Archie Kennedy

CHARACTER NAME: Archie Kennedy
CHARACTER SERIES: Hornblower (TV series)

Brief Background: (largely headcanon, as he's taken from VERY early in canon atm) Born in 1776 as the third son of the Earl of Cassilis, the only thing Archibald "Archie" Kennedy had to do was not disgrace the family, and he'd be more or less left to his own devices. Unfortunately, as a willful, adventurous child, he got into quite a few scrapes-- avoiding his classes, expressing too much interest in theater to the extent of getting involved in it (and with the actors doing it,) etc. Finally, partly because he was being sent away to try to get him to calm down and partially for the sense of adventure of it all, Archie ended up joining His Brittanic Majesty's Navy as a midshipman at the age of 15. The years since have been hell because of an older midshipman named Jack Simpson-- more details in warnings below, but one example is the fact that Simpson gave Archie such a bad head injury he ended up developing post-traumatic epilepsy.

The week before Archie was brought to the Danaë, Simpson was meant to have been transferred off the HMS Justinian because of a promotion. This was incredibly good news for Archie, and it had him very chipper when he first met Horatio Hornblower (a new midshipman who came aboard two days before Archie arrived on the Danaë.) However, the very same day Archie ended up on the Danaë, Simpson came back aboard the Justinian. As such, Archie despite being very confused by all the new technology and circumstance, he is very glad to be aboard and is in no rush at all to go home. Having Simpson's return in recent memory does mean he might be a little bit skittish for a little bit, but he is very resilient and bounces back quickly, so most people might not suspect anything dark in his past when they first meet him. (As long as they meet him while he's not having a nightmare/seizure.)


[OOC]

Backtagging: Into infinity! I can be pretty slow myself.
Threadhopping: Fine on the network if not privated, ask/plan if for logs.
Fourthwalling: Doubtful it's gonna happen? But nah.
Offensive subjects/triggers: Please do a warning for car accidents/self-harm. Those're my only two hard rules. Otherwise, check in if things are meandering towards more explicit sex content. Sometimes depending on my headspace I may need a bit more time/a heads up with anything in the depression/suicidal ideation/abuse (esp. emotional) range.

[IC]

Note on touching generally: Unexpected touching is always going to have him a bit skittish until he feels a bit safer on the Danaë. However, no matter how safe he feels/how close he is to someone, pulling on his hair is a massive trigger for him and he will immediately go into freeze or fight mode, depending on the scenario. If you want to deal with the fallout of unexpected touching for this or any of the below scenarios, I'm OOCly down, but just know that ICly Archie will not respond well & expect that in the tagging!

Hugging this character: He won't like it if it happens suddenly/without warning and/or if he doesn't know the other character well. Once he does, he warms up into lighter affections like hugs and arm touches/hand holding pretty quickly.
Kissing this character: Again, he will not like it without sufficient CR/if it's a surprise. Kisses on the cheek/hands are a little better.
Flirting with this character: Do! He leans more towards men, but society at his time means he's got his experience and a base level of interest in women, as well.
Fighting with this character: Will only really happen if he sees something similar to what he was having to deal with/some sort of injustice. We can chat about it!
Injuring this character (include limits and severity): Let's chat about it. If it's for fighting purposes I'm usually good on anything from cuts and bruises to broken bones. Telegraph it in the prose if play out the fight & we'll be grand!
Killing this character: He's baby why would you :( But also if for memes it's chill, not game canon tho unless he gets to pull a sacrifice play.
Using telepathy/mind reading abilities on this character/Empathy bond deets: Most people will get a general sense of cheer & goodwill from Archie upon first meeting him. It can brighten to something possibly overwhelming joyful when he gets excited/super happy about something. He's not one that keeps his happy emotions in check particularly well. Negative emotions, on the other hand, he tries to keep a British Stiff Upper Lip about, and he deeply resents the fact that other people can feel when he's feeling poorly (though he doesn't necessarily resent the people themselves; it's more self-hatred vibes) so he tries to reign those in/not talk about it. Depending on how things go he might end up with not infrequent nightmares, so apologies in advance to anyone he shares quarters with about that.

Warnings: Biggest concern is that he has a history of experiences with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse because of Jack Simpson, to the point of repeated both physical and sexual assaults. It's left him with post-traumatic epilepsy from a head injury and PTSD from everything else. His PTSD manifests most frequently as being easily startled, having flashbacks/nightmares/panic attacks, withdrawal/dissociation/depression, or, in the worst of scenarios, seizures or suicidal ideation. It will also occasionally have him exhibiting disordered eating behavior, though this is of a rarer bent. Although he's only very recently escaped his abuser, unless something triggers him I don't foresee most of these symptoms being something that will come up on the Danaë-- Most likely there'll be nightmares and maybe scattered instances of dissociation/depression/panic attacks, especially if he's unexpectedly touched.

W/r/t the empathy bond, even in the event of nightmares or flashbacks, I'm assuming that all Archie is projecting is the panic and feelings of needing to escape/not wanting to be touched, not necessarily any images/memories. I won't be getting explicit beyond that point unless the scenario calls for it (like a memory share,) but even then I'm going to be the least explicit I can manage and, in the event of memory shares especially, be warning in the subject line. If you want your character to see some of the grittier shit, let me know and we can figure that out.

On a less heavy note, he comes from the 1790s, so there's some internalized period-typical homophobia in his head, but he's a lot more relaxed about it (or has the opportunity to be) than others.

TL;DR Emotional, physical, sexual abuse & assault are in his history. He's got bad PTSD and post-traumatic epilepsy because of it. I'll be the least explicit I can but it might come up just because it's relatively fresh/if something triggers it. ALL THIS SAID. Please post in here if you want to opt-out of anything discussed above/want to specify how vague you want things to be/any other questions comments concerns etc. Comments will be screened and will remain so unless you say otherwise even when/if I need to reply.


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 It's a little confusing, being here.

One moment, he knows he was in captivity at the Set. He knows he was injured and worried about Horatio and afraid for his own life. He knows this, because the memories are vivid in his mind.

The next, he was on a bus, and that bus was dropping him off here in this strange little vale.

He's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. It's good to be away from the Set, even if it means being away from his proper home universe, as well. He's not going to stay forever-- he's not entirely certain he'll even stay a week-- but it's good to take the time and regroup. He can go over what he remembers of where he was trapped and strategize about how to get out without having to actually worry about being there until he's ready.

So he's stopping by Pierre's to get some food that he doesn't have to grow. He doesn't have time to work the farm that he's been given while he's planning; it's better to just buy what will tide him over until he's ready.

At least, that's the plan. Except then he sees an entirely familiar face, and he can't help the absolute relief that floods his entire body.

"--Horatio!"

 They don't often get the time to curl up together and talk. They don't often get shore leave together to stay cozily tangled like this. They rarely have chances to kiss, let alone properly verbalize what's between them.

But the question has been bothering Archie ever since the first moment their lips touched. The question is impossible to hold back, now.

"Can I-- ask you something?"