#skipthroughthetulips

[localdumbasscourier]

To the Rescue

"Ahh!" Eloise gasped as she was thrown back into the cell. She winces as she hit the floor. Hard. She placed a hand over her ribs that she had been positive it was broken so many times. If such a thing was possible. She crawled back to the corner of the cell automatically flinching at the touch of one of the redcoats.

"Shut up." He grumbled as he puts the chains back on a now sobbing Eloise. "It's your own fault for this you know. You're a spy. We'll get the information out of you one way or another. Mark my words." She pulled back as he reached for her. She flinches as he grips her hair tightly, stroking her cheek. Her heart beat sped up.

"You're hurting me…" she managed to whisper and gasped as she was slapped. The redcoat then stood and walked out.

It happened all too sudden. Sometime after Caleb and Ben had left a couple of redcoats had stormed the bakery. They had pulled her outside and forced her to watch as they set the bakery on fire. Somehow, someone, somewhere had given them ideas that Eloise was a spy. Passing on information to the enemy. She had begged. Pleaded with them. She was a simple woman! One that kept her head down and out of trouble. She knew the judge! Had grown up with his son!

The redcoats failed to have been reasoned with her. She didn't know how long she had been in prison. To her it felt longer. She curled up in the corner. Tears sliding down her dirty cheeks. Benjamin. Caleb. Abe. Where are you guys? Eloise wondered in her mind. She pulled up her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She sniffed as she watched her dress pool around her. Someone, she mentally called in her mind. Anyone. Help.

   It had been a month since Ben and Caleb had left Setauket, surrendering his childhood home back to the redcoats. He knew there was no way their small group of 50 men could hold the town for long but he couldn’t help but long to run back to his home. He was grateful for the time he got to spend with his oldest friend Ellie, she seemed to be doing well for herself and was in high spirits. 

Back at camp there was a lull in activity, the colder months brought less fighting and more sitting around waiting. He had even heard nothing from Abe in the last while. He sighed and ran his hand down his beard. He had hoped to hear from Ellie soon after they left but he did not want to risk rowing across the bay without a signal from Abe. His impatience and anxiety to hear from his friends had lead him to more frequently look across the bay with his spyglass, but as they say a watch kettle never boils. 

[bertievi]

@skipthroughthetulips

Royal tours were a headache for all those involved, luckily for the Duke, he was not the popular nor better known brother and usually he found himself quite grateful for that. However it did not mean that he was not known and an opportunistic escape from his security detail landed him in some hot water when someone did recognise him.

He had turned around a corner to get out of their sight and spotted a bakery barely a skip away. It was all he needed and in a flash, Albert managed to squeeze through the door and pretend to be quite fascinated with the goods on display just as the gathering crowd rushed passed in search of him.

With a breath of relief, he did actually take a moment to admire the selection, inhaling the smell of fresh and warm bread with delight. “-Hello?” He called out, unsure if he might have been better staying quiet and sneaking out again while seemingly no one knew he was there.

[honorhearted]

@skipthroughthetulips ​ / continued from (x)

Ben blinked at the series of rapid-fire questions, unsure of which to focus on first. “One question at a time, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said, holding up a hand. Clearly, the boy was delirious. “You needn’t concern yourself with my affairs – I can manage my duties just fine. And as it so happens, ensuring that my men are up to snuff is part of that duty.”

Setting aside the book in his lap, he sighed and rubbed the tired grime from his eyes. “Do you have anyone you’d like me to write on your behalf, Basset? Any family? A girl, perhaps?”  

It occurred to him then that despite Basset’s incessant presence, he didn’t actually know the boy beyond his rank and general life history – something about a bakery, if he recalled correctly, and perhaps a brother too.

Basset started trying to throw back his covers, and leaping up to apprehend him, Ben took hold of the boy’s shoulders and wrestled him back down against the cot. “Lie still,” he commanded. “The physician recommended plenty of rest, so you won’t be participating in drills for the foreseeable future.” Expression stern, he released the boy and straightened again. “Go back to sleep. If the room is spinning, that means you’re still feverish, and ergo not fit for anything beyond bedrest. I won’t take no for an answer.” 

[honorhearted]

Cardigan for the meme. And yes to make things awkward for these two stubborn buttheads

This meme (x) / [ 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧 ]  one of our muses gets cold and wears the cardigan of the other.

The chill was biting that afternoon. With the sky bleak, still, and off-white as birch bark, it was unsurprising that the weather was equally displeasing.

Ben sat in a chair reading in the medical tent, his foot jiggling anxiously as he sat alongside Basset's still form. The young man was sick -- with what, the physician hadn't yet said -- and the shivering was nearly enough to make the boy’s teeth rattle.

Finally, Ben set aside his book and shrugged out of his officer coat, deciding that the blankets across the soldier's small, pale frame must not be lending enough heat. He draped the garment over top of Basset, then glanced over his shoulder once beyond the medical tent, where he could see the beginnings of a storm. Evidently, he was stuck there for the long haul...

[honorhearted]

"I just wanted to do something good for once." Eloise for the meme! The rest I had angsty ideas for!

This meme (x)

"You and everyone else in this army," Ben murmured, idly rolling his palms together. "It's easy for the lines to blur...for it to become unclear whether or not I'm doing more harm than good. I'd like to think my service has helped steer us in the right direction, but there have been so many setbacks."

Defeats, death, embarrassment often plagued the patriot forces, but somehow, they all pressed onward. Ben was rather emboldened by that fact -- how the masses were unwilling to surrender, even in the face of adversity.

[honorhearted]

I'm taking this plung with Eloise ♒

Send me a ♒ for my muse’s reaction to waking up in bed next to yours.

Given the state of camp, sleeping arrangements were not always ideal, nor comfortable, and that evening had been no exception. Ben jolted awake in the middle of the night, blinking rapidly as he struggled to regain his bearings. At his side, he realized someone was snuggled up against his flank...Bassett?

Unnerved, he attempted to lift the younger man's arm without waking him, then gently set Elliotte's hand over onto his middle. Caleb was snoring soundly (not to mention, unwelcomely) to their left, and a couple other soldiers were in bedrolls farther down the line. The recent raid had forced them to remain in groups, given how some of the sleeping quarters had been destroyed, and many of the men felt safer in this formation. It may have been safer, but it certainly wasn't comfortable.

Sparing Bassett another glance, Ben sighed before sinking back down onto his pillow, attempting to fall back sleep as the younger man breathed gently at his side.

[honorhearted]

Your muse walks in on my muse undressed. Send me 😳 for my muse’s reaction. (add + reverse if you want my muse to walk in on yours) / @skipthroughthetulips​

Ben was always an early riser -- hell, he was a night owl as well, so the hours in between being conscious and asleep were few and far in between. That was why he felt so comfortable changing without discretion. Very few were awake at this time of day, and just as he moved to step into his breeches, his tent flaps blew open and someone came rushing in over the threshold.

Nearly toppling over onto his cot, Ben started swearing as he drew his garment up over his indecency and turned, sparing Elliotte his back in humility.

“Don’t you know the meaning of announcing yourself?” he growled. “For God’s sake, Bassett!”

Flustered, he secured his fall flap and irritably swiped his shirt off his bedding. “Just what is it that’s got you so excitable at this time of day?” he demanded. “Surely it can wait?”