Captain Curry's Story

Two glowing red eyes opened to another bright morning. The boat swayed back and forth, but a Pirate Captain should be used to this. Captain Curry stood, rubbing his eyes, one of which almost swollen shut. He let out a yawn as he got himself ready, putting on his captain's uniform, trousers, a white button up shirt, and a large overcoat. He attached his belt, which had a hilt for his sword and pistol. Lastly, he placed a comically large hat on his head. Stepping outside of his quarters, he let the breeze hit him, taking in the smell of salt water that stained the air. Yes, this was a mighty fine day for an execution.

Captain Curry began to trek through his boat, watching as men hurried to their positioned. They would hang the captives, for throwing them in the ocean would not work as well due to the species of some of them. Mermaids. He could sell them, for quite a price too, but the Englishmen had killed their young crew members. They were only trading that price.

Captain Curry looked overboard, peering at the water which seemed a green hue. It wasn't a dirty green, for it was actually quite pretty. The Captain took it as a good omen. He hurried to the kitchen, grabbing a bit of moldy bread, which he ate as if it was as clean as a whistle. He nodded to the cooks as he left. Thinking about the hanging that was about to take place didn't upset his appetite in the slightest. He even let out a deep bellowing laugh that almost made him sound like Saint Nicholas. But Captain Curry was far from a kind, jolly fellow.

"Are we ready?" the Captain asked some of the passing boys. He decided to be more specified. "For the execution, I mean, are we ready?"

Anthony looked up at his boat, the one he was able to get for a crate of rice, and sighed. This was not what he wished to use the boat for originally, but he wanted to save these people. Plus, no one else was willing to risk their ships.

Anthony turned to his navigator, "Barnabas! Are we ready yet? We need to leave and we need to leave now!" Anthony rubbed his temples in frustration. It was going to be a pain to get these people back, but he was not going to let them die.

"Everyone! Get on the ship we're leaving soon!" He barked to his new sailors before turning on his heal and going to the center of the boat to await his sailors.


Aster turned to his captain once he spoke. 'Darn... Why do I always get caught when he wants to talk to some random person."
He looked at the boys next to him and realized they weren't speaking up out of slight fear.

Aster sighed, "We don't have enough rope to hang them all at once, Captain, only about... two at a time at most. And people right now are currently tying the nooses." He knew the captain would not be happy about this, but it was better known now than later.

He turned to Caleb, hoping he'd help him calm the Captain once he exploded. "Help..." He whispered out the side of his mouth. Caleb worked with the Captain more than himself. He was usually inside his own little work space waiting for idiots who got hurt to come in.

Quiet...silence..the perfect morning without any gulls squawking in shrill voices. A sigh escaped Veronica as she felt the warm sunshine warm her skin. The silence was broken by the sound of the Captain barking orders...well time to get to work. Quickly peering down from the crow's nest she noted the lack of ropes to hang the captives with, pausing for a moment a smirk appeared on her face discovered the solution. Easing her way down the rope rigging she quickly vanished below deck.


A few of still dozing shipmates had a rather rude awakening of their faces hitting the floor, as they were dumped out of their swinging hammocks by Veronica as she quickly cut down the ropes holding the mobile beds up. The drowsy men watched in shock as their beds were stripped down to scratchy sheets. One grumpy man demanded an explanation "What the hell do you think you are doing you bloody!" His angry rant was cut off as a pair of pointy knitting needles were pointed at his eyes along with a cheerful smile from Veronica "I am making suitable rope silly, thats what I am doing..so shut up". A few minutes later once short cut ropes were successfully sewn together..long enough for ropes for hanging. Quietly placing the needles away she touched the cool steel of the needles in an almost loving way ~Thank you Mama for teaching me...~ she thought, before gathering up her rope not wanting to get lost in the past.


Finally reaching the deck with her rather heavy load she quickly deposited her labor near the men busily working tying nooses. The men looked like they were about to cry as the angel had saved them from certain punishment. With a small smile on her face she curtsied to her Captain ever so slightly before inclining her head "I managed to find more ropes Captain, the execution should be able to proceed properly sir..". The former owners' of said ropes glared at the woman before setting off to their own chores..she would pay for them later. Winking at the cabin boy and doctor with a cheerful smile, she walked off to the bow of the ship just enjoying the sun and the ocean spray.

Barnabas walked onto the ship last minute, making himself quite fashionably late. He wore a very extravagant outfit (much like the one that he is wearing in his profile picture) which successfully drew many glances to him. The Captain had just finished a speech, probably something heroic that Barnabas didn't feel horrible about missing. The crowd around the Captain quickly dispersed and Barnabas walked up to greet him. They had never really met before, but he had been told all about Captain Anthony Shepard and figured Anthony had heard about him as well.

"I take it that you are the Captain of this fine ship," Barnabas said, sticking his hand out for the man to shake. "I am your navigator. Although it will be quite difficult to track those rotten Pirates, for you really can't track on water, or at least I am not as skilled in that area, I will do my best to hunt down their sorry rumps and help you take back our citizens," Barnabas said, smiling pleasantly at his introduction.



"Not enough rope?" the Captain cried, enraged. "How are we supposed to hang the blasted-" he started, going off on poor Aster, who was only the deliverer of the message. Luckily, a woman quickly came up and informed him more were found. He let out a breath of relief. "Alright, fine. But any more mishaps and it'll be your necks hangin' from the nooses." The cabin boy, Caleb, offered to tie the nooses.

"Alright, off you all go. Back to work," he hissed. "And someone go round up the bloody captives." With that, the fungi covered Captain marched off barking more orders at innocent passerby's. He wanted to make sure everything went according to plan. The nasty Englishmen deserved nothing more than to die and none believed it more than him.

The captain took the outstretched and and gave it a firm shake. "Barnabas. You're late." Anthony said, "Anyways, as long as you are able to point us in the right directions it's fine."

Anthony took out his notebook and looked through his list of crew members; it seemed Barnabas was the last person they needed to leave. "Alright. Lift the anchor! We leave!" Anthony called out to whoever was at the anchor. The closest one too it seemed to be the girl he saw earlier. "Lift it, girl!"


It took all that he could for Aster not to yell, "Don't shoot the messenger!" at the Captain. But he and everyone else knew that's be a death wish. And the fact that his only help was that of a girl's bothered him even more.

When the Captain barked another order, he ignored it and went back down to his quarters/pharmacy/death room. It seemed that Curry was in an angry mood today, which meant that there would be many visits down there today.
"I hate my job." Aster grumbled, smacking his head down onto his desk.
He actually had a really demanding job. Since they lived in a terrible environment, any sort of cut or scratch could become deadly. So he he had to act as a nursemaid for every single person who got a freaking boo-boo. And he couldn't refuse them either since that could bring the wrath of Curry on him.

Seraphina looked around from her position in the glass case, full of water. She peered through it and looked at the dirty looking sailors that passed by her. They all seemed to know the dangers of being to close to a mermaid, but now that she wasn't in the ocean she was completely vulnerable and visible. Seraphina tried to shift her position in the case but found that it was incredibly hard to move around in the confined area, since it was so small because of all the space that her big tail was taking up.

Thankfully a deckhand cracked a small gap in the top of the case letting air inside. She rised her head to the gap and gasped in the air even though it was salty and foul smelling, she needed it to keep herself awake and to keep from suffocating. Seraphina looked around and saw lots of men walking around fulfilling their duties and chores, yet she wondered where the Captain of the ship was. She had not meet him yet and even thought she wasn't looking forward to being in his presence she was hoping that maybe she could try and seduce him enough to keep her alive or get her into a bigger glass container of water.

The Captain busily sat in his quarters, counting some of the golden pieces they had collected only a few days before the first raid. Suddenly the ship shook a bit, a horrible creaking noise echoing through the whole boat. Curry sprang up from his seat and rushed outside. "What was that?" he barked. The boat took a nasty shake, the Captain losing his footing and going rolling, along with many other crew members. He quickly stopped himself, springing up. Before he could even speak again, the sun seemed to vanish, the world growing dark. "Huh?" he whispered, turning, his eyes widening. He rushed to the side to get a better glimpse of the frightening horror he saw. A colossal wave like none Curry had ever seen before was heading right for them, large waves already smacking against the side of the boat. It had almost happened instantaneously.

"Get all the gold and supplies to the bowels of the ship!" he screamed. "Brace for major impact!" The Captain ran to his quarters, top speed, collecting all the maps and gold that he could fill his arms with. He ran them to the lower parts of the deck and put the gold in a pile that the crew members were already making. Curry found a dry, empty barrel to put the maps in. He ran back upstairs, ordering everything that could be spared taken below deck. The huge wave was much closer now, water splashing on board.

"Everyone get away from the sides and prepare to get wet!" he cried to the crew members who hadn't gone downstairs, right as a wave came up and slapped him and the crew members. He quickly grabbed onto a nearby railing as the ship began to ride up the enormous wave. Brace for impact....

Caleb finally awoke from his nap as his body bounced up, he attempted to grasp the rope but watched it descended out of the ship and into the water. He sensed panic enter him as he cursed to himself aloud. He was well aware he mustn't lose the rope, however it was now lost in the sea. His body slid down to the stem of the ship, his head turned as his body neared the back of the ship. He surrounded his arms around a wooden pole of the ship as he closed his eyes.

Caleb was pondering of words to say to the Captain,

"Captain, my sir! I have not been responsible to tie the nooses. I have lost about three yards of the rope in the mishap of the ship.

No it sounds too professional, too honest. I sound proud to be punished.

I lost the rope.

Naw, it lacks any care.

I could possibly say nothing for the Captain is a liar himself."

The boat swiftly road through the wave, the whole deck swarming with water, all sailors on deck half drowned. Captain Curry hardly had enough time to breathe before water slammed down on the ship again. His worst fears were that The Seashell would snap in half. He didn't even have time to bark orders about getting the sail down, for it would be ripped to shreds by the time they were finished. All he could muster was "Get to the lower decks!" before they were slammed with water once again. The waves were relentless, but had about a ten second break in between them. Curry counted. Eleven almost every time.

The wave stopped for a second. "One," he began as he made his way to the lower decks, continuing counting. He was at five when he reached it and pulled open the panel, water seeping below, but sailors who were trapped on the upper deck raced to get in. When he got to nine, despite other sailors still trying to get down, he slammed the trap-door like entrance, and locked it up tight. Water rushed onto the boat, a few men being carried away. Curry didn't know if they were overboard or not, but now he couldn't worry. The water stopped for a moment and Curry opened the hatch, jumped in, slammed it shut, and locked it from the inside. The pilot was still above, along with a good amount of the crew, but Curry had to check on the maps... and more importantly, the gold.

"Is everything holding up down here?" Curry asked as a shower of water leaked through the wood above them. "Are the maps safe?" he asked after catching a glimpse of the pile or gold, which was scattered around, but still there. His tone was no longer demanding, but curious. "Gosh, I've never seen waves that big in all my years!"

A sneeze came from Veronica as she felt the cold from the freezing water starting to settle in clothes. One moment she was enjoying a calm breeze and the next her body had been plastered to the deck like a mop from the violent waves. Her mouth was pulled into a frown as the unpleasant mixture of sea water and men began to contaminant her personal space. As she observed the Captain doing a quick head count, the frown deepened as she noted that not all of the crew were with them. It would be a terrible way to die by being washed overboard the ship, even if you did not die from being slammed violently into the ship, you would eventually from drowning. A slight shutter raced through her body both from the cold as the thought of what drowning would be like. A cold, lonely, and terrifying death indeed..


As the question of the maps popped up she glanced behind her, seeing a large mostly undamaged pile of maps that somehow were weighted down..stains from droplets of salt water dotted a few of them as far as she could tell "There appears to be little damage to the maps Captain.." she said quietly not wanting to attract anymore male attention than her soaked form already did. As another droplet from above landed on her nose she thought~What exactly caused this...storm?~. Running a hand over her coating of fungus on her arm...could it be the curse? Her eyes widened in surprise as her own Captain commented on the size of the waves..a man full of experience at sea had never had such an storm..with hesitation in her voice "Perhaps its this darn curse..we have been blessed with this blasted fungus and horrid luck". A few of the men around her nodded in agreement, after all pirates tended to be a superstitious lot..

seraphina felt a sharp pain that made her groan as she was pushed to the ground by the force from the waves crashing against the ship. She tried to move her body up but felt that it hurt to much. She looked down and saw a decent sized shard of glass sticking out of the left side near the center of her abdomen. She moaned loudly and tried to move the shard in an effort to take it out but found that it hurt more causing her to let out a small scream. 

Suddenly as the ship took another hard beating from the waves then the Captain came through and stepped into the room. She tried to cover herself and move to hide behind some of the barrels. 

She saw that one of the crew members was badly hurt. She noticed that her leg was pierced with splinters. Seraphina wanted to help the girl but if she told her that her tears could heal the wounds fast then she'd be poked and stabbed with tools and be kept on the ship as a prize. Besides whoever the doctor on the ship was she didnt want to risk him finding out because then he'd be the most interested in her abilities and try to gather her tears to make his own job easier.

Suddenly the man with fungi growin on him looked over at her and said that hed need to give her pants. She looked away from him and tried to hide the blush on her cheeks as well as the areas of interest that men loved to see on women. She shrugged and showed him the shard sticking out of her skin calmly. 

"Well no need to be overly dramatic," he said to the crew. "The storm is about over and our pilot is still working on getting us out of this. Our maps are undamaged and most of us seem unharmed." The Captain nodded, hoping he sounded convincing enough to his crew, although the superstitious side of him wanted to agree. The Seashell was quite cursed, but as more water seeped through the wood above them, he decided it was just a freak storm. Suddenly, one of the captives caught his eye. She wasn't wearing anything, but was going a good job of covering herself up. Taking off his overcoat, he threw it to the girl, a mermaid. His overcoat was a bit wet, but it was better than nothing.

"Take this until we can get you some clothes. None of my men need to see you undressed," he said. He would have been more scolding but he was exhausted and felt half drowned. Turning to his men (and a few women) he sighed. "There isn't much to do until this bloody storm's out, but make yourselves useful and try drying things off." The Captain sighed and walked off. They were on the over-loop deck, with all the cannons, but he grabbed the maps. He assumed that the cargo hold, the deck below, the lowest deck of all, would be the driest for the maps. He opened a hatch and climbed down the ladder into the deck, his boot hitting dry wood. Relief flooded him as he carried the maps to some empty barrels and hid them inside. Sealing the barrel up, he wandered the cargo hold until he found some stale, moldy loaves of bread. But he didn't see any others and the kitchen was probably washed out. He gulped. He decided he would not tell his crew about this, but it was probably a matter of days until they all starved, unless they could catch some fish.

Caleb thankfully survived the storm but what was drenched in sea water. His white shirt was now see through and his bandanna drooped down with his soaked blonde hair. He thought of the smartest idea of shelter turning the weather, the cargo hold. It was the deepest level, away from the clouds. He watched as the Captain climbed down the ladder as he mentally debated with himself,

"Should I? Should I tell him about the rope instead of during the execution? It would be honest, yes I would be punished but harshly?

No don't, you know how you feel about beatings, and he'll sure beat the hell out of you. You'll wish you were dead.

I have to tell him, I have to be loyal, right? An honored pirate is the first step to be the glorious pirate captain? And besides it is better now rather than during the execution."

He gulped in deeply as he inhaled. Caleb was well aware of his laziness and irresponsible behavior, perhaps a beating could remove those flaws. Caleb heard pirate stories about the cat o'nine tails and how they would command punishable crewmates to 'kiss the gunner's daughter,' a punishment of which the punished must bend over a cannon and be flogged.

Captain Curry could not possibly pardon Caleb of his punishment, the others would here of it and lose respect from the Captain.

"Cap'n," he called his superior, staring the man in the eyes.
"I have... err... I lost the rope... Yes about... Three yards of rope down in the sea."

Aster quick went to his wardrobe, grabbed one of his skirt-pants hybrid and tossed it at the mermaid. He noticed she had the Captain's overcoat around herself but figured she'd much prefer some sort of pants.
"I'll come check on your guy's injuries later if you have any." He whispered to the girls.

Making sure that the boy/girl of the ship was still in his office he went up to the Captain. "Is anyone else injured Captain? I have one in my office already, but I'd like for the..." He was interrupted by Caleb who decided that now was the best time to tell the man that they he had lost a crap ton of rope.

Not wanting to get involved in Caleb's punishment, Aster went back to the person waiting in his office. "May as well wrap him up first. Get the feeling Caleb's next in line..."

Interrupting Aster's question if more were injured, Caleb came explaining how he had lost three yards of rope when the boat jolted. Curry squeezed his eyes shut. The Cabin Boy had spoke at a good time, for the Captain of The Seashell was exhausted and already had enough on his mind. He already had to keep the fact that they would all soon starve from his crew. Caleb's irresponsibility was really nothing for Curry to get upset about comparing to the rest of his problems. But Aster spoke first, talking about how Caleb would be next to visit him, probably scaring the living crap out of the boy. Any other day, the Captain would have been furious and called for Caleb to be thrown overboard and not let back on unless he returned with the rope, but he wasn't in the mood.

"No," Curry said, sounding more tired than angry. "I have too many things on my mind to deal with your rope problem, and compared to everything else, it doesn't seem important. I could flog you, I guess, but it would just be a waste of time when we've already lost a few members. Off with you boy, go find something useful to do, and quit your bloody immaturity. See if you can fetch me another overcoat. It may be the fact I'm half drowned, but I'm freezing. Maybe check if the pilot is still alive up there."

Once he had shooed the boy away, he turned to Aster, realizing he wasn't there anymore too late. He sighed, figuring he'd have to go back up and look for him. Climbing up the ladder and out of the cargo hold, leaving the last of the bread behind, he decided he'd have to make sure no one got into the cargo hold except him. If anyone found out about the last of the food, they'd cause panic if not eat it all for themselves. He pushed his way through the crew. All of them were crowded onto the over-loop deck, which was already becoming a bit wet and now smelled horrible, the stench probably coming from his men. Hurrying past the cages, where the mermaid girl and the one with the comically large glasses sat looking as miserable as ever. Stepping over a pile of vomit and into the Aster's office, he eyed the man.

"Sorry about the intrusion. If any of the crew is in fact injured, I expect them to come and report it themselves or suck up the pain. Now what were you saying before you left?"

He heard the mermaid girl say something but decided to pay his full attention to the Captain. "I was wonder if you were injured in any way, if any of the crew was injured (though you already answered this), and if you would allow me to fix the prisoners up. It seems, that one of them has a shard sticking out of her ribs. Not sure if you rather have them fixed up from a hanging or just let them die now."

While he was speaking her started to work on the girl/boy's legs, taking tweezers and pulling the smaller pieces of wood before pulling out the bigger ones with his fingers. "I get the feeling that more people got hurt down here than up there." He said to the captain.


When Anthony saw one of his members fall over board, it seemed to have been Foster, he let out an annoyed sigh. "Alright, I'll get him." He said before shedding his shirt and weapons. He grabbed a life line, tied it to a sturdy board and himself, before jumping into the water after his fallen ship mate.

Pushing against the tough waves, he was finally able to reach the poor male. He untied the rope from himself and tied it around the almost sunken male. "I swear to god. If someone doesn't pull us up, I'll throw you overboard and not save you!" He yelled up at his crew. He didn't care who pulled them in, as long as someone did it.

Barnabas waited for the man to respond, but chaos struck as on of the crew fell off of the ship. Barnabas rolled his eyes, but the Captain actually went after the idiot who had managed to throw himself overboard! Barnabas scoffed, but heard the Captain cry out for someone to pull him out. No one responded. Barnabas scoffed. Why did he always get stuck with these jobs? Barnabas stood up and strutted over to the rope that the Captain had tied himself to. He heaved, but Barnabas wasn't the strongest guy in the world. He gasped as he slid at the weight, landing on his bum. He was a Navigator, not a body builder!

"How much do you lads weigh?!" Barnabas explained as he pulled himself up. He let out a gasp and heaved again, the two coming up just a bit. Barnabas climbed on top of the rope that was already stretched as far as it could, and placing his feet on it, began to jump, finally his weight causing it to sink. He sat down from there and began to heave until finally the Captain and the crew member's heads popped up. He let out an annoyed yet tired gasp as he stood up and walked back to him maps, collapsing onto the crate he had been sitting on earlier.



Rosemary had been started when she felt the waves collapse onto the boat. She had gripped the bars to her cell and held on for dear life, but her glasses had been whipped away from her and were sent under the bars, out of her reach. The waves had finally slowed down, but she was still completely blind without her glasses, the whole world had gone fuzzy. Blindly crawling around her cage, she ran into a pile of hay and collapsed onto it. She didn't think she was hurt, but it might have been helpful if she could see to check herself for injuries. She closed her eyes, a headache beginning to settle in.

Suddenly, she heard someone walk by the cells and into the doctors office across the hall. By the way he spoke, referring to "his men", Rose knew it was the Captain. She payed close attention. The doctor asked permission to check the prisoners for injuries.

"Fine," the Captain said to Rose's surprise. "I don't think we'll be able to hang them when our cabin boy just lost most of the rope, so better not let our hostages die without a proper execution." Rosemary felt hope finally flutter back into her... now if she could only find her glasses.

Anthony was the girl to get on board and pulled up the other man next. "What on earth were you thinking!" He yelled at his first mate, "Never mind, it wasn't your fault..."

"Everybody, get inside the ship before another one of you falls overboard!" Anthony yelled before grabbing his shirt and weapons and heading for the inside of the ship. "We'll wait the storm out." He said in a softer voice.


After Aster was finished patching up the girl he tapped the side of the table as a sign he was done. "Alright, anybody else beside the captives injured?!" He called out to the rest of the crew members. "If you are you have about 10 seconds to get in here!"

Aster walked out of his office and looked around at everybody, He glanced down at the captives and saw the the historian's glasses had fallen onto the ground. He picked up the round items and placed them in front of the girl who was wandering around her little area looking for them. "Here." He muttered, waiting for one of the crew to speak up.