Furious. Yet not surprised, that was clearly written on the face of the rightful captain of the Black Pearl Hector Barbossa. Of course Jack would take the damned chart, that slippery bastard. At a loss for further action he turned to Cotton who was manning the helm. "Follow the sun."
Cotton raised an eyebrow and shrugged it wasn't his job to think about the captain's orders. Just obey them. Especially when your captain is the merciless once cursed Captain of the Black Pearl, Cotton (and apparently his parrot) had heard enough tails of the poor ill-fated bloks who opted to disobey Hector Barbossa's orders.
Black sails. She saw them at long last, those dark ominous sails that belonged to the fasted ship in the sea. Those sails that signaled to her that at long last her journey was over. Last she'd heard the Pearl was en route to Ship Wreck cove for a once in a life time gathering, the thought gave her a sinking feeling of disappointment. She wished she had found it sooner, for what she desired from the ship could very well be gone after such an event. Shoving that thought from her mind the raven haired woman of twenty and three strode purposefully toward the tattered sails.
As she gained ground the crowds grew thicker the nearer to the water front she got. Whether it be pirates restocking for their next endeavor, wenches swooning over said pirates, or drunken locals,it made no difference to her. She passed through the crowds with ease giving a rare inward thanks for her small stature, not only did it make for quick work of passing through large crowds but it also made for easy picking from un-noticing patron's pockets.
She kept her eyes at pocket level snatching any passing trinket with ease. Until she came upon a rather curious looking compass. Such an object was not normally seen strapped to the belt of a land bound man. Without bothering to gaze, even briefly, at the face which the curious little thing belonged to she reached for it only to have her wrist caught by a filthy ring laden hand. The small woman put on her most innocent smile and traced her gaze from the imprisoning hand, up the coat covered arm, across the dread lock scattered shoulder, to the shadow covered face.
"Well 'ello missy. It hardly seems polite to be reaching for a man's... belt." The voice was deep but not deep enough to be intimidating. What was intimidating was the raspy venomous intent in said voice. Not to mention the piercing gaze directed down on the would-be innocent.
The woman blinked wide eyed up at the perceptive man quickly decided to test his perceptiveness. Her gaze fell to her wrist, which might as well have been clapped in irons, then floated back to the shadowed face. She cleared her throat so as to raise her pitch ever so slightly, "I'm begging yer pardon sir. I tripped an' yer belt just 'appened t' be the nearest anchor." Seamless half truth, kudos. She took a deep breath and smiled as wide and nonthreatening as possible, hoping to convince the man of her innocence.
The man shot her a malevolent smirk, the kind that one sees just before getting friendly with the muzzle of a pistol. He jerked her wrist to the side forcing her to move hastily lest she fall face first to the muddy ground, "And what, pray tell, is it that ye tripped on?"
She blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "shoe laces." She averted her head to the side opposite the man, coughing to cover the wince induced by the terrible lie.
"Aye, where'd be said laces?" She turned her head back his direction to find him staring at something on the ground. She followed his gaze unfortunately finding that he found her boots lacked any sort of lace. Her eyes made their way back to the knowing stare of the man who could not be so easily outwitted.
She kept her smile wide and her voice at a young girl's pitch, "ne'er said them to be mine."
The man gritted his teeth, unless he was willing to threaten her life he felt this stale mate would get no where fast. And with an ever present lack of rum he found himself indifferent to the punishment to the would be pick pocket. Though it did strike him as odd that such a well clothed young girl would be roaming the streets of Tortuga 'tripping' into ship captains. A slight growl escaped his lips as his hold on her wrist slacked, "Count yer blessin's missy."
The girl took the opportunity to free her wrist, "consider 'em counted." She side stepped the man and continued on her way to the docks. She shook the sleeves of her recently acquired navy blue coat to hide her hands in it's over-sized sleeves. Decidedly choosing not to 'find' anymore objects on her way to the boat. Once she reached the dock she stared straight ahead marveling at the sheer size and grace of the infamous ship. She took a sharp intake of breath into her lungs and held it there for a moment, 'finally I get to meet 'im. Finally my little adventure will reach its long awaited conclusion.'
With that thought overpowering her mind and causing her heart to race she took long meaningful steps towards the dark wooded vessel. When she was just feet from the plank leading to the deck she simply couldn't bring herself to take the necessary movements to reach her goal. Just when she felt she couldn't stand still any longer a loud gurgling noise sounded to her right, she jumped and grasped her heart. Turning to locate the source she found a man curled up amongst boxes of supplies, teddy clutched in one arm and rum grasped by the opposite hand. A devilish smirk found its way onto her features as she approached what seemed to be the security. A light step and her feet were nearly touching his, she gently kicked the sole of his shoe. Nothing. A harder kick produced the same result so she stepped over his legs so that she was in reach of his upper body. she leaned down and rocked slightly on her heels, her hand snaked its way to his forehead and she poked it hard with her finger nail, all the man did was swat her hand as if it were a fly. Her smirk grew wider as she took in surroundings and finding nothing but the two of them eased the half full bottle of rum from his hand and took a long, much needed swig from the bottle before placing it back in his grasp.
She hopped over the slumbering man and sighed, "ah, much better." She noted one of the many pros of rum as she made her way to the plank. Rum (at least for her) gave a renewed sense of bravery, to much rum on the other hand made her want to loving hug whatever poor sap happened to be to close to her. Thankfully she had had just enough to give her the courage to sneak onto the Black Pearl. When she made it to the railings she ducked down to see if anyone was around to notice her. She took a head count noting two men sitting on the ground fiddling with some small round object that looked oddly similar to an eye, one man swabbing the deck, another at the helm staring off into the sky idly stroking the parrot on his shoulder, and a man wearing a rather large hat toward the back of the ship conversing in hushed tones with a couple other men.
She smiled at the man wearing the hats back before hastily making her way to a door under the helm and between two flights of stairs. She reached for the handle of said door praying it was unlocked and as luck would have it, it was. She opened it just enough to squeeze in and shut it gently with both hands to ensure as little noise as possible was made.
A/N" Hi there. This is my first story on FF and I know this chapter is short but it seemed like the best place to break it up. I hope you enjoy it and I am in need of a beta reader so shoot a message my way if you'd be willing to help.