Give me a windy day with the white clouds flying

[captainhornblower]

Who: Everyone who volunteered to help build the ship and/or anyone who has gotten dragged into it since.
What: CARVING THE BODIES. (aka "building the ship")
When: October 17th until October 22nd, from 8 in the morning until evening. (Your character is not required to be there every day all day.)
Where: On the beach, not far from one of the docks.
Summary: The construction of the ship and bonding during the work or between breaks.
Rating: PG to PG-13

The lumber gathered, the tools set out, and the plans copied several times over for distribution.

It's time to turn the mass slaughter of the trees from the forest into something fitting for the Royal Navy. ...Even if there's no Royal Navy here. Because that doesn't really matter.

Major points of the to-do list:
construct block and tackles, belaying pins, etc.
build the hull
caulking or just coat everything with epoxy and tell the Navy boys its caulked
divide the decks
build the masts
set the rigging
attach the sails
construct two quarterboats

Comments

[captainhornblower]

It takes Hornblower a few moments to realize they're being watched, mostly because he's finally stepped away from his work to go to his plain journal, where a few sketches and mathematical equations wind through the pages. He has something he's trying to solve, but he hasn't got it yet.

But the sight of Sparrow gives him pause with the open notebook, and he watches the man. For just a moment, his expression tightens. On the whole, though, it remains fairly neutral, as if the conversation on the beach a few nights ago had not happened.

He gives a simple nod of acknowledgement and greeting.

[all7seas]

In return, Horatio gets a nod acknowledging that acknowledgment and greeting, though not very warmly. At some point though Jack will hail the other captain and gesture him over.

[captainhornblower]

Civility is the name of the game, as far as Hornblower is concerned. In public, even around common acquaintances-- civility. It doesn't matter what they think of each other, not as far as anyone else is concerned. He can, at least, play that role. He's played it before.

When Sparrow beckons him over, he nods, joining the other man shortly. He tries to hide it as best he can, but one look at his hands shows the red, slightly raw skin. He went into the Navy as a midshipman. This sort of work? Is completely outside his area of expertise and his training. He's a long way from calluses to make it easier.

"Sparrow." Another nod of the head, voice neither warm nor cold.

[all7seas]

"Going to take you forever at this rate." Another sip of rum. "What's she to be named?"

Truth be told, this construction of what Jack saw as a Navy vessel was making him a bit nervous for the Joanna. Kennedy had reassured him, of course. Buffy had, too, in her own way. But Norrington's midnight visit had thrown this new-ish influx of navy men into a rather dangerous relief.

[captainhornblower]

"Britannia, I believe."

A taste of home and an acknowledgement to what every Navy man learned. No matter where in the world you sailed, if you were outside your own country-- your ship was as good as your country. Better, depending on the man. (God knew Hornblower preferred the feel of Hotspur under his feet than than the soil of England.)

[all7seas]

Well that was a Naval name if ever Jack had heard one. As a man without a country, he very much liked putting his feet to the decks of similar gypsy wanderers.

It would be such very great fun, though, to commandeer her.

"That's a lovely name, Hornblower. And will she rule the waves?"

Such an innocent question as Jack tries to mask every bit of him that is leery about this particular project. Giles and his crew could build a boat of some sort but probably never manage to sail the thing, in his mind. Law was as good as an ally, really. Sokka wasn't a threat, either. But the Navy.......well. It is like watching the birthing of an age-old enemy, and Jack cannot shake that.


Just as long as Kennedy never betrays him...

[captainhornblower]

"Without any guns? No, I shouldn't think so."

In another tone, it might have been a threat or a promise of violence in future if supplied with such things. However, despite whom he was speaking to, there was something genuine in his voice. Guns or not, he had no desire to wage war on the men in the same predicament as he was-- bound to land when they preferred the sea.

The only wars he planned to fight were the war of the Malnosso against the Third Party... and one against the Malnosso themselves.

[all7seas]

And those wars against the Malnosso were not wars Jack was willing to participate in so long as he couldn't see anything more than a bad end coming to them all as a result.

Horatio's admission was taken with a very large grain of salt. The pirate believed it only a matter of time before the other man decided to do something constructive with his boat. And all this talk of order and prisons...well. It wasn't hard to see which side Horatio Hornblower should fall on if things came to a head.

"Who've you got for crew?"

[captainhornblower]

"Haven't one yet." He was silent for a moment. "We only need a small crew, enough to take her out to sea now and then." A full compliment... no. He doubted he would ever see one again. Not even the twenty-five or so the brig had been given for the draft.

"Five to ten... Mister Kennedy and I will likely worry about that once she's built."

[all7seas]

"Kennedy's your first mate, I shouldn't wonder." Jack stared moodily out to sea. The initial pain and shock of Leonard McCoy's loss had worn off, but there were little reminders here and there. Always little reminders of what it was like to be left behind by a best mate.

[captainhornblower]

Lieutenant.

But there was no Navy here. No King. No Admiralty. He was... something like a privateer here, much as he hated the thought. 'First mate' was probably more accurate than 'first lieutenant.' But it would never be that in his mind. He was a captain of the Royal Navy, damn it.

Still, he found his voice, strained by the thought of what he'd always planned and what had never been, "Yes."

[all7seas]

That fact actually gave Jack a little hope. Kennedy wouldn't turn on him or do him wrong, would he? No. Archie Kennedy could be trusted near to one hundred percent. Not predicted quite that accurately, of course, but certainly trusted. It was almost like having an agent of his own aboard this Britannia of theirs, and that suited him. At least he would share with the pirate the goings-on of that still-in-progress boat, and that was saying something. So much of Luceti's boat building had been kept secret from the pirate.

Which...was sort of ridiculous, considering he lived three stones' throw from the docks where most of Luceti's fleet was currently kept.

A sharp change of tack:

"Moro give you any trouble felling those trees?" The giant white wolf was known to be viciously overprotective of Luceti's forests. Jack's year-long boatbuilding enterprise had involved at least one close call with her and a lot of secretive harvesting in the aftermath.

[captainhornblower]

"Moro? No. Not to my knowledge."

He remembered hearing about spirits in this world, and he was willing to bet Moro was one of them. Just what he needed, he supposed. Some sort of irritated magical being to hound him. God forbid this place let off once. After all, just because there had not been trouble so far did not mean there would not be trouble in the future.

"Should I expect trouble?"

[all7seas]

"Trouble of the giant killer wolfish sort? Dunno. I suppose that depends on your luck."

A pause, and Jack took advantage of his flask before continuing: "She guards the forest, though for some odd reason she gave Thunderaxe a load of dead wood for his projects. Apparently that were to prevent the live wood from bein' cut, but what use is an old dead log for a mast?"

[captainhornblower]

"A dead log for a mast?" Hornblower shook his head slightly.

Granted, 'giant killer wolfish sort' had him thinking. Had him wondering and preparing. That did not sound like the sort of thing to try and handle. But if it came, it came.

[all7seas]

Jack stood up, then, brushing sand from his breeches and peering into the now-empty flask.

"Been planning more heroical things of late?"

[captainhornblower]

The word caught his attention more than anything else.

"No, Captain Sparrow. Merely trying to..." What was he trying to do? "Trying to keep busy."

[all7seas]

"So have I. Winter's coming." There was more than enough to do for pure survival on that account. "Right. I'm off to look for her. Or--if you please, Mister Hornblower---to run futilely about my tidy little cage for a spell."

[captainhornblower]

Hornblower was silent for several moments. Then, finally, rather quietly, he said, "I hope you find her."

[all7seas]

With a grunt of acknowledgment, Jack abandoned that little portion of the beach and went striding off to the south.

There was so much to be done. The Joanna wanted a full careening at the next full-moon tide. The Beaver Moon. There was still firewood to be carted to Cullen House, and something had to be done to keep the water tank from freezing up and food and rum still needed to be stocked up for winter.

First things first, though. Jilly needed to come home safe. And while he walked, Jack could ponder the nature of futility and freedom.