xii. written

[heloise]

[ Lucrezia writes in curled letters, more like pictures than text, a little poetry or is it a riddle? ]

πόλυ πάκτιδος ἀδυμελεστέρα χρύσω χρυσοτέρα


[ Meanwhile she is at the laundry room, seated on the floor with her light green gown spread about her. She has both hands on one machine, watching the colors spin through the glass with amazement on her face. Yellows, blues, greens and purples! ]

[ trans.; than the lyre, far sweeter in tone than gold, more golden. ]

Comments

[heloise]

A female friend?

[waterproofed]

A little bit more than that. We're dating.

[heloise]

Dating?

[waterproofed]

You know, like... Going out together and doing romantic things.

[heloise]

Your lover then?

[waterproofed]

[spit-take soda all over the journal]

No! Jeez, we're just kids! [okay technically Percy's an adult but details]

[heloise]

[ She laughs, at him, yes. ]

But you do love her.

[waterproofed]

W-well of course I do.

[heloise]

Then are you not lovers?

[waterproofed]

[oh gods why is this happening out in the open]

We're just boyfriend and girlfriend.

[heloise]

I see hardly any difference.

[waterproofed]

Well.... there is one.

[heloise]

Which is?

[waterproofed]

It's... adult stuff. [lame reasoning but he's floundering]

[heloise]

[ That's not going to stop her. ]

Do you share her bed?

[waterproofed]

No.

[heloise]

Many lovers do not. [ Not Abelard and Heloise, for most of it. ]

[waterproofed]

[urgghh] So hey, how did you learn to write Greek, anyway?

[heloise]

I had a tutor, from Piraeus.

[waterproofed]

That's cool. Not many people around here can speak or read Greek.

[heloise]

I have wondered what they learn instead, if not languages.

[waterproofed]

We still learn languages. They just teach Spanish or French instead.

[heloise]

[ She chuckles. Learn Spanish, imagine that! ]

Do you speak the Spanish tongue then?

[waterproofed]

Uhh, not really. I know a few words, but they're mostly food-related.

[heloise]

Jamon?