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 Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:28 pm
Thursday meant another day of working on the ship, and found Tock and Jake in their usual places on the beach, using a shell to plane wood into planks for the ship. They were surprisingly quiet this day, each sore from the days of chopping down trees.
They didn't expect any of the other kids to join them, since fixing the ship took a lot of work and had very little pay off. Why work there when you could be searching for treasure somewhere else?
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:36 pm
Who was that trotting up the beach just now? It was none other than Sparry, a wicked grin on her face and a length of rope over her shoulder. Despite having run off when the ties on her captive broke, she had gone back to see if the rope was still there and had managed to recover a good bit of it. The sparkling stone - a pearl? a gem? - and the gold coin she had taken were warm in her hand, loot well plundered.
She stepped up beside Tock and Jake and inspected their work.
"Hi, guys!" she said, watching them chop boards. Most of the crew went running when Jake and Tock started looking for people to help with repair work, but she was happy to be useful. "Can I help?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:41 pm
"Nope!" Jake said, still planing the wood carefully. Curly strips of wood fell to the ground beside him.
"She can help," Tock said. "Sparry, bring us some water, would you? I'm thirsty."
"Oh, that kinda help," Jake said, finally looking up. "Wha'd you do today, Sparry?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:59 pm
"Hung a lost kid from a tree by his ankle," said Sparry happily. It would take a bit to get water - she'd have to go back to the ship and get and jug, then walk all the way up to the spring head in the woods, and then walk all the way back to give it to Tock.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she asked suspiciously.
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:08 pm
"Absolutely--"
"Not," Tock said before Jake could stop. "There's water in the jug over there," he added, pointing to the jug a few feet away. "I got it on Monday."
Jake sighed. There was no chance she'd actually be useful for this GUY stuff! She was a weakling girl!
"So what loot did you get out of it?" Tock asked.
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:14 pm
"A coin and a sparkly stone," replied Sparry, holding out her upturned palm and wrinkling her nose. "I smelled gold on him, but this was all I found when I turned out his pockets." She didn't mention that turning out his pockets was all she'd had time to do before the rope broke and her captive escaped, but whatever. They didn't need to know that particular slip-up, now did they?
Sparry looked over at the water jug. It would still be a long walk to the spring and back, but not nearly as long as it would have been if she'd had to go to the ship. She retrieved it and stood at attention.
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:21 pm
He took it from her and gulped down water before handing it to Jake. "So why are you back so early?" he asked as Jake finished drinking and handed the jug to her. "Since today seems to be a good day for looting."
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:39 pm
Sparry shifted from foot to foot, dodging the question. "I sort of sat around for a bit waiting - I had a trap set up an' everything, the kind where they step in it and it whips 'em up in the air by the foot? - but I only ever saw the first wussy kid and after a while I didn't smell any more gold nearby an' I was getting kinda hungry anyway to I packed up and came back."
Well, no, she wasn't hungry, but it was as good a segue as any.
"Speaking of which," she added, gulping down the last few mouthfuls of water that Jake and Tock had left in the jar, "What's all this I've been hearin' about cabbages lately?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:42 pm
Tock and Jake looked at each other for a moment before Jake spoke. "You're the one after them, you tell her."
"Yeah, but I don't know what's with the cabbages any more than anyone else does," Tock muttered.
"But you got a reason to get'em, right?"
"Well, yeah..."
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:55 pm
Sparry tapped her foot in the sand impatiently while the boys tossed the buck around.
"Well, one of you is gonna tell me, right?" she asked, trying to keep frustration out of her voice.. Why were boys such... boys?
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:15 pm
He wants the cabbages cuz the tree brats want the cabbages," Jake said.
"That's right," Tock said. "And anything that the tree brats want must be worth somethin, right?" Maybe. He had met some really stupid tree brats before.
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:40 pm
Sparry considered it. The lost kids wanted the cabbages? "So, 'cuz you know that the tree brats never eat vegetables, there's gotta be something special going on?" she deduced. Then again, the pirates never ate vegetables, either. Vegetables were the devil's fruit to be avoided at all costs. So, whatever the cabbages did, it was more than just going really well in salad.
"So, if you heard about it from the tree brats," she said, eyes narrowing, "Where'd the tree brats hear about 'em? I mean, they're not smart enough to make up a treasure disguised as cabbages."
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:50 pm
"We just did," Jake said.
"There were adults at the tree house," Tock said, a lot more patiently than Jake. "They were offerin' somethin' called candy for the cabbages. So all the hut brats are now searching for the cabbages to get the candy."
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:59 pm
"Adults?" asked Sparry. "Like, feien?" The only adults she'd ever seen were the magical, miniature ones. And the mermaids, but they didn't count. People the size of her and Jake and Tock didn't grow up. Or, at least not in Neverland. At least, she didn't think they did...
"And what's candy? Is it like treasure? Gold?"
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Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:02 pm
"Dunno," Tock admitted. "But if it is, do we really want those brats getting it, when we could?"
Jake nodded, agreeing with that one. He had no clue that Tock had another reason for wanting the cabbages. He hadn't been there for the scene with Silva.
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