[for duck] - dated to September 14

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey is sure it's not much of a surprise when, after his party winds down, Geoffrey takes Duck and the bag that Angela had given him up to the stage. He has no idea what Duck thinks is in the bag, but thanks to Angela it's probably something entirely different from what's actually in there

Comments

[willbewonderful]

Duck looks between Geoffrey and the bag, almost shy, and eventually he nods at the latter. Whatever the not-so-material part is, Duck feels like he'll be more equipped for it with the material part already in hand. "What is it?" he laughs, apprehensive.

[legendarymadman]

The material part is not, in fact, in the bag, but hidden in Geoffrey's coat. And not exactly wrapped. "I figure you already know everything there is to know about building stuff, so I thought you might want to try something new," he says, hanging over a couple of books tied together with blue ribbon, a token effort at wrapping. "I found a couple of things on stonework, some practical and some decorative stuff. And there's a few things you can work on one-handed, which I thought you might like. The diagrams are all Greek to me, but I figured they'd make a lot more sense to you."

[willbewonderful]

It's the first present Duck's been able unwrap with ease, and he takes the blue ribbon between his thumb and index finger, pulling it up and open. "Stuff for the path," he says, immediately thoughtful as he looks down at his new books. "The garden, too. Hell, leading to the stage." His mind is already occupied with new projects, projects that are finally feasible.

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey had been uncertain how his gift would be received and smiles brilliantly when it seems that Duck likes it. Of course, that part of the gift was the easy part.

"So now... the bag," he says. "There's actually... I feel like I should explain, so you understand... so you know why. Why this."

[willbewonderful]

Duck's grin grows almost wary, the way Geoffrey's stumbling over his words. "Okay," he says, his voice soft, and motions for Geoffrey to come sit beside him. He leans over to kiss his cheek for the books before whatever's in the bag makes its appearance.

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey sits, but it's restlessly. "Everything's changed with you," he starts, even though it isn't really the beginning. It's the most important thing. "I know that there are things about me that still aren't entirely well, and I still have a long way to go, but a lot of the things that I needed to change have changed. So I got Angela to... it's a costume, Duck. In the bag, it's a costume. And I'm going to put it on and I'm going to get up on that stage and I'm going to perform." Not whisper lines in Duck's ear, not demonstrate for his actors, not shout dialogue from a rooftop, but perform. Even if it's just for an audience of one. "For you. Because I can, and because it's because of you that I can. I want to give this to you."

[willbewonderful]

Next to Geoffrey's restless form, Duck goes very still. He knows this isn't a big thing for Geoffrey, it's enormous, and so must be his love for Duck, that he can trust him with this. He grabs Geoffrey's hand, unable to help himself, and presses his lips to Geoffrey's palm as he nods. He wants this, what it means for them, and what it means for Geoffrey, too.

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey nods his head in return and, after a couple of false starts, manages to get to his feet and pick up the bag. "Just stay right here," he says, keeping it firmly in his head that this is Duck, and Duck would never laugh at him. "Watch the stage. Be my audience."

[willbewonderful]

Duck swallows and tries to situate himself, moving from log to log until finally he ends up on the one he started on, hoping he's not so close as to unnerve Geoffrey, or too far. He thinks he might should say 'break a leg', but he doesn't know if that's the right thing, and his throat feels too tight for speech anyway.

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey feels a familiar panic as he stands backstage in costume - nothing fancy, just something that's not obviously his everyday clothes, something that at least has hints of the Shakespearean. It's not something he talks about, particularly with the actors he works with, but it's something he's known and lived with for years.

He knows this speech like he knows how to breathe, but he still freezes when he gets on stage. There's no audience but Duck and it's still a performance, it's still one of the things he fears most.

But he can, and he will, do this. That's why he's up here. That's why he's doing this for Duck. Because as much panic as he still feels, he's ready to do this now. He just needs a few more moments.

[willbewonderful]

Duck freezes, too, first in anticipation when Geoffrey walks onto the stage, and then in an effort not to get up there himself, Geoffrey looks so frightened. After a moment Geoffrey's expression seems to relax, not a lot, but enough to keep Duck in his seat, and he waits with a patience he wouldn't have but for years and years of careful practice.

[legendarymadman]

Geoffrey has very deliberately chosen a speech that isn't emotionally loaded for him, that isn't one of the speeches that sent him spiralling off into madness, that isn't something he's whispered in Duck's ear in the dark of night. He takes a few deep breaths and opens his mouth and the words do, in fact, come out.

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep;"

The first few lines are shaky, stumbling over the words and just trying to get through them. He knows, and Duck knows, that Geoffrey can do much better, but the words are coming, and with every line his confidence grows

[willbewonderful]

It's rough at first, but when the change comes, Duck feels it as sure as Geoffrey does. It's there in Geoffrey's face, in the way he's standing, and in the sudden power of the words he's speaking. Duck feels it all the way to his toes, and suddenly he can't wait to hear what Geoffrey will say next.

[legendarymadman]

The world has not ended. Duck has not laughed or thrown things or stood up and left. Geoffrey has not forgotten where or who he is

[willbewonderful]

Duck would probably need to hear the speech many times to catch all of it, but he catches enough, the way Geoffrey's walking about and gesturing, miming the actions of his words. He sits, not still anymore, but moving his body to follow Geoffrey's path across the stage, afraid to miss a single indrawn breath while Geoffrey summons whatever energy it is actors summon to do what they do.

[legendarymadman]

"This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage:
This is she--"

Geoffrey is not interrupted by Romeo but he allows himself an interruption all the same, moving upstage as far as he can, right to the brink.

"True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south."

And instead of bowing, instead of pausing, instead of doing anything else to indicate that he's finished, Geoffrey leaps right off the stage, strides straight to Duck, and pulls him to his feet to give him an incredibly exhuberant kiss.