Today is my twin sisters' birthday.

[humane_agnostic]

I came across the dessicated and mostly decayed carcass of a deer today. It had been, of course, largely dismembered by scavengers or predators - which is difficult to tell so far after the fact - but the neck, skull, and trunk were in situ. I could see the articulation of the vertebra, the length and health of the teeth, the delicate, yet

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[eagle_of_words]

*sighs ruefully and reaches over to draw 'Ferre into a big, awkward, friendly, all-big-hands-and-too-long-arms hug* What an excellent way to feel on such a day, my fair 'Ferre. Here, now. It's a damned pity that we're all dead, I agree. I wish to high heaven I could do something about it, because it really does seem like the last straw of my bad luck, and not at all proper for you lot: I was going to tumble down the stairs and break my neck the next day, anyway, but you, ami, you were going to pull one on those dead old Latin philosophers and show people what's what about thinking, and I'm disappointed. We're all a long way from home, but it bothers me most about you, because you oughtn't to be. You were always more human than the rest of us, and I don't like you dead.

Still, not a thing to do about it. *another funny Bossuet-hug* Here, have some wine. *proffers glass* I traded a teakettle for it yester-day.

*is really being very sympathetic, if funnily; because he's always pretending to be silly, and is very good at being light and amused, because what else could he be, but really he's a very serious person. it's just that mostly he hides it*

[humane_agnostic]

*hugs back. Bossuet is always wonderfully comforting*

*really hasn't many words left - he's tired and cranky and doesn't want to talk, but he's glad to be talked at*

No, not a thing to do about it. *smiles a bit* Thank you, though. *takes a rather larger sip of the wine than he normally would* A good trade.

[eagle_of_words]

*well! that's a surprise! but he's glad*

*which Bossuet is always very good at*

No. That's the curse of the world. I learnt how to say 'alas' in Italian yesterday. *smiles with excessive seriousness and nods* You're welcome.

Oh, it was a good trade. I could tell you about it. The teakettle came from a house we used to have--you know my family was never wealthy; well, we moved about quite a bit. We started off around Vernon somewhere, and then we moved to Brest, and I found this teakettle in Brest, in the waves. I'm older than my little sisters and brother by almost ten years, and I took the little devils out to the seashore, and I romped happily in the surf while they looked at me askance, when suddenly I tripped over something and fell flat on my face, which made them look even more as though I were an idiot, which I undoubtedly was. So I dug out whatever it was I'd fallen over, and discovered it to be a large brass teakettle with leaves and vines and flowers bashed into it in a design. You've seen those engravings they do in metal? It was like that. There were initials on the top, and inside it was full of sandcrabs, and a couple of those little round stinging things that are so squashy. I took it home and cleaned it out and I've had it ever since, for some reason. When I was younger, I put my special things in there, like rocks and tin soldiers, and then all the wretched useless things young boys attach onto for no reason at all, things like iron nails and girls' handkerchiefs (I stole those, mind you. No girl ever gave me her handkerchief), and when I was old it was mostly empty because I put money in it. Then, the week before I died, I finally got rid of the wretched thing for three bottles of wine, and the fellow who took it chortled going off as though he'd cheated me. Funny what people think is valuable, isn't it?

Anyway, it means there's plenty of wine, so have as much as you like. *grins gently and gives poor tired 'Ferre a loose, friendly sort of shoulder rub* Fairly decent stuff, I think.