The Sparrows |{Jack Sparrow x OC}|

Chapter 5

"Auntie?" I peered inside the door of the costume room for the performers, hurriedly looking for Nina. I creaked open the door, brushing past rows of colorful veils, coin scarves, bottles of cosmetics on the floor. 

"Over here Flori, darlin." Nina was bent over looking in a mirror, simultaneously applying blood red lipstick and powder to her cleavage. She snapped upright, adjusting her bustier, and lovingly smiled at me. "Come ova here and sit with your auntie and fix her rouge why don't ya." She elegantly sat at the vanity stool beneath her and motioned for me to come closer, holding out her hands for mine. I hastily brushed past other performers and took the sweet woman's hands in mine, giving them a gentle squeeze. She was a dazzling woman, though with deeper crow's feet and strands of grey in her hair than when she first taught me to hip dance. "Why so quick, child?" She exaggerated surprise while eyeing me playfully. "Ya got somewhere to be this late?"

"Truthfully," I said, taking a seat beside her and selecting a deep berry blush from the vanity. "Something, uh, unexpected happened this evening." 

Nina heartily laughed and smiled mischievously with her golden brown eyes. "Does it have somethin' to do with that man i saw ye talkin' to?" We both chuckled. 

I dipped the brush into the pain and swirl edthe purple cream. Nina closed her eyes, expectantly waiting for me to apply the rouge. "In a way, it does, actually." I began dabbing the blush to her high-boned cheeks and nose. 

"Eh?" She opened one eye with a scolding look. "I won't be havin' some penniless pirate take ma baby away makin' them false promises."

I gave Nina a bittersweet look. After my parents were killed leaving me stranded on Port Royal, I was lucky to have found a mother-figure, protecting me when I was young and guiding me as I grew into a woman. Loving me like a mother after mine was stolen far too quickly. "Not that one exactly, Nina." I smoothed the product into her skin. "Do you remember when I told you about my friend, Jackie?"

Nina smiled. "Oh I remember yer stories of your parents' adventures." She laughed, conjuring up some memory in her mind. "I do remember ye telling me of yer little playmate." She synched her brow. "But baby, that man looks too old to be the little bright-eyed friend of your past." 

I began drawing black lines framing her eyes how she liked. "No Nina, it wasn't that man. Another joined us when we left the club. He..." I paused, remembering the same warm brown eyes and hair, the way he gestured emphatically, drawing in all to listen to his ideas. "He was Jackie. I know it. He knew my parents... it was him. Now he says he's captain of the Black Pearl." 

Nina gently pushed the brush away from her eyes and looked at me, sternly. "What does he want, Flori?"

"He had a map, identical to the one my father had, I could swear it." Nina listened intently, not interrupting. "It leads to an island supposedly hiding old Spanish treasure. If we could use both pieces of the map, then... well, we'd be rich. I could come back, get you a house odd Port Royal, auntie. So you wouldn't need to keep dancing." 

Nina's cautious expression melted into a melancholy smile. "Child, I love ye, though I didn't know your motha', I know you got her spirit. Ya don't gotta explain these longings to me, Flori. They're in your blood just like they were in mine when I was young." She stroked my forearm, the pirate blood beneath. "Don't worry about me, Love. Ye gave me a chance to grow ya up, when I couldn't have a child of me own." She cupped my chin in her hand. "If you sure this be your Jackie, go, follow your heart. Have an adventure. Ye deserve a life more than sittin' on this rock forever." Her eyes darkened, "but be wary. Ye may know this boy, but ya don't know who be with him on that boat."

I nodded. "Yes, Nina." I finished elongating the lines, creating a cat-like allure to the woman who gave me love when it was ripped out from under me. 

We both bit back tears when she said, "go, pirates don't stay docked in daylight." I nodded and squeezed her hand. "Remember ma Flori, you have the gift of deceit that women with a hard life possess, use it if ye must. Just keep yourself alive and happy for your auntie." She wrapped me in her warm embrace, I felt a tear hit the back of my shoulder.

"Thank you, Nina. You grew me up just fine." I smiled and hurried out of the room before I would burst into tears. I looked back quickly, to blow a kiss to the only mother I vividly remembered and rushed out the back door into the night.