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 ]

[herotypical]

...It's perfectly alright to call it a big sacrifice, you know.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Then I guess it's not the size of your sacrifice that matters. Just -- how you use it.

[ oh she cracks herself up. ]

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

[You may be waiting a bit, Buffy. He has no idea how to reply to that. Mostly because... He's trying to figure out how else one would use the same sacrifice.]

[ written ]

[herotypical]

[ so once she's calmed down... ]

What's she like?

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

[Simple.]

She's warm and kind, a perfect heart.

[Plain.]

Nothing but goodness and gentleness. All patience, too.

I could not ask for a better wife.

[And this... This he can mean with all his heart:] She will be a perfect mother.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...Do you want kids, HoraCaptain?

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

My wife is with child, actually.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

[ ............oh


stilted: ] You must be very happy.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

I am.

[And he is...

And also scared to death.

He wants to take care of his family, but that doesn't matter in terms of making him feel he can.

Especially since he knows he can't even do that much here.]

[ written ]

[herotypical]

That's...very endearing, Captain.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

Endearing, Miss Buffy?

[ written ]

[herotypical]

Looking forward to it. Starting a family.

If I were you, I'd be running in the opposite direction.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

No you wouldn't.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...No one deserves a Vampire Slayer for a mother, Horatio.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

Maybe not.

But I know you. Only a coward runs away from a family they've started. You're not a coward.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

I wish I could say that I've never run away...

[ not the point, though. still -- she thinks on the children jack has invented for them; dreamed for them; tried to erase for them. ] Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

A healthy child and a healthy mother to care for it.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...Fair enough.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

I can only hope for that.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

From what Archie's told me, you'll have plenty of stories to share with him or her. Growing up.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

I'm not much of a story-teller, I'm afraid.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

You're gonna have to learn, Captain Dad. Or else settle for doing the voices while reading stories from a book.

[ written ]

[captainhornblower]

I'm afraid I won't be around much.

[ written ]

[herotypical]

...What a shame. Sorry to read that.