Test the Waters (Cracker x Reader)

Take Your Chances

It didn't take long to gather everyone up and get them all in the second floor play room. With so many kids around, roughly 20 younger ones, it was handy to keep a bigger room dedicated to shared toys and activities. Now it was a handy place to keep them out of the way. The few other "kids" around your age agreed to keep an eye on the rest as you left the room to see what the fuss was about. Being the first of Atticus' group, no one asked you what you planned to do. They'd rather let you go and ask questions later.

Going down one of the many long hallways, you came to the second floor of the entry area. It was more of another large, open room going up entire hight of the mansion with banisters keeping the upper floors' hallways safe. If you crouched down, you could peek through the banisters and see the entry way hall from where you were, and past that, the front door.

The voices didn't carry as well as you'd hoped but you could tell one thing. There was more than one person at the door besides Atticus and they weren't anyone from town. You knew everyone in town, maybe not by name but you knew those voices weren't familiar. You peeked lower and saw a few pairs of boots. The first one belonged to Atticus, the second sporting black leather and spurs, a third with the toes curled up into a spiral, and a fourth that were simple brown leather. Three other men besides Atticus.

The voices raised slightly but were still too hard to understand. Tensions were definitely rising though. Your curiosity would be the death of you. You couldn't sit back and wait to figure out what was going on. Instead, you stood up carefully and crept to the stairs, moving down them slowly to avoid making any noise. They creaked ever so slightly but there was no way they'd be able to hear that. Once down them successfully, you quietly moved around the room, staying out of sight of the doorway as you got closer to the entryway hall.

With your back pressed against the wall, you were able to finally slide close enough to hear properly, being careful not to knock over a mallet leaned against the wall.

"I told you, it's just me living here, there's no one else."

"It's a pretty big place for one person to be living in alone, don't you think?" A smooth voice answered cooly.

"I'm remodeling it to sell later. Staying here while I do it is just convenient. Can you tell me what exactly you're looking for? Maybe I can help."

Go Atticus! He was slick when it came to lying. Having a house full of kids trained him to drop little white lies here and there to stop tantrums and such. Not your idea of great parenting but it was coming in handy now so you had no complaints.

"That's none of your concern." A deep voice rumbled.

"If it's particular foodstuff for your sweets you came to the wrong island I'm afraid. We aren't known for producing anything beneficial for that." Atticus went on.

Sweets...were they from the Charlotte family? Their territory was nearby, that was a big part of the reason pirates and Marines didn't come here. They didn't want to risk messing with a yonko. And with the islands lack of exemplary ingredients or sweets, the Charlottes left it alone.

"That's not what we're here for...I think we'll be taking a look around here. If you don't mind that is." There was a slight shuffling and you immediately panicked.

Atticus said no one lived here. If they found you they'd be immediately suspicious. You stepped back slowly, planning on slinking into the ballroom as it was only a few feet away. But you forgot about the mallet right behind you. Your foot just barely touched it, but it was enough to push it off balance and knock it down with a noisey clatter.

The shuffling stopped and the momentary tense silence was cut through with a low chuckle. "Just you huh? Sounds like you have a mouse problem then."