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mimesereIf you can see this, then you are mighty special, man.
One - And I Will Show You Something Different
I. The burial of the dead
It was a woman who stole Norrington's heart.
Mind, she was neither beautiful nor young, nor was she some smiling innocent thing to bewitch with her charm. A mother it was, grieving for her son, dead at Norrington's hand and by his will. She cursed him and wandered along dark roads until she found a path to him, asleep and dreaming.
He died that night, though he did not know it until later, for she slipped into his bed with a knife of bone and his skin parted under it with ease. What blood there was the knife took as payment and cut through bone with the same facility as it had flesh. His heart lay there, beating still for she did not want his life as much as she wanted what peace and happiness was now denied her son.
She stole his heart and wrapped it carefully in the skin of a gull with feathers still on one side and scratched markings that seemed to writhe on the other, for his heart was no weak thing to be held in paper and twine, nor would it suffer to be bound by anything less than he was. So said the bruja who gave her the knife and the skin and who was she, this loving and angry mother, to doubt such knowledge? Around the skin she wrapped a small measure of hempen rope, stolen from the ship they sailed on, that his heart would be comforted with its familiarity and not seek to escape. This bundle she placed in a box and the box she locked with a word that stole language from her tongue.
II. Your shadow at morning striding behind you
James Norrington
H.M.S. Chatham
Oaksview
September 6, 1748
James,
I do hope that you have sent some word of your success at your examinations, as it simply unpardonable that I should hear of your lieutenancy from the Misses Cooper, who had it from their brother -- you do remember Charles Cooper, of the handsome eyes and objectionable character? -- who was visiting between orders. I fail to see how it is that only you, of all the brothers who took to sea, are unable to find your way home for some space of time. However, since you are so easily lost to us, I do hope that you cease to be as stingy with your words as you are with your visits, though I have no real faith in it...
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Chatham
Oaksview
January 17, 1749
My dear James,
I should begin by saying that I am not a nag, nor am I a harridan and I do not spend all my time gossiping idly with the Misses Cooper. I simply spend a great portion of it doing so, as the remainder is consumed by endless dances and teas and fittings for dresses. Truly, I cannot imagine what possible appeal your ships can have when there is so much to occupy one's mind on land.
I fear you have grown insolent in your long absence and I shall tell Mother straightaway, that she might also write you, and scold you for neglect...
Did I not send you my congratulations on your new office? Surely I must have, for there is no man better suited to a command than you. I know that a lieutenant is not given a command immediately, but I have no doubts that you shall earn one swiftly, for you are dreadfully sober and dull and eminently respectable. John informs me that such qualities are an embarrassment to the family, and you should seek some vile haven of dissipation and vice immediately, so as not to taint our reputation with your irritatingly gentlemanly manner.
With best love, &c., I am affectionately yours,
Anne
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Interceptor
Port Royal, Jamaica
Oaksview
August 4, 1756
My dear James,
Your last letter was a welcome surprise and I am most grateful for the drawings you so helpfully included. Alas, John declared them to be indecent and seized them before I had a chance to examine them myself. Jamaica sounds lovely, but I fear for you, dearest, in a place that has only recently gained respectability.
The ball on Thursday was quite a dull affair and I have never before wished that some earnest young man should pay court to me, but oh, I wish it now. You do not know how trying a thing it is to be the last of us yet unwed. I speak of we ladies, of course, for I am determined that you shall not find a match before I do.
John is quite irritating, as you know, and tells me there never was a more uneducated woman than my own sorry self. However, I have found his private library and I can say with some degree of certainty that if my education is lacking in some respect, then his is equally so, for his books are vulgar and I cannot imagine what refinement of his faculties can be achieved with them...
*
III. Your shadow at evening rising to meet you
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Stevenson Hall
October 10, 1763
James,
Regarding the strange situation of your acquaintance and friendship with the newly wed Turners, I have no advice. Your Elizabeth's choice of husband is quite shocking and had she not been your own choice, I would be moved to comment on the likelihood of a necessary marriage rather than one which serves the heart. It is quite beyond my understanding how a lady of good family and reputation (and know that is only your regard for her that holds me to civility) should choose to marry so far beneath her station. You say that she names love as her choice, but love is not going to keep her house, nor will it see her children well matched. How can her father allow such a thing? Is he feeble-minded? Oh James, do leave that miserable place. I fear that the heat may have some unforeseen effect on your intellect as it seems to have had on hers.
Young James is a terror and the joy of my life. He is quite the gentleman, when he is not tormenting the household with his fascination for every creature that walks, crawls, creeps, or flies...
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
No. 5, Bruton Street
London
March 2, 1764
James,
If my last letter to you gave offense, I beg your forgiveness for such was not my intent. I could not bear for you to hate me, as I fear you must, since it has been an age since I have received any word from you.
Yours, as ever,
Anne
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Stevenson Hall
July 12, 1764
James,
Were it not for the notices in the Times, we should all fear you dead or missing. Even if you are angry with me, that is no reason to ignore John or our parents.
I am becoming quite cross. Matthew has offered to call you out for vexing me so. Thus far I have managed to keep myself from agreeing, but should this state of affairs continue, I fear I must.
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Oaksview
July 15, 1764
James,
I say, Anne is becoming quite the nag. Even if you are angry, forgive her and send word or she will find a ship on its way to your little island and book passage.
Surely forgiveness is not so terrible a price to keep her meddlesome person as far from you as possible.
Yours,
John
*
IV. I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
He dreams of flight, of being a bird on the wing over open and glittering seas.
On the horizon, the setting sun bleeds into the water and he finds himself drowning, choking on the taste of it in his mouth, all salt and steel and cloying sweet, while pain blossoms in his chest.
Then he dreams of nothing and he cannot wake.
One - And I Will Show You Something Different
I. The burial of the dead
It was a woman who stole Norrington's heart.
Mind, she was neither beautiful nor young, nor was she some smiling innocent thing to bewitch with her charm. A mother it was, grieving for her son, dead at Norrington's hand and by his will. She cursed him and wandered along dark roads until she found a path to him, asleep and dreaming.
He died that night, though he did not know it until later, for she slipped into his bed with a knife of bone and his skin parted under it with ease. What blood there was the knife took as payment and cut through bone with the same facility as it had flesh. His heart lay there, beating still for she did not want his life as much as she wanted what peace and happiness was now denied her son.
She stole his heart and wrapped it carefully in the skin of a gull with feathers still on one side and scratched markings that seemed to writhe on the other, for his heart was no weak thing to be held in paper and twine, nor would it suffer to be bound by anything less than he was. So said the bruja who gave her the knife and the skin and who was she, this loving and angry mother, to doubt such knowledge? Around the skin she wrapped a small measure of hempen rope, stolen from the ship they sailed on, that his heart would be comforted with its familiarity and not seek to escape. This bundle she placed in a box and the box she locked with a word that stole language from her tongue.
II. Your shadow at morning striding behind you
James Norrington
H.M.S. Chatham
Oaksview
September 6, 1748
James,
I do hope that you have sent some word of your success at your examinations, as it simply unpardonable that I should hear of your lieutenancy from the Misses Cooper, who had it from their brother -- you do remember Charles Cooper, of the handsome eyes and objectionable character? -- who was visiting between orders. I fail to see how it is that only you, of all the brothers who took to sea, are unable to find your way home for some space of time. However, since you are so easily lost to us, I do hope that you cease to be as stingy with your words as you are with your visits, though I have no real faith in it...
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Chatham
Oaksview
January 17, 1749
My dear James,
I should begin by saying that I am not a nag, nor am I a harridan and I do not spend all my time gossiping idly with the Misses Cooper. I simply spend a great portion of it doing so, as the remainder is consumed by endless dances and teas and fittings for dresses. Truly, I cannot imagine what possible appeal your ships can have when there is so much to occupy one's mind on land.
I fear you have grown insolent in your long absence and I shall tell Mother straightaway, that she might also write you, and scold you for neglect...
Did I not send you my congratulations on your new office? Surely I must have, for there is no man better suited to a command than you. I know that a lieutenant is not given a command immediately, but I have no doubts that you shall earn one swiftly, for you are dreadfully sober and dull and eminently respectable. John informs me that such qualities are an embarrassment to the family, and you should seek some vile haven of dissipation and vice immediately, so as not to taint our reputation with your irritatingly gentlemanly manner.
With best love, &c., I am affectionately yours,
Anne
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Interceptor
Port Royal, Jamaica
Oaksview
August 4, 1756
My dear James,
Your last letter was a welcome surprise and I am most grateful for the drawings you so helpfully included. Alas, John declared them to be indecent and seized them before I had a chance to examine them myself. Jamaica sounds lovely, but I fear for you, dearest, in a place that has only recently gained respectability.
The ball on Thursday was quite a dull affair and I have never before wished that some earnest young man should pay court to me, but oh, I wish it now. You do not know how trying a thing it is to be the last of us yet unwed. I speak of we ladies, of course, for I am determined that you shall not find a match before I do.
John is quite irritating, as you know, and tells me there never was a more uneducated woman than my own sorry self. However, I have found his private library and I can say with some degree of certainty that if my education is lacking in some respect, then his is equally so, for his books are vulgar and I cannot imagine what refinement of his faculties can be achieved with them...
*
III. Your shadow at evening rising to meet you
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Stevenson Hall
October 10, 1763
James,
Regarding the strange situation of your acquaintance and friendship with the newly wed Turners, I have no advice. Your Elizabeth's choice of husband is quite shocking and had she not been your own choice, I would be moved to comment on the likelihood of a necessary marriage rather than one which serves the heart. It is quite beyond my understanding how a lady of good family and reputation (and know that is only your regard for her that holds me to civility) should choose to marry so far beneath her station. You say that she names love as her choice, but love is not going to keep her house, nor will it see her children well matched. How can her father allow such a thing? Is he feeble-minded? Oh James, do leave that miserable place. I fear that the heat may have some unforeseen effect on your intellect as it seems to have had on hers.
Young James is a terror and the joy of my life. He is quite the gentleman, when he is not tormenting the household with his fascination for every creature that walks, crawls, creeps, or flies...
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
No. 5, Bruton Street
London
March 2, 1764
James,
If my last letter to you gave offense, I beg your forgiveness for such was not my intent. I could not bear for you to hate me, as I fear you must, since it has been an age since I have received any word from you.
Yours, as ever,
Anne
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Stevenson Hall
July 12, 1764
James,
Were it not for the notices in the Times, we should all fear you dead or missing. Even if you are angry with me, that is no reason to ignore John or our parents.
I am becoming quite cross. Matthew has offered to call you out for vexing me so. Thus far I have managed to keep myself from agreeing, but should this state of affairs continue, I fear I must.
-
James Norrington
H.M.S. Dauntless
Port Royal, Jamaica
Oaksview
July 15, 1764
James,
I say, Anne is becoming quite the nag. Even if you are angry, forgive her and send word or she will find a ship on its way to your little island and book passage.
Surely forgiveness is not so terrible a price to keep her meddlesome person as far from you as possible.
Yours,
John
*
IV. I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
He dreams of flight, of being a bird on the wing over open and glittering seas.
On the horizon, the setting sun bleeds into the water and he finds himself drowning, choking on the taste of it in his mouth, all salt and steel and cloying sweet, while pain blossoms in his chest.
Then he dreams of nothing and he cannot wake.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-13 03:44 pm (UTC)I'm agape over here. Also quite desperate for more, but happy and willing and driven to read and reread until more should appear.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-13 03:56 pm (UTC)*smooch* You are missed and adored, lady.
Re:
Date: 2004-02-13 04:06 pm (UTC)Meanwhile, you remain much loved and deeply missed yourself.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-02-13 06:00 pm (UTC)I know you talked about this a bit, but what I imagined pales in comparision to the actuality of it. The way you structured the fic is very skilled, unique and gives it and added layer of depth that. Yes. Incoherence. Let alone your writing, which you know I worship. Beautiful.