tampered | Log: Ongoing

A pirate, to be sure, and quite proud of the fact. So Jack simply smiles. "Guilty."
Jack is utterly fascinated by seeing the things he says and does from this angle. He is, however, also convinced that it's all far more impressive when he does it.

"Jan insists on a great many things. He's really quite funny. I like him." If 'this person's antics amuse me' was not a high ranking criteria in Jack's choices of associates, he might have had a more loyal and qualified crew for the Pearl. Ah well.

He sits down next to his twin and watches his ship out at the dock. It's an impressive ship-of-the-line and really quite beautiful, but it will never quite look like his ship. Not in Jack's mind. It's distressing. Thankfully, he has Sands' problems to distract him.
"Is she? And not in any of the ways you would like, I gather?"

"He's funny until he bursts into my conversations screaming at people to stay the fuck away from me. Then he instantly becomes so much dog shit I've got to scrape off my heel."

At this point Ran has got him turning in so many circles he's desperate enough to ask advice from a man who will probably tell him to give her a good slap on the ass and instruct her to bring some rum as an answer to women problems. So pretty much Sands is just asking because he knows if Jack's answer is useless it will at least cheer him up.
"One minute she wants to stay. Not an hour later she's not sure. Though I do the same thing at least I know my own reasoning. Her's is a complete fucking mystery. She wants me to kiss her.
I'm torn between looking at her like she's sick and doing it. How can I trust a woman willing to tap this ass? Now she's being distant because I couldn't say 'Look honey, I can't do that because it sickens me. Because Aljerez did it'. I'm not stupid enough to tell the woman that but too stupid to think of another reason she'll buy."
The gun comes back out as he's talking. He simply holds it in his lap.

"Good point. Thankfully, I don't seem worthy of his more ... charming..behaviours." Though, Jack would be deeply bothered by anyone who set foot in his conversations with new people. There's an image he needs to build and interrupting that would be rather unfortunate for all involved.

If he knew how little Sands actually thinks of his opinion, Jack would be hurt. He's excellent with women! ... For about a day or two, at least. He simply lacks the attention span to continue spinning them pretty lies for long.
"Women never seem to know what they want. I've come to believe that this is simply an illusion. They know precisely what they want, we simply are not capable of comprehending it." He leans back on the sand, pulling his hat down to block the sun slightly.
"Should you ever meet a woman who not only knows what she wants, but will tell you...know that she is dangerous. She says she's unsure... That's your place to either be certain for yourself of what you want, that she might follow, or wait for her to tell you ... and I hate that sort of surprise, personally."

He tilts his head towards his twin and has to think a long moment on how to solve the problem. "I've never had to worry quite so much over a woman wanting me... You've a complicated situation on your hands, Sheldon. Would be far easier if Ran were less intelligent. Or if she were hideous or something of the like..."

"You don't trust her. Fine. I really can't fault you for that. Still, this is a small city and neither of you are going anywhere just yet. Savvy? You can either have her... Just bloody kiss her already.. Or you can push her away and have an angered woman you can neither trust nor see moving freely in the same space in which you are forced to reside. Given Rangiku's figure...I wouldn't find the choice all that difficult."

Jack smiles slow and wicked and shrugs.
"Or forgo the kissing altogether and have one good go at rubbing your face in those glorious tits before this all falls to shit around you. I highly recommend trying it, should you have the chance."

"I would have killed him but I don't want to run out of ammo."

"She's already dangerous. I'm tired of guessing. She forces me to be honest and then gives me answers I don't understand. And I realize they all do it but she's so smart I don't see why she can't just use Earth logic so that we can find some middle ground. Her being ugly isn't going to help me when I can't see her and refuse to touch her goodies."

One hand goes to rub his eyes. It drops before it gets there though. Oh right.
"Jack. Look at me." He turns his face toward his twin so the man can see the damage from inches away.
"Don't be fucking disgusting."

Sands gets up walking a few steps and standing very still with his feet apart. His head turns from side to side very slowly until he picks up noise. Behind Jack- about seven feet up and 20 yards away a bird claims his certain tree branch as his territory with a song. Sands turns on one heel bringing the gun up and fires.
The shot echoes across the shore. There's not enough left of the song bird to make a loud sound as it hits the ground.
"Do you think it will come back in an hour?"

"Can't have her making it too simple on you. The challenge is half the fun... Especially seeing as you aren't after fucking her whatsoever. And I realize you can't see her, but I could certainly do a fine descriptive job to turn your stomach...or I would. Except I find it terribly hard to even conceive of lying about that. ... She truly is quite lovely. It's a testament to my immense respect for you that I don't take proper advantage of your arseing about and indecisiveness."
Not that Jack hasn't thought about it. It certainly isn't by choice that he hasn't slept with Ran yet. The opportunity simply hasn't come up. Not the right one, anyway.

When Sands turns and brings his face so close to Jack's, it's hard not to turn away. Jack pulls his head back slightly, nose wrinkling in disgust and horror, and he swallows thickly. He's seen almost as bad before. But it was never on his face.
"Yes yes. Your eyes -or where they once were- are bloody awful. It's unnerving as all hell to look at and probably disturbs me on a level just above most others. D'you think feeling poorly over it will change any of that? It's wretched, and I feel for you, mate. Truly. Cover your scars and your the same man you ever were, I imagine. Lacing only sight, which you seem to work around better than most would. S'only as disgusting as you want it, Shel."

He watches the bird fall and go limp at awkward angles in the sand. It was a damn fine shot. He's fairly certain he couldn't have made it as clear or as fast. Blindness doesn't seem much of a hinderance to Sands at all...not physically. Only mentally.
"No idea.. We could wait and you could shoot again, if you've a mind to. I had an undead monkey for a bit that was great for that. Horrible bastard, though. Shit on everything and was a wicked little thief as well."

Sands knows himself very well. In turn, he knows Jack is full of shit about it being his friendship keeping him from jumping the blonde.
"I broke Norrington's jaw for kissing her. If I found out about you doing more then that I will- as Plato said- 'Fuck you up'. Just so you know.
And it's not a possessive thing. She can be with however she wants. I'm not saying I wont go after them in a drunken rage for it afterward. But sleeping with one of our clones would just... Is it homicide or suicide do you think? Either way I am shitting in some guys open chest cavity if I catch him with our face. It's too much for me."

Shooting the bird didn't really make him feel better but for some reason Jack was able to cheer him up with that monkey story that was so completely random from his point of view. A corner of lip comes out in a white trash smirk that gives him away as the scrawny Florida kid straight from the trailer.
"I don't know what I want. It's driving her off the deep end and I'm just jumping right along with her. So. You're pretty much me, Echo. What do you personally want right now?"

It is partially their friendship. Though, Sands does catch wind of Jack's lies far too easily for the pirate's tastes. Jack would love a romp with Rangiku...but it would have to mean nothing and it would have to change their relationship none at all. He can't risk getting too close to her, because he knows she's dangerous and his type. He's more than happy to watch Sands do it, though.
He sneers and pulls back when Sands voices his intentions for the lookalike who goes to far with his bodyguard.
"I see... Thanks for the warning."

That smirk earns one in return. So similar, but just a bit off. Jack feels sure that Abberline looks more like him than Sands, but Sheldon is certainly more his twin than the other man could ever be. There are things beyond appearances.
"If you're already set to follow, I think you'd both better head someplace good." He laughs. "And what I want? Mate, what I want doesn't stay the same from one week to the next." Unless you go deeper. Then he has wanted very little and very consistently for well over a decade. Only in this place has his real wants changed. "I want my life and my ship. I'd like warm company to pass the time til I can have both returned. I don't, however, want held to anything for long."

Sands shrugs an apology. He respects and likes Jack so the warning had to be said out loud. Though he's perfectly aware that Ran is effecting him like Aljerez- fucking his good sense and making him say too much- he's just as helpless to stop it this time as he was last. Sands may adapt fast but he is not a quick learner.

Sheldon hasn't met any of the others. He plans to avoid them all. Unless he feels he can kill one he wont make any contact.
"You have some serious commitment issues there, Echo. How long have you been a pirate?"

Jack buys himself time by laughing at Sands' observation. "Commitment? I'm quite dedicated to a great many things. A woman, however, would want to take place of all of those. So...perhaps." He's thought on it before. Wondered if there was a 'right girl' that would change this. If there were? She would tear the sky in two and boil the seas for her strength and ambition. Probably better if she doesn't exist. Jack gets hurt enough by just finding those girls who come close to that ideal.

"Are we getting more personal now?" He grins and sighs settling back on the sand to stare up at the sky...it's fake somehow...he hates thinking about that. "I believe it's near to fifteen years...just over? God, Shel, you're making me feel old. How long have you been a horses ass?...CIA?...Whatever it is that you do."

"They do tend to get the idea that you should drop everything else don't they? It's a fact that woman as a whole are much better at multitasking. I believe that when they see us blunder through life they realize we can't devote ourselves to too much at once."

"Was that a personal question? I'm American. When conversation slows I bring up work. A personal question would be asking how old you really were.
I inherited the position of horses ass from my father but I've only been in the cia for 12 years. Army before that."

"And that is why a sailor is best married to the sea. She's very rarely jealous of any interests you may take up. Of course...the sea can also be quiet for days at a time. Many advantages."

Jack raises his hands up above him, spreading them wide and slow. "I am ageless, mate. Older than time. Embodied spirit of the sea and all that." He laughs and shrugs slightly. It wasn't all too personal, but it was a rare question. Most just assumed pirates sprang, fully grown, from the decks of ill-tended ships. Or rather, no one much cared what you were before they hated you.

"Military first, then? Ha." Often, it's the differences that make Jack more fond of Sands. Not that it's so entirely different. Just a change of path. "CIA.. Would that be a move up? Honest, mate, I've no idea what it is you do. ... Aside from shoot guns and get shot at. I've gathered that."

"I thought that 'married to the sea' thing was something only gay sailors said to explain the lack of wife or girlfriend."

Sands smiles. Jack very well could be and his tone suggests it was how he had heard himself described a few times. Or perhaps just how he saw himself.
"You're not sure are you?"

"The cia is a military branch. It stands for Central Intelligence Agency. In other words- a spy.
It's higher up. One of the most difficult branches to be accepted into and I'm a special operation field agent. To get there you have to have a certain state of mind.
Our job pretty much consists of running small countries until something pops up there that America wants. We hold the place of an army and do behind the scene work. Before soliders are sent in we camp there to gather information, make alliances, destroy alliances between others, and win the hearts and minds of the indigenous people of wherever. So that we may train them, arm them, and point them towards the people we want gone. Then we leave only to come back in a few years to do the very same thing to the group we took out of power the first time around. It's a constant cycle of keeping the small and inexperienced governments in power so that we always have the upper hand."
Sands likes his work very much. He misses it and enjoys the fact that Jack would understand what he's saying despite the large time gap in their worlds. Some things have been going on forever.

"So how did you get into it? You weren't in the Navy first? I read once that most pirates were fishermen in hard times or ex Navy."

"Simply not a great number of women willing to be left alone for months and years while you go about your business in far off lands. That...and they know men well enough to know we won't be faithful. ... And those who prefer buggery, of course. The sea's many husbands have varied reasons... Why d'you call it 'gay'? Seems a ridiculous term for it."

Jack scowls at Sands' suggestion as his brows come together in thought. Oh course he's sure...just hasn't thought about it in a while. And... bugger.
"I believe I know how long my life has been, thanks ever so. I've been present for the whole of it."
And no one will notice that there was no answer there.

"You manipulate weaker men, that they might remain weak to suit your needs?" Jack is sort of torn over it. It's impressive work. It's also something Jack has been more than known to do on a smaller scale..at least until the people are no longer worth manipulating. Than he betters them or abandons them, depending on mood. At a government level, however, it seems offensive. On a government level...well...when he did it, it was for a company...
"Interesting work."

Hmm. How best to answer these questions? The truth might even be a worthy conversation with Sands..but the agent would tell anyone and everyone if he found the tale amusing.
"I was born to whore that was raped by the whole of Morgan's crew and the Captain himself. The son of a hundred pirates, the sea ran thick in my veins and called to me til I was old enough to seek out my own rig and beg a ship off the devil himself."
It's a better story, really.

"It is isn't it? I'm trying to get out of the habit of saying 'fucking faggot' with Jan being as sensitive as he is. Didn't think you would understand the term 'homosexual' so I settled on gay. I also have 'poofter', 'pillow biter', 'cocksmoker', or 'fudge packer'. Whatever you prefer. But one is too english, 'pillow biter' doesn't cover the 'top', 'cocksmoker' isn't a phrase I really use for them, and 'fudge packer' is just a gross image. But I've been told by various people I need to 'lighten up' and 'jerk off' because I am too 'up tight'. I'm not. I know how to have a good time. I enjoy a party. I even flirt with guys at the opportune moments. I'm hip."
Sands is looking for at least one person who doesn't consider him to be the kid clenched fed of the group.

Sands noticed. So ha! he waits for the rest of it where Jack actually tells him. When this never comes he moves on. It wasn't important anyway and not terrible rare for people in his time to lose track. Birthday parties are not something one celebrates on pirate ships.

"It really is. You see in my time America has taken the place of Great Britain as the main superpower. We run the musical numbers and fuck the Prima Donna at the end of the night." He sounds very proud. Like talking about his child being top in her class.

Sands is duly impressed. For a few seconds. Then he tastes bullshit. Though for once he's not even sure if Jack is making that up or not. He picks up on the fact that Jack isn't as happy to go into detail as he was so he ends the topic.
"...Yeah, my dad was a prick as well. You ever get laid with that story, man?"

"Whatever suits you at the time. They're all about as good, I suppose. I did recently hear 'arse pirate'. I can't decide if that's offensive or the funniest thing I've ever heard."
Jack grins at Sands. He doesn't think he's too uptight, but then...he was somewhat like that for a while, and would rather not think of himself that way.
"...You've made advances on men? Why? To take their cocks off when they least expect it?"

Jack wouldn't mind not knowing so much if he wasn't certain that he did know at one time. He was also more clear on just when his birthday was as well. Usually he can ignore the things time, sun, and sea have taken from him. He'll go back to that soon.

"Your nation is larger than the Empire? Impressive." In Jack's mind, America obviously found a way to take sovereignty over Russia and China. How else could they have gotten power greater than Britain's? Especially with the expanding influence of John Company.

Jack may tell Sands the truth one day. The agent will likely call him a deserter again, or something of the like. It could be amusing.
"That story?" Jack laughs. "No. If I was looking to sleep with you, I'd have told a better one. Women, in particular, like the tale to be tragic."

For the record Sheldon is voting for 'funniest ever' as far as 'ass pirate' goes. "I'm sure it was meant with the utmost respect to your chosen field."
Sands would be blinking at the question if he had eyes.
"Err. No I just- it keeps them off guard if they're straight and distracts them if they aren't. Most of the time it's just funny. I wouldn't call it 'making advances'. I've said cunningly dirty things in a very innocent way."

"No not bigger. But we were very rich at one time and spent it all on firepower. England took a turn for the worse after two major wars. They haven't gotten back on their feet yet. Where Britain insisted on colonizing America spends much less time and manpower by just sending a hand full of feds in. We learned a lot from our mother country and the urge to stick our dick into everything hasn't subsided in the least."

He laughs at that because he wasn't accusing Jack of trying to get in his pants.
"That's what I meant. You are a fucking narcissist you know that? But I'm flattered you think it would take a better story then that."

"All very innocent. Of course. Sorry to misjudge you, Shel."
Jack keeps the laughing mostly to himself.

"So everything fell apart under the monarchy, did? Ah well. It was bound to collapse under its own weight eventually. Just never expected to see it."

Jack knew exactly what Sands meant. It was just more fun to interpret it differently. He shrugs and laughs himself.
"Takes a better story for women. Would take a far better story for you. Not sure I can argue the narcissism. Don't see much wrong in it, though."

He knows when he's being quietly laughed at. Sands' bottom lip comes out as his eyebrows knit together. This face isn't done on purpose and would be wiped off immediately if he knew what it looked like. Sands has never caught himself doing it.
"Am I putting out sexual confused vibes? Jan has convinced himself of it. Wishful fucking thinking I call it."

"That is every ones opinion except the monarchy itself. And those who thought Great Britain would somehow end the world in this horrid Cthulhu way."

"As long as you're okay with it."

Jack would say he was only toying with Sands. Sands never really struck him as queer. Not til that pout. Oh hell, does he do that?
"Not til you asked that question, mate. I think you've got a point about our friend Jan, though. I'm almost insulted he has no interest in me." He laughs and curls his arms under his head.

"End the world, eh? What's a cthulhu?"

"It's only a pity that not one of you is quite as good looking as I am."

"I figured he would go after the other body snatchers when they started popping up. When I questioned him about it he seemed pretty ignorant and I'm not going to their journals. I'd have to hunt them each down and kill them if I payed that much attention. I personally think his interest in me is largely to do with my injuries. He feels like I need him. Something he doesn't get with you. Jan needs that. He needs to feel like he belongs to someone or someone belongs to him."

"It's just a sea monster from a book. The first evil. It was supposed to awaken and destroy all life like burning a tick off."

"I feel as long as they have eyes I'm out of the running there. Anything further I can't attest to. Perhaps a vote is in order? We can take a poll. The winner is crowned Mr. Poly and the others must wear a bag over their heads when in public. Again I am not included in this as I bow out early. I will however take bets."

"Poor bastard. Perhaps one of the others will have want for being possessive or possessed. Most certainly not my place, and I hadn't any interest to begin with."

"Sea monster is it? Interesting."

"Sounds like it could make things interesting, at least. I don't care for the number of supposed lookalikes at this point, however. It's upsetting." He arches a brow and turns towards Sands. "And just how would you bet?"

"It was great having my own vampire. I was willing to play that little game. But too much Jan will send a man to drink. He's out of his mind."

"Rumor is that was the huge tentacle thing during the curse."

"Upsetting in a homicidal way. Still not sure if it counts as taking yourself out. Either way I'm only speaking to one of the others if it involves murdering them a lot. With hand tools for once. I'm feeling all kinds of creative."

"The giant tentacled beastie was a kraken. If they're the same thing, then... I could see that being the way the world goes. It would have to be much larger, though."
If it could kill him, Jack feels it must be unstoppable.

"Should be interesting to see, then. Though there's something a bit unpleasant about seeing that sort of thing happen to your own face. Just to be sure...I am still on the good list, eh, mate?"

"So that's it. I didn't hear about this until after the fact."

"I wont see it. Therein lies the beauty. From this point on let it be known that when I say 'the others' I mean other then us. As for what way I'm voting- I'm not. It's the kind of thing that would take sight would it not? How the hell am I supposed to know which one of you got the best deal? If we all have the same features it's a close call either way." Sands grins.
"One of the angel's stopped by to let me know I'm ugly. That was actually the highlight of my day."

"I had that angel I bought kill the thing. Great feeling, really, but not as satisfying as it could have been."

"You could always place your vote based on quality of character. Most winning personality, yes? Being as we all share physical appearance, it seems the only fair way to judge at all."

Jack sneers momentarily. "An angel? I'd lay wager it was the same charming bastard who auctioned Uriel to me. For a divine being, he's a bit of a nob."

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