Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, no matter how much I would like to… however, I do own my thoughts and interpretations for a future storyline. xP… and yeah! I also do not own Incubus, "Dig," or their lyrics. I just thought it was a beautiful 'frienship' ballad. (heart) yay!
Author Notes: I had originally planned for this chapter to have a lot more in it, but when I reached a little bit past 4250 words I was like... "ZOMGSOLONG!" and decided to cut it here and put the rest in another chapter a bit later. I am going to see pirates again today, so ... woohoo! inspiration!! Okay, please R&R. I need feedback. Is it okay? Is anyone confused? Are there any huge plotholes I do not see? I LOVE FEEDBACK, please. pleasepleaseplease. review.
i dropped me brain.
Also. if you would like to talk to me about the fic, or anything really, I am contactable through MSN messenger. " xxcobriana. " Please, add me. 3
H e a r t I n A H e a d l o c k
Light moved with a slow undulating of hips and arms. It was physical, actual, a body in the breeze taken by the summer sweat and sweet breeze. Fast and slow all in one moment the flicker of candlelight waved like the arms of the priestess of some idealist, paranormal religion. These flames were the slaves of the shop. The pleasure of the night was to be their occupation -- they were slaves, slaves of the night of the shop of the dance. Slaves… to the wind that fluttered past half-draped, open windows and to the people that feasted upon the glories they made reality. Without their actions no masters would be, everything lost in a deafening black, but until that moment of ebony silence nothing favorable shall ever be said of those sickling, winding tools of man.
No, though they lit the sky and stage with a lustrous glow that no other light could dare attempt to duplicate no one paid those flames any mind. They were set all around the stage, dozens -- no, hundreds of candles in large clumps on pedestals, melting into the hardwood of the floor, and hanging from the rafters overhead. It was magical, lovely, and yet another noted attribute of the Gilded Garters tavern stationed in the central region of Tortuga. It was placed strategically between the polite and crude parts of town giving both an open invitation to it. Rather peculiarly, both showed up as well… it was the perfect mix between a proper party and pedigree.
The lighting of this realm, as said before, wasn't important to the inhabitants, both male and female alike, of the pub. They were all there for the current attraction taking places on the stage. Every one of them had a certain glow to their skin from the shiny of onyx over well-toned muscles to the misty glimmer of peaches and cream over a petite child's frame. It was alluring, they were alluring, all five of them, the dancers; all of them were exquisite. In response to all of them, together in the candlelight, none of the men could utter a word for every mouth was hung loose in awe of such a sight. No equal, they thought, would they ever see in all of their days of sailing and searching. These women, all different and exotic in their own way, had gone much further then their normal parlor show.
This was the show that Steven had been telling blokes about for months; they had all been dying to see something new and invigorating like that which had been promised to them,… and they were going to tonight.
All of their clothes were different. Stage left, towards the back, was the tallest of the girls. Lillith looked more darkly, dangerously beautiful than every before. She stood positioned, an Amazon ready to strike down any thing before her. The ebony-tanned leather was so tight it was nearly impossible to tell from her actual skin. It was fitted to be like a bustier leaving her stomach and most of her cleavage bare without any fear for her reputation or safety. Her skirt was a series of dark leather strips about an inch and a half thick hanging loose down from her low hip. The strips of dark, studded silver material didn't go down past her knees, but were thick enough to cover the tight leather bloomers beneath most of the time. Large black feathers extended from her half-up/half-down hair style which did very little to draw away from the silver shade around her eyes and cold of the silver on her lips. She looked dead and deadly in the same moment.
A churn of her hips with the very first beat started the motion. No one else moved. It was an entrancing action and every eye in the rather large tavern was immediately upon it. The silver designs painted upon her bare, dark stomach came to life as the intoxicating drop and pull of her hip bones made her look like she was made of nothing but water. It was hard and full of bass, and she moved I forgot that it was she who moved and not the music around her, to her whim.
A strike on some shell or piece of wood loudly chimed through the room, but their eyes were far from the musicians responsible for it. Still on the left side but more to the center of the stage and forward was the token Asian, Aoi. Her hands, from their placement on her waist, lilted up wafting the air around her into a perfumed frenzy. The silk cuffs on her wrist her a lovely Prussian blue that made the tan of her skin look unearthly and magnificent. They had purchased the unique outfit she was showing off from a barge returning from a trip to India and the rest of the Orient. It's top was a plethora of dangles and beads and sheer material piled upon her feminine, petite bust line. The dancers of the Middle East, it was said, used them in the brothels of the kids. The bottom was little more than a piece of silk, the same Prussian blue, with an assortment of bobbles as well.
Seductively her hips crawled out the dance covering a very small area with maximum impact, the dangles on all of her clothing, including the blue garter shown on her exposed thigh, sang with the beat enhancing the music. Her moves were as soft and undulating as water and yet could easily draw any eye away from the less subtle steps Lillith weaved just a little ways behind her. The three remaining, gracefully positioned dancers neither moved nor made a sound. Turning her back to the audience they watched the graceful rise and fall of all her bare muscles. Her flawless movements had brought her towards Esmeralda.
The redhead's hair was normally curly but now was teased into a dizzy amount of fluff. It gave her a wild, yet luscious look. She had a shine to her lips and eyes, a dark, lazy, half-lidded wanton quality that none of the girls would never be able to (or want to) reproduce that drew to her a certain audience. Her dark and sage green-colored dress only made her look more stunning. The bright chaotic luminosity of her catching just as much as the fairness of any of the others. Some men liked insane women and to most who frequented the Gilded Garters.
When the small, round-faced Japanese girl reached Esmeralda the music really started. Her hand, timid and yellow-tinted, snaked towards the white, lightly freckled arm a few inches away from herself. Skin met skin and in a single fiery instance Esmeralda shot to life. Head jutting in a painful angle to look down at the girl. Everyone held there breath when they saw the fire in the girls' eyes. What would happen? That was what they all asked in that moment.
The sheer sage green fabric that draped down the red-head's arms and legs shivered and rippled as Esmeralda took to motion. Her hand stung, Aoi's cheek stung, and the air around all of them shook from the force of the planned blow. Aoi's eyes were wide, but she had known it was going to happen. They were all just good actresses. She let herself fall, in a shadow of oceanic blue fabric, and turned with in the fall, her legs following her through the air perfectly straight.
Aoi finished up her little trick to land pitifully at Coral's feet. She didn't look down at her though, she remained still on the balls of her feet stretching up as if trying to reach something. The piece of fluff they had found for the "girl" type of their show had been picked off a French merchant ship in route to his majesty himself. It was a new theater craze that had been running around for five or six decades now, they called it ballet. The skirt was a couple of stiff layers of pink and salmon tulle lace extending straight off and around her hips. Underneath the delicately made and tightly bound top of the same pale pink were very detailed and overly-ribboned bodice; the bottoms were, instead of being dress-like, were fashioned to be very short lace, ribbon, and white cotton bloomers.
They had heavily powdered her face, as you would a baby's on baptism morning, and done very little else in the way of make up other than adding rouge to her cheeks. She looked like the picture perfect pre-teen. A moment passed, the music urged the actions of the players on. The audience remained silent, perhaps it was because they didn't know what to do with actual theater, actual acting, or perhaps it was because they couldn't remember seeing so many delightfully clad women at one time.
She rocked back onto her heels and settled her eyes onto the girl at her feet calculating the situation like an angel would your judgment. Coral looked the part easily, some distant goddess burning a hole into you with only her innocent blue eyes; it was easy to see what drew the more reminiscent of young men to her side. Shoulders held in perfect posture, Head held crooked to the side inquisitively; she bent her body at the hips a hand moving gracefully to touch the side of Aoi's red cheek. There was a moment of silence in the music and everyone held her breath.
The dark shadow, Lillith, had grabbed the poor girl's other hand forcing the innocent and blindly loving thing away from Aoi's side. They were in an embrace of leather and lace, Lillith and Coral, offered a few exciting steps for the more morbid-minded of their tavern guests. One man croaked out a catcall at one of the rough strokes that Lillith forced her pink little friend into -- the other dancers circled around the two of them. It was building, the tension in the music, everyone could feel it on the back of their necks.
"'ey!" Blaze who had been standing still, center stage, without so much as a noticeable breath had suddenly opened her eyes and called out to the scene that was happening just to the right of her. She sounded angry. She sounded demanding. She sounded like everyone who knew Blaze knew she would sound. Her catlike amber eyes settled upon Coral in Lillith's arms. She set her body into a seductress's dance and if everyone hadn't noticed what she had been wearing before they all certainly noticed now. As usual, it was red: a corset top, low though and exposing so much cleavage that she could quite seriously pop out at any moment. The silk which made up the top looked to be of Asian design with it's carefully hand stitched silver designs.
The sweaty air whipped around the dancers and all of them let out a different pitched sigh that crooned in harmony. "Baby…" Blaze leaned over in her tight, Chinese piece with slits on both sides exposing enough garter to get a few more calls from the men, especially her admirers, and helped Aoi to her feet.
There was an explosion of dance a second later. Lillith twirled Coral one way, Blaze sent Aoi another and they were all out, flashing leg, churning hips, ruffling their various states of dress. It was truly amazing. However, that didn't shock the gents in the chairs at all compared to what happened little more than half a second later. "We all 'ave a weakness, but some of ours be easy to identify." The Queen, all of their queen, E'Louene Vera, was in the middle of all of them just sitting at one of the highly populated pub tables. Under watchful eye all of the men were sure, but still starting with all of them, like one of them. They felt touched -- well, those that still had half a brain anyway.
"Look me in the eye." A hush whisper, a sung threat… she had a husky edge to her voice that drew these sea-hardened men to her.
"… and ask for forgiveness; we'll make a pact to never speak that word again." It took most of them a few more lines to find her leaning back in her chair, curly hair held back by a thin piece of cloth like a headband. She had on shin-high gold-brown boots that still fit her like a glove, but her shorts didn't start until way after high-thigh. They were, in short, practically none-existent cutoffs of Lillith's design that made Louene feel more uncomfortable than anyone could ever imagine. The white blouse had most of the front cut out and in it's place had been sewn a mock-corset tie. Her thin linen and cotton and silk outfit was enhanced only by the delicate stitch and needlework with 24k gold string. It caught the light and glittered designs of phoenixes and fire and tails and rebirth.
Through the ashes she was reborn; they had laughed at the idea of her being a female pirate. A "whore with sails" they had called her. How little they still knew of her after all of these years. The thought hurt only a little now. She must leave, it had always been something she knew was coming; in a way, she was even looking forward to it. Lou Rivera, E'Louene Vera, had never meant to keep herself bottled up with a family for quite so long. However, who would willingly left a crew such as this after she found it? … Oh yes, her. She pushed her feet to the ground and the chair THUNKED loudly wood against wood. The good sirs at her table all leaned in close trying to pick up as much as her as possible, to breath her in.
Coral moved with dizzy ballet steps, high beautiful jumps, and gentle waves of her arm to the front of the stage. She landed and went to the ground, getting closer to the crowd. They raised their heads to her like a sunflower would a flower. "Yes, ye be me friend." The high almost falsetto voice rung off the walls clear and strong as a bell in the church tower. She reached a hand out to Lou in the crowd and crooned for her. The song was calling to her attempting to sooth her wounds. It hadn't been the song they had planned, but it was one they all knew. They had planned some sweet party song for the gents to get on with, not something serious like this, not a song about meaningful things. However, now that they all thought about it, the music fit these words much more fully and the lyrics touched all of them in a way no others could. "We all 'ave something that digs at us, at least we dig each other." Those words were soft from her, lovely and moving.
A loud scratch signaled the moving of Louene's chair backwards. She was at her feet only a moment later, moving towards where the fallen dancer was calling to her. There was hope in her eyes shining brightly and the men all whooped for her sudden action and in appreciation for what she was wearing. Pirates like hardcore, sexy pirate women. It was just the way things happened. As Esmeralda reached the innocent of the group pulling and tugging her towards the back of the stage the Queen began to sing again. "So when weakness turns me ego up, I know ye'll count on the me from yesterday." Coral freed herself and began to dance her way out into the crowd, towards the only standing person -- the female pirate.
Lillith had begun to dance her way into the crowd as well, her moves large and for show, doing handstands and shaking all her mother (god bless her!) had given the girl. She turned back at a call to her from Aoi. She had a shaky voice sometime, but everyone had to recognize the potential in the calming lull of her voice. It pulled an unsure tone along with it that made all of the men want to protect her. "If I turn into another dig me up from under what be coverin' the bettah part of me."
Blaze one hand stroke over Aoi's arm and her other grabbed Lillith's wrist, "Sing this song remind me that we'll always 'ave each other… when everything else is gone." Their small circle of dancers moving upon the dance floor began to move towards the other group of three.
Esmeralda danced alone on the stage her steps taunting and wicked. When everyone else had gone out on the floor to join E'Louene she stopped and pointed accusatorily at her. She had always been the one keeping Esmeralda from her dreams, or that was what the girl told herself when she tried to rationalize why she wasn't singing every night in the Queen's stead. "We all 'ave a sickness that cleverly attaches and multiplies… No matter 'ow ye try. We all 'ave someone that digs at us, at least we dig each other." She was taunting, the way she sang, rubbing the darkness of her past into E'Louene's face without anyone else around them noticing. With a crude roll of her hips she had jumped, cat-like, off of the stage and landed only due to her dancer's grace.
Blaze was at the Queen's side a second later, all of them had their partners. Blaze twirled the obviously hurt girl into her embrace. The red-clad woman cradled the golden-brown one. The other girls did complex pair moves, flips, spread-eagles, turns, cartwheels, they charmed the men, but Queen and Blaze made their hearts, hearts they forgot they had, yearn.
"So when sickness turns me ego up, I know ye'll act as a clever medicine." Blaze dropped Queen into a dip and their eyes both raked the crowd for a proper bit of prey. A candlelit table with a Cheshire cat caught her matching kohl-rimmed eyes. He was an enemy; her cackles rose. He was an enemy and she didn't even know his name. All of their voices rang out at the same time, powerfully shaking the men to their core. "If I turn into another dig me up from under what be coverin' the bettah part of me. Sing this song, remind me that we'll always 'ave each other….
when everything else be gone."
Their voices faded out and the music took it's place all of the instruments playing much harder than before. The girls allowed it, enjoyed it, and began to move towards their prey. Out of the corner of her eye E'Louene saw Blaze walking towards with saucy steps the man at the well-lit table, the Cheshire cat, the man with kohl-rimmed eyes, her enemy without a name. Louene changed her course towards both of them in an attempt to keep her friend safe. Why had she chosen the shadiest bloke in the entire establishment to be her puppy tonight? The last night she was responsible for all of them. Why would she risk it tonight?
Because she could; the answer was too simple.
The silk dress slid into his lap, red against faded clothing of a seafarer, just as Louene reached them. His hands full of ornate rings and dirt under his fingernails and baked into his skin gently touched the flow of the red silk piled upon his lap as if unsure of it. Not trusting it to be real. Louene, before she could control her impulses, grabbed his own and pulled it away from the fabric. She walked around his chair positioning herself behind him. Blaze shot her a dirty look, clearly claiming him as her own, but the unwise, territorial woman no mind. Once the man's hand was behind his head, hidden from view by her body and his, she pulled his pinky in threat -- not enough force to pop it off, but enough to show she could.
Her head, brown hair falling in a soft, smooth curtain keeping others out, lowered her lips to his ear. "If ye touch her again ye'll lose your bloody finger, savvy?" Her breathy voice drew nothing but his eyes, eyes such a dark brown they appeared to be black. Those eyes were full of attitude, so much attitude that she wanted to rip his arm off instead of his pinky. They were daring her and she really wanted to go ahead and show him she could. However, a room full of witnesses would have been a little bothersome. Instead of damaging the man as she wanted she just let go of his hand and let her upper body slide down his other arm spitefully.
Her head went back and let back a series of "Oooh" hums as she churned her hips upward. Bringing her body up and giving more of a show with her female 'attributes' than any of the others had the entire time. Some women just knew had to work what they had as it was intended when they were handing out gifts, some had to learn… Louene knew. "Oooh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh!!! If I turn into another dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me." She raised her hands above her head and showed the men around her, one man in particular, all that they could never have. The other girls began to crawl their way back to the stage, Esmeralda taking the word 'crawl' as literally as possible from her perch upon some boy's table.
"Sing this song; remind me that we'll always have each other, when everything else is gone! Oh, each other when everything else is gone. Ohhh, each other… when everything else is gone." E'Louene benched out the last holding the song and pressing it in just the right way. She was a craftswoman and had been doing all of this long enough to know just how to breath to get everyone to look, how to shudder to get wanton smiles, and how to smile in response. It was always like this, she got one thing down and immediately had to move out and go to something else. The music began to fade out, everyone else was on the stage running through the last steps, but she just fell into some sandy-haired soldier's. He settled his hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly at his friends. Apparently a bet must have been made as to who would get the best piece of candy that night.
He had won. She smiled up at him looking far more endearing than she actually was, "Ye gonna buy us a drink then?" Laughing loudly he did as bidden calling over to a barmaid for two pints. He must have intended to get her drink, she rationalized. The pretty smile turned wicked. There would be quite a bit of shock on his side when she out-drank him.
A rough pat on her shoulder brought her attention to the looming figure behind her. Steven, she had thought he would wait until after her business was done here, apparently he wasn't in a good enough mood to give her that. "We need tah talk…. And now, Vera." He half pulled, half helped her out of the boy's lap after she had given him her apologies and a playful peck on his cheek.
As they walked through the crowd many of the men called to her, asking for her company and she just politely waved all of them off. Her eyes were going to from girl to girl ensuring their choices for the night were suitably safe looking. When she found Blaze the fake smile slid away to a deep scowl. She was on that man's, the one that looked less trustworthy than a foreman in a Turkish prison, lap. Face close to his own whispering who knows what, -- she knew what, in his ear. His hand came up to finger his silly braided beard.
Black-sky eyes met sea-green ones and a hurricane formed over Blaze's advances. His hand waved a bit to get her attention before settling on the small of the red dancer's back. It took every fiber of her being to just look away from, she was sure, his smirking, roguish smile. She would kill that man one day, maybe not today, but she would. Following Steven McCook a exultant smile took her own features. It was good to be able to think such things again, to be able to issue death threats. Polite society had owned her for too long, she needed the freedom that cutting and shooting and cannonade gave to an individual.
If someone wronged her, they would be punished; if someone hurt her friends, they would be punished; how long had it been since she had realized this, been able to think these things without guilt staining her? She didn't know, but she knew that she would never let herself fall into being that false, fake thing she had been for so long before now. She was a pirate, she was a captain, and she was going to hurt everyone who had once wronged her until their throats were red with blood from screaming…
Lou Rivera. She was Lou "Knives" Rivera.
A/N: Comment and you will get more, that is the way I work. Three comments and you get new chapter, only three. That's not much at all!! I hope everything is okay so far, if it's not you can always flame me. I don't mind flames... as long as they are like pow-wow sized not like... "OMGBURNTHEWITCH" sized. kay? k.
Thanks: This will start to be personalized, due to the fact that ... it's a rule. 3 so check your PM's guys.
paineAPPLE