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

[simplestgift]

"This is another reason we need you here, Sparrow--to make up words." The drink is hitting Archie now. "I take it you are still mortal."

[all7seas]

"You think I would've drunk someone else's years away, Kennedy?!"

Now he was getting all huffy. Good one, Archie.

[simplestgift]

"Sarcasm, Jack."

[all7seas]

"Aye. Still mortal. And free of Blackbeard, now. Barbossa ran off with the Revenge, I'll wager---but not before Gibbs freed the Pearl. Here---his mark:"

And Jack drew down the collar of his shirt to display that ugly voodoo symbol to the lieutenant. "He used a doll to do it."

[simplestgift]

"He used a what? Some sort of devilry?" That scar was giving him what men of his time called "the creeps."

[all7seas]

"Mixed magics, aye---springing from the devil's own two horns I'll wager. But that was Blackbeard. His soul was in danger of perishing, which was why Angelica nabbed me in the first place."

He pulled the shirt back down. Jack wasn't overfond of sharing the mark, but Kennedy's expression had been worth it.

[simplestgift]

"You said this Barbossa fellow took the Revenge. I take it Angelica wasn't successful in her endeavor."

[all7seas]

"She....survived. That was success enough. Others may try to steer a man's soul for him, but in the end it's his own choices that either land him in the ceiling or the cellar.


Speaking of----whatever happened with Hornblower bein' up in my attic?"

Because he certainly wasn't there now.

[simplestgift]

"Ah. He didn't stay, after you went home."

[all7seas]

"You let him go, didn't you." Sterner stuff, Archie. You had to be made of sterner stuff to be a proper kidnapper.

[simplestgift]

There was a pause.

"You were taking care of him, and it didn't feel right to move into your house."

[all7seas]

"So you kept an eye on him at yours? Probably...probably better, that."

[simplestgift]

"They fought their duel, Jack. It's settled." A beat. "She let him live."

[all7seas]

"....Is it done, then? Is it over?" He had been sent home; Hornblower had done the formal thing expected of him. Could they put it all behind them?

[simplestgift]

"It's settled. I don't know who else she might hurt, but it's settled between them. And possibly between us. I'm afraid we're at Grell's mercy for that."

[all7seas]

So everything most likely was going to remain the same. Avoidances, plotting, secrecy. Jack was good with it. He didn't like the idea of the death god still being here and still carrying any kind of grudge. Jack trusted Grell about as far as he could throw her, in the end.

"Settled. Settled's good, for as long as it lasts."

[simplestgift]

"For as long as it lasts," Archie agreed. "She's got only herself to blame, wanting to be threatening and anonymous all at once. 'Canna sell the cou an sup the milk.'"

[all7seas]

"Aye. And why purchase said cou when you can sup the milk for free?"

Wires were getting crossed, somewhere, but overall Jack agreed with the other man and lifted his glass in recognition before downing more rum.

[simplestgift]

Archie lifted his own glass and sipped. "She doesn't even look very much like a woman, you know," he babbled on, the whiskey taking full force at last. "Broad shoulders, very...very flat in front, although that is the way with some women. And I was always very confused, listening to her, was not at all sure what sex she was. But she does not object to being called Miss Sutcliffe, so Miss Sutcliffe it is. And she has a blade that moves. Very fast. Therefore, Miss Sutcliffe it is."

[all7seas]

"Miss Sutcliffe, as you call her, is deadly." Another sip. "I never intended to tell, you know. I kept that secret for nearly six months. It was only Katie who knew, because she saved me. It...slipped out. To Buffy, one night. Accidental."

[simplestgift]

"She wanted blood, she was going to have it, Jack. She just used you as her excuse that time. Sell the cou, sup the milk. She wants blood and friends. It'll never work. She kept me alive because she likes me. I offered her forgiveness if she wouldn't fight Horatio, you know. She sounded like she wanted it. Forgiveness." He drained the last of his glass and poured a third.

[all7seas]

"Have you? Forgiven her?"

[simplestgift]

Even tipsy, Kennedy understood that either answer might look bad to Jack. So he remained silent, sipping his third glass of Scotch.

[all7seas]

Sparrow continued on his own drink, still curious but not pressing for an answer. For him, it wasn't a matter of forgiveness with Grell. It was a matter of staying alive and avoiding her. It was almost completely not-personal---at least as long as she left his friends alone from now on.

[simplestgift]

I've missed the feel of Death. The sight of blood everywhere. It simply isn't as satisfying with a knife - so dull, so boring. For a second chance at you with this? Ooh, what I wouldn't give.

Archie traced a line down the table with his thumbnail. He had not been able to tell if she had been bluffing, even as she'd turned on the chainsaw and pointed it at him. "Buffy has not called the council she spoke of, yet."