milliways_bar | Entries tagged with jean valjean

Out back, the lawn and the Scout Hut have been decked out with bunting, chairs and tables set out. There are games and stalls, and someone has even set up a doggy assault course. The sound of fairground music and the delicious scent of good food floats over the garden.

The Milliways County Fair has arrived, and everyone is welcome!

[ooc: Open forever! IC date 4-9th July, but open now to maximise people being able to take part. Threadhopping encouraged. See Back Room Post and Original Back Room Post for details.

All entries in the horticultural show must be posted by ~~9pm GMT/3pm EST Wednesday 6th July~~ Entries are closed - Judging in progress]

road_to_calvary

It has been a more prolonged stay than any anticipated, but Valjean, for one, has no complaints. He has been allowed to recover in peace, he has spent his days with Cosette, he has exchanged some words with Marius that hopefully means their past is now behind them. Cosette has spoken with her mother, Marius with his friends, and he with Javert. Things are ready to begin anew.

And so, this small family descends the stairs together. They look content, Cosette between her father and her husband, lighting the room with her angelic smile. Valjean steps back at the door to allow Marius to hold it open for her, and then takes the handle to insist he goes ahead. He casts one look around the bar before following them out to Paris. The door shuts with a quiet click.

(Across the room, Javert notices them leave. He drags his eyes from Valjean long enough to narrow them at Marius, and then glance around to see if the revolutionaries are watching him leave, or try to give him anything. Seeing none, he rises from his table. He settles his bill at the bar, to give the family time to vacate Valjean's apartment on the other side. That done, he opens the door, his shadow falling forward onto the empty bedroom of the Rue de l'Homme Arme. Without a look back, he is gone.)

road_to_calvary

Millitimed back to when the stables were fixed, and the cherry blossoms were still in bloom:

A short conversation; long overdue.

road_to_calvary

There is a lot of activity at the stables today. Valjean managed to track Javert down yesterday (despite concerted efforts by the latter to avoid him), and persuaded him to donate his stockpile of spare bricks to the repair effort. They have to be brought over from the church building site, so Javert is rolling piles over in a wheelbarrow while Valjean knocks the fire-damaged wooden planks out of the back of the stables. There are some large bags of supplies ready to be mixed into mortar, and Valjean is hoping to get the two worst damaged stalls fixed by nightfall.

At least one of the two will welcome help!

[OOC: I've just had an hour of my life cruelly stolen, so I'm going to crash pretty soon. Feel free to threadhop if desired, and I'll be around all day tomorrow to continue. Thanks to all who've tagged! <3]

not_his_pa

Outside the stables, a pile of debris is accumulating. William's down to his undershirt as he rakes and shovels remnants of hay, wood and rope from the stables before getting them out.

He's always surprised by how much mess a fire can leave behind but it has to be cleared before the work of rebuilding can be done.

The horses, goats and Nitwit are all in the paddock not far away under a tent he's rigged up, all the tack is stacked, waiting to be cleaned and sorted. Since the sun's out, all the mud has dried which is making everything easier and later in the afternoon, he stops to sit under the tent and eat a sandwich and work on his list.

just_cant_lose

Almost a week ago, a package was left at the bar for Feuilly. Today, he picks it up.

Someone watching from a very safe distance - or who has placed certain technology in the package: we'll never know - might learn that this inauspicious delivery prompts a conversation out in the stables. It goes along the lines of 'ugh, another message from the king? Leave it, we'll deal with it later.' Because it is, after all, a beautiful day and Feuilly and Hotspur had plans to ride out and enjoy it. Which they do, leaving the parcel on the floor.

Some ten minutes later, there is a very loud explosion. Loud enough to be heard in the bar, and across the grounds. It's followed by the sounds of distressed animals, and the smell of smoke.

Hey, Milliways? Your stables are on fire.

[OOC: please see Back Room post here for brief recap details. EP open for however long anyone wants to play. <3]

is_the_motion

Bonnie comes out from the infirmary, and goes over to the bar with a pocket full of cards.

She places one set of wedding invitations down.

( Autor, Jay, Emcee, Rae, Pearse )

Then a much larger set of hen party invitations, which should cover pretty much everyone she's met and got on with, plus a couple she hasn't got on so well with (because it ought to cheer some of them up). In fact, she asks that Javert and Valjean get delivered one especially.

bonnie hen party.jpg

And then the last card, she sits down and looks at in quiet wonder. It's amazing what they can do in that infirmary.

[ooc: Everyone of all ages is invited to the hen party providing they keep on their underwear :)]

heartbeneathastone

[a whole passel of OOMs: Valjean is discharged from the infirmary, but there are still questions to be settled with Cosette. Then, Marius and Cosette have a conversation of their own.

Sometime after that (and also sometime after this one), Marius and Enjolras catch up.]

Anyone who witnessed the commotion of Valjean, Cosette, and Javert's return to Milliways may recognize the pale, black-clad young man who accompanied them, now sitting in front of the fire.

Though he has now been in Milliways for several days, Marius Pontmercy has been avoiding the main bar at all costs. However, it still really is quite cold (especially coming from a Parisian April), and the sudden winter makes his shoulder ache, and there's really only so much aimless wandering a person can do, and eventually, one of those comfortable-looking chairs before the fire is all but irresistible.

Marius has received explanations of Milliways from several sources, but he has come across another copy of the welcome pamphlet and is reading it, brow furrowed, with all the care of a scrupulous lawyer perusing a contract.

[ooc: Marius is awkward and antisocial at the best of times, and this is-- not that. So apologies in advance if you don't get very far with him.]

road_to_calvary

Who would have thought a simple breath of fresh air could be such a beautiful thing?

Valjean has made his way to the gardens this afternoon. It is his first walk anywhere in months, and he had forgotten how much he enjoys being outside. It is cold here, of course, and there is still snow on the ground. He has had to promise Cosette not to stay out long, and is aware that she is close by and will intervene if it looks like he might overexert himself. So he will be inside later, no doubt with more food pressed on him, but for now he will just stand here, leaning on his cane, breathing deep.

It is quite a sensation to be alive after all.

[OOC: Catch him inside or out! Open through the weekend.]

lark_in_flight

[OOM, just before: Javert comes to summon Cosette -- and incidentally Marius -- to what may be Jean Valjean's deathbed. Contains grief and parental illness, although no actual death.]

The door is yanked open. On the other side, a Parisian room, bare and unadorned, with a bed made up in the corner and several people crowded within. There's a minute or so of bustle, and then Cosette bursts through.

She's been crying; she's still crying, a little, half-noticed, but her jaw is tight with urgent determination. Unlike often, she's bareheaded. On her heels -- and with a certain amount of awkward maneuvering to pass through the doorway -- come three men.

On the one side: Javert. On the other side: a young man in his early twenties, dark-haired, slim, scarred, and bewildered. (Welcome to Milliways, Marius Pontmercy! Have fun with all the surprises you're about to get!) In between them, leaning heavily on both of them and half-carried, is Jean Valjean. He looks exhausted, hollow-eyed and thin, very ill, and possibly delirious; his eyes are fixed on his daughter.

"Oh!" she cries, and whirls to face the room, dashing the tears from her eyes with an impatient hand. "Where is a doctor? Please, my father needs a doctor!"

[OOC: Marius and Cosette and Valjean can all be tagged separately or together, but Cosette is preoccupied and Marius is bewildered and Valjean is delirious, so uh FYI! We have an infirmary thread with Joly set up, but help is welcome to steer and/or carry Valjean there. Javert make himself scarce as soon as he's not needed, so he can be tagged separately.]

never_shall_yield

But I will hold as long as you like

Just promise me we'll be alright

[OOC: III of III.]

never_shall_yield

OOM:

So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
'cos oh, that gave me such a fright

[OOC: II of III]

Current Music: Mumford & Sons - Ghosts That We Knew

road_to_calvary

OOM:

And so it goes.

[OOC: II of II. All dialogue taken from canon (you can blame Hugo for all of this).]

lark_in_flight

[OOM:

It is early May, but you would not know it in this cellar.

Or: Valjean continues to try very hard to do what he thinks is best for Cosette~~, and everything is awful~~ .]

road_to_calvary

OOM: After the bodyswap incident,

Valjean returns to Paris.

[OOC: I of II. All dialogue taken from canon.]

road_to_calvary

It is when one is old that that sort of thread is particularly solid

(AKA: someone else tries, and fails.)

farouche_bravoure

Fantine tries to talk sense into Valjean, and fails.

wings_of_a_swan

During the bodyswap, Combeferre visits Jean Valjean to make sure Valjean isn't falling into a brooding fit and forgetting to eat, and also to try to talk him into less heart-wrenching life choices.

pro_patria_mortuus

[OOC: Yet more bodyswap: Enjolras and Valjean are in for some surprises.

And at least one utterly unexpected opportunity.]

never_shall_yield

After all of this:

This.

[OOC: Annnnd, done. See y'all after the 18th. <3]

road_to_calvary

OOM:

The Lower Chamber

road_to_calvary

One last thing.

[OOC: Sorry for the spam, all done now.]

road_to_calvary

OOM:

Nevertheless, that night Jean Valjean felt that he was passing through his final combat.

[OOC: Warnings for length, sorry. All italics and dialogue taken from canon; credit V.Hugo. (And by credit I mean blame, ffs Hugo.)

road_to_calvary

OOM:

'He quitted the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire, and returned to the Rue de l'Homme Arme...' (1/3)

[OOC: The two flashback sections are heavily paraphrased/quoted from canon: credit V. Hugo.]

fry_sandhu

After this conversation with Javert (who seems to be generating a lot of mail today), Fry leaves a note at the bar.

( Monsieur Valjon )

With that he sits in a cosy corner with a book about Rocks and Minerals he borrowed from the bar.