(no subject)

[bringmethatnpc]

The deck of the Black Pearl is full of activity as the crew hastens about, making ready to set sail. Whether hauling lines or hoisting sails, securing the longboats or tying down nets, everyone has work to do and is busily seeing to it.

Everyone, that is, save Will Turner, who is still lying unconscious on the deck.

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[pirate_jack]

He hears this all too clearly.

Jack stops searching through the dirt and sits up, eyes wide with horror.

[turned_captain]

They'll have to work together. Elizabeth is as capable as any member of the crew at keeping a level head in a tight situation - more so, given this situation. Trusting her to be OK, Will strides towards the stairs, issuing commands without looking to Jack.

"To arms!"

[bringmethatnpc]

"Load guns, defend the masts!" After a lifetime at sea, few are more skilled at bringing a crew into battle than Gibbs. It might be why he lasted as long as he did int he navy, despite his years inside the bottle.

[turned_captain]

Folowed closely by both of them, Will rushes dow the quarterdeck stairs.

"It’ll attack to starboard," he tells them. "I’ve seen it before!"

It's as much trying to seem confident and bypassing everyone's fears than it is actually predicting the thing after one encounter. But he whips a sword out of a barrel of them nearthe foot of the stairs. Things feel better when you have a sword in your hand.

"Run out the cannons and hold for my signal!"

[pirate_jack]

The Pearl's main deck is a flurry of activity as all members of the crew scramble to secure lines and man their stations, grabbing guns and blades and bottles of rum.

In the ensuing chaos, Jack alone stands still and silent, with the dirt blowing around his feet. He glances around, then heads quickly to starboard.

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

Ragetti and Pintel scuttle for the stairs and head for a cannon, hastily making it ready.

[bringmethatnpc]

Above, the Black Pearl's deck boils with activity. Sailors are running, shouting, scurrying up rigging and around holes in the deck.

Nobody's noticed yet that it's already too late.

Because slowly, slowly, tentacles are sliding over the hull.

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

Pintel busies himself with the fuse.

. . . Right up until Ragetti nudges him, and points towards the gun port, where huge suckers are sliding past.



Pintel silently wishes to know if he can shoot the thing now.

[gotmy-eye.livejournal.com]

From the horrified look on Ragetti's face, he's not alone.

Ragetti's becomes so distracted with the huge tentacle sluggily creeping up the side of the ship that he nearly jumps when Will speaks again.

[turned_captain]

He's running down form above decks as he does so, head filled with plans.

"Easy boys."

[try_corsets]

Above deck, Elizabeth and the other crew members clutch harpoons and steadily back away from the rail as a giant, slimy tentacle appears.

Worriedly, "Will?"

[turned_captain]

"Steady," Will says, holding a hand out to prevent early fire. "Steady."

[try_corsets]

More tentacle.

"Will?"

Elizabeth casts a look over her shoulder towards the stairs, her voice raising.

[turned_captain]

"Hold," Will insists, and louder, "hold!"

They mustn't waste their shot. Get it where it's weak.

[cleverparasol.livejournal.com]

"I think we've held fire long enough!"

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth and the pirates above deck are almost against the opposite railing. She knows Will can be a bit slow to respond, but this is ridiculous.

There's no more time and no more room.

Insistently, "WILL!"

It's a tone of voice he likely expects to find himself quite familiar with in coming years.

[turned_captain]

That 'WILL' is not, is most definitely and completely and absolutely not, why Will decides that now is the optimal time, and shouts:

"FIRE!"




Absolutely not. It was just the right time.

[bringmethatnpc]

Cannonballs slam through the huge tentacles, blasting away chunks of flesh. The kraken's monstrous arms thrash wildly, smashing into the deck and churning the sea to a boil.

Elizabeth ducks hastily as thirty yards of tentacle, blown nearly off, crash to the deck and splinter a longboat before slithering into the sea. All around is the thunder of cannon-fire, of shattering wood and screaming men.

[turned_captain]

The crew erupts into celebration, and all run to the railing to watch the beast sink, Will and Elizabeth among them.

"It’ll be back," Will says darkly. He knows this isn't forever. Clutching Elizabeth's arm, he leads her to the opposite rail, away from the cheering crew. "We have to get off the ship."

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth nods seriously, even as she points out the obvious flaw to this plan.

"There’s no boats."

Everything else is forgotten, and she gestures impatiently at the crushed longboat nearby, frowning.

They will just have to find some other away.

[turned_captain]

Will stares at the smashed boat in despair. They need another way.

That other way presents itself in the form of a single, miraculously unharmed cask of gunpowder, and Will gets a plan.

That doesn't involve swords. He feels he's growing as a person.

"Pull the grates!" He yells sharply, striding across the deck to get everyone's attention. "Get all the gunpowder onto a net in the cargo hold!"

[bringmethatnpc]

The crew jump to obey his orders, following him as loyally as they follow jack. All the gunpowder they can salvage is bundled up and carried down into the hold.

[turned_captain]

One of the crew passing by the two on the deck is carrying a pair of muskets. Will grabs one as he passes, and presents the handle to Elizabeth.

"Whatever you do, don't miss."

He trusts her.

[try_corsets]

Their eyes meet, and Elizabeth finds she is quite proud of Will at the moment.

She nods, curling her fingers around the musket.

"As soon as you're clear," she agrees, not willing to budge on that point.

[bringmethatnpc]

Shouting back and forth to each other, the men set to with more speed and enthusiasm than has been seen on board in quite some time. Of course, they've never had such a monster nipping at their heels, either.

They pull up the grates on both the main deck and gundeck, tossing barrels of gunpowder into the cargo hold where others await with the net.

The task doesn't take as long as it should.

One of the pirates recently acquired in Tortuga looks up at Gibbs and spreads his hands wide.

"We are short-stocked on gunpowder! Six barrels!"

Bet he gives an ass rat's now.