Honorverse Humor or lack thereof.

To My Darling Eloise,
If you are reading this it only means that I have gone on to Heaven to await you, my darling. Not even the angel of death can keep us apart. I shall miss touching my lips to yours before you sleep each night. Do forgive me, and have comfort in the knowledge that I died with your name on my lips. You once told me about a special place by the sea where you wanted us to grow old together and walk along the shore that was the home of beautiful shells. Take me there my love. Bury my image in a sepulchre by the sea and trust that my spirit will forever be with you. On the inscription place these final words that I've found time to adapt from an Old Earth poem. Kiss yourself every night for me my love, my lips are there as they shall always be. I have instructed Thomas Theisman to deliver this final letter to you, my darling. After he determines that the right time has come.

Along the shore amidst the waves of the gently soothing sea
Place a shell upon your ear and hear a song from me
I loved no other like my Haven for I was fond of she
Until the eyes of a beautiful maiden touched the soul of me

MY DARLING ELOISE
It was many and many a year ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ELOISE;
This maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my ELOISE;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud thus chilling
My beautiful ELOISE;
So the highborn kinsman came
And bore me away from she,
To shut me up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling my Eloise.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Eloise.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Eloise;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Eloise;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In this sepulchre here by the sea,
In this tomb by the soothing sea.

I ask one last thing of you my darling. I've asked my trusted friend Thomas Theisman to deliver to your lips one last passionate kiss from me. You will know that it is me kissing you my love as the tears that now stream down your face will mix with the kiss that Tom has promised to deliver to your lips, just like the many times our own collective tears pooled at the union of our cherished kisses and tasted of the salty sweet elixir of love.

With a love even greater than our beloved Republic,
- Javier

I don't know how roseandheather will react, but it made my vision a bit blurry.

George J. Smith wrote:I don't know how roseandheather will react, but it made my vision a bit blurry.

Thanks for your critique and honesty. It means a lot. Poems are like paintings. Does the artist achieve what the beholder thinks he has rendered. Both are meant to be critiqued. Both are many... to many.

Death, in its bleakness, had already made it blurry. Blurred is the love-line of Eloise to a palm reader. Shall she or shall she not love again thus live again? The poem attempted to brighten the horizon, in giving Eloise something tangible to hold onto and anchor herself. Death steals a last goodbye, a final kiss, a chance to say one long last time "I love you."

Each and every time Javier went out to battle the enemy of the Republic, he took with him Eloise's love and fears of him never returning. I am sure that they have discussed it at length so many times each in the other's arms. Eloise tells him that if he dies she will be lost and shall never love again. Javier knows it to be true and his true love for her even unto death wants to save her from that -- save her from denying herself a chance to love again -- to live again. The essence of true love.

He tries to, at once, say goodbye and hello to her new life and new love. He tries to play matchmaker and show Eloise that it is okay to love again -- that love and life must go on -- and in spite of the winged seraphs in heaven, theirs shall. In the poem, Javier has obviously talked to Thomas Theisman at length regarding his love for Eloise and his possibility of dying. And obviously the poem also implies the possibity that Javier has seen the love for Eloise in Tom's eyes. Perhaps even shared by Tom himself with Javier. And obviously Javier approves of Tom as the one to rescue Eloise's heart from the blurry bleakness inside, that he surely knows his untimely death will not fail to deliver unto Eloise's world and the doldrums in which she herself has pledged to Javier where death shall also surely deliver her.

What do you do? If you're a man in love, with an occupation that is more fatal than death?

What were the Peeps statistics in living or dying when they faced the Manties? When they went up against the six-meter tall Salamander that all of Haven's children and many of their officers feared as the bogeywoman incarnate?

I can tell you what you do. You try and stay alive so that you may return home to the one you love and the one who loves you.

The one thing that true love will not allow one to do is to fail to ensure to provide for her in case of death. That love letter was Javier's attempt at an insurance policy -- not of a financial windfall, but of an emotional one born of a final acknowledgement of requited love -- a final storm of tears to wash the blurriness away. Closure.

Even unto his death, Javier attempts to provide love with his blessing. A final act of the unselfishness of true love. His last battle is with the survivor's guilt that he knows -- knows as surely as the certainty of their love, will bind her. He wins that battle, as he promised her in bed that he will die with her name on his lips. Her sweet name on his lips and the peaceful thoughts on the tip of his tongue has reached her in a final letter of love and what it will mean to Eloise. What all of it will mean. As any who has ever truly known requited love will know.

I don't know how roseandheather will react either. I hope from it she and Eloise, as Javier's final desire - will find strength and peace.

And who other is better to love his beloved than the man who dreams of peace.

****** *

Edgar Allen Poe's Annabel Lee reminds me very much of our two lovers. Within the poem Poe imparts the object of an immense love, never before achieved by humans. It is a love that makes angels — not gods — envious.

Chief, "Ah English:"



Mange, <Very interesting, but only deserves a chuckle.>

"Smart Alick!"

Poker & Mange

pokermind wrote:Mange, <Very interesting, but only deserves a chuckle.>

Probably funnier after you drink that butt-load of wine.

Weird Harold wrote:

pokermind wrote:Mange, <Very interesting, but only deserves a chuckle.>

Probably funnier after you drink that butt-load of wine.

Hmmm, I guess it naturally follows that being the butt of a joke originated from getting shit-faced -- after drinking a butt load, shitting yourself, then found passed out in it, face first.

Who says etymology isn't intuitive?

Chief, "A funny from Facebook:"



Mange, <And this relates to the Honorverse how?>

"Remember way back the first Honor Harrington Novel, the drug crazed primitive Aliens?"

<Oh, On Basilisk Station, yah.>

Poker & Mange

Michael Everett wrote:The collected Victor Cachat Facts from various sources...

A treecat will not be bonding with Cachat, Cachat will be bonding with a treecat. A subtle difference.
Victor Cachat's treecat name is "Victor Cachat."
Getting information from an Andermani source, he is able to do so speaking fluent German ... in French.
Cobras refuse to bite him as a matter of professional courtesy.
Victor Cachat doesn't dial the wrong comm combination. You answer the wrong phone.
Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Victor Cachat stories.
Fear of enclosed spaces is "claustrophobia". Fear of open spaces is "agoraphobia". Fear of Victor Cachat is "self-preservation".
Queen Berry wanted to name a street on Torch for Victor Cachat but her father pointed out the problem: "No one crosses Victor Cachat and lives."
Victor Cachat: the man the monsters are afraid of.
Victor Cachat: the man who gets told everything by the torturer when he is tied up by them
Victor Cachat: The first person to survive in space for 24 hours without a skinsuit.
Victor Cachat: He once defeated a SD by looking at it with dagger eyes.
Victor Cachat: He doesn't do push ups, he pushes the earth down.
Victor Cachat: The man who offered his body as a weapon against the repressors of Haven, and his boss refused, as he didn't want an eridani edict on his consciousness.
Chuck Norris is afraid of no-one, except Victor Cachat.
Batman wishes he was Victor Cachat.
Treecats worship Victor Cachat as a god.
The Mesan Gamma Center wasn't destroyed by a bomb, the self-destruct device was the uncorking of a DNA sample from Victor Cachat.
Kratos worships Victor Cachat.
Darkseid runs away from Victor Cachat.
Galactus refuses to enter any universe where there is a Victor Cachat.
God started the universe by saying "Let there be light" only after getting Victor Cachat's approval.
Even the image of Victor Cachat can destroy a SD by glaring daggers at it.
Sherlock Holmes learned how to be a detective from Victor Cachat.
When Victor Cachat gets angry, his glare can shatter planets. That's why there's an asteroid belt between Earth and Mars.
Keill Randor would back down from a fight with Victor Cachat.
Every known sentient species has the same two words for planetary devastation - Victor Cachat.
The Culture doesn't f*ck with Victor Cachat.
The power of the Dark Side is insignificant compared to Victor Cachat.

When Victor Cachat was born, he slapped the doctor on his ass.

Hi Cythia,

You need to work on your astronomy.

The asteroid field is between Mars and Jupiter.

Other than that, the list isn't too bad.

You left out 'VC doesn't stand for the Victoria Cross, it stands for Victor Cachat'.

L

cthia wrote:

Michael Everett wrote:The collected Victor Cachat Facts from various sources...

A treecat will not be bonding with Cachat, Cachat will be bonding with a treecat. A subtle difference.
Victor Cachat's treecat name is "Victor Cachat."
Getting information from an Andermani source, he is able to do so speaking fluent German ... in French.
Cobras refuse to bite him as a matter of professional courtesy.
Victor Cachat doesn't dial the wrong comm combination. You answer the wrong phone.
Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Victor Cachat stories.
Fear of enclosed spaces is "claustrophobia". Fear of open spaces is "agoraphobia". Fear of Victor Cachat is "self-preservation".
Queen Berry wanted to name a street on Torch for Victor Cachat but her father pointed out the problem: "No one crosses Victor Cachat and lives."
Victor Cachat: the man the monsters are afraid of.
Victor Cachat: the man who gets told everything by the torturer when he is tied up by them
Victor Cachat: The first person to survive in space for 24 hours without a skinsuit.
Victor Cachat: He once defeated a SD by looking at it with dagger eyes.
Victor Cachat: He doesn't do push ups, he pushes the earth down.
Victor Cachat: The man who offered his body as a weapon against the repressors of Haven, and his boss refused, as he didn't want an eridani edict on his consciousness.
Chuck Norris is afraid of no-one, except Victor Cachat.
Batman wishes he was Victor Cachat.
Treecats worship Victor Cachat as a god.
The Mesan Gamma Center wasn't destroyed by a bomb, the self-destruct device was the uncorking of a DNA sample from Victor Cachat.
Kratos worships Victor Cachat.
Darkseid runs away from Victor Cachat.
Galactus refuses to enter any universe where there is a Victor Cachat.
God started the universe by saying "Let there be light" only after getting Victor Cachat's approval.
Even the image of Victor Cachat can destroy a SD by glaring daggers at it.
Sherlock Holmes learned how to be a detective from Victor Cachat.
When Victor Cachat gets angry, his glare can shatter planets. That's why there's an asteroid belt between Earth and Mars.
Keill Randor would back down from a fight with Victor Cachat.
Every known sentient species has the same two words for planetary devastation - Victor Cachat.
The Culture doesn't f*ck with Victor Cachat.
The power of the Dark Side is insignificant compared to Victor Cachat.

When Victor Cachat was born, he slapped the doctor on his ass.

I think I found an error:

Michael Everett wrote:The collected Victor Cachat Facts from various sources...

***Snip***

Cobras refuse to bite him as a matter of professional courtesy.

***Snip***

Torch of Freedom, Chapter 7 wrote:Princess Ruth probably hadn't parsed Victor Cachat as thoroughly and patiently as Anton Zilwicki had done. There were very few people in the galaxy with Anton's systematic rigorousness. Ruth was definitely not one of them. But she was extremely intelligent and intuitively perceptive about people—surprisingly so, for someone who'd been raised in the rather cloistered atmosphere of the royal court. In her own way, she'd come to accept the same things about Victor that Anton had.
Anton had once remarked to Ruth, half-jokingly, that being Cachat's friend and collaborator was quite a bit like being an intimate colleague of a very smart and warm-blooded cobra. The princess had immediately shaken her head. "Not a cobra. Cobras are pretty dinky when you get right down to it—I mean, hell, a glorified rodent like a mongoose can handle one—and they rely almost entirely on venom. Even at his Ming the Merciless worst, Victor is never venomous."
She'd shaken her head again. "A dragon, Anton. They can take human form, you know, according to legend. Just think of a dragon with a pronounced Havenite accent and a hoard he guards jealously made of people and principles instead of money."
Anton had conceded the point—and now, watching Ruth's half-irritated and half-affectionate exchange with a Havenite agent she'd once detested, he saw again how right she'd been.

Boldface is my emphasis.

In light of this quote, I think a cobra extending Victor Cachat the professional courtesy of not biting him is just wrong, somehow.