Commodore Norrington adjusted his hat as he stood at the helm of the newest (and smallest) ship in his fleet, The Spirit. Sea sprayed around him, and his carefully powdered hair was perfectly in place. He was on his way to Tortuga with the Governor, to visit Miss Swan (his ex fiancée) and two old "friends" of his own. Legally, he was bound to hang every pirate he met… but since the encounter a couple of years ago he'd had with Captain Jack Sparrow and William Turner, he didn't. It had taken a lot for him to learn and understand that pirate could also be a good man. He made it a habit not to hang a good man, pirate or no, these days.
"Bring her in to port," he called out to the very small crew assembled. They were his most trusted men, and most loyal. Commodore James Norrington trusted them not to betray him, and if they did, whose word would they take? Three members of a crew, or that of a royal naval officer, a Commodore at that? As he felt the boat bump being tied up to the dock, he went down into his cabin. Changing out of naval uniform into civilian's clothes (very nice civilian's clothes) and made his way to the inn that he had been given the name of, taking only the governor along with him.
"Such a filthy town," the governor stated, stepping carefully through the muddy streets, taking many short strides to keep up with the long, ambling walk of his long-time friend.
"Agreed," James replied through gritted teeth as he stepped over the passed out body of Joshamee Gibbs. "Ah, this is it," he said coming to a halt in front of one of the cleanest buildings they'd laid eyes on. Stepping inside, the Commodore's nose crinkled at the strong stench of tobacco, ale, and body odor. "We need to find room twenty," he said to the Governor. "I don't believe the innkeeper is present, otherwise he would have greeted us upon entrance… unless this place is really that morally corrupt."
After weaving through the drunken bodies, they finally came upon the stairs. Stopping in front of the door, and rapping on it twice, James adjusted his hat again.
"Commodore!" Jack exclaimed in a somewhat drunken stupor, stumbling ever so slightly. "Nice hat… it matches your hair… Big and pompous looking."
"I beg your pardon… my hair is not big-"
"Elizabeth!" the governor nearly shouted, pushing the Commodore out of the doorway to reach his daughter.
"Father!" The young woman rushed over to hug the man who had raised her, not looking at all like he remembered her. Her hair was shorn off to just above her shoulders, and her once delicate skin was now dark and leathery from extreme exposure to the sun.
The governor paused momentarily before hugging his daughter back. This was not the proper young lady he had raised. "William," he said nodding his head after Elizabeth released him.
"Governor, Commodore," William Turner nodded back to the men before taking a possessive stance next to his wife.
The Commodore didn't speak to the son of "Bootstrap Bill" Turner; he still held a slight grudge against the whelp for stealing his fiancée from him. "It is nice to see you, Elizabeth," he finally managed to choke out past his bouncing Adam's apple. The sight of her still turned his stomach in knots, regardless of the fact she was nothing like the woman he had loved long ago.
"I'm sure the feeling is mutual, James," she smiled at him in a friendly way, looking up as Will tugged her closer.
Nodding again, the Commodore sat on a rickety chair in the corner, watching in jealousy as the father and daughter reunited, and as William told the Governor of the adventures he and Elizabeth had had. Half of the man wished he had hung Turner in the gallows when he'd had the chance, Turner and that blasted Captain Jack Sparrow. Parts of the crews he was over still talked about him letting the pirate escape in hushed tones. Captain Jack Sparrow was the one mar on his reputation.
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Later that evening, the Commodore found himself sulking in a room of the same inn, the governor, Elizabeth, and that wretch Will Turner had gone out on the town for the evening. He heard a knock on the door, and yelled for them to come in, assuming it was a maid.
In strutted Captain Jack Sparrow (about as sober as one could be in Tortuga) and the pirate flopped down on the lumpy mattress and peered at the Commodore. "Do you know what you need lad?"
"What would that be?" he asked in his usual pompous tone.
"Some rum!" he called out loudly. "Rum! Rum! Where is the rum!" Standing up, he grabbed the Commodore roughly by his upper arm and dragged him downstairs and out the door, then down the street and into one of the rowdiest pubs in all of Tortuga.
After sitting at the bar for a while, each having their fair share of rum, a plump woman plopped herself down between Commodore Norrington and Captain Jack Sparrow. She smiled at the Commodore, before turning as a finger tapped her shoulder.
"Prudence!" Jack opened his arms, and not a moment later her hand came into contact – hard – with his cheek. "I'm gettin' used to that…" he muttered and ordered himself and the Commodore another rum.
"So what is a man like you, doing in a place like this?" she asked the Commodore.
"Pardon? A man like me?"
"Yes, a man with pompous hair such as yours would usually never be caught even in the outskirts of such a town, much less in one of the pubs actually inside the city itself…"
Commodore Norrington simply shrugged, and took another swig of the rum. The more rum he seemed to ingest, the less he seemed to think about Elizabeth, and the more he seemed to enjoy himself. "You know, Sparrow," James began, a slight slur to his usual rigid way of speaking, "I'm beginning to think that perhaps life as a pirate isn't as bad as they all make it out to be."
"Being a pirate is wonderful," Prudence crowed at him. "You can do whatever you like, whenever you like, with whomever you like… And you get to be at see, the best freedom there is, knowing you can go where ever you like!"
"Aye!" Sparrow agreed, slamming his mug down on the table. "You could be a pirate, Norrington! You've a ship out at the docks, a small but fast one. A small able bodied crew, along with me and the pearl, and you could be Commodore of pirate ships! We could have the biggest pirate fleet in the ocean!"
"A pirate fleet, you say? And you would allow me to be Commodore?"
Jack nodded, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Of course, Norrington… You have the experience, the prowess, the commanding presence…" The pirate was stroking the go of the man, and really had no true intentions of either being a real commodore but just sailing together as a true force to be reckoned with. "What do you say to that?"
"I say 'aye'!" Norrington shouted loudly, clinking his mug against Jack's and swallowing down the last of the rum.
"Prudence here can be the first member of your crew!"
James smiled at the lady, she was pretty for what she was he supposed, and it couldn't hurt to have a woman aboard, regardless of what some thought. Now there was only one problem to be disposed of and he could start his life as a pirate. He could even round up a crew that very night and set sail!