Eighteen Bells: [ACTION/WRITTEN]

[simplestgift]

[Kennedy comes to himself lying on his side in the grass, his wings splayed haphazardly, a slight breeze causing the feathers to flutter. He lies still for a moment, watching without thought the grass as it ripples softly before his eyes. Then he remembers that he was taken.

That explains this.

It begins to come back to him. He'd glimpsed the cages and panicked. They'd jabbed a needle into him then, and everything had gone soft, then black. He remembers nothing between then and now, and nothing is what he'll search his memories for. The blackout is a blessing, even if it is unsettling. It would be worse to remember.

He's in his own clothes--shirtsleeves, waistcoat, and trousers--and his journal is lying nearby, because clearly the Malnosso are paragons of courtesy. He rolls onto his stomach to reach for it when he hears a clear tinkling sound.  He reaches for his throat. There is...something, very much like a collar. No, it is a collar of steel links with no clasp, and hanging from it is a bell.

A bell he cannot touch. It rings when he moves, but his fingers pass through it. No matter what he does, he cannot keep it from sounding.

Apparently someone at the Malnosso facility is a wise guy who eavesdrops on certain conversations and thinks he's pretty damn funny.

Okay. So no audio. He grabs the journal and writes instead.]

I'm here. How long have I been gone?

-A. Kennedy

P.S. Horatio, do tell me one of you fed the cat.

Comments

[all7seas]

[But Jack finds THAT part disturbing.] A ghost bell?

[Then he gets over the disturbing part.] Is your name engraved upon it? "If Lost, Please Return Immediately To H. Hornblower"?

HA! Ha!

[simplestgift]

[There's a pause. Then, a tiny smile appears, though Jack cannot see it, and the most muffled of chuckles bubbles up from his throat.

notfunnynotfunnynotfunny...]

[all7seas]

I will say, mate, that this is far worse than the time you were turned into a tiny wee man what cleaned my house and made curtains.

If only because I'm getting nothing at all OUT of it. Have you tried asking Miss Rockbell to pry it off with one of her many tools at the Smithy?

[simplestgift]

[So his face is burning a little, but the humor in the situation has finally struck him.] It's a good half an hour's walk at least to the village, Jack, so no. Buffy said she'd try to get it off.

[all7seas]

Buffy will try, eh? But will she succeed---that is the question. And SHOULD she, would be the OTHER question. Would be highly handy to keep you belled.

[simplestgift]

As it would've been handy for you to speak French.

[all7seas]

............................What.

[simplestgift]

I hear you spoke it quite well, once, after your own little party with the Malnosso.

[all7seas]

Perhaps I did, Kennedy. At the very least it allowed me to woo a certain beautiful woman without her stringing me up by my thumbs. French isn't ALL bad.

[simplestgift]

Learning it isn't. I understand you had no choice in the matter.

[all7seas]

...No. Didn't. They did something to me brain.

[And things had been bad enough then, without the Malnosso adding to his troubles.]

Who told you all this?

[simplestgift]

Someone who was there, I presume. Come now, Jack. You have plenty of things to hold over my head, it's about time I had something over you.

[all7seas]

....It was Buffy, wasn't it. Fine. I spoke French without a whit of control. And you turned into a tiny man, made curtains for my house, swept the place up, and are now perhaps permanently adorned with a tiny tinkling bell.


I'll allow it.

[simplestgift]

You are a most just captain, sir.

[all7seas]

You might want to beware, Kennedy, as you make your way home: there's a shift.....shifting.

[simplestgift]

Buffy said so. I had the excellent luck to bang up the same knee I hurt when I first arrived, and I've no weapons. It'll be quite the adventure.

[all7seas]

A stout tree branch might do with some of the monsters about; they're...well, from what I've been told, from the Battle Dome. Some disappear without much ado.

[simplestgift]

A bell to attract them will only make things worse. I have to get it off.

[all7seas]

[Please hold for more highly immature laughter from Captain Jack Sparrow.]

Ha! Ha hahah! Aye, you have to get it off, Kennedy. Get it off immediate-like, before lunch.

[simplestgift]

The moment I'm back, I'll seek Buffy.

[all7seas]

............Archie, don't let's force me to punch you right in the mouth, there's a lad.

[simplestgift]

...To remove the collar, Jack.

[all7seas]

......Right. Of course. Removing the collar. It's either that, I suppose, or you'll have to join the clergy, permanent-like.

[simplestgift]

The c-- [He actually doesn't get the joke.]

[all7seas]

[Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.]