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

[sharpe]

It'd be easier if they look different if they're going ta think different. [ But he laughs immediately, because that's a ridiculous thought and he knows it. You can't really split people like that. And even if people look different from each other, it doesn't mean they are different - whether they are French or English, the bastards killed on battlefields are still dead, for one.

He cocks his head slightly to the side, obviously staring at her. ]

Pardon me, ma'am, but you aren't human, are you?

[inafadingcrown]

If only it were so simple. [She doesn't laugh with him, but her smile grows a little. Her thoughts are along much the same lines. You find commonalities in unexpected places- differences too. She'd have to be a fool not to know that by now.]

I am not; I believe the term you are most like to know is "elf." [She doesn't seem at all bothered by the question. It's a fair one, for so many who are unused to her kind.]

[sharpe]

[ He laughs at that. ] First an imp and the Devil 'imself, and now an Elf. It'll be talking trees next, or summat like that.

[ This is probably rude, but he's staring at her for a while more, and- ]

Yer no succubus, are you?

[ ooc; I'M SORRY ]

faj;flja HAHAHA

[inafadingcrown]

[Hey, don't knock talking trees; she knows some very nice ones! She's about to say something to that effect when he asks that question.]

I assume not, since I am wholly unfamiliar with the term.

SOB.

[sharpe]

Uh. [ He rubs at his nose. Licks his lips. Rubbed at the back of his neck. ] Succubuses are- [ how do you even... ] Stories from home, you know? Women who come ta men's beds and... [ he makes a vaguely crude motion that's somehow more decent in his mind than 'have sex with them' and yet way indecent in itself. Oh soldiers. ]

You know. That kind.

[inafadingcrown]

[Oh. My. God. The look on her face must be priceless right now- somewhere between affronted and mildly horrified. What exactly is it about her that could prompt such a question?]

I will be generous and assume that you did not mean the question as an insult to my honor. I am nothing of the sort.

[sharpe]

My apologies, ma'am. [ He does sound sincere, and he looks really sheepish about it. ]

You seem too beautiful ta be believed.

[inafadingcrown]

[Well, now she's having emotional whiplash. From being offended to slightly flattered in two sentences.]

If that is your reasoning, I cannot bring myself to take offense.

[sharpe]

[ It's okay, it's pretty natural when it comes to Sharpe. And he grins at those words. ]

That's a good thing, ma'am, fer I didn't mean any. [ Pause, and he rubs at his nose slightly. ]

Forgive me manners. I'm Major Richard Sharpe.

[inafadingcrown]

[And she gives a little nod.]

I am Galadriel, Lady of Lothlórien. You are well met.

[sharpe]

[ BEAT. And he scrambles for a bit, blushing just slightly, as he ducks his head. ]

Milady. Forgive me, I didn't know yer rank before.

[inafadingcrown]

[And that is strangely endearing.]

You could not have known. There is nothing to forgive.

[sharpe]

[ He's kind of cute around women. Mostly the cynical soldier goes away and he becomes this sheepish little boy-thing. ]

Aye, I'm glad fer it. [ A beat, and he thinks if he's polite, he'll leave her to herself, but... so pretty. Must stare more. ]

Will you tell me of the elves? Most of what I've heard of the world don't seem ta apply much ta you.

[inafadingcrown]

I would be glad to. [She loves talking about those sort of things, actually.] But it is something of a broad topic. What is it you wish to know?

[sharpe]

Anything you'd like ta tell ma, milady. [ He rubs the back of his neck a little. ] I know nothing of yer world, so there's really nothing I can say that I want ta know in specific.

[inafadingcrown]

You are in an excellent position to learn of it, if you wish. Two of the great three Elven strongholds are represented here. Lord Elrond and my daughter, the Lady Celebrían, rule Imladris and I, of course, rule Lórien alongside my husband.

[sharpe]

[ He bites his lip for a moment before he laughs, sheepish. ]

Forgive me, milady, but I ain't much fer talking to such highborn people. [ That's half a lie. He just hates talking to them because they tend to be arrogant bastards who look down their noses on him because he's a whoreson bastard.

Also: ]

You don't look old enough ta have a grown daughter, milady.

[ He thinks briefly to Arya, about what she said about girls being married at 13 or so- nah. Ladies tend not to be in that bad of a state, he thinks. ]

[inafadingcrown]

You speak to one now, do you not?

[She smiles in a way that she hopes is reassuring. Of all the elves present, Galadriel is probably the most prideful until her uncle shows up, so she doesn't think he'd have many problems. And- oh, that would be a good place to begin explaining elves, wouldn't it.]

I daresay I am old enough to be your grandmother many times over; elves do not age in the manner of men.

[sharpe]

[ His grandmother many times over, huh. That'll mean something to him if he actually has a grandmother, but right now he just raises his eyebrow. Grandmothers usually look far older than Galadriel does - she doesn't even seem to have a single white hair. ]

Aye? Well, that's a thing ta know 'bout elves.

[ He really wants to ask for her age, but he's being polite. ]

[inafadingcrown]

[It's just as well. She wouldn't take offense, but to be quite honest, she'd have to do math to find the exact number. You stop caring at some point.]

It is true of the elves of Middle-Earth, I should say. There are others here and most seem to be be mortal.

[sharpe]

That's odd. [ He blinks, cocks his head to the side. ] Do you all call yerself 'elves'? With the same word?

[inafadingcrown]

It is the word we have in common- each of us have several others with which we refer to ourselves.

[sharpe]

[ Headtilts. ]

What are those?

[inafadingcrown]

For me and mine- "Eldar" and "Quendi," among others.

[sharpe]

Those are pretty names, milady. Though they don't sound like any language I've ever heard.