Study Break!

[merryeccentricities]

And lunchtime, which Joly is prepared to argue is universal. Multi-universal. Whichever.

He asked Bar for some bread and cheese and maybe an apple, and he's wound up with what someone from another era would recognize as a large all-toppings supreme pizza and a large apple pie. He's not sure if Bar is fussing at him, or just anticipating him sharing out his food. Either one's a fairly standard event for him when he gets to be a known visitor at cafés; Bar is making connections awfully quickly. He thanks it as nicely as he can.







(OOC: open until Thursday night; happy to slowtime after that, but I'm heading out of town for the weekend, so it'll be REALLY slowtime.)

Comments

[street_sparrow]

"Joly!" Gavroche bounces over. "How are you settling in?"

[merryeccentricities]

Joly smiles and slides the ...cheese tart? ... over in invitation. "Well enough, I suppose." He thinks a moment and laughs. "Much better than I'd have expected a few days ago, certainly. But, "settled in"-- I don't see how I'll ever feel settled, here. It's much too-- well, the library alone!" He waves happily in its general direction.

"How have you been? I don't think it's been long since I saw you, but I never know, here." People do seem to operate on the strangest timetables here.

[street_sparrow]

He's always happy to share people's food when it's offered. "Ah, the library. If you've been in there, I'm surprised we ever saw you again - and it's been not quite two months, I think? I met your vegetable companion."

[merryeccentricities]

"Two months? Goodness, has it been that long?" People really DO have the most remarkable schedules here. Joly will have to check that with Bossuet's tally of ...well, mornings is probably an overstatement...wakings? "I could believe spending that long in the library, though." Joly is a bit smitten with the library.

"But one must leave research for experimentation, sometime! And for lunch. Was our new roommate well-behaved for you?"

[street_sparrow]

"Laigle was feeding him wine", Gavroche tells him. "I think it was keeping him happy, he just rustled a bit."

[merryeccentricities]

"Indeed, our mandrake seems quite fond of Bossuet. Excellent judgement on his part, of course. And what of yourself? any new companions since we last spoke?" Since that was apparently quite a while ago for Gavroche.

[street_sparrow]

"No new ones of that kind. There's always new people in and out here, and I like to meet them."

[merryeccentricities]

"Of what kind?-- oh. No." Joly laughs ruefully. "No, I'm not expecting any more of us, exactly." Or at least not on any special schedule. He's hoping, but that's different. "But you always did know who was worth knowing." It's not flattery; the Paris gamin network was always a better social guide than the Paris society papers.

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche grins. "We're almost all here now, anyway. Only four missing." Yes, he's been keeping track. "Most people here are worth knowing. Who've you met?"

[merryeccentricities]

Joly smiles back. He misses his friends, but as if they were on a long voyage; his confidence in their eventual arrival is irrational and complete.

As for the other item- "I'm afraid I've spent most of my time with our fair Library, or outside. There's a strange wild woman out there sometimes, and I met Lesgle's friend with the alarming dogs, and a rather dour fellow with cats. Oh! And the talking ponies, of course."

Not much, for two months. If it WAS two months. Joly is going to have to find some way of timekeeping for himself, too.

[street_sparrow]

"Oh, the dogs with the - eyes? The dour fellow with cats must be Teja, the talking ponies I've seen but not really met... I was teaching three kids and two wolves to use a boomerang the other day."

[merryeccentricities]

"Yes, the dogs with the eyes, or so I hear- I have not yet actually seen them. And Teja, yes, I think that was his name.--It was my first night,I'm afraid I wasn't at my best. What's a boomerang?"

[street_sparrow]

"This!" He produces it from somewhere in his coat - or a boomerang anyway, it's possible Aksana still has the original one. "You throw it and it comes back."

[merryeccentricities]

"And so you...can play a game of catch with yourself? I can certainly see why that would please children. And wolves. Is it your own invention?"

[street_sparrow]

"I wish I could say it was! But no, it started out as a hunting weapon in Australia and got adopted as a toy."

[merryeccentricities]

"Indeed!" Joly very carefully doesn't take the boomerang. He's heard things about Australia, and Interesting Toxins. "I would like to see how that works, some day."



(ooc: can we make that lesson something for the future? I should get to packing for my trip out this weekend, and this seems like a good wrap-up point.)

[street_sparrow]

"Then sometime soon - or after your lunch, if you like - I'll show you."

(ooc: and wrap it is! Enjoy your trip!)

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Jolllly!" Bossuet's been ensconced in one of the booths, leaning against the wall and half-asleep, but he wakes instantly and ambles over. "You've brought me a pie."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly laughs. "Bar does know us, doesn't she? Hmm-wonder if she does know? Who's in the room, at any point..." It's an idle thought, though he may chase it later. "How's your evening been? Did our mandrake behave himself?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"And this galette-ish sort of a thing is called pizza. God only knows what might be on it." He considers, frowning with great seriousness, and decides on a slice of the pizza before helping himself to apple pie. Dinner first. "Our mandrake conducted himself with grace and good humor; be proud. Oh--and I have it on divine authority that he hasn't quite yours or my constitution for wine and strong drink. As his moral guardians, we must be strict."

[merryeccentricities]

"Well, after all, we are learned scholars of the art, and he is only now beginning his studies; of course we should be careful." He grins at another thought. "And you're consulting Divine Authority now? The power of names is mighty indeed."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"We'll guide him tenderly but true. --Yes, divine. Or allegedly so. The goddess Demeter visits here." His expression shows that he's not entirely sure he believes it himself. "Or I might just be a gullible fool, easily practiced upon. That could also be true."

Funny how quick that slice of pizza disappeared. He helps himself to another. "You know, I suppose the Bar does know who is here? SHe's always quick to let you know if you're needed to tend a happy hour. I tell myself that a person has perfect privacy in his own room, but that's not based on any observation. Oh--and the rats, the waitstaff. They talk to Gavroche, he says."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly makes a vague chiding noise and flicks at Bossuet's ear in mock scolding at his self deprecation, but pauses with unease at the suggestions of Bar's omniscience.

"I--you don't think she does look in our rooms? I mean, the rats yes, but. Ah. Well."

It doesn't seem to bother anyone else he's talked to here, but then he hasn't talked to anyone else who's got certain arrangements, yet. Well.

He will definitely have to ask Gavroche a few things.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"I tell myself firmly that she does not look in the rooms. --She must have better things to do with her time, anyway. She cannot possibly be as bored and nosy as your average Paris concierge." He shakes his head, not looking too worried. "But Joly, what do you make of the library?"

[merryeccentricities]

"Oh, the library! --Bossuet, I'm sorry to tell you, I must abandon you and our mandrake and run away with their Science wing."

He's laughing, but Bossuet knows what Joly looks like smitten, and this is it.

"I don't even know how to start there--forever might be just enough time to get through a third of it."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet leers cheerfully. "I'm broad-minded! I won't admit the faintest sting of jealousy: after all, it is a very enticing library. Alluring. Did you find anything about mandrake care?"

[merryeccentricities]

Joly makes a grumbly noncommital sound. "Oh yes, a great deal of mention of mandrakes, both about how they're sily legends and about how to preserve them and extract them and turn them into useful potions." He bites a slice of pizza vindictively. "I'm not going to do any of - oh, this is good, isn't it?-- anyway, that's not what I was looking for. We may have to be pioneers in mandrake husbandry."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"It's delicious," he agrees, about the pizza, and collects a third slice. He's a helper. "--No, indeed, we don't want to extract our mandrake or turn it into essential oils or philtres or anything else. So far at least we seem to be keeping it well contented on our little windowsill. Have you worked out yet whether it's a south-facing window?"

[merryeccentricities]

Why, the very presumption of some people. Joly leans against Bossuet's non-pizza-occupied arm. You know, to show disapproval, or set a moral example. Or something. "Hmm- soon, I'm hoping. The compass I had behaved--have you read accounts from some ofthe naval explorers? I'm afraid we may be AT the, ah. Pole. of whatever magnetic system we're operating under." He waves a hand in irregular circles. "Makes a compass utterly useless. But I'm going to try making my own, just in case the other one was somehow calibrated wrong-- looking for another world's North, maybe?" That's a thought he's trying not to focus on too much,lest he descend into utter giddiness. "*Magnets* work; stick together, stick to the right sort of metal, all of that. So we're not starting completely from scratch!" Which is a bit of a relief, all things considered.

" And how have you spent your...day? Since you returned our vegetable ward to our quarters? Has it only been a day? I could believe I'd spent more time in the library."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Yes, Lesgle is withering under his disapproval.

"At the Pole! I suppose that would make sense, if anything does. And I suppose neither of us is quite alive enough to make a good test of the effects on our personal magnetic flows." He does not ask whether this means the furniture can stay put.

"Hmm? I've not been up to much. It hasn't seemed like an untoward amount of time." He frowns, thinking. "Not that I believe a single clock I see here."

[merryeccentricities]

As well he might. Joly reaches over for a second slice of pizza without relenting about the leaning. It's a harsh rebuke, no doubt, but it's important to remind one's friends of proper behavior sometimes. Be an example of proper behavior. And such.

"You know, I'm not at all sure? We seem to be alive. Our pulse beats the same-- your and mine, I would almost swear, are on exactly the same pattern they kept before-- and our appetites certainly function, and all functions connected with that. But we seem to have been altered in some way, if only going by our vegetable friend's effect on us. The treatment of souls was never included in our studies, though, so I'm not sure where to follow that thought." It might be worth trying to find a priest or something sometime. "For all I know we may be our own magnetic systems now...oh, wouldn't that be something?" He'll have to carry some iron with him and see if exposure affects it.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet leans into Joly's lean. "Oh, souls. You know I'm not much of a believer, at least in a sense the Church would recognize. But there is a priest about the place. I've found him lurking on Sundays."

[merryeccentricities]

"This place certainly does nothing to further my belief in the standard spiritual physiologies, no. But there's obviously some aspect of ourselves that changed when we shifted worlds....call it Vital Essence, instead, if you want, or Ethereal Substance. It seems to be all to our benefit so far, as we are not very harmed by our mandrake, but still get to enjoy lunch." He takes another slice of pizza strictly for demonstration purposes.

"At any rate, it's not my main concern right now..well, whenever now is."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Perhaps it was our appetites. Man's eternal desire to have a generous glass and a bite to eat, placed among the stars upon his death, to graze forever at the heavenly bar! --And perhaps we live in an eternal dinnertime. I, Jolllly, am always punctual for a meal, gratis; you are just a little late, having been caught up in your studies."

It's...a theory?

[merryeccentricities]

Joly nearly chokes. "Then surely some divine hand was in play, for you to reach the Eternal Bar with no misadventure along the way." And Joly has never considered himself a particularly devout student, either. Still. "Well, before I defy the power of the universe to return to my studies, shall we try this pie?"


(Wanna wrap this thread so we can both pack with a free conscience? We can eat pizza in the Republic soon!)

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Well, no one said it was a good theory.

Lesgle grins and tugs the pie closer. "No pie is safe from my eternal appetite."


((PIZZA IN THE REPUBLIC. CHEESE AND FRUIT IN THE REPUBLIC. TEA IN THE REPUBLIC. MAYBE SOME OF THOSE CLASSY AFTER-DINNER MINTS IN THE REPUBLIC.))