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

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'll note it down," Susan promises, though she's fairly certain the boat is too small for such things and roller skating sounds rather unpleasant. The point is to produce social activities that appeal to many.

[tallyyoungblood]

"Are you, like, a party planner?" Tally asks. "Bubbly!"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I certainly am a planner," Susan says, with a fair amount of good humor.

[tallyyoungblood]

"What kind of parties do you like?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"The sort that would scandalize my family," Susan says, with the faintest of smiles.

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally grins. "Oh, bubbly," she says. "Totally crim. Like what?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, drinking, dancing, s--" Susan coughs. "Going home with someone new at the end of it after vetting several options, the like."

[tallyyoungblood]

"I know what sex is, Susan-la, I'm not totally missing," Tally laughs. "A party like that sounds totally bubbly! Ugh, except I'm not supposed to drink any more."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No? Whyever not?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"It makes me not bubbly. Like, totally spinning and not present-feeling."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"So... drunk?" Susan is truly trying to understand.

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally laughs. "Um. Well. Yes. But I kind of feel drunk all the time already. I have, like, brain damage? Sort of? I'm working on it. Thus the no drinking."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Brain damage! Ah. Well. Yes, then; I can see how drinking might be a complication."

[tallyyoungblood]

"I got it on purpose," Tally confesses. It feels important to let Susan know she didn't, like, fall off a hoverboard and hit her head. "To try and test an experimental cure for it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"That's a queer approach to scientific discovery," Susan muses. "Is that how research is conducted in the future, then?"

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally giggles. "I mean, no. The person trying to cure me is kind of, like, a renegade doctor? It's so weird to just tell people this. It was a big secret back home, but I guess there's no point in hiding it here. My government basically gives everyone brain damage when they give them the pretty operation at age sixteen. I'm part of a group trying to, um, stop that. Or... I was." Tally sighs, thinking about how David had never showed up for her, and never can, now.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan now gives Tally a look of muted horror. "I beg your pardon?"

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally shrugs helplessly. "Um. What part is confusing you?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"This is what the future holds?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"I mean, we also don't have war, or, like, scarcity, or ecological collapse," Tally says, trying to avoid another Georgia situation. "It's not all bogus."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"At the cost of compulsory medical procedures resulting in brain damage?" Susan has strong (negative) feelings about this sort of thing, honed sharply in the process of keeping abreast of the news in the aftermath of the War.

[tallyyoungblood]

"I obviously totally don't support it," Tally says, a little defensively. "Like, duh, I got brain damage just to test the cure." After getting Maddy's husband killed and betraying her son, her brain unhelpfully adds. And now Maddy can't even get her results, because Tally is in a bogus pocket dimension. "I'm sure once the cure is widely available, we'll have good things and freedom." She's not sure, actually, but she has to believe it.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I beg your pardon; I didn't mean to imply that you did," says Susan. "I was reacting generally to the information. How many others are testing the cure?"

[tallyyoungblood]

Shame heats Tally's cheeks a little at how defensive she'd gotten. "Just my friend Zane," she says sadly. "It was only supposed to be me, but I was too scared to take the cure by myself. See, I was supposed to test the cure because I found out about it before they turned me pretty, so I could give my informed consent to be treated once I was pretty. You can't just ask a pretty to do it, because of the brain damage, you know? They might not understand what they're getting into, and that's utterly bogus. So I gave myself up and got turned after giving the inventor of the cure my consent. But part of the operation involves forgetting your ugly days, so I hardly even remembered that I'd consented. Zane was with me when they got the pills to me, and even though he only found out about it that day, he was really brave and split the pills with me."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I suppose that's one way to go about it." Susan is relaxing a little, though; her initial horror - though not subsiding in a global sense - is relaxing when it comes to Tally's involvement in all this.