Video I

[fliesonfour]

['The Emperor' was very odd title for a woman, indeed it was.

When Joly had awoken, a few thoughts had stabbed into his mind all at once. That was merely one of them. The first, vaguely and upon seeing a white mist, was that steam was a sterilizing agent. This memory floated past his dazed mind like the tune of a song stuck in one's head; a little incoherent, but familiar. The second was that he happened to be in a tub, which was a sensible enough place to be, if one hadn't just been upon a barricade.

Were he not so weak of limb (myasthenia? dystrophy?) and fatigued, he might have thought upon that harder. Were it not such a difficult thing to think upon in general; smoke, yelling, and that very distinct smell of-- ...well; he might have made a better effort to fish among the depth of those memories, nervous and worried and ailing as they were.

As it was, by the time the whole of the process were said and done, and he was standing, bemused, among a city he did not know, with a device so odd upon his palm that he quite nearly found it charming, he was ready to recount to any who might be hearing it:]

It's very curious, to lead a Republican life, then to close one's eyes for a nap, and awake in the bathtub of an Empress.

[Keeliai, have a young man in a bloodied shirt with a wince on the lines his face but a smile on his mouth. Despite the alarm he could feel roiling in the pit of his stomach, the anxiety clear in his stare, and his confusion as to the glare of the lights and the thrum of his healing body, he took in the new location with a tamed confusion, and idly went to rub some dust from his coat sleeve in an inborn gesture.]

I have a friend or two who'd be much amused by such a thing! Little ironies, et cetra. The oppression of bathtubs, in which the monarchs feed the people lyes. ...And more who'd be severely dispassionate about the whole matter.

[His voice pitched bit higher than usual, keyed up by concern over the fate of his friends, and his own. Despite it, he managed a good-natured look at the... thing in his hand... at his little joke, before relenting to those who might assist him.]

I might ask if anyone has seen such good friends? A fair place to begin. Decidedly.

My name is Joly; lately of Paris, more recently of Mam'selle Napoleon's receptacle.

[And he'd make a little bow, if he knew what at. Instead, he settles for a nervous smile and another idle rub at a part of his body that, worriedly, is still aching a bit. It's difficult to hold down the panic, but he's hinging; possibly literally!; on some news of a friendly face or two. Or all.]

Comments

[Video]

[jondrette]

And you as well, m'sieur Joly, you said your name was?

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

Indeed I am, and indeed I did.

How did you know of our group, Éponine?

[Video]

[jondrette]

I am friends with your Pontmercy. I was his neighbor.

[And then she adds, trying hard to keep the sorrow out of her voice:] and my brother was one of you.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

[While it's a good deal shocking to him that Pontmercy had neighbors he spoke to; female, no less, dear young man!; that she was a sister of someone on the garrison was a little more surprising still.]

Surely you hadn't fooled your brother, by a cap and trousers?

[Video]

[jondrette]

I kept out of his sight. He would have scolded me for being there. Such was his nature.

But he is gone now.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

Nature of any brother, indeed!

Not here?

[Video]

[jondrette]

He left.

[She bites the inside of her cheek.] Temeraire said to have hope, that he will return again. But I have so little, even for p'tite Gavroche.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

Gavroche is your brother?

[Video]

[jondrette]

He did not speak of me much, nor did he live with us.

But I was there when he was born, and he was there when I died.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

[He winces at the thought. Of a woman dying at their barricade, and that brave, tiny soul, still tethered in years to another place, only to fly up again. A shame, a pity. But bravery in spades.]

I am sorry for your loss of him here.

Re: [Video]

[jondrette]

Thank you, m'sieur Joly. I am only glad I did not live to see him fall in Paris.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

[And so she had heard, nonetheless. It seemed unduly cruel.]

An unfortunate mercy, dear girl.

[Video]

[jondrette]

It is the only mercy I have been granted.

[Marius had survived, she'd learned. And that was no mercy at all.]

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

Perhaps here shall have some better kindnesses.

[If being corporeal and seeing the animated faces of those past was any indication so far!]

[Video]

[jondrette]

I have found some here, yes. Here I have friends, and a place to stay, to call my own. M'sieur, I have money! There is always food and I am not cold. Already, it is an improvement.

[Video]

[fliesonfour]

Then, here's to faring well!

Are you also of the treehouses?

[video]

[jondrette]

[She nods.] I am. I have my own suite, though it is lonely. I am near the others, whom have welcomed me in quite easily. I'm grateful for their friendship, as I am sure I shall be of yours, m'sieur Joly.

[fliesonfour]

A pleasure!

[He agrees, having admirably kept from wincing or bemoaning all this time, and not about to start just yet, at a fresh offer of friendship from an apparently near-by face.]

Their friends are mine also, certainly, certainly.

[jondrette]

Friends, then. [And she's all manner of smiling, as best she can.]

I know... I know that I was healed, when I arrived, though I was still bloody. And you?

[fliesonfour]

Generally, a good deal, yes.

[But as Joly could fret over a paper cut...]

However, I fear that the bits that are open still begin to take on the colour of infection.

[jondrette]

You still have some open! Go speak with Etienne. He made sure I was alright, when I arrived.

[fliesonfour]

With Etienne-?

[His brows raise, and a grin jumps to his face.

A woman, calling Combeferre by his given name? Who lives by him, and might even share a room in company, now and then?

Well! Well, well. This is an improvement, for his dear, dear friend! Who would have thought it?]

He's on his way, post-haste, I should hope! You met him when he was up and about the doctoring, eh?

[Doctors were lady-killers, what could he say?]

[jondrette]

I had seen him before, at the barricades. But I suppose, yes. He asked me to come to him, so that he may see that I had healed well. He has a very gentle touch.

[She has no idea that she's only furthering Joly's belief that she and Combeferre are an item.]

[fliesonfour]

[He had asked outright! How uncharacteristically bold.

Joly is, finally, happily distracted.]

A gentle touch! Why doesn't he just? That's a very fine review of the matter, Mademoiselle!

And for how long has it been, since he asked?

[jondrette]

Some time. Two months, give or take, it is not easy to keep track of time here.

I should return his clothing.