"TIME TO GET UP LASS!" Came a loud voice with a familiar Scottish accent. You squinted you eyes as if the noise hurt them too. You groaned heavily.
"Not…happening" you mumbled and shoved your head under your pillow which you soon regretted. It smelled like…you weren't sure, but it wasn't pleasant. But you were so tired you didn't really care at the moment. You just wanted the loud noise, and the person it belonged to, to go away. Ian chuckled.
"Oh no ye don't lassy. Up and at em!" He said shaking your shoulder. You growled and flung your hand up, swinging it around, trying to wave him away.
"Let me sleeeeeeeep!" you said, your voice slightly muffled from the pillow. Ian stood up. A smirk growing across his face. You couldn't see it being that your head was shoved under a pillow with questionable smells on it. You suddenly felt a sharp pain on your backside. You yelped and sat up, glaring at Ian. He just stood there, smirking at you.
"I see yer up." he said. You glared at him. That was the second time he smacked your butt!
"And I see your missing some teeth." you growled at him. You actually sounded pretty threatening. Ian raised an eyebrow.
"No I aint." he said, you smiled evilly at him.
"You will be now" you said standing up, stalking toward the Scotsman.
"My, my. Aren't we moody this mornin'." He said. You just kept sauntering over toward him, glaring up at him from your eyes. He took this as his queue to leave.
"Well then, meet me up on deck." he said quickly before bolting for the door. You chased after him but stopped when he closed the door.
"Jerk" you muttered to yourself.
You yawned and stretched. Sighing, you looked around.
"It wasn't a dream." you said, disappointed and annoyed. You looked in the mirror. Your hair wasn't a complete disaster, but you could see why Ian was slightly scare of you. You still had a scowl on your face.
"So that's what I looked like." you said to yourself. You shook the sleep out of your head and fixed your hair. Once it was decent you bent down to pick up your shoes. You sat on the chest and put them on.
"Here goes the first day of a loooooong month" you grumbled to yourself. You really weren't a morning person.
"What time is it anyway?" you asked no one in particular. You looked outside and saw that the sun was just barely up.
'Yuck' you thought to yourself 'They made me get up at the butt crack of dawn. What a horrible hour to be up.' you sighed. Your mouth tasted bad. You ran your tongue along your teeth, they felt gritty.
"Ew" you said. You were really missing your tooth brush right about now. A lightning bolt hit you. You pulled your sweatshirt out from under your booty and checked deeper in one of the pockets until you heard a familiar rattling noise. You pulled out a little plastic box.
"Well hello tic-tacs!" you exclaimed and popped one in your mouth. You could feel your morning breath being defeated by the mighty little mint. You smiled and checked your breath.
'Minty fresh' you thought 'Although its no substitute for a tooth brush, it'll have to do until I fine something else.' You placed the box in your sweatshirt pocket again and reached for the door knob. You turned is slowly and opened the door. Some men were walking past your door.
'I'm not the only one up at this hour?!?' you thought to yourself as you closed the door. You started walking when someone bumped into you.
"Oi! Watch it girly!" said a big and nasty looking pirate. You, still not fully awake yet and in a rather cranky mood, just lowered your head but kept your eyes on him, glaring at him. He looked away and started walking faster away from you.
'Score one for me (name)' you thought to yourself. You weren't a mean person, you just were a bit of a crank in the mornings. You slowly trudged toward the stairs, every step seeming long and painful.
"Stupid crappy bed on a stupid crappy ship that makes stupid crappy creaking noises" you mumbled to yourself. You somehow made it up the stairs to be greeted by Ian with a mop and bucket sitting next to him.
"Ah! I see you finally made it!" he said in a voice that you thought was too loud at the moment. You cringed a bit.
"Tone it down a bit would ya?" you said, annoyance laced in your voice. He smirked at you.
"Aww, is our little princess tired? Well that's how it is on this ship lass, ye better get use to it." he said. That did it. You were in no mood to be dealing with Ian or his sass. That's your job to sass people! And darn it your not going to let someone take your job! You walked up to him and gave him a fake sweet smile before grabbing him by the front of his shirt. He was pretty tall and big but somehow you managed to pull him down to eye level. You looked him straight in the eyes, your appearance looking just as threatening as when he slapped your, ahem, assets.
"Look." you said "Its early in the morning. I'm tired. I didn't get very much sleep and my head is killing me. Now keep it down for the next hour or I'll shove that mop down your throat." you said menacingly. Although you would never actually shove the mop down his throat, you just thought it would make your request more appealing. His eyes widened.
"A-Alright lass. I'll try to be quieter." he mumbled. You gave him a big grin.
"Good" you said and patted his cheek before letting go of his shirt. He stood up straight and smoothed his shirt out.
"Remind me not to get your bad side" he mumbled. You looked at him from the corner of your eye.
"What was that?" you said. He shook his head
"Oh nothing. Nothing at all lass. Now!" he started to say in his loud voice again but soon remembered to keep it down when you glared at him again.
"Now." he said in a softer voice "All you have to do is take this mop" he handed you the mop "and mop the deck. Its very simple. Oh, there are also some rags in the bucket for ye to wipe down the railin's and such. Ye got all that lass?" You nodded, still sleepy but somehow you managed to understand all of it. You grabbed the mop and started mopping. It wasn't that hard. You were just too tired to think that any work would be appropriate at this hour. However, being that you weren't use to walking on a ship your steps were a bit wobbly. You slowly walked up the stairs, clutching onto the railing for dear life. You started from one end of the ship and decided to work your way down. Once you finished the first, smaller deck you decided to go down to the lower one. You slowly walked down the stairs again. The ship jolted slightly but it was enough to send you flying forward, mop in hand. You closed your eyes, ready for impact, but it never came. You sort of half fell and were half caught by someone. You opened your eyes to see greens one's looking down at yours. You mentally groaned
'Why did it have to be him?' you thought. You still didn't trust him and didn't like the fact that his hands were grabbing you. It also didn't help that you practically had your face smashed into his chest.
"Easy love. You still don't have your sea legs yet." he said helping you up. You stood up straight.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about lil ol' me" you said, trying to be nice. You weren't still fully awake yet. Even thought you were no longer on the stairs or needing help getting up, he still hung onto you. You were starting to get uncomfortable, especially with the way he was looking at you.
"Just be careful, we don't need you falling flat on your face." he said. You gave a big fake smile and managed to wiggle your way out of his hold.
"Like I said. Don't you worry about me. I'll be fine" you said and started to mop the deck. You heard him chuckle and walk up the stairs.
'How am I going to survive this month?' you thought. 'If I have to get up this early every morning I'm going to kill somebody.' The ship jolted again and you fell on your butt.
"Ow!" you squeaked. You looked up at the driver of the ship only to see him laughing slightly, his green eyes looking at you with a twinkle of mischief in them.
'I am soooo getting even with you now. That's twice your gonna get it Captain.' you thought. You were about halfway done with the deck when Ian came bounding toward you.
"So lass! How be yer first day?" he said. His normal, loud voice back again. But you were awake now so it didn't bother you much. You stopped mopping and looked up at him.
"Fantastic. Couldn't be better." you said sarcastically. He grinned at you.
"Well that's good to hear. Oh, by the way. No hard feelings about this morning, right?" he said. You leaned on your mop.
"What about?" you asked casually. He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Ye know. About getting ye out of bed and all. And about what happened yesterday before I left ye in the Captains quarters." he said. You gave him a big grin.
"No, of course not. No hard feelings." you said. He seemed to breath a sigh of relief. "Well that's good to hear. Well! I'll be seeing you around then!." he said and turned around to go back to his duties. You grinned again
'No hard feelings…but I will get even.' You glanced back to your bucket and saw the wet rags in there. A mischievous smile crept onto your face as you decided how to get even with him. You leaned the mop against the mast and reached down to grab one of the rags. It was nice and wet but it needed to be rung out slightly for what you were going to do. You wrapped the towel into a twist and rung out some of the water.
'Perfect' you thought to yourself. Your eyes slowly trailed to the Scotsman, who was talking with Hector, the man from the night before. His back was turned to you. You slowly let your eyes drift from his head to a more southern region.
'Target acquired' you thought as you slowly but casually snuck behind Ian.
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The Captain was steering the ship at the time. He would occasionally, more times then not, glance at you. Watching you work, observing your movements. How wobbly your legs were, but you somehow managed to stay up, most of the time. He would chuckle at how cute you looked getting up after falling down. He had to shake his head slightly to keep his attention on the sea ahead of the ship rather then the entertainment below him. He glanced again at you to see you placing your mop against the mast. He furrowed his big brows, watching with curious eyes to see what you were doing. He saw you gaze at the mop bucket and take a rag out, ringing it out slightly.
'What is that girl up to?' he wondered. He noticed the mischievous smile plastered across your face, that only peaked his interest even more. He watched as you turned your attention to someone. He followed his eyes to where you were looking. His gaze fell upon Ian and Hector. He chuckled a bit to himself. He could tell you were going to do something, he just wasn't sure what. He continued to watch your movements as you snuck up toward them. He smiled and chuckled as you smoothly walked behind Ian.
'This can't be good' he thought.
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You were now about three feet behind Ian. You had to be some distance away from him to exact your revenge. You twisted the rag around until it was nice and tight, like a whip, which is what you wanted. Your grin grew even wider. Ian was so distracted between his job and talking with Hector that he didn't notice you standing right behind him. You grabbed the other end of the rag and pulled it back.
'Oh I'm going to enjoy this' you thought just before you whipped it forward. It made contact with its target, Ian's backside. It made a nice snapping noise as it made contact. Ian yelped loudly and spun around rubbing his now sore backside to see you standing there with a rag hanging limply in one hand, a hand on your hip and devious smile on your face. He looked at you with shock and slight frustration.
"What on earth was that fer lass! What did ye even do to me?!?" he said, clearly taken by surprise. You smiled and began to twist the towel again. Hector started laughing slightly.
"That is what we call towel snapping. Think of it as getting even for yesterday. I told you you'd pay for that." you said. More pirates were now glancing at you and Ian, curious about what was happening. You now had an audience. He looked at you confused.
"I thought ye had no hard feelin's about it?" he asked, confused even more. You grinned and walked closer to him.
"I don't. I was just getting even for the first time." you said. He stepped back a bit. "F-First time?" he said, slightly nervous as you pulled the towel back.
"Yup. And this is for this morning," you said smoothly and calm. His eyes widened and he started to run away from you. You chased after him. It was a bit hard being that your legs still weren't use to being on the sea. You chased him all over the deck until you had him close enough. You snapped the towel forward at him. It hit him again with a nice cracking noise. He yelled again and jumped, holding his sore bottom. He turned around and looked at you with pathetic eyes.
"Alright, alright ye got me!" he said. You looked down at where he was standing. He was getting his dirty feet all over your mopped deck! Well that simply wont do. You looked up at him evilly.
"I just mopped that." you said, he cringed as you began to chase him with the towel again. Everyone on the ship, including the Captain were roaring with laughter as they witnessed the spectacle before them. Big, brawny Ian was running away like a little kid from a petite girl chasing him with a towel. You were enjoying yourself. You were actually having fun! Ian on the other hand most likely was not.
He was saved by the breakfast bell. Everyone stopped working and headed for the dining hall. Laughing and patting you on the head as they passed you. They patted Ian on the back, more out of pity the anything. He gave you a pout. You gave him a smirk. You made a quick small movement toward him, that sent him bounding down the stairs. You laughed and walked over to the bucket to put away your weapon. You walked back toward the stairs to go get your breakfast. Your stomach was growling. You were hungry. You got in line in the back. The men scooted you right behind Ian. They wanted to see his reaction. You placed both hands on his shoulders, he turned his head to see who it was. When he saw you looking up at him he flinched. Everyone laughed. You patted him on the back.
"Don't worry. Were even now. I won't attack you with the rag again." you said reassuringly. He turned slightly to you.
"Ye promise?" he asked, not sure if you were telling the truth or not. You smiled at him.
"I promise. I pinky promise." you said, extending your pinky to him. He looked at you confused.
"It's a way of making a serious promise." you explained. He extended his pinky hesitantly but relaxed when you hooked your pinky with his.
"Just don't step on my mopped areas and you'll be fine." you said, grinning deviously again. All the men snickered. He smiled at you, his peppy self back to normal. Suddenly everyone was quiet. You heard foot steps coming from the door way. You looked over to see the Captain walking over to the front of the line. He glanced at you and gave you a smirk. You tilted your head up as if daring him to say something. He took his bowl and let Gibbons fill it.
"Mornin' Captain" Gibbons said. Kirkland nodded and turned to sit, but not before flashing you another smirk. Then everyone started dishing up.
"Well I've never seen that before." Hector said. You turned around to face him.
"What do you mean?" you asked. Ian answered you.
"The Cap'n has never eaten with the crew before." you turned to face him.
"Why not?" you asked. Hector answered.
"We don't know, but this is the first time he has." he said. You just nodded, not wanting to turn around again. As men received their bowls and got their food dished up, you felt like someone was watching you. You glanced to see the Captain eyeballing you while he was eating. You didn't like that but being that you also needed to get your food you had no choice but to stand there and fall victim to his stares. You decided after the third time of glancing over to see him glancing back at you that you were going to make him crack. So you made a funny face, like a child would, at him. This caused him to spit food out of his mouth and start choking. Some of the crew went over and patted him on the back. He waved them off when he was fine. He gave you a half glare half smirk. You just gave him a big toothy grin and turned to grab your bowl. Gibbons was smiling at you, but his smile fell when Ian came up. He turned his head to the side and handed Gibbons his bowl. Neither of them said a word to each other. Ian took his bowl and left for his usual spot in the corner. You gave Gibbons your bowl and in return he gave you a smile.
"Ah. Tis good to see ye lass." he said as he filled your bowl with what looked like oatmeal.
"Its good to see you too." you said taking your bowl and looking at what was inside.
"I see we have identifiable food today." you said giving him a wink. He laughed.
"I just hope its edible today." he said. You nodded, hoping the same thing, and went over to sit with Ian. Being that you really didn't know a lot of people on the ship, Ian was basically your only friend right now. Aside from Peter and Hector. You wouldn't consider the Captain a friend just yet, after all, you found him untrustworthy still.
You sat down across from Ian again. Hector came and sat next to you. He nudged you with his elbow.
"That was some fine discipline ye did out there miss." he said giving you a smile before grinning at Ian. Ian just gave him the evil eye before starting to devour his breakfast. You smiled.
"Well, if circumstances are good, that wont have to happen again." You said, hoping to make Ian squirm a bit. A light blush came on his cheeks, almost matching his hair. You giggled and took a spoonful of food. You regretted this soon. You stuck your tongue out.
"I think this is worse then yesterday." you said, disappointed that you would not enjoy your breakfast. It felt like warm mush and tasted like there was…salt?
"Isn't there usually suppose to be a little sugar in oatmeal?" you asked. Hector nodded.
"'e probably got the salt and sugar mixed up." he said, wolfing down his food. You grimaced at him.
"Your actually enjoying it?" you asked, slightly disgusted. He shook his head.
"No, not at all." he said, giving you a smile. Ian piped up.
"Ye learn to eat fast when the food is bad" he said, giving a glare in Gibbons direction. You sighed.
'I somehow got to get those two talking again.' You looked down at your food.
'Well, maybe if the food is better it can act like a peace offering.' you giggled at the thought and starting eating as quickly as you could.
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Arthur kept glancing at you while you talked with Ian and Hector. You laughed at something. He wanted to know what it was. He couldn't hear you over the other pirates talking. He sighed.
'Why is she always talking with Ian and not me? I'm much more refined then him. Plus I'm the Captain of a ship!' he thought, frustrated that he couldn't get a chance to actually talk with you since you first arrived. He furrowed his brows when he saw Ian glare in what he thought was your direction.
'How dare he look at her that way! Wait. Why did I say that?'. He was confused why he seemed…jealous? No. He wasn't jealous. He couldn't be! Could he? No. He was a Captain and Captains don't get jealous over crew members. His thought were interrupted when Peter came bounding toward him.
"Hello you wanker!" Peter said with a big smile on his face. Arthur placed a hand over his face, annoyed already.
"What do you want Peter?" He asked. He wasn't in the mood to deal with his little brother. Peter crossed his arms.
"I just came to say hello you bully! But if your going to be that way maybe I'll just leave!" he said. Arthur scoffed.
"Would you?" he suggested. Peter came and sat across from him.
"Since you want me to leave I'm going to stay right here then." he said, staring at his older brother. Arthur sighed.
"Fine then I will just leave." he said, starting to get up.
"No you wont. Then you won't be able to spy on miss (name) then." Peter said, trying to aggravate his brother. It was working.
"W-What on earth are you talking about you little twit." he said, trying to sound casual. Peter wasn't buying it.
"I know you like miss (name)." he said, grinning ear to ear. Arthur looked up in annoyance.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard from you. Your being ridiculous Peter." he said, hoping to sound reassuring. He heard Peter get up.
"Then you won't mind if I go and ask her for you then." he said. Arthur shot him a dirty look and glared at him.
"Do it and I will keelhaul you." he said through gritted teeth. Peter smirked and ran away from him, Arthur chased after him.
"Get back here you little worm!" he yelled before bolting after him up the stairs
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You looked up from your half finished bowl to see the Captain chasing after Peter.
"Get back here you little worm!" he yelled before you lost sight of him. You looked over at Ian who had a smirk across his face.
"What was that all about?" you asked. He shrugged.
"Who knows? Younger siblings can be that way." he said. You cocked an eyebrow.
"I never acted that way with my brothers." you said. At least, that's what you thought was true. Ian chuckled.
"An' how many brothers do ye have lassy?" he asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on his entwined hands.
"Four." you said simply. He cocked his eyebrow a bit and even Hector seemed surprised.
"Four brothers? Don't ye have any sisters lass?" he asked surprised. You shook your head. "Nope. No sisters, only brothers. And I'm the youngest." you said. Ian leaned back in his chair and looked at you.
"How about that." he said "Well that would explain a lot." he said. You looked at him.
"What's that suppose to mean?" you said, crossing your arms. He chuckled.
"Yer different from most girls lass. Ye speak yer mind and aren't shy around men and all." He said. You uncrossed your arms.
"Oh." you said. He lightly laughed and ruffled your hair.
"That's why I like ye lass, yer fun to be around." he said.
"I second that." Hector added quietly. You smiled at both of them and continued eating. Once you were done you, Ian and Hector got up and put your dishes away, Ian tossed the bowl in the tub, not looking at his Uncle, Hector placed his bowl in and you did the same, shooting Gibbons a small smile as you went around the corner to help with dishes.
"So lass." he began "How bout after dishes ye help me with the cookin' and all?" he basically pleaded. You chuckled and nodded.
"With pleasure."