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]

Lead the way, Mr Kennedy, lead the way. I daresay I don't relish being caught in your shirts, but I'll survive somehow.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

They look just like Horatio's, and like your own whenever they arrive. It might take them a day or two, but they should have your uniform in the shop before long.

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

Lord, my uniform. Well, I shan't complain about that. [He sips his coffee.] When you're ready.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

[He downs the rest of his coffee.] I'm ready.

[herotypical]

...Oh, so instead he can try and burn me at the stake for being a Slayer. It wouldn't be the first time.

[ SHE IS STILL JOKING. ]

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

[William finishes his coffee likewise. He dusts himself off, coughs, and decides in that instant that he's ready for the day. Barely human before you have your coffee, really. Okay.] After you.

[simplestgift]

Don't be silly, Buffy. The navy doesn't practice burning at the stake--it would set the ship afire. No, we hang Slayers from the yardarm along with everybody else.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

[Archie leads him out the door and ignores the path entirely, cutting through the grass to get to the square.] Where shall we begin? Clothes, or bedroom?

[herotypical]

...Points for originality. I've never been tried-to-be-killed in quite that way before.

[simplestgift]

Well, we don't have a gallows on a ship, so we use what we have available. A gallows would take up space.

Though I did know a Frenchman who carried around his own guillotine.

[herotypical]

...Yikes. Like -- how? I mean, I can't imagine it was pocket-sized.

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

[Ohh, living on the edge, Archie. William follows.] I think I can manage to go clothes shopping myself; if you'll just tell me where it is, I'll get my own later. Bedroom's fine, for now.

[simplestgift]

I should say he had his men cart it about for him. It was his personal baggage. [The last two words in a French accent.]

[herotypical]

[ a laugh. very entertaining, troll-lieutenant. ]

Classy.

[simplestgift]

Yes. Very. [He ponders whether or not to tell her the Frenchman used it to slaughter half the people in his village. Talking with Buffy is a lot like talking with another military type, sometimes. He concludes that depressing Buffy is not the objective and takes another drink.]

Damned French.

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

[a laugh] You haven't met Geordie. He'll probably insist it's all a dream.

[a smile] When do you want me to?

[herotypical]

And their verbs. Those things are brutal to conjugate.

[ she pours herself a soda. and then she launches into part of her new let's be more fair and honest with archie regime: ] Someone from my home showed up too, by the way.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

[He goes against the flow, man. Non-conformism.]

Bedroom it is. [He steers them both in the direction of the general store.] I should forewarn you that there are some fairly perplexing things in these stores, and I can't rightly say what they all are, but I can make a guess.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

Any time you like. It isn't as if we do much, lately. God provided us William at a time when Horatio and I are both forbidden to do much of anything productive.

[simplestgift]

I'm happy for you. Who?

[voice]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

How bad is it? Horatio's injuries?

...he wouldn't give me a straight answer. [she's trusting them on this, but she doesn't have to sound happy about it]

[action.]

[yrobtsvt.livejournal.com]

[Rebel rebel. William shrugs:] Kennedy, I've seen a man blown all to pieces during a broadside; I don't think I can be much shocked anymore.

[herotypical]

Someone I haven't seen in a very, very long time. Angel. He -- [ hmm. they still sort of defied definition, really. ] He's the other vampire with a soul.

[voice]

[simplestgift]

Not so bad. He's taking medicine to keep it from festering.

[action.]

[simplestgift]

And I've seen more than one, Mister Bush. It's the future I'm talking about, centuries into it. They have very strange things, there. Why, Jilly was playing music for me on a device you can hold in your hand. She pressed a button and it came out, clear as daylight.