shayvaan wrote:cthia wrote: <snip>
An excellent point. Although, in my defense, Nimitz' ability to sign was not needed to get his point across with respect to being left in his quarters. You ever tried to pry the hands of a small child away from a door jamb who didn't want to leave? Happens all of the time when parents leave their kids to play in my game room. It should not have been easy for Honor to pry six much stronger limbs away from what passed as her ship's door jamb. And I'm sure Nimitz' head would have been rapidly swiveling on its axis from side to side in the universal language of a "No Way Jose!" type of a gesture. The words I embedded, for dramatic effect, I imagined that Nimitz was thinking accompanied by Honor's retort.
Good point, however it mentions several times in the earlier books that there are aspects of human life that treecats STILL do not comprehend. Mostly this deals with tech of course, but there are those silly "Two-legs" concepts that that the telempathic treecats have problems with as well. For the most part treecats cope by trusting their two-leg, so unless the treecat thinks their two-leg is going into a physically dangerous situation, they would usually relent rather than cause their two-leg other problems with their own perfectly reasonable and natural responses to someone who does not like their two-leg
Besides iirc, textev always supported the fact that there was a reasonable amount of communication between Honor and Nimitz that had developed over the years, and though it was limited, was still plenty enough for her to know his wishes. Just not efficient enough to impart the in-depth, detailed type of information in a formal interview-like setting that would have been required regarding, for instance, the dissemination of the history and tradition of the cats, per se.
Even a human child that hasn't quite learned to talk manages to convey certain things. Nimitz, being greatly more intelligent and determined than that would have had no problem making his wishes known, especially those involving Pavel Young and being left in his quarters. Just the image of Nimitz' arms outstretched and whiteknuckle gripping both doorjambs and blocking Honor's exit and delivering an earpiercing child-like shrill would have been communication enough, and humorous. It would be interesting to note the number of times she left him in his quarters when she knew that her path would cross Youngs after he learned to sign though.
Excellent point still, to keep us on our toes.
The problem wasn't his getting his point across, Honor was well aware of Nimitz's opinion of Young (one might say abundantly aware
)
The situation, mostly is like this:
1. Nimitz knows of Young's hostility, but
2. He also knows that Honor is aware of it as well
3. He also knows that Young is a coward and Nimitz is also confidant that
4. If Young were stupid enough to try anything physical that Honor would stomp him good (which he did and she did)
5. The physical dangers were not in formal meetings that he might get excluded from, but from ambushes that he WOULD (unless he gets drugged of course)
Side note: Young was killed before treecats learned to sign, it was the fallout of her killing Young that caused the circumstances that got her captuered and Nimitz injured.
All excellent points.
For a blue-ribbon of an understatement, there are some very interesting psychological undertones regarding this particular trinity. The entire relationship is one for Freud and the more modern psychologists to bask in and kill each other over.
I'm always talking about the human element. And I know it probably wears many of you thin. Does me too. Yet it is always there, smiling.
The problem is that truthfully, if we are honest with ourselves, Honor couldn't handle Young. She couldn't. He was, and is, the only one in the Honorverse who ever got the best of her (Tourville notwithstanding). And he did it constantly. Honor didn't win a single engagement with Young before she finally killed him in-between beating his ass. But even in that, she lost. Lost because Young forced that ugly side out of her and lost because she couldn't and wouldn't bring herself to turn him in and see real justice done. But from that point on, Young owned her, in Honor's head.
Now, to be accurate, she got the best of him in the way she played her cards in the Basilisk System when he tried to set her up but that was at a less than perfect remove, a dish NOT served cold.
Strategically, she didn't know how to deal with him. He wasn't a Peep enemy in an inferior ship. Every confrontation she had with him Honor ended up tucking her tail between her legs and walking away. She had to. He embarrassed, taunted, disrespected, humiliated, every thing he could think of to do to her. Her achievements were nothing to Young. That hurt her too. Young never recognized Honor as an equal, in spite of all of her accomplishments, especially her accomplishments. To Pavel Young Harrington was a baseborn bitch socially beneath him and always would be. Young constantly pulled at the frayed little Yeomen string. And Honor knew that.
And this is where I see Nimitz come into play. Nimitz would have picked up on all of that in her mindglow, where she was constantly being berated and humiliated by Young. Nimitz would have known the truth of the psychological defeats Honor constantly suffered internally at the hands of her arch nemesis. It wasn't just a question of physical danger from Young.
That wasn't a question, though a possibility if the creep played very unfairly as he did in poisoning Nimitz. If he would have somehow slipped Honor a Mickey, he could have had his way with her.
Of course Nimitz knew that if it ever came to blows that Honor could deal with Young physically, but that was never what was at stake. It was her sanity. It was her emotions--raw and unbalanced and always flayed open by Young with a dusting of salt. Honor's emotions—a plane of existence that treecats had no problem assimilating and by relation Nimitz would have always been conscious of Honor's emotional health—was on many levels vastly more important. In fact, the importance of her emotional health, which took an accumulative beating, rang true when she ended up on Grayson an emotional wreck, a mere shell of a woman at her breaking point having endured accumulative harassment from Young. It was her self respect, her self esteem, her self worth and it was all taking a serious beating which again would have constantly bombarded Nimitz at a very native level. The love between Nimitz and Honor runs deep and that alone would have made it rather difficult for Nimitz, emotionally, to honor some of Honor's two-legged requests. <Rubs me the wrong way Honor> In the ring on the mat of life, Young was kicking Honor's ass every round. I only imagine Nimitz not wanting to be left in his quarters because well, the human element of wanting to end Honor's emotional nightmare. The telempathic onslaught just couldn't have been a walk in the park for Nimitz either, exacerbated by an accompanying feeling of helplessness. I imagine that Nimitz had an emotional breaking point as well. Imagine seeing someone you intensely love constantly dragged through emotional hell. Emotional hell that your natural abilities just so happen to broadcast to you quite clearly and loudly. I really agree with my niece that it's a wonder that Nimitz never needed therapy.
<Honor, let me deal with the asshole>
With Nimitz there, none would have been another occasion for Young to intimidate Honor. That's like trying to intimidate Tarzan with his lion there.
Under the surface of things, it seems that Honor was aware of the emotional beating that Nimitz constantly endured and that he wanted to end it for her. Or she wouldn't have constantly left him in her quarters. Why didn't she trust that Nimitz could maintain? Is it because she knew internally that it was a bit much to even require it of him?
I know Nimitz has a hard time with many two-leg concepts, many of the intangibles like embarrassment, privacy and the like that wouldn't be an issue in a world of telempaths. That fact also makes it rather difficult for Nimitz to shelve his own natural tendencies. Like the innate charge to protect someone he loves.
I don't quite know how the treecats assimilate a human emotion like disrespect. But I'm fairly certain they have a related concept in their own world. And I cannot see the cats allowing an enemy to get away with it. It would rub a treecat against the grain in a very primal way. Allowing that same disrespect to bombard one's mated half from one's mated half's enemy would be as naturally irritating to Nimitz as scraping his claws against a blackboard.
<Can't do it>
It would not have been all that difficult for Nimitz to give in on other points. But the disrespect that Pavel represented in light of the obvious emotional toll it was exacting on Honor would seem to have been too basic a transgression. At any rate, Nimitz would have naturally wanted to handle the light work.
<Why are you letting that SOB intimate you. He is getting to you. Let me get to him. I'll show him intimidation. I won't lay a claw on him. I won't have to Honor. I assure you! I'll just look into his eyes and ensure that he sees death. He'll flip his end and run. Simple>
Thank Tester for Samantha, I'm sure Nimitz needed some recharging after constantly dealing with the overtones of Honor and Pavel Toung. <Sam, I need some crooning babe>
Thanks for that side note, it was a question in my mind, memory being what it is.