oo4 ; [ video, open to action ]

[jondrette]

-backdated to morning-

[When Eponine appears on the video screen, she's not in her own suite. Instead, she's in a rather clean looking suite with a few small Kedan children visible. Her eyes are wide and wild, and she's visibly harried.]

They tell me he's gone! Disappeared and never came back!

I had just found him and- he promised me he would never leave me, just as I had promised him before! I told him I'd be a better sister- [She breaks off sharply, closing her dark eyes and turning her gaze downward. After a moment, her hand comes up to pinch the bridge of her nose and she shakes her head.]

Non. I shall not cry. We are Thénardiers, and we do not cry. He would not have it, and so I will not cry. He is... There is nothing for him in Paris. And I fear there are fewer and fewer things for me here. [She takes a ragged inhale, looking up again, her eyes wet and bright as the tip of her nose stings, the end red. But her voice is calmer when she speaks again, solid and determined.]

My dear brother is gone. Gavroche Thénardier has gone at last to the heaven he deserved. Born of a wolf and a hag, he was an angel.

[She shuts off the feed- if anyone needs her, she'll be drinking in her suite.]

Comments

video | private

[poeticverses]

[Jehan is very somber when he contacts Eponine some time later]

I...I have a few of his belongings, left in my suite, should you want them mademoiselle.

video | private

[jondrette]

[She's been drinking, and that much is clear in the circles below her eyes.]

Please. I had nothing to remember him by in life, and now he is on his second death. I should like to remember him here. And keep them, should he return.

Action:

[solo_patria]

[To say that he was struck by the news would be understating it incredibly. Enjolras is more than struck, and left with that same, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that accompanied losing Grantaire and then Daahd, or the one that he had on the Hellish barricade of the nightmare realm.

There is no room for tears, or anger, or anything else at the news, and more than anything he'd like to be alone with it, but Eponine...he knows enough that he cannot do that to her, though he has little idea what he CAN do. He's at her door at any rate, soon after, with his face set into a mask, and knocking.]

Action:

[jondrette]

[She is drunk when she opens the door, leaning against it. Her eyes are glassy with uncried tears, refusing to let herself do such a thing. Gavroche would scold her for it, so she would not cry. Under no circumstances.

When she sees Enjolras, she regards him carefully, or, as carefully as she can in this state, before tossing the door open a bit wider and retreating back into the suite, towards her kitchen. A large bottle of whiskey is clutched in her hand, but she bangs around some, grabbing two glasses. Without another word, she sloppily pours them and hands one to Enjolras, before drinking her own.

It's only then that she dares speak.] Tell me what happened to him. [The first time. When he died at the barricade.]

video

[unetrustworthy]

[She and Gavroche weren't particularly close, but there is something to be said for being one of the few Foreign children on the Turtle. She knew him. She knew Eponine. Seeing her so torn up over his disappearance...it only added to the sadness of knowing he was gone.]

I'm sorry.

He was nice. Interesting.

video

[jondrette]

[Eponine regards Midii carefully for a few moments, before taking a drink of the bottle of whiskey she's working her way through.] He was, was he not? Always had something to speak about. It is a terrible thing to lose someone. I have lost him twice.

video;

[wintershepherd]

[ Not Gavroche too... and there's pain in his heart because the boy had bragged quite proudly about being shot before being in Keeliai. It takes several moments before he's able to click on the video, voice and gaze steady. ]

You are a good sister, Éponine. You two were so proud of each other, you can't forget that.

Re: video;

[jondrette]

[Eponine is a few glasses in when Jack starts his video. She hasn't seen this boy, not yet, but that doesn't bother her. Gavroche had other friends. What surprises her, though, is that he knows her name.]

You know my name. And- you say he was proud of me? Did he tell you that?

I was a terrible sister to him. I could have tried harder.

video;

[andaway]

My condolences. The kid definitely deserved heaven, he was one of the bavest people I've ever known at his young age.

[Not an exaggeration, either. He'd liked the kid from the moment they had met, talking about kids and war- he'd told him he'd died on their first conversation. Told him why he had done it, and how he'd never regret it.]

Eponine, isn't it?

Re: video;

[jondrette]

[But that was Gavroche for you. He was himself till the end, and that made him a better person than anyone else that Eponine had come into contact with.

When the dark haired man appears on the screen, she nodded, pressing her lips together.] I hope he makes it there. There are no others like him.

Yes. I am his sister- did he mention me to you?

action;

[bacondivination]

[ Well.

When he finally sees the message, he supposes that would be disappointing, wouldn't it? It's too bad that Loki isn't entirely good at sympathy, as he's not entirely sure how he's supposed to feel about her upset at the situation. He feels moved to do something, though, and he's very good at figuring out how to act like he knows what he's doing.

So now he's got a bottle of local whiskey and a box of creme-filled pastries. He shuffles them under one arm, tests the doorknob, and he'll just calmly pick the lock if needed.

What? Sometimes people don't answer their doors when they're upset. He knows these things. Was he supposed to have knocked? Given her a chance to avoid him? Nope. ]

Eponine, I have very good liquor.

[ It's as good an introduction as any. ]

action;

[jondrette]

Let me be! [She calls back through the door. In truth, she's sprawled out on the couch, a bottle of whiskey already in front of her, though it's hardly worth much. One arm is slung over her eyes, half of her body on the couch as she simply drinks.

How long she's been this way... Eh, she's quite drunk, and could certainly get drunker. But the more she drinks, the more she realizes she cannot cry, but the more she wants to. No, there will be no tears.

There will only be liquor and darkness.

Oh, if Gavroche could see her now! Well, certainly, he'd dump water on her to get her to sober up, but he wasn't here. So she would lay about and wait for Loki to pick the lock.]

[saisamour]

[It's rather difficult to refuse a little kedan girl, is Marius's realization of the day, as he is led by an admittedly charming and precious child to "help a friend," as she had put it.

It's only when he enters the suite that he realizes whom its occupant is, and he freezes by the doorstep. The last time he had seen Eponine had been... embarrassing, to put it mildly, and he had not been expecting to see her again so soon.

But that temporary disconcertion gives way to genuine concern when he sees a bottle in her hand—and slight disapproval, although he tries his hardest to force that emotion to the back of his mind. He clears his throat, shifting awkwardly on the spot, before he sputters and finally manages to say,]

Eponine?

[There is a terrible urge in him to simply turn and run for a brief while, not because he does not care but because he does not know what to do, and in fact considers himself utterly incompetent in situations like these, but he forces his feet to remain planted on the ground. There's an evident pause before he continues with a little caution.] What is the cause of your distress?

[jondrette]

[Oh look at you, Marius Pontmercy. All standing in the doorway, confused. It's some bizare dream, or a strange reversal of what life in Paris had been like!

Eponine stands in the hall, her mostly empty bottle in her hand, her eyes glassy as she regards him. He'd come to her! Come to see her, and help! Oh, perhaps Gavroche disappearing had- no. She would not think that way. He was her brother, not a tool. To consider him that would mean she was one step closer to becoming her father, a fate she did not wish to have.

Or perhaps it's another hallucination. She's only been drinking, her appetite gone since her realization that Gavroche had disappeared. With a dark, bitter laugh, she takes a swig of the bottle, before looking at Marius, that broken smile that will never reach her eyes etched on her face.] Did you not hear? Well now you shall! He is gone, m'sieur! Gone back to Paris or to the heaven that he deserves!

[She takes another drink as she tries to move forwards towards him, stumbling.] He is gone, gone, gone. [She hums for a moment, before she finds herself singing the very song that Gavroche had died with on his lips.] Misere est mon trousseau
C'est la faute a Rousseau.

video;

[demon_brat]

[ Damian is a little late to respond, but he's been busy, and one of the things he's been busy with is seeing to a place which can host the gamins that Gavroche had sheltered, in case... any of them want it. ]

I regret that he is gone.

[ And... yes, he has some idea what it all means. Including for a sibling. But he has to offer, next. ]

Are you in need of any assistance? Has anyone offered help, should you need such?

video;

[jondrette]

[Whomever this kid is, she assumes he's one of Gavroche's friends. She knew very few of them, mostly the kedan who lived in his suite. But Gavroche was always a popular child, so the people she did not know never bothered her.]

No. I do not need any assistance. I have no need for help, either. There is nothing anyone can do. Unless they can bring him back.

audio; Fringe encrypted 97%

[lostundercover]

You going to be okay?

audio; Fringe encrypted 97%

[jondrette]

[She's laughing.]
Aren't I always, m'sieur Costigan?

[video/private]

[bludhavenknight]

[Have one concerned looking guy over here.]

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. Do you need anything? Really, anything. I know what it's like to lose a brother.

[video/private]

[jondrette]

[Eponine swallows before she answers.] Anything? I need him back, Dick. But you cannot give me that.

video;

[dracobin]

[The face on the screen might be a familiar one; it would be difficult, after all, to miss the large black dragon in town, though they have never spoken face to face.

The voice, when it comes, is deep, sonorous, and clearly inhuman--but shot through with a clear note of distress, all the same.]

Gavroche is--gone? You are certain?

video;

[jondrette]

[Oh yes, she had seen the dragon, but she had never spoken with it before. Eponine nods feverishly.] Yes, I am certain! The children in his suite confirmed it. My brother is gone!

[lecentre]

[He did not spend much time with Gavroche here... And nor has he even spent time with the mademoiselle on the video. Still... He is sad to see the child go and even more sad to see her desperation and anguish over it. He can only imagine how she's dealing with it all.]

Is there anything that I can do to help?

[Because he doesn't even know how to deal with something like this one his own... much less helping someone else.]

[jondrette]

[Eponine, of course, recognizes Courfeyrac. He was the man who had brought her to the barricade, first and foremost. But she did not expect him to recognize her, or even know her name at all.

A few drinks in, she looks up at him, eyelids heavy.] Oh- no, m'sieur Courfeyrac. There is nothing you, nor anyone else, can do.

video;

[lineality]

[She had a brother, evidently. A brother who is--dead back home, from the sounds of it. The idea of it ought to be stranger than it is in a place like this. And, as Lin reads the other comments--

Éponine herself is dead, killed like her brother in some sort of action that involved the intense young revolutionary she'd spoken to on her first day. Lin's lips thin: collateral damage, perhaps. It is hard to tell.

She hesitates before turning on the video. What do you say to someone who's lost someone? Again?]

Éponine. If there's anything I can do--

[She stops. The words are awkward, stilted. But she has to offer, all the same.]

video;

[jondrette]

There is nothing anyone can do. [Despite the alcohol in her blood stream, her tone is sober.] You are not the first to say such a thing, Lin. Not to me this time.

So strange. These people who do not know me, offering me all of these things that they know they cannot give me. Gavroche truly was loved here.