dear_mun | On applications

Perhaps, my friend, you should consider what you would do for those who will face similar situations in the future. If your personal happiness is out of the question, work then toward the happiness of others.

[ Just give him a moment. There is so much grief at the sight of this face, so much that cannot be said, and yet Enjolras speaks as he has always done.

For the good of the people. ]

It does not surprise me to hear you speak like that, my friend. I do not know what happiness I could bring them.

They would be better looking to you than me. [ If only they could. ]

Every man can do his part for the future. Everyone has something to offer which is unique to him and which improve the state as a whole.

And I would consider it needless to say that some things will be beyond my experience or knowledge. For them they will look to you, and Combeferre, and Feuilly, and so on.

I go to a place where one would have little need for interpreting the law, for they make their own. That will be challenge enough, I imagine.

They fight against an enemy that they cannot see, and barely know.

Then help them create laws which are just. Rousseau suggested that man shouldn't need laws in their conventional sense, so long as he respects other men and can enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with them. Help instigate and mediate that relationship. You have opportunity to perform an experiment which could lead to good, and for which our own country has struggled.

... On a more tangible level, I cannot see how a shared enemy, however mysterious, would make that any more difficult. Use your circumstance to your advantage.

You speak of liberty without the constraint of law, but also without the protection or order that laws can bring. I do not believe that men can live that way, in any community, much less in one where movement is restricted and their lives are not their own. In any case, I think that laws are a necessity, but that they should shelter the people and allow them to rise rather than hold them down. That, I believe, is where our country has struggled. Where it continues to struggle.

In any case, I do not know how much of that applies where I am going. What peace can philosophy bring to a prisoner?

I speak of liberty innate to an individual and ensured by the mutual understanding of a group. One man must respect his neighbor's liberty to expect his own to be respected. Our country struggles because those who have power do not respect those who lack it and deny them even the most basic rights. They use people, as they would animals, to raise themselves up instead of understanding that together we a mutually stronger, more productive, and more prosperous than any of us would be separately. It's a discredit to them as individuals and a discredit to France as they reflect on her.

To your stance on laws, I have already touched on that briefly. If you all will be in fear for your lives, you have nothing better to do than protect one another. Then the well being of the group and its favor become tantamount to survival. Is there not a better system from which to create order? Substitute "safety" for "liberty" and everything that I just stated applies in more or less the same fashion. Though, I might add, the exchange of liberty for safety can be a very dangerous thing and should not be done in circumstances where death is not a strong and imminent possibility.

... The Marquis de Condorcet died in prison. I can only assume his beliefs were of a certain comfort to him after he was incarcerated for them. He also spoke of mutual rights and liberties for all men, if you're unfamiliar with him.

Edited (what are pronouns) 2013-02-17 06:46 (UTC)

As to the treatment of the poor, you will find no argument from me, my friend. It is the responsibility of those with power to provide for those who do not. That, indeed, should be their calling, though I do not share your fear on the misuse of the law. Law itself is not the villain; lawmakers are to blame, those who place their own advancement before that of the whole.

[ He cannot help but think of his friend's similarity to that Marquis, now that he lives as a martyr for his own beliefs. But that is where Marius fails, of course. Martyrdom seems futile to him now, lost in the grief of a failed revolution where he woke to find the world not richer, but poorer still because his friends were no longer in it. ]

The Marquis was a good man, indeed. If he was comforted, that is to be commended; but without him, his people remained as they were. They would be better served, perhaps, were he still among them. Remembered words have a hollow sound, my friend.

Then I return to my original suggestion. You are a good man, Marius, despite your ill-conceived political affiliations. Use your understanding of the law, philosophy and what you believe to be right and help these people find a path. I have no doubt that if you are the lawmaker, there will at least be hope.

[Enjolras doesn't miss the look on his friend's face, even if he finds it hard to sympathize with it. To his mind, the men of the barricade died the best death possible for them. Yes, he's sorry that his republic wasn't meant to be, at least not then, but they died for what they believed in and there's nothing overtly sad about that. It's noble, even beautiful.]

The Marquis was a man before his time, I believe. As, perhaps, are we. His country wasn't ready to accept his ideals, or even entertain them. While they talked of revolution and freedom, they ultimately became paranoid and fearful of any differing opinions and that, I'm afraid, is why he was imprisoned. Despite all of that, or perhaps because of it, I believe that his death bears more weight than his life would have otherwise. There was no other end possible for him that did not involve compromising his beliefs. His people should look to his sacrifice as proof of his conviction and remember that.

His people will hold him up as a martyr, and his ideals will outlive him. An idea cannot be killed, and one who believes in it shall be immortal in the eyes of the world. [ He can understand that well. He intended to make a martyr of himself, after all, to die a glorious death because he could not be with the one he loved.

But now he sees the cost, and the futility. An idea alone cannot bring back those who have gone. ] His is not a sacrifice they should forget - nor will they, I believe. New hands will take up his banner.

[ But not Marius' hands. The part of him that lived for glory died upon that barricade. ]

You have more faith than I can find in myself, my friend. I pray that you are right.

[He nods, leveling Marius with an intense, but affirming look.] We rise to meet challenges as they present themselves to us. You have the capacity to lead when necessary and bring a unique perspective of hope. I do not think my faith ill placed.

Perhaps it is a new path for you to look forward to instead.

Not long ago I would have told you that there could not be any other way, that I could not live were I to be parted from her.

That sentiment seems childish now, and yet I should rather walk the path I had chosen than follow this new course.

Sometimes we cannot choose the path, that does not mean we cannot walk the path that has chosen us. Resistance only makes it that much harder to walk.

So you would not resist at all? I do not find it so easy to accept my circumstances, Mademoiselle. Fate is cruel when she has her way; to sit still is not in my nature.

I have learned to fight when fighting is necessary. I have also learned to give myself over and to trust in others. Both have served me well.

Trust in people is one matter. Trusting to fate, or to Providence perhaps, is another entirely. What is good, and right, will not always prevail, particularly when left to chance.

If fighting is what you prefer then.

I did not say that.

The truth is, I thought I had left all of that behind me. The thought of doing so again, now…I do not want that.

[ It fills him with grief. He has counted that cost, and found it too high. ]

It is a shame that you are being forced into such things again.

I do not fully know what lies ahead. That is why I cannot trust in it.

Do you think you would feel differently, in my position?

I have both resisted and give in. I have been a warrior in strife and a leader in times of peace.

There is not much I fear now, but that is also why I am not you.

You think me afraid. [ He's smiling, but she's not wrong. He's afraid of losing everything again. ]

Perhaps I am. I would call it caution rather than fear. You called yourself a warrior?

Is it not the unknown that is what you fear?

The greatest in Atlantis.

No. I fear that history may repeat itself, and in any case I have responsibilities at home that I would no longer seek to ignore.

[ Now he looks at her, confused. ] The only place I know by that name is the Atlantis I read about in stories as a child.

Then perhaps you will get the chance to return home. If you survive long enough.

[ She gives a nod. ] I have heard that my home has become nothing but stories, but I can promise that I am from that city.

That is...forgive me. That is so difficult for me to believe, but I know that you mean what you say, Mademoiselle.

Where is that place? I have never heard of its discovery.

You should learn more faith. Pessimism is not fitting one so young.

It is under the sea. You would not have heard of the discovery because we did not want the discovery to be found out. Our friends have kept our secret for us.

Do you call me young? [ He stares at her. She is but a girl, younger than he by his estimation. ] I am not so young as that.

[ There is literally no logic in what she's saying at all. Perhaps at the end of it all, he truly is dreaming. ]

The idea that human beings could live beneath the sea is...a fantasy, a child's story. Do you take me for a fool?

...where are you going?

[Hi there, girl who almost got you killed here. Sup.]

[ Eponine.

The sight of her might break his heart. ]

To a strange place, 'Ponine. To a ship full of dangers.

[ A tiny, uncertain laugh. ] Forgive me. I must be dreaming, to see you here.

[She doesn't want it to. In fact, she almost wants him to be angry with her for what she's done. What she did before she died.]

These games...they are not all bad. Mlle. Mundane sent me somewhere nice before, a city of dreams. But, she could not keep me there.

But where you are going does not sound so nice.

[Her smile in return is less a smile than a grimace.] It is no dream, monsieur. The dead can come back in places like this.

Were it a dream, Eponine, you would not be dead. Would that I could make it so.

I am sorry that you could not remain in that other world. I would be glad to know that somewhere, you continued still, even if it were in a world less comfortable than that - like the one to which I am bound.

[A snort. Honestly, Marius.] But you cannot, monsieur. There is no use lingering on things you cannot make happen.

I suppose it does not matter, though it was very nice there. Perhaps one day, Mlle. Mundane will find the will to put me somewhere else, but for now, I suppose I am content to stay in what she calls her headspace. It is not uncomfortable.

[She draws a little closer, unsure.] I wish you did not have to go where you may be hurt. Will there be others you know there? Your friends?

I… am not certain of that. [ He supposes so, but it cannot be possible.

Just as talking to Eponine now is impossible. Already, the mechanics of that place confuse him. ]

It may be so, but it is difficult for me to believe. As you say…the past cannot be restored. Not for you. Not for them. [ Not for him. ]

But there is nothing for you to worry about. I do not relish the thought of danger, but I am more concerned with what I leave behind. A little pain has never worried in me the past.

It is admirable that you would keep your gaze forward— [ Alayne knows that hope is folly and yet does not have the heart to advise against it. ] —despite all that has befallen you.

Is there another way to be? I do not forget everything that has gone before, it is impossible to do that. I would not want to, but the past is just that. There is no way for me to return to that. Would that I could, Mademoiselle, but I cannot.

Some would try, impossible as it may be. They would reach with desperate fingers, looking to hold fast to what is already long past. With stories, with drink; with lies.

It takes a strong heart to let go of things. Others would search for false comfort where there is none.

All must grieve for what is lost, in their own time and in their own turn. I would begrudge that time to no one.

But I do not feel strong in heart, or in any other thing. It would be a lie to pretend anything else. Perhaps the real aim is to accept grief for what it is, and live on regardless.

You sound as though you understand something of the subject. [ Or perhaps that's just his imagination. He could be projecting his own feelings on to her...but she speaks very plainly for one so young, and he suspects her words come from somewhere personal. ]

[ What does it mean to not feel strong and yet carry on nevertheless? Alayne thinks that is as true a strength as any — though she herself has carried on through pain and suffering and feels no braver for it. ]

I come from a land touched by war. As the kingdom bleeds, we have all tasted grief in our own ways. Some more than others.

[ Those who were strong had died for their faith. To live on makes him feel the kind of guilt that makes him keenly aware of weakness...the more so because, knowing the life he may now live, he does not want to die. ]

I'm sorry for your loss. My country's struggle is within itself, though it still bleeds. I understand what you mean.

Have you lost many men?

You must keep the faith, and keep striving to change the world Marius.

[There is an endless conviction that their world can be changed. People must pick up the flag and continue.]

Do not let you concerns over Cosette deter you.

My friend. [ So much emotion in that statement, so much sadness. It is hard for him to bear. ]

A single night cannot change the world. That was a dream that did not come true; I am not the man for that.

Perhaps I never was.

[Marius is a man of passion led by his heart, and as Enjolras thought by his ideals.]

A single act Marius is the beginning of change. It does not come without a sacrifice.

You understand that.

I thought I did. [ He looks up. ] You asked if we knew the price we might pay. I did, my friend, and I was ready.

Such passion is harder in the morning, when day breaks. Sacrifice can seem needless then.

The morning after is what counts my friend.

He was aware of his own fate, stood at the window. There had been the bitter taste of failure. Revolution would breed revolution. The deaths on the barricade could be the spark that was needed to finally stir the people.]

The people must rise, and pick up the banner. They cannot stay silent forever.

I do not any longer know what is for the best. Once I was sure.

Now there are too many memories. Perhaps you would think the same, if you had seen what I have seen.

[ If he had seen life continue, as if that night had never been. The people feel very far from rising to him. ]

On applications

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I'm so sorry

Ahhh no don't he is perfect

\o/ I worry about his tl;dr and just... dumping it on people like that fff

tldr is never not a good thing!

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