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

[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.

[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.

[simplestgift]

I'm happy for you. Who?

[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.

[simplestgift]

[Flashback to Spike threatening to eat Archie if he hurt Dawn.]

Is he anything like the other one?

[herotypical]

Spike? Oh, uhm...no. They're -- pretty different. Angel's had his for a lot longer. [ and unlike spike, angel was less than bestest buds with the tiniest summers. ]

[simplestgift]

Is he a friend?

[herotypical]

...I should be embarrassed by how difficult that question is to answer. He's -- he's an ally. With occasional friendly leanings. [ a beat before she jumps to clarify something that archie -- unaware of their history or the curse -- really didn't need to have clarified at all: ] But not too friendly!

[simplestgift]

[herotypical]

We dated.

[simplestgift]

Ah, yes. Part of your history.

[She was drunk when she spouted off her long list of failed romances, though.]

[herotypical]

Yes! And history's the best word for for it. Very much...in the past. And done with. And over. [ thought it's still odd and there's so much unspoken, there. ]

[simplestgift]

If truth could be judged by how emphatic one is about it, this would be the greatest truth of them all.

[herotypical]

...Your moral support is touching. [ ... ] And I think I need to fire whatever higher power is managing my social life because Jack comes back and then the next day Angel shows up. That's just -- that's cruel and unusual.

[simplestgift]

...I think it was very kind of said higher power to bring Jack back to us, regardless of the circumstances.

[herotypical]

[ her sudden smile should be indication enough of how she feels on that subject, but: ] Don't get me wrong. Jack, back? Kind of like Christmas and a birthday and a bouquet-of-flowers-just-because all wrapped up into one.

[simplestgift]

Flowers! [That's something to add to his list of Things To Do For Dawn When She Gets Back.] Erm. Yes. It's very exciting.

[herotypical]

..Try some really bright gerbera daisies. Aerith at the flower shop should be able to hook you up. [ she dispenses this advice smoothly and casually -- as though she knows what archie is thinking on the matter. ]

I just -- Jack has this big understandable hate-on for vampires and Angel...[ a shrug. ]

[simplestgift]

...Why does he hate him? Has Angel been here before?

[herotypical]

Mmhm. He was here when I first arrived, but he doesn't remember...and as for the hate? I can just tell. Slayer's intuition. [ and a strangely over-protectively possessive streak a couple of miles wide in the vampire. ]

[simplestgift]

No reason he hates him?

[herotypical]

Oh, I mean -- will hate. That will be one messy meeting, Archie.

[simplestgift]

Do I need to drug him?

[herotypical]

...Let's opt out of the potential felonies, this time. I'll -- it'll smooth over. It's gotta. He just needs to realize that I've made my choice.

[ buffy be less vague with pronouns. ]