Alex is laughing.
She wants to kick him. Hard.
This would not be a particularly good idea, however, as she has only just managed to keep up walking along side him. How could she have been so silly as to have forgotten this part? She isn't used to being on ships, and she's just spent more than a month on one. The result of this is that the solid ground she is now walking on feels strange, unnatural. Her legs feel wobbly. She takes a deep breath and tries to force herself to walk like a normal person.
Alex is so far making no attempts to hide his amusement, or help in any way, not that she would have accepted it if he did.
She punches his arm as hard as she can with her small fist. He tries to make out as though it did not hurt him, but she saw him wince, and this gives her some satisfaction. He stops laughing, though his eyes are still smiling.
"Calm yerself, yer not the first to go all wobbly after the first time out on a ship."
"It's not my first time."
"First time in a long time, then."
She doesn't reply. He chuckles.
"Most get used to it, s'nothin to worry about."
"Most?"
He snorts, trying to hold back another chuckle. She huffs in annoyance, turning around.
"That's it! I'm going back to the ship."
"Emily, love, please, stop! There's no sense in forcin yerself to stayed cooped up like that just 'cause o' this!" He grabs her arm, pulling her back to him.
"I look rediculous."
"No, ye don't. Well, not that rediculous. Come on, let's see what's goin on over 'ere." He pulls her towards a tavern that is crowded with more than the usual amount of people. There is music playing from inside. They jostle their way in. Emily pulls her coat tighter around her, hoping to hide any traces of her girlish figure, not that it is all that prominent anyways. She just feels a bit nervous crowded in with so many strangers, almost all of them being men.
There is a woman up on a small sort of stage at the front of the Tavern. She is tall and pail and beautiful, and can't be but a few years older than Alex and Emily. Her voice is beautiful, too. She has long dark red hair and a prominent Irish accent, and is singing a lively Irish folk song.
Alex spies some of their fellow crewmen sitting at a table and drags her towards it, and they somehow manage to find seats. Alex is watching the woman on stage with a strange glint in his eyes and Emily finds herself a bit annoyed by it, seing as the singer on stage is very pretty.
She wishes, for a moment, that she looked even half as pale and beautiful as the woman on stage. A breif moment. She is sure that she is not all that pretty, even when she is in a dress, and finds it pointless to dwell on such wishful thoughts.
She watches the singer on stage and is startled when the woman catches her gaze, her sparkling green eyes meeting Emily's dark brown ones. For a moment the woman looks surprised, then she winks before looking away. Emily isn't sure what to make of that.
The woman stops singing after a few more songs, and the tavern soon becomes much less crowded.
A barmaid comes up with a tray full of drinks, probably rum, and slides one in front of them all. Emily grimaces down at the brownish liquid and doesn't take a drink. The smell of it reminds her first of her papa, then of her Uncle Jack.
She looks to Alex, who takes a small sip of his, as the rest of the men around her drink heartily. She brings her mug to her lips and pretends to drink, if only so that she doesn't appear different somehow.
"Well, hello there gents." A woman's Irish accented voice rings out from just behind Emily, who turns around quickly to find that the red haired singer is coming towards them – towards her. "I don't believe I've seen any of yah 'round here before. 'Tis always nice to be greeted with new faces."
Several of the men at the table respond, giving her compliments on her singing.
"It's too bad we won't be here for long." Alex says, sounding a bit shy, but when Emily glances in his direction he is giving the singer a rather flirtatious smile. It annoys Emily, though she has no clue why.
It doesn't matter, though, as the singer has her eyes fixed on Emily.
"Were you boys on that ship that came in just this mornin? Fine little ship, that one."
"Indeed we were miss."
"A fine ship she is."
"Wit' an even finer Captain, wha' a lucky lot we are." This gets a laugh from the other men, and even Emily chuckles, thinking about Anamaria and how she'd probably threaten to kill them all if she knew of some of the jokes they made.
"What's yer name, if I may ask, miss?" Alex says, still sounding somewhat shy, but he is giving her that smile again. Her attention is focused on him for the time being.
"Cathleen Hogan." She replies with a grin. "The owner of this fine establishment, as well as the entertainer, one of the barmaids, and the occasional cleanin lady when me other girls get lazy."
"Alex, Alex Sparrow." He introduces himself, taking her hand in his and kissing it. "At yer service."
Emily's annoyance grows tenfold, though she knows he isn't really doing anything wrong. It is all in good fun. It's strange to see a different side of Alex. She's never seen him around other girls before.
Cathleen turns to her.
"And what's your name, sailor? Yah're so much quieter than the rest."
Emily hesitates as Cathleen comes closer to her, expecting Emily to do or say something. She's not sure what to do. This seems to be a different sort of town than she's used to being in; they won't take too kindly to a female dressed as a man.
She takes a deep breath.
"B-Billy." She's says quietly, the first thing that comes to mind, then smiles a little when she realizes this will work perfectly. "Billy Turner." She says louder this time, trying to make her voice sound lower, more boyish.
It seems to work.
"Billy. Parents named yah William, I'd imagine? I've always loved that name." She looks up and around.
The tavern still has plenty of men in it; any chair nearby is taken. Emily can see what Cathleen is about to do before she even says anything.
"Looks like me girls have things covered for the moment. I don't suppose yah'd mind allowin me to have a rest, now would yah boyo?"
Emily has two choices. She can pretend that she does not know what Cathleen really wants – and look rather suspicious in some way for it – or she can allow the woman to come forward and sit in her lap.
Both options are a bit unsettling. Somehow, though, she gets a strong feeling that she shouldn't turn this woman away.
"H-how could I turn away such a pretty girl as you?" She attempts to sound like she's flirting as she reaches out and pulls the woman into her lap.
The others at the table are looking more amused than anything else, knowing the truth about her. Only Alex seems to have a problem with any of this. He is scowling at her.
She can't quite tell why.
Cathleen wraps her arms around Emily's neck. They are drawing looks from others in the tavern now, some looking a bit disgusted – probably by Cathleen's rather promiscuous behavior – and some looking jealous.
Cathleen leans in closer.
"I knew yah're secret the moment yah came in here, lass." She whispers in her ear. "Come and see me when yah're friends leave. I need to have a talk with yah."
Emily tries not to let her shock show on her face. She nods her head a bit. Cathleen pulls away and smiles.
"Until we meet again then, my fine sailor." She says aloud before leaning in to lightly kiss Emily's cheek.
Alex's scowl turns in to a look of wide eyed shock.
Cathleen gets up and walks off towards another table.
"Yer..stayin 'ere?" Alex seems unsure and a bit disgusted by this revelation; put the two together and the look on his face is a perfect imitation of his father. "With 'er? To do what, exactly?"
"To talk to her, you idiot, what else would I be doing? Do you have a problem with that?"
He only eyes her warily, looking unconvinced.
She rolls her eyes.
"I don't even have to know what you're thinking right now to know that you're wrong. I will see you, later." She brushes past him, making her way towards Cathleen, who appears to be waiting for her.
"He don't look to happy with yah." The redhead says, motioning towards Alex. "I hope I'm not causin yah any trouble."
"He's…a bit too protective, or something to that effect. What did you want to see me about, Miss Ho-"
"Me names Cathleen, now come with me." She begins leading Emily towards a room beneath a set of stairs.
Emily is a bit bewildered, but follows for lack of a better choice. Cathleen closed the door behind them.
"Ah, that's better. Now, tell me, were yah aware that yah have the markin's of a goddess upon your soul?"
Emily opens her mouth, but no sound comes out, so she just stares blankly. The words take a long moment to sink in. She isn't much more articulate when they do.
"I, uhm, what?"
Cathleen chuckles softly.
"Apparently the answer is 'no'. You'll have to forgive me for how little sense I must be makin. It's just, I could see it the moment yah came in. Somethin about the eyes, that's how yah can tell."
"I don't understand. What is it you're trying to say?"
"I'll try to explain. People who have been touched by a goddess somehow – most often those who have earned a goddess' protection – have a certain look about them. Not everyone can see it, usually only others who have known a goddess' touch. I don't know why I can. But you… yah've been touched by a very powerful goddess."
"You think…I've been…" Emily shakes her head. "No. You must be mistaken. I'm hardly special enough to have earned the favor of any goddess."
"Oh? And just how is it yah know this so certainly?" Cathleen looks idignant.
Emily doesn't answer, doesn't know how to answer. She thinks about how she'd been stabbed weeks earlier, how she'd healed so quickly. She doesn't have to think hard to know what goddess would set her sights on Emily. Calypso.
The problem is, she's long since given up on the idea of any goddess being any kind of helpful to anyone. If the sea goddess really cares about her, then why is her papa dead? Why hadn't her mother come back?
"I… I think I'd better be going now, miss."
"Yah don't have to leave so quickly, I didn't mean to upset yah."
Emily is about to open the door. She freezes when Cathleen grabs her arm.
"Please, wait. Those who have been touched by a goddess often have other gifts as well. I can help yah."
"I-I don't want anyones help." Emily stutters as she opens the door and leaves.
"You're welcome here whenever yah decide yah need it, then." She hears Cathleen call after her as she attempts to gracefully exit the tavern, though this is difficult as she still feels strange walking on solid ground.
She knows that Alex and most of the crew had not gone back to the ship, but finds that she has no desire to see anyone else anyways. She pulls her coat tighter around herself again and begins heading for the docks.
I'm working on a separate one-shot to go with this story, of Alex meeting Jack for the first time, for any you that had possibly wondered how that went. Don't know when it'll be finished, but be looking for it.
Thanks for the reviews and all that good stuff. :)