closed
(( OOC note on timeline: this occurs after Camilla's experience with magic brownies, which in gametime occurred on June 16. Therefore this takes place days before the Midsummer's party, at which Camilla appears with her ability to speak regained. RP is now finished, and worksafe though angsty. ))
When Alcestis was brought back from the underworld, she could not speak for three days. According to Euripides, she needed first to be purified. You are not allowed to hear her speak to you until her obligations to the gods who live below are washed away, said Heracles to Alcestis' husband. His shock warring with gratitude, threatening to drown the gratitude entirely, Admetus led his silent wife back into their home, telling the chorus: I was lucky. That I cannot deny. Unmoved, the chorus replied: Many are the forms of what is unknown. Much that the gods achieve is surprise.
When Camilla surfaced from the divine madness of the bacchanal her friends had held back at Hampden, she could not speak for three days. They swathed her throat in a red muffler and told everyone she had laryngitis. Her presence of mind, though, had been keener perhaps than anyone's except for Henry's. It was Camilla who turned off the lights so people coming up the drive couldn't see the celebrants bloodied through the front window. It was Camilla who threw an ashtray at Bunny to shut him up. It wasn't a hard blow, but it was quite judiciously timed, Henry had recounted later, approvingly.
Now, surfacing for the second time from a brief enchantment that had stripped away her memory along with her years, Camilla found herself again rendered speechless. Just as after the bacchanal, her mind was as sharp as ever, and without even the merciful fog that had covered the bacchanal's events. Camilla remembered everything that had happened during her magical reversion to age seven, and remembered also what had happened the first time she had reverted to that age, when she'd unwisely partaken of the cursed chocolates. More, she remembered everything that had happened in her life between age seven and now. Hampden: Julian's teachings, Julian's betrayal; the murders; Charles leaving; Henry dying. Hogwarts: Henry's return, which was welcomed; Bunny's return, which was not. The cloud under which they all lived.
Practicality led her to wash off the lakewater. After that, she sat at her desk in her bathrobe, staring at the neat little piles of books that covered the desk's surface, some of the covers and spines lettered in alphabets that even as an adult she still didn't understand. She knew whose they were, now, and the suits in the closet too. That should make it easier, this time, shouldn't it? The last time, with the magic chocolates, Henry had been shut away in Slytherin with headaches. Camilla had had to weather it all on her own.
So why had she walked away from him?
She ran a hand through her hair, still wet but now clean and combed at least, and then rested her head in her hand, leaning against the desk as though she needed the support. She needed something. She didn't know what she needed.
(( The translation of Euripides' Alcestis I'm using here is Richmond Lattimore's. ))
When Alcestis was brought back from the underworld, she could not speak for three days. According to Euripides, she needed first to be purified. You are not allowed to hear her speak to you until her obligations to the gods who live below are washed away, said Heracles to Alcestis' husband. His shock warring with gratitude, threatening to drown the gratitude entirely, Admetus led his silent wife back into their home, telling the chorus: I was lucky. That I cannot deny. Unmoved, the chorus replied: Many are the forms of what is unknown. Much that the gods achieve is surprise.
When Camilla surfaced from the divine madness of the bacchanal her friends had held back at Hampden, she could not speak for three days. They swathed her throat in a red muffler and told everyone she had laryngitis. Her presence of mind, though, had been keener perhaps than anyone's except for Henry's. It was Camilla who turned off the lights so people coming up the drive couldn't see the celebrants bloodied through the front window. It was Camilla who threw an ashtray at Bunny to shut him up. It wasn't a hard blow, but it was quite judiciously timed, Henry had recounted later, approvingly.
Now, surfacing for the second time from a brief enchantment that had stripped away her memory along with her years, Camilla found herself again rendered speechless. Just as after the bacchanal, her mind was as sharp as ever, and without even the merciful fog that had covered the bacchanal's events. Camilla remembered everything that had happened during her magical reversion to age seven, and remembered also what had happened the first time she had reverted to that age, when she'd unwisely partaken of the cursed chocolates. More, she remembered everything that had happened in her life between age seven and now. Hampden: Julian's teachings, Julian's betrayal; the murders; Charles leaving; Henry dying. Hogwarts: Henry's return, which was welcomed; Bunny's return, which was not. The cloud under which they all lived.
Practicality led her to wash off the lakewater. After that, she sat at her desk in her bathrobe, staring at the neat little piles of books that covered the desk's surface, some of the covers and spines lettered in alphabets that even as an adult she still didn't understand. She knew whose they were, now, and the suits in the closet too. That should make it easier, this time, shouldn't it? The last time, with the magic chocolates, Henry had been shut away in Slytherin with headaches. Camilla had had to weather it all on her own.
So why had she walked away from him?
She ran a hand through her hair, still wet but now clean and combed at least, and then rested her head in her hand, leaning against the desk as though she needed the support. She needed something. She didn't know what she needed.
(( The translation of Euripides' Alcestis I'm using here is Richmond Lattimore's. ))