abidinglaw | [Written] And the good south wind still blew behind

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and the spiders from mars

[Written] And the good south wind still blew behind

I find that I am forgetting more and more of the old songs.

[He is forgetting more than that, in fact. In truth he doesn't know how long he has been here. Each day he forgets a little more. He is sure that if he puts his mind to it, he'll have to count the time in years.]

And it is true that no-one I knew from home would have accused me of wasting my time unduly with such things then, but I am certain I need not go into detail with any of you about the ways in which Luceti seeks to change a man.

Yet, change us it does. We would do well to take measures to ensure that these changes are for the better. There must be some among you who can speak on this matter.

And others still who know of a new song or two.

-James Norrington.

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[ sharpe has been thinking of songs an awful lot, of late. without anyone else to sing them, he finds they infect his mind and accompany him on nearly every journey taken from the front step. throughout the whole damned draft, he'd been haunted by music -- so little of it happy.

and so, he takes the time to puzzle out the admiral's writing. normally, he might ignore it. he and the sailor didn't get along much. but with all this talk of change...

in laboured letters: ] The Navy does well with Heart of Oak. Infantrymen even sing it, time to time. Before battle. Not certain if I could ever forget it even if I tried.

A touch after my time perhaps.

I'm certain I should approve regardless. The title alone is strong and wooden - two qualities which befit a navy greatly.

[He is entirely serious. Let it not be said that those hulks of unfeeling metal have not left their mark upon him.]

Edited 2013-04-09 01:30 (UTC)

It's got a great many words about glory and the fleeing enemy. As they all do, I suppose.

The heart of oak is ours after all then. Very good.

Edited 2013-04-09 01:34 (UTC)

What about -- [ here follows a scribble and a few scratches as he tries to remember just how a certain word is spelled. it's been a year, now, since he's had to write it down: ] Do you know the one about the provosts?

[ though...he supposes the admiral wouldn't. not that it mattered, really. ]

I do not, no, but I should very much like to.

Edited 2013-04-09 01:38 (UTC)

Fair warning: it doesn't paint them in the kindest of lights.

[ for everyone hated provosts. except -- sharpe thought -- this admiral norrington would exactly be the rare soul who didn't hate the bastards.

ah well. it's all moot. there was no chance in this hell or any other that sharpe would sing for the sailor. ]

[And yet, James Norrington was beginning to wonder whether he might not want to orchestrate such circumstances as resulted in himself and Richard Sharpe drinking to excess somewhere or another. The songs would be bound to come out then. They always did. How else would he have learned half the tunes that he knew - or knew once - if not from the sailors who sailed beneath him?]

If ever there was an appropriate time for a man to voice his displeasure in his superiors then I'll be damned if it wasn't in the songs he sang among friends. And if we hung men for that, well, I warrent our ships would never want for rations or water, however long the voyage.

[As there would be no men left aboard to eat or drink them.]

Edited 2013-04-09 01:49 (UTC)

[ speaking (or, rather, writing) of dissent: ] For the life of me, I have not been able to chase the rogue's march out of my head. Not for weeks.

[ the tune likely deserved from capitalization, but sharpe either did not know or did not care. ]

A rogue's march, was it? And small wonder. Whatever pains the generals and the admirals took with their drums and their trumpets, the men's songs inevitably insinuated themselves with the stronger tenacity. Even among the admirals and generals, I dare say.

Edited 2013-04-09 02:12 (UTC)

[ he and katniss had discussed this: the delicate balance of dissent and the power of song. truthfully, they were concepts sharpe had once felt were far beyond his understanding before he'd been granted the time to sit and think about the songs he wanted to sing when he was alone. nostalgic. ]

You would know. [ being one. an admiral. funny, really, where he chooses to draw his line. although he's an officer, he cannot help but imagine the higher ranks as distinctly other. they wield power he cannot imagine and likely would not want. ]

I would.

[The admiral felt no guilt at having been an admiral, and no regret. The same could not be said for the particular method that he took to lead him to that station, however, nor for what he did when he got there.]

Even you must agree that fighting men's songs with drums and trumpets is preferable to striking back with the whip and the noose.

Even I? [ it takes him a long time to write it out, but he's grateful that the written word masks most of his disdain. not all, but most. ] What do you mean by that?

[ all to quick to assume it as some cutting remark about his position and how it may have been gained. ]

That not all generals and not all admirals seek to punish men unduly. And that, by extension, I imagine that there are also a number of good men to be counted among the provosts of the world.

Edited 2013-04-09 02:29 (UTC)

The generals are not the problem. [ he couldn't say anything about admirals, but generals? they had larger problems to unravel than whether to flog a man or not. and yet--

and yet. ]

Then what is the problem, exactly?

[He knew that he was potentially inviting criticism, but he'd been surprised before.]

The sergeants. And the more junior officers. Them what still has something to prove, which generals generally...don't. Not to the men.

Yes, well. If we could be assured that all officers had once been privates, perhaps we might put an end to all that.

[In the navy, during Norrington's time, men were a great deal more prone to be promoted based on merit. The admiral was not blind, though. There were no shortage of cruel midshipman and he had seen his share of viscious boatswains. Just as there were able bodied sailors with heavy hands... but even so, a man promoted from the ranks must surely feel empathy for those beneath him. At least he would have the choice to act upon that empathy or not. And to James Norrington, that alone made a difference.]

Edited 2013-04-09 02:54 (UTC)

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