Captain Kirkland looked out window's of the ship's captain's quarters, silently wishing the churning waters would calm and allow them to continue safely on their way. His companion, Captain Fernandez Carriedo was bent over a rather tattered map, deciding what would be the best course of action.
"Amigo," Antonio sighed, putting his feathered hat down carefully, "We have no other choice to stop. I haven't seen a storm like this in a long time."
Arthur nodded. "Agreed. Where's the nearest port?"
"This little British island, off the coast of New Zealand." He pointed at a small dot on the map, that seemed to be harmless enough.
"Alright then..." Arthur opened the door and was immediately battered by wind and rain, making it almost impossible to see or hear anything. "Helmsman! Chart our course for the island due east of here!"
"Aye, aye captain!"
Arthur then retreated back into his quarter's, waiting patiently as his crew directed them to their desination.
Upon their arrival, both Captains set out in a rowboat to check the status of the almost desolate island.
"Keep an eye on the ship," Antonio told the first mate as he began to row back to the bigger ship. The Spainyard then turned and ovserved the island, where only two or three houses stood, one of which was conviniently a pub. "I say we start there, it will be a good place to find out what's going on in the world of piracy."
The two walked into the dingy, candle-lit bar, all eyes immediately attracted to the two upper-class captains.
"Oi! What you looking at?" Arthur sneered and immediately all eyes turned away.
"Come on amigo, let's get a drink." Antonio sat at the bar, ordering two rum's for the both of them. Right away he noticed a familiar blonde sitting three seats to the right and began to panic.
Arthur sat right in Antonio's line of vision, not noticing the person that Tony had at first but then slowly turning his head to the right when he saw his pirate friend's look of horror.
Taking a drink from his glass, Francis sat there looking like a wreck, worse then what Arthur or Antonio looked like after months at sea. The French man had been sailing to south India where one of his many colonies were, when his ship (a raft) had been taken off course by a bad storm and he had ended up on British territory. Of course he could only imagine how mad Arthur would be when he found him here, but he prayed that the Brit wouldn't be there before he left.
Antonio bit his lip back, unsure whether to tell Arthur or not that Francis was there. "uhm...Amigo." Anonio said softly, moving out of the way and letting his eyes move over to where Francis was sitting.
The French man heard his best friend's voices and looked up, seeing Antonio and...Arthur...together. Sighing he let himself sit there, and waited for Arthur to of course throw a fit.
Arthur's face turned from one of content to anger as he took in the sight of the Frenchman sitting next to him. His hand moved down to the hilt of his sword and gripped it, wanting to do nothing but stab the Frenchman right in the throat. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He snapped, knocking Francis' drink over.
Franics looked up at Arthur, "I was ship wrecked." he watched his drink fall over, upset with himself that he made Arthur so mad. It wasnt his fault that his ship (A raft) had crashed.
"Come on Arthur, just calm down." Antonio said softly, trying to calm down Arthur the best he could.
"Get out," Arthur stood up and pointed. "Get the fuck out." All recent affairs with Francis had led to nothing but trouble for the Briton and he was sick of it.
"I can't." the Frenchman stated simply, eyeing the Briton, now relizing how sexy he was when he was mad. " 'Ow can I leave when I have no way of getting home?" He stood up. "And there is no reason to get mad at me, this isnt my fault."
"I don't want to hear about it," Arthur hissed, in no mood to deal with anything, "You can swim back to France for all I care."
Antonio shook his head, taking a drink of his rum, knowing this wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "Arthur, don't you think that is a little harsh? It's not like he is a threat or anything." He smiled.
Glaring at the Spanish pirate, Francis nodded his head, "It's true." he smiled, of course wanting to just hit Antonio for saying that.
"If I let you stay, where are you going to sleep? How are you going to get home? Do you think I'm really going to help you after what happened the last time I decided to be nice?" True, Arthur had been drunk at that time but that wasn't the point, he just knew the Frenchman was unable to keep his hands off Arthur when push came to shove. He tilted his head up to look Francis right in the eyes, his earring gleaming in the candlelight as he did so.
"I havent figured that out yet." Francis stated calmly. "I'm just asking that you not kill me. You have a ship, you can go home. I can't!" Of course he understood why Arthur was pissed, but why wasnt he over it already? Had it been that big of a deal?
Antonio sighed, "Arthur...why dont we just take him home?" he asked simply. "It's us against him, he can't do much to us."
Arthur's eyebrow twitched a little but he took a deep breath and turned away from Francis. "Fine, but he'll have to stay below deck and isn't allowed to interfere with anything. Besides, we can't leave until tomorrow morning anyway, this storm is too bad." He sat back down and drank his rum, hoping it would make his headache go away.
"Merci Arthur." Francis sat back down, watching both pirates. he could deal with this, he would get off this island and go back home. Pushing his blond hair back with a content sigh that he wasnt dead yet.
"We could have him cook!" Antonio said, "As payment...that cook we have now, he's alright, but he makes the same thing over and other again." he said with a sigh. "I think it's a fair trade, don't you?" He asked looking at both men.
"I'm alright with that..." Francis said looking at Arthur, of course he would cook.
"If he wants to cook, that's his own problem," Arthur was getting his second round of rum, now to the point where he could care less about anything. "But...I'm not paying the frog for anything. As soon as we set out, we are taking him back to Paris. He's nothing but extra weight on our ship."
"Fine." francis said with a sigh. He knew what Arthur was like when drunk. There wasnt any point trying to get anything else from the Brit. Pushing his back again and tying it back away from his face he stood up, leaving the pub and just going to sit on the shore, having nothing else to say to Arthur.
Looking from one blond to the other Antonio sighed and stood up, knowing Arthur could hold his own...until he was drunk, so he walked out and followed Francis, "Whats wrong?" he asked, stopping him.
"He is pissed at me, what do you think is wrong?" Francis said simply, looking at the pub, "I dont deserve that."
Arthur tsked as he was abondoned with the tab, paying in dubloons for all their rum. He hadn't even started on his second glass, which was really out of character for him. As much as he wanted to get drunk off his arse, now was not the time nor place. He thanked the bartender and walked out, seeing Tony and Francis sitting on the beach which seemed nicer now that the storm was clearing.
Approaching the other countries, Arthur suddenly had a change of mind and stopped to hide behind a giant rock so that he was able to hear the conversation between the Parisian and Spainyard.
"Amigo, at least he didn't kill you." Antonio pointed out. "I dont know the story, but maybe you really did make him upset, why not just go apologize?" He suggested with a smile. Of course he was going to back up Arthur, they were pirating buddies, but Francis was one of his bestfriends. This was so hard for the Spainish pirate.
"Well, I guess that is a positve twist on this." Francis muttered. "He wont listen to me, he would castrate me before listening to me." he sighed. "I dont want him upset...but, it looks like he is going to stay upset, so might as well not do anything as long as he is drinking."
"Arthur doesn't really hate you," Tony lied, "I really think you should talk to him. I'm going to probably spend the night out on the ship but if you can convince Arthur, he'd probably stay at the inn with you." He gave Francis a friendly punch and smiled.
Arthur felt his chest contrict a little and almost cursed himself for it. Francis was going a little overboard with things...Arthur didn't want to hurt the man, he just usually had no choice.
"You have no idea Tony." Francis shook his head. Smiling a little he nodded his head, "Alright, if you really think it can work."
"Of course it can work!" Tony said with a cheerful tone as he mentally prayed for Francis.
Arthur waited and watched Francis get up, apparently to go talk to a Britishman who he thought was in the bar but clearly wasn't. He thought about calling out to the two of them but didn't want to give up his location so he didn't and just sat back down in the sand instead.
Antonio stood up and streched, thinking of how in the world he was going to flag down the ship. "Hmmm...maybe I can use a torch or something. Come back with me to the bar. I'll get a torch and you can talk to Arthur," Tony grabbed Francis and started dragging him along, now determined.
Laughing just a little as he was dragged back to the pub. "Alright Tony." Francis laughed. He never relized how strong Tony was until he was being pulled by him.
Antonio looked around for something to use as a light but saw nothing but candles. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to send the first mate back...oh well. He'd just hang out here for the night. Giving up, he looked around for Arthur but the Englishman was nowhere in sight. "Where the heck is Arthur?" Antonio then noticed the full glass of rum where Arthur had previously been sitting and was certain the Briton had been kidnapped or something.
Francis looked around when Tony question the location of Arthur. He paniced a little, of course not wanting to lose Arthur, no matter how much Arthur hated him. "What do you think happened?" he asked looking back to Tony.
Tony frowned and drew his sword. "Which one of you scum kidnapped Captain Kirkland!"
He looked like an idiot with his sword pointing up in the air and was treated as such, as a few sailors snickered in response.
The bartender looked up from the spot he was cleaning and rolled his eyes. Stupid pirates. He answered, "He paid and left when you guys did, I'd check outside."
"Outside, ahoy!" Antonio yelled, charging out the door, grabbing Francis and bringing him along once again.
Arthur was now clearly in view and blinked a few times as Tony pointed his sword at him and screamed, "Avast! I see him behind that rock!"
Franics of course sometimes though the pirate thing was a little over board sometimes. Sighing he looked where Tony was pointing and smiled, happy to see Arthur was alright. "I can see that Antonio."
"Thats Captain Fernandez Carriedo." The spainyard said, pointing his sword at Francis for a moment, "And Dont you forget it." he laughed.
Arthur began his trek back up the beach and sighed. The moment could only be described as awkward for him.
"Alright you two have fun," Tony winked and started heading back to the bar to search for some other rowdy pirates to hang with, "And don't hurt each other now." He laughed his piate laugh and disappeared almost magically.
Arthur quickly glanced at Francis and shifted on his feet a little. "I heard what you said on the beach...I'm not going to castrate you."
"Thats just my worst nightmare of what you would do." He replied with a little smile and walked over to him, "I'm sorry Arthur, I know that may not be enough for you to forgive me, but I am sorry." He smiled just a little more, trying to be on his best behavior as he tryed to gain the other's forgiveness.
"It's fine, really. It's mostly my fault anyway...I allowed myself to get drunk." Francis' smile almost made his heart melt and he knew anything at all would make him give into Francis.
Francis smiled a little more, "It's my fault too." he shook his head, "So, do you forgive me?" he asked.
"Just kiss and make up you two." Antonio yelled from where he was standing in the bar, still pointing his sword in that dramtic way that he did.
Arthur glared in the direction of his pirate friend, his face turning red in embarassment. "Yeah, I forgive you. But that doesn't mean anything."
Laughing a little at Antonio Francis nodded his head and softly kissed Arthur on the cheek, "Aye, aye Captain." He laughed a little at how red the pirate was.
Arthur let out a soft sigh and bit his lip until he thought it would bleed. Suddenly, dark clouds returned to the sky, pouring heavy rain down upon Francis and Arthur. The Englishman yelped and ducked into a nearby one-room house, clearly abondoned by its past residents.
Francis soon followed after him, closing the door and leaving the two of them alone in the dark room. Arthur's heart sped up a little as he felt Francis press up against him, their clothes both throughroughly soaked.