Seventeen Bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION]

[simplestgift]

On July the 4th, 1776, one Horatio Hornblower was born in Kent.  If you see him, bid him many happy returns.  He will most likely grump about it all day and act ungrateful, but don't allow it to discourage you.  He does appreciate it, he simply does not know it.

[For most of the day, Archie will be running around trying to furnish a bedroom in the house for a new housemate. He'll end up in the library, Good Spirits, the grocery store, then finally the Battle Dome, mostly staring in bewilderment at the controls before deciding this is too scary and leaving. At some point, he'll also take a walk in the woods, rain or no rain, in shirtsleeves and waistcoat but no coat. After a while, he'll get back on the journals.]

[Filtered away from Grell, 44%]

If you wanted to surprise someone dear to you, to cheer her up when she returned from being kidnapped, what would you do for her?

Comments

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

[William scoffs.] Must be a Hell of a library. I can't imagine, Archie, really I can't. [He means... everything. The library, the wings, the people, the different worlds. All of it. Everything.]

[herotypical]

...Down, boy. Or do we need to start a fan club?

[ TEASING. ]

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Well, that would be the point.

[voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Well, golly, Archie, she'll read his mind beforehand next time.]

The Hotspur? [She has to think for a moment or two, since she's been reading the books as they come out, not in chronological order.] Well, never mind about the foot, then.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

It takes time. When I arrived, I didn't know anyone. It was a day or so before I even ventured out to eat.

[But talking, thinking, about those first few days after dying and before settling in is sort of uncomfortable, now that he's started.]

[voice]

[simplestgift]

All you did was sign a bit of paper that day, you know.

Re: [Written]

[consultmybooks]

I've heard they go well together.

[simplestgift]

[Only slightly deflated:] He's extraordinary. Doesn't know it at all.

[herotypical]

Are you sure? 'Cause if you say it as often around him as you do around me...

[ one small scotch, coming up. ]

[Written]

[simplestgift]

Then that's what it shall be. What else?

[voice]

[simplestgift]

[His voice is hushed.] ...Do the books say something about him losing a foot? In the future?

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

[laughing] I wouldn't discount it. They do say the pen is mightier than the sword.

Re: [Written]

[consultmybooks]

Something relating back to the outdoors.

People who are kidnapped don't really have the chance to get outside very much.

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

Well, I shan't be so shy as you, I'm afraid. [Any subtleties indicating that this is a delicate topic fly right past William.] I'll need a good tour of the place soon enough.

For now, though... [He shrugs, sips his coffee, and continues on packing away the groceries.] For now, I think I focus on that room of mine. [He says it with some pride; it is the biggest room he has ever been able to call 'his' with any amount of truth.]

[simplestgift]

He never believes it. [OH SWEET NECTAR FROM OLYMPUS. He takes the glass and drinks.] Buffy, being hit by a cannonball turns a man into red slush. An explosive shell can destroy a ship, between the explosion and the fires it causes.

[voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[There's a long pause; she really isn't in the mood to be anyone's Cassandra, even if Archie believes her. But at the same time, she can't just drop a bombshell like that one and refuse to give him the details. When she does speak, it's somberly.]

Flying Colours. Or maybe Ship of the Line, I can never remember which. Dunno I really ought to tell you exactly how it goes down. [After all, Archie, it's not your foot.]

[voice]

[simplestgift]

I'd like to see an army wielding pens, for a change. How do you like William?

[Written]

[simplestgift]

Of course not. Outdoors, then, so long as she's up to walking.

[Or he might carry her.]

[voice]

[simplestgift]

[Oh, Archie's not about to tell William a word of this.]

And you believe these books to be quite accurate?

[herotypical]

...I get it. You just sit back and enjoy your drink.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

It would be a nice change.

He's a friend of yours. That's good enough for me. I haven't really had a chance to talk to him much.

Re: [Written]

[consultmybooks]

There are plenty of nice spaces around and about within easy walking distance.

[voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Shrug. Completely useless shrug.]

You gotta understand--where I'm from, you're all about as real as Doctor McCoy. [There's a "real McCoy" joke in here somewhere, but now is not the time.] I assume they line up with what happened to you, back home, but I can't really tell you for sure, since I don't really know what's real for you three.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

[It wasn't just the adjustment to Luceti, it was grasping the fact that this is all there is for him now.]

Yes, the room. The shop has bedsheets and counterpanes, and all sorts of pillows. Any furnishings you like, I can help...

[Oh damn. He can't lift anything for two more weeks.]

Help you make a selection.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

[There's a pause. He doesn't get the reference to McCoy--McCoy is real.]

Can you tell me one of the stories of Horatio as a midshipman? Does the book go back that far?