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☩ ００８．ＶＩＤＥＯ | ＡＣＴＩＯＮ

[ Lucrezia is in one of the lounges! Sprawled on one of the sofas, fingers busy turning a pendent of gold in the shape of a sea-horse. There are no poems today, no joyful greetings, something is different. She looks more pensive than anything else but there is a shade of concern there as well as quiet annoyance.

When she speaks, her voice is devoid of any of it. Her eyes still focused on the sea-horse. ]

A riddle, Tranquility.

How to mourn for someone who does not deserve it?

If your duty demands it and you have no desire to - do all men need to be mourned for? Is it a a more grievous sin not to mourn than it is to speak false words of grievance?

[ a beat. ]

Perhaps I must fast again.

[ a moment later she puts down her necklace, smiles. ]

I would have a cup of wine with your answer, if any of you have some to spare. You will join me in the lounge.

[ and it is not a question. ]

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[He laughs at that, screwing up his nose in a moment of consideration.]

Are water nymphs very patient? They seem the sort of creatures to be a bit flighty-- but all right, then! Six minutes!

[And six minutes (more or less, but who keeps good and honest track of time aboard this ship?) sees him wandering through lounges with the promised wine, whistling as he looks for her.]

[ she is still sprawled on the couch, pendent at hand. She turns it once and then again and then - Sirius Black! ]

Water nymphs can be both, Sirius Black. Patient or flighty would depend on their company.

[Oh, there she is. He grins when he sees her, and wolf-whistles at her--not that she'll know what that is--and approaches, holding out one of the bottles of wine to her.]

What sort of side would I inspire, I wonder? Patient nymph or flighty? Pretty, certainly--that one's a given.

[ why are you whistling you silly boy. ]

Sit with me and we shall see. For now I shall keep it a secret.

[ she takes the bottle, sits up on her elbows. ]

Where did you find it? Did you magick it into existence?

[He sinks onto the floor just beside her couch, considering her question a moment--and then he shakes his head, no, and with a little smirk, raises his bottle of wine to her in something of a toast.]

If you're allowed to keep secrets, miss, then so am I. Was it magic or was it hard searching or was it luck? It's a secret.

Lucrezia.

[ he is nudged about with a foot. She doesn't like 'lady' or 'miss', Sirius Black. ]

Is it red or white?

Oh, yes--

[He sits up, and composes himself with dignity, smoothing at a moustache that isn't there, straightening an invisible pair of lapels--and holds up the bottle once more, as if re-proposing the wordless toast.]

It's red, of course, Lucrezia. Space red. The finest of futuristic vintages, just for you.

[ she laughs, reaches a hand. ]

A glass then.

A glass!

[So there's only bottles and no glasses--but that's easily taken care of! He shifts to one side a bit so he can dig his wand out of his pocket, and gives it a wave.]

Accio cups--

[There's a brief silence, and then a distant bang and a clatter, and then, flying through the air, here are two-- we-ell, they aren't glasses. They're coffee mugs, but that's better than nothing, right? Sirius stands so he can catch them--one, and then the other--and holds one out to Lucrezia.]

Little informal, but I could't get us glasses. We might have swiped the specs from some poor sod's face if I'd have tried for glasses.

[ stop making her laugh, you. She takes it, inspects it for a moment before deciding it pleases her. ]

Pour us and I shall make a toast.

[One of the really great things about magic (of which there are many!) is that you don't need pesky things like bottle openers or corkscrews. Sirius taps his bottle with his wand and--pop!--out flies the cork, leaving him to pour into her cup first, and then his.]

What are we toasting?

To our youth.

[ she doesn't know why youth but it feels right. She lifts her cup, a smile on her lips. ]

To good humor and charming smiles and graceful dances.

[He laughs, and raises his cup to clink against hers.]

And pretty girls with blonde hair with the most charming smile of them all.

[And, toast said, he takes a sip and leans back.]

Now, what are you fasting from?

[ she takes a moment to take another sip and yet another before she replies. ]

Grief which I do not feel for someone who I was bound to.

[Well, that sounds like a very serious topic. And maybe should be avoided...]

Fasting from grief, how d'you fast from grief? By drinking wine?

It is not a very productive fast.

[ as should be for grief that she doesn't even feel. ]

I shall blame it on your terrible influence, Sirius Black.

I'm the terrible influence?

[He fixes her with a sceptical look over the top of his mug of wine.]

You're the one coercing people into bringing alcohol to you. If any of us are terrible influences, I think that it's you--fortunately, I happen to love terrible influences.

Shall I help you break your fast some more?

Sirius Black! You cannot accuse a lady of being a terrible influence, it is folly and you are in luck that I am fond of you.

[ she tries to sound serious but it mostly comes out through a chuckle. ]

Will you bring me a cake?

Can't I? Perhaps I am the bad influence after all--but I am so pleased to hear that you're fond of me, because I am very, very fond of you.

So fond that I will get you your cake. [He sits up again, and sets aside his cup to take up his wand once more.] Only one?

Only one. Will you really bring it to me? Can you magick a cake?

Ah, well, here's where magic gets knotty. I can't make a cake from magic, but I can summon one and you can eat it. Probably it will be a packet of cakes, unless someone has just left a handmade one lying about, which I sincerely doubt.

[He waves his wand, idly, a little like a baton.]

Will that work?

Yes.

[ she shifts in her seat, sips her wine. ]

I would see this -- magic cake.

Good.

[That's the right answer, and he grins at her before he raises his wand more decisively.]

Accio cakes!

[And he's got specific ones in mind, actually--these horribly wonderful little black-and-white cakes with white cream inside, two in a packet, kept in the cupboards of the kitchens. A man could eat fifty of those in a single sitting. So it's those that he Summons, and--

There's a moment, and then a distant bang, and Sirius smiles.]

We have to wait a bit. It's difficult to do the Summoning charm when there's lifts and things in the way-- [But then there's another loud BANG!, closer this time-- and a moment later, in come the cakes in their packet, whizzing overhead. They fall to the sofa, just beside Lucrezia.]

And there you are.

[ she looks overly curious as the bangs and the clatters are heard, wonders what in the name of God he's doing and then - cakes! She claps her hands, something between amazed and truly amused. ]

A wonder!

No, a cake!

[He corrects her cheerfully as he seizes on the packet and tears it open, offering her the first.]

A wonder cake, maybe--a wondrous Sirius, you could say that as well, I wouldn't mind hearing it. D'you want anything else, while I'm fetching things for you?

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