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josefavomjaaga · 4 years

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Some more letters from March 1814

March 1814. The French empire has four more weeks to go. Murat weather forecast for Northern Italy: still unsettled and changeable.

From the memoirs of Colonel Maceroni, Volume II:

On the occasion of Lord Bentinck's applying to Murat for the cession of Leghorn and Pisa, as above stated, it was through the remonstrances of the Austrian Count Mier, and of other diplomatists of the allied powers, that Lord Bentinck withdrew his demand, and appeared quite reconciled, friendly and respectful towards the king. This induced the latter to give implicit faith in the victories of Napoleon recounted in the bulletins, and exaggerated by the French officers who still remained in our army, and about the king's person. The king having now had so many evident proofs of the insincerity of the allies, which it is not necessary for me to recapitulate, now made a last attempt to join with Prince Eugene. He therefore deputed to him the Marquis Livron and Colonel Desmolands, but the Prince, more influenced by his personal animosity towards Murat, than by a desire to serve the Emperor, who has since said so much about his fidelity, not only refused to listen to the proposal, but found means of acquainting Marshal Bellegarde with the occurrence!

***

From DuCasse, Memoirs and Political and Military Correspondence of Prince Eugene, Vol. 10

Eugène to Murat, Borgoforte, 3 March 1814

Sire, Your Majesty is informed of the setbacks recently suffered by the corps of General Nugent; they are considerable.

This is the moment when I desire more than ever to know the definitive intentions of Your Majesty. I must adjust my movements accordingly. I therefore beg Him to tell me what I have to hope or to fear from His army.

I will not permit myself to put before him the reasons which he has for declaring himself frankly for the cause of the Emperor, I limit myself to asking him to be so good as, at least, to have his army take positions which do not impede my undertaking for the interests entrusted to me.

A certain number of troops belonging to Your Majesty have been found in Parma. I ordered that they be treated well and that they be set free; they were to be sent back to you the same evening.

The three divisions which operate on the right bank of the Po have orders to put themselves in communication with me through Borgoforte. I flatter myself that Your Majesty will want to put no obstacle in the way.

I hope for a favourable response from Him. I dare to ask for a precise answer. The estrangement with the Austrians must finally allow Your Majesty to listen to his interests and his heart and to reveal himself as that which, I have no doubt, he has not ceased to be.

***

From DuCasse, Memoirs and Political and Military Correspondence of Prince Eugene, Vol. 10

Murat à Napoléon (sans date)

Sire,

Votre Majesté court des dangers ; la France est menacée jusque dans sa capitale; et je ne puis défendre ni l'un ni l'autre, je ne puis mourir pour vous! et l'ami le plus affectionné de Votre Majesté est en apparence son ennemi! Sire, dites un mot, et je sacrifie ma famille, mes sujets; je me perdrai, mais je vous aurai servi, je vous aurai prouvé que toujours je fus votre meilleur ami. Je ne demande dans ce moment autre chose, pourvu que le vice-roi vous fasse connaître ma conduite... Les larmes qui remplissent mes yeux m'empêchent de continuer ma lettre. Je suis ici seul au milieu d'étrangers; je dois cacher jusqu'à mes larmes; cette lettre vous rend entièrement, Sire, le maître de mon sort. Ma vie est à vous. Aussi bien avais-je fait le serment de mourir pour Votre Majesté; si vous me voyiez et si vous pouviez vous faire une idée de ce que je souffre depuis deux mois, vous auriez pitié de moi.

Aimez-moi toujours. Jamais je ne fus plus digne de votre tendresse; jusqu'à la mort, votre ami.

Murat to Napoleon (undated)

Sire,

Your Majesty is in danger; France is threatened even in her capital; and I cannot defend either of them, I cannot die for you! and the most affectionate friend of Your Majesty is apparently His enemy! Sire, say a word, and I sacrifice my family, my subjects; I will lose myself, but I will have served you, I will have proved to you that I was always your best friend. I do not ask for anything else at this moment, provided that the Viceroy makes my conduct known to you... The tears filling my eyes prevent me from continuing my letter. I am here alone amongst strangers; I must hide even my tears; this letter makes you, Sire, the master of my fate. My life is yours. If you could see me and imagine what I have been suffering for the last two months, you would feel sorry for me.

Love me always. I was never more worthy of your tenderness; until death, your friend.

This is heartbreaking. And I fear, Napoleon did not get it at all. Judging from his reaction below, he probably assumed Murat was faking it.

***

From DuCasse, Memoirs and Political and Military Correspondence of Prince Eugene, Vol. 10

Napoleon to Eugene. Soissons, 12 March 1814

My son, I am sending you a copy of a most extraordinary letter I have received from the King of Naples.

At a time when I and France are being assassinated, such feelings are truly inconceivable. I also receive the letter which you write to me with the draft treaty sent to you by the King. You can see that this idea is madness. However, send an agent to this extraordinary traitor, and make a treaty with him in my name. Do not touch Piedmont or Genoa, and divide the rest of Italy into two kingdoms. Let this treaty remain secret, until the Austrians have been driven out of the country, and 24 hours after its signature the king declares himself and falls upon the Austrians. You can do everything in this sense, nothing must be spared in the present situation, to add to our efforts the efforts of the Neapolitans.

Afterwards, we will do what we want; for, after such ingratitude and in such circumstances, nothing binds. Wanting to embarrass him, I gave orders that the Pope be sent, by Piacenza and Parma, to the outposts. I let the Pope know that, having asked as Bishop of Rome to return to his diocese, I have allowed him to do so. Take care, therefore, not to commit yourself to anything in relation to the Pope, either to recognise him or not to recognise him.

I assume this undated letter by Murat also is the »note« Eugène was so furious about in an earlier letter, when he called Murat “totally nuts now”, but which he still sent on to Napoleon. Apparently, it did not go over too well with that one either.

***

From Helfert, »Joachim Murat«

Mier to Metternich (postscript)

Bologna this 6th of April 1814.

My Prince! I have been informed by a reliable source that about mid-March the Viceroy had made proposals to the King of Naples for an arrangement between them concerning Italy.

The King listened to them but took no action on them. Some Neapolitan generals, who had taken it into their heads to reunite Italy and put the King of Naples at the head of the Italians, continued to haggle and used all possible means to get the King to adopt their plan. They argued that for its realisation it was necessary to come to an agreement with the Viceroy.

Things remained as they were until Bentinck arrived in Livorno. A few days before the King had received a letter from Campochiaro announcing the refusal of England to accede for the moment to our treaty of alliance, and the difficulties of Russia and Prussia on the same subject. His whole report was so stitched as to inspire H. M. with great distrust of the views of the Allies in His regard. At the same time His Majesty was forced to ask Marshal Bellegarde to recall and replace General Nugent in the command of the Austrian division, in order to put an end to the continual gossip and harassment.

This unfortunate combination of circumstances, all designed to annoy His Majesty, was not lost on the Viceroy, and he rightly considered the moment favourable to renew his proposals. Bentinck's conduct served him wonderfully, and the King, pushed to the limit, believing himself to be sacrificed, decided to enter into talks with the Viceroy. The Duke of Gallo spoke out strongly against this step, but he was not well supported by the other people surrounding His Majesty. M. Generals Carascosa and Livron were sent on several occasions to the Viceroy's headquarters. In this time I had been near Marshal Bellegarde; we were not unaware of all that was going on. Lord Bentinck maintained by the positive data of the bad faith of the King of Naples the necessity of treating him as an enemy; but Marshal Cte Bellegarde knowing the position and the state of our army, foreseeing the unfortunate consequences which would result if we had the Neapolitans against us, and not wanting and not being able to take upon himself the decision of an affair of such importance, was firmly opposed to it, and we decided that it was necessary to prevent by all possible means that the King should throw himself on the side of the French.

The arrival of General Balascheff to sign a treaty of alliance, the reassuring statements Lord Bentinck was authorised to give in writing to the King about the British Government's feelings towards him, of which he had hitherto made no use, and more than all this the certainty I had that the Queen, whom I had warned of the turn affairs were taking here, would make up her mind to come and rejoin the King, gave me hope that S. M. return to himself, return to his commitments and duties, and that everything would be arranged amicably. The state of the Queen's health and the position of affairs in the kingdom of Naples did not allow her to come to Bologna, but she sent two persons of confidence to her august husband with letters and verbal declarations so firm and energetic, threatening Him to leave Him, to separate His fate entirely from hers, and to make the Neapolitan government take the course which its true interests required, if He ever dared to dishonour Himself by failing to keep His engagements with Austria (which would bring upon His kingdom inevitable misfortunes), that they produced all the effect that could be hoped for. The King acknowledged His wrongs, was ashamed of them, cut off all communications with the Viceroy and declared himself firmly unwilling to hear any more about them.

From that moment on things took a different turn here, and it is to be hoped that all will go well. On the 7th of this month the King will have an interview with Marshal Bellegarde at Revere, where the plan of operation will be discussed and decided. He is in the best of spirits; I hope that this time we will be able to make the most of it. For more than a month I have been endeavouring to persuade him to hand over the command of his troops to Marshal Bellegarde, and for his own sake to return to Naples. It was the only means of putting an end to all the mistrust, all the cabals, of ensuring us of Him to provide a unity to the operations of the two armies. I had asked the Queen to assist me in this respect. She entirely approved my project and made it agree to the King who is decided to give the command of His troops to Marshal Bellegarde as soon as the Viceroy will have been forced in his position on the Mincio. Once the King is in Naples, under the supervision of the Queen, we can be at peace about His conduct. I have the honour etc.

Mier.

Calling in the cavalry on the cavalry general: Caroline. Not trying to be disrespectful but Mier does sound a lot like a nursery school teacher running out of steam and patience with a toddler in his care. »That’s it. I called his mom.«

#italy1814 #napoleon #joachim murat #eugene de beauharnais #caroline murat #helfert murat

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princessanneftw · 5 years

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The Crown's Erin Doherty on playing Princess Anne – the voice, the hair and the style

By Caroline Leaper, Senior Fashion Editor for Stella Magazine.

As she joins acting royalty for the new series of the hit TV show, the actress discusses her transformation into a princess and just how long it takes to create THAT ’do

Erin Doherty is explaining how much fun it is to pretend to be very, very posh when you’re not. In the lead-up to playing Princess Anne in the new season of the hit Netflix drama The Crown, she says that she spent days practising her best royal voice in mundane scenarios, and offers to order a smoothie at the café we’ve met in ‘as Anne’, by way of demonstration.

‘Anne’s accent, and the whole family’s accent, is so weird,’ she laughs, snapping back into her own south London dialect. ‘It’s alien to me, I’ve never heard anyone else talk like that. My natural voice is the opposite. I watched YouTube videos and would practise when ordering a coffee, or speaking to people I didn’t know. The reactions were brilliant; I’m looking casual with this crazy posh voice coming out of me.’ Indeed, today she looks quite unroyal in her Breton top, khaki trousers and Birkenstocks.

Playing the Princess Royal is Erin’s first major television role. The 27-year-old from Crawley had a small part in the BBC adaptation of Les Misérables this year, and appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife back in 2017, but has otherwise stuck to the stage, graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to The Young Vic and The Old Vic, after being hailed a rising star of her generation. She is palpably excited about being in The Crown, and refreshingly honest about how she’s ‘winging it’ on one of the most anticipated TV shows of the year. She does, I should say now, deliver an incredibly convincing Anne. When casting director Nina Gold told her she had got the part, she celebrated by having a curry.

The Crown season three will span more than a decade, from 1964 to 1977, warranting an all-new cast to play the ageing royals.  Olivia Colman picks up from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies follows Matt Smith’s Duke of Edinburgh and Helena Bonham Carter takes over from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. We’ve reached the years when the Queen’s children are coming of age; Erin’s Anne is in her late teens when we meet her, and is full of fantastically feisty opinions about being ‘launched’ as an adult in the Royal family.

We all know the plot, or so we think, as The Crown is based on real events. But the brilliance of the show is that we don’t know which bits of history creator Peter Morgan will zoom in on. Season three might cover the time when, in 1974, Ian Ball attempted to abduct Anne and hold her to ransom for £3 million. (‘Not bloody likely,’ she famously said to her kidnapper, and her father Prince Philip quipped, ‘She would have given him a hell of a time in captivity...’). We might get to see Erin in bridal attire, as Anne’s first wedding to Captain Mark Phillips took place in 1973.

Erin is tight-lipped about which events do and do not make the cut. ‘You know what happens to Anne,’ she says. ‘It’s not hard to guess. But Peter makes these people so fascinating because of the way he focuses on stories which might not have been the headlines everyone remembers.’

Anne’s story, Erin says, was largely unknown to her before she began researching ahead of her audition. ‘Princess Anne, honestly, didn’t mean anything to me,’ she explains. ‘Like a lot of people who grow up in Britain, I think, [the Royal family was] always just there. My family watched the Queen’s speech at Christmas, but other than that, you feel a bit removed from it. I had to research her and then I realised, wow, this woman is awesome. I fell in love with her.’

Anne’s reputation as the reluctant, truculent royal, who was more interested in riding horses than wearing ballgowns and playing the part, has come good of late. Where once the tabloid press dubbed her ‘rude’, ‘dowdy’ and ‘austere’, her dependability, cracking wit and commitment to public duty now see her celebrated as the most hard-working royal each year (she completed 180 days of engagements in 2018, 20 more than Prince Charles). And her never-wavering signature style suddenly chimes with the fashion industry’s new drive for more sustainable shopping. ‘At 69, Princess Anne’s country-chic look and penchant for rewearing couldn’t be more on trend,’ a fellow fashion editor of this newspaper wrote back in August.

Erin discovered pretty quickly that her new ‘family’ is full of eccentric, fun and  complex characters. In one of her first scenes, she is sitting around a television with the Queen and Princess Margaret for tea, cigarettes and whisky, to watch Royal Family, the famously ill-fated 1969 BBC documentary (the reception to it was so bad that it was banished after airing, with the press suggesting director Richard Cawston’s fly-on-the-wall approach had ‘cheapened’ the monarchy). In real life, of course, that meant cosying up with her new co-stars, a cast of national treasures and Oscar-winners.

‘Scenes like that were surreal, but everyone was so normal on set,’ Erin says. ‘Seeing someone like Helena be so calm and cool has been a gift. What makes it weird is that I then go home to my houseshare and my housemates are like, “Your job is insane, did you see Olivia Colman today?” I obviously can’t tell her that they love her in Fleabag every day, that would be weird. And ultimately I’m trying to be like her daughter and build this relationship up with her, so the main goal for me is to forget about the fact that she is Olivia Colman. My dad is the worst for it, he took a flight and texted me, “I’ve just seen Olivia Colman doing the BA safety advert – tell her she’s great in it.”’

As well as the voice, the other thing to get right when becoming Anne was the hair. Today, Erin’s hair is soft, straight and centre-parted. She says it takes a lot of work to mould it into the Princess Royal’s trademark style each day.

‘The hair takes a solid hour and a half,’ she laughs. ‘Most of that time is spent backcombing and setting it with hairspray. Sometimes if it’s not poofy enough, we have to use a sponge doughnut underneath to hold it up more. I’m no wiser as to how she actually does hers. It must be pretty solid, as she doesn’t change it much.’

In Anne’s youth, Erin points out, the Princess typically only set half of her head, leaving some hair down and smooth at the back. For season four, though, which started filming this month, Erin is expecting to double her time in the hair chair, as Anne switches to her mainstay full halo. ‘It takes even more time if she’s wearing any sort of a hat,’ she groans. ‘I brace myself if it’s a hat day.’

Costume was crucial to Anne’s character. This season of The Crown will revisit the Princess’s fashion heyday in the ’60s and ’70s, when she wore sharp checked suiting and chic flares, and was photographed by Norman Parkinson in the era’s Pucci-esque saturated floral prints. Costume designer Amy Roberts recreates some of Anne’s most memorable outfits – many of which would still look relevant and stylish today.

‘She was so on-trend in the 1960s and ’70s. She figured out her style at that age and she has stuck with it ever since,’ says Erin. ‘I created a Pinterest board of her outfits and I saw this amazing thing of Anne throughout the years, reusing her gowns, sometimes rocking it again 20 years later. I love that about her. She must not get rid of anything.

‘My favourite outfit, though,’ she continues, ‘is the one in the first scene you’ll see from me. The idea is that her parents have just pulled her away from riding and she’s  angry and stressy, so I’m wearing riding boots and stomping around.’

Erin understood that, of all the looks, this would likely be the one that the Princess Royal herself would favour too. ‘So often she’s in these amazing ballgowns, but you can tell that this would be her preference,’ she says. ‘It just feels more like her. Because of her sporting side, I don’t think she gets enough credit as a style icon. You meet some people who remember that she was fashionable, but a lot are like, nope, she’s just horses.’

Ah, the horses. For Olympic athlete and European eventing champion Anne, riding has been a passion since childhood. For Erin, it was a case of all the equestrian gear and no idea.

‘I’d never been horse riding before filming this, it was the first time I’d ever put on jodhpurs,’ she admits. ‘After my initial meeting with the casting team, my agent rang and was like, “Are you OK with horses?” The part was still in the balance, so I said, “Yeah, of course I am.” As soon as I put the phone down I thought  I can’t believe I’ve just said that. It’s notorious that actors will say they can do something and learn how later, isn’t it? I was petrified. Luckily I had  a bit of time, so it’s sorted now and I can ride.’

Horses may not have been on the agenda for Erin growing up, but football was. ‘I was pretty good – I was scouted to play for Chelsea,’ she says. ‘I really hated school, so I lived for the weekends; I’d play football on a Sunday morning, and then in the afternoon I would go to stage school. When I was about 14, the schedule was getting so intense that my dad said I needed to choose one. I still do my keepy-uppies in the garden. I’d love it if someone remade Bend It Like Beckham – I’d be totally prepared for that part.’

Erin is one of three children (she has an older sister and a younger brother), and her mother, a retired medical practice administrator, and father, who works in airline operations, split up when she was four and now, respectively, live in Guildford and Folkestone. She’s living in south-east London in a houseshare with strangers who have become friends, and who work in entirely different fields. She grew up, she says, happily hanging around in Croydon wearing a tracksuit. ‘That was our best town to go to with your friends.’

When The Crown was first released, the original cast found themselves famous around the world. Appetite for the show is especially high in the US where, as Erin points out, ‘they flip for the royals.

‘It exploded for the last cast didn’t it?’ she considers. ‘They’re all pretty high-profile now. It’s mental what could happen, but I’m really not prepared for it and I also don’t think it’s healthy to expect it. Imagine thinking your world is going to change then nothing happens, that would be heartbreaking. I don’t think people would really recognise me in the street anyway, I look quite different when I’m not made-up with the hair.’

Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby, particularly, benefited from the magazine covers and fashion status that came with the territory, as designers from Erdem to  Gucci vied to dress them on the red carpet.

‘I’ve never really done a red-carpet event,’ Erin says. ‘I was speaking to my publicist and I think we’re going to get a stylist to help. Honestly, these conversations are so alien to me. It’s actually more intimidating to do these things where you have to be yourself. I can get very anxious and I’m more of an introvert if I’m not acting, so the simpler these things are and the less I have to think about what I look like, the better.’

Her photo shoot with Stella is the first that she’s done, an experience that she enjoyed, she says, because she was able to treat it like playing a role.

In her own life, comfort takes priority. ‘My style is pretty androgynous,’ she says, ‘I’m all about not abiding by gender norms, not because I have any particular view of myself that way, but I like messing things around and trying different things. I’ve always been sporty and I’m drawn to clothes that are baggy. What I hope is that you’ll still be able to see me [even when I’m dressed up on the red carpet] and I’ll look back and think this whole experience was amazing and fun, not a surreal period of my life that I didn’t really live in.’

It will be surreal, probably. But Erin seems to have put in the work to ensure that her portrayal isn’t a caricature, and she has got under the skin of one of the nation’s famously-hardy senior royals. She did weeks of research, listened to the historians on set, nailed that voice and even investigated Anne’s Chinese zodiac sign, just in case it gave a crumb of insight to work with. ‘Anne’s a metal tiger,’ she confirms.

Talented, funny, hard-working and, crucially, not at all starstruck by the royals. It is, likely, exactly what the Princess Royal herself would want from the person deemed tough enough to play her.

#amazeanne #now shes a stanne #ily #she looks stunning #anne energy af #im so excited to see thisssss #erin doherty #princess anne #the crown netflix #the crown #british royal family #brf #olivia colman #tobias menzies #helena bonham carter #ben daniels #josh o’connor #emerald fennell #andrew buchan

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intheradianceofthefuture · 5 years

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I've just discovered that France was the first country to change the driving direction from left to right and, whilst we don't know for sure, it's believed that the change was made by Robespierre as a subtle way to oppose the nobility (since the left way was the one favoured by knights in the middle ages so that they could have an easy access to their sword) and the system in general. Nevertheless others believe that it was Napoleon who brought the change and now I can't stop thinking about a Les Amis modern au in which Marius and Enjolras start to debate over it (read: Marius totally gets in a passionate, pompous and completely unnecessary and idiotic speech whilst Enjolras mostly sulks and stares into the void exasperated with his life till ferre manages to shut pontmercy up in three exact words, as befits a proper les mis fic) and like why am I like this?

#my brain finds weird and basically useless knowledge cool and like super interesting so I thought I'd share #also enj and ferre were totally right #les amis #les mis #enjolras #france #combeferre

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fishandchipsandvinegar · 7 years

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The Les Mis X-Men AU no one asked for

So I have this headcanon and nothing to do with it, so here you go.

Thanks to @mysunfreckle for putting this damn idea in my head, and my friend Browen for headcanoning it out with me.

Our glorious triumvirate road trips across the country to the capital to protest mutant registration laws and mutant persecution. Along the way, they gather up a motley crew of fellow exiled mutants we all know and love.

Here's what their powers are:

Enjolras: Has the power to mildly manipulate people's emotions. Need a small crowd placated? No problem. Riled up and enraged? Sure. Can't tell if the boy you like actually loves you or you accidentally made him feel that way? Shit.

Courfeyrac: Can shoot lightning from his hands and manipulate electricity. I guess you could say he has an electric personality. "Is it just me, is there an electric force between us?" *shocks someone mildly. "You could say you're shocked to see me!"

Combeferre: Has the power to glean the history of an object just by touching it. This comes in handy when they start tracking down secret mutants in the cities they pass through.

Grantaire: He's basically a green version of Nightcrawler. He can teleport, but looks like the part demon he is. He frequently argues with Enjolras about how easy it is to peacefully protest when you can hide your mutation easily.

Eponine: Has the power to briefly glimpse the future, but it's sporatic and comes in snippets. Her parents have tried exploiting this trait, resulting in her leaving home with Gav and trying to make the most of it on the streets until she meets the Amis.

Gavroche: Is still really young and isn't showing signs of powers yet. It sends them all for a loop the day he discovers his powers are intangability.

Cosette: Explodes with force power when she gets anxious or upset. A wall of force erupts from her, driving people away. She finds it difficult to control.

Marius: Can speak, read, write, and understand any language inherently. He finds his powers incredibly mundane compared to everyone else's. But he follows the Amis along after Cosette.

Joly: Has the power to heal other people, but when he does, he suffers pain proportional to the damage he heals. This pain stays with him until he heals someone else. The Amis often run around giving themselves paper cuts for Joly to heal in order to alleviate his suffering after one of them gets injured.

Bossuet: Thought he had no powers at all, just incredibly bad luck. But he sympathized with the mutant cause. Until they discovered that his mutant ability was actually generating bad luck around him. They figured this out when a cop was snuck up on Joly and somehow comically misfired his taser gun into his own foot when Bossuet stepped in to protect Joly.

Musichetta: Can make duplicates of herself she can control simultaneously. Much to Joly and Bossuet's amusement. But this skill has also come in handy when they need protest crowds to look bigger than they actually are.

Jehan: Is a shapeshifter. Yes, he actually chooses to appear like this. No one assumes anyone dressed like this is a shapeshifter.

Montparnasse: Can control shadows and darkness to an extent, similar to Dr. Facillier in Princess and the Frog. He's more of a showman than anything and likes weaving fancy black clothing out of the dark.

Bahorel: Super constitution. Can eat anything, take a punch, that sort of thing.

Feuilly: Can manipulate the air around him like an airbender. He uses his fans to do this. He's also better than the shitty car AC unit, so they squabble over who gets him in their car in the height of the summer.

Jean Valjean: Super Strength. THE MAN LIFTS A FULL CART OFF OF A MAN IN CANON. ALONE. So obviously he's super strong.

Javert: Is in favour of mutant registration and works with the police force to enforce the new laws. He's an excellent detective, but his values are thrown into crisis when he discovers that what makes him a good detective is actually a mutation. He thought it was just good instincts, but he's actually hyper aware with better than human senses.

But yeah, the X-men AU no one asked for.

#les mis #headcanons #xmen #au #no one asked for this #yet here we are #blame freckle #maybe i'll write some of it if people want that

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just-french-me-up · 7 years

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Triptych

Enjoltaire Week | Day 1 | Painting

Summary: Three portraits are discovered in a hidden cellar in Paris, all three dating back from the nineteenth century. What's weird is that the man in the portraits looks an awful lot like Enjolras. What's weirder is that the paintings are all signed "R."

Tags: Modern AU; Reincarnation AU; Rated G

Word count: 3.5k

READ ON AO3

"Remind me why anyone would choose to watch what is considered to be the worst movie in history?"

Enjolras sat on the couch and balanced a huge bowl of popcorn on his lap. Courfeyrac's picks for movie night were usually more mainstream and understandable. Well. As understandable as romantic comedies could be, but at least they didn't require much brain activity. At least it allowed Enjolras to switch off his brain and shove handfuls of popcorn into his mouth while wondering how heteronormativity and dumb misunderstandings had become such crowd-pullers.

"That's because it's an experience!" Courfeyrac argued, slumping on the couch next to Enjolras and seriously compromising the balance of the popcorn bowl. "As your best friend, I just can't let you die a Room virgin!"

"What's so great about it, anyway?"

"Everything! The acting is so bad! It's like... You know how people say that if you let monkeys in a room full of typewriters the monkey would eventually end up rewriting Shakespeare? Well switch the monkeys with aliens who only have a vague idea of how human interactions work and you've got The Room! It's flipping fantastic!"

Enjolras shrugged. The enjoyment of intrinsically bad media was beyond him.

"There are some really interesting studies about trash movies and their ironical audience, actually," Combeferre chimed in as he joined them in the living room. He brought heavy-looking pizza plates that he settled on the coffee table before settling next to Courfeyrac. "Something about collectively liking something so bad that it gets good."

"Exactly!" Courfeyrac exclaimed, triumphant. "So sit back and brace yourself for this absolute masterpiece."

He switched on the TV and started rummaging through the pile of DVDs to find the right one. Automatically, the first channel popped up on screen. The news were still on and a generic news anchor looked at the three of them in the eyes.

"Wait," Enjolras said before Courfeyrac could switch on the DVD player.

"And tonight we come back on an incredible discovering in Paris earlier today," the news anchor announced, "when three paintings were discovered in a cellar in the Latin Quarter. The three works of art allegedly date back from the nineteenth century and predate the Haussmanian renovations of the capital. For more on this story, we go to Olivier Barron in the Latin Quarter, Olivier?"

The three paintings appeared on screen. Silence fell on the living room, leaving nothing but the artificial chatter of the television. In his seat, Enjolras turned to stone.

"-Twitter already rushed to title the works names such as 'Apollo in Red'-"

"Enjolras..."

That jaw line. That nose. The same eye colour. Enjolras' throat tightened. A cold shiver ran down his spine.

"Holy shit," Courfeyrac whispered. "Enj, it's you!"

Enjolras shuffled some papers around, trying to get his hands on notes he had written down the night before, somewhere around his third cup of coffee o'clock. There were some points about the upcoming the labour reform he really wanted to discuss during the meeting, if only he could find the damn thing. A pat on his shoulder took him by surprise.

"I think you're looking for this," Combeferre said, handing him the very notes he was looking for. "I forgot to tell you I took it. I just added a few remarks."

'A few remarks' in Combeferre's vocabulary entailed enthusiastic and colourful highlighting and additional notes scribbled in the margins that were illegible, including to Combeferre himself. Still, two minds were better than one, and Combeferre's mind was an undeniable asset. Enjolras took the revised notes with a smile.

"Thanks, I'll read though them."

Combeferre nodded and took his seat between Courfeyrac and Feuilly. Enjolras was the only one standing at this point, towering over his notes and the various things he had brought with him. The chatter began to fade. They all turned their attention towards him. The meeting officially begun.

"Okay, guys, so I thought we could start things off with some details about the labour reform and how―"

"Er-Sorry," Courfeyrac cut off, "but aren't we going to talk about the fact that they found paintings that look exactly like Enjolras?"

His remark was met with a few raised eyebrows and confused looks. Enjolras nervously raked a hand through his hair. Courfeyrac had not let this go since the night before.

"Oh come on! It was all over the news! Didn't you see it?"

"Courf, I don't think it's―"

It was already too late. All the others had already taken their phones out. Enjolras stood there awkwardly while they checked the news, and even more awkwardly when their eyes went from the screens to him in shock. Joly's jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, Enjolras, it is you!" he exclaimed.

"There's even the mole on your shoulder!" Bahorel added.

"See? It's him, I'm telling you!"

Emboldened by the number of allies on his side, Courfeyrac started listing the similarities between the painting and Enjolras, much to the latter's dismay. Why did it matter? Maybe he had a nineteenth-century look alike who had the same mole at the same place. So what? Enjolras let out a long sigh that was immediately drowned in the voices rising from the table. He shared a look with Combeferre, who picked up on his mood.

"Okay, but can we try to focus on the meeting?" Combeferre tried, rushing to Enjolras' rescue.

Almost like reprimanded students, the rest of les Amis sat back properly on their chairs and quietened down. Enjolras nodded in Combeferre's direction as a 'thank you'.

"So, as I was saying―"

"It's signed R," Feuilly said, deadpan.

"What?"

"It's signed 'R.'," he repeated. "It written right here, 'all three works are signed by the same hand, an unknown painter only identified by the letter R.' R. Like Grantaire."

There was electricity in the air. All eyes turned towards Grantaire, who looked as stunned as the rest of them. The room grew suddenly silent.

"What?" Grantaire asked, shuffling uncomfortably on his chair.

"I mean, you have to admit it's weird," Bossuet said.

Grantaire pointedly avoided looking at Enjolras in the eyes, running his hand through his curls. That was a lot of coincidences, even for Enjolras. For a second, his mind when for outlandish scenarios about how Grantaire could have planted those paintings there for whatever reason, before his logic took over. No. That cellar had been buried underground for more than a century. There was no way for Grantaire to know it was there! And experts had already dated the paintings!

Enjolras cleared his voice.

"Grantaire, did you somehow go back in time to paint me before abandoning those paintings in a random cellar?"

Grantaire snorted.

"No."

"That's what I thought," Enjolras said, giving Courfeyrac a meaningful look. "Now, if that's settled, can we go back to the labour reform and how it's going to affect us all?"

The rest of the meeting went without a hitch, with the usual amount of wits, snark, and dedication Enjolras cherished in his friends. Joly had been in charge of writing down all the ideas and suggestions for them to use as a starting point the following week. All in all, an evening well spent.

They all lingered in the backroom of the Musain for a while, talking about more casual topics while they stacked the chairs against the wall. The room emptied slowly. Enjolras was putting his things away in his satchel when Jehan came up to him.

"Hey. Can we talk?"

They looked a little hesitant. Enjolras smiled at them in an attempt to put them at ease.

"Sure. What's up?"

"It's about that thing with the paintings."

Oh. Clearly something in his expression had changed, because Jehan rushed to add:

"Just hear me out. It's just―Listen, okay? Is it okay if we sit?"

Enjolras nodded and sat on one of the few remaining chair. Jehan took another and sat across from him. They looked very serious, all of a sudden.

"Okay, so when I was in highschool, I participated in that poetry contest my school organised every year. So I wrote my poem and submitted it, but it was denied. Plagiarism. Even though I'd written it all myself. I didn't get it, so I asked what the original poem was from, just to see it for myself. It was from an old poetry collection from the nineteenth century, a book that had been sleeping in the Parisian archives for decades. And my poem was in there. Word for word. And the rest of the book was just... me. My style. It was like an out of body experience."

Enjolras listened intentely. He didn't know what to think about it. It was too weird. Stuff like that... It was only weird coincidences, right? What was it that Courfeyrac said about monkeys and typewriters? Still, he could not deny the sick feeling weighing on his stomach.

"Do you know who wrote the poetry collection?"

Jehan shook their head.

"I asked, but the people at the archives just told me it was seized propriety from someone who had committed treason. Then maybe someone deemed the poetry good enough to archive it. There was no name on it. The last poem was written in 1832, and the pages are all blank, so I guess the poet was arrested around that time."

"Sounds like a free thinker," Enjolras smiled. "Maybe you have more in common than poetry. So you think it's a similar thing? That it's a coincidence?"

"I don't know," Jehan sighed. "But it's weird, right? I mean surely it means something. Stuff like that wouldn't randomly pop up unless there was an explanation behind it, even if it's not a scientific one."

That where Jehan differed from Enjolras. While Jehan accepted the metaphysical and the paranormal as a natural aspect of life, Enjolras' mind favoured more rational interpretations. It was weird, for sure. But people simply did not exist in two timelines. That didn't happen. They would know about it by now if it existed.

Enjolras rubbed his neck. It was stiff from staying up too late doing research on that fucking labour reform.

"I don't know what to tell you, Jehan. It's just beyond my understanding, you know? Maybe someone really looked like me, two hundred years ago. It happens. People have look alike, even today. As for the poem... I just don't know."

Jehan smiled at him softly and rubbed his shoulder.

"It's getting late, Enj'. Courf and Ferre are waiting for you. Get some rest, okay?"

"Thanks, Jehan. I'll try."

When Enjolras went to bed that night, he dreamt of a book of blank pages, and when he looked down, he had a rose in his breast pocket. The colour had bled onto his shirt, and the stain kept growing, and growing, and growing.

When he woke up, he could still smell a hint of gunpowder.

The following days were spend avoiding the news, which was highly inconvenient because a) Enjolras liked to keep himself informed and b) you never know how much news exposure there is until you try to avoid it. Enjolras just couldn't bear to see his face on the screen, or whoever's face it was. It freaked him out. It would have freaked anyone out. He didn't even know how Jehan coped with the fact that there was a book out there that mirrors their lyricism.

Eventually, he resorted to studying in his room, in the hope of avoiding the clutter of thoughts that raged in his mind. It's nothing, his reason kept telling him. In two centuries, at least two people were bound to look alike.

Still, he couldn't focus. He kept rereading the same sentence from his textbook over and over, none of it making much sense to a very noisy mind. Frustrated, Enjolras snapped the book closed and leant back against his chair. On his desk, his laptop was open on the google search page. He hesitated. Reason held back his hand, but another voice whispered to his ear. What if there was really something going on? Curiosity killed the cat, reason retorted. Enjolras took a deep breath.

Fuck it.

A quick search informed him that the paintings were being studied by experts in Paris, so that they could properly date it. A website had uploaded close up photographs of details, ranging from the golden laurel wreath crowning the model's head to his beauty marks. An uncomfortable feeling weighed on Enjolras' stomach. Even the details were uncanny.

The signature was studied under every angle, with matching hypothesis about who the painter could have been according to the loop of the R. People had really spent time on this. Enjolras was a stranger to art history and discoveries, so perhaps those paintings were a gold mine for people who worked in that field. Perhaps it was their Howard Carter discovering Tutankhamun's tomb moment.

He went back to the google homepage and typed "1832 France." The first results mentioned something about a cholera epidemic. Enjolras kept scrolling until something caught his eye. Republican Insurrection in Paris, 1832. Jean Maximilien Lamarque. He clicked the wikipedia link and started reading. Barricades, students, National Guard, Faubourg Saint-Martin... His eyes were glued to the screen.

That's something I could see myself participate in, Enjolras thought, before the uneasy feeling overwhelmed him again. That event felt too close for comfort. Yet, Enjolras kept on reading.

A knock on the door made him jump. He almost knocked his chair over, and himself with it. The sky had gone dark outside, and Enjolras's eyes had the greatest difficulty to adjust to the darkness. Someone switched the lights on.

"Are you okay?" Combeferre's voice asked.

"Yeah. I've just been staring at the screen for too long," Enjolras said, rubbing his eyes.

Though blurry, his vision got slightly better. For one thing, he could see Combeferre standing by the door. He was holding steaming mug in each of his hands.

"Is that coffee?"

"Infusion, actually," Combeferre smiled. "I came to see if you wanted one. You've been in here for hours, we were starting to get a little worried."

"I'm fine. I was just reading stuff."

Enjolras scratched his scalp and lifted his arm to accept Combeferrre's plant water. It wasn't coffee, but he had to admit he was parched. Combeferre sat on the bed next to him.

"Anything interesting?"

"Just history stuff. Very educational."

Enjolras closed the various tabs he had opened on the June Rebellion, accidentally missing the one about the three paintings. "Apollo in Red." The name seemed to have stuck.

"I thought you weren't interested in those," Combeferre pointed out, taking a sip out of his mug.

"I don't. I mean, I do but it's not... It's weird, right? I keep telling myself that it's not weird and that those kind of coincidences happen all the time, but it's still weird."

"Well it doesn't happen every day, that's for sure."

There was a moment of silence during which Enjolras sighed and dragged his hand across his face. His mind was buzzing.

"You look like you could use a break," Combeferre said, giving his shoulder a light squeeze. "Come. Courf is making dinner."

Enjolras nodded slowly. Maybe he did need a break. He followed Combeferre to the kitchen, holding his warm mug against his chest. In his room, Apollo in Red shone in the dark.

A few weeks passed. Enjolras still heard about Apollo in Red here and there, but it was quickly replaced by other, fresher stories. His heart still made a double back-flip when he heard that the experts had situated the completion of the pieces around the 1820s early 1830s. After that, he did his best to direct his mind towards the future to avoid dwelling on the distant past. Whatever happened to that sitter or the poet of Jehan's book, they were long gone. There was no time like the present.

Yet, in spite of his best efforts, Enjolras couldn't seem to escape the past. One morning, Courfeyrac presented him with a museum ticket, sliding the piece of paper across the breakfast bar.

"Thank you?" he said, a little confused. And sleepy.

"They're putting the paintings on display today," Courfeyrac explained. "Now you can see them from up close."

Enjolras' gaze went from Courfeyrac to the ticket. It was too early for this. He didn't even know if he wanted to be awake right now.

"Or you can just go to the museum after class," Courfeyrac shrugged, since Enjolras hadn't said anything. "For fun. Or whatever you go to museums for. Elevate your understanding of humanity, or some shit."

Enjolras let out a hoarse chuckle in his mug.

"I guess I'll consider that as a cultural outing. Thanks, Courf."

He carried the ticket around in his wallet for the rest of the day. By the end of it, Enjolras had forgotten up to its existence. It's only when he looked for his métro pass that he noticed the piece of paper stuck between his ID and his insurance card. The museum was only three stations away. For a minute, Enjolras stood there, debating whether or not he wanted to dive head first into the uncanny and the unexplainable. He looked at his watch. The museum was closing in an hour. The past can't hurt you, he thought as he got into the coach, waiting through the three stations.

There weren't as many people at the museum as he had expected. Perhaps because closing hour was slowly but surely ticking by. Enjolras didn't need to look for the painting for long. They had made sure to guide people right to the jewel of the exhibition. As Enjolras entered the oval room where the paintings were kept, his attention wasn't directed to the paintings, but to a familiar face, standing a few yards away.

Grantaire.

Enjolras' heart did a somersault. There was something about seeing Grantaire here, right next to Apollo in Red, but Enjolras couldn't quite pin point it. One of his hands held nervously on to the strap of his satchel as he came closer.

"Hey," he said, trying to sound casual, though the atmosphere didn't quite work in his favour. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, apparently I painted these, so I thought I might as well go and see them. My first exhibition. It's a very emotional moment."

Enjolras could tell he was joking, or endeavouring to. Maybe that's how he dealt with the uncanny and the unexplainable. On the wall, one of the paintings stared back at him. It was like looking in a mirror, but with a 180 year reflection delay. Enjolras lowered his eyes, stared down by his own image.

"Did Jehan tell you about their poem? The one that got denied for their poetry contest?"

Grantaire nodded, still looking at the paintings.

"Do you really thing it's remotely possible that this is me?"

"Maybe," Grantaire shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because it doesn't exist! It just doesn't happen like that. There's no way that could be me. I'm me, I am one person."

Voicing all the thoughts and doubts that had been reeling in his mind for so long felt liberating, though he had to keep his tone in check. Grantaire smirked at him.

"Now who's the skeptic, Apollo?"

"You can't be serious. It doesn't make sense."

"We're on a blue ball adrift in the universe, rotating around a giant ball of fire that will swallow us all one day. Nothing makes sense. Me painting you almost two centuries ago makes more sense than that."

Enjolras opened his mouth, but realised he had nothing to say to that. Yes. Maybe things didn't make sense. Maybe trying to make sense of it didn't make sense. He took a couple steps back and sat on a plastic bench. Grantaire followed him.

"So what if this is actually me? What does that mean?"

Grantaire shrugged.

"We may never know. But I have to say, my shading game was on point on that one."

"It's very beautifully done indeed," Enjolras agreed, giving him an amused look.

"Thank you."

"So that means we were close, right? If I sat for one of your pieces. Well. Three of your pieces."

He didn't really know if he was joking in all good fun or actually talking seriously anymore. For some reason, it felt right.

"Close enough for you to accept being drapped naked in a red sheet. It'd say that's pretty fucking close."

"How close?"

"Very close."

As close as they were now. Enjolras realised his hand was almost touching Grantaire's. To his own surprise, he found that he didn't mind it. On the contrary. That too, felt right.

"How much do you know about the June Rebellion?" Enjolras asked.

"What I've read online, why?"

"Well, I thought maybe you'd like to hear about it. It's all fascinating stuff. Maybe around a coffee, or something?"

He barely recognised the chirp in his own voice. Grantaire looked at him, as though he couldn't believe the words Enjolras had uttered. His face softened a second later.

"Yeah. Coffee sounds nice."

#les miserables #enjoltaire #enjoltaireweek2017 #exrweek2017 #enjolras #grantaire #exr #granjolras #written stuff #mine #les mis fic #les miserables fanfiction #les mis #les amis #courfeyrac #combeferrre #jehan #the ending is open because of course they fall in love #the luv

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somuchbetterthanthat · 7 years

Note

What do you think the barricade boys would be like today. Like with everything going on.

I was thinking about this, and I thought “oh my god, I have zero idea, that’s why it’s so hard to really write les amis in modern AU” but, I can try to actually give the beginning of an answer (and I’m ready to hear everybody’s opinions on this, really, because I think, depending our own situations, we’re gonna imagine something different for all of them.). This turned extremely long.. sorry.

I think the easiest to pin down are Feuilly and Grantaire, to be honest.

Grantaire, would be That Guy who never went to vote to an election because “what’s the point? They’re all the same.” Or maybe, the first time he was able to vote was for a presidential, he voted someone, they didn’t pass (or they did and disappointed him) and he was disappointed and he went “whatever, voting is not as cool as I was told it would”. Grantaire won’t say he avoids the news because the bullshit around him actually affects him, and he totally won’t ever admit how much he loves being friends with people who ARE optimist and who sees humanity’s beauty and want to make things better. Grantaire is also the guy who is Totally in Favour of Women’s Rights, Especially the Sexual Liberation Part of It *wink wink*. He… probably had unfortunate sentences like “girls don’t like the nice guys, they just want assholes” (i mean he basically already say unfortunate things like that in canon). Irma probably said once to him “Dude, you are an asshole, and I don’t see women running to your feet, so shut the hell up.” In my opinion, he’s also a white man in his twenties, with all the blind prejudice it can bring. He’s bi, but not that comfortable with it.

Feuilly, and dear god will I fight anybody on this if I must, is a STUDENT. (Or was a student, depending on which age you give them). Feuilly still struggles with money, because he’d live in fucking Paris, but Feuilly would NOT struggle to study, because FRANCE’S UNIVERSITIES ARE CHEAP (in comparison to some other countries, I mean), and also there are different financial help for people like Feuilly who don’t have the financial means to pay everything from their pockets. It’s still highly probable Feuilly would work anyway, probably in retail or tutoring!, though. Feuilly would spend his time reading and Getting Angry or Passionate about everything that’s going on in the world, that won’t change in our modern world. It’s not about Poland anymore, but oh man Feuilly would rant hours on the situation of Syrians refugees. He probably sat in baffled, horrified silence after Trump’s election. He makes sure people know about what happens in countries the media aren’t interested in. In fact, I could see him write long articles on international problems.

To be honest, I really don’t know If I can do this for all of les amis (perhaps not as detailed). A lot of this is only my personal opinions on how they might be in modern France.

In a world where Law school isn’t the only available school for people who don’t want to graduate for School, what do Bossuet and Bahorel do? I can see them, of course, going to university, again and again, but? Would they really not get a diploma…? I mean, okay, poor Bossuet probably doesn’t because of Circumstances, but for Bahorel, I don’t know - he can still have gone to study Law in the first place, find it filled with Terrible Arrogant Competitive People, went “nope” and just. Tried a lot of other things, accidentally majored and got a diploma in at least two of them, and somehow ends up with the most diploma in the group???? Which is baffling because Bahorel would also clearly be a Stylist. He has a page and everything. People don’t get it. I dunno.

Concerning politics activity, Bahorel would still be the person who Knows Everybody In Paris, which means he goes from group to group - Bahorel probably knows the most radical leftist you can find in Paris, and he has tried to infiltrate an extreme-right meeting once or twice (but that ended up badly). Bahorel probably is the Main Messenger of l’ABC. He’s also probably very good at corrupting students and making them think “maybe being Far Left is actually quite cool”

Jehan probably is vegan? I have no idea what radical art movement is actually scandalizing the Good Society, but he’s probably part of that in some way (with Bahorel). Street art..? I truly have no idea here, so I won’t embarrass myself trying to say something. He still writes a lot of poems, he’s still very erudite, and he’s probably still very rich. He probably gives a lot of money to charity - for women, children, and animals, and he’s an active participant in at least one of them. He’s very big on the “nature doesn’t belong to human and we should be respectful of it” sustainable development movements.

… Of course les amis would probably all be for sustainable development cause they’re not idiots but. you know.

I can’t see Joly as anything else than a doctor, and I tend to think he’d go for caring for kids in particular. He’s good with them. To be honest, when it comes to politics, Joly and Bossuet are the hardest for me to pin down - I have zero doubt they’re as invested as the others, but I don’t think they’d have as much “clear” role if you know what I mean? Joly probably organizes things for the children at hospital, like having people come here to visit them and make them laugh (Bossuet would probably help with that, and, in fact, probably so would Grantaire), or making sure they can see That Movie that just got out, etc. Joly would also be highly invested in the cause of nurses, which are having a hard time in France right now. Bossuet, drawing from his own experiences, would probably help people in situation of poverty - homeless people, etc. Perhaps he’d help in Le Refuge, which is an association that helps lgbt kids in France who are homeless.

As for Joly, I can’t see Combeferre as anything else than a doctor, apart if he’s a teacher. Combeferre could totally be a teacher. however, Combeferre would probably be a family doctor, after trying a lot of different specialization. In fact, Combeferre probably went for medicine after trying a bunch of other things, and probably did at least two years of “prépa” (I have zero idea how to explain what it is. Two years of school that prepares you to a test that will allow you to enter prestigious schools all over france?) in like, physics or something because he used to plan to become a scientist. Combeferre is fascinated by technology and how it can help; probably works on making teleportation a thing during lost hours; has contacts all over the scientist words, and spends a lot of time with Jehan speaking about how we could actually already put into place green energy all over the world. Combeferre also tutors kids, he’s involved in feminist groups, and of all his friends, he is the most socialist while everybody else is pretty far into radical left.

Would Courfeyrac be a lawyer? Honestly, I could see it! There is something about Courfeyrac that feels right about this, choosing to defend the innocent and all, he’s a paladin isn’t he - of course he would be a real life lawyer, not a fictional one, and I don’t know exactly which branches of law exists for him in modern-france, but he would be for the one who comes closest to helping either children, group of people being wronged, etc. He probably also gives free lawyer advice for those who don’t even know perhaps they hAVE rights. Courfeyrac would deal with everything social media in the group, and he would still have an uncanny eye to notice people that might fit and belong in their group. He’s charming in a less intense way that Enjolras might be, which makes him an easy “first contact”.

As for Enjolras, well, duh, he’d be a printer. He’d be involved in particular with everything that touches the right of workers, what the EU means for France’s companies, and what generally speaking international market do for workers that might not have a chance to fight against the competitive prices of other countries. Chances are, the printshop would also have an editorial branch to it, too. Which brings me to my point-

I think les amis de l’ABC would have a newspaper of sort: they’d started with a blog, and somehow it turned into a very political, humanist newspaper, of which Enjolras would be the principal editor: all of les amis might write articles from times to times - Bahorel, Bossuet, Courfeyrac and Jehan are the one who find other authors to fill in. Grantaire probably writes the horoscope, and it is mocking and still very PoliticalTM, but the tone is humouristic and there are a lot of puns and les amis are much too weak for puns.

They would also have a branch dedicated to tutoring students of all ages, particularly in “difficult neighborhoods” (which would go hand in hand with Valjean’s center, which is a vague idea of mine that i like). That’s Combeferre and Feuilly’s responsibilities, though Joly chimes in when he can, as well as Courfeyrac and Enjolras.

They would, obviously, protest - that’s a French Given. They would be, as I said, very active on social media (Courfeyrac on youtube, please and thank you, videos of Enjolras speaking, etc.). A lot of their stance might be on visibility and education: which wouldn’t stop them from direct action when it needs to happen. Les amis de l’ABC would very much be far left, though I don’t think they would like the idea of two big parties anymore, because that’s a feeling that every french people feel nowadays, i think, or so it feels anyway.

And while I said “he” all the while in this post, because I put them all from canon to modern era, obviously not all of them would be “he”. Les amis de l’ABC would be boys, girls, trans, non-binary, they’d be white or black or brown-skinned, atheists, muslims, catholics, jewish people, etc. Les amis de l’ABC would be very diverse. Also, probably bigger than they were in canon-era - apparently there wasn’t that much of them because of political restrictions of the time-period, but nowadays they could be as much as they can freely, so, there’s that. Of course, that doesn’t change the idea that Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Feuilly, Bahorel, Jehan, Bossuet, Joly and Grantaire might be the “core” of their association/group.

I don’t… actually know if that answer your question at all? I hope so?

#this is a very hard question truly #les amis de l'abc #les amis #Les Misérables #my vague tentative to put les amis into a modern au

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midautumnnightdream · 8 years

Note

For the character meme: Fauchelevent and/or Mabeuf? :D

Ahha fun times trying to give an estimate of the hotness level of old men :p

Fauchelevent

Not that he gets that much physical description, but the picture in my head is not about to win beauty contests any time soon :p

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

He’s basically a textbook example of A Good Slytherin imho

best quality: Manages the grand feat of being clever and cunning, but also fundamentally honest about himself. This is the guy who makes grumbly remarks about popular and powerful mayor without care of how other people react, who still tries to prevent said mayor for endangering himself, while being slowly crushed to death, and who rescued Valjean and Cosette because he “found it sweet to be grateful”. This is a pretty great combination of selfishness and selflessness - probably makes him one of the most well-adjusted characters here.

worst quality: kind of a jerkass tbh :P

ship them with: Valjean! They get to have a quiet peaceful relationship, based on mutual respect and admiration and no foe yay whatsoever; they raise Cosette and take care of the garden and Fauvant keeps talking and Valjean keeps not really listening, but that’s okay. They start to rub off to each other after a while, with Fauvent taking more notice of the needs of the others and Valjean getting a bit more chill about his burden of guilt. It’s quiet, it’s kinda boring and very very therapeutic.

brotp them with: Also Valjean, I’m not picky. The Prioress - I love their interaction and… well there was an odd sort of ease to the pattern they fell into? Fauvent definitely wasn’t overawed by Authority, and the Prioress didn’t seem particularly perturbed by him? So I have to imagine that this was a Regular Sort of Deal for them and the Prioress keeps calling upon him to help with more-or-less illegal schemes in interests of the convent and it’s inhabitants. :D

(Also now I want a Superhero AU where Fauvent is the grumbly hero and the Prioress does the mission briefing)

needs to stay away from: Falling carts?

misc. thoughts: I keep wondering about his backstory - we know he was was a peasant and became a notary, then his business failed and he became a cart driver. What exactly happened there? We are told he was something of a Bonapartist and figured that Valjean was on the run for political reasons - could be he was involved in something similar at some point? Did he have a family? What became of them?

There are many a question. I’d love to hear other people’s headcanons about him :D

Mabeuf

I kind of imagine him as being very adorable and sweet-looking, especially in his younger days, but never exactly handsome.

hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff

This is tough, I could totally accept him as a Hufflepuff. I’m basing this on the idea that when in doubt, the sorting hat would err towards the person’s value judgments rather than personality, and he is such a supernerd

best quality: Very accepting and non-judgmental. Just look at his first conversation with Marius - it’s not just conflict avoidance - in this particular case he has no problem asking for what he wants (his personal seat in the church), but when he says “I approve of political options” he means it. He’s kinda baffled by the concept, but he appreciates that this is something that matters to other people. Also his concern for mère Plutarque - for all the he doesn’t always manage to muster up appropriate level of concern over their financial circumstances, he never throws her under the bus when it would have been easy to do so, and sells his last book to get her medicine. ;_;

worst quality: Keeping himself tethered to reality. Which to be fair, his reality kinda sucked, and there was no real way out, but he wasn’t doing himself any favours there. It’s frustrating for being very very relatable.

ship them with: A nice garden and a book collection and functional social security network ;_;

brotp them with: With Mother Plutarque and Georges Pontmercy always, and suprising number of other people? Various Thenardier children, obviously. Also various Les Amis? I’d love to see him and Enjolras to get some actual interaction (even if it would be guaranteed to break my heart). Clearly, Courfeyrac knew him through Marius, and him and Prouvaire would get along great? Also him and Valjean? On more canon-compliant level, I just really wish Marius hadn’t drifted away…

needs to stay away from: Fucking National Guard :( Except it was never really about National Guard, that is kind of the point. Usurious book merchants.

misc. thoughts: I wonder if maybe Somewhere Beyond The Barricade he met up with his brother and Georges Pontmecy, who had made friends with an erstwhile bishop of Digne and some fella Fauvent, resulting in an Old Men Gardening and Philosophy Club, just waiting for Valjean to join them…

#me memes #Fauchelevent #Father Mabeuf #Convent Husbands #Old Men with Gardens #are breaking my heart #character thoughts #vapaus ystavyys tasaarvo

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snicole5087 · 7 years

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A new production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party which will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre, 60 years since the play’s debut, from 9th January to 14th April 2018 with an Opening Night on Thursday 18th January 2018. Tickets go on sale today at midday, with priority booking from 9am.

Stanley Webber (Toby Jones) is the only lodger at Meg (Zoë Wanamaker) and Petey Boles’ sleepy seaside boarding house. The unsettling arrival of enigmatic strangers Goldberg (Stephen Mangan) and McCann disrupts the humdrum lives of the inhabitants and their friend Lulu, and mundanity soon becomes menace when a seemingly innocent birthday party turns into a disturbing nightmare. Truth and alliances hastily shift in Pinter’s brilliantly mysterious dark-comic masterpiece about the absurd terrors of the everyday.

Following critically-acclaimed productions of Betrayal, and Old Times, Ian Rickson returns to direct a new production of Harold Pinter’s landmark play, The Birthday Party. Starring in this comedy of menace are trio of Olivier Award winners, Golden Globe Award-nominated Toby Jones (The Girl, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Infamous), Tony Award-nominated Stephen Mangan (The Norman Conquests, Jeeves and Wooster, Episodes) and Tony Award-nominated Zoë Wanamaker CBE (Electra, Passion Play, My Family). This will be the seventh Harold Pinter play that Sonia Friedman has produced, three of which have been directed by Ian Rickson, who also directed Pinter himself in his last performance as an actor in Krapp’s Last Tape. It is also the ninth production directed by Ian Rickson that Sonia Friedman has produced.

Ian Rickson said: “I knew Harold from when I ran the Royal Court and he was a great mentor to me. Doing The Birthday Party is particularly thrilling because as with the best first major plays – like first albums, and first novels – it has the intense DNA of the writer’s inner life; their yearnings, their obsessions, their longings. There’s something about The Birthday Party in particular that’s so raw and committed – it has this kind of anarchic, punk spirit and I’m just so excited about directing it.”

British Actor TOBY JONES is known for his roles both in the theatre and on screen. Earlier this year Toby finished filming both French comedy film Naked Normandy for Philippe le Gay, and next year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Toby has a further four films out later this year including – Universal Pictures’ crime drama The Snowman, psychological indie thriller, Kaleidoscope, Lionsgate’s World War One drama Journey’s End and Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or nominated film, Happy End. Toby will also reprise his BAFTA-nominated role later this year in the third season of the award-winning comedy series Detectorists, written by and co-starring Mackenzie Crook. Toby’s other works include ‎Infamous, where Toby played ‘Truman Capote’ for which he won Best British Actor at the London Film Critics Circle Awards. In 2011, Toby starred in the Oscar-nominated adaptation of John le Carre’s classic crime novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the year after, Toby garnered huge critical acclaim for his performance as Alfred Hitchcock in the HBO/BBC television movie The Girl, for which he received a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy nomination. That year also saw Toby play the lead in Peter Strickland’s multi award-winning film Berberian Sound Studio. In 2014, Toby starred as the lead in the BBC Two BAFTA winning drama Marvellous, and the following year in Matteo Garrone’s fantasy horror, Tale Of Tales.

Further credits include: Atomic Blonde, Sherlock, Dad’s Army, The Secret Agent, The Witness For The Prosecution, Morgan, Wayward Pines, Capital, The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Hunger Games series, the Harry Potter series, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Leave to Remain, Andrew Kotting’s By Ourselves, My Week With Marilyn, The Adventures Of Tintin, Frost/Nixon, W and The Painted Veil.

Theatre credits include: Circle Mirror Transformation, The Painter, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Parlour Song, Dumb Waiter and Other Pinter Pieces, Measure for Measure (with Complicite), The Play What I Wrote (winner: Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor).

STEPHEN MANGAN is a stage, film, television and voice actor. After graduating from Cambridge University and then RADA, Stephen began his acting career in the theatre. In 2008 he starred in The Norman Conquests at The Old Vic and then on Broadway. Stephen was nominated for a Tony Award and the play won Best Revival. Other theatre credits include: Birthday, The People Are Friendly (Royal Court Theatre), Jeeves and Wooster (Duke of York’s Theatre), Hayfever (Savoy Theatre), Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC) and Rules For Living (National Theatre).

Stephen has an extensive list of television credits. He plays the lead role of Sean Lincoln in the comedy series Episodes, opposite Tamsin Greig and Matt LeBlanc; Series 5 is to be broadcast next year. Next year he can also be seen starring in the new comedy series Bliss for Sky Atlantic, Hang Ups for Channel 4 and Abi Morgan’s new BBC1/AMC drama The Split. Previous TV credits include the BAFTA-winning British sitcom Green Wing, Free Agents, Dirk Gently, in which he played the title role, Houdini & Doyle.

Stephen’s film credits include Breathe, Billy Elliot, Birthday, Postman Pat: The Movie (Voice), Rush, Beyond the Pole, Confetti

The multi-award-winning ZOE WANAMKER CBE is one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation, with a career that spans both stage and screen. She is a four-time Tony Award nominee, and a nine-time Olivier Award nominee, winning the Best Actress Award twice for Electra and Once In A Lifetime. Her career has taken her from the RSC to the National Theatre via Broadway, the Royal Court, the West End and the Donmar Warehouse. Her varied television career has included the much-loved BBC sitcom My Family, along with Poirot and Mr. Selfridge. She received a BAFTA nomination for her role in the film Wilde, with other film credits including Harry Potter and My Week With Marilyn. Zoë will be appearing in the Sky/Amazon collaboration ‘Britannia’ (2017) as Queen Antedia and in Girlfriends for ITV.

Her film credits include: My Week With Marilyn, It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, Five Children and It, Harry Potter, Swept from the Sea, Wilde, The Raggedy Rawney, The Hunger, Inside the Third Reich, The Last 10 Days of Hitler.

Television includes: Girlfriends, Inside No. 9, Babs, Britannia, Mr Selfridge, Poirot, Wodehouse in Exile, The Man, My Family, Old Curiosity Shop, Johnny and the Bomb, Waste of Shame, Dr Who, Miss Marple, The Cappuccino Years, David Copperfield, Leprechaun, Gormanghast, A Dance to the Music of Time, The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, The English Wife, Countless Alice, Memento Mori, The Blackheath Poisonings, Love Hurts and Prime Suspect.

IAN RICKSON Ian was Artistic Director at the Royal Court from 1998 to 2006, during which time he directed Krapp’s Last Tape, The Winterling, Alice Trilogy, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Fallout, The Night Heron, Boy Gets Girl, Mouth to Mouth (also in the West End), Dublin Carol, The Weir (also in the West End and on Broadway), The Lights, Pale Horse and Mojo (also at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago), Ashes & Sand, Some Voices and Killers. His last production for the Royal Court, The Seagull, transferred to Broadway. Other theatre includes Against (The Almeida), The Goat (West End), The Nest(Lyric, Belfast and Young Vic), Evening At The Talkhouse (NT), The Red Lion ((NT), The River (Broadway), Electra (Old Vic), Mojo (West End), Old Times (West End), The River (Royal Court), Hamlet (Young Vic), Jerusalem (Royal Court, West End and Broadway), Betrayal (Comedy Theatre), The Children’s Hour (Comedy Theatre), The Hothouse and The Day I Stood Still (NT), Parlour Song (Almeida), Hedda Gabler (Roundabout Theatre, New York), The House of Yes (Gate) and Me & My Friend (Chichester Festival Theatre). Film includes: Fallout, Krapp’s Last Tape and The Clear Road Ahead. Radio; In Therapy(Radio 4).

Sonia Friedman Productions presents THE BIRTHDAY PARTY BY HAROLD PINTER Directed by Ian Rickson Design – Quay Brothers Lighting – Hugh Vanstone Sound – Simon Baker Music – Stephen Warbeck Casting – Amy Ball

Harold Pinter Theatre Panton Street, SW1Y4DN

First performance: Tuesday 9th January 2018 Final performance: Saturday 14th April 2018 Opening Night: Thursday 18th January 2018

Performance schedule: Monday – Saturday 7.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.

Captioned Performance – Tuesday 27 February, 7.30pm

Audio Described – Tuesday 6th March, 7.30pm TheBirthdayParty.London Twitter: @BdayPartyLDN Facebook: @BdayPartyLDN Instagram: @BdayPartyLDN #TheBirthdayParty

BOX OFFICE: 0844 871 7622 Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge Groups Bookings: 020 7206 1174 Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge Access Bookings: 0800 912 6971 Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge Customer Service: 0844 871 7627 Reduced price tickets for Preview performances Over 20,000 tickets at 30 or under Tickets from just £15/ £10 in Previews Premium tickets are available

We need to talk about how amazing Toby Jones looks in The Birthday Party press pics... A new production of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party which will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre, 60 years since the play’s debut, from 9th January to 14th April 2018 with an Opening Night on Thursday 18th January 2018.

#Harold Pinter #IAN RICKSON #Revival #STEPHEN MANGAN #THE BIRTHDAY PARTY #TOBY JONES #west end #ZOE WANNAMAKER

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josefavomjaaga · 4 years

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Woman in White, by Giuseppe Bossi. Assumed to be a study for a painting of Auguste, vice-queen of Italy, daughter of King Max Joseph of Bavaria and wife of Eugène de Beauharnais

Can we take a quick break in Murat's story to see what was going on with Eugène in the meantime? After all, Austria's search for allies within Napoleon's family was not limited to Naples.

To an outsider, in fact, Eugène must have seemed like the first suspect when it came to who would most likely break away from Napoleon. After all, Napoleon had treated Eugène's mother rather shamefully, and Eugène had himself been deprived of an inheritance that had been promised to him by his adoptive father, the crown of the Kingdom of Italy. Moreover, his father-in-law Max Joseph, King of Bavaria, had sided with the Allies since October 1813. The fact Max Joseph and Eugène were very close personally was no secret to anyone and is also evident from their correspondence, still cordial despite circumstances, in which they both expressed their regret at now being in enemy camps and having to break off contact (which they probably never truly did completely).

Max Joseph informed his "bien-aimé fils" and "bien cher ami" Eugène on 8 October 1813 that he was unfortunately obliged to jump ship. After a detailed and very lengthy justification for this step, he observes:

Je crois avoir remarqué à cette occasion, avec assez de certitude pour me croire fondé à vous le dire, que les Autrichiens ne seraient pas éloignés de se prêter, du côté de l'Italie, à un armistice sur le pied de la ligne du Tagliamento. C'est votre père, et non le roi, qui vous dit ceci, persuadé que vous saurez allier vos intérêts avec ce que vous devez à l'honneur et à vos devoirs.

I seem to have noticed on this occasion, with enough certainty to consider myself justified of telling you, that the Austrians would not be reluctant to consent, on the Italian side, to an armistice on the basis of the line of the Tagliamento. It is your father, and not the king, who is telling you this, convinced that you will be able to align your interests with what you owe to honour and to your duties.

The letter ends:

J'espère, mon cher Eugène, que nous n'en serons pas moins attachés l'un à l'autre, et que je serai peut-être à même de vous prouver par des faits que ma tendre amitié pour vous est toujours la même. Elle durera autant que moi. Je vous embrasse un million de fois en idée. La reine vous embrasse.

I hope, my dear Eugène, that we shall be no less attached to each other, and that I shall perhaps be able to prove to you by deeds that my fond affection for you is still the same. It will last as long as I do. I embrace you a million times in thought. The queen embraces you.

Hey, sure. Just because we are about to shoot at each other doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends, right? Eugène answers this letter on October 15, 1813:

Mon bon père,

je reçois à l'instant votre lettre du 8 courant. Votre cœur sentira facilement tout ce que le mien a dû souffrir en la lisant. Encore si je ne souffrais que pour moi ! mais je tremble pour la santé de ma pauvre Auguste, lorsqu'elle sera informée du parti que vous vous êtes cru obligé de prendre. Quant à moi, mon bon père, quel que soit le sort que le ciel me réserve, heureux ou malheureux, j'ose vous l'assurer, je serai toujours digne de vous appartenir, je mériterai la conservation des sentiments d'estime et de tendresse dont vous m'avez donné tant de preuves. Vous me connaissez assez, j'en suis sûr, pour être convaincu que, dans celle pénible circonstance, je ne m'écarterai pas un instant de la ligne de l'honneur ni de mes devoirs; je le sais, c'est en me conduisant ainsi que je suis certain de trouver toujours en vous pour moi, pour votre chère Auguste, pour vos petits-enfants, un père et un ami. Le hasard m'a offert une occasion de faire pressentir le général Hiller sur un arrangement tacite par lequel nous demeurerions, lui et moi, dans les positions que nous occupons, c'est-à-dire sur les deux rives de l'Isonzo; je ne sais ce qu'il répondra, mais vous le sentirez, je ne puis faire au delà. Si cette première proposition est jugée insuffisante, si la fortune m'est à l'avenir aussi contraire qu'elle m'a été favorable jusqu'à présent, je regretterai toute ma vie qu'Auguste et ses enfants n'aient pas reçu de moi tout le bonheur que j'aurais voulu leur assurer, mais ma conscience sera pure, et je laisserai pour héritage à mes enfants une mémoire sans tache. Je ne sais, mon bon père, ce que votre nouvelle position vous rendra possible. Je ne vous recommande pas votre gendre, mais je croirais manquer à mes premiers devoirs si je ne vous disais pas: Sire, n'oubliez ni votre fille ni vos petits-enfants.

My good father,

I have just received your letter of the 8th. Your heart will easily perceive how much mine has suffered in reading it. If only I were suffering for myself! But I fear for the health of my poor Auguste, when she is informed of the course you felt obliged to take.

As for me, my good father, whatever fate heaven has in store for me, be it happy or unhappy, I dare to assure you, I will always be worthy of belonging to you, I will merit to preserve the feelings of esteem and tenderness of which you have given me so many proofs.

You know me well enough, I am sure, to be convinced that in this distressing circumstance I will not deviate for a moment from the line of honour or of my duties; I know that it is by behaving in this way that I am certain to always find in you, for me, for your dear Auguste, for your grandchildren, a father and a friend.

Chance has given me an opportunity to make General Hiller aware of a tacit arrangement by which he and I would remain in the positions we occupy, that is to say, on both banks of the Isonzo; I do not know what his answer will be, but you will feel that I cannot go beyond it. If this first proposal is judged insufficient, if fortune is in the future as contrary to me as it has been favourable to me up to now, I will regret all my life that Auguste and her children did not receive from me all the happiness I would have liked to ensure for them, but my conscience will be pure, and I will leave my children an unblemished memory as their legacy.

I do not know, my good father, what your new position will make possible for you. I do not recommend your son-in-law to you, but I feel that I would be failing in my first duty if I did not say to you: Sire, do not forget your daughter or your grandchildren.

Just in case somebody wondered, Eugène to my knowledge not once dares to adress Napoleon – his step father and adoptive father - as »mon père« in a letter. It’s always »Sire« and »Your Majesty« with Napoleon, »mon bon père« and »mon cher père« with Max Joseph.

On a sidenote: Max Joseph felt too embarrassed to inform his daughter about this change of circumstances himself. So instead of writing directly to Auguste, he wrote to her old governess, who had accompanied Auguste to Italy, and asked her to tell the vice-queen.

He knew why, as the reply he received from Auguste sounds a little less understanding than Eugène’s. It’s dated Oktober 17:

My good father,

Eugène has just communicated to me the distressing news that you are against us! You have to understand how my heart feels! To have other interests than yours is dreadful for your daughter who has given you ample proof of her tenderness and obedience to you.

By this, of course, Auguste is alluding to the circumstances of her marriage, which her father, if not forced, then at least had morally blackmailed her into. What she means is: “Hey, you pushed me into marrying this Frenchman back then, just so you could enter into an alliance with France and get yourself a royal crown! And now you are going to leave us hanging? Why, thank you very much!”

Perhaps you have forgotten this; but, in whatever situation I find myself, I will never regret what I have done; my conscience is without reproach, and I would bear with more courage all the misfortunes that come my way if I had not four poor children and soon a fifth to think about. It is for them that I beg your kindness; they are the children of your Auguste, whom you once appeared to love. You would be in a position to demand a future for them. I almost regret having given birth to them; they have nothing in the world but the tenderness of their father and mother!

Eugène, the best of husbands, is afflicted only because of us. He even regrets being my husband, being their father. This says it all. His tenderness is my only happiness; he will never lose mine, I will follow him everywhere, confident that he will never stray from the path of virtue and honour.

Because, let’s face it, he’s stupid like that.

This is the last letter you will receive from your daughter. My duty imposes silence on me as it has prescribed me to think of the fate of my children.

Once again I commend them to you, do not forget them. I count on your paternal tenderness, which politics has not been able to erase from your heart, just as nothing will ever make me forget the respect which your loving daughter owes you, my good father.

Both Eugène and Auguste also immediately informed Napoleon of these news (who in the meantime also had gotten a direct letter from Max Joseph) and assured the French emperor that they would of course remain loyally by his side and had broken off all communication with Bavaria. But in Frankfurt, among the Allies, Max Joseph seems to have brought up his daughter and son-in-law quite openly and frequently, speaking in their favour and trying to secure their fate in case Napoleon’s empire really fell. German newspapers speculated pointedly about the possibility that both Murat and Eugène might defect from Napoleon’s side. On October 24 Hortense already tells Eugène in a letter:

»It is said in Paris that the King of Bavaria wrote to you to offer you the kingdom of Italy, but that you refused: you see that people know you and that they can always predict what you would do if you found yourself in such a position.«

That is three weeks before such a proposal actually was made – obviously suspicions in Paris were high. I assume when Fouché visits Murat in Naples in December 1813 to make sure Murat stays on the right path, it’s no coincidence he also shows up in Milan.

#eugene de beauharnais #auguste #auguste of bavaria #viceroy #vice-queen #bavaria #king max joseph #max joseph #napoleon #joachim murat #italy1813 #some more family trouble #max is such a coward really

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