open: don't let the wine go to your brains

[untamedantinous]

It shouldn’t be this hard to prepare for a meeting. He’s done it countless times before. However, this time, it somehow is difficult. He’s never really had to set things up at times like this; and he knows as well as anyone else that he is not the best at social niceties. Granted, this meeting is in a much more well-appointed cafe than any he had ever been accustomed to holding space in in Paris. At least they have the benefit of a larger space. Consequently, Enjolras has spent much of the day of the eighth of Menestheus preparing, a little uncertain of how to plan a social gathering that is not immediately centered around planning a revolution. He is trying his best, at least.

Most of the tables and chairs have been pushed a bit more to the center of the room; the couch is arranged off to the opposite side. There are even various pillows scattered about, should anyone choose to sit on the floor. Arranged on a few of the larger tables and the counter there is a modest spread of food: of course, some of Laertes and Galahad’s pastries; but Enjolras has also procured what amounts to a few charcuterie platters: sliced sausages and meats, a selection of (mostly French) cheese, and various sliced loaves of bread and crackers are laid out for perusal, and spreads to go along with them. In an effort to provide multiple options of entertainment, Grantaire has set up a table somewhat near the food, with an assortment of wines and liqueurs. Off to one side, there are a few pots of brewed coffee, cream, sugar, and whatever else anyone might like to add to their beverage of choice. If anyone is drawn to the liquor cabinet, they will find three cups filled with various pieces of paper sitting atop it.

Enjolras himself is lingering on the couch with a glass of wine and some bread. He’s not sure how many people were even informed about this gathering, though he had done his best to advertise. If no one arrives then perhaps he will try again another time; but at least a few in attendance other than himself and Grantaire would certainly be welcome.

Comments

[timebethine]

"I think that school of thought comes from after my time, and my researches have not yet uncovered it," says Laertes.¹ "There is something of the republican in my thoughts--I have learned of a republicanism in France and in America that builds upon the Roman model--but the efficiencies of a republic seem best suited to a much larger scale than ours. There is something, too, to be said for Athenian democracy, but again, I know not that it would suit our purposes to be ruled utterly by majority. I know only this: I have witnessed a court ruined by a bad king. I have no desire to live under one again."

¹ Laertes desperately needs to read some Hannah Arendt.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan takes another deep breath and releases it slowly, urging her hackles to go down. "And what, in your estimation, makes a leader good or bad?"

[timebethine]

"King Hamlet was a warlike king," says Laertes, "and more than that, his wars were meant to swell Denmark's territories, and to end rebellions. Dost thou see how such a project pits a king against his people? He must always see them as both subjects and foes, and any act that he did not authorize must thus be answered as an uprising. If thou hast read Machiavelli, thou wilt recognize his type--a man who preferred to be feared rather than to be loved.

"But it does not end there," continues Laertes, and his voice is beginning to shake. "If thy subjects must always be treated as foes in waiting, then it is the duty of those with subtler craft to find out where rebellion lurks ere it can be fanned to a blaze. It is their duty to descry every secret, and thus they must listen at every arras, spy through every peephole, read every missive passed between friends--for in any of those, the spark of rebellion may be burning. Or perhaps not even rebellion! Perhaps only imperfection. Perhaps only thought that there might be a fucking place on Earth where the world might be different, and better--because the thought that things might be better is in fact the seed and fount of rebellion--"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Laertes," says Susan, sharply, not worrying one whit about interrupting him. "Stop. Breathe."

[timebethine]

He inhales through his nose. "What I mean to say," he finishes carefully, "is that I am sure King Hamlet thought himself a paragon of leadership."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Many men do," says Susan. "Few men are." She wants to ask, again, what Laertes might imagine a good leader should be like, but she doesn't want him to work himself into a lather about it.

[timebethine]

"Would Christine de Pizan could build us a City of Ladies here," says Laertes wryly. "Alas, the virtue of Reason is absent."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"The issue, I think, is those who seek leadership as a means to consolidate power, rather than to serve those they lead," says Susan, and then, after considering and discarding at least four different continuations of the topic, all of which involve her making assumptions about his intention, takes several steps backward. "What would your primary objective be, in the functioning of our little society?"

[timebethine]

"That all should be as happy as they may be, and no more troubled than the natural course of human life dictates," he answers.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And what sort of practicalities might be needed to achieve that?"

[timebethine]

"That all should have the means to provide for their own needs," says Laertes.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And if one person's need runs counter to another's?"

[timebethine]

"What conflict dost thou imagine?" Laertes asks. He has the feeling of being herded, and he likes it considerably less when Susan does it than when Szarka does it.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan truly isn't working any particular angle - she's just trying to understand Laertes's perspective, so that she might respond to it appropriately. At his question, she blinks. "I'm not certain," she admits, and thinks for a moment. "Most examples I could draw on would be appropriate from the world I came from, not necessarily this one, beyond the normal sort - need for space counter to someone's need for companionship, and the like. I imagine, though, that from a group of people who largely share little background, there might be different understandings of what constitutes a need, and what ways are appropriate to seek fulfilling them."

[timebethine]

"That's true," says Laertes easily enough. "For some of these conflicts, I fear we must do as we have ever done, and resolve them amongst ourselves. If I want space, and another wants my companionship, I would take it very ill to be compelled to provide it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And what if someone does behave reprehensibly?" Susan wonders. "We haven't got clearly-established laws, nor a way of responding to the breaking of them. I'd hazard to guess that, because of the disparities in our backgrounds, we'd find little consensus on appropriate forms of punishment."

[timebethine]

"That does trouble my thoughts. Claudius was himself ill-used by another here--tortured with his own blood as the scourge. But I know none who could have compelled his torturer by force, should he not have chosen to end it of his own accord."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan gives Laertes a long, penetrating look. "Is this the source of your initial question?"

[timebethine]

"In part," says Laertes, "but in larger part, I wanted to give Enjolras a taste of home."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

This, Susan takes into account with a shallow nod. She says, "When you were studying the French and American republics, what sort of time frame did you focus on?"

[timebethine]

"Their foundation, through to the Terror," Laertes answers.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, so early stages indeed," Susan nods. This, too, squares with what she knows of Enjolras. "I suppose that sort of thing is a fine ideal but in practice, I've got... concerns."

[timebethine]

"Ay, France soon found itself beneath an emperor; I would not doubt but America did the same. They did, after all, follow the model of Rome."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"What? No," Susan says, frowning. "America's was still well-enshrined when I arrived here from 1950, and from what I've read since my arrival, it will continue to be thus for some while. And France's returned, eventually, and even England had her Reform Acts, which have slowly been shifting the balance of power from the king to the prime minister, and from the House of Lords to the House of Commons, for decades. No, I speak of universal suffrage." (Aunt Alberta might be intolerable in many ways, but Susan shall allow that she is right about one thing.)

[timebethine]

"Ay, on this we agree," says Laertes at once. "So long as any are held in thralldom, and barred from the same powers and freedoms enjoyed by those who own them, the republic and the monarchy are one and the same."