Disclaimer: PotC belongs to Disney… lucky bastards…
A/N: Here's another chapter before we all go back to school! I mainly wrote this chapter for a bit of fun but there was also a really important part in it that had to be done. Also you guys are in for a bit of a wait for Bri's secret to be found out. I'll try and keep it interesting though till then! Oh yeah, if you want to see a picture I drew check out the link on my profile page. Something I came up with at two in the morning; you know how it is :P
::Ziggy:: Yep, Bri will be going through all that wonderful feminine stuff.
::Jukia Wolfcall:: Happy belated birthday! Was it a gold candle holder you got? (lol)
::Sundance-gurl:: She is about five years older than Will.
::Wen Quendalie:: Brianna turns out to have a very lucky streak to her when it comes to sticky situations :)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Cursed Souls
"Six bottles of rum on the wall! Six bottles of rum! Take one down, have a round, five bottles of rum on the wall!" chorused the group of pirates, each taking a hefty swig from their mugs at the end of the verse.
Night had fallen and the crew of the Black Pearl had cracked open the remaining rum barrels from the hold and were celebrating their last night at sea before docking in Tortuga tomorrow evening. Jack had ordered that the dinner be brought up on deck so his crew could eat out under the stars while sharing in a round of songs and tales, sort of a tradition they had created whenever they sailed to the renowned town in which there was so much life and entertainment. All good meats and breads and cheeses were being consumed since more would be bought before their next voyage and of course fresh ales of all kinds would be restocked therefore making no sense in keeping the old in case of spoilage; which of course would be a dreadful pity in Jack's eyes.
Some of the men had already drifted off to bed, having to rise early for the morning shift and the night watch was now at their stations but still listening in on the fun while munching away at their own meals. Jack had turned over the wheel and joined the lads around the lantern set up near the bow of the ship. Barbosa was on his left side tearing away at the leg of a chicken and Bootstrap Bill was on his right singing at the top of his lungs and toasting his cup with the others, rum sloshing over the rim and onto the deck. Jack's own special stash sat beside the crate he was perched on, out of reach from the hands of everyone else.
"Two bottles of rum!" continued the lads. There were ten of them altogether sitting in a ring around the soft circle of light cast by the lantern flame. All seemed to be in high spirits even Bo'sun (which was slightly less than amazing) who sat across from Jack flanked by Pintel and Ragetti who at the moment were bantering back and forth like a couple of children. Jack didn't even want to fathom what they were arguing about this time but the scene did put a curve of a smile on his face.
Barbosa poked Jack in the arm and held out a roll. "You be wantin' more bread?"
"Aye, thanks mate." He bit into the soft bun and followed it with a swig of rum. The song had ended and the men were now talking about what they had planned for tomorrow once let loose in the town to go their own way.
"I'm gonna visit the Red Dog. Gertrude's been waitin' for me since last time," said Jarcoff, mentioning one of the whores from the well established brothel. "Didn't have enough of me before I guess!"
"I've got a lady up on the cliffs," Dog Ear remarked. "Biggest breasts I've ever come across and wild as a monkey." He stuck his hands out in front of his chest giving the others a good idea of the size.
Ragetti scoffed, his wooden eye rolling wayward in its socket, "Seen bigger than that. Twice that size in fact!"
"You lie!"
"Twice the size you say? How does she manage to stay upright?" asked an astonished Ketchum.
Jack listened to the babble, picking at his teeth with one finger before wiping his hand on a pant leg. "Size is all fine and dandy mates, but what really counts is that she knows what to do wi' her assets. Worst thing is a girl lying under ya' like a cold fish, no sounds, no movement, no nothing. Almost puts you outta the mood it does."
A round of ayes and nods showed that the lads agreed with his words.
"Them whores at the Red Dog know some mind bogglin' tricks to keep a man happy," Scarus told. "Once I had this girl that almost bent over completely backward while I was ridin' her. I'm surprised I didn't break her back but she was howlin' with delight and all so I said to hell wi' it and kept on goin'!"
"Well there was one girl in Singapore who could put 'er feet around the back of 'er head, she did. Looked like one of them knots in the mainline," interjected Pintel. "I didn't know whether to unravel her or get her even more wound up."
The crew's laughter drifted up into the night sky, reaching to where Brianna sat as the watch out in the crows nest. She could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation below but enough to make her shake her head and roll her eyes. Do all men only talk about sex? she wondered staring at the twinkling stars above. It had taken her a bit to get used to the crude language and gestures of the crew and to refrain from blushing every time one of them mentioned something they did to a woman's … private parts.
Brianna hummed softly to herself, her eyes lingering on the open waters of the ocean now black from the disappearing light of the sun. Another birthday had come and gone without any notice from her new family who had not been informed of the date. It was the first birthday that she had that had not been followed with a large party to celebrate, none of her relatives or few friends or even a cake with the white creamy frosting she had loved so much. Those things though did not fit her new pirate lifestyle and Brianna moved them aside to make way for all of the coming surprises that she was sure were in store for her. Thirteen didn't feel any different than twelve other than being one year older and now a part of the marrying age group. She made a face knowing that had she not left Port Charles she could have very well been the new Mrs. Farthworth at the moment, having to succumb to whatever commands her husband might have come up for her.
She sighed and continued practicing trying to correctly tie a reef knot with two old pieces of rope. Brianna had immersed herself in sailing determined to learn all she could for hope that she would become of some value to the Pearl. Also she had begun to watch the crew themselves for clues on how men behaved. It would take every trick in the book to keep them believing that she was a lad for no telling what would happen to her if they found out the truth. Brianna frowned and held up her arm which had somehow become tangled in the main loop of the knot.
"That can't be right," she muttered. "Maybe if I twist it this way… ow ow ow!" The ropes tighten around her flesh and she quickly pulled them apart saving herself from anymore pain. "Stupid bloody pieces of shit."
Apparently the pirates' bad language has rubbed off on me as well, she thought with a grimace.
Jack glanced up upon hearing cursing coming from above and spotted his pint-sized cabin boy sitting comfortably up at the top of the main mast.
"The lad doesn't look like he's having much fun up there," commented Barbosa, leaning in close to Jack.
"Aye, he doesn't. Well, we'll just 'ave to fix that then." Jack cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey cabin boy!"
Brianna jumped and looked out over the deck to see Jack and the others in the circle looking up at her. "Aye Captain?" she called out.
"Come on down and join us! There's naught to be lookin' for tonight anyway!"
"Twas a red sky tonight!" exclaimed Bill with a raise of his mug.
"A pirate's delight!" joined in the rest, referring to the old maid's tale about good weather the day after red evenings.
She nodded and placed the rope pieces in her jacket pockets and shimmied down the sail lines to the deck below. Bootstrap patted a spot next to him and she squatted down on the planks cross-legged style. Immediately a goblet of rum was passed her way and she stared down at the murky liquid a tad uneasy for she had never drank the stuff before. Bri glanced back up to see the pirates watching her and waiting.
"Umm…cheers?"
"CHEERS!" they all cried and slammed their cups together before throwing them back and chugging down their drinks. She toasted with Bill and followed suit, swallowing down the rum as quick as she could, ignoring the burning in her nostrils and throat. The alcohol went straight to her head and she reeled backwards slightly and coughed.
"Aye lad that's the stuff!" Bill laughed, slapping her on the back. Her cup was refilled before she could protest against it.
The conversation went back to whores and positions and all the stuff that the men found interesting and Bri found herself suddenly chuckling along with the stories.
Must be the rum…
"I've been to a masked midnight party," Barbosa started, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "You lads know what that is perchance?"
"Nev'r 'eard of it," Dog Ear said, shaking his head.
"You have to pay to get in and it is by invitation only. So you go and you have to bring along a mask or else you won't be allowed admittance. Inside is an enormous room lit up by a thousand red candles, casting light over pillows and blankets laid around the floor all heaped like. Maybe thirty or so others are already there as naked as the day they were born save for their masks covering their faces." He paused allowing dramatic effect. "The whole point is to 'ave relations with as many people as possible in that room, but you never get to find out just who it is you're doing these things with." He shook his head and grinned showing off his decaying teeth. "You could be havin' your way with the Queen of England and not even know it."
Thank god for the mask, your ugly mug is the last thing I would be wanting to see in a position like that, Brianna cringed, taking another mouthful of rum.
"Eh imagine that! The Queen down on all fours pantin' like a bitch in heat!" Ragetti remarked with a hoot. "Oh yes, oh yes! I love it when ye' play wi' my bosom like that, oh and while you're at it would ye' get me a cup o' tea, governor?" he mimicked in a high voice which sent the others rolling about in hysterics.
Bill whooped with laugher. "I would pay a whole bag of gold to see that!"
"You could blackmail her for the whole treasury of England probably!"
Jack scratched his chin. "I'll have to keep an eye out for this midnight party you're talking about, Barbosa. I'd wager that I'd have a fancy time at such a gathering."
"Here here!" called Bill and raised his glass in the air again. The pirates drank to the toast, still snickering over the image of the Queen with her knickers trussed up about her head. Brianna blinked lazily as her eyes kept going in and out of focus.
"What about you Brian? Any tales you want to share with the rest of us?" Bill asked, poking Brianna in the shoulder with one finger.
She looked around the circle at the crew who again had their attention focused on her. Uh oh! Think quickly! Her mind raced frantically, despite the effects of the rum flowing through it, and remembered something she had overheard back at home from one of the boys in town.
"Oh yeah, I've had my fair share of conquests being such a pretty boy and all that I am," she lied, sarcastically emphasizing the word pretty since the others found joy in calling her that all the time. "Women couldn't resist me. Why the first time that I can remember was when I was around ten years of age and I had this maid who every night came and tucked me in." Brianna worried briefly if ten was too young to begin that sort of thing, perhaps the person she had overheard it from had been exaggerating his story but the crew just nodded and she continued. "One night her tucking in turned a little too friendly and the woman stripped me naked before I could utter a sound and showed me just how useful a mouth could be," Bri quoted her words slurring slightly from the rum.
"Wish I 'ad a maid to do that for me," sighed Ragetti. "What 'appened to her?"
"Oh… well she later discovered my father… and then my mother discovered them and the maid was fired."
Sorry Papa, she apologized silently to the sky knowing that her father would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what she had just said.
"That's it!"
Jack's sudden outburst startled Brianna as the captain jumped to his feet and stared down at her with a frown on his attractive face. He swept one hand in an arc through the air ending with him pointing one ringed finger in her direction. The others watched him with slight puzzlement.
"It's been bothering me ever since ye' came aboard me ship, lad," he continued. Bri froze in her spot terrified that he had figured her secret out.
"What's been botherin' you Cap'n?" Pintel asked, looking back and forth between Jack and the cabin boy.
"The name," he said flinging his arms about in his seemingly perpetual drunken stupor. "Sorry lad but I HATE your name," he told her.
She let out a long grateful sigh.
"So… we'll just have to give you a new one."
"A new name?" she questioned.
"Fit for a pirate. Brian just doesn't cut it at all." He tapped his fingers against his sword hilt staring off into the night sky. "Now just what should it be?..."
"How about Shark bait?" offered Dog Ear from the sidelines.
Jack shook his head making the trinkets woven into his hair jingle. "No, he stopped being that after the first few days, mate."
Ragetti scratched his matted hair. "How 'bout Pretty Boy?"
All eyes turned to regard Brianna and she squirmed under their gaze.
"He's pretty but not that pretty," Pintel said, spitting into a pot at his side.
Hey!
"What about Mr. Clean?" Jarcoff tried. "Cause he makes them floors all nice and shiny like."
Bill shook his head. "He's too tiny. That name fits someone like Bo'Sun better."
"I'll continue to be called Bo'Sun thank you," cut in the immense pirate in a rumbling voice.
"No problem, mate," Bill smiled humorously at him.
Brianna watched Jack as he pondered over a new name for her knowing somehow that it would be him who would have the final say to this little challenge. After all Jack ALWAYS had the last say in everything… but then again he was always right, so it made sense why.
True to her predictions Jack snapped his fingers and a wide grin spread across his face. "Got it!"
"Decided the name for the lad then?" Barbosa asked.
"Notch."
"Notch?" Brianna tilted her head to the side repeating the name.
"Aye."
The others mulled over it and Bill nodded as he caught on. "For the little nicks he puts in that post, right?"
"Precisely," Jack answered, looking mightily pleased with himself.
"I like it!" called out Ragetti. Everyone nodded even Barbosa and Bo'Sun (surprisingly).
"Notch it be then." Jack withdrew his sword and rapped it against the planks. "Since ye' come from a more well-to-do lifestyle you're probably use to high class fancy things, eh?"
"I guess so," she mumbled.
"Well then come forth and kneel to receive your new name," Jack said, imitating a knighting session.
She moved in front of him and Jack touched the flat edge of the sword against her right shoulder.
"I dub thee Notch!" he pronounced with a flourish. He slid the sword back in his belt. "I say that calls for another drink!"
"Course it does!" agreed Bill cheerfully, banging his mug against the deck. Another round of rum was given out and Bri was pulled back into the circle for more singing and tales.
Notch... Well I certainly didn't expect that, she thought with a smile. But then again life with pirates was going to be anything but predictable…
* * *
Sunset had fallen when the Black Pearl finally entered the bay in which Tortuga was built along. The town was already a bustle with evening fun as people cast aside the sweat from a hard day's work to bask in relaxation of the cool night.
"Ahh Tortuga," Jack sighed as he stepped onto the dock from the longboat. He breathed the air in deeply and ended up making a face as the stench reached his nostrils; the docks of Tortuga weren't the cleanest of places after all. "Should've done that in town," he mumbled before turning back towards some of his crew who had begun unloading the loot. "Alright mates! Take them objects marked with a cross up to ol' Fibbergib for the trade. Then you can be on your way."
Fibbergib ran a marketing shop on the small knoll near the shore. He was a crotchety ol' bugger but he was reliable and did give them a good price for the plunder that couldn't be spent away in taverns. Fibbergib in return sold those items to the merchant ships passing by every few days back on their way to Europe who would then sell them back to the English of who Jack had stolen from in the first place. What a great setup, he though with a smirk. He ambled away from the docks waiting for the men to finish, part of his own cut of the plunder clinking in a pouch attached to his belt. Tonight would be another great night spent away at the taverns with other scallywags and enough rum and cards to keep him well entertained while the heavily bosomed ladies in their tight corsets provided him with pleasant viewing.
Now just which strumpet should I grace with my presence tonight, he wondered. There were plentiful consorts to warm his bed in Tortuga it was just that he had to decide what kind of a mood he was in. Do I feel like blond hair, brunette, skinny, thick, loud?... He mulled over the choices as he strode into the main courtyard of town. Footsteps sounded off to his right and he turned to see a very voluptuous woman approaching him swiftly, her pale face setting off the ruby colour of her lips and wild curls that reminded Jack of a sunset at sea.
Ahh red hair…
"Ingrid," he said flashing her a glittering smile. She stopped a foot away from him her usually lovely face screwed up into a scowl and swung her hand around in an arc slapping him square on the cheek snapping his head to one side.
"You filthy, heartless, lying, bastard!"
Oh yes, it wouldn't be a trip to Tortuga without this now would it? Jack cursed under his breath and rubbed his stinging face with one hand. "Don't think I deserved that one, love," he told her, trying to sound wounded by her actions.
"You should be glad I don't string ye' up by yer toes and let the gulls feast on your innards!" she screeched making him wince at the shrillness of her voice.
"Now why is that? You were in a good enough mood when I left you."
Ingrid stomped her foot and hissed at him. "THAT was BEFORE you left you bloody pirate!"
"So… somethin' happened I take it after I took my leave."
"YES! You," she shrieked jabbing him in the chest, "were supposed to take me to me friend's festivity but instead I showed up all alone with no man and I was embarrassed to no end since I had told EVERYONE that I was bringing the famous Jack Sparrow along with me!"
"Captain… that's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow," he corrected her.
"And everyone was SO looking forward to meeting the great and feared and mighty CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow that it looked like I had lied about th' whole thing!!" she yelled, waving her arms about in the air.
"Thanks for the praise, love," he said graciously.
"Don't ye' love me!" Ingrid balled her hands into fists at her side glaring daggers at him. "That's not the whole of it either! And—"
Uh oh, there's an and…
"When ye' left like some thief in the night ye' left the door wide open and Fluffy got out and was run over by a carriage!"
He blinked. "Fluffy?"
"Me precious little dog!" She sniffed and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "He was so brave… wouldn't 'urt a fly."
Jack racked his brain and vaguely recalled seeing a little white rat running around her house. "Don't be mad at me for that, I wasn't the one drivin' the carriage," he stated.
"To kill a creature such as my innocent Fluffy. You're a heathen!"
"Now let's not go name calling, love," he tried but Ingrid was on a roll.
"Thieving, no good, mindless, drunken…"
This was starting to give him a headache and Jack had a mind to turn and leave her be but the fact that there was no way in hell he could have a little fun with this chit tonight just made him want her even more. Now the question was just how should he amend things?
Between Ingrid's ramblings Jack caught sight of Notch coming up to him from the docks. He reached out as the lad got in arm's length and pulled Notch in between himself and Ingrid. She stopped talking and stared down confused at the boy.
"Love, I would like ye' to meet my new cabin boy. His name be Notch," Jack introduced.
The woman took one look over Bri's small frame, blond hair, and big blue eyes and suddenly let out a cheerful squeal before reaching up with her hands and pinching Brianna's cheeks in her fingers.
"HE'S SO CUTE!" she cried.
Brianna tried her best not to flinch and kept her mouth shut since the Captain's hand tightened on her arm signaling her to stay quiet.
"Wherever did you get him?" Ingrid asked suddenly forgetting that she had just been ranting at him.
"Rescued him from drowning I did," Jack lied, knowing just how to play her along. "The poor lad had been shipwrecked, his entire family taken down to Davy Jones' Locker. So I plucked him from the cold hearted sea and made him a part of the crew since he needed a new family to care for him."
Ingrid placed her hands over her chest, her eyes sparkling with tears. "That's so beautiful. Oh Jack you do 'ave a heart after all. And here I was callin' ye' a savage."
"Don't fret love. People make mistakes," he forgave her gallantly.
Brianna rolled her eyes.
The gap between them closed as Ingrid moved towards Jack and Brianna held her breath as her head was level with the woman's gaping bosom.
"I must admit Jack that I did miss ye'," she whispered, running a hand shyly over his coat sleeve to rest on his shoulder.
Jack grinned. "Did ye' now?"
"Of course, Captain. How about I make it up to ye' later tonight?" Her eyes glittered and she licked her lips suggestively.
"I'd be willing to accept your invitation. Same place as before?"
"Yes. I'll be waiting." She gave him a wink and took her leave. He watched her go with a satisfied smile at how he had handled the situation so well. Women are so easy to figure out.
He turned to see Notch staring up at him with one eyebrow raised and Jack shrugged. "What can I say, lad. The woman's daft."
"Aye, I figured that."
"Well," Jack said clapping his hands together, "I think it's past time we got ourselves a drink, don't you?"
A/N: I had lots of fun writing that last part :). Also I'm not too sure when the tea trade started between China and Europe so if my history is a bit off during a few parts of the story I'm sorry; I was never too good at that subject.