(Untitled)

[legendarymadman]

It isn't that Geoffrey actually needs to sew anything. Actually, he could probably go the rest of his life without sewing anything ever again, without so much as picking up a sewing needle. There are a dozen people on the island now with machines that could do this for him in five minutes flat. But fuck it, he's still going to sit here modifying a

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[new_ophelia]

"What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the
day?" Kate murmurs, sliding in next to him and unsubtly checking out the play. "You're looking at a play, huh?"

[legendarymadman]

"Looking at is probably the right way to put it," he admits. He's certainly not reading it at the moment. It would probably be more accurate to say he's contemplating it, while using it as decoration for his knee. "Maybe I'm meditating on it."

[new_ophelia]

"Meditating is something," she points out. "Meditating is the first step in a very long process that ends with me getting to be in one of your plays."

[legendarymadman]

"It's a hell of a decision," says Geoffrey. "Who knows who's interested in doing this kind of thing anymore, when we've got televisions in every home." Well, not quite, but he's sure it's only a matter of time now. "Who would you want? Which role?"

[motherfuckaa]

Hank could have sworn the guy was talking about Ashby when he caught the first half of his words. Drinking, getting naked and falling asleep in all manner of places? Check, check and check again.

"Fat-witted? I'm insulted," he commented facetiously, patting his stomach fondly. If it sounded like Ashby, it pretty much sounded like Hank too. "I'm big-boned."

[legendarymadman]

"But the rest of it's all true, I assume," says Geoffrey, looking up from his work and promptly pricking his index finger, a drop of blood leaking onto the cuff of the jeans. "Mother of fuck," he blurts out, popping it in his mouth. "Apparently I'm the fat-witted one today."

[motherfuckaa]

"Mother of fuck," Hank echoed, raising an eyebrow at the injured man. "Now you're talking my language. No offense to Will, big ups to the guy, but come on. Reading this for pleasure?" He gestured at the book on Geoffrey's lap. "I'm a fan of the Word but you must be paying some serious penance right now."

[legendarymadman]

"Technically I'm not reading it," says Geoffrey, sucking on his finger between phrases. "It's not reading when you already have it memorized. He's not meant to be read anyway. Shakespeare needs to be performed. To be watched."

[willbewonderful]

"Is that..." Through the years, Duck's come to understand and appreciate Shakespeare in ways he'd never have contemplated or even desired before Geoffrey, and still that sentence takes some parsing.

"Is that your way of saying I'm getting fat?" he asks, and grins. "You letting out my new pair of overalls?"

[legendarymadman]

"Pretty sure it can't be that," says Geoffrey, and he means just to pat Duck's stomach but when he feels the muscle under there his fingers linger for a little bit longer. It's only when he picks up the book to move it aside that he pulls them away. It's not like he actually needs the book; really, it's more of a muse, and Duck is a much bigger muse than that. "The girls are making noise about wanting a new play again."

[willbewonderful]

Duck takes the seat that's offered not a moment too soon. Any more of Geoffrey's hand on him and it'd've been his lap, public location be damned.

"Girls, huh?" he says, reclaiming that hand. He'd feel better if it'd been Geoffrey's own idea, but if Kate or Maladicta want to encourage him, Duck won't complain. "Well, I think it's a good idea."

[legendarymadman]

"I know they'd want to be a part of anything I do," he says, because that much he has absolute faith in. It's everyone else he wonders about. "This one's an odd choice, though. It's got practically no female characters and large battle scenes that would be difficult to stage with our resources. And it's got a sequel. But Maladicta's been making noises about it for months, and it's true I haven't tackled any of Shakespeare's histories on the island yet."

[dishabille_mal]

"Really?" came a voice from over his shoulder a few feet. Maladicta stalked across the room and forewent going around the chair he was seated in to just climb over it so that she was perched on the arm and looming.

"Really?" she asked again, not bothering to keep the excitement from her tone.

[legendarymadman]

"I am letting the possibility seep into my pores," says Geoffrey as he knots his current piece of thread and then bites off the dangling end of thread from the overalls. All before looking up at her. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather I did something where you actually get to play a woman?"

[dishabille_mal]

"You assume I wouldn't make a bid for Lady Percy," Maladicta countered, then noticed he was sewing overalls.

"....Nice stitching," she said, "very... even."

[legendarymadman]

"I do like to perform my husbandly duties from time to time," he says, holding them up so he can get a better look at how much work he has left to do. "And we both know you're not interested in Lady Percy. As if."

[polly_okeefe]

I smiled at Geoffrey as I passed, carrying towels bound for the Children's Office. He didn't notice, but then he was busy, and it was good to see him happy. When he declaimed the Shakespeare, however, I stopped. I'd heard that line before. Where was it? Oh, yes.

"Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars..."

I faltered. That was as far as I'd remembered.

[legendarymadman]

Of course that does more than enough to get Geoffrey's attention. "Impressive," he says. People aren't generally able to quote Henry IV the way they can Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet. It isn't a part of the popular lexicon. "Have you ever performed it?"

[polly_okeefe]

"No," I admitted. I'd put on plays with my brothers and sisters for the benefit of my parents, but I'd never had the chance to perform anything until I came to the Island. "I saw it performed, though. During a trip to England when I was fourteen, we were in Stratford, and that was what was playing. It impressed me, so I ended up studying it in high school."

[legendarymadman]

"Ahh," says Geoffrey, and at least she's seen it performed, because studying Shakespeare without performance is getting half the meaning at best, and a tenth of the joy. "Well, you may be getting the opportunity to study it more intimately."