Temperance lives by (verbumdomini) wrote in repose, @ 2017-11-14 00:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | *log, claire johnson, ren solitaire |
Log: Claire/Ren Shakespeare assistance
Who: Claire and Ren
What: Ren helps Claire discover Shakespeare.
Where: Bookstore/Coffee shop
When: Recently-ish
Warnings/Rating: None
Ren took a rag and wiped down the top of the espresso machine his gaze wandering to the window and the walk outside. He'd told people, well those he'd told anyway, that he was going to the Capital for personal stuff with the implication being that it'd been for fun, in reality it had been a bunch of family nonsense that had stretched anxiety through his shoulders and across his back, and left him wishing that he'd not gone. His Father had pestered him again about where he was staying, and Ren had refused to give in. If they knew he was in Repose, well, they'd probably insist on him living in the summer house, and then they'd come see him constantly. It was better this way where an email was the only way they could contact him and he maintained total control over whether or not he bothered with them.
His attention was grabbed by someone entering the shop, and since there was no one at the counter for coffee, he wiped his hands and headed towards the person to see if they needed anything. Ren tended to move between the extremes of absolutely leaving people alone and only talking to them if they came up to order or pay for something and the helpful salesman who was always there. Today he needed a distraction, so today was salesman.
"Hey, you finding what you need?"
Claire liked when the weather got colder. She could hide beneath comforting layers that kept her covered from head to toe. Unfortunately, that meant when she was inside a store, as she currently was, she was generally far too warm. Still, she didn't think it was going to take quite so long to find what she was looking for. She came from an ancient line of hunters, born and bred to destroy the forces of darkness, and yet she still got lost among rows of books. Her shoulders rolled beneath her heavy army style jacket to try and keep the fabric of her shirt from sticking to her skin, and her gloved finger ran across the spine of a book about the Hundred Years' War. She had to be close now.
This morning she was coming from Church and she had a very specific mission in mind. Shakespeare. It felt as big of an undertaking as the Beatles. There was much to be said about how she'd been raised within the Vatican, but they left out some very key parts of life. Namely all the fun. Now she was trying to catch up, seeing as how someone decided to call her unread. What could she expect from this town that was inundated with people that preferred the pretentious water they called tea over a real drink like coffee. That was another reason she had come in. There was something lullaby sweet to her about the smell of roasting coffee mixed with the scent of old books. It brought her back home.
Her heart-shaped sunglasses were perched on top of her head, holding back her messy hair from falling into her face as she smiled up at the man that had come to help. "These are history books, yes? I am looking for Henry V. By Shakespeare?" Poor sheltered Claire was a little confused, but her heart was in the right place. She had been told it was one of the Bard's histories.
"Shakespeare's Henry the fifth?" he asked, glancing at the histories that she was in. She wasn't going to find Shakespeare in history, but as much as he wanted to judge he wasn't going to. At least not out loud. He figured not everyone had been given an European boarding school education, and followed it up with theater at University.
"Yeah, it's going to be over here," he motioned, leading her down three shelves towards the literature. The shelves were over-filled with books, but Ren had a pretty good idea of where things were, even though he'd been gone for a week and they'd gotten a few new things in while he'd been gone. Nothing had been moved too significantly though, and he was able to find Shakespeare easily enough. "I did that one Freshman year, wanted a decent part and ended up with three lines. So it goes sometimes."
He glanced through the Shakespeare, they did have both a single volume and of course multiples of the complete works. "You want just Henry the fifth or the complete works?" He asked looking back at her.
"Oh. Thank you," Claire smiled sheepishly and followed behind as he led her to where Shakespeare was kept. Prior judgment upon being unread was what lead her in here, so she wouldn't have been very surprised if he judged her, too. After all, Shakespeare was a staple in the literary world, and here was Claire messing everything up. Of course, if he wanted to ask her to discuss the intricacies of pattern within Johannes Trithemius' Steganographia or debate the authenticity of entries in de Plancy's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum then Claire would be right in her element. Shakespeare was an exciting new frontier.
From this angle his profile reminded her of someone very dear to her, and Claire very nearly lost herself in a wave of homesickness that threatened to pull her far from shore. Her expression softened in spite of herself as she smiled up at him in interest, "You were in the play? What was that like? Doing a show?" That was far more interesting to her. Personal experiences, living life, she relished those stories of times she would never be able to have.
"I was told this is not one of his best, so the complete works may be better for me to compare others." She blinked a few times with that scholarly debate behind her eyes, and then motioned to the compendium with a gloved finger. "Which of his works do you think is best?"
"Yeah, I was. I did drama at University," Ren explained, reaching for one of the leather bound complete works. "So, I was in a whole bunch of played - tried to be involved with all of the different ones every quarter. It just happened Henry the fifth was the one they were doing my first year there."
"Do you want something that'll last, or something that's less expensive that you can mark up? This one has photos from plays from the Royal Shakespeare company," he flipped open to one of the pages with color illustrations from Much Ado About Nothing. "Or you could go with something like this," he pulled a mass market sized paperback copy off the shelf. "This one's used actually, so it's even less if you don't mind highlighting. Looks like someone may have used it as a textbook."
He held them out for her to take a look at as he tried to consider what he'd consider the best Shakespeare play. "You'll get different answers to the best question from different people. A lot of people would say Hamlet is the best, and I feel like arguably it is one of the better written plays. Most people know Romeo & Juliet though I don't personally consider it the best, or even my favorite. Comedies like Twelfth Night are always interesting to see how people stage them. What do you like in stories?" He followed up with, giving her an intent gaze. If she hadn't read any Shakespeare at all, which was the feeling he was getting, maybe he could get her started on one she'd like - especially considering the text and style of Shakespeare was enough of a hurdle to new-comers.
Her eyebrows shot up, and Claire looked up at him rather impressed, "What other plays were you involved in?" Studying theater was a surprise. Not that he did it. No, she could understand the appeal. The idea of studying theater was what gave her a run for her money. She'd never thought much of it, assuming people just did it instead of spending years going to school for it. Clearly this man was an expert in the field, and his recommendations would be taken very seriously.
"I tend to be very rough on my books. And the ribbon markers look better in a leather-bound book than the paperbacks." She spoke in a tease of authoritative knowledge on the subject of aesthetic, but her preference mattered little if the other book was a more complete compilation of the subject matter. Though she didn't give much thought to the fact that not many people used ribbon markers outside of the Bible. "I like the illustrations. Did you do a lot of highlighting in your time studying?"
Claire listened as he explained how different people felt about the different plays, and wondered if he considered the best written work to be at the top of the list. She made a mental note of Hamlet before answering his question. "I haven't read many stories," she leaned in slightly to playfully whisper her confession, "So my answer is going to be heavily skewed towards the few that I have read." Claire stood back up straight and her gloved hands took the one with the pictures with a grin to cradle it in the crook of her arm. "I like detailed mysteries. Grand adventures of good versus evil." A pause as she considered what else to tell him, "I had a very bad experience with a romance novel, so maybe not anything like that?" Now, that romance novel was Fifty Shades of Grey which was as far from romance or Shakespeare as one could get, but Claire didn't know for certain. She was still fifty-fifty on the existence of sex contracts.
"I played Heathcliff in a staged version of Wuthering Heights," Ren chuckled. "I was John Proctor in the Crucible too. West Side Story, but I'm not a huge fan of musicals. I guess I'm a snob that way. Truthfully though," he shrugged. "I really tried out for anything that I could and would play any part. I liked to do something new and try things that I hadn't tried before, so I had a lot of bit parts too."
He leaned back against the wall and considered what she was saying. Stories of good versus evil could certainly be found in Shakespeare's plays, particularly his tragedies, but just diving into them would she be able to catch all the subtleties there. She'd come in looking for Henry the Fifth, but it might be better to start with something else.
He looked at the book and then stepped forward, reaching for it and turning through the pages. "Here's the thing with Shakespeare, if you've never read him before, it can be a bit challenging. The way the lines are and all that, but what I'd recommend, if this is your first - if you have a place to watch it, get yourself a filmed version of one of his plays and watch that, then go through and read it. Trust me - it's going to be a lot easier that way. As you get used to it, it gets easier and you won't need to do that with everything. But I feel like Hamlet might be a good place for you to start, honestly. Unless you're stuck on Henry the fifth in particular. There's a film version with Mel Gibson that's not too bad. There's a Branagh version too, but it's longer. Depends on how dedicated you're feeling."
"Do you have copies of those, too? I'd like to read them." It went beyond basic curiosity and into an interest in what he had done before. "What is it about musicals that you don't like?" She'd seen the Wizard of Oz. Once. The singing had been quaint, but the story had been deeply terrifying to her. As much as she loved home, she did not want to spend her life wishing to go back to Rome. "It sounds like you enjoyed the performing more than the subject matter. Is there anything you wish you had done that you haven't yet?"
A surprised gasp. "Mel Gibson!" A name she recognized. "He did The Passion of the Christ, right?" Claire seemed very pleased with herself for being able to recall the name, then realized that had nothing to do with the conversation. So, explanation. "Sorry, I've only ever watched two movies in my life. The Passion, and The Wizard of Oz. I don't have a televisione." Her words had been surprisingly well-practiced generic American until that last bit where her native Italian took hold. It was really when the words were obnoxiously similar that it messed her up. "I will make an effort to try and watch one of them," she promised him, though she didn't understand what was going to make it so difficult to read. From the few pages that had been flipped through, it looked like any number of medieval texts she had studied from that blasted Anglican tea island.
"I was speaking with someone and they made a reference to Henry the Fifth, so I thought I would read it so I could understand." She smiled, something warm in her reminiscence. "But if you think Hamlet is a good place to start, then I will start with Hamlet," spoken with all the certainty that she'd put herself in his capable hands.
There were things Ren wished he could do that he hadn't, but he was startled off that track by the admission that she didn't have a television. "You don't have a television? Never?" It was one thing to not have one now when so many things could be watched on a phone or laptop or whatever, but to have never had one - to have only seen two films - it was an interesting oddity. Not a terrible thing, probably as there was a lot of film that was a waste. But there was always a lot of good too.
"Do you have one now?" He asked, curious. "Or not? I don't have either of the films, butI could set something up probably if you want to watch the Hamlet film before trying to tackle the text. In fact if we're lucky…" he pushed off the bookshelf with one roll of his shoulders and headed further back in the store, just expecting that she was likely to follow him when he did so. There was a small selection of DVDs and ancient VHS tapes in the back. While it wasn't a specialty, there were a few, and Ren suspected he could get his hands on a VHS player if he needed to - assuming the television in his hotel room even had the right hookups for one.
"You speak another language, don't you?" he turned around. "That's what? Italian?"
"No, I never had one. And I do not have one now." Claire knew it was strange and the resigned smile on her face spoke to that fact. "There is little time to sit down and watch with work and everything else," she patted the book of Shakespeare as if to explain the everything else. Really most of her time was spent researching rituals, keeping up with her training, and prayers. It didn't make for good conversation. As a matter of fact, most everyone that knew those things about her had stopped talking to her altogether. It was difficult to go through life when honesty outside of the Vatican's walls brought such intense loneliness.
She was already nodding when he suggested that he could set something up to watch the film. "I'd love that if it’s no trouble," her eyes were bright with adventure and excited for something new, especially if it was going to make her Shakespeare undertaking that much easier. There was about to be some small objection, like he didn't have to do all of that for her if it was a problem, but he'd already turned around on a mission. She followed behind him deeper into the store, going into one of the back corners that she generally avoided when she came in, and as she was looking around at what was on the shelves they passed she almost ran into him when he turned around to ask her about Italian. Claire blinked a few times at his question, uncertain which word she'd messed up. She supposed it didn't really matter in the end.
A sly grin peeked up at him through heavy lashes, "Good ear. Sì. I lived in Rome until I was sixteen. Are you familiar with the language, or was that a lucky guess?" There may have been movies there on the shelf, but he was what held the entirety of her attention.
The films were behind him, but he was watching her as well. A grin formed on his lips. "I went to school in Europe between 12 and 17 or thereabouts. I'd spend summers over there too. I'm not really fluent in any language other than English, but there were kids there from all over and I heard a lot of other languages. Italian was kind of a guess, I thought about it being French, but that didn't sound quite right to me either - pronunciation I guess."
He thought about asking her about living in Italy, but he decided he'd let her decide if she wanted to share more about it. His own desire to talk a lot about the whats and whys of why he'd been in Europe for school, wasn't great after all. He turned back around to the shelf and scanned the battered VHS tapes looking to see if they had anything that was useful.
"Here," he gave a amused bark of success as he pulled off a mostly dark cover. "I thought I'd seen it back here and hardly anyone even looks at these anymore. VHS isn't really hipster enough for the hipsters, you know?"
Claire liked the way he looked when he smiled. "Please tell me your time in Europe did not make you appreciate tea over coffee. It is a plague in this town." Seriously. She knew too many people that drank tea. Some of them even forced her to buy some so she wouldn't be a bad hostess. The why of his trips didn't even register, because of course people would rather go to school in Europe. It was the where that drew her curiosity. "What was your favorite place you went in the summers?" She couldn't exactly commiserate upon school days, after all, given that at thirteen she was being dispatched periodically around the world for exorcisms or assassinations. Her whys about living in Italy weren't particularly a welcome discussion topic for new acquaintances. They could chat about the good things in Europe.
She smirked, "It is not uncool enough to be cool?" Claire's experience with hipsters was, not surprisingly, rather limited. Mainly passing conversations in artisanal coffee shops when she'd first arrived in New York City after leaving Europe. One in particular stood out. She'd asked the man if he thought it was very cold outside because he had been wearing a beanie on his head. He said that it wasn't cold, he just lived in Williamsburg with all the hipsters and was trying to fit in. Then he took her to brunch at Smorgasburg and she realized that he was right about the beanies. Claire had even gotten herself one of those little knit hats so she could fit in better, too. A VHS though? She was basically lost with the dead technology. "Do you have something to watch that with?" Asked with a quick glance around the shop to see if she had missed something, since she didn't exactly know to look for a VCR.
Her eyes were lit up with excitement, though. The fact that the movie was there and available for them cemented that bit of her faith where it was supposed to happen this way. She peered at the cover, then up at him, "Is it very sad?"
"You can't laugh if I answer that honestly," he raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't about to admit that most of his summers had been dull as fuck. His Uncle rarely did anything that interesting, and the focus on learning magic had been everything that his Uncle had cared about at all. It was a skillset that Ren mostly liked to ignore that he had, or at least he wasn't going to go on about it here. He'd learned better than that at University. But they had seen a few things, usually as part of going on some field trip for 'magical education' -- whatever that meant. But he had seen a lot of the continent as a part of that education even if he hadn't been a lot of really cool places. The truth was one of his favorite places also felt like the most cliche in many ways.
"Hamlet's sad, yeah, I mean it's a tragedy, so they usually have the melacholic about them. But it's good. I mean, it's the sort of that sad that seeps into you skin and lingers in a satisfying way I'd say." Though the cassette player would be a bit of a trick as Ren didn't have one, but he was determined to figure it out, even if it did take him a little bit of time. He nodded. "Give me a few days, and I'll track one down."
The book of Shakespeare was shifted from one arm to the other, "I won't," Claire assured him with a relaxed smirk, "If you're honest with me, I'll be honest about mine." Tit for tat. Her eyebrows raised, bright grey eyes glinting playfully as challenge was offered. She was not good at lying anyway. Avoiding, now that she could do. This was harmless enough, even if her answer wouldn't precisely be something cliche. Still, it felt like the start of a game of chess, pawns tentatively stepping onto the battlefield of getting to know one another.
He spoke of beautiful sadness, and Claire wanted to experience what he meant. She would just have to put off her reading until he could get one of the machines to play the movie. "You'll do that?" It was a rather silly question, since he just said that he would, but she was pleased that he'd go on a search for her. "Thank you. I can give you my number so you can call when you get it?" It was an innocent enough way to give him reason to contact her again, especially considering that she'd come to the conclusion that she'd like it if he did. Even if the movie wasn't a part of it.
"Yeah, I'll do that," he figured he could give her his number on the receipt and then she'd have his. He was on a mission to be certain she understood and enjoyed Shakespeare, and perhaps he was hoping that someone who had spent time abroad - whatever the reason - might prove an interesting few hours companion too.
But he smirked slightly before he took a step away from the VHS and raised an eyebrow back at her. He supposed the worst thing that would happen was that she would find him ridiculous, and she would hardly be the first person who would have done that in his life. "Bran's castle, in Romania. Or as it's more commonly known Dracula's castle. It's cliche as all get out, I know, but it's actually a cool little castle and the town itself has all this atmosphere, and I don't know, I'd go back there sometime if I had the chance. Get a cup of coffee and buy kitschy vampire stuff from a local vendor." He smirked. "Your turn. What's your favorite place over there?"
There was no laughing. Claire lit up with recognition, instead. "Oh yes! Bran Castle. We went by there once on the way to Miercurea Ciuc. It was much brighter inside than I expected from the outside." Her pronunciation in Romanian was flawless, but there was little reason to go to the small town apart from visiting the Weeping Mary. Which was precisely why she had gone. The vampire outing had been secondary, but far more entertaining. "Did you get to see the tunnels beneath the dungeon?" Was that something known to the public? Probably not. "They lack the chattering fang keychains and garlic braids down there." She smiled warmly, though there were quite a number of scholars in the area that happened to specialize in certain sanguinary creatures. The locals knew far more of the truth than most people did.
It was difficult to impress a girl brought up within the glorious halls of the Vatican, though Chartres Cathedral was a very close second. However, admitting that she might like a place in France more than Italy? Her own subconscious would never allow her to admit to that. Besides, that would be cliche. Everyone loved Chartres Cathedral. "My favorite place was the Catacomb of Callixtus." A pause, since she had to put a caveat on that confession, "As long as it is quiet. Often the tours make it too crowded to enjoy, but if you can get in there without a group it is absolutely beautiful." As beautiful as a tomb could be. Not many could appreciate the ancient architecture within as they did the Colosseum. But the answer was deeper than that, a hint at her interest in some of the darker aspects of life.
"Shit, no," Ren shook his head, but his eyes brightened a bit at the warmth in her response. "I think they left that off the main tour; have you been down there then?"
He'd always felt his fondness of the place was cliche, as if there weren't other places more off the roads and unexpected. And he'd spent time in Sibiu, wandering crooked streets and staying in unexpected hotels. He'd wandered England even more, as it had been where his school had been located. Berlin, Vienna, it wasn't as if he hadn't been other places, but the castle had been a secret thrill. The fact that she hadn't immediately labeled him off as a vampire geek, or horror fanatic, was possibly to be expected considering the seeming lack of pop culture that she'd imbibed, but it didn't mean it wasn't still appreciated.
Catacombs hadn't been what he expected though, and he had only been to one when he'd toured Rome. He couldn't even remember which, and it had been with a group. "I could see that," he considered. "I did one tour when I was in Rome, I don't even remember which - it was with the school though, so pretty much the furthest from peaceful that you could get. Alone sounds nicer. Maybe a little spooky, but nicer."
"Mmm," she hummed in the affirmative and nodded, "There are things down there they cannot leave out for the tours. Some of the books and scrolls. Armor and weapons. A lot of storage boxes." Claire, in all her homeless chic, grinned wide despite looking a right mess that would never have been invited into a place like that (She had been.) so it would be safe to assume a rather clandestine break in may have taken place. "There is a wonderful charm to the castle. I can understand the appeal."
She plucked the VHS from his fingers with one of her gloved hands and laid it atop the book of Shakespeare, a sign that she was going to buy it. "Oh, not alone. I was never alone. Just with quiet people." Vows of silence were common among her former constituents. A tilt of her head towards the front of the store accompanied a bright smile that she shone at him, "I have the early shift at work or I'd stay and chat longer. Unfortunately, there are some police officers in town that desperately need their beers poured for them, and I've drawn the short straw today." Before she headed up to the cash register to pay, Claire gave him an earnest look that paired with words that bordered on fervent, "Thank you for your patience with me. And thank you for explaining. It means much to me."
Once they made the journey back to the front, her eyes were tilted up hopefully at him, "And you'll call when we can watch this, yes?" Or she supposed she could get him to message her on the forum, but Claire found the forum very hostile and enjoyed phone calls more. She scribbled her name (as she suddenly realized they’d never actually introduced themselves to one another) and her number onto a slip of paper from her jacket pocket and passed it across the counter to him.
"Absolutely," Ren promised. And he intended to follow through with that. Of course, he didn't know where he was going to find a VHS player to do it, but he would figure that out. Maybe ebay or something if all else failed. It wasn't very often that he had the opportunity to share Shakespeare with someone who had never seen it before - or maybe that had just been the circles he'd run with at University.
He rang her up and took the slip paper that she offered. "I'm Ren, by the way," he said as he glanced at her name. Claire. "I'll give you a call, Claire. We'll figure out Hamlet together."
And he found he was honestly looking forward to it. It had been quite a while since he'd had the opportunity to really enjoy Shakespeare and even longer really since he'd watched anything with someone else. And he loved Shakespeare, loved the stories - he was hoping it would be a good time for both of them and that she'd enjoy them too. "Good luck with your police officers," he gave her a quick grin as he finished up.