Adventures on the seven seas

That was true. It wasn't like she would be doing anything majorly important on the ship, so it didn't matter too much who they chose as long as they had the capability to do the job and didn't ask for too much from their employer.

"No need sir. I only own what I have with me right now so there's nothing I could get." Victoria told the man. As a princess she owned much more than what she had with her, but all that she owned would only make people suspicious of her. Which street rat could afford a jewel dressed comb? Or a magnificent purple silk dress decorated with diamonds? Non. Nothing she owned was subtle enough to bring with her.

As John Hawkins she owned nothing but the clothes on her body and a small bag of money in her pocket, just in case something unexpected would have happened. She were not sure how far that money would take her though, she just took what she could and hoped it was enough. If anyone found out about the money, she would simply say that she had saved them for quite some time. Hopefully it wasn't more than what people thought a boy living on the street could save up with some time.
 
Damion frowned slightly. He took some pity on the men who joined their crew. Some were run away indentured servants or slaves, some where running from previous crimes. This young boy appeared to be escaping poverty. What life would he have here? Most likely he'd turn to crime anyway. There was a chance someone would take him as an apprentice or even a servant in a wealthy house.

The red haired man lead him to the ship. The Rising Sun was a schooner, perhaps 30 meters long. Three tall masts rose as far up as the ship was long. The canvas sails were neatly tied. Ropes ran in every direction, too many to count. They seemed to be everywhere. Men walked on and off, carrying crates, barrels and canvas bags. Damion slipped in between them and walked onto the main deck of the ship. His shoes tapped softly on the wooden planks.

"There are the captain's quarters." Damion pointed to the back of the ship. "In the morning and evening you'll act as his servant. Buckley is our boatswain. He's responsible for keeping the ship in working order. He words with Chad, the carpenter, who you'll probably apprentice with. Do as they say and they're both good men. Tomorrow we'll do a practice run for manning the cannons. You'll work with the gunner, Brett. Hans is our rigger. I'll have him show you the ropes before we set sail. He'll put you to good use. You seem like a smart lad, it seems a lot now but you'll learn it in no time."

He paused for a moment. "There's no quitting once we set sail. It may be years before we return here. Are you certain about this?"
 
Victoria followed behind the man up on the ship. It was certainly strange to go from ordering servants around to becoming one herself. But it was just to get used to it. It was definitely better than the alternative of being a slave to her husband.

As Damion said, there was a lot to keep track of. Servant in the morning and evening to the captain, following Chad and Buckley's orders, practice with the cannons, and there she lost track of the peoples names. It was hard to remember them when she didn't have a face to connect them too. She had no doubt in her mind though that she would be able to learn it all. It was hard to memorize it without visual images to show what it was, but once she had seen the job she should do, she was sure she could do it... With a bit of practice.

The disguised girl looked up at the man. Was he worried that a boy from the street was making a mistake? There wasn't many places to turn for the kind of people Victoria was trying to act as. "I'm sure. I don't have anything to return to here. If I regret my decision, I'll just jump off in the next shore." She said truthfully. There was nothing for her there anymore. Nothing but pain.

"Even if I suddenly wanted to return, it's not like your ship is the only one that can bring me back here anyways." She then added. Only a moron would think they were bound to the same ship until they reached the same port one left from if they had a wish of returning. It was as simple as going off in one port, search for a ship that needed workers and would go in the right direction and then jump off when arriving at home. Or just find a job in a shop around a port until one had the money to return home. Maybe it wasn't as simple as she thought it should be, but it could certainly be done.
 
"That is true. Some men like the sea, some men decide very quickly they never want to see it again." Damion said as he turned to go below deck. "Come on, I'll show you were everything is."

"There's the galley. If it's a nice day, you might get a hot meal." He said, pointing to the small kitchen in the corner. He turned to the rest of the gun deck. Black cannons sat in a line on each side. Barrels and crates sat neatly in the middle. As Damion made his way across, he had to duck slightly. "There's two swivel guns on the main deck. Down here there's five on each side for a total of twelve on the ship."

At the end of the cabin there was a door. On one side there was a set of stairs leading back to the main deck and on the other a set of stairs leading below. "That door leads to one of the officer's quarters. " He lead the way down the stairs. The cabin was filled with hammocks and little chests for the crew's belongings. "This is the crew's quarters. You won't keep any secrets here."

The lower deck was taller than gun deck above. Damion led the way through the crew's quarters and storage areas to the last set of stairs at the end. "Except for the hold, there's a set of stairs at the bow and stern of the ship. It seems big now, but when you're on it for months at a time, it gets quite small. We'll go back to the main deck and find Hans."
 
It wasn't too hard to memorize everything when it was being showed to her while he spoke. Damion was wrong though, Victoria would keep many secrets down there. There were things she just couldn't tell them. But what would happen if they got to know about her being a girl? Should she just tell them that everything she had said was true except for her name, gender and age, and that all she wanted was a job because she hadn't been able to get anything in town? The possibility of them finding out was something she had to consider, and figure out what to do about it if it happened.

She did however believe him when he said that the ship would start to feel very small once they had been on it for some time. It would feel especially small for someone with a massive amount of secrets.

"What's Hans job?" Victoria asked. She had considered asking who he was, but that really wasn't what she wanted to know. It was impossible for someone to tell who another person was, they had to do it themselves through their actions and words. It was mainly what his role on the ship was that she wanted to know now, since that would tell her more of why they should meet this Hans. Though most of all she just wished to meet the captain and see who it was she would be spending her mornings and evenings with. If everyone were like Damion, then she would probably have a pretty good time on the ship. But considering she knew that angry jerk from the day before was working there, she doubted everyone would be nice guys. Hopefully most of them leaned more towards Damion's way of being rather than that other guy.
 
"Hans is our rigger, he's in charge of all the ropes." Damion said as he walked up the stairs back to the top deck.

He walked to the ratlines, the rope ladder which reached up the mast and called to a man high above them. "Ho, Hans! Come meet our new cabin boy."

The man climbed down with the speed of a squirrel in a tree. He hung upside down from the ratlines, eye level with Damion. He was thin and tan with sun bleached hair that he kept in low pony tail. His blue eyes sparkled as he spoke.

"A cabin boy, for me?" Hans asked in a sing song voice.

"Aye, could you show him the ropes?" Damion asked. "And don't scare him off before we set sail."

"Why would anyone be scared of little old me?" He asked as he flipped out of the ratlines and onto the deck.

"We think all of his social skills have been replaced with knots and rigging." Damion whispered to John. "He'd run around naked if Captain would let him."
 
There was no question why Hans had that particular job. If Victoria hadn't known better she might just have believed that the man had been born from a squirrel and a monkey, making the perfect acrobat and rope man. Though with his voice singing out the words, maybe there could be some bird in his family tree too.

Luckily the captain had some common sense, not letting his men run around completely naked. Getting used to her current situation was already hard enough, and having someone fly around among the ropes completely naked would not help. It would probably be quite distracting for the young woman. But as long as he stayed dressed, she could definitely get used to his odd behavior.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about me running into shore that easily." Victoria chuckled. As long as he wasn't as intimidating as that big guy Christopher from earlier, then she wouldn't have much problems, even with his lack of social skills.

"My name's John. I'm looking forward to learn from you." Victoria said. She almost made the mistake of curtsying, as she had been taught to do when introducing herself, but somehow she was able to stop herself just in time.
 
Hans flipped down from the rigging and landed on deck with a light thud. He wore a loose thin shirt tucked into his breaches that ended halfway below the knee. The shirt was unbuttoned almost to his navel and barely stayed on this lean shoulders. He didn't bother with shoes. His thin lips pulled back into a smile as he looked John over.

His demeanor was slightly unsettling. He wasn't a large man; he stood a few inches taller than John and he was long and lanky. His smile seemed to be hiding something and it was hard to tell if it was harmless mischief or something more malevolent. He stood close to John. He took the young boy's hand in his own.

"We'll tear those lady like hands up in an hour." He said in a matter of fact tone as he released the boy's hands and began to circle him.

"We'll get some good muscle on you as well, mate. First things first, climb to the top of the rat lines. I want to see how long it takes you." Hans said as he crossed his arms. The smile remained on his face.
 
Hans smile felt slightly unsettling for the young girl. Had he seen through her disguise? Or was he thinking about ways to mess around with the new cabin boy? Hopefully it was the latter. Few people wanted women on their ships. There was always superstitions going around about women giving bad luck if they went onto a ship. But even without that, Victoria would still not have entered the ship as a woman. Being a woman on a ship full of men did not feel too safe.

"Lady like..." She muttered. Was it that obvious even with dirt covering them? Was there such a difference between her hands and a workers? She had heard of the skin becoming thicker when doing certain types of work, but wasn't that just tales?

"Huh? To the top? All the way up there?" Victoria looked up the ropes that was tied together. It didn't seem too hard to climb them, but the height was quite terrifying. "Okay, no problem." She then said as she started walking towards it.

It wasn't as easy as she had thought. The wind made it feel quite unsteady and her lack of both upper and lower body strength was quite the disadvantage. The height terrified her greatly as she came higher and higher, but she refused to stop. As she finally reached the top, she let out a sigh of relief. She might not be down yet, but at least she had been able to do what was asked of her. Hopefully he wouldn't think her time was so horrible he would ask for her to be thrown off the ship.

Coming down again, she wished she could just have thrown herself at the deck and kissed it. But even when playing a commoner, she would keep some dignity. "H..How did I do?" She asked Hans as her feet landed on deck. She hadn't kept track of the time at all, but it felt like it took forever.
 
"Well, at least you made it to the top." Hans said with his arms crossed. The boy was slow, but he had seen slower. Some boys stop halfway up and can't move out of fear. He still wore a smile on his face, though it had relaxed slightly.

"Do you know any knots?" He asked. His blue eyes carefully looked over John, taking in every aspect. Hans picked up a spare coil of rope and handed it to the young man.
 
Hans was still smiling. That must be a good sign. If she would do anything wrong to get thrown off the ship, at the very least she could wait with it until they had left their current shore.

As Victoria took the rope she also shook her head. "No sir. Never done anything where it has been necessary to know." She told him. She hadn't even held a rope before that day. Strings for sewing, sure, even though she wasn't very good at it. But when would a princess ever need to use ropes?

"But show me how and I'll practice all night until I get it right." Victoria then promised. She doubted she would need the whole night to learn it, but if it would be necessary, then she would definitely do it. Anything was fine as long as they didn't throw her off before they had left shore, and hopefully not before they entered the next port. Drowning was not part of her escape plan.
 
Hans laughed at his remark about staying up all night. "I'll make sure you're too tired to stay up doing anything. A tired cabin boy stays out of trouble."

The blond haired man picked up another rope and ran his long fingers over it. Every part of him was long and thin, his hands were no exception. Even his feet were long and bony, they almost seemed to large for his slender body.

"You're eager to please." He said, with his eerie smile. "It makes me think you're hiding something."

Deftly, he twisted the rope into a complex knot as he spoke. He admired it for a moment, then quickly pulled it apart.

"Not a werewolf, are you?" He asked, blue eyes wide. It was hard to tell if he was serious or joking with the new cabin boy.
 
As the slender man mentioned that it seemed as if she was hiding something, Victoria couldn't help but stiffen a bit. Did Hans suspect her, or was he just joking around? His smile was very hard for the young woman to decipher. It wasn't like she ever got the chance to meet people like him in the castle.

She tried to focus on copying his complicated knot, but because of his speed it didn't turn out too well. "I guess you'll have to wait until the next full moon to figure that one out." The princess laughed, now relaxed again. Maybe she was thinking too much about it. Even if they suspected her of having a secret, she could just make something up. Something in style with her having stolen something out of desperation and now the guards in town were searching after her. That would explain why she had needed to get on the first best ship.

"I'm just very glad I could get a permanent job sir. Wouldn't want to loose it before I've even started." She then confessed. It wasn't a lie. She was terrified over being thrown back into shore for being useless. It almost made her wish she wouldn't meet the captain before they had left shore. If he decided John wasn't good enough, then she would be done for.
 
Hans stared at her for a long moment with his unsettling blue eyes. He finally let out a chuckle that led into a full laugh.

"Let's start with something easy, then. The square knot." Hans held up the rope. He took a hold of each end in his hands and demonstrated as he spoke. "Right over left and left over right." He slowed down his adept fingers, so the cabin boy could follow.

His blue eyes watched John carefully. Hans was an odd man. He generally didn't have a whole lot of interest in people; he didn't know very much about his crew mates, despite their time together. Most of the men aboard the ship were gruff and rude. Few of them said 'sir' except to the captain and occasionally Christopher or Damion. Most cabin boys were trouble making little bastards that would make more use tied to the bow as an ornament than as a sailor. It took a couple of beatings before they would do any sort of work. John was out of the ordinary and it didn't seem to be bad thing. Hans didn't like out of the ordinary. He was torn between his dislike of something new and liking that something new.
 
(Sorry for the late reply. It's been a hectic and tiring Christmas)

The princess tried to look as innocent as possible as Hans eyes studied her. Please don't find me out, please don't find me out, please... Victoria repeated to herself in her mind. On the outside she only gave him a nervous smile. A similar nervousness to the one he probably saw in every new young boy entering the ship as a cabin boy. Then Hans laughed. Relief washed over her and also she let out a laugh, though it was much smaller, and slightly nervous compared to the other man.

The knot was easy enough for Victoria to follow the steps without problems. Now the only issue would be to remember it in the future. Even when she thought he had stopped suspecting her, she could still feel his blue eyes piercing her. Would they be able to find what was hidden in her mind?

"Is this good enough sir?" The disguised girl asked as she finished the knot. It definitely looked right, even though her performance to create it probably looked a bit clumsy. But just because it looked right didn't mean it was strong enough. Sometimes one could follow instructions, make something that looked like a perfect copy, but then it was so weak it couldn't last long. She did not have any experience in tying ropes though, so she couldn't be sure if it was possible to fail in those kinds of ways in those instances.

"Do you mind me asking something?" Trying to get some information out of her co-workers wasn't such a bad idea in her opinion. Damion had not said much about the captain and Victoria wanted as much information as possible before she met him. That way she could make the best first impression and secure her place. "How's the captain? Is he easy to get along with?" Her nervousness probably shone through a lot in the last sentence, and maybe she even let it shine through. After all, being nervous over meeting the captain for the first time, knowing that one would spend most of their time serving him, was probably a rather normal thing. At least she hoped it was. A bad first impression would break it for both of them.
 
Hans could tell he was making the young man uncomfortable and he enjoyed it. He knew he had the ability to make people squirm with his blue gaze and used it as often as possible. Some of the crew avoided him for this reason. Some people were made very uncomfortable and would admit their secrets with a little persuasion. Hans didn't particularly care about their secrets, he just liked their reactions. Today he was feeling ornery and so continued to watch John.

"Not bad." He said, examining her knot. As a princess, the only knots she probably knew where used in needle point with a thin string, not the hefty rope. Most boys had no trouble with the square knot. Some of the more complicated knots took a bit of practice. He usually watched over them for a few weeks to make sure everything was accurate.

When John asked about the captain, Hans paused a moment. "He's a good man, a great drinking partner. He has the crew's trust, that's for sure. He's willing to try things most men would never dare and somehow pulls through. We get paid well."
 
Drinking partner. Not really what she had wanted to hear. Victoria hadn't really planned to drink anything on the journey, and she doubted they would even let her considering the age they thought she was. At least she hoped they wouldn't let her. While she had tasted wine a few times, she wasn't much for drinking. On top of that she was quite frightened that she might get drunk easily. Most people in her family had a hard time holding their liquor, even her father, the king himself.

At the very least it was nice to hear that the crew seemed to respect him and thought him as a good man. That probably meant he wouldn't be such a scary person. Maybe a bit strict, but that was to be expected of a captain. Speaking of scary, she still hadn't seen that scary idiot from the day before. Considering the guy he was walking with worked on this ship, shouldn't he also? Oh well, if that Damion didn't recognize her, then she doubted the other man would. Hopefully she wouldn't have to interact with him too much.

"I'm glad to hear that. It's quite nervous to not know who you're going to work beside for most of the time. But if he's like that, I don't think I have anything to worry about." Victoria said quite relieved before she looked back at Hans and once again was reminded of his blue eyes that still were staring a hole into her mind. "Uhm... Any particular reason you're looking at me like that?" She asked, trying to sound more curious than nervous. Of course the complete opposite ended up happening.
 
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