"Jack?" Will said, disbelieving.
"Hello, Young William," Jack crooned and bowed slightly, "lovely to see you again."
"Jack, I. How—you—why—" Jack grinned and tilted his head back, gazing at Will though half-lidded eyes. Will paused a moment and gathered enough thought to form a complete sentence. "What are you doing here?"
"I've recently found myself in the market for a new blade," Jack said, "and who better to provide me with one than the best blacksmith in the Caribbean?"
Will glanced at the sword drooping lazily at Jack's side and saw that it was indeed one of his better creations. "Were you planning on informing me of this acquisition, or simply 'borrowing it without permission' and running?
The pirate sniffed, hefted the cutlass, and began inspecting it, making it obvious he wasn't going to dignify that with a response. Will felt elated by Jack's presence, a mixture of amusement and annoyance that only came in Capitan Jack Sparrow's company, so he let the issue slide. Instead he said, "I didn't see the Pearl in the harbor. You haven't lost it again, have you?"
Eyes flashed briefly up from their inspection of the sword, then quickly back down. His voice was thick with menace when he spoke. "Nothing short of death—if even that—could separate me from my Pearl again, lad." Then he looked up once more his sinisterly gleeful self, gold teeth flashing in his grin. "My being a wanted man, I couldn't risk your dear Commodore recognizing her. I temporarily commandeered a—less /conspicuous/ vessel."
William grinned. "Was the owner informed?"
"They know by now, no doubt. This is a beautiful piece of work," he said, tucking the saber into his belt behind to the empty scabbard, the new one being wider than the previous blade.
"Thank you," Will said incredulously, "by all means, keep it if you like."
"Aahhhhh, you're too kind," Jack said, swaggering over and putting an arm around Will's shoulder. Despite being taller, Will always felt like the smaller of the two around Jack, and in such proximity he felt like he was surrounded, smothered in coat and hair and the scent of unwashed pirate. "Now," Jack said, guiding Will to the door, "how's about you buy your dear old friend a drink or twenty while you pour your aching heart out about waning lady love?"
"How—"
"Drinks first," Jack insisted in a tone that broached no argument, and escorted them into the street.
***
None of the bars in Port Royal had low enough standards for Jack's tastes, but they made due with the seediest place in town, an inn at the very outskirts where the less savory seafaring folk stayed while in port. When they entered Jack surveyed the room as grandly as he did everything. He seemed to find the place—whatever it was he wanted it to be—so he strutted toward a table near the back of the room and sat.
Will sat as well, leaning heavily on his elbows toward Jack. "Elizabeth and I are not having problems," he insisted too quickly. "We're to be married tomorrow."
Jack looked unimpressed. Then he looked at the bar. Pointedly.
Will sighed and got up to order the first of what he guessed would be many rounds of drinks. The woman behind he bar leaned in close when she put the two mugs down, showing off ludicrous amounts of cleavage.
"Eh, boy," she said in a voice that thought it was whimpering but was often wrong about these things. "Issat Jack Sparrow, there?"
He glanced back at Jack, who reached out to catch a passing wench and pull her into his lap. Will turned back to the bar rather than see where it went from there. "He prefers /Capitan/ Jack Sparrow."
"Word around town is the Capitan there has a very pretty price on his head."
That was hardly a surprise. "Is that so," Will said, reaching for the drinks.
The woman held them fast. "Yeeaah," she said pointedly, "that's so."
"I'll be sure to inform him," Will said and yanked the mugs out of her grasp. She grinned unpleasantly. At a second glance, the grin wasn't unpleasant so much as the teeth were.
"Eh," she said, grinning and darting glances at Jack, "issit true, that he escaped from a deserted island by taming a pair of sharks wit' not but a boot tack and his wits?"
"So I hear," Will said and took his drinks.
Jack was muttering something near the whore he had commandeered's ear. Will couldn't make out anything beyond gravely, rough mutterings, but the woman seemed to like it, because she was giggling and pawing at Jack's chest. She gasped as Will approached.
"How on earth did you escape?" she said.
"Well, you see, the Admiral—" he broke off, seeing Will set the beer in front of him. "'Scuse me, dahhling," he said and virtually pushed her off his lap.
Will glared at the woman's back while she walked off to find a customer. When he returned his attention to Jack, the man was staring at him with large, innocent-looking eyes over the rim of his mug. Something in Will's stomach rippled pleasantly, like it used to do when he thought about Elizabeth. That thought reminded him of Elizabeth and the impending wedding, and all the dread he had been suffering returned at full force.
Something must have shown, because Jack squinted at him and said, "Alright, there?"
Will nodded slightly. /Happy/, he reminded himself, and nodded again, a bit too vigorously. "Fine," he said. Then, trying to change the subject, "the woman at the bar told me you're a wanted man."
Jack grinned. "Wanted by many, luv." He turned and winked at the woman, who had been pretending not to be keeping an eye on him. She grinned and blew a kiss that Will could smell all the way across the bar.
"It's idiot for you to be here, Jack. I find it hard to believe you'd take such a risk for only a sword."
"A sword and to witness the union of my two dearest friends in wedded bliss," Jack insisted.
William thought better than to mention his doubt that he and Elizabeth were Jack's dearest friends, that title having already been filled by a ship and a hat. "So you did know about the wedding?" he said.
"The entire Caribbean knows about the wedding, mate. Quite a scandal you've started, the daughter of Port Royal's governor marrying a common blacksmith and scallywag. And you didn't think to invite me, I might add."
"/I/ thought to invite you," Will said, "but Elizabeth arranged everything, and…"
"And the impression I left on her rather resembled a pock mark." Jack emptied what remained in his mug. "No worries, had I been invited, I wouldn't have come. No sense in being where you're wanted, eh?"
Will tried to nod like he agreed, or at least understood.
"So," Jack said, leaning forward on his elbows, "how is it that you're scheduled to marry your lady love on the morrow, yet you've got the airs of a condemned man?"
"I don't—"
"I've no head for denial, mind," Jack said.
"I'm—" Will stopped the denial quickly, seeing the warning glint in Jack's eyes. "I don't think I'm drunk enough to admit it yet," he said meekly instead.
"I know the perfect cure for that," Jack said and slid his empty mug across the table. "None of that hog's piss this time, either."
After three rounds of very weak, very bad rum, Will's tongue was feeling looser, and he had taken to hunching over his mug, doing a marvelous impression of a kicked puppy.
"She just… changed," he said.
"Aye?" said Jack.
"/Aye/," Will said grandly.
"I imagine you knew her well before your went off and saved her life, her being of high social standing and you being the apprentice to one of many blacksmiths in port. Plenty of opportunities for bonding there."
"It wasn't like that," Will said, "we were… she /saved/ me. Not with you, I mean, before that… but then too. When I was a boy."
"And you grew up being the closest of friends."
"We talked a lot," Will said defensively, though now that he thought of it most of the conversations they had were in his imagination, and the actual ones had been short and impersonal. She had been kind, but she was a kind woman by habit. "Honestly," he pressed on, "I didn't need to talk to her, I /knew/ her. She was beautiful, and sweet, and perfect, and…"
"And then you got to know her."
Will snorted. "More like she got to know me."
"Eh?"
Will took a deep breath. "I got a job as a privateer under bloody /Norrington/, to please her and she got all uppy when I left without her. Then she came along, and she wasn't pleased with /anything/. She even refused to drink anything, because there was only rum and grog, and for some reason she gets sick at the mere mention of rum."
Jack grinned briefly.
"You know what I think, mate?"
"No, Capitan Sparrow, I very rarely know what you think."
"Far as I see it, the lady doesn't know what she wants."
Will blinked slowly. "How could someone not know what they want?"
"Couldn't tell you," Jack said, "I always know /exactly/ what I want."
"And what is that?" Will asked.
"Hear some advice, lad," Jack said, leaning over the table again and looking at him with that oddly innocent expression. "If people don't know what you're after, they'll have a time of keeping you from it. Savvy?"
Will nodded and lied, "yes, /very/ savvy."
"So what is it that you want, then?" Jack said, smiling pleasantly.
"Hello, Young William," Jack crooned and bowed slightly, "lovely to see you again."
"Jack, I. How—you—why—" Jack grinned and tilted his head back, gazing at Will though half-lidded eyes. Will paused a moment and gathered enough thought to form a complete sentence. "What are you doing here?"
"I've recently found myself in the market for a new blade," Jack said, "and who better to provide me with one than the best blacksmith in the Caribbean?"
Will glanced at the sword drooping lazily at Jack's side and saw that it was indeed one of his better creations. "Were you planning on informing me of this acquisition, or simply 'borrowing it without permission' and running?
The pirate sniffed, hefted the cutlass, and began inspecting it, making it obvious he wasn't going to dignify that with a response. Will felt elated by Jack's presence, a mixture of amusement and annoyance that only came in Capitan Jack Sparrow's company, so he let the issue slide. Instead he said, "I didn't see the Pearl in the harbor. You haven't lost it again, have you?"
Eyes flashed briefly up from their inspection of the sword, then quickly back down. His voice was thick with menace when he spoke. "Nothing short of death—if even that—could separate me from my Pearl again, lad." Then he looked up once more his sinisterly gleeful self, gold teeth flashing in his grin. "My being a wanted man, I couldn't risk your dear Commodore recognizing her. I temporarily commandeered a—less /conspicuous/ vessel."
William grinned. "Was the owner informed?"
"They know by now, no doubt. This is a beautiful piece of work," he said, tucking the saber into his belt behind to the empty scabbard, the new one being wider than the previous blade.
"Thank you," Will said incredulously, "by all means, keep it if you like."
"Aahhhhh, you're too kind," Jack said, swaggering over and putting an arm around Will's shoulder. Despite being taller, Will always felt like the smaller of the two around Jack, and in such proximity he felt like he was surrounded, smothered in coat and hair and the scent of unwashed pirate. "Now," Jack said, guiding Will to the door, "how's about you buy your dear old friend a drink or twenty while you pour your aching heart out about waning lady love?"
"How—"
"Drinks first," Jack insisted in a tone that broached no argument, and escorted them into the street.
***
None of the bars in Port Royal had low enough standards for Jack's tastes, but they made due with the seediest place in town, an inn at the very outskirts where the less savory seafaring folk stayed while in port. When they entered Jack surveyed the room as grandly as he did everything. He seemed to find the place—whatever it was he wanted it to be—so he strutted toward a table near the back of the room and sat.
Will sat as well, leaning heavily on his elbows toward Jack. "Elizabeth and I are not having problems," he insisted too quickly. "We're to be married tomorrow."
Jack looked unimpressed. Then he looked at the bar. Pointedly.
Will sighed and got up to order the first of what he guessed would be many rounds of drinks. The woman behind he bar leaned in close when she put the two mugs down, showing off ludicrous amounts of cleavage.
"Eh, boy," she said in a voice that thought it was whimpering but was often wrong about these things. "Issat Jack Sparrow, there?"
He glanced back at Jack, who reached out to catch a passing wench and pull her into his lap. Will turned back to the bar rather than see where it went from there. "He prefers /Capitan/ Jack Sparrow."
"Word around town is the Capitan there has a very pretty price on his head."
That was hardly a surprise. "Is that so," Will said, reaching for the drinks.
The woman held them fast. "Yeeaah," she said pointedly, "that's so."
"I'll be sure to inform him," Will said and yanked the mugs out of her grasp. She grinned unpleasantly. At a second glance, the grin wasn't unpleasant so much as the teeth were.
"Eh," she said, grinning and darting glances at Jack, "issit true, that he escaped from a deserted island by taming a pair of sharks wit' not but a boot tack and his wits?"
"So I hear," Will said and took his drinks.
Jack was muttering something near the whore he had commandeered's ear. Will couldn't make out anything beyond gravely, rough mutterings, but the woman seemed to like it, because she was giggling and pawing at Jack's chest. She gasped as Will approached.
"How on earth did you escape?" she said.
"Well, you see, the Admiral—" he broke off, seeing Will set the beer in front of him. "'Scuse me, dahhling," he said and virtually pushed her off his lap.
Will glared at the woman's back while she walked off to find a customer. When he returned his attention to Jack, the man was staring at him with large, innocent-looking eyes over the rim of his mug. Something in Will's stomach rippled pleasantly, like it used to do when he thought about Elizabeth. That thought reminded him of Elizabeth and the impending wedding, and all the dread he had been suffering returned at full force.
Something must have shown, because Jack squinted at him and said, "Alright, there?"
Will nodded slightly. /Happy/, he reminded himself, and nodded again, a bit too vigorously. "Fine," he said. Then, trying to change the subject, "the woman at the bar told me you're a wanted man."
Jack grinned. "Wanted by many, luv." He turned and winked at the woman, who had been pretending not to be keeping an eye on him. She grinned and blew a kiss that Will could smell all the way across the bar.
"It's idiot for you to be here, Jack. I find it hard to believe you'd take such a risk for only a sword."
"A sword and to witness the union of my two dearest friends in wedded bliss," Jack insisted.
William thought better than to mention his doubt that he and Elizabeth were Jack's dearest friends, that title having already been filled by a ship and a hat. "So you did know about the wedding?" he said.
"The entire Caribbean knows about the wedding, mate. Quite a scandal you've started, the daughter of Port Royal's governor marrying a common blacksmith and scallywag. And you didn't think to invite me, I might add."
"/I/ thought to invite you," Will said, "but Elizabeth arranged everything, and…"
"And the impression I left on her rather resembled a pock mark." Jack emptied what remained in his mug. "No worries, had I been invited, I wouldn't have come. No sense in being where you're wanted, eh?"
Will tried to nod like he agreed, or at least understood.
"So," Jack said, leaning forward on his elbows, "how is it that you're scheduled to marry your lady love on the morrow, yet you've got the airs of a condemned man?"
"I don't—"
"I've no head for denial, mind," Jack said.
"I'm—" Will stopped the denial quickly, seeing the warning glint in Jack's eyes. "I don't think I'm drunk enough to admit it yet," he said meekly instead.
"I know the perfect cure for that," Jack said and slid his empty mug across the table. "None of that hog's piss this time, either."
After three rounds of very weak, very bad rum, Will's tongue was feeling looser, and he had taken to hunching over his mug, doing a marvelous impression of a kicked puppy.
"She just… changed," he said.
"Aye?" said Jack.
"/Aye/," Will said grandly.
"I imagine you knew her well before your went off and saved her life, her being of high social standing and you being the apprentice to one of many blacksmiths in port. Plenty of opportunities for bonding there."
"It wasn't like that," Will said, "we were… she /saved/ me. Not with you, I mean, before that… but then too. When I was a boy."
"And you grew up being the closest of friends."
"We talked a lot," Will said defensively, though now that he thought of it most of the conversations they had were in his imagination, and the actual ones had been short and impersonal. She had been kind, but she was a kind woman by habit. "Honestly," he pressed on, "I didn't need to talk to her, I /knew/ her. She was beautiful, and sweet, and perfect, and…"
"And then you got to know her."
Will snorted. "More like she got to know me."
"Eh?"
Will took a deep breath. "I got a job as a privateer under bloody /Norrington/, to please her and she got all uppy when I left without her. Then she came along, and she wasn't pleased with /anything/. She even refused to drink anything, because there was only rum and grog, and for some reason she gets sick at the mere mention of rum."
Jack grinned briefly.
"You know what I think, mate?"
"No, Capitan Sparrow, I very rarely know what you think."
"Far as I see it, the lady doesn't know what she wants."
Will blinked slowly. "How could someone not know what they want?"
"Couldn't tell you," Jack said, "I always know /exactly/ what I want."
"And what is that?" Will asked.
"Hear some advice, lad," Jack said, leaning over the table again and looking at him with that oddly innocent expression. "If people don't know what you're after, they'll have a time of keeping you from it. Savvy?"
Will nodded and lied, "yes, /very/ savvy."
"So what is it that you want, then?" Jack said, smiling pleasantly.
