Run! The plot bunny has attacked! But dangit…this will take a long multi-chapter fic, and I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet but dangit it's just too good to pass up.
All right, I haven't read the books on POTC: J. Sparrow yet (though I plan to) so thus I barely know anything about Tia Dalma. I mean..yeah I know quite a lot, considering I've watched the movies, but I know nothing about her values, her beliefs, all that shiz, so to compensate for that I will base half her personality on Yuuko Ichihara of xxxholic. I mean they're more or less the same. Yuuko might as well be her in Japanese form.
Err…AU in the sense that, I dunno, Calypso decided she liked her Tia Dalma form? Basta, Tia Dalma is here, though it's already set sometime after AWE.
The oars sliced through the thick, murky water exactly how a knife would slice through butter. Jack wrinkled his nose when it surfaced back to reveal the acidic liquid, more or less, burn through the wood of the oar. The gunk practically ate through it more efficiently than termites did.
He rowed a bit more, determined to go through all the muck and the dirt and the absolute disgustingness of his surroundings, though it was hard to focus on anything when there was something unbearable invading, not only your nose, but all your senses. There were even times when he seriously considered it dug into his soul as well; not metaphorically speaking.
The reek was so unbearable its essence misted through the very air. The water was so thick with slime that Jack could feel it slosh beneath him even through the barrier of the wooden boat. Even the trees were too grotesque to look at. So he had to wonder, through and through, what amount of circumstance led him to be so desperate so as to row through a bloody, godforsaken swamp.
But then he, as much as everyone else, knew that this was no mere swamp.
Just think about the 'after' part, mate. Just think…oh bloody hell.
A rather large fly decided it was the perfect moment to rest on top of his nose. His lips curled in contempt as he eyed it for a few seconds before he tried to swat it away. For awhile, it seemed to have worked but that was short-lived as it buzzed back on his nose. He tried a second time, flicking his wrist harder, but just the same it flew off then flew back. After that, Jack made no move, remembering that this fly was a part of the swamp and that it was better if nothing in the swamp was disturbed.
He reached the bamboo hut without any other incident albeit there were more flies that found an unfathomable reaction to him. But then, he was after all Captain Jack Sparrow. Any sort of attraction (human or not) shouldn't have to be questioned when it came to him.
Chime bells tinkled as he entered through the string of beads that served as a door of sorts. There was no need to make a search through the whole interior because he found just the person he was looking for in one quick scan.
Tia Dalma sat on an oriental canapé, with her long shoulder-baring gown forming waves and ripples on the floor beneath her. There was the usual paraphernalia of eccentrics laid out messily about. Bird cages hung from every corner of the ceiling, some with real birds, some empty, some holding items that Jack didn't have quite enough, ah, interest to ask about. There were, of course, the trinkets that he couldn't name for the life of him; and there were actually others that he couldn't even describe.
But today, there was more incense formed purposely around the voodoo priestess than usual. The air wafted with different colors of the smoke, from lavender to blood red. When a while ago, Jack couldn't breathe because the air smelled to darn bad, now he couldn't breathe because it was a blend of numerous smells that were too bloody good. He had to inhale through his mouth, but even so a metallic taste formed on his tongue when he did so.
"Ah, Tia Dalma." He spread his arms before him in familiar greeting with a crooked smile forming on his face. "Never a bad time for a visit, eh?"
Tia Dalma smiled her eerie smile back at him. "Both you and I know, Jack, that you are never here for a mere visit," she half-slurred her words with a slow, somewhat Jamaican accent.
"Well it's not like you're wrong about that either."
She grinned yet again; revealing teeth darkened with god knows what, showing that she indeed belonged in the swamp. She motioned for him to come closer but he only stayed in place, fidgeting a bit. This didn't surprise her in the least. Even the most fearsome pirate found something to be parallel with her, whether it was the smell or the air she radiated itself. "So what is it that you wish to ask of me today?"
His fingers shot up as a sign to hold a moment before he dug into the canvas bag strapped across his chest. The spiritualist waited patiently on her seat while he dug deeper and deeper, muttering a few choice curses between each object he found wrong.
"Bugger, bugger, bugger…" Of course that word can never go wrong with Jack.
He smiled in triumph when he finally found it beneath a pile of other unworldly items. "This," he declared as he pulled out then spread said item, each side hanging from his respective index and thumb fingers, with the other six straight up. It was the central piece of the navigational charts previously belonging to Sao Feng. Tia Dalma only smiled wider.
"Y'see, I've come across a bit of a…an inconvenience on my quest for the"-he paused for a mere second, debating whether or not to relay the purpose of his journey, but then decided it was Tia Dalma after all. -"Fountain of Youth."
"You've anticipated the obstacles that lie ahead then, behind the strange and the witted, beneath the cold and cruel that you only perceive to be the main hindrance."
The corner of Jack's lips abruptly dropped in a frown as he caught on her meaning. "You mean there're obstacles behind the obstacles?"
"Surely you didn't think the quest for the Fountain of Youth would be simple?" She smiled knowingly, teasingly in a way.
He found nothing to say. "Ngeeh…"
Of course he didn't think it would be simple, that was his life, the life of a pirate. To have to reach for something without getting a scratch back in return, was too good to be true and for certain one had to question the safety at that point already. But the way she said it, "cold and cruel'. The words and the tone, it hinted at something dark and looming perhaps more fearsome than Davy Jones. Now that she said it, he felt in his bones, not fear, definitely, for he didn't fear anything unknown to him, but fearful anticipation.
Still though, the thought of not having to go through a lot of deception and complications but to have to go through twice as much was rather unappealing. As he interviewed those that had attempted the journey before, he had thought he'd gone through worse scrapes than the ones they described and that going to Tia Dalma for advice would be unnecessary, if not useless. He saw now that it was a wise choice.
"Alrighty then," he started, ignoring any traces of the impact her words made. "Assuming, not that I don't completely believe your words, that there are rather unavoidable and quote-unquote 'cold and cruel' hindrances that I'd have to come across...Inevitably…what would you suggest I do?"
Tia Dalma stood up. The colored air that formed itself around her seemed to make way, subtly drifting clear of where she stood. "Suggestions, advice, counsel, whatever I give away, in the end, will always originally have belonged to me."
Only vaguely seeing her point, Jack nodded.
She stepped closer to him, gazing deep into his black eyes with her own mystic soul. She matched the intensity of his gaze, with the depth of frightful knowledge contained within her own eyes. "When was the last time I gave something to you out of the goodness of me' heart?"
Jack's eyebrows knitted in confusion, and then it dawned on him. One way or another, no matter how it started, Tia Dalma had always benefited from whatever favor he asked of her. Now she had absolutely nothing to gain. She was a free goddess, only making her residence in the swamp for the mere…what? Nostalgia? Entertainment? Now that that bit of reality had reared, Jack could see that he had entirely nothing to give to her. At least nothing he thought she'd want. For all he knew, the whole conversation they just had could cost him all of his loot.
"Name whatever you desire, and I'll give it…so long as it's not something I don't want to give," he tried coolly.
The goddess stepped back, with the same knowing smile that was starting to nag at his nerves. "It's not a matter of what I want or what I don't want, what I need or what I lack. It's a matter of price."
Jack said nothing trying to decipher what she meant by that.
"My reliable guidance, your resurrection due to me, all that I 'ave given you; was it not of equal price to my freedom?"
"Well," he said. His eyebrows furrowed as the exchange took another turn. He wondered where this all lead but found it wise not to ask straight out and instead, just let it play before him. "I would definitely think so."
She sat back down on her canapé. "It is all about just trade."
And finally, Jack was able to smile in realization. "Just clean business, eh?" He clasped his hands together before spreading them before him whilst slightly leaning back, a pose not uncommon for him. It was his way of saying he was more than willing to negotiate. After all, he always found a bargain that didn't take that much out of him, anyway. Goddess of the sea or not, this trade-off wouldn't be any different.
"Well then, what would be a fair price for any of your services that would benefit me on my near expedition for the renowned Aqua de Vida?"
But instead of naming a price straight on, she inquired: "All that is given from his swamp, willingly or forcedly, will cost a price of equality. It should neither precede or fall behind; nothing more, nothing less.
"Without coming to me, then you would most definitely perish in the lands of the Fountain. With my counsel, you will either die or not die. What do you think would equal your indefinite life?"
"Or my indefinite death," he muttered under his breath. "Well, how about, I give you the eternal service of a servant that's drunk from the Fountain? What's say you?" He flashed a grin at her, hoping this would be enough.
She chuckled good-heartedly, telling Jack that he had not hit the right bargain. He started to browse through the inner workings of his mind to come up with something to satisfy her for now. All he needed was her guidance, at least to heighten the possibility of him getting in and out alive with the sacred water. Perhaps he could find something on the way that she had been coveting for, but as of now he didn't know what that was. Just one…just one measly piece of her powers and he could get this over with.
"Indefinite love," Tia Dalma said.
"Eh?"
The smoke of the incense moved animatedly around her as she moved to lean against fairly threadbare seat. Jack felt some of the birds eyeing him as Tia Dalma continued her unexpected statement. "Through the course of your quest, a guide I 'ave sent will lead you through the preferable paths.
"In return for this," she carried on. "I want you to bring with you the keeper of William Turner's heart"
Jack said nothing and stared at her with his eyes wide and mouth agape. He was certain that she was making a mockery of him but aside from the usual playfulness in her eyes, it didn't seem that she was anything but serious.
I fail!
I fail at dialogues. Gah, I don't think I did so well on this chapter. I'll edit it later when I have the time.
0: Anyways, just a note/warning; all the meetings/encounters with Tia Dalma might have the nature of the awesomeness that is xxxholic (pssst…you should watch it).
Lol, I still need to study for exams and shouldn't have been doing this in the first place. But I couldn't resist writing at least one chapter so I snuck this in while no one was looking. Next update will be next month when exams and results are done but here's to hoping I can sneak in another chapter again. ;D