exsilium | voice; forward dated to past midnight (action open to anyone around?)

voice; forward dated to past midnight (action open to anyone around?)

( there's a slight sound of rustling after the feed clicks on, as oz makes himself more comfortable on a seat in the observatory. why he's there late at night — night by circadian rhythms, anyway, simulated nights on the moon — is anyone's guess, or maybe it's obvious enough. in any case, when he speaks up a moment later, he sounds to be in a good enough mood. )

What's your favorite story? Scary ones are probably best for late at night, but what I really want to hear about are everyone's favorites. For instance, something about a princess and a dragon, or maybe a mystery with a twist ending, or something out of history....ah, if you make it up or adapt it from a book, that's fine too! Or even if it's a real one that's happened to someone you know, ( and a light laugh ) — don't worry, I don't tell anyone!

But it's rude to ask without giving my own preference, right? I can start with mine, if anyone wants.

( he'll tell people about holy knight. all about it!!!! don't ask him about it. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

By Shakespeare, right? But I haven't read it yet.

Yes! Oh, is it okay if I tell you if you were going to read it?

Please! Plays are better spoken, anyway.

Okay! Well, in Italy, there were two families who didn't get along at all. They'd been feuding for a long time. Their names were the Capulets and the Montagues. They'd fight in the streets a lot, so the prince of the city said that anyone who fought in public would be sentenced to death. Anyways, there's this boy named Romeo who's in love with this girl named Rosaline.

Was Romeo or Rosaline part of one of those families?

Yeah! Romeo was a Montague, and Rosaline... I can't quite remember. She wasn't important, though. Well, I mean, she was, just not for this story.

So anyways, there's this big masquerade ball, and Romeo decides he's going to go so he can see Rosaline, because she isn't in love with him so he can't spend time with her. It's a Capulet ball, though, so it's lucky he could wear a disguise because they would have thrown him out otherwise. So while he's at the ball, he sees this girl named Juliet, and she's so beautiful and wonderful that he forgets about Rosaline and falls in love with her right away.

( ahiru why are the dudes in all your stories so fickle tho )

Juliet must've been really beautiful, in that case.

Yeah, she must've been. I think she was only, like, thirteen though. So anyways, she starts talking to him and doesn't know who he is, but she really likes him, so she asks her nurse who he is after he leaves, and it turns out he's the son of the head of the house that's in a rivalry with hers. So that night, he comes to her balcony after she knows who he is, and he gives this really amazing speech... Let me see if I can remember it, I had to memorize it for school.

Edited 2013-10-13 22:56 (UTC)

[A pause, trying to recall, and then a smile.]

What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, er—

[Another pause, biting her lip.]

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick, pale with grief,
That thou, her maiden, are far more fair than she.

[She stops again, looking up as she tries to remember what comes next.]

Then there's, um, some lines between that I don't quite remember, but after that it goes...

The brightness of her cheek will shame the stars,
As daylight doth a lamp, and her eyes in heaven
Would through the... airy region stream so bright
That birds will sing and think it was not night.
Look how she leans her cheek onto her hand!
Oh, that I was a glove upon that hand,
That I may touch that cheek.

[She hardly knows anything about his meter, and it's punctuated with unnatural pauses throughout as she struggles (and fails, in certain spots) to recall the exact wording. Still, it's an earnest effort, and at least her passion for the language shows through.]

[She glances back at him, then looks down, self consciously clearing her throat.]

At least, I, um, I think that's how it went.

That is amazing!

( he's grinning, eyes bright and focused on her. the stanzas may sound a little strange and misordered, but the part that matters more is the effort made. he can always read the play afterwards to get the accurate details, after all. )

So you studied it in school?

( if he sounds the tiniest bit wistful at the thought — well. )

Yeah, I think it was... Maybe a little over a year ago? That's so weird to think about.

Anyways, so she comes out onto the balcony and doesn't see him yet, so she starts talking to herself. I think I remember this one a little bit better, um...

[A little sigh, a pause, a smile. Gently:]

Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name,
Or, if thou will not, be sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

[She stops, biting her lip absentmindedly as she thinks.]

There's some more, and then it goes on, um... Oh!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain the perfection which he owns
Without his title. Romeo, leave thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

( not even going to interrupt that. go on, ahiru. )

[Another moment of self consciousness. She drums her fingers against her knees absentmindedly as she speaks.]

Um, that's the end of the parts I have memorized! So anyways, after that all happens, her mother tells her that she's having her enter an arranged engagement with another boy. She knows she can't tell her parents that she's in love with somebody else, though, because he's from the family they hate.

So what did she do?

Well, they're both at the balcony now, so he comes out and lets her know that he's there. So she says, you know, you have to go, they'll kill you if they see you here. But he tells her that he loves her and he's not afraid of that if it means he gets to see her, and she tells him she loves him too, so she wants him safe. But then she hears her nurse calling her, so she has to go in. They promise to see each other again, though.

( he's reminded of edgar now, my weapon is being unafraid of death. it makes him chuckle maybe a little ruefully and then nod for her to go on. )

So, in the morning, Romeo goes to meet with the town's friar, and tells him that he and Juliet want to be married. At first he's confused, because he thought Romeo was in love with Rosaline. So, Romeo meets Juliet's nurse in the street and tells her to tell Juliet to come to the church later in the afternoon. She tells her, and Juliet manages to sneak out of her house to make it in time. They get married and spend the night together.

[NOT GOING INTO MORE DETAIL THAN THAT OK]

But then, there's a fight in the street. A few members of both families get in a fight, and one of Romeo's friends is killed. As soon as he hears about this, he gets really angry, of course, and kills the person who murdered his friend. Except, the prince had already said that anybody who fought in the streets would have to get the death penalty, so Romeo gets exiled, and Juliet is mourning because her cousin was one of the people killed.

The nurse tells Juliet that Romeo is actually hiding in the friar's cell instead of leaving like he was supposed to, so she shouldn't worry about never seeing him again. The friar tells Romeo to go to Mantua and wait until they can come up with a plan. Juliet tricks her mother into getting her a vial of poison, and her mother tells her that she'll have to marry her fiance next week, since she doesn't know she's married Romeo already.

Juliet goes to the friar, and he says he can use a poison to put her in a deep sleep that resembles death so she won't have to marry Paris, and then he'll send word to Romeo to come back. The message to Romeo never gets delivered, though. He hears about her funeral from his servant and comes back to find Juliet in a deep sleep. He thinks she's dead, and he finds the poison she got from her mother, so he kills himself. She wakes up with his corpse next to her, and stabs herself with his knife rather than live without him. With their children dead, the Capulets and Montagues finally realize what their fighting has cost them, and end the long feud between the families.

[Particularly near the end of the story, her voice gets a bit watery, weak.]

— What?

( THE FUCK KIND OF BULLSHIT ENDING IS THAT )

What?

[u ok]

That's it, they both just die like that?

That's not it, their love stopped, like, decades of fighting and murder!

But they could've been together if they'd only been a little more careful and had that. Or they could've looked for other options, too. Maybe it wasn't pointless, but —

( give him a moment, he might be having a minor epiphany. thank you shakespeare. )

But if they had lived, the fighting wouldn't have ended. It would have intensified, maybe, because if they ran away together the Capulets would have just blamed Romeo and the Montagues would have blamed Juliet. I'm not trying to say it's a good thing that they died, I just - you might be missing the point. They were so young, too... It's not hard for people that young to make rash decisions.

voice; forward dated to past midnight (action open to anyone around?)

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