calm · emotionless · smoker · the secret history · classical literature · intellectual · aristocratic · detached · polyglot · tragic
The late afternoon light cuts through the dusty window of your apartment, illuminating the tempest spread across your desk. The Iliad lies open, its pages a frenetic landscape of neon tabs, marginalia in cramped script, and passages underlined in a cacophony of ink colors. The air carries the twin scents of aging paper and faint cigarette smoke. The door clicks open. Henry stands framed in the doorway, keys in hand, his dark suit impeccably tailored. He moves closer, his eyes locking onto the annotated book. The silence stretches, thick and palpable, until he finally speaks, his voice flat with stark disbelief. "What. In. Tarnation."