001 | video | WARNING: THREAD WITH SURGERY

[cynisme]

[He’s washed up now, wine poured into a glass he found in his new living quarters, wearing something clean.

Clean for now, at least. He taps the screen, still quite maladjusted to this but taking it in stride.]

Alright, in theory I know how this works, but how I’m expected to be comfortable with such radical, fantastic changes to the everyday and mundane is a touch ridiculous. We the people do not change so easily, we do what is comfortable to us until it is no longer comfortable, and then we move on to the next habitual escape. See my own actions as an example. I arrived on this plane, sober, soaked and in pain, so my first action was to find an escape from two of the three ailments.

[He holds up his glass with a lopsided smile, a toast to the screen, before taking a drink. A drop dribbles down his chin and stains the collar of his shirt.]

Mm, and who would have thought that the afterlife would dress me like a china-man? Not so high and mighty are the empires of Europe now, I see. Could colonial exploits be more of a joke than it is now? That I would like to see.

Now, if someone on this here web of decadent communication could point in the direction of Monsieurs Jehan Prouvaire, Etienne Combeferre and Michel Enjolras, I may be satiated enough to keep to myself.

Comments

[philosophe]

[Here, as requested, is one Etienne Combeferre who is fairly beaming.]

There is no need to point to me, I am here. Are you well, Guillaume?

[cynisme]

Are we on first names now? Have we become so close in death?

[he's smiling though, sipping casually at his drink, all too glad to see another familiar face.]

[philosophe]

If all men are brothers, it is only reasonable that we might address each other by our Christian names. [But even so, it is rare, and it is only the relief that comes with seeing another of his brothers here that causes Combeferre to use his first name.]

You did not answer my question, however. Are you hurt? We all were upon our arrival, and if so, I should like to look you over.

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[depicted]

[Wow, most of the people Dorian knows who drink like that are, er, ex-lovers. Who drink like that because of him. Anyway.]

[But one thing bothers him about this.] The communication devices are far from decadent. They too much mimic life and leave little room for deception. [This isn't decadent. It's faithful. That's terrible. Someone bring out Photoshop.]

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[cynisme]

[Luckily for Dorian then, that Grantaire is everyone's perpetual ex-lover and the world is his need to drink.]

[Really though, he just shrugs, finishing his glass and pouring himself another.]

The narcissism to share pointless drivel with the world and the ease of doing it from the comfort of your home. Not quite lapping absinthe from a mistress' navel though. Hedonistic then, not decadent. Dare I even say human.

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[depicted]

[Watching Grantaire drink like a champ is making Dorian thirsty.]

How unlike your three friends you are, Monsieur. [It is not disapproving, more amused.] Very well; it is human, and I forgive the slight to my Hedonist friends. We would, of course, prefer the absinthe to these devices on a whole. I see you are no longer soaked. Has fixing your sobriety done anything for the pain?

[fotia]

I heard Charon's getting a bit greedy because of his penchant for Italian suits or something, though, so maybe an Oriental city on the back of a turtle is where the guys who can't pay him get dumped. You sure you aren't just, like, broke or something?

[only half-joking here sob]

[cynisme]

[You are so lucky you're talking to someone who actually understood that gibberish, kid. Sort of. Still he gives a questioning and somewhat condescending look, tipping at his drink.]

If Charon takes francs I had three in my pocket and the blind twit missed them.

[fotia]

I don't think he accepts francs. You should have gone to a money changer, man. [actually he's completely kidding now... he's not sure there are any money changers in Charon's waiting room. 8')]

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[idealisme]

[Enjolras has been out in the city, speaking to everyone he can about the city, the Empress, and the people's thoughts on the current political situation, so it's a while before he hears from Jehan that another ami has joined them here.

And that it should be Grantaire-

He hurries to the man's apartment as quickly as he can, his chest is still tender despite the rate at which he is healing. There is much that he would like to discuss with the man, and not least of which is the matter of his - their - deaths.

He knocks on the door, tempted simply to enter and greet Grantaire without waiting for permission. If no answer is forthcoming, it's likely he will do so.]

ACTION

[cynisme]

The door is open, let yourself in.

[He expects it to be Jehan or Combeferre. He knows no one else on the turtle, and he's too sober now to have a hope for Enjolras. His bottle ran dry an hour ago, but he's not yet sober enough for getting up with pain in his chest to be worth it. It's comfortable here, even if he's bored out of his mind. He's been entertaining himself getting acquainted with these new, impossible developments called computers.

Now though, he's trying to light his ruined matches.]

[idealisme]

[And let himself in Enjolras does.

For a moment he pauses in the doorway of the room, taking in the setting. There is an empty bottle there. The man sitting at his desk, to be blunt, is the exact picture of one who has died and somehow lived through it. The attempt to light wet matches speaks of a state too far from sober for Enjolras' usual liking.

But none of that is relevant, currently.

With a few steps Enjolras crosses the room to kneel at Grantaire's side, to put them on an equal height. He smiles and takes his hand again, a deliberate mirror to their shared deaths which he has long been thinking on.]

It is good to see you, mon frère.

[And calling him brother, before a response can be given, he embraces the cynic to himself.

It may be a miracle for a cynic to give his life for a cause he has long denied, but it gives Enjolras hope that there may be more to him that a bottle and some drunken wit.]

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[controlledvariable]

I think you're underestimating people. We adapt pretty easily to all sorts of things, in my experience.

[But, more importantly:] Have you found your friends?

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[cynisme]

I think I accurately assess people. To adapt and to change are hardly the same thing mademoiselle. And speaking of people who will never change but always seem to adapt surprisingly well, I have found my friends, though you say friends and I say people who tolerate me.

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[controlledvariable]

Change, then, but you're still being a bit too harsh. [Her tone's pleasant, happy to have a bit of a gentle debate] You make it sound like we never try to move out of our comfort zones.

I am glad you've found your friends, though, no matter what you want to call say of them. [And that's definitely an amused smile, she likes you French boys.]

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[aenseidhe]

[ Wow is this like human protocol? Bad shit happens, get shit-faced? Seems pretty much right with what he knows. Tone is intensely dry. ]

How pampered you must be that discomfort is the largest of your complaints when radical change is introduced. [ Eyeroll. Singular. As the other is a little missing. ] You've got shelter, clothing, food and drink - and the city has enough people you can probably find someone to pay, or someone that just hates themselves enough, to let you cry on their shoulder over the dreadful state of your comfort.

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[cynisme]

[Oh dear, Grantaire just watches the screen with absolute disinterest. You seem to think he cares.]

Are you done now, or do I have time for another drink?

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[aenseidhe]

[ A snort and a half-smirk. Gdi chillax humans, shakes his cane at. ]

By all means, don't let me stop you from wallowing. You're doing such a good job of it.

[video]

[polyhistor]

It isn't actually the afterlife, although it seems so to a number of people who've technically 'died' in their own respective worlds.

[video]

[cynisme]

So a friend seems to truly believe, but I've yet to be convinced.

[video]

[polyhistor]

Although there are instances of people who come here after memory of their own imminent death or an otherwise fatal injury, the percentage is quite low. Judging by those that have spoken about it on the network, I'd say approximately thirteen percent. A majority of others have neither memory nor recollection of such events, and given the manners of death which are instantaneous it would seem highly coincidental that all of us simply dropped dead in our own world of a rash of blood clots in the brain, massive and sudden heart failures or decapitation, to name a few.

[He knows better, at least for his own part.]

Furthermore, there are numerous individuals here who are not only familiar with the concept of alternate realities or worlds but who claim to have travelled to them personally, and who are themselves convinced that this is simply another of those worlds.

[video]

[littlecousin]

Oh my gosh, there are a lot of you.

[FRENCH PEOPLE.

Nita, obviously not-human pointed ears and all, is leaning towards the screen, looking concerned.]

You're okay? You don't need a doctor?

[Because all the rest of you have been bleeding from multiple serious injuries on arrival.]

[video]

[cynisme]

[Oh dear, don't mind him, distracted by the amount of skin present. It's not like he's never seen women with little clothes on before--he's visited prostitutes and he is an artist, but in a relatively public setting? (the broadcasts, as they are, are public, no?) It stares for a moment before drinking down the rest of his glass.]

A lot of who exactly? Men? People? Frenchmen? Intolerably intelligent drunks?

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[trainwrecked]

[Since his friends, or some of them, found him, Bucky wasn't going to chime in, but... this part is too funny.]

Decadent communication?

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[cynisme]

[He shrugs.] Is it not endlessly narcissistic to think every word you say to be worth saying, and is it not lazy to do so from the comfort of your own home instead of outside on the street?

Not that I'm judging, of course, it seems just the sort of hedonism that should work well for me.