Re: [log: antique store - daniel/claire/louis]
Claire did not miss the proximity of the men, and it made her smile as she flipped through some of her notes. When she looked down into her lap she noticed the ill-fitting gas station shirt was buttoned incorrectly. Wasn't that symbolic of her entire life? She'd taken hours to perform intricate detailed protection rituals, but couldn't be bothered to check her shirt. Sigh.
To say it was nice to feel the tension lessen in the room was an understatement. It had been a bit suffocating. "I've never actually made espresso, so you may be the resident expert in the room." She had been royalty within the Vatican, and during the time of Benedict luxuries had flowed like Tiber into Tyrrhenian. Her slightest whim had been catered to, as long as she stayed within the walls and under the Cardinal's control. All that taken into account, Claire would have been perfectly happy with any tea that was given to her. She could speak numerous languages living and dead, had an intimate knowledge with medieval metaphysics, and literally walked through Hell and back, but knowing different types of tea? That was so far outside her wheelhouse of knowledge it was absurd. Breaking out an espresso machine just for her brought on an awkward shift in her chair, the first time tonight she looked visibly uncomfortable, but it was too late to stop Louis.
She tried not to fixate on being catered to and idly commented on the books, "I would not take Rollin's word as Gospel." Har har. "He is known for inconsistencies, in spite of being one of the better historians of that time." Charles Rollin was a heretic, anyway. Jansenists weren't as bad as Anglicans, of course, but they still held their place to be looked down upon. Oh, Claire honestly didn't have anything against people that were not Roman Catholic. It was simply years and years of propaganda that had its way of remaining wormed into the back of her brain.
"You believe it to be earlier than these? Sumerian?" There was still a nagging worry in the back of her mind that her spear had been delivered by Louis because she was supposed to use it on Louis. There was no such thing as coincidence in her world. She hoped she was wrong.