physarose jack sparrow x florence vance

chapter 2- a new crewmate

He matched her frown with curiosity of his own, "Why did you stay- or better yet, why didn't you just eat me? You bloody well had the chance to." He bent down to her level, flinching as she flicked her tail into the water.

"You're pretty enough to tempt any woman," she grinned again, with a glitter of intent behind her teeth, "plus, you're my only option."

Jack straightened up and contained a proud gleam on his features; a complement from a siren definitely checked off a mark on his bucket list.

Florence laughed, "Is it fun on a ship? A pirate ship?"

"Well, not necessarily fun-"

"But you must get so bored on board ship," Florence pointed out.

Jack laughed at her impatience, "not at all- I never stop thinking, especially now that I know av' got a siren in my memory." He flirted, his words still slurred since he woke up. The siren was starting to think he was just always in a state of half-drunkenness.

Florence hummed, "I could make myself very useful though... on a ship I mean. A pirate ship," she grinned. Her eyes glittered mischievously, "Maybe I could join your crew..."

Jack raised an eyebrow, "my crew?"

She grinned, "What do you say?"

Jack sighed, rubbing his temples and pinching the bridge of his nose. "If you promise not to kill anyone I have no reason to say no."

"Thank you!" Florence gasped, leaping up from the sands, wincing as her legs formed again and quickly wrapping his coat back around her waist.

Jack smirked, "What can you offer us?"

A sly smile played on her lips, "what are you looking for?"

Jack shrugged, "anything that fits my criteria, but I'd love to find a mermaid willing to work for free." He paused, considering, "why are you working for free?"

"well- not necessarily free- you won't have to pay me gold or anything- I just want saftey... more of protection I guess."

"Protection? Are you being hunted?" he leaned in closer after looking around, "or haunted?" he whispered."

"No! no, just I- I've never been on land before as a human for long. I want to know what it's like. I want to live as a human, not a mermaid. I'm sick of the same old boring routine. I want to spice things up a bit! go on adventures! Only problem is, I don't know how. Or how to pass as a human. If someone finds out I'm a siren, they'll kill me." She explains, showing numerous scars on her torso.

Jack's demeanor shifted and silence fell on them. The crashing of waves filled the space.

"m' sorry."

"What?"

"I said, how did you get that one?" He lied, pointing at a large gash just above her left hip bone with his index finger. His fingertip brushed aside her strawberry blonde hair and just grazed above the scare.

Her stomach muscles jumped back at his cool touch as she stared at him in shock. The audacity of this pirate to touch her.

bold move.

"It's no big deal," she muttered softly, shying away from his touch, "it's just from an anchor. I got too close to it and it was starting to pull up and I didn't realize it."

"I see..."

"Pierced right through my waist and dragged me up like a dead fish," she laughed at the analogy.

"Here's our ship," Jack nodded behind her at the small ship bobbing in the distance. He took the coat off from around her wast while looking away to give her privacy and unfolded it and held it out for her to put her arms through. He then dropped to his knees in the sand, watching her face flush as he buttoned up his coat that fell to her knees.  "Miss..." he waited for her to fill in the blank.

"Uh- Vance," she smiled toothily, trying to avoid his eyes in embarrassment " In all honesty I don't have a name, I stole that one from the wife of a sailor I killed. It was engraved in his locket." She grimaced, remembering the guilt she felt after taking that poor soul's life.

Jack rose from his knees, brushing off his pants and looking down at her as he adjusted his hat.

"So your name isn't Florance Vance?"

"Well no, but I- No. I just told you that." She narrowed her eyes, realizing he was babying her.

"Why did you do that?" She continued, gesturing to his coat now on her body. The leather brushing her skin, feather light.

" Common courtesy, luv. Hey, you know what? We're getting you a new name." Florence raised her eyebrows in humor. "You're going to be on my ship under my command, you're getting a new name. Florance Vance isn't a pirate name, nor a siren name, it's too... fancy." Jack rambled while Florence laughed so hard she doubled over.

Her laugh was sweet, not a cute giggle, but a pure laugh with her smile that brought a grin to Jack's face even.

"You're a funny pirate, I'm glad I met you." she beamed once she recovered herself.

"Here we are," He nodded behind her at the ship that had a smallish boat coming their way.