<div class="floatleft">(https://i.ibb.co/D7kgDDB/esme2.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Esmeralda ('Esme') Alcantara (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=300519.msg14700109#msg14700109)<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Port Royal – Primary Upper Deck, aboard<em>The Esperanza</em><br/><strong>Time &amp; Date</strong>: Day 1 | Morning<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Open<br/><strong>Content:</strong>Background, boarding the ship, and playing the tune of<em>Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Bottle of Rum!</em>on her flute.<br/><hr/><br/>It wasn’t the clinking of bottles that roused her, nor the heavy footsteps upon the old, wooden floorboards getting louder and louder as they approached. No, it was the unceremonious<em>jab</em>of a boot toe against the meat of her thigh, that forced her eyes to open with a jerked startle.<strong><em>“Move it yer lazy swine!”</em></strong>The burly voice of the tavern-keeper barked, and for the sake of it, he kicked her again.<strong><em>“This ain’t no bleedin’ inn. ‘less you be spendin’ coin fer the priv’ledge.”</em></strong><br/><br/>The taste of sweet rum mixed with bitter ale still lingered on her tongue, but it was stale now; much like the remnants of a sticky residue betwixt her thighs, beneath her crinkled skirts. Some equally hungover sailor was belching outside the tavern doors, and the sudden sound of him dry heaving, almost encouraged her to regurgitate the contents of her own, booze-quenched stomach. Instead, she groaned and waved the tavern-keeper away.<strong>“I’m <em>go</em>-ing, I’m <em>go</em>-ing.”</strong>Her Spanish accent practically sang, and she quickly shifted to avoid the determined toe of his boot.<strong>“Stop <em>kicking</em> me<em>eee</em>!”</strong><br/><br/>Begrudgingly, he relented to her whining, and grumbled as he moved aside to brutally wake up the next drunken louse. Pushing herself onto her knees, her woozy head spun slightly, slowing her full ascent onto unbalanced feet. After swaying and catching herself against the corner of a wooden table, she patted herself down to check that her purse and satchel of tarot cards were still present in the hidden pockets of her skirts. Satisfied that she hadn’t been robbed in the night, she staggered to the wide-open doors, but paused in the doorway to leave her parting words.<strong>“Next you see me, you’ll be <em>begging</em> for my coin, you bastardo of a poxy <em>whore</em>!”</strong>Burning her bridges at that particular tavern, she spat on the floor and quickly fled before his bulldozing wrath could catch up to her.<br/><br/>The evening had been rowdier than usual, thanks to the arrival of a grey-haired man openly seeking out crew members. Of all the tavern wenches, one had grasped at the opportunity to ply her trade through fortune-telling, and she soon had the men flocking to sign their name as she declared that the fates would smile upon this ‘<em>Esperanza</em>’. Eventually, she’d slipped down upon the stool opposite the recruiter and told him exactly why he’d need her presence on board.<strong>“You’ll be thanking me for my pretty ditties and sea shanties when the morale is low and the barrels are dry.”</strong>Not to mention that he might be hard-pressed to find a surgeon willing to board a ship, but she was the next best thing in terms of concocting herbal remedies to soothe the pain.<strong>“Esmeralda Alcantara is <em>very</em> useful,”</strong>she'd referred to herself in third person.<strong>“You’ll see.”</strong><br/><br/>Having returned to the tiny room she’d been renting in a nearby boarding house, she packed what little she had into a blanket bundle, cleaned herself down with a wet rag, and was glad to see the last of the piss-soaked alley. With her small guitar slung over her back, she'd trudged through the marketplace down to the docks, and stopped only to purchase a few essentials with what little coin she had to spare: A bar of soap –<em>no</em>, make that<em>two</em>, a new pair of woollen stockings to replace the ones with far too many holes, and a freshly baked, Zucchini bread roll to chew on for breakfast.<br/><br/>At the docks, all other ships were put to shame by the sight of the large frigate towering over them. 'The Esperanza' was indeed a sight to behold, but so was the sparkling, green jewel lodged between the planks of wood upon the docks, suddenly spotted by widened brown eyes. Shamelessly, she bent over to pry the gem from the crack and held it up to the sunlight as she straightened up. It was far too light to be worth anything, and she soon determined that it was nothing more than an earring made from glass. Still,<em>waste not, want not</em>, and so she wet her tongue against her thumb to clean the silver loop before slotting it through her pierced, right ear. Following and pushing through the crowds of people, the dangling, fake emerald sparkled against her bronzed neck, as she eventually gathered up her skirts and started to climb up the plank leading to the main deck of the grand ship.<br/><br/>Light brown eyes lifted to acknowledge the two men and the red-haired woman upon the quarterdeck, overlooking the arrivals. Esmeralda recognised the grinning grey-haired man, but as for the other two, she presumed that they were both a position of worth upon the ship. Was one of them the captain?<em>Perhaps.</em>The woman at least, was dressed finely enough, but tales of female captains were few and far between. The other man was clearly complaining, even though she couldn’t hear his words above the hustle of the gathering crew; she could see that he was unimpressed by something by his animated gestures and expressions. Another, dark-haired man was fervently checking the ship, passing along the deck far more attentively than others. Her own attention was quickly snagged then by the handful of overtly-excited, giggling whores walking behind her, and she stepped aside, both to let them pass, and to distinguish herself as<em>not one of them</em>. Even though she was dressed in a similar fashion as they were, complete with bosom-enhancing corset and brightly coloured skirts of vibrant yellow beneath a dress of blue and paler yellow fabric. Instead of mingling like those whores though, she lifted the guitar strap over her head, and rested the instrument against the side of the ship. Perching her rear against a lone barrel, she then dropped her bundle of possessions to fish through the cloth until she retrieved her wooden flute. A little music might lift the grumpy spirits and help to move people’s feet a little more quickly along the plank. Such was her thinking as she propped herself up on the barrel, crossed one leg over the other, and pursed her lips against the raised instrument. Soon enough, after a few clumsy breaths against the wood, the merry notes of<em>'Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Bottle of Rum!'</em>sweetened the air.<br/><br/>Even as she played though, her roaming gaze carefully acknowledged each of the crew members still walking aboard the deck, finding their place upon the ship: A woman with wild, curly dark hair tied with a more feminine green ribbon, standing with her arms folded across from her; two quiet men of varying shades venturing below deck, no doubt soon to be followed by others seeking out a space to call their own; and, back to the dark haired man from moments ago, stomping his feet loudly by a seated woman, who looked a little soured by the early hour, and the warmth of the sunrise. Smiling against her flute, it occurred to Esmeralda that she should harass the grey-haired man for her own lodgings shortly, even though the likelihood of getting what she wanted right now, was slim to none.<em>All in good time</em>, she reassured herself, and began to optimistically tap her foot to the merry tune whilst she played on.<br/>