thank you! i love these two and they have entire histories unsaid between them, both the good and the bad. in a world where they live it probably takes them years but they are eventually able to share the things that weren't safe to talk about while they were happening, and there's a lot of tears involved but they come out stronger for it.

i really liked reworking 'and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her' for this context, and i'm deviously pleased that it hurt the way i meant it to. claudius folding up like a map was another phrase that took a couple tries to get right so i'm glad i kept working at it and didn't just leave it as "he crumples" or one of my earlier less metaphorical attempts.