College AU Frenchmen!

[road_to_calvary]

 
...this isn't his bedroom. Jean Valjean - dressed in shorts and a muscle T, covered in sweat - rubs a towel over his face, and blinks quite a lot. Then he sticks his head back through the door, and yells, 'Javert!'

'What?'

'Come look.'

Javert - mussed hair, jeans, sullen expression, a scar around his neck - slopes through the door. He also blinks a lot, and doesn't stop the door closing behind them. While Valjean spends his time staring about, his eyes fall on the leaflets nearby. He picks one up, reads it, then touches Valjean's arm to get his attention.

'Here.'

A couple of minutes later, they're staring at each other. Javert shakes his head. Valjean nods, and stretches for the door handle...which won't open. His eyes go wide as he tugs on it, and Javert has to take his wrist to stop him trying to wrench his way out.

'It's OK. We'll just get a drink and wait for it to open. It says here that it will. OK?'

'...OK.'

And so there's two wary young guys at the bar, eyeing drinks suspiciously. Well, Valjean is. Javert is eyeing Valjean, because...well. Just because.



[OOC: AU guys, obviously! Write-up on their background here. You can pretty much do what you want with them, they're only here for a week. This is open until whenever, and they'll each get an independent EP at some point. \o/]

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[starrydome]

If Elrond recognizes the names - and he might - it doesn't show in his smile.
"Well met, Jean Valjean and Javert. And welcome to Miliways."

He settles down on a stool, deftly arranging his robes around him as he does so, with practiced ease.
He is wearing leather boots and some sort of trousers underneath.

And leather vambraces peek out from the hem of his sleeves.

[road_to_calvary]

'Thanks. It seems a pretty good place,' says Valjean, with a grin.

'If you like bars,' says Javert, who doesn't.

'It looks like more than a bar though,' Valjean tells him, and looks to Elrond for confirmation. 'Look, the leaflet says its a hotel, and there's a forest and everything.'

Javert's look says goody, but he doesn't utter it.

[starrydome]

"That is true," Elrond says, and then he adds - with absolute joy, "And the most magnificent library."

[road_to_calvary]

'Oh yeah? That's good.'

Valjean further perks up at this. Javert rolls his eyes, because they've spent most of the last four years in the library at college.

'We've got a semester off,' he points out. 'I'm not spending it in a library.'

'Oh, yeah. Well, it still can't hurt to look, can it?'

Javert sighs. 'I suppose there's a gym too?' he asks Elrond. It's probably easy to see why. Valjean's built like someone who spends every waking hour working out, which is how it feels sometimes to Javert.

[starrydome]

"A room for exercising? Yes, yes there is. With various machines, most of which seem a little strange to me. But they seem quite popular."

Elrond is only happy to be able to help.
"There is a stable. And a garage."

[road_to_calvary]

Valjean grins at this news - he can't do without a gym, it's his therapy - and Javert resigns himself to spending a lot of tomorrow on his own.

'I've never ridden a horse. Do they let you try?'

All of tomorrow on his own, maybe.

[starrydome]

"They do. Though if you are not a rider normally, I'd suggest spending a little time getting to know the horses first. Bring a few apples, they'll appreciate that."

Elrond smiles.

"They are beautiful animals. And quite well-mannered for the most part."

[road_to_calvary]

'Thanks for the tip.'

Maybe he will. It couldn't hurt to try something new. Possibly. There aren't many opportunities for riding horses in the city.

'There are ones there that don't behave?'

[starrydome]

"There are younger horses there as well. They tend to be better suited for riders with some experience."

He smiles.

"They're - spirited."

[road_to_calvary]

'Is there someone who works there, so I can ask which is which?'

Because he wouldn't have a clue from looking.

[starrydome]

"There often is," Elrond says. " But when you see them, you can tell. "

He is certain of it.

[road_to_calvary]

Valjean doesn't have the same trust in himself, but he's not about to argue with a stranger. He just nods, and finishes his protein shake.

'Thanks very much.'

And Javert, who has turned his thoughts to Elrond's identity seeing as he's not interested in riding, adds,

'you're an elf, aren't you?'

[starrydome]

" I am, yes," Elrond says, calmly.

[never_shall_yield]

He nods, and doesn't elaborate on how he knew. The leaflet said it wasn't OK to tell people they're fictional where you come from, and he wouldn't anyway. Plus, he isn't sure. He doesn't watch many movies.

'What's that like?'

[starrydome]

"We are longlived, and not prone to illness," Elrond replies.

"I myself have seen more than 6,000 years."

[never_shall_yield]

'...that must suck.'

'Javert!'

'Well, it must. Who'd want to live that long?'

Valjean has to admit, privately, that it definitely wouldn't be him.

[starrydome]

Elrond looks a little taken aback at this, but he recovers quickly.
(He's had Dwarves as house guests. This is not the worst by far he has been subjected to).

"I have seen much pain in my life and endured much sorrow. Still, I have also known friendship and love. And the sun is still beautiful, both when it rises and when it sets."

Softly.

[never_shall_yield]

'Bullshit.'

Javert says it flatly, with no hint of forthcoming apology.

'There's not much beautiful about life, or the people in it.'

A glance at Valjean, and he amends that to, 'most of the people in it. Maybe it's OK if you're an elf, but not if you're where we're from. So no, bullshit.'

He hasn't had the easiest of lives, and nor has Valjean. He still wouldn't usually be this rude, but it's been a very bad few months. There's a scar around his neck that might attest to why.

[starrydome]

Elrond has seen the scar.
And he sees what the rest of Javert's body is saying, wordlessly.

"I have thought so too at times," he says quietly. "But I have been proven wrong. I hope that you will find yourself in that same situation."

[never_shall_yield]

He looks at him for a long moment. Then Valjean's wordless plea to be nice gets through, and he looks down.

'Yeah, sorry. Thanks.'

He slurps at his Coke to deflect.

'I don't have 6,000 years to get things put right, though.'

[starrydome]

"No. But luckily, Men often seem to need less time. We all adjust to the lives we have," Elrond says, calmly.

"When my brother made his choice to be a Man, I asked him if he felt any different. And he said, that things - moved faster. Within him and without. Perhaps that holds true for all of you."

[never_shall_yield]

He shrugs.

'I don't know. I have no way to compare, so who can say?'

Valjean though, looks curious.

'Your brother chose? He could have had immortality, and he chose to be a man?'

[starrydome]

"He did. Elros wanted to travel and to found a kingdom. And he did. He lived a very full life and he died a mortal death. And I have missed him every day since our paths forked."

You can hear the love in his voice. And the sadness.

[road_to_calvary]

'Is that what a full life is? Travelling, and founding a kingdom?'

Valjean swirls his 'shake around in its glass, watching the dregs of it stain the sides. And Javert evidently hears something in his tone, because he looks around and watches him, faint concern on his face.

[starrydome]

"He found love as well. He had a family. And he made a difference. Above all else, I believe that was what he wanted, to make a difference no leave a legacy."

Elrond does not seem bothered by the questions.