The Pirate's Booty (jena and demented-tiger)

[nladisha]

"Well I hope you like hardtack and smoked fish, because that's about all we have," James said. "Our cook was on a ship that burned to the waterline after a fire in the galley got out of control. As far as sleeping, I'll have the quartermaster bring in a hammock. I'll have to tie you to it. I don't want the last thing I feel in this life to be my own knife stuck in my back while I sleep. Unfortunately, we dine at sunset, so don't get too eager. Remember, this is a pirate ship, not a barge floating down the Seine."​

 

[jena]

Jacqueline frowned. "You should have taken our cook as hostage, too, then. He can cook amazingly. Smoked fish and hardtack will have to do until someone comes to get me." She made an even bigger face when the captain mentioned he would tie her down, but kept her mouth shut. She was learning quickly that what her father had been telling her about keeping her mouth shut actually did sink in to her brain. It only seemed to work half the time, though. Finally, she nodded. "Fine. We eat at sundown and you have to tie me down. I hate it, but I understand."

 

[nladisha]

"Don't worry," James said with a somewhat pleasant smile. "The hard part will be convincing someone to come out to negotiate. Once they hear my price, it will just be a matter of how fast they can pay it. It shouldn't be more than a month, I'd wager." With that, James went and sat down at his desk. He fished around his storage box for some nautical charts, and produced one for this region of the French coast. He began plotting a course for the Isle de St. Mark. He worked steadily through the afternoon, scribbling out calculations and occasionally consulting a tattered old copy of a navigation manual. He became so absorbed in his work, he barely noticed his prisoner, save for a few casual glances up to make sure she wasn't trying to escape. Not that she'd really try anything. She was too light and delicate to really be too much of a threat. Even a harbot wench was stronger and hardier than her.​

 

[jena]

Jacqueline walked around the room, just looking at things while he worked. She never once thought of trying to escape. The female would much rather stay in the room with the captain, who she knew wouldn't hurt her, than run out into the open with the other crew. Who knew what they would do, judging by the cat calls she had received earlier?

After a while she went over to the desk, and leaned over it, looking at all the utensils and charts he was using. She didn't understand any of it. After a few moments of studying the man and his work, she couldn't hold her curiosity back any longer. "What is it you are looking for? Maybe I can be of some assistance."

 

[nladisha]

James couldn't help but chuckle affectionately at Jacqueline's offer. She was almost like him, when he was younger, always wanting to help his sister, even though he was a small child who barely understood anything she was studying.

"Do you know Euclid?" he asked. "The father of modern geometry? I'm trying to reach the Isle de St. Mark. I'm doing some preliminary calculations right now. Later, I'll go up with the astrolabe and a rope to get our position and speed. The last thing I want is to sail straight into the Royal Navy, or worse, get adrift in the Atlantic and slowly starve when we run out of supplies."​

 

[jena]

The woman couldn't help but smile at his chuckle. Something about it made her think he didn't laugh often enough anymore. James didn't look like a pirate to her. Instead, he looked like a man who belonged in beautiful clothing. He was almost beautiful to her, in a purely masculine way. She couldn't help but blush at her thoughts and tried to think about the conversation.

Jacqueline shook her head. She hadn't heard of him. The female's father had always insisted she learn to be a lady instead of other things only a man should know. Now she wished she had gone behind her father's back to learn, as being helpful to the man may keep him from killing her off. "No..I haven't. Could you teach me? Then I might be able to help you instead of being a thorn in your side."

 

[nladisha]

James looked at Jacqueline with a mixture of confusion and mirth. She was one smart woman. She really knew how to maneuver herself.

"Navigation's a lot more than geometry," he told her. "There's so many factors to consider. Once you learned Euclid, you'd have to read up on the works of Prince Henry the Navigator. It was his work that helped Columbus discover the New World. But I wouldn't worry too much about that. You're not a thorn in my side. You're a godsend. Or at least, you have the potential to be, if your father and uncle cooperate. Which I'm sure they will, once they know my price. But if you insist, I could show you a little bit about basic geometry. Shapes and stuff."​

 

[jena]

Jacqueline raised her eyebrow. "It seems to be much work to learn to navigate. When I was growing up, I really only learned to be a lady. Other things were not important for me to know according to my father. My father will be very disappointed to learn that I did not reach Comte Pierre." She sighed, almost wishing she hadn't been kidnapped. She would be happily on her way to meet her groom. They would have a nice boring life in which she would grow old with a man she could probably never love and raise children. That was supposed to be her fate.

Instead, she was standing before a man, a pirate no less, talking about learning geometry. The female hoped if she continued to play along with the man, he would not only not tie her up at night, but also let her go out of boredom. Smiling a little at James, she nodded. "Okay. Teach me geometry."

 

[nladisha]

James began with the most basic lesson as he could. He was surprised at how eager Jacqueline was to learn. She reminded him a lot of his big sister. Both were eager to learn new things. Jacqueline also reminded James of himself. Like his sister, James was also eager to learn new things. His curiosity had helped him get over the shock of being press ganged by pirates, and elevated him from navigator to captain. Unlike Jacqueline's, his father had encouraged James and his sister to explore thier curiosity. James pitied Jacqueline. She seemed like such a bright, precocious girl. James wondered what he'd be stifling when the time came to return her to her fiance after he recieved his prize. He was having a harder and harder envisioning her as the silent companion of some stuck-up nobleman.​

 

[jena]

Jacqueline was not only eager to learn, she was also a fast learner. She absorbed everything James told her. Soon, the female noticed the captain of the pirate ship seemed to be lost in his own world. Wondering what he was thinking, she raised an eyebrow. "Starting to regret teaching me anything, Captain?" She smiled a little, trying to bring him back to the present. The woman liked James, as he wasn't at all what she expected in a captain of pirates. Instead, he seemed to be much more gentle, not belonging there. Curiosity was starting to get the best of her, and this would be a time her father would wish she had just kept her mouth shut. "How did you become a captain to pirates anyhow?" She reached her tongue out the moisten her full lower lip, wondering if she should have asked such a question. Why couldn't she just be the typical female everyone asked of her?