(no subject)

[ladyfirestarter]

[From here.]

Out the back door, and she's running, and the grass under her feet is damp but that won't save it for long, and there's a large body of water around here somewhere, she can feel it --

Charlie pulls up, panting, at the edge of the lake; she drops to one knee, head bowed, hands clenched, fighting it.

(like having a)

The grass around her is smoldering.

(daughter)

A choked sound, half gasp and half sob, escapes her; her hands dig into the earth.

The surface of the lake near her begins to steam.

Comments

[ladyfirestarter]

Her head jerks up as the shout carries across the surface of the lake.

Something of the startlement helps to break up the fire's cohesion; it's finally starting to dissipate.

[pirate_jack]

His yell had been directed at the lake itself, as Jack hasn't yet noticed the woman kneeling on the shore.

He leans out, almost dangerously far, watching the water as it hisses against the side of the Pearl.

"Too hot--"

In the next moment, he's over the side and heading down the sea-ladder to where water meets wood.

[ladyfirestarter]

"Wait, no --"

She's half-risen to her feet, one hand reaching out in warning.

"Stay where you are!"

[pirate_jack]

He's about halfway down the ladder when her cry reaches him, and Jack's head snaps around as he loops an arm through the rope and turns toward shore.

"She's my ship!"

[ladyfirestarter]

"Just -- stay clear of the water, it'll be hot for a while --"

The power's gone completely quiescent now.

"I'm sorry."

[pirate_jack]

"I've no intention of boiling meself like a fish in a pot," he snaps back, starting down the ladder once more until he can brace himself just above the lake's surface.

Jack leans out, trying to get a close look at the wood, and reaches out to run his fingers over it with care-- almost as if he's reassuring the ship herself.

"You're behind this, then?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"I didn't realize there was a ship out here."

It's hard to sound apologetic, even sincerely so, when calling across an expanse of lake.

"I had to get rid of the heat before it set fire to the bar."

[pirate_jack]

"Don't use your eyes much, do you?"

His own are glittering with something wild as he jerks his head up to look at her.

"Set fire to the bar?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"Yes, I --"

A frustrated sigh.

"Look, it's complicated."

[pirate_jack]

"Then I'll give you my leave to explain it, luv. But you'll have to wait just a moment, savvy?"

The water's cooling, if only a little, and Jack touches his hand to it and jerks it back instantly with a hiss.

"Bugger."

He starts back up the ladder toward the deck, moving very quickly.

[ladyfirestarter]

She sinks back down to sit on the grass as he disappears into the ship, drawing up her knees and wrapping her arms around them.

A moment. She can wait a moment. She owes the sailor some explanation, after all; and she can use the time to regain her composure.

[pirate_jack]

He does return, eventually, although it's many moments more than one before the sound of booted footsteps striding across wooden planks can be heard again.

Jack drops a bucket (now empty of tar, as he'd used it all to patch over the spots where the heat had softened existing tar and allowed water to start leaking through) to the deck with a clatter, and braces both hands on the railing as he looks shoreward.

[destruction1_0]

They're still being observed.

He hasn't moved.

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie hasn't moved much either; she's still sitting on the shore, watching the steam coalesce into mist and sink back down to wreathe over the surface of the lake.

Her fingers are idly combing through the heat-withered grass at her feet.

[pirate_jack]

"Now."

His tone is a rough growl, but he seems a little calmer.

"Suppose you tell me just what sort of trick it is you have that gives you the idea that turning the lake into a soup-pot's a fine and pleasant thing."

[ladyfirestarter]

"I am truly sorry." She gets to her feet, the better to speak across the distance -- though the night's quiet, and the air's still, and they really don't need to shout to be heard.

"It wasn't done on a whim. I've got a pyrokinetic talent that just came close to going out of control, and if I hadn't thrown it at the lake, it would've set fire to the whole place."

[pirate_jack]

Beads rattle as he cocks his head sideways.

"How's that work?"

A beat.

"And do you have a name?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"Charlie McGee." A pause. "Captain...?"

It's a guess, but he did say it was his ship.

[pirate_jack]

"Jack Sparrow," he finishes, gesturing first at himself and then at the ship. "Of the Black Pearl, as you can see."

[ladyfirestarter]

"She's beautiful," Charlie says softly.

[pirate_jack]

He looks a little suspicious, but when he speaks again, Jack sounds almost mollified.

"That she is, luv. She's a treasure in truth."

[ladyfirestarter]

She draws a breath. "Anyway ... it's hard to explain how it works, unless you just want the simplest observable facts about it."

[pirate_jack]

"So long as you don't intend to go boiling the lake again," he says dryly, "then I'm curious, savvy?"

[ladyfirestarter]

A twinge of irritation -- does he have to keep harping on that? -- and she shrugs, and says baldly: "I was born with the ability to start fires with my mind."

[pirate_jack]

He takes this in stride.

"Ah."

Jack looks at her with interest.

"Goes with your hair, luv."