This was amazing...
I don't even know where to start listing off all the things that I loved about this. So let me just go with the order my brain comes up with.
First of all, *the research*. My goodness, you did such an amazing job. The various latin phrases, the way time is being told, even the characters' world views checking out. Just amazing. It really gave this work a level of authenticity that is pretty rare to read about.
Which makes it even funnier when the characters do drift off into modern colloquial phrases. Seriously, this made me laugh so much. ("Petros Two" got a particular loud snort from me, my goodness. And also whenever Laurent brings up dogs, or his theory that perhaps there are very small animals that can make you sick. Preposterous! Also also: the bathwater. Man, did I have a good time reading this.)
The grossness factor makes this story extremely intriguing to read. It's masterfully done, often obfuscated within the language used, but being able to read between some blurred, and some perhaps not-so-blurred lines, you can get a good sense of Basilius's freakiness. He was just really really hungry, okay?
All that to say, this was a FEAST. I LOVED this FEAST. Thank you for writing this for my jam!!!