#happynfluffy

They think it violates “Nudity or Sexual Content”. I have appealed…some person got their panties in a wad and flagged it. People should get a life.

Absolutely ridiculous! Ugh! I can’t even imagine why anyone would flag it - all you can even see is his chest, back and a flash of a knee. Oooh, so scandalous! But given some of the nutters we have in the Once fandom, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone who has difficulty separating Colin from Hook and can’t handle seeing him in bed with someone who isn’t Emma/Jen. Hopefully the appeal will work out and the video will be restored.

Thanks for the 15-minute “Masterpiece” prompt! I think last time you gave me a prompt for this exercise, what I wrote was kinda grim. This is definitely not grim.

(As always, my “15-minute Masterpiece” criteria are: writing for at least 15 minutes, light editing, no beta. Just me and words coming out of my brain.)

Takes place after the last flashback from “The Brothers Jones.”

Rated G

Word Count: ~580

Summary: Killian Jones gets to know his first love.

Accord

She was even more beautiful up close. The dead of night could not hide her elegance nor twist the feeling of safety he felt beneath her decks. When Killian Jones finally boarded The Jewel of the Realm, he felt the tension in his muscles give way for the first time in years even as he shivered from the dampness still clinging to him after weathering both the maelstrom and shipwreck.

Since being indentured, the couple of ships he and Liam had been forced to serve upon were utilitarian, solid, and dark. The holds were always cramped with cargo, the decks filthy no matter how much he and Liam scrubbed, the rest of the crew weathered and cruel, and the pallet where he barely slept, hard and bug-ridden.  

The clean, dry, hammock where he slept that first night aboard The Jewel of the Realm was the most comfortable place he’d been afforded since he was a small boy in the comfort of his home.

Home.

Killian wasn’t sure what that felt like or meant anymore, but this was a good start. His throat tightened at the thought that this ship, this new life, might mean home for him, for Liam. As he looked down at his worn, filthy, and ill-fitting clothes, Killian fought the impulse to find his flask and relieve it of its contents. He didn’t feel worthy enough to be standing on the gleaming planks beneath his rotting shoes.

This ship though, she was sleek, swift, and radiant. When they’d set sail the morning after boarding The Jewel of the Realm, Killian finally and completely understood what freedom was: more intoxicating than the rum he’d tried to drown himself in, and something he’d never hand over easily again.

“So, Killian, what do you think?” Liam asked.

The brothers stood at the prow of the ship as she cut across the water with an ease and grace Killian didn’t know a ship could possess. No one had hollered at them to swab the deck, patch sails, or haul crates. No one ridiculed him, beat him, or stole what precious little he had. It was going to take time to get used to that.

He looked forward to it.

“I think, brother, we’ve never been luckier.”

“Aye,” Liam said, clapping Killian on the shoulder.

“Lads!” the Captain called out.

Both young men turned, straightening up and squaring their shoulders. “Aye, Captain!” they said in unison. The Captain approached them with a smile.

“How would the both of you like to stay here aboard the The Jewel of the Realm until your commissions are finalized? And perhaps even after?”

Before he could consider his response, Killian said, “I would love to stay here, Captain. More than anything.”

“Excellent. Excellent. She’s a fine ship, and you’ll make fine officers aboard her.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” they responded.

“Liam, would you come with me a moment?” the captain asked.

“Yes, Captain.”

Liam looked over at Killian who nodded and smiled at his brother. “I’ll be fine,” he said, shooing Liam away.

As Liam followed after the Captain, Killian turned to look back out at the sea, leaning against the bulwarks. He took a deep breath then let it go into the wind.

Running his hands along the bright yellow trim of the rail, Killian murmured quietly to the ship.

Finally someone else that agrees with me. Why must it be a kink? He has been waiting for that moment for FOREVER so he didn’t care - he would say anything to get her to just go with it!

Heh apparently that opinion wasn’t as unpopular as I thought - I had many people agree with me on that post :D But yeah, it’s exactly that. “I’ve been waiting for this since the beanstalk for fun and Neverland for real. I don’t care if we do it on the floor while our clothes reek of spoiled milk and the neighbors have Justin Bieber playing on full volume. Just roll with it.”

Of course, it was also Emma’s inability to hold her own self back that turned him so the fuck on.

I’m a little late to this conversation but why do we need to worry about what ethnicity *any* of the characters are? Why can’t we just watch them act and not worry that, oh this actor is white and this one is Latina and this one is black, etc. I am an actor and many of us are truly trying to create something where the debate is not about our race or our body type or our physical appearance and more about our performances. I love Emerald City and it’s cast, but I don’t think the show is worrying about Dorothy having parents that are Latin just because the actress playing her is Latina.  Dorothy is who she is and it should be ok no matter who they cast or reveal as her father. Don’t get me wrong, there are boundaries when the actor is playing a biographical part then the actor should be of the same race/color/size… but in a fictional world we should all be able to suspend our notions of who the actors are and enjoy what they are creating with their characters. If we were going to worry about race, then we would have to wonder at two of the cardinal witches being white and one being black. But their performances were what mattered.

happynfluffy replied to your post “switcheroo”

Does Peter Pan and Henry not count?

Is this one going in the shop soon?

Thank you so much for the prompt! Once again, I’m sorry this is probably not what you were hoping for or expecting, but this is where my brain wanted to go mostly because we already know about Killian’s issues with worthiness during the current story. I wanted to go back to when worthiness meant something else entirely. 

As always, my “15-minute Masterpiece” criteria are: writing for at least 15 minutes, light editing, no beta. Just me and words coming out of my brain. 

No Quarter

“And when they come for us, I want them to know exactly what we are: pirates!”

His uniform shed, his ship renamed, his men free, and one short speech later, Lieutenant Jones is no more.

The Captain is dead, long live the Captain.

Killian promises his men they’ll live by their own rules; he promises they’ll take everything from the corrupt kingdom they can. He means it. Killian also knows that same promise marks them as wanted men. They’ll be hunted, and there will be no rest.

That’s fine by him. Let them come. In droves.

Killian does not want to rest. He cannot dwell on what it means to be alone in this world—without Liam—or it will drown him in a way even the deepest waters would envy. Killian Jones wants nothing more than to strip the kingdom bare and set it ablaze until there is nothing recognizable left. He will make the King wish he’d never sent the Jones brothers to Neverland for that bloody plant. He may have once had a loyal servant in Liam, but in Killian he’ll get the most loyal of enemies.

He and his men will be pirates. The scourge of the seas.

“We’ll give our enemies no quarter.”

Setting course for the King’s waterways, the men prepare the new flag. Crimson. The color of the blood he will spill and the blood he will shed making the King pay for all he’s taken. But he won’t let that flag fly until the right moment. There is nothing to be gained by announcing his allegiance to himself so quickly.

The quartermaster finishes divvying up munitions from the hold below amongst the small canon that line the ship’s deck. His crew readies the Jewel—The Jolly Roger—for what is coming. Battle. It is only a matter of time.

“Sails!” the bo’sun calls out.

Perhaps no time.

Lifting his spyglass he recognizes the frigate, Valiant.  

Captain Paulson, Killian thinks. He had been a mentor to Liam. Pity. They’ll see each other again soon.

The time it takes for the ships to approach each other slips by in what feels like a breath. Those men out there have no idea what’s coming. Killian tells his men to keep steady.

“Pretend nothing is amiss,” he says evenly, “but stay close to your battle stations.” Killian presents a calm front to his men when inside he is a maelstrom feeding off itself. 

No quarter.

He guides the ship to pass within firing range of its port side, and calls out for his men to raise the flag and fire. He learns that day an enchanted ship never misses its mark. Holes are blown in the hull of the King’s ship and Killian can see it taking on water.

Almost finished.

The Valiant is crippled and in chaos as The Jolly Roger maneuvers swiftly around the listing and smoking ship’s starboard side. Killian’s men are already prepared or a second round before The Valiant can even open its gunports. They fire, sweeping the deck of anything standing.

The Jolly Roger pulls in close and Killian and his men board the ship as the smoke rolls and billows, obscuring their arrival.

Swords clang and guns report as the melee fans out across the deck. Killian slashes his way toward the Captain, already bloodied and looking irritated as he defends the helm. When Killian stands before him, the captain narrows his eyes as he recognizes his foe.  

“Jones? What is the meaning of this? Where is Liam?” he asks. His mistake is making his question sound like a command.

Killian takes a deep breath and clenches his jaw before seething out, “Do not say his name. Do not ever say his name. My brother is dead. I am Captain now.”

In his confusion, Captain Paulson, a weathered, wiry man old enough to be his father, let his weapon drop to his side.

“What’s happened, Killian? What are you doing?”

“Sending a message to the King.”

In two quick moves, Killian has the Captain completely disarmed, and his own sword point poised in front of the belly of the man before him. The King’s man.

No quarter.

“This isn’t what your brother would have—”

Killian thrusts his blade into Paulson’s gut and up, bringing all his weight to bear, and pushing it out through Paulson’s back. The Captain sags against him with a gurgle, never finishing his sentence.

“My brother didn’t want to die, either,” Killian says in the man’s ear before sliding his blade back out and letting Paulson fall to the deck. “What’s one more disappointment?”

Cheers go up behind him, and Killian stands, breath heaving and tremors running up his arms and legs.

He wipes his face and sees only blood on his sleeve. The rest of the crew is dispatched save one young boy no older than Killian was when their father abandoned him and Liam. He puts the boy into a rowboat and hands him the envelope with the picture of the dreamshade and a special message for His Majesty.

Pointing to the shore within sight, he tells the obviously frightened lad, “You get this to the King, and then you find yourself a new career. Understood?”

“Aye, Captain…?”

“Jones.”

The boy nods and stuffs the envelope into his jacket.

“Good lad. Get going. Things are about to get hot here.”

From the deck of The Jolly Roger, Killian watches the Valiant burn as the sun sets and he feels nothing. No remorse, no sadness, no fear. Their course is set and there is no turning back.

No quarter.