simplestgift | Twenty-four bells: [Action]

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Twenty-four bells: [Action]

[Luceti. Even the name is beautiful.

It's quiet here, but not silent. No cannonfire, no stomping feet or shouting men. No bars or guards or grey stone walls. Everything is lovely and serene and everyone is pleasant. Well. Nearly everyone, but that's okay.

In Hornblower's company, Kennedy stops by the bakery and selects, for some reason, cheesecake. He's never had it--not that he can remember, at least--and it is absolutely the most beautiful thing he can imagine. Chocolate cheesecake, smooth and rich and flavorful with a drizzle of raspberry syrup. He tastes it and doesn't just eat it.

They visit the tea shop and he is floored. They visit the clothing shop and he finds a new linen shirt, already made. They visit the library and...

And...

O the glory of the library. It's as if this town was created for his rehabilitation.

Hours are spent in the library until he learns he can take books out. Even then, he very nearly doesn't leave.

On the way home, he asks to be alone for a moment. When given the chance, he walks the woods close to the village. At twilight, he sits at the fountain, staring into space with utter blankness because he knows the pleasantness of this day is going to end.

He doesn't realize it when the moon rises and he's still sitting alone in its pale light.

OOC: Kennedy's replies will come from

babymid_archie. Meet him absolutely anywhere during the day or at night. Depending on when and where, Horatio will tag in as well, so remember to specify when/where in your tag. Share his rapture or cheer him up. Possible triggers--character is hella post-traumatic.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When was this?

Ten months ago. When I first showed up here. It was the middle of January and I woke up in a snow drift.

You'd only just arrived here, too... couple of days at most... and you were already taking it on yourself to go and rescue anyone stuck out in the cold.

How was I here ten months ago?

[her head tilts]

...Do you want to know how it's possible? Or what you were like?

Very much, thank you. [Polite, not entitled.]

The possible part is a bit trickier.

[she can guess about when he's from. His quiet manner and his attitude towards Horatio, along with his surprise about the time all give her enough clues to know how impossible it all must sound. But then, this place would seem impossible to most people]

Time doesn't always work in the way we're used to, here. For starters, someone from your time and someone from my time wouldn't usually be able to sit here and have a conversation, right? [she gave him a smile along with the question]

...Speak for yourself. I plan to live forever.

[oh.

There's a moment where she doesn't know what to do. The humor is so unexpected that it pulls a startled laugh from her. But, in the same instant, there's the terrible knowledge of what waited for him in the future. This wasn't her Archie with his gallows humor and wry smile. It was a young man who didn't know. Not yet.

Dear god, she never wanted him to find out.

She tries not to have it change her voice. She really does. But there's the slightest of odd notes in it, even as she smiles] Maybe you will. And then I'll just have to find you again so you can show me.

[she moves on as quickly as she can]

Sometimes it doesn't just pull different people from different times. Sometimes it pulls the same person from different times. So you might show up here, go home, and then come back from your own future. Or you can do the opposite, showing up and then coming back from some time in your past. It...makes things a bit jumbled, sometimes, but I guess you can see why missing memories isn't really...surprising.

...I was a lieutenant?

[Jack suggested as much. A lieutenant. Horatio's lieutenant. So he was here, and he'd left and came back younger.]

[she nods, relieved that he might have heard some of this already] That's right.

A bit older, but not old. [she grins. And then she moves on to answering his other question]

You look after people. You have one of the biggest hearts I know. [a sideways glance, a bit of amusement creeping into her voice] And your sense of humor apparently hasn't changed.

You're smart and you love plays and music and giving Horatio a hard time when he gets too serious. And you're a good listener and a great friend.

[He's not sure how to take all these nice things being said about him. All he can really think is that...

Wow, his future self is lucky. A fresh start, a new man. But these things aren't really being said about him, and if they were, surely Jilly didn't know enough about him to understand how wrong she was about half those things.]

How long was I here?

[that sobers her, though never enough to shake the gentle calm]

You went missing two days ago. We were worried.

...hence the calling and running. It's a relief to see you here and okay.

Edited 2011-11-16 02:50 (UTC)

I...went home, and returned? In so little time.

I'm glad. [she doesn't mask her fervent relief at all, though she doesn't correct the purposeful misunderstanding she's created. Better he thinks he was sent home than that he was kidnapped and experimented on by the Malnosso. Especially if she's right about when he's from]

When people disappear, it's one of two ways. Sometimes their things all disappear as well, but sometimes their stuff remains and they're just...missing. Usually that means they'll be back, but no one knows how long they'll be gone. To get you back after only two days...

it's a relief.

...Except now I've gone and lost Horatio his first lieutenant. [There's an almost-smile on his face, dangerous and self-deprecating.]

And gained him a...

midshipman, right? That's what comes before?

[she knows she can't stop that attitude completely, but she can fight it]

I think I'd be more useful as a lieutenant who can remember which bell it is.

[Or not. No ship's bells here in Luceti so far, just regular time. Which still continues to escape him.

It occurs to him, at last, that his failures at basic nautical life are not necessarily common knowledge here. Oops.]

I promise you're not the only one. I really can't count how many pots of coffee I've burned losing track of time. It's sort of a tradition now.

[she knows it's more than simple forgetfulness, and she doesn't want to belittle it. But she wants to pull him further from the self-recrimination as well. It's a difficult tightrope to walk. So, even as she finishes laughing, her tone softens to something more understanding]

I think your sense of time will be less use to Horatio than your company. You... anchor each other.

...Maybe in the future, we do.

Maybe. [She's acknowledging his present, more than his doubt. She, at least, won't argue about him being skeptical. She knows too well what it's like to be too dependent to be an equal partner in support.]

The thing about friends... It's never equal. People are too unpredictable for that. Sometimes all you have is the strength to lean. And sometimes you'll be the one bearing all the weight.

But you sell yourself shorter than you know.

I'm not sure. You do know him, don't you?

[The boy wonder, Horatio Hornblower. Or now he's a man, really, but the same person. He doesn't think Horatio Hornblower ever really needed anything. He was the first to stare down Mephistopheles.]

[a laugh] I've been getting to know him for a few months now, though I wouldn't claim to know him as well as you.

But I've seen him without you, Archie. I've seen how much strength he takes from having you around.

I think you have it the wrong way round. Once his mind's made up that he's going to help someone, he's stronger. It has nothing to do with me except he's always helping me.

No, it's not that.

[a beat] I mean, you're right. That determination is part of it. But...I think you'd have to understand that I've seen this a lot, back home.

There's a difference between helping someone because you want to help them and helping someone because they're your friend. It's not a difference in caring...you can really care about the person in the first case.

But with the first you know, even after they're on their feet, they'll move in and out of your life. It's...temporary. Important and hard and beautiful and terrifying, but temporary.

When it's a friend, though... you don't just walk away when they're stable. You don't just rejoice for a day and then check in once in awhile. You stay and you celebrate and live and you love. And when they fall, you're right there, because you know that if you fell they'd be there to do the same. It's...deeper.

You have a friendship that doesn't fade. A real friendship. Going both ways and everything. ...You're just at the leaning point, right now. That's all.

Edited 2011-11-17 03:57 (UTC)

[She seemed to understand a lot. Even brush aside the terror that Horatio wouldn't care that much about Archie once he was back on his feet. No matter what, Archie would not stop loving Horatio and the thought of this simply being an act of charity was...

Not possible.]

How much do you know? About us?

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