Twenty-four bells: [Action]

[simplestgift]

[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.]

Comments

[unneeded]

"Then it's not as late as I thought." He feels tired, but that's nothing new. It's been a few months since he tried to starve himself to death, but prison food is not conducive to a reasonable recovery time. Neither, frankly, are naval rations. As a result, he's been regaining his health only slowly. It's worse on days when his mood is suffering especially badly, though. "I just don't want him to worry."

[all7seas]

"Hornblower will always worry about you. Put your dear old grandmother to shame with his worry, really. If you like, you could just put in a word to him that you're with me."

Because he certainly wouldn't worry then.

[unneeded]

He pulls his journal out of his pocket and stares at it wearily. "I don't know how to use it."

[all7seas]

"Nevermind, nevermind---I'll do it."

And Jack will pull his own journal out and jot off a quick note to Horatio.

"They're not so difficult. You're better at 'em than I am, believe it or not."

An admission he would have never made had Kennedy been acting his usual self.

[unneeded]

"Am I? I'd like to know under what circumstances, then."

[all7seas]

"Filters. Things like that what I never bothered to learn. You were clever with it. Are. Are clever with it."

[unneeded]

"...When was I clever with it?" Archie has been struggling to pick up life at sea again, let alone technology centuries past his time. Or magic, whatever.

[all7seas]

"Dunno if I can name a specific instance, Kennedy! You just ARE." Jack will take this opportunity to check the emptiness levels of his flask.


Yup. Totally empty.

"It's always gone," he mutters.

[unneeded]

He lets it go. "Then fill it." Just a helpful suggestion. He doesn't see the crisis here.

[all7seas]

"That's the plan, matey. Just stick with Jack, eh? You'll come to no harm."

Fortunately, Good Spirits is not at all far from the plaza and there are plenty of good tables and spots at the bar in the place.

Jack will head toward the bar; if Archie wants to sit someplace else, he'd best speak up.

[unneeded]

Archie actually stops in the door after Jack's last two sentences, but says nothing. One hand grips the doorframe, and he appears to have completely forgotten what he was doing.

oehutoesthoie SORRY ARCHIE ;;

[all7seas]

"Kennedy?" Where the devil was....

"Kennedy?" Quieter, this time; Jack walks back to where his friend has stopped in the doorway. "What's wrong, mate?"

Archie forgives you. At least Jack's handling this better than the other times he's triggered him.

[unneeded]

It's the gentleness in Jack's voice that breaks Archie out of his sudden fear. Another Jack used to switch to referring to himself in the third person, especially when he had designs. That gentle tone, above anything, reminds him that this is a completely different Jack. His grip on the doorframe eases, but he does not yet release it. He does, however, start breathing more normally.

"...Nothing, Mr. Sparrow."

/still sadness

[all7seas]

"Captain." It always came so automatically; Jack rubbed the brand on his wrist as he jerked his head toward the bar. "Captain Jack Sparrow. I think you just need a drink, mate--I know I do."


What an odd little spell; Jack will have to ask Horatio about that later. He wishes McCoy was around, because he would probably have contacted the doctor immediately.

/hugs

[unneeded]

The color is creeping back into the midshipman's face now, and with a sigh, he releases the doorframe. "All right. Captain Sparrow."

So he heads toward the bar, where Jack was going in the first place.

IF JACK KNEW HE WOULD NEVER HAVE SAID IT. He thinks he is being nice.

[all7seas]

Sparrow was certain of one thing: that Kennedy, as a lad, is nearly as traumatized as men he had seen going into the Devil's Horn off the coast of Venezuela. That dungeon had sent men mad just at the sight of it, screaming and begging for mercy.

Some of the men, though, had gone limp as they were dragged inside. Their eyes seemed dull and lifeless, their minds thousands of miles away. It was these men that Jack was reminded of when he saw the look on Archie's face in the doorway.

"Oooor just Jack, really. You never stood on formality with me before, Kennedy."

That's the thing about stuff like this, though, isn't it?

[unneeded]

Archie sits at the bar and clasps his hands atop it. He does not want to call this man Jack. "Sparrow, then?"

[all7seas]

".....Sparrow's fine." What the devil? "Sparrow it is!" Jack will order them both drinks---whiskey and rum---unless Archie for whatever reason moves to do the same.

[unneeded]

He does not. However, he definitely relaxes now that Jack isn't pressing the matter, or any other matter. Boundaries are being respected, and that's not a dignity he is offered by just anyone, certainly not proud miscreants.

"So you're a pirate."

[all7seas]

"Correction: I am the pirate. The best of them all!" This is said with a great deal of enthusiasm as Jack lifts his bottle in a toast.

"What are we drinking to, eh?"

[unneeded]

Archie lifts his glass. "To the best pirate of them all, naturally."

And there's a smile with that.

[all7seas]

Damn. Well NOW Jack can't drink, it being bad form to do so after a toast to oneself.

Instead, he toasts right back to Archie.

"Aye, and to the finest of midshipmen who might one day be lieutenants!"

NOW he could drink.

[unneeded]

Archie does drink, the grimaces just a little as he swallows and looks into the glass. Whiskey is insisting on being stronger than he remembered, although it might simply be that he hasn't had it in so long.

"The finest in Luceti, at least. Unless I'm mistaken and Horatio and I are not the only navy men here."

[all7seas]

"You're not, actually." Jack sets his bottle down and thinks for a moment. "There was Bush, once upon a time, but he's gone, now. Then there's James Norrington--an Admiral of sorts. And Aubrey. You're far from being the only two about, sad to say."

[unneeded]

The smile immediately begins to evaporate. "Are we."

An admiral, no less. What would he say, if he ran into Kennedy?