milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Javert had been planning to avoid the bar for a while, because of reasons. But when the door started showing up every time he tried to leave a room, he eventually just rolled his eyes and gave in.

If he happens to spend the entire day outside, well, he just prefers being outside. He exercises the young horse of Teja's people, he builds until he can longer lift another brick. When all work is done, he can be found sitting on the ground, his back against a large boulder (and if it happens to conceal him from view of the bar, that is a coincidence perhaps), idly sketching the lake.

And also possibly trying not fall asleep.

[OOC: Catchable anywhere! Open for a few days. <3

ETA: Time to crash for the night, though. Catch ya tomorrow.]

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'I am not objecting if that is his decision. I was not overly concerned with his interest in the first place.'

Only the false diagnosis.

'It is strange only because he implied he was not yet finished.'

He waves it off. He is too tired to second-guess insane criminals who should not be left alive.

'How is your vampire hunting, Father?'

"There haven't been any lately; it's mostly research at this point," Father Harman says. "So I have time to pay more attention to people here. There are some new patrons here."

'People who interest you?'

He turns back to his sketch, because people are rarely all that interesting to him.

'I have not been here often recently, so I have not noticed.'

And he not the most approachable man.

"One of them, I am teaching to read," Father Harman says. "She is from some sort of marginalised group or sub-culture in her world, with their own customs. Her people don't do this or that, but she's looking beyond that. Of course I want to help her."

'Ah. Education.'

Why is he not surprised?

'Do they not have schools where she is from? Even in my time, young girls can get a certain level of teaching.'

"It seems her people don't usually go to school," Father Harman says. "But she's doing things differently, even thinking about teaching children."

Pause.

"Yes, education is of the utmost importance in helping people. That's the foundation of what we Jesuits do."

He nearly points out that this is likely the reason he gets on well with Valjean, but then does not. There is no reason to speak of the man.

'I have heard this said before,' he allows, gruffly.

'Whether it is true or not, I am in no position to say.'

"Well, you had an education," Father Harman says. "But as a former policeman, you know enough about the underbelly of society to realise how bad it is for people who didn't."

'An education?'

He snorts quietly.

'I think you do not understand much about the place I come from, monsieur. There are more uneducated than the opposite. Society survives as it must. It is not the measure of a person.'

"You can read, write, and do maths," Father Harman says. "That is more than they can do. And while it's not the measure of a person, it is, in many cases, what helps people to rise."

'I think your view is-'

He stops. He will not be rude about this man's opinions; not this man, who has always been good to him.

'You see things through the lens of your time and place, Father. And it is not a subject to disagree on. If education helps people to be honest citizens, then yes, why not?'

He just does not believe it is the only - or the most important - factor in measuring the success of a person's life.

"Of course it does," Father Harman says. "I read that even in your time, monks ran programs in prisons to teach the prisoners some basics."

He does not attempt to repress a wry smile.

'Yes, indeed. It is how I learned a few words as a small child. It is how Valjean learned to read at age forty. What of it?'

"They do it so people can better themselves," Father Harman says. "So they have hope."

'Hope.'

He turns his pencil through his fingers, looking out over the lake.

'For what exactly, Father?'

"For an honest life away from indigence and crime," Father Harman says. "For a better life for their children. Especially that one is a huge motivator for people to mend their ways."

'I will take you at your word.'

The Thenardiers come to mind. And then Valjean.

'I am not saying it does not help some. But it is mostly a help to those who do not need it. The ones who do are less likely to want it. It is not education that decides a man's character.'

"What is, in your experience?" Father Harman asks.

Javert looks up, surprised by the question. Particularly coming from a Catholic priest.

'His actions, of course.'

"And what informs his actions?" Father Harman asks.

'...conscience.'

He hates that it is so. But he cannot deny it. He released Valjean because of conscience, he nearly ended his life because of it. A man informing his actions from exterior forces...no, he will not do that again.

'As long as one has one.'

"And how do they lose it?" Father Harman asks.

'Lose his conscience? I do not think he can.'

Lord knows he wishes he could.

'Unless he is entirely depraved, perhaps. But he can always go against his conscience. There is no way to know if he will.'

Not all men are honourable. And some think they are, but turn out not to be.

"What makes a man depraved, in your experience?" Father Harman rephrases his question.

'I am fairly sure my opinion on this subject does not count, as I am not equipped to answer it.'

It is a dry answer, wryly given.

'There many ways a man may be depraved. Acting against God's will. Succumbing to vice and sin. Committing acts against nature.'

A certain conversation with Harman comes to mind.

'-that is to say, murder and such. Living for pleasure instead of use. All of these things lead to depravity.'