Having a knife to her face was not a feeling that Tawny enjoyed. With her face nearly squished against a piece of wood, a hand on the back of her head, and a knife right next to her eye, she couldn't help but shake. She watched as the one holding the knife lifted it, the blade disappearing before she heard something pierce the air. Her eyes closed tight and she heard the smack and light splinter of wood when the knife hit the slab.
When her eyes opened, the knife was stuck in the wood next to her and behind the knife laid a large portion of her hair, split away from her head. She felt her head pulled upwards, and the knife was taken from the wood, longer strands of her hair being pulled straight with no slack and sawed away. When this process was done, a big cluster of silvery-white hair sat on the table. Her hair was now quite short, the sides going to the top of her ears, the back pointed down to the middle of her neck, and she had crooked and almost jagged bangs. To anyone that saw her it would be obvious that the cut wasn't done by a pair of scissors, but by a careless blade. Though, that was the way they wanted it to be.
After the incident at Gold Bay, the Captain wanted the two girls on the crew to be hidden. If there was even a chance that such a sitatuion would happen again, at least it wouldn't bring shame to his reputation for having two young ladies on board. Despite the fact that their faces would still appear as that of a girl, at least now their hair was short and allowed them to seem more like a boy. Both Tawny and Edith were forced to have this done. Edith had gone first, and the sound of the knife smacking the table that both girls had their heads against made her jump as it did to Tawny. It wasn't necessarily that they minded having their hair cut, but it was more the action itself and the way it was done by their crew.
Both girls now stood on the main deck, both touching their hair which felt strange when not longer. The four boys of the crew looked at the girls with smirks on their faces. Honestly, it was kinda cute seeing both girls so confused and interested in their hair. From the back, it really did look like they were two small boys. Ivo, with his black eye still visible but no longer covered, walked to Edith and had also began pushing and pulling strands of her hair.
The two of them were like two peas in a pod. Ever since the group had ended up on the ship the two of them were the first to get close. Some would say that they were like brother and sister. Others would say that there was a high chance they were more than that. Of course, they were still kids, so they didn't know anything about being together in that regard. But members of the crew saw it.
Oliver walked to Tawny and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's fine. Short hair looks good on you, " he chuckled, sticking his tongue out at the girl. She just glared at him and looked over to Edith, who also looked back. For a moment, they said nothing. They just examined each others' hair in silence. But both girls started giggling and tugging at their hair, compairing lengths, forcing the boys to see who looked more like a boy, and even made Rigger judge them. To be honest, if she made herself look slightly less innocent and actually looked angry, Tawny looked more like a boy than Edith did. But it wasn't the time to be doing these things.
Captain Burne stood in front of the ship's wheel, looking down at the group of kids. They were a very odd bunch to have aboard. He hadn't been around very many children himself, but the six of them definitely made the ship a bit more lively. There were only a select few members of the crew that weren't very fond of the kids, one of them being Snap. He acted as though these tiny kids were stealing his position on the crew. It didn't help that he held a grudge against Tawny.
For the kids, it was almost as if the crew were separated into those that they could trust, those that they couldn't, and those that they were unsure of. Rigger was the first that they could trust, Snap was the untrustworthy one, and Burne was more unknown than any of the crew.
These kids had been thrown into the middle of a pirate ship, taken from their homes, and, in a way, forced into service under a mysterious, attention-loving Captain. They had been on the ship for a little bit now, but they still weren't used to any of it, especially not their new Captain. All of them had their own separate talk with him, and even though none of them had talked about their talks, Tawny was sure that her's was probably a bit different than the others'.
Almost on cue, a laugh erupted from a small group of the crew next to the kids. Attention went over to scar-faced Snap, who glared over at the kids. "You really think cuttin' their hair is gonna change anything. Makin' their hair short don't change that they're just a couple weak, useless little girls!" He just laughed, the small group of the crew around him chuckling along with him. This wasn't the first time that Snap and his buddies talked trash about the kids, mainly the girls. This also wasn't the first time that Captain Burne didn't bother stopping them.
With a glare, an annoyed Oliver took a step in front of the girls. "Like you have any room to talk! Just because they are girls doesn't mean they are weak or useless! If anything, you're the weak one!" Before Snap could even respond back, Roulan also took a step forward, and though his voice wasn't as loud as Oliver's, he still made himself heard by the pirates. "I also remember seeing you and your buddies staring out the window when we were outside the bar at Gold Bay. You didn't move or come to help us. Rigger had to rush outside to help us. Were you scared of the other pirates? Or were you just going to watch as we got attacked, " Roulan stated, growling slightly.
With an angry huff, Snap rushed forward, but Lewis stuck his foot out, Snap's boot catching on his own and his legs buckling under him. They all watched as Snap's face hit the ground of the deck, the other crew members behind him gasping. With a glare, Lewis, who was taken the most serious among the kids, looked down at Snap. "Shut your trap. Only the weak get offended by comments coming from a couple of children, " he stated. Both Roulan and Oliver had perked up when Lewis began to defend them, but both seemed to deflate when he added that the insults came from children and that Snap was weak because of how offended he got. In a way, Lewis had helped them, but he also made them seem like their insults weren't worth anything.
Snap stood from his fallen spot on deck, putting his hand on his forehead and glaring at Lewis. His hand reached down to his pocket and began to pull his knife out, but Captain Burne stepped in. "Pull the knife and it'll be used on you, Snap." Snap stopped and glanced up at the Captain before glaring at Lewis again.
"Watch your back, kid. You aren't always around to protect your little girlfriends, " he whispered before walking back to the other crew members. Lewis looked over at the other kids. Roulan and Oliver stared at him with both admiration and disappointment, Ivo seemed completely confused by the situation, and the girls merely stared over at him. He didn't say a word before walking up the steps towards where Captain Burne stood. "May I have a word, Captain?" The two of them went off behind the wheel and began talking, but not enough for the rest of the crew to hear.
Oliver and Roulan turned to look at the girls, who looked at them in return. With a sigh, Oliver put his hand on Tawny's head and ruffled her short, ragged hair. "Don't worry about it. I would just ignore him like we always do, " he said with a small smile. Tawny slightly nodded, shaking her head to make her hair go back to the way it was. Roulan gave Edith a pat on the shoulder and Ivo came over as well.
"Here, lets go down to the bottom deck and eat. You guys haven't eaten since we got back on the ship, " Oliver said, giving Tawny a very light push towards the step and all of the kids, minus Lewis, went towards the stairs.
There! Sorry for not updating consistently. Somewhat low muse. Anyway, what did you think? Did you think that Tawny was being threatened at the beginning?
Do you think that Snap was hinting something in his threat? What were Lewis and Captain talking about? Also, is Lewis actually defending the other kids or is he starting to grow distant?
Another big question to: Are the kids getting used to being pirates?
