Draft Log #3: During v. 2.0

[lucetimods]

Who: Everyone on the draft
What: Day 3-5
When: August 27th-August 29th
Where: ONCE MORE INTO THE-- ...BEACH
Summary: Like it says above. The draftees reach the beach.
Rating: V FOR VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR!!


Once again, That Handy Useful Information Link. Also a link to the previous draft log!

Comments

[all7seas]

"Failed," was the clipped response. "Admiral showed up to tell me as much. But I owe you, Kennedy, for savin' my life."

[simplestgift]

There were a few heartbeats, and Kennedy's face darkened. The admiral told him he failed? After saving every life aboard his ship? It sounded like an admiral-esque thing to say, but...

"Even an admiral cannot pass judgment on his own, Jack. When a captain loses his ship, he is court-martialed to ensure he did everything he could, and one admiral does not make an entire court-martial." A beat. "At any rate, it was Captain Hornblower who ordered the boat sent out." He deserved credit for that, even if he didn't directly order Kennedy to dive in after the pirate.

[all7seas]

"You think....you think there'll be an inquest?" With no deaths, Jack had thought it would all blow over eventually. And there weren't any proper law courts in Luceti. But of all the things that had happened lately--proposals of a Town Watch and talk against piracy and champions moving in...well.

Sparrow tried to sit up and face the younger man. "Hornblower might have sent it, but you were the one who pulled me out. I remember that. Somehow I was under and then up again..."

He'd been sinking, resigned to drowning, and then---apparently by magic---something had buoyed him up.

[simplestgift]

"I doubt it. This isn't the navy. I don't think anyone blames you but him. You saved everyone aboard that ship."

He listened to what Sparrow recalled of his rescue without looking him in the eye. As the pirate struggled to sit up, Kennedy shook his head and crouched by the cot, gesturing for him to lie back down. "Perhaps you had just hit the water, and the air in your lungs floated you to the top." Except it hadn't seemed like that. It had seemed like something that carried him up, and had dived off just as Archie had arrived. Something that had caught the corner of his eye, dim as a stone well beneath the surface of the water.

"Or perhaps it was a sea turtle," he joked. "Either way, you're welcome, but what else was I to do?"

[all7seas]

Had it? Had that fleeting glimpse of reptilian eyes and shell and flippers actually resolved itself into a creature that saved his life?

The answer had to be "yes," as far as Jack was concerned.

"Could've left me to it. I fell behind, Kennedy."

[simplestgift]

"...What difference does that make?"

[all7seas]

Jack just gave the boy a look. He knew that Kennedy knew the difference, that the young navy man was well enough aware of how things worked in the pirating world.

"Would have at least spared Norrington the trouble of turning his nose up at me later-like. Tell me: what news from the brigs?"

[simplestgift]

No, Kennedy was only just now getting that the pirate code was the kind of thing even navy men would mutiny over.

"They're holding up. Elric is keeping the Endurance in repair, or we'd be lost. There's no end to them, Jack."

[all7seas]

"And what of Beckett's Mum? What of the flag ship?" Nervous fingers began twisting up the hem of the blanket. Jack had to know---there were so many on that ship that he had sworn to protect, and now he was--as James had said---useless to them.

[simplestgift]

"I've not heard of casualties. Where does that name come from, anyway?"

[all7seas]

"Beckett's Mum? Named after the mythical and or legendary mum of one Admiral Beckett. One of your tyrants, Kennedy. I assume he had a mum at some point in his life."

[simplestgift]

There's a choked laugh. "Aboard Beckett's mum?"

[all7seas]

"Riding her like the devil himself were after us."

[simplestgift]

That gets a real laugh. "Clever. Wish I'd thought of it for...well. Buckland, perhaps, though he wasn't the worst." The worst are the ones he doesn't even want mentioned. "Or Hammond."

He draws a flask from his coat and tosses it to Jack.

[all7seas]

Oh God bless you Archie Kennedy: so much ill-feeling that you stuck by Hornblower's captaincy bid vanishes as Jack catches that flask.

"You...are a god...among men, Kennedy."

[simplestgift]

A soft chuckle, this time. He did stick up for your bid, Jack, and he did vote for you.

"You'll have to get better in time for our voyage."

[all7seas]

Ah--the voyage. He'd promised the lad, after all. And even though he less than ever wanted to sail with Hornblower...

"Right. Voyage. Soon enough, eh?"