exsilium | o2 ✍ sharpe's distractions ✍ video

[ 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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's right. It isn't so much ether as a bunch of space junk, though.

It's something I definitely miss about home. A planet you stay on is still a bit foreign to me, even after months on another version of Earth. Settling down is something I hoped to do once I returned home, of my own volition.

[ He cracks a smile at that. This is something he knows well - continuously moving, without rest and without home, and she is a soldier alright. And he cannot help but think of Teresa again, of the women here who call themselves warriors and soldiers, and he thinks she should have been the one to meet them, not him. ]

I don't know much 'bout space. [ He leans back a little bit. The cigarette's long gone out, and Sharpe taps on his rifle instead. ]

How many planets are there?

That all depends on what solar system we're talking about. Hundreds, for sure.

[She crosses her arms over her chest, thoughtful.]

I can show you some star maps, if you like. Schematics of ships, too, since I've got those in spades.

[She's been thinking of asking Tony whether he thinks they can swing a space station here. It'd be a tactical advantage, and sometimes she aches for that view of the stars again.]

Maps'd be better. [ Wryly. ] I ain't ever seen ships that sail on the ships, so drawings of ships that sails on stars won't make much sense ta me.

Well, I could always show you pictures too. I'll just -- bring my omni-tool when we meet up, all right?

[Don't be alarmed by the short alien.]

[ How short is short. He met a hobbit. ]

You'll have ta tell me what an omni-tool is when we do as well, Admiral. [ He gives her a short nod, and he laughs a little. ]

Strange that I'm the one talking ta you. There's a soldier I know, his name's Harris, who would've given the clothes off his back to see maps of the stars.

[Not quite hobbit-height, but slight like an elf.]

Only if you promise to call me Tali and not Admiral. It feels even more like just a silly title here than at home, especially with no fleet to speak of.

[She pauses.]

I wonder if you'd be able to take hard-copies of them with you, if you ever went home.

[ Elves are tall bastards dude. Galadriel is like 6'6, and she's kind of short. ]

I don't think you stop being an Admiral just 'cause you don't have a fleet with you just at that moment, ma'am. [ Dryly. ] You earned the rank, aye?

[ What is with people and abandoning their titles around here... in any case: ]

Can we bring anything back home?

I'm not sure. I haven't gone back from this place -- and the City I was in before, I didn't even remember while I was back home.

[Way to be super encouraging, Tali. As far as the title goes, she ... shrugs.]

I guess I did, but earning it out of battle experience and knowing our 'enemy' well didn't mean I was ready to lead. I'm -- one of the youngest Admirals they've had.

[She bites her tongue. No need to bad-mouth the rest of the Admirals to a stranger and tell him they were just desperate for a way to win their war. That seems unnecessarily cruel to her own people.]

[ Well, Sharpe just shrugs. There's really nothing here he wants to bring back home, honestly.

In any case, he barks a laugh. ]

Lieutenants in England's army are mere boys, ma'am, barely twenty, sometimes even eighteen. They lead much older men and sergeants, 'cause they've got fathers with money ta buy 'em their commissions. Ta earn yer rank out of experience in battle and having some brains means you actually earned it, ma'am, and I can't see why you would toss it away.

I guess I don't think that having a title puts me apart from any of the other people I know who've done great things without such a silly reward.

[Her father had been an important quarian in his time too, and she does feel like perhaps that was another reason she'd been put forward as an Admiral -- not exactly something she wants to admit to a stranger, though.]

A better reward is to know my people have their home back for now.

o2 ✍ sharpe's distractions ✍ video

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