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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 19:25:20 GMT -5
*He blinked, then shrugged.*
"I don't doubt it." *He said, looking this Marius directly in the eyes.* "But you should know that your predecessor shot himself in the head. There are bound to be adverse reactions to your... presence in this Paris."
Hell, I came back from the dead. Who says there can't be multiple Mariuses?
*He had suspected that this was not the Paris he had known long ago... the first time he visited that Max guy. He tried not to bother his head too much about it. Nobody besides Marius called Eponine 'Ponine anyway.*
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 19:36:24 GMT -5
*Marius winced*
"I know about the suicide...Eponine told me. But, I only recently learned that everyone else is dead as well...save you.
I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. Paris is changed, and I am on my own."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 19:41:38 GMT -5
"I've long suspected that Paris isn't even the same Paris I knew. Or you."
*He shrugged.* "I'd offer you a room at my place but my wife had some bad experiences with the previous Marius. You could always practice law like you were studying to. Because you disappeared, you would have been declared missing and your inheritance would still be waiting for you, or one of your progeny, to claim it. I've posed as my own son for the last 5 years or so so that I could pick my life back up."
*He smiled bitterly.* "What were any of us going to do, were we by some small chance to succeed? Run a new country? You don't realize until after how stupid and blind you were."
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 19:53:10 GMT -5
*Enjolras was right. But older, wiser, bitter Enjolras was talking to young idealistic Marius. So, his words didn't quite have the effect they should have*
"No, we could have changed things, turned France around for the better--gotten what we sought after so hard. It wasn't hopeless. The people would have had their freedom!"
*The fervor of revolution had resurfaced, and it showed in the impassioned way he spoke, the way he was standing.*
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 19:56:40 GMT -5
"And how did we all end up? Dead. We're a footnote in the history books--it happened, but nobody ever actually reads about it. Nobody cares anymore. People have been trying to change France and failing since the first revolution."
*He took another swig of his drink and nearly spat it back out.* "Christ, you forget how awful Grantaire's brandy was." *He pulled a face.*
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 20:00:26 GMT -5
"I don't care how much the history books speak of us--it wasn't done to be praised and spoken of, but for change." He said adamantly.
"I don't believe France is beyond help. I refuse."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 20:04:44 GMT -5
*He sighed a little.*
"You'd think differently if you'd seen all of your friends die for a cause you had led. Then again you were going to live, anyhow."
*He winced.* "Fine lot of good living did the last Marius... his wife a cuckolder and her child a bastard. Found himself here and ended up shooting himself in the end."
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 20:14:22 GMT -5
*He stared blankly at Enjolras a moment before finally speaking*
"He's a different Marius, and my Cosette would have never betrayed me." He shook his head, feeling a pang of regret at the thought of her.
"I was going to marry her. But it seems that she was killed not long after the fall of the...other...barricade."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 20:15:06 GMT -5
*He frowned.*
"Killed? That doesn't make sense at all. Valjean made sure Cosette stayed far from the barricades."
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 20:19:57 GMT -5
"I was told that they couldn't get out in time..."
*He rubbed at his forehead.*
"No, wait...that doesn't make sense...like you said, Valjean wouldn't have allowed her anywhere near the fighting.
A certain somebody kept something from me."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 20:23:28 GMT -5
*He raised an eyebrow.*
"You said that Valjean and Cosette wanted to move the night of the insurrection, right? Nobody was permitted to leave the city; it was completely shut off until the barricades had fallen. Would have been impossible for them to leave if they didn't leave before the fighting started."
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 20:27:41 GMT -5
"Argh...this is so confusing. All these different versions of people and places and events..."
*He sat down at the bar*
"I need a drink."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 20:29:35 GMT -5
"I concur." *He flagged the bartender down.* "M'sieur Pontmercy! So good to see you again!"
*Enjolras ordered a better brandy and blinked confusedly as the man left.*
"He recognized you and me. Not normal. Not normal at all." *He downed some of the brandy.*
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Post by Marius on Jan 15, 2008 20:39:25 GMT -5
*Marius, too, blinked at the bartender.*
"...yes. I think we're perhaps better off not knowing the answer to that one."
*He took a drink of the brandy*
"So...what have you done since you came here? I know a man like you would never be idle."
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Post by Enjolras on Jan 15, 2008 20:41:52 GMT -5
"Got married, went back to law like I always studied to, had kids." *He said simply.* "It sounds idle and trite, but there was nothing left to fight for."
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