Thirty-One Bells: [Action/Written]

[simplestgift]

[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.]

Comments

[herotypical]

"No sewers. My powers at half-cap." She admitted to these things carefully -- tight-throated. She was all confidence with the others -- especially with Jack. "Back home you walk into a graveyard and you stumble over two or three vamps. Drusilla's been around a lot longer than most. She's crazy but she's...a survivor. Don't get me wrong. I'm not worried. I just also wouldn't mind the guy's help right now."

[simplestgift]

"...What about your powers?"

The power cap has never been something he's really aware of, or had reason to think about before.

[herotypical]

She lifted her head. A little surprised.

"I'm meant to be twice as strong as this, Archie. Twice as fast-healing. When we're on drafts or on missions, they lift the cap. But otherwise I'm working at about roughly fifty percent my usual ability."

And -- frankly -- that fifty percent was already impressive. "Of course, Drusilla is too. But it kinda leaves the senses a little unhoned."

[simplestgift]

This is Buffy at fifty percent?

Give him a moment to process this.

[herotypical]

And she babbled and fretted away at the silence, as she often did.

"Which is kinda why I was hoping to stay out on that mission a little longer. My own little healing perk works faster out there. Coming back kinda added a few days to my recovery time. D-did you know Jack's been chatting up Nala? He's not really great with the mojo yet but he tried...it was kinda adorable, actually..."

[simplestgift]

"He did say that, yes. The...other one, as well, the one for wind. I suppose such spirits must seem quite commonplace for a man who has fought Davy Jones himself."

[herotypical]

"Oh, him and Kipinn are already best buds. They cheat at Twister together."

Best not to ask, really.

"I think I know what he looks like. Davy Jones. Or...I did. I can't remember, now. For a week I was anchored or whatever to Jack's world. Thought I'd grown up there."

[simplestgift]

"...Jilly was my foster-sister that week."

[herotypical]

"I remember meeting her. I'm afraid the dread pirate Captain Annie Summers might've been a little on the rude side."

[simplestgift]

"I'm certain she laughs about it now."

[herotypical]

"...I'm glad someone can. How'd you like the '70s?"

Buffy knew that Archie must have gone to Jilly's world for the day because it would have been impossible to go back to his own.

[simplestgift]

"Well, despite an awkward beginning with her fiddling Irishman, I've concluded they could be worse. And less noisy. Too many of your cars, everything larger than life.

She...has very good friends."

[herotypical]

"...I'm glad to hear that. Very glad."

Incredibly glad. Almost beyond-words glad. And so she needed to distract from that sudden blush of relief. "Meanwhile, I was oh-so-charmingly mistaken for a prostitute."

[simplestgift]

"If you were wearing what you normally wear, it's no wonder."

1/3

[herotypical]

"Actually, since the whole Shift happened at night I was in my pajama--"

2/3

[herotypical]

done.

[herotypical]

"...I'm going to assume you're trying to be affectionately hilarious."

[simplestgift]

An affectionate smile grows on his face. "No, it's not so terrible, I suppose. Not for my society. But in Jack's, I wonder if showing even your elbows is considered decent."

He's really not sure. His grandfather's generation seems just as arcane as anyone else's grandfather's generation.

[herotypical]

"And there was me in shorts and a tshirt. Not that we were really engaged in...society to-dos. It was really just me and him and a fraction of the Black Pearl's crew. Which -- incidentally? Somehow, being mistaken for a hooker by a pirate feels somehow worse.

You should all just be glad I gave up on the minidresses ages ago. That's all I'm saying. Besides. I think my elbows are very charming."

[simplestgift]

"Your elbows are among the most agreeable I have ever seen."

[herotypical]

"...She's beautiful, by the way. His ship. I can understand why he's so torn."

[simplestgift]

A pause. "The Black Pearl? Elizabeth is fixed upon it as well."

Hence the ring he got her.

[herotypical]

"...My biggest rival," Buffy said with a smile that wasn't bitter. "She was in a bottle, when I first got there."

[simplestgift]

"...The Pearl?" He knows she doesn't mean Elizabeth, but it's impossible to resist.

1/2

[herotypical]

There was...a flicker. Because no, she hadn't meant Elizabeth. But she'd still learned about an inopportune proposal that involved the Pirate King.