(no subject)

[captainhornblower]

Who: seventeensir, noprevaricating
What: SHIP. And twin bonding.
When: November 3rd
Where: Luceti ocean, Britannia
Summary: The Britannia needs painting, and the sailors want time on their ship.
Rating: PG-13 (rating subject to change, depending on topics discussed)

It was, perhaps, overly nostalgic.

But when tan paint and blue paint had been found in the item shop and the large brushes needed to apply it, Horatio Hornblower had not been able to stop himself from grabbing it and carting it through the transporters to Britannia. It had taken some time over the last couple of days, but enough had been found to paint the whole of the ship. White for the deck and the other two for the rest.

The colours of the Indefatigable.

Britannia was... Horatio smiled at the thought as he put a few cans of the gold paint into one of the jolly boats ready to be lowered down to paint her sides. Britannia might well be a daughter of Indefatigable. Not the same ship, not in the slightest, but some parts of that lovely frigate seemed to have found their way into the design of the ship the two men who'd served on her had fallen in love with.

All he was missing-- safely tucked away in the captain's cabin-- was his uniform coat, but without it and with the first three buttons of his waistcoat undone, Horatio Hornblower looked remarkably more casual than he usually did. Then again, he knew all too well how easily paint could get everywhere.

Comments

[simplestgift]

Archie grinned at that, remembering another time of painting. "Pity that she isn't here now, and William with her. Very little actual painting would happen, I'm sure."

[captainhornblower]

"I don't know." Horatio chuckled. His smile was slightly dampened but it was no less genuine. Just a slight change in the type of happiness. "I think William would have all our heads if we were careless painting a ship. A wall in a house is one thing, but a ship..." He chuckled again. "A ship is quite another."

[simplestgift]

"The heart of a true navy man." Archie dipped his brush into the bucket and went back to work. "Has anyone told him that, as often as we say a ship is a lady, a ship is not actually a woman?"

[captainhornblower]

"Oh, I think he knows." Horatio caught Archie's eye and grinned proper. "He has far more patience for a ship's moods than a lady's."

[simplestgift]

A laugh. "Oh, come now. Treat a lady with respect and she'll be far less moody. And by respect, I do not mean politeness."

[captainhornblower]

"If he should ever come back, Archie, I charge you-- ask him which he would prefer: a lifetime with a loving wife to dote over him or a lifetime on a ship. Tell him he can have one or the other but not both." He laughed. "I can guarantee which he will choose."

[simplestgift]

"I could guarantee it the moment I met him. I pity the powder monkeys of the Hotspur, Horatio."

[captainhornblower]

"I pity her captain. I do not believe a man can understand the pressures of command until he is being stared at by William Bush, his every order listened to and his every action catalogued."

He shook his head. "Despite rank and all we went through on the Renown, the first time Hotspur went to sea? I felt like I was a mid again, with Captain Pellew's eyes on me and that same need to prove that I wasn't a firebrand and whatever else he assumed of me."

[simplestgift]

"Really! I wouldn't have guessed it. He admires you very deeply."

[captainhornblower]

"You give me too much credit, Archie," Horatio replied, shaking his head with a smile. "He respects me, don't think I don't know that, but I'm... I was a junior officer to him, and I'm still... There's still so much to learn, Archie. Especially from him. I... I swear to God. He makes me feel like a green mid again." His grin increased. "I can't imagine how he must make the mids feel."

[simplestgift]

"Inadequate. I pity them already. I suspect few can live up to his standards." A pang. He missed William, and the opportunities to make the man lighten up a bit.

[captainhornblower]

"I do think he likes Mister Orrock, as much as he likes anyone." The last words were said with a laugh, not wholly meant. "Brilliant man, absolutely invaluable, I think. Took to the Hotspur like he'd served on her all his life."

[simplestgift]

And he took care of you. Archie didn't say it out loud, but that fact alone would cement William as one of his favorite people for ever.

"Was he a good friend?"

[captainhornblower]

Horatio smiled faintly. William had defied his direct orders more than once... every time so he could help him. Save him from... from quite certain death. He nodded.

"One of the best I've had."

[simplestgift]

"Then may the grace of God bring him back to us."

[captainhornblower]

"If God is willing, I should certainly like that."

[simplestgift]

"And may we leap off cliffs together again." He pressed his free hand to the hull of the ship. "Do you think he'd like her, Horatio?"

[captainhornblower]

Horatio beamed, patting the hull lightly with one hand. "He'd adore her."

[simplestgift]

"She'll be loved enough. A ship must always be loved."

[captainhornblower]

"She will not want for affection," Horatio agreed, running his fingers across the wood with a soft sigh, "nor should she. Not one like her."

[simplestgift]

"We shall have many an officers' dinner in her captain's cabin." Oh. "Ah...speaking of, Horatio, I may have...done something."

[captainhornblower]

"Done something?" Horatio arched an eyebrow.

[simplestgift]

"I may have...invited Admiral Norrington to our next officers' dinner. A little."

[captainhornblower]

Horatio laughed a little, flashing a smile. "Well, I think we can forgive that, certainly."

[simplestgift]

"Are you certain? We don't have a brig or even a grating, but I could always be left on the t'gallant mast with naught but a biscuit and my wits to help me climb down."