Ficlet: 'A Sublime Moment' (Norrington - G)

[dwgm]

Written for the ficlet meme, per classics_lover's request for Norrington/Interceptor ship!fic. Many thanks to hereswith for beta reading!



~A Sublime Moment ~


When James, after receiving his promotion to captain, was given the magnificent HMS Dauntless as his first command, he'd felt that surely there could be no moment more thrilling. Influence – the possession of fortunate relations and friends – had certainly played a part in gaining him the assignment, but Admiral Barrington had made it gratifyingly obvious that James' own skill, diligence, and luck had been the essential factors in the decision. The most successful pirate hunter in the Caribbean must have a vessel worthy of that success, and there could be none worthier than the 100-gun 'Queen of the Caribbean', a ship upon which James had served for years and knew like the back of his hand, from stem to stern. Knew and loved.

Yet, not a year later, an interloper had come to steal his heart.

As a staid husband may be bowled over by youth and a pretty face, so James Norrington had been smitten by the brig Interceptor. Freshly built, she had arrived on the station only the week before, and James had taken her out immediately to see what she could do. The exhilaration of that experience had not yet faded.

Now, standing in the pale light of dawn and looking down from the battlements at his two ships – the Dauntless, a brooding presence in her repose; and the Interceptor, a hive of activity as she was primped and provisioned – James wondered at the fate that had brought him to this moment. Today he would formally accept the rank of commodore, an event that would be directly followed by his engagement to the governor's daughter, an eminently suitable consort. And tomorrow he would leave for a fortnight's hunt on the fastest, most elegant ship in the Caribbean.

A sublime moment, indeed. Almost too good to be true.


~.~

Comments

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

Enjoy it, James, as long as you can. *sniff*

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Things fell apart for him rather rapidly after that. It was difficult for me to write James/Interceptor in any other context. Poor James. Thank you for commenting, though!

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Awww! I always love James being smitten by a ship, and such a bonnie wee brig. Beautiful and bittersweet.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! What with Sparrow and that corset of Elizabeth's, James' had a pretty bad couple of days on the horizon, poor guy.

[sharklady35.livejournal.com]

You're breaking my heart, geekmama! :=( I doubt I could bear it, if I didn't have certain AU fics to retreat to.

(Obviously this is really effective writing.)

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Hard to think of James/Interceptor in any other context. Poor James. And yay for happier A/U's! Thank you very much for reading and commenting.

[surreal-44.livejournal.com]

This is delightful. I always appreciate your work. I love the tone and flow of your words. This was a delightful little ficlet! :-)

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

What a lovely compliment -- thank you so much! I'm very happy you enjoyed the story.

[pearlseed.livejournal.com]

Hello from a long time ago--so lovely you are still about and still reading! I'm thinking back to all the great conversations that came from one idea or another hatched by Willow usually. It was a great place to learn to cyber play with my cyber penpals. Ah, it's me of course, Pearlseed.

[surreal-44.livejournal.com]

Hi! Wow, it's been a long time! It's actually been a long time since I've read Pirates fanfic at all. Makes me want to tackle my James story again.

How are you?!

[pearlseed.livejournal.com]

Alive and well for the most, still in love with Jack Sparrow, sure that Mr. Depp is a capable actor, but in LOVE with the pirate....still working, finally able to put aside my nervous and make my little 100 words scribblybits on a fairly regular basis. Truly enjoy the company here becos they are generally kind and supportive of what foolishness my peabrain will allow. Hear from WilloftheWisp every now and again. You are one of the first folks who spoke to me in the other penpal place--always enjoyed your stories and bright thoughts, clever girl indeed.

Please make your story and post it--they were always delightful to read and surely you've lost naught in the small passage of time from then to now...more please!

[pearlseed.livejournal.com]

All I can think at this particular moment is that boy is hard enough right now to drive nails through concrete with him own self. And there is a guilty singsong nanee nanee poopoo, stick your head in ...kinda mean kid delight cos his life is about to arse over teacup...poor baby darling James....lovely telling of this part of the tale.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

poor baby darling James...

He was really in for a bad couple of days there.

I'm so happy you enjoyed this! Thank you, as always, for your wonderful comments. So very much appreciated!

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

Very bittersweet, and just what I needed. I always thought his relationship with Interceptor was much more a passionate fling, while his Captaincy of Dauntless was like a marriage ;-)

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

his relationship with Interceptor was much more a passionate fling...

And over all too soon, poor guy. And now a Plot Bunny is forming, the scene where he finds out what happened to his sweet little brig. May have to write that...

I am glad you found this satisfactory. An anthropomorphized Interceptor/James would provide a happier tone, of course, but this was the first thing that occurred to me. Thank you very much for letting me know you liked it.

[pearlseed.livejournal.com]

Oh, that will be quite cherry donchaknow? You've such a nice touch when you twist a heart, somehow you leave hope and as I've often said, you taught me the word bittersweet whose definition I think is also life. I'll be looking for that one.... I believe in ships that are more than the pieces and parts as you well know...my magical world....I get to people it with magical ships!!

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

I've written that plot bunny ficlet! Sent it off to hereswith to edit a few minutes ago! Will post tomorrow, with any luck.

Hot here, about 105, pool heater not working but the cooler water (82) feels good. Hollywood Bowl tonight with family and friends. School is off to a good start.

Have a good time in Atlanta!! And God bless all the East Coasters, hope the hurricane is much milder than the media would like it to be (bad news sells).

Praise from Willofthewisp

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, James, you know what they say about things that are too good to be true. I love how you manage to get all the feelings across while still keeping it kind of a formal style, quite the James voice. I never stopped to think about how attached James would become to the Interceptor because of the Dauntless and all, but he does seem protective of it and even says he'd rather see it at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of a pirate. Poor guy. Can never catch a break. Creative drabble!

Re: Praise from Willofthewisp

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

James really had a bad couple of days there. I think he is protective of the Interceptor, and now I'm wondering what he might have said to Sparrow on learning the fate of the brig. I'm sure someone must have written that before, but I can't remember ever reading it.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting!