[Semi-Closed Post: Aornis Is a Real Headache]

[timebethine]

Somewhere around midnight, a migraine descended on Laertes like a thunderhead, and he still hasn't come out from beneath its anvil. He's spent most of the day hiding in bed with the curtains drawn, feeling as though he's about to be sick--and that feeling's only grown worse as the sun has drifted sluggishly to a low apex in the sky.

It isn't until mid-afternoon that he feels well enough to make progress on all his plans. He needs to speak to SecUnit about its drones, to Dionysus about whether Avernus (that is her name, isn't it?) is a goddess, and to Nightingale about whether he can offer magical support in case their confrontation goes sour. He needs to talk with Claudius about what to say when he does speak to her.

So it is that he starts making his rounds through the mansion and its grounds, seeking out friends old and new, clinging grimly to the thermos of coffee that smells sickeningly strong but also helps drive back the pain. His face is wan, his eyes shadowed. He would rather be doing anything but this.

Comments

[timebethine]

"Bold, and quick," says Laertes, after a moment. "She was the sister of a friend--I say a friend, but thou knowest all my friendships were shallow in those days. She knew Latin and Greek and Italian, and had many impertinent questions about the writings of Plato and Aristotle; she and her brother almost came to blows over the Divine Comedy more than once. She had thick black hair and eyes very near to black--but in sunlight, thou couldst make out a golden ring around her pupils, like the halo of the sun shining out from behind the eclipsing moon. Her laugh was like warm honey; it made me ache to hear her laugh at me."

[wickedwit]

“I can see her, when thou speak’st of her,” Claudius says with a smile. “I can hear her laugh. Preserve me in such poetry. I want to read what thou wouldst write of my hair and eyes and the books I argue over.”

[timebethine]

"I will," Laertes promises. "I swear it."

[wickedwit]

Claudius lets this I swear it pass without teasing, and simply gives Laertes a kiss. "I know thou wilt. Thou art good as thy word."