simplestgift: (Thinking.)
Archie Kennedy ([personal profile] simplestgift) wrote2012-02-18 08:04 pm

Twenty-Nine Bells: [Action/Voice/Written] FORWARD-DATED to the 19th and 20th


[Today, Archie is on the beach. He has a couple of homemade instruments with him that might look odd to someone who isn’t a sailor—a quadrant and a sextant. He also has a gigantic container, the type one might bring on picnics with lots of family, with some drink or another inside. Spread out on the dock is a tattered blanket, two large books lying open, and scattered forgotten foodstuffs and folded blankets. The one object which never leaves his hand is a watch.

Anyone with any sailing experience would see, when he’s using the tools, that he’s determining the sun’s altitude at varying times of the day, probably as a way to check his current latitude. He’s especially focused when the sun is at its zenith. He jots down observations and calculations in a small notebook.

Usually an experienced lieutenant wouldn’t sweat this much over a routine, but Kennedy always did this as little as he could even back home after moving from the midshipmen’s berth to the ward room, and hasn’t done it since coming to Luceti over a year ago. As the Britannia’s undisputed first lieutenant, however, he is suddenly worried he won’t be able to do this at all after so little practice. Therefore, he has to prove he can do this, as much as he hates it. Always he checks his watch, measuring the time throughout the day and night. This is why he brought so much coffee.

At around six in the evening, when he’s finished plotting his position upon the planet or given up on it, he’ll send out a spoken message.]


[To Elizabeth Swann; filtered 78%]

Elizabeth? The sun is about to set. Would you like to meet me at the docks?

[The next morning, he jots down his findings on the journal network. First is a set of numbers schoolkids and navigators could recognize as latitude and longitude.  Then:]

A solar day here is the same length as one on Earth. On the other hand, our position doesn’t correspond with anything that would make sense on Earth. At least, not to my reckoning. I plotted it while standing on the beach, where there used to be a desert till it was flooded. Nevertheless, aren’t all planets possessing of different solar and lunar days? Why should this one correspond exactly with the one I’m from?

Have I done something wrong?

Besides assume the existence of Greenwich upon this planet, of course. Perhaps Luceti should be reckoned the prime meridian when we make further observations about the longitude of other locations?

[There is no way to determine whether or not the Barrier provides too much refraction of light for the measurements to be accurate, either--something he hasn't really considered, even though he's plenty aware of the phenomenon.]
captainhornblower: (Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-19 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Remarkable, Archie.

[It's all he says to announce himself after seeing the longitude and latitude written in the journal. With Archie at the beach, Horatio had taken up a post on his second-home in Luceti (though, admittedly, he sees it more "home" than the house, but he does not often say that) on Britannia.

At the announcement, he'd started walking, and he'd found his lieutenant easily enough.

...And, of course, just as it might have done for the studious young man on Justinian, the little notebook catches his eye. No doubt the observation and figures the man had spent the better part of the day working on. He makes a small gesture to it, and then:]


May I?
captainhornblower: (Shirtsleeves)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-19 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[Horatio holds the book open with one hand, following the lines of observations and equations and calculations with the fingers of the other.

There's something comforting about the black marks on paper, the familiar numbers and equations. He has a few similar things done and... And he had kept an eye on their course during the draft at sea. Granted, being immediately in the middle of the sea and piloted and attacked had made it difficult, but he'd at least tried to track their course.

All of that had been lost, though, because he had not had his chart in hand when they'd been brought back from that draft. He'd been too injured to think of it then, and then it had seemed meaningless, but now... Now, he wished he had it. Wished he could add to the information Archie had.]


Remarkable.

[He can't help but smile over at Kennedy. He's not done yet, but he's pleased.]
captainhornblower: (Reading)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-19 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[And Horatio finds it.

He gives himself away immediately, as his index finger taps the offending number. A slight error, minor in the scheme of things. An addition where there ought to have been a subtraction.

A simple error, near the end. Changes almost nothing, just a matter of precision.

His tone is almost apologetic:]


Archie.
captainhornblower: (Staring at the sea)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-19 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Horatio lowers the notebook to show off what he's looking at, tapping it again.]

You're a bit off. Subtraction, not addition.
captainhornblower: (Still more majestic shalt thou rise)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-19 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[For Horatio, Archie's done the hard part. The actual taking of the observations... He can do it, but he always has to check himself. The equations are second nature.]

It might not help us much. [He can admit that much.] But it's nice to see it. Figures, numbers.
captainhornblower: (Confident)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-20 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
Was there?

[See that smile, Archie? The 'almost laughing at you' smile?

Yeah, that's important here.]
captainhornblower: (Almost smiling)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-20 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
[He can't help but laugh.]

Ah, good.

[It was relatively harmless from everything he's seen, and it didn't affect him... so he can laugh about it.]

All well, no offence taken on either side, I hope?
captainhornblower: (The nations not so blest as thee)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-20 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
Might be best to do so, just to be sure.
captainhornblower: (...Please?)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-20 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
[He manages to bite back any sort of remark about the general female population of Luceti.]

I'm sure she understands the nature of these experiments.
captainhornblower: (On guard)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-20 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I cannot imagine she would be angry about you inquiring to see if she is well.
captainhornblower: (Happiness)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-21 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
Now, that might not be wholly true, Archie. [...He has to joke. Because what else is there to do?]

I'm not sure we'd notice a change with William, after all.
captainhornblower: (Default)

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[personal profile] captainhornblower 2012-02-27 04:14 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sure he does, Archie.