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Feb. 19th, 2008 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienMy characters don't talk to me, on the whole, though they do sometimes do things I don't expect, or refuse to do things I had lined up for them to do. Occasionally, they say things on the page that surprise me and get me thinking.
Last night, towards the end of the midnight staff meeting, the First Officer said, "We’re with you, sir, you know that. We all have our own reasons for choosing this ship, but this was always part of the deal. Some of the crew, though … I say we should let them choose.”
So ... now I get to figure out what everyone's reasons are, for following the crazy captain on a risky trip off the map. Most of them are fairly easy; the doctor is his wife, and nearly as broken as he is, and still loves him even if she doesn't dare let herself hope that they'll find their son alive; the purser and the comms officer are spies for their respective governments, both of which have an interest in what he's looking for; the navigator was put there by the shipwights because he's the only one who can stop the captain going completely Ahab; the second officer apparently lost a brother to the ship-eater, and the grouchy engineer is her husband; the gardener only cares about her gardens, and having a crazy captain makes that more important rather than less. That just leaves that first officer, the one who holds the crew together and takes care of business on the not infrequent occasions when the captain is indisposed. What's his angle? Being a history buff doesn't seem sufficient, and I'm not sure an overdeveloped sense of responsibility quite cuts it, either. (Also, either he or the captain needs a new name. "Jor Torren" and "Korin Tiel" are just too close -- I get them mixed up myself if I'm not careful.)
Last night, towards the end of the midnight staff meeting, the First Officer said, "We’re with you, sir, you know that. We all have our own reasons for choosing this ship, but this was always part of the deal. Some of the crew, though … I say we should let them choose.”
So ... now I get to figure out what everyone's reasons are, for following the crazy captain on a risky trip off the map. Most of them are fairly easy; the doctor is his wife, and nearly as broken as he is, and still loves him even if she doesn't dare let herself hope that they'll find their son alive; the purser and the comms officer are spies for their respective governments, both of which have an interest in what he's looking for; the navigator was put there by the shipwights because he's the only one who can stop the captain going completely Ahab; the second officer apparently lost a brother to the ship-eater, and the grouchy engineer is her husband; the gardener only cares about her gardens, and having a crazy captain makes that more important rather than less. That just leaves that first officer, the one who holds the crew together and takes care of business on the not infrequent occasions when the captain is indisposed. What's his angle? Being a history buff doesn't seem sufficient, and I'm not sure an overdeveloped sense of responsibility quite cuts it, either. (Also, either he or the captain needs a new name. "Jor Torren" and "Korin Tiel" are just too close -- I get them mixed up myself if I'm not careful.)
