You gulped as the Captain ordered you to keep him company while he was drinking.
I can't wait until we're out of rum. But you weren't allowed to object.
You nervously sat down next to him on the bench. He draped his arm around you and held you close.
"Captain, you're drunk," you said. "Would you like me to help you back to your cabin?"
"Naw, how about you just go get a few more rounds."
I just sat down, Captain. "Alright."
You stood up and walked away, picking up a several empty rum bottles, then filling them with water, and coming back to the table, and handing the flasks to the Captain.
He tried it. "This tastes like seawater. Find something better than that for me, will you?"
You rolled your eyes, but spoke seriously. "Yes, of course, Captain." And you went and got him, unsure what else to do, some real rum.
He tried it and was satisfied, then motioned for you to sit back down again. Hesitantly, you did. He leaned in closer to you. "Try some!" he said, and handed you a whole bottle of rum.
No, we need someone still sane around here. "I'm not very thirsty." And I don't want to get drunk. I'm the only girl on this pirate ship.
"Have some!" he insisted, and shoved it into your hands.
"Uh, yeah..." you said awkwardly, then as you lifted it to your lips, you secretly stuck your thumb in it, and took one big fake swig and handed it back to the Captain. "It's nice, but not really my thing..." you tried to explain.
"That's alright, there's plenty!" He made you keep the rum.
And you inconspicuously poured it out under the table.
Every pirate that had at least at one point shown some sanity to her before that night, were off their rockers. Including the Captain, who was reduced to a blubbering idiot. At one point he even called you Princess, and for the rest of the night, you were afraid he'd officially blow your cover. Not that anyone would remember the night anyways.
You put up with sitting there and giving fake enthusiastic nods to everyone who spoke to you, while you felt very insecure the whole time, and was actually relieved when the Captain asked for more rum, which he was calling 'grog,' was were the rest of them. So it was a thing, they weren't just calling it that because they were acting crazy.
And you tried the water trick again, except this time, it was half water, half rum.
"Why does all of our grog taste so bland?!" the Captain burst.
"That's the only kind you have left," you lied. "Sorry, it's the best you've got."
"Well it tastes like barnacles," the Captain cursed.
And when you sat down this time, he wanted you to sit on his lap.
"Did I ever tell you how pretty you looked, beauty?" he asked you drunkenly, gazing into your eyes and deciding to hold you closer. You could smell his breath, laced with spirits.
You sighed. I can't take this anymore. You knew he'd take the next thing you said the wrong way, so you said it anyways. "Captain, I don't feel comfortable hanging out in here. Will you let me just help you up to your cabin?"
Some at the table sighed, and some laughed, and some looked disappointed, as if they'd missed their shot.
The Captain smiled, looking impressed with himself, he looked victoriously at his crewmates, and started looking you up, clearly expecting to get laid that night. "Oh yeah. Anything for you, Princess."
"Anika," you corrected.
"That'ss what I said."
"You know what, let's just head up now, okay? You good with that?"
"Yeah yeah yeah. Whatever works fo' you."
"Great," you said in exasperation, immediately jumped off him, took his wrist, and lead him up the stairs (on which he stumbled twice) and up to the fresh air on the deck.
"So we going to our cabin now?"
Since when is this an 'our' cabin?! "Yeah, right." I hope he's still really tired...
"I just loove you, Anika."
What the hell? "That's very sweet of you. Now into the cabin." You pushed him in, and eased him into his cot.
"Wait, hold on, I thought we were gonna–"
"You mentioned how tired you were, so I decided to let you nap for a bit first."
"I did say that? Then alright, just a lil bit."
You put a blanket over him and then went out to the deck. As long as the crew didn't see you weren't busy, you were fine.
You gazed out over the sea, leaning on the rail, feeling the bone-shilling breeze fly in and weave itself through the ship, the only obstacle it met in hundreds of miles over the flat ocean.
You thought about home. Even though you didn't really like home very much...
But you didn't like being a pirate ship servant much either, especially when the sailors were all drunk.
So you still felt homesick, because the castle had been the only life you'd ever known.
For quite a long time, you'd wanted to escape the palace. You'd wanted to find a new life.
But this was not the life you'd particularly been hoping to find.
The Captain slept soundlessly for a night. Which was good, because for once he didn't have any night terrors.
.
~ ~ ~
.
At dawn, you woke up, left the Captain and the rest of the crew to sleep, and went to the kitchen to start making some food for everyone.
There were still a few men at the table, using up the very last of the rum, and a fury suddenly erupted within you.
"Go to your barracks! Now!" You scolded. "You've been up all night, and that's a waste of time and resources! You need to pull your own weight here, and using up the supplies is not a way to do it!"
They all looked a bit tired anyways, but groaned and stumbled off to their sleeping quarters without another word, just a few irritated looks.
You'd salted the meat, cut the worst of the mold off a portion of the cheese, and made a batch or two of Sauerkraut by the time anyone stumbled back into the dining room.
"Ugh," Knoll groaned. "I be feeling like a sick dog, where be me sea legs today?"
"Yeah, you all got drunk last night, in case you don't remember," you snapped. "But I've got some breakfast out and ready if you'd like some."
"Oh, we–" He stopped. "We got drunk?" He paled at your anger. "You be alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine," you replied forcefully. "You all were kind of scaring me like that, but I eventually got the Captain to his cabin and stood out on the deck for a while. No problems that I know of."
He sighed with relief. "Oh good. I be hopin' we don't all get drunk on you again..."
"Yeah... Well I've got some meat, cheese, and Sauerkraut. You're the first one up, so take your pick."
"Well yo-ho, look what crawled out of the bung hole!" He said, took a bit of all three, and sat down.
Pretty soon almost everyone else had come to the kitchen/dining table and was eating salted meat, cheese, and Sauerkraut.
All of them, when they realized they'd been drunk the night before, checked with you to ask if they did anything stupid, and if you were alright. At least they care.
The last person up was the Captain, who gave you a long, unreadable look without a single word, and simply sat down and started eating.
He didn't say much all morning.
After breakfast, you got to work on sewing and patching up those clothes. You did it sitting on a wooden barrel out on the deck in the salty breeze. Just thinking about last night made you feel like the only mother to an orphanage of rowdy boys.
Then you couldn't help but think about the Captain.
Last night, he'd said you were pretty.
He'd said he loved you. It was definitely the grog talking, but...it had to have come from somewhere...did it?
The Captain came up to you, awkwardly, but straightforward, and said, "Anika? I...apologize for the way I treated you last night."
You were a bit surprised. "Well, thank you, you're forgiven I mean, but you didn't...I just locked you in your cabin that night, I wasn't..."
"I remember what happened last night," he said. "An experienced Grog Blossom like me doesn't forget."
"Oh. Well...yeah. It's just...don't scare me like that again. I'm not allowed to refuse your orders, and I was kind of afraid you'd make me...do something stupid."
"Then you don't have to obey my orders anymore," he said decisively, snapping out of an awkward presence to a thoughtful one. "Consider them negotiable requests. If that, like last night, happens again, I don't want to get you stuck in the middle of something you shouldn't be."
That surprised you even more. "Oh...well thank you."
"And thank you for taking care of me and leaving me in my room."
"You're welcome, Captain."
He gave you a respectful nod, you gave him a slight bow from where you sat, and he turned and walked off.
Though you couldn't entirely put your finger on why, you sighed to see him go.