It was the eyes that did it, grey and irreverent, one could not hide such eyes as that and Nicolette wondered that more people didn’t catch on. But then typically this one had charms on display that kept eyes well away from such distinguishing features as eyes. But those charms were not on display just then, were they? And she so carelessly dropped her little endearment where anyone with ears could hear it, Silver Fish, no one else called the captain that. It seemed careless, but Nicki wondered. For all her irreverence the lookout did not strike her as careless. There had been a reason for everything, Nicki just needed to find it. This too was a change, changes weren’t in and of themselves bad, but they could make her skin prickle in unease until she saw which way the winds would blow. 

She let the woman walk away, her absurd hat shading those eyes and then turned back to the helmsman who so kindly pointed out her mistake. Nicki felt conflicted at the mistake, relief that there was no gut wound to worry about and angry that she’d jumped to conclusions and so publically. Mistakes were deadly, they made people doubt and she needed every one of the crew to have faith in a few things. They needed to believe that Nicki could keep them alive, they needed to believe that if they laid a hand on her unwillingly she would make them bleed. If they started doubting her efficacy then they might begin to doubt everything and she would have to reapply some convincing. She hated that, it was messy, it was unpredictable and it got harder each time. But this one was new, this one hadn’t believed in the first place and so perhaps nothing was lost in this exchange. Only time would tell, time and the placement of hands. 

She let him put on his little display and if she were moved by such things she might have admitted, if only to herself that it was an impressive display. This one, for all his debauchery and irreverent talk took care of himself. His teeth in that grin were white and even, strong. Which spoke of good eating and an attention to hygiene, something not often found in pirates. His body was fit and strong, not muscled with a coating of fat from an excess in living and lack of activity. No it was taut and worthy of an anatomist’s sketch book. Not that she sketched, not any more. And not that she would ask this one to let her draw his lines, his bones, his swells of muscle as they wove together under his skin to form a perfect specimen. 

Quickly she slipped her eyes to the side, as if annoyed, lest he think he had moved her with his display. As if she were some dim-plumaged female to be impressed by such displays. She was further spared embarrassment when the bottle he had so proudly displayed slipped and his instinctive move to save it gave her the answer for the question she had not yet asked. His hand. Before he spun like a little boy hiding something from his mother she saw the bandage on his hand. Her nose crinkled in disgust at the filthy rag and at the stubborn need to hide his injury from her. What did he think she was there for? To be posed at? Leered at? No she was there to mend, to direct and he was about to get a full dose of both.

She reached for his shoulder, ready to spin him to face her when he spun back which left her with her hand raised up plaintively and a tight, stubborn expression on her face. She rolled her eyes. 

“I do not know why they persist in this insistence. I am not one to play cards, so they have no reason to think me a master.” She couldn’t bring herself to say she was bad at cards, she wasn’t and her pride wouldn’t let her give voice to the lie. She was very good in fact. But that didn’t mean she had any intention of displaying such. 

“So you need not fear I will walk away with any of your booty this night, if you even have any left at this point.” She sniffed and took the bottle from him, her warm honeyed voice dripping with annoyance. 

“Now you will march with me back to the ship so that I may put you back together as is my job on the ship so that you might continue at your job. Then, le paon, we will meet the Captain at this Parakeet as we have been ordered. And you may have the satisfaction of fleecing me at cards.”