A/N: Good evening, ladies and gents. This is a totally new ficcy by me, first PotC related though, so tell me right a way if I'm going wrong somewhere with the characters and feel free to shout at me if they're all too out of it. Hope you enjoy reading and remember to review, buddies, or else you'll be sure to lose a few toes! Arr!
Disclaimer: Gah! Are YOU telling ME that I'm the bloody owner of Pirates of the Caribbean, the best pirate movie in centuries?!?! Would like to be, but no, I'm 'fraid that you came to the wrong gal, mate. (points at Disney) those are the lucky rich bastards!
Summary: Young Lilly Tanner is an extraordinary pirate. Avast and Ahoy! Here she comes, better watch out you scurvy buccaneers for you have never seen this kind of lass before in your dead-lights. This is a story about how a simple game of strip poker enjoyed with rum, lead them to so much more; a brand new adventure, raw lust, strong passionate hate, deep jealousy, dark secrets and a lot of surprises……
Read it! Now or I'll keelhaul ye!
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Playing with Fire
Chapter One: The Challenge
"'Ey, Lilly Tanner! Drag yer filthy excuse o' a lady's ass over here or I'll make sure ye pay yer drinks tonight!" I heard a rough yell from somewhere amidst the tobacco smokes and alcohol odours that filled my senses when I sauntered through the candlelit room of a tavern called the Singing Seaman, a very popular place in Nassau port.
"One more threat like tha', Jim, and I'll be pleased to flog ye!!" I shouted back across the scallywag-infested room where the music was played happily by a few musicians. "And……I do have a lady's butt, a fine one o' those……wanna see it?" I told Jim the barman with a wiggle of my eyebrows once I sat down behind the counter with a puff.
"I rather not, gal, I could faint, y'know," said Jim with a grin.
"Just make sure ye won't swoon on me, matey," I told him with a wink.
Jim shook his head with a low mutter.
"Stay conscious, old man. I'll be wantin' me rum, ain't that right, me dearie?" I said, rubbing my belly with twinkling eyes. "Aye, aye, it says." I added, looking up at Jim and a mug of rum in front of my nose. "Ye sure are some kind o' unnatural thing, for ye can read me mind, dog. Thanks to ye, I'm equipped to splice the main brace!" I grabbed the keg and took a long chug, savouring the bittersweet taste in my mouth.
"Guess someone just whispered the word 'rum' in me ear, Lil," the bartender said, scurrying back and forth behind the counter, handing drinks to other customers.
"If tha' floats yer boat……" I muttered and leaned a bit over the wooden table between us, motioning for him to come closer. "Seen any pretty ships in dock, Jim? Crews or captains I could perhaps have a bit fun with?" I asked in a low voice. He looked around a moment before saying;
"Two pirate ships with both o' the captains and the crews somewhere around this ol' town. But don't ye go near 'em, lass. The almighty Lord would be ready to hang you if he knew what kind of devilry runs through that rum-shrunken brain of yers……and I can only guess."
"Dear Jim, me heartie, I ain't thinking of any sort of devilry, nor is my brain shrunk by rum, it's only in the process, catch my drift?" I said grinning mysteriously as Jim rolled his eyes at me in annoyance and turned.
I took another sip of my rum and licked my lips afterwards. "I managed to miss ye fer a few hours, lad. Ye shouldn't leave yer mistress in distress……drink up me hearties yo ho!" I downed the rest of the drink, soon requesting another.
"Yer mother is turning around in her grave considering the amount o' liquor that tiny body of yers is quaffing." Jim grumbled, thrusting a second mug into my grasp.
"Shut yer hole, Jim, don't ye dare speak of me respectful mommy where I'm around! She was too good to be talking 'bout in a shabby tavern like the shitty likes o' this." I hissed narrowing my eyes at his old, scarred face. I had instinctively grabbed the hold of my cutlass, but released it once he turned his back at me once more. "And I can have as much o' him as I want." I added stubbornly, kissing the dirty tankard and then drank some.
Jim faced me again, studying me curiously. "Why do ye call the rum 'he', Lil?" he asked me, wiping an old glass with a dirty handkerchief.
"Why are ye calling ships 'she' then?" I asked right back with a sneer, trailing my finger along the edge of the table.
Jim fell silent.
The creaky door to the Singing Seaman swung open by a heavy boot and everyone inside turned to look at the enterer in a tomblike silence.
A scruffy man stood by the entrance, the dark alleyway behind the pirate was giving him a frightening appear but when he smirked, the candles from the tavern caught alight a few golden teeth inside his mouth and they sparkled warmly.
"Can't hear any singin' seamen in here, mates, must've read the mouldy sign wrong, eh." the stranger said gruffly, looking around the room with a mildly interested gaze, whilst everyone quickly averted their eyes from him.
Suddenly his eyes fell upon me and I tried hard not to melt in my chair when he stepped over the threshold, looking dashingly handsome. The tavern was still very quiet as every old sailor and pirate alongside with their whores secretly glanced at the bloke in astonishment. Perhaps he gazed at me because I was the only one without a company or the only one who dared to challenge his stare.
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" I sang jovially into the silence with a smirk on my lips. "Ahoy, there! I may not be a seaman, but hell do I sing better than these scurvy scoundrels 'ere! Cheers!" I raised the mug to my lips and took a long chug, my green eyes never leaving his dark brown ones.
The room was unexpectedly filled with laughter after my words and I couldn't help a grin that formed across my mouth as well.
The stranger chuckled nonchalantly and walked swaying his way through the room, all the while small trinkets jingling in his hair. And then he plopped into a seat beside me, curiously studying me up and down. Although I bet he was a bit disappointed not finding a whore's dress under the counter, but a pair of sand brown breeches, a black shirt and knee high boots, topping with a hat above my blonde curls.
"What will it be, mister -?" Jim narrowed his eyes in question at the man as he lay the rag aside.
"Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow to ye, son!" he corrected with a toothy smirk.
The gulp I was taking from my mug of rum was suddenly sprayed out on the bartender who stood directly in front of me. I was so stunned that I didn't even bother to apologise for I had whipped towards the man and gaped at him with my jaw slacked open.
"And rum is what it'll be!" he ordered with a finger up in the air in front of his nose. "Oh, an' better give the bonny lass one as well, seeing that she spit it all over the place, savvy?" he winked at me as I stood up with shaky legs.
"C-Captain Jack Sparrow???" I stuttered in complete and utter disbelief.
"Aye! So you've heard o' me, eh?"
"Jack Sparrow? 'Course I've heard of Jack Sparrow!" I shrieked with my eyebrows raised high.
"Don't forget the Captain title, luv." he reminded with a crooked grin.
I shrugged and continued animatedly, "The one be damned and dense who has not heard o' ye; the alcoholic womanizer with his dirty harlots in every port from here to Singapore!" I added smirking and throwing my arms in the air, staring him up and down.
So, this was the man of the legends; the fearsome Captain of the Black Pearl, once marooned by his first mate, then rescued by a raft of sea turtles he tied together with the hair from his back……some say he confronted the Devil himself in order to get his ship back. Bollocks says I, but a bunch of adventures he must carry under that belt of his, the striking pirate man!
"Wha' can I say!…I do 'ave a way with the ladies!" said Jack flirtatiously.
I snapped my mouth shut and took the chance to extend my hand in excitement, "By thunder! Lilly Tanner is my name; never a captain but always a pirate! I didn't know you were still alive!" I exclaimed as he grabbed my hand and shook it firmly.
"Alive and well I am. Pleasure to meet ye, Tanner." said Jack slyly, smirking attractively.
"The pleasure's all mine!" I told him and sat back down, still studying his exterior carefully. "Well, Jim, where's the drink this chap promised me? Bang it on the counter, will ya?!" I said enthusiastically, pounding my fist into the counter once. Jim placed a keg of rum in front of me in a flash.
Sparrow laughed quietly a bit before sipping his drink slowly. "Mind if I ask what you're doin' here in this murky ol' town of Nassau? This be my haven and I don't welcome trespassers lightly, unless they 'ave a fair reason to pass, o' course." I replied. Somehow I wasn't able to take my eyes off him. For here I sat with a very famous pirate, talking friendly by a glass of rum.
"Me Black Pearl is in anchor fer a night, the business is my own. I'd be a fool if I was blabbering 'bout it like an upcoming wedding!" said Jack, his kohl rimmed eyes staring intensely into mine.
"Pity, I love weddings," I muttered into my mug.
"Aye, me too! Drinks all around!" he agreed grinning, wiggling his fingers and rolling his wrists before me. "Why don't we make a toast?"
"To weddings," I declared.
"Drinks," he added, raising his tankard.
"And really bad eggs!" I filled in, raising mine too.
We clinked our mugs together spilling rum on the table in front of us then we gulped the liquid down our throats and banged the empty pints on the counter with huge grins on our faces.
The door to the Singing Seaman creaked open once again and now a whole crew of pirates filed in one by one, the man in the lead was a round pirate with grey hair. His eyes scanned the area and stopped by the man next to me, Captain Jack Sparrow.
"Mother's Love! There you are Cap'n, still sober I hope? We thought ye'd gone drink yerself full at this early hour without yer crew!" he proclaimed with a smile as they all walked towards us.
A parrot, which sat perched on a man's shoulder, was suddenly squawking; "Shiver me timbers! Shiver me timbers!", receiving many glances.
The same sea-dog who spoke when they entered, eyed me cautiously before saying, "Ye found yourself company, Jack? No wonder ye wanted to come ahead of us……you bloody ladies' man!"
I grinned at the chubby man and said seductively, "And who's this eye-catching male, might I ask?"
Both of them sent me a horrified look, but my grin did not fade. "Mr. Gibbs, this be Lilly Tanner; a shrewd pirate lass, no lady I'm sure of it, me matey." he told the untidy member of his crew.
I scowled.
"Though I'm equally a man of them both, ladies or lassies, whichever ye prefer to be for the ways are the same, luv." Jack added to me with a wink as Gibbs and the rest of Jack's comrades seated themselves.
"Ye're one manipulating ruffian, Sparrow, I wish yer not me pirate man whichever I choose to be!" I informed him smartly, winking back with a simper. His crew sniggered and choked on their drinks as Jack glowered.
"That's wonderful, Tanner. Now I know yer a little bit of 'em both!" said Jack mockingly.
"Oh, don't recall anyone sayin' I was a bit of them both? I could be a sturdy man, packed with balls, harder than yers!" I retorted loudly and standing up, I grabbed the fabric of my breeches between my legs and gave it a shake.
The crew laughed again.
"'Ey, you know nothin' about the hardness of me testicles, me darling gal, but ye could find out by giving me a poke……or a stroke if ye dare," he smirked and gave my bum a slap.
I was supposed to be the perverted one here! He has no right to touch me up like that, even if it was just a slap on my behind!
"I see ye found yer match, Lil," Jim whispered to me over the counter.
I was seething with my face bright red. Jack and his crew of miscreants only laughed their arses off at my fury.
"Sorry to burst yer bubble, bu' I think poking and stroking is the duty of yer naughty tarts, Sparrow, 'cause a drinking game sounds more convenient for the slimy likes of me!" I said wickedly to Jack, after the laughter died away. "A drinking game, you heard that asscrack? Are ye up for the challenge or too afraid that a shrewd pirate like me might kick you and yer soft testicles all the way to Singapore?" I sneered with a scornful smirk, settling the score with my words.
The crowd, which had probably been listening to our conversation for a while, whispered 'No, no! Don't do it!', for they knew that I was the best player in poker these islands have ever seen!
"So, what say you?" I questioned again, placing my boot on the chair that I had been sitting on just to get my meaning through. An eight-inch dagger was sticking up from my boot dangerously.
"Hell yea'!" Jack cried, jumping up from his seat.
I snickered, rubbing my hands together evilly. Oh boy, this was going to be so much fun!
"Jolly good!" I shouted, as we moved to a nearby table. "Excuse me, strumpets, bu' could ye kindly fuck off, thanks?" I said to the prostitutes who sat there, before I pushed one off her chair and took a seat while the other made way to Jack, now I had my stool across from the notorious pirate captain himself.
Grinning I grabbed the cards from my pocket and looked up at him, my eyes twinkling.
"What're ye waitin' for? Spread out yer," he smirked mischievously with one cocked eyebrow seductively. "cards. I should've said legs, but that didn't fit in the moment, savvy?"
I rolled my eyes in frustration.
"Ye're one twisted pervert, Sparrow, I'm glad I don't know ye personally." I scoffed dealing out the cards.
"I generally don't bond those ties, Tanner, me personality is somethin' what ye'd call –" I cut him off.
" – twisted and perverted I'm sure! Now……the rules are following; the one who loses a round of poker, buys the winner a mug o' rum, the winner drinks her –"
" – or his –" Jack filled in.
" – or her rum while watching as the loser strips off one piece of clothing, gettin' a free show while drinkin', y'know." I explained, grinning like a madwoman.
Jack was gazing at me with mingled curiosity and alarm as the audience started to chuckle after my words.
"We didn't agree 'bout any stripping." Jack told me silently.
I leaned my upper body over the table so that my lips made contact with his ear and whispered huskily; "If ye chicken out now, ye'll be henceforth known as Captain Sparrow the King of Cowards, ya go with the flow?" I smirked devilishly as I felt him shiver.
"I think the perverted one is you, luv. If I win a round, ye'll be clear to undress as well?" he asked, pointing his index finger at me as I leaned back in my chair.
His companions whistled, obviously picturing that. I cast them a cold glare which made them quiet down. "Are we clear?" he questioned again.
I placed a finger on my chin, seriously thinking about my situation. "Inescapably clear! We have come to a final agreement!" I expanded my hand which he grabbed and shook. No turning back now.
"I'm gonna head off, Cap'n. There's no way in hell ye're forcing me to stay an' watch a nude woman gallivanting 'round a public tavern." a dark skinned girl from Jack's crew stood up, waved her hat at us before turning to the door.
"I think ye ought to stay, lassie, 'cause I'm not the one endin' up naked here. It's this scabrous dog who's having my boot printed on his bare buttock on this night's end……I'm willin' to wager on that!" I told the girl beaming as she spun back to face us looking highly amused.
"Is dat so? Well, then. If ye promise that we're seein' Jack bare naked, I might consider staying." she said giving Jack an innocent smile.
Jack forged a gasp with a hand over his mouth. "Anamaria! I had no idea ye felt that way about me, woman!" Jack exclaimed as she took a seat beside the old sea-dog Gibbs.
"Nah, just wanna see yer ass kicked by a girl in poker." Anamaria answered with a crooked grin.
I chuckled slightly.
"Your wish is going to be granted. I'll swear on me dirty pirate honour that Jack Sparrow –" I begun.
"Captain!" Jack filled in. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
" – that Captain Jack Sparrow is goin' to 'ave his nude ass full of splinters after I'm done playing." I grabbed my hat and placed it over my heart. "This saucy wench," I pointed at myself. "is the most excellent player of poker and she doesn't lie in matters like these," I added with a genuine smile.
"There's a church just up the street, Lil, just go over there and confess!" Jim yelled from behind the counter and made the whole tavern burst into cheerful laughter. I sniggered again, shaking my head.
"I think the vicar would get a heart attack out of chaste shock at the sight o' me and that's not a remarkable thing to happen in the house of the almighty, sexy Lord"! I answered with an energetic shout, smirking at Jim, who clicked his tongue in disapproval. That man was far too religious.
Jack banged his palms on the table and gave me a sudden fright.
"Blimey! Are you tryin' to kill me, ye tacky brute?" I asked angrily, rubbing my chest.
"I don't have the whole bloody night for this sort o' thing, so let's begin this game, Tanner……and prepare to strip." he warned me impatiently.
"Holy cads. That was exactly what I was going to say! We'll see who gets the drinks and the scantily clad opponent, Sparrow." I winked at him and picked up my cards. Jack did the same, eyeing me from the corner of his eye along his tanned nose.
And so the game began. Cheating, bluffing, distracting, irritating, these were the methods of pirate poker all the while the crowd had themselves a merry time, laughing at the two foolish devils in the dim candlelight. I was winning, but Jack had made himself a pretty good challenger, one I wouldn't like to play against another time when he knew all my tricks. He was sitting there in his boots and breeches only (his coat, vest, shirt and hat off), torso bare and looking incredibly handsome. I still had a very hard time to take my eyes off him. I was wearing my shirt, knickers, boots and hat (something which I insisted on having as a piece of clothing) when my breeches were tied around Jack's neck after I had stupidly thrown them at him in frustration of losing one round. I was drunk, so was Jack and the whole crowd of pirates and whores, but the night was still young and the game was not over.
"Ye smell nice, luv." Jack commented after a long silence where every eye was set upon us. "I could make use of a scent like this in me bed one night." he mumbled and sniffed my breeches.
I grimaced in dislike.
"By thunder, mate, I hope you're not suggesting what I think you are?!" I enquired reluctantly, swaying on the chair.
He only gave me a sinful smirk before turning back to his cards.
"That's sickening! The night my lovely aroma comes drifting off to yer bed, is the nigh' I'll lose a game o' strip poker in this hellhole of a hometown in Jim's Singing Seaman!" I grunted with lowered eyebrows.
Jack was instantly looking up at me with a grin spreading across his face. "Shall we add that to the game then? If you, Lilly Tanner, lose this game o' strip poker, ye'll make very sure me comfy bed stays warm one night after this, eh?" he asked with his dark eyes twinkling mirthfully.
I gaped at him, speculating what the hell my answer should be. If I said no, I'd be called a coward from now on, if I said yes for the matter and lost, I'd have to sleep with him! But what if – "What say you?" Sparrow questioned.
"Aye! Aye is my answer!" I exclaimed in anticipation.
Jack reached his hand out for me to shake it.
"Just to seal the pact, luv." he clarified grinning, his gold teeth glimmering in the faint light.
I grabbed his hand, crushing his fingers.
"I'll make sure ye won't feel too chilly one night in your pitiful life if I lose this game, bucko!" I spoke clearly.
"Now that's just splendid, eh fellows?" said Jack to his filthy crew after letting go of my hand. "Having the fascinating Miss Tanner making sweet, hot love to me for many sweaty hours in me delightful king-sized bed on a bouncing mattress tha' –"
"Enough, you moron! Ye're making the kiddos go wild," I nudged my head in the direction of the giggling audience.
"All right, I'll win this game, count on that, darling." Jack said enthusiastically and blew me a kiss.
"Not if I can help it!" I cried, catching the invisible kiss and squashing it with my hand. "Let's not waste another expensive minute o' me time, let's play……and stop staring at my breasts, ye bilge rat." I muttered snappily. And so we continued……
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A/N: Phew! The end of chapter one. Second one coming up soon! ;) And now it's your turn to tell me whatcha think. Just press that lil' button in the corner that says 'GO' and review! C'mon, don't be shy! Thanks for reading though, mateys!
- "I love weddings……drinks all around!" -