Fourteenth Dispatch - [written]

[captainhornblower]

[He's been here a year now.

An entire year.

And it doesn't feel any more like home than it did the day he arrived. If anything, his obligations feel even sharper than they did then. Because he has been away from them. Even if no one would know he'd been gone, he knew.]

Person or thing, either way--

What would you most like to see here?

Hornblower

Comments

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

My family. My wife, specifically.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Good answer. This place is especially unkind about breaking up families.

How long has it been, if you do not mind my asking?

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

I've been here a year since yesterday.

Yourself?

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Another week for me and it'll be a year.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

My sympathy.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Likewise.

Though I guess it's not too rough on me. I have one of my brothers here, so that's nice, even if he is being a pest.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

And I have dear friends who are also here, which makes it easier to bear, certainly.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Crewmates, correct?

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

Yes. Now, both my lieutenants aboard Britannia. We also served together where we're from.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

[Marco's going to be a bit more cautious in what he writes now; pirate and all that.]

My brothers and I are much the same way. We didn't grow up together, only became brothers as adults aboard the same crew.

I just lucked out that my family and crewmates are one and the same. I can certainly understand why it's nice to have them around however. Have they both been here as long as you?

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

One has. The other arrived... not terribly long after, all things considered.

It is helpful, to have those you are close to.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

It is indeed.

I wonder if the Malnosso really do take anything like that into consideration at times.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

I am not optimistic about how much consideration they give anything we might like.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

They tried with the amusement park last year. At least supposedly.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

Supposedly.

I don't trust them.

Still, there's little we can do against them. We can't even reach them when we want to speak with them.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

True enough. And I can't say I trust them either, but I'll forgive a lot for the second chance to be around Ace again, so I guess there's that.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

Then I hope you see him again, soon.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Likewise with your family.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

Thank you.

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

So anything in particular bring this all on, or is it just the anniversary of showing up here?

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

Just knowing it's been a year since I last saw her.

[And guilt over not missing her for even a day of that time.]

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

Understood.

Did you used to write to her when you were away sailing? It might sound foolish, but that's what I've taken to doing lately. Writing messages in bottles to send back home, even if it never reaches, or even if they don't come here. [Mostly he just sticks them around the memorial he made for his Pops however.]

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

I have written to others. I had not thought to write to her, though I do not know how it slipped my mind.

[Because his letters to her are usually lies and platitudes, and he hasn't bothered with the formality here.]

[Written]

[fierybluebird]

[It's ironic. While his father was alive, Marco would always keep up a brave face and his father did the same back. Neither of them would really show the other one pain or it'd wreck the other person up. But now with his father gone and dead, he's a little more honest in his letters. Perhaps because he knows it's just for his own piece of mind.]

In my case, it's been helpful. But the circumstances might be different. My brothers are also tacticians so normally I'd be seeking their advice, and same with my father. [And it's more that it's been helping with the grief of losing him.] Still, it seems to make them a little less distant, even if only in your thoughts.

[Written]

[captainhornblower]

My letters to my wife are usually to reassure her that any troubles she has heard about are quite minor.

I used to write to absent friends, but they, thankfully, are here with me now.