Fifteen Bells: [ACTION/WRITTEN]

[simplestgift]

[Archie woke up yesterday.  How is this new?  Well, after getting some fairly critical stab wounds from Grell, he was put on a ventilator and kept under sedation for a few days.  The ventilator was exchanged for a less impressive-looking concentrator yesterday and he was taken off sedation.  He spent yesterday sleeping anyway, since anesthesia doesn't generally leave you bright-eyed immediately afterward.

This morning, he is talking and eating Jell-o, which is a new experience. The most important bit comes written on the journal network in wobbly handwriting courtesy of the heart monitor clipped on his finger.]

I have been informed that I may have visitors. I'd like to know everyone is all right.

Kennedy

[Anyone who comes in will find him looking predictably weak and pale but lucid and in good spirits, or possibly catnapping after a dose of painkillers.

OOC: Purely for the sake of mercy, Archie is unaffected by the event.]

Comments

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

How old were you when you went to sea for the first time?

[simplestgift]

Eleven. A volunteer for three years, usually running powder, then I was rated midshipman. An officer-candidate, if you will. I was acting-lieutenant at...[his face screws up to remember]...eighteen, I believe.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

Wow. You must be quite the sailor, then. [Dude, eighteen? Also, she doesn't really know what acting-lieutenant means, so she might be more impressed than Archie deserves.]

[simplestgift]

Well, no. Most everyone joined round eleven or so. [That's usually the part he gets funny reactions to.] And fourteen was a common starting age for a midshipman.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

I guess it's different in your time period...

[simplestgift]

It's different in every time period.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

What does an acting-lieutenant do?

[simplestgift]

The duties of a lieutenant. But he's still a midshipman. It's a field promotion that can be confirmed later if he passes or has already passed the examination for lieutenant.

[And yes, he pronounces "lieutenant" with an "eff."]

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

What does a lieutenant do then? [She's been pronouncing it the way Archie has, though in a second it's going to hit her.]

[simplestgift]

He's...an officer. [He's never encountered anyone who didn't know this, although he supposes she was literally in a bubble all her life.] His chief duty is to command the guns. If all goes well, he'll be promoted to commander, with his own little ship, then post-captain. Once you've made post-captain, all you have to do to make admiral is stay alive.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

Are you still an acting lieutenant? [How close are you to being an admiral?]

[simplestgift]

Actually, I'm a commissioned lieutenant now. Have been for the last several years.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful! What ship do you sail on?

[simplestgift]

Most lately, the Renown, under Captain Sawyer. I was fourth lieutenant.

[The past tense slips out without even a thought.]

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

What sort of things did you do on the Renown? [This is so fascinating!]

[simplestgift]

Commanded and drilled the guns. Gave the captain's orders. Commanded cutting-out expeditions and boarding parties, when they came about. Stood watch, looked after the crew. Once, we took over a fort in Samana Bay. Captured three Spanish ships without shedding a drop of blood.

[Dodged the captain, helped start a mutiny, watched a dear friend get beaten half to death, abandoned the corpses of thirty-three deserters to the crabs, picked up the pieces while the incompetent first lieutenant bumbled all about the place, got shot and killed...]

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[You're not the first person she's met who died before coming here.]

Did you ever meet any pirates?

[Because clearly that's what English navy ships in the nineteenth century did all day. Ah, Hollywood.]

[simplestgift]

Privateers, by the bushel. But the glory days of pirates were long before I was born.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

What's the difference between a privateer and a pirate?

[simplestgift]

A privateer is sanctioned, a pirate is not. A pirate attacks whoever he pleases, but a privateer answers to some king or other and won't attack that king's ships.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

But they're basically the same thing? Just that one's on a leash and the other isn't? [Now she's wondering how many famous pirates were actually privateers and is ready to be quite disappointed.]

[simplestgift]

More or less, in deed. Though there's a bit of honor associated with privateers that isn't given to pirates, because at least privateers serve someone.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

What about sea monsters? [Now she's sort of joking, but man, if you ever did see some sea monsters, she'd love to hear about it.]

[simplestgift]

No sea monsters, no. Not unless you count Styles, which most men did.

[intangible-girl.livejournal.com]

[Soft giggle.] Styles?