o2 ✍ sharpe's distractions ✍ video

[sharpe]

[ The video opens to a pair of hands. Hands, paper, and a line of tobacco. A cigarette being rolled before the camera is tipped upwards and Sharpe comes into view. He drags a hand through his hair, which is more than slightly wet by the rain. It's obvious after a while that he's outside, sitting below the awning of one of the houses in the Hold. His rifle, leaning against his shoulder, is completely dry.

He takes out a lighter and snaps it on, lighting the homemade cigarette and taking a drag. ]

Convenient things, these. [ Tosses the lighter up, and catches it again. ] Works better than any flint. [ Pause, and he shrugs. ] But I ain't here ta talk 'bout fires.

I'm a soldier and I ain't use ta just waiting 'round here. Even travelling and sightseeing [ he grins at this, because going out to the Outlands was fun but not the kind of sightseeing and travel most gentlemen go for ] gets tiring after a while. [ He leans a bit further back against the wall. ] There any books 'round? [ Beat, then he clarifies, because his accent tends to mark him as illiterate: ] Fer reading, I mean. English'd do, but if there's something in French or Spanish, I ain't going ta say no.

[ He takes a drag of the cigarette contemplatively. ]

Stories'll do as well, if no one's got any books ta read.

[ He makes to switch off the transmission, but then he seems to remember something. Scramble, scramble, oops, ash and burnt paper on the camera, which he brushes away irritatedly. ]

Can someone explain ta me how a man and a woman can share the same house without being married or related ta each other? [ He tips his head ta the side. ] It don't say much for decency or the woman's reputation, no. [ Beaaaaaaaaaaaat. ]

And what's those noises on the thirteen floor of that damned building we've been housed in, eh?

[ This is actually Sharpe's point in making the transmission but he wants books as well. Whatever. Look, it's shut off for real now. ]

a little bit later, 10% (crappily) encrypted to morgana

[ Awkwardly: ] How fares you, milady?

Comments

voice

[gevurah]

There's a library.

video;

[sharpe]

Thank ya, ma'am, I haven't notice that either.

voice

[gevurah]

Why ask if you're set on your ways, then?

video;

[sharpe]

It ain't me that's set in me ways, it's the rest of you. [ Grumpily. ] There ain't much said that tells me why things changed.

voice

[gevurah]

There's an entire history behind it... and it keeps going.

They changed because they needed to change. We're people, not second class citizens, or animals or whatever. Religion changes over the years; a lot of people stop practicing or going to the churches, which often preached not to live in sin among lots of other things.

Women began demanding their equal rights and respect. It's not perfect, even in my day and age, but it's considerably better.

[ Basically, it's a loooong story! That has no ending. And she can understand he's confused, so she's being a little patient for now. ]

voice

[sharpe]

[ See, he hits a snag right in your third sentence. ]

I leave talking of rights ta politicians, but women deserve more respect, not less. [ He frowns a bit, bits on his lip. ] We ain't ever treat you like animals- [ WAIT A MINUTE, SHARPE ] least, the men who do are bastards who deserve ta be shot for laying a hand on a woman. [ And he'll gladly do the shooting. Has done it plenty, in fact. ]

Religion ain't got much ta do wit' it. Women are... [ more frowny faces. Gentle. Vulnerable. Kind. Except for a certain Jane. But- ] It's the duty of a man ta protect a woman, 'specially if he's an officer. That's part of decency.

voice

[gevurah]

Not you, but there are men who do. And they do awful things to them because they're women. [ SUP GOTHAM. ]

That's a nice sentiment, but that changes, too. Women can protect themselves if they need to. Some women do become officers. Even soldiers. My mother was one.

voice

[sharpe]

Me wife, she was a soldier too. [ He quirks his lips up. ] Led her own guerrillas.

Ain't it more reason fer women ta keep out of battlefields if men are bastards on 'em? They can protect themselves, aye, but women's bodies are always weaker than men's.

voice

[gevurah]

We're a lot tougher than most give us credit for.

voice

[sharpe]

We, or 'you', ma'am?

voice

[gevurah]

We.

There are plenty of women who could take down a man with their pinky in my world. [ Wonder Woman, heh. ]

voice

[sharpe]

[ He thinks about that, and he laughs quietly. ]

I'd like ta meet 'em. [ He leans back a little, and there's a wistful smile on his face. Once, a long, long time ago (only a few years, but it seems a lifetime), Teresa had told him that she wishes there are more female soldiers, if only so she can feel less lonely amongst men.

She'll like to meet this strange woman who talks about religion and women as animals, Sharpe thinks. ]

voice

[gevurah]

None from my world are here. [ Can Miss Martian do that? She doesn't really doubt it. ]

But there must be women here with meta based abilities or super strength.

voice

[sharpe]

[ There's a long pause. ]

What d'ya mean like that? [ Squints. ] And I think yer not making sense again.

voice

[gevurah]

Women who are stronger than your average men. There's a whole bunch of them from my world. Women who could punch boulders like they're pillows or lift them like they weight even less. [ She doesn't think he'd know what a car or truck is, so boulder example it is. ]

voice

[sharpe]

[ Blinks. He rubs at his nose and mouth. ]

Now yer being strange 'bout this. [ He's really trying to not offend her. ] Not even men can do that in me world, and I think the women who can do that are special, aye? With super strength and 'meta', whatever that is.

[ He sighs. ]

That ain't say much 'bout the rest of the women. Me wife can take care of herself plenty, [ Sharpe grins at that - when he was married to Teresa, he used to boast that his wife kills French men for fun, and he's damned proud of her for it ] but that don't mean the rest of the women are stronger than men, or they don't need protection, or they should be treated like a man.

[ For what it's worth, he doesn't mean that they're not equal - he means that men are pieces of shit to each other and why would any woman wants to be treated like a piece of shit. ]

voice

[gevurah]

Most of us come from different worlds. What's normal in one can be completely the opposite in another.

Personally, I don't want to be treated like a man. [ Rather, a capable woman because she gets offended quickly if treated like some sort of pitiful victim. ] And it's alright to believe in protecting women, but you can't really insist that they can't care for themselves or that we all need men to look out for us. Maybe in your time, but it's not how it works in my world or many others.

voice

[sharpe]

[ Blinks. ]

When did I say that? It ain't that women can't care fer themselves. Sometimes they need help, and it's the duty of a gentleman - or even any bastard wi' a sense of decency in 'im - ta help 'er.

[ Did I mention he's pretty contradictory? I'm so sorry. ]

voice

[gevurah]

[ Although it's funny, where would she be now if it weren't for her dad? ]

It's... really hard to explain. I think the library would have books that could explain it better than I can.

voice

[sharpe]

You've got some titles or authors?

voice

[gevurah]

From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World from the top of my head. There's like four books, but you can start with the first one.

Uh, Marilyn French is the author's name, I believe.

voice

[sharpe]

She ain't actually French, is she?

[ Women writing books... @_@ ]

voice

[gevurah]

No, she was American. [ Kate has to pause, trying to recall if French is dead or not in her world. She's pretty sure she died not too long ago. ] It's just a surname.

voice

[sharpe]

American, eh? [ He quirks his lips up. ]

Aye, I'd read it.

voice

[gevurah]

Yeah, she was from New York.

Quite a few of us Americans here, I think.