POTC drabble - "Without"

Title: "Without"
Rating: PG for Pretty G
Post-AWE AU: J/E, W/E, J/W, (WTF, BBQ, OMG, PDQ, ETC.)
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, nor do I turn a profit from them visiting my brain.
Summary: Jack's fucked up again. What'll win - regret or cynicism?
A/N: I've had in mind a third story to go with A Sorta Fairytale and Moving On but not much more than a nebulous idea for it - from Jack's POV. This could've been the beginning of it. Written off the potc100 prompt "intoxication."


Comfort in numbness. Intoxication did that, banishing memory and need.

It also had the fortunate effect of making all around him bright and cheerful. A party in a bottle, he considered, lifting his dirty glass and swirling the bottom inch of warm rum, tilting drowsily forward.

When he lifted his eyes past the distorted glass, over the rim, he found both defectors watching with great humor. Scrubbed of their circus makeup, they looked fit and satisfied … which Jack conspicuously was not.

“Why’re you here?” Will casually demanded.

“He screwed up.” Elizabeth’s eyes fixed Jack. “But, with which of us?”

Reccy rec recommendations

Movie: I finally got around to renting "The Road to El Dorado." Holy shashista, is that slashy stuff. Sure, it's a buddy movie. And there's a girl in it. But to be honest, the girl doesn't seem terribly interested in either guy beyond having some fun with one - Chel (voiced by Rosie Perez) just wants to get the hell out of El Dorado and see the wider world. The real couple in this movie are Tulio and Miguel (voiced by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branaugh), who gamble for a map in Spain. When their con is discovered, they escape on a ship - commanded by Cortes, bound for conquering the New World and its treasure. They manage to escape from the ship with a horse (don't ask) and end up getting themselves to El Dorado. I'll let you rent it to find out how it plays out.

The interesting thing about this movie (and I'm nearly the last person on my f-list to know this or even see it, I admit) is it was written by Ted and Terry - the POTC writers. Tulio and Miguel aren't direct templates for Jack and Will, but instead, each has characteristics of both pirates (plus, they seem close to the same age instead of there being a big age/life experience gap). I don't know what was written first - the screenplay for this or for POTC (though I understand POTC has been around at least since the early 90s, when Disney turned it down the first time) - but one clearly borrows from the other. There are lines of dialogue, references, actions in this movie that also show up in POTC. If you liked CotBP, rent "Road to El Dorado." (And if you know if fanfic for this movie, let ME know about it.)


Books: I just finished "Black Ships" and "The Hand of Isis" by Jo Graham. Again, I'm close to the last person on the Internet to read these, but that's OK - I'm slow and I admit it *G*. "Black Ships" is the story of a woman who is born a slave and becomes an oracle to the wandering prince of Troy after the Trojan people are forced to the sea. It's basically the fanfic version of how these people find a new land and found Rome. "The Hand of Isis" takes place centuries later and focuses on the life of Cleopatra through the eyes of her sister and handmaiden, and its takeover by Rome. (I understand her next book will focus on Alexander in Egypt and the beginnings of the Ptolemic dynasty.)

I say "fanfic" because these books are basically very good fanfic. I don't mean that as an insult - they're very readable, partly because they use a good deal of modern dialogue and concepts to convey what is going on to the reader, and they explain customs and culture in the same way. I'm looking forward to Graham's third book.

But "Hand of Isis" reminded me a lot of a book published by Pauline Gedge in 1977, "Child of the Morning." It's the tale of the life of Hatshepsut, and it too is told in a very readable style - reducing an historical figure of great note to a regular person the reader can relate to and learn about her culture. If I had to pick one of the two to re-read, I would choose Gedge's. But that doesn't diminish the quality of Graham's. (I wonder if she read Gedge, too.)