[closed] and nothing you can do to turn it back around

[saisamour]

Characters: Marius Pontmercy and Temeraire
Date: Some ambiguous time after the recent landfall
Location: Temeraire's suite
Situation: Marius and shadow!Tem bonded over Napoleon. Now language lessons have become awkward.
Warnings/Rating: Napoleon probs


Without Amon and the free clinic to occupy most of his days, Marius found that there was little left that could distract him from the grim thoughts that darken his mind. Nothing, save for Sabriel's and Temeraire's lessons, in charter magic and the Kedan language, respectively.

But even then it was torture to force himself off the mattress in Courfeyrac's living room that he still slept in, or to get anything else done at all. He knew that if he left himself alone, the disquieting echoes in his head would consume him, and yet he simply couldn't move. What was the purpose? There was nothing left for him here. Perhaps if he stopped making attempts to live in this in-between, he too would simply cease to exist. Disappear like M. Amon, Courfeyrac, Grantaire, and Jean Prouvaire. Return to Cosette's side, return home.

Eventually, however, he had managed, somehow, to make himself presentable and find his way to Temeraire's suite in a half-dazed state. He rapped twice against the door, then fiddled absent-mindedly with Cosette's engagement ring that he hung on a silver chain as a pendant. He prayed that Temeraire not notice the green-grey circles under his eyes, or the distinct lack of color in his face.

Comments

[dracobin]

Temeraire, too, felt the weight of the last few weeks keenly. Amon had been the first of the foreigners to greet him upon his arrival here; his presence could not have made up for the absence of Laurence, but it had helped a great deal. The man had been a friend, there was no denying it, and even now, to think of what fate awaited him in his own world was beyond Temeraire's ability to do.

But some things could not be neglected; some things had to be done properly. It would not do to come over all slovenly in the face of his student, particularly a student who had seen a great deal more of Temeraire's inner fears than he should ever like to admit. The great doors opened, and with them wafted out the calming scent of chrysanthemum tea, freshly brewed.

Truth be told, Temeraire did not know what to expect, or even if Marius would even be interested in returning for his lessons, after that debacle in the bottle. He had decided he would be quite firm, and dignified, and pay no mind to even the most casual hints as to what had happened. But for the moment, at least, his resolve crumbled momentarily at the look on Marius's face, and he remembered a little guiltily that Marius, too, had been a friend of Amon.

"M. Pontmercy," he said, a little stiffly, after an uneasy pause. "How good to see you--pray, do come in, I have made tea."