going to a family reunion, and i would like to thank all of my reviewers, i accept all constructive criticism and please, tell me if you think that ANYONE is out of character, etc. and to the reviewer who asked whether or not i would have some sort of annoying Elizabeth's sister OC, dont worry, i definitely won't!
Tortuga was a place of opportunity. Well, if you were a vile, repulsive, no-good scallywag who wanted nothing more than to rape and pillage other people's property, than it was quite the dog's chance for anyone who wished to have a brush in with the law. The women were more than willing to be with any man with enough coins jingling in their pockets, their faces caked in makeup and their dresses so low cut as to reveal their bosoms pressed nearly up to their necks.
Elizabeth Swann may have transformed from a debutante into a rogue, but she was still none to be prostituted out to any excited sailor whom had not seen a woman in months. Her small frame was easy enough to conceal beneath layers of clothing, her face smeared with sweat and dirt, enough of each to not make any government official even consider that this woman was, well, a woman.
"Yes, laddies, take your fill of rum and women, for this will be a day to remember!" She called over the swelling crowd, two pints in either hand, brandishing them as though they were weaponry. The scoundrels roared in approval, not a one of them finding her interesting enough to focus upon. She distributed the liquor with a sort of smirk, sweeping downward with a gentlemanly grin. The cloth pressing down on her skin to conceal her womanliness became increasingly irritating, and she quickly adjusted it before reclaiming her seat behind the bar.
"C'mon, pretty lass. I can make you feel even prettier." Growled a man with not-so-honorable intentions to a tawdry prostitute, who giggled as though he had said something incredibly witty and full of charm. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, glad that her back was to the couple. The thought of scabby Abigail with an equally unattractive man caused her stomach to clench in trepidation, it was times like these that she could not help to wonder what Will's reaction would have been. She predicted a sort of disgusted, ill-concealed grimace accompanied by a knitted eyebrow and a sound that was not quite a sigh and leaning more toward the sound of a scoff.
She smiled at the contemplation, confusing an incredibly hostile customer who wanted nothing more to get drunk and scowl simultaneously. It was good for a Tuesday night, only three fights and one mortally wounded sailor who looked as though he might not make it to Thursday. She was impressed by the way things were going, especially seeing as she had been employed at this rather popular pub for over seven months and she had yet to be sucked into a fight, though she was forced to play mediator for over a dozen of them. Perhaps they did not wish to offend the one who would be serving them their drink, in fear of poison.
By the time she turned back, the disgusting display that she had been blessed to only have to listen to was thankfully over, the two had disappeared into the crowd and were on their way to do god knows what. She winced slightly, the expression somewhat hidden from beneath the brim of Jack's hat as the mental picture came to mind, one which she prayed that she would never have to experience yet again in the entirety of her life.
"-brief visit, an interlude, actually. There's no chance..." Elizabeth's spine straightened suddenly as her eyes widened. The voice was similar, too similar to someone she had not seen or heard from in nearly two years.
"Jack, there are still some of the Trading Company's peons afoot, and with that warrant out for you and our whole ship..." Elizabeth ducked beneath the bar at the sound of Gibbs as well, and wished that she could be surprised by their blatant lack of secrecy.
"Mate, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, d'you really think that I don't have a thing or two up me sleeve, eh?" Unable to escape her post, she jumped up, pressing the brim of her hat down so that it hopefully shaded her face enough to avoid positive identification. She found Jack's eyes wandering on the many buxom lasses flouncing about without a care for propriety while Gibbs was resigned to be the sole voice of reason.
"What'll you have, mates?" She questioned in a voice a bit too deep to be accurate, though the two pirates seemed not to take note of this faux paus as they quickly demanded that they have rum and they have it now. The two masters of discretion sat nearby, idly chatting about life at sea and so forth, speaking a bit too loudly and a bit too brashly for one who wished to conceal the contents of their conversation.
Elizabeth pretended to busy herself behind the counter while keeping one eye on the two, who appeared to be bickering. Amidst the somewhat useless argument which seemed to ironically convey Gibbs' fear of exposure, Captain Jack Sparrow turned tiredly and glanced in her direction, his gaze suddenly fixed. Her blood ran cold and her mind went blank as his eyes seemed to stare right through her. Gibbs, as unobservant as ever, continued to prattle on while the man sitting adjacent from him seemed to have completely zoned out of the conversation.
Sick of being object of such scrutiny, Elizabeth turned and ducked, a measure that seemed to confirm his suspicions apart from dissuading him. "Excuse me, mister Gibbs, I have a bit of business I must attend to, please, enjoy the rum." He stated courteously, standing up for a moment before whirling about and pointing a shaking finger. "Don't touch mine, I'll know."
Elizabeth shuddered as she seemed to suddenly acquire dog-like hearing, every footstep matching her pulse. Hurriedly she tucked any strands of hair that could possibly give her away beneath the hat, attempting in several seconds to master masculine mannerisms. "Ahem, uh, yes, hmm, eh," Jack continued to ramble on, coughing for a few seconds as to get her attention. She resurfaced, a bottle of gin in hand.
"It seems I've anticipated your need." She stated gruffly, snatching a few shot glasses and pouring.
Jack seemed a bit flustered, something entirely out of character for him. "No, no, I'm a rum man meself, gent. Thank you for the concern." She stiffly leaned over, fearing that a single slip would betray herself to be a woman.
She nodded curtly and downed the unwanted gin, "yes, well, can't let it go to waste." She murmured, passing him the rum, surprised when he refused to take it.
Not one to purposefully beat around the bush, so to speak, unless he was attempting to state a quite specific story and get lost in his ramblings, Jack suddenly spoke as though he had been forced, "Excuse me, kind sir, I fear that you have a, uh, for lack of a better word...hmm, yes, item on your, er, person that perhaps does not quite belong to you, and, by order of elimination, it seems as though it is actually supposed to be in my possession for I, eh, happened to be the one to steal it first." Elizabeth kept a straight face and tried to keep from displaying the incredibly confused look on her face that she was dying to reveal.
"Hmm, amidst your ramblings I fear that you have forgotten a point." It was too delicious to deny herself the joy of irritating him. She was always one of the people who did it best, one of the few who managed to single-handedly best him with trickery, thus shackling him to the Black Pearl before it was ravaged by the Kraken.
"Well, yes, I'm sorry young boy, I am Captain Jack Sparrow, I wouldn't expect a prepubescent such as yourself to understand that I am quite legendary on the high seas...and you have one of my personal effects." His eyes went directly to her hat, or better explained, his hat as his rather shaky hand reached for it. She backed away, fearing exposure.
"I can assure you, Jack Robin or whatever it was, that this hat is my own, I have stolen it from nobody." She thanked herself for the little shelter the bar offered, along with her nearly mastered skill of feigning offhandedness. He was not yet convinced, though she doubted that he ever would be satisfied until he was wearing it upon his own skull, seeing as it was actually his at one point in time.
"It's Captain Jack Sparrow, you wallyscag," It took great self-control to not roll her eyes at this, "now it would be greatly appreciated if you were to first of all remember my name and secondly return that which is rightfully mine...unless a rather bonny lass quite some years your senior decided to give it to you..." He looked her up and down, seeing nothing more than a small and rather emasculate young boy. "But that is unlikely," At this he drew his sword, something that garnished a frustrated groan from his dear friend Gibbs and a cheer by some local drunk.
"This hat is my own, Captain, now if you would please, there are other alcoholics who wish to be served." This claim would have been greatly assisted if there was anyone in line at that particular moment, but the drunks seemed to be in a joined stupor which seemed to stop them from interrupting this wonderful reunion, even if only one of the party realized this. "I do not wish to fight."
Jack smiled crookedly at this. "Of course you don't, but I, however, am quite in the mood for a fight. I have not had a satisfactory one in weeks...well, days if you count that Monk who was just looking for trouble...and to battle for the honor of my...ahem, hat, seems to make the occasion all the more necessary." He informed her, directing his weapon toward the hat.
"If you seem to insist that this hat is your own, I would be happy to pay you to purchase a new one, if you deem this entirely necessary. I do not wish to engage in battle with you, for no other reason than that I do not believe in fighting over such trivial things as hats." She explained, unable to wipe the growing grimace off of her face.
Jack's eyes widened as his hand flew out in satisfaction. "Oh, yes, of course, why would an innocent man offer to pay for said hat if he did not acquire aforementioned hat by using dastardly deeds?" He questioned, as though he had figured it all out within a three minute conversation.
"Perhaps it is because the hat in question is not worth either of us losing our lives." She stated heatedly, habitually tilting the hat down, her features indistinguishable.
Jack revealed every last one of his silver and golden teeth in a smirk that could infuriate a nun. "Oh, I don't believe that someone as yourself could ever conceivably kill someone such as myself, and I wouldn't kill you. You'd get blood all over me hat." With that Elizabeth's hand flew to her scabbard, unsheathing her sword and biting down on her lip as metal clashed with metal.
Jack was unsurprised, wielding his weapon with expertise that would astonish anyone who had not seen him in action. She pounced, using a great deal of strength, flying into the air and landing squarely on the surface of her bar before leaping down and steadying her footing. She could not help but wonder how long it would take him to discover that it was Elizabeth Swann beneath this exterior, and by the look of rare perplexity she knew that he recognized the footwork. It was incredibly difficult to spar with her fiance when both of their techniques were so similar, though she learnt her own routine years before, she had long since adopted his.
"I find your technique dizzying, lad, let us test out your skills." As though he had not been trying before.
Panting, Elizabeth retained the banter. "Yes, well, I find your intellect equally as perplexing." She had modeled her faux-voice after Will's, though it was incredibly difficult to do. "What brings you to Tortuga, has the Pearl ceased to keep you occupied?" She instantly realized that she had said too much.
"And where is it that you happened to hear that I have anything to do with the Pearl? I believe you are referring to the Black Pearl with all of that 'black sails' and 'captain spat out from hell' and so forth, I can assure you that I am not superstitious." He stated candidly, out of all his blathering this making the most sense.
"I have heard rumors." She stated with ambiguity.
Jack smiled once more, attempting to prod her playfully as the crowd around them rooted for one or the other. "Oh, so you have heard of me." He did a tricky bit of footwork at that specific moment, catching Elizabeth off guard and snatching her wrist, forgetting the swords for a moment and pressing her into the wall rather roughly, though not to damage her. Several of the drunks groaned in disappointment and at least four booed, though Jack ignored this.
"Ouch," She muttered, mule-kicking and warding him away from her. "You cheated," she accused sourly, catching herself before pouting effeminately.
Jack shrugged, flipping his dreadlocks over his shoulder. "Who is there to draw the line between cheating and cleverness? And with you coming at me like...like some beautiful woman, as they always tend to do, I felt that I had proper incentive to stop you before you got your heart broken." He muttered, his eyes still fixed on the hat as though it was pivotal to his survival. "Now, seeing as I have one this little duel I find it necessary that you, er, pay up, so to speak, also meaning that you give me back my bloody effects!" He demanded, hand extended expectantly.
"It's effect, singular, or do you believe that I have any more of your pilfered items in my possession?" She questioned coldly, glancing at Gibbs out of the corner of her eye with something that mirrored embarrassment.
"What is your name?" He questioned, his facial features not betraying anything more than a common interest.
"Will..." She sputtered, wincing as soon as she realized the error in revealing her pseudonym to Jack who, though oftentimes daft, would not let a major detail such as this escape him, no matter how inebriated. His eyes lit up as he lifted an accusatory finger.
"Ah ha! Egad! You are using your master's name instead of your own, I recognize the technique, I once cheated with Will Turner, as well!" The following silence brought a frown to his face as he attempted to rectify the incriminating sentence. "Well, no, I fought him and then, uh, I...there was sawdust and a drunken moron, who was not me, and a bottle...I still have the scar, I believe." And Jack did what he was best at, caught her off guard before snatching the very hat from atop her head and placing it on his own.
She opened her mouth in protest but nothing would do as her hair, suddenly without support, seemed to collapse upon her head, and despite its shortened length there was no mistaking that she was, indeed, Elizabeth Turner. He gaped and she stared as Gibbs' attention finally seemed to be steady and he joined in.
"Oh, my."
This is actually a pretty long chapter, so I hope you appreciate it!
