dwgm: Kimi Birds (PotC -Teague by wapiti_baris)
[personal profile] dwgm
A longish, rather angsty drabble, 400 words, in reply to both last week's and this week's drabble challenge prompts at [livejournal.com profile] blackpearlsails




~ Post-consular Ghosts ~

He’d always been good at apologies. Pardon. Excuse Me. Sorry! They tripped with great, if frequently feigned, sincerity off his tongue, accompanied by the soulful expression, perhaps the contrite bow, hands pressed humbly together. A useful skill that had, in the past, inspired an unwarranted but extremely convenient hubris in adversaries, as well as smoothing relations with those persons less inclined to do him a mischief.

Never worked with Teague, of course.

The old man had always had his measure. The fact had been made painfully evident to his infant self more times than he cared to recall, until at last he’d made his permanent escape, both from the Cove and from his exacting and apparently omniscient progenitor.

“It’s… complicated,” he told Elizabeth in a tone meant to discourage further inquiry when she asked about the Keeper of the Code, having noted Jack’s unfortunate reaction to Teague’s entrance at the council.

But Hector, striding along beside them, showed his teeth in what was supposed to be a smile. “Teague’s Jack’s paterfamilias, as it were.”

Elizabeth, apparently astonished, turned to Jack. “He’s your father?

Jack snorted. “S’pose you thought I’d sprung from the briny like Venus, fully formed and served on the half shell with a side of spume?”

“No, but—Jack, wait!”

But Jack was through waiting. He cut down a side passage and soon lost the two as he expertly navigated this mazelike mountain of maritime mayhem, taking the shortest route possible back to the docks.

Time to be shut of the Cove and its unsettling ghosts.

But there were always ghosts, he thought as he rowed out to the Pearl. The Locker had shown him that in spades.

He’d been young when he’d run away all those years ago, barely a stripling, and considering some of the misadventures he’d gotten himself into, before he’d become fly to the time of day, it was debatable whether the decision to leave had been the right one. Teague had certainly had strong objections, and had moved heaven and earth to retrieve him. Jack had thought it merely diabolical persecution at the time. Now, of course, he knew better.

But that was water under the bridge. When he’d met Teague again, years later, they’d almost seemed strangers. It was made abundantly clear that his father had long since washed his hands of his hopelessly unsatisfactory offspring. No apology necessary.

Or accepted, belike.


~.~




Date: 2013-02-23 10:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com
Interesting notice in the first paragraph, and great atmosphere later. And I like even the bitter ending... *sigh*

Date: 2013-02-23 11:39 pm (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (PotC -Teague by wapiti_baris)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
Jack's relationship with Teague give signs of being problematic. It's always interesting to speculate on their history. Thank you for reading and commenting, and so quickly too!

Date: 2013-02-23 11:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] phoenix-9664.livejournal.com
Why do your entries here invariably strike me as the overtures to much longer pieces? (she said, provocatively, she hoped . . . .) I'm fascinated by the relationship, and have always wondered when/how Elizabeth would find out who Teague was. If this doesn't usher in a long-term flashback about Jack's youthful relationship with his paterfamilias, I'm hornswoggled. Come on, now.

Date: 2013-02-24 12:06 am (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (PotC -Teague by wapiti_baris)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
a long-term flashback about Jack's youthful relationship with his paterfamilias

There are some great authors that have written about Jack and Teague, and I've written a bit about them myself here and there. I'll consider it -- but I bet you could come up with something fabulous, too. Perhaps we should have a Paterfamilias Challenge, eh? *g*

Thank you very much for reading and letting me know you enjoyed this.

Date: 2013-02-23 11:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hendercats.livejournal.com
I love this, but then I've been a sucker for angst for years as you know. Um, would quote bits back to you, but several glasses of wine whilst making and eating dinner make satisfactory capture unlikely, though Jack's line about being sprung from the sea with a side of foam is pure delight.

How marvelous that you still have such perfect pitch for Jack's voice, and Elizabeth's...

Date: 2013-02-23 11:59 pm (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (Jack - WTF?)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
You're here!! I will go have a glass of wine in your honor (heading out to dinner and the symphony in a half an hour). I think you have good company, a lot of readers love the angst, and certainly one needs some conflict to keep a story interesting. Jack's relationship with Teague is given in such angsty dribs and drabs in the movie that it practically begs to be made into fic, a fact to which many excellent writers around here will attest. So happy you enjoyed this instance. (And I actually changed that sea/seafoam line somewhat, can you look at it and see if it works all right? My dear [livejournal.com profile] hereswith is unavailable for beta work of late and I struggle with the wordage sometimes.)

*hugs*

Date: 2013-02-26 10:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hendercats.livejournal.com
Ooooh, sprung from the briny - love it! Love hearing Jack say it (as I always do when you write his dialog)!

Hope you enjoyed the symphony. :)

Date: 2013-02-27 03:11 pm (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (Black Pearl Nights (blank by cunning_cro)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
Thank you for taking a peek at that -- glad it works!

Hope you enjoyed the symphony.

I did, it's always a nice night out with some of my favorite people.

Date: 2013-02-24 01:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pearlseed.livejournal.com
Kiss my dody for an ice cream sody....I'll be!!!! You've not been absent, lollygaggling about!! You've been growing haven't you? Getting a whole 'nother side and depth to your already capable and awesome self!! Man alive...I forgot it's always possible, indeed probable that growing keeps on keeping on. Looks and reads real fine on you!

My five very favorite words? Glad you asked. mazelike mountain of maritime mayhem, Did you just love the hell outta writing them? cos I loved reading them.

How cool, loved Barbossa ripping Jack off, loved Lizzie's questions as yet unasked, and the prompt retreat made at the prospect of asking, sending Jack scrambling.

And for me of course, there's the hard part, father and son, both caring, neither really skilled at relating that to the other. Teague not absolutely murdering his offspring is a major statement of his love, as much as efforts to redirect Jack's youthful behavior. Oh, but how utterly teenish behavior in Jack, all prickly prideful, escaping from the Cove.

A son's a son til he takes a wife, a father's a father all of his life. Would love love love more of this story...my curiosity is great about how, when, where, what reconciled them or sent Jack escaping, either/or/both????


Edited Date: 2013-02-24 01:18 am (UTC)

Date: 2013-02-24 11:52 pm (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (PotC -Teague by wapiti_baris)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
Thank you for your wonderful comments! Grandson Zane down for a nap now, so I've time to reply. You are just the kindest and most generous comment writer. Very happy you enjoyed the small excursion into alliteration, I did indeed enjoy writing it; also happy you thought them all in character, and are intrigued enough to want some more. It just may be that I will come up with something!

Date: 2013-02-28 02:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jennifer weston (from livejournal.com)
Complicated- oh yes! There's fodder for indefinite fics here!

P.S. I *really* like the image of Jack rising on a half-shell. :D

Date: 2013-02-28 03:25 pm (UTC)
ext_15536: Fuschias by Geek Mama (PotC -Teague by wapiti_baris)
From: [identity profile] geekmama.livejournal.com
I believe I've seen fanart of Jack on the half-shell, can't remember where, though. *g*

And yes, more fic in this vein may be on the horizon. So happy you liked this one. Thank you very much for commenting!

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