*Want to thank everybody for the reviews. Makes me happy. I would also
like to say in response to a review about the whole love at first site
thing, I'm really not doing that so much, that whole stare down thing just
worked for me at the time, but things'll get mixed up with Jack and
Catherine, I promise! (writing is not my forte, so bear with me if I do
something crazy or boring. I'm just a very bored person with an active
imagination)
Chapter Five-Tortuga
Catherine Swann stormed from cabin to kitchen to storage room below the deck of the HMS Interceptor. She was furious at both Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow. How could Will even think that he would just leave her at home to wait like a good little girl while he went gallivanting off to save HER sister from a shipload of demented pirates? She was in no way the kind of person to miss out on that adventure, even if her sister's life wasn't at stake. When Catherine had slammed enough doors and kicked enough walls to sufficiently release her anger towards Will (while stubbing her toe in the process), she decided to turn her thoughts to Jack. Why exactly was she mad at Jack? He was a roguish pirate, not some stuffy gentleman; he could hardly be expected to be courteous. As Catherine continued to fume she became angrier with herself, especially regarding her initial reaction to the pirate. She was livid that she had allowed herself to be sucked in like that, to be that smitten with a man she had just laid eyes on and a pirate at that! She was also beginning to feel quite embarrassed at her childish behavior at the trial. She knew that Jack had seen her staring at him, and far from being hung like he was meant to be, he was standing just above deck. Catherine really didn't want to have to face him after the way she had looked at him before, but she knew she had to surface some time. There was Elizabeth; she was, after all, the prime reason Catherine was in this predicament in the first place. She gathered herself and went up to join the two men. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If ye don't mind me askin', who was that anyway?" Jack inquired of Will. "She seemed slightly miffed if ye ask me. What'd ye do to 'er?"
"That was Catherine Swann, she's Elizabeth's sister."
"Elizabeth would be the one we're off to have the jolly pleasure of rescuing, eh?"
"Yes. Catherine is angry with me because I tried to leave her in Port Royal while I went off to try and get Elizabeth back."
"Didn't think she seemed the type to sit at home knitting." Sparrow mused as he absentmindedly steered the ship out of the way of a large rock, making Will jump slightly.
"No, she isn't. She can get quite mad at times. She's actually quite frightening when she puts her mind to it."
"Frightening, did you say, Will? That wasn't quite the effect I had in mind," said Catherine, surprising the two men with her sudden reappearance. Though much more composed, she still was in a very dangerous mood. She stared at Will as if daring him to take that statement any further. Will grinned sheepishly and turned back to the rope he had been tying down, trying to push his black hair out of his face in the process. Jack, amused as always, gave the headstrong girl a huge smile.
"Don't take any sass off of anybody, do ye love?" He leaned forward almost drunkenly, apparently trying to pour on the charm. Unfortunately for him, Catherine was not so easily swayed.
"I don't take any sass off of any man," she replied. "And don't call me 'love'." Jack's grin got even wider.
"Well, love, ye ain't never met a man who can dish out sass like Cap'n Jack Sparrow. And, lucky for me, I'm the on'ee one who knows 'ow to get yer sister back, so ye'll be doin' what I say, savvy?"
"Perfectly. But I'll tell you again, you've never had to face the likes of me, so you just watch yourself, 'savvy'?" Catherine glared at the pirate, who just grinned back at her as he swaggered back and forth behind the helm.
"Savvy, love." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later, the three man (and woman) crew pulled the HMS Interceptor into port on the island of Tortuga. Catherine and Will were both shocked at the state of the small town of ruffians and miscreants. There were ancient oil lamps, half of which were broken, dimly lighting the streets muddy with ale and God knows what else. The streets were filled to the brim with drunken sailors with their heads immersed in barrels of swill and tickling the multitude of whores in bright, bosom bearing dresses and cheap makeup. This was a far cry from Port Royal and the two were quite alarmed and disgusted at what they saw, but Jack was perfectly comfortable, if not quite at home in these rough surroundings. He apparently frequented the place quite often, for her was promptly slapped across the face by two of the aforementioned prostitutes before they had been there five minutes.
"Friends of yours?" Catherine asked as she threw her hair over her shoulder. Jack just shot her a lopsided grin. She shook her head and turned to her friend. "Lovely place they've got here, eh Will?"
"Oh yes," he replied as he wrinkled his nose at the smell of sweat, beer, and urine. "Quite lovely."
Soon the three travelers found themselves in the Faithful Bride, a popular tavern for pirates, ruffians, and basically anyone who wanted to get drunk and fight a perfect stranger, with one of Jack's old friends whom they had found sleeping with two very large pigs.
"Now," said Jack as he staggered across the room sloshing ale out of two very large mugs, jumping aside to avoid colliding with two men as they barreled across the tavern after each other, "You (pointing at Will) stand over 'ere and keep your eyes open. You, 'fair lady', get somewhere close to Will and try not to be seen too much. Don't wan' ter be mistaken for a bar wench by one o' these drunken curs, eh? Just sit yer pretty self down righ' there, love," he said, his words already beginning to slur together. Catherine, resisting her natural instinct to contest this order at the site of the occupants of the large room, sat down huffily on a stool that was in between Will and the post behind which Jack and his friend, Gibbs, were talking.
"Alrigh', Jack," said the scruffy, middle aged sailor, "What's yer proposition?"
"I plan to go after the Black Pearl." Gibbs choked on his ale at the mention of the dreaded ship.
"You know the manner o' that ship better than anyone, so I gotta ask how exactly ye plan on doin' that wi'out getting' inter a worse situation than ye' did last time?"
"This time I've got what ye'd call leverage. Ye see that boy," the pirate nodded towards Will, who was trying to avoid a very large, drunk wench who seemed to have taken a fancy to him, "That is the only child o' Bootstrap Bill Turner." Gibbs' eyes widened.
"Ye don' say, now? Well, seems to me that our fortunes be changin'. I'll get ye a crew together by noon. It'll be difficult findin' one as mad as ye, otherwise I'd have em by dawn. Cheers, mate."
"Aye, cheers indeed," replied Jack with a smile and a conniving look in his eyes as the two men banged their mugs together, emptied them, and slammed them down on the battered, beer crusted old table. Neither noticed Catherine's ear pressed against the thin curtain separating them, no more than they saw the anger that began to spread across her face.
Chapter Five-Tortuga
Catherine Swann stormed from cabin to kitchen to storage room below the deck of the HMS Interceptor. She was furious at both Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow. How could Will even think that he would just leave her at home to wait like a good little girl while he went gallivanting off to save HER sister from a shipload of demented pirates? She was in no way the kind of person to miss out on that adventure, even if her sister's life wasn't at stake. When Catherine had slammed enough doors and kicked enough walls to sufficiently release her anger towards Will (while stubbing her toe in the process), she decided to turn her thoughts to Jack. Why exactly was she mad at Jack? He was a roguish pirate, not some stuffy gentleman; he could hardly be expected to be courteous. As Catherine continued to fume she became angrier with herself, especially regarding her initial reaction to the pirate. She was livid that she had allowed herself to be sucked in like that, to be that smitten with a man she had just laid eyes on and a pirate at that! She was also beginning to feel quite embarrassed at her childish behavior at the trial. She knew that Jack had seen her staring at him, and far from being hung like he was meant to be, he was standing just above deck. Catherine really didn't want to have to face him after the way she had looked at him before, but she knew she had to surface some time. There was Elizabeth; she was, after all, the prime reason Catherine was in this predicament in the first place. She gathered herself and went up to join the two men. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If ye don't mind me askin', who was that anyway?" Jack inquired of Will. "She seemed slightly miffed if ye ask me. What'd ye do to 'er?"
"That was Catherine Swann, she's Elizabeth's sister."
"Elizabeth would be the one we're off to have the jolly pleasure of rescuing, eh?"
"Yes. Catherine is angry with me because I tried to leave her in Port Royal while I went off to try and get Elizabeth back."
"Didn't think she seemed the type to sit at home knitting." Sparrow mused as he absentmindedly steered the ship out of the way of a large rock, making Will jump slightly.
"No, she isn't. She can get quite mad at times. She's actually quite frightening when she puts her mind to it."
"Frightening, did you say, Will? That wasn't quite the effect I had in mind," said Catherine, surprising the two men with her sudden reappearance. Though much more composed, she still was in a very dangerous mood. She stared at Will as if daring him to take that statement any further. Will grinned sheepishly and turned back to the rope he had been tying down, trying to push his black hair out of his face in the process. Jack, amused as always, gave the headstrong girl a huge smile.
"Don't take any sass off of anybody, do ye love?" He leaned forward almost drunkenly, apparently trying to pour on the charm. Unfortunately for him, Catherine was not so easily swayed.
"I don't take any sass off of any man," she replied. "And don't call me 'love'." Jack's grin got even wider.
"Well, love, ye ain't never met a man who can dish out sass like Cap'n Jack Sparrow. And, lucky for me, I'm the on'ee one who knows 'ow to get yer sister back, so ye'll be doin' what I say, savvy?"
"Perfectly. But I'll tell you again, you've never had to face the likes of me, so you just watch yourself, 'savvy'?" Catherine glared at the pirate, who just grinned back at her as he swaggered back and forth behind the helm.
"Savvy, love." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later, the three man (and woman) crew pulled the HMS Interceptor into port on the island of Tortuga. Catherine and Will were both shocked at the state of the small town of ruffians and miscreants. There were ancient oil lamps, half of which were broken, dimly lighting the streets muddy with ale and God knows what else. The streets were filled to the brim with drunken sailors with their heads immersed in barrels of swill and tickling the multitude of whores in bright, bosom bearing dresses and cheap makeup. This was a far cry from Port Royal and the two were quite alarmed and disgusted at what they saw, but Jack was perfectly comfortable, if not quite at home in these rough surroundings. He apparently frequented the place quite often, for her was promptly slapped across the face by two of the aforementioned prostitutes before they had been there five minutes.
"Friends of yours?" Catherine asked as she threw her hair over her shoulder. Jack just shot her a lopsided grin. She shook her head and turned to her friend. "Lovely place they've got here, eh Will?"
"Oh yes," he replied as he wrinkled his nose at the smell of sweat, beer, and urine. "Quite lovely."
Soon the three travelers found themselves in the Faithful Bride, a popular tavern for pirates, ruffians, and basically anyone who wanted to get drunk and fight a perfect stranger, with one of Jack's old friends whom they had found sleeping with two very large pigs.
"Now," said Jack as he staggered across the room sloshing ale out of two very large mugs, jumping aside to avoid colliding with two men as they barreled across the tavern after each other, "You (pointing at Will) stand over 'ere and keep your eyes open. You, 'fair lady', get somewhere close to Will and try not to be seen too much. Don't wan' ter be mistaken for a bar wench by one o' these drunken curs, eh? Just sit yer pretty self down righ' there, love," he said, his words already beginning to slur together. Catherine, resisting her natural instinct to contest this order at the site of the occupants of the large room, sat down huffily on a stool that was in between Will and the post behind which Jack and his friend, Gibbs, were talking.
"Alrigh', Jack," said the scruffy, middle aged sailor, "What's yer proposition?"
"I plan to go after the Black Pearl." Gibbs choked on his ale at the mention of the dreaded ship.
"You know the manner o' that ship better than anyone, so I gotta ask how exactly ye plan on doin' that wi'out getting' inter a worse situation than ye' did last time?"
"This time I've got what ye'd call leverage. Ye see that boy," the pirate nodded towards Will, who was trying to avoid a very large, drunk wench who seemed to have taken a fancy to him, "That is the only child o' Bootstrap Bill Turner." Gibbs' eyes widened.
"Ye don' say, now? Well, seems to me that our fortunes be changin'. I'll get ye a crew together by noon. It'll be difficult findin' one as mad as ye, otherwise I'd have em by dawn. Cheers, mate."
"Aye, cheers indeed," replied Jack with a smile and a conniving look in his eyes as the two men banged their mugs together, emptied them, and slammed them down on the battered, beer crusted old table. Neither noticed Catherine's ear pressed against the thin curtain separating them, no more than they saw the anger that began to spread across her face.