elnysa | video | c.fraser

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video | c.fraser

[Is this not about a medical thing, this time? Seems so. Claire's a bit more relaxed than she usually is when using the network, and it might have something to do with that glass of wine in front of her.]

It's my fifty-first birthday this weekend. Do I win the award for most elderly amongst us refugees?

It's hard to believe I was in my late twenties when I first came to Olympia. Stasis is... strange, to say the least, but I'm sure any of us here for an amount of time realize that.

[Now, let's see who's going to be a smartass and make a grandma comment. She's waiting. It's there, in her smile. Do it.]

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I'd like to think so. I find the ones that don't wise up tend to not make it to an advanced age. I'm hoping that's not what you're implying for yourself.

[And, abruptly, the smile fades. Oh.]

I thought he'd been quiet. I'm very sorry to hear that.

Oh, but it is. I have never considered myself a particularly wise man.

[ He drink every day of his life and practically worships the ground that another human being walks on. Nothing about his mindset is healthy. At least he’s partially self-aware. ]

I know he was fond of you. He said that you gave him seeds to plant, but I fear that his garden may waste away without him. Jehan Prouvaire had been touched by Demeter, while I merely pay tribute to my patron god Dionysus.

[ He lifts his own glass. Yes, he is drinking too. It isn't in celebration. Sorry, Claire. ]

Well, now's the time to learn. That sweet boy would be upset [and there's a look here, because upsetting Jehan makes Claire rather unpleasant, even in the hypothetical] to know his precious plants were left to wither. Polytheism may suit you.

[Still, she lifts her own glass, but it hangs in the air for a moment. It had just been a drink to wind down for the evening.]

To Jehan. May our paths cross again.

Theism suits a believer, of which I am not.

[ That’s Grantaire for you. A mess of contradictions. He does look grim as he sips his wine, though. He didn’t actually ever consider that Jehan could return to stasis, but if Jehan can, then Enjolras can, and soon he may be alone.

He is halfway listening, though, and he will likely do his best to keep that garden alive. Because friends are important to him. ]

He would think it kind for me to send you a gift. It seems we both enjoy wine. I’ve acquired something of a collection, if a bottle or two would make for an appropriate birthday gift.

[She's always been of two minds when people return to stasis. A terrible loss, sometimes, but being asleep meant they were safe from the darker things in this world. However, it might not spare them from the dark things in their own world, of time and events catching up to them.

She keeps that to herself.]

There's no need. A greater gift would be to know that Jehan's garden was looked after.

[ Grantaire has little hope of Jehan waking up again. Time can’t catch up to him, because Jehan died so young. But Grantaire is ever the pessimist, and he has been wrong many times before. ]

I will only say that I will do my best, but you should see his hard work, before my mistakes destroy it. I’m not certain what he did, but those seeds sprouted impossibly quickly.

[ It really is something else. He would say it’s like magic, if he allowed himself to believe in such a word. ]

Plants aren't that difficult if you try. Don't be so certain of your failure.

Fear not, I have a great deal of proof of my failure. I do not merely predict it.

[ He's just a gloomy raincloud on this party, isn't he? You should have accepted the wine, Claire. ]

Jehan did something strange. The things he planted--I'm quite certain they would ordinarily not be compatible in the same patch of earth.

Jehan's cheer must have been the balance you needed in your life, with how depressing you are.

[But that's often how it tends to go, isn't it? Happy and sad, calm and fiery, solemn and humorous.]

So, now you're the plant expert? There's hope for you yet.

And now you see why I miss him terribly. I may never find cheer again.

[ She isn’t wrong. Between gloomy Grantaire and stern Enjolras, Jehan balanced the entire household out. ]

Not an expert, mademoiselle—or is it madame? None the less, I have known Jehan for a long time, and I do not drown out everything that he has said. He is the plant expert, and he spoke of such matters himself.

I do doubt we'll find anyone as sweet.

[So, Jehan better wake up sooner or later.]

Madame. But Claire is fine. We've no need for formalities here. If you're lacking cheer, perhaps you might find some in gardening. I do.

There was a group of us, back in Paris. There were nine of us, though perhaps I should say eight. I am uncertain if I should count myself or not. I was there to counter their ideals. All the same, I can assure you that Jehan was the gentlest of them all—but our dear Combeferre could likely give him a run for his money.

[ Jehan is the winner, though. He’s just a shade gentler than Combeferre. ]

You would like him. You would like all of them.

[ Except maybe Enjolras? He’s hard to get along with. Grantaire likes him, though. ]

There is very little that brings me cheer, but I would not wish to bring Jehan misery if he should wake once more.

I lived for a time, in Paris. In 1744. [She doesn't often give those dates, but these days, she cares less about questions being asked.] It wasn't my favorite place in the world, but there were good things to be found there.

[... Fergus, namely. He made Paris worth it all the suffering and loss.]

Good. Then I don't need to worry about his plants.

[She has her own to keep her busy, not to mention everything else in her life. As much as she'd like to take on more--well, she's very much not as young as she used to be.]

I made Paris my home, though it was many years later. When I died, the year was 1832. If a frenchman who greatly resembles the god Apollo tries to speak to you, do tell him your opinions on France. He should be glad to hear them.

[ Because for as much a he adores Enjolras, his love of France is Too Much and just a little hilarious. ]

I would appreciate if you worried about them all the same. I am hopeless, you see. Utterly impossible. I fail at most things, but I do hope Jehan will be pleased that someone tried.

[When I died is where Claire stops listening carefully. Christ, how people just say things like that here. He might as well be talking about when he went on a holiday.]

I'm so sorry to hear that. [And, catching up with the rest of his words, she shakes her head.] And--I've my own opinions of France. I'm not easily swayed.

[He fails at staying alive, apparently, but Claire swallows down the part of her that very much wants to blurt that thought out. But it likely wasn't his fault--Scotland wasn't the only place in the world with rebellions, and she knows how bloody those are.]

[ Grantaire has always had a somewhat flippant attitude about his death—but only his own. He will always treat his friends’ deaths with far more respect, because it’s what they deserve. They fought for what they believed in and they died for it. Meanwhile, he still feels that he hardly even deserved the honor of dying by Enjolras’ side. ]

You need not apologize for my death. It would have found me, sooner or later. I am grateful that it found me in the manner in which it did.

[ He smiles, just a little sadly, because death found his friends just moments before. ]

Enjolras isn’t easily swayed either. It is an exchange I would be glad to hear.

[ HE WANTS TO HEAR AN ARGUMENT. HE LIKES THOSE. ]

[Some men are far better than their deaths. A happy death is a quick one, and maybe that's what he found. Claire lifts her drink again.]

Here’s to a long life, and a merry one. A quick death, and an easy one. A pretty girl, and an honest one. A stiff whisky, and another one.

[Or wine. They're not her words, but she drinks to them anyway.]

... and I do believe you just want to hear two people getting frustrated at one another, good sir.

I, for one, think I will drink only to the whisky and to your own health.

[ He listens to her words with a vague, bemused smile, and kicks back the rest of his drink. He’s just a confusing man, Claire. Don’t take him too seriously. ]

Oh, you’ve figured me out dangerously quickly, madame. How terribly sharp-minded you are. I do enjoy a good argument. The more frustrating, the better.

I believe something similar can be obtained from sports. Chess, even.

Perhaps in some cases.

[ CLAIRE, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. ]

But I fear that I do not have the focus for chess, and I fear that I come from a group of friends who go so far as to refuse to play cards with a traditional deck. They play with decks that have had the court disposed of and replaced, you see. I imagine they would feel similarly of the game of chess.

[ There are so many monarch involved, Claire... ]

[Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ...]

I can't say I'm much of a fan of kings and queens either, but I applaud their ambition.

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