The 5 Things Meme.

[quigonejinn]

You know the drill.

Do me a favor and ask for five things. My fandoms are: Star Wars, Hornblower, RPF for Paul McGann and/or other Hornblower actors, Supernatural, West Wing, Venture Brothers, Boondock Saints and really, anything that you might desire to see done in a halfassed way. If anybody wants it, I'll even write Battlestar Galactica, Nip/Tuck, and Harry Potter.

Be greedy and ask for lots. I'm in a rut these days, and writing these short little things will help me pare down my blather tendencies. :D

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5 ways Archie Kennedy is like William Bush, and 5 ways he is not.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

In which they are like:

1. They love the Navy. Horatio loves duty and success and having a purpose; he tolerates His Majesty's Service.

2. Music. Even before the ice broke between them aboard the Renown when Bush joined the mutiny, there was some friendliness over this: Kennedy only had one friend in the wardroom, and it was Hornblower, who was tonedeaf and completely unappreciative of music.

One afternoon, just as Bush was coming off watch, Archie was singing bits and pieces of "Spanish Ladies." They looked at each other, and Bush stayed in the wardroom until the end. He even nodded a little as Kennedy held the note of the final "leagues," and while they never sang together, when they were in the infirmary together, while Bush wrung out a cool towel for Kennedy, he hummed a bit of it, too.

We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt seas.

3. They both had sisters. A great number of loving, older sisters, in fact, and there is community among men who have endured such things. They recognize each other by certain signs.

4. Horatio, and their affection for him.

5. There was this one particular song about a pussycat who was one color above and another below. It seems that they were both fond of it, and on their first night back on the Renown after Samana, Archie sang it rather loudly with Bush toasting him at each chorus.

"Pity Horatio isn't here to enjoy this," Archie said, and Bush grinned. "I don't think he's heard this."

"We'll have to introduce him to it in Kingston. Do you know the verse about the salty dog who chased the pussycat?"


In which they are dissimilar:

1. "I must insist that the dog was brindled, not spotted, sir."

2. Bush supported four unmarried sisters on half of his pay. Archie's three -- particularly the one married to a marquess -- were somewhat freer of the need to discover new, intruiging ways to cook turnips.

3. Sawyer was not Bush's first experience of an actively abusive captain. With his second ship, he had one as bad as Sawyer in certain ways, but better in one crucial one: his abuse did not interfere too much with the function of the ship.

4. Archie has always loved the Navy -- even before he was too young to understand the miracles of weight and counterweight, wind and tide, he loved the glamor of uniforms and sea battles. There was a period when he struggled with its structure, and a time when he told himself that he did not have any affection for it. Even if he were released, he told himself, he would not go back to the sea. Bush came to love the Navy only after having spent time with her, but he was constant in his appreciation.

5. Bush lived through Kingston. Kennedy did not. Before leaving Kennedy to say his goodbye to Hornblower, Bush grasped his hand and smoothed the covers.

We strove for to weather but we run quite aground;
The seas mountain high made our sorrow abound.