open: the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow boy's butt shaft

[bymyheelies]

For those that care to spend time with Mercutio; they may note that today he is conspicuously hard to find. He is still reeling from the recent news of Romeo's fate at the end of their story, and not entirely sure how to proceed with it. Ideally, at home, he would find some way to take his mind off of pressing matters: spend time with his friends (friend, now, singular) or find someone entertaining to harass about the town and make merry. If he was in a particularly snappish mood he would invariably end up picking a fight with Capulets, one in particular.

That is not the case today. Someone attuned to the general sounds of the mansion might hear a steady sort of thunking noise coming from an out-of-the-way bar. It is there that Mercutio can be found, various bottles of alcohol open at his side. He has clearly been there some time by the looks of it, and is currently engrossed in throwing a small selection of daggers at the wall. Despite his intoxication, he is doing a reasonably good job at it; but judging from the stormy look on his face, he does not entirely wish to be bothered.

Comments

[wickedwit]

"You know just how to pique my interest. I love little better than a mystery." With an ironic smirk to bely the tone of a passerby concerned¹, he says, "Mercutio. What seems to be the matter? Has that wall mortally offended thee?"

¹ This is, in fact, a double irony. He is concerned, and passing by.

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally lets him cling, happy that she's able to be a good friend. When he draws back, she gives him a smile, trying to make sure it doesn't look pitying. She feels bad for him, obviously, but she doesn't think it makes him any less crim.

"Death is utterly bogus," she says. "I'm really not used to it, personally. I only really know, like, three people who have died." She thinks of The Boss, killed by Specials when the Smoke was destroyed, and Az, killed in captivity. Shen Yuan was also killed in captivity, she guesses.

[bymyheelies]

He shrugs, idly picking up a dagger to twirl in his hands. “I would much rather be doing some other form of fighting, but there is no one to duel.” At least not in the way he’d like to duel, sharp teasing words and swords alike.

[wickedwit]

"No one at all? And here I thought the mansion was filled to the brim with bored swordsmen who've nothing to fight. You should've been here for the zombies." He pushes himself away from the doorway, striding into the room. "May I try?"

[bymyheelies]

He waves his free hand lazily, as if to say either ‘do what you like’ or ‘I don’t care.’ It could be both, in all honesty. “Tch. ‘Twould not be the same.” There is a certain thrill he is seeking, the excitement of a good fight or doing something wildly dangerous in an attempt to make himself forget about events as they stand at home. However, he is well aware a majority of the people here will not indulge him in that. “Perhaps I might try thy alchemy next.”

[wickedwit]

“Oh, you want a truly bad idea. Inebriation and explosives.” Claudius raises both eyebrows and, in that moment, decides it’s not as though he’s Mercutio’s father. “Why not? Put down the knife, for a moment, and I’ll walk you to my workshop.”

[bymyheelies]

"Excellent." There's a ghost of his usual smile on his face, faint mischief and the promise of chaos, but still somewhat shadowed. He sheathes the dagger and sets it at his hip, cocking an eyebrow at Claudius. "I knew I liked thee for a reason, my lord." ....Multiple reasons, but this is certainly one of them.

[wickedwit]

Claudius laughs, meeting Mercutio's eye sidelong as he leads them to the forbidden garden that is alchemy. (It's hardly an exaggeration. When Claudius was young, he feared any alchemical discovery could be the doorway to witchcraft and damning his immortal soul, before he began to court damnation on purpose by studying poisons. Any explosive combination of compounds felt unholy. Man was not meant to have this power, or at least none of mankind's terrified princelings who weren't ready to face the damage they could do.) "Oh? What reason is that?"

[temnota]

"Skating lessons," Aleksander reminded Mercutio brightly. "With those shoes that have the small wheels on them."

[bymyheelies]

"Thou'rt interesting." At least Claudius' presence is somewhat making him forget his bad mood, judging by the not-very-veiled look he's sending Claudius' way. Look, he'll take distractions of any sort at this point in time, whether or not it is ill-advised. If it is, he doesn't particularly care. "And thou wilt indulge me, from time to time."

[bymyheelies]

He shrugs. "He is a fool. At the least, he killed Tybalt before he killed himself."

[bymyheelies]

"Ah! Yes. I fear I am not fit for it at the present moment."

[bymyheelies]

"Very well, though I fear I may be poor competition." He's being a little modest, in truth. Most of his knives in the wall have done a very good job of staying in.

[sagramore]

"Christ, no wonder you're drinking." He has another drink himself, and then hauls himself to his feet. "Come on."

[bymyheelies]

"Four," he mumbles, with a slight gesture to himself. "If we are counting my arrival here." He's still uncertain how he feels about all that, come to think of it. It had not been entirely unexpected, and perhaps he had been taunting fate -- but he does regret it, a little. If only because he misses his family and friends.

[tallyyoungblood]

"Gideon died to get here, too, so I'm not, like, counting that," Tally says. "I mean, of course it has to be totally upsetting to die, but you're obviously still alive in some way, you know? Wait. Do you think I'm dead, and I don't know?" Tally frowns, looking down at herself. "I just went to bed at home and then woke up outside here. I totally doubt Komachi Mansion would have let someone, like, kill me, though."

[bymyheelies]

Mercutio blinks a bit, and takes a moment to have one more drink himself. "The worst of it is that it was over a girl he met three days ago." Eventually he, too, hauls himself to his feet, though quite a bit tipsier than Sagramore is.

[sagramore]

"That's even stupider, yes. You'd never do anything like that, of course," taking Mercutio's hand in his and pulling him towards the door, albeit not too fast -- he does know how easy it is to pull over a man who's been drinking.

[bymyheelies]

“Of course not.” He is entirely serious, naturally, carefully picking his way along after Sagramore. “I’ve no need of love,” he adds, mulishly. “All it does is cause foolishness such as this to happen.”

[sagramore]

"Oh, absolutely," Sagramore agrees patiently. "Utter nonsense."

[bymyheelies]

"Ay, so it is. Turns sane men to fools and women to cooing doves; give me a sword and a battle over that." It's a bit of a wonder how he's still standing, with the way he's slurring his words, but he will prevail. At least long enough to follow Sagramore for a bit longer.

[sagramore]

"Oh, yes. Why go in for romance when you could get killed instead?"

[bymyheelies]

"I was only killed because Romeo got in between us," he points out sulkily. He will certainly not be elaborating on the fact that he was basically goading Tybalt into fighting him; nor will he be elaborating on Tybalt himself.<sup>1

1Not that getting Tybalt to say yes to a fight is a difficult thing.</sup>

[sagramore]

"Absolutely. If he hadn't, thou wouldst have acquitted thyself handily. I know how these things go. I've baited men like that too," pointedly.

[bymyheelies]

"Thou hast?" That takes him aback; for half a moment he looks quite a bit younger than he actually is, a heartbroken boy uncertain of where to go next. But it passes quickly, and he steadies himself on Sagramore's shoulder. "Thou wert luckier than I, at least."