captainhornblower: (The gallant captain)
Captain Horatio Hornblower ([personal profile] captainhornblower) wrote2011-08-15 09:49 pm

Seventh Dispatch - [voice]/[action]

[Horatio Hornblower's voice is very calm, very quiet. It sounds... not even curious. He is almost stating a fact, rather than asking a question.]

Lieutenant Bush's things are gone.

Why? What is the meaning of this?

[His housemates... will find him in his own room now, seated at his desk, the journal lying open in front of him-- if they dare disturb.]
simplestgift: (This is not good.)

[action]

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
[William had been Archie's friend. A good drinking partner, a trusted man, and it had been good to pick up the budding relationship where it had left off. But to Horatio, he had been a lieutenant, a companion, and if he had done what Archie had charged him to to, a guardian.

You must look after him, he had said to him while dying. Bush had agreed. Now for three years, Bush had worn Archie's shoes as best as he could. To lose William was to lose a rock.]


Horatio...

[He stepped in and closed the door. There was no urge to speak. They had reached the point where they did not have to speak at all years ago, and sometimes the keenest comfort was in companionable silence.]
simplestgift: (I need a hug.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Archie sighs softly.] Sometimes...people disappear. They can at any time, why not during a kidnapping?
simplestgift: (Don't you understand?)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Horatio. [The name is scarcely even a whisper, but he does not look away from his captain's face. He walks slowly to the bed and sits on it, still looking straight at him.]

I thought you knew.
simplestgift: (Novel? What about Wellard?)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Don't think about it, Horatio. It isn't worth it.
simplestgift: (Help to keep your mind off the pain.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
[He brushes the request off with a slight shake of his head.] Because it isn't happening now. This very moment, I am here. And if I can live with that, then you can live with it.

[The words are spoken so, so gently.]
simplestgift: (Upward glance.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
And thank you. For being here as well. There are many things I cannot bear without you.]
simplestgift: (Lost in thought because I have to be)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:30 am (UTC)(link)
None that I've heard of. Buffy said she walked out of a room for half an hour, and when she came back, her friend was gone. Some people write letters, in case it happens. I got one from a friend, not too long ago.

[He stops, and cannot continue this babble. It's finally hit home for Horatio, and that's a scary thing, scary because he knows the panic that comes with it himself. Wondering if it would be this heartbeat or the next, just like on his deathbed.]
simplestgift: (Please no.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Horatio. [Yes, he has written you a letter. He writes updated ones, too. You'll never find where it's hidden, hopefully, not until you're meant to.]
simplestgift: (I need a hug.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
[A beat.] Back home. You knew anyone you knew could die at any moment. You didn't spend all your time thinking on it then, did you?
simplestgift: (This is not good.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Horatio gets the most unconvinced look in the universe. But it's also a worried look. He's also Horatio's best friend, not only his lieutenant.]

You don't have to believe me now. But it's not much different. Right now, we're both here. That's all that matters. Otherwise we'll drive ourselves mad.
simplestgift: (Stiff upper lip.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 05:13 am (UTC)(link)
[He just keeps watching, as if he doesn't know why Horatio is apologizing. After a moment, he gives a tight pseudo-smile.]

It's just us, Horatio.
simplestgift: (Uneasy)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sometimes Archie forgets that, to Horatio, they were separated much longer than four months. Four impossibly long months, during which Archie had despaired of seeing his friend again. Now that Horatio is here, the days have flown by. Had the years crawled back home when Horatio was alone?]

He might come back. Jack went home for a week, remember.
simplestgift: (Upward glance.)

[personal profile] simplestgift 2011-08-16 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
He's home on the Hotspur. And we with one less hand to build our sloop.

[He's trying to make light of it, and direct Horatio's thoughts forward. He'll miss William's simple wisdom and easy companionship. Having him here made this place feel a little more like home.

At least he'd been able to see him again, and know they could have been real friends.]
Edited 2011-08-16 16:52 (UTC)

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