milliways_bar | (no subject)

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'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the...stable? There was...not much of anything going on, really. Javert has been sleeping out here for the last couple of weeks, and tonight will be no different. Cheval has been nosing around for his next bottle, so he fetches it from Bar, trying not to yawn too obviously where anyone can see. He also considers another blanket, but it seems indulgent, so does not.

Bar also produces a gift, which he stares at for a moment. This again? But then, he supposes it is the season. He asks the bar to keep them for now, and walks back through the snow to the foal. It may be Christmas night, but it the same as any other to him and he is sure it will stay that way.

Valjean, watching this exchange, follows him out.

[OOC: Merry Christmas, everyone! This post open through New Year. If you want to chuck random animals etc in, go ahead. The more cracktastic the better, say I. If not, no worries - he's taggable at the bar too. Also, I will be tagging up everything I owe as soon as I've wrapped the last few presents over here. <3333 you all!

ETA: I completely forgot to set this up the way I planned. Ah well. Valjean, when I tag him in, is also entirely taggable by anyone. And will probably be in a far more festive mood, lets be honest. Also, feel free to tag each other if you want to be all 'wtf I'm in a stable' to someone else! I'm allgood with that. <3]

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Javert shakes his head, showing no surprise at the man's name.

'I have not seen him since this morning, madame. The forge is usually closed by this time of the evening.'

There is a rustling of straw as Cheval loses his grip on the bottle, and fumbles to find it again. He pats its nose absently, and guides the teat back to the searching mouth.

He cannot see her state of undress with the stall door in the way. It is probably a good thing.

'I can take a message, if you desire. Though you would likely do better leaving it at the bar.'

"A message wouldn't help much--I'm supposed to be making him dinner, so by the time he'd get a message I'd probably have found him anyway. I figured since I was already outside I'd stop in here looking for him, but... oh, I hope it's not Security business. That can take a while."

All fightsplosions and mayhem, or whatever the cool crime is these days.

'He has a room, I believe. Well, he lives here, he must do.'

He has never given it much thought.

'What is your name? If he comes here to see if I have killed this creature yet, I may tell him you seek him.'

"He does, and we're going there later. I was just supposed to meet him, that's all."

It's also possible that one or the other of them has gotten their times screwed up. That's happened before. She doesn't have a watch.

"I'm Pyrrha. And that is the tiniest horse I have ever seen."

'You are his...'

He does not know how to finish that question, and it is no business of his in any case. He had not considered that Teja might be married.

'I am Javert. And yes, it is small. It is not long born.'

"Yeah, I'm that Pyrrha."

Girlfriend, fiancée, something. She's not sure how Teja describes her, so it's best to just leave it at that.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you--he's told me about you, that you work together in the forge and all, and it's good to meet his friends. Get to put names to faces, and all. I'm not always here, so I don't always get to."

Javert just looks at her blankly at her first comment. Teja has never mentioned a partner, and he has never asked. But at least he now has her name.

'He is not my friend. He is my employer.'

There is a marked difference. And given this new information, he seems to suddenly notice the baby, as though it did not register before.

'Is that his child?'

"There's different kinds of friends, though. There's friends so close they might as well be family, all the way to people you work with, get along with and get to know. For me, one step past indifferent counts as friends."

Her definitions are a bit looser than other people's, though.

"This is Egil, he's our foster-baby. He's my roommate's gentleman-caller's daughter's baby, but we're raising him. He's eight months old already."

He attempts to follow this first train of thought. And then, the second trail of genealogy, and is hopelessly lost in seconds.

'There are friends, and then there are not. He is not.'

Javert is not good at friendship.

'Why is it not being raised by its parents?'

"That's a shame," she says. "'Cause I made presents for his friends, and I made one for you, and I'd really like it if you would accept it--you don't have to like it, you don't have to use it, you can throw it out as soon as I leave if you want to. But I'd like if you would take it."

She likes making things, friends or not.

"His mother got remarried a couple months before he was born, and he's not her new husband's kid. He's royalty or something, so it's just easier if Egil gets raised by someone else."

Mothers abandoning their children. Occasionally he feels he should have an opinion on that, but he rarely does. At least, apart from the obvious comment he could make on producing more of the potentially criminal class.

'It is Christmas; gifts to people are inevitable, I suppose. If you know them. You do not know me, madame. I do not know you. A gift would be highly inappropriate.'

"That's the thing about being here," she says. "You got people from all different places and times and cultures and customs and everything, and sometimes they're not compatible. But I'm supposed to be getting married, and I've never even met most of the people Teja knows--and for my people, my culture, I'm obligated to give presents to people. Whether you're a friend or employee, it doesn't matter. I have to do it."

She shifts Egil a bit, to take a small wrapped parcel from her bag and set it on a stool nearby.

"And if you're obligated to refuse, that's fine. You just leave it there, and I won't be offended. It is kind of a weird situation."

Well. Now he does not know how to react at all. He stares at the small parcel as if it may attack.

He does not know how to accept these things, but he does not want to force someone to go against their custom either. He had not thought of it as an obligation that others might need to fulfil.

'What is it?' he says, at last.

'Knowing that may determine how we should proceed. If it is something I do not want, I will give it away. If it is something of use, I will think further on it. After all, I am not Teja's friend, even if I know him. Any gift you feel obligated to give may be refused on those grounds, and you will not have broken your custom.'

There. That is sense.

"Nice warm socks," she says. "I do a lot of knitting, I like to keep my hands busy, and... I know it might seem kind of personal, but when you think about it, some people prefer gloves, some people prefer mittens, some people just keep their hands in their pockets. Those are more of a personal preference, and most people already have ones they like. But everybody needs socks, especially when it's cold out."

She knows exactly one person who doesn't seem to wear socks, but he doesn't generally wear shoes either.

"And it doesn't hurt to have an extra pair around. They're not weird colors or patterns or anything either."

'I have already been given gloves today,' he mutters, darkly.

They were good leather gloves, too. It is a damn nuisance, being given things that are practical, and still have to be given back.

'Socks.'

He thinks about it.

'So you mean stockings? Or the kind of things labourers wear?'

"...I'm not exactly sure," she admits. "What we call stockings back home is what women wear, and these are definitely not that. They're about knee-high and thick and warm."

All-purpose cozy footwear.

"But if there's a different style you'd rather have, or rather say no to, I can do that too. I like to be useful."

Javert eyes her suspiciously at this. A perfect stranger, offering to be bother useful and helpful? Bringing gifts? It is very odd, and rather disquieting.

'No. No, I - I think I had better not take them, useful or no.'

They would be of use tonight. Stables are not as warm as everyone seems to believe they are. And straw is not the least bit comfortable to sleep on. Warm socks would take the chill away and help decent sleep, but he has refused all manner of gifts tonight. It would be worse taking one now from someone he does not know.

'Thank you for the thought. Please give them to someone more in need of them.'

"I can't take them back, though," she says. "I mean, I can, but if I do, then it's implied my gift wasn't good enough and I'm obligated to offer you more. And the next more I have would be inviting you to dinner tonight with me and Teja, and if you think socks are awkward, that would probably be more awkward for you. But you're totally welcome to, and I'm a good cook."

She can even tone down the spices.

"But there's other options too, if you don't like that."

'Yes. No.'

Definitely more awkward.

'Thank you, but no. I have to look after this creature.'

Every two hours, but that is beside the point. Dinner with his employer and his partner? No, he would prefer not to.

'What are your other options?'

"Well, the easy way is--I'm leaving it right there, and you leave it there too. Somebody else comes in, you tell them 'hey, there's a package there you can have.' Or you don't say anything at all, and somebody'll probably help themselves anyway. I left my favorite pencil on the bar unattended for like ten minutes once, and when I came back it was gone."

It was a pretty chewed-up pencil, too.

"The harder one is... I'm not trying to be presumptuous or anything, and I don't mean right now, I can see you're busy. But how well do you have to know somebody before you're comfortable with small gifts? I'm gonna be marrying your employer, I'm gonna be around, and making things for people is kinda what I do."

Favourite pencil? He flounders on that for a second or two, then mentally pushes it away.

'It would be rude to disregard it so,' he says, to option number one.

'I do not know how long it takes to become comfortable with these things. It is only since I have been here that I have received any. If you are suggesting that you keep it until such time as that may occur, I have no objection to it.'

"I can do that," she says. "I'm not taking this back--I'm just holding on to it for you for a while."

She's fine with that.

"It's a lot quieter out here than in the bar, especially this time of year. I mean, aside from strange people interrupting you when you're taking care of your horse, and all. In there, it's all parties and presents and everybody look happy. It gets overwhelming."

He is fine with that also. And to her remarks, says, 'Christmas is something imposed on us, year on year. It means little to me. I would rather be here, and tomorrow I shall work.'

He must also put her right on another point.

'He is not my horse. He belongs to Teja's people. You probably have more claim on him than I do. Still, your...partner seems intent on bestowing lessons, so here I am.'

"I kinda have a bad history with religion, so I'm not that big on Christmas. I'll be doing the same stuff I always do, but I still do presents even if I don't do parties."

That's what she normally does: makes things.

"Teja's people are nice, but they're not my people. What kind of lessons is he giving you? Raising and training horses?"

He snorts quietly.

'He would be welcome to attempt such a lesson.'

He does not think he needs much instruction on that front, but Teja might not know that.

'No. He seems to think I need to learn how to care about things, so that is why I am here with this creature. He took me to his old home to fetch it.'