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 Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:56 pm
Grog. Jack was sick of grog.
The Oasis had definitely hit a dry spell when it came to finding premium liquor. The captain was well aware that if he had not been made of tougher stuff – that is, to say, that he wasn’t biologically made-up of 75% alcohol already – he would have fallen prey to this prohibition of sorts. But Jack, well, he was an experienced captain! When spirits got low (and boy were they low), the only way a man got a pick-me-up was with a bit of water. So Jack, poor Jack, resorted to grog.
And Jack was already sick of grog.
Which was why, traveling the reserve with the air of a man lost (and horrifically sober), when his paws stumbled upon an onion bottle of black rum, the captain thought he had stepped into Shangri la.
The sky vaulted overhead, speckled with the glittering wakes of stardust, a treasure pirates could only dream of ever attaining. The air, still as it had been of late, sighed through the trees sounding – forever in a certain captain’s mind – like the shore at a distance (and he used to close his eyes to remind himself). If you breathed deeply, you would taste winter.
But the beauty of the night, with silence punctuated by cricket song and its frog accompaniment, was denied attention by Jack.
No, he was far too busy racing towards the familiar, castaway outline of a broken waterwheel, shadowed silver by the moonlight. His mind was dashing a mile a minute, rent with withdrawal and excitement. It was a surprise that he had not ripped the cork from the bottle and swallowed its contents whole, but he had - for once - a different agenda. He had a pretty promise to keep after all! And though his paws slowed upon the trickle of a pond, the shape of a felled trunk, his heart did not (one would think with the amount of running he'd done from predators, cannibals, and angry lasses hell bent on scarring his hide he'd be in better shape!).
He paced the fallen tree, back and forth, back and forth, and it wasn't until he realized the bottle was still clamped firmly in his mouth that he spit it out and used his voice.
"Princess! Y'have a gentleman caller!"
Jack could only hope Aurora didn't go to bed with the chickens.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:15 pm
As it was, Aurora hadn't gone to bed early. In fact, she'd just come in from the night not more than half an hour ago after staring up at the moon. She was feeling thoughtful, her mind twisting and turning over her past as she mentally examined each piece. Rather than gaining any insight, she simply admired her memories before shaking them away and contemplating retiring for the night. And yet she couldn't seem to be tired.
She attempted to pass the time by tidying up but as she was usually such a spick-and-span otter there wasn't much to do. She tried rearranging the grasses she'd collected for bedding but found that was rather pointless. It always looked like grass and a rather silly ground nest. She even folded the somewhat tattered edged blanket before realizing she'd probably want it when she did get tired, spreading it over the make-shift bed with a sigh. With a flounce, she plopped down and tried to think of something to do besides think.
In the end, she decided she could do with some rest and began to undress. She laid the golden crown down and then carefully wriggled out of her dress. Carefully running her paws over the blue fabric, she made sure it did not wrinkle before placing it in the corner. She was just about to reach back to undo the strings of her corset when a voice interrupted her movements.
It was startling at first to hear someone calling her name and then a smile spread across her mouth upon realizing who it was. The thought of sleep was driven from her mind and worse so was the reality that she was half undressed (or to her, really she was entirely undressed). With a bounce, she turned and easily made her way up the tunnel leading to the hallowed out tree.
She emerged, "Jack!" escaping from her mouth with more happiness than it probably should've been said. She didn't even notice the night air pressing against her bare arms, the slender side straps of her corset against her arms much like if she had been wearing her dress. "What brings you here so late?" If only she'd been conscious of her lack of attire, that might not have been such an invitation to the captain for less than proper thoughts.
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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:30 pm
Jack busied himself with popping the cork in and out of the bottle while he waited, wondering if he should, perhaps, make another go of calling for her. And what if she was asleep? The captain held the onion bottle at arms’ length, gazed on it with his appraiser’s eye.
Well, she needed to rise and shine if that were the case! It was a rare and serious case of black rum and Jack was feeling incredibly selfless tonight!
And, apparently, so was the Princess.
When Aurora appeared at the mouth of her den, Jack’s name an excited call on her tongue, the seafaring otter climbed to his paws out of ingrained manners. A smile stole across his mouth, unbidden, because there was something special about the way his Princess said his name, like he was a treasure to be coveted-- and yet, as his fur bristled with an instinctive pride, that same pride skid to a screeching halt.
And decided to become something a bit more, well, primal.
Jack tried to be polite, really he did. Mouth stuck, he cut his dark gaze away from her a moment before his mind decided, perhaps it’s best she hasn’t realized she was just one corset-string tug away from giving him a show (all the more reason to take advantage of the situation!), and was again drawn to Aurora. He tried to keep his gaze rooted to her face, but my goodness, he couldn't lie to himself-- manners he may have had, but a gentleman he was not. His gaze roamed over the curve of her slender shoulders, down, down, down, one flick and then up again.
Her fur was that much paler underneath the moonlight, like Caribbean sand.
He scratched his throat with a mixture of discomfort and amusement, cleared it, tried to joke.
What brings you here so late?
“I fergot, but I think I could come up with a few things, Princess.”
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Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:59 pm
The princess watched as he looked at her, not noticing anything odd at first, just happy that he had come whatever the reason. It had been too long since they'd seen each other, not that she would dare imagine why even a short amount of time seemed too long, never prone to realize that she was becoming attached to the pirate. If she had, she probably would've argued that it was perfectly natural to be attached to a friend when he was practically the only one she had.
Only when she noticed his gaze traveling over her, with some unfamiliar spark in his eyes, she wondered if he thought she had been improper in sounding so happy to see him and at night. She felt a heat in her cheeks, whether from the way he obviously was not looking at her face or what she might have implied...she couldn't know.
She was even more confused when he answered. Forgot? she tilted her head.
"Oh." Disappointment sounded clearly in her voice until she realized he had said he could think of a few things. That was a relief, for a moment she'd thought he just might turn right around. And as she glanced down, laughter bubbling into her throat, she found herself-"Oh!" With wide eyes she whipped her head up, mouth falling open as she wrapped her wings in front of herself. A hot flush rose to her face and she swallowed hard unsure of what to do. Oh what he must think of her!
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:59 am
Her embarrassment only served to make the captain feel more like a dog (when he should have been feeling a lot more, well, privileged, if anything!). And he did, feel privileged, that is-- and wholly deserving of this little treat too! but not as much as he usually did. Probably because Aurora wasn't that kind of girl, she was so... delicate. Jack stared until the Princess's wings came to her rescue, then he turned his eyes away like a proper gentleman (oh, the hypocrite!), coughing as he did so.
Right. What had he come here for again? He glanced at the rum bottle at his paws, eyes popping open with surprise that he had forgotten it in the first place. Rum!
And women!
No! Just rum. Rum.
Right!
He held up his paws, scraped paw pads spread in surrender.
"My apologies, Princess, no harm on yer honor intended. Here's an idea! I'll preten' I saw nothing and you'll no' hate me, alrigh'? I'll turn around, walk aroun'... uh, tha' there tree while you go, ah--" Here he paused, grin tugging at the corner of his mouth though he desperately fought against it; Aurora was already embarrassed enough! "Ge' proper. Then we could replay tha' entire scene. Alrigh'? Alrigh'."
Jack picked up his onion bottle and turned around sharply, sauntering back the way he came to the first tree he spotted.
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:24 pm
Aurora nodded dumbly, even though Jack couldn't have seen her do so, quite sure that she was redder than a rose. She did wait to hear him finish what he was saying before sure did a quick twist and scurried back into her home. She barely repressed the urge to fling herself onto her bed and cry in embarrassment but mollified herself. He hadn't seemed upset about her utter lack of...clothing. He'd even had the decency to look away-
She shook her head, she was not going to be silly. It was good he had looked away; it showed he respected her, it didn't mean he didn't like her. The thought was shoved away with a slight hmph sound in the back of her throat. With a slow intake of breath, she set about dressing herself trying not to over think everything. Clumsily, she pulled her dress on and smoothed out the fabric with the pads of her paws. Everything would be fine, hadn't he been the one to say she wouldn't hate him? Though how she could hate him, or why, was beyond her. He hadn't done anything wrong.
It took her longer to get the courage to venture out of her home than it took her to dress. She would take a step forward, turn around and walk to the middle of the den before turning back to stop at the entrance. That repeated until she finally realized that not going up would make Jack think that she hated him and she would've rather gone out wearing nothing than hurt him (really that thought should have worried her, but it didn't). All sense of embarrassment pushed down, she scurried up the tunnel and outside.
"I'm-" she didn't know quite how to finish that sentence. In the end, she went with simplicity, "I'm back, Jack." She made sure to say his name, though she had the urge to say captain, so he would know there wasn't any ill feelings between them. She really just wanted to forget the original beginning, so she sat quietly waiting for him to reappear. Perhaps the second time was the charm.
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 6:26 pm
Jack slowly ambled around the trunk of a twisted tree, trying to focus his sober and buzzing mind more on the bottle captured in his mouth than on the sweetness of Aurora's abashment.
And her corset.
And the falling straps.
And the way her face had lit up with an excited fluster as she had rushed out, calling for him.
And--
Rum. Rum!
He loved it. He loved anything alcoholic, anything the made him blissfully unaware of the world around him. The way it made his vision just a bit fuzzy, but the edges were warm and sharp. Yes, Jack loved to drink, so he honed in on that instead of how easily it would have been to woo the Princess senseless and--
Dear God, man, she's yehr friend. Y'swore it to yerself.
Beneath his hat, Jack's ears lowered guiltily. Rolling his shoulders and shaking such thoughts from his head, the captain once again adopted his jaunty step, loping over to his Princess with a feigned smile. Pulling up just before her, he set his most charming grin ablaze on his face, sweeping his hat off with a gallant bow.
"Back from wha', Princess?" he asked with theatrical surprise. He looked around dazed. "I jus' got here, M'surprised y'knew I was comin'! We must be, ah, psychically connected... as they say."
A warmth took to his eyes, hoping beyond hope she'd play along. Jack, for once, knew he was the guilty party here, not her-- it was best they pretended her moment of undress had never happened.
...And the sooner he got drunk, the better.
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:21 pm
"Oh, yes, we both must have been hoping for the company of a friend," she nodded, hair bouncing around her shoulders. She padded over to him slowly trying not to think about the previous event, it hadn't happened after all, but all the more thankful that he had the kindness to pretend for her sake.
She was about to commit a mistake, thanking him for his actions, when her eyes fell on the bottle in his paws. Lowering her face, she pressed her nose close to it to guess it's contents but it wasn't something she'd ever seen or smelt before. She tipped her face up, "What's this, Jack?" Really if it hadn't been for her obvious beauty and womanly figure, she wouldn't appeared to be a mere child.
Only being close, made her mind come to a rather fumbled stop. She pulled back, spine going straight with nerves, what in the world was wrong with her today? She let her eyes start to close so that she could peer at him through the shield of her lashes in hopes of straightening herself out. Then with a nod of her head, she opened her eyes and waited to find out what was in that bottle. And better yet why he'd come.
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 1:30 pm
She was so unconsciously sweet and he was so unused to sweetness - true and genuine - that Jack stole a moment to himself to observe Aurora. Sometimes in those times of clarity, he wondered how he had landed himself in this unusual companionship, or why he kept coming back. She kept him on edge, like his toes were permanently stretched out, claws extended, so he could stop himself from tripping in her presence. Usually he ran away from people like that, but they were so few and far between that he--
--Aurora looked at him through her lashes, face tipped back, a sunflower to the sun and he--
-- he just knew why he kept returning.
"This, my Princess," he said with a fantastic flourish of his paws, one gripped around the neck of the bottle, the other supporting its bottom. "This is th' grea'est magic from places unseen. Th' fountain of youth in an inconspicuous bottle, made from th' angels' songs an' faeries' tears an' th' very blood in Eve's newly sinned veins!"
Jack took a dramatic breath and leaned forward, cutting his eyes either way and lowering his voice, "This, love, is rum."
He dropped onto his paws and mosied past her towards her den, fully intending on inviting himself in, "And we are going to toast tonight and make merry!"
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Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:36 pm
She quite liked the sound as he referred to her as his princess, eyes focusing on the bottle to keep herself from blushing, though it seemed such a little thing to notice. She had little choice but to listen to him, he had a charismatic charm about him when he was explaining things or telling stories. And now was no different.
For once, there seemed to be more things she did at least have an idea about. She hadn't ever heard of the fountain of youth but it was hardly a mystery though she of course had little thought of needing youth. She was after all only a maiden, a princess, of sixteen. Already so very young. Of all the things he said only the thought that gave her pause was the faeries' tears. She did wonder what the good fairies were up to, the little dears.
When he leaned forward, she had for a moment to hold her breath. She smiled despite the odd ideas popping in her mind. "Rum?" she inflected upon the word. "It sounds very tempting," she decided. It could hardly be dangerous as this was Jack and he would not introduce her to harm.
She chuckled, following after him. "Then toast we shall, inside where it is warm," she teased. It would not due to gallivant around outside in the cold where they both might fall ill. Besides she had no reason to think it improper, this was her friend after all. A very good friend that had the curious habit of making her mind tip sideways and her stomach sing with a choir of blue birds as they beat their wings, tickling her insides.
Nonetheless, as they neared the entrance to her den she was all smiles. "After you, Jack. After all, you have the rum."
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 1:01 pm
"Hold fast, my fair Princess!" Jack said suddenly. He stopped at the entrance to her den, swept his hat off, and motioned her inside before him. "Rum I may have, darlin', but i's your den an' ladies first."
Jack and manners didn't much get along-- he liked to consider them a third cousin, several times removed over some terrible, family drama. However, such fanciful thoughts were forcibly remembered and relationships amended (if only as Manners Lite) when he was in Aurora's company. After all, she was royalty... though his actions tended to come off as more of a deliberate mockery of a monarchy, all in good fun.
The captain only went in after Aurora had slipped in first, marveling over the cleanliness of her abode. He'd been in many! a ladies' chambers (a half lie, considering many of the ladies he had 'courted' were still ladies and refused to let one such as he inside), but he had never seen one so orderly. Jack was accustomed to the contained clutter of his various homes, only knowing where things were because of his innate capabilities.
....Ha.
"Now, Princess, I must warn you, this is gonna tas'e like cannon fire," he said, pacing two and fro before taking a seat away from her bed (and not focusing on it, not focusing on it). "S'I hope y'have a stomach of iron."
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 3:02 pm
Aurora laughed at his gallantry. It was something she was used to, or had gotten used to in the short time she'd been reunited with her parents. She truthfully had found it rather flattering at first but then, some tended to end up treating her as though she were six instead of sixteen. Still on Jack, she couldn't help smiling. It came out as sweet, but not too sweet, and anything but thinking her helpless. It never failed to make her want to smile because it just seemed so very unlike him to be courteous, from how the others seemed about him, and yet it fit because he cared. And that made her stomach fill with waltzing owls.
She scurried inside her den trying to ignore the flood of nerves. She made sure not to sit on the bed or quite near it, she had a feeling that would be bad. Perhaps not for her just yet but best not tempt fate. And it was silly to be nervous. This was her friend Jack.
Thankfully once he came in she managed to put her head back in order. First order of business tomorrow, find a female friend. She needed advice, female advice from a female. That sounded redundant even in her own mind. Not for the first time she desperately wished she'd grown up with a mother, aunts were all well and good but-she had a feeling they'd neglected a few things over the years. Like men. Women and men. Oh dear.
"If it taste so bad, why drink it?" she asked. That sounded strange. Even not knowing what cannon fire was, well it couldn't taste good. Still she was willing to try it. She was curious and she wanted to know more about this odd drink that the captain loved. Not that she'd think further than that. "I think I can manage," she grinned, all sweetness and faith. Oh, if only she was right.
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:13 pm
Jack's mouth stretched in a gold dotted grin, self-satisfied and proud. He lived for laughter-- not at him, but with him.
"A very smart question, lass," the captain commended with a low-hum. Why indeed! Jack's gaze swept down the pretty little onion bottle in appraisal-- this would be the first real drink he had in... in a couple of days! Just thinking of that alone made his eyes light up with glee and the headache he'd been nursing abate. He bit the cork off and spit it away. "I guess th'answer would be tha' we always wan' wha's worse ferrus, eh, Princess?"
He could taste the burn already-- caramelized, spiced, hotter than Hades. Jack tore his gaze away from the drink and flashed a smirk at Aurora, furry brow lifting. Was it peer pressure when the other party - no matter how blissfully innocent - had never had alcohol? It wasn't like he was going to force feed her the rum. Jack cleared his throat.
"First, a toast!" he began in a voice he had perfected when he had impersonated a clergyman. "Blessed be this girl, blessed be this rum, blessed be the handsome captain in all his wisdom!"
Jack grinned again and winked, "Tha' las' one's a bit of'a stretch. T' friendship! Y'ge' th' first tas'e, lass-- gird yer loins!"
He held the onion bottle out for her to take.
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:55 pm
She wasn't sure about that-wanting what was worse-but it was a good an answer as any. If she had been left alone just then she would have found herself pondering it. Being as she was not, all was for the better. That might have led to some interesting comparisons.
She grinned, a giggle in her throat, as Jack began his toast. She was sure half of his eccentricities were done for that. She could tell, he liked laughter and it always made him light up. And she was quite happy to laugh for him. Quite happy indeed.
"Oh I don't think it's a stretch at all, captain!" she winked at him before taking the bottle from his offered paw. She normally would have done something, swirled it or sniffed it, or anything before just taking a drink of something strange. Except that while he often made her laugh and want to be mischievous, want to tarry in his presence, it was all rather new. She wasn't sure what his response would be when she found her mouth making a remark in good fun. Which was why she simply screwed her eyes shut and took a drink.
And it was awful, she decided. It burned down her throat and she gave a cough as her eyes blinked open in surprise. It tasted like the dredges of a fire with something that she could not identify. If that had been it, she wouldn't have seen the idea behind liking it at all. In fact she would have thought it bizarre. Until the warmth shot out from her stomach into her paws and tail, her head and made her feel almost dizzy with touch.
"Th-that's nice," she purred at the warmth. A very not-lady like purr that made her fur blush-or maybe that was the rum. It was a little hard to tell. She almost felt as though it'd gone to her head instead of her stomach. She giggled and held the bottle out to Jack. She could see liking this, she decided.
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:04 pm
Jack had watched with bated anticipation as Aurora took the rum, and at first he was entirely focused on the bottle. After all, what if she, so repulsed by the drink, were to drop it? It'd be a slice of heaven lost if he didn't catch it-- not to mention her den would reek of it afterward (and he had a sneaking suspicion he'd try to lap it off the floor, though he pretended that thought never crossed his mind). Her suddenly playfulness was not lost on the captain, and he straightened with a widening grin, all sharp points and promises of wickedness (all in good fun, mind!).
When she put the bottle to her lips, his ears shot forward like a racehorse's. Studying her face, the way her eyes popped, Jack's fierce smile melted into raucous laughter. Seeing her composure falter so after that sweet little wink was well-worth watching; surprising the lass was becoming one of his favorite past times.
"Y'all righ' there, Princess?" he quipped before she could get her sip down. It was clear from the choked sound of his voice that he was not very apologetic for his exposing the drink to her. Jack had a distinct feeling that this would become great sport for him.
The purr that the rum had elicited made the captain start, kohl-rimmed eyes widening beneath his furry brow. Don't think about it, he told himself, willed himself, as he took the bottle from her. His next smile was brief, leaping onto his lips, snuffed, and then replaced as he brought the rum to his mouth.
"Y'lie," he joked, taking a n** before passing it back. The rum was like blood refilling his dusty veins, seemed to reignite that spark in his eye. He sucked his teeth as it settled, hot in his stomach. "Tas'es like piss t'you, I be'."
Jack wondered how many sips it would take to undo the poor girl.
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