Up on the quarterdeck our gallant captain stands...

[simplestgift]

Who: seventeensir lists_to_port and a noprevaricating.
What: Just a little mischief.
When: June 24th, evening.
Where: House 36
Summary: Horatio is planning Very Brave Very Stupid Things.  So Archie is hiring Jack to make sure those Stupid Things don't happen.
Rating: It's friends kidnapping each other, so...nothing too serious.  PG-13 tops.

After his conversation with Jack, Archie had learned two things.

1. He was forbidden to lift anything for four more weeks, including protesting best friends.

2. He was given prescription narcotics for pain management.

The second made the first much easier to deal with. At the moment, he was innocently making coffee, having skimped on his pain meds today to have enough to use for this purpose. The new house was much, much roomier than the old flat had been, but there was an increased chance of Horatio meandering by the kitchen and seeing what he was doing. So he kept the saved pain medication innocently in one hand. The general shop had had a granite mortar and pestle for crushing herbs. When Horatio ducked out of the house on an errand, Archie quickly dropped the pills into the mortar and crushed them. The coffee was decaffeinated and stronger than he normally made it. This would do.

The trouble with not taking enough pain meds was obvious, but Kennedy had come up with tricks to take his mind off pain long ago. He hadn't wanted to go to Dr. Hepplewhite every time Simpson gave him cause, so he'd developed a way to shrink his consciousness.

"Through the forest have I gone.
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower's force in stirring love.
Night and silence. --Who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear."

Horatio was back, and Kennedy was pouring the coffee, his voice the barest whisper.

"This is he, my master said."

The crushed pills went into one cup of coffee, and he stirred in time to the text he recited.

"Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
So awake when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.

Horatio! I made coffee!"

Comments

[all7seas]

Why HAD he given Jilly the key? Sparrow pondered this as he kept a steady pace toward the barracks. They were still a ways away, particularly when one man was carrying another.

"I think I gave it her because I thought she'd enjoy it. A game. A mystery. To please her."

[simplestgift]

"What does it code say, this mystical book of honor amongst thieves?"

[all7seas]

"Why don't you turn pirate and find out, mate? It's all part of our dark initiative rites."

Now Jack was just making things up. His breath was rather labored, now, under the weight of Horatio. He stopped a moment and propped the man against him, using Horatio's arms to give emphasis to his speech in large, demonstrative gestures.

Like a puppet.

"When one turns pirate, lad, one must take part in the unholy dark rites. He must climb the volcanic mountain and spit into the crater, and then he must fling himself from the Cliff of the Twelve Lost Sisters, and then he must finish a flagon of Master Vine's home-made gin. And only then is he privy to its secrets."

[simplestgift]

"Sounds daunting indeed." He reached for Horatio to help ease the sleeping man to the ground. "You'll wake him up, you know." He checked the man's pulse quickly. It was abnormally slow, but Kennedy wasn't sure how much of that was sleeping and how much was drugging.

[all7seas]

"Just need to stretch my back, is all. And---" He fumbled for his flask and drew it out, taking a long swallow before passing it to Kennedy. "For strength. If he wakes I'll put him under again, soon enough."

[simplestgift]

Archie took several large gulps of the rum to compensate for the pain meds he hadn't taken. "Don't hit him. It'll be hours before he's fully recovered." A few more gulps, and he passed the rum back to Jack.

[all7seas]

One more sip and the flask was safely tucked away. With a rather belabored grunt, Jack heaved the other man onto his shoulders once more.

"He's been having seconds at pudding, hasn't he."

[simplestgift]

"He's thin as a rail, Jack. You've just been carrying him too long. Let me help now--I've regained myself."

[all7seas]

"NO! Stand down, lad---McCoy will have my head if you irritate your injuries now. He's got enough to do, what with...with girls exploding things and killing people and doing harm in the village, or whatever happened. Let me."

A stumble turned into a steadier stride as Jack found the balance between pace and balancing the burden. Like any other sailors in Luceti, he had a decent amount of muscle and could put it to use when he needed to; but Jack also had a stubborn need to persist in difficult tasks. It was what had won him the Pearl in the end, after all. Each time.

[simplestgift]

A slight flush was brought to Kennedy's face at the words, but he said nothing. After a moment longer of walking, he brought Horatio's journal out from where it was tucked into his jacket.

"I brought his journal. He can keep in touch that way."

He was also aware of the hazard of Horatio calling for help, but was more concerned with him having a way to contact him.

[all7seas]

"And what's to prevent him from calling for help?" Jack clearly did not think much of this idea.

[simplestgift]

"Nothing. But I'd rather he have a way to contact me. What if Grell were to suddenly appear at your house?"

[all7seas]

Sparrow stopped short at that, nearly dropping his burden. Then he continued on with slow steps. "Won't. She won't show, not there. She doesn't even know where the house is."

[simplestgift]

"I never told her where I lived, Jack."

[all7seas]

Jack adjusted Horatio over his shoulders. He didn't seem like the help-calling type, in the end---such was the pirate's opinion at least.

"I've MY journal." Kennedy had a point, but Jack was still concerned with what he saw as the problem of Hornblower having access to a journal. What if Grell used it to contact and find the man, who was so desperate for this duel? There were worse treacheries possible than merely that of Horatio calling for help.

[simplestgift]

"He can't use it to contact me." That was what it came down to--Kennedy wanted to be sure Horatio was okay. He wanted to make sure things weren't going too far.

[all7seas]

"If you're worried about him and furthermore do not have any faith in me, Kennedy, speak now or hold your peace. He's not getting a journal."

[simplestgift]

"It isn't about not having faith in you, Jack." But Kennedy would never, never have more faith in Jack than he had in Horatio. Not in anything. Except, perhaps, an ear for music. "I just don't like the idea of leaving him in a room somewhere with naught but the clothes on his back."

[all7seas]

"He'll...have other things. Besides clothes. I don't fancy having a bored Hornblower in my attic, now do I? That would be frightfully annoying.

You mind getting the door there, sir?" He gestured toward the barracks with a twist of his head. Jack's breathing was definitely becoming more labored, now; it had been a long walk with a heavy burden, and they were only halfway there.

[simplestgift]

Kennedy opens the door with a sigh. "Very well. It'll most likely come to him on its own, in a couple of days. It's what they do, isn't it?"

[all7seas]

"Aye, another Malnosso witchery, that. We'll make a test of it, eh? Can journals fly past locked doors?

"Bloody hell, Hornblower; you should come with your own tote." Gently, the pirate laid the unconscious man down on the floor so that he could deal with the transporter controls. "You can go through first, Kennedy---that way you can catch him on the other side."

[simplestgift]

"Bloody witchery? How do you think I'm here, I wonder?" He tucked the journal into his jacket with another sigh. "I'll see you on the other end." Stepping onto the platform, he was gone in an instant.

[all7seas]

"How do I think you're here? How, Kennedy?" Jack mumbled these words to an unconscious man after the younger sailor had vanished. He was trying to get all of Hornblower to fit on the platform and it was taking a lot of shoving and squeezing and perhaps a kick or two but nothing that would show a bruise.

"Bloody miracle, that's what you are. Miracle Boy Kennedy, Boy Flogging WONDER of the Renowned Frenchy-Fighting Pellew Boat. Get IN there, Hornblower!"

Another shove and the folded-up form of Horatio Hornblower was crammed onto the platform and vanished seaward.

[simplestgift]

"Captain Jack Sparrow. That's no dragon you're fighting, it's a windmill, you damned lunatic. You're not even that heavy, Horatio." Kennedy hauled Hornblower off the platform by his underarms. "Allll right, I've changed my mind. The crown o' th'earth doth melt, my lord, O withered is the garland of war..."

Two more hoists, and Horatio was off and the platform cleared.

[all7seas]

When Jack figured he'd given even a recovering, wound-weakened Kennedy enough time to unfold Hornblower and stow him someplace safe, he stepped onto the platform and took himself away to the seaside.

"Right. I'm here, no need to get excited, Kennedy. Where's our precious baggage?"