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

[voice]

[simplestgift]

Has this Irish fiddler seen anything like what you've seen?

Re: [Voice]

[memoryboxes]

In that case, it's especially important that I get him something. Where does he live? What does he like? As a gift, I mean.

[Voice]

[simplestgift]

House thirty-six, and he always likes something practical. Or perhaps something that reminds him of home.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...

His girlfriend was stolen by a ghost.

And his brother collects stories of things people have seen. Some that Christy's even seen. That's the book I brought you.

It's just... the Professor called it The World As We Know It. How people have just agreed on what is or is not possible. And if something doesn't fit that mold, they try to find another explanation for it. Any explanation. So the fae creature running across the road? Was just a piece of paper blowing past. And the girls with feathers in their hair were just teenagers...and they most definitely weren't crows a few minutes before.

It doesn't matter what they see. They believe something else entirely.

Re: [Voice]

[memoryboxes]

And what do you think would remind him of home?

[Detailed lists, Archie! Details!]

[voice]

[simplestgift]

[There's a thoughtful pause.]

That's something, it is. Not the sort of thing I'm used to thinking on.

[Voice]

[simplestgift]

Anything to do with a ship. Anything at all.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Well..that's the point.

We aren't used to thinking on it. And we aren't told that we should be. After all, we know what can and can't be real, so why would we look for the rest?

[except she'd always seen them, those little glimpses you could only see from the corner of your eyes. And, for most of her life, she'd believed. Even when she didn't realize it]

[voice]

[simplestgift]

My nurse when I was a boy always said she said fairies. Our governess when I was older said not to pay her stories any mind, but I was never sure.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

I guess I always just choose to believe. Maybe they're lying or simply have overactive imaginations...but maybe they're telling the truth.

And the world's a more interesting place by far if they are.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

I know who I believe now, surely.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

[a laugh] Maybe you can help me convince Geordie, if he ever does show up.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

What convinced me was coming here.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

It is kind of hard to deny, isn't it?

Re: [Voice]

[memoryboxes]

I understand! I'll do my best to find something for your friend Horatio-san!

[DETERMINATION. She has it now.]

[herotypical]

Traditional. Do you realize how...funny that kinda thing sounds coming from you?

[ voice ]

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Call it a hunch, but something tells me I don't think he'll appreciate this.

[ because they are bros in name and grumpiness. sort of. ]

[ voice ]

[simplestgift]

He'll appreciate it a little. Eventually.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

Entirely impossible.

When are you coming over to paint?

[Voice]

[simplestgift]

It isn't an obligation, you know. I don't think you've even met.

[But this is still darling.]

[voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

If I'd been writing it, shots would've actually been fired, but it's not my book. [Seriously, Archie, what's going on.]

[simplestgift]

He's traditional for my time, Buffy. If you think I'm old-fashioned, you'll have a lovely time learning about him.

[herotypical]

...He's not going to try and burn me at the stake for wearing jeans, is he?

[voice]

[simplestgift]

Shots were fired, Mrs. Eaton. [He is so relieved.] The last one put a hole in Simpson's chest and it came from his own captain, as he deserved. [Oh but it is weird to say that name to someone he barely knows. This has been the strangest conversation of his life, and a deeply disturbing one.] Moreover, stop talking about it as if it didn't happen, and us as if we don't exist. And don't, don't talk about Simpson, not to anyone.

[simplestgift]

Oh, he isn't hopeless. I daresay he'll learn a thing or two from women like you. Just pop him one if he ever offends you. But don't damage him too much, Horatio and I need him to carry things for at least two more weeks.