Ficlet - Jack & Barbossa - A Case of Semantics (1/1)

[blue_soaring]

For ponderosa121, 'cause she's as much a pirate as an evil twin. Arr.

A Case of Semantics
PotC. Jack and Barbossa. PG-13. ~600 words. Spoilers for AWE. Illustrated here!
Barbossa rolls his eyes heavenward, obviously pausing along the way to admire the Pearl's newest trappings.

*
A Case of Semantics

"You," Jack says, stumble-dancing to the left as a treacherous bottle tries to insinuate itself between his feet and the deck, "you stole my ship. Again!"

"Best mind your knees, Jack," Barbossa says. "Wouldn't want you to be getting all bruised up by somethin' other than meself."

Warily, Jack eyes Barbossa's toothy smile before poking his head into a cabinet. He wriggles his fingers, raps his knuckles against aging wood and listens intently. "Ah!" Triumphant, he hefts the false bottom and comes up with a bottle of murky rum clutched in each grimy fist. "Wriggling your goods into all my nooks and crannies, eh, Hector," he accuses, and examines said goods as he turns. "Pirate."

Barbossa rolls his eyes heavenward, obviously pausing along the way to admire the Pearl's newest trappings. Jack's gaze follows, and he has to admit, purely to himself, that the glided chandelier is a far sight better than a gaping hole in the ceiling.

Keeping an eye on the platoon of bottles cavorting about, Jack picks his weaving way back to the bolted-down table. It's a rather nice table, detailed scrollwork glowing warmly under the light of a dozen thick candles. Not too fancy, just fancy enough.

"You," Jack repeats, and tries twice to right a goblet thick and heavy enough to be made of lead but shiny as pure English silver, "borrowed my ship."

Barbossa's eyes narrow, crafty and calculating. "Ya made off with me charts, Jack, don't be talking semantics with me."

"Borrowed!" Jack says, snake-quick, and proffers the rum, half-empty bottle first, the goblet matching his, filled to the brim, second. "Borrowed, mate. Saving you the trouble of having to live forever all over again. Messy business."

"And just what do I be owin' yer consideration?"

Jack drops himself into a chair, booted feet kicked up and little bits of lace from his fine, recently-acquired shirt draped about his fingers. He gives one sleeve an artful tug. "How about I let you borrow passage on my ship, you let me borrow those charts, and we both will borrow a little bit of everything on 'em?"

Barbossa leans back and raps three times on the hard wooden floor with the heel of his boot. The Pearl rolls in the waves, Barbossa's goblet sliding out of his loose grasp across the table and back again. He lifts his chin. "Spoils go seventy-thirty."

"To me?" Jack says, fingers pressed to his chest. "Agreed."

"To me."

"Fifty-fifty."

"Sixty-forty."

"Forty-sixty."

"Ah," Barbossa breathes. "Almost, Jack, but I've been knowing ye too long to fall for that."

"Pirate." Jack grins, and heaves back to his feet. "Fifty-fifty, and I'll be keeping those charts 'til I've had my fill." He goes round the table, the Pearl adding a bit more swish to his step, the sea and the rum a little bit more still.

Calypso, though, Jack is quite sure, takes responsibility for the Pearl and the sea and the rum and the general state of things conspiring to thwart his balance, sending him tumbling into Barbossa's lap with Barbossa's accursed sword jabbing at his hip.

The real one, made of good, solid steel. Calypso's always been a bit fond of him, but only to a degree.

"Then 'til you've had your fill, here I be," Barbossa says.

"Right then." With a handful of Barbossa's coat for leverage, Jack cants low to the side and makes a scrabbling grab for the near-full bottle that meanders by. "Might I offer you another drink? To having one's fill."

Barbossa swings his goblet round and grins. "To having one's fill."

*
End

Comments

[ponderosa121.livejournal.com]

\o/ IT IS BEAUTIFUL AND GLEE

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Y'arr! And other piratey stuff! *boards and pillages?*

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

WIN!

*happysigh*

Those two are such an old couple...

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes. Bicker, bicker, bicker. And it's so fantastic. :D

[nekofreak.livejournal.com]

squeeeee!

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! *lick*

[nekofreak.livejournal.com]

*chompnibble* <3

[toxictattoo.livejournal.com]

So much love for this. I can totally hear their voices. I mean that. Like in my head.

GOD DAMN I love Barbossa. [smooches]

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

:D! Their voices are pretty much the one thing that makes me so :x about this fandom--the history I'm good with, the ship stuff I can fake/wing, the voices, they're like one of the best parts about the movies. You have no idea how gleeful I am that I nailed them so well for you. Just, glee. *nibble!* :3

In retrospect, that sounds a little dirty. XD Heh.

[somniac-kiss.livejournal.com]

Oh hoorays! <3

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

And huzzah! :D

[somniac-kiss.livejournal.com]

I love your writey bits so much. I dunno why I hadn't friended you before xD; And you write Barbossa so wonderfully! You're the first person I can say that about! :O

(( sorry my comment last night was, uhh.... I was drunk and suffering some severe sleep dep. Sorry e_e ))

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Then you are obviously a happy drunk and this is a good thing. XD

It's the first time I've actually written PotC. :3 From the looks of things, it's not going to be the last. I loves me some Barbossa. And Jack. ...and Will. And um, everybody, really. *easy!*

[somniac-kiss.livejournal.com]

Hurr hurr. ♥ I dunno, I could take or leave Will, but Barbossa is my happy place as far as pirates are concerned X3

...-closest she has to a pirate icon, sorry- xD

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

So nice to see Jack in a new shirt ;)
You have both voices - and Jack's walk - going really well here.
That was great stuff. AWE is just screaming for us all to write J/B fics. I'm working on it too, but I'm slow.

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

It's about time Jack got something new to flounce about in. I figure he deserves at least a little bit of lace. XD

And man, AWE so totally is. I get starry-eyed thinking about the ten years before the movies, what sort of dynamic was between Jack and Barbossa to add all those layers to them. So tasty.

Thank you so much! I always worry about the accuracy of their voices, and I'm so glad it worked! :D

[lady-ravenlocke.livejournal.com]

All right, I am beyond amused by this. What an amusing way to ship myself off to work! Thank you.

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

There would be way less stress in the world if more people read fic before work. XD You're more than welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed!

[haraamis.livejournal.com]

^___^ Nice one.

And I /love/ Barbossa's eyeroll. He does that so very well. XD!

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, yes, he does. And Jack so deserves it, every single time.

[nonprofit-whore.livejournal.com]

There really isn't enough JackxBarbossa written! C'mon, people, embrace the UST... theres so damn much of it.

You have the voices down pat. I especially enjoyed this:

"Wouldn't want you to be getting all bruised up by somethin' other than meself."

Hehe. Good work! :)

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I wish I could take credit for that line, but it's totally and completely Pond's. And it's what started the whole fic to begin with, it wouldn't be half as good without her.

Thanks so much! :3

[ladyofshadow.livejournal.com]

Fantastic story!!

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

[melusina]

Glee! This is great fun and the voices are spot-on. ::recs::

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Nailing the voices is what worries me most about this fandom but man, working at it is totally worth it. Having Pond around helps quite a bit, too--my favourite lines from the fic are the two she put in. XD

Thankie again! I'll be over here kicking my feet happily. :3

[ratherbe4gotten.livejournal.com]

This was great ^_^

I arrived here via ponderosa121's art. Do you mind if I friend you? this would make my f-list look so pretty...

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

Friend away! I never flock anything fandom, but I totally don't mind, the more company the better. :3 Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed! :D

[chichiri-no-da.livejournal.com]

*squee!* That was awesome. I love their voices. It was so spot-on.

(but the last line should have been 'but and then, porn')

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

:D That's really what worries me, their darned convoluted speech patterns. And the last line totally was 'and then, porn'! XD

[shiome.livejournal.com]

Great, I just squealed loudly and woke my brother. DAMN.
But this was good, just what I'd love to see in a sequel to the movie. ♥

[blue-soaring.livejournal.com]

From what I hear that's the end of the pirate saga for awhile, but it's hard to be too disappointed when there's so much we can play with on our own. So, so looking forward to the flood of pirate fic, yes. :D

Thankie very much!

[shiome.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm afraid it'll stay a trilogy, but certainly not complaining when there's this much aweseomeness to entertain ourselves with! I'm, too, waiting expectantly for the flood of AWE fic, especially of the Barbossa kind. :D

[obeetaybee.livejournal.com]

Loved this!

[justawench.livejournal.com]

Wriggling your goods into all my nooks and crannies, eh, Hector - Hee!

Very nice!

[sperrywink]

Fantastic! I loved everything about it, particularly Jack meandering about.

[nortumal.livejournal.com]

I don't know how I landed here in the first place, but I'm having one of the biggest OMGSQUEE moments of my life right now. Just so hawt. <3

[novin-ha.livejournal.com]

Saw Pirates yesterday and was turned shipper on the spot. Oh, nice one. I liked the atmosphere, and seemed pretty much canon.

[argyleheir.livejournal.com]

"Almost, Jack, but I've been knowing ye too long to fall for that."

Hee! Terrific characterization.