#but i'm practising marius

[mysunfreckle]

The elf, the troll and the vampire

Elf!Marius, Troll!Courf and a bit of Vampire!Combeferre at the end, ~1k

 “Aren’t you glad we moved here, Marius?”

Courfeyrac is swinging his feet in a way that makes his friend a little nervous. He’s sitting in the open window, the sunshine and the gentle wind both tangled up in his curls and a brilliant smile on his face.

Marius smiles back. He likes it here too, he really does, there’s just no way he’ll ever match Courfeyrac’s enthusiasm. “Yes,” he says. “Everyone’s been very nice.”

“I know,” Courfeyrac gushes. He pulls a face. “But why didn’t you come with me to the beach festival? You could have met Enjolras! You’ll like Enjolras. I met so many nice people there! There was a mer-” He corrects himself. “-jiaoren called Joly dancing with Bossuet! They were so cute together!”

Marius nods gently. Courfeyrac is always meeting new people, he can’t keep up. Tall, cheerful Bossuet is nice though and so is Combeferre. Marius isn’t quite sure if Combeferre likes him, but he did lend him some books and that was very kind. Marius prefers reading to running around the town talking to strangers. Inconvenient, because that seems to be Courfeyrac’s favourite pastime lately. Well, his favourite pastime but one.

“How long do you think until sundown?” Courfeyrac asks merrily, swinging his feet again.

“It’s only just past noon,” Marius reminds him.

“I know, I know,” Courfeyrac sighs. He smiles at Marius. “I have new buttons to sew on my green coat. Will you read to me?”

“You don’t have to do the big eyes, you know,” Marius tells him with a laugh. “I always say yes.” He likes reading aloud and it’s nice to read while Courfeyrac is rummaging around.

“Yes, but I have to practise on someone,” Courfeyrac winks and he slides down from the windowsill.

♣

With reading and talking and whatever else can fill an afternoon evening arrives and with it the dark. Courfeyrac is humming to himself and moving through the room as usual, but he’s at the window a lot. He doesn’t even seem to realize this, but Marius does. When Courfeyrac is back at his desk again, Marius goes to the window himself. He looks at the sky, that is really turning black now and says, rather suddenly:

I think I will go out.”

"Really?” Courfeyrac says, looking up in surprise.

“Yes…” Marius says slowly. “I…I think I’d like to be out in the moonlight.”

“Is the moon so bright tonight?” Courfeyrac is very inattentive to such things. He is aware of people much more than of nature, no matter how much he loves to be outdoors.

“No, but it is very pretty anyway,” Marius rambles. “And I would like to walk a bit. It is quieter at night. I mean there are less people, but it’s also quieter. Probably also because there are less people.”

“Alright, of course,” Courfeyrac smiles. He hesitates. “Shall I come with?”

Marius shakes his head. “No, no,” he says. “I know you wanted to stay in tonight.”

The truth is that that is what this is about. The past couple nights Courfeyrac has gone to see Combeferre and at the end of the afternoon he suddenly said that he’s staying home today. And so far he has kept his word.

That means – at least Marius hopes so – that Combeferre will show up here before long and he’s sure Combeferre at least would appreciate the privacy. Courfeyrac may think he is oblivious to most things, but Marius isn’t blind. He can see Combeferre likes Courfeyrac. That’s kind of to be expected of course. Everyone likes Courfeyrac. Or at least they should, Marius thinks. Wherever they go Courfeyrac has people that want to be close to him.

But this time it’s a little different, because Marius is pretty sure that Courfeyrac – who is usually Very Good at These Things, is being a bit…well…weird.

Like the not going out. Marius is sure Courfeyrac wants to see Combeferre and yet he doesn’t go. Marius knows why. It’s because he went yesterday and the day before that and Courfeyrac doesn’t want to bother Combeferre too much. But that is a very Marius thing to worry about, not at all a Courfeyrac thing.

And there are other things too. Courfeyrac talks a lot – that is not weird, he always talks a lot – but then sometimes he is suddenly quiet and other times he looks at Combefere like he wants to say something but doesn’t, and sometimes he just sighs in the most untrollish way. And he only does those things around Combeferre. Which is why Marius has decided that as a good friend the kind thing in this particular instance is to not be there.

The moon really is beautiful though. Marius doesn’t mind the clouds obscuring it whenever they pass by. He stands on the doorstep just outside the house for a moment and just watches. The night is quiet…

There’s a soft, polite noise and Marius looks away from the sky. Combeferre is standing at a considerate distance. “Oh!” Marius says.

“Good evening,” Combeferre says, smiling slightly.

“Hi,” Marius says happily. “We were hoping you’d come. I mean, I hoped you would, because I’m sure Courfeyrac does too.” He steps aside hastily. “I’m going for a walk!”

Combeferre looks half-embarrassed, half-grateful. “Alright,” he says. “Enjoy your walk then?”

“I will,” Marius nods. “Thank you.” He steps past Combeferre and adds helpfully: “Courf is upstairs.”

Combeferre smiles as he goes inside and Marius walks down the part of the street that is lit by the most moonlight. This is a good night for a walk. Yes. He’ll make it an extra long one.

[thedreadvampy]

not gonna screenshot the whole image bc I'm not trying to call out a teenager I do not know in a small fandom. but like. how do you end up looking at Marius, a biracial Black person with dark curly hair, and end up drawing it this colour/texture?

like I'm not trying to be a dick or anything I know this art came from a place of love and respect but

??????????????????

[just-patchy]

i'm working on the bad vibes ask you sent me!! in the meantime though could i get “ I’ve seen you around, but I’ve never caught your name! ” with hanna and marius owo

owo thanks

———

Marius was a bit like a child in some aspects, so he often observed and (somewhat) stalked others that he found rather interesting and/or fascinating. It didn’t come as a surprise when the first year became rather interested in Hanna.

From what he could tell, she seemed rather shy, so he took one of his puppets with him. Christine was one of his little ‘friends’ that he practised with more often. She was a pastel blue bunny hand puppet who was friendly but quite calm. She was popular with the children back in the village, especially the quieter ones.

Approaching the older(?) girl, he tapped Hanna on the shoulder and cleared his throat, changing the pitch to a higher one but speaking more softly so that Christine sounded less shrill. “We’ve seen you around but never caught your name!” He moved his hand so that Christine’s movements would correspond with her words.

“I’m Christine, and that’s Marius! What’s your name?”

[deaths-wife]

ITS. 2AM BUT!!! okokok listen listen

my friend has given me two different things I think at two different points in time, right? Thing One: He gave me a book from the 1990s containing poems and paintings, its even scented!! Thing Two: He gave a collection of cut out paintings. POV- the paintings are stuck on the wall next to my bed, and I'm looking through the book bc pretty paintings, yknow?

So then. I see a painting in the book and I'm like. "Oh! Its the same as the one on my wall." And it was this painting that I've just reposted in the book! After a closer look comparing the one in my book and the one on my wall- they're- different?

The one on my wall has the exact same prominent two women, same positioning, facial expressions, hair shinies, etc. Apart from the fact the woman dancing on the left's dress is more white than the book one, those two women are exactly the same. But??

Everyone in the background is gone, along with the woman playing piano on the far left. They're replaced by a different woman playing piano towards the back. Even the setting is slightly different.

They're both by the same artist, the signatures in the corners prove it but!

In my 2am theory making mode, a google search led me to finding a 3rd painting of the women, but almost a practise sketch one?

heres the copy on my wall^

heres the google search "sketchy" copy^

of course you can just yell at me that the artist (Joseph Marius Jean Avy, btw) was practising for the finished painting, but even the sketchy one has- quite a lot of detail in the women. But, practise paintings would make a lot of sense. But why would he be switching the piano women around? And not at least sketching out the shapes of the other dancing women in the background? Also note that the back wall changes at least slightly in each painting.

Going more into "theory mode"...

This is another painting of his, I think its called "The Swans" aside from the fact I think non-hat lady is pretty stupid for getting close to the swan (those bird bastards have anger issues and boy will they hurt you if they get the chance), don't you think the pair of women look similar to the couple in the painting/s? Which, in turn, raises the questions-

"why was this dude attached to these ladies?" "Why was he so careful and detailed when painting them?" "Did he fuck them?" "The women better be lesbians or all my dreams are ruined." yknow? I just wonder if these ladies were the artist's- muses? Friends? Lovers? I hope the ladies were "Close friends/companions" *wink wink

anyway- goodnight

if you read all this i love you who am i kidding i love yall anyway

also idk if you want me saying your name or anything but shoutout to the goblin dude that gave me the book and painting cut out love you bro

‘Le Bal Blanc’ (the White Ball) by French painter Joseph-Marius Avy, 1903