Your Cruise Director ([info]cruisedirector) wrote in [info]mandc100,
@ 2004-03-16 09:27:00
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Exile
Title: Exile
Author: [info]cruisedirector
Rating: PG
Word count: 100
Characters: Jack, Stephen
Notes: I've only read through H.M.S. Surprise, so this may be out of line with later canon.
Rum to: Jack


Any time Stephen mentioned that he might visit Ireland, Jack felt a small pain in his chest. Stephen could disappear for weeks, returning with brown skin and a closed look about him. He might reappear with signs of having been wounded. Someday, perhaps, he would never return at all.

Jack did not know much that had befallen Stephen before they had met. Nor could he grasp the connection between those events and Stephen's secret work. He knew only that some phantom from the isle kept hold of his friend even on warmer shores, and that "visiting Ireland" meant unnamed danger.



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[info]ghazalah
2004-03-16 06:54 am UTC (link)
"...some phantom from the isle kept hold of his friend even on warmer shores, and that "visiting Ireland" meant unnamed danger."

Wow. Nicely done.

You've kept the mystery intact, which is great, and put us in Jack's point of view, which is superb. I think (though I don't know yet) that throughout the canon we can only watch, with Jack, and helplessly wonder. Is the "exile" of the title meant to be Jack's?

Whatever Ireland means to Stephen, it is certainly a haunted place.

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-17 08:31 pm UTC (link)
Thanks so much! I don't know enough into canon to know what Jack learns later (and yes, it was him I meant as exiled). I wondered how much of Jack's being furious in HMSS when he realized that Stephen had lied about his whereabouts was also fear.

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[info]ghazalah
2004-03-18 07:55 am UTC (link)
Do you mean Post Captain? That's an interesting thought, the angry fear. That's love.

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-18 01:46 pm UTC (link)
Yes, I meant Post Captain. My brain is gone!

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[info]ghazalah
2004-03-18 02:22 pm UTC (link)
The more I consider the fear angle, the more I think you must be right.

SPOILERS FOR THE MAURITIUS COMMAND



When Stephen goes ashore on Reunion, Jack is consumed by panic. He can't eat, can't sleep, and spends the night pacing the quarterdeck, scanning the shore for signs of Stephen's progress.

If he was afraid for Stephen in Post Captain, how cruelly difficult it must be to let Stephen go beyond his protection after Mahon.

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-18 07:20 pm UTC (link)
I love the scene in HMSS where Jack is all set to slam Stephen professionally and personally for disappearing, then takes one look at him (after the Diana and Dil incidents) and can't bear to say anything. He's very protective and doesn't know what to do when he can't keep Stephen safe and happy within his own little bubble.

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[info]all_ahoo
2004-03-16 07:08 am UTC (link)
*wibble*

This was great - you've captured Jack's anxiety perfectly. *Loves*

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-17 08:34 pm UTC (link)
*has a three-way with your icon* Thank you! I'm not sure it's canon past where I've read but was compelled to do it anyway.

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[info]sparowe
2004-03-16 02:43 pm UTC (link)
Having to watch silently, always wondering if that awful "someday" will ever come... poor Jack.

This is just moving, my dear.

Anon

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-17 08:56 pm UTC (link)
*hugs Jack* I'm sort of glad O'Brian never finished that 21st book...if he was planning to kill one or the other of them off, I couldn't stand to know it. Thank you!

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[info]liars_dance
2004-03-17 03:22 am UTC (link)
Beautifully written. Sometimes it amazes me how much you can put into 100 words and not make me feel I want to know more - you said it all!

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-17 09:14 pm UTC (link)
Ooh, thank you! *hugs you* This is a case where ignorance in terms of not knowing full canon is probably bliss for both of us.

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[info]seascribe
2004-03-17 03:25 am UTC (link)
Why is it that other people always say what I want to? I agree and I love this to death, just like everything else you write.

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[info]cruisedirector
2004-03-17 10:01 pm UTC (link)
*basks in warm fuzzies* Thank you so much! I am the queen of the "me too" comment -- I never have time to write most people the comments they deserve, but I always figure any writer would rather have a "me too" or a "squee" or a "ohhgodloveit" than no feedback at all. Anything I finish reading, pretty much, I comment on, unless LiveJournal is having one of its regular nervous breakdowns and it is just taking too damn long.

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