#i mean florian didnt 'run away' but he did 'fuck off'. same thing ay

[isaacathom]

because ive drawn naielle in a naval coat im now struck with imagining how she and florian and zimri actually fare in a navy.

and like, i already know how naielle would fare. she's faring. she generally obeys orders, keeps to her spot, would work her way up slowly over time. she's fine. in canon she has a nominal captaincy but im not sure that, in a "proper" situation, she would get that. i think she'd be a perpetual lieutenant type, only afforded captaincy over prizes, which i guess is technically what happened, so it works out!

floooorian. floor ryan. big issue off the bat - canonically hates boats. very much not a fan. its not that he cant swim - he demonstrably can. It's the distance from the shore bit. A river, okay, fine. the ocean? fuck me. so he's ill disposed for the navy as a base. that thusly ignored, how he ends up factoring into a naval hierarchy depends on when we're talking.

florian c. the start of the campaign? ???? seamen, leading seamen at BEST. he's just doing the hard work, he's grumpy as fuck about the entire thing, he's rough. he's not a commander of any kind, so being 'lead' would be by dint of longevity of service at that point.

florian v. now?? 1.5 years in? well. he's got potential? he'd be the sort of guy that maybe is respected by the crew, and DEFINITELY not by his superiors, because the mans actual knowledge is low, book learning in the toilet, but he's solidly reliable. he knows the bits that 'matter', for a given definition. he's got a decent tactical head on his shoulders. he performs well under pressure (unlike, say, Naielle). im not sure he'd get up into warrant ranks, and i think his lack of book knowledge would prevent him getting above midshipman. i dont think he'd mind. At his best, he'd be the guy who gets well commended for his work during a boarding, but flunked the lieutenants exam so horrifically (despite demonstrable effort) that promotion isnt even Considered. acting, at best.

Ziiiimri! zimri! i think that zimri would be the one to get highest in rank. competent, cool under pressure, intelligent - zimri could get high in the ranks. but only if they wanted to. which is the difference. the only way you get Zimri to step up and take initiative is to make that the only damn option. They're otherwise pretty content to be lead, to operate within orders. so, yknow, kill their captain and first lieutenant and zimri will make an effort to step up. another failing of zimri is a general... low empathy? which isn't a bad thing per se, serves them well in the thick of battle because they don't get stopped in their tracks by tragedy, but in the aftermath they come off cold and uncaring. not their fault - they just don't express it well. but i feel like that'd sit poorly with crew.

its all very loosey. now if you put them all on the SAME boat, fuck. how messy that gets depends entirely on when each of them joins on. for instance if Naielle joins first, she can safely and quietly ascend to lieutenant without worry. ditto for Zimri. really, the key here is florian, because florians attitude could impact either of them.

florian would probably be annoyed to serve under naielle and content to serve under zimri, because the latter is i think base line more competent, and their no-nonsense nature suits florian perfectly fine. Naielle's big bleeding heart and worrying would probably be insufferable for him (zimri wouldn't care), and the two would probably end up butting heads. it wouldnt escalate to a usurpation or anything - naielle is competent enough to prove WHY she has the position, so given the opportunity she would show that, and florian would have to begrudgingly respect it. the alternative way she gets him to shut the fuck up is if she actually pushes back on any of his shit, instead of just hiding behind pulling rank. like instead of going 'thanks for your input, mr de kasimir, i didn't ask' going 'mr de kasimir, im sorry, but youre fucking wrong.' THAT he'd have to respect.

zimri would very much be just like. off side. going :) fascinating.

im basically imagining like, zimri and naielle are both lieutenants under some other person (zimri probably the higher ranked lieutenant because of Reasons), and this entire matter with Florian just becomes a thorn in naielle's side. theres a whole plot spooling out there. 90% of it arises from the fact that most of naielle's strengths are things that happen behind doors - navigation charts and the like. plenty of time for florian to bristle under her style of leadership, to try and go behind her back to talk to Zimri, who is utterly uninterested in the matter and tells him to drop it. and then so it goes. im not going to get too deep into this but it would be funny.

i just think imagining my various ocs together is fun. naielle and florian absolutely do not get along At All. Florian is infinitely capable of coming to respect Naielle (both in this au navy context and like, In general), and Naielle as well, but Naielle would not like Florian. they simply do not vibe. She's too polite and emotional and whatever, and he's a kinda surly jackass. the command relationship would work out fine enough, i think they could work together okay, but like. personally? no, right.

especially doesnt help that neither are ever quite completely emotionally honest, both dealing with some Backstory Situations they refuse to elaborate on, so theres like. no way to build that connection. canon, anyway. though in a navy context both of them would Appear To Have run away to join the navy, and the fact they HAVE that shared backstory element and DO NOT use it to form a connection? thats comedy.