![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
luceti
How's My Driving
Please comment here with questions, comments, and concerns regarding the way I portray David.
Critique is more than welcome, but it is best if offered with examples of what I'm doing wrong and suggestions on how to improve. I may not always agree and/or take the advice, but it will all be noted.
IP logging off, anon allowed. I will screen threads if requested.
Please comment here with questions, comments, and concerns regarding the way I portray David.
Critique is more than welcome, but it is best if offered with examples of what I'm doing wrong and suggestions on how to improve. I may not always agree and/or take the advice, but it will all be noted.
IP logging off, anon allowed. I will screen threads if requested.
July the twentieth,
It has been some time since I've opened this book. I confess, I tend not to think about it often; it is too unlike anything I am familiar with. However, I will endeavour to use it more often.
I am still in possession of the sloop-of-war Britannia. [Thank goodness he's writing. He'd have never been able to contain his overwhelming relief. For two months, he's been waiting for the admiral mentioned by Buffy to provide him with an official writ, taking that command away from him.] I have made a great deal of progress on her maintenance.
However, I should like to take her out to sea soon. Until I am able, I will not know how she handles.
By her size, I should estimate that she would support a full complement of one-hundred-and-twenty souls. ["Men," he manages not to write. He's learned enough about women here to be cautious.] However, for a basic jaunt and not a war-time assignment, she would only require perhaps twelve to manage her properly.
There is no form of currency here, or I would offer pay. I am open to negotiation for the price of the labour, though. I will meet what I can.
D Long, commander, R.N.
It has been some time since I've opened this book. I confess, I tend not to think about it often; it is too unlike anything I am familiar with. However, I will endeavour to use it more often.
I am still in possession of the sloop-of-war Britannia. [Thank goodness he's writing. He'd have never been able to contain his overwhelming relief. For two months, he's been waiting for the admiral mentioned by Buffy to provide him with an official writ, taking that command away from him.] I have made a great deal of progress on her maintenance.
However, I should like to take her out to sea soon. Until I am able, I will not know how she handles.
By her size, I should estimate that she would support a full complement of one-hundred-and-twenty souls. ["Men," he manages not to write. He's learned enough about women here to be cautious.] However, for a basic jaunt and not a war-time assignment, she would only require perhaps twelve to manage her properly.
There is no form of currency here, or I would offer pay. I am open to negotiation for the price of the labour, though. I will meet what I can.
D Long, commander, R.N.
[There is no one to read an official dispatch. He's gathered that much. However, this is quite a different communication.]
May the nineteenth,
I have recently come into command of the sloop-of-war Britannia. She has been well cared for, and I am grateful to the members of the Blue Rogues for that.
However, she is in need of some detailed care to bring her back to her proper state. I have found scrub brushes, paintbrushes, and buckets, but it seems she lacks any holystones. I am in need of those and paint. I am not particularly concerned as to the colour of the paint, so long as there are large quantities and it is a consistent colour. Black for the trim (that, there is plenty of below decks) and yellow (as she is presently) or white or blue for the bulk would be preferable.
Once I have these supplies, I will be in need of volunteers to assist in the work. There will be painting, rowing of rigging, stitching of sail, swabbing, holystoning, and polishing to be done. I have no wages I can offer for these tasks, but I will require those who want to help to be able to follow direction. Maintenance must be done in certain ways to avoid unnecessary work and possible damage to the ship, so I will be very specific in how each task should be accomplished.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated, and I shall be most grateful for any information on where and how I might obtain the supplies I need. I do not have much, but I may be able to find something in the ship's scarce stores to trade, as I am not looking for charity to bring Britannia to her best.
D Long, commander, R.N.
May the nineteenth,
I have recently come into command of the sloop-of-war Britannia. She has been well cared for, and I am grateful to the members of the Blue Rogues for that.
However, she is in need of some detailed care to bring her back to her proper state. I have found scrub brushes, paintbrushes, and buckets, but it seems she lacks any holystones. I am in need of those and paint. I am not particularly concerned as to the colour of the paint, so long as there are large quantities and it is a consistent colour. Black for the trim (that, there is plenty of below decks) and yellow (as she is presently) or white or blue for the bulk would be preferable.
Once I have these supplies, I will be in need of volunteers to assist in the work. There will be painting, rowing of rigging, stitching of sail, swabbing, holystoning, and polishing to be done. I have no wages I can offer for these tasks, but I will require those who want to help to be able to follow direction. Maintenance must be done in certain ways to avoid unnecessary work and possible damage to the ship, so I will be very specific in how each task should be accomplished.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated, and I shall be most grateful for any information on where and how I might obtain the supplies I need. I do not have much, but I may be able to find something in the ship's scarce stores to trade, as I am not looking for charity to bring Britannia to her best.
D Long, commander, R.N.
[David has had... three days. He's taken three days living with his sister to sort out where he is and what's going on. Which, as far as he can tell, is all very vague.
Of course, a woman like Faith can't be expected to have any sort of reckoning of points of longitude and latitude, and he doesn't have the tools required yet to shoot the sun to take his own calculations. He is most certainly not in England or the West Indies, though. Of that much, he can be certain.
The Journal is his biggest contemplation. He's watched it, these last few days. He doesn't understand most of it, but he has seen how it can used to address letters and even speeches to the general population. How the latter works, he doesn't know. Really, how it works in general is a mystery, but he understands the written form best.
There's no telling who will read what he writes as he finally takes up a pen, so he's careful with his wording. Around him are about twenty sheets on which he's practiced before committing himself to this.]
The fourth of May.
[No location, he doesn't grasp that well enough yet to make that distinction.]
To whom it may concern:
[There may be an admiral or commodore or post-captain in this strange place, but he can't be sure, so a more general heading will have to do.]
I arrived here on the first of May. After making a basic of study of the area, I proceeded to the north where I found a village. It is the only one according to local information. I established a residence and read what is provided by way of documentation. I have since collected my possessions that have arrived: my uniform, my pocketwatch, and my telescope.
My ship is lost, my crew unaccounted for, and the fleet far out of range of communication. I write this dispatch in the hope that it might be received by someone in a position to answer it.
I am, most respectfully, your servant,
D Long, commander of His Majesty's Sloop Hornet, R. N.
[The strangest dispatch he has ever written, David thinks, but it will do. It might also give him some indication if there are any brother officers here, if any of his crew or squadron have suffered the same fate.]
Of course, a woman like Faith can't be expected to have any sort of reckoning of points of longitude and latitude, and he doesn't have the tools required yet to shoot the sun to take his own calculations. He is most certainly not in England or the West Indies, though. Of that much, he can be certain.
The Journal is his biggest contemplation. He's watched it, these last few days. He doesn't understand most of it, but he has seen how it can used to address letters and even speeches to the general population. How the latter works, he doesn't know. Really, how it works in general is a mystery, but he understands the written form best.
There's no telling who will read what he writes as he finally takes up a pen, so he's careful with his wording. Around him are about twenty sheets on which he's practiced before committing himself to this.]
The fourth of May.
[No location, he doesn't grasp that well enough yet to make that distinction.]
To whom it may concern:
[There may be an admiral or commodore or post-captain in this strange place, but he can't be sure, so a more general heading will have to do.]
I arrived here on the first of May. After making a basic of study of the area, I proceeded to the north where I found a village. It is the only one according to local information. I established a residence and read what is provided by way of documentation. I have since collected my possessions that have arrived: my uniform, my pocketwatch, and my telescope.
My ship is lost, my crew unaccounted for, and the fleet far out of range of communication. I write this dispatch in the hope that it might be received by someone in a position to answer it.
I am, most respectfully, your servant,
D Long, commander of His Majesty's Sloop Hornet, R. N.
[The strangest dispatch he has ever written, David thinks, but it will do. It might also give him some indication if there are any brother officers here, if any of his crew or squadron have suffered the same fate.]
