captainhornblower | Fourth Dispatch

(After this [log rated R for violence]

Italics should be considered to be coming from Archie's journal, as it has been left open and on, but Horatio does not know this.)

[Footsteps approached the door, and it opened.]

Archie, I'm--

Archie! Archie!

[The man speaking hurried over and dropped down. His hand covered the fingers on the display for a moment before it slid up, pressing against the wrist. A pulse of some kind.]

Thank God... Archie. Archie, can you hear me? Archie!

God damn it.

What sort of bastard--

God damn it!

[He's on his feet, moving about. There's more than a bit of noise. Thuds and cracks. Things being discarded without care.

He approaches, sinks down beside his friend and throws open his own journal...]

Damn it. Bastard withcraft journal. Work, God damn it!

[He's gotten the voice on.

And instantly, his voice is calmer. He knows what he needs to do, even if his hands are shaking. Fabric is being ripped as he speaks, and he's half panting.]

D-Dr. McCoy.

Dr. McCoy, if you hear this, please. Please respond.

Archie-- Archie's hurt.

I need help.

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[ just silence. ]

What happened. [ not a tone anyone but the people from sunnydale have ever heard from dawn. ]

Edited 2011-06-07 21:03 (UTC)

I--

[His voice cannot break. His voice cannot break. His voice cannot break.

But it is very quiet. And perhaps shakier than he realizes.]

I don't know.

I was out.

[When the swearing starts, her gaze is drawn to the journal...first in surprise.

...then in cold fear.

Dr. McCoy. Len. Was he home? Was he-

She doesn't respond to the journal right away. Just snatches it up and runs to look for the Doctor. His room first, and then the kitchen if she can't find him.

It's after shouting McCoy's name down the hall that she gathers herself enough to focus on the journal and, on the other end, Horatio.]

What's happened? How bad...how bad is it?

Edited 2011-06-07 21:12 (UTC)

[Horatio wants to go on another tirade.

But with a young woman speaking to him-- especially with Jilly speaking to him-- he can't.]

It... It's not good.

[The lack of detail reveals more, really, than what he's actually saying.]

[ buffy doesn't answer. not with words, not with anything truly in response. what buffy does is get up and start to plan.

she can guess what might have happened and she doesn't like that guess; even had it been wrong, the present situation? something she has to deal with.

let those good at patching up people and comforting others pick up this tab -- meanwhile, buffy will finally begin the motions of confronting grell on her own. ]

Edited 2011-06-07 22:08 (UTC)

Is he-- [ dead, okay, the dead come back here but that doesn't-- dawn's breath hitches and she goes quiet for a long moment before exhaling. she can't freak out. ] Don't move him, okay? Just-- wait. For the doctor.

How not good?

Is he breathing?

[please say yes. Please say yes. Please say-

Nevermind. If Len's in the house, he'll have heard her even if he missed the journal. And with Archie at stake, she knows he won't linger. Whirling on her heel, she's out the door as fast as her feet can take her, abandoning house 7 and following the familiar path to Archie's apartment]

Just... just covering a few of the worse ones... bit of pressure.

[He's trying to keep calm himself, trying to talk himself through what he needs to do not only for Archie... but to keep himself sane.

He's had to field dress a few wounds, seen the surgeons at their work, and his father was a doctor. Basic first aid? He can handle. This? Is out of his league.

But damn if he won't do everything in his power while he waits.]

[ McCoy had heard the broadcast and felt his blood turn cold. Arch. goddamn it. he opens his journal to respond to Horatio's distress call when he hears Jilly hollering and abandons this idea, opting to just grab his medical kit from his room, and take off after the artist. ]

Jilly, slow down!

Right, I didn't even think-- good. That's good. Can he-- he's not conscious, right? [ because if he's this bad and awake, dawn's not sure she can deal. ]

N-no. No. He's not.

[Horatio is at the edge. It's almost impossible to hear. Only a trained ear would, someone who knew him. Really knew him.

But he's on the edge, ready to collapse if the slightest thing goes wrong.]

That's-- I think that's good. Until the doctor gets there. [ her breathing goes shaky again. she wants to ask how bad it is, but then again: she doesn't want to know at all. ] He'll be okay.

He'll be okay.

[Hollow. Flat. Not a tone to comfort anyone. Not himself. Not her.

But he needs it to be true.]

What is it? What's happened, Hornblower?!

[It's the first male voice. The first person he doesn't have to protect-- even if most of the women would kill him for suggesting they needed to be protected.

Horatio's voice doesn't change. It's still quiet, but the wavering in it is less disguised.]

I wasn't here. I went out...

There's blood everywhere.

I wasn't here.

[This is...

...not possible. Not. It can't be. They'd talked just this afternoon. Kennedy had...Kennedy had promised to look out for Helios. He hadn't been okay, none of them had been okay, but...]

Is he...

[Giles swallows painfully before he continues.]

...what's happened?

[The voice is new, but Horatio doesn't care.

He doesn't care about introducing himself. About who this might be.]

Someone attacked him.

While I was out.

With what? Have you managed to determine yet?

[He has his suspicions, like quite a few people currently connected to Jack Sparrow probably do.]

I don't bloody know, and I don't care, God damn it!

[Finally, something has, at least, broken the calm of Horatio's voice. There's anger, fear.]

Miss Jilly!

[Oh no. Oh, no. He hears the movement. He knows.]

Miss Jilly.

I only need assistance from Dr. McCoy right now.

Stay where you are.

[Jack stands in shocked silence. Could it have been...? But Jilly was the one they'd all been protecting. If it had been Grell, she'd struck cleverly and true.]

It was good. It was good that you went out. Was he slashed across the chest?

I went out. And someone attacked him.

[The blame is already there.

If I hadn't gone out... tints everything he says. But his mind isn't so far gone that he can't process Jack's question.

It just takes a moment.]

Stabbed. Twice. Back and front shoulder.

Stabbed, stabbed he says...that's not how she operates. What if it wasn't her? But it must have been her. Had to have...

McCoy will mend him. [Flippant though he sounds, Jack's insides are twisted with worry for the young sailor.]

Has he any enemies, Hornblower?

[The camera is obscured and the handwriting disguised.]

How is he holding?

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