Captain Rotter had certain ideas as to how a pirate vessel ought to be. He encouraged his pirates to speak with an accent, the thicker the better, even though he, himself, did not ordinarily use one. Captain Rotter rewarded sailor shanties when he was in a good mood, and when he was in a bad mood they could lessen the risk of punishment. If Rotter was in a terrible mood no song could save you, but now at dinnertime he was quite merry. Even a mystical, flying ghost ship should have a merry yo-ho-ho to it, he felt, and while the crew sang loudly Rotter sang silently to himself.<br/>Admittedly, Rotter had always felt bad he did not have a peg leg and he was too much of a coward to chop his own hand off, despite recognizing a hook far surpassed a hand in all but practicality.<br/><br/>He was not much of a pirate himself, really, apart from committing piracy on a daily basis, and even that was a dubious claim since his ship never touched the water. He drank plenty of rum, but in secret he thinned it with sugary water. He had a great love of white wine and much preferred ale, and enforcing the rumors that he had once long ago been a Dane, he treasured mead above gold. Alternatively he might have been Dutch, as no one could understand the language he sometimes cursed the sea and its gods in. Rotter was a strange case: when he was in a good mood he was a terrible pirate; when he was in a bad mood he was a terrible human.<br/><br/>"Now let ev'ry man drink off his full bumper,<br/>And let ev'ry man drink off his full bowl<br/>We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy,<br/>And here's to the health of each true-hearted soul."<br/><br/>Rotter was silently singing to himself - omitting the verses referring to being in the British navy - when Aris knocked on the door and before he had a chance to tell her to enter she entered. Rotter was holding a goblet of what he claimed to be rum, but which he made sure to place out of her immediate line of sight rather than on the dinner table.<br/>"Good evening, young squire," he said in his affable manner and pulled out a chair for himself and gestured for her to sit at opposite end of the table.<br/><br/>Rotter began to eat without acknowledging the soup, but he also showed no signs of displeasure with it. â€œDo you know how old I am, Aris? The Rotsman has sailed the skies for 267 years, and I have always been at the helm â€“ if the helm is the part of the ship where a captain is typically found. I, captain Rotter, might very well be the oldest man alive, unless my name is really Cummerbund and I took over as dread pirate Rotter when the previous captain retired to Tahiti. As old as I am, did you really think two bowls of soup would be enough? Sit here and wait for me to finish, then you will bring me more. In the meantime, I might have one or two things you want to hear.â€<br/>And for the next three minutes Rotter did not say a word.<br/><br/>"Howâ€™s the jaw, girl?â€ He spoke when the first bowl of turtle soup was devoured and Aris pushed the other towards him.  â€œI am not going to apologize, but I do hope it does not hurt too much." He took another spoonful of the soup. "I sail a loose ship here, girl. I allow my pirates to do mostly what they want, and I do not care for discipline or honors. Still, I can do whatever I want for myself; they fear or respect me too much to as much as complain when I do something unorthodox. However, should I let a stowaway get away with assault, there would be dissent. They would seek vengeance, you know.â€<br/><br/>Rotter sipped his soup and looked quite pleased. Apparently that spoonful had tasted better than the others. "This is the first time I've had turtle soup. I confess it is satisfying given my history." He chuckled to himself as if he had told a joke only he could understand. Then he let his face become slightly more serious, although still not threatening.<br/><br/>"Do you understand why I had to do it, girl, punch your face? You hurt a pirate! I'm sure he deserved it, what with being a pirate and all, but I could not prevent him from taking revenge without damaging morale on the ship. Sure, I could have enforced a strict rule of you not being touched, but my solution was satisfying for all parts but yours. You got punished by the captain. I punched you, and you still live. This was enough revenge for the crew and I could order you unharmed without sowing dissent. If I had not punched you the pirate you stabbed and his mates would surely have taken it upon themselves to pay you back, and I assure you they would not stop at a wounded jaw. So, I hope you do not hate me too much for my act."<br/><br/>Rotter leaned over the table and swept the bowl aside, and suddenly he looked almost serious beneath his two tricorn hats and three coats. â€œI need you on my side, Aris. I want you to survive this ghost ship.â€ Rotter looked from side to side, making sure his body signaled as clearly as possible that he was being secretive. â€œYou cannot tell this to anyone, it is between just you and I, but I am hunting for the Pearl of Atlantis.â€ He put his finger to his lips and continued in whisper:  â€œIt is a treasure that surpasses even my own legend, and for this men will betray me. Me!â€ He shouted the last word and looked a bit startled and the crouched over the table again and continued to whisper: â€œThey will do anything to possess the pearl, and I need someone I can trust, to weed out the dissidents and blood-traitors and mutineers!â€<br/>Rotter shouted again and pounded the table with such force the half-empty bowl jumped in the air and spilled its remaining content over his hands, which he pretended not to notice.<br/>â€œHere is my proposal, Chaos-heart Aris, you will be my spy. Everyone thinks I will see you dead come morning, so you have all believable reason in the world to seek out all pirates and ask them how to stay alive. You can get close to them, and be adopted into their groups, and then, bam, you tell me and I hang the bally whole lot oâ€™ â€˜em. You can get your swords back and stab any whoâ€¦ well, whatever the pirate you first stabbed did to deserve it you can now actually stab back without being punched in the face. In a week I will make you an official pirate and you will be rewarded in gold and whatever else you desire. Do we have a deal, Aris? Good, then go out there and mingle with the crowd, seek superfluous means of surviving my pretended wrath, and clean my table and get me two more bowls of soup, because this is quite frankly delicious.â€