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

Bravissima

[piratemistress]

Oh, I absolutely loved this. We have an entire family now: Jane and Jack Jr., your Jamie and Jenny...

First of all, your writing is absolutely brilliant. Your charade at the beginning - convincing the reader that the visitor is Jack, right down to Will's nervous reaction, the fingers, the kohled eyes - made me stop, puzzle, go back and re-read. God, I love that. "Hurricane Bess," indeed (I think of her that way, too.)

Then Jenny's so proper and age-and period-perfect, and Will's still Will, too... everything said and unsaid between them, all the wonderful details. Jack *would* go off in search of the Fountain of Youth, naturally. I can see them having a liason that would not end well.

I love fiction that explores interesting possibilities; and that's what this does. That's what writing does, really. What if? is the question. What if Elizabeth became a pirate, but after she'd had a kid? What if she ran off with Jack, only until Jack ran off somewhere else?

I don't know that you intended this fic to be very sad. I didn't find it to be very sad - I'm glad Elizabeth got her chance to live, and it must have sucked for Will, true, but single parents are going it alone out there just fine. I don't have issues of parental abandonment, but I can say a parent doesn't have to be at sea to be "missing". And Jenny seems to have turned out all right.

Abandoning a child is often seen as the unforgivable sin. I think there are other things in life, other existences and mistakes and situations, that are equally dreadful (consider this fic in opposition to, say, "Sand and Water").

Anyway, from the first line, it's poetry. As usual. How you churn out such beautiful stuff, I can only imagine. A thoroughly enjoyable read (and lacking smut, I daresay I'm stingy with my reading) and I do hope you channel all this talent into some original writing that I can buy and read while I take a break from writing my own original novel someday...

Anyway, Midnight Ride's done, and I am odysseying in search of the evening's entertainment, trying to convince myself not to leap immediately into another project. End ridiculously long comment.

Re: Bravissima

[erinya]

*grins* I don't know why they all must have J names, but it just seems to happen that way!

Although I started this way back before Christmas and before I heard the rumors that inspired "Sand and Water," it is the flip side of that story in some important ways. It was nice to write one in which she wasn't the single parent. And there's a mix of emotions here--I think Elizabeth regrets not seeing her daughter grow up and being part of her life, but she doesn't seem to regret the life she's chosen. There has to be a middle ground, but I haven't really found that yet in my head for these characters in the lovely way that artaxastra has, for instance. I've been using fic to problematize lately, I guess.

I don't have issues of parental abandonment, but I can say a parent doesn't have to be at sea to be "missing".

And I think that the Jamie of "Sand and Water" would feel that way about his mother, despite how much she loves him and tries her best to take care of them. The reversal of that here is Elizabeth's suggestion that she didn't think she'd be a good mother.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. I really had fun being tricky in writing this one. I'd seen pronoun-less writing done and wanted to give it a try. And I just love writing Elizabeth as utterly piratical, even when she's not entirely sympathetic.

Yay for Midnight Ride! *runs off to read*