Drabble Sequence: Here’s Luck to You (4/6)

[honorat]

By Honorat
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Aye, Disney doesn’t allow anyone else to make a profit, but we’re not tryin’ to make a profit, are we?

Summary: Bill Turner is cursed and vengeful. Angst alert. Fourth in a series of significant events in the lives of Bootstrap Bill and Jack Sparrow with a cameo by Will. This was supposed to be a drabble for the “lucky charm” challenge at Black Pearl Sails. There will be six installments to this drabble sequence. None of them is a drabble.

Thanks to the peerless beta editing of geek_mama_2, this is much better than it was.

1 The Luck Holds
2 Don't Do Anything Stupid
3 Down on His Luck

* * * * *

4 Doing Something Stupid

Bill Turner contemplated the moonlight glittering on the mouldering bones of his hand. No matter how familiar the sight was becoming, he couldn’t repress a shudder of horror. His other hand crept to the cursed medallion chained to his neck. One finger made a chilling click as bone brushed gold. Nightmares. That’s what we are. That’s all we deserve to be.

He wondered if Jack was dead yet.

There had been no water on that island. It had been too long. Barbossa had made sure there’d been no opportunity for any secret partisans to jump ship and mount a rescue. And Jack had been so badly injured when they’d driven him off his ship. The rusty stains where they’d dragged him had refused to come out of the Pearl’s deck. Bill always refused to step on them.

He could no longer feel the warm wood under his feet, no longer sense the direction of the wind, no longer stroke the smooth page of his last long ago letter from his wife, with the wobbly line from little Will at the bottom. But he could feel anguish like molten lead consuming his bones. And he could feel guilt like blocks of granite crushing his lifeless heart. He could never go home now. He had failed every person he had ever loved.

Tomorrow they would make port again searching for the gold to break the curse. Tomorrow he would find a way to send this medallion so far away Barbossa would never find it. Tomorrow he would have his vengeance.

Then he would find a way to sail to that island where they had marooned Jack—to say good-bye. He pulled out a flask of rum he could no longer taste and splashed it onto the deck of the Black Pearl. For Captain Jack Sparrow. Here’s luck to you, Jack.

If Jack was dead, he’d probably already talked his way out of Hell and was driving the angels to pulling out their feathers in Heaven. And at least one of the Pearly Gates had gone unaccountably missing. If there was a heaven.

Bill knew for a fact there was a hell.

TBC

5 No Luck At All

Comments

[cymbeline.livejournal.com]

Then he would find a way to sail to that island where they had marooned Jack—to say good-bye. He pulled out a flask of rum he could no longer taste and splashed it onto the deck of the Black Pearl. For Captain Jack Sparrow. Here’s luck to you, Jack.

This gave me the chills. Excellent as usual!

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Chills are good--in this case. I'm glad you enjoyed this. Thanks for commenting.

[melusina]

That's chilling and the descriptions are wonderful. . .

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your kind comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the description.

[rennie1265.livejournal.com]

Why so worried about drabble lengths? These pieces are exceptionally well done and very satisfying, chilling and humourous. Can see Bill through these with an eye for his brand of vengeance. Can also see the uproar in heaven should Jack find his way there; however, he is such a charmer, he'll certainly get away with it. It's been a rather dull place since Lucifer got the boot and Michael is such a one track chap.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm glad you are enjoying the trip through Bill's head. The length wouldn't be a problem if I hadn't been submitting them for the drabble challenge. But so few of us write 100 words anymore. And everyone seems to like just a touch longer. Oh what fun it would be to write Jack's arrival in heaven. Hahahahaha! I'm sure he would charm everyone. Just give him a nice ship on the Sea of Glass and Fire and I'm sure he'd be almost no trouble at all.

[rennie1265.livejournal.com]

The key word being "almost." I'm supposed to be fixing poor old Kettle of Hawks but I keep reading other things. Bad me. Btw, how do you do your blending on the pencil drawings?

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I'm supposed to be doing anything but fanfic--writing or reading--but try to tell the bloody freakin' muse that :P.

I blend different ways for different effects. e.g. on that last portrait of Jack, I used a small paper tortillon to blend the background into that out-of-focus look and to make the smooth texture of the fabric of Jack's coat. I also muted the highlights in Jack's hair with it. The blending for the skin and hat was done just shading with the pencil, very gradually building up layers of shadow from light to dark. Though I have been known to take the tortillon to a persistent pattern I want to disappear in skin tones as well. I also use the kneaded eraser to pick out highlights in the clothing and to give that battered look to his hat. That's about it. I've done entire pictures with just pencil shading as well. That other one of Jack, for instance--with the pistol--that was just graphite pencil. The trick is to have a soft enough lead and a light enough touch with it.

[dignityofman.livejournal.com]

ohhh... so beautiful!!! Angry, angsty, Bill Turner! I do love the line about pearly gates gone unaccountably missing. You could make one love a fear of the dark! Wish someone would write the moment Barbossa and the others figured out Bill hid the coin... would be such a satisfying thump!

-mia

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'm so glad you liked my poor distressed and doomed Bill. Whatever happened to him, and I imagine we'll finally learn something about it in movie #2, it couldn't have been a good thing. As for the gates--once a pirate, always a pirate. Perhaps someday the muse will deliver the story of Bootstrap and Barbossa. I still don't have a handle on Barbossa's character yet, but eventually it will have to happen if the novelization is to go on. I do appreciate your comments.

[demishock.livejournal.com]

I love how you portray the friendship between the two of them; a sort of nagging-each-other-but-respecting-each-other kind of relationship... *can't think of better terminology for it x . x*

I also like how Bill sees the fun side of Jack, while in the movie Barbossa only saw Jack's foolery (is that even a word...? *losing mind; been a long day*) as a liability. Two men from the same crew, but two completely different perspectives on the same one man...

Come to think of it, it makes me wonder why Barbossa was Jack's first mate rather than Bill...

I love the little addition of the Will-scribble on the letter; very nice touch. Poor Bill; torn between loving his family and loving the sea... (they should just get a houseboat... that'd solve everything *snort*).

Jack kidnapped the gate. Given his love of things that move, he ought to be thrilled at the idea of hanging out on a cloud... (which is, in fact, made of water...)

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like the friendship. It's so fun to portray them sniping at each other, but really good friends who care underneath it all.

Bill knows that Jack is plenty bright under all the malarky, while Barbossa just dismisses him as an unworthy opponent in his scramble for the top.

That first mate question is a good one. I've seen a number of theories. I don't know what I'll eventually decide.

I've always seen Bill as a very torn person. A good man would have to be in his circumstances.

Of course Jack kidnapped the gate. And who knows what he's letting in! My guess is rumrunners. They'd better keep a sharp eye on the foundation stones too!

Thanks so much for commenting.

[hendercats.livejournal.com]

The rusty stains where they'd dragged him had refused to come out of the Pearl's deck.
*words fail* This is so powerful, the Pearl refusing to give up the last touch of her captain.

[honorat.livejournal.com]

I do love writing the Black Pearl's relationship with Jack. There is, as Johnny says, something poignant and beautiful about it. I'm so glad this single line carried that much weight for you. Thank you so much for the comment.

[myystic.livejournal.com]

Ah, Bill plots his vengeance. It's as chilling as it is believable.

If Jack was dead, he’d probably already talked his way out of Hell and was driving the angels to pulling out their feathers in Heaven. And at least one of the Pearly Gates had gone unaccountably missing. I laugh out loud every time I read this line.