Title: Dumb
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Character: Cotton
Word Count: 386
Written for:
blackpearlsails - No clue. I'm reorganizing my harddrive and found this.
Cotton affected a slightly dazed grin as the others continued their bold, brash boastings. At one point, one of the younger marines, one who wasn’t so far into his drink as they others, gave a worried glance at Cotton.
“Shouldn’t we be keepin’ our voices down?” he asked.
Just to be on the safe side, Cotton yawned widely to show off his tongueless mouth. He wanted to show them he was harmless. Unfortunately, Parrot tried to help by squawking “Pieces o’ eight,” summoning a barmaid over with a tankard of rum, reminding the men that it was still possible to communicate even if you couldn’t speak.
Luckily, the biggest and drunkest braggart in the group dismissed the old salt as harmless. “’e can’t do nothing,” he proclaimed loudly. “’he’s not right in the head.”
It was the position of many, but one Cotton didn’t overly mind. After all, it allowed others to underestimate him.
Besides, he got the last laugh the next day when, after first sobering Gibbs up enough to translate properly for the Captain, Cotton was able to relay the Navy’s plans. The crew of the Black Pearl were not only able to avoid the trap set for them, but also plundered the captain’s quarters.
In addition to the wages, which was a substantial sum of gold, Captain Sparrow went a step further and raided the Navy Captain’s personal effects, taking a spyglass to replace the one Anamaria had tossed over the side when Jack had threatened to use it on her (after first threatening to use it on him in a completely dissimilar and more painful way), a ring that glittered so nicely Captain Sparrow couldn’t resist and some official correspondence, not because the crew had any particular interest in matters of the English court, but because it would prove quite the embarrassment to the Captain who had staked so much on capturing and hanging the elusive Jack Sparrow, the pirate those Port Royal bastards were having so much trouble with.
All in all, it was a good turn, Cotton thought to himself. Parrot stayed silent; no one was close enough to translate to.
It was amazing, really, the things you pick up when surrounded by those stupid enough not to realize that just because you couldn’t speak didn’t mean you were deaf.