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dwgmWhoot! I wrote the code for a couple of tables! Go me!
500 words from Nell's pov, theme: "Echo". Many thanks, to my dear![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.
Previous bits...
And here's today's...
24. Echo
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
Nell tingled all over from that kiss long after Jack departed, and as she watched him and Joe and a few of the others launch the Jolly Mon, pushing it out through the little moonlit wavelets and onto the glassy bay, she felt both bereft and trembling, and absurd, too.
"Nell!" she scolded herself, sitting down on the steps again and putting cool hands to her cheeks. "What a fool you are!"
Some of the things Constanze and Maribelle had told her about Jack the previous afternoon jostled about in her head like some fascinating Roman orgy. She had liked Jack very well, of course, even before hearing them, but after! Oh, dear. It was evident that he was a rogue in every sense of the word, leaving outrageous schemes, longing hearts, and broken taboos in his merry, and often strangely honorable, wake. The Charming Grin came into her mind's eye. Irresistible.
And he liked her. Very well, indeed.
She knew what it meant when a man looked at one just so, it had happened to her before, young as she'd been, though the eagle eye of her grandmother had discouraged unwanted attentions. "You're a beauty, Nell, and you've cunning ways," Grandmother had told her once, quite matter-of-factly, her gaze fond but sharp, "and you'll find it a curse as well as a blessing as you grow older. Always remember, handsome is as handsome does - and that goes for you as well."
Her grandmother was the wisest person Nell knew.
But Jack Sparrow's attentions weren't unwanted. Nell felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, thinking of him, of the previous evening when he'd conversed with her so easily, laughingly fed her morsels of feast with his own fingers, swung her around in the firelight as they'd danced. And then she'd lain beside him, blanket-wrapped, and they'd continued their conversation in rum-scented whispers, and she'd wondered if he would try to kiss her. He had not, just slipped his arm under her and drew her close, but she knew sleep had not come easily. And the rest of the night... how sick with terror she had been, and how her heart had leapt when she realized it was he, his shadow long on the moonlit path, challenging Harrison Claypool's ruffians. Why, she had never witnessed anything like it! How heroic! How exciting!
And how besotted he'd left her.
He might be a pirate, but he was so much more.
His gentle way with young Anamaria was completely endearing. The little girl loved him so, and it must be obvious to anyone with eyes, save perhaps to Jack himself. It quite broke one's heart. But Anamaria would grow up, and perhaps her time would come.
Nell's time was now, if ever.
Grandmother had another saying, from a poem she liked: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
Nell, watching the Jolly Mon move across the bay to the dark ship in the distance, determined she would follow Grandmother's excellent advice.
*
TBC...
500 words from Nell's pov, theme: "Echo". Many thanks, to my dear
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.Previous bits...
| 1. Tortuga 2. Happiness 3. Festive 4. Last Minute 5. Calm 6. Truth 7. Bargain 8. Spook 9. Down 10. Wounds 11. Moon 12. Monsters | 13. Beauty 14. Name 15. History 16. Service 17. Advice 18. Captain 19. Awe 20. Cross 21. "You've made a big mistake" 22. Heroism 23. Gold |
And here's today's...
24. Echo
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
Nell tingled all over from that kiss long after Jack departed, and as she watched him and Joe and a few of the others launch the Jolly Mon, pushing it out through the little moonlit wavelets and onto the glassy bay, she felt both bereft and trembling, and absurd, too.
"Nell!" she scolded herself, sitting down on the steps again and putting cool hands to her cheeks. "What a fool you are!"
Some of the things Constanze and Maribelle had told her about Jack the previous afternoon jostled about in her head like some fascinating Roman orgy. She had liked Jack very well, of course, even before hearing them, but after! Oh, dear. It was evident that he was a rogue in every sense of the word, leaving outrageous schemes, longing hearts, and broken taboos in his merry, and often strangely honorable, wake. The Charming Grin came into her mind's eye. Irresistible.
And he liked her. Very well, indeed.
She knew what it meant when a man looked at one just so, it had happened to her before, young as she'd been, though the eagle eye of her grandmother had discouraged unwanted attentions. "You're a beauty, Nell, and you've cunning ways," Grandmother had told her once, quite matter-of-factly, her gaze fond but sharp, "and you'll find it a curse as well as a blessing as you grow older. Always remember, handsome is as handsome does - and that goes for you as well."
Her grandmother was the wisest person Nell knew.
But Jack Sparrow's attentions weren't unwanted. Nell felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, thinking of him, of the previous evening when he'd conversed with her so easily, laughingly fed her morsels of feast with his own fingers, swung her around in the firelight as they'd danced. And then she'd lain beside him, blanket-wrapped, and they'd continued their conversation in rum-scented whispers, and she'd wondered if he would try to kiss her. He had not, just slipped his arm under her and drew her close, but she knew sleep had not come easily. And the rest of the night... how sick with terror she had been, and how her heart had leapt when she realized it was he, his shadow long on the moonlit path, challenging Harrison Claypool's ruffians. Why, she had never witnessed anything like it! How heroic! How exciting!
And how besotted he'd left her.
He might be a pirate, but he was so much more.
His gentle way with young Anamaria was completely endearing. The little girl loved him so, and it must be obvious to anyone with eyes, save perhaps to Jack himself. It quite broke one's heart. But Anamaria would grow up, and perhaps her time would come.
Nell's time was now, if ever.
Grandmother had another saying, from a poem she liked: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
Nell, watching the Jolly Mon move across the bay to the dark ship in the distance, determined she would follow Grandmother's excellent advice.
*
 | ~ To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick - 1591-1674 GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer ; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may go marry : For having lost but once your prime You may for ever tarry. |
TBC...