(no subject)

[alt_regulus]

A quiet evening at home is a lovely, decadent thing. Especially such a rainy one when inside it's snug and warm.

I've been working all week at sorting through the boxes from Aunt Prewett's, but I'm nearly finished. I've set the armour to stand guard beside my breakfast table lest anyone steal my toast of a morning.

Now I think of it, most of the items were actually Uncle's--a rather wicked-looking poignard, for instance, and a silver shaving set. (I've been pondering what might happen if its charms have gone wonky at all.) Best of all, there are a great load of books. Inspired Strategies of Death-dealing Duellists by Esme Meretriste seems the most entertaining of them, but there are some real gems in the lot--ancient, obscure, idiosyncratic and utterly ingenious books of history and spellcraft and theory. There's a bit of philosophy in the mix, a medieval navigational manual, and a set of Senecan tragedies with very fine bindings.

One of the boxes contained an interesting assortment of oddments that must have been left at the end of the divvying up:

item, one ball self-tying twine;
item, one murderous thimble that jabs poison into the wearer's finger;
item, one well-worn pack playing cards missing three of its four jacks;
item, one fruit bowl, unwashed;
item, one flask doxy venom;
item, one absinthe spoon inscribed 'Hotel Churn, Cirencester';
item, one long shoe lace (unless it's really a garrote);
item, one chipped desktop espial globe;
item, one bone or ivory cigarette holder etched with ivy design;
item, one lady's hat, chartreuse with peacock tail.

Oh, yes, and one silver button.

I believe I'll take Salazar's Sapience to bed with me; it's a page-turner so far.

Comments

[alt_pansy]

Oooh, I didn't mean it to be all that. Only I thought that it's nice that you aren't so deadly serious about everything. And a lot of people I know wouldn't ever dare to poke the slightest bit of fun at Salazar Slytherin. And if you were the sort of person who would have made jokes like that when you were in school, I think I would have liked the school-aged you very much too. That's all, really.

I suppose I should really know a bit more about words before I start tossing them around.

That mail thing sounds dead wizard. Did they have any moving pictures of it? Although if it had arm-bits, I don't suppose it would work as well as it ought, because we tend to bend our arms at angles rather than undulate them. It would work brilliantly on the Giant Squid, though.

[alt_regulus]

I don't know that you would have thought much of me when I was in school. I went through quite a serious phase starting in sixth year, but then we all did, really. Things seemed very urgent then that are much less so now.

The answer to your question, I should think, depends as much on what sort of person you'd have been if you'd been in school when I was.

And if we're taking all this speculation that far, we may as well wonder, too, what sort of person you'd be today if you'd been in my year and House.

What do you suppose?

[alt_pansy]

They might seem a little less urgent on the outside, but we've got Chambers and Heirs and Carrows to deal with here, thank you very much.

That's a joke.

I see what you mean, though.

I really, honestly don't know what I'd be like today. That could do with some thought. I suppose the easy answer is that I'd be happily planning the St Mungo's Charity Event with Aunt Narcissa, only she wouldn't be my Aunt, of course, she'd be a friend from school. And perhaps I'd even be happily married or engaged to the Right Sort of Person, and naturally, I'd be living in the Right Sort of Place, decorated in the best of taste.

It's probably not the best answer, or even the right one, but making guesses like that can get very, very tricky. Not to mention dangerous. Especially if you write them where other people can see

[alt_regulus]

Of course, you're right, it was unfair of me to put you up to answering that question.

You ought to take your time about that growing older bit. It's far less rewarding than it seems it should be. I mean to say, when I was your age and a bit, I thought I would never, never be grown up enough to make my own decisions and take charge of my own life. And now I see that I had quite an unrealistic picture of what being responsible for oneself amounts to.

So don't let anyone rush you. Least of all me. I've no idea what I was thinking.

[alt_pansy]

It is far easier to see where you've come from and all that once you've already been there, I'd imagine.

[alt_regulus]

The giant squid in armour. Now that's a truly inspired thought. I suppose it would have to have a Never Rust enchantment on.

And I think the benefit of Slytherin's serpentine mail was that it did not require one to move like a toy soldier with pins for his joints. But I take your point. It might be best suited for someone who needed a full and fluid range of movement. Perhaps Slytherin was aiming to outfit an army of Veela.

The next chapter may be quite an interesting one!

[alt_pansy]

Well, maybe if the scaley bit were right around the elbows and shoulders and wrists, all the places you usually twist and bend, it would be more practical than if it was all over, maybe?

I don't think Veela need armour. But they would look brilliant in it. Even shinier than usual. Or, well, if he liked snakes so very much, perhaps he was planning on creating an army of cobras and pythons and such.

[alt_regulus]

Well, I will say that the right serpent can be quite a formidable weapon. They have a way of commanding respect.