Into the tunnels

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who saw this.
What: A new section in the tunnels
When: The morning of the 10th onward
Where: Beneath Luceti
Summary: After revealing a new section of the tunnels, the people of Luceti have the freedom to slip in and see what secrets await them.

This is an open log for anyone who would like to thread out checking the tunnels out, observe the wall of memoirs, or just generally poke around at things.

Comments

[all7seas]

"I liked it."

[herotypical]

"Oh. Very few complaints, here. Just -- might want to have your teaching credentials looked at." Her nose wrinkled; she was teasing. "Because I kinda didn't end up learned what you set out to teach me. Learned loads of other stuff -- but that's not the point. You don't take a pottery class to learn how to do CPR."

[all7seas]

"Flexibility. It's important in educational things."

[herotypical]

"...You sound so sure of that."

Buffy believed in a very firm and strict approach to how she managed the girls at the castle. There was leeway when it was needed -- she was never outright cruel to any of them. There was always room for movie nights and there were never any ice-cream shortages. But she certainly wasn't there to be their friend. They called her ma'am.

It was a side of her that hadn't been required in Luceti. Not often, at least.

"Me? I'm less sure."

[all7seas]

"'S important at sea. Oh, there's regimented things, but the sea, she changes. Or in a battle."

Jack drew his sword and made a practiced lunge.

"I'm teaching Adele, you know."

[herotypical]

"And how's that going for you?"

Not that she felt that one-on-one lessons were anything quite like what they'd truly been talking about. If that were the case, she'd be equally hard on Gregor as she was with her girls back home. But -- nah.

Although, things had been mighty weird with Gregor for the last little while...

[all7seas]

"Making her arms fall off with the drills."

Or he HAD been. With all the recent and not-so-recent missions and troubles, it had been quite a while since he'd given her a proper lesson.

"'S how I were taught. Not how I fight, but important. James Norrington? One of the best swordsman I know. He fought William Turner inside a rolling mill-wheel. Brilliantly, really."

[herotypical]

"Drills are only going to take her so far." Buffy veered them towards a side-path. Might as well sneak in a casual spin around the village's edges while they were out. "Especially here.

Wait. Did you just say rolling mill-wheel?" That sounded impressive. Buffy was indeed impressed.

[all7seas]

"She needs the strength. Though her instincts? Getting better.


And aye. Rolling mill-wheel."

[herotypical]

Strength: the main advantage that Buffy most often took for granted. Hers came so naturally; she wore it not like some kind of inhuman boost but like an intrinsic part of her identity and her body. Being reminded of this fact prompted another of those thoughtful hums -- the Slayer's equivalent of a near-concession. A subtle I suppose you have a point that allowed her to never say those actual words.

"Who won?"

[all7seas]

"Erm......none of us. None of us won. Though I think I came off the worst of the three of us. But that were because I wasn't there to fight! I just needed the key.





Long story."

[herotypical]

"We've got time for long stories. Don't we?"

Her arm was still in his, so she gave it a friendly sorta-side-hug. Testing the waters, so to speak. Determining whether he truly believed it was a long story or whether he simple didn't want to tell it.

None of us, though? She'd expected the fight had been between two men. Not three. That stoked her curiousity all the further.

[all7seas]

"All the time in the world. Right.

You recall the souls? My....ploy? My soul being a debt come due? Kraken killing me and such? Davy Jones?

My plan, as it were, was to fetch the key that would open the chest that contained Jones's still-beating though morbidly crusty heart. Stab it. Win immortality.

Norrington and William wanted each to also do so, but for their own individual purposes."

[herotypical]

A few separate-but-barely sentiments collected at the base of her spin. A frisson of surprise as he spoke so candidly after the initial hesitation. Followed hard upon by a twinge of alarm that she'd steered them into retreading this ground. Finally, a cool tingle of apprehension. She tried to lock away her more instinctive reactions and maintained a measured, sterilized sort of voice as she continued the conversation.

"How could I forget?" A beat. "What was James's excuse?"

Although her question might have more accurately been do you know James's excuse, because she already knew how reticent that man could be.

[all7seas]

"He wanted the thing he'd lost. Respectability. His command. Clean clothing, I expect. A wig."

For Jack, it was also a testing of the waters. How would she react to more talk of his dastardly scheming?

"William simply wanted Elizabeth. Safe. And, I expect, something to do with the fact that his dad Bootstrap served on Jones's crew."

[herotypical]

To her credit, she was trying to react fairly. Well -- not fairly, perhaps. But her restraint resulted in a sort of mechanical acceptance. As if someone had just proposed a whole meal of her least favourite foods but she felt too polite to decline.

"...And you all lost. There's a lesson in that, Mister Teacher. Something about intentions and motivations and what's worth fighting in a mill-wheel for."

[all7seas]

"Norrington didn't. Norrington didn't lose. Not...not just then, anyhow.


I was fighting in a millwheel for my life. Thought it was worth it at the time."

[herotypical]

"Back up. Fill in a few of these blanks. If no one really won then how did James not lose? 'Cause that's kinda sounding like some dicey rhetoric to me. And I hate rhetoric. And dice. The double-whammy combo? Just all kinds of extra off-putting."

[all7seas]

"He took the heart. Got reinstated.



Sailed under the command of Cutler Beckett."

[herotypical]

"He never said."

And why would he?

"I guess you two have more in common than I first thought."

[all7seas]

"Ruthless, us."

[herotypical]

"And both of you were in that fight for yourselves."

What was respectability and command but another form of immortality?

[all7seas]

"Mmmmhmmm. Anything else you care to know?"

[herotypical]

"Just...I thought you guys were fighting over a heart? Not a key."

[all7seas]

"Annie -- what do keys do?"