Never Trust Your Demons

36

The kiss is just as beautiful as the one at the dance, maybe even more so. He continues cradling my head in his hands as he pulls away.
"I love you too much to see you hurt..." Bill murmurs, wiping away my tears.
I smile. "Why'd I ever doubt you?"
Bill smiles back, but then glances aside and pulls back suddenly. "Whoa..."
Looking around, I realize the direction of his shock.
We're not exactly in the same spot anymore. The tent has disappeared, and our surroundings are trees.
"Wh-what just happened? Where'd everyone go?" I look around. Bill's staring at me in shock. "What?"
"We did it again!" He exclaims, a grin growing on his face. "We dimension hopped again!"
My eyes widen. "Are we-?"
"Not your home, I'm afraid..." Bill tsks while looking at a pocketwatch. "Looks like this dimension is still in the 1600s era. There's not gonna be a lot of action here beside Natives, but I know where there'll be more!"
"Bill, I-"
He snaps his fingers, and the trees around us are now buildings and peoples acting... drunk.
"Ta-daaaaa!"
"Where are we?" I ask. "And if you know how to do whatever it is we did and you have that teleporting magic, why aren't we going home?"
"I don't. Not yet. But anyways, why'd you want to leave Tortuga?" Bill links arms with me, dragging me towards a pub. "Best place to find adventure in this time!" He opens the door to the pub. Yay. More drunkenness. "Pirates come here to find a crew, a ship, et cetera..."
"Pirates?" I perk up. I've always had a fascination with the terrors of the seas. Part of me has always wanted to have a pirate adventure.
"I remember this one time," Bill nods, stealing a mug of liquor from a distracted patron. "I made a deal with a pirate. He wanted a special object he couldn't get on his own. He asked for my help and a certain amount of unexpected cleverness. He, honestly, was clumsy. I gave him dumb luck, making it work in his favor and look like he planned whatever he did. In exchange..."
"You possessed him?" I ask, watching in slight disgust as he takes a gulp.
"Yes. And don't look at me like that. I'm a demon from another dimension. I can't get drunk. I may have possibly driven him insane."
"Really?" We sit at a table in a darker corner of the building. "What was his name?"
"Hm... it's sort of escaped me..." He muses, leaning back. "Something to do with a bird... He had dreadlocks, and I recall he was rather attached to his affects, especially his hat. Oh what was it... John Robin?"
"Jack Sparrow?" I laugh.
He snaps his gloved fingers, pointing at me. "That's it!"
I nearly fall out of my chair. "Shut. up."
"What? I made a deal with the Jack Sparrow."
"He's real?!"
He shrugs and takes another drink. "In your dimension, yeah."
"Wow..." I sit there, breathless for a minute. Then I realize the odd stares I'm getting. "Do you think maybe it would be a good idea to get some clothes from this time? You know, just to fit in while we're here?" Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if we stayed for a bit. Bill can probably alter time-at least I'm pretty sure he still can-so we'd could maybe...go on a pirate adventure like I've been wanting my whole life.
Bill seems to read my mind, which is a reasonable assumption. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"
In a puff of bluish smoke, Bill's entire outfit is changed. A large black captains hat with feathers appears, an eye sitting in the middle of it. His suit changes into a half unbuttoned, black button up shirt and a long yellow cloak. His gloves remain and a black scarf ties itself around his neck. He leans his chair back, sticking his black boots up on the table.
"Hey look, I've still got a bit of cosplay power!"
"Nice," I smile. He definitely looks like a pirate, his eye patch just adding to the look. "But there's still my problem," I shrug, looking down at my sweater.
"Oh, sorry," Bill snaps his fingers and there's another puff of blue smoke. When it clears, I can hardly breathe. I look down and see I'm wearing one of those dumb old dresses with the tiny waist, my hair piled on top of my head. No wonder ladies had a reputation of fainting!
"Bill, I can't breath," I manage to choke out. I look across the table to see him laughing. "This isn't funny," I glare at him.
"It kind of is," He snickers. "You're wearing makeup and you look all fancy."
"Bill!" I growl.
"Fine, fine," He laughs, snapping his fingers again.
The third time the smoke clears, and I'm wearing something much more comfortable. Under my maroon-ish coat, I'm wearing a loose white shirt with a tight black one underneath. My pants tuck into brown, knee high boots. There's a belt sitting loosely around my waist. A sword with a gold handle lays in its sheath at my side. My hair is tied up in a black bandana, the tails hanging over my shoulder, and a brown, tri-corner hat sits snugly on top. Small, golden hoop earrings complete the ensemble.
"Better?" Bill asks, seeing my smile.
"Much."
I reach for my bag and find a leather satchel at my side. Nice.
"C'mon," I stand up. "I want to explore."
"Aw, but this is the best place to people watch!" He complains.
"People watch people get drunk," I grimace, accidentally-on-purpose knocking over his 3rd cup of alcohol.
"It's like that everywhere on this island..." He grumbles, snapping his fingers. Nothing happens, and he sighs. "Ugh, still no conjuring powers."
"But I don't feel enclosed out there," I grab his arm, pulling him up. "C'mon."

"I can't believe I'm in pirate-age Tortuga!" I gush, looking around. Despite my best efforts to stop him, Bill seems determined to prove he can't get drunk, stealing a bottle of rum or mug of beer from every other person we pass.
We pass two particularly intoxicated-looking men and one grabs my hat as we do.
"I'll take that," He laughs.
"Hey!" I growl. If there's one thing I love, it's my hats. "Give that back!"
"Aw, isn't that cute? She thinks that'll scare us. What could a li'l girl do to us?" His friend laughs and I clench my fists, glaring at the filthy man as he places my hat on his head.
"Just so you know," Bill whispers, that's your police box hat, just temporarily changed for this dimension"
"What?!" I turn to him.
"If you lose that, you lose your beloved baseball cap."
That makes me reach for my sword. NO ONE messes with my TARDIS hat.
The men suddenly stare at me in terror.
"I'd return the hat if i were you, mate," Bill snickers, using a Jack-Sparrow-like voice. The man with my hat tosses it towards me and the two of them run away.
"Huh..." I pick up the hat, brushing it off. "I couldn't have scared them off that easily..."
"Oh, i may have made your eyes flame purple for a second there..."
I turn to him in surprise. "Seriously?"
"Yep. And pirates are pretty wary when it comes to stuff like that."
I pause for a second. "Do they still do the whole witch burning stuff around now?"
He shrugs in response. "Yeah, and they certainly still hang pirates... but you're not worried about that, so why worry about being accused of practicing witchcraft?"
"What would they do to a pirate witch?"
"Set the gallows on fire, I suppose."
"Oh that's comforting."