simplestgift | Eleven Bells: [Action/Written] Oddly Introverted Today

[Tonight, Archie is out in the woods, walking along the river instead of the path toward the southern lake. Something about being away from the village, in the solitude of the woods, with the sky going on for miles above him, is closer than anything else to the openness of the sea. The strange thing is that Archie was never too poetic about the sea itself--it was the ships he loved, not the water they sailed on. But now that the sea is far away and there is no ship to sail upon it, he finds himself very homesick for that endless expanse. So he walks by moonlight, gathering his thoughts and finding as much tranquility as he can in the woods.

When he returns home through the village, it will be past midnight. He'll stare at the furnished, unlived-in bedroom in his apartment, set up for someone who never comes. In the morning, he'll wake up on the couch, beneath the mural of the Indefatigable. Eventually, he'll write an unsigned message on the journal network.]

When the wind embraces all the world between the sky and sea,
It speaks in my ear of the left-behind, dear friend, it speaks of thee.
I wish you a journey far and long and spirits high and free,
And hope that the wind still speaks to you, dear friend, and speaks of me.

[A few minutes later, he'll scribble the whole thing out.

In the morning, anyone will be able to find him about, grocery shopping mostly, but also just browsing the shelves idly. He'll hit Good Spirits a little earlier than usual and drink a little more than normal.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

More like at the same time as Jack.

[ ...yes, with jack. though what she writes holds true -- for the most part, they haven't even been spending time together. ]

I see.

[More or less.]

[ she could complain -- but that might come too close to admitting that there was a problem. jack's penalty. ]

First time I've seen a beach in over three years. Beautiful.

I thought you'd only been here for two years.

Edited 2011-05-08 04:58 (UTC)

That's exactly right -- but the year before I came here was spent pretty beachless. After we left California.

Scotland's an island, you know.

[He doesn't get it.]

If you'd ever been to California, you'd get the difference. [ their castle hadn't been coastal; scotland's weather was nothing like home. ] Also? Not a lot of down time when you're leading an army of teenage girls.

[Oh. Enjoying the beach for its own sake.]

I've been to the West Indies, and I do understand the difference. Beaches were not the focus at the time.

They're the epitome of R&R. I'm looking forward to when the weather heats up.

So am I. Jack tells me we sail in June, if he's telling the truth.

He's telling the truth -- but I didn't know you were sailing with him.

[ but now she supposes that makes sense. ]

Oh.

Yes, it was our agreement. I was to sail with him if I beat him in a fight.

I heard about the fight, but not about the agreement.

You can hold him to it, then.

Making Captain Jack Sparrow stick to his oaths? Not really in the job description.

[ she teases, really. ]

Yes, but he's more frightened of you than he is of me.

[ frightened? buffy is coming to doubt that. jack knows better, now. she isn't in the business of hurting humans. there are other things to be frightened of, though. things that weren't violence. ]

I'm not his mom -- I'll do my best to keep him from getting overly criminal but do you really want a tiny blonde intervening on your behalf? Really?

I've no other hope, Buffy.

Calm down, Leia. [ star wars references? for the out-of-time sailor? bad form! ]

Jack's a captain, right? He'll want a crew. My money's on him needing you to puff up his captainy ego. Maybe he worded it like an agreement but you're the one doing him a favour.

You present quite a compelling argument, Buffy.

I've known him for over a year. I think I'm just about getting to the point where I can figure enough of him out for compelling argument's sake.

[ ...or not. sometimes it still feels like she hardly knows him at all. ]

Is he really so difficult to learn?

[But Archie comes from a world where each man is allowed eighteen inches of width in which to sleep, while other men have the eighteen inches to his right and left. At that kind of close quarters, people weren't that difficult to learn.]

Tougher than I first gave him credit for, that's for sure.

How so?

[ she pauses. how much should she try and say? at what point would her own feelings be betrayed? she doesn't really want archie to know how involved she is with jack, no matter how obvious it might be from the outside. it's the confirmation she doesn't want to give. ]

Just -- his first impression isn't really the right one, I don't think.

[ written; private ]

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