tushanshu | 002

[Live from the Fire Sector, it's a large black dragon with a very nice necklace! He is seated in his three-story suite, the intervening floors of which have mostly been removed thanks to the expertise and efficiency of Javert's construction team. What parts of it are visible onscreen give the suite a far more spacious appearance than it did previously, which serves to make Temeraire look a little smaller and (hopefully) a little less intimidating.]

It has come to my attention that my appearance has caused some of you distress in the past few days. I should not like to alarm anyone further, so I suppose I had better introduce myself now and clear away any more misconceptions before they have had a chance to start.

I suppose I cannot blame you for your reactions, since I am given to understand many of you are unfamiliar with dragons, save from various legends, most of which sound farfetched at best and highly offensive at worst. But I do not breathe fire, and I am not feral, and I would certainly never do anything as rude as try to kidnap and eat any of you, regardless of whether or not you are a young lady; I cannot imagine it would make much difference in taste, besides. Of course I would not object to having a great pile of gold to sleep on, but as I do not have one at present I am certainly not going to steal yours, unless you are such a booby as to leave it lying around for anyone to take.

[He huffs slightly, then settles back on his haunches, somewhat mollified.] So there we have it: you know that I am here, and that I am not going to accidentally squash you, or eat you, and with that out of the way, I have have noticed a few things which I suppose everyone should be aware of.

Firstly, there seem to be a great number of you from the twenty-first century at least, which I thought was very exciting at first; but now I realize I must have missed a great many things over the course of the last two hundred years, particularly in the realm of the sciences, and I should like to catch up on whatever I have missed. If you are not averse to discussing any of it with me, I should very much like to listen to all you have to say.

Secondly, whatever miasma has afflicted the other sectors is present here in the Fire sector as well; it has grown cold these past few days, and our suites are poorly lit besides. I am certain the damage must have spread elsewhere, and I would like to propose a small expedition of perhaps two or three others, to the outer reaches of the shell. I am curious to see if the disease has also affected what local wildlife remains, and if there is some aspect of its process that we may have overlooked. It will be no great inconvenience to take you on my back; I expect we will be able to get around faster and more comfortably than most, if we fly directly. Of course anyone may come, if they like, but I think it would help very much if you are a scientist, and not afraid of heights.

Pray inform me if you have any questions. [He pauses, then switches off the feed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

On the contrary: I think you have a great deal of sense, at least on the occasions when I have spoken to you, which is why I do not understand what you were doing on that barricade. [In that, at least, he deigns to be honest.]

Surely the things they were fighting for could not have been wrong, and by your own admission the politicians involved were not being honest, in which case--why might one continue to stand by them? You say they are sticky matters, but I cannot see anything particularly sticky about it: not when the only other way for them to effect change must surely have been to become politicians, and so be forced to lie and cheat themselves, like cowards.

Already pumping you full of propaganda, [Javert murmurs darkly, pinching the bridge of his nose.] You cannot see anything sticky because they gave you their opinion only.

[He thrusts a discerning, unrelenting stare on Temrer.]

You realize had they become your cowardly politicians, they would not have wasted their lives? Nor the lives of the guardsmen they shot? They would not have incited a bloody riot that amounted to nothing, and they might not have popped up in this lost world because of it.

[Javert does not delight in speaking about this; far from it. It is an unsavory, repulsive truth, at least in the way he sees it.]

Rebellion is not the way to 'get them what they want.' They are not children crying for a bonbon! These are men, with knives and muskets like any other rogue militiaman.

It was not glorious. All it was was a mess.

[Temeraire visibly hesitates for a moment, eyes wide. Any other words might have angered him, or at the very least prompted some immediate retort. But unknowingly or not, Javert has hit it on the mark exactly.

It was not glorious. The same words Temeraire had said to Pontmercy, or near enough, when the young man had spoken so glowingly of Napoleon. He had been so utterly convinced of his correctness: is still utterly convinced, if his comments to Jehan were anything to go by. And Pontmercy had been wrong about Jena, and Danzig, and all the other battles. Temeraire is sure of that.

But all at once he feels a little less certain of this than he was before. There must have been something to prompt the Amis into action, he is certain. Surely Combeferre and Jehan at least would not have resorted to violence without due cause.]

We are not all dead here; I did not die before I arrived here, at least. [A low, rebellious grumble.] In any case, I did not say it was glorious, at all; I have seen enough of war to know that.

[It might not have been glorious, but surely it might have been necessary, he wants to say. But he does not know nearly enough about the situation to be sure, and he knows as well as anyone that it is poor tactics to rush into battle without having prepared.]

How can you be certain? [rumbles Javert back in a reckless challenge.] There is no telling whether the lot of you still-living fellows died in your beds. Or--

[He quits that thought before it can leave his mouth. He does not want to consider the alternative: that this is all some elaborate dream, his mind's form of rebellion, while his body lay recovering in the Hôtel-Dieu. That could not be possible, after months residing on Tu Vishan... could it? No. He remembered the sting of the water. He surely succeeded in his task.

Javert grins a spider's grin, devoid of all humor.]

I know you are a smart dragon. Don't believe everything you hear from those boys. That is all there is to tell. [He places his hands flat atop his desk.] And now I do not want to speak on this any further. We are not in Paris. None of us will ever return.

[Temeraire flattens his ruff again. There is still that last question to be asked: Did they kill you, in the end? But even he can see when he will not get an answer, nor indeed any further information out of Javert, and so he only settles back on his haunches, looking no less confused and displeased than he had when he began his little interrogation.]

Very well, M. Javert; I will keep it in mind. [And it is not quite a lie, after all: it is only that he does not believe it in the slightest, or does not wish to.] In any case, I think I have taken up enough of your time today.

Farewell, then! [says Javert laconically. He certainly will not argue if Temeraire is choosing to back off. The fewer questions posed to him, the better. Yet if Temeraire searches Javert's face closely, he might catch a knowing spark in his smirk, like he can read through that very video conversation and determine at a glance what the dragon really wants to ask.

He holds back anyway. The mysterious circumstances of his death is something no one in Tu Vishan grasps about him.] Until next we talk.

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