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breakinglight11Today's entry is the first one this year that is not from Mrs. Hawking part VI. I'm running out of pieces from that one I'm willing to post early due to spoilers, so today I banged together a scene from the greater Hawking apocrypha (as I'm calling it, heh) depicting a letter exchange between Reginald and Ambrose Hawking, where the younger brother tells the elder about his interesting bit of news since coming to Singapore.
I've always been kind of enamored of the theatrical conceit of staging exchanges in letters as conversations ever since I saw it in the musical 1776. It occurred to me it would be appropriate for this moment between Reginald and Ambrose, since they would be on different continents at the time. I had a bee in my bonnet about making it a conversation that theoretically would work even if they were not actually responding to one another line by line, to make it a bit more ingenuous as an intercontinental letter exchange. That kind of fell by the wayside for speed's sake, but I think it could be tweaked in an edit to make that work a little better.
It's not the most useful scene, as it tells us very little plot information we don't already know. But for some deeply weird reason, I've spent a TON of time thinking about Reginald Hawking's psychology— a really intense amount given how rarely he actually appears in the story. Stuff like this helps me sort of embed it in him as a character in a meaningful way, make it manifest in a way that actually informs the narrative, rather than be a bunch of weird pointless trivia in my head.
This might kiiiiiiiiinda count as cheating as I technically scribbled a scene of Reginald telling Ambrose about having met Victoria years ago, 2013's Day #24 - The Lieutenant's Daughter. But the scenario is changed and absolutely no dialogue is reused, so I'm going to allow this one. Though I've never used any text from that piece, it turned out to be really developmentally useful, as it helped me figure out a lot of things about the circumstances of Reginald and Victoria's early relationship that became relevant in part IV: Gilded Cages.
Day #19 - Letters From Abroad
From the Mrs. Hawking series
By Phoebe Roberts
Derbyshire, England and Singapore, 1859
CAPTAIN REGINALD HAWKING, hero of the Indian Rebellion, early thirties
MR. AMBROSE HAWKING, his older brother, mid thirties
~~~
(REGINALD and AMBROSE communicate through letters. AMBROSE is rambling on about business as REGINALD only half-attends.)
AMBROSE: And of course there’s the Bengali returns; they weren’t too troubled by the rebellion. But I suppose only time will tell, unless there’s something you noticed in your time. Reginald?
(Pause.)
AMBROSE: I swear, Reginald, do you even read these letters? Reginald?
REGINALD: I met a girl.
AMBROSE: Beg pardon?
REGINALD: (Laughing) I met a girl.
AMBROSE: You met a girl? You, who had every young lady in the county throwing herself at you, and never gave any of them a second glance? And now, you go halfway around the world, and you meet a girl?
REGINALD: (Laughs)
AMBROSE: What’s she like?
REGINALD: You wouldn’t like her.
AMBROSE: Oh, is she skinny, then? You and your gamines.
REGINALD: (Sighing) I am as God made me.
AMBROSE: Who is she?
REGINALD: She’s daughter of the lieutenant territorial governor in Singapore.
AMBROSE: By Jove!
REGINALD: Not so fast. I’ve only just met her.
AMBROSE: Reg, there must be quite something to a girl for you to write home about her.
REGINALD: Quite something, indeed.
AMBROSE: I almost thought you didn’t have it in you. Why, I can’t even remember the last time— not since… well…
REGINALD: Oh, you can’t mean—
AMBROSE: Was it that waif I caught you with when you were fifteen? The tiny thing, the one that made a man of you. What was her name?
BOTH: Cassandra.
REGINALD: I was a foolish boy.
AMBROSE: Oh, no harm came of it.
REGINALD: Thank God. She’s lucky I didn’t ruin her life. If her father had found out…
AMBROSE: But he didn’t, Reginald.
REGINALD: Well. This isn’t like that.
AMBROSE: I should say not. This one you could marry.
REGINALD: Here, now!
AMBROSE: A governor’s daughter is quite a match for you, Reg.
REGINALD: You don’t know anything about her.
AMBROSE: I know who her father is, and that she’s skinny. So far, she sounds perfect for you.
REGINALD: Why are you always in such a hurry to marry me off?
AMBROSE: You’re thirty-one, Reg— it's hardly been a hurry. To be honest, I’m only pleased to hear you’re not pining over that maid.
REGINALD: Oh, for heaven’s sake.
AMBROSE: I wonder what became of her. Cassandra.
REGINALD: I imagine she grew up and married a man who wasn't about to run off and join the army.
AMBROSE: Well, has there been anyone else?
REGINALD: Just because I haven’t told you doesn’t mean there hasn’t.
AMBROSE: Well?
REGINALD: (Sighs)
AMBROSE: Well, forgive me, after as many perfectly lovely young ladies I’ve seen you nod off with a polite smile and a press on the hand.
REGINALD: So many of them, they just... try so hard. As if their only wish is to be whoever they think you want. How can you come to know someone like that?
AMBROSE: I've never heard anyone complain so much about people wanting to impress him. I take it your governor’s girl remains unimpressed?
REGINALD: Quite the contrary, she’s... sharp with me. Completely unafraid. Do you know I first saw her leaping off a rooftop?
AMBROSE: A rooftop? Are you joking?
REGINALD: I meant to catch her, but… she wasn’t falling. She didn’t need my help— in fact, she didn’t want it. Enough that she took a swing at me when I drew near.
AMBROSE: She slapped you?
REGINALD: Belted me. I’ve still got the black eye. It’s… rather a thrill.
AMBROSE: My word, Reginald.
REGINALD: She says exactly what she thinks of everything. Even of me.
AMBROSE: And… you think you like her?
REGINALD: I know I do.
(Pause.)
AMBROSE: You will keep writing, won’t you? You’ll tell me what becomes of things?
REGINALD: Haven’t I always?
AMBROSE: As you said— I know you don’t tell me everything. But this… this I’d like to know about.
REGINALD: You always want to know about everything.
AMBROSE: Perhaps. But I hope you won’t fault me for it, when something important happens to my brother.
REGINALD: You think this is important, eh?
AMBROSE: Yes. I rather think I do.
I've always been kind of enamored of the theatrical conceit of staging exchanges in letters as conversations ever since I saw it in the musical 1776. It occurred to me it would be appropriate for this moment between Reginald and Ambrose, since they would be on different continents at the time. I had a bee in my bonnet about making it a conversation that theoretically would work even if they were not actually responding to one another line by line, to make it a bit more ingenuous as an intercontinental letter exchange. That kind of fell by the wayside for speed's sake, but I think it could be tweaked in an edit to make that work a little better.
It's not the most useful scene, as it tells us very little plot information we don't already know. But for some deeply weird reason, I've spent a TON of time thinking about Reginald Hawking's psychology— a really intense amount given how rarely he actually appears in the story. Stuff like this helps me sort of embed it in him as a character in a meaningful way, make it manifest in a way that actually informs the narrative, rather than be a bunch of weird pointless trivia in my head.
This might kiiiiiiiiinda count as cheating as I technically scribbled a scene of Reginald telling Ambrose about having met Victoria years ago, 2013's Day #24 - The Lieutenant's Daughter. But the scenario is changed and absolutely no dialogue is reused, so I'm going to allow this one. Though I've never used any text from that piece, it turned out to be really developmentally useful, as it helped me figure out a lot of things about the circumstances of Reginald and Victoria's early relationship that became relevant in part IV: Gilded Cages.
Day #19 - Letters From Abroad
From the Mrs. Hawking series
By Phoebe Roberts
Derbyshire, England and Singapore, 1859
CAPTAIN REGINALD HAWKING, hero of the Indian Rebellion, early thirties
MR. AMBROSE HAWKING, his older brother, mid thirties
~~~
(REGINALD and AMBROSE communicate through letters. AMBROSE is rambling on about business as REGINALD only half-attends.)
AMBROSE: And of course there’s the Bengali returns; they weren’t too troubled by the rebellion. But I suppose only time will tell, unless there’s something you noticed in your time. Reginald?
(Pause.)
AMBROSE: I swear, Reginald, do you even read these letters? Reginald?
REGINALD: I met a girl.
AMBROSE: Beg pardon?
REGINALD: (Laughing) I met a girl.
AMBROSE: You met a girl? You, who had every young lady in the county throwing herself at you, and never gave any of them a second glance? And now, you go halfway around the world, and you meet a girl?
REGINALD: (Laughs)
AMBROSE: What’s she like?
REGINALD: You wouldn’t like her.
AMBROSE: Oh, is she skinny, then? You and your gamines.
REGINALD: (Sighing) I am as God made me.
AMBROSE: Who is she?
REGINALD: She’s daughter of the lieutenant territorial governor in Singapore.
AMBROSE: By Jove!
REGINALD: Not so fast. I’ve only just met her.
AMBROSE: Reg, there must be quite something to a girl for you to write home about her.
REGINALD: Quite something, indeed.
AMBROSE: I almost thought you didn’t have it in you. Why, I can’t even remember the last time— not since… well…
REGINALD: Oh, you can’t mean—
AMBROSE: Was it that waif I caught you with when you were fifteen? The tiny thing, the one that made a man of you. What was her name?
BOTH: Cassandra.
REGINALD: I was a foolish boy.
AMBROSE: Oh, no harm came of it.
REGINALD: Thank God. She’s lucky I didn’t ruin her life. If her father had found out…
AMBROSE: But he didn’t, Reginald.
REGINALD: Well. This isn’t like that.
AMBROSE: I should say not. This one you could marry.
REGINALD: Here, now!
AMBROSE: A governor’s daughter is quite a match for you, Reg.
REGINALD: You don’t know anything about her.
AMBROSE: I know who her father is, and that she’s skinny. So far, she sounds perfect for you.
REGINALD: Why are you always in such a hurry to marry me off?
AMBROSE: You’re thirty-one, Reg— it's hardly been a hurry. To be honest, I’m only pleased to hear you’re not pining over that maid.
REGINALD: Oh, for heaven’s sake.
AMBROSE: I wonder what became of her. Cassandra.
REGINALD: I imagine she grew up and married a man who wasn't about to run off and join the army.
AMBROSE: Well, has there been anyone else?
REGINALD: Just because I haven’t told you doesn’t mean there hasn’t.
AMBROSE: Well?
REGINALD: (Sighs)
AMBROSE: Well, forgive me, after as many perfectly lovely young ladies I’ve seen you nod off with a polite smile and a press on the hand.
REGINALD: So many of them, they just... try so hard. As if their only wish is to be whoever they think you want. How can you come to know someone like that?
AMBROSE: I've never heard anyone complain so much about people wanting to impress him. I take it your governor’s girl remains unimpressed?
REGINALD: Quite the contrary, she’s... sharp with me. Completely unafraid. Do you know I first saw her leaping off a rooftop?
AMBROSE: A rooftop? Are you joking?
REGINALD: I meant to catch her, but… she wasn’t falling. She didn’t need my help— in fact, she didn’t want it. Enough that she took a swing at me when I drew near.
AMBROSE: She slapped you?
REGINALD: Belted me. I’ve still got the black eye. It’s… rather a thrill.
AMBROSE: My word, Reginald.
REGINALD: She says exactly what she thinks of everything. Even of me.
AMBROSE: And… you think you like her?
REGINALD: I know I do.
(Pause.)
AMBROSE: You will keep writing, won’t you? You’ll tell me what becomes of things?
REGINALD: Haven’t I always?
AMBROSE: As you said— I know you don’t tell me everything. But this… this I’d like to know about.
REGINALD: You always want to know about everything.
AMBROSE: Perhaps. But I hope you won’t fault me for it, when something important happens to my brother.
REGINALD: You think this is important, eh?
AMBROSE: Yes. I rather think I do.
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