Luceti Appointments

[wouldntbetonit]

Messages and meetings that aren't journal and log posts for Lt. William Bush!

(Please date and title accordingly~)

Comments

January 21st - action

[captainhornblower]

Captain Hornblower cordially requests the presence of Lieutenant William Bush in the captain's cabin aboard His Majesty's Ship Britannia at six bells of the last dog watch on this the twenty-first of January.

[A simple note, slid under the lieutenant's door while he was out.

After that? The captain had retired to his ship to pass the time while he waited to see if his order was followed. His Journal was back at the house. He'd seen and read and heard enough.

Horatio sat at his desk in the captain's cabin as the hour approached, his hands folded together and his eyes half open while he considered everything that needed to be said and how it ought to be said.]

January 21st - action

[wouldntbetonit]

[When Bush received the note he couldn't help but indulge the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. At first he couldn't fathom why Horatio would want to summon him so formally to the captain's cabin. And upon later rumination (something he never indulged in.) he still couldn't come up with a reason to be summoned.

Nor could he shake that feeling that it was for something done wrong. Bush had yet to find his uniform or his hat, so he was left wearing civilian's garb. Which made him feel even worse. If he could just don the garb he was familiar with he'd be more comfortable going to the captain's cabin he was sure.

Upon arriving Bush rapped his knuckles on the door before entering sans an invitation. Old habit.]

Sir?

January 21st - action

[captainhornblower]

[As he's waited, he's read. Read the Articles of War he wrote out once, recalled the fire-storm that started.

Wholly unintentional, but there had been nothing to do but let it burn out and accept the consequences.]

Thank you for your attempt to find more crew for Britannia.

[The "but" hangs in the air, as yet unspoken, but lining every word and written in the dark eyes fixed on Bush.]

January 21st - action

[wouldntbetonit]

[Thankfully Bush knows that tone. He's heard it used before. When Horatio was exceptionally angry with him and attempting calm. Like after the shell incident, where he went leading him on through what had happened like a father with a stupid child.]

A very poor attempt, sir.

[He wasn't demeaning himself, merely the reception it had gotten.]

January 21st - action

[captainhornblower]

We're far from England, William. Far from anywhere the Articles have any meaning and far from where our values and traditions are commonplace. Or at least understood.

[Civilians might not always like what the Navy did, but they understood the importance of all of it.

For that much, at least, he sounded genuinely sympathetic.]

I will vouch for nine-tenths of this crew myself. [And the other tenth he did not know well enough, but would trust Archie's opinion on. The next part is said coolly, a hardness to his voice, even if it's difficult for him to come to terms with as well:] I will advise you not to suggest again that they are incapable based on their sex.

January 21st - action

[wouldntbetonit]

Yes sir.

[His head is bowed, eyes down, and he nods every so often.

He doesn't even come close to an apology himself. But he isn't talking back, or disobeying his commanding officer. He'll drop the issue if Horatio wants him to. But he doesn't have to like it. William worries for a moment that Horatio will be able to see right to that and he shifts his weight from foot to foot. Just once. But it's there.]