Calming the Tides

Over the Edge, Over Again

two chapters in one day I'm on a roll!

E N J O Y !

Over the Edge, Over Again

“Trim that sail!” called Barbossa.

“Trim that sail!” Jack repeated, not wanting to be outshone on his own ship, but unable to deny that Barbossa’s orders were good ones.

“Slack windward brace and sheets!”

“Slack windward brace and sheets!”

“Haul that palletline!”

“Haul that palletline!”

Serenity watched from her post at the ship’s wheel as the two men began to fight over the title of Captain. She rolled her eyes. Such immaturity.

“What are you doing?” Barbossa shouted at Jack.

“What are you doing?” Jack replied.

“No, what are you doing?”

“What are you doing?”

“No, what are you doing?”

“What are you doing? Captain gives orders on the ship!”

“The captain of this ship is giving orders!”

“My ship, makes me captain,” Jack said smugly.

“They be my charts.”

“That makes you… chart man!”

“Stow it! The both of you! That’s an order! Understand?!” shouted Ragetti.

Jack and Barbossa just looked at him, confused.

“Sorry,” Ragetti continued. “I just thought with the captain issue being in doubt, I’d throw my name in for consideration, sorry.”

Jack and Barbossa turned and went up the stairs to where Serenity was standing behind the wheel. She smiled. It was nice to see them knocked down a few notches.

Barbossa pulled out his spyglass and directed it towards the front of the boat. Jack mirrored him, but his own spyglass looked like a toy beside Barbossa’s and he soon gave up.

Looking around for something else to do, Jack spotted Serenity, whose name he still didn’t know, and made his way towards her.

Serenity hissed in annoyance. After being insulted by him, and hearing what Tia Dalma had to say about him, she wasn’t too keen on having him around her. Especially since just hearing his voice turned her insides to mush.

“That Jack be nothing but trouble, chil’,” Tia Dalma’s voice said in Serenity’s mind. “He make you think he loves you, but remember ‘dis; Jack’s first love is the sea, and his second is the Pearl.”

“So,” Jack said, leaning on the railing beside Serenity, “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced to you yet. What’s your name, love?”

“I don’t think that’s any concern of yours,” Serenity said frostily.

This surprised Jack. Aside from Elizabeth—and Elizabeth was in love already so she didn’t count—he had never been denied the affections of any woman. Most of them threw themselves at him, convinced that they would be the woman to finally win over the heart of Jack Sparrow. But Jack only loved the sea, the Pearl, and rum. He only entertained the women as long as they continued to please him.

However, this particular young woman seemed to have no interest in him. Unless she was playing hard to get, which Jack hoped she was.

All of these thoughts took place in his head in only a matter of seconds and he decided what to say next.