piratejournal | [backdated to 07/10 -- private to Draco]

[Deliberately takes his sweet time answering this.]

I'm sorry, was she not supposed to help get rid of all those bloody vegetables and then clean and repair the deck of the ship in the process? I can certainly inform her if you'd prefer she not lift a hand at all, I hardly doubt she'll mind.

[In contrast, the reply is pretty quick.]

She was. And she was supposed to do it without even half the whining she did about it.

She was brought on board on your word that she would adapt.

Yes. And she's been here for all of a month and we've been sailing for half that. Don't get your knickers all in a bunch just yet.

What the hell did you say to her?

A month is plenty of time to get used to the idea that this isn't her personal boat staffed with slaves at her beck and call. I don't have the patience to ask something more than once from crew any more than I do to phrase things in a way she deems polite enough to pander to her.

I reiterated my expectations.

And aside from wishing to be spoken to in a civil manner, what makes you think she views everyone on board as her slaves?

You were a bossy arsehole, you mean.

She can wish for whatever she likes. There's a chain of command that exists regardless.

I give orders, not requests. Do you have no structure of authority in your world?

We do. And her family and mine are pretty high at the top of it.

[Well, he's not entirely sure about the Blacks, to be honest, but at least in his time everyone knows that the Malfoys pretty much do whatever the hell they want, whether or not they have the authority to.]

You're being a pigheaded git, Sasuke, for Merlin's sake they were just vegetables. And you had help already, she was right to question how necessary her presence really was.

[Yeah, he did actually go back and read their conversation.]

It's not as though a few carrots were going to cause any real damage, and you seem to have deliberately forgotten when she helped protect the ship at the beginning of this stupid race without any prompting from anyone. From cannonballs. Remember that? Those big, round, heavy things that could blow holes straight through us? Those were problematic.

I think we had the flying broccoli under control.

I understand from what you've told me that your world is a civilian one, with little conflict. This is not a place for you or your mother to complete your education under protection.

[But he does recall the conversation he had with Itachi, his brother's counsel to be patient with their own crew, and though he wants -- wants very badly -- to snap at Draco and throw both of them off the ship, maybe in opposite directions, the benefit of the journal means that Sasuke can read through what Draco has written a second time and heave a furious, put-upon sigh without being heard.

There is no benefit in drawing malcontent from crew in confined quarters and uncertain alliances. That doesn't mean he phrases things particularly well.]

You come from a sheltered world, Draco, so I'll explain this to you. Your family is probably accustomed to civilian society, where what people of power do is complain about each other and jostle for position. [At least that's all Sasuke has seen civilian leaders do; that and hide behind hired muscle as soon as the jostling gets too risky.] This is a place where we've been attacked in our own minds. It must be treated as a war.

That means the chain of command must be followed. I don't care if you disagree with a decision I've made. Bring it up with me once the issue at hand is resolved, regardless of the degree of threat.

With little conflict now. There are plenty of wars, all the time, throughout history. My mother will go through one shortly, and there are things brewing in my time that I'm sure won't end easily. Just this past summer—

[There's a pause in the writing, and then he moves on.]

Regardless, if you want me to continue being even a little useful, you'll encourage the continued education. My mother hasn't much left to learn in terms of Hogwarts schooling, her presence here can only benefit me.

Anyway, this place is more of an inconvenience than a battleground. And this race is a competition we willingly entered into.

Look, I've done what you've asked me while you've been captain, and I did what Marvelous asked before you and what that bloody Sparrow asked before him. If you can't handle being questioned, then maybe being in charge of a group of people who didn't sign up for this isn't something you're suited for. My mother is hardly going to let any danger come to the ship as long as she's living here. You're just annoyed she had the gall to stand up to you.

[backdated to 07/10 -- private to Draco]

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