As I don’t write James Norrington this is 100% extrapolated from details amassed over the years on Lawrence Norrington, his esteemed father whom I have occasionally NPC’d and whose fate I ended up designing for other reasons. I know far more about him than I do about his son as most of my experiences with James outside of canon have been various roleplayers who all have different Hot Takes.
Chances are Lawrence was contemporaries with the senior Lord Hamilton – and most assuredly with Admiral Hennessey. They’re all in roughly the same age group, with Lawrence arguably the youngest among them. While it is possible that Thomas and James interacted as children, the fact of the matter is distinguished though he might have been through battle and his nautical skills, Lawrence Norrington was a self made man who bore no titles and therefore is unlikely to have been in a position to place his son amid such esteemed peers at that time.
The only other possibility would be for them to meet at school – and by this point Lawrence would have enough of a name for himself and enough of a spare in his pocketbook to afford the best possible education for his only son, so this is the most likely window available – but also depends 100% on the portrayal of James himself, as I have seen him pressed by his own father as early as eight ( which is in keeping with the canon considering he was dragged pirate hunting when he was barely five! ) and I have seen him as an educated bastard who started his career somewhat later than most on account of an extended study period, with a grand sense of self importance and a dire need to impress others on account of his father, whose shadow he would always be at war with.
Ultimately I think there is argument for and against, so it would be up to you and whoever is playing him to figure out the best point for them to cross paths based on how that person in particular views James’ upbringing ( and lackthereof. )
Jack knew, whole and fully well, that he had miscalculated by one or a dozen windows, and most certainly entered the wrong building. However, out of politeness he did make a slight show of looking around just to be doubly sure, before facing the rather befuddled lordling he’d stepped in on with the intent of escaping via that window.
“‘Fraid not,” He agreed solemnly, “Seem to have misplaced myself – happens all the time,” He offered a quick, disarming smile, and pointed toward the window before remembering that wasn’t how the gentry did things, and turning instead toward the door he’d just walked through. “I’ll see myself out, shall I?”
It was sunny outside – though it had been raining for much of the day, and heavy clouds on the horizon promised more to come – for the moment their room was filtered with soft lighting and drenched in warmth and comfort as they lay together on the bed, his arm around her shoulders and the book on his lap as she narrated today’s choice.
From time to time she would lose herself in familiar passages of dialogue, altering her voice to be more suited to the character in question without truly realizing she was doing so. This only happened with books she was particularly familiar with and fond of, and was a testament to her enjoyment of them that the shift came almost naturally.
Reaching the end of the chapter, she sighed and stretched, leaning up to kiss Joji’s jaw before bumping her nose against it. “We should probably make the most of the sun while she’s out,” The musing was reluctant – she was quite comfortable whiling the entire day away in bed, but she knew responsibility had to come into play eventually. “We can fetch our food at the market and make something while the storm returns.” That they would return to the book was a given, after they’d tended to such needs.
So I’m rewatching PotC and I just realized that although we spectators already come to Curse of the Black Pearl knowing beforehand that Jack is quite eccentric, the characters don’t know and it really fucks me up that at first Elizabeth, Will and even Norrington do see Jack as Captain Jack Sparrow and do get intimidated by the stories about him. Of course later they start seeing more and more about who he really is and go all “#is this serious #i’m so fucking done™“, but at first they are intimidated by him and now that I’ve seen Jack with these eyes I just can’t stop having my mind blown by every single scene because I too can now see Jack by the way strangers would see him and it fucks me up to finally realize he is intimidating and does look like a cruel pirate
okay so i just took a moment and realized i need to go deeper into this, i’m completely obsessed now
When Elizabeth first meets Jack, she has absolutely no idea who he is. There’s this man who just pulled her off the water and saved her life. Suddenly said man is a pirate (a.k.a. a certainly murderer, ruthless criminal) with a chain around her neck and a gun aimed at her head. She gets pissed instead of scared, but that’s because Elizabeth is the most pirate-y of them all, a point to be discussed in another post. Any other person would be terrified.
When Will first meets Jack, he also has absolutely no idea who he is. He’s picking up a weird hat at the forge when suddenly a sword hits his hand and a man is threatening him with a sword. Will fights him though, but that’s because apparently the kid has more love for rightfulness and justice than for his own life.
I really want everyone to take a good look at this gif as if you didn’t know who Jack is. Will has his stance but is retreating. Jack? A nameless, potentially dangerous pirate, totally relaxed (look at his posture, he’s not rigid at all) and in his element, to the point of sliding his sword along Will’s, provoking him.
At one point in this sequence Jack has only one sword, and yet puts up a fight with Will, who has two. Let that sink in for a moment. At this point in the movie Will has been a blacksmith for maybe just a few months less than eight years. He practiced with swords three hours a day. Roughly 8640 hours of training and two swords versus Jack and one sword. Jack is scary.
But imagine that this is only the first impression for those who don’t know that the man they’re looking at is Captain Jack Sparrow. Now, imagine what people who have heard of his name think. We know Jack carries rumors and stories, Elizabeth herself had read about them before.
“Jack Sparrow? He sails the Black Pearl, a black ship with black sails. They say the ship was once burned and sank but got brought back from the bottom of the sea as perfect as it was before.”
“Jack Sparrow once was killed by the Kraken.” “Once was killed?” “Yes. The stories say he went to Davy Jones’ Locker but came back.”
“Jack Sparrow and Blackbeard met once. Sparrow survived.” “How is that even possible?” “Not only that, but Blackbeard died in the fight.” (We know Barbossa killed
Edward Teach, but you can’t tell me there aren’t people who say it was Jack. Some say they fought Blackbeard together, some say Barbossa did it all alone. A consensus was never reached.)
“They say that he talks to witches.”
“Apparently his crew mutinied once. They abandoned him on an island, but Sparrow escaped and cursed the crew. The mutineers became undead, agonising men until Sparrow got his precious ship back and sent all of them to the bottom of the sea.”
“He once almost got captured by the East India Trading Company, but disappeared without a trace.”
God, I just have a lot of thoughts right now. We know Jack as a funny eccentric man who has no idea what he is doing half of the time and improvises a lot, but people who don’t know him? They cower in fear. ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ are words whispered at bars at night in hushed tones, by men afraid that the pirate’s shadow might by behind them, listening. The sight of the Black Pearl causes havoc whenever it arrives near the continent. Jack is known by many names, most of them referring to how many times he tricked Death.
Abigail observed Billy’s work intently, holding in her lap a small coil of extra rope from which to practice matching his motions, and perfecting the knots he was showing her. In truth she could not say how long they had been at it now, though she did know the sun was much higher, and a great deal hotter than when they had started.
The terror that had sparked this little lesson was wholly forgotten by now, and likely would remain so provided she wasn’t in close proximity to the men who had seen fit to scare her for sport. Something told her they meant nothing malicious by it – rather like school boys delighting in mischief and screams, but never meaning to actually hurt anyone.
Perhaps if she were a little less trusting of their leader, and had a less sound friend in Billy, she might not have been so easily convinced of such a thought, let alone thinking it without prompting. As it was, her alarm had fallen away, and she was thoroughly engrossed in her lessons. Her hands worked over the rough rope, and though she had not been at it very long, they were red and sore from her efforts all the same – chafed in ways they were far from used to. She had some callouses from working in the kitchens, but not nearly enough to protect her from rope burn.
“I think I missed – something,” She admitted, showing her knot in comparison to his to try and figure out on her own where she’d gone wrong, “Here?” She guessed, pointing to where she’d doubled when she should have run it over a third time.
After the blanket had been wrapped around her, Abigail curled her legs up and looked at Billy thoughtfully from within the rather impromptu nest he’d settled her into for the evening. She had no intention of retiring while the stars were so bright, but she was terribly grateful for the blankets.
“Thank you,” She offered, before tilting her head curiously, “Won’t you join me?” It seemed almost wasteful to have this much blanket just for herself, and she knew he had to be up for hours yet. There was no reason for him to be cold the whole while, especially not when he was making certain nobody else would be.
Abigail could not say how long she had been standing at the window, lost in her thoughts. All she knew was that it was not until a warm blanket draped around her shoulders, and strong arms settled around her waist that she even registered the fact she was positively chilled.
Leaning back into Joji’s chest for support and additional warmth, she leaned back a little to look up at him and smile. He was too far away to offer a kiss for thanks, so she settled for turning in his arms and raising her own so that the blanket could wrap around them both and she could snuggle in against his warmth.
Although, noting that his chest was peeking at her through the long cut of his shirt, she couldn’t help but be a little mischievous, and rub her cold nose directly against warm skin.
8. Your character walking in on mine in a revealing costume.
The door had barely revealed him when he was already ducking out respectfully, and Abigail reacted on sheer impulse. “Billy – wait.” She shifted uncomfortably, trying to make the dress she was in feel as though it were – more than what it was, before she sighed and headed to the door, drawing it open.
“I already feel ridiculous without one of my few friends in this place running off on me,” The explanation was honest – she felt horribly exposed and not at all as sure of herself as Idelle had promised. She simply felt even more out of place than she normally did. “There was an accident earlier -some brawlers ruined my dress.” Her arms crossed to try and offer herself some modesty, though it had rather the opposite effect. “This is going to sound just awful – but would you mind if I borrowed your shirt until I can go home?”
Ocean Archive 