#Who would thought this royalist child change his mind...

[lesmisscraper]

Marius, the young royalist, and the law student. Volume 3, Book 3, Chapter 3.

Clips from <Il cuore di Cosette>.

[nesiacha]

in your opinion, what was the most significant mistake the jacobins ever made? (i tend to like them much more than other factions in the frev, but i still want to know how Problematic my Faves were)

Good question. I'm not sure which period you want to talk about regarding the Jacobins, so let's discuss the one after the fall of Louis XVI's monarchy. I will mainly encompass the Mountain faction.

Regarding tactical errors, according to some historians, including Antoine Resche, a contemporary historian who has made excellent videos on the French Revolution under the name Histony, which can be found on the Veni Vidi Sensi website, leans towards the lack of left-wing unity as one of the errors. And honestly, he's not wrong. Some might think that the elimination of Danton and the Hébertists was a turning point. But it was salvageable (I've already discussed what I thought in one of my posts). Only the Jacobins made the grave mistake of eliminating Chaumette, among others, even though he had refused to participate in an attempt to overthrow the Convention, which showed he was the most reasonable. Keeping him as the prosecutor of the Commune would have appeased some of the sans-culottes. Instead, the Convention has him arrested and executed. I understand that at that time the Convention could not afford an overthrow and was afraid Chaumette might change his mind, but by doing so, they alienated a large part of the sans-culottes. The wave of executions like Gobel or Chaumette was one of the most disastrous moves.

Another one is the non-application of the Ventôse laws, but it is true that some Montagnards blocked this, and the Marais was against these laws.

Also, being a fervent advocate of freedom of expression, there should never have been decrees holding journalists accountable. I don't particularly like Desmoulins, but executing him for his writings… Moreover, it will not prevent opinions from forming and solidifying.

Regarding moral errors: In addition to the travesties of justice I mentioned concerning the Hébertists and the Dantonists, there were other cases. When Girondin deputies were dismissed, most deputies did not want them dead, let alone imprisoned. They were only supposed to remain under house arrest. The problem is, many of them escaped and incited uprisings in the departments, which further exacerbated the already endangered Republic. Despite all I have to reproach them for, some Girondins were honorable people, notably Manon Roland and Vergniaud (even if Vergniaud had an ambiguous attitude, he still remained under house arrest) who stay in Paris. Yet they were judged, condemned to death, and executed along with other Girondins who incited or attempted uprisings and fled Paris. It wasn't even a tactical error; it was unfair.

Another very minor point concerns the Convention entirely, and this is my opinion. Why separate Marie Antoinette from her son? I understand there were royalists in Paris (the assassination of the remarkable Louis Michel Lepeletier by one of Louis XVI's former guards, among other events, will demonstrate this) who would do anything to get their hands on him as Louis XVII, which would have been dangerous. It would have been better to monitor the child's education closely given this context, but why not have strict supervision while leaving him in his mother's care, even though we know her opinions? I don't want to demonize Antoine Simon, executed in Thermidor; he wasn't a brute; he had compassion for the former queen and liked the child, but it's horrible. Being myself a proponent of reforms for jail to ensure the child remains very close to his parents, I protest against this. And the royalists seized upon it to portray an image of an inhumane Republic.

Women's rights were not respected, as I discussed in my post "Women's rights suppressed."

One of the most serious errors was the Prairial Law. When this bill presented by Couthon and later approved by the Committee of Public Safety and voted on by the Convention passed, many innocents suffered. Following the execution of the "Robespierrists," the Convention lied, saying it had not approved it, which was false.

Paradoxically, there was no internal elimination necessary at that time, notably the case of Carnot, who gave orders behind the backs of others to wage a war of conquest, which would have jeopardized the Battle of Fleurus if Saint-Just had not intervened with the order. I don't understand why he wasn't arrested; generals have been executed for less than that. This man doesn't deserve his title as the organizer of Victory, but having eliminated those who had really done the job like Saint-Just, among others, he could claim that title.

I realize I have done a critical job on the Montagnards even though I admire them, so a few lines to rehabilitate them. Most of them refused the irresponsible war of conquest advocated by the Girondins. Finally, fatigue was fatal to them. They put their best efforts into saving France, but most became ill (Couthon, Robespierre; I don't know if Billaud-Varenne was beginning to develop his dysentery or if his illness came after his deportation). Robespierre made a grave mistake by slamming the door on the Committee of Public Safety following a dispute among its members, then a few weeks later making a speech where he designated culprits without naming names (like Fouché, for example), so some wrongly believed they were the ones being designated when they weren't. Fouché and his gang played on this.

I want to say that Jean Clement Martin explained that if the Girondins are seen as victims, it's because they didn't have time to put the Montagnards on the guillotine. There were quite a few assassinations of Montagnard deputies (some think that Barbaroux manipulated Corday to kill Marat, Joseph Chalier was killed in atrocious conditions by the Girondins of Lyon, Isnard's speech). When the Jacobins acted, there was an internal civil war and an external war against the Revolution, plus a depreciated currency. And they saved it. For a while, they tried to accommodate (at least the majority of them) their adversaries. Then the gloves came off. But they remained in democracy, even in the worst moments. The Jacobins supported the abolition of slavery (not just them), and most of the major Jacobin figures fully supported the uprisings by slaves against the colonists.

Napoleon, although praised today for inheriting a better situation thanks to the efforts of his predecessors, through his dictatorial attitudes, betrayal of the Jacobins, and wars of conquest (all the wrong things), left France in a worse state with the return of the Bourbons. Revolutionaries like Marat predicted from the outset of the French Revolution that if the Girondins persisted in declaring war, even if France were victorious, there would be a military dictatorship and subsequently the return of the Bourbons.

All this leads me to think that it was the revolutionaries of the Mountain who were pragmatic and Napoleon the "idealist" in the wrong sense of the term, given his grandiosity and stupid belief (in my opinion) that he could impose hereditary dictatorship, exploit other countries without them retaliating (but that's another story).

Finally, the Jacobins in power were exhausted; they even lacked sleep hours due to their internal schedules. Before the Prairial Law was passed, there was an assassination attempt on Collot, so it was thought that the royalist danger was present. Plus, this law was disfigured by those who presented it; they thought they would only use it against people like Fouché, Carrier, Barras, Fréron, Tallien—des despicable men who dishonored France and the Revolution. It was they who later presented themselves as victims of the Jacobins when they were the worst during the Terror. Contrary to belief, heads rolled after the Terror; just look at the execution of Romme and the other Montagnards, the execution of Babeuf, the fact that anyone who demanded the constitution of 1793 could be punishable by death.

Finally, I want to say that despite my speeches, I don't believe in providential men; if France could have a sense of greatness during this period, it's thanks to the people. In Algeria, we have the slogan: "One hero only: the people."

[enchanted-prose]

Daisy Chains

I can’t contribute anything to the fandom except for writing! Here’s my first contribution for something I’m going to call Fic Friday. I solemnly swear to drop a fic or drabble from 200-6,000 words every Friday! (drop comments because I live for attention?)

Title: Daisy Chains

Word Count: 2,000

Features: Mott, Jaron, Amarinda, Tobias, Roden, and Imogen, as well as a few ocs and an introduction for a larger project I’m working on.

No editing, we die like men.

The day was warm.

Birds chirped, and for the first time in a long time, the trees all bore their leaves. Everything was alive. Buzzing with a lazy energy.

The Roving River moved eerily slowly, slugging through the broken forest just outside of Drylliad castle. It would be years before the forest surrounding the castle healed from the wounds of war. But after two years, the environment was making great effort to return to normalcy.

But normalcy was still years away.

Repercussions from the Avenian War still rattled the government and population of Carthya. In Avenia, the people were struggling to survive. Bymar was facing severe social unrest.

At least Gelyn was still swindling people out of their fortunes, like they always did.

On the bank of the river lay a large, quilted blanket. A basket of food stood in the middle of a group of young people.

And there was laughter.

Smiles despite the haunted look each person tried to hide.

"Still can't believe you managed to drink an entire barrel full of mead," Tobias shook his head. "Roden, there's been an ongoing study about fermented beverages leading to an early death."

Roden Harlowe, the charming captain of Carthya's royal  guard, smirked, "I'm bound to die anyways, may as well die from something I like."

"That's not-"

"Careful Tobias, you might trick people into thinking we're friends."

"Shut up."

A wave of snickers rippled through Tobias, Roden, and the rest of King Jaron's inner circle.

Jaron himself had demanded that he and the inner circle take the afternoon off. They all deserved it. Each one had been working nonstop to ensure domestic peace, and others had been grappling with diplomatic responsibilities.

The rules for the afternoon were simple: Under no circumstances was anybody allowed to bring up anything that had to do with the kingdom.

Or other kingdoms.

Or anything sad at all.

"I feel like you should push Roden to his limits," snipped Amarinda, the princess and ambassador of Bymar. "If he can drain an entire barrel, why not see if he can do two?"

"Now that's a wager I'll get behind," Roden said. He settled on his back, clasping his hands behind his head.

"You'd be sick for days," Tobias argued.

"That won't stop me from doing anything."

"Idiot."

"Prat."

Jaron was laughing, "As much as I approve of pushing boundaries, maybe you should start at one and a half barrels. You still need to patrol the- ah, you still need to be wary on your feet. . . Or Tobias may be able to disarm you in a sparring match."

"Didn't think of that," Roden groaned. "My reputation would be ruined."

"Your reputation is already ruined," Amarinda teased.

"Damaged beyond compare, there's absolutely no chance you can repair it. You'll be churning butter your whole life," Jaron inched his way closer to Imogen, and settled an arm around her. "Maybe you could open a shop."

"I fully intend to vanish, and then train wannabe heroes just like the mentors from the old legends."

"Don't the mentors usually die in the legends?"

"Everyone dies in legends, that's why they're legends."

"I thought we were going to avoid depressing subjects," Imogen chirped. She tugged on the end of her braid.

A moment of silence settled in over everyone.

Avoiding the scars they'd all received would never be an easy task. They were still too fresh despite appearing to be healed.

Each one had different burdens.

Each one bore their own burden in different ways.

For Imogen, she found herself almost always afraid that somebody would materialize out of the dark and put an arrow through her shoulder again.

For Jaron, he couldn't ever seem to sit still, something he struggled with as a child before. If he was constantly moving, there was less of a chance of being caught.

"My cousin, Princess Eline, sent me a letter," Amarinda said. "She's going to be named heir to the throne soon."

"She's going to become queen in her own right?" Jaron's eyes went wide. "That's incredible!"

"She's taking the situation very seriously, especially since she's so young. However, there is much. . . Much to be done to prepare for the ceremony. I hope to attend."

"I hope we all can attend."

Silence once again.

They all knew that they were avoiding a subject very specific to Princess Eline's new title as Crown Princess.

Princess Eline  had the support of the Royalists, but no support from those calling themselves the Tairrogists.

The Tairrogists insisted that they needed a new monarch.

One that would focus on Bymar's affairs before attending to their allies.

And they were gaining an unsettling amount of support from the people of Bymar.

Amarinda wasn't the type to watch her country topple, even if she did have a duty to Carthya and her husband above all.

That was how she kept herself composed.

She busied herself with ways to make life better for everyone, and did her best to involve Tobias. Together, they worked through their concerns.

Their fears were slowly melting away.

Together, they recognized that there was only so much that they could do within their power.

Unlike Roden.

Unlike Captain Roden Harlowe, who silently insisted that he was strong enough to save everyone he could.

The results when he couldn't save everyone were devastating to watch.

So he turned to the company of alcohol. The local tavern had a stool reserved just for him. The local barmaids always did their best to serve him first for the chance to accompany him to his bed.

He kept himself detached and too involved all at once.

And he never slept alone.

"I've always wanted to know how to make a daisy chain," Roden blurted, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"A daisy chain?" Imogen tilted her head. "I'm quite good at those, have anyone in mind you're going to give it to?"

"Not really, just need something to do while I'm out in the woods on a boring day."

"I think making daisy chains is a brilliant idea. You can use it as a weapon, maybe even a rope," Jaron snickered. "Can't tell you how many times my life has been saved by flowers."

"Ah, see, I can think of one time your life was definitely saved by flowers, your Highness," a smile split across Imogen's face like a ray of sunshine.

"None of you will ever understand how grateful I am for Imogen. If more people were like her, we'd get everything under control."

Nobody could deny that Imogen was certainly the most productive out of them all.

"I know I could use a few notes on remaining focused," Amarinda's gaze flickered to a special area. "Especially when Tobias and I are taking inventory in the physician's chambers."

Another wave of snickers rippled through the circle as Tobias's ears turned beat red, "I, ah, could say the same."

"Dear Saints, I hate being around you all," Roden groaned.

"Right! Daisy chains!" Imogen clapped her hands together, desperately trying to change the subject. "You start by getting-"

"-Daisies of course," Jaron said. He stood, and held out a hand to Imogen, "Care to look for them with me?"

"Don't mind if I do."

By the time they both returned from 'looking for daisies', a newcomer had joined Amarinda, Tobias, and Roden on the blanket. The sunlight glinting off of his shiny, bald head brought safety to both Jron and Imogen.

There was nobody they trusted more than Mott.

"Mott!" Jaron exclaimed, nearly dropping all of the daisies he'd collected. "Ae you sure it's safe for you to be out-"

"I'm not made of glass, Jaron," Mott sighed, but a ghost of a smile lingered on his face.

"I know, but, I do worry."

"I wish you didn't. What have you got there?'

Everyone was far too talented at changing the subject.

"We're going to teach Roden how to make a daisy chain," Imogen said. She sat down on the blanket, and began passing out bundles of daisies.

Mott tried his best to hide his surprise, "Is there somebody he's courting?"

"The day I court somebody, male or female, is the day that I get a sword through my middle," Roden snapped.

"Violent words from a lover," Jaron placed his hand over his heart. "How could you forsake our love, dear captain?"

"Because you're the type of person to steal the blanket in the middle of the night and I get cold."

"You do steal the blanket, Jaron," Imogen noted.

"I am not a blanket stealer!"

He was indeed a blanket stealer.

Quite inconvenient on a snowing night.

"To start with a daisy chain, you need a pair of flowers. One is going to wrap around the other," Imogen held up the daisies, expertly wrapping one stem around its twin. "You sort of repeat this pattern until it's as long as you like. I sometimes tie the ends together with string because they stay longer, but I don't think we have anything. . ."

"I have string!" Tobias said.

"Never leaves home without it," Amarinda grinned. "Always insists that he might need to stitch somebody up."

"Can't help it, I'm friends with Roden."

"Speak to me kindly," Roden frowned.

"Not on your life."

"Prat."

"Idiot."

The first batch of daisy chains from Jaron and Tobias fell apart. Eventually, their daisies became too worn out, and they fell apart. However, Roden seemed to be a natural at first. . . Until about halfway through the chain when he accidentally broke off a daisy, causing the entire thing to fall apart.

Amarinda's crown was finished quickly, and in no time, her crown was resting on Tobias's head while she worked on a second one.

They made sure to speak to each other while they weaved. It helped keep their minds from wandering to dismal places.

Crowns were made and placed on  heads.

Mott's bald head couldn't keep the crown in place until one was made to specifically fit his head, and his alone.

Tobias, at first, bore the most crowns. . .

But the circle made an unspoken pact, wrestled Jaron to the ground, and shoved as many daisy chains as they could onto and over his head.

It had been a long time since they'd all laughed that hard.

Later that evening, as Jaron sat alone in his office reading decrees and letters, he couldn't shake the feeling that the afternoon he'd shared with his friends would be the last truly happy thing to happen for a long time.

And it scared him.

It scared him that things weren't slowing down as he'd hoped. Though Carthya was well on their way to recovering from the Avenian war, Bymar was teetering on the edge of civil war.

As their ally, Carthya had an obligation to assist Bymar.

But what could they offer?

If Jaron sent troops, the Carthyan population would be decimated.

If he didn't. . . He'd be a traitor.

Oh how he wished that he could spend every afternoon simply making daisy chains with his inner circle..

[brightbeautifulthings]

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (trans. Robin Buss)

"'I have heard it said that the dead have never done, in six thousand years, as much evil as the living do in a single day.'"

Year Read: 2019

Rating: 3/5

Context: Last year’s year-long Les Mis read went so well, I decided to choose another intimidating classic to tackle in the same fashion this year. I know myself, and if I don't deliberately pace out a book like this, I'll try to read a thousand pages in a week, and it will just be a miserable experience. (That's not to say some classics aren't miserable experiences regardless of how you read them, but that's another issue entirely.) The Count of Monte Cristo was calling to me from the shelf, and by pure luck, I already owned the edition I wanted to read (plus a B&N abridged version that promptly went into the donation box). Reviews overwhelmingly praise Robin Buss’s translation for ease/modernity, and the Penguin Classics haven’t let me down yet.

For my less coherent updates in real-time: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX. My review is spoiler-free, but my updates are not, so read with caution if you’re not familiar. Trigger warnings: In a book with a thousand pages? Everything, probably, but for sure death, parent/child death, suicide/suicidal thoughts, severe illness, guns, abduction, poisoning, slavery, mental illness, sexism, ableism, grief, depression.

About: When forces conspire to have sailor Edmond Dantès arrested for a crime he didn't commit, he spends years in a hellish prison, fighting to stay sane. Through bravery and good fortune, he manages to escape, and he assumes a new identity for himself: The Count of Monte Cristo. Under this guise, he inserts himself into the lives of the French nobility, vowing revenge on those who wronged him.

Thoughts: Like most thousand page novels, there's no reason this novel needs to be a thousand pages, but the one thing I can say about them, collectively, is that I come away feeling like I have a relationship with them that I usually don't get from a shorter book unless I've read it multiple times. And it makes sense: I've been reading this book for a year. I've had relationships with actual humans that were much shorter than that. Dumas's prose (helped along by Buss's translation) is accessible and not overly dry, if not quite as humorous as Victor Hugo’s. Thanks to both of them, I now have a rudimentary understanding of the French Revolution and the difference between a Royalist and Bonapartist (because truly the only way to make me read about history is to put it in a novel).

Dumas proves himself more capable of staying on topic though, with one or two exceptions. The only margin note I cared to write was, apparently, "Horrible digression", and I stand by that. As soon as the novel leaves Dantès’s perspective, it gets less interesting, beginning with Franz encountering Sinbad the Sailor on Monte Cristo and continuing with the Very Weird and Terrible Side Anecdotes about bandits in Rome. Otherwise, much of the storyline is more or less linear, without the intricacies of Waterloo or the Paris sewer system. It grows more chaotic as the book goes on though, with frequent digressions into every character's backstory.

The plot takes such a drastic turn that it's almost like reading two different novels with two different main characters. At the beginning, it’s most like an adventure story. There are sailors, prison breaks, and buried treasure. Yet, for all those things, it’s surprisingly un-suspenseful. Dumas has a very stolid way of story-telling. The pace is almost supernaturally consistent, so that even things that probably should have tension in them are presented as a matter of course. (Or maybe I’m just hugely desensitized by media.) I wasn’t as excited as I thought I should be during some of the more compelling parts, but there’s something reassuring about Dumas’s relentlessly straightforward story-telling.

The middle takes a major dip in interest. Cue a lot of long and tedious backstories, plus Monte Cristo's elaborate set-ups to take down his enemies. It basically devolves into a soap opera of the various dramas of Paris’s rich and powerful families. Monte Cristo barely needs to lift a finger to destroy these people, since with a few mostly harmless suggestions, it looks like they're all going to self-destruct at any moment without outside help. The ending never really recovers from the action of the beginning, thanks in large part to the characters. There are more than it's worth keeping track of, including a lot of side characters, family members, and name changes. A detailed, spoiler-free flow chart of how everyone is connected to everyone else would have been helpful. (But be careful about Googling those because spoilers.)

Edmond Dantès is an easy hero to pull for, since he’s honest, good, and capable, and he has a kind of earnest faith that things will work out that’s endearing. He goes through a fair amount of character development in prison, and his father/son relationship with Faria is especially moving. On the other hand, it's difficult to like his alternate persona, The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas goes a bit overboard in making him filthy rich and knowledgeable about literally every subject, and no matter how generous he is to his slaves, they're still slaves. Whether he’s playing the part of a pompous ass or is actually a pompous ass is sort of irrelevant by the end. There are a couple of flailing attempts at character development in the last sections where he wonders whether he had the right to do everything he did, but it's too little/too late to make much of an impact.

The story wouldn't work without some Shakespeare-level villains. Danglars is Iago whispering in Othello’s ear, and Villefort is even more insidious because his upstanding citizen act is so convincing. Caderousse is just a coward, and it’s interesting to see how jealousy, ambition, and fear all play an integral part in condemning an innocent man. Mercédès is a bland love interest; Valentine and Morrel are basically the Cosette and Marius of the novel, but at least there are some decent people on the page to pull for. Much as I dislike all the descriptors of Eugenie as “masculine” (because she must be less of a woman if she has a mind of her own), she's a powerhouse, and I was living for her lesbian relationship with her piano instructor.

It's clear Dumas has no idea when to end a story, since every time I thought we'd wrapped up a plot with a certain character, they'd resurface a few chapters later to spin it out a little further. Though everything (and I do mean everything) moves much more slowly than necessary, I was satisfied with the way it all played out. It's hard to come back from a main character I can barely stand though, and I happen to not like novels where nearly every character is terrible. While I found Les Mis surprisingly relevant on its social commentary, I’m struggling to see why Monte Cristo has stuck around. Only the first parts could reliably be called an "adventure novel," and the rest is purely middle of the road.

[camillemontespan]

a kingdom divided [part twenty six: chocolate mousse]

Part Twenty Five here if you want to catch up.

Okay so I started writing and I got really into it which I think is because this is mainly just pure fluff. So much fluff. 

@jovialyouthmusic @pug-bitch @sirbeepsalot @moonlightgem7 @drakesensworld @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @notoriouscs @iplaydrake @be-still-my-aching-heart @dcbbw @carabeth

*******************************************************************************************

The morning after the riot at the palace, the household at Valtoria were subdued and were getting ready for another days work. Magda was beginning to mop the kitchen floor when Drake and Camille entered. 

Magda smiled sadly and continued to mop the floor. Drake reached out and took the mop away from her. ‘Meeting on the terrace,’ he told her softly. 

The head maid followed them to the terrace where the rest of the staff were waiting. Toby’s eyes were red rimmed and his face was pale; clearly he hadn’t slept the night before. Hector was standing looking straight ahead, his posture straight. The rest of the kitchen staff were standing wringing their hands.

‘Please, everyone sit,’ Camille said, gesturing to the long wooden table and chairs. A tray filled with cups of coffee and tea was sat in the centre; Magda hadn’t prepared it and as she saw the other staff look at the cups of coffee in surprise, she realised that Drake and Camille must have done this themselves.

The Duke and Duchess stood at the head of the table holding hands. ‘We have spoken to the King after yesterday’s riot that involved our newest staff member, Sarah, being killed,’ Drake told them. No frills, no fuss, just straight forward talking. ‘We feel terrible about Sarah. She was only seventeen and had so much ahead of her. We have spoken to her family; understandably, they don’t want any visitors. King Liam had granted us permission to leave Valtoria and go back to Texas.’

The staff nodded, listening intently. Camille took over. ‘You are to go home to your families until we come back from Texas in a few months. Yes, the manor will be empty, but honestly, given this current climate.. people should be with those they love. Magda, I know you have a fourteen year old son; you should be with him right now instead of working long hours for us. Hector, you have a wife and two year old daughter. Drake and I have realised just how important family is during this horrific time and we want to just be together, in Texas, and be ready for the baby.  You all deserve to be with your families, so please, get changed out of your uniforms and go home.’

The staff began to talk amongst themselves, nobody wanting to be the first to stand up and go. Magda cleared her throat.

‘Can I just say, on behalf of all the staff who I think will agree with me, that you both are an absolute breath of fresh air to work for.’ Murmurs of agreement sounded. ‘Thank you for allowing us time to see our families, it really does mean a lot that you are even considering us.. many nobles wouldn’t have given us a second thought. We hope you can prepare for the baby and just be happy.’ 

Camille smiled, her eyes watery from emerging tears, and Drake pulled her into him to give her a hug. 

‘Do you know what you’re going to call the baby?’ Toby suddenly asked.

They shrugged. ‘You’ve seen the post its,’ Drake said, smiling bashfully. ‘We have so many choices and no idea which one to pick!’

‘We’ve been picking our favourites,’ a kitchen girl spoke up.

Camille looked at her, curious now. ‘Oh? What are the contenders?’

‘Jasmine, Sophia, Luna, Willow and Aria seem to be the most commonly popular,’ the kitchen maid told her. ‘We all have our own favourite names, though.’

Drake chuckled. ‘So every one of you has a favourite?’

The staff all nodded.

‘I’m kinda just hoping for Baby Girl.. I have a bet on with Hector,’ Toby said, shrugging. Drake smirked as Magda swatted Toby with her hand.

‘What was Sarah’s?’ Camille asked quietly. 

Magda smiled sadly. ‘Lily. That was her absolute favourite one.’ 

‘Lily...’ Camille whispered, thinking to herself. She looked at Drake. ‘What do you think?’

‘Lily Olivia Walker,’ Drake tried it, using the full name. His eyes lit up and he gave the staff a wide grin. ‘I love it.’

Camille placed her hands on the bump. ‘I think that’s the one.’ 

Drake pressed a kiss on top of her head as everyone cheered, the first time actual happiness has broken out at the manor since yesterday. 

******************************************************************************************

‘Since the news that a seventeen year old servant girl was killed during the riot at the place yesterday afternoon, Cordonia has been quiet,’ the newsreader said. ‘We have contacted the king for comment and he has informed us that he is seeking peace within the kingdom. We join Ava Watson who is out on the Old Square of the kingdom talking to the public. Ava, what is everyone saying in the aftermath of the brutal shooting of an innocent child?’

‘Hi Natalia,’ Ava spoke to the camera. ‘I have spoken with many citizens today and it seems that the sudden death of the young girl has left a deep mark.’ She turned to a man who was with his family. ‘Samuel, what do you think of this?’

He leaned towards the microphone. ‘Honestly, I feel quite shaken. I have my two girls, they’re ten and twelve, but I just keep thinking that this young girl was someone’s child. She was a daughter and she could have been a sister. I can’t even imagine what her family is going through, but I know that if it was me, I would be inconsolable. The poor girl didn’t deserve to die - hell, nobody deserves to die- and this situation with the king  and the rebels has gone on long enough. Nothing is worth this much terror.’

‘Are you a royalist or rebel sympathiser?’ 

‘I’m not either. The monarchy has never really bothered me. I certainly feel for the King and the position he is in, but I do see where people are coming from, they want more representation.. I just don’t think riots are the answer. Talk to the king, petition him, write him an email, whatever.. just don’t murder our daughters.’

‘Thank you Samuel.’ Ava turned back to the camera. ‘Okay, I now have Katie and Lucy, two university students with me. Hi girls, thank you for speaking with me today. Can I have your thoughts?’

One of the girls spoke. ‘I’m sick of seeing our country on the brink of ruin because of violence. I am scared to walk alone on the street now in case a riot breaks out. I don’t feel safe and I want the terror to stop.’

Her friend took the microphone. ‘I read the international newspapers and Cordonia is being dragged through the mud! Everyone is either mocking us for being unable to remain strong or they feel sorry for us. There is no in between. I want our country to be admired again. I want people to want to visit this country for holidays instead of avoiding it; we have a beautiful country and we are tearing it apart from the inside. Stop the violence!’

‘Stop the violence!’ the first girl joined in. The two girls began to chant this and soon, the two hundred people in the square were shouting it with their fists raised. Ava turned to the camera. ‘Stop the violence seems to be the thought of the day,’ she said. ‘Back to you, Natalia.’

*******************************************************************************************

Liam sat in his study with Leo beside him. The two brothers were facing Drake, Camille, Bertrand, Hana and Maxwell. 

‘So, Drake and Camille are going  back to Texas,’ Liam told the group. ‘They asked me last night, not that they needed to because I want them to go back. I want them to be safe. This also extends to the rest of you.’

Bertrand frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, don’t come back to the palace. Either stay in your manors, go away to another city, I don’t mind, just leave this place.’

They stared at him, eyes bulging. ‘But you need allies..’ Hana whispered.

‘I need allies yes, but I also need friends who are safe. You need to be safe; I won’t have any one else in danger. It’s bad enough that Olivia is still in hospital. I won’t have the same happen to the rest of you. Please. Just go.’

‘You’ll by yourself,’ Drake said, clenching his fists. ‘You’ll be in even more danger.’

‘I’ll have Leo,’ he replied. ‘He has told me he is going to stay with me and we are going to work together as the two royal brothers to fix this mess.’

Leo nodded, his face drawn. ‘I’m fighting with you until the end.’

There was a  brief silence until Drake spoke. ‘Well.. if anyone wants to see Texas, be our guests,’ Drake said, accepting Liam’s decision. ‘The ranch is big enough.’

Maxwell and Hana eyed Drake and Camille. ‘I’ve never been to America..’ Hana said wistfully. 

‘You can stay with us if you want,’ Drake chuckled. ‘You too Maxwell, I see you looking hopeful.’

Maxwell blushed. ‘Just cause I miss Camille, we have good chats..’

Camille grinned. ‘That settles it then. Bertrand, you in?’

Bertrand smiled but shook his head. ‘I think I will stay at the Beaumont Manor. I’ll keep the place going. Don’t worry, Maxxie,’ he said, smiling at Maxwell’s worried face, ‘I’ll be fine.’

Maxwell still grabbed him and pulled him into a bear hug.

*******************************************************************************************

Bianca pulled Drake into a tight hug as soon as he was through the front door. 'Oh my baby boy!' she cried, squeezing him tightly. 'I'm so glad you're alright!'

Drake chuckled. 'Of course I am, mom.'

She looked up at him, her eyes wet with tears, before smacking him on the shoulder. 'Don't you ever get caught up in an uprising again!'

'Ow! I'm not planning on it!' Drake protested, holding his shoulder. Bianca shook her head, tutting, before turning to Camille, Hana and Maxwell. 'Camille, baby! Oh thank the Lord.. How's Baby Girl? Is she okay?'

'She's fine,' Camille assured her. 'In fact, she started kicking properly when we were away.'

Bianca clapped her hands in excitement. 'Oh amazing! I'm desperate to meet her! My granddaughter is doing so well!'

She looked at Hana and Maxwell. 'Welcome to the Walker Ranch!' she said, beaming. 'Help yourselves to food, towels, the TV, whatever you like! Consider this place yours while you're here, okay? Now, who wants some homemade lemonade?'

*******************************************************************************************

Drake settled Camille down in front of Netflix so she could watch Queer Eye. She had a bowl of popcorn on her lap and finally looked relaxed. 'Ooh, I need Hana to watch with me!' she said. 'We watch Queer Eye together all the time, I can't betray her and watch an episode without her, she'd never forgive me.' She began to get up but Drake gently pushed her back onto the squashy sofa. 'Stay there. I'll go get her. She was unpacking her things in her guest room.'

Camille smiled gratefully and placed the bowl of popcorn on top of her bump. 'Drake, look! She can balance things now!'

Drake laughed and kissed Camille softly. 'She's so talented, huh?' he joked. Camille grinned and snuggled into the sofa cushions.

Drake wandered upstairs to Hana's guest room. He didn't want to admit it but he quite enjoyed Queer Eye. Maybe he would sit with the girls and pretend not to be interested but really, he wanted to see how many printed shirts Tan France could find.

He opened Hana's door which was slightly ajar. He could hear Taylor Swift playing from the radio. 'Hana? Camille wants you to join her for a Queer Eye binge- oh my God, my eyes! My eyes!'

'Drake!' Hana screamed.

'Aaaaah!' Maxwell shrieked.

'What the hell are you doing with that utensil?!' Drake shouted, covering his eyes.

'Get out!' Hana cried.

'What's happened?' It was Camille, rushing up the stairs. She reached the bedroom door and Drake tried to pull her back but was too late.

'Oh Jesus Christ! Why are you both naked?!’ Camille yelped. Her eyes widened.  ‘Why have you got a kitchen utensil?!'

'We were just trying something!' Maxwell shouted.

'From what?! Gordon Ramsey's Sexual Nightmares?!' Camille screamed back.

'What on earth are you all screaming about?!' Bianca yelled, running up the stairs.

'Mom, no, don't go in there -' Drake said but again, he was too late. Bianca stopped dead in the doorway. Drake winced and Camille leaned her head on his chest, closing her eyes.

Bianca stared at Maxwell and Hana then back to Drake and Camille. 'What is it with you kids and cowboy hats?'

Drake groaned and Camille stifled a giggle, her head still against his chest.

Bianca sighed. 'By the way, if you're using that utensil as a whip, you picked the wrong one. It's too flimsy.'

'MOM!'

*******************************************************************************************

Hana sat down sheepishly beside Camille on the sofa. Drake was in the kitchen pouring himself a generous measure of whiskey. Maxwell was watching him and eyed the bottle. 'Can I please have a shot? I kind of need it to, erm, counteract the shock..'

Drake stared at him. 'You're shocked?'

Hana plucked the edge of the blanket and kept her eyes down, avoiding Camille's steady stare. 'So, um, for a few months now, me and Maxwell.. We've been, sort of.. You know.. Doing stuff.. Um, kissing and things.. Went on a date.. I guess we're kind of boyfriend and girlfriend now?'

She looked up slowly, wincing.

Camille had a huge grin on her face and her hands were clasped together. 'Hana, this is amazing!'

Hana blinked. 'It is?'

'Uh, YEAH! I've shipped you guys for ages! Finally!'

Hana exhaled. ‘Oh thank God! I was so nervous to tell you.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know really. I just have never actually had a boyfriend before. This is all new.’

‘It’s so exciting!’

Hana blushed and Camille grinned. ‘Look at you- all embarrassed! Hana,  this is so nice! Honestly, don’t be embarrassed.’

‘Thanks Camille.. I really really really like him.’

Camille squealed and Hana giggled. They both turned to the TV.

‘Seriously though, what were you guys doing with that kitchen utensil?’

*******************************************************************************************

Olivia was sat up in the hospital bed reading Trend Magazine. ‘Ugh, those are horrendous..’ she murmured, looking at a picture of a pair of see through high heels. 

‘Hey trouble.’

Olivia looked up to see Leo standing at the door. She spotted a bouquet of peonies in his hands. 

‘Leo.’

He smiled and entered the room. Turning a little pink, he handed her the flowers. ‘For you.’

‘Flowers don’t heal stab wounds,’ she told him dryly.

‘True but sometimes, it’s just nice to give flowers.’

‘You’ve gone soft.’

‘Nah, I’m just a gentleman,’ he replied, giving her a wink. He sat down on the chair by her bed and studied her. She looked tired but she had that Nevrakis bite back, which he was glad about. He loved that bite.

He looked around and saw that she hadn’t touched her lunch. ‘What we got here then?’ he mused. He picked up the contents. ‘Hmm. A sandwich. Apple. Water. Jesus, this is shit, you’d think being Liam’s friend would automatically give you better service - ooh no, spoke too soon, look, you have chocolate mousse!’

Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Whoopee.’

Leo tore open the lid of the chocolate mousse eagerly. ‘I used to love chocolate mousse when I was a kid,’ he said, smiling. He looked at Olivia. ‘You like chocolate mousse?’

‘It’s not the most elegant of desserts,’ she answered, raising her nose in the air. 

‘It’s not meant to be elegant, Liv,’ Leo told her. ‘It’s chocolate mousse in a plastic pot. Here, have some.’

He popped the spoon into the mousse and held it out to Olivia. She wrinkled her nose. ‘Ugh it smells so fake.’

‘Will taste delicious though.’

She eyed the spoon and slowly leaned forward to taste. Leo grinned when he saw her eyes suddenly light up. 

‘Not bad,’ was all she said.

He scooped out another spoonful and held it out to her. Olivia rolled her eyes; she was a grown woman being spoon fed. But she had to admit; she kind of liked the fact that Leo was here.

‘I’m glad you’re still here, Liv,’ he told her quietly, his eyes soft. Olivia licked her lips and settled back against the pillows. ‘Me too, Leo.’

There was a loaded silence between them until Leo broke it. ‘Come on, you still have a bit of mousse left.’

Olivia shook her head. ‘You have it. You’re the one who loves chocolate mousse.’

‘Yeah but you’re the one in hospital.’

‘Ugh, fine,’ she said, leaning forward. He gently held out the spoon and she took the last bit. He watched her as she swallowed and licked her lips, tasting the last of the chocolate. Her eyes met his and she offered him a small smile. Slowly, so as not to surprise her, he leaned forward, inching closer so his face was nearing hers. Olivia stared at him for a moment, frozen in place, until she leaned forward too.

Their lips met and Leo sank into the kiss that tasted of chocolate mousse and Olivia.

[christinya24601]

Things about ‘Les Miserables’ which the musical doesn’t tell

This is going to be a long post. I love Les Miz the musical and that led me to read the novel. If you think the musical is dramatic, well, the book is tragic. Reading, I felt that kind of suffering that somehow heals. Of course a 2 and half hours production can’t comprise all the dept of over 1200 pages. The musical is magnificent, the book is sublime. If you like the musical and the problematic it presents, you are going to love the book, so I highly recommend: READ THE NOVEL. But, if you are not into reading, this list could help you make an idea about the profundity of this story. Note: there are too many details to can be put here, so I will resume the significant ones. Lots of them appear in the movie version though. And of course, SPOILER ALERT.

The plot:

-          The story doesn’t begin with the convicts. It begins with the bishop’s life (who, by the way, is named Myriel Bienvenue – the villagers prefer to call him ‘monsieur Bienvenu’, bien venu meaning welcome). He receives in his house anyone and the door is never locked (to the horror of his housekeeper). He receives much money but he lives in poverty because he gives the most of it to charity. The flatware and candlesticks of silver are the only objects of value that he keeps. He is all kindness, mercy, goodness, noblemindedness. So, when Jean Valjean, who was thrown out from hostelry, tavern, rejected by a family and even by a dog – he entered its kennel – is told by a women to knock at the bishop’s door, we can expect what is going to happen.

-          After the forgiveness given by bishop, Jean Valjean steals again. It is true that the theft is not like the one in bishop’s house, but it remains a theft though. Bewildered by the bishop’s behaviour, he puts the foot on a coin fallen from a boy. The child tries to take his money back but Valjean becomes angry and the child runs away frightened and crying. It takes some time to Valjean to understand what he has done but it is too late; the boy has disappeared. This is the moment when the change takes place in his soul.

-          The story of Fantine: she was a naive orphan in search of love and compassion and she made it bad. She entered in a group of 3 women and 4 men, she fell in love with one of them, but all 7 wanted just fun. As a ‘surprise’ the men left the girls and the only one who suffered was Fantine because she was left pregnant. She returned to her hometown and found a job in the new factory built there.

-          From convict to mayor (monsieur Madeleine): Jean Valjean is the one who has the idea of this factory. Through this, he succeeds to make the town prosperous. He refuses The Legion of Honor and to be the mayor until a citizen makes him realize (without knowing) that accepting, he can serves the good of the town. He becomes for this town what the bishop was for his village.

-          The event with the cart takes place long before Fantine’s arrest and it’s not the moment when Javert tells Valjean about the rearrested convict who seems to be the prisoner 24601. He does observe and speaks about his unbelievable strength seen at just one other. Fauchelevent, the man caught beneath the cart, has an important role later in the story.

-          Valjean isn’t there when Fantine is fired. She receives a letter and some money ‘on behalf of monsieur Madeleine’ but he has no idea about that.

-          After Fantine is arrested and then freed due to the intervention of the mayor, Javert tells monsieur Madeleine that he denounced him as Jean Valjean, but after finding the ‘true’ convict he felt guilty of his supposition and it is right to be dismissed. In this way Valjean finds out about the other ‘him’.

-          Javert is not present at the judgement. Everyone is so bewildered by Valjean’s confession and the moment is so grand that he leaves the court without facing any opposition.

-          Fantine has been in the hospital for 2 months and monsieur Madeleine visits her every day. When he doesn’t come (on the day with the trial) she thinks that he has gone to bring Cosette back to her. When he returns without her dauther they tell her she is not healthy enough to see her and they wait till she feels better.

-          There is no confrontation. Javert comes to arrest Valjean when Fantine is still alive. When she sees him, she thinks he has come for her. Valjean whispers to Javert he needs three days to bring the child to her mother and Javert refuses. Finding out from Javert that Cosette isn’t there and being frightened by his appearance, she dies. Valjean whispers something near her ear and then he surrenders and leaves with Javert. (We can assume that Valjean says her child will live within his care).

-          Jean Valjean becomes a convict again. He escapes from town’s jail, goes home, takes the candlesticks and the money he has earned and buries them in a forest. He is caught again after few days and condemned for life to hard labour. He becomes prisoner 9430.

-          Number 24601 appears just twice in the novel and it is never used by Javert refering to Jean Valjean.

-          Valjean falls in the ocean. Saving the life of a worker on a ship, a convict (who we know from the beginning that is Jean Valjean) falls off and he is considered dead. (but of course he is not).

-          Jean Valjean is almost caught by Javert again. After Valjean takes Cosette, they go to Paris and have lived for a few days in a remote flat. He finds out that Javert chases him secretly and he needs to run away. He is chased by a group of guardians on the streets of Paris. When he is almost caught he succeeds to climb a wall to a garden.

-          Valjean and Cosette have lived for 5 years in a monastery. The gardener is Fauchelevent and he helps ‘monsieur Madeleine’, who saved his life in the past, to hide and saves his life too. They pretend to be Fauchelevent’s brother and his granddaughter. He will help Fauchelevent with the garden and the girl will go to the school nearby. This part involves Valjean transported in a coffin and almost buried alive, but it is too complex to be presented here.

-          Marius’ life: Briefly, his father was a colonel in Napoleon’s army and his mother died. The father was dying on a battlefield when Thenarider found him, lifted him from the corpses and robbed him. He thought he owed this man his life. After restoration Marius was given to his grandfather, a royalist, by the colonel, fallen in disgrace, otherwise he would be disinherited. Marius grew up hating his father. Just after his death Marius researched and understood his father’s situation. He started to hate his grandfather, they argued and the boy leaves to live on his own. He became poor and his life wasn’t easy but he maintained his dignity. His aim is to find the savior of his father and reward him.

-          Marius and Cosette see each other multiple times before falling in love, on a street which both frequent.

-          Marius attends only once to the meetings in ABC cafe (actually ‘ABC’ is the name of the group and not the name of the cafe) and that is because he comes with a friend who is a member. After that, he meets that young men just at the barricade.

-          Valjean almost killed by Thenardier. This is another tense and complex part. After leaving the monastery, Valjean retakes his acts of charity. He keeps the name Fauchelevent. He arrives at a poor family, Jondrette, who revealed to be Thenardier. Thenardier recognizes Valjean as the man who stole Cosette. He sets a trap and catches Valjean. He succeeds to escape from Thenardier and the police as well, who come to arrest the lawbreaker. This also implies Marius, Javert, a black mail for Cosette and Valjean stigmatizing himself.

-          Eponine has a sister and 2 brothers. The third brother is Gavroche

-          Valjean doesn’t kill anyone at the barricade. He just takes care of the injured and aims twice the helmet of a spy.

-          Gavroshe dies trying to bring some thimbles from the dead soldiers to the barricade.

-          Valjean’s journey through the sewers was like a hell, much harder than it seems in the musical. He is almost caught by the police (who is in search of runaways from the barricade) and almost engulfed by a hole of mud.

-          Thenardier helps Valjean in the sewers. Well, not with the intention to help and Thenardier doesn’t recognize Valjean, but due to him, Jean Valjean succeeds to get out of there.

-          At the exit he finds Javert, who helps Valjean to carry the moribund at his grandfather’s home (as he has written on his notepad). As a last request, Valjean wants to arrive home. Javert waits by the door. Entering the house, Valjean watches from a window and Javert isn’t there anymore. He has left.

-          Jean Valjean participates at the wedding and he confesses the following day. The struggle in his mind is even stronger than the last time he chose to say who he is.

-          He doesn’t want to live with them but he wants to visit Cosette and Marius, at first, agrees, so Valjean comes every evening and waits Cosette in a dusty room downstairs. He becomes distant, he doesn’t call her Cosette, but Madam and asks Cosette not to call him father, but monsieur Jean or simply Jean, but he keeps coming, till one day when he sees that the chairs which are usually there for him and Cosette are missing. Marius has thought ‘better’ and has changed his mind. He understands the message. He must stay away from them. Still he keeps walking on the street to their house, but every day any less until he doesn’t leave his.

-          Thenardier comes to Marius to tell the event of the sewers, in exchange of an amount of money. Marius believes that Valjean robbed monsieur Madeleine and killed Javert but Thenardier reveals all the truth. He doesn’t have Marius’ ring, but a piece of his coat, rent when he met Valjean in the sewers.

 The characters:

-          Eponine is ugly and has a thick, harsh voice (I love Sam Barks, but now I find her too beautiful and her voice too soft for this character). She and Marius are not friends, Marius despises her till she helps him to find Cosette’s house. Marius is even blinder (if this is possible) due to the love for Cosette to observe her. On the other hand, Eponine wants Marius to die on the barricade for not to be with Cosette, none the less she sacrifices herself to save him (she stops a gunshot to arrive at him)

-          Enjolras despises Grantaire because he is addicted to drinking, unbeliever, fool and rowdy. Grantaire idolizes Enjolras because he is clever, righteous, dignified and a good leader. The only time Enjolras shakes hand with Grantaire is in the last moments of their lives, when Grantaire comes near him and asks to be shot together.

-          ‘Bring Him Home’ doesn’t exist, not even in Valjean’s mind. He hates Marius because he is the one who takes Cosette from him and breaks their bound. Still he saves him. For the happiness of Cosette. Valjean keeps his calm and goodness  all the time. Their relation remains cold till the end when Marius finds out everything.

-          Javert is not a religious man, as it might be thought from ‘Stars’. He sees the law of the man is the supreme law. He doesn’t serve the heaven’s law through the earthbound one, he doesn’t think he serves God, but the good of the society which depends just on its law.

There are so many things to be said about this masterpiece of literature. It has broken my heart in so many ways. If I wept at the end of the musical, I sobbed to the book. And Jean Valjean deserves his own post. Perhaps I will do it someday. After I am able to move on.

[synchronysymphony]

I’d like to hear about your thoughts on Marius sometime!

ohohoho do you really

okay

Baron Marius Pontmercy, major character from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, bafflingly remains one of literature’s most enduring characters despite a striking lack of most redeeming qualities, and a thoroughly flavorless, though unappealing personality. This fact is interesting from a sociological perspective, as it highlights the popularity of young, attractive, white male characters, seemingly against all common sense. On a more literature-oriented perspective, however, it demonstrates Hugo’s inventive work with archetypes. While many of the other characters in the novel represent an idea, or symbolize some greater theme beyond themselves, Marius represents nothing but Hugo’s own whimsy, undeniably human, but weak and ineffectual. We may see him as a representation of society at its most blandly tasteless, or as a nod to the common man, but in the end, we must accept Marius for who he is: a half-baked cad with a shocking lack of a moral compass, and few truly appealing features.

We first meet Marius as a privileged young law student, antisocial, awkward, and seething with bitterness against his estranged father. Hugo describes him favorably, but the audience is left with the uncomfortable sense of vague dislike. He does not have the human appeal that the other characters in the book are granted; not the quaint compassion of Bishop Myriel, nor the delicate charm of Fantine, or even the robust, boisterous humanity of Les Amis de l’ABC. He appears static, flat, and thoroughly uninspiring. As a child, he is described as “having passed from a prude to a pedant,” and in his adulthood, he becomes “royalist, fanatical, and austere” (Hugo, 352). The reader may infer that much of this is due to an unhappy childhood, especially given the canonical evidence of him disliking his grandfather, by whom he was raised. This explains, but does not excuse, his later actions.

Reckless pride is one of Marius’s most striking traits. He chooses to leave the luxury of his grandfather’s house because of the slight to his father, but he does not make any sort of plan, or prepare himself in any way for independent living. In fact, it is only because of the kindness of his new friends, Courfeyrac and Bossuet, that he is able to stay in school and find a job, and a place to live. However, he never thanks either of them for their compassion, and in fact, treats both of them (particularly Courfeyrac) rather rudely. Courfeyrac, generous soul that he is, never rebuffs Marius for his inconsiderate behavior, and in fact continues to unquestioningly lend him money until his death on the barricades. Marius, refusing to take help from his family, does manage to make something of a living for himself, which is admirable, and he pays rent for the Jondrette family next door, which is even more so. In this, we see that he is capable of compassion, though for the rest of the novel, he does not exercise it anymore.

Marius’s sexist and entitled tendencies can be clearly seen in his treatment of both Eponine and Cosette. He does not see Eponine as his equal; rather, he pities her, treats her like a child, and unashamedly capitalizes on her generousness to get him what he wants. Even after her death, which happens to save him, he merely puts her body on the ground, leaves it there, and goes about his business in trying to send word to Cosette. In short, he thinks of her as an object. In the musical, they’re friends; in the novel, they are not so much. This, though illuminating, is not nearly as egregious as his treatment of Cosette. When he first notices her in the Luxembourg gardens, his first thought is that she has eyes that are “always looking about with a disagreeable assurance” (Hugo, 397). He does not like the fact that Cosette is bold and self-assured, even as a child (which she is at this juncture), though as we see from his interactions with Les Amis, he does not mind those qualities in men, whom he considers his equals. From the very beginning, he thinks of Cosette as a possession, one whom he loves, to be sure, but one who is not, and can never be, his equal. This becomes quite apparent in the episode in which Cosette’s skirt blows up and shows her ankle. Marius is furious, because he thinks someone could have seen, which would be unacceptable, as to him, Cosette is his property. So he is angry with her for three days, which is quite an unreasonable amount of time, and at the end of that time, he chooses to “forgive” her for something that was not her fault to begin with. This demonstrates his disturbing possessiveness, and his tendency to be enraged when something doesn’t go his way.

As stated before, Marius possesses an unreasonable amount of entitlement, not just to Cosette, but to the world at large. When living next door to the Jondrettes, he thinks he is perfectly within his rights to spy on them, invading their privacy for the sake of satisfying his own curiosity. What then follows is an almost comical adventure involving Jean Valjean, Javert, and the Patron-Minette, one which Marius is privy to by virtue of his own dumb luck. He gets through it all with no problem, since, as with the rest of the novel, he is immune to all consequences, and once everything has blown over, makes Eponine’s acquaintance and uses his connection to her to find Cosette. Once he does so, he thoughtlessly invades her garden without permission, then continues to meet with her there, although if they were to be discovered, she would be the one in trouble, not him, thanks to stringent and sexist 1830s double standards. He does not care about this, though, as he feels that he can do whatever he wants with her.

Just before the barricades, Cosette tells Marius that she is moving to London, against her will. Marius takes this very badly, and treats her as if it is her fault. He asks her “coldly” if she will go, and when she says that she has to, he tells her that he will die, which is manipulative, and has a negative effect on her. He refuses to consider her solution, and instead leaves her to cry for two hours while he thinks about how hard this is on him, and him alone (Hugo, 592). Of course, Cosette has no choice in the matter, but Marius is angry all the same. This parallels their “first quarrel,” when Cosette’s skirt blew up to show her ankle. Marius didn’t get his way then, and he doesn’t now, and both times, he is unreasonably angry. He decides that since he can’t have Cosette, he may as well die, and he goes off to the barricades, which he promptly threatens to blow up. Enjolras appreciates this, and calls him the new leader, but to the audience, it appears audacious, even temeritous (okay that’s not a word but y’know what I mean). Marius feels entitled even to the revolution, which he has had no part in. In musical-Enjolras’s words, he seems to think this is a game.

This is all well and good, but Marius’s most appalling lack of humanity is shown towards the end of the novel, in his horrific treatment of Jean Valjean. Having decided that Valjean is beneath his contempt, he begins the process of cutting him out of Cosette’s life, without telling Cosette a thing about it. We must remember, at this moment in time, Cosette has two important people in her life, Valjean and Marius, and Marius is making her choose between them. He wants her to belong to him entirely, and he wants Valjean, whom he thinks is irredeemable, to live out the rest of his life in solitude. In this aim, Marius almost succeeds, until he happens to find out that Valjean is the one who saved his life. Then, he changes his tune with alacrity. All the morality he had been espousing earlier goes out the window; this man helped him, so he must be good. He still doesn’t tell Cosette anything, though, and brings her to her father’s deathbed with nothing but questions and grief.

As we can see, Marius’s morality is fluid and self-serving. He changes his mind about his father, and about Napoleon, and about the revolution once he sees that having a different opinion will fit his needs. He shapes his worldview depending not on what’s right, like Combeferre, or what’s ideal, like Enjolras, or even what’s practical, like Eponine, but on what suits him the best. He is eminently selfish, and has no strict code that would give him a strong character. He floats along through his life, getting lucky in every instance through no ingenuity of his own, and manages to succeed, not because he has a strong personality, or a good heart, but because he is, as stated before, immune to all consequence. This is one flaw in Hugo’s work; in a novel about the miserable people in society, in which everyone brushes elbows with tragedy, Marius escapes relatively unscathed. This sets him apart from the others, and makes him seem rather untouchable.

In short, Marius has few qualities which are to be admired. He is proud, but to the point of selfishness, brave, but to the point of recklessness, intelligent, but callous, determined, but self-serving. He shows little to no compassion throughout the course of the novel, and none of the redeeming love or hope that makes characters such as Cosette so appealing. One gets the sense that he is successful in his endeavors because the author wants him to be, not because of any merit of his own. He is a weak character, flawed and human to be sure, but not someone I would want in my life. To sum up, in five simple words: Marius Pontmercy is a fuckboy.

[historybehindassassinscreed]

In Game:

Anne-Josèphe Théroigne de Méricourt, born Anne-Josèphe Terwagne, was a Belgian singer, orator and organizer active in Paris at the time of the French Revolution. During this tumultuous period, she became known as a defender of the poor and a fierce advocate for women's rights.

When hunger and despair pushed market women to march on Versailles on October 5th, 1789, Théroigne and one of her allies joined them in their protest. As Théroigne's reputation preceded her, several men attempted to deter her on her way to the city gates, though the Assassins ensured she and the march could proceed peacefully all the way to Versailles. As a result, king Louis XVI was forced to move to Paris along with his family and the National Assembly. Théroigne herself regularly attended the Assembly and thus moved from Versailles to Paris as well.

In the summer of 1792, Théroigne uncovered a conspiracy orchestrated by Templars that intended to sow chaos by starving Paris' citizens, turning them against each other. Tracing the group's activities for over a month, she was led to Flavigny, a woman who had assumed the guise of a couturiere to carry out her operations. Théroigne presented her findings to the National Assembly, but they did not believe her, forcing the revolutionary to take action herself.

Set on eliminating Flavigny's agents, Théroigne traveled to an address in the Hôtel-de-ville district that she had determined, but not before leaving a message for the Assassins, of whose presence she was also aware. Entering the building, she ended up being outnumbered, but was saved by the timely appearance of the Assassins. Together, they eliminated Flavigny's men and secured the stolen food, following which Théroigne told the Assassins of Flavigny's location, trusting them to take the Templar out.

Later, Théroigne found out about a gunsmith designing weapons for the Templars. In response, she asked the Assassin Arno Dorian, who had previously aided her, to kill the gunsmith and retrieve the blueprints. In this way, her own Parisian militia would be able to manufacture more advanced weaponry for themselves. Desiring to establish an army of women, Théroigne would call on Arno once more in 1793, asking him to distribute recruitment handbills at various brothels.

In Real Life:

Théroigne de Méricourt was born Anne-Josèphe Terwagne  on August 13th, 1762 near Liège to Pierre Terwagne and Anne-Elisabeth Lahaye. Her mother died when she was five following the birth of one of her brothers, so Anne-Josèphe was sent to live with an aunt, who didn't really want her. First, she sent the little girl to a convent, but later, perhaps to save money, she changed her mind and brought her back to live with her. But rather than giving her a loving home, Anne-Josèphe was treated like a maid.

When her father remarried, he welcome her back home. His new wife didn't. Too busy taking care of her own children, she didn't care much for Anne-Josèphe. So, desperate for affection and a real home, she went to live with her maternal grandparents. But things didn't work out there either. As a last resort, she returned to her aunt. Needless to say, the arrangement was a disaster. Anne-Josèphe then decided to face the world on her own, and took any job she could to support herself. Eventually, she was hired by a certain Madame Colbert as her companion. Madame Colbert taught her to read, write, play the piano, and sing. Anne-Josèphe now dreamed of becoming a singer.

However, in 1782 she met an English officer. He took her off to England with promises of marriage that he had no intention of keeping. During this time, she was also kept by the old and unpleasant marquis de Persan, who showered her with expensive gifts and money (although she insisted she had evaded his advances). Her reputation in tatters and any hope of a respectable life gone, Anne-Josèphe become a courtesan and called herself Mlle Campinado. Her affair with the Englishman continued and resulted in a child who died, probably to the relief of his father who had refused to acknowledged her, of smallpox.

(Image source)

After a brief affair with an Italian tenor, she fell for the castrato Tenducci and, in 1788, followed him to Genoa, hoping to start a musical career there, but she only gave a few concerts. After a year, she returned to Paris, alone, disappointed, and hurt. All her dreams, both professional and romantic, were shattered. Her hopes vanished. Or so she thought until she set foot in the city. Paris was on the verge of revolution. It was an exciting time that seemed to promise her a better, more just, world, and the opportunity to take control of her destiny and rescue her from the life of unhappiness and abuse she had so far known. That summer, Anne-Josèphe transformed herself. She ditched her gowns in favour of a white riding habit called amazone, and a round-brimmed hat, an eccentric outfit that made her stand out from the crowd. She wanted to "play the role of a man’, she later explained, because I had always been extremely humiliated by the servitude and prejudices, under which the pride of men holds my oppressed sex’". She also gave up her job as a courtesan, and pawned her jewels to support herself. After the storming of the Bastille, she became involved in revolutionary activities. She attended the meetings of the National Assembly every day. She was the first to arrive and the last to leave, and met many influential figures of the Revolution, such as Pétion, the Abbé Sieyès, and Desmoulins. Anne-Josèphe played a big role too. She sometimes spoke at the Cordeliers Club, founded her own club, and ran her own saloon. Soon, she was a celebrity. It's at this time that she became to be known as Théroigne de Méricourt.

(Image source)

Although Théroigne believed in the ideals of the Revolution, it soon became clear that most of its supporters were only interested in the rights of men, not of women. The press, scared of emancipated women, started portraying her as a whore, heaping all sorts of insults, accusations, and obscenities at her. In disgust, in the summer of 1790, Théroigne left Paris and returned to Liège. If she hoped for some peace and quiet, she was bitterly disappointed. Liège was then under the control of the Austrian Empire, not a safe place for such a prominent and famous figure of the Revolution. She was kidnapped by mercenaries and taken to Austria. The journey lasted 10 days and was harrowing. The three French emigrés insulted, harassed, and even tried, luckily unsuccessfully, to rape her.

Once in Austria, Théroigne was interrogated, over the course of a month, by François de Blanc. Hoping to discover important information about the French Revolutionaries, de Blanc, who believed all the nasty rumours about her prisoner, spent many hours talking to her and examining the papers that were found on her when she was caught. But he soon realised she knew nothing important. More surprisingly, he began to like her. Worried about her health - Théroigne suffered from depression and splitting headaches, coughed up blood and had trouble sleeping - he helped secure her release.

At the beginning of 1792, Théroigne was back in Paris. She now supported Brissot, a Girondin, against Robespierre, and gave many an inflammatory speeches in the Jacobin Club in which she called for the liberation of women from oppression. But this time, she didn't just fight with words. She recruited an army of female warriors, and took part in the storming of the Tuileries on 10th August. It is said that she wounded a royalist journalist who had insulted her in the press. He was then killed by the mob. But she didn't support the September Massacres, believing all this unnecessary violence was hurting the cause of the Revolution. She wanted it to stop, but it didn't. Things got worse for Théroigne. In May 1793, a bunch of Jacobin women who hated the supporters of Brissot and the Girondin, attacked Théroigne in the gardens of the Tuileries. They stripped her naked and flogged her publicly. Only the intervention of Marat saved her.

(Image source)

Théroigne's mental health had always been fragile. Now, she descended into madness. In the spring of 1794, she was arrested. She became obsessed with Saint-Just, thinking of him as her saviour, but he did nothing to help her. She was eventually released from prison after the fall of Robespierre, but never recovered her sanity. That year, she was officially declared insane. She spent the rest of her life in various asylums, and was ultimately sent to La Salpêtrière Hospital, where she lived for twenty years. All she spoke about was the Revolution. She still clang to her revolutionary ideals, even though everyone else had abandoned them. Théroigne died, following a short illness, on June 9th, 1817.

Sources:

http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com/theroigne-de-mericourt/

http://cultureandstuff.com/2012/02/08/theroigne-de-mericourt-the-fatal-beauty-of-the-revolution-part-one/

http://historyandotherthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/madness-and-revolution-sad-life-of.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/theroigne-de-mericourt-anne-josephe-1762-1817

[annachronistic]

Love Is a Losing Game

In the game of love, Éponine Thénardier had lost badly.  She was too broken, too hideous, for anyone to even consider giving her a chance.  People did feel sorry for her, surely, but she knew that wasn’t love.  It was merely pity or moral obligation, because at the end of the day, she could soften no one’s heart.  She was a criminal scoundrel at worst, and a charity case at best.  She was a lost cause, and this was it for her.  She had to accept her defeat in order to have at least some semblance of moving on.  The only thing she could think to do was to apologize and tell the truth to the one she had loved.

_____________________________________________________________

“Marius, wait!  You mustn’t go to the barricades.”

“Éponine, do not try to stop me,” Marius said rather sternly.  “Cosette is gone, now I have nothing to live for!”

“No, you do not understand.  Cosette has not gone away.  The truth is that I-I stole her letter to you.” Éponine said, voice shaky.  She pulled out a letter from the pocket of her too-large coat.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Marius said, snatching the letter from her.

“Many things, actually.  I lie and manipulate to get what I want, and sometimes I feel as if this is the only way I know how to get by in life.”

“Yes, but how does stealing a letter even benefit an illiterate gamine?”

“Firstly, I can read,” Éponine said matter-of-factly.  “Secondly, I’m sorry for stealing your letter, but there is a reason behind this.  I can explain!”  

Despite her bravery in facing all kinds of danger and hardships associated with living on the streets, Éponine was actually nervous talking to a bourgeois man who was about as dangerous as an angry hamster.

“I stole that letter a day ago because at that time, I used to be in love with you.  Used to.”

“I did not say anything for a long time because I believed you would have thought me mad,” Éponine said.

“Oh no,” Marius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  “This isn’t good.”

“Really? I thought you would be relieved that I no longer fancied you.  Why are you upset about this if you never liked me in the first place?”

“Because if your feelings for me changed that quickly, then I fear the same thing could happen with Cosette,” he explained.  “May I ask why you changed your mind?”

“Well, Marius, you need not be insecure about losing Cosette.  After what she’s been through, I think she would cling to anyone who loves her.  As for me, it took me a while to realize that I did not want to be with you specifically.  What I truly wanted was to be free from the poverty, crime, and abuse in my life.  Now that I know that this is never going to happen, that I will never be free, I figured that I should stop viewing you as an escape from the vicissitudes of my life.” Éponine explained.

“And besides, it is absolutely ridiculous of me to believe that an ugly, unlikable low-life like me could be with a wealthy intelligent man who looks like Alexander the Great.”

“You know who Alexander the Great is?” Marius inquired, surprised.

“Yes, I know plenty of history.  Why do you always assume that I am uneducated?  I wasn’t always poor, you know.” Éponine said with a bit of irritation.  “You know, that is part of the reason why I no longer fancy you.  How condescending you can be.”

“I was raised by a staunch royalist in a household where it was customary to think of poor people as less-than.   It is a very difficult thing to un-learn.”

“I was raised by malicious people as well.  I am like my parents in many ways, and that disgusts me.  Especially considering the way I had treated Cosette in the past.”

“You knew Cosette before?” Marius asked, shocked.

“I have.  Nine years ago.  Cosette wasn’t always rich, you know.  She was essentially an unpaid child servant at an inn in Montfermeil where my parents forced her to work.  They beat her if she didn’t work fast enough, and sometimes for no reason at all.  And I would just sit there and laugh and play with the toys my mother gave me.  I copied my parents before knowing how awful they truly were.  Not once did I try to intervene and help her.  I suppose I am getting what I deserve, now that the tables have turned on me.”

“I do not think you deserve this,” said Marius.  “It seems to me that your parents are the root of what went wrong, if what you said is true.  If it wasn’t for them, Cosette would have had a much better childhood.  How dare they take that away from her!”

“I deeply regret the way that I treated Cosette in the short time that I knew her.  The best thing I can do for her, and for you, is to help you two get back together.  After all, if you truly love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it is with someone else.”

“You did the right thing, Éponine.”

“Would you do the same in that scenario?” asked Éponine.  “Imagine if Cosette instead fell for someone richer and more handsome than you.  She would say ‘Marius who?  Barons are so lame!  I am intent on marrying a prince!’”

“You are much stronger than me in that regard,” Marius laughed.  “If Cosette found someone better than me, would never play matchmaker like you!  I would probably just cry myself to sleep.”

“Now you understand how I felt.  It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it?  Not being enough for someone.”

“I suppose you are right. Now I am going to be thinking about Cosette having a newfound interest in princes.  Thanks for putting that idea in my head,” Marius said sarcastically.

“My pleasure,” Éponine said, also sarcastically.  “And may Cosette never find a prince!” Éponine added.

“May Cosette never find a prince!” Marius said unironically.

_____________________________________________________________

This is a sequel to my fic The Bird That Cannot Change.

[vapaus-ystavyys-tasaarvo]

Revenge Sandwich Week 1

Okay I’m here to attempt to participate with actual words rather than just maps. I can do this. By the way I haven’t read any other posts yet because I wanted to make mine first! (Because I’m worried that if I do read other people’s posts they’ve already said everything I was going to say and then I don’t have anything. x) I mean, literary analysis really isn’t my strong suit.)

Turns out this book is still such a page-turner for me. :p It’s really reminding me why I loved Dumas books as a kid. I’m already a bit ahead of schedule because I just couldn’t stop reading. But I’ll just talk about this week’s part now.

So yeah, I did vaguely remember some of what happened here but there were a lot of details I’d forgotten. And even things that don’t count as “details”: SOMEHOW I managed to COMPLETELY forget that this was all about politics and Napoleon. I literally read the part about them stopping on Elba and went “hey wait is this a Napoleon thing?” and yes, turns out it was a Napoleon thing.

Anyway.

This story... or at least the beginning is kind of hilariously unsubtle, isn’t it? The book doesn’t exactly make you wonder who are the good guys and the bad guys. (At this point at least. I have the impression that this is going to change.) And Edmond is kind of boringly perfect and like EVERYBODY LOVES HIM except the couple of guys who’re jealous. Although he IS at least kind of charmingly naïve, the poor guy, so he does have at least one fault...

Well also he has a bit of a temper because of course he does, he’s a Dumas protagonist isn’t he? And btw that bit where he’s all like “yeah Danglars and me once had a row so bad that we almost had a duel over it (on Monte Cristo no less, that sure isn’t foreshadowing anything at all) but I’m sure we’ll get along fine from now on and he definitely would never betray me” rhat is EXACTLY the kind of thought process Dumas himself would have. Like I’m 99% sure he’s just outright calling himself out here.

I mean some of the characters do get some complexity already. M. Morrel is introduced as kind of a greedy bastard who just cares about his cargo rather than that his captain died, but then turns out that he genuinely cares about Edmond and is ready to even risk his own reputation to help him. Caderousse is an envious, selfish bastard but he’s also somewhat sympathetic. (Again, because he defends Edmond... this seems to be a bit of a trend here. Liking Edmond makes you more sympathetic. xD) And then there’s Villefort who’s... well he’s a really compelling character and I find him fascinating and I want to read more about him but I also hhhhate him as a person. :p Yuck, prosecutors. I feel like washing my hands. And I just see red when his only motivation to do the right thing seems to be just to please his fiancée and he like fantasizes about telling Renée about how nice he was. Ewww dude, you are the worst.

Renée is interesting because I kinda genuinely do like her but on the other hand she’s way too happy to marry Villefort which makes me side-eye her a bit. I mean yeah she’s an upper-class woman and probably doesn’t have endless choices about matters of love but still. (Also she doesn’t mind the death penalty apparently unless it’s for political prisoners. >__<) Well, we’ll see how things turn out. I hope she’ll keep showing up.

I do really like all the political stuff, even if it seems to be more about the intrigue and the plot than the kind of manifesto masquerading as a novel that Les Mis is. But I enjoy both kinds. :p It’s a fun contrast too, given that these are novels set approximately in the same era. (And Dumas still finds time to make fun of the Royalists which I appreciate.)

Oh but there seems to be quite a lot of class discussion too, right? Which is interesting. I’d really like to see where it goes.

Uh... that’s pretty much all the at least somewhat structured thoughts I had for now? Like I said, this isn’t really my strong suit.

Some random reactions and comments that I wrote down:

‘-- if it were known that you gave a packet to the marshal and spoke to the emperor, you might be compromised.’

‘How could it compromise me, Monsieur?’

Oh you sweet summer child...

‘I shall always have the highest regard for those who enjoy the confidence of my owners.’

That’s an interesting way to translate “mes armateurs”. (I had to check what it was in the original text, it felt so weird.)

- I love the bit about Les Catalans. It just appeals to me a lot, that kind of sense of a tiny community with an interesting history. I just appreciate it in a story (although I don’t really know how accurately they’re portrayed here and of course we only seem to get to meet two people from there.)

- Another thing is the strong sense of the era, it’s just very very 1815. I like it.

- Mercédès’s speech to Fernand is probably the most blatant kind of exposition dialogue ever lol

- Also at points it feels like maybe you don’t need to remind us that they’re Catalan like literally every time you talk about them? Especially with Fernand, omg. (And who says “with your Catalan knife” when they’re also Catalan themself?)

- So far I like Mercédès though, I don’t really have much to say about her otherwise. Fernand creeps me out, like he’s obviously meant to. He seriously doesn’t seem to care about Mercédès’s feelings AT ALL as long as she doesn’t kill herself. >___< 

- All the talk about it being bad luck to call a woman her fiancés name before they’re married and a man captain before he’s been formally appointed... there’s SO MUCH FORESHADOWING HERE OMG. I get it, everything is going to go horribly wrong! Stop reminding me!

- Danglars, why did you even talk in front of Caderousse? I don’t get it at allll. I mean at first I thought the novel was going to have Caderousse, Danglars and Fernand all conspire together against Edmond and I was so confused about Caderousse being there because he seriously didn’t have a good enough reason to hate Edmond... I’m glad it didn’t go that way but now I’m just baffled by Danglars.

- I don’t have much to say about Danglars in general, he’s probably the most one dimensional character so far. I mean I appreciate his twisted mind because it makes him a scarier villain but otherwise... I don’t know, we’ll see.

-  Btw isn’t it a bit weird how even though we get told that Edmond has all these friends and how all these people really love and respect him but they don’t really get named or introduced at all? Instead all the focus is on the three people who actually aren’t great friends. Just a thought. It’s weird.

‘a commissioner wearing his sash is no longer a man but a statue of the law, cold, deaf and dumb.’

Hah. :D

‘but, dammit, though he’s a Royalist and the crown prosecutor, he is also a man and not, I believe, a wicked one.’

‘No’, said Danglars. ‘Though I have heard it said that he is ambitious, which is much the same.’

Oh snap. Okay I really like that line even though it’s Danglars saying it.

- All the coincidences, like the foreshadowing and the character introductions, ARE NOT SUBTLE AT ALL. Buuuut then again what are you even reading 19th C. lit for if you don’t appreciate Poignant Coincidences....

- Uggghhh all the talk about trials is disgusting. Yuck yuck yuck. Hhhhate. The sheer lack of empathy in everybody except Renée. Also Villefort, HOW IS IT ANYTHING LIKE A DUEL WTF. Let’s make a list: a) duels are supposed to be agreed upon by both parties, b) it’s supposed to be balanced, not favouring one of the parties, c) both should be facing the same risks. YOU LITERALLY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE, YOUR OPPONENT HAS EVERYTHING ON THE LINE. ARGH.

- did I mention that I hhhate him?

‘Nowadays, the sword has been put aside and the gown is supreme: there is a wise Latin tag to that effect.’

‘Cedant arma togae,’ Villefort said, with a bow.

‘I did not dare to attempt it in Latin,’ the marquise replied.

Okay, relatable. x) (obviously I don’t like her either but)

‘So the guilty man has been arrested,’ said the marquise.

‘You mean, the accused man,’ said Renée.

Thank you, Renée, the only half decent human being in this party.

This restore to us had a revolutionary ring to the ears of the crown prosecutor’s deputy.

Fucking royalists, omg. (I do appreciate Dumas snarking about them.)

settled his features in front of the mirror into their grandest expression and sat down, dark and threatening, behind his desk.

Omg Villefort you dork.

- Also: interrogating a suspect while also thinking ahead to how cleverly you can tell people about it later: like this guy is simultaneously so relatable and so disgusting. It’s both hilarious and enraging. (Idk, it probably hits me particularly hard because he feels like such a real person.)

happiness makes even wicked men good.

Another good line.

‘To whom was it addressed?’

‘To Monsieur Noirtier, Rue Coq-Héron, in Paris.’

Oh shit... Suddenly it makes sense that Edmond ends up in prison. >_______<

- Aaaa poor Edmond has all the power here and he just doesn’t KNOW.

- I don’t have anything to say about the next chapter, just AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa

- This part has gotten so much harder to read as an adult tbh.

Villefort ran out but, on reaching the door, realized that the sight of a deputy crown prosecutor in such a hurry could upset the tranquility of an entire town, so he slowed to his normal pace, which was quite magisterial.

Omg this guy. I swear.

- Villefort is having his Storm Inside A Skull moment except he put HIMSELF into this situation and of course he turns out to be an Anti-Valjean if anything. It really feels like an echo of the same scene though, even to the point of being interrupted and pushed towards the final decision by someone coming to tell them that the carriage is ready.

- I don’t have much in terms of thoughts about the chapters with Louis XVIII. Mostly I just kept wondering how historically accurate this was. xD

Okay, that’s all I had. Time to read everybody else’s things!

[annachronistic]

Love Is a Losing Game (Or is it?)

Éponine has a change of heart a little earlier.

_____________________________________________________________

“Marius, wait!  You mustn’t go to the barricades.”

“Éponine, do not try to stop me,” Marius said rather sternly.  “Cosette is gone, now I have nothing to live for!”

“No, you do not understand.  Cosette has not gone away.  The truth is that I-I stole her letter to you.” Éponine said, voice shaky.  She pulled out a letter from the pocket of her too-large coat.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Marius said, snatching the letter from her.

“Many things, actually.  I lie and manipulate to get what I want, and sometimes I feel as if this is the only way I know how to get by in life.”

“Yes, but how does stealing a letter even benefit an illiterate gamine?”

“Firstly, I can read,” Éponine said matter-of-factly.  “Secondly, I’m sorry for stealing your letter, but there is a reason behind this.  I can explain!” 

Despite her bravery in facing all kinds of danger and hardships associated with living on the streets, Éponine was actually nervous talking to a bourgeois man who was about as dangerous as an angry hamster.

“I stole that letter a day ago because at that time, I used to be in love with you.  Used to.”

“I did not say anything for a long time because I believed you would have thought me mad,” Éponine said.

“Oh no,” Marius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  “This isn’t good.”

“Really?  I thought you would be relieved that I no longer fancied you.  Why are you upset about this if you never liked me in the first place?”

“Because if your feelings for me changed that quickly, then I fear the same thing could happen with Cosette,” he explained.  “May I ask why you changed your mind?”

“Well, Marius, you need not be insecure about losing Cosette.  After what she’s been through, I think she would cling to anyone who loves her.  As for me, it took me a while to realize that I did not want to be with you specifically.  What I truly wanted was to be free from the poverty, crime, and abuse in my life.  Now that I know that this is never going to happen, that I will never be free, I figured that I should stop viewing you as an escape from the vicissitudes of my life.” Éponine explained.

“And besides, it is absolutely ridiculous of me to believe that an ugly, unlikable low-life like me could be with a wealthy intelligent man who looks like Alexander the Great.”

“You know who Alexander the Great is?” Marius inquired, surprised.

“Yes, I know plenty of history.  Why do you always assume that I am uneducated?  I wasn’t always poor, you know.” Éponine said with a bit of irritation.

“I was raised by a staunch royalist in a household where it was customary to think of poor people as less-than.  It is a very difficult thing to un-learn.”

“I was raised by malicious people as well.  I am like my parents in many ways, and that disgusts me.  Especially considering the way I had treated Cosette in the past.”

“You knew Cosette before?” Marius asked, shocked.

“I have.  Nine years ago.  Cosette wasn’t always rich, you know.  She was essentially an unpaid child servant at an inn in Montfermeil where my parents forced her to work.  They beat her if she didn’t work fast enough, and sometimes for no reason at all.  And I would just sit there and laugh and play with the toys my mother gave me.  I copied my parents before knowing how awful they truly were.  Not once did I try to intervene and help her.  I suppose I am getting what I deserve, now that the tables have turned on me.”

“I do not think you deserve this,” said Marius.  “It seems to me that your parents are the root of what went wrong, if what you said is true.  If it wasn’t for them, Cosette would have had a much better childhood.  How dare they take that away from her!”

“I deeply regret the way that I treated Cosette in the short time that I knew her.  The best thing I can do for her, and for you, is to help you two get back together.  After all, if you truly love someone, you want them to be happy, even if it is with someone else.”

“You did the right thing, Éponine.”

“Would you do the same in that scenario?” asked Éponine.  “Imagine if Cosette instead fell for someone richer and more handsome than you.  She would say ‘Marius who?  Barons are so lame!  I am intent on marrying a prince.’”

“You are much stronger than me in that regard,” Marius laughed.  “If Cosette found someone better than me, would never play matchmaker like you!  I would probably just cry myself to sleep.”

“Now you understand how I felt.  It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it?  Not being enough for someone.”

“I suppose you are right. Now I am going to be thinking about Cosette having a newfound interest in princes.  Thanks for putting that idea in my head,” Marius said sarcastically.

“My pleasure,” Éponine said, also sarcastically.  “And may Cosette never find a prince!” Éponine added.

“May Cosette never find a prince!” Marius said unironically.

_____________________________________________________________

This is a sequel to my fic The Bird That Cannot Change.