That Sacred Arrangement....

[all7seas]

Who: wise_maiden and lists_to_port; We are leaving this log WIDE OPEN. So if you are family or friends, you are invited and may mingle or gossip or be all dressed up or get drunk or do the electric slide or WHAT HAVE YOU. Are there any Wedding Crashers in Luceti? Ha!
What: Wedding
When: Monday afternoon
Where: That spot with the lilacs by the river in that meadow west of the village. You know that spot---we know you know that spot.
Summary: Jack and Raine get married, and everyone ships it hard forever.
Rating: G I expect? It's so hard to tell sometimes.



On the morning of his wedding, Jack sat bolt upright in bed and then vomited onto the floor. Several minutes after that were spent dry-heaving and gasping for breath, and then another several minutes crawling to the bathroom to put his head under the shower. Cold water---it brought back reality and rationality, and erased dreams of being a pirate and dying in some war and having a best mate and a lover who had always been forbidden him---ever since Jack Horner's lesson and the two weeks following it.

Sparrow figured it was a case of wedding nerves. Strange dreams were a new thing for him, after all--normally he slept dreamlessly and woke up alert.

Later, as he stood in the quiet meadow he and Raine had chosen for their ceremony among the fragrant lilac trees, that morning dream was forgotten. Sparrow was calm. Happy. Clean-shaven and dressed in the attire Buffy had picked out for him and eagerly waiting for his beautiful bride.

Comments

[wise_maiden]

The previous few days had been a blur for Raine--making all the arrangements to have a few days off from work after the festival, spending the weekend on finalizing details, finding just the right dress--something simple enough and yet elegant, for her.

When the morning--that morning arrived, it was after the second night of vague, disconcerting dreams--though she was no stranger to dreaming strangely. She knew that she was simply anxious for the day to come. It truly had come quickly; it was almost hard to believe that it had been a week ago since the proposal itself, looking back. Her bedroom was still very empty, as most of her personal items had already been moved to the Cullen House. An empty room, the last night she would have spent truly single, waking up to a strange emptiness. That night would be the first in a new home. She breathed, and continued to prepare for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon, now, she stands in the meadow, looking across the field to where her soon to be husband was waiting. All fears aside, Jack was there, truly there, in the clothing he had shown her just a few days ago. That was when the anxiety evaporated, as Raine tried to meet his eyes from afar--and it was all she could do to keep herself waiting properly. Patiently. Her steps toward him would be measured, even, even though her heart beat rapidly within her. Smiling, glowing -- they would finally be together.

[all7seas]

Once she appeared before him, Jack Sparrow could not look away. Now all mysterious morning dreams were firmly erased from his mind. The only thing he could see was a delicate woman who was more beautiful than starlight or the sunset over the lake or any thousand other very beautiful things.

He took a few halting steps toward her before he remembered it was customary for the groom to wait for the bride. "Hang the customs," he muttered, but forced himself to stand still. He knew Raine observed customs carefully. It was one of the things he loved about her.

[herotypical]

It was early Monday morning and Buffy told herself that she was knocking on Jack Sparrow's door because he had promised her answers. She pretended with the full might of her mind that she was not, in fact, here because today her half-brother-in-law was supposed to be getting married. She had a sister to protect and that was all.

Her knock was a distinctive one from long, long ago before Sparrow had owned this house. The same rhythm and intensity as when she used to invite the brothers out to play. It was instinctual and it startled her to hear it play out against the wooden door. Buffy frowned; now, she had experienced dreams that had directly contradicted that past. A world so wholly unlike this world. But the dreams about him hadn't been much different -- more specific, though. More real. And her mind had invented an origin story for that troublesome, smudged bird she had found on her shoulder a week ago today. Unsettling -- all of it.

[wise_maiden]

He would have to wait for Raine to make the walk. Not that it was too much to ask, in the face of all that had happened. The patience of that walk, the spacing and timing of it--it was rather that she floated to him instead of stepped. Her feet felt very light, and the faces of surrounding friends and family all did seem to blur. There would be time for talking to them later; seeing them and mingling, after she became wife to the man standing.

Closer now. She is thankful for the bouquet that hides her trembling hands---but her smile and eyes remain bright and unwavering.

[all7seas]

Like an angel, really. You don't deserve her, Sparrow. Jack clenched and unclenched his fingers, a gold ring held tightly in one fist. He didn't deserve her, did he. He suddenly felt afraid of the kind of power Jack Horner had over him, now: it never felt comfortable when another man knew your sins. It was always best to hide them.

Hiccup, too...

She could never know.

[all7seas]

"Buffy?" Sparrow could not keep the surprise out of his voice when he opened the door, even though that knock had told him more than speaking could have who it was. She'd always knocked like that, after all. "Hallo, lass---is everything alright?"

He wondered, then, about what she'd shared with him at the festival: that one day she might leave his brother. He'd thought it would be far in the future, though, if it happened. Then there was the fear---had she found out about their crime together?

[wise_maiden]

And the moment arrives, where Raine arrives just before him, stopping just a few feet away. Waiting for him to go to her, so they can make the rest of the walk together. If there's anything that will bring a true realness to this moment, it will be closing her hand in his. Concentrating on the rest of the ceremony that lies ahead.

One step at a time.

[fortunefail]

A wedding... It'd been a while since Yuan last attended one. He still felt a bit out of place being here, with this side of the family. Once the estranged brother, always the estranged brother. As such, he really had no right to judge Jack's Sparrow's worth, either. All he could do was show up for face value and congratulate the couple to ensure the relationship between himself and his sister didn't worsen.

He was dressed for the occasion, of course. A neat black tuxedo with dark crimson necktie. He'd also made sure not to sit too close to Mithos and Sayo, rather a few benches behind them. Especially after his last encounter with his younger brother, Yuan had no desire to risk starting more conversation with him and ruin Raine's big day.

[all7seas]

Once she was by his side, Jack offered her his arm. "You," he said, drinking her in, "You are alight today, my love."

[wise_maiden]

She reaches out to take his arm, lowering her head as she tries to avoid a blush, but still smiling. "... you're rather easy on the eyes yourself, you know." His clothes had certainly been chosen well; that could not be denied.

[acclimatized]

John is in attendance for his older brother's wedding of course. He wouldn't have been that much of a best man if he had skipped the whole affair and he couldn't be more proud than Jack than he is right now.

[all7seas]

The clothing felt comfortable, and that was all that mattered. Jack had no notion of fancy clothes from plain ones, which was why he had relied on Buffy's help in this department.

"Not normally this dressed up, am I. I'm afraid you'll have to get used to a rather ordinary Sparrow after today."

[wise_maiden]

"You, Jack, could never be ordinary." She gently reprimanded, leaning in as they made their way over to the priest together. "Besides, I've already told you what I thought about that."

[herotypical]

"Just, uhm..." She peered around his shoulders at the rest of the house. She hadn't been inside it too too often but it seemed more familiar now. She had seen it too, the night before.

"We've got some business left over, I think."

[all7seas]

Throughout the ceremony, Jack felt unfocused. He was trying to keep his ears on the words being used to bring them together, but for some reason that dream from the morning was starting to intrude.

A dream of himself as a man who ran far and fast from marriage commitments, always. Who could barely commit to one woman, and who had had many--all around the globe. A globe he had sailed around more than once.

What the hell is this...

Sparrow tried to shake himself out of it by focusing on the silver-haired woman by his side. The woman he loved, who had born him children. It helped.

A little.

[all7seas]

"Leftover business?" He stepped back so that she could come inside.

[memoryboxes]

Sayo wouldn't miss this for the world, of course—it's one of the things that held firmly in her memory; Jack, Raine, marriage. Even so... she feels like she's forgotten something very important. Something... Someone...

But she just writes it off as jitters from knowing her little girl's a woman now. It's hard to give her away, but... she trusts in the both of them. She's dressed up in this dress, and admires the setting they'd decided to do the wedding in.

Ah. Better check in with the bride and groom.

[all7seas]

"John? Today your brother becomes a real honest man." Jack sounded 99% convinced of his own words and 1% completely confused and petrified.

[herotypical]

"...I thought I should probably catch you before -- " Buffy stepped inside, her arms hugging her chest. "Before all the happy marital bliss distracts you and, uhm...Jilly's attacker gets forgotten in all of it."

[all7seas]

Sayo. Jack, as always, felt a bit leery around her, not least because he had abandoned her daughter so many years ago. He approached his mother-in-law with an ingratiating smile.

"'Allo, Sayo; are you enjoying the festivities?"

[all7seas]

"Ah. Attacker of Jilly. Right." One hand crept up to cover that tattoo again. "Erm...sit down? Couch is right this way."

[wise_maiden]

Raine finds herself caught up in the moment, her eyes alight with that restrained excitement. She never imagined that the two of them would wind up together, in this place. Not in any of her dreams, and certainly not the ones from last night. The breeze was blowing lightly, gentle enough. It was a beautiful day. Clear, wonderful.

She can hardly hear the Father's words, only knowing that she's answering appropriately, from her heart, when the time comes for her speak. Her sleek white gloves come off so that the new ring may be set properly in place.

[wise_maiden]

After the ceremony is completed, and there's an opportunity for some mingling, it doesn't take long for Raine to spot her older brother amongst the guests. She is surprised to see him there, despite being the one to deliver him the news personally. She can only suppose that it's a gesture on his part, and she certainly can appreciate that, so she'll move toward him, to greet him before he can go.

"... Yuan."

[herotypical]

"I know where it is." She turned away from him. Began to walk. A-ha...Buffy hesitated, looked back over her shoulder: "I mean...couches are almost always in the same kinds of places. There are only so many ways you can situate a..." She came across it and sat quite abruptly; however, she did her best not to get comfy. "Situate a couch."

[all7seas]

"Same--same sorts of places, yes. Ah---"

And she was on his couch, and Jack got hit with the hardest---well, vision was how it could best be described---since his dream that morning. It was a dream that made his ears feel hot and his fingertips tingle and made him murmur a name: "Annie?"