No Less

"Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase."

July 28th

As Fitzwilliam's eyes flickered open, he wondered what time it was. It used to be that the windows would give him a fair clue. He had always liked the abundance of morning sunlight his room received. However, the moment Juliette confessed she didn't care for it, another set of drapes went up to block out the sunrise. Sunlight was unimportant. He could make do without sunlight.

The Traffic of Our Stage

"Exit, pursued by a bear."

July 5th

The experience of months of rehearsals and a premiere performance seemed all for naught. The cast and crew of Who is The Gatekeeper? were in upheaval. The costumers were so far backed up that the stagehands had been called in to fix buttons and hems and hair. Finding things not been carefully reset after last night, Ann was re-organizing the sets and props herself. The few stagehands left to her mostly stood around her, insisting they had not made this mess. Morgaine was ambassador to the various provinces of this kingdom of insanity. As she ran to and fro, she shouted out warnings and reminders to anyone who had ears.

After learning a lesson last night, when she barely finished being dressed before the curtain went up, Belle Norman had arrived very early. She was among the first to be ready tonight. However, this had created a problem of a different sort: Belle had more time than she knew what to do with and no-one to spend it with.

Glorious to This Night

"The sight of lovers feedeth those in love."

June 25th

"Who is my special boy? Who is my special boy?" 

"Gran-mo!" Little Frederick waved his arms and grinned. "Gran-mo!"

Ophelia cuddled her grandson and patted his back. Frederick's small vocabulary had never yet stopped him from talking. Much like his father had, he chattered on happily, often answering any question with the name of the person asking it. The main exception was her husband, whom Frederick had decided was also 'Gran-mo'. "Almost, my precious." Just as she considered her stepson as her own, she loved Frederick as much as she would her daughters' children.

A Stranger in the World

"Thou know’st the first time that we smell the air we wawl and cry."

June 15th

Sitting in the Governors' Chamber for the first time gave Mercutio all the feelings he had expected: anticipation, satisfaction, nausea. Of course, his nausea was nothing to the gut-emptying plague his uncle was currently enjoying. Mercutio felt no remorse. If Antonio didn't drink to the point of hallucinating most nights, slipping in a soured batch wouldn't have been so easy. If he had spent less time reveling in his newly found majesty, Antonio would have had the time to decide on a loyal proxy rather than be forced by sheer necessity to send Mercutio in his place to today's session.

I Desire Some Confidence With You: Part Two

"Upon thy side against myself I'll fight."

May 24th

For someone who felt he had done right, Fitzwilliam felt exceptionally low. His mind had been made up the minute he saw the tall, fire-headed man poking out of the sea of brown bodices and colored gowns. Juliette tried to slow and calm him on the way over, and it had worked to a certain degree. After the initial outburst, he had reduced his ire to no greater than the general din of the tent field outside. No violence had erupted from him as he thought it might. Tybalt was dressed-down and warned off, sparing any bloody threats that would roll off that scarred face like water off a duck. He took the lashing with a suspicious calm. That might have warranted Fitzwilliam's consideration if Georgiana's reaction had not dominated his thoughts. Since the time he ignored her insistence that Tybalt had done no wrong, Fitzwilliam had not had a word from his sister.