Disclaimer: I tried to lure Jack into my house with rum, but Disney got in my way, so he's not mine.
AN: Okay, this is kind of a 'naughty' chapter, but it's still rated (T) because there's nothing really bad about it. Rose is just going to do something to catch Jack's attention, that's all. It's also kind of cool since it shows Jack exactly what a determined woman can do to a man she wants to notice her. Oh, and for the song, I picture it as a mixture of modern songs I've heard on the radio: mostly the background humming from "Buttons" by The Pussycat Dolls and stuff from Sting's "Desert Rose," which are both great songs to listen to. Enjoy the chapter, and please review! Thanks!
Chapter 10: The Art of Seduction:
"Padma, I don't think I can do this," I said, looking at myself in the huge mirror that donned the wall. "I mean, I've never worn anything like this before; it scandalous!"
"It's a dancer's outfit, my dear; it's supposed to look that way," my friend said, rolling her eyes at me. "Now, you are being foolish since you look quite lovely and enticing, which is precisely how a woman from India performs a dance for a group of men."
"But I don't want to perform in front of a group of men!" I cried, looking at myself once more.
The outfit was something that would cause my mother to run screaming from the room in horror. It was a brilliant red, and heavily trimmed with gold designs and beading. The top was an oddly cut garment which ended just under my breasts and had two strips of cloth going over the shoulders to hold it up. From the back of those straps hung a length of sheer red material that came up to hang from my wrists by a thin red string. The pants were made of silk and barely covered what was necessary, which caused me to blush tremendously. Numerous strips of red and gold silk hung from the top hem at my hips, forming a sort of skirt that swayed and floated as I moved, even though it was weighed down by gold embroidery. There was also a belt made of tiny gold disks as large as my thumbnail, and it draped down to cover the entire rear of the pants/skirt.
"I can't do this," I said, moving to grab my normal clothing and change behind the screen in the corner. "I just can't do this!"
Padma rolled her eyes and grabbed my hands, dragging me away from my decent clothing. "You will be wearing a veil, so they will never know it is you," she said, joining me in front of the mirror. "Do you not wish to win the heart of the man you long for?"
I looked at her. She was currently dressed in the same manner as I was, though her outfit was a lovely blue decorated with silver. This lesson in dancing had been Padma's idea, and I had reluctantly agreed to it, if only to see if I could get a reaction out of Jack by performing for him. However, if I had known what I would be wearing, I would have refused her help!
"Now, dancing is quite simple if you know how to move and control what your body is doing," she began, not bothering to wait for me to answer. "Most moves consist of gracefully using your arms and moving your hips in precise movements. But first, the arms. Like so."
I watched as Padma's arms, hips, and legs whirled around in a dance that resembled flight, the blue of her outfit seeming to become the sky as the material fanned out around her, the silver disks tinkling merrily as she moved. Thanks to the way her hips twisted around, it was both beautiful and seductive at the same time. Once she stopped, I noticed that she wasn't even breathing heavily.
"There is no possible way I could move like that," I declared, crossing my arms over my chest. "I haven't had years of training like you've had, and I'm clumsy as can be. Even my dancing instructor back home thought it was useless to teach me until I began practicing several hours a day!"
To my annoyance, Padma merely laughed. "Of course you can do it!" she said, a kind smile on her face. "Come, I will teach you and you will do fine in time for the little party that my father is having in honor of the men of the Pearl."
I sighed and took a position next to her. "What do I do first?"
"Mother and I have found out what dance the girls will be performing for them, so you will only need to learn that single arrangement for the evening," Padma said, looking me up and down before beginning to position my arms, hands, and even my fingers. "You are fortunate that the dancers belong to a friend of Father's, and were only able to be loaned to us for only one dance. Normally they only perform for a festival gathering, and do a dozen performances in one night. You are fortunate that is not the case this time; otherwise, you would be doomed, as you are not suited for those types of movements!"
I barely held back a laugh as Padma took up a place beside me and struck a pose exactly like the one she had put me into. "Alright, now what do I do?" I asked, suddenly feeling helpless.
She grinned broadly. "Now you start to move like the seductive woman you are!"
This time I laughed out loud. Perhaps this could be fun after all.
Humming, Jack made his way out of the marketplace and back towards the house, wondering what Rose had been doing all day. After breakfast, she had mysteriously disappeared with Padma, the two girls whispering and giggling in a way that made him uncomfortable for some reason.
'I hate it when women plot something,' he thought, frowning as he walked through the gates and into the house.
The pirate hadn't been in the house more than a minute when a servant approached to inform him that lunch was ready and being served in the dining room, the master and mistress of the house already there and waiting. Not wanting to keep his dear friends sitting there for too long, Jack quickly made his way to the large doorway and entered the room. Much to his disappointment, Rose wasn't at the table.
"I'm afraid that it will just be the three of us today, Jack," said Nidhi, who was smiling at him over a cup of mango juice. "Your crewmen seem to have found holes for themselves in town, as I have yet to see one of them since you all arrived here a week ago!"
"Aye, my men always seem to find places to make themselves at home whenever we arrive at a port," Jack replied as he helped himself to some chicken, chickpea paste, fresh vegetables, and bread while a servant set down a bottle of rum next to his cup.
"Well, I thought it would be nice to have all of them here for a party in a few days," Jan said, smiling as he took a bite of vegetable curry. "There will be music, food, and dancers at the end."
"Dancers?" Jack perked up at that point. He always did appreciate how the women in India managed to move their bodies. "Well, then, I shall inform the crew as soon as this fine meal is over."
"No need," Nidhi said, smiling. "I sent a messenger out earlier to the taverns and he managed to find Mr. Gibbs already deep in his cups. The men should all know by tonight."
"Does Rose know? About the party, I mean," Jack asked, wondering how she'd take it if she found out that he would soon be ogling at Indian dancing girls.
"Oh, she's not invited," Nidhi calmly declared. "I believe that Jan wants this to be a strictly male party, so I will merely keep the girls with me in my rooms while you men have a good time."
For some reason, Jack felt a bit guilty about leaving Rose out of the festivities. After all, she was a member of the crew and deserved to have some fun, too. Oh, well, she was likely to have more fun with Padma and Nidhi than with a bunch of drunken sailors; best to leave her with her female friends. Nodding his head, Jack tried to turn his attention back towards his meal.
Inhaling sharply, I did my best to keep calm. 'It's almost time…you've done your best training, and now you've got to prove yourself…you can do this, even Padma admits that you've done far better and learned far quicker than she thought you would…'
Still, the encouraging talk I gave myself did nothing to sooth my nerves as I let Padma attach the headpiece and veil to the top of my head. All around me I heard the other girls chattering and laughing as they prepared themselves for the performance that was to occur in less than half an hour's time. Some smiled at me and others winked encouragement as they applied their eye makeup, coating their eyelids in gold and red after lining them perfectly with kohl; they all wore costumes similar to the red one I was wearing, the outfit Padma had trained me in for these past few days.
"You look lovely, and you'll dance perfectly," Padma said, smiling at me in the mirror as she finished. "I've taught you as best I can, and I know you will make me proud." She patted my shoulder before going to help another girl with her ensemble.
"That is no light praise," whispered a voice in my ear. I turned to see a veiled dancer beside me. "Padma is a great and talented dancer, and to hear her compliment you like that is quite an honor. You should feel proud of yourself and not take that lightly."
Before I could reply, she was gone. Taking another deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what was about to happen. Before I knew it, a gong sounded, calling us to the ballroom where the crew of the Black Pearl sat waiting for us.
Taking another drink from his mug, Jack watched as his men danced, talked, ate, and drank themselves to their heart's content. It wasn't every day that someone threw a party just for them, and he was quite glad that Jan had thought of it; after all, they could all use a good time! As he took another mouthful of rum, Jack heard a gong sound from the front of the room, where the doors were. All the men turned around and spotted Jan, who held his hands up for silence.
"I have been fortunate this night to not only entertain the finest group of pirates in the world," he said, which received a huge roar of applause from the Pearl's crew, "but I have also managed to obtain the privilege of getting some of the finest dancers in India to perform for you this night! Please, take a seat on a large cushion or chair and enjoy what they have to show you. However, do not make any attempt to touch the dancers."
The men groaned, but when the doors opened and a small army heavily armed, and extremely well-muscled, men entered and lined the walls, the Pearl's crew all kept their opinions to themselves. Jack, knowing the rules of such an event, looked around to try and snag a good seat while musicians gathered in a far corner of the room. A variety of cushions were being placed in a large semi-circle before the door, and Jack sat in the exact center of the circle, facing the doorway so that he was able to see everything. Pleased with himself, the pirate captain accepted another mug of rum and waited for the entertainment to begin.
'Too bad Rose isn't here,' he thought as the musicians finished tuning their instruments. 'She might like this. Then again,' Jack found himself frowning, 'it's probably best to keep her away from the crew after they've had ten drinks too many.'
Suddenly, the musicians struck up a traditional Indian melody that was incredibly seductive. There was a specific instrument that stood out amongst the rest, one that Jack couldn't identify and that played a higher pitch than the other instruments. However, it was a beautiful and enticing melody that fit in perfectly well with the surrounding instruments. To Jack's surprise, the entire crew settled down and focused their eyes on the door, waiting for what lay behind it.
They didn't have to wait long…
Once the music started, I felt as though all of my worries and fears about the evening had vanished. My nervousness turned into confidence and my meekness became boldness; I felt as ready and as perfect as the other dancers. On the signal beat from the drums, the girls and I floated out in our red dance outfits, the transparent materials attached to our wrists floating about like mist as we raised our hands above our heads and walked with perfectly choreographed steps towards the center of the semi-circle created by the Pearl's crew.
Once there, we struck our poses and waited for the true dance to begin.
From where he sat, Jack felt incredibly good about what he was watching. The costumes the girls were wearing revealed their perfectly honed stomachs, a part of the female body that not many unattached European men got to see. The red silk of the outfits shimmered beautifully, and the gold trimming was elegant and eye-catching, though especially so on the veils the dancers wore over their faces. Glittering headpieces matched the gold-disk belts around their waists, and the red, gold, and kohl paints around the eyes made each girl a graceful mystery that each man wanted to uncover...
'In more ways than one,' Jack thought with a smirk as one dancer nearest him in the front caught his eye. 'Ah, now there's a beauty!' he thought with appreciation as she locked her brown orbs with his. 'There's something familiar about those eyes…nah, must be the rum talking!'
At some unspoken signal, the women began to slowly come of out of their statuesque poses, opening as a flower does in the sun. The dancer Jack had his eye on began to twirl her hips around in an hypnotic manner that the pirate captain just couldn't seem to take his eyes off of. The gold disks of the belt began to chime together in a rhythm that blended well with the music coming from the far corner of the room, and Jack found himself lost as he watched her move.
'Oh, bugger,' he thought as he felt an all-too-familiar sensation in his lower regions.
Quickly, he removed his hat and strategically placed it in his lap, doing his best to make it appear as a natural, nonchalant move. The girl before him looked a bit surprised at his actions, but that surprise soon turned into amusement; that that point, he swore that he could see her using her eyes to smile at him from behind her red veil.
'If I didn't know better, I'd say she was laughing at me and my situation.'
Jack quickly pushed the thought aside as "his" dancing girl slowly and seductively approached him, each step timed perfectly with a beat in the song until she stood before him, her bare stomach perfectly aligned with his face. As he stared at the smooth, soft skin swaying and moving before him, Jack licked his lips and tried to think of something else.
'Think cold thoughts, think cold thoughts, think cold thoughts,' he chanted to himself, both wanting this torture to end and for it to never stop.
Suddenly, the dancing girl pulled away in a twirl, the cool silk of her skirt rising and brushing his face as she moved away, taking a position with the others as they began to twist and sway together as though they were all one person, their hands and fingers moving as gracefully as their bodies. The men were all speechless, not one making catcalls or whistling their appreciation, so deep was their admiration of the dancers. Jack felt immensely grateful for that.
Without warning, the beat to the song changed and the girls began moving in a far more aggressive manner that had all of the men practically drooling into their laps. Jack managed to control himself, but not enough to keep his jaw from dropping at the sight of a dozen women moving around the floor, twirling around and making rather boldly beckoning signals to their captive audience. There was nothing Jack wanted more than to take "his" dancing girl up on her offer to join her, but the army of armed guards along the wall held him in his seat…barely.
Finally, the dance drew closer to the end, the song slowing as the girls all took a final pose in the middle of the semi-circle, the music fading softly into the background as the song ended with a soft note. Not a word or sound was made until the dancers began to shift out of their finishing stances, exiting exactly the same way they came in, walking in a perfectly coordinated, alluring manner. Only after the doors had closed behind them did the men start breathing again.
"I'll be damned," Gibbs said, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. "I swear I'll carry this with me the rest of my life, Cap'n!"
'You and me both, Mr. Gibbs,' Jack thought to himself as he tried to calm down. 'Especially since I feel like I'm in love with a dancing girl!'
As we finished undressing, the other girls and Padma all began laughing about how Jack practically fell at my feet.
"He was drooling!" one girl cried, laughing as I threw a wadded-up scarf at her head.
"I thought he was going to lean over and kiss your stomach when you danced that way!" said another as she removed her makeup. "I've never seen a man so focused on that part of the body before!"
To my immense relief, Nidhi came in at that point and clapped her hands to silence us. "Alright, that's enough of that," she chided everyone around me. "That was very nicely done, Rose, you did very well for your first performance. Perhaps you should stay here and become a dancer instead of your other chosen lifestyle?"
I merely laughed and shook my head. "No, thank you, but I appreciate the offer," I said, doing my best not to yawn. "Honestly, if I had to learn anything more complicated than today's dance, I would be dismissed from this job faster than you could blink!"
As I turned to leave, the other girls laughed and applauded my success at finally capturing Captain Jack Sparrow's attention. The problem was, had he even recognized me behind my veil?
The next morning, Jack woke with a hangover and a strong need to find Jan to discover the identity of the dancing girls from the previous night. He knew that it was unlikely that his friend would give him that information, though, so he would probably have to appeal to the tender hearts of both Nidhi and Padma for aid. After all, between the two of them, they likely knew every dancer in town!
'Well, there's only one way to find out…'
Breakfast was a rather quiet affair, since the crewmen remained upstairs with their hangovers. However, everyone (except Jack) appeared for lunch, which was quiet since they were still a bit ill from the previous night. Padma and I smiled across the table at one another as we enjoyed our lunch.
"So, Cap'n, how are ye today?" Mr. Gibbs suddenly blurted out.
I turned my head to spot Jack saunter into the room, wincing at the bright sunshine coming in through the tall windows. I smiled as Jack sat beside me, absently digging into his meal once a servant had put an already-made platter in front of him.
"Not so loud, Gibbs," Jack replied in a soft voice.
Gibbs nodded and lowered his tone. "Had any good dreams about that girl from last night?" he asked as he took a bite of his bread. "You know, the one who…"
"No, none of that talk in front of the ladies! That's private, male business, aye?" Jack said, waving his arms about to emphasize his point; he almost hit me in the head with a flailing arm, so wildly had he been moving. "Sorry about that, luv," he said, stopping his actions to pat my arm.
Padma laughed as Gibbs nodded his agreement to his captain's words. "Who is this woman that's got you so flustered, Jack Sparrow?" she asked, glancing towards me out of the corner of her eye.
"No one!" Jack said, his eyes wide as he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth.
"It's one of the dancing girls from last night," Gibbs replied. In front of him, Jack was making hand signals for him to stop talking. "Came right up to him and wiggled that lovely belly of her right in his face!"
From further down the table, the other men laughed as they heard the Black Pearl's first-mate describe the evening's events to Padma and me. I only listened with half an ear as my eyes collided with Padma's; I then knew we were both thinking the same thing: the girl who had danced before Jack…was me.
"So, darling," Jack said, smiling as he wrapped his left arm around my shoulders. "Do anything interesting last night?"
"Oh, not really," I said, exchanging looks with Padma as I drank my water. I would keep last night's events to myself…for now.
AN: (giggles) Jack's gonna be surprised later, don't you think? Review!