Tag: my sisters always said my head was full of dreams ( theodore headcanons )

Mun Note: Based off the timeline set down by Jack, I’ve decided to lay down a quick timeline for Theodore, who is 27 as of CotBP. This will help me in the event I need to make verses plopping him around. 

Theodore is literally motivated by adventure. I think I’ve stressed this all of the everywhere, boy is a thrill seeking maniac who wants nothing more out of life than to live free and have fun! Because of this he can be either a really great motivator because his sheer optimism and excitement bleeds off on other people, or a downright baffling piece of work because he doesn’t seem to register normal human functions like fear or self preservation.

This is a permanent starter call for Theodore Groves, of Pirates of the Caribbean explicitly.

These calls give me a heads up on who is open to interacting with whom ( which is handy for those who have exclusives among my crew! ) and gives me an excuse to kick you starters whenever something crosses the mind, or blow up your inbox knowing who would be most wanted.

These calls also serve as a final tag dump – when this call is posted it indicates a character has been fully moved into the blog and is ready for action!

For other starter calls, check the tag HERE.

By the time Gillette joined the Dauntless, Groves had established his role among the men quite well. From second lieutenant to first as a result of transfer, Groves was known to the men as a firm hand when it came to all matters of business and ship management – but a gentle one in all times off duty. He made active efforts to get to know the men – and on a complement of roughly six hundred, this was no small feat.

Nevertheless, Groves was the man to go to if you had any need, great or small. He would know whom to trade with if one needed ink or charcoal or paper for drawing and note taking, whom to exchange coin with for thread in the event of darning that for one reason or another, should not be listed on the ship’s log, whom to sit with if one preferred silence or stories, cards or dice. He would introduce the new men to the crew and would be the one to ensure that what fights did break out, were mollified swiftly.

The extent of his kindness did not halt there, however. Theodore lacked a fundamental fear of illness, making him willing to check on men with fever and ensure they drank and ate enough to recover. It did not matter to him if he knew them well or if they were so far from his own division he had no idea what their name was; if there was a need beyond what the surgeon provided, when he had time, Theodore would fill in the role provided the man in question had none else to do so – and even if they did, he still checked on their recovery. In a word, having Theodore aboard the Dauntless was not unlike having a mother again, which might be the closest thing to a malicious rumor whispered about him.  

By contrast, Gillette was aloof with the men and nigh impossible to approach. Everything with him was business oriented, his responses clipped and sure to the point. He did not linger among the men as Theodore did ( for rather than eating or sleeping in the lieutenant’s berth, he was often found eating with the men and sleeping propped somewhere among the homesick cabin boys who would never admit to needing an adult, but certainly did not object to the presence of one ) but rather taxed himself with extra duties.  

Gillette would relieve men of their posts if he noticed them tiring, and wordlessly. What good favor he gained among the men was earned through his ferocious dedication, his steadfast manner and occasionally, his praise – something offered so rarely, that when it was granted those who received it knew they had done exemplary indeed to earn the man’s warmer side. Within a year aboard the Dauntless however, he became exposed to the relentless kindness of Theodore Groves and found himself frankly confused and mildly fascinated by the man’s demeanor – often wondering how such a man ever attained his rank.

Upon taking fairly grave injury during a raid, Gillette found himself on the direct receiving end of Theodore’s brand of care, which lead to clipped conversation and eventually, to Gillette relenting to the man’s fussing. After this, the two began working more closely with one another – Gillette learning the ways of the men through Theodore, and in turn, teaching the man some sterner tactics that did not go entirely against his nature. By the time of CotBP, they were nigh inseparable, and had a way of bantering among themselves that somehow held a vaguely familiar air to those men who had two parents back ashore.

Theodore Groves is a man who is notable first and foremost for his seemingly endless wealth of warmth and kindness. He has a smile for everyone and a gentleness that speaks of naivety and youth in ways that have made men new to him question – again and again – how it could be that someone so inexplicably harmless managed to make not only lieutenant, but first lieutenant on a first rate ship of the line.

How could a man like Theodore Groves take aim at another man and not break? How could someone who smiles so easily, laughs so gaily, hugs so freely, spill blood without falling to pieces?

Some think it is perhaps a loyalty to the crown as incredible as that gentleness seems persevering – but these men are entirely mistaken. Theodore holds no loyalty to the crown at all – duty, to him, is something of a foreign societal construct that he feels obligated to play to the tune of in order to live the life that he wants to.

Theodore’s philosophy of life is a very simple one – to live without regret and to have as many adventures along the way as possible. To obtain this, he acts true to himself regardless of societal consequence on many fronts – he is a painfully, shockingly honest person and that in combination with his kindness and charisma tends to ease the worst of storms.

What makes him remarkable is the ferocious loyalty of his division – especially when new men join up or get pressed into service, it is notable that Theodore is strangely maternal in how far his kindness will go. Few seem to take advantage of it and those who do tend to be brought to task by Theodore’s midshipmen well before Theodore himself notes a problem.

It is often believed that Theodore has his command through purchase and it is not until men see him fight that they understand immediately both why men follow him and why his kindness is in fact a blessing, for a man of his brutality to be cruel would surely be among the greatest tyrants to ever sail the seven seas.

His body moves with a fluid focus that is both aggressive and brutally efficient. He strikes fast, always moving to end a battle before it has truly begun,never wasting energy in a dance for sake of style or grace. While men with classical training fight with an almost balletic quality to their movements, Theodore is in stark contrast economic in every motion and does not waste much effort on form when functionality and force can do twice as well.

There is a nigh preternatural sense of strategy to his style that, to the untrained eye, appears horrifically reckless or at the very least utterly oblivious to his own sustained damage. Theodore is a man who will give up on one shot and take a hit simply to make a certain cut across an opponent’s throat rather than waste energy or powder on dodging and potential counter actions. To those who witness matters more astutely it becomes clear that the action is calculated – that he allowed himself to be wounded, simply to kill something in one shot rather than two.

Because Theodore lives his every moment in life striving to go without regret, he is capable of denying the human instinct to preserve himself. His fighting style reflects intimately a man who values minimal time and effort to conclude a battle with brutal efficiency and damn the consequence. He is a man whose philosophy is centered around the awareness that death is inevitable, and adventure is worth living for.

Battle, for Theodore, is little more than a challenge to best in order to see what life brings next. He has no love for it and so, he seeks to end it quickly so that he can move on – this is the terrifying power behind his way of life, the ability to view battle as nothing more than something else to be concluded without regrets. His opponents face him for their own reasons and they do so knowing they may well die – that he came out victorious is not something to be ashamed or broken by.

I am going to cover this very quickly because frankly this is not something Theodore actually talks about. He really does not enjoy talking ill of people, or influencing opinions in a negative fashion, so for the most part he keeps his experiences to himself. Unless there is a reason to know, he will not mention it.

Theodore’s first time occured when he was fifteen; there was not much about it that was remarkable. The other boy was only a year older, and Theodore was easily swept away by his enthusiasm. In the morning he woke alone and did not think much to this – he understood what had been done had been dangerous, and though he had thought maybe it should have meant more, he genuinely does not begrudge the experience nor does he think poorly of the other for dashing out on him.

Not long after this, he met Gerard – a midshipman three years his senior. They became something of a thing, though it only lasted through a total of six get togethers before Theodore broke it off on account of the fact Gerard hit him on three separate occasions; it was then that he developed his low key three strikes policy, allowing forgiveness on two occasions, but walking away after the third.

Between the ages of sixteen and seventeen, Theodore would get involved with two others who would be left aside on account of physical forcefulness and breaching of this three strike policy, and one more who would lay him and leave him. It would be at eighteen that he would meet and engage with thirty year old Lord Byron, in a relationship that would span the course of two years.

What Theodore didn’t know about this situation was that Lord Byron had many boys – and that he was, in fact, boy number seven. This was brought to his attention when three of Byron’s ‘boys’ interjected and cornered Theodore to warn him that Byron’s primary, Samuel, was viciously jealous of him and would likely attempt something violent and cruel if he did not back away a little.

Theodore was oblivious to what was going on until these three spelled it out for him, thinking him a bit slow not to know he was hardly special to Lord Byron. Though he realized this explained a great deal, Theodore ultimately left Lord Byron entirely as soon as this conversation was concluded. He was not comfortable with the dishonesty or the competitiveness of the others – for though he wants adventure in his life, he would prefer it not be at the cost of people’s feelings.

Theodore was free of Lord Byron no more than four months before a contemporary of the man swept him up, and this lasted for four months before two of Theodore’s midshipman desperately tried to explain to him that the way he was being treated was woeful and abusive. Though he dismissed this out of hand, when it was brought to his attention again by the man’s own sister, he had to acknowledge that it was truly so – for though he did often feel hurt by the man, he hadn’t considered words to be abusive before.

Now twenty one, nearing twenty-two, Theodore went roughly six months before he fell into yet another trap – though this one lasted two years and required the aid of Daniel and four midshipmen who were very close to the two lieutenants to escape from. Shaken by the experience and grateful for his rescue, Theodore fell in with one of the midshipmen for about seven months before again, it came to an abrupt end and Daniel found a means to transfer the man to another ship.  

As of the age of twenty seven, Theodore has been single for two years – his longest stretch to date – because he has convinced himself to wait for someone who sees value in him. It served him well a few times, when someone made a pass and he almost went for it simply because there was interest, but in the end, he simply reminded himself that if he mattered, they would find other ways to be involved with him.

Unfortunately, Theodore still falls in love very easily. There is no escaping that truth – so though he has convinced himself to ‘do better’ – in truth chances are, he will continue to fall for tragedy until the day he dies.

This is – honestly only relevant in Our Mark Is On The Other, as the likelihood of these truths coming to light in any other verse is very slim. Theodore, by his point in meeting anyone in that verse, has nine marks – of them, seven have turned black.

This is a truth in all his verses – he’s not typically well treated by lovers, and it often takes him a long time to realize he is being mistreated, or to reach a point where it feels “too much” and leaves. He loves deeply, and tends to be a bit too forgiving of terrible tempers, cruel words, infidelity, mockery and even violence.

In Our Mark, the fading of a piece to black forces him to move on – otherwise, he likely would have hung on longer ( as long as he does in his main verses, tbh, which means in Our Mark things aren’t quite as disastrous for him )

Theodore is a swooping romantic – he lives his life to the absolute fullest, and holds on to happy moments rather than the negative ones. Even when realizing something isn’t quite right, he generally tries to “make it work” before acknowledging it is not meant to be. Life is too short to live in constant pain, and when he feels that a relationship hurts him more than it brings him joy, he will step away.

Theodore does have the side braid sported by his faceclaim. It began because he had a small chunk of hair that would not fit properly into the queue and would look absolutely ridiculous if cut off – seeing as he started aboard Odessa when he was a wee lad of twelve, he was helped out by one of the older men so that he could look presentable and have a bit of pizzazz on top of it.

As Theodore aged, his hair grew but the braid stayed for no other reason than the fact it had become familiar. Aboard Odessa it was never challenged – it was simply a part of who Theodore was. However, upon his transfer to Deliverance he was told in no uncertain terms to get rid of it, or face the consequences. During his six months upon her, Theodore was braidless.

As soon as he was aboard the prize ship for port, he returned his hair to its proper state and docked with his braid intact. Somehow he managed to squeak by with it, and for all but the most formal of occasions ( Straight up white wig formal! ) the braid stays.  

Theodore Groves transferred to the Dauntless six months after his promotion from midshipman to lieutenant. He had been crew aboard HMS Odessa for two years and promoted to midshipman by Captain Richard Banks, who took kindly to him for his energetic nature and swiftness in learning. Theodore had a way with the men that Banks recognized as a good quality for leadership, and sought to nurture it.

After two years as midshipman, Theodore made his first attempt at the lieutenants examination under Banks’ suggestion. Although he did get his questions correct and in admirable time, he was deemed too naive for leadership at his tender age ( Theodore was, after all, merely sixteen years old )  and he was disqualified due to the fact his peppy nature was deemed unbecoming of an officer.

Though Theodore had no desire for the role of lieutenant, he deeply admired his captain and had no wish to prove his recommendation wrong. Eight months later, Theodore tried yet again for his test with a markedly different approach in behaviour.

Despite missing the six month mark as Odessa was far to sea at the time, Theodore was both determined and serious throughout the whole of his examination and behaved with remarkable aplomb ( Helped, perhaps, by a lack of nerves in general. )

He made lieutenant due to the fact his overseers were more interested in capability than personality, and despite being only seventeen his wit under pressure was deemed serviceable. Unfortunately, as Odessa already had four lieutenants on board, Theodore was transferred to HMS Deliverance under the command of Captain Benjamin Langsley.

Captain Langsley had a very different approach to command and was quite heavy with corporal punishment. Theodore, despite his rank, was flogged twice under his command – his fellow lieutenants facing the lash just as much, if not quite a bit more in the case of the first lieutenant, Horace Dash.

Langsley took a particular dislike to Horace and frequently turned to the other lieutenants to ridicule him as well – it was Theodore’s refusal to do so that lead him to the wrong side of his temperate captain. However he was always openly apologetic and quick to help afterward – never showing any of the typical signs of bitterness or anger, which soothed Langsley’s temper with him easily enough. ( Notably, Theodore also apologized to the man who had to lash him, knowing it was not his choice, and unlikely something the man wanted to do. )

Thankfully, Deliverance caught herself a prize ship before too much damage could be done. Theodore’s impossibly bright nature preserved despite the conditions, and as he was the lieutenant Langsley felt was the ‘least troublesome’, he was cast to deliver the ship to port and retrieve his orders there.

It was upon docking the prize in Port Royal that he received his transfer to the Dauntless, at the age of eighteen. As of CotBP, he would have served her for nearly six years.

It’s time to take a look at Theodore Groves’ history and in particular his sisters because I have put this off for far too long considering how much I yell about them; their full details can be found on the NPC page, but in the meantime here is this.

First of all, Theodore is not of the gentry – everything he has done and all appointments he has gained have been earned working his way from the ground. With no esteemed sponsorship to ease his path, nor any particular volatility to bar it, he has done exceptionally well for himself and he knows it – he is also very proud of it.

When Theodore was born, his family could ill afford another child. Still, they found ways to manage it by keeping him in the cast down clothes of his sisters. When he was four, his father died – taking with him his lamentable drinking habits and affording his wife more room to maneuver monetarily to support their children. Still, it was not until Theodore was seven that the Groves were able to furnish him with boy’s clothing – and he deeply lamented the advent of pants, though he was wise enough to keep mum on it anywhere but at home.

When Theodore’s mother died, he was ten years old and had already been working towards his mental goal of the Navy by helping out fishermen down at the docks. His sisters, by that point, were 19 ( Adella ) 16 ( Eudora ) and 14 ( Constance )  By that time, Adella had been working as a maid to a noblewoman by name of Lady Anne Caldwell for nearly eight years. Lady Anne had taken a shining to Adella early on and was in fact the reason she became educated in the work of a seamstress as she was apprenticed rather early at Lady Anne’s bequest.

Upon hearing of the situation the Groves were in, Lady Anne gave Adella a proposition that was swiftly taken. Leaving their home behind, the Groves children moved into a servant’s cottage on the Caldwell’s property. Adella continued her services as a maid and seamstress while Constance began her training as both under Lady Anne’s watchful eye. Her husband, Sir Edwin, was a major with the military and fairly intermittent. He tended to turn a blind eye to Anne’s decision, often referring to it as ‘charity work’ on the rare occasions anyone dared comment. By all appearances he seems to have no role with the Groves, but funnily enough every time he’s home there’s chocolate or little fruits in the girl’s weaving baskets after breaks. ( He has, on two occasions, held conversations in Constance’s line of hearing that harangue men she may be courting; generally critiquing their ‘heavy hands’ with women and their ‘many dalliances’ which has spared her terrible matchmaking decisions. )

When Theodore was twelve, he managed to get himself into the Navy – Sir Edwin pulled him aside and pressed coins to his palm, insisting he would need a good, warm cloak to start out with and perhaps some better clothes. This was the only patronage he ever received from anyone, and Theodore repaid it double over time. Well over 90% of his earnings go to his sisters, as he keeps only enough to keep his uniforms neat and to feed himself when landlocked.

————–

End Note: It was due to their mother’s insistence that the children learned to read. Eurydice Groves née Saunders came from a military family and eloped; her education was greater than her husband’s and though she was committed to a life of poverty due to him, she loved her children and he enough to not return to her easier life but rather to work to give her children the tools to make one for themselves.