simplestgift | Thirty-One Bells: [Action/Written]

[It’s been over a month since Archie Kennedy died and had his worst fears realized.

It’s been over a month since his first seizure in almost eight years.

Ever since, he has barely left the house, barely spoken to anyone. But last night, he opened the window before falling asleep. Somehow, it made all the difference.

In the prison at Ferrol, it had been a drink of water, soothing his parched mouth and throat and letting him sleep easier so he woke hungry. Eating strengthened him, and he slept even better after breakfast, waking with the strength to live the rest of the day. Little by little, small things, and most of all Horatio, had coaxed him back into health and the belief that things can be good again.

Today, it’s the sun and a light breeze waking him after a long sleep. Fresh spring air and the promise of warm light make him want to leave the house at last. So after showering, shaving, and trimming his hair, he dresses in something decidedly civilian but still native to his period and steps outside.

Anyone who sees him as he wanders the village, if they knew him before, will notice he has lost a good ten or fifteen pounds in the last month, and is pale as a ghost. Others might see how loosely his clothing fits him. Provided no one intercepts him and makes him eat first, he starts at Seventh Heaven with a hearty breakfast platter, regaining his appetite as he replenishes the nutrients in his body. Feeling much better, he heads to the barracks for some shooting practice, then his own backyard to try to get back in shape with swordplay. The drills Jack taught him are even more exhausting now than they were when he first started, but the exercise feels good for about half an hour.

After another shower and a quick library trip, by which point he has reached a somewhat manic state (he’ll be going back and forth between manic and depressive in the months to come), he walks out of the grocery store with what seems to be enough food to feed Kent (or possibly Rhode Island, if you’re American). He then spends the rest of the afternoon cooking up a Proper British Dinner on board the Britannia the way Jack Aubrey used to do. A simple message alerts his housemates, James Norrington, and, as an afterthought, Richard Sharpe, to dinner in the captain’s cabin right around four o’clock, promising wine, cider, and brandy, steak and turnip pie (but not for you, William), salmagundi, lobster, spinage toasts, a shoulder of beef, asparagus, mushroom catsup (which resembles Worcestershire sauce), a spiced steamed pudding, and peach tarts with heavy cream. The leftovers, he will take to Jack Sparrow at his house.

Boy needed a calling. This may as well be it.

After cleaning up and washing the dishes and an impromptu nap in the grass behind his house with an open book on his chest, he thinks he has finally worked up the courage to visit Jilly at House 7 and Buffy at Good Spirits and write a message to Amelia McFly to meet him somewhere. Time to come clean about some things. Telling Horatio about recent events lifted a huge weight from his chest, so maybe telling everyone else will enable him to fly.

Lastly, he writes a message to Elizabeth Swann to meet him behind house 36 and to wear something comfortable. When she arrives, there will be a campfire in the backyard, and Archie will have a bottle of whisky and makings for s’mores.

Feel free to run into him at any point during the day. Housemates can catch him in the morning and late at night as well as at dinner.]

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[ an invitation. god, but eating amongst others was a difficult thing. it was simply amongst his own men -- for he ate amongst his men, back home -- but it was far less simple with others.

rough formed letters: ] Will there be many in attendance, Lieutenant?

Just a few. I would invite the pirate, but he would never come.

After our week of hauling bodies, I suspect he misses his...[ queenly one; annie; most beautiful. he'd heard them all around their lonely campfire during the mission's week. sparrow liked to talk about the blonde -- he'd learned that fast enough. ]

His barmaid.

Edited 2012-04-23 22:22 (UTC)

Yes, yes. As if he doesn't spend each waking moment with her anyway.

[ and why wouldn't he, sharpe thought? considering his tender, sweet jane gibbons. the wild teresa. if he had the choice... ]

Who else? [ abrupt only because he hates to see his own awkward handwriting. ]

No, it's

No one at all.

[So Archie is disgusted when other people find happy-happy fluffy love. Maybe he's just sickeningly envious. And sometimes jealous, since it means fewer nights getting drunk with Jack or talking till 3AM with Buffy.]

What say you? It's a proper British dinner. Well. Proper in the sense of being British, not formal.

[Except things have seemed a lot quieter at officers' dinners with the loss of Jack Aubrey.]

[ and the world's saddest misunderstanding takes place, as sharpe had only curtly asked who else was attending this feast. and now he was confused to think it was only himself and the boy.

but since it's not a crowd, he agrees: ] I will be there.

I'm glad to hear it! Do you know where she's anchored?

Edited 2012-04-23 22:39 (UTC)

On the far side of one of those terrible devices?

[ the major doesn't like the transporters. ]

Ah. You know exactly where it is, I see.

Bit of a steep price for a meal.

[ ALMOST a joke only it's lost in the scrawl. except: ] That goes twice for a meal on a ship.

[Yup. Definitely army.]

Come now. We can't be so particular about our company now. If I can be friends with pirates, you can eat a meal aboard a ship. [A pause before this next part.] The same cannot always be said for Captain Hornblower, who has Nelson's own stomach.

[The mark of a good friendship: you can throw each other under a bus at the drop of a hat.]

He took his breakfast well enough when we met last. [ nelson, he means. not hornblower. of course. though the latter might be more believable given the current circumstances -- or would be, had he not been writing to hornblower's shadow. ]

Spent the first day in his cabin by himself?

Wouldn't know. Didn't see the Admiral on his first day -- saw him later. And I didn't presume to ask.

Seasick.

[ sharpe isn't sure if archie was leveling the accusation at himself or at nelson.

and so: ] I will see you later today, Lieutenant.

[Hardly an accusation, merely an explanation. He's kind of mystified that Sharpe didn't get his reference at all.]

Four o'clock, and come hungry.

...Major Richard Sharpe grumbled to himself as he did up his buttons -- polished, for once, after a week of mucking about in the jungle. No, he thought, he did not get seasick; he still misunderstood the Lieutenant's message. He was never very good at giving or receiving written communication. A possibly hazard of having only learned how to read in his twenties.

He left his rifle in the apartment but certainly did strap on the heavy cavalry sword. The tip of his scabbard nearly nudged the ground but the officer was tall enough to save it that ignominy. Sharpe marched himself stiffly out to the Britannia and...

And standing there in his rifleman's jacket and his officer's sash and his stolen French cavalry overalls, he wondered about the applicable decorum. Should he simply climb in? Should he call out?

He'll be out here mulling this over for a little while longer.

Hint: there's a quarterboat at the dock.

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