the Dalaverse

Bit longer than a double drabble. louphoenix requested "Norrington, Gillette, Groves and whatever you want to do with them." What I wanted to do with them was porn, but Gillette turned coy on me. Yeah, I'm so shocked. PG.



By Nature Moved


James Norrington was born to command. Every man who had ever served under him said so, even those who’d broken his rules and earned his ire. No amount of favor with the admiralty could raise a captain through the ranks so quickly, and Norrington had no need for politics anyway. He proved himself in battle and in the command of his ships and sailors.

When Gillette was transferred to the Dauntless, Norrington’s flagship, no amount of celebration could fully express his elation. He was surprised to find himself senior officer in terms of service if not total years, and his meeting the former first lieutenant was colored with awkwardness.

But Groves only smiled at him, shrugged off being replaced, and asked him if he wanted to hear how Norrington had taken the Antoinette despite a bout of flu having incapacitated half his crew.

Later Gillette came to grasp the quirks of Groves’ personality, and precisely why not much concerned him as long as he sailed alongside England’s champion of the Indies. In time he became far less preoccupied with rank himself.

Because however tightly he ran his ship, however strong and unyielding a figure he cut on deck, Norrington still lowered himself before a mere lieutenant – in private quarters, of course, and with the understanding that fair play was a virtue one did not shed with a frock coat.