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Somebody behind the scenes was pointing out that Lesgle could just do his darn job! It's been a while! and that somebody was quite correct.

Lesgle's strong work ethic has of course been keeping him on a routine schedule of busing tables and cleaning the kitchen, and here he is right now, bustling about in a way that is so far un-disastrous. Do interrupt him!

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"Oh, damn, have I become an embodiment?" Lesgle grins, and reaches over to straighten Joly's cravat, which may or may not have actually needed straightening. "I've tried so hard to leave the allegory and embodiment and metaphor to other people."

Well, Joly spent a good extra ten minutes on it, so it's probably okay, but one never knows! He smiles and leans forward. "Why, here you are, working away, when you don't need to; in rather marked contrast to former habits, I might note. I'm sure it's proof of some philosophy; certainly it's an argument against every employer who ever stinted his workers to make them productive." Not that Lesgle needs to be convinced, but aren't politics always the obvious topic of discussion?

"Are you going to tell me I'm becoming respectable? Bahorel said so the other day; I'm almost thinking I need to get arrested again just to prove him wrong. Violence, outside business, indecency..."

Eyebrows.

"Oh, but that reminds me. We were talk about the--ah. The Victor Hugo problem, and I had a brilliant insight, which escapes me at the moment." But he remembers that he had one!

"Oh, dear-- is it honestly a problem? I haven't read the book, you know. Or do you mean that you've had an idea about the way universes connect?"

"The latter. It--oh."

He frowns. "It sounded much more brilliant at the time, but there was wine involved. It was just the idea that, ah. Perhaps people's arrival here sets off some sort of...resonance...er...and inspires people in distant universes. Such as Victor Hugo. People who are receptive."

Yes, all right, it definitely sounded better before.

Joly frowns at Lesgle's hesitation-- he knows the sound of someone second-guessing his own theory-- and takes both his hands while he considers the idea. And he does take time to think about it, even though it seems obviously good; it deserves considering. But after a few quiet moments he nods and smiles.

"Yes-- yes, you know, I think it's very likely! I mean, of course there's the obvious fact, that we all interact here, and people might carry tales back--and, oh! Yes! Perhaps we all carry something of our own worlds, our own, our own realities with us, the way we all carry our own ecosystem, did I tell you about that?"

He releases one of Bossuet's hands to gesture with his own. "And, you know, people come back and forth all the time, it might happen at any point, we can influence other realities in past and future...Did I tell you, I've been thinking, time is part of the mystery here; there are books in the library from every point in every world's history, after all. Think, an author could conceivably come here before he's written a book, and then find it in the library! That has to have some effect...yes, of course, your idea makes a great deal of sense!-- I wonder if everyone who comes here has stories somewhere, then?"

"Ecosystem...?" He can barely hazard a guess as to what the word might mean. But Joly is being reassuring, and holding his hands, and--even more importantly--seems pleased with the notion. Bossuet's face brightens.

"Would it make a man a plagiarist to read his own unwritten book? --Oh, no, Jolllly, does this mean Victor Hugo is likely to pop in here some day, meet all this Paris crowd, and then take up his pen?"

It's a thought, though, that everyone here might end up having a story about them. It's comforting--maybe.

Joly laughs. "If Hugo does show up, we can all lodge our complaints. And I'll have to admit I haven't read the book!" He rubs his chin with his free hand. "Time is a question, isn't it? Can a person eat a loaf of bread here before the wheat for it is even planted?-- And you know, I think they might. But I don't know how at all! But all our times are-- they're all happening at once, here, I think. Which gets very complicated, very fast! I'm sure someone has studied it; maybe I'll try to find someone who knows a bit about the subject."

"I'm not sure most of the bread here has ever been wheat. But you're right, of course, even without the little quirks and habits of the place itself, we have monks popping in and out of the eighth century to chat with the twenty-first. And then, don't people who come and go generally find that no time has passed at home while they were here?"

"So I've heard! It was that way for you, wasn't it? But you know, I've also heard from many others that they've been able to take back all sorts of equipment with them, and of course some say even people-- if anything, it's surprising Milliways hasn't more clearly influenced more stories!" He laughs a little self-consciously. "But then I'm not really the one to speak about stories, I suppose. There could be all manner of tales that make note of strange outsiders-- well, come to think of it, there are, aren't there?"

"Indeed! Angels dropping in with unwanted judgments, gods and fairy godmothers, ghosts--"

Well. Bossuet smiles ruefully. "Ghosts."

Joly's grin is purely cheerful. "Spirits of very sort, yes," Sometimes wearing flannel!

His cheerful grin meets cheer from Bossuet. "Speaking of spirits--can I bring you anything while you're here?"

Joly shakes his head and lifts up a bag. "No, I'm just going out to wander about and study the weather, I am rudely distracting you from your custom. And so I leave you to it; but I wanted to let you know I'd be out, and oh, the mandrake has had some wine tonight, I introduced it to another patron here and so of course there were drinks, and --well, the rest I'll tell you later." He laughs at himself, and reaches out to straighten the edge of Lesgle's collar before starting to the door outside. "I'll see you something like tonight?"

Oh, Milliways time.

"Did you? I'm glad to hear it; our mandrake will soon be the most gregarious ever of its kind. Tell me who you introduced it to--well, when you have time." He smiles complacently while Joly fusses at his color. "Yes, I'll see you tonight. Study a snowman or two for me while you're out there?"

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