Chapter Ten Intrigue and Loathing
If the same could be said for the new occupant in the captains cabin things might have been in a brighter setting. Unlike the gloomy, foreboding gray sky outside that hung in the air of the cabin where Kate and Clanker slept was more like sunshine and wildflowers in their sweet embrace. But for Cerulean it was pain…pulsing pain in her head that awoke her to find herself tucked securely in heavy blankets. Much more than she had fallen asleep with and unknown to her at one point a rough oversized coat now removed and replaced on the owners own shoulders who had taken a seat in the darkest corner with a sour expression on his face as he watched the woman sleep, as troubled things ran through his mind as he glanced over at the drying chemise and other clothing items she had been wearing. The thought of a woman in his cabin…in his bed with nothing on save an over sized pair of trousers and a large slightly transparent shirt was tempting. But he had willed himself into a resigned stupor as he slept leaving the woman alone. Innocence was bliss let her have that at least sometime longer.
At the 5th bell of the morning Cerulean sat up her hand on her forehead as she squinted to see things clearly, the room was empty of anyone else it seemed to her. She took in the room thinking it still part of a dream the candles with their long wax drippings on candle stands mixed in with sea life gave it a very dream like appearance and then the steam from the moisture in the hot air only added to the affect. She groaned rubbing her face and neck, which had become stiff in the night after hours of floating in the sea.
"Is this a dream?" she asked herself thinking that any previous occupants of the cabin had been long gone.
She heard a chuckle issue from somewhere inside the cabin causing her to look about for the source "So the lil mouse ken talk eh? Finally awoken too I see," he mused with a trace of malice and then to disdain.
"There are no such things as dreams on the Dutchman, their nothing but hollow and ash," he said his voice weighed down by knowledge of this fact "No dreams do not exist 'ere in time ye'll come te see my words are true" he said gruffly as her eyes found him…well the cool gleam of his eyes to be precise his bulk shadowed by the darkness.
"I thought as much" she said softly slipping out of the bed stiffly she stood there a moment moving her right arm it felt sore and tight, she must have slept on it wrong, and she assumed that and the mark binding her to the ship.
"Ye don talk much do ye," he observed his eyes not leaving her.
"I do talk when I have someone worth talking too," she said evenly "and since I don't there is no point in wasting meaningless words" she said wrapping the shirt about her so it didn't hang loose on her.
Jones remained silent for a few moment considering her words "aye tis not worth waistin life sustainin air if yer a mortal, yer not one anymore," he said gruffly standing up as she went over to her undergarments to see if they were dry, they weren't in fact it felt like they had been re-soaked.
She groaned wringing the drenched garments out and shaking them letting little droplets of water fall away from them. She would have to wait for them to dry it was very inconvenient to be without them. She sighed wearily sitting back down on the bed tightening her arms about herself more. She felt so small and so very vulnerable yet she had a sneaking suspicion she honestly had nothing to fear from him so long as she did not spark something within him to stoke his anger at her and therefore demand a punishment suitable to fit the crime.
Jones made his way to his desk in the corner to a secret smirk on his face; he knew her undergarments were soaked beyond what they should have been after a night of drying. But he had a thing for making the new recruits lives less comfortable and convenient, she would have been smarter to leave them on and take what discomforts that would allow. He had re-soaked them with every intent of her going around edgy and uncomfortable. He rustled through his pile of yellow stained charts that he had no use for and pieces of bare parchments scattered over the top when he had a composing urge with his music notes to attempt and place on paper.
He wasn't looking for anything or doing anything really, it was merely something to do that entailed he was in the room with her and half watching her instead of sitting and staring blatantly obvious at her, or not being in the room entirely which meant he would not see her discomforts.
"So tell me Miss Gibson," he said casually turning to face her seemingly not noticing her light flinch at his sudden conversing. "What skills do ye think would benefit my ship?" he said giving a light pop of his lips with the 'p'.
She looked up from her lap her eyes and face vacant of any emotion or thought. "I can draw…my fingers are small. Aside from that sir I'll have to be instructed on how to do a job you give me."
"Inexperienced I see," he mused with a annoyed grunt "that won't last fer long" he said rubbing his chin.
"Obviously" she muttered looking at him miffed. "I'm not entirely inexperienced, I just don't know how to do a sailors work."
"That is quite apparent makin ye inexperienced in this worl' o' men tis dangerous territory ye've put yerself in. Yer innocence is bliss until ye put it inte the balance ye have." He said seriously. "Ye know these men even myself would take any chance te take a shot at ya. An because o' that knowledge I have o' this fact ye ain't leavin my sight unless yer secured in this cabin." He raised his hand to cut off a protest from her "that an' I don' want ye associatin wit yer whore o' a sister she aint fit te be in yer company if ye want te change tha' yer welcome te work fer a few moments wit' 'er but otherwise ye will not be setin' eyes on her."
She looked at him hurt and too stunned to even speak a word of protest, her mouth hung open in an attempt to utter words but she couldn't and to make matters worse tears welled up in her eyes. But there was nothing she could do to sway his decision that was plain to see, the look in his eyes told her the matter was settled and that she would reap consequences of great magnitude should she protest.
She muttered a soft 'yes sir' and remained silent. He nodded feeling pleased she knew her place and did not protest to his rules and boundaries he was setting. She needed to be kept under a tight lock if her docile nature and obedience was to be kept; she wouldn't receive liberties that her sister or the rest of the crew had. She would remain by his side or locked in the cabin with tasks to do. He would also educate her in some of his knowledge he liked someone that if asked a question they could answer it, she would be his form of entertainment or stress release if the organ would not suite his needs. Though not a hand did he desire to lay on her, her innocence was what intrigued him most about her, and yet it agitated him to no end. Her innocence was bliss to him and yet he loathed and hated it women were not innocent, kind or gentle. Oh no not in the least the were harsh and cruel creatures who taunted you with dreams and promises of something glorious and wonderful taking advantage of you and then smashing it all to bits in a lie before your face with no remorse.
He knew he shouldn't blame her for what had happened with Calypso but she had an air to her…that lady like air of grace and beauty though proper grace and beauty it was and not harsh, unpredictable grace and beauty. But it was all together the same and for that he loathed her and yet was intrigued by her. She would be fun to toy with he could already see the promise of indignant justification in her eyes should something he be nitpicky about present itself.
Later that day he provided her with a pile of tangled nets for her to work on, once he knew she was to work he left her securely locked from the outside in the cabin to tend to his own duties he would not set foot in the cabin till after dusk the loathing of her was more prominent than the intrigue and he desired not to be around her.
Once he was gone Sur'ri let the pent up tears of frustration fall, what had she done to deserve such treatment from him? She had yet to protest his orders or wishes and yet she was still prohibited to even see her sister. She cried until her tears soaked the front of her large shirt but in reality it wasn't even really hers, but just his. Everything was his now even her and all her hopes, dreams, and desires. He had everything about her and he kept it all locked away from her she already knew that the second he set foot into the cabin with her. Her fate was to stay on a leash so tight she was even a foot away from the person who held it. And the person she was bound to this time was someone that she feared…but more than anything was a person who had intrigued her since she was the age of 14 when she had heard her first tale about him.
Oh how she had lived and breathed off of everything she could learn…and now she was his in a way she never wanted to begin with. Who knew what compromising situations she would find herself in…and what could she do? Nothing at all he was triple if not four times her size and strength. She hoped it wouldn't come to something like that the thought frightened her, and he had admitted that it was tempting but he had also said that the crew would be worse than if she was with him. Surely he meant to protect her from such horrors? But he hated women why would he want to protect her, a lady of all people to choose. She was nothing in this new world she knew not how to survive…she was as good as dead. Dead, cold and alone for 100 years.