(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.

Comments

[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.

[bringmethatnpc]

Gibbs, annoyed that they ran light on powder (knowing, of course that running heavy on powder is even more dangerous) turns and runs for the stairs, catching Will on the way down.

"There’s only half a dozen kegs of powder!"

[turned_captain]

"Then load the rum!" Will says shortly. Anything flammable.

[bringmethatnpc]

The crew goes silent. Such a thing...surely there has to be another way.

They look to Gibbs, stricken but in thought. And he knows that rum will do you no good if you are too dead to drink it.

"Aye, the rum too!"