voice testing...

[ifprovidence]

I must profess curiosity at your endeavor.

Comments

Please excuse the somewhat unconventional version of adopted son #mostfavorite

[asmartman]

General!

Curiosity suggests the preliminary plans are not entirely hopeless?

consider oneself excused!

[ifprovidence]

[he studies the man deliberately; despite the uncommon sight, he cannot deny there is the peculiar sense of knowing (and of course, that accent). he is a soldier, despite all of it, and soldiers trust their intuitions. he nods.]

Sir. You remind me of someone.

[a beat..]

To my knowledge, there is not much by the way of plans. An inkling, if you will.

SIR THANK YOU SIR (it was either Lafayette or Hamilton...)

[asmartman]

[ ... well, that's one sunny, excited smile burned away. Lafayette straightens to attention, his motions and expression carefully precise, the only confusion in his eyes which are still a little too young for his position. ]

Sir. Major-General Lafayette of the Continental Army.

[ There are more names and titles. But if Washington doesn't know him... these will do. ]

And so long as the inkling is intriguing, rather than enraging, there is hope!

[ifprovidence]

[A frown flickers on his lips before his expression slides back to neutrality. He had known it was the Marquis, and he has upset his Marquis by begging ignorance about it. How rude. Do his eyes lie? Perhaps he has truly gone mad. No, that is not it. This is the Marquis. He knows it to be so; he knows his heart. And yet.

Well, there is no use to be had in disturbing his man about such considerations, if the man himself is not disturbed. ]

At ease, my dear. A good man will lean toward the strange, and in time it will seem the familiar, and then they must reach again, toward the strange. That is how one becomes learned.

I hope I have not upset you; you know I would never desire to do so.

[asmartman]

Non, non, mon general! [ Toujours en anglais, he remembers, and repeats, ] no, General! Not upset. This place can be confusing, especially at first. People come from different places and times, and even if the difference between friends, or family even, is as small as two weeks, or a few days, it can be disorienting. So do not worry about it at all.

[ Lafayette does relax, though even he knows better than to act familiarly or closely with Washington. It's just good to be close, and to hear the man's wise words. ]

You always know the best way to learn, and to lead. I just wanted to say, if you need a break from the entirely unfamiliar, not all who you meet have to be strangers.

[greyorder]

Don't. It will only encourage them.

[ifprovidence]

We cannot cease to march because we do not know where we are going, sir. We must have faith.

[greyorder]

You sound like my mother. [His tone of voice implies that's a good thing. Or at least something that makes him half-smile for a second before returning to serious mode.] But I actually do know where some of the paths muns tread go, and they're not all good. Some of them, you're better off avoiding.

[ifprovidence]

[Something about the boy makes him feel that the warning is not one given without experience. He has a sense of a storm to him.]

If you know, might you share? So that I may make my decision as a wise man.

I hope you don't mind another Hamilton-verse character invading this party...

[workingon3]

[Laurens stands at attention. This isn't the Washington he's used to, but he's been around long enough to understand that it's still a Washington, and the General probably needs his aide.]

Always wonderful to see you, sir.

no, not at all!

[ifprovidence]

[He studies the man. It is his man, for sure. But it is not his man. But-- there is something in the eyes. He knows this man, even if this man is a peculiar... Spaniard? Portuguese?]

And you, Colonel Laurens. At ease. Your report.

[workingon3]

On this place? It's... it's highly unusual, your excellency. [If, you know, you couldn't already tell that.]

Sometimes there will be multiple of the same person. I believe I've spent time with four or five different Hamiltons. Thankfully there hasn't been much of the enemy here that I've seen, but if you ask me, that just means we're being forced to waste time by being here. And you gotta watch out if your player tells you they're sendin' you to a game, 'cause trust me, there's nothing fun about the games here, they're all horrible places where you'll have your worst fears and memories used against ya for --

[He catches himself ranting and promptly shuts up.]

Forgive me, sir. It has been a long couple of months.

[ifprovidence]

Dear God, four Hamiltons? No man deserves a torture so cruel.

[And he thought it was just going to be bad war dreams. No, please do not assault him with more than one Hamilton. One is too much on some days.]

You have been here for months? But you have been...

[No, it is a different Laurens. What a peculiar thing. Although more than one Laurens is merely a different sort of recipe for disaster than more than one Hamilton.]

Can it be worse than recovering from being shot, as the Laurens I am familiar with is?

Also excuse the semi-not really adopted son over here.

[aimedhigh]

[Right. Not quite the General he's familiar with, but a general nonetheless! He is undoubtedly not the same aide-de-camp this General would be used to, this one is dark of hair and eye; but he brims with the same sense of urgency that Hamilton likely has. And so, he quirks an eyebrow.]

What endeavor might that be, sir?

[ifprovidence]

[Oh, this one he knows immediately. He wonders how different Hamilton would have to look not know the man nearly busting out of his skin with ideas and strategies and his own annoyances, at his shoulder like a shadow with a quill. He is like Laurens, sort of. That, he thinks, is of no surprise to anyone that knew the men.]

To have new and peculiar experiences, like meeting Spaniard shadows of my men.

[aimedhigh]

[Well, no, it wouldn't be. They are two of a kind even in this other world, always inseparable for as long as they can be. That is something familiar, at least, and hopefully so, too, is the small lipquirk he gives at that answer.]

Certainly peculiar, sir, but then this is a place where the dead may return. Strangeness seems to be a way of life. Or, at the very least, easily accepted.

[A beat, while he mulls over pointing out that his Washington definitely has less hair. A bit too familiar, though, and so he settles for:] It is always a pleasure to see you, your Excellency, even if you are rather changed from the one I recall.

[ifprovidence]

[It seems this bit with dead men is not uncommon. First he dares to dream of Lawrence, and there is some fear of men he has failed, but he cannot let that consume him.]

The pleasure, as always, is mine, Colonel.

[There's something there, maybe like a joke. This Hamilton has not yet grouched and stomped his foot about his posistion yet. Perhaps this one has rounded off a little. That seems unlikely, but he is not going to start if Hamilton doesn't.]

Tell me what I am like, as you are familiar, Ham.

I am not sorry.

[itellyourstory]

[ Here's a big smile from an Eliza that's less white than he'd be familiar with, to go with her hubby... ]

General Washington! It's lovely to see you, sir, how is your wife?

well that would be against the eliza rules

[ifprovidence]

[This one takes a little longer to figure out, for it is not one of his war family, despite the peculiar sense of knowing her. But of course he is a gentleman above all else; if there is a hand held out to be kissed, of course he will kiss it. It takes him a few more moments for him to identify her - if the men are ever to compare, she will surely have taken the longest.]

Mrs. Hamilton, the pleasure is all mine. My wife is the most wonderful woman I have ever met, as always. Are you managing with any success to keep my Colonel out of trouble?

It's true, it would be. Eliza is never sorry.

[itellyourstory]

[ Ever the gentleman. She is admittedly a bit amused by watching the "okay who could this be..." process unfold. She has a sweetly-wicked streak in her. Blame whatever genetics made Angelica herself, they definitely came through (if more gently) in Eliza as well. ]

Small success only, I'm afraid, but I keep the faith that one day he might listen. If not to me than to Angelica, perhaps. [ a faint smile ] How are you finding this... singular location, General?

GDI i fk'd it up, ham didn't get married til 1780... WELL WHATEVER. Run with it. Next time: better.

[ifprovidence]

It speaks valiantly of your character to keep such faith.

[There's a little smile at the corner of his mouth, though it folds away at her question.]

It is remarkable and peculiar. I have seen things no man should see, and I know things no man should not know. Yet I cannot deny my wonder, and consider the possibilities, stark as they as they may present themselves against God's plan.

[There is a pause.] Although I am told there are dangers I have yet to experience. Certainly these things have not beset themselves upon a lady of your character?

[shoulda_toined]

(Why is Bugs dressed like a Revolutionary and playing an off-rhythm, out-of-tune version of "Yankee Doodle" while wearing a One Man Band?

...why not?)

[ifprovidence]

[That is... that is... wow. Well. Wow.. Washington's mun actually googled to see if Yankee Doodle existed in the 1780s only to find out that the British troops sung it to make fun of the Americans. So.. You learn things on the internet. Meanwhile, Washington would be offended, if he was not so stunned by the whole affair.]

Sir.

[shoulda_toined]

(Bugs has Saturday Morning Cartoon level of history, so in his mind, Yankee Doodle has always been a patriotic call to arms. At least his heart is in the right place? He snaps to attention, all of the instuments clanging together as he does so.)

Bugs Bunny atcher soivice, Mistah Washington!

[ifprovidence]

[Washington's bafflement is masked by his anger. He puts his hand on the hilt of his sabre.]

What beast are you to disrespect me and my men?