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.]

[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?

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[In the midst of this undignified jest, he thinks it fine to try in something daring:] Archie, she is a barmaid. You said it yourself.

But these new bottles, William. They have caps that men like you or I have to use a tool to open. Metal lids, shaped so they hold on so--well. Just a moment.

[He's spotted something. He dives down one aisle and comes back with an old-fashioned soda bottle.] Like this, see? Try to open it.

[William siiighs. He puts down the blankets and tries and fails to open the bottle with his hands. For a time, he fiddles with the lid; William may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he knows his basic mechanics-- wood and iron, glass and steel. He eventually gets it by propping the lid against the corner of a nearby desk, and then yelping when the carbonation causes the soda to burst forth and froth.] Bloody Hell, Archie, what is this thing?

It's a bottle, William. You pour something into it, normally something liquid, and it keeps it from running all about the place. Very useful things to keep drinks in.

[First Lieutenant William Bush of Hist Britannic Majesty's Sailing Ship the Hotspur was then at that moment very tempted to spash Archie in the face with soda.] I mean what's in the bottle, Kennedy.

It's a drink. You drink it. I can't remember what they call it, but it's quite popular here.

Looks bloody poisonous to me. [Yes. It's poison. Can't splash Archie with poison. He'd die. Again. Can't kill Archie again; then Horatio would be most cross.]

[He wipes the offending liquid off on his-- Archie's-- shirt, and picks up the blankets once more.] This place is so damned full of stuff, I swear.

One gets used to it. [Archie picks up a bobble-headed doll of a woman in a grass skirt playing a ukulele and stares at it a moment, first adjusting to its existence, then trying to figure out how best to troll Bush with it.]

One must. [William trudges onward, looking back to see Archie holding a doll.] Kennedy, put that down. [She's hardly wearing any clothes!]

[Oh, but this is priceless.]

Do you take offense to her, sir? She's only closer to how God intended, you know.

Don't you have a sweetheart? Some like she'd take to you running around with a naughty dolly. [ALL THE EYEROLLS.]

Who, Dawn? She'd only think it's funny. Besides, I think this one has taken more of a liking to you, Mister Bush. Would you like to take her home?

[Apparently, due to some malicious experiment of the Malnosso, Archie is now five.]

[William stares. And stares. And shakes his head disapprovingly. And gives up, because he knows Archie doesn't care at all for his approval.] Do as you bloody will, I never could get any sense into that thick head of yours.

...Dawn, you said? [What kind of a name is that.]

[Oh, this doll is so coming home with him. And tonight, he'll sneak it onto Bush's night stand while he's asleep.]

Yes, Dawn. As in sunrise, Mister Bush.

Well, I didn't think it short for Donald. [That's preposterous!] Buffy's sister, then? [A family of strange names.]

No. Buffy is Dawn's sister.

They're both each other's bloody sisters. [William remembers when he used to hate you, Archie. He certainly remembers why he did.]

[Yes, Archie used to dislike you, too, William. Then he made you jump off a cliff and things would never be the same.]

It's an important distinction!

[HAVE A LONG-SUFFERING SIGH, ARCHIE.] Where's she from?

California, originally. It's a state in America, in her time. Lately she's lived in Scotland.

Her sister too, last I recall. Is she anything like her sister?

[Oh dear, you just asked Archie to talk about Dawn. Get ready.]

Not very much at all, in many ways. More beautiful. More learned, more thoughtful, well-spoken and well-read but still witty. And so, so kind, William, I've never known the like, I don't think. She has a heart for everything, but she's playful and quick to laugh and loves to make others laugh. Has her feet on the ground, no nonsense about her. She's always introducing me to these newfangled desserts. Always putting others before herself, but never anyone's fool.

[As he talks, he sounds a tad melancholy.]

[If William were a crueler sort, he'd tease Archie mercifully. But there is not much cruelty in his heart, and what is is reserved for those on the wrong end of his sword. And, most of all, Archie's obvious pleasure is infectious.]

Sounds like you've found the perfect girl.

[The slight melancholy lifts.] I think you may be right!

When's the wedding? Hope not soon; I've just been to one, and my uniform hasn't shown up yet.

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