tea for three

[heartbeneathastone]

Marius has found the quietest, most secluded corner of the bar that he possibly can. And even so, he looks distinctly ill-at-ease as he waits for Joly and Lesgle: back ramrod straight, hands clasped tightly in his lap.

It would be safe to say that Marius has still not gotten used to Milliways.

Comments

[heartbeneathastone]

"Um." Marius blushes. "I-- I thought I had witnessed a crime." Is the short version.

[merryeccentricities]

​" ... And for that the police gave you two pistols?" Amazing. Joly nods at Bossuet. "We went about finding weapons the wrong way all those years! We might have just gone down to our local offices and asked if they had some we could use--after all, we were trying to prevent a crime!"

Wait but they're talking to Marius. ​" You mustn't think I'm laughing at you, dear fellow. It's our friend in the law; he's made himself entirely impossible here, but I suppose now it's been a habit of his for while! Anyway, I'm sorry I can't explain him any better than that.He insists he cares nothing for your family, but he obviously does; he says he's a spy and detests us, and then does all he can to make sure we know his plans; and now, it seems, he means to reunite us with our living friends. He's an utter mystery. But here, we know more about what he's been doing than you! What have you been doing, since we saw you last? Getting married, clearly; and you'll have to take our true regrets for missing the wedding, you know, we'd far rather we could have been there! --we definitely owe you a dinner for that. "

[heartbeneathastone]

The laughter has indeed made him start to straighten up and turn red-- though he blushes deeper still when Joly clarifies.

"Oh, no, no, you, um..." Were too dead to attend? "I-- I have been well. I've, um, been at the law courts a very little bit. I've been recovering, um. And that's, that's all." Aside from almost killing his father-in-law.

[merryeccentricities]

"Well, that's what you should have been doing of course, all of it." And now it's Joly's turn to look a little awkward. "And you have been able to work a little, that's good. Er. I...look, I hate to come right out and ask like this, but I can't think of any easier way to say it. I-- do you remember, back in Paris, me sometimes talking about my-- that is, a woman named Musichetta?" Not his anymore , he needs to not think of her that way. But it's possible Marius won't recognize the name at all, and he needs to understand-- "She was--we were keeping company for a good while, when--well, I think since before I knew you, actually." He knows he's being dreadfully roundabout. He's usually entirely easy asking friends for favors, but something about Marius makes it feel like asking for a favor, all complicated and prickly and full of potential offenses.

[heartbeneathastone]

"I..." Marius glances uncertainly at Lesgle. "I'm afraid I don't remember her. But, um-- why do you ask?"

[merryeccentricities]

​"She--well, I don't know that you'd have met, after all." It wasn't as if Marius had been the most socially inclined. " But the thing of it is--well, we were--we had spoken of marriage, you know, when I was done with school, and I could support her properly. Rather seriously." At least on his side of things. "So, well, I left her a security, and a bit of money--what I could--you know, as one does for a, a wife, when --well, before the barricade. Only, you know. She wasn't-- someone my family would have approved of. Not someone they did approve of. So I don't --I don't know, for certain, that she did receive it." He doesn't think his family would have gone against his wishes. But it would after all have been so easy, even if they just forgot who she was. And the other friends who'd known about it, there's no way of being sure they lived either, or were in any shape to see ... " I--I would very much appreciate if you could make a visit, you know, in the course of-- to see that things have been--seen to. As much as they can be. That she's well, and--."

And that's it, for a moment. It's hard enough to talk about this with Bossuet; against Marius and his earnest confusion, it's almost impossible. He presses his foot against Legle's. under the table, and lets himself become very interested in the brickwork of the wall on the far side of their table.

[heartbeneathastone]

Marius remembers, very suddenly, something he had forgotten in the haze of the battle until this moment: the letter he folded into his pocket. My name is Marius Pontmercy, carry my body to my grandfather. Had that really been all he intended to leave, the extend of the plans he made? That, and a letter to Cosette, to tell her that his grandfather had refused to consent to the marriage.

"Yes," he says. "Yes, of course."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly nods, hard, and after a moment, manages to say "Thank you' in a voice that's very nearly steady.

"Bossuet, you helped me set everything up, you'll explain what--the technicalities?"

Joly really hopes so , because he barely understood it when they'd been laughing over it in his apartment back in Paris.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet has been quiet, because it was the player's bedtime he can't exactly add his personal interest in Musichetta's well-being without sending Marius into a bottomless pit of embarrassment. But he presses Joly's hand under the table before clearing his throat and assuming a lawyerish voice.

"It's very good of you, Pontmercy. Now, I've written down here her name and last known address, and workplace--Maria Charpentier, and this is a print-shop--and the properties and securities involved, from my best recollection--of course I haven't a copy of the document here--now, I shouldn't think there will have been any difficulty, but--speaking only as a law-student, of course, under your correction, I think you could look for precedence here..."

A legal interlude follows.

[heartbeneathastone]

For all his social-- weaknesses, shall we say-- many of which have been on brilliant display over the course of this conversation, give Marius Pontmercy a project-- one with rules, no matter how complex and esoteric-- and he can excel. Which is to say, over the course of said legal interlude, Marius demonstrates that he may, perhaps, have the makings of a not-wholly-hopeless lawyer.

"Well-- well, if this is all correct, I can see no legal reason why it could not have been done, only that-- well, as you said, it-- may not have been, um, carried out. But I-- I shall look into it as soon as I return to Paris. That may be some days yet," he adds, apologetically. "Cosette wishes to-- to be certain, you see, that her father is entirely well, so..."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly is, for the moment, deeply grateful for the existence of legal trivialities that he can't possibly help with (and always, always grateful for Bossuet and his wonderful steadiness, that he can handle this calmly when it's his life they're talking about too) . By the time Marius is apologizing again, Joly's entirely collected himself, enough to be a little surprised.

"Oh! Oh, no, we hadn't at all expected you to dash right back! No, thank you so much for helping at all, but of course you're not going right away! Why, I'd argue if you tried it, your family needs you here, of course!" Wait, has anyone explained to Marius about Milliways at all? "And of course no time at all will pass back in Paris, anyway, not while you're here. --Has anyone talked to you about Milliways at all yet? I know it's been rather a busy time for you and your family, since coming here. And it's a very...different, I suppose, sort of place." He laughs a little at the understatement. "I'm sure I still can't exactly explain it, but--listen, has anyone given you the introductions? The pamphlet, and so on?"

[heartbeneathastone]

"Oh, yes-- I mean, I've gotten-- bits and pieces, here and there, I think I've mostly-- mostly got a handle on it." This is an exaggeration. But he has had things explained. "...pamphlet?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Pamphlet. Written up by--it was Autor, wasn't it? I'll fetch you a copy. And after breakfast we can show you around a bit, if you like? The library, the garden. Yes? Parts of the place seem almost rational, most of the time."

[merryeccentricities]

​Joly nods, already swinging back to cheer. "The Library--oh, you'll love it." Who wouldn't love the Library, if they can read at all? "It's no good going outside right now, of course, the weather's too cold, but you'll see, in spring it's quite lovely--oh, I do hope you'll keep visiting! It's a very peaceful place, really,in its way." ​

[heartbeneathastone]

"I am glad to hear it's so pleasant," Marius says. A Library does sound quite nice! "And you're both very kind to offer, I won't-- won't trouble you, of course."

Keep visiting? He hasn't given the question very much thought. But it does seem impossible to simply return to Paris, pretend all of this never happened, but secretly knowing that just beyond some strange door is-- all this. All of them.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Oh, surely it's not too cold to take a quick look outside--at least enough to catch a glimpse of the lake, hm? Well, well, but the Library is a destination in and of itself. --Pass me one or two more of those hard rolls, will you? I like to pack provisions before a voyage."

He pauses, pocketing the roll, and beams at Marius. "You aren't troubling us, my dear fellow; you're making us wonderfully happy just being here. Indulge us a little longer, and we'll steer you about so you won't get too lost."