004 | video

[cynisme]

[This is only a video because Grantaire can't be bothered to fuss with his console right now. Getting onto the system's been difficult enough as is, with how much loathing his more sober, withdrawing self has for the rest of humanity and the like. It doesn't help, of course, that he's been spending every other morning bent over the toilet since his best attempts at rationing his own stash of wine and spirits began to fail. He may have never heard the term porcelain altar before, but he understands the sentiment deeply.

Now though, he's laughing. Not with amusement, but with a disgusted grimace that comes with a dark sense of irony. He's pale, doesn't look nearly as well as he did before, what with his body has been going through since the turtle-wide rationing began. His face is swollen around his eye and nose, and there's blood crusted around his nose and in his mouth. Alcohol withdrawal wasn't the only cause of his current state.]

Bien sur, this would happen the first time I've gone out in days. This is lovely. [His voice dripping with sarcasm, he spits blood into the napkin in his hand before pointing at his face.] This is what your amicable natives do to foreigners when stability begins to crumble. Vagrants are always the first to be blamed when the world goes to shit, and anyone who expects any differently is lying to themselves and everyone around them. Hopeful, optimistic lies like that get the innocent and naive killed. Luckily, I'm neither innocent nor naive, and can handle being bloodied by mongrels every so often. I only hope that I've not broken another tooth.

[He doesn't even bother signing off properly or with any salutation. He just shuts the connection with a wince and a roll of his eyes.]

Comments

action;

[poeticverses]

I did not want to be rude.

[He kneels behind R, takes the rag, and starts cleaning him up]

What happened?

voice;

[cynisme]

Bow nice and low then, I'd say my boots are in need of a nice spit shine.

Audio;

[cynisme]

And what I would not give for an entire cow, or perhaps a milkmaids udder instead.

[The joke is halfhearted, if only because he's in no mood for humor and he says it before he can think not to. He rolls his eyes, but it's not as if Dean can see that.] Either way, no milk, no cow and no milkmaid's tit will make this day any less loathsome.

Re: Audio;

[notamachine]

Beer could, but we're shit out of luck on that front too. [HE IS CONSIDERING MAKING MOONSHINE.]

[philosophe]

If you are in pain, I may have something that will help. .....If you are willing, that is.

Re: voice;

[mopirates_moproblems]

Why should your boots be in any better condition than the rest of you, one wonders.

video;

[cynisme]

Long enough, but not so very long as to be insatiably bored.

[He doesn't feel like giving her more, not when his face is throbbing, but he can poke where he knows to poke. He may not know Eponine's given name, but's not stupid. He has eyes. Speaking of which, he winces as he pokes the inflamation around his eye.]

Pontmercy is here, go bother him.

[cynisme]

Well lo and behold, they have. Make your offerings to your gods at the altar of my swollen face and bloodied mouth.

[virginprice]

[Not an appetizing prospect, R.] Do you need any help?

video;

[knowsherway]

[She has this look on her face that might suggest she's wavering between asking (or telling) him to entertain her, but it's not as though she can't find her own entertainment.]

I've found him already. He went to speak with Cosette.

[Speak with, or stare at, with those large eyes of his. Either way, her point stands.]

video;

[storm_warning]

[Ororo has her arms crossed as the video comes up, he expression one of experience and distaste for this kind of thing.]

Welcome to public opinion. Funny how it flops back and forth when things go sour.

[Then, with just the slightest softening of tone.]

You need some ice for all that?

action;

[cynisme]

And yet rude you were, funny how that goes.

[he begrudgingly accepts the help, wincing and leaning away from Jehan's ministrations, which of course only causes a second wince and a curse as his hand shoots to his side. Best not to make any sudden movements then.]

I was attacked, can you imagine it? Me, a model citizen, attacked in the street by raging natives. [The sad thing is, even he can't keep a straight face, and the laugh hurts his face.] It's starting and we're on the wrong side of it, don't tell Enjolras.

action;

[poeticverses]

If you think Enjolras doesn't know about the violence, the hatred, and the anger then sobriety is disagreeing with you more than I thought.

[He's impossibly gentle, his voice calm]

What did they say provoked them?

Audio;

[cynisme]

[Moonshine? If he says that thought out loud he'll have made a friend indeed.] Or something harder than beer, surely, but it seems the government's rationing system is running us all dry. Oh the humanity of it all.

[For all his sarcasm, that he means.]

voice;

[cynisme]

Have you not heard of irony, Captain? It's a delightful little literary device and generally speaking an entertaining way to live one's painfully drab existence.

[cynisme]

That would depend on what your method is this time, mon ami. [Still, it does hurt a lot and he doesn't have the option to drown himself in liquor to ease the pain, so he visibly considers it.] I hope this time it doesn't involve blood letting, I'm not sure my face could handle that at present.

[cynisme]

Non, I will be fine, this isn't my first beating.

[The truth of the matter is that he wouldn't loathe help, but he will never admit it, never ask for it. That's just the man he is.]

[virginprice]

That does not reassure me, somehow. I do not know if bodies become more inured to damage through repetition.

[He isn't sure how much help he would be, since he's not exactly a trained healer, but surely something is better than nothing.]

action;

[cynisme]

Don't remind him I should say, I'm not a damn idiot. Of course he knows, but it seems that this time we're on the side of the oppressors and not the people. From where I stand, which I like to think is a damn good view of the whole thing, there is little we can do to change that, if anything at all.

[The calm, gentle tone of Jehan's voice irritated him. It mocks him, condescends him, reminds him that this is all he is to his friends, a burden, a child to be taken care of. That's what they think of him, an immature amusement that occasionally needs cleaning up. It has him grit his teeth and lock his jaw, wishing he had enough alcohol to spare. He hadn't enough of the clear stuff left to even spare for his wounds.

Let them fester and infect, he thinks, at least I won't be entirely sober for it.]

They needed no provoking, my mere existence was an insult. Something I would normally find to be a compliment on a better occasion than this.

action;

[poeticverses]

[And of course that was not Jehan's attention at all. He keeps his voice calm because if he doesn't he'll lose his temper and that would end poorly for everyone. It's never pretty when Jean Prouvaire loses his temper.]

How are we on the side of the oppressors? It is the kedan who are attacking us without cause, denying us work, and blaming us for something we have no control over.

Re: voice;

[mopirates_moproblems]

Admiral. Are you deliberately dense?

[Just... ignoring the rest.]

video;

[cynisme]

Ah. Cosette. That would be his mademoiselle's name, wouldn't it? Of course that would be why you've chosen to grace me with your presence. Bother the one compatriot who may in this moment be worse off than you are. Congratulations, you've achieved the status of a generically self-serving human being.

[There are really few words for how droll Grantaire does not find this. He has a mind to just hang up on her and tend to his wounds, but he's never been one to back down when his own teeth are bared.]

action;

[cynisme]

[One of the strongest symptoms of being, once again, terribly sober and aware of the world is a level of morose indifference. He only shrugs, looking quite the broken, dejected mess. Moreso than he would like, given the state of his face.]

That would be your decision to make, as I've got no intention of barring my door.

action;

[trifurcate]

Then I'll be over as soon as I can get across town.

[It takes her thirty minutes or so to get things together and to find some wheels over there, but she does. True to her word, she doesn't mother-hen him about being worse for wear. She does make a subtle attempt to help him clean up, take care of him without pricking his pride, but always careful not to be overbearing in her attempts.]

video;

[knowsherway]

Yes, that is the girl's name. [She just stares at him, for the most part unfazed by his words, as discourteous as his responses seem to be.] You put yourself out there to be commented on, did you not?

[At least, she could not pass up the chance to make a remark about his appearance, to poke a bit of fun. She certainly did not look for banter, not from him, not after what she said.]