PotC Fic: As the Sea

[erinya]

Title: As the Sea
Fandom: PotC
Disclaimer: Not my sandbox. I just play here.
Rating: PG
Summary: The Turners have an unexpected visitor. Written for shadphenix who long ago gave me the prompt "Will, daughter." More gen than anything else; all pairings come pre-wrecked. OFC.
Note: Heartfelt thanks to woolymonkey at rough_magic for much valuable feedback.

Comments

[veronica_rich]

We all pretty much assume that Elizabeth's mother died before the crossing from England, that Weatherby was a widower. But aside from an old bit of script taken out, we've nothing to prove it, I don't think (sort of like the old bit that proved Will had been a cabin boy for two years and had prior sailing experience). Without a mother showing up, we might think the same of Will and Jenny, on a casual glance.

I think it's very selfish of Elizabeth to run off and do what she wants, neglect all the tough parts of parenting, and then come back and appeal to whatever daring romantic adventure might be in her daughter's soul and try to be "the good guy" for it - but then again, I have the same reaction to absent fathers who suddenly reappear past when the kid really could have used their guidance in life. I also thought it was extremely petty and small of Bess to mock Will with the "I only wanted to live" line - as though he was fine to screw and leave a kid to raise, but not good enough to have a life with.

None of this is concrit, or even criticism of your style or content. The story itself is excellent, and your writing style is lovely. It's just very sad and evokes quite a strong reaction, and while I'm generally hesitant to read sad stories in this fandom, I know you write well, so I wanted to check it out. (And now I'm interested in seeing if you'll tackle the other part of what you mentioned to me about this kind of story, about Jack, perhaps ...)

[maddarilke]

On the other hand, we know that Elizabeth is capable of being cruel. I think it's a factor in all three films (well, all right, I'm guessing at her behaviour in the third); but she is fully able to hurt with her actions and words as anyone is with a sword. She has betrayed people, lied to them, put her interests first--I don't think it's entirely uncanonic for her to have gone the way of this fic. I think it's an entirely plausible scenario.

But very sad, yes. Sad for Will, and a teensy bit sad for Elizabeth, seeing as Jack is as big a scoundrel in it as Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are desperately trying to remind us.

[veronica_rich]

On the other hand, we know that Elizabeth is capable of being cruel.

And that's why I didn't take issue with the story itself. After DMC, I can see her being this way, and while I know some people love her for it, I don't like it. I don't like the fact Will still loves her, even though I know a person can't just banish their emotions because they'd like to. As I said, it's a very painful read.

[erinya]

Yes, he loves her even though she's given him nothing back. Except one thing--Jenny--and I think that makes it worth it for him, despite the hell he's been through.

Forgot to say...thanks so much for reading! I can't seem to stop writing these sad stories, though. The last three have been terribly angsty...

[veronica_rich]

Except one thing--Jenny--and I think that makes it worth it for him, despite the hell he's been through.

And even as he obviously fears his daughter will leave him the same way her mother did, he doesn't try to forbid her. It's notable. She senses his worry and seeks to assuage it - but she's only 16, and there's no assurance she won't eventually change her mind.

(Does this presume that Weatherby dies during AWE, or I wonder what happens to him as a result of his daughter becoming a pirate?)

[erinya]

I don't think that Jenny is like Elizabeth in the way that Will fears; she has Will's kind of strength in my head, that constancy. But there is a small implication that she's the kind of kid that grows up too fast and parents her father to some extent, and someday she might react against that. (I did assume that Weatherby was gone before Elizabeth took off here, mostly for simplicity's sake.)

[veronica_rich]

Maybe, with any luck, now that all is out in the open, Will will tell her more about her mother and when he was younger, and it'll help her understand the choices each of her parents made. Possibly instead of being Dad's caretaker, she can see him in a better light, and maybe even have some admiration for the adventursome person her mother is, without wanting to go to quite that extent.

[erinya]

Exactly. I certainly hope that each generation can learn from and avoid the mistakes of the last, especially when I notice how like my own parents I am. :-)

[erinya]

Well, she's not supposed to be the good guy in this fic at all, and I hope it didn't seem like she was meant to be completely sympathetic, or that Will was the bad guy. This is Elizabeth as "Hurricane Bess," a chaotic force in her world, and probably the most negative I've ever portrayed her, although I absolutely love writing her this way, turned completely pirate.

When she says "I only wanted to live," she's trying to explain or perhaps justify herself, not mock Will. But you're right; she's very selfish in this story, and she made the wrong choice, and she knows it (or at least partially.) But if she came back to them now, she couldn't fix it.

(I actually started this one a long time ago, but am still rolling the other one around in my head to see if anything sticks. If I can do it without feeling like I'm doing a redux on this one, I might. I'm not sure I can actually write Will/Jack, though, and the bunny requires it.)

[veronica_rich]

Well, she's not supposed to be the good guy in this fic at all, and I hope it didn't seem like she was meant to be completely sympathetic, or that Will was the bad guy.

No, I didn't get any of that. It's just that I know how you feel about Elizabeth, and so it was odd to see her so ... stripped, of explanation or strong emotion. Then again, if she left Will and Jenny in the first place, she can't have felt too strongly for them. Though, I do wonder why she shows up again at this point in time. Nostalgia, perhaps? Misplaced loneliness?

I'm not sure she made the wrong choice after all, except maybe in giving birth in the first place. This Elizabeth would never have been happy being a wife and mother, so I can't see what she could regret about having gone to sea.

[erinya]

I'm not sure if she had a right choice to make in this particular situation. It's certainly a different approach than I usually take with the character, but the story really wanted it. A lot of the stripped-down aspect is a function of the distance between her and Will here and the fact that Will is the POV character, and that any vulnerability she has here is very well-hidden on her part. As with any story, of course, there's the other side, the unwritten side--in which Elizabeth left because she felt trapped, and terrified that she wasn't nurturing or patient enough to be a good mother (which might have been true for this Elizabeth, as you say) and unwilling to spend her youth being "just" a mother. And the reason she never goes back until fifteen years later is that she feels it would be crueler to be only partially there as opposed to not there at all, that she can't really justify herself to Will, that she has no way of reconciling these two worlds. A lot of that is implied, especially in the conversation-in-hypotheticals of the last part, but it had no way of making itself explicit in the story as framed.