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A shore leave, Sparrow had decided, was in order, and so when he had gone off to do... whatever it was he was doing, James had set about helping the crew to unload the necessities, and he himself had gone belowdecks to make sure that all the supplies and victuals housed therein had not been upset by the storm.  One of the barrels of fresh water had sprung a leak, but it was quickly sealed, and since they were anchored, it had caused no worry.  Now the work has finally finished and the men gone ashore, James leans back and passes a hand over his brow, breathing in the scent of vegetation and dark, wet earth that hangs heavy upon the air.  The air is cool and James finds his ire at Sparrow melting away with every breath he takes. 

His momentary  feelings of restfulness, however, are soon cut short as a shrill voice cuts through the slapping of waves against the walls of the cove and the strangely loud rustling of the heavy, wet leaves of the trees which grow all about them.  James sighs.  Already he is getting tired of that voice.

'Hey! Navy man!'

He turns, twisting his mouth into a pained smile.  The woman (he realises suddenly that he has no idea what her name is) is soaked through and looking positively vicious, her white teeth bared in a sneer James does not like at all.  He suddenly wonders if she really does live in a state of perpetual fury, or if it's just something about him that so riles her.  He is equal to that, however, and he raises an eyebrow at her. 'Miss?' He says, the epitome of restrained politeness

She scoffs.  'Don' take that tone with me, Norrington.  Mebbe you're Commodore, yeah, but that doesn' mean you don' have to do what the rest of us do.  We're to gather supplies- water, fruit.'  She jerks her head in the general direction of the jungle and sets off without bothering to see if James is following her or not.  He sighs, but follows after her anyway.  She makes her way smoothly through the dripping foliage, slapping branches and massive leaves out of her way as she goes.  No-matter how he tries, James seems always to be a good few metres behind her.  After about ten minutes of walking (and it's more like jogging, James has to admit), and no sign of any gathering of supplies, he calls up to her.

'Where exactly are we going?'

She does not turn, just calls: 'To meet the Captain.'

James groans audibly, gritting his teeth when suddenly they do come to a halt and there before the pair of them stand Jack Sparrow- looking rather dementedly cheerful- and Mr. Gibbs.  He runs a hand through his wet hair, droplets of water flying from his fingertips.  Lovely, he thinks, how really bloody wonderful. 

What he says is: 'Captain.  Mr. Gibbs.'
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As is his wont, James wakens just after sunrise.  This is normal for him, as is the sight of the half-hearted sunlight streaming in through the windows, the smell of the sea in the morning.  What is not normal, however, is the bed he's lying in- deep and soft- the plush blankets covering him.  As his sleep-grimed eyes blink further, he notes that nothing in this room is at all normal, and for a moment he cannot recall where he is nor how he's got here.  But then his eyes alight upon the chair he had sat in the night before and there, sprawled in drunken sleep is Captain Jack Sparrow, and with a rush, James remembers all the tumultuous events of the previous day, down to his unaccountable worry about Sparrow before he fell asleep the night before.

Somewhat comforted by this memory (but not much), he slides out of the bed, stretching and yawning cavernously.  He can hear his spine crack loudly and winces slightly.  It is still fairly quiet aboard the ship, and as James begins to get dressed, he regards the sleeping pirate across from him.  The chair is closer to the bed than it was before, as though Sparrow had been watching him before he fell asleep (a notion which could be either disturbing or endearing- he cannot decide which), and Sparrow seems to have melted into it like a liquid; he's clad only in shirt and breeches, and James's eyes rest for a moment on the gaping V of golden skin exposed by the shirt before he looks away.  The pirate's head rests on his shoulder, and a nearly-empty bottle of rum dangles loosely from his fingers, cradled in the crook of his elbow; his mouth moves slightly in nonsense syllables.  He's as sloppy as ever sleeping, but the light of the rising sun on those high cheekbones and the black-painted eyes now closed give him a strangely feminine air.  James shakes his head; he's not usually prone to such poetic rubbish- it must be prolonged exposure to Sparrow, he decides.

Once fully dressed, he ties his hair back in a queue (no reason to wear the wig now, and privately he rejoices that he needn't wear the itchy, hot thing) and seats himself on the bed once again, his legs crossed under him.  He keeps his voice soft as he calls out.

'Sparrow...' it's almost sing-song, the way he says it, and he wrinkles his nose.  'Sparrow!  Wake up, man.  A captain should rise before his crew, should he not?'

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Well, well, well... that insolent wretch Sparrow has taken one of my men hostage.   Not a surprise, I suppose, as I practically told the pirate where to find him.  Damn him!  It's the letter-writing, I suppose.  One would never say such things to another's face as one writes in a letter, and it's easy to forget who precisely you are writing to.  Well, never again, I can say that much.  We shall conduct our exchange of prisoners and then I shall clap the man in irons and not be bothered by him again.  He is far more trouble than he is worth.
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It has been three days since I departed Port Royal with the Dauntless to search for Jack Sparrow, and thus far we have encountered nothing but doldrums on the sea and rumours on land.  The ideas that man seems to cultivate about himself are absolutely mad- he rode off on the back of a dolphin, or perhaps he was last seen in the upstairs room of a Tortuga in with two whores, a serving boy, and something in between.   

It's all complete and utter bollocks, if you will permit me to be crass for  a moment.  I find that Sparrow tends to inspire crassness in a person; all the more reason to get him hanged as soon as possible, or at least locked up in the deepest room in the fort until even he can no longer come up with any smart remarks.  A good man he may be, but he is still a pirate, and an absolutely vexing and infuriating pirate at that.  I fear for my sanity.

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Commodore James Norrington

December 2011

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