Nautilus

A/N: Thank you so much for the review, Capt_Davy_Jone_Lover! Of course there'll be loving, just a matter of when ;) And hey there Caz! I moved it XD And I forgot LadyTorte! *bows head in shame* Hope you'll all enjoy this one and the next ;) We're getting there XD

Chapter 12-Test


Selene studied Jimmy. He wanted her to agree and what harm came out of this? Naturally, the crew (or some of it) had sought her harmed.

The background had become quiet and several men had clumped in small groups. Some wagered amounts of service, others bartered on rum. That all had settled as if Jimmylegs had already won and she stood no chance against him.

Everyone had the same ideas on their minds. How was this going to play out? Since the Kraken had dropped her on the deck no one had a clear image of how to react and respond to her. Everyone had a different opinion. Was she someone to fear? Did she intend to send them all to hell herself?

She had not fit in well in the beginning, and she had tried to make a bizarre ‘fitting in’ on board, much like a lost bird. All knew their place since the first time they became part of the crew. Of course, heaven had not cast any of them out into the sea or in flames either.

Since she was an angel and the crew, being the cursed people they were, had naturally sought out the space farthest from her. She represented the one person no one crossed, at least not without an outcome. Each had some fear and the height of that fear all depended on the person, but strangely one man, this man believed her unworthy and her presence had not frightened him in the slightest.

None of them had ever seen an angel before and now that they did, it was a bittersweet feeling. It gave them a sensation of what existed beyond their own little world, even beyond the purgatory or Davy Jones’ Locker.

It was her nature to help others and she wanted the crew to at least have civility for her, if not friendship. The only way to do that was for each man himself to have dealt with his sin, his reason to have fled death itself and to have sought refuge within the devil’s arms. If it took a game to win them over, so be it.

And here now Jimmylegs had her by the wings. The winner proclaimed his (and her) beliefs before the crowd. Not only that, he challenged a powerful but unknown foe and he wagered rum?

With a crooked grin on his face, Jimmylegs rolled the bottle between his hands. He wondered if she would agree to the challenge or if she was too much of a chicken to go through with it and wonder back to the Captain who himself had acted strange since she arrived. Perhaps this could get rid of her.

“If she took the challenge then at least she had a chance to prove her worth.” He snickered. “Probably the best bet, bird, is to have flown away!”

Selene stepped forward.

Jimmylegs shook his head in a slow and taunted manner. “I guess that answered that, lads!” “Oh, I already knew if you won the game you wanted new clothes.” Another laugh echoed from him.

Some took the chance and laughed alongside the overeager bos’un.

“I have wanted nothing on this ship of your standards, and nor anything else materialistic. I have wagered one item, if it this pleased you enough.” Selene took the time to overlook everyone within her sight and then voiced her wager. “I have accepted each of you, crimes and all. Is it so for you all to do the same?”

Jimmylegs sneered. Woman, in his experience, were vain and frugal creatures. It mattered not if she was an angel female or a regular human one, they all wanted something. “Yer words are pretty, but ye have wanted something.” He leaned forward a tad.

“I think ye have wanted the Captain.” Again, the brave souls who stood with Jimmylegs snickered among each other, but most had remained silent, confused to why and how this had happened.

That jostled her a bit, and with a small flick of hair she squinted at the man. He wanted to test her then? He wanted to prod at her patience? So be it.

“You have thought that way for a longtime; at least now the score will be settled.” With that she pulled out the crusted bench and sat herself down as Bill tried once more to grab her hand. She pushed it away and continued to stare straight ahead.

Pleased, Jimmylegs rested the bottle on the floor.

The game had begun.


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Both picked up their cups and shook the dice. Jimmylegs more so slammed his while Selene placed hers gently on the table. “Hope ye learned all the rules right!”

The opportunity came to peek at the dice and Selene looked quickly at hers before she laid the cup back on the table. “I bid two 1s.”

“I bid four 1s.”

When each player lifted his or her cup, Jimmylegs had lied. And one dice was removed from his cup.

The game continued for four more rounds. Jimmylegs had caught on to Selene’s method of play and after the last wager, he had won. She had lost all her dice.

Now, the first thought that came to mind was how much had she lost? That is her secret as she let herself a small, sly smile of her own.

“Ye are such a coward!” A bellyful laugh erupted from him. “I have ye beat, wench.”

“Now, onto yer or me wager!” Jimmylegs motioned to one of the crew and the said crewmember scurried off with a few more men. After some shouts and curses, the men dropped a huge number of bottles before her boots.

A whole stack of bottles filled with rum was dropped right in front of her. “Are you mad?” Bill hissed at the bos’un. “That has toppled over more than one man with less than that. And you thought a woman had a chance?”

“She never agreed nor asked on how many bottles, did she now?” His grin became even wider. “Drink up, wench.”

Selene picked up one bottle in her hands, as if she studied it. She slowly tugged at the cork firmly placed in the stem. She sniffed it lightly and then took a small sip.

“Ye will have to take bigger ones than that to finish the rest!”

The liquor swirled on her tongue, hardly any taste filled her mouth. Was it not supposed to be foul? It was bitter, but barely made her mind explode.

Her audience watched in fascination as she took another sip; most had expected her to throw the bottle to the ground or to spit it out as most virgin drinkers do.

A Jimmylegs’s smile vanished as she started to take one sip faster and longer than the other and soon enough the whole bottle had finished. He had expected her to drop out before the first sip!

Not to be outdone, he grabbed his own bottle and downed the entire. A game had now became a contest.

Someone placed another bottle for Selene and she did the same.

Soon, almost everyone joined in rum appeared out of nowhere.

Selene had downed the rum faster this time around; even though she had sped up, Jimmylegs and the others had passed her first by the barrels.

“So… wench, have ye tried it on the Captain?”

Selene paused as she opened the next bottle. “What have you just suggested?"

Clanker laughed a deep throaty laugh. “Yer so . . . flighty and the captain has been the same way since ye’ve been aboard.”

Selene leaned back. “I do not believe a person such as your Captain to be so open to be so called advances.”

Koleniko elbowed Clanker in the gut.

“I believe the angel needs another bottle.”

She regarded it with slight exhaustion, but reached for the fourth bottle anyways. Usually a sign of drunkenness would have been felt by now. The rest of the crew were feeling it.

The crew on the other hand, felt a different story about the woman in front of them. The time she had spent on the ship had created an image of her. The thought of having one such as herself aboard is almost unimaginable if the crew was not haunted already with its own story. She caused fear and panic from the time she lied burned to a crisp on deck to her flight to the mast and then her return. Now she sat peacefully before them drinking a vile drink and engaging perhaps less vigorously but still taking part none the same. There were so many questions each member wanted to ask her. Some wanted none of course, fearing for their own lives for past deeds and sins. The ones who did not seemed eager to ask her of the afterlife, of heaven and hell, the secrets of life itself.

More questions surfaced as by her sixth bottle she appeared more flushed and fleshed-out, pale skin seeping to a more human color. She downed this one with more speed and vigor and some started to wonder where she was putting the stuff.

Clanker boggled his eyes at the woman who was starting to match him in speed and number. Drinking, although frequent at the time, was not so much aboard a vessel such as the one they were on. Work was always plentiful and frequent so there was no time for pleasure and games. This time though had been weird and bizarre. There had been a limited selection of vessels to have captured and to have salvaged , as if the seas had calmed or someone had prevented the ships from wrecking.

Jimmylegs was a mixture between a sneer and pure intrepidation. He had intended for her to back out and to make a fool of herself, but here the woman proved her own in a game not proper for women of any caliber. He was at a disadvantage; they all were. Who knew how far she could go?

Bill gazed at Selene in a disbelieving sight. How the hell could she pull off this stunt? He half expected her to be dead, as faithful as he was. Her advantage was a high constitution (handy in this game.

She now matched the boys pace.

The mood lightened as the air cleared between her intents and the crew. The questions swirled in the thoughts once more. This seemed the best time to ask her, she was truthful and we hope could not lie. The rum was good for that, especially in the worst for times. What harm could it do?

“Aye, miss, what business do ye have here? Were ye not in a much better place?”

Wheelback jeered from in back. “Aye, mates! There be no better place for a woman than heaven itself.”

Koleniko puffed out his cheek in sheer annoyance. “I thought angels did not want to be around us evil people. Do ye not have anyone to rescue and save from salvation and that stuff?”

“Aye, why can you stand to be around us? There be no more wicked and sinned folk anywhere else in the world than here.”

Selene rested her hands in her lap. The questions had come, as expected. Better now than having a bunch of superstitious men barking at her. “I cannot fully give you an answer. For that I am sorry, but it is the truth. The best I can say is that is why everyone, woman, has free will. The ability to chose and think and act on his and her own decisions. I cannot judge you based on your life experience; your sins, your crimes. That is not my job.”

The room became quiet. “What is yer job then?”

Koleniko elbowed him in the stomach, spines and all. "Ye've pushed 'er too far! She could have us vaporized at any moment.”

“How is asking her going to get us in trouble? At least she’s not Calypso!”


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Phew! End of Chapter 12

OH, in in case anyone is confused or even curious, don't be afraid to ask questions to clear anything up. The next few chapters will cover most, but sometimes I can't see it all XD