down, I would be much appreciative." Another rack of pain in her shoulders. "Very fucking appreciative. Very."
Another smile her way and she knew this would end one of two ways. The first being he would do as she asked and cut her down and let her go about her business. Highly unlikely. The second being he would either punch, smack, stab, or shoot her, or maybe just tell her no.
Well this is quite the pickle.
XXX
End chapter 1. Next chapter will include snarky comments, flirtatious gestures, escape, misplaced traps, and tequila.
Please let me know what you think. Like I said I'm a tad rusty and feel there is room for improvement. Reviews keep me motivated ;)
