บท 40: Rum
The euphoria of the discovery didn't last long. The word got out that Serenica had been giving the paw to someone, and while no one seemed to be aware that it was the highly respected bookkeeper who had needed it, everyone knew that Serenica had been using it as well.
"Ain't fair of you, having fun on your own," Seppei complained.
Serenica didn't feel like explaining herself and giving away intimate details about Myorka's worst memories.
"You think it's about having fun? I did what I had to do."
It wasn't enough for Seppei, and it sure wasn't enough for the crew in general.
She went to seek advice from Spade, but the captain merely shrugged.
"You made your bed, Ingram. I can try and soothe them, but you won't like it."
"I will like it even less if someone stabs me as I sleep," Serenica replied. "Please try. Whatever it takes."
The way Spade intended to boost the spirits of his crew included a lot of rum. Serenica had to admit it - she had made a very poor choice. Again. She did have a deal with the Admiral about these things, after all.
"I didn't intend this," she complained to the first mate as bottles were opened and packs of playing cards taken out.
"Yet it happened," the man said, apparently just as annoyed as she was. "We'll have to make the best of it. Make sure they eat something, and see that they drink water as well."
Serenica could not really focus on having fun. Her mind was on the lack of tasty white bread and snacks. They had given the best pieces to Innai, and the pirates were picky, they had to be truly hungry to eat the darker variety of bread. She rummaged through the cupboards and the hold and found a few magically preserved bananas. A tropical fruit, peculiar in appearance and smooth in taste, it was a healthy bite that any reasonable sailors would have loved.
Pity she wasn't sailing with reasonable men.
"Come on, you animal," Seppei said to her as she was enjoying a single banana. "You wanted a party, now you have one."
Serenica wanted to say that there was nothing she desired less, but she was given a bottle and the expecting eyes of the pirates gathered around her made her feel like she was at least partially forced to partake in these inane festivities.
The rum was good, though. It was of the dark variety of the islands, with plenty of notes of vanilla and other sweet things that Serenica did not immediately recognize.
"I must not overdo it this time," she said more to herself than to anyone else.
"Huh?" Heike asked. "Is there such a thing?"
"No, there is not," Serenica said sarcastically. "There is nothing better than choking on one's own vomit. It's absolutely splendid. Terrific. I love to drink until I lose my gold, my memory and my self-respect."
"She knows," Heike said and nodded approvingly.
Serenica wanted to shake the old drunkard and scream at him.
At least the card games were amusing. They couldn't actually gamble, but just the sheer competitiveness of her fellow players made Serenica enjoy the thrill of absolutely eviscerating Seppei or Heike with an ace or two, until she lost three hands in a row and one of the older Johns called her a buffoon. It was a loving insult, though.
"Now...lest we all want to participate in a fistfight out of the sullen drunkenness of our wretched hearts, I suggest we dine," Serenica said. She was feeling pompous and invincible.
"What might the lady suggest, the lady whose curls rival the darkness of ebony and whose hands have a peculiar ability of soothing all aches?" Heike shot right back at her.
Serenica was impressed. Perhaps the old sailor was not as stupid as he looked.
"Oh, I don't know. Fresh fruit," she suggested.
The men looked disappointed.
"I have heard that fresh fruit enhances the masculine vitality," she suggested. It wasn't an outright lie. Surely fresh fruit didn't harm said quality, at the very least.
The bananas seemed to become a delicacy in the next fifteen minutes. Seppei asked her if the peel should be eaten as well.
Serenica was in a sly mood. She had been made to look like a fool so many times. It was someone else's turn now.
"It will not harm your chances, I'd say."
She spent a moment admiring the spectacle of the young pirate chewing on a banana peel.
It might have been a residual effect of the paw, or something else entirely, but Serenica started to feel nauseous at some point. Perhaps she had merely overdone it with the rum despite her best efforts.
She felt ashamed of her weak constitution. It seemed to her that the men did truly see her as one of their own - as a man. Pity she wasn't one. She was quite small in size, and the amount of substances she could consume without feeling ill was a fraction of what a grown male could drink or smoke. Neither did she have strong arms to use to hang from the rigging or win a fight, rather, her one and only card was her cunning, and that placed her nominally in the same category with the higher-ups, who were more intellectually oriented than the common pirates.
Except that she wasn't one of the bosses. She lacked some vital characteristics needed to command respect, confidence, for example. She wasn't a maritimely learned individual.
She wondered what in the names of all known gods she was doing here. The swinging of the inner pendulum of her mind coincided with the rocking motions of the Princess, and she had to bend over the gunwale and vomit.
"Won't you look at her," Gadfly said, but no one was interested. "Is there a word for when you tell others to not do a thing you do yourself?"
"It's called being a hypocrite," Serenica said and wiped her mouth.
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