Chapter Twenty: Arts

~~ "Hold still! A painting only looks good if the object being painted is still." I said, a paintbrush between my fingers and a canvass before me, the background was painted, but, the Captain wouldn't stop fidgeting! It had been a week or so after the 'mother' incident and we weren't to port for another week or two; I became increasingly bored. The day before this we hit a thing called 'The Bluffs' which is a spot of ocean where the wind doesn't even so much as pucker its lips.

It was humid and hot (considering we were on the Caribbean sea), and pure hell. However, I dare not walk around in my nightgown, like I did on my parents' boat, the pirates were becoming...strange whenever I came around; the Captain had to become increasingly strict with them when I was in presence, and, he would try to avoid my being around the crew at all costs. I was practically locked away in his quarters all day and night! I even asked the Captain why this was so; it was night, right after his bath (I had grown accustomed to watching him bathe now, it was the part of the day I looked forward to; especially since I gained a strange, warm and tingly sensation in the bottom of my stomach/top pelvic region.) And I laid upon his (which, he was now calling 'our') bed, flipping through my own diary.

"Captain?" I asked, scratching down the last bit of my bored ramblings. He grunted in response as he threw his dirtiest clothes into a bin. "Why am I locked in here?"

"You're not locked in here, the crew is locked out. You see, sweet cheeks, some men can't hold their temptations at bay when they see a beautiful woman; that's why you're in here, I'm not taking the chance of trusting men who've been without their women for a while to act completely and utterly fine around a woman with such beauty and innocence as you." The Captain explained; I nodded and my cheeks blushed a little at his compliment, he smiled. We laid down together and, everything was fine until he gave a sudden jolt that woke me, too, but, I pretended it didn't; he sighed and slipped out of bed, disappearing out of the room and gently closing the door to his quarters. However, I followed behind him and watched him.

He walked to the bow and crossed his arms upon his chest, staring at the spance of ocean before him; it was cooler now than it is during the day, however, it was still quite humid, in consequence to this, my nightgown began sticking to my legs. A day or so after this I found his journal, and, it was explained inside that he had a nightmare! He wouldn't write what the nightmare was of, but, it must've scared him quite badly to cause him to jump and seek fresh air!

** Now, the Captain sighed. "I can't keep still, you're painting me, and, beneath this little blanket I'm naked; how can I not fidget?" He asked, I smiled, I made him cover his 'little friend' as he called his penis, up, with a blanket; but, I got to paint the rest of his body.

Why did he agree to this?

He didn't...at first.

I told him I was bored and wanted to paint him, he refused, at first. Then, I told him I wanted to paint him naked and, apparently, that changed everything. "Could you at least try not to move?" I asked, he sighed and nodded. "Thank you" I said and dipped my brush in the greenish skin colour I created for him.

"I get to paint you naked next" said he, I rolled my eyes and smiled. He was in a laying down position, on his side, facing me with his head propped up by his hand and his elbow in the mattress. He was quiet for a while, then, he began whining. "How long do I have to lay like this? I'm loosing feeling in my elbow" he said, I sighed.

"An hour or two more"

"An hour or two?! Anna, have you forgotten? I'm a captain, I need to run my boat." He said, again, my eyes rolled.

"That's why you have a first mate, besides, paintings just don't poof out of thin air! They take time" I explained; he huffed, but, said no more and resumed his original position.

"You're not wearing the sheet when I paint you" he growled, I giggled.

"You won't have the patience to paint me"

"Oh, yeah? I bet you I will" he said as I finished painting his chest/torso and moved onto the sheet.

"I bet you, you won't" I said softly, attempting to get the curvature of the sheet correct.

"Fine, then, what are we betting? Money?...Kisses?" He asked, I didn't answer for a long while, I was too busy painting! "Anna?" He asked, I sighed and lifted the paintbrush from the canvass, for I didn't breathe when I painted, it made it much easier to keep a steady hand (which was hard enough, being on a pirate ship and all!)

"Huh? Oh, uh, whatever you want" I said, sighing and cleaning the white off of my brush, dabbing it into the grey paint and adding details/shadows to the sheet. The Captain grinned and chuckled to himself. "What?" I asked, absentmindedly.

"What I want, you don't want to hear it; it would scare you half to death." He said, pausing. "What do you want?" He asked, watching me paint.

"Chocolate" I replied, without skipping a beat; the Captain laughed, but, it was true. I hadn't had chocolate in a while and I craved it daily. "What do you want?" I asked, my voice quieting again as I added the finishing details to the sheet.

"...It's...nothing." He said with extreme hesitation.

"No, no, tell me. Tell me, or you won't have a chance at getting it." I said, sighing happily at my painted sheet and cleaning off my brush, dipping it in his skin colour paint and beginning upon his legs and feet. He was quiet for a while, until, I 'bugged' him about it several more times. "Captain? What do you want?" I asked singsongingly; he sighed hatefully.

"A son, okay?!" He yelled, he paused and sighed, calming down. "A son" he repeated; silence ate up the room for the remainder of the time I spent upon his painting (which, was around an hour and a half to two hours) and, when I finished, I believe I did quite well with it! I turned the painting to him and smiled hopefully; he gave a quick smile and nodded. "It looks exactly like me" he said, standing and dressing; he made me turn away, for he thought I hadn't seen him in his birthday suit before.

He threw the sheet onto the ground, and, when I reached for it he made a strange sound; I looked up to him with furrowed brows. "Nope, I told you, you weren't going to wear the sheet when I painted you."

"But-"

"Nope." He said, pushing me to the bed; he turned away as I undressed. I trembled and my fingers turned cold, at least I had the decency to look at him naked when he didn't know it! But, as I was removing my trousers, I spotted a death sign upon them; blood.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" I hissed in a whisper; pulling them down and exhuming my pants; they were covered in blood. I looked up to see the Captain staring at me with wide eyes, his finger pointed towards my pants.

"Why is there blood everywhere? Were you injured there?" He asked quickly, taking a step towards me; I shook my head and smiled.

"Oh, no, no; it's...it's a female thing. I..I can't pose for your picture, at least, not this week, I'm sorry." I said; his confusion only deepened.

"This week? Why not this week?" He asked, taking another step forwards.

"This female thing goes on for a week."

"You mean, for a week, you bleed out of your...lady part?" He asked and I smiled; he wouldn't say 'vagina'? This big, bad, rough and tumble pirate captain wouldn't say 'vagina'?

"Basically, yes."

"Why?" He asked, he was completely baffled, he moved to the bed and sat down beside me; I pulled up my trousers and buckled them, cringing as I sat on the bed.

"It's how females can have babies." I explained; he nodded.

"But...why don't you bleed out?" He asked and I paused, why don't we bleed out?

"I...don't know, I'm not sure. I do know that it gives you really bad stomach cramps, you get bloated and cranky and...well...emotional. At least, I do." I explained, he appeared shocked.

"Why?" He asked urgently, I smiled.

"Well, it's just a theory, but, in a book, someone said that a woman's uterus is literally tearing itself apart, getting rid of the dead cells and expelling them through her vagina along with blood; other people say that the dead cells are the blood. But, it's all still theory." I explained; he nodded and turned away from me for a moment.

"That is the most badass thing I've ever heard. You do all of your normal activities whilst your lady part is tearing itself up...damn. So...what is this bleeding called?" He asked, I sighed.

"It's called a number of different things, between both genders it's called a 'period' but, when men talk about it with other men, it's called 'time of the month' since these things come once a month from when a girl turns around twelve or thirteen to her early or late fifties." I explained and he shook his head once more and patted my knee.

"I could not be a woman" he said, kissing my cheek and standing; I laughed, but, hurried off to the WC as he put away the canvass.

** A day later, by the mercy of the gods we left the bluffs, but, became caught in what I would describe as a hurricane, but, what the Captain would describe as a thunderstorm. We were being pelted with rain, but, the rain felt like rocks, and, I soon found, it was hail! I stood at the threshold of the Captain's quarters and watched as the pirates struggled in lifting a cannon; they were hoisting it over the mast (why they couldn't just roll it, I didn't know). I wanted to go out and help, but, the Captain put me on bed rest, basically; now that he knew what a woman went through once a month and how much it hurt, he wanted me to do as less activities as I could; but, I got bored. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me, careful to stay out of the Captain's view, and inched closer to the deck; watching.

A pirate lost his grip on one of the ropes and the cannon dropped, so, I jumped up and ran for it, grasping the rope and yanking with all of my strength, holding the cannon up in the air. The Captain yelled my name and told me to get inside, but, I wouldn't let go of the cannon, it would plummet to the deck! The crew members and I yanked it up higher, over the mast, and just then, I was yanked away from the rope, but, the cannon remained stationary; the Captain held the rope, with one hand.

One hand.

How in god's name is that even possible?!

He grabbed my shoulder tightly, but, not so much so as to injure me. "Get inside, Anna, now!" He yelled; I shook my head.

"I want to help!" I yelled back, he sighed in frustration.

"You can help by going inside, where I know you're safe. Now, go!" He yelled; I stood my ground and shook my head again. "Oh, for the love of god, Anna! Go, please, go!" He yelled, his voice becoming pleading.

"But, Captain, I-" I was cut off, when his hand left my shoulder and grasped my waist, yanking me to him and squishing our lips together. Of course, I've tasted his lips before, but, now, they felt extra soft, but, they were cold and covered in sea salt/spray. He broke the kiss before I could gather further information. "Anna, please, go." He said, into my ear; I gave in and nodded, hurrying back up the stairs and into his quarters, closing the door and smiling.

He kissed me.

He kissed me.