Allegiance, headers and table of contents

WHOOOOOHOOO!!! Posted!!!! It looks wonderful. You did a fantastic job with the coding. And of course, the story is so excellent.

*bookmarks and saves to memories*

Thanks again for letting me beta read for you. I enjoyed it so much. Any time. Really.

Thank *you* for all the encouragement and your sharp eye!

*happy dance*

Wow. I mean, wow.

I haven't even begun yet, have just finished reading your introductory notes, but wanted to tell you now, before I begin, how amazed and in awe I am. I'll be reading this over the next few months, but I had to leave you feedback right away. Wow. Thank you.

So much.

Wow.

::begins reading::

It makes me grin in the *biggest* way to hear how excited you are. And I saw your rec - thank you so much!

I look forward to hearing how you like it.

Weee!
The pleasant anticipation of being able to read this after the dreadful long afternoon at work is already making this wednesday a lot less intimidating than usual.
*sends cookies*

YAY! Anything that helps one get through a workday is of the good.

Hope you like it!

*munches cookie*

Yey, do I get this for the Sparrington-Archive? I have not read it yet but I know it is going to be as good as all of your fics. :) *runs off to read*

Err, sorry. I though I was logged in. It's me.. The Gina with the Savvy-Sparrington Archive.. *blush*

Hee! I sort of thought it was you. Would have emailed you if I didn't hear from you in a day or two.

Sure, you are welcome to snag it for the archive. I am pleased you want it!

Wow, I absolutely devoured this today! This twist on how things could have been made for a great adventure...and maybe a sequel?

I am tickled that you liked it well enough to devour it! That's a lot of reading!

It was very interesting to change that one thing and follow it through to see how things might turn out.

As for a sequel? Well, I haven't considered one yet. This fic ate my brain - I have worked on it literally every day since mid-April - and I think I'll take a break from this universe for a bit. Next up is a little sidebar kind of fic set in my Trust and Honour 'verse, in fact. *g*

Thanks for the feedback!

just to say, have finally started reading this and threw a complete fit when my PDA battery died unexpectedly (30% -> 0% in about 5 mminutes) a third of the way through. Recharging now then off to the sofa to read in peace!

Absolutely adore it so far (despite the dark bits) -- especially the pacing ... and the, shall we say, Delay in Introducing a Major Character.

"(30% -> 0% in about 5 mminutes)"
Jeez. I would have pitched a hissy, too. Stupid technology picks the damnedest times to let us down, eh?

"Delay in Introducing a Major Character"
Hee! That one SO loves his big upstage entrance, doesn't he? Let the play get underway and the audience start to fidget and THEN appear.

As for the dark bits - I am in no way a fan of *gratuitous* darkness, certainly, nor darkness at all (most times) but *something* had to happen to make that character go down the path he took, you know?

So glad you're liking it so far! Yay!

Ooooo so so cool! I just finished this and really enjoyed it. Love the could have been, and although I'm a little sad for Will I'm a lot happy for the rest of them. Thanks!

Oh, I'm so glad you liked this! Yay!

Poor Will has a bad time in this fic, but it ends for him on a hopeful note. I like to think that his father manages to bring him round to a less savage way of looking at things in time, and makes him into an 'honest pirate', so to speak.

Thanks so much for reading - and for leaving feedback. It's lovely to hear from readers!

all right, I've finished it!! You where lovely for pointing you’r fic my way. It really... caught my attention because firstly, I had never read Barbossa/Will anywhere, because I love spin-offs(not sure that’s the right term) and because... I had absolutely no god forsaken idea about where the ride would take me.

I love the fact you actually used Barbossa (whom we sadly don’t see around that much) because he is a personal favourite, and this leads to the second reason I love; because, I think, he is quite a tough one, isn’t he? What are his motivations, his real ones besides the obvious one of lifting the curse, eating apples and captaining the Pearl? He is a truly complicated one, and poor thing always ends up sort of cartoonish. Yes, there is some sense of dark humour about him and his situation but there is also pain and frustration and people seem to forget that. I also enjoyed the fact that you mentioned the Pearl’s oars, nobody does that.

I want to talk about the rape. I have quite a thing for those scenes. Please, I do not get off on rape, but because its so strong a thing, something that should be good and beautiful turned into one of the worse things a person can do to other... that moment, when Will just gets out of the inn and throws up, that crumbling... “I’ve just been raped” moment, was so strong I could almost touch him. Then that “He had nowhere else to go”, perfect. Terrible but perfect. Made my stomach churn.
And then you have that next chapter, with James and Elisabeth just wanting each other in a total opposition. Where you trying to kiss it better or just making contrast, I wonder? (and you go and make Jack Davenport say “shameless wench” inside my head and it killed brain cells which was good, so when I got to “Would you like to ride me?" my brain didn’t came out of my nose instantly). I had never read James actually marring Elisabeth and even less being any kinds of happy, but then there you go, you had me grinning like an idiot even when I don’t like Elisabeth -Whom you just made adorable- (and het!) at all, I was pinning for her the whole damn thing! Like... you made me turn my face away from the sparrington! There was a moment when I doubted my sanity.
Jack’s introduction is almost casual (of course it isn’t! look at him he is plotting, if he is not mischief himself!), but cuts perfectly between the two relationship poles we have. Privateer!Jack... it’s a tough one to write properly for what I think are obvious reasons, but I think you made him really intense and as lovely as only Jack can be *nod*. The fact that you named Jack’s ship after the first zombie of Christianity and (I can’t believe you brought Bootstrap back) the name “Billy Bones” made me chuckle; its lovely seeing a Treasure Island reference.

I feel like, after Barbossa died, Will just... dropped intensity, you could have made him a lot darker and ominous; you had more than enough material to do so, Barbossa was the “Evil Mastermind” and Will was “the Nº1 follower” so when Barbossa died, Will took his place by default, but he doesn’t quite fills the level of “The Real Bad Guy” of the story, and he could have been even worse than Barbossa, if only for the fact that you actually know what he’s been trough, which gives him reasons, excuses to be. I also liked that connection that Elizabeth and Will made in a sort of “in another universe we where made for each other”-way, cute detail.

It is a very lovely story! Sure enough when I read “Fin” I felt like “oh no!! Is that it?! I need more!!” I don’t know if that’s a good thing, is it? XD Thank you so much for taking such effort and for sharing the fruits of your work with us.

This is just something... else. The name “El Diablo Inglés” stuck a chord of my childhood. I’m Argentinean, and it’s the name of a known little book written by a famous author here, about how the civilian villagers of what now is Buenos Aires, resisted the 1806 English invasion, expelling the troops, all on their own without aid of the Spanish Virrey (Governor), true story.

Aaaand... this a very very very long comment! LOL.

Wow! You have blown my mind. I've tried three times to reply to your lovely comment and each time I sat here, grinning like a fool, and no words would come. *g*

I am so very pleased that you liked my story as much as you did. Writing it was a labor of love and it always gives me great pleasure to hear when others enjoy it.

As to your specific points – I agree with you that Barbossa is a very tough character. To be a successful pirate captain, he had to be smart and ruthless, and had to have an instinctive grasp of psychology. The way he established a hold on Will and then used that hold to twist and manipulate him took considerable skill, of the most evil sort. Barbossa was bad clear through and, in my story, poor Will felt the full force of that. My introduction of "Billy Bones" (yep, a Treasure Island shout-out!) was a way of giving Will at least of chance of a better life in the end. I couldn't resist that little shock he felt when he saw Elizabeth because, in another world (the world of the movies) they *were* meant for each other, after all.

I am very interested to hear about the book, “El Diablo Inglés”!

Elizabeth is a divisive figure in fandom. Some hate her, some love her, and the two sides can rarely agree! *g* I happen to think she's a great character – which does not in any way diminish my love of Jack and James, mind you! It is possible to love them all, at least in my head. I do believe that, if Elizabeth had never met Will, she might very well have grown up to marry James – and they might very well have been happy together… if James never met Jack! I found as I wrote about the Norringtons' marriage that I was falling a little in love with the pairing – they really are adorable together. Of course, the Norringtons *plus* Jack is far, far, better, hence the ending of the story!

A note on structure – in the early parts of the story, I alternated chapters about Will's life and Elizabeth's – and it was to show the contrast between their upbringings, and also to illustrate how their changed circumstances in this universe caused them to grow up somewhat differently than they did in the movies. So switching from the Will's rape to Elizabeth's happy wedding night was very deliberate.

Jack's entrance on the stage was so. much. fun. to write! He appears only after the story is well under way, and he *seems* to be so different than Jack of the movies – at first! And yet, as you saw right away, he is the same man underneath – all mischief and plotting. James was doomed from the very first moment, for all that he fought so hard not to surrender. And yes, I laughed when I named Jack's sloop Lazarus. Here he was, back from the dead, so to speak, and it amused him to announce his return in just that way.

So, thank you for reading, and thank you for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment! It is much appreciated.

Awwww, I'm glad I could give something back!! Look all the work you've done!

I understand. Barbossa is just like Jack but different. Jack talks you into stuff and Barbossa just shoves your head into it.

"El Diablo Ingles" is a little book (not even a book, look how short it is! http://www.cancioneros.com/nc/9532/0/el-diablo-ingles-maria-elena-walsh ) By Maria Elena Walsh, and I'd actually offer to translate it for you if it wasn't for the fact that its 90% 1800 Buenos Aires Gaucho Slang and it'd be an utter nightmare XD I'd have to write pages and pages about history and argentinian country life and its just too much.

Elizabeth. In a merely "storyteller" view, I find her a refreshing female lead for Disney, for she may look it, but is FAR from the damsel in distress. She is a really cool character. But from a personal pov... I hate her! LOL, the fact that I dont like Keira is not helpful either (hey, I admit it, it is because I'm ttly jealous). I love them all, because I love POTC, and I realize that Elizabeth is like, the land where the house is built, if there was no Elizabeth, there would be no POTC.
It was incredible, I don't read het, and James/Elizabeth was something I never thought I'd remotely enjoy and you made me!! I dont know if I should thank you, or just cry LOL. I think its because I'm a sucker for nemesis love. They have to hate each other (in the beginning) to be together.

what you where looking for, you achieved it, exactly that.

It was a good entrance, its Jack! gotta make him justice! With Jackie around James is doomed no matter what he does, poor NOT thing!

oh noes, please! It was truly my pleasure.