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

[all7seas]

"With all my black heart. But...to make an honest man of me? Buffy? I don't think she ever would."

The completely untrustworthy institution of marriage aside.

[simplestgift]

"Jack. If marriage made a man honest, the English government would collapse and have to be built anew from the ground up because it doesn't work without dishonest men." A blink. He was not sure that made sense.

[all7seas]

"This? True." Apparently it made sense to Jack. "Do you know how many married women I've been with, mate? Lots." He wasn't trying to brag, for once; he was trying to make his point about marriage without directly making his point about marriage. It was like a false tie, to Jack, and easily broken, though fancy words made it seem indelible.

[simplestgift]

"Then whatever troubles you?"

[all7seas]

".......You're taking the piss, aren't you. Kennedy...."

[simplestgift]

"I'm sorry, Jack, I could not hear you. I was briefly deafened by your powers of deduction."

[all7seas]

"Forgive me, sir. Right. You coerce your Dawn to the altar? And I shall be standing there with Buffy at my side, arrayed in white."

Not bloody likely.

[simplestgift]

[all7seas]

"Shall you be arrayed in white as well, Kennedy?"

[simplestgift]

"I should have learnt by now to hold my tongue."

[all7seas]

"Nonsense! You do very well for yourself, considering. Will you be asking Buffy's permission?"

[simplestgift]

"I haven't even decided to propose!"

[all7seas]

"Perhaps you can decide after asking permission! Certainly it would be more better than apologizing, in this instance. Otherwise it's a broken nose and clinic imprisonment, son."

[simplestgift]

"Please don't speak of this to Buffy."

[all7seas]

"My lips are sealed, mate. For a price."

[simplestgift]

"And the price?"

[all7seas]

"A favor. That's all. Hedging on future needs, me---there's no proper money here after all."

[simplestgift]

"You don't need to put me in your debt for me to help you, Jack."

[all7seas]

"Nonsense. The Royal Navy's got quite a foothold here, now, and I'll need that bit of leverage I suspect."

[simplestgift]

"There is no Royal Navy here, and no one is interested in hindering you."

[all7seas]

"Of course there isn't. Of course they're not."

[simplestgift]

"Well, sir, if you're still worried, then I'll accept your terms." His tone was light. He wasn't really worried about being snitched on, and he wasn't convinced Buffy was going to kill him for considering a proposal, so this was just proving a point.

[all7seas]

It was always helpful to have someone on the inside. Of course, many of those insiders had betrayed Jack in the past, but---Kennedy. He wasn't a traitor, whatever else he was.

"Done. I won't breathe a word of it."

[simplestgift]

Not a traitor, but it would still be best for Jack not to ask him to go against Horatio in, oh, almost anything.

"With that settled, how about a song?"

[all7seas]

"A song!" And Jack launched enthusiastically into Poor Bessie Was a Sailor's Bride.

"Poor Bessie was a sailor's bride, and he was off to sea,
Her only child was by her side and who so sad was she,
Forget me not, forget me not, when you are far away,
And whatsoever poor Bessie's lot, we will remember theeeee!"