Archie Kennedy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
simplestgift) wrote2000-01-18 09:41 am
simplestgift) wrote2000-01-18 09:41 am
Entry tags:
OOC: Hellpointe Application
Application
Player Info
Player Name: Tori
Player LJ: tori-angeli
Player Instant Messenger Type and Handle: AIM is mtangeli
Player Email: phoenixrider at earthling dot net
Are you 18 years of age or older? Yes
Character Info
Character Name: Archie Kennedy
Character’s Age: Not given in canon, but since he's around the title character's age when they first meet, I portray him as 25.
Fandom: Hornblower (A&E series)
Timeline: Post-"Retribution" (sixth movie in the series)
Appearance: Allow me to introduce the midshipman of His Majesty's ship of the line Justinian. Known elsewise among her intimates as the good ship Slough of Despond.
He wears a lieutenant's uniform well and stands at an excellent enough attention, but his face gives him away as a naturally sanguine fellow. He has a hard time maintaining a stoic face even when he's trying, and it's rare for him to actually appear neutral. Most often, there's at least a shadow of a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
History: Nothing in canon states his origins outright, but there are a few clues. His speech and manner and the fact that he mentions his father's manservant suggest he comes from a well-to-do English family. The actor who portrayed him said, in an interview, “What I'm thinking, really, is he is probably fairly well off in terms of his background. My take on it was, he was the second or third son of some nobleman. Archie Kennedy is a Scottish name, so I thought he was Scottish gentry. His family probably wasn't terribly wealthy but was titled, and he went off to the navy to make his career. And he wasn't probably naturally suited to it.”
He joined the English navy as a midshipman aboard the ship-of-the-line Justinian and served for an undetermined amount of time before the King Louis' execution in 1793 brought England to war (based on typical military protocol for the time, he was most likely a volunteer aboard a ship since the age of eleven for about three years before becoming a midshipman). During his time on the Justinian, he got on very well with most of the crew, being a likable young man, but endured abuse at the hands of a senior midshipman who took to bullying his way to the top. The abuse, implied to be both physical and sexual, was traumatic enough to give Archie seizures in the presence (or threatened presence) of his abuser, but they presumably have not bothered him in years.
After King Louis was executed by his own people, he was transferred to the frigate Indefatigable to fight in the First Coalition. During a mission requiring secrecy, he had an ill-timed seizure and had to be knocked out and left in the jolly boat, where he was set adrift during the attack. Shortly after, he was captured by the French. They sent him to a Spanish prison, where he remained for two years. Multiple escape attempts earned him extended time in an oubliette. Fortune finally threw him a bone when his fellow midshipman, Horatio Hornblower, was captured with his men and sent to the same prison. Horatio took the half-mad and suicidal Kennedy into his stubborn care, nursing him back to health and earning himself the most devoted friend imaginable. They were later released for heroic behavior.
The two served together aboard the Indefatigable for several years until being transferred to the Renown as junior lieutenants under the command of Captain Sawyer. Sawyer, once a war hero, was quickly discovered to have grown senile and viciously paranoid in his old age. An unfortunate incident, for which both Horatio and Archie were present, caused Sawyer to fall into the hold, which nearly killed him. Upon their arrival at Kingston, Horatio was accused of pushing Sawyer and court-martialed for mutiny, but Archie, who had been mortally wounded days before, confessed falsely to save his friend's life and career. He succumbed to his wounds hours later.
Personality: Archie is high-spirited, with hot-running emotions and a sort of cheeky, boyish charm. A line in an early installment of the series reveals that he stays in touch with his family. As he grew, his cheekiness became full-out snarkiness and he made it his duty to keep his friends from getting too serious. The misfortunes of his past have served to make him stronger, and the fact that his high spirits survived them says much for his natural resilience and his closeness with the man who was ultimately his savior.
It is rare to see him solemn, but his emotions do run strongly both ways and he has been fighting a severe inferiority complex for years. He has come a long way since, thanks to Horatio. He has had several spells of bad depression caused by circumstances, as well as a conversion disorder that gave him seizures in the presence (or threatened presence) of his abuser aboard the Justinian. In El Ferrol, the location of the Spanish prison, he nearly starved himself to death when he was too weak to attempt suicide any other way, and he now has a fierce empathy for any victim of abuse, depression, or fear. When a teenage midshipman was unfairly beaten several times by Captain Sawyer, Archie quietly gave him tasks to keep his mind off the pain and attempted to defend him in front of the captain (this, unfortunately, only made things worse, which he was dismayed to discover).
Early in his career, there were instances of him panicking in a crisis. On his first mission as an acting lieutenant, he made a few poor calls and got trigger-happy simply from blind panic, but during the same mission, he learned to channel his fear and command his men with adequate authority. Because of instances like this, he insists that he is “a little prone to panic,” yet he recently leapt off a cliff into the ocean below with a man who could not swim (Lieutenant Bush) and another man who was afraid of heights (Horatio). More astonishingly, he voluntarily returned to El Ferrol with Horatio upon learning that his friend had given his parole that he would not escape (they were later released for heroic behavior). Death was admittedly terrifying for him, though Horatio was able to put him at some ease. Having an extensive history with physical pain, he does not have a tolerance per se, but many mental tricks he uses to take his mind off it. When he suffers, he suffers quietly if he can help it, though he has been known to mutter fitfully in his sleep during a nightmare. The life and stability he has he owes to Horatio, and because of this, it may be fortunate that he died first.
He devotes his life to his career on the sea, with which he has a sort of love-hate relationship in some ways, but the arts and theatre in particular are an actual passion for him. He once told Horatio, “I knew Drury Lane like it was my home.” He can quote entire passages from plays and knows the names and faces of actors. Music and literature are beloved to him, and he sometimes reads or studies in his spare time even though formal classes make him uncomfortable. Books were apparently one of his little ways to take refuge during the tense days aboard the Justinian (in the first episode, we see him resolutely buried in a book, trying for all the world to be invisible, while his abuser torments someone else). He also speaks and reads Spanish as a result of his long imprisonment in Spain and was beginning to teach it to Horatio in one episode.
His default expression involves the shadow of a cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye. If he is truly stoic, it can signify deep emotional turmoil. He has a tendency to lose himself in thought during quiet moments, especially stressful ones, where he appears to shut out the world in order to cope. He is not bullied easily nowadays, but that came at great cost, and it really is owed largely to the fact that Horatio's personality is stronger than his own. It cannot be emphasized enough that his friendship with Horatio is the most important thing he has. He is keenly aware of this, and that his best friend benefits constantly from favoritism. It is a fact that he used to resent deeply. He held it against Horatio in El Ferrol, fighting his shipmate's stubborn treatment until his own stubbornness ran out. Now, he somewhat mournfully accepts it, and with it his constant sense of inadequacy compared to Horatio (even if, all the same, he understands the importance of his role as Horatio's chief emotional supporter). He doesn't give himself enough credit where this is concerned, as he's not quite as dependent on Horatio as he thinks he is.
In regards to his attitude as a military man, he is more concerned with right and wrong than the chain of command. Under a more keen or brutal captain he would likely be called insubordinate. However, he maintains an awareness of this and keeps his comments subtle enough to be just shy of insubordination. Every so often his passion gets the better of him and he spits out something inappropriate about a superior—with good reason, always, but the English navy is iron-fisted when it comes to a man's words toward a superior. It's not over-the-top from the point of view of a modern-day civilian, but for an 18th-century navy man, it definitely crosses the line. He has a slim but stubborn rebellious streak that, at its heart, is a stab of revenge for the mistreatment aboard the Justinian that left him quietly submissive for so long. Mainly, it manifests itself as a tendency to question why superiors must be followed like gods, even if they are cruel or incompetent. In this way, he is ahead of his time. Aside from his criticism of the corrupt management, he loves what he does and is very good at what he does, but he's not true material for a commander. He's not precisely mischievous, but he is barely professional enough to be a lieutenant and skirts by on skill and talent rather than a true commander's forceful and solemn personality. If he had survived, it is unlikely he would have become a captain. That's not to say his men don't like him. He is too much like one of the ratings--more refined than they are, more poised and subtle, but still with a streak of immaturity.
He enjoys giving his friends a ribbing, his enemies a less gentle one, but he is ultimately an utterly harmless person, blameless but never naive. He's more of a troll than a trickster. His response to Horatio's question of “Are you out of your MIND?” was, “Very possibly, but we thought you could use the company.” As a lieutenant aboard the Renown, he once spent just a little too long during a vital mission looking through a telescope and giggling at the couple making out on the wall of the fort he was about to infiltrate (Lt. Bush had to remove the telescope from his hands before he would stop, giving him a gentle chastisement). Having lived for years among rough (but not bad) company since he was an impressionable boy, there is very little he hasn't heard, seen, or thought of. If there is more than one way to construe something he has said, the less innocent option is almost always what he means, though he is a master of disguised insults and passive aggression. While he stands at attention as well as anyone, he is never, ever above thinking Brest is a funny name for a place.
Altogether, he is an interesting mix of cynicism and altruism. Even if he is secretly a pessimist, he uses it as a springboard for his sense of compassion. Because he doesn't trust that just anyone will intervene in a bad situation, he is not one to stand by while someone else suffers--not anymore, at least, if his interactions with Mr. Wellard in canon are any example at all. He has an intense hatred of cruelty and will not wish it even on his worst enemies. When one of his men panics, Archie responds with both firmness and understanding, the latter of which is rare in the navy. In The Duchess and the Devil, another midshipman denounced him, proclaiming him an unworthy midshipman because of his seizures and arguing in favor of letting him die to save them all the trouble. When the midshipman was shot, it was Archie who tended him, bandaging his wounds and insisting that the man eat in spite of the despair that overwhelmed him. "Stay strong! He'll need you!" were Archie's words, echoing what Horatio told him while nursing him back to health. On the flip side, his cynicism means he can snap to judgments about people quickly. He and Lt. Bush did not get along at first, and Archie very much appeared to write him off as Captain Sawyer's yes-man until Bush proved himself capable of independent thought. While any bitterness will never, never overrule his sense of compassion, the ease with which he judges, especially those in power, is certainly a fault of his.
He has a few recurring tics and mannerisms. When afraid, he tenses his jaw and blinks very rapidly, staring resolutely at nothing. If he is afraid of a particular person, he has trouble looking them in the eye or keeping a steady voice. He wrinkles his nose, sometimes when concentrating or focusing on someone. When he's angry, he actually looks very neutral, except that his jaw is visibly tense. His vocal inflections are all over the place, sometimes even more expressive than his face. He has the misfortune of being a very readable person in a world of propriety.
Powers/Abilities:
On the physical end, he is a spectacular shot. He once took down a man on a roof at a near-impossible distance during the heat of battle. He is also agile and a very fast runner, with a good sense of balance, and his muscle tone is to be expected of someone who practically grew up on a ship. He is also an excellent swimmer.
He is a good leader, or he would never have made lieutenant. His understanding of tactics both on and off the shore is better than he generally credits himself for, and unlike his much-praised best friend, he knows a hopeless situation from the start. He knows ships and works well with firearms, particularly cannons. He is good at calculus and advanced geometry, well-read, and possesses an excellent memory.
Limitations:
He has been exempt from the hardest labor on a ship, having joined as a midshipman. His coordination and ability to think on his feet in a fight are not great. He can only hold his own in close combat if it involves weapons, and even then—well, close combat is how he died. In a fist fight against a skilled opponent, he wouldn't stand a chance.
His seizure disorder is psychological, not biological (at least, this is the route I am taking based on the apparent nature of this disease; for example, the fact that he is conscious during his seizures suggests something other than epilepsy), but it can knock him flat given certain emotional stimuli (it must be a very specific type of stress—he spent two years as a POW in Spain, one of the darkest points in his life, and never had a problem, but he had a seizure the same night that Horatio appeared and started talking about returning to the Indefatigable). Being someone who thinks with his heart more than his head, he does not always think before he speaks and can jump to conclusions and be impulsive to his own detriment and others'. He has always relied on Horatio to come up with some sort of plan in response to bad circumstances. He is not the most emotionally stable person.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
There was something about an inn, full of light and noise and drink and storytelling, that was enough like night life belowdecks that one Lieutenant Kennedy found himself awake well past a practical time. Blue Posts Inn was very good, for the most part. Horatio had already gone back to the Renown, but Archie wanted just a little more time with his feet on dry land and the capacity to pretend he was going back to an entirely different captain. Maybe he would stay the night here. Or what was left of the night, anyway, since there were only a few hours left of it.
He wasn't touching his beer. He had limited time left on shore leave and every reason to drink himself half to death, and wouldn't. Well, it wouldn't do to come back to the Renown inebriated anyway. Captain Sawyer would only accuse him of deliberately rendering himself unfit for duty as part of a conspiracy to make him look like a foolish man who couldn't keep his officers in line. The temptation to do so simply to spite his captain was resistible, but only just. Last time he was in Portsmouth, he and Horatio were drinking everything in sight, celebrating their transfer to such a distinguished command. Now, Archie could remember his first meeting with his captain. Before he'd spoken a word, Sawyer's eyes had narrowed, his mouth rolling into a smug smirk.
You have an insolent smile, Mr. Kennedy. Your impudence will undo you, mark my words.
The words alone had been justified enough, most likely. Pellew had warned him to control not only his tongue, but his eyes.
You see too much, Mr. Kennedy. If you ever make captain despite your flippancy and lack of self-control, it will serve you well. As a lieutenant, it would be wise not to see corruption where it exists in the navy.
Horatio sometimes accused him of seeing corruption where there was none, and perhaps it was true. Archie was prepared to see it anywhere, even if it came in the form of mere negligence. But more often than not, his instincts proved true, and when they didn't, at least he hadn't been wronged in the meantime. In the case of Sawyer, he was more and more certain he had been right. While he was more elegant and distinguished, he worked in the same way Jack Simpson had--if he could not own someone, he alienated them. Every one of his lieutenants was afraid to speak around him, for fear that they would say the wrong thing by accident. Every one, including Horatio, even if he would never admit it. But he didn't have to. Not to Archie. Archie simply knew.
He could recall the face of Mr. Clayton, barely, though the man was just over eight years dead. Stay with me as long as you like, Archie. He's in a foul mood tonight. Perhaps if you wait it out, he'll leave you be. As if waiting would accomplish anything more than postponement.
Still, Archie sat quietly in the Portsmouth inn, waiting it out for as long as he dared.
First Person Sample:
[Voice]
Oh come now, Mr. Hornblower. Don't pretend you didn't laugh.
I didn't do anything. I only told the boys the truth.
...Well, so to speak.
I didn't see you explaining to them that we aren't fighting literal frogs.
[Blog Post]
Citizens of Bell Pointe, let it be known that one Mister William Bush failed to pick up his Coat off the floor at the end of the day today. When an attempt was made to Notify him of his mistake, Mister Bush refused to receive the message. He refused, according to present Word, on the basis of being "on the toilet."
The Articles of War provide for a Punishment of a dozen lashes for Uncleanliness. As it is noted that this behavior is out of character for Mister Bush, it has been decided that his Punishment shall be reduced to Public Humiliation. This decision is not based on the lack of a Grating in Bell Pointe.
[Thread from dear_mun.]
Player Info
Player Name: Tori
Player LJ: tori-angeli
Player Instant Messenger Type and Handle: AIM is mtangeli
Player Email: phoenixrider at earthling dot net
Are you 18 years of age or older? Yes
Character Info
Character Name: Archie Kennedy
Character’s Age: Not given in canon, but since he's around the title character's age when they first meet, I portray him as 25.
Fandom: Hornblower (A&E series)
Timeline: Post-"Retribution" (sixth movie in the series)
Appearance: Allow me to introduce the midshipman of His Majesty's ship of the line Justinian. Known elsewise among her intimates as the good ship Slough of Despond.
He wears a lieutenant's uniform well and stands at an excellent enough attention, but his face gives him away as a naturally sanguine fellow. He has a hard time maintaining a stoic face even when he's trying, and it's rare for him to actually appear neutral. Most often, there's at least a shadow of a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
History: Nothing in canon states his origins outright, but there are a few clues. His speech and manner and the fact that he mentions his father's manservant suggest he comes from a well-to-do English family. The actor who portrayed him said, in an interview, “What I'm thinking, really, is he is probably fairly well off in terms of his background. My take on it was, he was the second or third son of some nobleman. Archie Kennedy is a Scottish name, so I thought he was Scottish gentry. His family probably wasn't terribly wealthy but was titled, and he went off to the navy to make his career. And he wasn't probably naturally suited to it.”
He joined the English navy as a midshipman aboard the ship-of-the-line Justinian and served for an undetermined amount of time before the King Louis' execution in 1793 brought England to war (based on typical military protocol for the time, he was most likely a volunteer aboard a ship since the age of eleven for about three years before becoming a midshipman). During his time on the Justinian, he got on very well with most of the crew, being a likable young man, but endured abuse at the hands of a senior midshipman who took to bullying his way to the top. The abuse, implied to be both physical and sexual, was traumatic enough to give Archie seizures in the presence (or threatened presence) of his abuser, but they presumably have not bothered him in years.
After King Louis was executed by his own people, he was transferred to the frigate Indefatigable to fight in the First Coalition. During a mission requiring secrecy, he had an ill-timed seizure and had to be knocked out and left in the jolly boat, where he was set adrift during the attack. Shortly after, he was captured by the French. They sent him to a Spanish prison, where he remained for two years. Multiple escape attempts earned him extended time in an oubliette. Fortune finally threw him a bone when his fellow midshipman, Horatio Hornblower, was captured with his men and sent to the same prison. Horatio took the half-mad and suicidal Kennedy into his stubborn care, nursing him back to health and earning himself the most devoted friend imaginable. They were later released for heroic behavior.
The two served together aboard the Indefatigable for several years until being transferred to the Renown as junior lieutenants under the command of Captain Sawyer. Sawyer, once a war hero, was quickly discovered to have grown senile and viciously paranoid in his old age. An unfortunate incident, for which both Horatio and Archie were present, caused Sawyer to fall into the hold, which nearly killed him. Upon their arrival at Kingston, Horatio was accused of pushing Sawyer and court-martialed for mutiny, but Archie, who had been mortally wounded days before, confessed falsely to save his friend's life and career. He succumbed to his wounds hours later.
Personality: Archie is high-spirited, with hot-running emotions and a sort of cheeky, boyish charm. A line in an early installment of the series reveals that he stays in touch with his family. As he grew, his cheekiness became full-out snarkiness and he made it his duty to keep his friends from getting too serious. The misfortunes of his past have served to make him stronger, and the fact that his high spirits survived them says much for his natural resilience and his closeness with the man who was ultimately his savior.
It is rare to see him solemn, but his emotions do run strongly both ways and he has been fighting a severe inferiority complex for years. He has come a long way since, thanks to Horatio. He has had several spells of bad depression caused by circumstances, as well as a conversion disorder that gave him seizures in the presence (or threatened presence) of his abuser aboard the Justinian. In El Ferrol, the location of the Spanish prison, he nearly starved himself to death when he was too weak to attempt suicide any other way, and he now has a fierce empathy for any victim of abuse, depression, or fear. When a teenage midshipman was unfairly beaten several times by Captain Sawyer, Archie quietly gave him tasks to keep his mind off the pain and attempted to defend him in front of the captain (this, unfortunately, only made things worse, which he was dismayed to discover).
Early in his career, there were instances of him panicking in a crisis. On his first mission as an acting lieutenant, he made a few poor calls and got trigger-happy simply from blind panic, but during the same mission, he learned to channel his fear and command his men with adequate authority. Because of instances like this, he insists that he is “a little prone to panic,” yet he recently leapt off a cliff into the ocean below with a man who could not swim (Lieutenant Bush) and another man who was afraid of heights (Horatio). More astonishingly, he voluntarily returned to El Ferrol with Horatio upon learning that his friend had given his parole that he would not escape (they were later released for heroic behavior). Death was admittedly terrifying for him, though Horatio was able to put him at some ease. Having an extensive history with physical pain, he does not have a tolerance per se, but many mental tricks he uses to take his mind off it. When he suffers, he suffers quietly if he can help it, though he has been known to mutter fitfully in his sleep during a nightmare. The life and stability he has he owes to Horatio, and because of this, it may be fortunate that he died first.
He devotes his life to his career on the sea, with which he has a sort of love-hate relationship in some ways, but the arts and theatre in particular are an actual passion for him. He once told Horatio, “I knew Drury Lane like it was my home.” He can quote entire passages from plays and knows the names and faces of actors. Music and literature are beloved to him, and he sometimes reads or studies in his spare time even though formal classes make him uncomfortable. Books were apparently one of his little ways to take refuge during the tense days aboard the Justinian (in the first episode, we see him resolutely buried in a book, trying for all the world to be invisible, while his abuser torments someone else). He also speaks and reads Spanish as a result of his long imprisonment in Spain and was beginning to teach it to Horatio in one episode.
His default expression involves the shadow of a cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye. If he is truly stoic, it can signify deep emotional turmoil. He has a tendency to lose himself in thought during quiet moments, especially stressful ones, where he appears to shut out the world in order to cope. He is not bullied easily nowadays, but that came at great cost, and it really is owed largely to the fact that Horatio's personality is stronger than his own. It cannot be emphasized enough that his friendship with Horatio is the most important thing he has. He is keenly aware of this, and that his best friend benefits constantly from favoritism. It is a fact that he used to resent deeply. He held it against Horatio in El Ferrol, fighting his shipmate's stubborn treatment until his own stubbornness ran out. Now, he somewhat mournfully accepts it, and with it his constant sense of inadequacy compared to Horatio (even if, all the same, he understands the importance of his role as Horatio's chief emotional supporter). He doesn't give himself enough credit where this is concerned, as he's not quite as dependent on Horatio as he thinks he is.
In regards to his attitude as a military man, he is more concerned with right and wrong than the chain of command. Under a more keen or brutal captain he would likely be called insubordinate. However, he maintains an awareness of this and keeps his comments subtle enough to be just shy of insubordination. Every so often his passion gets the better of him and he spits out something inappropriate about a superior—with good reason, always, but the English navy is iron-fisted when it comes to a man's words toward a superior. It's not over-the-top from the point of view of a modern-day civilian, but for an 18th-century navy man, it definitely crosses the line. He has a slim but stubborn rebellious streak that, at its heart, is a stab of revenge for the mistreatment aboard the Justinian that left him quietly submissive for so long. Mainly, it manifests itself as a tendency to question why superiors must be followed like gods, even if they are cruel or incompetent. In this way, he is ahead of his time. Aside from his criticism of the corrupt management, he loves what he does and is very good at what he does, but he's not true material for a commander. He's not precisely mischievous, but he is barely professional enough to be a lieutenant and skirts by on skill and talent rather than a true commander's forceful and solemn personality. If he had survived, it is unlikely he would have become a captain. That's not to say his men don't like him. He is too much like one of the ratings--more refined than they are, more poised and subtle, but still with a streak of immaturity.
He enjoys giving his friends a ribbing, his enemies a less gentle one, but he is ultimately an utterly harmless person, blameless but never naive. He's more of a troll than a trickster. His response to Horatio's question of “Are you out of your MIND?” was, “Very possibly, but we thought you could use the company.” As a lieutenant aboard the Renown, he once spent just a little too long during a vital mission looking through a telescope and giggling at the couple making out on the wall of the fort he was about to infiltrate (Lt. Bush had to remove the telescope from his hands before he would stop, giving him a gentle chastisement). Having lived for years among rough (but not bad) company since he was an impressionable boy, there is very little he hasn't heard, seen, or thought of. If there is more than one way to construe something he has said, the less innocent option is almost always what he means, though he is a master of disguised insults and passive aggression. While he stands at attention as well as anyone, he is never, ever above thinking Brest is a funny name for a place.
Altogether, he is an interesting mix of cynicism and altruism. Even if he is secretly a pessimist, he uses it as a springboard for his sense of compassion. Because he doesn't trust that just anyone will intervene in a bad situation, he is not one to stand by while someone else suffers--not anymore, at least, if his interactions with Mr. Wellard in canon are any example at all. He has an intense hatred of cruelty and will not wish it even on his worst enemies. When one of his men panics, Archie responds with both firmness and understanding, the latter of which is rare in the navy. In The Duchess and the Devil, another midshipman denounced him, proclaiming him an unworthy midshipman because of his seizures and arguing in favor of letting him die to save them all the trouble. When the midshipman was shot, it was Archie who tended him, bandaging his wounds and insisting that the man eat in spite of the despair that overwhelmed him. "Stay strong! He'll need you!" were Archie's words, echoing what Horatio told him while nursing him back to health. On the flip side, his cynicism means he can snap to judgments about people quickly. He and Lt. Bush did not get along at first, and Archie very much appeared to write him off as Captain Sawyer's yes-man until Bush proved himself capable of independent thought. While any bitterness will never, never overrule his sense of compassion, the ease with which he judges, especially those in power, is certainly a fault of his.
He has a few recurring tics and mannerisms. When afraid, he tenses his jaw and blinks very rapidly, staring resolutely at nothing. If he is afraid of a particular person, he has trouble looking them in the eye or keeping a steady voice. He wrinkles his nose, sometimes when concentrating or focusing on someone. When he's angry, he actually looks very neutral, except that his jaw is visibly tense. His vocal inflections are all over the place, sometimes even more expressive than his face. He has the misfortune of being a very readable person in a world of propriety.
Powers/Abilities:
On the physical end, he is a spectacular shot. He once took down a man on a roof at a near-impossible distance during the heat of battle. He is also agile and a very fast runner, with a good sense of balance, and his muscle tone is to be expected of someone who practically grew up on a ship. He is also an excellent swimmer.
He is a good leader, or he would never have made lieutenant. His understanding of tactics both on and off the shore is better than he generally credits himself for, and unlike his much-praised best friend, he knows a hopeless situation from the start. He knows ships and works well with firearms, particularly cannons. He is good at calculus and advanced geometry, well-read, and possesses an excellent memory.
Limitations:
He has been exempt from the hardest labor on a ship, having joined as a midshipman. His coordination and ability to think on his feet in a fight are not great. He can only hold his own in close combat if it involves weapons, and even then—well, close combat is how he died. In a fist fight against a skilled opponent, he wouldn't stand a chance.
His seizure disorder is psychological, not biological (at least, this is the route I am taking based on the apparent nature of this disease; for example, the fact that he is conscious during his seizures suggests something other than epilepsy), but it can knock him flat given certain emotional stimuli (it must be a very specific type of stress—he spent two years as a POW in Spain, one of the darkest points in his life, and never had a problem, but he had a seizure the same night that Horatio appeared and started talking about returning to the Indefatigable). Being someone who thinks with his heart more than his head, he does not always think before he speaks and can jump to conclusions and be impulsive to his own detriment and others'. He has always relied on Horatio to come up with some sort of plan in response to bad circumstances. He is not the most emotionally stable person.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
There was something about an inn, full of light and noise and drink and storytelling, that was enough like night life belowdecks that one Lieutenant Kennedy found himself awake well past a practical time. Blue Posts Inn was very good, for the most part. Horatio had already gone back to the Renown, but Archie wanted just a little more time with his feet on dry land and the capacity to pretend he was going back to an entirely different captain. Maybe he would stay the night here. Or what was left of the night, anyway, since there were only a few hours left of it.
He wasn't touching his beer. He had limited time left on shore leave and every reason to drink himself half to death, and wouldn't. Well, it wouldn't do to come back to the Renown inebriated anyway. Captain Sawyer would only accuse him of deliberately rendering himself unfit for duty as part of a conspiracy to make him look like a foolish man who couldn't keep his officers in line. The temptation to do so simply to spite his captain was resistible, but only just. Last time he was in Portsmouth, he and Horatio were drinking everything in sight, celebrating their transfer to such a distinguished command. Now, Archie could remember his first meeting with his captain. Before he'd spoken a word, Sawyer's eyes had narrowed, his mouth rolling into a smug smirk.
You have an insolent smile, Mr. Kennedy. Your impudence will undo you, mark my words.
The words alone had been justified enough, most likely. Pellew had warned him to control not only his tongue, but his eyes.
You see too much, Mr. Kennedy. If you ever make captain despite your flippancy and lack of self-control, it will serve you well. As a lieutenant, it would be wise not to see corruption where it exists in the navy.
Horatio sometimes accused him of seeing corruption where there was none, and perhaps it was true. Archie was prepared to see it anywhere, even if it came in the form of mere negligence. But more often than not, his instincts proved true, and when they didn't, at least he hadn't been wronged in the meantime. In the case of Sawyer, he was more and more certain he had been right. While he was more elegant and distinguished, he worked in the same way Jack Simpson had--if he could not own someone, he alienated them. Every one of his lieutenants was afraid to speak around him, for fear that they would say the wrong thing by accident. Every one, including Horatio, even if he would never admit it. But he didn't have to. Not to Archie. Archie simply knew.
He could recall the face of Mr. Clayton, barely, though the man was just over eight years dead. Stay with me as long as you like, Archie. He's in a foul mood tonight. Perhaps if you wait it out, he'll leave you be. As if waiting would accomplish anything more than postponement.
Still, Archie sat quietly in the Portsmouth inn, waiting it out for as long as he dared.
First Person Sample:
[Voice]
Oh come now, Mr. Hornblower. Don't pretend you didn't laugh.
I didn't do anything. I only told the boys the truth.
...Well, so to speak.
I didn't see you explaining to them that we aren't fighting literal frogs.
[Blog Post]
Citizens of Bell Pointe, let it be known that one Mister William Bush failed to pick up his Coat off the floor at the end of the day today. When an attempt was made to Notify him of his mistake, Mister Bush refused to receive the message. He refused, according to present Word, on the basis of being "on the toilet."
The Articles of War provide for a Punishment of a dozen lashes for Uncleanliness. As it is noted that this behavior is out of character for Mister Bush, it has been decided that his Punishment shall be reduced to Public Humiliation. This decision is not based on the lack of a Grating in Bell Pointe.
[Thread from dear_mun.]