The Discussion (sort of) of the Plan
The plan. You see, the plan was quite simple. At least Maria thought it was. The plan didn't involve much money, none at all really. It didn't involve any breaking of laws. Well it did... maybe. Probably. But that wasn't the point. It wasn't as if Maria CARED about THOSE laws and they weren't the kind of laws that affected people like Alex and Liz; definitely not Liz. Why you ask? Because who in their right mind would EVER think that Elizabeth PARKER would stow away on a pirate ship by either pretending to be a whore or a man? No one really. And that's why it was such a grand plan.
"The plan is stupid, Maria." Alex had tilted his head slightly, his mouth opening in an expression on unrestrained shock and I-really-must-be-hearing-things disbelief. He had stared at her like that for a quick second before shaking his head and looking right at Liz, who Maria should have known would have supported him. They always did that. "Liz. Tell her it's stupid."
Funny how no one had thought so at the time.
Maria unconsciously strummed her fingers down a guitar as she sat on her bed. If one was desperate enough to call it a bed. It was bunch of rags and old clothing scraps her mother had stuffed into a sack and sewed all together when she was fifteen. It was surprisingly comfortable, not that she let on. After all the bed was another way the higher powers were against her. There was an entire story with the bed. One that involved some rich twiggy flake, de la Luca's being crazy, their money not being good enough., and this thing being created. Maria preferred not to think of it. It pissed her off and that was never a good thing. She would rather concentrate on the current situation. How to get the hell out of Tortuga.
That's what exactly what she did. Her mind focused on the week just before Alex had left for Port Royale. Liz's uncle had found a suitor, that luckily had died of a mysterious cause that Maria blamed on cholera, and they had been throwing ideas around how to get her out of it. How to get them the hell off of the putrid island they unfortunately called home.
Maria, of course, had a plan. Planning wasn't her forte. She usually left the planning to Liz and then Alex explained it to her. However, there have been moments in their years of friendships where a demon would over take Maria (at least that's the way Jeff Parker had put it) and refused to let go. There in those moments a plan would be born. A plan that would ninety-five percent of the time be rejected. Sometimes Maria would understand why but this time she couldn't imagine the reason.
It was the best plan they had. Okay, it probably was a bit presumptuous to call it a plan. It was more of an idea she had while looking out the window-simultaneously getting seasick just from watching those crazy, uncontrollable waves crash around-and decided to run with it. She had to admit that she didn't LIKE where her mind had run to and escaped from her. Taking a pit stop at the outhouse. However, it was a sort of plan. The best thing they had. Even more then that it could actually be done. At least she thought so.
Quickly noticing that her blonde friend was growing annoyed, Liz stepped in as referee. There were times Alex's straightforwardness and Maria's tactlessness needed a clear voice of reason. "It's not a stupid plan ..." She started slowly, ignoring Maria's triumphant look and the growing disbelief on Alex's features. "It's simply highly ... highly ..."
"Stupid? Unthought-of? Oh, I don't know ... insanely crazy?"
"Hey!" Maria frowned, a bit hurt that he was rejecting her plan so soundly. Yes, it was crazy but she didn't see him offering anything stable enough with uncraziness. Maria was also very annoyed. Just because he was her best friend didn't mean she wouldn't hit him. "Watch it there, matey. There is nothing wrong with the plan. Tell him Liz."
Liz floundered for a moment when two pairs of light colored eyes turned at once in her direction, "She's right Alex." She continued in what her friends considered the dreaded 'logical' tone. Well, at least Maria saw it as dreaded, Alex only half paid attention to it. Maria wasn't the only one who went into bouts of paranoia. Alex's moments were simply more restrained and called 'anxious worrying'. "It's not stupid, but-"
"Ha!"
"She said but."
"You're sitting on it." Maria said in smug sarcasticness.
"BUT," Liz cut in, ever the peacemaker, and continued her thread of conversation. "It's not exactly plausible Maria."
Alex didn't really resort to childish outcries but he did give his best friend a pointed look. One Maria chose to ignore to give her little, darling Liz a look of hurt betrayl. It caused Liz to feel bad for only a moment. Maria had many degrees of hurt betrayal; this wasn't a serious one and would be forgiven once things were explained. Only because Maria didn't stay angry with Liz the way she did with other people. It was either because she couldn't or because she wouldn't. Liz had yet to figure it out and surprisingly, it was something Maria wouldn't tell.
"What do you mean ... not ... plausible?" The tiny blonde asked as she narrowed clear green eyes slightly and place a hand on her hips. "It perfectly is too plausible."
"Pirates. Stowaways!" Alex stressed. "Tell me how is that plausible!" Even though he had barely risen his voice it was easy to tell that he was yelling, a vein was clearly visibly stretched on his neck.
Maria didn't understand why he was getting so angry. She had no way of knowing that it wasn't so much that Alex was angry that he was scared. His bestest friend had been getting more and more restless, especially since she had heard that he was going to Port Royale. While not the most reasonable and logical beings on Tortuga let alone the planet, a month a go Maria wouldn't even have considered such a plan. And if it had been mentioned? That person would have gotten a sarcastic laugh, a glare, and an extra helping of sass. If Maria was getting desperate enough to start thinking about pirates he didn't want to know what she would start being desperate enough to do. She was frighteningly determined when she wanted to be.
"Alex." Liz said firmly. "Calm. Down. Yes, Maria. Not plausible. Think about it. There is no possible way we could get away with it. You get seasick whenever you smell salt Maria."
"I do not." She muttered defensively, her hand moving hesitantly from her hip upwards to cross under her breast.
"Yes, Maria. You do. Not to mention you despise pirates."
"I don't despise them."
Alex and Liz shared a look.
"You took your tray and slammed it on one of the pirates head, he was out cold Maria."
"He felt my arse! It had nothing to do with not liking pirates and everything to do with being violated. And besides, I thought you loved pirates. Treasure. Booty. Adventure? That's your bit Liz. Here's your chance to take it with both hands, sail the bonny seas, and you're saying no."
"Of course I'm saying 'no'. I like pirates in the stories and I imagine not all of them are bad men." She ignored Maria's loud snort. "Or women." Liz reminded her friend. "Nevertheless, I most certainly wouldn't want to be one nor would I want to be one at the risk of getting caught by the end of the day!"
Maria gave a negligent shrug but it was easy to see on her expressive features that she was giving Liz's words some, unwanted, thought. "So, we don't get caught."
"Oh, we'll get caught." Alex muttered. Now it was Liz's turn to glare at him. "What? We will? It's us. Let's be real here. We have our moments and then we don't. Remember the time we tried to steal a navy man's musket?"
The girl's were distracted by the conversation for a slight moment. They both smiled fondly at the memory.
"Yeah," Maria said nostalgically. "those were the days."
"See. We had some fun here."
Maria fell harder than a drunk man on opium. "Right. Whoop-tee-doo. Why don't we go try and steal another musket now? Don't you get it Liz? We won't be able to. Even if we wanted to, which by the way what the hell were we thinking? We won't be able to because there won't be a 'WE' to be. To do any of it. Alex is either going to the musical conservatory, to study under Newton, or to be a priest."
"Not catholic."
"Not only priests are Catholics Alex." She gave him a dry look. "Or Catholics priest. Whatever." She uncrossed one arm to wave a hand at him. "Stop trying to distract me. I'm on a roll here. My point." Maria continued. "You'll be off and married and miserable and stuck. And I'll be here where I'll either be raped, drugged then raped, diseased, or dead."
The silence was nearly deafening as Maria dramatically but effectively drove in her point.
"You could be those things on a pirate ship." Liz said gently.
"Not if they think I'm a boy."
Alex gave her a Look.
"A very ugly boy. Very ugly. Warts even. Scurvy? Ooo, yeah. That's good. And cholera. No. Everyone has that." Maria snapped her fingers as she tried to remember something. "What's a new and exotic disease?"
"Wild Jungle Fever."
"Okay, Wild Jun-" Now it was Maria's turn to give Alex a Look. "Haha. Very funny. Make fun of the unknowledged one. That is not a disease. Is it?" She shot Liz an uncertain glance. Her friend shook her head with a small smile. "Not funny, stud."
"I thought it was." Alex walked over to Maria and gave her a hug. "None of those things are going to happen to you. I won't let them."
She quickly laid her head down on the middle of his chest and turned her hands out, palm up, beckoning Liz. "You won't be around to stop it. Either of you."
"Look at your mum. She's doing all right." Liz answered.
Maria let out a small huff and smiled slightly, although it didn't fully reach her eyes, "I wonder about your definition of all right, Lizzie. I love my mom. Love her to pieces even, but she is not doing all right. Sure she's having this business and it's steady but she wouldn't have to have it if ..."
"Don't say it, Maria."
Maria who was absolutely certain of her value to her mother, rolled her eyes, "If it wasn't for that dead-beat pirate imitator." She continued. "She had a child at fifteen Liz. That's not all right. She might of had a future if it wasn't for this island. If it wasn't for a lot of things holding her down. I'm not going to let those things hold me down. I'm not going to become my mother, I'm not going to settle. I'm going to find a way off of this island."
"Maria, we don't have parents to leave behind."
"Mum understands." She brushed off Alex's tentative comment with false nonchalance. "She knows that this place is killing me and she knows I need to go. She'll come with. She can sew clothes anywhere." Came the flippant reply. It never occurred to Maria that her mother would ever want to be anywhere than where she was.
Alex and Liz shared another look.
"Besides, who do think is going to help us look like pirates?"
Alex rolled his eyes and Liz giggled. Tenacious thy name is Maria. Did she ever stop?
They had left that evening promising to think about it and Maria liked to think that they did. Now only to find away to get them to stop thinking and to start acting.
Maria sighed and stopped playing with the strings of her guitar. Placing it by her bed, she stretched out on the bed and covered herself. Placing her hands under her head as a pillow her lips trembled slightly before firming. Because she wasn't going to die on this island. She wasn't going to let it take the best years of her life. She had dreams. And in order to make them come true she had to get off.