Richard Sharpe

avarielwings@gmail.com — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:51:29 GMT

Two more days, and the door won't open to the bar, no matter what he tries, even for his Security badge.

Two more days, and Lucille's fever climbs higher. The doctor from the village wants to bleed her, until Sharpe throws him out... but that just leaves him with no help at all, and nothing he can do works.

He tries every remedy he's ever heard of, before and after the doctor leaves. Quinine. Gunpowder mixed with brandy, in memory of Jack Spears. And, finally, in desperation, because it's been too long with no change, he tries the way Patrick Harper once saved his life - a cold water bath.

The chance does not pay off.

And in the end, Sharpe is left sitting by the deathbed of a third woman he's loved, squeezing her hand between both his, though she's been delirious for the last day, and listening to her breathing slow and stop.

The next time he tries the barn door, not really hoping to ever get back to the bar, it's not the barn he sees.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:19:56 GMT

He meant to find a doctor, after talking to Archie. He was just going to go home quickly, check on Lucille and the babies, make sure everything was all right.

And then the door just opened on the barn, when he tried to come back.

It hasn't opened on Milliways since.

Lucille's fever isn't breaking. She hasn't got out of bed in two days, now.

And without the bar, there's not a damn thing Richard Sharpe can do about it.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:13:04 GMT

All the preparations made, Sharpe opens the front door and leads Steph through.

On the other side is a typical farmyard - a few birds visible pecking up food, Danny the dog flopped out in the shelter of the barn, animal sounds coming from the other side of the buildings.

And the farmhouse.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:02:55 GMT

"There's hard times ahead again. Look you sharp, sir."

It's not that he didn't take the warning seriously. He did. He just wasn't expecting the hard times to begin quite so soon.

Maybe he should have. When did his life ever go smoothly for very long, after all?

That's beside the point, though, really. At least, it is when the point is Lucille, in the kitchen, suddenly stumbling and grabbing the doorframe, and the pool shining at her feet, and the pain on her face.

The birth does not go well, though he sends Marie running to the village for the doctor. He refuses to be pushed out of the room, pacing anxiously in the doorway where he won't get in the way, but even he can see things aren't going as they should, and he wishes once again that Daniel Hagman was still alive and could be here now.

The doctor steps back from the bed, and Lucille's still alive, he can hear her breathing though there's something unhealthy about the sound of it, but he can see the baby in the doctor's hands, and it's not crying... oh God.

And then he remembers something else.

"Then it'd come down to always choosin' the future sir. Always, no matter it makes you bleed...that or lose it all"

He knows, somewhere deeper than he can name, that those were true words. If he doesn't... if he can't... then Lucille will die and the child will never live. And that's enough to decide him.

The next second, he's forward into the room and grabbing the baby - not dead, not dead, not yet - from the startled doctor's arms, cutting off the man's solemn words to Lucille. He doesn't wait to hear her protest before he's running for the barn, where the door to Milliways has been more often than anywhere else.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:10:11 GMT

He promised Sally he'd be back, after Matt's funeral. But he's well aware that she didn't really expect him to keep that promise... and really, if Matt hadn't asked him to do this, she might have been right.

Still. Matt did ask. And so a dusty, travel-worn man rides one day into Keighley town square, a week or so after leaving his farm in France with a letter in his pocket.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:41:28 GMT

Sharpe didn't mean to sleep in the bar, but a long day's work on the farm followed by a security shift catches up with a man, and he's fast asleep in a corner booth, undisturbed.

In his dreams, he's in an inn he'll never drink at again in reality, looking around the empty room. He has a feeling he's waiting for someone, but...

Plot stuff

avarielwings@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 15:05:04 GMT

[13:22] Avariel Wings: hello :D
[13:22] Veldrin Dalharil: Heyla
[13:22] Avariel Wings: I have a thing to run past you, an idea for Wish
[13:23] Veldrin Dalharil: Righty!
[13:23] Avariel Wings: so. it's for Sharpe. He... would really rather like his children to be legitimate, but he can't marry their mother currently because he's still married to Jane.
[13:23] Avariel Wings: and can't find her or afford a divorce.
[13:24] Avariel Wings: now. due to new canon forcing my hand, I was already planning to kill off their mother, somewhere around Christmas...
[13:24] Avariel Wings: I was thinking maybe that could be the price for having his children legitimate... but I don't know if Wish works like that.
[13:25] Avariel Wings: because he wouldn't pay that price if he knew about it.
[13:25] Veldrin Dalharil: Hmmmm. *ponders* She informs people of the price. It's her nature to be honest and let people choose
[13:25] Avariel Wings: aha. hm.
[13:26] Avariel Wings: ...would it be possible for the thing to go further than she intended? like, the price would be for his wife to get SICK, and she doesn't mean for her to die?
[13:26] Veldrin Dalharil: She could be very vague though? Something along the lines of "The price is...raising them alone, and you must raise them in heart as well as body..."
[13:27] Avariel Wings: that would possibly work.
[13:27] Avariel Wings: although "raising them alone" might make him ask more questions
[13:27] Veldrin Dalharil: Wish wouldn't get her sick unto death unless she told him about that....it would have to be malpractice at the hospital that kills her or summat...
[13:28] Avariel Wings: well, there is no hospital. *grins* and there's an Incident happening that makes her illness worse. New TV canon says she dies of fever, see, so I'm melding TV and book canon and throwing a difficult childbirth into it.
[13:29] Avariel Wings: and an incident with French soldiers coming to try and rob the farmhouse.
[13:29] Veldrin Dalharil: Does the child live, of that childbirth?
[13:29] Avariel Wings: yes.
[13:30] Avariel Wings: (or hey, maybe the price could be something as simple as he won't be able to come to Milliways to fetch a healer? something along those lines?)
[13:31] Veldrin Dalharil: Maybe....along the lines of it being a time for him to choose, child or mother? If the birthing was that difficult, both could be very near death...and Wish's price could be simply "Do not hesitate to choose your children"
[13:32] Avariel Wings: so he can either bring the baby to Milliways or the mother, kind of thing?
[13:32] Veldrin Dalharil: *nods*
[13:32] Avariel Wings: (the mother survives the childbirth too, just severely weakened)
[13:32] Avariel Wings: okay, that would work.
[13:32] Avariel Wings: she dies later.
[13:32] Veldrin Dalharil: Had she gotten to a healer, she would have been stong enough to last through a fever!
[13:32] Avariel Wings: *nodnod*
[13:33] Veldrin Dalharil: What would Wish look like for him?
[13:33] Avariel Wings: right, so. in exchange for somehow being able to make them legitimate, he has to choose them in any event. That works.
[13:33] Veldrin Dalharil: *nods*
[13:33] Avariel Wings: ...hm. *considers*
[13:34] Avariel Wings: she usually looks like... how is it decided what she looks like, again?
[13:34] Veldrin Dalharil: She looks like either hearts desire or someone that would be trusted beyond all else *shrugs* male or female
[13:35] Avariel Wings: there is one person he trusts absolutely. a big Irishman called Patrick Harper.
[13:35] Veldrin Dalharil: I don't know his canon, so I'd have to grill you for details *nods*
[13:35] Avariel Wings: that can be done :)
[13:37] Veldrin Dalharil: *grins* Works then. My nearest day off is Monday if you want this run soon...
[13:37] Avariel Wings: we can run this part whenever :) the baby won't be born until November/December, though, so there's plenty of time.
[13:38] Veldrin Dalharil: *nods* Good, cause my August looks like hell, gives me time to research who she'll look like too!
[13:38] Avariel Wings: though, you know, he wants the son he already has and the baby not yet born to be legitimate, but it can wait, as long as we get it done before the price has to be paid. :D
[13:39] Veldrin Dalharil: *nodsnods* They'll be legit! Papers will change or appear, things shall have been filed, etc!
[13:39] Avariel Wings: also, how would she go about making that happen? I figure either his current wife - who he LOATHES, so he'd go along with either - has to die or else just they're magically legally divorced. *grins*
[13:39] Avariel Wings: and he's married to the children's mother
[13:40] Veldrin Dalharil: *grins* She's Wish, she can...do what ever he truly desires. Does he dep down wish he'd never married the first wife?
[13:40] Avariel Wings: ....you know, I think he might. she stole his money and ran off with someone else.
[13:40] Avariel Wings: ooh, and then the money would still be his too.
[13:40] Veldrin Dalharil: *nods* Hope he doesn't get too confused when he has some odd money and no marriage papers...
[13:41] Avariel Wings: *grins* well, that depends on what he remembers of what.
[13:41] Veldrin Dalharil: Well, no marriage papers with old wife name anyway. Up to you how much heremembers. It can be like a dream or crystal clear...
[13:41] Avariel Wings: will he still have the memories of being married to Jane... aha.
[13:41] Avariel Wings: okay, I'll decide that later. *grins*
[13:41] Veldrin Dalharil: There's time *grins*
[13:42] Avariel Wings: indeed!
[13:42] Avariel Wings: and it would seem to his 'new' wife as if they'd always been married?
[13:43] Veldrin Dalharil: Yes!
[13:43] Avariel Wings: yay :D
[13:43] Veldrin Dalharil: :-D
[13:44] Avariel Wings: basically, in canon, he goes to her house looking for her brother - who is unfortunately already dead - and she shoots him because she thinks he killed the brother. When she's convinced different, he has to stay at the house for several months to recuperate.
[13:44] Avariel Wings: during the course of which she gets pregnant.
[13:44] Avariel Wings: so I think they'd get married, if it's possible, at some point during or immediately after those months. *grins*
[13:44] Veldrin Dalharil: *chuckles* Well, they can get married afore the first kid then? The being shot bit is a great story to tell the kids about wife hunting...
[13:45] Avariel Wings: *nodnod* yes. hee.
[13:45] Veldrin Dalharil: ....I should readafore hitting enter
[13:45] Avariel Wings: is okay!
[13:46] Avariel Wings: and yay for plot
[13:46] Veldrin Dalharil: Indeed! Thanks for thinking of Wish, she's really only around as a plot device....
[13:46] Avariel Wings: welcome! I thought it would be fun.
[13:47] Veldrin Dalharil: Ishould be, and I look forward to reading it all!
[13:48] Veldrin Dalharil: It should*
[13:48] Avariel Wings: *nodnod*

avarielwings@gmail.com — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:57:59 GMT

Regarding War. After Lucille's death, he's going to be a prime target for War to play with. Vulnerable, mourning, more open to influence and suggestion than he might otherwise be.

And canon provides us with some wonderful stuff to bring into play. Who and what young Patrick will grow up to be, for instance. A soldier like his father, with scars on his face and the loss of an eye...

Can War see into his future and produce an image of this? Ask Caleb.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:01:03 GMT

Lucille gets pregnant again. DONE

Sometime in November - birth of a daughter named Dominique. Goes badly, leaves Lucille severely weakened.

Early to mid December - Sharpe's family is taken hostage by French ex-soldiers in search of treasure. Get hold of Sharpe's Ransom to see how this ends. This makes Lucille's condition a lot worse, due to the stress.

Late December, Lucille contracts something or other and develops a high fever. For some reason yet to be determined, Sharpe can't get her to the bar and a healer, and she dies. Possibly on Christmas Day, if I feel like being really evil.

Sharpe then has two young children to raise alone, while mourning. He will need help, but he has friends - and family - at the bar who can supply that.

February/March/April next year, probably - Sharpe is summoned back to London and sent off to India to rescue Patrick. It is not yet clear if Patrick will come back from this alive, because his writers are evil bastards. Outcome of this contingent on what happens in the second episode of new canon.

It does, however, involve an attempt being made to force Sharpe to kill Patrick. Whether he actually goes through with it or not - and I sincerely hope and believe he won't - this will break him to some degree.

....okay, that was a way for evil-guy to test him and the powder didn't actually work. But the fact remains that Patrick didn't know that and Sharpe let him believe he was going to die, when in fact there was a chance he'd be wrong and he'd end up actually killing him.

And then there is the fact that Sharpe points a loaded rifle at his best friend, the one person left in his world who is unshakably loyal to him, and pulls the trigger. Even if he was 99% sure that it would be okay - and there's no way in the circumstances he could be 100% sure - that has to leave a mark. I think he should come in immediately after that incident, for time with his friends at the bar.

There are lines in this episode about neither of them really having what it takes to fight any more, on which score they are liars.

And Patrick lives. This is good, because his death would shatter Sharpe. Seriously. He lives, and they ride off into the sunset, and I really really really want a Patrick Harper in the bar. Maybe I should do a recruitment drive and hold off on this plot until I have one.

avarielwings@gmail.com — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 23:25:48 GMT

Sharpe and Wells emerge from the back door and head for the closest the bar has to a football pitch.

Sharpe's grinning, looking forward to the game.