Just watching the night sky...

[gardienne]

Who: Eponine and OPEN
What: Eponine's pondering on a rooftop. Do come and join her.
Where: Rooftop of the training centre
When: Soon after the date auction
Warnings: Eponine - so generally quite dark thoughts... and I guess any warnings anyone else cares to bring with them.



At home, when Eponine had to think, when she had a lot on her mind, she walked. She walked and she walked sometimes, wandering the dirty streets of St. Michel until she reached the wider roads where the houses didn't bear down on her, and she could see the stars. She had a particular ditch she used to make for, a deep one, sheltered from the wind, and without too much mud in the bottom, cushioned as it was with grass. Sometimes, her nights in the ditch were the happiest she had had in a long time. She liked it at night better than the day; the streets were empty. There were no jeers or stares or catcalls, and she could talk out loud without people pointing her out as 'mad'.

She likes to walk in the Capitol too. Usually. She knows the place well by now, a year on. She knows the shortcuts and the places to avoid. But the stares - the stares she hates. She needs to walk now - there is so much on her mind after the date auction. Why she was strapped down for a start, but Howard and Marius too... and had that rock man really called her beautiful? She needs to walk... but at night, she is not allowed out of the Tribute tower - and she does not want to be shot again, so sneaking out is impossible. So she does the next best thing. She goes up to the garden on the top of the Tribute tower. Helping herself to an ever-blossoming lily, Eponine settles in the grass. Bringing the lily to her nose, she breathes deep, and just watches the stars. So beautiful... Slowly, in her croak, she begins to sing softly to herself.

"Mon ami me délaisse, Ô gai, vive la rose, Je ne sais pas pourquoi,Vive la rose et le lilas. On dit qu'elle est plus belle,Ô gai, vive la rose, Je n'en disconviens pas, Vive la rose et le lilas."

[Translates as My boyfriend dumped me, oh joy, long live the rose. I do not know why. Long live the rose and the lily. They say she is beautiful, oh joy, long live the rose. I do not disagree, long live the rose and the lily.]

Comments

[knifewithnoname]

Eponine wasn't the only one awake, Pruna often woke up in the middle of the night, still not used to sleeping right through undisturbed by work or lessons. She watched the lady sing in the language she didn't understand, Pruna didn't know many songs; or at least all the ones she knew were drinking songs and this soft singing was a world away from anything she knew.

It was pretty though, Pruna watched her from her hiding place, green eyes in the darkness.

[gardienne]

It'sa peculiar feeling, being watched. The hairs on the back of your neck sort of curl and crawl, and your flesh seems to grow cold. For Eponine, it was the same feeling that she got in the dark alleys where she knew the Patron Minette, amongst others, lurked, watching her every move.

In the damp grass, Eponine stopped singing and shifted uneasily and looked around. Was someone there with her? Was somebody syping on her? Was it a Peacekeeper? She half sat up, but froze.

"'Ponine, you are a silly girl. There is nobody there."

Even so, she eased herself out of the grass, and wandered over to the parapet, where the forcefield glistened, to look down at the buildings below.
"Mon amant me delaisse, O gue vive la rose. Je ne sais pas pourquioi. Vive la rose et le lils."

[knifewithnoname]

Pruna grinned and sneaked a little closer, half out of fun, to see how long she could stay hidden for and half because the song was really pretty.

She got even closer, testing to see how close she could get. She used to do this when she was really small, practice for picking pockets, practice for assassination.

[gardienne]

She was perhaps a meter away when Eponine turned to see who was there. Not that Pruna had been noisy - no, quite the opposite. But, being used to sneaking, to pickpocketing as well, Eponine knew when there was someone behind her.

What she was shocked about was that it was a child - a little girl. Eponine had seeen her on the Arena clips, of course, but she didn't know the girl's name. Slowly, she bent down so that she was on level with the child.

"Mademoiselle, why is it you are up here? Should you not be asleep?"

[knifewithnoname]

She skittered back once she was caught, wishing she had a knife. She tried not to show her worry though and bared her teeth. "Do you be being from France too?" Because Mademoiselle was what Enjolras called her too.

[gardienne]

That was about the first time anyone had ever been scared of Eponine. But she stepped back too, when Pruna bared her teeth.

"You know France, Mademoiselle? Yes, I am from there, from Paris. You know it?"

[knifewithnoname]

"Enjolras do be being from there." The woman didn't look like she was going to attack so Pruna relaxed a tiny bit. She was in her pale blue nightdress and her feet were bare, but she still looked half wild.

"It do no be existing in my world."

[gardienne]

"You know Monsieur Enjolras?" Eponine eyed Pruna curiously. Even in the nightgown, she looked like one of the half-feral children that roamed the alleys of Paris. Then again - who was Eponine kidding? She might be in a silk camisole and matching pyjama pants, and her hair might have been brushed for a change - but under it all, she was still as thin as she had been in Paris, still as half starved, still had that gleam of hunger in her eye.

"Monsieur Enjolras comes from the same place as me, Mademoiselle. He is a grand man there, a student... And there is another man, Monsieur Marius. And my brother - I bet he was the same age as you - Gavroche! He was here too, but now he is gone. And I - well, I am 'Ponine, or Eponine if you like. What do you mean? There is no Paris? No France? What is your world, Mademoiselle?"

[knifewithnoname]

"I do be knowing Marius as well." She wrinkled her nose, she thought Marius was a coward and a bit stupid but her face lit up at the mention of Gavroche. "Gavroche did be being your brother? He did be being very cool." She used one of her Sandy learned words.

She was quickly warming to Eponine, since she couldn't see the sister of Gavroche being stupid at all.

"It do be being nice to be meeting you 'Ponine. It do be being a world with no France of course."

[gardienne]

Eponine laughed at Pruna's expression. "You do not like Monsieur Marius, Mademoiselle?" She smiled wistfully. Marius had meant so much to her in Paris... How she wished he'd notice her. How she wished, just for once, that he would come over to her and look her in the eye whilst he talked to her. But she wasn't going to share that with Pruna, of course.

"Gavroche was probably cool a lot - he lived in an elephant in Paris - but I think he had a blanket, which is more than I a lot of the time. He was lucky, really, my brother. But France is always cold - unless it is summer and then we all fry." Not being at all well versed in slang - American slang anyway, Eponine took it for a literal meaning.

"I cannot imagine that - but then, there are so many people from so many different worlds here, I should think I was dreaming, if I did not keep dying. You do not die in dreams, you know?"

[knifewithnoname]

"He do be being okay, but he do be being a bit stupid." She wrinkled her nose again and then giggled when she spoke about Gavroche. Though she was very impressed, he lived inside an elephant? Was it an enchanted elephant? How did you live in an elephant anyways? She seemed unmoved by Gavroche's or Eponine's former plight, never having really lived through a winter like there would be in Paris (or in Panem for that matter).

"It do no be meaning cold it do be meaning funny and nice and a person who do no be being stupid and you do be liking to be talking to." She explained and wrinkled her nose, "It would be being the most stupid dream ever." She pointed out.

[gardienne]

"Stupid, Mademoiselle?" Eponine leant back against the parapet of the tower, twisting the lily she still clutched in her hands. "No, he is not student - for he is a student too. He knows a lot of things - I used to hear him through the wall sometimes."

She could have gone on - but she stopped herself. Pruna didn't need to hear any of that.

She began to laugh at herself, though, as Pruna explained. "I think everyone liked to talk to my brother, Mademoiselle. You must forgive me my mistake - there are not words like that where I am from - but I am learning. Monsieur Tim taught me 'whiggerty whackerty yo!' But I do not know what it means..."

[knifewithnoname]

"Just because he do be knowing a lot of things do no be making him no be stupid." She told her wrinkling her nose.

She grinned at the word, "I do no be having any idea what that do be meaning. I do no be knowing what mademoiselle do be meaning either but you, Enjolras and Marius all did be calling me it."

[carnagecarnival]

The Initiate, for all his size and brutishness and the loud voice he has, knows how to be silent and can move such. Most trolls intent on not dying tended to learn how at some point or other. It was good for simple things too though. Like finding a place for prayer and meditation that one won't be followed to, or being able to listen in on a song.

Since the arena, he's mostly stuck by the Helmsman. A new moirail and just the simple comfort of even having a moirail was nice. But after spending most of his life entirely alone, even now he sought it out sometimes, like when the Helmsman slept or was out. He keeps to the shadows, sitting cross-legged by the taller bits of plant life, and so he's not surprised the girl missed him. He is a little surprised to hear her sing however, and in words he doesn't recognize. He can usually understand things that are spoken here, even though he can tell it's not Alternian. There's something easing about hearing a song or poem spoken, not quiet the same as scripture preached, but near to it, close enough.

He tilts his head at her from the dark, the yellow of his eyes reflecting what light there is. "A Sister sings well. WHAT ALL IS THAT SHE SPEAKS IN THOUGH, I WONDER. Don't motherfucking recognize what words those would be."

[gardienne]

Eponine jumps violently when she hears the voice. It's eerie, coming from the shadows like that, and she hadn't been expecting anybody to be awake at this time. She sits up quickly, looking for the source of the voice, and at last, her eyes meet those of the Initiate.

"You think I can sing, Monsieur? Do you lie to me? I know I cannot sing, truly. My mama said I sound like a cat being strangled. But no, Monsieur, you do not understand? It is my real language - it is France."

She crawls closer, just a little bit, peering into the darkness to see who is speaking.

"Monsieur, if it pleases you, who are you?"

[carnagecarnival]

"IF THAT BE SO, MAY HIS WORDS BE CAUGHT AND HELD TO HE. Of debates at for barkbeast or meowbeast, he always did prefer the latter," He says. He stays still as she approaches and as she does, if her eyes so adjust, she will see his painted face, his tall curving horns, protruding fangs, and the dark mass of hair that he has let grow so long. "MY TITLE IS THE INITIATE, FRAYSONG. Preacher in training for the holy Messiahs, and subjugglator to the Alternian empire. AIN'T FROM NO HUMAN PLACE, never heard for a France, BUT THE SOUND, HE APPROVES OF." Honestly, he wasn't sure what language he was speaking now, only that somehow-- miracles, probably-- it wasn't Alternian.

"And what of she what sings? WHAT ARE YOU CALLED? Would not have spoken if he knew she would have no desire for continuance following a brother's words."

[gardienne]

She does creep forward, and with horror, spot the horns. She focuses on those for a minute, half wondering if they are a Capitol costume. But as her gaze traces down over the Initiate's face, she falls back in horror. The creature - for what else is he? - looks to be something out of her nightmares, her hallucinations. But - but no. She had not seen such things in months, not since two arenas ago as she slowly starved to death. she closes her eyes tight, hoping to banish the vision. But no - no, it's still there and Eponine creeps forward again.

"Are you real? Is it a real thing I see before me? A cruel trick of the Capitol to make me seem mad? Or is this... is this your face?"

She moves closer, taking a deep breath as she reaches out as if to touch one of the Initiate's horns. "What is it you say? I do not understand your words... Except, perhaps, my name. My name is 'Ponine. Eponine... Jondrette."

[carnagecarnival]

If she thinks him terrifying it is, to her credit, not entirely without intention. His kind was made to be so, but his caste in particular, revolutionised and specialised in it. Which is why he laughs at her horror, and grins without abashment.

"CAPITOL HAD NO HAND IN THE MAKING OF I. That is the Messiahs' work. AND WHAT SHE MAY SEE HERE AT LEAST, is no fallacy in form," he says, with a flourished wave of both hands.

He tilts his head back and catches her hand in his own. It wasn't like he'd have let her touch his horns before, but certainly not after his stint in the arena of having one snapped off. The pain of that was still fresh in his mind. His hand is calloused and cold with his blood, but he minds his claws as he gives her a firm look to say that the fondling of his horns will not be happening.

"MADE TELL TO SHE, that a silencing of the so-called meowbeast what sings, is disappointing, SISTER EPONINE. Had HOPED she might allow him to listen more. REGARDLESS OF WHAT BELIEF IN TALENT SHE HOLDS, she sings when he cannot."

[gardienne]

"The... the messiah?" Eponine had heard that word before, vaguely. But... where? She racked her brains - and at last, she connected it to church and therefore to God.

"God made you like that?" She looked doubtful. Eponine didn't believe much in a God of any sort - but belief was the right thing to do, it was what ladies did, and so she pretends. But even from the stories she's heard when she's begging in the church, it doesn't seem possible that their God would make a creature so nightmareish.

She stilled her hands, watching anxiously as the creature took them in it's own. But the touch, cold as it was, calmed her nerves. It was real. Whatever this thing was, it was real and she was not going mad. In sheer relief, she began to smile.

His words puzzled her, and she mouthed them after the Initiate stopped speaking, trying to make sense of them.
"So called meowbeast?" She puzzled aloud for a minute.
"Is that I... Sir? Do you call me a cat? My Papa used to call me an alley cat, a gat in the language we use. Do you... Sir, do you want me to sing more?"

She was so confused.

[carnagecarnival]

He was a confusing person to many, and so, he takes her confusion in stride. He lets her go, resettling when he's certain she won't try for his horns again.

"GODS, SISTER. Messiahs two," he corrects. Such sorry souls, he thinks they must be. Her and all the others who gave him questioning eyes and blank faces. So little sense or desire for the reaching of salvation and its other gifts. And of course, the nightmarish appearance of him, he would too consider a gift. All the better for survival.

"AND SO, A CAT OR GAT THEN. Only called at her what she herself claimed at to be. SHE MENTIONS THIS... MAMA AND PAPA, WHATEVER THEY ARE TO BE, CALLING HER SUCH. Think if she believes that to be true, then there is no matter, but if motherfucking not, THEN SUCH WORDS SHOULD BE DISCARDED AS WITHOUT WORTH. Does she not agree? " He asks, with a raised brow. "BUT IF SHE WOULD DEIGN TO INDULGE HIM, then yes. CALL HIM NOSTALGIC FOR THE PLAY OF WORD AND SONG."

[gardienne]

"But there is only one God. Monsieur, I am not as stupid as I look. You cannot trick me." Eponine laughs, honestly thinking that the Initiate's trying to play a prank on her, to show her up.
"I have been to church. They talk of one God, Sir. He made the earth and the people and he... he ate millions of fish. But he is not for women like me. But perhaps he is for... creatures... like you." She's doubtful though. If God cannot love her, can he love such a frightening thing?

"You do not know Mama and Papa - but, Sir, it is my mother and my father. Surely you know those words?"

She has to think through his other words, think them through to understand what he means. But eventually, she proffers, "Well, Sir, I do not care what I am called. They call me all manner of names, Sir, that I have learned to ignore. I shut my ears and do not listen until they shake me to make sure I listen... Sir, will you not laugh at me if I sing for you? It is only a silly song from my home."

[carnagecarnival]

She's a heathen, he thinks. His teeth grind, fists clench, and his face hardens. But of course she's a heathen. Everyone here was some sort of variation on heathen or heretic. A part of him-- no, the majority of him wants to challenge her ideas. Or even see how afraid he could make her be without voodoo. Not now, he has to tell himself. If he's going to do that he's going to do it right.

So he bares his teeth in as close a smile he can make it (it's not very close).

"Sister. I AM A PREACHER. From your world I am not, and familiar with your... god-- what ain't for she, as she says-- I am motherfucking not. BUT I GIVE ASSURANCE TO SHE; I know at what the fuck all it is that I speak. AND I PREACH NO HERESY NOR FALLACY NOR LIE," He grinds out the words from between his teeth. "As for mother and father, yes, THOSE WORDS I MAY KNOW BETTER. But they mean little to me, even as their name in my world, lusii. I SEE NEITHER BEAST OF THEIR KIND." This... was proving more stressful than he imagined it would. At least she didn't appear to be digging at such things with intention. He takes a moment to close his eyes, hold his moirail's face in his mind, and breathe. His fists unclench.

"She too sounds better off without them, he would say. I WILL NOT MAKE JEST UNTO A SISTER'S SONG. You have my word."

[gardienne]

Eponine backs off a little when the Initiate bares his teeth. Is he cross with her? Eponine decides she doesn't care - let him be cross. It'll do her good to have trouble other than Howard and Marius. She pouted as she listened, not at all impressed with what she could understand.

"You are a preacher? A priest?" She didn't much like priests - they threw her out of the church on the orders of their God. Although, that one, way out, at the outskirts, he had called her an angel. He had let her water his garden. Her eyes glazed over a little as she stopped listening to the Initiate and began to remember instead, the sweet smell of the roses, the damp grass under her head, the slight mildewy feeling that made her shiver just a little. She had been happy, or at least, as happy as Eponine had known how to be, that night. She wishes suddenly, that she could have that life back. As miserable as it was, it was at least simple, without boys and choices and frightening creatures that never went away.

She blinks though. "Well, Monsieur - I will sing. But I want something in return. What is your name, Sir? That is all - if I am to sing to you, Sir, it might be good to know your name, if it pleases you."

[carnagecarnival]

She had said her own world's god did not welcome her, perhaps she could still be saved for the Messiahs. She spoke heresy but it seemed more of ignorance than wilful decision. Patience and pondering. He would have to keep to that.

He bows his head just a little before her. "YES. I am. ONE IN TRAINING, but one to be neverthemotherfuckingless. IN MY FUTURE I AM CALLED THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD, HIGHEST PRIEST OF THE CHURCH," He says. "But you may refer to he as the Initiate, Fraysong. IF TITLE OVER NAME WILL SUIT, Sister Eponine."

[gardienne]

"If you are a priest, why do you swear, Sir? You say 'motherfucking' as if it is nothing. Well, I do not care if you swear, but I think God would care, for it is a sin even to say his name."

Does she believe that he's a priest? No, not really. Not saying such things. But she waits to see how he justifies his vocabulary before arguing further.

"I will call you as you wish, Monsieur Initiate. Anything as you like; I do not mind!"