The cabin was quiet when Tilly woke up the next morning. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking over to the sofa where Ed and Stede were still fast asleep. They were curled around each other in such a way that made it difficult to tell where one of them ended and the other began.
As quietly as she could, Tilly climbed out of bed and tiptoed towards the bathroom. She hovered by the toilet for a moment, but her stomach actually felt relatively calm for once. She swapped her nightshirt for the clothes Archie and Jim had given her then left the bathroom and snuck out of the cabin, careful not to wake Ed and Stede as she went.
Tilly made her way onto the deck to find that most of the crew were already up and about,
"Good morning," Olu said with a cheery wave.
Tilly smiled, "Good morning,"
"Sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you, their bed is very comfy,"
"Well, it's Stede's bed so I wouldn't expect anything less," Lucius weighed in,
"I'm surprised you managed to sleep at all with those two in the room," Jim said with a smirk.
Tilly pulled a face, "That's my brother,"
"Sorry," said Olu.
Tilly looked around at the crew, "What do you normally do before they're up in the morning?" She asked.
Jim shrugged, as they plucked a knife from their belt and twiddled it around in their hand, "Whatever we want."
Tilly eyed the knife in Jim's hand curiously, "So, you could teach me to throw knives then?" she asked.
Jim raised their eyebrow sceptically at Tilly before breaking into a grin, "Sure," they replied and jumped to their feet. "How about a demo first?"
Tilly nodded, "That sounds great."
Jim grinned at Tilly once more, then took a stepped forward, raised their arm up and flung the knife at the mast, where it lodged itself smack bang in the centre.
Tilly let out a cheer and clapped her hands as Jim did a little bow.
"Thank you, thank you," Jim said as they walked back over to Tilly. They spun the knife around held the handle out to her as they came to a stop, "Let's see what you've got."
Tilly looked at Jim in shock, "What‽ Just throw it‽"
"Yeah, let's see what I'm working with."
Nervously, Tilly took the knife and stepped forward. She tried to position herself in the same way she'd seen Jim do. She took a deep breath then raised the knife up and flung it towards the mast. It dived through the air then clattered to the ground a few meters away its target.
"Oh boy," Jim muttered. They walked forward, scooped the knife up off the ground and presented it back to Tilly.
Tilly took the knife, "Okay, so what do I do?" she asked.
Jim hummed thoughtfully, then moved so that they were standing directly behind Tilly. They placed their hands on Tilly's wrists and used their grip to carefully move her arms into position.
"Okay," Jim said, "This time, don't let go so late, you were aiming at the ground by the time you let go, that's why the knife didn't go very far." Jim slowly moved Tilly's arms in the motion of a swing, "You want to release about here." Jim let go of Tilly's arms and took a step back, "Okay, now try again."
Tilly raised her arm once more and flung the knife at the mast, doing her best to let go of the knife at the point Jim had shown her. This time the knife sailed past the mast and fell to the ground right by Lucius.
"Hey!" Lucius cried, "That could have hit me!"
"Sorry!"
"Hmm, we'll work on aim next," Jim said,
"What are you guys doing?"
Tilly turned around to see Ed and Stede emerging from the captain's cabin.
"Jim was showing me how to throw knives," Tilly explained.
Ed's eyes widened, "They've been doing what‽"
"Don't look so worried," Tilly waved her hand dismissively, "If I'm gonna be a pirate I've got to learn how to handle myself,"
Somebody behind them scoffed, "Throwing knives isn't the best way to do that. You want to learn how to shoot or sword fight."
Everyone turned to see Izzy approaching them.
Jim shook their head, "Knives have always served me well," they argued,
"How about a competition?" Lucius said, with a wide grin.
Jim and Izzy both scoffed,
"I'm not going to waste my morning with some silly competition," Izzy said,
"What if there was a prize?" Stede suggested.
Izzy and Jim turned to look at him.
"What prize?" Jim asked,
"What do you want?"
Jim frowned in contemplation for a moment, "Roach's orange cake."
Stede turned to Izzy, "Does that sound good to you?"
Izzy scowled but nodded, "Okay."
Lucius cheered, "Okay, we need a target,"
"I've got it," Pete cried. He plucked a knife from his belt and walked over to a barrel. He knelt down in front of it and carved out a circle.
"Thanks, Babe," Lucius said before turning back to the others,
"Okay, you take turns to fire at the target, first person to miss the centre loses."
Jim and Izzy turned to each other and nodded.
"That works for me," Izzy said,
"Me too," Jim agreed.
Izzy inclined his head at Jim, "After you."
Jim drew their knife and lined themselves up with the makeshift target. They raised their arm and threw the knife, landing it perfectly in the centre. The crew erupted in cheers as Jim stepped aside and let Izzy take their place. Izzy drew his pistol and aimed at the target. He fired, hitting the middle, just like Jim.
Jim and Izzy each took turns aiming at the target, each time hitting the centre.
"When are they going to call it a draw?" Tilly asked, after she'd lost count of the number of shots they'd taken,
"I don't think either of them are willing to give in," Olu remarked.
Lucius hummed in agreement, "I know what to do."
Lucius stepped towards Jim and Izzy; neither of them even glancing his way. Jim took their shot, again hitting the centre, and Izzy raised his gun to take his, however, before he could fire, Lucius grabbed his arm and spun Izzy around, pulling him into a kiss.
Ed's eyes widened in shook and Fang let out a cheer. Izzy let out a squeak of surprise and fired his gun, hitting the edge of the target.
"And Jim wins!" Stede cried,
"No!" Izzy objected, "That doesn't count! The boy distracted me!"
"Aww, did you get distracted by a kiss?" Ed teased.
Izzy scowled at him, "Like it wouldn't have distracted you too."
Fang patted Izzy on the shoulder, "It's alright Boss, it would have happened to the best of us."
Izzy scowled, "Okay, show's over," he snapped at the crowd, "Time to get to work."
The crew dispersed and set about doing jobs they appear to have been preassigned,
"What should I do?" Tilly asked.
Stede glanced down at Tilly's stomach, "Are you sure you should be…" he trailed off when he noticed Tilly's glare,
"If I am to be part of this crew, then I want to work, like they all do," she turned to Ed, "Maybe I could help you with whatever you're doing,"
"Oh, I don't think that's the best idea," Ed said, "See repairs are more of a one man job, you'd just be wasting your time."
Tilly's face fell, she'd been hoping she could spend the day getting to know Ed.
Lucius slid up and linked his arm with Tilly's, "Come on, you can help me take inventory," he said.
Tilly smiled at him, "Lead the way."
Lucius led Tilly down towards the storeroom. He pushed open the door and immediately sat down on a nearby barrel. He pulled out a sketch book and flipped it open.
"I thought you said you were taking inventory?" Tilly said.
Lucius looked up and grinned, "Izzy knows what it means when he assigns me a job."
Tilly sat down on a barrel next to Lucius, "Can I see your drawings?"
"Of course," Lucius tilted his sketch book towards Tilly, showing her the many dicks sketched on the page,
"Oh my."
Lucius grinned, "I draw what I love," he said,
"As you should."
"I can draw you if you want?"
Tilly laughed nervously, "I don't think I have the right parts to be on that page."
Lucius laughed and flipped over to a blank page, "I do draw other things you know. I was offering to draw your face,"
"Oh, okay then," Tilly shifted slightly on the barrel she was sat on, "How do you want me?"
Lucius waved his hand, "Whatever's comfortable."
Tilly shuffled around, trying to find the most comfortable position, then settled with her hands on her knees.
"You good?" Lucius checked.
Tilly nodded. Lucius smiled reassuringly at her and started sketching her outline. After a few moments her launched into a long story about Pete.
Tilly didn't know how long they sat there, she assumed quite a while, before they were interrupted by Olu walking in. He rolled his eyes when he saw what they were doing, "You're dragging Tilly down with you now?" He teased.
Lucius grinned, "Of course. I'm a bad influence."
Olu peered at the drawing over Lucius's shoulder, "Oh wow, that's really good."
Tilly shifted so she too could see the picture. Her eyes widened in surprise, there wasn't much detail in the drawing yet, but the outline looked exactly like Tilly, "Wow," she breathed.
Lucius and Olu smiled.
"Anyway, I was just coming to see if Tilly wanted to come and help me, and Wee John do laundry?"
Tilly hopped down off her barrel, "Sure, I'll come and help you," she said, keen to experience as many of the jobs on the ship as possible, "I mean as long as that's okay with you?" She checked, turning to Lucius.
Lucius waved his hand at Tilly, "It's fine, we can pick this up later."
Olu led Tilly over to the door, "You should do some work before Izzy finds you," he called to Lucius over his shoulder.
Lucius let out a laugh, "Nah, after that kiss I have him wrapped around my finger!"
"If you say so."
Tilly and Olu headed back up to the deck, where Wee John was sat with a large tub of water and a pile of clothes.
"Tilly's gonna help us," Olu called as he sat down next to Wee John.
Wee John smiled at Tilly, "Brilliant, the more the merrier. If me and Olu wash them then you can hang them up?" He nodded his head towards a makeshift washing line that had been hung from the mast,
"Sounds like a plan," Tilly agreed.
Wee John and Olu set about washing the clothes then passing them over to Tilly.
"That's a nice jumper of Frenchie's," Olu said, holding up a red and white striped jumper, "Did you make it?"
"Yeah, Frenchie's making me a shirt in return."
Tilly peered at the jumper, "You made this?"
"Yeah,"
"It's very good,"
"Thank you. Can you knit?"
"Oh, no," Tilly shook her head, "Sewing is much more my area,"
"Ah, that's Frenchie's thing, I could never get the hang of it myself," Wee John said,
"Well, you're both more talented than me, I can't do either," said Olu,
"I could teach you," Tilly offered, dropping down to sit next to Wee John and Olu,
"Really?"
"Yeah, my mum's a seamstress and I sometimes help her out in her shop,"
"You're a proper expert then?" Olu asked,
Tilly blushed slightly, "I wouldn't go that far, I'm certainly not up to the same standard as my mum but I know the basics,"
"You should hold a class some time, teach everyone," Olu suggested.
Tilly smiled, "I'd like that." She picked up some more of the freshly washed clothes and turned back to the washing line. She may not have gotten to spend her day getting to know Ed, but she had started to get to know the crew and that was nearly as good.
