Twenty Bells: [Action/Voice]

[noprevaricating]

[He'd won her a stuffed penguin. She'd been hanging on his arm and squeezing it with a giant grin on her face. Everything felt, finally, like it was going to be okay. Like this trouble between them since sleeping together was just a little thing

Comments

[tehoniongirl]

[she can hear the sounds of the park in the background of his announcement, so she looks for him in the crowd...but there are too many people. Too many places for him to linger out of sight. When she's exhausted the places she can think of in Lucetiland, she goes to the place she knows he'll have gone next. Home.

She knocks when she reaches the sailors' house, but she doesn't wait, quietly opening the door and slipping inside.]

[noprevaricating]

[Archie's sitting on the couch with a cup of tea in his hands and a strawberry daiquiri, untouched and thawing, on the coffee table. He glances up as Jilly comes in, surprised but so grateful to see her.]

Jilly.

[tehoniongirl]

[she glances at the daiquiri, gaze lingering for just a moment, before coming to carefully sit next to him on the couch. She sits close, leaning against him, though she doesn't try to hug him right away. She doesn't want to make him spill his tea.]

I'm so sorry.

[noprevaricating]

[He puts down the tea and leans against her.]

We knew it was possible.

[A dozen little Kennedys. Not anymore.]

written;

[iron_grover]

[...He's let down. Sure, let's put it like that. He liked Dawn. She was clever, and could match par with his snark--that took talent. And guts.]

That's a shame.

written;

[noprevaricating]

[It's much later, but he picks up his journal and thinks he recognizes that handwriting.]

It is. She made Luceti a bit brighter.

written;

[iron_grover]

Hey, maybe she's better off at home. [Who is he kidding. Any place is better than this.] No crazy-driven experiments there. Well, probably.

written;

[noprevaricating]

She is better off there. We should be happy for her.

[abidinglaw]

[Archie does not want to see Norrington right now. He knows this. He doesn't want to hear from him, or read a single word that he might care to write. The admiral has done this himself, of course. Put himself in a position from which he can do no good.

He can only sit and watch.

Does he have the right to do even that?]

[noprevaricating]

[Archie is out of it. So out of it, and so shocked, that when he glances up, he actually registers that Norrington is there, but simply doesn't care. Any grievance he had with this man is too petty to consider right now. He meets his eyes briefly, then looks back down.]

[abidinglaw]

[It was more than he expected. It was an excuse to approach the boy. He does this, slowly, as though expecting to be brushed away.]

At the party.

[He begins, though this is neither the time nor the place.]

I was out of order. I apologize.

[noprevaricating]

[Norrington gets a blank, blinking stare for a while, then Kennedy lets out a breath.] So was I. I... [Words, what are they?] My sincere apologies.

voice--next day okay?

[lists_to_port]

Kennedy? [Jack has had time to hear about this new loss and process it a bit since the night before. And he knows that he will probably be no help at all, but he has to say something to the lad.]

[voice] Next day is good!

[noprevaricating]

[Archie is in the middle of staring at breakfast. He's actually pretty grateful when Jack interrupts.]

Yes?

07

[lists_to_port]

Kennedy, I've a proposition for you. I need a man to help crew the Joanna for...for however long it takes. A voyage. I thought you might be just the man.

[noprevaricating]

[Blinking. Pause.]

A voyage. And the purpose of this voyage?

[He's pretty sure the purpose is "distract Archie Kennedy," considering he'd tried this tack on Jack when Buffy was kidnapped. Not to mention it's not the first time in his life someone has tried this with him.]

[Voice]

[originaljackass]

Tch. Luceti's a sorrier place for one less Summers.

[And hey, he was at the birthday. He kind of picked up on the Archie and Dawn pairing.]

[Voice]

[noprevaricating]

It is. [He sounds tired. He does not sound irritated, for pretty much the first time ever when speaking to Jack.]

[Voice]

[originaljackass]

[Well Jack is kind of a jackass and he doesn't really care that much. But he is sort of reminded of Holly here. So in a rare moment, he offers something that isn't entirely arrogant and rude.]

Give it time, Kennedy. It'll get better. It always does.

[Voice]

[noprevaricating]

[That was...unexpected. He'll take it at face value, for now.]

I know.