A bird-like whistle swirled through the air with its sharp yet playful tone as a man with a red shirt and black pants squatted down to look at the frightened faces of his captives knelt down on the white sand of the crystal clear water beach. "Couple of rich kids, huh?" The pirate lord said with a light-hearted expression that didn't match his eyes. "You better hope your mama and papa love you very much because you're going to make me a lot of money."
"Fuck you!" One tourist spat.
"What was that? Fuck me?" The pirate asked calmly as he rubbed his gun against the back of his head before pointing it at him instead. "Say that again and I'll shoot your fucking brains out like I did your friend!" He yelled, making the captive flinch, then he laughed as if he'd just heard a joke, stood up, and put his gun away. "My name's Vaas. Nice to meet you fuckers. We're going to have a lot of fun." His accent made him say his words quickly, with each word nearly blending with the next.
"Hey, boss!" One of the other pirates called as two more followed, one dragging behind him a young woman. "We got another one!"
"Another one already?" Vaas asked eagerly.
"She had a camera on her, but that's it." He explained, then threw her down at Vaas's feet.
"Give me that camera," Vaas said to the other pirate who nodded towards her.
"Oh, she still has it?" He crouched down again and held out his hand. "Give me the camera little one before I cut your fingers off, come on. I don't have all day."
The woman hadn't made a noise even when they'd dragged her and stayed silent as she slowly handed him her expensive, but older, camera.
Vaas nodded in thanks and took the camera, looking over it as if he'd never seen one before. "I like this camera. You must take some pretty good pictures on it." He said, then saw the pressed engraving onto the leather strap. He read it out loud, "That is the purpose of life." He chuckled. "What the hell does that mean?" He asked with amusement. "That's just a question with no answer. What is it then? This camera? Hm?"
The woman stayed silent and stared down at the sand.
"That's rude, you know. To just not look at someone when they're talking, look at me." He said, his voice became sterner.
She slowly looked up at him, her sandy hair covering much of her face and her brown eyes distant.
He looked at her vacant expression and tilted his head. "No. Now I don't know which was worse. You're not talking, or even screaming; it's kinda creepy. Like at least cry, or something. Isn't it kinda creepy, what she's doing?" He said to no one in particular and looked around before he looked back at her. "I don't know what it is about you, but you don't seem entitled, and that's not a good thing. Entitled people are rich fucks who think they can do whatever they want. That makes me money. You? What, do you got a family or something? Anyone who cares about you? Come on, say something."
She stayed silent, even so, only her eyes cast downward.
"What is it then? You want to die, huh? Do you want me to kill you?" He asked as he took his gun out again and pointed it at her head. "Well?"
She looked back up at the barrel of the gun in her face and subtly twitched her head no.
"Well then," He put his gun away. "Better act like it. I don't know, come up with something to make yourself appealing, make yourself worth me keeping you around, alright?" He said, then put his hand on her shoulder. "You'll think of something, they all do when it comes down to it. You're just a little slow, that's okay, take your time." He patted her head patronizingly, then stood up and put the camera strap around her neck. Her eyes darted to the camera the moment he did so.
He shouted orders to his men. "Go take these fuckers to the camp nearby alright? I'll take care of this one." He gave her a sideways look and said quieter, "And don't think I didn't notice that look you gave. You really like this thing, don't you?" He chuckled as he held the camera and looked through it before letting it hang on his neck. "Alright come on, just you and me time, we're gonna figure this out."
Vaas drove her to his camp with two other pirates, with her silent the whole way there. By the time they'd reached the camp, he'd about had enough. "Get out of the car, come on."
She cautiously stepped out and tugged at her tropical dress to fix it.
"That is the first thing I've seen you do all day without me asking, literally. Like how did you survive without me? Hm?" He shook his head and walked her into camp.
Eventually, he sent the two other pirates away, and it was just them in the room together.
"You know, I kind of wanted to shoot you in the stomach to see if you'd even fucking blink, but then I wouldn't get you to say anything. If you don't have a family then-"
"My name is Audrey." She spoke up. Her brown eyes now looked straight into his, though her face was still without expression.
"Audrey, eh?" He looked at her curiously. She had olive skin, light brown hair, and dark brown eyes. She was on the smaller side and wore a white dress with pink flowers on it but somehow it didn't suit her. "Any reason you chose a pirate-infested island to vacation, Audrey?"
She shook her head. "I was told we were going to Hawaii to take pictures." She looked at the camera around his neck.
"And they…" He laughed. "They tricked you into coming here and taking their pictures?" He said with an amused smirk.
She didn't take to the jeering and looked away from him.
"Don't get upset, they're going to get their own version of justice, don't you worry." He said as he played with his large knife now. "And so… like what are they? Really bad friends or something?"
"One of their fathers brought in me as a foster child-" She started.
"Very sweet of you to not mention any names, but I'm going to need them." Vaas interrupted.
"Jason's father." She mumbled. "I was sixteen. But mostly I was an in-house servant."
"Man, that's really awful. You probably want 'em to die, huh?" He said casually.
She shook her head, saying nothing.
"Still grateful for a roof over your head? Well, that might mean good news for you, my friend, because I've been in need of a caretaker myself. These pirates can't cook for shit. You'd never believe the money we make with the kinda food we're eating. Few chefs out there are willing to cook for pirates, you know?" He crouched down, so she'd look at him again. "Do you think you could do that? Huh?"
She looked at him and nodded slowly.
"You can cook, right?" He waited until she nodded again. "Good. Cause if the food's bad you're gonna get a different kinda meal if you know what I mean." He glanced down, then chuckled when she stayed silent. "It's like our own little hidden code, okay?"