Disclaimer - Same as the Prologue. Just click the back button and save
yourself the trouble of suing me.
AN: Sorry this one took so long, guys. My muse decided to go smoke pot and right now I'm feeling a bit too lethargic to be able to update properly. But it's a long weekend and my parents are out of town, so maybe I'll update once or twice before Monday.
Chapter 5 - Push Came to Shove
Tiger couldn't sit still. He was bouncing around the ship like a caffeinated chipmunk. Every so often he would climb up to the rigging and stare out to sea.
"Whoa, there, Tommy-me-lad. Who lit the fire under yer arse?"
"Don't know, Jack. Just wanna see the Gov'ner, I guess. Didn't get to see him last time..."
Jack watched his protégé with interest. There was something more, he could tell. He knew that look. Tiger had done some work on his appearance, as well - he had gone a little crazy with his usual henna hair streaks, making the red stand out sharply against his natural dark brown, not to mention he had COMBED it. He had also added a little of his Captain's kohl to rim his eyes; not to the extent Jack used, of course. Jack racked his brain for a solution - then remembered seeing Carol watching the ship as they left St. Andrew's. Ah.
"Wouldn't have anything to do with that lass ye were starin' at as we left last time, would it?"
Tiger avoided his gaze.
"Her? I bet she didn't even live on the island. She looked French to me."
Jack laughed at the irony.
"Oh, Tomcat, d'ya not know? That girl you were eyeballn' was Governor White's youngest daughter."
Tiger stared. Jack met his yellow eyes with his own dark, khol-lined orbs. He was enjoying this. "A girl who is kept away from pirates of all kinds. Including yourself. Savvy?"
Tiger jumped up to the railing, his long, reddish brown hair streaming out behind him. "How long till we reach St. Andrew's?"
Jack smiled. "Before tomorrow. We should sight it any minute." She's got him hooked, he thought. No wonder the Governor hides them away.
"Ahoy!" came the call from the crow's nest. "Port St. Andrew's, a point to starboard!"
"Point t' starboard." Jack said to his navigator, who was holding the wheel. The bald Vietnamese man nodded and complied, a compass (that actually points north) in his hand. "I'll take her once we enter the port."
"Aye, Captain."
"Oy!" the lookout cried. "Smoke from the harbor!"
"What?!" Jack exclaimed, grabbing his spyglass from its place at his side and inspecting the port.
"It's burning..."
* * *
Caroline was about to go crazy.
Mary was bouncing excitedly about the cabin, and Gina was flopped face down on the bed, sobbing. Honestly, her sisters could be so flippant sometimes. Captain Turner had barely threatened them, and had in no way been rough with them. Crying wasn't doing any good - and Mary, smitten as she was, was going to be absolutely useless.
There was a tentative knock on the door. Mary sat down on the bed with a thump, staring at it. Gina hurriedly sat up and wiped her eyes as the door opened. It was the captain.
"Yes?" Carol asked warily. He gave them a nervous smile and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak.
"I think that...no. I hope...no, not that either." Frustrated, he blew a stray strand of hair away from his face. Carol hid a smile. When he wasn't surrounded by his crew, he exuded a quaint, boyish charm that was really quite endearing. He took a deep breath and began again.
"Look. It wasn't my choice to steal you girls away from your home. Usually I don't go in for that sort of thing. Please accept my assurances that no one from your hometown was done any lasting personal damage, at least to my knowledge." He looked at them hopefully. Gina, surprisingly, was the first to register what he had said and nod.
"But if it wasn't your choice - " Mary began. The Captain cut her off.
"It's better if you don't know. All I can say is...well...push came to shove. And now it's done with. We're in the middle of the ocean now, and you three have no place to go and no way to get there if you did. So, I'm going to allow you the run of the ship. However, I would advise you to stay in this cabin as much as possible. Don't get in the crew's way. They're not my usual lighthearted laddies, and I don't really know..." and he weighed his words carefully, "...what to expect from them. All right?" Not waiting for a response, he bowed quickly and was gone, closing the door behind him.
Carol and Gina stared at each other. (Mary was too busy staring at the spot the dashing Captain had recently occupied.)
"Food for thought, isn't it?" Gina asked pensively, her knees drawn up to her chest and her maroon skirts flowing about her. She laid her head on her knees, deep in thought, her golden brown hair finally falling out of its usual updo.
Carol was staring blankly at the wall, also thinking. She frowned.
"I don't like it. Something smells fishy around here."
Mary snorted at them. "We're in the middle of the ocean, dungbrain. Of course it smells fishy!" Giggling, she dodged her sister's slap and darted out the door.
--------- ------------------ ---------------
AN: Yay! I have more reviews! *counts reviews* Hey, this chapter was up for twice as long and I only got 3 reviews? That's not cool!! I want 20 reviews!!! Saavy?!
Tazz: Ya finally got a pen name! I can't wait until you upload something! And yes, my notebook version was a lot crappier than this one.
u-ne-korn: My most faithful reviewer! *big hug* You'll just have to wait and find out.
Urebriviel: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Is there any part of my writing I can improve? Constructive criticism is always welcome!
******
(FF.net decided to enforce the "no separate author's notes" rule. This used to be a separate chapter, but I had to stick it in here.)
Hey, guys.
Look, I recently went back and decided that my story stinks. (It does!) It doesn't have enough description, and there are a ton of little details I could add to make it better. My inspiration was ErinRua's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The African Star' which I recommend everyone read, because it's excellent.
So I went back and added some stuff to all of my chapters. For some it was just a sentence, for others I added whole paragraphs. (I also changed Ch. 5's title.) I tried to make sure my readers had enough details to be able to picture what the sisters and Tiger look like and what they are wearing, what the Bluehawk looks like, how the servants interact, etc.
I will probably make revisions like this every five chapters or so. I just can't stand reading my old writing, it sounds so weird. You can usually tell how old one of my notebooks is by the number of scratched out and added words.
So, everyone needs to read and review! Do you like the changes? Do you even notice them? Tell me!
Your faithful author,
~Aura-chan
AN: Sorry this one took so long, guys. My muse decided to go smoke pot and right now I'm feeling a bit too lethargic to be able to update properly. But it's a long weekend and my parents are out of town, so maybe I'll update once or twice before Monday.
Chapter 5 - Push Came to Shove
Tiger couldn't sit still. He was bouncing around the ship like a caffeinated chipmunk. Every so often he would climb up to the rigging and stare out to sea.
"Whoa, there, Tommy-me-lad. Who lit the fire under yer arse?"
"Don't know, Jack. Just wanna see the Gov'ner, I guess. Didn't get to see him last time..."
Jack watched his protégé with interest. There was something more, he could tell. He knew that look. Tiger had done some work on his appearance, as well - he had gone a little crazy with his usual henna hair streaks, making the red stand out sharply against his natural dark brown, not to mention he had COMBED it. He had also added a little of his Captain's kohl to rim his eyes; not to the extent Jack used, of course. Jack racked his brain for a solution - then remembered seeing Carol watching the ship as they left St. Andrew's. Ah.
"Wouldn't have anything to do with that lass ye were starin' at as we left last time, would it?"
Tiger avoided his gaze.
"Her? I bet she didn't even live on the island. She looked French to me."
Jack laughed at the irony.
"Oh, Tomcat, d'ya not know? That girl you were eyeballn' was Governor White's youngest daughter."
Tiger stared. Jack met his yellow eyes with his own dark, khol-lined orbs. He was enjoying this. "A girl who is kept away from pirates of all kinds. Including yourself. Savvy?"
Tiger jumped up to the railing, his long, reddish brown hair streaming out behind him. "How long till we reach St. Andrew's?"
Jack smiled. "Before tomorrow. We should sight it any minute." She's got him hooked, he thought. No wonder the Governor hides them away.
"Ahoy!" came the call from the crow's nest. "Port St. Andrew's, a point to starboard!"
"Point t' starboard." Jack said to his navigator, who was holding the wheel. The bald Vietnamese man nodded and complied, a compass (that actually points north) in his hand. "I'll take her once we enter the port."
"Aye, Captain."
"Oy!" the lookout cried. "Smoke from the harbor!"
"What?!" Jack exclaimed, grabbing his spyglass from its place at his side and inspecting the port.
"It's burning..."
* * *
Caroline was about to go crazy.
Mary was bouncing excitedly about the cabin, and Gina was flopped face down on the bed, sobbing. Honestly, her sisters could be so flippant sometimes. Captain Turner had barely threatened them, and had in no way been rough with them. Crying wasn't doing any good - and Mary, smitten as she was, was going to be absolutely useless.
There was a tentative knock on the door. Mary sat down on the bed with a thump, staring at it. Gina hurriedly sat up and wiped her eyes as the door opened. It was the captain.
"Yes?" Carol asked warily. He gave them a nervous smile and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak.
"I think that...no. I hope...no, not that either." Frustrated, he blew a stray strand of hair away from his face. Carol hid a smile. When he wasn't surrounded by his crew, he exuded a quaint, boyish charm that was really quite endearing. He took a deep breath and began again.
"Look. It wasn't my choice to steal you girls away from your home. Usually I don't go in for that sort of thing. Please accept my assurances that no one from your hometown was done any lasting personal damage, at least to my knowledge." He looked at them hopefully. Gina, surprisingly, was the first to register what he had said and nod.
"But if it wasn't your choice - " Mary began. The Captain cut her off.
"It's better if you don't know. All I can say is...well...push came to shove. And now it's done with. We're in the middle of the ocean now, and you three have no place to go and no way to get there if you did. So, I'm going to allow you the run of the ship. However, I would advise you to stay in this cabin as much as possible. Don't get in the crew's way. They're not my usual lighthearted laddies, and I don't really know..." and he weighed his words carefully, "...what to expect from them. All right?" Not waiting for a response, he bowed quickly and was gone, closing the door behind him.
Carol and Gina stared at each other. (Mary was too busy staring at the spot the dashing Captain had recently occupied.)
"Food for thought, isn't it?" Gina asked pensively, her knees drawn up to her chest and her maroon skirts flowing about her. She laid her head on her knees, deep in thought, her golden brown hair finally falling out of its usual updo.
Carol was staring blankly at the wall, also thinking. She frowned.
"I don't like it. Something smells fishy around here."
Mary snorted at them. "We're in the middle of the ocean, dungbrain. Of course it smells fishy!" Giggling, she dodged her sister's slap and darted out the door.
--------- ------------------ ---------------
AN: Yay! I have more reviews! *counts reviews* Hey, this chapter was up for twice as long and I only got 3 reviews? That's not cool!! I want 20 reviews!!! Saavy?!
Tazz: Ya finally got a pen name! I can't wait until you upload something! And yes, my notebook version was a lot crappier than this one.
u-ne-korn: My most faithful reviewer! *big hug* You'll just have to wait and find out.
Urebriviel: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Is there any part of my writing I can improve? Constructive criticism is always welcome!
******
(FF.net decided to enforce the "no separate author's notes" rule. This used to be a separate chapter, but I had to stick it in here.)
Hey, guys.
Look, I recently went back and decided that my story stinks. (It does!) It doesn't have enough description, and there are a ton of little details I could add to make it better. My inspiration was ErinRua's 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The African Star' which I recommend everyone read, because it's excellent.
So I went back and added some stuff to all of my chapters. For some it was just a sentence, for others I added whole paragraphs. (I also changed Ch. 5's title.) I tried to make sure my readers had enough details to be able to picture what the sisters and Tiger look like and what they are wearing, what the Bluehawk looks like, how the servants interact, etc.
I will probably make revisions like this every five chapters or so. I just can't stand reading my old writing, it sounds so weird. You can usually tell how old one of my notebooks is by the number of scratched out and added words.
So, everyone needs to read and review! Do you like the changes? Do you even notice them? Tell me!
Your faithful author,
~Aura-chan