Sapphire of the Emerald Sea 6

"Let's see... Oh wait, I can't see." You mumbled annoyingly as you took a couple of cautious steps to whatever direction you were going. Now where did Arthur say Alfred was at?  The crow's nest...? What was that supposed to be? You didn't really have any clue to these ship-terms anyway.

Was it some nesting area for birds or something?

You took another step left. Two steps forward and down. A small step to the right aaaaaand you were completely lost.

What you didn't know was that you took four steps into a small hallway on the second floor of the ship. According to the ship's layout, you were about to step into the galley.

And just your luck; it was lunchtime.

Finally, when you reached the end of the path, you bumped into a door. Loud sounds of yells and merry laughter came from inside.
"Uhh... Let's see... I really should stop saying that..." Your arms stretched out trying to locate the doorknob. You fumbled around with the knob trying to figure whether it was push or pull. When you finally got it to open, you tumbled onto the floor of the new room. Guess it was push in the end.
"Ah fu-OW!" Lucky there weren't any sharp glass or pointy nails down there. Oh but there was some nasty dust gathering around.

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After your big fall, the sounds of the new room silenced, making the only noise to be the soft slap of water against the side of the ship. You licked your chapped lips for a second before trying to deduce where the hell you were. Over to the right, smells of strong spices and dried beef wafted over. The other side had a stronger scent of alcohol. It was mildly warm with occasional sea breezes that flew in through an open porthole on the west wall. You were reluctant, but decided to open your mouth. Before you could say anything, someone else cut you short.

"Holy shit, It be a lass!" A unruly deep voice boomed.

Murmurs escaped and soon turned the whole galley hooting and hollering like the pirates they were. While you tried to figure out whether you were scared or confused, a loud shattering sound of glass and plates breaking came from the very back of the room. A very French voice shouted out over the noise. "Mon dieu, _____!"
Heads turned to a frantic Francis who dropped his plates and scurried over to where you laid. A chair pushed out and another set of feet could be heard making their way to you. "Francis, why is she here?" the other voice asked, Spanish accent heightened with his worry.

"Hi... sirs?" the words sheepishly tumbled out of your mouth.

Francis tsked and with the help of Antonio, moved you up onto a wooden chair near the front. By then, the others who had been eating their lunches forgot about their quickly cooling food and beer. Nothing usually happened, so this peeked their interest so. "Francis, who be the lass?" someone demanded, banging their mug on the table. The French pirate seemed to sigh and run a hand through his golden waves. He leaned towards Antonio's ear and whispered a message to his friend. "Go find Arthur and tell him ze others have seen her." The Spaniard nodded quickly and ran off, slamming the door after him. He turned to the crowd, taking your slim hand in his own, despite your irritated confused look in which he ignored. "This... iz Miss _____. She waz shipwrecked on a certain island and ze Captain haz taken her in." The group of rugged pirate underlings studied your face as he continued. Francis wondered whether he should explain about you or not.

"Miss _____ will be joining us from no—"
"But she be a lass!" Another voice yelled out, rudely interrupting Francis and insulting you yourself.

Francis retorted on your behalf, "And iz there a problem with zat? Oui, she iz a girl, but ze Captain haz allowed to be here. If you 'ave any objections, go to ze Captain... If you dare." he ended his threat darkly.

You could have sworn that the room dropped a couple of degrees the way they took Francis' response. Francis then smiled and brought a livelier mood back. "Now, let's get back to our meal, oui?" A couple of pirates chuckled nervously, but nonetheless, they returned to their orderly lunch.

Then the French pirate turned back to you. "_____, why are you 'ere? You should be in a bed or somewhere else! If you were hungry, I would 'ave brought you something." He seemed a bit nicer now, less bit of a pervert. You shook your head, "No, I wasn't hungry, but thanks. Actually, I was looking for Alfred. The Captain told me to." Francis rolled his blue eyes and shook his own head. "Alfred haz finished already, thank goodness, and iz already at hiz post. If you would like, you can sit here and I'll fix you something to eat." You were about to decline his offer when your stomach suddenly reminded you that all you've had for the past couple days were coconut and bland fish. A loud grumble from your stomach sounded as you smiled shyly. Francis smirked a bit before smiling playfully. "Wait 'ere, I'll bring you a bowl."

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After Francis came back with a bowl of stew and handed you the spoon. With a little difficulty, you slowly ate your bowl. (Of course, Francis offered to feed you, to which you slapped his hand away.) Francis took  the seat on the other side of the table and told you about the ship while you filled your stomach. He told you about their jobs on the ship and how he took up the job of the ship's cook along with being Arthur's first mate somehow. He lightly tips around the topics and onto how it was such a pain to live and work with the others on the ship. Even if you couldn't see it, you could tell he had a warm grin on his face as he spoke of the matters with a soft voice. When you neared the bottom of your bowl, his lively bright blue eyes dulled to a light frown. "It haz been a long time now... hopefully, now zat we 'ave found you and your necklace, we can finally get out of here. All of us." You sipped at the last of your stew thoughtfully. "Francis, why are you all here anyway? Why stay and be Arthur's crew?"

The French pirate sighed. "It iz because of Fate, mon chere."
You lifted an eyebrow to your confusion.
"It waz fate zat brought you 'ere, non?" he chuckled lightly.

Seeing that you finished your bowl, Francis stands up and pushes his chair back under the table. "I'll take ze bowl back for cleaning. You can sit and wait for Arthur 'ere, but I 'ave to go back to prepare for dinner." he tells you. You stood up also and handed the bowl carefully back to Francis. "I think I'll go find Alfred instead. Arthur said he'd show me around, though I don't see the point." You chuckled a bit as you pushed the wooden chair back. The French Pirate sighed, "If you insist, mon chere. Alfred iz on his crow's nest. It's ze highest mast next to ze exit." he pointed towards the direction, forgetting something important. "Would you like me to take you there?" You should have said yes, but then again, no. "Mm, nah, I'll find my way. You should start dinner or Arthur's going to chase you up the mast again." You smiled. Francis smirked a bit creepily. "He chases me up for a different reason though. Ohonhonhon..." You suddenly felt the need to run.
"Ahh, well, I should get going then..." You found your way to the door as quickly and silently as you could. Francis snapped out of his weird laughing and threw a quick yell. "Go left of ze hall and zen up ze stairs! But if you wish, go right and down ze other steps and you can stay in my room!~" You slammed the door and ran for your life as the other pirate lackeys laughed boisterously at Francis' comment.

"I waz only playing... Ze Captain already haz his eyes on her..."

A light thud came from outside the closed door.

"Or not..."

He smiled and rolled his cerulean orbs as he walked back to the ship's  kitchen, bowl in hand.