Disclaimer:POTC does not belong to me.
Band of highly intellectual pirates
Chapter two: Busybody
___________________________________________
"Look at the amount of luggage she is taking with her, Bram!" Liam exclaimed as he watched Elizabeth fumbling with all her boxes and bags of clothes while climbing up their ship.
"Who would have guessed." Abraham answered as he rolled his eyes. He leaned over the railings of the ship's poop just below the gaff sail boom and peered down at the lady whose bag kept slipping off her shoulder and shook his head. Although his tricorne kept his eyes in its shadow, Elizabeth still noticed that he had been staring at her.
"A little help, Abraham? Please?" She asked hopefully but the man only blatantly ignored her plea and turned away. She was like this annoying little girl whom he could not stand.
The young man looked very smart in his dark green justaucorps but unlike the way it was normally worn with a vest, he just had on a white shirt and a pair of dark grey breeches. He was slightly taller than the average man but he had quite a thin frame, unlike his brother. He skipped many meals and was always locked up in his room, with a telescope in his hand and looking up at the sky and then subsequently writing in his notebook.
"Now then, where shall I be sleeping in?" Elizabeth questioned the ship's captain as she dropped her bags heavily on the ground before him. Abraham did not respond for a while and just stared at her, deep in thought and then he said finally, "My room."
"What?" Elizabeth exclaimed and Will who had heard her, came rushing over to see what was wrong. Elizabeth then proceeded to pick up her umbrella to bash Abraham's head into his body. But Abraham calmly caught the umbrella and twisted it out off her hand causing her to give out a yelp. This also made Will angry at Abraham for treating his future wife without care. He was about to pounce on Abraham but decided that he would wait and attacking Abraham could be saved for after he heard what he had to say. It seemed to him that Abraham always had something to say and it was always clever.
"That would be a wise choice, Mr. Turner. You will never beat me in a fight, fair or unfair. And what do you think you are doing, Ms Swann? I never once mentioned that you will be staying in my room with me. I shall be rooming with Liam and Craig. If I had wanted you so badly, I would have done whatever it was to get you earlier when we first met. But then again, I wouldn't expect you to come to such a complicated conclusion, seeing your impulsive, childish nature." He then turned to Will and said. "Its not too late to back out. But if you choose this... this unfortunate path, I really do fear for you."
"You talk too much, Bram." Liam said, cutting in.
"Sorry." He apologized to his friend to the surprise of Elizabeth and Will. They expected him to come up with a witty reply and were dumbfounded to hear his reply, simple and humble, pleasant to their ears. Abraham lifted his hat up and ran his fingers through his hair before putting it on again and walking away.
"You must understand that although Jack and Abraham are brothers, they are quite different. Its is also quite rare to find a set of pirate brothers that are full blood related. Because of this, they are very close. At least, they were when they were younger and Bram will never let anything stand in the way of him finding his brother again. Which is why he is quite annoyed at having to take you on board his ship. Not that he has a choice because he has no idea how to get to Tortuga." Liam informed them as they watched Bram give commands to the other pirates.
"How can he not know? He's a pirate." Will asked.
"Jack forbade him to be one, which is why Bram went to university, however, so many things changed as he grew older. So you really could say that Bram isn't a real pirate like Jack is. There are lots of things which the boy doesn't know, although, he's very smart. He does a lot of things his ways and everything seems to be clearly defined for him."
"You can't live life by definitions."
"He's looking for himself... the young one's so lost, he don't know what to do anymore."
"What happened to him?"
"Its not my place to say. When he is ready, he will tell you."
Elizabeth and Will nodded in unison and Liam led them to their quarters. He informed them that on the right will be his and Craig's room which Abraham will be rooming in for the nights which Elizabeth will be rooming in his. The room across room theirs was actually Abraham's and Liam explained that Abraham was a extremely light sleeper and he was unable to fall asleep at any other sound besides the splashing of the ocean waves. He was even disturbed by the ticking of his own watch.
Liam instructed for Elizabeth to leave her things in Abraham's room and told her she could do anything she wanted as long as it did not distract the sailors and be at the dining table on time. He then led Will to another room. He said that Abraham would not allow the couple to room together as they were not yet married and the couple was extremely surprised at this and yet, after they thought about it, Sparrows were unpredictable people.
Elizabeth sighed as the door to Abraham's room closed behind her. She looked around and saw that everything was in place. It would be shame if she were to mess it up so she decided she would be especially neat. There was a bed, a table, a wardrobe and a shelf in his room and the shelf was filled with books, very thick books. She strolled over to it and read some of the titles. "How to find Orion. The English Dictionary. Stars that fall from the sky. The heavens." She read silently to herself. What does he major in, astronomy? She thought with a laugh. She doubted that someone as cold as Abraham could actually appreciate the beauty of the stars.
She turned away from the shelf and directed her attention to the desk. There was a drawer installed into it and she pulled it open to find a few drawings. She picked them up and stared at them. The first one was of a star formation and so were a few more after that. She smiled to herself when she came across a picture of a lady with a sunflower hat and sweet smile. She was beautiful but there had not been any color on it, just done with charcoal. The last picture was of the same lady, only she was in a wedding dress. Elizabeth could only wonder who she was but she knew she would never find out. Abraham would never tell her.
As she placed the papers back into the drawer, she caught sight of a shiny thing. When she reached for it, she realised that it was a ring, a plain gold one. How strange, she thought, why would he keep just one ring if he could have all the gold he wants? She quickly put the ring back just as there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." She said.
The door creaked open and Liam walked in. Elizabeth looked up and smiled at him. "Yes?"
"Just here to inform you that tea will be at four O' clock." He said with a kind smile.
"Tea?" Elizabeth asked, raised an eyebrow. Now that, she thought, was just really strange. It must be one of Abraham's antics that she could not help but find absolutely interesting.
"Abraham. He's obsessed with tea. He makes us all take it at four O' clock everyday and unless you're on duty, you have to be there." Liam told her.
"Really? I have to be there on time?"
"Well, you could come earlier I suppose... but whatever it is, do not be late. Bram isn't too fond of lateness." The Irish man said.
"Hasn't he heard of the fashionably late rule?" Elizabeth muttered to herself. It was meant to be a rhetorical question but Liam did not notice.
"I don't think so, what's that?" He asked.
"Never mind. I'll be there on time." Elizabeth answered, shaking her head and then smiling warmly at him.
"Excellent, I'll be on my way now. Good day to you." Liam said as he turned to go.
"And to you."
______________________________________________________________
Abraham leaned his forehead against the case of the piano where he could hear the trembling of the strings each time he tapped on a key. The piano had been on the ship when he got it and he spent some days alone in the dining hall where the instrument was, just playing it. He had picked up the piano in university not because he enjoyed it but because of someone. He did not particularly hate it either but there were so many memories he had that the piano brought back for him, some good but a lot of them bad. Music and laughter, it used to exist for him, now no longer.
Elizabeth stood at the entrance of the dining hall and watched him. She had come an hour early for tea. Abraham was so absorbed by his own tapping that he did not notice her at the door. His slow tapping turned unnoticeably into a fine rhythm and then followed by a piano piece by Bach. Elizabeth knew it all too well that it was one of his orchestral suites for she had heard it many a times but never on a piano.
She entered the room and when she closed the door behind her, Abraham immediately looked up and stared at her, his mouth opened slightly in mild shock but said nothing. He did not expect anybody to be in the room at this time.
"I've never heard this song on the piano. But I am impressed... you're really good." She said to him.
Abraham turned away and closed the piano. When he looked up again, he saw Elizabeth standing by his side and she lifted up the case and said quietly, "Don't stop. Please."
"I... " He could not find any words to refuse her request as she had just caught him in one of his most vulnerable moments. "I can't." He managed finally.
"You just did."
Abraham sighed and complied, his hands rested on the keyboard as he thought of what to play. And then he started, a slow and quiet song. This one, Elizabeth had never heard before but as she watched him play, she realized that he kept his eyes closed the whole time and if she had looked carefully, she would have seen a quick tear roll down the side of his face.
He stopped abruptly and then whispered, "Christianne."
"Christianne?" Elizabeth asked.
"Nothing." Abraham mumbled.
"You just said Christianne." The girl insisted.
"No, I did not." The man blatantly denied what he had just said as he shut the piano once again and stood up.
"Yes, you did. Who is she? A lover?"
"Its not any of your business." Bram snapped.
"No, its not. But I want to know." Elizabeth said.
"Get away from me."
"How can I? We are on the same ship."
"Then throw yourself out."
"I beg your pardon!"
"You heard me. If you're going to keep asking me these questions that do not concern yourself then you can throw yourself off this ship."
"What!"
"Oh and take William with you, I'm sure you'll have a swell time on a deserted island."
"I can't believe you just said that! You're a horrible person!" Elizabeth gasped. No one has ever spoken to her that way before, not even Jack.
"Am I? Well, you're really nosy. The way you girls behave we men should just turn gay. (this is a modern term but I don't know what they call it in the past) "
"Argh! You're so uncouth." She growled.
"Idiot child." He muttered under his breath.
Just then, there came a knock on the door and Craig entered the room and was surprised to find Abraham and Elizabeth inside.
"Yes, what do you want?" Abraham asked irritably.
"I heard noises. Is everything in order?" Craig asked timidly almost hiding behind the door. He knew that Abraham could lose his temper quite easily when he was in a bad mood.
"Yes." Abraham said, letting out a breath. It felt like a breath of relief because he was actually feeling a tad exhausted from his bickering with Elizabeth. "Yes, everything's fine." He repeated as he sat down at the table. "Now, time for tea."
________________________________________________________
end of chapter two
________________________________________________________
Plasmolysed cell membrane: Hello! sorry for not updating for such a looong time!! Been o busy with Os and everything. hope you liked it! Please review! =)
Band of highly intellectual pirates
Chapter two: Busybody
___________________________________________
"Look at the amount of luggage she is taking with her, Bram!" Liam exclaimed as he watched Elizabeth fumbling with all her boxes and bags of clothes while climbing up their ship.
"Who would have guessed." Abraham answered as he rolled his eyes. He leaned over the railings of the ship's poop just below the gaff sail boom and peered down at the lady whose bag kept slipping off her shoulder and shook his head. Although his tricorne kept his eyes in its shadow, Elizabeth still noticed that he had been staring at her.
"A little help, Abraham? Please?" She asked hopefully but the man only blatantly ignored her plea and turned away. She was like this annoying little girl whom he could not stand.
The young man looked very smart in his dark green justaucorps but unlike the way it was normally worn with a vest, he just had on a white shirt and a pair of dark grey breeches. He was slightly taller than the average man but he had quite a thin frame, unlike his brother. He skipped many meals and was always locked up in his room, with a telescope in his hand and looking up at the sky and then subsequently writing in his notebook.
"Now then, where shall I be sleeping in?" Elizabeth questioned the ship's captain as she dropped her bags heavily on the ground before him. Abraham did not respond for a while and just stared at her, deep in thought and then he said finally, "My room."
"What?" Elizabeth exclaimed and Will who had heard her, came rushing over to see what was wrong. Elizabeth then proceeded to pick up her umbrella to bash Abraham's head into his body. But Abraham calmly caught the umbrella and twisted it out off her hand causing her to give out a yelp. This also made Will angry at Abraham for treating his future wife without care. He was about to pounce on Abraham but decided that he would wait and attacking Abraham could be saved for after he heard what he had to say. It seemed to him that Abraham always had something to say and it was always clever.
"That would be a wise choice, Mr. Turner. You will never beat me in a fight, fair or unfair. And what do you think you are doing, Ms Swann? I never once mentioned that you will be staying in my room with me. I shall be rooming with Liam and Craig. If I had wanted you so badly, I would have done whatever it was to get you earlier when we first met. But then again, I wouldn't expect you to come to such a complicated conclusion, seeing your impulsive, childish nature." He then turned to Will and said. "Its not too late to back out. But if you choose this... this unfortunate path, I really do fear for you."
"You talk too much, Bram." Liam said, cutting in.
"Sorry." He apologized to his friend to the surprise of Elizabeth and Will. They expected him to come up with a witty reply and were dumbfounded to hear his reply, simple and humble, pleasant to their ears. Abraham lifted his hat up and ran his fingers through his hair before putting it on again and walking away.
"You must understand that although Jack and Abraham are brothers, they are quite different. Its is also quite rare to find a set of pirate brothers that are full blood related. Because of this, they are very close. At least, they were when they were younger and Bram will never let anything stand in the way of him finding his brother again. Which is why he is quite annoyed at having to take you on board his ship. Not that he has a choice because he has no idea how to get to Tortuga." Liam informed them as they watched Bram give commands to the other pirates.
"How can he not know? He's a pirate." Will asked.
"Jack forbade him to be one, which is why Bram went to university, however, so many things changed as he grew older. So you really could say that Bram isn't a real pirate like Jack is. There are lots of things which the boy doesn't know, although, he's very smart. He does a lot of things his ways and everything seems to be clearly defined for him."
"You can't live life by definitions."
"He's looking for himself... the young one's so lost, he don't know what to do anymore."
"What happened to him?"
"Its not my place to say. When he is ready, he will tell you."
Elizabeth and Will nodded in unison and Liam led them to their quarters. He informed them that on the right will be his and Craig's room which Abraham will be rooming in for the nights which Elizabeth will be rooming in his. The room across room theirs was actually Abraham's and Liam explained that Abraham was a extremely light sleeper and he was unable to fall asleep at any other sound besides the splashing of the ocean waves. He was even disturbed by the ticking of his own watch.
Liam instructed for Elizabeth to leave her things in Abraham's room and told her she could do anything she wanted as long as it did not distract the sailors and be at the dining table on time. He then led Will to another room. He said that Abraham would not allow the couple to room together as they were not yet married and the couple was extremely surprised at this and yet, after they thought about it, Sparrows were unpredictable people.
Elizabeth sighed as the door to Abraham's room closed behind her. She looked around and saw that everything was in place. It would be shame if she were to mess it up so she decided she would be especially neat. There was a bed, a table, a wardrobe and a shelf in his room and the shelf was filled with books, very thick books. She strolled over to it and read some of the titles. "How to find Orion. The English Dictionary. Stars that fall from the sky. The heavens." She read silently to herself. What does he major in, astronomy? She thought with a laugh. She doubted that someone as cold as Abraham could actually appreciate the beauty of the stars.
She turned away from the shelf and directed her attention to the desk. There was a drawer installed into it and she pulled it open to find a few drawings. She picked them up and stared at them. The first one was of a star formation and so were a few more after that. She smiled to herself when she came across a picture of a lady with a sunflower hat and sweet smile. She was beautiful but there had not been any color on it, just done with charcoal. The last picture was of the same lady, only she was in a wedding dress. Elizabeth could only wonder who she was but she knew she would never find out. Abraham would never tell her.
As she placed the papers back into the drawer, she caught sight of a shiny thing. When she reached for it, she realised that it was a ring, a plain gold one. How strange, she thought, why would he keep just one ring if he could have all the gold he wants? She quickly put the ring back just as there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." She said.
The door creaked open and Liam walked in. Elizabeth looked up and smiled at him. "Yes?"
"Just here to inform you that tea will be at four O' clock." He said with a kind smile.
"Tea?" Elizabeth asked, raised an eyebrow. Now that, she thought, was just really strange. It must be one of Abraham's antics that she could not help but find absolutely interesting.
"Abraham. He's obsessed with tea. He makes us all take it at four O' clock everyday and unless you're on duty, you have to be there." Liam told her.
"Really? I have to be there on time?"
"Well, you could come earlier I suppose... but whatever it is, do not be late. Bram isn't too fond of lateness." The Irish man said.
"Hasn't he heard of the fashionably late rule?" Elizabeth muttered to herself. It was meant to be a rhetorical question but Liam did not notice.
"I don't think so, what's that?" He asked.
"Never mind. I'll be there on time." Elizabeth answered, shaking her head and then smiling warmly at him.
"Excellent, I'll be on my way now. Good day to you." Liam said as he turned to go.
"And to you."
______________________________________________________________
Abraham leaned his forehead against the case of the piano where he could hear the trembling of the strings each time he tapped on a key. The piano had been on the ship when he got it and he spent some days alone in the dining hall where the instrument was, just playing it. He had picked up the piano in university not because he enjoyed it but because of someone. He did not particularly hate it either but there were so many memories he had that the piano brought back for him, some good but a lot of them bad. Music and laughter, it used to exist for him, now no longer.
Elizabeth stood at the entrance of the dining hall and watched him. She had come an hour early for tea. Abraham was so absorbed by his own tapping that he did not notice her at the door. His slow tapping turned unnoticeably into a fine rhythm and then followed by a piano piece by Bach. Elizabeth knew it all too well that it was one of his orchestral suites for she had heard it many a times but never on a piano.
She entered the room and when she closed the door behind her, Abraham immediately looked up and stared at her, his mouth opened slightly in mild shock but said nothing. He did not expect anybody to be in the room at this time.
"I've never heard this song on the piano. But I am impressed... you're really good." She said to him.
Abraham turned away and closed the piano. When he looked up again, he saw Elizabeth standing by his side and she lifted up the case and said quietly, "Don't stop. Please."
"I... " He could not find any words to refuse her request as she had just caught him in one of his most vulnerable moments. "I can't." He managed finally.
"You just did."
Abraham sighed and complied, his hands rested on the keyboard as he thought of what to play. And then he started, a slow and quiet song. This one, Elizabeth had never heard before but as she watched him play, she realized that he kept his eyes closed the whole time and if she had looked carefully, she would have seen a quick tear roll down the side of his face.
He stopped abruptly and then whispered, "Christianne."
"Christianne?" Elizabeth asked.
"Nothing." Abraham mumbled.
"You just said Christianne." The girl insisted.
"No, I did not." The man blatantly denied what he had just said as he shut the piano once again and stood up.
"Yes, you did. Who is she? A lover?"
"Its not any of your business." Bram snapped.
"No, its not. But I want to know." Elizabeth said.
"Get away from me."
"How can I? We are on the same ship."
"Then throw yourself out."
"I beg your pardon!"
"You heard me. If you're going to keep asking me these questions that do not concern yourself then you can throw yourself off this ship."
"What!"
"Oh and take William with you, I'm sure you'll have a swell time on a deserted island."
"I can't believe you just said that! You're a horrible person!" Elizabeth gasped. No one has ever spoken to her that way before, not even Jack.
"Am I? Well, you're really nosy. The way you girls behave we men should just turn gay. (this is a modern term but I don't know what they call it in the past) "
"Argh! You're so uncouth." She growled.
"Idiot child." He muttered under his breath.
Just then, there came a knock on the door and Craig entered the room and was surprised to find Abraham and Elizabeth inside.
"Yes, what do you want?" Abraham asked irritably.
"I heard noises. Is everything in order?" Craig asked timidly almost hiding behind the door. He knew that Abraham could lose his temper quite easily when he was in a bad mood.
"Yes." Abraham said, letting out a breath. It felt like a breath of relief because he was actually feeling a tad exhausted from his bickering with Elizabeth. "Yes, everything's fine." He repeated as he sat down at the table. "Now, time for tea."
________________________________________________________
end of chapter two
________________________________________________________
Plasmolysed cell membrane: Hello! sorry for not updating for such a looong time!! Been o busy with Os and everything. hope you liked it! Please review! =)