Sorry it took so long, I lost my notebook that has all my ideas, snippets of chapters, lines I wish to use and the general outline for the story. But no worries, I found it again.
My goal is to get 10 reviews out of this chapter, so, if you like it, review!
This week's chapter is dedicated to:
TheOddOne:
I absolutely loved your review. I got it just when I was feeling down and needed a good pick me up. Your review made me laugh, or rather giggle, a couple of times. Thanks! Oh, and thank you for the generous compliments. Oh, and I love the rambling, savvy? XD
AKAFredandGeorge: You're both sweet. Much love! Oh, and props for the speedy review.
Angelwingz21: yes, you did win… but I thought the point of the review was to comment at least a little bit on the chapter…
Word junky: yes you are right, but be easy on the girl, fascinating things she's never seen before, then a near death experience? Oh well, I'll get around to it.
Sarah-K-O-M: You the cuteness reigns supreme at the end of this chapter. Looks like our little lady is working her magic on some of the crew, ay? Oiy! Got a thing for Irish things? And thanks, ice and antiseptic burn cream may sting, but they do wonders.
Drink-Up-Me-Hearties-Yo-Ho: yes, I know! It hurt very badly, even made me cuss (bad scarlet, baaad).um, no I don't take quotes from shows, sorry. And I'm working with the muses, they are quite insistent against said french pirates...
Le Jack: yeah. I always imagined Gibbs had a doting grandfather personality hidden beneath his gruffness, and now I can write it so! Happy dance! O yes, Sera is busy enchanting the crew of the Pearl…
ButWhyIsAllTheRUMGone: Thank you for the review! BTW, love the name ;)
Twadrummer: yeah, I'm still not sure what that means, ok, I feel really dumb right now… anywho, yes, we met Jack, I did promise more of the good captain, and lo and behold there he is!
LittleCountryDragon: I'll not say who she falls in love with… or even if she does fall in love… but there was a foot note attached to chapter 4…
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Huntress
In the captain's cabin Kipp shrugged out of his vest and peeled off his soaking shirt, grimacing at the fresh stains down the front. With a groan like sigh he flung it into a crate in the corner, maybe he could take care of it later. Grabbing a fresh shirt, he pulled it over his head as he headed towards the galley to pick up the tray he had asked the cook to fix up.
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Katrina sat on the edge of the bed, the grain on the wall opposite of her absorbing all her unfocused attention. (In other words, she was blankly staring at nothing.) Voices from outside her cabin pulled her back to the present and when the door opened, she jumped to her feet, apprehensively clutching her skirts and ready to bolt through the still open doorway at the first chance she got.
"Why don't you sit down?" the young captain asked.
"I'd rather stand." Katrina replied somewhat stiffly.
He shrugged and slightly lifted the tray. "Lunch." He explained.
"I'm not hungry." Katrina replied in the same tone.
"Later, perhaps." Kipp said, placing the tray down on a sea chest situated at the foot of the bed. Katrina took the opportunity to study the man before her. He moved in an unhurried and lithe manner. Deep brown hair was cut in an oddly short fashion, it wasn't long enough to pull back as was most men's, it barely even reached his shirt collar. And he was tanned from his hours on deck of the ship. He stood from his bent position and Katrina looked closer at his face, a straight nose was positioned above an annoyingly attractive half grin and below striking sea blue eyes that held a roguish twinkle. He was quite a handsome man, she decided.
"If you done staring…?"
Katrina felt her face flush and she slightly dropped her eyes.
"I am Captain Christopher Hunt, and you are aboard my ship, The Huntress." He said to fill the silence that had fallen, executing a perfect courtly bow. "Who might you be?"
"Kitt- I mean, Katrina." she fumbled, taken by surprise by the captain's formal manners.
Kipp had picked up on the first part of her answer. "Miss Katrina, had you meant to say Kitty?" At her startled look, he guessed he was right.
""How did you…?" Katrina trailed off, then it struck her. "Where is Sera?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry, who?" Kipp asked.
"Sera! The little girl! Where is she!" she suddenly sucked in a breath. "She did get off that ship, didn't she?" she worriedly whispered, almost dreading the answer. When he didn't immediately answer, Katrina became apprehensive. "What is it? What aren't you telling me? I-is she alright?" she was starting to break down, Kipp saw.
"She is fine, she's safe." He reassured her, suddenly sorry for causing her to worry.
Relief flooded through Katrina. "I want to see her." She stated imperiously.
Kipp crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"Um, may I see her?" Katrina swiftly changed tactic.
"Unfortunately, that is not possible at this time."
"What? Why? What did you do to her?" Katrina
"I already gave you my word she is safe and unharmed. And she will stay so." Kipp sincerely promised.
Katrina searched his face, trying to discern if he was being truthful, as if coming to a decision, she gave a short nod.
"Now, why don't you sit down and let me look at your lip? It has a rather nasty cut." Kipp dipped a square cloth in the cup of water on her tray.
"I still prefer to stand."
"Alright." Kipp approached her, lifting the cloth to wipe away dried blood, but she swiftly side stepped and made for the door. Dropping the cloth Kipp caught her by her upper arms, pulling her close when she struggled, giving her less room to thrash about. Though she continued to try to escape, so Kipp resulted to the only thing he could think of.
Katrina suddenly stopped, standing immobile. The dashing young captain had just wrapped his arms about her, pulling her up flush against a very well muscled chest.
"I won't harm you." He heard him say softly, his breath stirring some stray wisps some inches above her ear.
"How do I know you aren't lying?" Katrina replied, her voice also scarcely above a murmur.
"Trust." Was his simple answer. "I am a man of my word, all you can do is trust that."
"You haven't given any reason to earn that trust."
"Have I given any reason for you to not trust me?" he countered.
Katrina pulled back and looked into his somberly truthful blue eyes. "Then let me see Sera."
Kipp dropped his arms and stepped back, running one hand through his short hair. "I can't right now, she isn't on this ship, but my uncle's." He paused to look up at her. "But we will make a short stop in two days to do some repairs obtained during the fight. You can see her then."
"I guess I have to accept that." she sighed.
"Now," Kipp bent to pick up the cloth, dipping it once again in the water. "will you please sit down?"
With a reluctant nod, Katrina perched herself on the edge of the only piece of unoccupied furniture in the spartanly equipped room, the edge of the bed.
"This may sting a little." Kipp settled on his knees next to the bed, lifting the damp cloth and began cleaning the dried blood from her face.
Katrina watched him as he worked on removing the blood, his eyes never straying from his task. So she was slightly startled when he asked her a question. "So, who are you?" he inquired.
"I already told you." Katrina slightly winced.
"Sorry." Kipp apologized, moving the cloth to a less sensitive area. "You told me your name, not who you are." He paused to look directly into her turquoise eyes. At her puzzled expression he continued. "What is the girl to you? What were you to Toussaint?"
"The man was foul, I was nothing to him." Katrina gritted, her eyes unfocusing.
"And the girl, is she his?" Kipp gently pressed, returning to his task.
Surprised Katrina swung her eyes to him. "Lord forbid." She stated, ardently.
"So she is…?"
Katrina considered lying, though there was no point, besides possibly protecting Sera. Though Katrina didn't really know the situation, and this man promised that she was safe. "She is my ward, though I love her like my own."
"There, that should do it." Kipp got up from the floor. "You should eat something, cook made those biscuits fresh. They should still be a bit warm. And fresh fruit is a treat when you are on a ship." He turned to leave.
"Wait," he turned to look at Katrina. "am I to be confined to this room for two more days?"
"Not if you do not wish it. You may come on deck, all I ask is that you don't get in the way of my mens' work."
"One more thing." Katrina paused with a slight blush. "Might you have something I could wear? Something more… modest? This is not how I normally dress…"
Kipp quickly surveyed her clothing, taking quick note of her size. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you."
"I can't promise anything fancy."
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Black PearlSera smiled. She was watching some of the crew winding down for the night by playing various instruments, other members of the crew were dancing. She started to clap along with the music but then erupted into giggles. "Gan'pa Gibb!" she laughed at the man's humorous jig. Sera shrieked as Gibbs scooped her up and continued dancing with her. When the song ended Sera shook her head, "No good." She told Gibbs straight faced, causing all the crew within hearing distance to laugh.
"Is that so?" he asked her. At her nod he set her down. "And how do you dance, lass?" She looked expectantly at the improvised pirate band, who started to play a lively reel. Sera shook her head and hummed a few bars of a slower song, they caught on and played a more sedate song. Sera had watched the dances at the fair intently, although she had no partner, she copied the steps, improvising when her memory failed her, twirling and daintily stepping around deck. The crew watched amused at the little sprite's antics, clapping when the song ended and Sera gave a small smile and a shaky curtsey.
Sera stayed and watched three more lively dances, deciding she didn't like the pirates' style of dance, she got up and climbed the steps to the quarter deck and sat against the railing, watching Jack at the helm. After about ten minutes, she approached him. "I try?" she asked.
Surprised, Jack looked down at the little girl. "It ain't like dancin', luv. I don't know if ye could handle it." Sera pouted and gave Jack puppy eyes, allowing tears to rim the bottom of her eyes, but not enough that they actually spilled over. One look and Jack folded. "Alright, ye can try," he said. Instantly, Sera's face broke into a bright smile, "Just grab that crate over there." he pointed to an empty crate staked against the railing. With a nod, Sera bounced off, soon returning with said object. Jack took it and placed it in front of the helm, lifting Sera up on it so that she could see over it, barely. Then proceeded to stand behind her, gently guiding her tiny hands on the helm.
After about half an hour, Sera decided that steering a ship wasn't as fun as it looked and jumped off the crate she was standing on she started to walk past Jack when something shiny sticking out of his coat pocket caught her eye. She pulled it out of the pocket, it extended and folded back up. she put it to her eye and could see the front of the ship like it was right in front of her. Happy with this new discovery she turned full circle, surveying all around. Then she saw something behind the Pearl and trained the telescope on it.
"Boat!" she cried, pointing. Jack turned from his spot at the helm and looked where Sera pointed.
"That is a ship, luv."
"Thip." Sera repeated, retraining the telescope on the ship, watching it.
After a while, Sera put down the telescope with a yawn, rubbing both her eyes with little fists, releasing another small yawn. She walked up to Jack and tugged on his coat. "Sleep?"
"No need to ask, luv." He said, making a minor adjustment in the steering.
Sera walked off, but couldn't find her cabin. She did find one cabin, but was disgusted with how filthy it was. Bridgewood was never this dirty. She decided that something had to be done. So she set to work, piling all the empty bottles in empty crates and scrubbing like Kitty had taught her, though floors were different than tables, it basically worked the same. She even changed the sheets and piled all the dirty laundry in a corner. Sera worked until she was satisfied with the presence of the cabin, then she crawled into the bed and promptly fell asleep.
Later, when Jack surrendered the helm to Anamaria so that he could catch a couple hours of sleep, he wondered if he walked into the wrong cabin. Scratching his head, he noticed the little figure wrapped in his blankets on his bed. "Seems your good for more than softening up ol' Gibbs." Jack said softly, as to not wake up the slumbering child and picked up a spare blanket. He would sleep in the chair, one night wouldn't kill him.
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HuntressKatrina was just licking the last of the fruit juice off of her fingers when a knock sounded on the door of her cabin.
"Yes?" she called.
"Miss?" Alex said from the other side of the door.
"What is it? You may come in." she added, realizing that the boy was waiting permission.
Alex entered carrying a bundle of cloth. "The capt'n sent these for you. He apologizes if they are different then what you're used to, but then we ain't used to having women on board."
"Thank you, Alex. I'm sure they'll be just fine." Katrina said, accepting the bundle in Alex's arms. When the boy left, she shook out the clothes, and was quite surprised, these where men's clothes! Not a single skirt. Deciding anything was better than the revolting dress Toussaint made her wear, Katrina washed her face and arms before she slipped on the shirt and pants, there was even a pair of boots for her to wear. Katrina was amazed at how well they all fit. The captain must be more observant than she thought. Tying back her loose hair with a strip of cloth after using the thoughtfully provided brush, she opened her door, Alex still standing guard. "Alex, could you show me the way to the deck? I feel the need for fresh air."
"Sure, miss, right this way." Alex grinned, obviously happy to be moving about.
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Who-Hoo! More diolouge!
And there we end for this chapter. I tried to make it a bit longer to make up for the time it took me to update.
Reviews are as good as (insert favorite food here).
Quote:
"You always said that I had multiple personalities.
I bounce somewhere between dreams and reality.
So where'd you dig up the audacity
to ask me,
how we've all been doin'
sense you broke our hearts?"