[POTC Holiday Fic] - KotS companion vignette - Myrrh for the King: Part Two - 3/3 - rated R
~Part Two~
The evening had passed colorfully enough. For his part, Jack had spent the better half of the hour before dinner fetching water for his bloody sister. And so he’d found himself making several trips to the well. He’d grumbled a good deal, but the lime juice that Sara had made with said water rendered the labor nearly worthwhile, the ( Read more... )
But it was this section, I think, that really broke my heart:
“The Ranjit I knew. The boy that was so full to brimming with mischief and kindness and the hopes for something better, always.” She edged closer, clasping his hand and tipping his face away from the sea. He saw his mother’s eyes, then - that same calm-water sheen of the garden puddles in the opaque stillness of afternoon. Green and blue and without wave or ripple.
“That boy,” she continued, “was wanting love, was running and running into the typhoon of it, always - even after so much suffering.”
Jack sighed, his eyelids heavy. “Figures. Old life won’t just bugger off and die. You know, don’t you, that I dislike seeing that particular version of myself the most?”
There's so much truth in that about Jack, about his essential optimism and the fact it is always at war with the cynicism he uses as a defence against harm of all kinds.
Lovely work, looking forward to more in the KotS universe. :)
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What a relief it was to see Jack blow up at Elizabeth and his family. (I've been waiting for him to do that since she disappeared all day then laughed at him for being worried and waved away his feelings.) Everyone was patronizing him, deciding for themselves what was best for him and treating him like a child. His sister especially, criticizing him for having a firey tongue when she helped drive him to blow up with her own behavior. Even if Jack doesn't know what is best for himself at this point, she shouldn't presume to know, either.
Looking out for Elizabeth when she was in trouble at the end was the right thing to do, morally, but I wasn't rooting for them as a couple at this point in the story...before I can say "yay, they're together!" Jack needs to have self esteem not to masochistically try to transform himself into Will, and Elizabeth stops talking down to Jack and treating him like a child.
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---Seriously. I myself have a host of emotional battle scars courtesy of holidays past. When I sat down to write a holiday fic, I really wanted to capture that sort of bittersweet sting of the holidays - of all of the efforts and the potential and the good intentions of loved ones clashing horribly. It's the sort of broken-wing sadness of holidays, of remembered loss and miscommunication and everything else festive and macabre. ;)
"The gatherings of dysfunctional families at the holidays. Truly the ninth circle of hell for many people around the globe. ;)"
---I'm glad that this bit of relief came through to you. I wanted this story to have a real sting to it, and I imagined his tantrum as something satisfying in a very immediate sense but lacking any true release. That kind of glee one feels when delivering a gut-punch, only to feel guilt and horror in the aftermath.
(I've been waiting for him to do that since she disappeared all day then laughed at him for being worried and waved away his feelings.)
---These two really are suffering from miscommunication of the worst sort, and on a massive level. It's almost as though they are always having two separate conversations.
"Everyone was patronizing him, deciding for themselves what was best for him and treating him like a child.
---And I think this is both the horror and the beauty of families. We want so desperately to fix the pain of the people that we love that we often end up miscommunicating - or forcing their hands - and doing more harm than good.
"His sister especially, criticizing him for having a firey tongue when she helped drive him to blow up with her own behavior. "
---Ah, how we can hurt one another even as we intend to help. I wanted to play with the idea of metaphors with Jack and Sara - Jack being very much a product of the colonial system, the kind of man that's both adopted British culture while raging against it, the kind of man that feels deeply uprooted culturally. Sara would be the other side of that coin, someone who is clinging to Indian traditions and cultural as a means of rebellion. And so you mix these two personalities and this sort of clash is bound to happen: Sara thinking she can 'fix' Jack by returning him to his identity as Ranjit, and Jack, conversely, wanting nothing more than to slay that part of himself once and for all.
"before I can say "yay, they're together!" Jack needs to have self esteem not to masochistically try to transform himself into Will, and Elizabeth stops talking down to Jack and treating him like a child."
----And this is a good deal of why they are trapped in their own purgatory. I think it all comes down to miscommunication, again.
-Jack says he's worried about Lizzie for leaving, which of course is his own way of saying he loves her. Lizzie hears, instead, that Jack doesn't trust her enough to take care of herself - or to do right by him.
-Elizabeth says she's lonely without Will - but her loneliness is also a by-product of being pushed away by Jack at every turn. Jack hears, instead, that she care sonly for Will, that is presence is null and void.
And of course each of them is both correct and incorrect. Hopefully, by the end of KotS, you'll be able to root for them again. :)
In the meantime, thanks very much for taking the time to comment and read! I apologize for the ramble, but talking about all of this is too much fun - like eating massive quantities of chocolate times ten.
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----Thanks so much, love! Putting these two through the ringer is my special love. I am teh evil. ;)
"You used, I thought, the multiple Jack's to much better effect than in the movie and I adored the idea of Sara beginning to reunite him in the end."
----Thanks very much again! I loved the whole idea of the mutliple Jacks - and I was definitely of the camp that felt Disney let us down in that scenario - so I'm happy that you saw fuller potential here. I plan to keeping having fun with them, as it really is a neat tool in terms of the psychology of the story.
"There's so much truth in that about Jack, about his essential optimism and the fact it is always at war with the cynicism he uses as a defence against harm of all kinds."
---Thank you! I think that the dichotomy that he represents - extreme optimism combined with this defense mechanism of cynicism is really fascinating. SOmeday, I hope to get around to writing some young!Jack fic to explore all of this goodness.
Thanks for reading and commenting, love! More of KotS is on the way, hopefully with a quickness.
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