User blog:Captn Jaq/Jaq's Story

Tavern Talk
They call me Ishmael. No, no. That's a flat out lie. They call me many things. Things that'll make yer grandmum blush.

I am a girl -- true -- a lass, a wench, a fair friend with no name to tie 'er down, but I was called Jaq, Jaquelina Finch. Jaq, Jaquelina, or Finch; never Jackie. If ye call me Jackie, I'll slit yer throat, kick ye to a shallow ditch, and let the sun breed maggots in ye like dead dog.

Oh silence yerself, mate. There's no need for the formalities 'ere. I'm a 'umble person at 'eart. Never one for pomp and flourish. See? Even me dagger. No longer than a palm. It doesn't even surpass me own finger tip.

Aye. Right by you, mate. I best pocket it away now fer safe keepin'. I lost my cutlass to an officer of the king's navy just the other day when its blade found itself lodged into 'is leg. I 'ad that sword for the past two and twenty years. A shame to see it go, 'obblin' a long like that.

And aye. That be me 'and on yer 'ilt and not just me finger pointed to yer chest. Now, be a fair friend and lend a girl a sword. I'll keep it in good condition. I promise. == Of Home== My mother worked at a house of ill-repute, a tavern, a salon of leisure, serving drams of liquor and her time to those who sought her. Mother was a woman of her word and defended her will and the will of those who could not defend their own -- including mine.

Some called her wench while others lady, but only one -- as so I have been told -- called her by her given name, Helen. Never my lovely Helen, my precious Helen,my dearest Helen. Just Helen. "For why challenge the name of mariner legend if ye not wish to challenge the legend herself," as so said my father... from what I have been told.

My father was no poor man or rich man either. He was no merchant sailor or naval officer. He was a man who drew his lot by the sword and steered his own destiny. Some say he was born at sea with mother dying at childbirth. Some too say he stowed away in a barrel of apples. While others still say he left his bed one morning with a thought in head and never cared to change it.

I have set my course, and I will find my father, the man who never knew while I have always known by the words of others. All I have is his name and my mother's dying voice forever, "You bear 'is mark on the tip o y'neck. Show 'im, and he would dare not t'throw y'back. You are Jaquelina Finch, the long lost Sparrow.. of a man named Jack. == No survivors!? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder...== I was raised on a War Frigate and preferred the basic weapons over anything else, but slowly and surely, I began to fancy me a set of Throwing Knives and that so-called "VooDoo Stick".

I had sailed with the best of them throughout the Caribbean. I was known to work for the French and the Spanish under certain contractual agreements -- which are privy to a certain few i.e. me and my loyal, humble gunny who should've remained nameless -- for his own protection.

I giggled, sipped tea, nibbled cookies, and sent out glitter-coated crew invitations. I believed, and still do, that one has the rights to do whatever the they please, but if it meant trending on other pirate's feet -- big or small -- then that trending bloke of a cad had found an enemy in me.

I'm a wench, once healer, once swashbuckler, once sailor, but for what it was worth, a darn good cannoneer. Though it might not look as it appeared to be, I was a veteran pirate. And yet, despite my notoriety and mounds of savvy, I had a few things to learn.. from both old and young pirate alike. As did we all, maties. As did we all. == FAVORITE QUOTES==

"..it's not just a keel, a hull, a deck and sails. that's what a ship needs, but what a ship is. what a ship really is -- is freedom.."

"The world is shrinking…the blank edges of the map filled in. Jaq must find her place in the New World or perish."