ataraxion | 014. video

Entry tags:

014. video

Do not get complacent.

You are not on holiday. This isn't a cruise. The Tranquility is a very dangerous ship, and your life is in constant danger. Fail to pay attention and walk down the wrong corridor, and who knows if you'll find your way back--and if you do, you'll be missing eyes or hands or whole parts of your sanity. Just because it's been quiet recently doesn't mean that any of us are safe. We don't know where we're going, or what will happen when we get there. We don't have a captain, and with Kirk gone, Ward vanished, and Gallagher dead, that means the best you've got is me.

Our survival depends on each other. It depends on you all pulling your weight. Join a department, cook for other people, cut hair, sew, or teach people to fight. Share your experiences and your skills. It's all up to you.

If you have any questions, or you want to know where we need the help, then call me. I'll put you in contact with the right people, or else do everything I can to get you the answers you need.

I don't want to frighten you, but after all this downtime I think it's important that everyone stays on their toes. This peace could collapse in a heartbeat, and it might be you need to fight for your lives. Be ready, that's all I'm asking from any of you.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Mm.

[It's a low, disapproving sound, like the sound a teacher makes when looking over the surprisingly mediocre paper of a promising student.]

You're not captain.

[She's so unimpressed right now.]

Helpful.

Will it be more helpful for me to tell you what you said wrong, now that you cannot unsay it?

[ A shake of his head. ]

You misunderstand me if you think that's what I was trying to say. And even if it was, how long do you suppose this ship is going to function now the de-facto boy king 'leader' half the ship got behind is gone?

I am the best we've got, but I'm no captain. Or do you want to fight me for it?

Let me guess, I ought to be pussyfooting around the topic?

We got behind Kirk, but we were working together. What was that shit you were talking before, council? Or are you scrapping that now there's a gap you think you can try to step into.

Your message was good. Your delivery was sour. And if this is a role you wish to take, you should have gathered support beforehand so that when you made this announcement, others would speak for you.

A council is all well and good, but you saw how ramshackle we were when those pirates hit us. They wanted a captain and we gave them how many, exactly?

Someone needs to be able to speak on behalf of all of us, and they need to be able to do it, in an emergency, without having to spend hours discussing it first. We make a great team, all of us. A team. I think it should stay that way.

If I haven't built support over a year and a half, I'm not going to get any at the last minute. They either will or they won't. If they don't--well, I'll take that fall. At least I'll have made my position clear.

Lies only protect people from the truth because honesty bites. But we're not in any position where we can hide behind words, no matter how soothing. Tomorrow, we may die. We don't have the time to waste.

Who spoke of lies? Say what you mean: you are impatient. You did not wish to wait a few hours to think of a speech that would not insult or patronize those you desire to win, nor belittle those others who are leaders among us. You are using fear instead of wisdom to reinforce your position, when there are many reasons for this which are wise. You might have called upon those who support you to aid you in this announcement, and instead you have left them surprised, and so, alienated. For if you did not tell them of this, you clearly value them little.

[Not speaking at all from a twinge of bitterness here. Nope.]

Edited 2013-07-19 23:23 (UTC)

I saw when we beat them, too. And then they actually got to meet the captain they wanted.

[That's a harsh, bitter point to make, and she knows it. But it doesn't stop her.]

It can stay that way. But you know I'm not gonna follow you.

Impatient? This is the last thing I wanted to do; do you really think I just blurted it out on the spur of the moment?

Secrets and manipulation in a community this small is the fastest way to destroy any trust I've gained. I'm not staging a coup, no matter how it might seem. But I owe it to everyone on board, as one of them, to at least make it clear that this vacuum exists, and with it danger.

Then you do believe we are all stupid, and me a poor king, for I do not operate on secrets and manipulation as a thief. [Or Sauron.] My father was not born a king, nor I the son of one. I have seen this done well, Nathan, and I wish you had asked me for help. Instead, you still speak to me as though I am your subject and not your friend.

So they did. [ Grimly.

Nathan continues, too. ] I wouldn't follow you either - we're square in that - but it doesn't mean I have any less respect for you as a leader, as the head of your department, and as a person. We share resources and sometimes I think we even listen to each other when it's in the best interests of the ship.

A friend would understand my reasons for making this statement on my own. I don't want to force anyone's hand. I want honesty, and nobody will give me that if someone is telling them what to think.

[~~Don't mind her stalking your conversation with Thranduil.~~ The message isn't a bad one and she's practical enough to realize that it's mostly pride that makes her bristle at his tone- skilled leader though she may be, she's hardly been here long enough to know the lay of the land and is in no position to step up herself. But-]

When one makes a speech such as this, it is usually wise to leave a name along with it.

My apologies. Most people around here know me by sight, but it's been a while since I last spoke to the ship; my name's Nathan Petrelli. In my world I was a Senator. Here, I'm responsible for the Tranquility's communications department, as well as in part the ship's chapel.

Since we haven't spoken before, do you mind if I ask your name?

Edited (spoken rather than met, because Nathan stalks things) 2013-07-20 00:09 (UTC)

You think that is the only reason I would support you? That I am too weak-minded to know my own reasons?

That's not what I was suggesting at all. Honestly, in that respect I didn't think that far into it, so I'm sorry that I implied it.

That is the trouble with the speech you gave.

No, no. You can't take my apology for that as me not thinking at all about what I was saying. I wasn't conceding your original point, I was conceding this one.

In respect to how I might offend you, no, I didn't think that far into it. But I also, with all due respect, never thought for a second that I'd have to explain why I needed to put other people's faith in me on the line the way I did. If I hadn't had to explain myself, then you wouldn't feel like I was calling you weak-minded.

I'm as fallible as the next person. I make mistakes. I can think about how to say something for weeks, and still piss someone off. Error makes me human, but you've already heard my apology. If it's not enough, then it's a problem that's gone out of my hands.

You are saying you will clamor over those in your way, even those who might have helped you, bruise as many as you see fit--including your allies--and wipe away all offense with an apology? And you wonder why I do not think you thought about what you were saying!

Your offenses have been rectified with me, but what of the others? Will a body of people be satisfied only with an apology when they have yet to agree to be led by you? You have many virtues, Nathan, and you may well be our best hope for having a leader, but you mustn't sabotage yourself. That you are fit does not mean you will earn the position. You may declare yourself captain and follow yourself to the bitter end, but if none follow you, you are no captain at all.

I'll apologise to all of them, one by one, if that's what I need to do. But I didn't declare myself captain; at best, all I did was offer to stand in as one in all but name.

One way or another, I'll know. One way or another, this ship will find a leader, even if I have to back another horse myself. That's what matters to me.

[ Nathan shrugs, looking up at Thranduil apologetically. ]

Thank you for telling me how you felt. I appreciate your honesty, as ever.

[Mm. Thranduil looks a tad like he's bitten into a lemon when Nathan points out he didn't declare himself captain. Arrogant it would have been, but he's pretty sure it's the only way this crew will get a leader. But his look softens at the thanks.]

It is not how I feel that makes a difference. There are many here whose experience you may draw from. As ever, you are free to draw from mine, though I gave you a drink of it unwanted just now. I think I should not offer it again unlooked-for, but I remain your friend, Nathan.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 14

014. video

video

video;

video

video

video;

video

video;

video

video;

video

video

video;

video

video

video;

video

no subject

video;

video

video

video

video

video

video

video