Almyra lounged in a chair beside Gibbs as the quartermaster took bids on drunken sailors willing to join the crew. Her boots were thrown up on the table, and her chair was balancing precariously on its two back legs while she sharpened a knife she kept tucked away in her boot for good measure. She glanced back at Jack, who was trying to make his compass work, sitting within an earshot of the table.
Musicians were playing a guitar and an accordion on the other side of the well, where merry drunken men were dunking one another in the well, and others were shooting glass bottles off people's heads for entertainment.
Almyra looked up when she heard Gibbs ask another potential sailor, "And what makes you think you're worthy to crew the Black Pearl?"
The elderly man before them answered in a happy tone around his nearly toothless grin. "Truth be told, I never sailed a day in me life. I figure I should get out and see the world while I'm still young."
"You'll do," Gibbs assured. "Make your mark. Next!"
"I hope the conditions of the hundred souls don't matter," Almyra muttered, examining the blade's sharp edge before she slid it back into the sheath hiding inside her boot. "Else Jones will be sending them all back, and Jack to the Locker in retaliation."
"He wasn't specific," Gibbs said with a shrug. "We just have to hope."
"Indeed." She looked up at the next sailor that trotted toward the table, blue-green eyes darkened in the dim light of the parlor that they were casting marks for souls in.
The next sailor had a truly jilted life. "My wife ran off with my dog. And I'm drunk for a month. And I don't give an ass rat's if I live or die."
"Perfect!" Gibbs called, motioning for the man to mark his new life. "Next!"
"Seems like he's still drunk," Almyra said in amusement.
The next man that appeared only had one arm. "Me have one arm 'n' a bum leg."
Gibbs wasted no time in his decision. "It's the crow's nest for you."
Almyra glanced back at Jack, who was lounging alongside the wall within earshot of the table, trying desperately to make his compass work.
"I know what I want," he swore under his breath, but opened the compass and still had nothing but a spinning needle.
"Next!" Gibbs called, and Almyra turned her attention back to the table.
The next potential sailor was a romantic. "Ever since I was a little lad, I've always wanted to sail the seas. Forever."
Gibbs smiled at the man. "Sooner than you think. Sign the roster."
"Thanks very much," the man said, signing as instructed.
Jack didn't look up from the compass. "How we going?"
"Including those four?" Gibbs asked. "That gives us—four!"
Jack grumbled under his breath before turning back to the compass, and Gibbs back to the line in front of the table.
"And what's your story?"
Almyra gasped when she heard the familiar, deep voice of the man before them, though he didn't look at all like the man that had chased the Pearl across the caribbean. Commodore Norrington.
"My story…" He started slowly. "It's exactly the same as your story, only one chapter behind. I chased a man across the seven seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life."
Gibbs looked at him in shock, speaking in a tone of pure disbelief. "Commodore?"
Norrington's reply was sharp, volatile. "No, not anymore, weren't you listening?" He looked at Almyra, the striking first mate that seemed to always foil his plans, and back to Gibbs. "I nearly had you all, off Tripoli. I would have, if not for the… hurricane."
"Lord," Gibbs said in shock. "You didn't try to sail through it?"
"So," Norrington sneered, stumbling slightly, which showed how much he'd really had to drink. "Do I make your crew, or not? You haven't said where you were going. Somewhere nice?" He tossed the table before them, causing the loud and boisterous room to fall totally silent. Every eye in the room was on them.
"Don't start something you can't finish, Norrington," Almyra warned, hoping to keep his gaze on her instead of seeing the captain in the corner.
Jack snatched a branch from the nearby vase, placed it in front of his face, and attempted to slip out unseen.
"So am I worthy to serve under Captain Jack Sparrow?" Norrington demanded, pulling a pistol from his belt and swinging it wide.
Almyra lifted her chin, hoping that it would hold his attention as Jack tried to slip away.
Of course, that would've been far too easy.
Norrington turned, pistol aimed at Jack, who was still failing to hide behind the small plant. "Or should I just kill you now?"
Jack scampered to hide behind a post, ducking back and forth between both sides. Norrington's pistol followed him. The captain smiled at the former navy sailor. "You're hired."
Norrington shrugged slightly, but his flintlock never lowered. "Sorry. Old habits and all that."
A random man from the crowd shouted at Norrington. "Easy, sonny!"
Almyra took the opportunity given by the distraction. She was up from the table in an instant, shoving his arm upward so the pistol no longer pointed at Jack, but instead in the air as Norrington instinctively pulled the trigger.
The small projectile that had been fired ricocheted off the dim chandelier above them and bounced into a man's bottle as he was drinking from it.
And that was how the fighting started.
The man with the broken bottle turned to the man next to him and swung, slugging him. The music started once again, and a brawl between drunkards and pirates of all kinds began. A man was swinging from the chandelier as women fought and bottles were thrown against the walls. And that was only part of the chaos.
Almyra slid back over their toppled table and halted beside Jack, motioning quickly for Gibbs to follow. "Time to go, boys."
"It is indeed, my clever siren," Jack said, looking at her proudly at the distraction she caused. It was some of her greatest work.
They moved quickly, headed for the stairs.
Someone hurled a bottle, and Jack ducked quickly before they continued on.
Gibbs and Almyra were moving up the stairs much quicker than Jack, who was lazily trying on multiple hats on his way up, hoping to replace the one he'd lost.
"Jack!" Almyra called exasperatedly. "We don't have time for this."
He paused as two men moved to throw a third man off of the balcony. "Carry on."
Almyra couldn't tell if he didn't hear her or if he was ignoring her.
After the man was thrown from the balcony, Jack continued on his way, following Almyra and Gibbs as he went on.