An Open-ended Proposal; The Spanish Main--Tortuga/Port Royal [Complete]

[ex_abrokenco715]

On the way back to the little sloop, he made very well sure that a couple necessities were brought along for the trip: From a still-breathing carcass on the roadside he acquired a half-consumed container of rum, then for some unknown reason to the pirate he happened across a little jar of paprika toss on the road which was picked up as well. Any

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[findredemption]

The ship had actually responded to the haphazard attempt to persuade it to move. Norrington stared at the panel and its buttons for a moment, as if reluctant to believe that. Relying on luck was rarely wise, but he had to admit that the ship's responding was rather welcome right now, coincidental or not. He let his hands return to his side and glanced at Jack, raising an eyebrow at the pirate's remark. There was little point in continuing to argue over the cause of the 'little problem' that had finally been taken care of, so he decided to save that time.

"Do proceed." He gestured at the panel, stepping aside. "And let's hope that our destination is not another wall."

That seemed to be a valid concern. Barely a few minutes had passed since the ship had obeyed, but it was already steered into the wrong direction, further into the tavern instead of coming free of the wall. Norrington gave Jack an unimpressed look. Perhaps they would end up going through the opposite wall.

Fortunately that didn't happen. Freed from its former position, the unusual ship was suddenly not even on the ground anymore, but hovering a good distance above land. Surprised, Norrington glanced through the pane of glass that covered the interior of the ship. Ship? It was a flying vessel.

That seemed to give it an advantage over ordinary ships, especially if it was capable of moving quickly, unhindered by the currents of the sea or the threat of the creatures that had already spread to the open water by now.

Perhaps that was what Beckett and the East India Trading Company were after as well. It was likely that he had been instructed to return to Port Royal with Sparrow first for that reason, rather than waiting for him to produce his 'solution'.

Since no definite heading had been revealed, all he needed to do was find a way to steer the flying ship to Port Royal.

Norrington took a seat and turned to watch Jack. "Where did you find this ship?" It was possible that it was stolen property, but not only that - it was simply not something that seemed to be from these parts at all. He sat back, waiting for a reply to his question.

[ex_abrokenco715]

The destination never had been a wall, nor was it intended for the next location. The destination had always been Tortuga-stopping there was the only problem. It would probably hold true for the next place (when he decided of a heading) unless he could figure out how to go about stopping the boat which didn’t involve walls. Perhaps a little more fiddling could reveal how to go about stopping the sloop.

Most unexpectedly, he had been prodded with a question! Jack looked at his company, a sly look of accomplishment on his own face, “Curious about me methods of pirating?” Though he couldn’t blame the man, it was a bloody flying boat and any man without curiosity about its origins were probably of the pulse-lacking sort. “As in any good ship, I did not find the ship but,” He pointed a finger in the air, “The ship found me.”

Ah yes, the Frenchman in Port Royal whom he had guaranteed no civilians would be mucking with his boat. Wherever that Frenchman was, the promise still stood fast. After all there hadn’t been civilians around that dock for the duration of his stay there.

Enough about thinking of places he would rather avoid.(Which why the Heading was anywhere but Port Royal-he knew that much.) Jack started steering the ship higher, just to where he could look out the porthole, or window, on the side and see Tortuga glimmering below. Ahhh, the scent of rum carried even up this high.

“It was tied to a dock in one of those many inky-devastated towns, as many have come to be, lacking persons at the helm.” the pirate continued, tearing his glance from the town below. “So I got in to take a look around it, because it is a curious looking thing.” A tap on the side with his fist was used to illustrate. The ship seemed to beep in response, earning a raise of his eyebrow. “The bloody thing took off on its own. Dunno how.” With the smallest fraction of assistance from the Pirate, but that was one detail the story could go with lacking

[findredemption]

No, he was not curious about any methods of pirating. Norrington bit back his response to that question, deciding to let the pirate talk. He had asked him where he had procured his unusual ship, after all, and it seemed that this information was being volunteered now - in a somewhat vague, roundabout sort of manner. Once the whimsical storytelling was stripped away, the answer could have been kept far more concise and plain.

"In other words, you came across this ship, possibly only temporarily abandoned by its owner, and decided to take advantage of the situation," Norrington remarked, providing his own translation of Jack's tale. "Finders, keepers, perhaps?"

'Took off on its own'? That was hard to believe. It certainly hadn't taken off on its own from the tavern wall in Tortuga and if they had waited for that to happen, it was highly likely that they would have had to wait for a very long time. It was a flying ship, not a horse-drawn carriage.

However, entering into a discussion regarding stolen property would be a wasted effort when dealing with someone whose so-called profession revolved around taking property that wasn't originally his own, using decidedly questionable methods. Norrington didn't even try to consider something like that an option. Unfortunately, while that was at the very bottom of the list by default, there were no other, better options, either.

Apparently today was going to demand a lot of improvisation.

"If you're hoping to wait for the ship to decide our heading on its own, I'm afraid I'm not prepared to do the same," Norrington said. "I have a suggestion: make for Port Royal first. I have business of my own to attend to as well and perhaps you'll actually be granted a less inanimate crew to accompany you. If nothing else, we can go our separate ways there." Not quite, but that needed to be omitted for now, at least until they reached Port Royal.

[ex_abrokenco715]

Well, that was one way to interpret his story. Jack waved it off with some caveman-like grunt in response. Leave it to a law abiding person to make such wonderful pirating so anti-climactic. hat wasn’t completely correct, though, it wasn’t abandoned, just not watched as well as it should have been.

Probably at fault of whoever the dock master was. Couldn’t get no good help these days.

“Port Royal.” Jack started swaggering his head from side to side, as if trying to visually weigh the good and bad of his “crewmates” suggestion. ...Avoiding Port Royal was his goal, thus the reason for a little bit of lag in the direction and heading.

But...

If he could have Norrington go about his business in Port Royal, then this business, whatever it may be, would most likely be away from the ship. He had held to his word of returning to his ship and going about pirating with his crew, but no captain could be held accountable if his crew didn’t show up for departure. Maybe that way he could get away from such a disgruntled man and his pistol as well.

However the pirate was no fool. Even if Norrington wasn’t at.. His... most professional outward look, he was still law abiding on the inside. Not enough pirating in his blood. If his business there involved turning him in, that wouldn’t fair well at all. “Well,” He cleared his throat, “if your business be in the gallows I regret to inform you that the gibbet is quite out of commission. But. I do have me own business to take care of in Port Royal, so that be our heading.”

He had no business, really, except to perhaps unload a crewmember. Hopefully the Frenchman wasn’t around to be snippy about his sloop that had been borrowed.

The boat was swerved in that direction. They were on their way.