eying more games than I probably should

[onefool]

As much as I appreciate your... enthusiasm, I find I can't help but try and speak words of caution. Do you recall the promise you made not only to yourself, but all of us? Your compatriots and your charges alike. I thought the plan was to take it slow, not to hurry along after those you want to cast your die with.

Not that you'll listen. Not really. [A half-grin, then, more cryptically than it seems:] But a man does what he can.

[... a long, awkward pause. Then:] A request, though? Please, stop the ... [Will shakes his head.] No, never mind. [Because actually putting it to words would bring more trouble than he feels like dealing with. And it's not like the mundane doesn't know what he was about to ask. :I]

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[onefool]

[There's a flicker behind Will's eyes -- realization, guilt, shame -- and then he blinks and lowers them. There is a minute nod, and Will's shoulders go from set and tense to sloping again.]

... No insult intended, but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable turning the wheel back to you. Not unless I was absolutely certain that you would keep the balance this time.

[Any and all hostility is gone. It evaporated the moment he realized what he was doing. There is just humility, and the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.]

[tentacruelest]

[Still suspicious, still brimming with resentment, Jones is as of yet unwilling to let such remarks slide. He's always had a problem with grudges, come to think of it]

Afraid I'd come for you and yours?

[onefool]

[Will lifts his eyes back to Jones', a flicker of disbelief there coupled with a strange sadness, one that's already too old to be in his eyes.]

You've never seen them, have you? The ones you've left lost between life and death.

[tentacruelest]

[More sputtering. What are you playing at, Turner?]

You cannot make me feel sorry for showing just a small piece of life - and death's - cruelties. This is the way of the world, Turner!

[onefool]

[Will doesn't even react to the sputtering. Not really. He just looks more sad, somehow.]

As you've said, there's more than enough cruelty in life. Why add more to souls who have paid their fair share? Those who have paid more than that?

[tentacruelest]

They are of no further concern of mine.

[onefool]

[... So he admits it. Will leans back, head tilting, gaze critical.]

Then why argue and threaten to change that?

[tentacruelest]

I am threatening you, boy. Not them. They will do as they have always done; nothing.

[onefool]

[... :I

Nope, sorry, he's not rising to argue this time. Instead, he digs his heels in the ground and tilts his head the other way. He clenches his jaw to help him keep his temper in control, then relaxes it and exhales out his nose. The end result is that he just looks more steady than before.]

Why did you abandon them?

[tentacruelest]

[Looking no less angry, Jones pushes his chest out, looking all the testier and full of resentment]

I kept after them for ten years, Turner. As was promised. Any longer than that went beyond the terms of our agreement.

[onefool]

It can't have been just business. [Why, yes, Will did use that phrase on purpose.] You wouldn't have taken the job just because of who asked you to do it. Not with something like this.

[tentacruelest]

[Mockingly, inclining his head]

Wouldn't I, Turner? Are yeh implying I would have needed extra incentive to do th' bidding of the one I gave my heart to?

[onefool]

[............ thing is, Will can't argue the fact that if Elizabeth asked him to do something, he would. He has to stop and think for a moment. If she had asked him to do this, if he had been the first...

... no. He wouldn't do it only because she was the one who asked. He would do it because it needed doing. Because it was the right thing to do.

So Will lifts his chin, and maybe there's a very faint quirk of his lips.]

I am.

[tentacruelest]

[With an annoyed snort, Jones slams his claw down. He's had enough of this from a whelp a fraction of his age]

Stop your fishing for sentimentality in my soul, Turner! It changes nothing. They are lost.

[onefool]

Not any more. [just. YOU KNOW. a reminder.]

And they don't have to be.

[tentacruelest]

Of course they don't have to be. They are! That is how I wished it! If you're bound and determined to carry on the mantle of th' Dutchman and want to carry on from my failings, I'm in no bloody position to stop yeh now, boy!

[onefool]

[DING DING DING DING will wins

... still, that brief flare of victory in his chest doesn't last. He can't imagine wishing that fate on anyone, let alone thousands upon thousands of souls. He tries. He looks back to when he thought he'd lost Elizabeth. When he thought she'd changed her mind and chosen Jack. The twist of the knife in his breath, the tightness of his throat, the utter despair. The thoughts of Of course. She was never mine to keep. Making his plans, carrying them out.

Was there a part of him that led the mutiny because of what it meant to Jack? Even though, as far as he knew, Jack never asked to be her choice. But Jack -- ... No. No, Will hadn't done that with the intention of hurting Jack. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. He just wanted a happy ending for everyone else. His father. Elizabeth. Jack. That's what he was fighting for. And it took him too long to realize that it was what Jack was fighting for, too.

... so, no. No, even though Will knows that pain, or, at least, a similar pain, he just. Can't wrap his head around it.

quietly:] Do you want the Dutchman back to continue their suffering? Or your own?

[tentacruelest]

[Why DID he want the Dutchman back, if not to do the job required by the captain of the Dutchman? Jones visibly fumbles for words, looking first right and then left, before finally settling back to Will, fuming. But if there's one thing he's never been good at, it's protecting his heart]

It is the only thing left to me in this world, and where I've gone to after death is a worse bargain.

[onefool]

[There is a pang inside Will's chest at that. He is sympathizing with Davy Jones. What is his life right now.]

Why not sail her together, then?

[tentacruelest]

You're a fool, William Turner. That is not how the Dutchman sails. Did they not tell you that, your new crew, when yeh boarded her?

[onefool]

There is always room for one more soul on her decks, no matter their rank and status. We may all be lost, but she is the one who gives us the time to find our way again.

[tentacruelest]

Aye, and a fine prize I would make for you, Turner. The disgraced former captain at the beck and call of the new, better one.

No. I have made my bed and I will die in it.

[onefool]

Not a prize. [Will levels Jones with a steady stare that is almost reprimanding. Really, do you think he thinks like you?] Everyone on board this ship is their own person, so long as I sail her. Your expertise would not go unappreciated.

I'm not playing games with you. This is a serious offer.

[tentacruelest]

It does not matter. I've been pressed to another ship.

[Avoiding answering the question? Yes pls]

[onefool]

[brow furrow] Another?