vivelavenir: (Assit un arrêt outrageant ✜)
Jean Prouvaire ([personal profile] vivelavenir) wrote in [community profile] ataraxion2013-10-16 09:35 pm

[Video] Fashion Disaster

[In light of all this... mess, really, going on with everyone's minds (it did seem to be contagious), perhaps now was not the time to explore new things. Perhaps now was the time to really hold in place what one's personality ought to be, and to cling to it.

Despite that, Jehan and Courfeyrac have decided upon now to finally take the foray into modern fashion. Jehan can't say he's thrilled with the result, but the clothing items they have lifted from the Cyllene at least fit... for the most part.

Being rather dismal with technology still, he'd meant to put in a call to Combeferre, whom he thought might be amused with the antics (...and might tell them what he planned to do with those dresses, finally.)

Instead, network, have a man in his early twenties, from 1832, in front of the camera wearing a streamlined, white jacket. Which might not have been so bad, if he had not insisted on wearing it with a bright tie, which he had fashioned into a bow around his neck.

Courfeyrac had done... something to his hair, with some form of goo he'd found in one of the bathrooms on the other ship, and he had not liked it. It was sticky. He'd tried to comb it out with his hands, and the result was that it now more-or-less stood straight up, tilted to the side violently, and had frozen like that, as if in shock.]


Is this-- is it recording?

[A pause.

He had no time to be embarrassed. He had a few questions.]


This is absurd. The buttons on these costumes-- they have no button holes, the half of them. Are they meant to connect to nothing?

[In his attempt to figure out why on earth a jacket would have buttons that were only for show, he's fastened two into the same hole, in a few places; with a herculean amount of effort.]

And some of these pockets are stitched shut.

Is all clothing like this, past our day? Do men really wear pants quite so tight; and how do you go about fitting suspenders onto pants that have no buttons in the back?

[He has figured belts... to an extent. As the pants he'd taken sat much lower than he was used to, he'd used the belt to fasten them nearly to his waist, putting it through only one loop and pulling tight. Over the jacket.

The result is more or less a disaster, and he'd readily admit it leaned towards more; the clothes simply didn't make sense.]


Really, I cannot say I imagine I am wearing this... absolutely correctly. But is it made correctly? These are pieces we have found, and I've seen all manner of clothing on board this vessel.

Are such things really comfortable? I can't say they seem useful, exactly...

Are all pockets in the future stitched shut?

[Someone has to ask the Serious Questions, Tranquility.]
gardienne: (smile and shrug)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Eponine lets out a loud, hoarse cackle of laughter when she sees Jehan's post]

Monsieur, you are as good as the opera!
gardienne: (smile and shrug)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, Sir!

[Oh, how she enjoyed watching the wealthy, the intelligent, struggle with such mundane tasks. Not that she knew how to dress herself properly - but luckily, her dress was big enough to pull on over her head.]

You look as if you act the part of a fool. They were always my favourite parts, though, the clowns.
gardienne: (smile and shrug)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 12:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Sir, NO! I was not saying so to cause you offence. Truly, please do not be embarrassed with my words.

[She looked positively alarmed at his words.]

Why are you humiliated, Sir? It is like I with... well... you know. We have not seen such things, Sir. How are we to be able to use them?
gardienne: (looking up)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, Sir? The dress that you gave me? It is lovely, Sir. But if I could choose, I should wish for a dress like the ladies wear at home, with the big sleeves, you know? And the buttons - and oh! A corset! And a chemise - and bloomers too,perhaps. Can you imagine to wear underclothes? I should like it!
I should like one of muslin, maybe, or silk, in a nice colour, like pink, perhaps, or purple. And a bonnet to match. But the one you gave me is lovely, of course. But you see what I am trying to say, don't you? I think we are supposed to prefer what is familiar to us - at least as far as clothes, Monsieur, for I would be a liar if I said I preferred life at home.
gardienne: (scared)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Do you think?

[Her eyes lit up at the compliment.]

Do you really think I could look like a lady, Monsieur? We could be a right pair, couldn't we? Dressed in our finery - and your friend, Monsieur - is it Combferre? We could stride through the boat arm in arm and look like true kings and queens.

[But her smile disappeared with his question about her welfare; she at once became guarded, her expression clouded.]

You need not trouble yourself, you know? I am always okay, Sir...

[She studied Jehan, ignoring for the moment his ridiculous get up. Could she trust him? Could she open up enough to him to talk to him? After perhaps a minute or so of silence, she whispered,]

Have you seen him? Monsieur Javert?
gardienne: (tired)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes - your opera clown friend. Truly, Sir, I think we could look well together.

[Which basically meant she thought the three of them could look ridiculous. Eponine might have cherished the idea of looking like a lady, like Cosette, but she was under no illusion as to what she looked like, and how scarred, how worn and weary she looked, and how comical she would look dressed up. It was a nice dream and a safe one as well, for she knew it could never be. Especially now. Especially with him here. She tilted her head, still studying Jehan.]

He doesn't like me, you know? He'll tell you stories about me - he'll tell them to everyone. Him and that horrid Monsieur Mordecai. And then you won't speak to me again - only, Monsieur. You won't believe him, will you? What he says isn't true.

[She was lying, of course. What Javert would relate was the truth. But Eponine was a good liar - she could even convince herself of her stories. So hopefully, she would convince Jehan, or at least make him listen to the men with an open mind.]
gardienne: (pout)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't know, Monsieur. I would like 'em, I truly would, you know? But... But I think Monsieur Javert will keep it so that it is like Paris now. He won't like me being friends with you... for we are friends, are we not? You are to be my opera clown, no? But he will not like that. He will say I hang round you to thieve off you or worse. But I don't, Monsieur. I would not dream of robbing you, and I could, so easily. But I wouldn't.

[She pursed her lips, frustrated by Javert's presence]

He is not a nice man, that one. And he will not like that they had to let me free - and that my Pa escaped as well - haha, he thought he had us, but we will always beat him. He is a horrible man, though. He will make people not want to associate with me, like in Paris. I can feel it in my breast, Sir. I wish he were not here.
gardienne: (snarl)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Not a horrible man?

[Eponine actually spat at her screen] That is what I think of that, Monsieur. How are you to know, anyway? Was it you he chased? Was it you who he dragged through the streets of Paris in chains that clanked and declared you a prisoner for everyone? Was it you who he locked in la prison des Madelonnettes? NO!

[She scowled indignantly at the screen. She couldn't understand Jehan's reasoning - in her mind, he had no right to say such things. He hadn't experienced what she had - he hadn't felt the contempt of the law, seen Javert's smug smile as the prison bars swung closed behind her, or his disgust when she had desperately begged for a piece of bread from a kitchen door. Jehan, as far as she was concerned, had no business in having opinions about Javert, unless he shared her vision.]

I don't need looking after. I can take care of myself - better than you toffs anyway. You would simply bore him to death with chatter he cannot understand.
gardienne: (pout)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Her lips pursed again, and she frowned. She didn't at all like what she was hearing, not any of it. She didn't like how he emphasised her suffering. She didn't like how it made her seem somehow weak. And she didn't like that Jehan, her friend, her grand friend and her ticket to lady-likeness and to, ultimately, Marius, wanted to befriend a man who had treated her so horribly. Stiffly, she replied,]

It is as you wish, of course, Monsieur. I shall not seek to change your mind for you, of course, know best.
gardienne: (tired)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I TELL YOU,IT'S -

[With effort, she stopped herself, stopped yelling. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to reply in a quieter voice]

I tell you, it is simply a habit, Monsieur Prouvaire. It saves a space in my head so I can forget names and it be no problem for me.
gardienne: (I love him)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-17 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
No, Sir. Of course I do not wish to forget you. No - only you must forgive my stupidity.
I am not as clever as you yet. I forget things that I do not need to remember.

[She laughed as she spoke; it was gentle chuckles interspersing her words. But her laughter was tinged with something more, with bitterness. With desperation.]

It is just correct for someone like me to address you as 'Sir'.
gardienne: (who me?)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-18 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
Formal, Sir? With me?

[She cackled.]

You don't have to be formal with me; no one else ever is, and you know it. I don't care. But it's not right for me to call you - what is your name again, Sir? I learn so many that I forget some as well.
gardienne: (looking after him)

[personal profile] gardienne 2013-10-19 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I will call you Monsieur Jean, Sir. That way, if you do change your mind, then I will not be in trouble from you. Will that suit you, Monsieur Jean?