Mary Sue Pirates Beware!
AN: Jeez, writing is a lot more work than I thought it would be. I guess I'm just getting the hang of it still.
I've been thinking on this story and I think that I might have a shadowy beginnings of a plot to attach to it. Reassuring, no?
Disclaimer: Not mine. (But maybe it could be for a day. Please?)
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The galley of the Black Pearl was crowded with the crew of the ship. It had become the unofficial headquarters of the crew, now that the decks had stunningly beautiful women with something to prove prowling around, getting in the way.
Anamaria and Jack were playing poker at the battered table. Anamaria had taken pity on the captain, who was now reduced to keeping a low profile on his own ship. The thought of the countless women stalking Jack made Anamaria grimace.
Jack, mistaking her grimace as a slip in her poker face, gave a triumphant grin. "Fold," he said, slapping his cards down with a flourish. "Two pair, love, I believe you owe me..."
Anamaria raised her eyebrow. "Absolutely nothing. Four of a kind." She laid down her queens.
Jack stared at her cards, then up at her face. "You cheated," he accused.
Anamaria darted out her hand and caught Jack by the wrist before he could withdraw it. "I cheated?" she said. "I think that it's you, Captain, with the cards stuffed up your shirt." She used her other hand to reach into Jack's voluminous sleeve, and pulled out a king of spades and two aces. Jack paused, then pasted a smile onto his face.
"Oh my, look at those," he said. He grinned at Anamaria. "Have no idea where those came from," he stated.
"They came from your sleeve," Anamaria reminded him sternly. "And you now owe me 32 pieces of gold, 2 strings of pearls, and a parakeet."
Jack made an injured face. "No need to remind me. I would never forget a debt to so lovely a maiden as yourself, my dear" he drawled, bowing slightly over the table and winking. Anamaria shoved his wrist back at him with a snort.
"If I remember correctly, there was one time when-" she began. Jack cleared his throat loudly.
"Is there any rum left in the panty, Mr. Gibbs?" he bellowed. "I hear 'tis bad luck to be sailing under a captain who is fully sober!" He turned back to Anamaria and half-smiled.
"If that was true, Captain Sparrow, we would be the luckiest ship in the Caribbean," she snarked. Jack didn't reply.
Anamaria studied the lines of his face. He seemed a bit more preoccupied than usual. Not many people could read Jack like Anamaria could. When most people would only see different stages of drunkenness, Anamaria could distinguish sorrow, apprehension, anger, and playfulness. She put it down to having known him for many years.
Now, he seemed preoccupied. That could only mean one thing. He was considering a theft.
Anamaria wasn't sure if Jack knew how well she could usually read him. It was something she prized, so she never advertised the fact. She always resorted to good, old-fashioned careful prodding to get Jack to clarify the emotions she read on his face.
"So where are we going now, Captain?" she asked. Fairly blunt, but it would probably get the job done.
"That is the question," Jack murmured, almost to himself. He turned his eyes to hers. They were surprisingly intense.
"That woman that we picked up today, the one with the blond hair," he started. He paused to collect his thoughts. Anamaria waited. "She seems to be the key to something. The key to something big. The key to my past, to something that happened to me long ago..."
Anamaria sighed in sympathy. It was happening again to poor Jack. It was the presence of those damned whores. They messed around with Jack, and made him even more off center than he already was. She listened with pity as Jack told her a strange tale about a sea sprite and a magical tiara. By the end of the speech, Jack had regained most of his control over his words, and was interspersing the ridiculous tale with curses.
"And now, I'm supposed to sail to the magical isle and rescue the b-" Jack took a deep breath and stopped talking. His cheeks were flushed.
Anamaria furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you alright, captain?" she asked, concerned. Jack sighed gustily.
"I'll be alright, once I stop being jerked around by the balls by something I can't even see," he growled. Anamaria felt anger swelling up in her.
"I'm sure if you just chuck them overboard, things will go right back to normal," she suggested. Jack shook his head, looking wistful.
"Tried it. I immediately had to dive in and rescue the silly bint. I even dove in backwards and did two flips."
Anamaria didn't know what she could do for her captain. Being a pirate, this resulted in one basic urge: the urge to fight something.
"I'm going to go partol once around the decks. Goodnight, Captain Sparrow," she said crisply, getting up from the table, just as Mr. Gibbs arrived with a large flask of rum.
"No goodnight kiss?" Jack purred flirtatiously. "Anamaria, you are breaking my heart." He took the flask with a nod of thanks.
Anamaria scoffed. "I know you, Jack Sparrow. You would rather hold a bottle of rum to your chest than any girl under the sun." With her head held high, she turned and left for the decks.
Jack raised an eyebrow and took a large swallow of the rum.
"Excuse me, Captian Sparrow?"
The timid voice at his elbow took Jack complete by surprise, which wasn't something that happened often. Jack jumped and sprayed out half a mouthful of his prized rum. He swung around and saw the woman who had been rescued that day, the blond. He adopted a neutral face and stood from the table. He walked quietly from the galley to the cabin hallway, which was right outside.
He turned to Erica with a false smile.
"You see, when I start to lose control of my actions and look like a complete fool, I don't want it be in front of me crew," Jack said in a mock polite tone. He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Proceed," he said.
Erica felt like the fool. She had expected something grander from her first meeting with Jack Sparrow. She didn't know what, exactly, maybe a spontaneous recitation of poetry, but instead she felt small and unsure of herself.
"I have something to say to you that might seem strange," Erica said. Jack looked at her and merely waited for her to continue. Erica had no idea as to how he would react to what she was about to say.
"I'm from another world," she blurted out.
Jack didn't respond at all. He looked at her with the exact same expression of polite disinterest.
When Erica didn't say anything for a while, Jack raised his eyebrows.
"'Zat it? Splendid. Well, I must be off," he said, turning and sauntering down the corridor. "Things to do, places to see, people to go..."
Erica sputtered in disbelief. That wasn't what was supposed to happen! Even if he didn't believe her, Jack was supposed to care a little bit!
It was then that deep in her heart, Erica knew that seducing Jack Sparrow was completely impossible for her. It would never happen.
So she was stuck in the middle of the ocean, lumped in with a dozen of insane women, and had no visible means of getting back to her home. The only reason that she would have wanted to stay here, to seduce Jack, was now clearly not an option.
What was she supposed to do now?
Erica had no idea at all.
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AN: I'm sorry that it's short, but I wanted to get a chapter posted tonight. Thanks to jennifer123 for reviewing again! I hope that answered your question - "nothing at all." :D Thanks also to Tuna (heh, don't worry, I'm an equal opportunity shipper), Geheimnis, and eternalhope08! I hope everyone likes this chapter – short but sweet?