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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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)

[ he frets about his response. at what point does a man reveal too much...? ]

Careful, Admiral. You're sounding a bit frog.

[Perhaps this was not a popular sentiment among army soldiers. He should not wonder if they all clung to their commissions to a man, and each denied that there might be a better way.]

Oh, posh. Whatever you might mean by that I shall not hesitate to remind you that we fight on the same side, you and I.

Time notwithstanding.

[ had no one yet explained the revolution to this man? sharpe is surprised. penitent, even, that he should take such a cheap shot and see it wasted on ignorance. ah, well. it still did as he had intended: it threw the admiral off the scent of his own broiling dissatisfaction with the way army promotion was handled. as dissatisfied as he could get, his code of honour was clear on this matter. he'd made his bed, and now he was to lie in it without complaint. ]

I fight on my own side. [ and on the side of his men. ] I do not see how it always adds up to fighting on the same side as...generals and admirals.

And yet, so long as you do so, I fail to see any need for tiresome introspection.

I believe the introspection began with you, Admiral.

Indeed.

[Which is good, because if there's one thing that the admiral lacks these days it is young men and women given to back-talk.]

[ young! norrington needs his eyes checked. ]

How long have you been here?

We must be rounding on two years, now. I could not tell you the month of my arrival, however, so you shall have to be content with that.

[He did not mean to snap this time, but the need to approximate needled him personally.]

Is this information of some particular use to you?

Edited 2013-04-09 13:38 (UTC)

[ the snap goes undetected; sharpe's sense for what is or isn't an affront, when delivered in text, is not as keen as it could be. ]

Could be useful to know how long it takes before a man starts to forget his own songs.

[James could see the merit in that. How unfortunate, then, that Norrington was a tainted variable. He had no place in this particular equation.]

Of course that would depend on how deeply you permitted the peculiarities of this place to insinuate themselves. There are a host of people, here, and each with his own memories. Do take efforts not to lose sight of yours in the crowd.

[Isolating yourself in a remote, empty house would be a good first step, Mr. Sharpe.]

My sights are steady. [ were they? was seeking advancement in devil's magics even remotely close to the concept of steady? hard to think, let alone say. ]

Always have been. And will be for a while yet. This place can't change what I've been.

[ only, perhaps, what he could be. same bloody problem as being promoted, really. nothing erases the gutter, but the future is unknowable. ]

[No, Luceti cannot change what you have been. What it can do, and will do, is provide a new barrel to look down and the time to set your eye to it. Today's rifle may have wider range of vision that you are used to. Tomorrow's may have a lense attached which magnifies the image ahead of you quite unexpectedly. And looking back through these sights, the way that he has come, a man sees details that he had never noticed quite this way before, or that way, or the other.]

No. I suppose not. So let us hope that you have lived a life without regret.

[If so, then Sharpe would be the first such man that Norrington had encountered.]

Edited 2013-04-09 14:23 (UTC)

Cannot afford the ~~luks~~luxury of regret. [ can't afford much, really. back home. here? here all he has is time and his own thoughts and no harper to placate his troubled soul.

but he does have katniss. ] Regret gets a man killed.

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