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

[summerdude]

Oh, gods, he's copping to his cop energy? This is grim. "The thing is," Magnus explains, helpfully, "All cops are bastards."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He has an initial thought about his parentage, then adjusts once Magnus' actually meaning dawns on him.

After a moment he says, "I am sorry, but I can change neither my past nor my training." He thinks, briefly, that there is little he can do about his demeanor, as well, but he isn't sure he agrees with that any longer. "I strive for peace and accord. I want us to get along. But I do not need you to like me, if you do not already. I will treat you with as much respect as any here-- and not just for Galahad's sake."

[summerdude]

"How did you 'serve and keep peace?'"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I'll not bore you with history, but I was always meant to serve the High King of Britain. I fought with him against those who made war on him. We sought alliances where they could be found. I served Britain as he bade me." He knows this is a poor explanation. "There was nearly always war, in which nobles or kings made wreck of the land in their pursuit of power. Arthur's goal was to end that, unify Britain, so that the folks might prosper."

He pauses, wishing he had more bourbon, because he has begun to question how that was ever meant to work. But he's only begun to question it and so he will say nothing of that to Magnus.

[summerdude]

"So you tried to stop people from destroying the land, or whatever?" Magnus is quiet for a moment. "And what about the people who got in the way of that? What did you do?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes. None can live well if crops and lands and towns are destroyed. Everyone has a place." He takes a breath, "As to your other question -- unless those people were knights or nobles commanding them, they were not mine to deal with."

He glances up to meet Magnus' gaze. "Everyone has a place. Everyone has a role. I've no power to -- not interest in -- punishing someone for the sake of punishment. We are, I think, in the minds of many here barbarous. I doubt that folk after me were much wiser, but I understand that my world and yours are not the same."

[summerdude]

Despite himself, Magnus snorts at that. "Would you call the Vikings barbarous?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Many Britons in my time would, aye. Though-- you have spoken of the violence of Norse deities, as well." He finds the root beer and takes a sip. "I do not think any of us have every answer. I have made many mistakes, and will make many more, but I am glad enough that this place has spared me some of the worst of what will happen to me, and what I will do in the years to come-- though it did not spare Galahad or Sagramore¹ my worst."

^{1: Here he is talking primarily about his attitude toward both, his anger at nearly everyone around him. He is unaware of the worst of the damage he does, in future, to either of them. Which, at least in Sagramore's case, is far worse than a shitty attitude. The typist hopes that they are as unaware as Lancelot is.}

[summerdude]

"You know I came here from Valhalla, right?" Magnus has mentioned it to the guy before, but it's been awhile -- he's realizing he never fully chased that thread down with Lancelot when he was asking about how much reading Lancelot has done.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes, though I am not sure what that means. I understand the idea of Valhalla well enough-- I doubt that is the truth of it."

[summerdude]

"It means I died a heroic death in battle with a weapon in my hand and was, uh, 'lucky' enough that a valkyrie was watching so she could, like, reap my soul or whatever, and was accordingly granted the, um, honor of serving Odin as one of his einherjar -- his half of the glorious dead; Aunt Freya gets the other half at Folkvanger. And unless I'm on a quest or, like, stuck in a mansion disconnected from the Nine Worlds, I spend every day practicing in Battle Practice to die again but, like, permanently in Ragnarok, and feasting on the flesh of the great beast Saehrimnir and the mead of the magical goat Heidrun. ...mostly that just involves dying in more ways than you can possibly imagine every single day forever." He frowns. "You don't like the root beer, do you?" Either that, or the face Lancelot is making is about Magnus. Okay, so it's a 50/50 shot either way.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot looks faintly surprised and says, plainly, "I do not care for 'root beer,' no."

[summerdude]

"Is it the flavor or the bubbles? Or both?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"The flavor," without hesitation.

[summerdude]

Huh. Part of Magnus wonders if Lancelot would like Mountain Dew Code Red, like Galahad does, but another part of him doesn't want to know. He hops down from the counter and yanks the fridge open. "So don't drink it," he says. This time he's pulled out a couple of the weird bottles this place likes to generate of Heidrun's mead. "Have this instead." He tosses one bottle to Lancelot again -- either he'll catch it or he won't, whatever -- and then climbs back up on the counter. "What's your future?"

(It's a genuine question, even though Magnus has some idea of the shape of it. His mom would tell him stories, after all, and he had one of those kids' books about King Arthur's court. He can see some of the pages in his mind's eye. This is Merlin! He was a wizard and advisor to the king! This is Sir Lancelot! He fought a lot and was lost sometimes! His love for the queen was doomed! Not a lot of detail in that kind of thing. The people who write kids' books about stuff that's actually ultimately surprise! real! should put more useful information in there. None of this Freya, the goddess of love, was really pretty! She had cats!-level BS.)

[lanselos_du_lac]

He does catch it, and as he considers how to answer Mangus' question he opens it and takes a sip. "Much better," he says, raising the bottle in something like a toast. Mead is familiar, and something he likes.

After another long moment Lancelot says, "I know only what Sagramore and Galahad have told me." Susan, he thinks, might know even more but she hasn't mentioned that in a long time, which suits Lancelot just fine. "You have seen, you say, what happened at Corbenic. I'm told that, some time later -- I know not when, but before Galahad came to court -- Elaine came to Camelot and... it happened once more. I'm told it drove me from my own mind. That I ran mad and was lost from court for quite a long while. That after that I was never the same. Sagramore tells me I was always angry, which many saw as arrogance, and that I kept myself apart from nearly everyone."

He takes another sip of mead. "I know what it felt like the first time, before I came here. I know what it feels like now. I cannot imagine living in that for... years. Decades. I do not doubt that I'm worse for it."

Without thinking, he adds, "Here, Galahad asked if I resent him, if I see his mother in his face. I do not. He has done me no wrong and I recall little enough of Elaine herself. In his time, though, I think it's much different. I acknowledged him as my son but gave him nothing else. I imagine it was too painful. I don't know. I cannot change it, but-- I would."

[summerdude]

"Galahad doesn't need a dad," Magnus blurts, and then he clamps down -- not his business; not his objective. He shakes his head, wrinkles his nose, takes a swig of mead, and says, "I mean. But you're here now, instead of there, doing--" he gestures loosely. "--all of that."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"You're right. He doesn't. He had one who did him no service and little honor. I am not seeking to be his father, here. But I care for him, and would see him happy. And-- should this place send me back, I would hope things turn out differently."

He doesn't call it what it is, which is fear, but perhaps he doesn't need to.

[summerdude]

Magnus chews on this for a moment. "Right," he says, and then offers: "I'm supposed to die in Ragnarok, if I don't bite it outside of Valhalla first. The fire-giant Surt is going to get hold of my sword, use it to free Fenris Wolf, and then bear it to battle, where he's gonna kill my dad with it, since Dad gave the sword up for love and can never wield it again. But," and he strokes his pendant; Jack hums sleepily back at him. "Me and my sword are here, and I figure Surt can't get to either of us when we're here. So maybe the world doesn't end."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"That's well," quiet and sincere. "Would-- would you rather go home? If not for that?"

[summerdude]

"If not for preventing the end of the world?" Magnus laughs, sharp and harsh. "I haven't thought about it. I have responsibilities back home. I miss my boyfriend and my friends and traveling. My best friend is getting married soon and I won't be able to see it. I don't miss dying every day. I would miss people here if I went back. I wouldn't be able to figure out a different purpose besides fighting, and dude, I haven't practiced in months. I'd miss my other best friend getting married if I went back to Valhalla." Oops. That's probably not common knowledge yet. Certainly not Lancelot knowledge. "But it's moot, anyway."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot raises an eyebrow at the mention of a marriage, but doesn't pursue it. "At first, I thought of almost nothing else. As things have changed -- I would choose to stay. But I suppose it's as you say."

He takes another drink. "This is very good. Thank you."

[summerdude]

"Straight from Valhalla," Magnus says, and because he's extremely mature, doesn't add, which is the closest you'll ever get, buddy! to the end of that sentence. He fiddles with the bottle for a moment -- there are no labels to peel, unfortunately -- and then says, "It's kind of easier that the only choice is whether or not you're going to accept that you're stuck here. You know?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

He thinks of Arthur's visit, of the agonizing feeling of being caught between choosing to stay or return. It was not made any less agonizing by his belief that the choice was not actually a choice.

(What if Arthur had been right? What if Lancelot could have changed things by choosing instead to believe his King, his best friend, the center of everything? What if Lancelot had been tested and failed and that is why Arthur was gone? He still wonders. He still wakes in the middle of the night with the sensation of a gaping wound in his chest, that bleak feeling of utter loss. And while he knows he still loves Guinever, his feelings for her are different now that he sees things differently. But his feelings for Arthur have changed as well, sharpened or at least have been made clear to him, and to have had him here for a day, to know that Arthur sought him and found him and loved him enough to let him go -- it's still too much. Of course he will say none of this to Magnus, but he doesn't mind if Magnus sees it move through him.)

He glances down and says, "Aye. I understand your meaning."

[summerdude]

"Galahad wants you to have the space to be able to become a different guy here," Magnus says, still staring down at his bottle of mead. He takes a sip. Yep, it's still like the creamiest sweetest cold brew. When he closes his eyes, it's almost like he's back in the Feast Hall of the Slain, next to -- gods, he misses Alex. "Instead of, I guess, who you'd become if you weren't here." He glances up at Lancelot then. "Galahad was my biggest supporter when I decided I wanted to stop being Fighting Guy, and now I guess instead of sparring with our swords all the time--" or, more accurately, trying a little every day to see if he could last one second longer without Galahad disarming him, Galahad is so cool "--we just let them date each other instead and do better things with our time."

Okay, that's less central to your point, Magnus! Get back on track! "Also he's like a brother to me. Which does not make you my dumb deadbeat dad, by the way. I already have one of those."

Sorry, Fray, he prays, as his own words register, just to be safe. But you kinda are. Amen, Magnus Chase -- your son, in case you forgot.

"Anyway, so I'm inclined to let him call the shots on this. But you have to understand: I have a code. A really important code that I live by."