[107] Sailor's Advice
May. 30th, 2007 06:31 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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kh_drabbleChallenge: [107] Savvy
Title: Sailor's Advice
Word Count: 600
Notes: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
syvia for the feedback. Also, this piece is pure self indulgence. I don't expect anyone outside of my immediate circle of friends to know who Alexander J. Adams is or to have heard Heather Alexander's "A Sailor's Advice". Heck, I don't think some of them have heard it. So if you get the references, yay, and if not, don't sweat it. 's really not that important. ^^;
The rum was cheap, like everything in Tortuga, and burned from mouth to stomach. Fortunately, Riku didn’t care about taste, only effect.
It had been a year ago yesterday since he’d thought he could go back to being normal. Yet here he was, sitting alone, drinking rum, trying to find the answers he’d thought he already had. Part of him insisted he should go back to the gummi ship, Sora and Kairi who were waiting for him –
- the rest of him lifted the tankard back to his lips.
It wasn’t that he didn’t belong there. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be there either, except that it was. He’d started to feel confined again, even with the gummi ship. It was like they were still playing the old games of adventure in a larger sandbox.
Without the Heartless (not that he wanted them back) it seemed pointless and predictable.
“Pass a bottle here!” Without warning, the local minstrel appeared next to him. He’d only been able to see the man’s hair – a mullet half bleached blond by the sun, half defiantly red – from across the room. Up close he had a weathered face and bright blue of his eyes. He grinned a greeting. “Hope this seat wasn’t taken.”
“No.”
He found half of the musician’s bottle being poured into his own cup. “You’ve not had enough if you’re lookin’ that melancholy. What’s wrong? It can’t be bad luck with the ladies, handsome lad like you. …the rum’s not bad, is it?”
“No, it’s not the rum. It’s me.” The words sounded ridiculous, but the other man didn’t seem to notice. Instead he sat, clearly waiting. Riku hesitated. He’d had no intention of talking about his problems, yet – “Have you ever felt like you were the wrong person? Not just in the wrong place, but that you should be someone else all together?”
His words were met with a wry chuckle. “Only every day of m’life for most of m’life. Until I washed up here and turned pirate, accepted that who I’d been trying to be wasn’t who I was.”
Riku frowned. Who was he trying to be? He’d stopped trying to be pure light, had accepted that he was dark as well. So what was left? “What were you trying to be?”
“Oh, anything. Everything.” The pirate laughed. “A merchant, a banker, a King’s man. I even considered the clergy once.”
“Hey Alec!” One of the girls called. “Alec, give us another song, love!”
The minstrel stood and winked. “Let the tide take you where it will. You’ll know you’re who you need to be when you get there.” With that, he sauntered off across the room.
Riku watched him go, then turned back to his rum. The words were like a puzzle, something that needed to be lined up just right. The music started again.
Many’s the island you find out at sea
Many’s the shoreline where you’d like to be –
Hold fast to that dock for a year and a day
Riku stood and slammed his tankard down on the bar. Before he could change his mind, he stalked over to where the familiar form of Mr. Gibbs sat at a table, signing up crew for whatever venture Jack had gotten himself into now.
He didn’t bother with the line. He grabbed the pen from the startled pirate at its head and scrawled his name on the paper. He nodded sharply to Mr. Gibbs, “I’ll see you at sail”, and strode out of the bar.
Let your heart then decide if you set sail or stay
Title: Sailor's Advice
Word Count: 600
Notes: Thanks to
syvia for the feedback. Also, this piece is pure self indulgence. I don't expect anyone outside of my immediate circle of friends to know who Alexander J. Adams is or to have heard Heather Alexander's "A Sailor's Advice". Heck, I don't think some of them have heard it. So if you get the references, yay, and if not, don't sweat it. 's really not that important. ^^;The rum was cheap, like everything in Tortuga, and burned from mouth to stomach. Fortunately, Riku didn’t care about taste, only effect.
It had been a year ago yesterday since he’d thought he could go back to being normal. Yet here he was, sitting alone, drinking rum, trying to find the answers he’d thought he already had. Part of him insisted he should go back to the gummi ship, Sora and Kairi who were waiting for him –
- the rest of him lifted the tankard back to his lips.
It wasn’t that he didn’t belong there. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be there either, except that it was. He’d started to feel confined again, even with the gummi ship. It was like they were still playing the old games of adventure in a larger sandbox.
Without the Heartless (not that he wanted them back) it seemed pointless and predictable.
“Pass a bottle here!” Without warning, the local minstrel appeared next to him. He’d only been able to see the man’s hair – a mullet half bleached blond by the sun, half defiantly red – from across the room. Up close he had a weathered face and bright blue of his eyes. He grinned a greeting. “Hope this seat wasn’t taken.”
“No.”
He found half of the musician’s bottle being poured into his own cup. “You’ve not had enough if you’re lookin’ that melancholy. What’s wrong? It can’t be bad luck with the ladies, handsome lad like you. …the rum’s not bad, is it?”
“No, it’s not the rum. It’s me.” The words sounded ridiculous, but the other man didn’t seem to notice. Instead he sat, clearly waiting. Riku hesitated. He’d had no intention of talking about his problems, yet – “Have you ever felt like you were the wrong person? Not just in the wrong place, but that you should be someone else all together?”
His words were met with a wry chuckle. “Only every day of m’life for most of m’life. Until I washed up here and turned pirate, accepted that who I’d been trying to be wasn’t who I was.”
Riku frowned. Who was he trying to be? He’d stopped trying to be pure light, had accepted that he was dark as well. So what was left? “What were you trying to be?”
“Oh, anything. Everything.” The pirate laughed. “A merchant, a banker, a King’s man. I even considered the clergy once.”
“Hey Alec!” One of the girls called. “Alec, give us another song, love!”
The minstrel stood and winked. “Let the tide take you where it will. You’ll know you’re who you need to be when you get there.” With that, he sauntered off across the room.
Riku watched him go, then turned back to his rum. The words were like a puzzle, something that needed to be lined up just right. The music started again.
Many’s the island you find out at sea
Many’s the shoreline where you’d like to be –
Hold fast to that dock for a year and a day
Riku stood and slammed his tankard down on the bar. Before he could change his mind, he stalked over to where the familiar form of Mr. Gibbs sat at a table, signing up crew for whatever venture Jack had gotten himself into now.
He didn’t bother with the line. He grabbed the pen from the startled pirate at its head and scrawled his name on the paper. He nodded sharply to Mr. Gibbs, “I’ll see you at sail”, and strode out of the bar.
Let your heart then decide if you set sail or stay
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 01:01 am (UTC)But, I digress. As usual. XD
Loved the 'fic, really! I'd love to see Riku as a pirate--under Jack, no less! That would kick ass...
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 03:44 am (UTC)You've done your research perfectly. It's on the album "Arms of the Sea", available here (http://www.heatherlands.com/index.php?section=1). It's wonderful.
"Loved the 'fic, really!"
Excellent! Thank you! *bows*
"I'd love to see Riku as a pirate--under Jack, no less! That would kick ass..."
I still have the 1000+ word version of this and have contemplated cleaning it up and doing at least one sequel. You may yet get to see it about someplace. ^~