Comment on On the Nature of Wind

  1. daraoakwise on Chapter 27 Fri 13 Oct 2023 03:25AM UTC

    A beautiful day for sailing. And yeah, they are going to to make people walk the plank today (and then haul them back up.) But I really appreciate that Scotty says—we’re not sinking the ship. Not after all this. There is nothing in him that thinks it isa good idea to sink a beautiful ship with her Captain watching Not in a glorious day to sail. Take your ship, Sean. (Just don’t win. Because I want Starfleet to name a ship Barely Afloat.)

    (I am minded of the day, decades from now, when he’ll watch his ship burn in the sky, standing beside her Captain. I wonder if on that day, he remembers this one at all. If he does, I’m certain it is with gratitude that’s they didn’t sink Queen Mary today.)

    And then—pick a horizon, Corry.

    They’ve come through the storm. And there is nothing about what they face next that will take away from what he has lost and gained here. Your descriptions here, as Scotty drifts in thought and the beauty of a ship flying as he designed her to do, are just exquisite and affecting. I about feel on the same edge of tears Corry is on, from the way you write this part.

    (Scotty, for all his complaining to not have heartfelt discussions—and he goes with “I know,” to the phrase “I gotcha.” We see through you, Scotty.)

    Walking the plank and playing pirates. The whole outfit. Because, after all that, you gotta 😆 For mutiny, piracy -- arrr, we be hypocrites! Laughed out loud. Complete and genuinely.

    Also very much appreciate Scotty’s thoughtful words to Harrison. In that, there is the beginning of the gentle wisdom, and leader that I have sheets loved in him. Consequences, clear-eyed understanding. But never cruelty, and a calm grace. Someday, he’ll be a hell of a chief.

    And the gun salute. It’s perfect. Love this chapter for humor in the midst of the moments of quiet introspection, a mix I always love from you. For a feeling, here, of them both—but Scotty in particular—settling into something new for him. An unshakable centering. Like that iron core he developed in order to survive has now been driven deep into bedrock. Here, in this chapter, he feels like he changes from the parts that he might make up the Scotty I love, to the realization of the man himself. And it’s gorgeous.

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    1. SLWalker on Chapter 27 Fri 13 Oct 2023 04:24PM UTC

      Aye. I'd hesitate to say the whole revenge plot was childish, but-- it kinda was in a lot of ways. Age-appropriate stupidity. LOL! But letting Sean and the Queen Mary go is a mature response. As is going sailing on their sailing vessel. As Scotty said, it was what he'd built her for, even if he'd kind of lost sight of that. (My family's first boat was a little open-bowed runabout that we legit almost sank the first time out because we didn't plug the holes. The dog was swimming down the middle confused. We were all freaking out. LOL! She became the Barely Afloat, so obviously I had to write that into this story. XD)

      I don't think he really thinks too much about this again; not the Queen Mary, though her captain and some of the things Sean's said definitely do stick with him. (There comes a point he's standing on the Constitution right before she's going to be sent to a breaking yard, having tried to fight for her and save her, and no small amount because she'd been his dream once and also because she was the ship Sean died to help preserve.) For all that he and Sean Kelley were rivals, they had a pretty heavy amount of influence on each other, too, in that storm. Just like Sean kind of really defined Scotty's nature for him in V.I, I don't doubt that Sean's first instinct to save his techs even at the cost of himself was enabled in part by his brush past Scotty here. They both were always brave, but the clarification of that bravery, I think, is part of what they took from one another.

      I had a lot of fun writing Corry's mad pirating routine. The purgation of tension there. And also just the whole-- calm ending, with the gun salute. Nostalgic and whimsical and why not?

      Thank you so much! <333

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