001. it's the way you name your ship | video

[onecertainly]

[ The video feed begins and a young man stares curiously into the camera. He has the distinct look of someone who's just climbed out of their deathbed and hastily tried to make themselves look presentable -- if there is a distinct look for such a thing -- and that would be because that's exactly what he's done.

Still, despite his obvious weariness, his expression is almost cheerful. ]

L-- [ No, not Lieutenant. Not anymore. ] Archie Kennedy. Warden Kennedy, I suppose. [ He raises his hand and it sort of lingers in the air because it strikes him that he has no idea if he should be saluting or not. Do wardens salute? Do convicted mutineers?

Likely not, so he lets it drop back down to his side. ]

This Admiral, he's -- [ There's a pause as he considers his next words carefully. He can't be too forward about his opinions of this mysterious figure, not so soon after the Renown. There's no telling who could be listening. Also, first impressions and all that.] -- well. He must be an interesting fellow to command such a vessel.

Does the entire crew dress as they please? If I must report to someone to receive uniform, I'd be obliged to learn at the very least his name. The one I'm wearing hardly seems appropriate. [ It's difficult to tell by the angle of the camera but he's wearing an old-fashioned naval uniform. It doesn't strike him as the correct attire for a warden. ] Thank you.

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[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio's face drops, but really, only for an instant. Then he's stepping forwards and clapping his hand on Archie's shoulder, as much to reassure himself as for any other reason. To feel that Archie's presence here is as solid and as real as his own.]

For what? Archie, I am so glad to see you again.

[It's the most painful happiness he's ever felt, but he is happy. More than happy, even. He is overjoyed to see Archie, even as he is distraught by the reminder that he is still dead.

For now.]

And now we must say our hellos once more, and I hope you are not sorry for a moment of it.

[onecertainly]

When Bush didn't know me I feared -- [ He let out a short laugh. ] Ah, it doesn't matter, does it? We're both here, and we remember.

[ He goes a step further and pulls Horatio into a tight embrace. He's just so happy and relieved and, god, he knows they're lucky to have this chance.

His next words come difficult; they're like a painful lump in his throat making it hard to swallow. ]

I'm glad you're here, Horatio.

[ He leaves it at that. Any more, he fears, and he might make a fool of himself. ]

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio's glad when Archie hugs him. He can look back on it as permission, and an excuse, for how tightly he hugs him back. It also gives him a good excuse to hide his face over Archie's shoulder, so that whatever awful swell of feeling it betrays in that moment goes unseen.

He doesn't speak for that moment, trusting that Archie feels the urgency of his grasp more than he could possibly trust his voice.

When he finally breaks away, it's almost reluctant.]

You must let me show you around. There is so much here, Archie, it's like no ship you've ever been on, I'll swear to that...

[onecertainly]

[ Archie blinks back tears he didn't even realize were brimming in his eyes and nods. ]

I believe you. I've seen so much already [ Iris. ] just through that thing. [ He nods towards the desk where his communicator sits. ]

It's a fair change from the Renown, that's for certain. The Admiral... Is he really so far removed from his crew that he cares not how they speak of him?

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio tries hard not to notice the gleaming wetness in Archie's eyes. His throat feels tight with feeling as it is, and they've already shown quite enough of that.]

He's like a ghost, in truth. Orders are passed down without clarity or enforcement, he's never seen, seldom heard from...

[He shrugs helplessly.]

I don't know that we'd have much chance of having him declared unfit for command, but he does... little harm, I think? He bears no grudges at least.

[onecertainly]

[ Archie nods. ]

I think it's best if we leave it be, then. The man can work miracles; I doubt two lieutenants would pose much threat regardless of how poor his command.

[ He'd rather not go through all that again, anyway.

He decides to shift back to less grim topics. ]

What's the rest of the ship like? I confess I'm eager to know if there's anything else quite as incredible as those communication devices.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

I can barely tell you of it all, Archie. There's a garden, a greenhouse, a pub, a pool... [Another thought occurs to him, and he breaks into a broad smile.] The Enclosure. Archie, I must show you the enclosure. Even seeing it makes it no easier to believe...

[onecertainly]

Let's go, then! I don't think I'll believe any of this until I see it with my own eyes, and even then perhaps not.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio has to restrain himself from grabbing Archie's arm and tugging him out into the corridor, instead, he holds open the door and gestures out into the hallway.]

Have you been into the warden areas at all? You access them through the deck.

[onecertainly]

[ Archie's excitement is palpable but he still manages to look the part of a proper lieutenant as he exits the room. ]

No, I planned to report to the officer on duty first. I've never felt so foolish for trying to stay to regulation before.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

I did the exact same! But there is truly no kind of order here, it's more like a floating town than a ship, the way they carry on...

[He tries to restrain the excitement in his voice, but Bush was already so long settled by the time Horatio came aboard, there's a pleasure in having someone reacting with such familiar bafflement to all the strange things of the ship.]

[onecertainly]

Indeed! Can you imagine if any of our ships had had a pub? Good God, we'd never have gotten anything done.

[ He doesn't see how it could lead to much better here but apparently it works for the place. ]

Captain Bush [ He playfully stresses the title, not because he doubts Bush's abilities but rather because it's still absurd to him that the man was a much younger second lieutenant like five seconds ago. ] mentioned fresh food and water. Is that true?

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

It was hard enough keeping the men out of the spirit rations...

[Double rum on Sundays. The brief, glancing memory of The Renown makes Horatio wince again, but he shakes it off as he proceeds down the corridor. The mention of Captain Bush makes him smile, and he pauses on that subject before actually answering Archie's question.]

Captain Bush. It's strange, isn't it? He's a little different from the one we knew, but only slightly, and it could well come with age. It's true what he says though, the supplies here never seem to run dry. There's fresh water, and good meat, Archie, almost every meal!

[onecertainly]

That's more like a holiday than a prison ship. It sounds too good to be true!

[ Says the man who was just brought back to life by this place.

When he continues, he lowers his voice considerably. ]

What do you make of the captain's story? He seems himself, or near enough, but I can't believe there's a... another you, somewhere. It's madness, Horatio.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

There are downsides to it as well. Violence is particularly rife, and there are times when... who you are is changed. Taken away from you, for a few brief days.

[He's been lucky in that regard so far. Seen people changed, seen people become awful, but he's remained himself.

At the mention of Bush, Horatio glances around conspiratorially, before leaning in to reply.]

I don't know what to make of it, truth be told. He knew me immediately when I arrived, and it wasn't until I grew angry with him for not knowing you that he told me that I wasn't his Horatio.

I wish I could say that it was the strangest thing that I've encountered here.

[onecertainly]

He's been here longer than you have. What if he's been permanently changed? His mind could be addled, not properly restored ...

[ He almost regrets even speculating on such a thing. It feels as though the paranoia that enveloped the Renown had followed him here, seeped into his own mind. He doesn't like it. ]

Or perhaps he's telling the truth. He says the other you has a powder burn on his hand. There could be another Kennedy who simply chose a different path.

[ Pause. ]

I think I fear the answer but I must ask -- what could you have possibly seen that's stranger?

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

It's possible I suppose. We see glimpses of other worlds here all the time, it's impossible to say if he originated in one of them, or if he's simply changed, since neither of us knows what he was like when he first arrived.

[The prospect that he's somehow lost himself here is frighteningly possible. What's worse is that if it's possible for Bush, it's possible for all of them]

I'll show you what's stranger, though. This way...

[They come out onto the deck, and Horatio makes for the door of the enclosure. Out of all the things on board, this is still the one that shocked him most upon arrival, and the one that he's most excited to show to Archie.

He opens the lock with his item, pushes open the door, and holds it for Archie.

Through the doorway, the enclosure opens up into a landscapes of high, jagged cliffs, tawny green grass, and an ocean that seems to stretch out forever. A whole world of infinite proportions contained, by a single doorway, on their small ship.]

After you.

[onecertainly]

[ Archie isn't sure what he was expecting to find behind that door but this, this is certainly not it. As he steps inside he's speechless, stricken with the kind of slack-jaw amazement one very rarely gets the chance to experience. The cliffs, the water, everything is so immense and real and he has to cast a glance back over his shoulder, through the doorway, to make sure he hasn't imagined everything that happened right before this room.

A room! The word hardly seems to do it justice. This isn't a room, it's something else entirely. Something impossible, but amazing.

He gives a breathless laugh and grins. ]

My God! Horatio, this is incredible!

[ Like a dream, he decides, and he finds himself wondering if he won't wake up any minute back aboard the Renown and find this all had never happened.

Regardless, his amazement is still such that he doubts his ability to construct a proper sentence, thus surprising himself when he manages: ]

I don't think I'd believe it if you weren't here too.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio watches Archie's expression closely as they enter the enclosure. He knows how Archie will respond, up to a point, but he wants to see it. Wants to be reminded that this is an impossible place, full of impossible things, and that he's not naive or foolish for having been shocked by them.]

I told you it got stranger.

[His voice is teasing, and he's having ever so slightly too much fun with knowing more about the Barge than Archie right now, but he can't bring himself to reign his pleasure in.]

People come out here for recreation, to get away from the feeling of being imprisoned. To get away from the Barge altogether, I understand.

[onecertainly]

[ Archie says nothing at first. If the Admiral is so lax and there are no strict rules enforced it's a shock people don't spend all their time in here, he thinks. He almost prefers this to his new cabin.

Ah, right. Cabins.

He remembers something Bush had asked of him, then, and when he turns to Horatio next his expression is amused in a manner that implies that he's definitely Up To Something. ]

The Barge is obviously capable of so much yet I have it on good authority that you're still staying in lieutenant's quarters. Come now, Horatio. Where's your imagination?

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

Ah, Bush has been bothering you about that already?

[He asks, with a kind of weary fondness. He appreciates the thought and everything, but he's still not comfortable with the thought of changing his crappy room. The thought of having to request something better.]

My cabin's fine, Archie. They're quarters that I'd expect to share with at least two other men, but I have them to myself all the same. I feel quite well done to...

[onecertainly]

I gave him my word that I would try, and now I have. I won't mention it again. In fact I expect I might be visiting you more often than you'd care to see me, once I start feeling homesick for a proper ship.

[ When you get used to sleeping in a hammock in a cramped room with other guys also sleeping in hammocks, a spacious room with a cushy bed is kind of hard to readjust to. ]

For my cabin they've exactly replicated the bedroom I had as a boy -- the same one I'd use if I visited my family. There are even five notches carved into the desk that I put there once during some childish fit of boredom. I don't know how they do it; it should be impossible.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

I'd be glad to have you. You couldn't possibly exhaust your welcome with me.

[You're alive. You're alive, and you're well, and Horatio will never ever stop being grateful that he gets to sail with you again. You could be waking him on the hour every hour and he'd still be happy to see you.]

It's chilling, sometimes. To know that something... somehow, has watched us so closely and for so long. I can only guess how the inmates feel at having had their whole lives recorded.

[onecertainly]

[ Archie agrees with the sentiment. Beneath the excitement, the happiness of reuniting with Horatio, he feels a sense of dread. He worries that he's done something wrong, somehow, by coming here. ]

The Admiral's intentions seem pure enough but I can't escape this feeling that we're fools for accepting his invitation.

[ He looks away, out towards that impossible body of water in the distance, and tightens his jaw, clearly anxious. He knows they have the option of leaving but that's not an easy decision in his case. ]

Remember what I said to you when you first came aboard the Justinian? [ He looks back at Horatio with a faint smile. ] "Welcome to Purgatory." I worry those words ring truer here.

[ Maybe it's because he's new, or because he shouldn't even be here at all, but it's an unsettling notion that's plagued him from the moment he was offered passage aboard the Barge. ]

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Perhaps in a way, it's easier for Horatio. Once he knew that coming to the Barge... that earning his deal was a possibility, it swiftly became the only possibility. Whatever fears he may have around the nature of the Barge, he suffers no doubt about whether he's done the right thing by coming here.]

I think that this place is many things to many people. Perhaps it is purgatory to some, perhaps it could be hell, even. To most of the people here though... I do believe that it's something more than that.

[He hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head.]

It's a second chance, Archie. Perhaps it's all a trick, and we're being played for fools here, but as long as there's a chance...

[And no, he's not talking about the inmates.]