[Open Post] ..like the bird that you can't see..

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot is in a very good mood indeed. He feels settled, assured. He feels as he did, he thinks, back when he first found his feet at court -- he is someplace he belongs, he can be assured that people will treat him with respect, if not kindness or welcoming. He lets himself revel in it, a little, as it's been a long while since he felt anywhere near as nice as this.

The weather is good: sunny, crisp, the familiar feeling of autumn as winter is hovering close by. He goes to his own room and fetches his sword. He runs his usual drills, though with a kind of ease and almost carelessness he hasn't had since he was young. (Perhaps he is young enough, still. He can't be sure. He has already lived past the age his father was when he died, but that means almost nothing. His father died in battle and Lancelot is, now, no longer likely to ever see such a fate.)

Afterwards, he showers and decides he might as well find breakfast. So he's now heading toward one of the kitchens, looking cheerful for once.

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[lanselos_du_lac]

He still looks thoughtful but he gets up, "I can help."

He follows Laertes back to the kitchen, and by the time they get there he looks more jovial. He's still sorting through things, but as he comes to certain realizations he relaxes.

As they start the dishes he says, mostly easily, "I will keep in mind the offer thou hast made."

[timebethine]

"It wasn't an offer," Laertes laughs as he starts rinsing out the batter bowl. "An offer, I might expect thee to accept. Truly, I would not ask such a thing of thee--only take gladly, should the passion strike thee to give."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I see," he laughs a little, "I think I understand thee now."

[timebethine]

"Good, because I'm at the point of mixing myself up terribly," he says, grinning.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I am mixed up most of the time," dryly, "One adjusts."

[timebethine]

"One adjusts," Laertes echoes. "This place adjusts one faster than most. In coming here ... it was as though a veil had been torn from mine eyes. Suddenly, I could see things as they were."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I can't say it's been quite like that for me, but-- things have changed, for me, and mostly for the best. I would thank thee for some of that."

[timebethine]

"If I've been some little help to thee, I'm glad of it," says Laertes as he starts to scrub down the cutting board. Bright red strawberry juice fades to pink, then sluices off the board entirely.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Hast been a good friend to me," drying off whatever Laertes hands him next.

[timebethine]

"I hope I have," says Laertes. "Hast made other friends, besides the lovely Susan?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It is difficult for me to make friends, much of the time. But folks have mostly been kind to me. I've spoken with Enjolras and helped him a little with the café."

[timebethine]

"Ah, good! I hope his café will be all that he hopes--a place for friends to share food and drink, and for high ideals to find voice and ear. A place for us to quarrel and care for each other like brothers and sisters."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It made a good spot for the demonstration," in tones of agreement. "How, say, didst thou learn to dance as the two of you did?"

[timebethine]

"From a book, and from listening to and considering how the music moved us," says Laertes. He cleans off the knife next, then rinses and hands it over. "I know not whether we danced it aright; many of the attitudes we struck were from pictures in the book, but the movements between were at least half our own invention."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I was impressed-- I cheered. It was not unlike watching thee with a blade."

[timebethine]

"Dost thou dance?" The pan goes last of all; Laertes scrapes up a few flakes of burnt batter first, then starts to scrub the bowl of it with soap.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Only occasionally, at court. 'Tis nothing like."

[timebethine]

"Most I danced at court were not like that, either," says Laertes wryly. "Such amusements would have been a scandal the likes of which my father could never have weathered."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He laughs, "It felt quite bold. Convince him of its martial uses, that's the trick."

[timebethine]

"A new means of training; I learned it in France," Laertes laughs. "To build the strength of the thighs and hips."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, who might stand against thee? Speed and strength, and a blade besides."

[timebethine]

"When the dead came, I felt it," says Laertes, a little softer now. The pan sinks in his hand to rest on the bottom of the sink. "Fighting with Sagramore at my back--it was as though we were one beast in two bodies. One soul divided and redoubled. My blade has never been so quick, nor mine arm so strong."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot pauses and turns to look at him, saying quietly, "Hast never felt that, until then?"

[timebethine]

"No." A fleeting smile. "I fought for sport; I was never a soldier. Nothing--nothing was ever at stake."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot dries the knife and sets it aside. He is thinking: sport is for soldiering, it is practice for war in times of peace; it is meant to encourage men to grow their strength, to build their brotherhood. But he sees Laertes' meaning.

He says, "So when this place was at stake, when the person thou lovest most was at stake and at your side-- it was different."