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shakenandlimp[Private to Archie Kennedy]
Lieutenant. Archie. I wonder how you are doing after your first port and if you are enough on your feet that you could fetch me something. ...Unfortunately, my leg is broken.
[He glowers offscreen at it as if by sheer force of will he could make it no so.]
Lieutenant. Archie. I wonder how you are doing after your first port and if you are enough on your feet that you could fetch me something. ...Unfortunately, my leg is broken.
[He glowers offscreen at it as if by sheer force of will he could make it no so.]
no subject
Date: 2014-06-28 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-28 02:18 am (UTC)But if you are feeling kindly towards a fellow officer, I would like some lemonade from the kitchens and as much rum as the pub will let you carry away.
video -> spam
Date: 2014-06-28 02:57 am (UTC)[ With that, he cuts the feed and about fifteen minutes later he shows up in the infirmary with a box in his arms, looking rather like the cat that ate the canary. ] I have arrived with gifts, good tidings, and the finest rum the Barge has to offer, Mr. Bush!
[ With that, Archie places the box on the floor near the bed and drags up a chair. Once he's settled he takes two glasses from the box and sets them on the bedside table, followed by a jug of lemonade, and two bottles of rum. The rum, he thinks, is probably not the best but he's reserving judgment until he tastes it. ]
Shall we, then?
[ yes you shall, he's already taking the liberty of liberally pouring a couple of dranks ]
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Date: 2014-06-28 03:04 am (UTC)[Bush sits up in bed, wincing-- his right leg is in a cast, set not to move. His left leg ends just below the knee, a void under his bedgown, and his metal and plastic prosthetic stands propped by the bed. He is surly about it all. Surly about how he behaved, surly about being hurt and largely unable to move... all of it.]
Well, bless you for that! Pour for both of us. Lemonade first, if you please, I near shriveled in the skin down in those caves.
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-28 03:29 am (UTC)Still, he says nothing of it as he passes Bush his lemonade and takes a testing sip of his own rum. Archie's too accustomed to the watered-down stuff of the Royal Navy, and he wrinkles his nose at the strong flavor of this drink. ]
I still fail to see the Admiral's purpose in sending us there, if there is any at all. Honestly, I don't know which is worse: a reckless commanding officer with questionable intentions or a mad one with no direction at all.
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Date: 2014-06-28 05:16 am (UTC)I don't think there is a purpose.
[And he drinks down the other half of sweet lemonade.] He has a pretty poor command of this vessel. When I first came aboard I thought the crew were shockingly mutinous-- wasn't long till I understood their complaints. And we aren't under the articles here; barely any regulations at all.
Perhaps the one's all that lets us bear the other.
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Date: 2014-06-28 07:13 pm (UTC)[ He pauses to take another sip of rum, finding it easier to swallow this time around. Then he continues: ]
Speaking of such, I have been meaning to ask you about how the events of the Renown transpired in your world. I hope for your sake as well as the other Hornblower's that things went better for you than they did for us.
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-28 07:41 pm (UTC)We did lose men. Roberts, the second Lieutenant-- and Smith, who was second-juniormost. Wellard, poor lad, made it through, and he had just secured a position as midshipman during the peace when he was drowned in Plymouth harbor. A shame, that.
[It affected him at the time, but it is so long ago now that the shock is dulled. He's lost many promising young men and friends since.]
I can tell you-- not him-- that there was a court martial, but only in form. He surrendered his ship, you see, a big second rate called Sutherland. Dutch built and a blasted silly thing, but he made the best of her-! There were four Spanish ships of the line against us that day, and we crippled three and had the last dismasted-- but more than half the crew was dead. That was the day I lost my foot.
It's a long story, from there, how Boney sent for us to try us as pirates, how we escaped... a court martial for surrendering a ship was almost nothing after that. Still it vexed the Captain-- you know his moods. He was cleared, of course, all England knew he was a hero.
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Date: 2014-06-28 10:15 pm (UTC)Poor Mr. Wellard was shot and killed alongside Captain Sawyer when the Renown was taken. I think I regret that most, that we didn't do better by him, but we lost a lot of men that day. It was then that you were nearly run through and I was shot.
Then came Kingston.
[ The word feels more like a swear in his mouth now than a place. ]
By the time the court martial began, I don't think there were many who doubted that Horatio pushed the captain, and I count Horatio himself among those many. You and I were confined to beds in a cell for the bulk of it all, depending on Clive and sometimes Horatio to keep us informed on the progress of things.
Day by day you grew stronger and I weaker. When we heard that Buckland named Horatio as sole conspirator, I made the decision to confess to the mutiny myself. I told you my plan and you agreed that it was best.
So I went and did it without Horatio's knowing, and that was that. A man can die but once; they hadn't a chance to hang me.
And now I'm here, and probably better for it. I only wish I knew what will come of you and Horatio now, if it even matters with how the Barge can change things.
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Date: 2014-06-28 10:19 pm (UTC)I made up my mind that probably your William Bush may not die at Caudebec. Still, I don't tell him. We're not to change the future-- Miss Chromie and Iris are severe about it.
I don't mind learning about what's to happen, since I won't be there to foul it.
Will you pour me some of that rum into half a glass of lemonade? Thanky.
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Date: 2014-06-29 01:49 am (UTC)Yes, the immediate future is worrying. That's why the nature of Horatio's deal with the Admiral concerns me. I don't think it's wise to wish for the dead to live again but how can I tell him so? I'm honored, but... [ He trails off, shaking his head. ] I can't accept it.
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Date: 2014-06-29 02:09 am (UTC)[Bush sips, now, eyes gone serious]
And I'm of the same mind as you, about the dead rising. Captain Jones thought I was a madman, not to use my deal to live again. But I couldn't see that I had any right, that I should be able to do such a thing.
But it's him-- and he sees clearer than I do. You're sure-?
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Date: 2014-06-29 02:40 am (UTC)[ It had been an easy decision. Despite how tarnished his memory would be for his family, it had been easy. ]
And I've never been surer of that, either. He's letting sentiment steer his thoughts this time; he even told me so. I don't think he's yet considered the consequences.
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Date: 2014-06-29 02:50 am (UTC)You'll break his heart.
I know that this young man-- Lord bless him, he's so young, I never remembered that we were-- I know he isn't the man I left behind. Even if our pasts weren't different, there's ten years, most of'm together, tours at sea he doesn't remember, battles and triumphs.
But I still hate to disappoint him.
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Date: 2014-06-29 03:19 am (UTC)[ Archie's expression darkens and he looks down, focusing his attention on the glass in his hands rather than look at Bush. ]
I know, and for that reason I haven't said a thing. Horatio is my dearest friend. I do not know if I can deny him this, regardless of how terrible an idea it is.
[ Of course deep down he wants it, too. Who wouldn't? He wouldn't even be here in the first place if not for a desire to live again, even better if it's in the real world instead of on the Barge.
And he's ashamed that he's even thinking that way. ]
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Date: 2014-06-29 03:29 am (UTC)...tell him sooner rather than later, before he has the thing. Or take the gift he offers. What consequences do you fear?
[Jones asked him much the same, and he was full of righteous fire then. But-- Hornblower.]
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Date: 2014-06-29 03:57 am (UTC)I ... do not know. It's done; I'm dead. [ It gets no easier to say no matter how often he repeats it. He takes another drink from his glass. ] If I were to return, what then? Am I to head straight to the gallows only to start this damned cycle from the beginning again? And even if I escape, I cannot sail with the Navy nor be seen by anyone familiar with the situation of Captain Sawyer.
[ A convoluted mess, in other words. ]
Or, what if the events leading to my death were undone? I would surmise they would simply happen again, otherwise I think we'd be meddling too much.
I'm not sure which way the Admiral would do it but I'm fond of neither. There could be a third way I haven't realized but I doubt it would be any better at all.
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-29 04:04 am (UTC)You may wish to talk to the Marquis of Sade. He started an inmate, a dead man, and he gained his life.
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Date: 2014-06-29 04:17 am (UTC)Instead, he responds quite sensibly with, ]
I have not met him. Could you introduce us?
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-29 08:57 pm (UTC)Yes.
[In a strange, hesitant way.]
He's an inappropriate sort of man but you get used to that here. He's a writer of dirty books. From our time, though he didn't know anything useful about the course of the war, that was disappointing.
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Date: 2014-06-29 11:37 pm (UTC)He struggles (quite terribly) to suppress an amused smirk. ]
Dirty books? Leave it to a Frenchman. [ snicker snicker ] You needn't worry, Mr. Bush; I won't take offense.
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-30 12:27 am (UTC)Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-30 12:44 am (UTC)[ Famous last words, probably. ]
In any case, if he's been granted his life then why does he remain on the Barge?
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-06-30 12:48 am (UTC)[Bush finishes his glass when the possible interpretation of that statement rears its head.] More, if you please? Two parts rum. It's a bit like having it hot with lemon, but pleasant for the summer. Ain't it a wonder having ice all the time?
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-07-01 12:23 am (UTC)It is! And food and water... I'd hardly believed you when you first mentioned it to me. Can you imagine what the boys back home would do if they had fresh, clean supplies at sea whenever they liked? There's a deal for the Admiral.
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Date: 2014-07-01 12:29 am (UTC)Spam
Date: 2014-07-03 03:27 pm (UTC)And you're right, about the showers. I don't think I ever realized how terrible people smell until I was around these people who don't. It's a good thing the showers are pleasant because I think I'd be compelled to use them anyway out of common courtesy.
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Date: 2014-07-03 05:49 pm (UTC)Spam
Date: 2014-07-07 03:33 pm (UTC)[ P a u s e. ]
Miss Wildthyme. Iris. You're good friends with her?
[ He may or may not have been suspecting there was a little somethin' somethin' going on there. ]
Re: Spam
Date: 2014-07-07 04:42 pm (UTC)Spam
Date: 2014-07-09 03:23 pm (UTC)Spam
Date: 2014-07-10 03:41 pm (UTC)Mister Cain and Miss Barbara are her particular favourites; the rest of us are fond acquaintances in comparison.
[He sounds a little awkward. It was always a shocking arrangement, but in the peace and relative freedom of death and impossible barges he could unbend a bit without feeling too much at a loss. Now, though, that there are other officers aboard-- other people as much a subject of the Crown, the Admiralty and the Articles-- he feels as if he has become a shocking libertine himself.]
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Date: 2014-07-25 12:24 am (UTC)[He tries to put it delicately, not wanting to outright say "she was in a freakin' bikini" lest he offend the dear captain by being too forward about his definitely-a-libertine friend. (Not that he knows what a bikini is, anyway.)
Still, delicate as he's trying to be, he's doing a terrible job hiding that cheeky smirk.]
I'm finding that to be the general manner of the Barge and her people -- shocking, but mostly harmless.
[ Put lightly, of course. He's heard of the dangers here, even experienced some now for himself, and he knows there are many dangerous people on this vessel.
Still, he feels it's an apt way of putting it. Despite all its eccentricities and potential dangers, the Barge has its own kind of charm. ]