nysalogs | and so I'll read a book

Who: Enjolras (

idealisme) & open
What: Catch-all as Enjolras gets on with things while we're all on the station
When: July
Where: Thesis Station- the pods, wandering around, one training simulation
Warning(s): None.

A. Don't cry for me, France
...For he that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read but the history of this, or any other age...

[There's a man sitting in front of a pod, reading aloud from a book. Listen long enough, you'll hear it's some kind of political book and that the young man is reading with great interest. On approaching it's clear the man has bright, almost tear-filled eyes. He'll stop when he hears footsteps.

If the visitor doesn't speak first, Enjolras will begin:] Yes? May I help you?

B. I think I'll try defying gravity
[Finding himself floating up to the ceiling isn't really an inconvenience. What is a problem is Enjolras' book floating away from him and towards you. Stretching and straining doesn't help, he can't reach it.]

Please, will you take hold of that? [He's keeping his voice even, but there's something very worried in his look. This is something very important to him.]

C. The snow glows white on the mountain today
[It's actually a nice day in the snow training simulation. The sun's out and the wind isn't blowing too strongly. The perfect day to learn to buildn an igloo, right?

Well, right until you get smacked in the back of the head by a snowball. If you look around for the culpript you'll see only Enjolras, working determinedly on his fire.

Studying him very closely will reveal he's totally engrossed in his fire and oblivious to the world around him, but who wants to look closely when you've been attacked by a snowball!?]

D. I don't know any musical songs about malfunctioning doorways
[Having been on the station for a while since time was frozen, Enjolras feels fairly confident in getting around. If he thinks of it like a city rather than an inordinately large house then he has fewer problems.

Until he walks through a door and into what is not the observatory. It is, in fact, someone's personal rooms. Uh, sorry. Hope you're not doing anything particularly private.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ at first, Morgana is stunned that he's being spoken to like a normal person despite being in his feline-shaped form? maybe Enjolras knew a cat like him, and is super comfortable with asking an animal to help him in rescuing what seems to be an important book. this is only obvious because he's actually being asked to help?

maybe he's just... a little crazy. or confused.

so after looking around somewhat confusedly, Mona can't help but tilt his head as to say

"are you seriously asking me?" ]

[Paying attention to others when he's focused has never been one of Enjolras' strengths. He'd assumed there was a person and there wasn't-

He purses his lips when he realises it's what he assumes is just a cat- giving it a hard look as though the cat ought to have been a person who could help him.

But now believing himself alone, he allows his focus on the floating book to become less restrained. His brow creases and he bites his lip. There's nothing he can reach that'll help him grab the book that's drifting closer to the floating cat.]

[ he should be so lucky that Morgana is no normal cat, just a cat-shaped not-cat that happened to get caught in the gravity-less area. should he play the benevolent god, or the malevolent trickster? it's all right there, almost in his paws.

but...

nah. it's fun to think about it, but he has no reason to kick the book farther away, and he's got some momentum on his side: a tail that allows him to push off and into the book where he can cling onto it with his body. even better is that he's able to angle himself toward Enjolras, so that at some point he'll just casually bump into the man.

mission accomplished? ]

[Enjolras watches it happen with wide eyes, arms automatically rising to catch the cat and book as they float in his direction.

Purposefully float, he tells himself, mouth dropping open a fraction. Those were not the actions of a unintelligent cat. He is not a mad man, and so what he's seen must be real.]

Thank you.

[That's the polite thing to do, isn't it??? ]

You're welcome.

[ and the equally polite reaction is what he says. what, he's not going to deny the man manners! who does that? not Morgana. besides, he just did him a favor and he might as well respond in kind. ]

A book is probably the last thing I expected to see.

[ reading just seems like a very odd thing to do at a time like this.

also he can talk but honestly is this unexpected at this point, what do cats do in space anyway ]

[The cat will feel how Enjolras stiffens in surprise, his body tensing and eyes widening in silent shock.

It's hard to master himself, but really- he's just experienced a dragon destroying his city, why should a talking cat surprise him all that much?]

I requested it. It is from my home in Paris. One of the many works of a man named Voltaire.

[Is it polite to ask cats why they can talk? There's a debate raging inside Enjolras on this point.]

[ now that's an interesting response, one that makes it hard for him to keep a smile off his face. it's been a while since he's induced something like that, meaning that wherever Enjolras is from is... a little more normal than expected. ]

Paris? Oh, I know what Paris is. [ and now Morgana's surprised, tail twitching. ] Voltaire though... was he an artist?

[ because then maybe Yusuke would know him!

then he squints. ]

Are... you an artist?

I was a student.

[What is he now? Enjolras has not yet decided. There are no ecoles here for him to attend.] Voltaire was an artist of a kind. A writer of many things. This is his work Idées républicaines- his thoughts on a republic as the ideal form of government.

[The topic distracts him from the talking cat; it's apparent in the way he relaxes and his expression eases.]

[ a student. well, that's at least one similarity he can find between the rest of his team and this book-carrying guy. ]

And I'm guessing... this is important to you.

[ not a question, but a statement! why else would Enjolras carry a book around like that? ]

Do you share his opinions? [ a low hum in thought follows his question, tilting his head in curiosity. ] I don't know much about governments.

[ obviously, it's because he's a cat and not because of his own fight back home. ]

[He nods in affirmation. In a way the book also helps to remind him of the home he'd known, of the Paris that is no longer. It and this place are so different, after all.]

I agree with some of his opinions. He states here his reasons for supporting an elected, republican government over a more archaic style with a king as head of state.

... is corruption one of them?

[ there's a hardness to his look now, a gaze that looks just as faraway as it may look intense--- possibly strange from a cat, but not from someone who has idly thought about those who choose leadership for power and for selfish reasons... ]

Not specifically. Elsewhere he has. It is one of the main reasons to object to a monarchy. There will be corruption in all forms of government, it is naive to think otherwise. But without a recourse to remove corrupt men from power, the people are helpless. Such avenues are limited under a king.

[The passion for this topic makes Enjolras ready to speak about it at the drop of a hat. It will take a moment before he questions how a cat might come to have views on it.]

So if there was a way to pull that corruption out of a person, without hurting them or threatening them, and without them knowing who did it... would you consider that just?

[ regardless of who Enjolras is, it's obvious to Morgana that he might have the kind of moral compass to bounce this off of. it had been their goal all this time to remove a similar kind of corruption from powerful adults, after all. ]

[A way to-

His frown turns puzzled.] I do not understand. Such a thing is not possible.

I guess it does sound pretty impossible.

[ once again, he uses his tail to gently push himself off of Enjolras. not so far as to separate himself completely, but to spin in place. ]

Just saying 'what if', by using your imagination.

[Enjolras takes the opportunity to slide his book under his waistcoat. It ought to be safe there.]

"What if." [He'd usually dismiss such ridiculousness, but he's seen things here that he cannot explain. It might be that it's possible.]

No. I would not condone that. If one can pull corruption out of a man, what else can be done?

That makes sense. Though, I assume it would leave behind what might one remorseful. Repentant? Able to reflect on the mistakes they've made?

[ a defense of previous actions made in order to make their world better... though, at the cost of a combination of belief and ego. a downfall, then a rebirth.

freedom does come at a cost. doesn't it? ]

[Putting out a hand, Enjolras steadies himself against a wall to avoid floating away.]

I think you're not wrong. Without corruption, men might become better. My issue is with the ability to do so. One might take a man's convictions, his morality, his passion. His will

and so I'll read a book

B

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