//------------------------------//
// Experience 
// Story: Pirates of the Caribbean: Edge of the Map 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
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Jack slunk his way through the bar, arms up in a manner that some would see as non-chalant and others would see as gaudy or strange. But to anyone who knew Jack, it was his trademark characteristic. He approached the corner of the bar his compass had pointed to.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Jack said to the 'stranger', sitting down.

"No, but I knew you'd find your way here eventually," the stranger pulled back his long hair as he spoke. "This town... it expects you often, Jackie. I didn't expect to find you having trouble, though."

"So, what're you doing here, dad? Following me?"

Jack's father remained stoic. "It seems you're the one following me if you keep coming to me every time you need help."

"It's the Pearl, daddy," Jack half-whispered. He pulled out his ship-in-a-bottle and set it on the table. His father leaned in to examine it. Peering inside, the ship sailed a miniature stormy sea complete with a portion of stormy night. Thunder clapped, the ocean roared and the ship churned through an angry sea. The tiny vessel pitched left and right, its sails taut as if it threatened to break out on its own.

"I see... she makes a prettier trophy than I would've imagined. I have to give it to Eddie; he treated her well," Jack's dad remarked.

Jack fidgeted a bit in his seat. He'd struggled to understand his father even when he was little. The way he spoke in riddles, seemed to see things that only he could see was confusing.

"Do you know of any way of getting her out?" Jack asked point blank.

His father sat the bottle down. "Why do you care so much about one ship, Jackie?"

Jack smiled. "Maybe I'm sentimental?"

"Sentimental..." his father repeated. "Is that what you call getting indebted to Jones for all those years about after you begged him to raise her from the depths?"

"Had to do something... can't be captain without a ship."

His father raised an eyebrow. "So, why choose her when you could've had any other?"

"She's the prettiest. Haven't seen a more beautiful boat than the Pearl," Jack responded goofily.

Jack's dad looked at the bottle again. He was silent for a few seconds. "I was the one who lost the Pearl, Jack, not you," he finally said.

Jack silenced himself to listen. Jack's father was the original captain of the Black Pearl but he hadn't mentioned hardly any of his time with the vessel to his son. Decades ago, Jack's father lost the Black Pearl somehow. The ship had been sunk with Jack's father barely escaping with his life. Years later, Jack would make a deal with the infamous Davey Jones to raise his father's ship from the depths so he could take command, refusing to let the ship be lost. It had earned him a 100-year debt to Jones, one he had gotten out of after several long ordeals. Yet it seemed he still couldn't keep ahold of his father's beloved boat for very long.

When his father remained silent, Jack asked, "How did you lose her? What happened?" The light above them flickered as he asked the question, as if a fell wind blew through the bar. Everything became slightly quieter for a few heartbeats.

His father handed him back the bottle. "It's hard to make out what's written on the map's edge. Easier just to go there."

Jack tucked the bottle into his vest again. "I had a map. Had to rip the center out of it to get ahead of Barbossa."

It was Jack's dad's turn to grin. "Your old friend was in town, had himself a new ship. I don't think he's that much concerned with you, though. Seems he's busy trying to secure payment from his former employers."

So Barbossa had his sights on England and not Jack? That was at least a relief. "Gibbs set fire to the map after memorizing the routes... but he's probably forgotten by now." Joshamee Gibbs was a loyal friend and first mate but not always the most fortunate one. His penchant for bad luck was balanced out by Jack's natural ability to win against the fates.

"I paid a visit to the Queen Anne's Revenge after its newest captain made port in town," Jack's dad pulled out a large, black roll. "Helped myself to a little of Barbossa's hospitality."

Jack unfurled it, recognizing it immediately from the gaping hole in the center. The hole that he'd cut into it. A special map obtained from Sao Fang's most revered uncle in Singapore, it detailed the routes leading to the most secretive and dangerous places in the world. Or, at least it did when it was complete.

"And what exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Jack asked, holding it aloft before him. "What good's a map with the middle cut out?"

"What good's a compass that doesn't point north?" Jack's father asked in return, standing up.

Jack turned his attention back to the map. "But... this is a bit different than the compass; the middle is missing!" he whined in frustration. "What am I supposed to do with a map with a missing middle?!"

"Middle's not missing," Jack's father replied, walking away. "You've already filled in the middle. The edge is what you're missing. Head to the edge of the map, Jackie," he cast a smile. "That's what you're missing." His father turned around and walked to the door.

"Well that's just... maddeningly unhelpful," Jack muttered to himself, defeated. He grasped the bottle in his vest. "Well, how am I supposed to get there? How do I get the Pearl out?"

Opening the door, Jack's father turned to him one last time. "I'd think you'd have plenty of experience emptying bottles by now, Jackie." With that, Jack's dad exited.

Jack rolled up his father's 'parting gift' and tucked it under his shoulder, considering his next options. Despite what dad had told him, the center of the map was missing making navigation to its destinations near-impossible. Yet there were things, notes most likely, scribbled on the corners of the chart. It might be something worth looking at while trying to figure out how to get his ship back to normal size.

He got up from the table and stopped halfway to the door, thinking about his father's last words. "Experience emptying bottles..." could it really be that simple? He removed the bottle containing the Pearl and looked at it again, frowning. He then turned back towards the bar, deciding he could probably use a little more 'experience' while he was there. Removing the Black Pearl was most likely going to be another combination riddle and puzzle. And as with all trickery, Jack had no intention of conducting it sober.