"Shhh… Do you want me to sing?" Roxanne hesitated, and Elizabeth nodded, sniffling. Roxanne started humming, trying to lull her to sleep, where hopefully she would calm down.
"Upon one summer's morning, I carelessly did stray,
Down by the Walls of Wapping, where I met a sailor gay,
Conversing with a bouncing lass, who seem'd to be in pain,
Saying, William, when you go, I fear you will ne'er return again…."
~- Day, Main Deck, HMS Interceptor -~
Victoria sharpened her sword with a whetstone, having watched blacksmiths doing it when she was younger, and them occasionally letting her do it herself, she quickly got the hang of it, doing the movements familiar to her.
"For a woman who's made an industry of avoiding ships, you're a quick study." Jack mused, watching her work.
"Well… Roxanne can be persuasive and according to some blacksmith's back at Port Royal, I could do better than their apprentice's if given enough time." She mused, and he nodded.
"Of course, people are often surprised when they underestimate someone." Victoria hummed in agreement. They sat in silence for a while, which itched at Victoria.
"The same could not be said for me and sailing." She chuckled, and her expression went grim.
"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow. "Considering who your father was…" He stopped himself, and she turned to look at him, surprised.
"You knew my father?" She took her sword off the whet stone as he shrugged.
"What makes you say that? Perhaps I only knew of your father. Why would I know him personally?" Victoria could feel her impatience growing.
"I'm not a simpleton." She scowled. "At the jail it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help." She gave an off smile. "Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter. But now…" She shook her head. "So, for some reason, you knew my father. Personally." She said in an accusatory tone. "Especially if my last name made you help me." Jack hesitated, and gave a deep sigh.
"I was probably one of the few who knew him as William Turner. Most everyone just called him Bill, or 'Bootstrap' Bill."
"Bootstrap?" She questioned, not liking where this was going.
"Good man. Good pirate." Victoria bristled. "I never met anyone with as clever a mind and hands as him. When you were puzzling out that cell door, it was like seeing his twin, but female with red hair." He grinned, and Victoria crossed her arms, scowl still present.
"That's not true." Victoria gritted her teeth.
"I swear, you look just like him." He teased.
"It's not true that my father was a pirate." She snapped, and Jack rolled his eyes. "He was a merchant marine! He was a respectable man who obeyed the law, and followed the rules–" Jack laughed, cutting her off.
"You think your father is the only man who ever lived the Glasgow life, telling folk one thing, and then going off to do another?" Jack scoffed, and Victoria seethed. "There's quite a few who come here, hoping to amass enough swag to ease the burdens of respectable life. And they're all 'merchant marines.' Look love do pay attention."
"Don't call me love." Victoria grumbled.
"Must, Should, do, don't, shall, shall not, those are just suggestions. There are only two absolute rules. What a man can do. And what a man can't do." She looked away, not interested in what Jack was saying. "For instance: you can accept that your father was a pirate and still a good man... or you can't. Now me, I can't sail this ship into Tortuga all by me onsey, savvy?" He goes back to the wheel.
"Wait… Tortuga?" Victoria looked at him again.
"Oh! Did I forget to mention that?" She glared at him.
- Night, Tortuga -
Tortuga was, to put it nicely, a dank and dirty port where the tides seem to have swept together the scum of the Caribbean. Pirates, privateers, prostitutes, thieves, and drunkards, name it and it probably there somewhere in the dark cracks. As Jack and Victoria moved through the crowd, they failed to notice a redheaded woman, whose gaze hardened into a glare the moment they landed on him.
"... More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep this sweet bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy? What do you think?" He said as Victoria looked around, grimacing.
"lt'll linger…"
"l'll tell you, mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted." Jack smiled, winking at a prostitute. Victoria watched as a redheaded woman strode up to them, looking furious.
"Scarlett!" Jack smiled at her when she came to a stop in front of them. Scarlett practically growled before slapping him, and storming off. Victoria laughed at Jack's stunned expression.
"Not sure l deserved that." He grumbled, rubbing his cheek, just as a smiling blonde woman plants herself in front of him. Jack smiled back. "Giselle!"
"Who was she?" Giselle asked. Victoria grinned, this day just got much better.
"What?" Wrong answer. She slapped him and stalked off, heading in the direction Scarlett had gone in. "I may have deserved that." Victoria laughed harder. And they continued into the filth of a town, Jack pointing out spots where he'd "escaped a mob of sheep, pirates, a few privateers and a goat with nothing but a bottle of rum, rope, and a wig" or "and that's where I met a bearded woman who could best anyone at cards and made rum that would knock out in the first hour or so".
These stories went on as they seemed to wander aimlessly through the crowd, only to stop in front of a pub, 'The Faithful Bride' and Jack turned to a stall where a drunken man laid in the mud, surrounded by pigs and a foul smell. He looked oddly familiar to Victoria, but she couldn't remember where from. Jack went over to a nearby bucket filled with what Victoria hoped was water. He marched back over, and hefted the bucket up, splashing it on the man.
"Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!" Then he stopped, and stared at Jack. "Mother's love, Jack, you know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping. It's bad luck!" He chided, and Victoria was hit by a wave of memories of an old superstitious man by the name of Gibbs.
"Well, fortunately, I know how to counter it." Jack smirked. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink, and the man who was sleeping it drinks it while listening to a proposition."
"Aye, that'll about do it." Gibbs nodded as Jack helped him to his feet, and was then hit with a second wave of water.
"Blast it, I'm already awake!" He snapped at Victoria, who grinned.
"I know. That was for the smell." Gibbs paused, and nodded in concession.
- Night, The Faithful Bride, Tortuga -
Jack and Gibbs sat at a table in the shadows, a single candle illumining them as they spoke in hushed voices. Victoria was a little ways away from them, at the door, keeping a lookout. Two tankards were set down, and Gibbs lifted his to take a swig.
"Just the one." Jack chimed in, making Gibbs pause, and instead took a dainty sip.
"Make it last, then." He set his down to look at Jack. "Now, what's the nature of this venture of yours?" Jack leaned forward, as did Gibbs.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl." Gibbs straightened up like he's been hit. He stared at Jack, eyes wide, and he leaned forward again, frowning.
"Say again?" Gibbs said, thinking he'd not heard Jack properly the first time.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl." Jack repeated. "I know where it's going to be, and I'm going to take it." He took his own sip as Gibbs stared at him.
"Jack, it's a fool's errand: You've heard the tales they tell about the Pearl."
"Aye, and that's why I know where it's going to be, and that's why I know what Barbossa is up to. All I need is a crew."
"A fool's errand." Gibbs shook his head, sighing.
"Not if the fool has something Barbossa wants. Something he needs." Jacks said, smirking.
"And you've got that, have you?" Gibbs questioned. Jack smiled enigmatically, and shifted his eyes' to Victoria, who was still on guard and glaring at a sailor away from the table.
"Back there, guarding the door is the daughter of old Bootstrap Bill Turner." Gibbs' eyes widened over the edge of the tankard as he peered at Victoria. Gibbs grinned, with more missing teeth than good ones.
"Well, lookee there. I'll allow you may be onto something, Jack." He nodded. "There's bound to be sailors on this rock crazy as you. I'll find some men."
"One can only hope." Jack said, lifting up his tankard in a toast. "Take what you can."
"Give nothing back!" Gibbs said. They clinked tankards, drank, and slammed them down on the table, making Victoria jump, and turn to glare at them.
- Afternoon, Tortuga -
"Feast your eyes, Cap'n. All of 'em faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt and crazy, to boot." Gibbs stated as Jack moved down the line. He paused, contemplating a diminutive sailor before continuing. Unfortunately Victoria was not impressed.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" She said, gesturing to them. Jack nodded, and continued before stopping in front of a short sailor with a large, colorful parrot on his shoulder. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"You, sailor!
"Cotton, sir." Gibbs said, and Jack looked at Cotton.
"Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" He paused, waiting for an answer, but Cotton didn't. "Mr. Cotton! Answer me!" Jack snapped.
"He's a mute, sir." Gibbs intervened. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out." Cotton opens his mouth to show this, and Jack grimaced. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how..."
Jack turned to the parrot. "Mr. Cotton's Parrot. Same question."
"Wind in your SAILS! Wind in your SAILS!" He squawked.
"Mostly, we figure that means 'yes.'" Gibbs shrugged.
"Of course it does." Jack turned to Victoria. "Satisfied?"
"Well, you've proved they're mad." She said, eyeing them all warily.
"And what's the benefit for us?" They turn to the sound of the voice, and pirates begin to murmur in agreement. Jack moved along, stopping in front of a hunched sailor, eyes downcast, face shaded by a buckled tricorn hat. He leaned to the side, trying to peer beneath the hat. The sailor looks up to show a dark-skinned woman with brown hair and dark eyes. Her face was twisted in anger as she glowered at Jack.
"Anamaria." He smiled, and she growled in response. She slapped him, and Victoria snickered.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" She commented.
"No, that one I deserved." Jack rubbed his face.
"You stole my boat!" Anamaria snapped.
"Actually-" AnaMaria doesn't give him a chance to finish, instead slapping him again, even harder this time, this time more than just Victoria chuckled. "Borrowed! Borrowed without permission, but with every intention of bringing it back." He added hastily.
"But you didn't!" She glared at him.
"You'll get another one!" He said, and she glared at him.
"I will." She threatened.
"A better one." Victoria submitted.
"A better one!" Jack agreed, and Victoria pointed to the Interceptor.
"That one." Jack whirled on her, eyes wide.
"What one?" Victoria shoots him a look, they all turn and look at the Interceptor. Jack turns back to her.
"THAT one?!" He says incredulously, before considering it, realizing it's a good plan, and flashed a smile. "Aye, that one! What say you?" AnaMaria and the other sailors nod in agreement.
"Aye!" They all shout.
"Anchors Aweigh!" Cotton's parrot squawked.
"No, no, no, no." Gibbs muttered, shooting a look at Jack. "It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir." He throws a look at Victoria. "Much less two." Jack looked at Gibbs and sighed.
"It'll be far worse not to have them." He said briskly.
- Night, HMS Interceptor -
Victoria gripped the rails of the Interceptor, desperate to hand on as the ship rocked in the rough waves. Heavy rain pounded her face and soaked her to the bone. She could barely see anything save for the flashes of lightening that appeared, illuminating everything for mere seconds, before plunging the world into darkness.
The crew may have been practiced sailors, but it still took everything they had to keep the ship afloat. Jack was at the helm and Victoria managed to see him looking at that blasted compass of his.
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?!" Victoria shouted at Gibbs, who looked at her general direction, shrugging.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north! But we're not trying to find north, are we?" He shouted, grinning slightly. She turned back to Jack, who was struggling to keep their coarse steady. The ship tilted again, and he almost let go of the wheel, the wood slippery in his grasp. Gibbs climbed the tilted deck toward him, struggling to keep steady himself.
"We should drop canvas, sir!" He shouted, and Jack shook his head, flashing his old friend a wild smile.
"She can hold a bit longer!" The wind picked up even more and Jack laughed in excitement.
"What's in your head that puts you in such a fine mood, Captain?" Gibbs questioned, the wind almost drowning his voice.
"We're catching up!" Jack grinned, he looked back to sea, enjoying himself in the wild storm. He could feel it in his rain soaked bones. Something good was on the horizon, and not just the end of the storm.
