Twenty-two bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION]

[simplestgift]

[Filtered from known villains and Grell, 100% unhackable]

[The handwriting is disguised and the picture is obscured.]

For the benefit of the new feathers: if you feel unsafe somehow in your own home, you may go to the Welcome Center and be placed in a safe house until you can get back on your feet. There does not have to be a reason. Even if you have returned from a kidnapping and do not wish to be alone, this is available to you.

[/Filter]

[Later, another written message, without the picture obscured.]

To anyone who volunteered to help build the ship:

We will begin work on Monday, at eight o'clock in the morning.  We will meet at the fountain and walk from there.  It'll mostly be cutting and transporting lumber at first, I'm afraid, and that includes building a cart to transport the lumber in.

Thank you,

Lt. Kennedy

[Then, written more hastily a little while later:]

If anyone has stories about Dr. McCoy, I should like to hear them.

[Today, Kennedy is stopping at the grocery store and the smithy, hoping someone with experience at the forge will be up to the challenge he has in mind.

Tonight, he is back to work at Cloud Nine, mostly waiting tables and looking fairly miserable. It's his first night of work since Dr. McCoy left, and since he dislikes the job anyway, he's not doing great at it tonight.

Before he goes home, he will stop by house 7. He will be home late.]

Comments

[herotypical]

[ buffy looks actually....surprised. ]

That is. It is an improvement. He -- he kinda takes a while to warm up. I've noticed.

[simplestgift]

I wouldn't call him warmed up. He wanted to know about Leonard. It was natural to invite him inside for tea. Diplomatic, if you will.

[herotypical]

Thawing, then. It's like someone left that poor man in a deep-freeze for too long and he's gone and grown some sharp, hurty freezer burn around the edges. But I'm glad...to hear it. About the diplomacy.

[ the return of buffy's food metaphors! ]

[simplestgift]

I can never tell what to make of him, Buffy. I can't tell you he treats me like a lieutenant if I treat him like an admiral, because that wasn't the case from the beginning.

[herotypical]

Just...treating him like a man worked for me. [ she isn't sure how one treats someone like an admiral or a lieutenant, anyway. ]

[simplestgift]

Yes, well. That didn't work, either, not for me.

[herotypical]

...Some nuts are tougher to crack than others. But I believe there's a good man in there. He's been -- very fair to me. Very, very fair.

[simplestgift]

...You're a woman.

[herotypical]

I'm a woman who lied to him purposefully and repeatedly during the first few times we met. And then threw him in the river.

[simplestgift]

It doesn't matter. You're a woman.

[herotypical]

Next time you and James manage to not tear into each other? Ask him if he actually thinks I'm a woman.

[ she has her doubts. ]

[simplestgift]

It's something boys are taught from a very young age, if they have the proper upbringing. He strikes me as the sort. That sort of thing doesn't simply vanish.

[herotypical]

...Tell me, Archie. What'd you think of my femininity after you saw me fight, huh? I'm no shrinking violet. But -- okay. Say James does go easier on my 'cause I'm a she. But I legitimately think he's a good person. I guess he doesn't feel like he has to advertise it.

[simplestgift]

Yes. Thus he goes about belittling people as it suits him.

[herotypical]

If he's belittling you? Then fight back. Show him you won't be belittled. Maybe he just needs to be told that he's not expressing himself usefully. I mean -- Archie, look at...

[ no. she can't say it. look at bones. mccoy had always started off grumpy and cantankerous. it wasn't a simple matter -- knowing that mccoy respected you. ]

[simplestgift]

I did fight back. I...may have gone a bit too far, actually.

[herotypical]

As far as tossing him into the river?

[simplestgift]

...As far as telling him a captain who cared so little for the lives of his men as to lead them into a hurricane for the sake of his pride had no business being captain.

[If Jack's told Archie, surely he's told Buffy.]

[herotypical]

This place isn't the only thing that changes a man, you know.

[simplestgift]

Yes, that's why it was wrong of me. But Buffy...of all the dangers there are at sea, or in the entire world, nothing causes more harm than a man with both pride and power. Nothing.

[herotypical]

...Bring me a leader who's never struggled to balance those things and you'll be bringing me a liar. But -- next time? You might wanna try giving someone the benefit of the doubt. I don't care if it's an admiral or a captain o-or a general. [ hmm. ] More than our titles, remember?

[simplestgift]

It isn't about title, rank, or rating, Buffy. The first words I heard from the man were about the disgraceful state of my uniform. Back home, he'd've had a right, but here? There are quite a few reasons I'm not complaining that the Royal Navy didn't follow me to Luceti. Hood sent us practically to our deaths once, the most ill-conceived attempt to reinstate the French monarchy as I can possibly imagine, simply because it wasn't his neck on the chopping block. Or guillotine, as it might be more appropriate. He's one of the most renowned and respected admirals in the navy.

[herotypical]

[ she has other arguments. she wants to impress upon archie that he probably made some similar conversational missteps on his first few days -- that james was probably clinging to something familiar.

all she can come up with? ] You know? It boggles the mind. You two could be so...useful. To each other.

[simplestgift]

We worked well enough during the draft. I don't know what else you could mean.

[herotypical]

Just...your boats. They're very -- similar.