A Pirate and Three Navy Men

[all7seas]

Who: lists_to_port, noprevaricating, seventeensir, straightatem
What: Cheering Archie up after tothelibrary was sent home. CHEERING HIM UP AT ALL COSTS.
When: Late Afternoon, 9/8--Early Morning, 9/10
Where: Ocean--aboard the Joanna Joyce
Summary: Archie Kennedy was in the depths of despair after the girl he loved was sent home by the Malnosso. Jack Sparrow hated seeing him so sad and offered a sail to perk him up a bit. And then he offered to let Hornblower come along, which was a supreme sacrifice. And at some point they will dredge the newly-landed Jack Aubrey from the depths. There might be something going on with octopi in this thing, too, eventually.
Rating: This will be rated PG-13 for all the instances in which Sparrow will be annoyed by Horatio Hornblower.


There: the last bottle of rum had been stored aboard the Joanna Joyce. The tally, by the end, was half a dozen bottles of rum, a six pack of something called "Pabst Blue Ribbon", a box of wine, three bottles of champagne, a bottle of scotch, and a bottle of whiskey. It might almost be enough to get Jack Sparrow through the hours of being with Hornblower in close quarters that were soon to follow. Now it was just a matter of waiting for the two Navy men to show up at the shore. For the occasion, Jack had brought the Joanna in to the southernmost dock. The King's Men would not have to swim today.

Comments

[simplestgift]

"Joyce?"

[all7seas]

"Our child. Our little girl. Our Joyce. She came and made it better, a bit, and then I......"

He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember what had happened after Joyce, but there had been rum.

[simplestgift]

Archie sighed, his face hardening a little. "What's she done to you?"

[all7seas]

"Just. Gone. Walked away. Left me." Jack tried to sit up, and then lay back with a hiss. Falling square on a healing burn was not a happy thing. Luckily the alcohol in his system was numbing him to it. Mostly.

"I thought she were going to stay at Cull...Cullwhatsit, an' look after me a bit, but....

She'll think me over and decide whether to send me to the gallows in a week's time."

[simplestgift]

"To the gallows, Jack? Whatever for?"

[all7seas]

"Figurativitively. Not...not really. She's tired, you see. I tire her. Slayers, they don't get tired, as a rule, but she's tired. In a week she'll decide.....if she still wants me about."

[simplestgift]

"I meant...did something happen?"

[all7seas]

That was the moment, of course, that Jack succeeded in getting up, limping to the rail, and heaving the contents of his stomach over the side.

It was probably the best thing for him, really.

[simplestgift]

Archie sighed again, standing up and following Jack to the rail, leaning against it far enough away to avoid splattering.

[all7seas]

When he was through, Jack wiped his lips on a dirty sleeve. "I tried to have him killed."

[simplestgift]

"What?"

That was the first thing that came out of his mouth, although it's more in confusion than anger. He'd been able to justify hanging with Jack because he'd decided at last that the man wouldn't do anything cruel. And this...this was fear to the point of cruelty, if he was telling right.

[all7seas]

"I. Tried. To have him killed."

That was all he could get out before the next round of vomiting.

[simplestgift]

Archie waited until Jack stopped heaving, thinking hard. Jack couldn't be telling everything. "Was he threatening her?"

[all7seas]

"Threatening Buffy? Are you mad?" Jack was desperately wishing for something to clean out the taste in his mouth, now. Water would do. Rum would do better.

"He....he broke her up, somehow. I don't know how. And what does she do, hm? What do you think?"

[simplestgift]

Archie only waited.

[all7seas]

"Defends him. 'Jack, you shouldn't want him dead, he'll have a penalty. Had higher expectations of you.'"

[simplestgift]

Archie sighed and bowed his head, letting Jack go on. He could venture neither advice nor an opinion, not when it was Jack's turn to talk. He didn't know what opinion to have, anyway, without hearing what Buffy had to say, but his opinion was hardly the point in any of this. He wasn't here to play judge. Jack needed him. That was the point.

"Go on."

[all7seas]

There was a moment during which the pirate hung on to that rail as though he thought standing was a necessary and good and important thing. Then, apparently, his body disagreed with him on that matter and Jack was on the deck again, this time curling in and wrapping around himself. He had to focus, he decided, on breathing and not chundering again. Sparrow couldn't abide sick people. He was rarely sick himself. He NEVER reacted this way after drinking.

He had probably never drunk this much at one sitting.

"Nowhere left to go," he mumbled.

[simplestgift]

"You tried to have him killed. Because once upon a time, you believe he hurt Buffy." It was a reiteration for clarification, to prompt the pirate into elaborating.

[all7seas]

"No," came the muffled voice of the curled-up man. "Tried to have him killed because he broke her one night. Did something to her what broke her. Offered her immortality or such...she had nightmares that night, mate--woke her in the night. Kept her awake. My Annie."

[simplestgift]

"You do not know, yet you tried to have him killed." How many times had Jack argued the wisdom in leaving Grell alone after she had nearly killed them both? And yet now, with another powerful creature and only a fraction of the story, he'd done exactly the opposite of his counsel with Grell.

"And if he did mean to harm her, and he returned from death with a grudge? Do you think you could protect her from him then? Have you ever fought a vampire, Jack?"

[all7seas]

"Crossbow. Let me alone. I've ruined it. I've disappointed her. She doesn't want me, Kennedy."

A deep, shuddering breath. Crimes of passion were not Jack Sparrow's style. Vengeance? Yes---plotted coldly and methodically. No--he'd never fought a vampire. He'd been nearly drained by one, but never...

All he'd been able to think of was how satisfying it would be to hear of Angel's death. Another Slayer in town? He couldn't resist mentioning the vampire to her.

[simplestgift]

A sigh. "Of course she wants you. But Jack, anything could have caused her to wake up screaming. It didn't have to be him, or if it was, he might not have meant any harm. I could do it, or you could. All that needs to happen is for her to be reminded of something." He settled a little more beside the pirate. "Of course she wants you, Jack. She doesn't want you trying to kill every past lover she's had, either. Just...tell her you'll learn the entire story before trying to assassinate anyone. She loves you."

A beat.

"You won't remember any of that, will you."

[all7seas]

"YOU didn't see them together!" he snapped, suddenly lifting his head. "The things he were saying to her..."

With a groan, Jack laid his head back down on the deck of his Joanna.

[simplestgift]

"What did he say to her, Jack? Help me understand."