Calypso / Interactions. - Tumblr Posts
🪐 — lil starter for @trickstercaptain
HUMANS GREW SO QUICKLY, sometimes they seemed to morph from a child to a man almost overnight. & this too seemed a measure of cruelty to the goddess; even humans could change from day to day, but her own body stayed stubbornly frozen, never so much as a day older or younger. it seemed she was trapped by time itself as much as by her very bones.
but for all her lamentations, the boredom was eased somewhat by the humans as well. observing the mortals had always entertained her, & to watch them grow was as good a way to spend the years as any. while in truth it had likely been years since she saw the young jack sparrow, somehow it felt like only yesterday teague had brought the wild-willed lad to her swamp as a boy. he had changed since then, as they all did, but there was still a measure of youth to his face, still the same glimmer of mischief in his dark gaze. ❝ did your father ever tell you that you have your mother’s eyes ? ❞ the goddess asked, examining his face with curiosity. there had always been something about jack, unseen threads of fate clinging to him. he would be important, though she could not yet say how. ❝ a lucky break; you may yet escape repeating his mistakes. ❞
🪐 — jack sparrow ;
His memories of her from his childhood were surprisingly vivid: the strong… a young Jack could only describe it as swamp smell that clung to the very bones of this wooden shack, the pots and talismans and other assorted trinkets that he had always longed — and occasionally tried — to take home with him, the rhythmic quality to her voice that made any story she told sound like the most interesting thing he had ever heard. Teague had strange friends but Tia Dalma had always stood out.
“ You knew her? ” There was no way her remark had been made by accident, but something youthful and hopeful leapt in Jack’s eyes nonetheless. But even as he leaned forward in his chair, a willing listener to whatever stories she cared to tell, he couldn’t help but spare a quick, wary glance over his shoulder. “ He… ” Teague wasn’t present here in Tia Dalma’s shack, but his mother had been the forbidden spectre of his youth for long enough that the habit had become difficult to break. “ Teague doesn’t really talk about her. ” Jack shrugged slightly, crossing his arms in front of him on the table. “ And I don’t really remember much. ”
THE EYES IN QUESTION CAME ALIGHT at the mention of maria, though the goddess’s own sharp gaze did not miss the flicker of fear as they looked away briefly, ensuring they were truly alone before he spoke. but there was hope there, too. young jack could not hide his interest in the topic. & suddenly, calypso found herself a bit sad for the boy. their mortal lives were so unbearably short, after all, & she could see how he yearned for so much as a scrap of detail from the life that had given him his own. that his father would deny that to him seemed cruel — but that too was the way of men, she had found. ❝ only briefly, ❞ she responds, moving away from her heavily laden shelves to seat herself at the table across from jack. ❝ your father brought her here once, before you were born. ❞ grimy fingertips play idly with the bones laid out before her, twisting them into new angles as she calls to mind the face he sought. the humans all began to blend together over time, but it is easier to remember maria with jack there before her; they really do look quite alike. a smile curls at one side of tia dalma’s lips, her knuckles rapping softly against the wooden tabletop. ❝ that a woman like her could handle captain teague was proof enough of her strength of spirit. ❞
🪐 —open prompt sent by @thecodekeeper ❝ i kept your tears in a jar. ❞
❝ THEN YOU’VE KEPT AS TIGHT A HOLD on mine as you do on your own. ❞ & she laughs, the sound rough & harsh when it escapes from her throat. captain teague sometimes seemed more than just a man himself. his reputation preceded him, his attentions often singularly focused on his duties as keeper of the pirate code. it was rare that he came to tia dalma seeking help with matters of the heart. far more often he asked for her help navigating without stars, or keeping sirens at bay. but she could still remember the day she had given him the little crystal vial of her own tears to help blunt the sharp edges of his grief. on that day, teague had been nothing more than a man mourning his lost love, gone too soon. & she had given him something to help ease his sorrows, but it seemed that the good captain had not understood how to use it in the end. ❝ they didn’t work because tears only have the power to heal once they are released, ❞ she says, her tone incredulous. as if he should have known, as if it’s common knowledge. & the priestess taps her cheekbone just beneath her eye, the pattern of her tattoos wrinkling as she smiles. ❝ keep them trapped inside, & they can do nothing to help you. you must let them out if you ever hope to be free of them. ❞
🪐 —open prompt sent by @starfrckled ( edward teach ) ❛ i just want myself back . ❜
A SOUL IN TURMOIL bringing themselves to tia dalma’s door searching for help or healing was no rare sight. the humans never changed; always distraught over some slight, always concerned only with easing their own pain. self-centered to a fault. but then, she could understand the need to do seek any means necessary to ease ache of a broken heart. & no matter how he tried to hide his wound, the truth was obvious to one familiar with the signs. especially when he asked her of davy jones, & the part of the legend where he had plunged a knife into his own chest to stop the pain. ❝ well then, you will have to know who it is that you are. ❞ her eyes catch him in their gaze & holds him there. & the goddess leans forward in her seat, elbows on the table & hands clasped together tightly. the candles around her hut all flicker at once, sending shadows dancing ominously across her face. there is no trace of a warmth or humor in her tone when she speaks. ❝ so, are you the kind of man who would rather be without a heart at all, edward teach ? ❞ the syllables of his name are drawn out, exaggerated, ending in a flash of dirty teeth that is closer to bared fangs than anything resembling a smile.
🪐 — captain teague ;
It had been months since Maria’s death yet the pain of her death remained ever potent. Memories of her clung to everything, overwhelming him with a sense of longing. The rum numbed him, at least temporarily, but without fail, grief clawed back to the surface. In a moment of desperation, he had gone to Tia Dalma hoping that she may have a cure. The “tears of a goddess”, she had claimed, would be able to heal his heart. They hadn’t.
Now he stood in her shack ready to throw the damn vial back in her face.
Her explanation did nothing to pacify him. If anything he was all the more ready to demand compensation. He stared at Tia Dalma in disbelief. She was being more obfuscating than usual, much to his displeasure. “ Released? ” Teague scoffed, “ in other words, they’re useless. ” His hand curled tightly around the small vial in his pocket. The damn thing was meant to make those feelings go away, but it hadn’t. Teague still felt grief clawing at him every day. The rum numbed it, at least temporarily. But he had wanted a permanent solution.
He pulled the vial out of his pocket and slapped it onto the table next to them. Then, as if the mere act had served as a release Teague’s shoulder slumped. If this hadn’t worked then what would?
“ I want a refund. ”
HER FACE TWISTS IN OFFENSE at the accusation, & calypso pulls herself up as tall as she can in light of her pathetically limited form. tia dalma’s arms cross stubbornly over her chest, & her spine goes rigid in response to his tone. captain teague might have been near infamous on the seas, but a goddess feared no mortal man, & he was no exception.
❝ they’re not useless, you just didn’t know how to use them, ❞ she responds, forming the words slowly so that he cannot possibly misunderstand her. ❝ when your pain becomes overwhelming, you must take the stopper out of the bottle & let a drop fall onto your bare hand. you will find the hurt will recede as the tide. not entirely, of course — there is nothing in the world that can heal a broken heart, captain — but enough for you to breathe again for a time. ❞ calypso did wish that she could do something more for him, but to be a mortal was to be defined by briefness of existence. & yet, to be a human was to love in spite of the certainty of death. they would never learn — they would continue loving one another regardless of how doomed it was. but that much, at least, she could understand; she had never been able to stop herself from falling in love with mortals, either. ❝ i am sorry if you believe that i misrepresented my services to you, captain, & i regret that you are not satisfied with the results you received. ❞ her hand curls around the neck of a nearby bottle & pours rum into a glass, setting it on the table before him. ❝ but the fact remains that i accept no refunds. ❞
🪐 — EDWARD TEAGUE for calypso !
“ They think that any culture or state that diverges is degenerate. That we are degenerate, until we speak, dress, act, and worship just like them. ”
HER LAUGHTER CRACKS, a lightning strike that seems to reverberate through the strange objects in the small cluttered room. the humans all thought themselves so smart, so uniquely able to see the so-called big picture. she almost pitied them — the blind fools had no idea how small their minds truly were. ❝ & how do you prove to yourself that you are above their rules then ? by creating a book of your own & dedicating your entire life to upholding it ? ❞ the laughter comes again, but softer this time, tia dalma’s hand flicking at the empty air near her ear as though at some invisible annoyance. ❝ have caution, teague, or you may find yourself becoming the very men you claim to hate so. ❞
🪐 — JACK SPARROW for calypso !
Jack smiled faintly to himself at her words, casting his gaze down at the wooden table. Strength of spirit. There was something oddly comforting about that description: he’d always remembered her as softly spoken, preferring to never raise her voice if she could. Kind, which he now knew made her a rarity in this world. Compassionate. But there must have been something strong about her too, or else she would have never been able to handle a man like Teague. Jack’s smile turned sad. “ Sometimes I wonder what she saw in him. ” They’d loved each other once. He had to believe that. But whatever she’d loved in him had disappeared in the years since — had likely disappeared from this world the very same moment she had, if not long before.
“ Did she seem happy? That time you saw her? ” Before he was born. He could not recall anything specific, could scarcely even recall what she looked like, but as a child he had never been able to shake the idea that sadness seemed to cling to her very being. No matter how much she smiled. No matter how many bright, happy memories of her he had. And, while he had never known why at the time, looking back in hindsight made him wonder whether his presence in their lives had been to blame. There were flashes of arguments in his memories, too. Shipwreck Cove is no place for a child. Jack absentmindedly picked at a groove in the table. He couldn’t help but wonder.
THE BOY BEFORE HER turns sullen when he speaks of his father. & calypso feels her body laugh softly in spite of the seriousness of his tone. to her, it did not seem so long ago that teague first sat here in this very same shack, at this very same table. & he had been nearly the same age then as jack was now — at least, so she thought. but then, it was still difficult to tell the age of the humans when they grew so fast & yet lived such short lives. every time she had seen teague since that first, he had aged noticeably. & jack would do just the same. it was a shame, the way that time had a way of turning curious, quick, handsome young boys into tired, embittered men. perhaps one day, jack would be more like his father than he thought possible now. & though the goddess had been surprised to find she actually enjoyed the boy’s company — his quick wit & his curiosity helping the days pass just a little faster — she could only hope that she wouldn’t be present to see it. she would loathe to find herself still here in another handful of decades, seated at this same table & discussing whatever mortal woman who had caught jack’s attentions with the next in an infinite line of sons who believed themselves so much better than their fathers. it’s a sour thought, & her attentions return quickly to jack as he is before her now — still scarcely more than a child himself, seeking solace for his grief. comfort is something she of all beings is ill-equipped to deliver, but still there is an attempt at gentleness in her tone when she speaks. ❝ take it from me, witty jack, you can never really tell from the outside whether someone is truly happy or not. especially a woman. ❞ & then she smiles wide enough that both rows of tia dalma’s blackened teeth show & gives a nod, the many shells & beads in her hair clinking together softly with the movement. ❝ but your mother chose her life — that is the most that any of us can ask. ❞
🪐 — WILL TURNER for calypso !
THERE’S SOMETHING about Tia Dalma Calypso that makes him reflect, and talk. One might suggest it’s her air of mysticism, or her divine powers – though it’s more likely her charm and insight that really reveals his most inner thoughts. ❝ Maybe it’s better to be an outlaw with purpose than a citizen without. ❞
Turner justifies his current life of piracy thus, feeling that he ought to since not long ago he’d have found pleasure in dispatching pirates with his own blade ( as he’d once threatened Jack, when they first faced each other ). There must be some good reasons for his complete change of opinion; with a heart that seeks such justice as his does, it was perhaps inevitable that he’d end up following it down whatever path it took.
HER SKIN IS ITCHY, uncomfortable, more than a size too small. & while the goddess had been imprisoned for many decades already — trapped within a single ever-unchanging shape, in a shack in the salt-swamps — being aboard a sea-bound vessel was somehow far worse. in another form, she could dive into the waves with ease, or even merge with them entirely. but confined as she is, she has no choice but to wait, dreaming of the opportunity for freedom — & vengeance. & yet in the presence of young will turner, the current of fate that pulls at her becomes ever stronger. it will be him who gives his heart to the dutchman, he who fulfills the spell she had created all those years ago. this much she can feel even from within the bones she is still confined to, though her pathetic mortal eyes are too blind to see clearly yet exactly how it would all come to pass. & for someone who is so close to losing his heart, will still seems as uncertain about his path as she does. as if either of them will have any choice, in the end. all beings, mortal & mythic alike, are helpless to the unrelenting passage of their destiny. ❝ men create laws, & unmake them just as quickly. but some men serve a more important purpose. ❞ & the goddess affixes him with a curious look, her dark stare wide & close as she takes in the turmoil that is written so clearly upon the planes of his face that even her blind mortal eyes can see it. ❝ blood is thicker than ink. forget what the law decrees — what does your heart tell you is right ? ❞
🪐 — CAPTAIN TEAGUE for calypso !
Tia Dalma’s laughter always gave him pause. There was an ominousness to it as if she was amused by a secret joke rather than anything you had said. Teague grunted in response as he walked over to a corner of the shack adorned with colourful bottles filled with what were surely very expensive potions of questionable usefulness. He had never claimed to be above their laws. They simply weren’t his. Still refusing to look at her, Teague picked up a small, rectangular bottle that was half filled with thick crimson liquid. “ Too late for that, then. I’ve already accepted the position. ” The decision still weighed heavily on him. He hadn’t even wanted the bloody thing but with Jack being so young it was the best option. He shrugged as if trying to throw off some of the exhaustion from the past few days, “ someone has to keep the brethren in line. ”
SHE COULD REMEMBER when teague had been a young man himself. but like all men, he had grown up in spite of his best efforts. responsibility, it seemed, could turn mortals old faster than time alone could. ❝ & you believe yourself to be the right person to do such a thing, do you ? ❞ the room is crowded with items, yet she moves to his side without jostling anything, well used to the way her body moves through limited space of her shack. ❝ you say you wish to be the one who upholds the brethren’s so-called code. but why ? is it because you have such trouble following rules yourself — ❞ her fingers pluck the bottle from his hands & place it back on the shelf with a soft but decisive tap, dark eyes glaring pointedly up at him. ❝ — & so your solution is to place yourself in a position above them ? ❞ teague is among the most difficult men she has met ( & she has met more than a few in her time ), but something in the way he avoids her gaze now makes the goddess curious, her head tilting slightly to one side. ❝ or perhaps you don’t actually want the position at all; don’t tell me that even the fearsome captain teague has now found himself bending to the will of others expectations. ❞
🪐 — @trickstercaptain sent a meme for calypso :
9 — king by forence + the machine ▶︎
❝ A WOMAN IS A CHANGELING, always shifting shape — just when you think you’ve got her figured out, something new begins to take. ❞
🪐 — @thecodekeeper sent a meme for calypso :
59 — daffodil by florence + the machine ▶︎
❝ I PRACTICE RESURRECTION nearly every night — always out raising the dead under the moonlight. remember this : i'm not bad, & i'm not good. ❞