simplestgift | Seventeen Bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION]

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Seventeen Bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION]

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.]

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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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mrs Eaton

There is nothing to forgive. Moreover, my reaction would have been the same were you a man, which does not speak well of me, but perhaps indicates that my respect for you is not lessened by your sex. [Worse, actually. You're supposed to treat a woman kindly.] I did not mean to order you about. I am only worried about interested parties who may exploit anything they learn from you. Mr Simpson was no ordinary bully, and I must confess that it greatly troubles me to think what might have been written about him.

-Kennedy

[His reply gives her pause. She wasn't that obvious, was she, that he felt the need to bring up the fact of her sex? Kay's willing to air her injustices freely; the marks they've left on her, far less so. Better that she should focus her reply on something that doesn't implicate her.]

If that's what you're concerned about, Mr. Kennedy, I'd be happy to tell you whatever I can remember about his part of the book. Otherwise, you still have my promise that I won't say anything about him to others.

—K

[There is a long, long pause, so long Kay might give up on hearing from him. In the end, though, he has to know.]

What does it say about him?

[The reply might come some hours later, but she said she'd tell him, and she will.]

Here's what I remember. I think I last read it a year or two ago.

-Beats the other midshipmen
-Makes Hornblower recite poetry before the others
-Forester calls it an inquisition, I think — twists all kinds of information out of Hornblower

I know there's more, but I don't remember the rest. Any of that ring a bell?

[His reply comes later still, after he wakes up.]

He made him dance, not recite poetry. Otherwise, yes.

[The Inquisition was the worst thing she remembered, probably. Simpson was always hardest on those who had no "dirty little secrets." He would have to tell Horatio about this.]

I tried to think of more things, but I couldn't, so those must have been the main ones. Not too much — but it sounded terrible.

There are many reasons Pellew shot him like a dog, in the end.

I always liked Captain Pellew.

He's a captain to redeem the title. Did the book say anything about the battle with the Droits de l'Homme?

[The crowning moment of awesome for Pellew, to Archie. That and shooting Simpson. And trolling Horatio.]

The Droits de l'Homme? I don't remember it off the top of my head, but it might be in there somewhere. What happened then?

The Indy battled a 74 on her own during a storm, for some time till the Amazon arrived. One death, a handful of wounded for the Indy, and we sunk the Frenchman. Pellew was bold as brass, challenging her that way.

Sounds like a great battle — I can't believe I don't remember it at all. Like I said, you'd be better off if Jules was here, too. Sometimes I think he has those books about memorized.

[There's a hesitation before the next message.]

Do the books speak of Captain Sawyer?

Oh, that one just came out last year — that one's a great book, really well-written. Pushed down the hold, and no one knows who did it. And then there's the mutiny, Bush nearly getting killed, the enquiry —

[But hey, she promised.]

I can't imagine it was all that pleasant, but it makes a fine story.

[Another long pause.]

How did the court-marital end?

The enquiry? Hornblower's made commander and Buckland stays a lieutenant.

Are you saying there wasn't even a question asked of whether or not Horatio pushed Captain Sawyer?

Oh, there is — that's the point of the enquiry. Nothing's ever really decided for sure, though, and since Captain Sawyer's dead anyhow, they sort of give up.

[It's a while before the reply is written.]

I understand.

[What was he expecting? He should have been able to guess something like this. But to be erased from history so completely...

He'd known what he was doing. He just hadn't expected to see the consequences.]

Did it happen differently?

[There's neither confirmation nor denial of her version, and while it might be treading on thin ice, Archie knows how to say he doesn't want to talk about it.]

Quite differently. [Another pause.] It took the intervention of a friend to save Hornblower from the noose.

[This is not a story Archie has told many people, but he somehow wants to prove his realness, and not just to her. Though he won't continue unless asked explicitly.]

Seems like that'd be no small task. [She doesn't suspect him of "my friend"ing her, as it were, and so replies as though they're talking about some unknown third party.] What happened to him?

He took the blame for pushing Sawyer.

[Resisting the urge to write "I got that," resisting. Here, she'll do some of the guesswork.]

Same punishment as they were threatening Hornblower with?

It would have been, had he not been wounded in battle before. He died a short while later.

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