Title: Day 2: Gaming/watching a movie (#3)
Author: mashfanficchick
Fandom: Horatio Hornblower
Wordcount: 200
Rating: G
Characters: Horatio Hornblower
Pairing(s): Horatio Hornblower/a specific situation
Genre: Character Study, Challenge
Warning(s): Unbetaed
Beta(s): None. (Sorry)
Prompt(s): "Gaming/Watching a movie" (Prompt #3 from the 30 Day OTP Challenge)
Notes, pt. 1: From the "30 Day OTP Challenge": #3, "Gaming/watching a movie", as decided by the Roll Dice Online random number generator
Notes, pt. 2: For ioanite, who asked for Hornblower fic. Apparently, I meant it when I said I didn't have an OTP for Hornblower fandom, since this fic is basically about a Hornblower non-pairing.
Feedback: Always welcome, either on LJ (at the post or by PM) or at CartoonB@aol.com
Disclaimer: If they ever might've had a prayer of being mine, they certainly don't after this fic!
Summary: Hornblower isn't much of a social person...except when conditions are right.

"Gaming"

Social is not a word that one generally associates with Horatio Hornblower. It isn't that he's antisocial, per se; rather, it's that he's simply closed off in a way that no man or thing seems quite able to get to. Of course, there are activities he enjoys--sailing, for one, and action, and playing whist--and he has, over the years, managed to make friends rather than acquaintences out of a few of his shipmates (though he would certainly deny it as improper if asked). But, overall, Horatio Hornblower is a man much happier to be left alone than included.

There is, however, one exception, and it is--possibly unsurprisingly--a mixture of things mentioned above. A good game of whist with friends and compatriots aboard ship, in the hours before an action...that is something that never fails to put him in a mood unlike any other, one where conviviality and geniality are words of the day, and satisfaction is taken not only from winning, but from games played and well-played. Which is why it's not so much orders as this transformation of their captain that leads the sailors to come and play, not knowing what might be just over the horizon.

End