Fic. Calling (BSG/POTC/HL) // G (Drabble)
title; Calling
author; Meridian // noafterglow ( Masterlist)
rating; G
fandom; BSG/POTC/HL
characters; Lee Adama, James Norrington
disclaimer; All recognisable characters belong to their respective creators. I am not receiving profit from this, it's purely for entertainment only.
summary; Two souls contemplate freedom.
notes; Written for the character meme (feel free to offer more suggestions at that post), based on enigel's request of James and Lee. It's set in my POTC/HL 'verse (which I hope she doesn't mind!).
Calling
prompt; James and Lee, "ships in the night"
"A ship is just a ship."
James Norrington glanced over at the younger man on his left, raising an eyebrow. He didn't say anything, and eventually returned his gaze to the water. Eventually he lost track of how long they'd been standing there, side-by-side, against the railing, watching the lights of the ships go by in the early evening. Time had a habit of slipping away from him now, like it wasn't important to existing - it simply was.
After a few hundred years counting seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks was an exercise best left to the young.
"Did your people ever sail?" he asked eventually, breaking the silence and turning his back on the open sea.
The younger man looked surprised at the question. "Of course. A number of the colonised planets had vast oceans."
"But not all?"
Lee Adama shook his head. "No. Not all."
"I couldn't imagine that," James admitted. "Living without an ocean."
"I thought you said you hadn't sailed in years."
"I haven't, but that doesn't mean anything. Here, the ocean's will always be. They give the illusion of freedom, even if it isn't real anymore."
Lee blew out a heavy sigh, turning around to lean against the rail, facing the Immortal. "We're not all that different, you and I."
James raised an eyebrow again. "How so?"
"You took to the seas for the freedom it offered." He held up a hand before James could correct him. "No matter how you spent your time on the seas, it called to you. Even now it calls to you. It's in your eyes. It will always be a part of you."
"I fail to see how this makes us in any way similar." James shoved his hands into his coat pockets. He didn't like how accurate the description was, especially coming from someone that, by his standards, he had only known for a short period of time.
Lee shrugged. "My ship didn't sail on water, but its ocean was just as large. The same freedom you feel on the water I feel among the stars. I joined the military because it was a family tradition, but gods, I wanted to see the stars. I wanted to fly through the vast, inky-black emptiness because I thought all the answers could be found there. That everything human didn't matter once I was strapped into a Viper and surrounded by the darkness."
It was James turn to sigh, though his was weary. His companion was apt at reading people. Now, at least. "And yet here you are, grounded without your ship."
"Some answers are just as elusive in space as they are on the ground," Lee conceded, pushing off from the railing.
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to find the answers you're looking for, Major," James replied, trailing behind.
"Just Lee, now. That life is long behind me," he corrected. "And you're right about that. Time is the only thing we have left."
author; Meridian // noafterglow ( Masterlist)
rating; G
fandom; BSG/POTC/HL
characters; Lee Adama, James Norrington
disclaimer; All recognisable characters belong to their respective creators. I am not receiving profit from this, it's purely for entertainment only.
summary; Two souls contemplate freedom.
notes; Written for the character meme (feel free to offer more suggestions at that post), based on enigel's request of James and Lee. It's set in my POTC/HL 'verse (which I hope she doesn't mind!).
Calling
prompt; James and Lee, "ships in the night"
"A ship is just a ship."
James Norrington glanced over at the younger man on his left, raising an eyebrow. He didn't say anything, and eventually returned his gaze to the water. Eventually he lost track of how long they'd been standing there, side-by-side, against the railing, watching the lights of the ships go by in the early evening. Time had a habit of slipping away from him now, like it wasn't important to existing - it simply was.
After a few hundred years counting seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks was an exercise best left to the young.
"Did your people ever sail?" he asked eventually, breaking the silence and turning his back on the open sea.
The younger man looked surprised at the question. "Of course. A number of the colonised planets had vast oceans."
"But not all?"
Lee Adama shook his head. "No. Not all."
"I couldn't imagine that," James admitted. "Living without an ocean."
"I thought you said you hadn't sailed in years."
"I haven't, but that doesn't mean anything. Here, the ocean's will always be. They give the illusion of freedom, even if it isn't real anymore."
Lee blew out a heavy sigh, turning around to lean against the rail, facing the Immortal. "We're not all that different, you and I."
James raised an eyebrow again. "How so?"
"You took to the seas for the freedom it offered." He held up a hand before James could correct him. "No matter how you spent your time on the seas, it called to you. Even now it calls to you. It's in your eyes. It will always be a part of you."
"I fail to see how this makes us in any way similar." James shoved his hands into his coat pockets. He didn't like how accurate the description was, especially coming from someone that, by his standards, he had only known for a short period of time.
Lee shrugged. "My ship didn't sail on water, but its ocean was just as large. The same freedom you feel on the water I feel among the stars. I joined the military because it was a family tradition, but gods, I wanted to see the stars. I wanted to fly through the vast, inky-black emptiness because I thought all the answers could be found there. That everything human didn't matter once I was strapped into a Viper and surrounded by the darkness."
It was James turn to sigh, though his was weary. His companion was apt at reading people. Now, at least. "And yet here you are, grounded without your ship."
"Some answers are just as elusive in space as they are on the ground," Lee conceded, pushing off from the railing.
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to find the answers you're looking for, Major," James replied, trailing behind.
"Just Lee, now. That life is long behind me," he corrected. "And you're right about that. Time is the only thing we have left."