#yay a bossuet

[antynous]

Livre Quatrième - Les amis de l'ABC

Un groupe qui a failli devenir historique.

[callofthecurlew]

Yay! My contribution to J/B/M week 2024!

A modern, first meeting AU in which Musichetta plays the piano and Joly and Bossuet fall in love! (with her. They're already in love with each other)

[a-heart-full-of-dumb]

So I've been seeing a lot of Les Amis teacher related stuff on here lately and I walked into 3 of my old highschool teachers today (yay /s). So I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Les Amis as things my teachers have said or done:

• Enjolras: put up polls all over school during pride month to see if lgbtq+ kids felt safe (and how they could make sure people did feel safe) at school and would verbally destroy anyone who said something insulting. As well as inviting lgbtq activists to his class to make sure people got the proper education.

• Combeferre: gave a 15 minute speech about the differences between bees and wasps and why they're both important after someone killed a bee in class and called it a wasp. Or alternatively, took revenge on the student who pulled pranks on him for years by calling him in the last minute he was supposed to call people who didn't graduate and told him "I have bad news for you... you'll have to wait another minute so I can tell you you graduated."

• Courfeyrac: showed up to school with a Spice Girls shirt under his more formal attire one day. He was so exited about it he was practically jumping around when he showed us and dramatically danced to some songs before starting his class.

• Joly: that one overprotective teacher who'd constantly check if you're okay and made a fuss out of everything (they mean it well though).

• Bossuet: send an email 10 minutes before the class had started to tell us that they were gonna be late cause their dog ate their husband's hearing aids and their son had broken his arm and their bike had issues and they'd nearly fell down the stairs. Or alternatively, showed up to class with half of his face covered in bruises, a broken arm and a concussion cause he fell off his bike.

• Grantaire: often disrupted other classes with the weirdest stuff. Like this man would just randomly walk into a different class, look around, just go "just wanted to see how you guys are doing" and leave. He would also just walk in purely to start a discussion with the teacher giving the class, usually throwing in at least one reference to a book or movie. He's also walked in just to put a broomstick in the middle off the class, straight up supported by nothing and left without saying a word. (He also made jokes about his name a lot as his name was [first name] Engels, which translates to English and that's also the subject he teaches.)

• Jehan: made you deal with difficult situations by writing them down and doing music (usually group) related exercises to help you cope and calm down as well as teaching you to work together.

• Feuilly: could give you incredibly detailed speeches about almost every art supply the school owned and what you could do with them.

• Bahorel: gave a whole speech about how cool it would be to be alive during the apocalypse, because "I could say I was actually there when the apocalypse happend! That would so cool" And after the class pointed out that there wouldn't be people to tell this to after the apocalypse cause there wasn't really a society anymore he just went "I could fight zombies though!"

Bonus:

• Marius: filled half their class with a speech about Napoleon.

This was a lot harder than I thought so I'm sorry if some are a bit out of character.

[pilferingapples]

Do you remember if Enjolras's signiture red was a musical addition or if there's any canon/brick evidence of that? On a similar note, do you have a masterpost or know someone who has a masterpost of the Les Amis and their canonical Brick descriptions?

Oh yay it's Red Waistcoat talk time:D

I do love the xylophone vest, but Enjolras wearing red is invented purely for the stage!

Red was very much a color associated with republicanism/revolutionaries/lefty political radicalists in canon era-- especially certain shades of red, like scarlet. But it was so associated with them that wearing a waistcoat in those shades was almost putting on a sign that said "Arrest Me, I'm a Revolutionary". You'd have to be pretty committed and pretty foolhardy to do that!

...like so:

Behind Feuilly marched, or rather bounded, Bahorel, who was like a fish in water in a riot. He wore a scarlet waistcoat, and indulged in the sort of words which break everything. His waistcoat astounded a passer-by, who cried in bewilderment:—

“Here are the reds!”

“The reds, the reds!” retorted Bahorel. “A queer kind of fear, bourgeois. For my part I don’t tremble before a poppy, the little red hat inspires me with no alarm. Take my advice, bourgeois, let’s leave fear of the red to horned cattle.” (4.11.1 , Hapgood translation)

The only other Ami we see expressly mentioned as wearing a red waistcoat is Grantaire, who rushes home to change into one and then brings it back to try and impress Enjolras that he's Very Serious about his activism :

Grantaire lived in furnished lodgings very near the Café Musain. He went out, and five minutes later he returned. He had gone home to put on a Robespierre waistcoat.

“Red,” said he as he entered, and he looked intently at Enjolras. Then, with the palm of his energetic hand, he laid the two scarlet points of the waistcoat across his breast.(4.1.6, Hapgood translation)

Book!Enjolras is, for reasons of medium, a much quieter and more severe character than his eyecatching stage counterpart, so he's probably not running around in red. Courfeyrac might wear a red waistcoat, Bahorel wears them so much it's part of his character introduction, but Enjolras probably doesn't.

Which brings us to canon character descriptions! Sticking to the purely physical here. This will be shorter than you might think, because Hugo really doesn't give us much! Most of it's from 3.4.1:

Enjolras: someone aptly summed it up once as "like Fantine but scary".And, well:

His eyes were deep, his lids a little red, his lower lip was thick and easily became disdainful, his brow was lofty. A great deal of brow in a face is like a great deal of horizon in a view. Like certain young men at the beginning of this century and the end of the last, who became illustrious at an early age, he was endowed with excessive youth, and was as rosy as a young girl, although subject to hours of pallor. Already a man, he still seemed a child. His two and twenty years appeared to be but seventeen..that face of a youth escaped from college, that page’s mien, those long, golden lashes, those blue eyes, that hair billowing in the wind, those rosy cheeks, those fresh lips, those exquisite teeth... (3.4.1, Hapgood)

Combeferre: Nothing. Not a word. He's a medical student who's done his internship by 1832. We get some scene -specific clothing mentions at the barricade (an apron for the operations he's doing, etc) , but nothing about his general look or style. Hugo describes his outlook as "less lofty, but broader" than Enjolras; some people like to interpret this to mean he's short and kinda Big, but it's not actual physical description, so it's up to you!

Prouvaire: most of what we get for him is about his mannerisms/body language, but still descriptive!

He spoke softly, bowed his head, lowered his eyes, smiled with embarrassment, dressed badly, had an awkward air, blushed at a mere nothing, and was very timid(3.4.1)...

Courfeyrac: nothing , again! He's described as having "roundness and radiance" but again, that's metaphorical; but a lot of people do run with the Roundness aspect! Presumably dresses reasonably well and in keeping with the current styles, judging by how often he mentions his accessories, but not the best at keeping those to hand.

Feuilly: again, no direct description. Unless you choose to interpret a the line "his fingers skilled in painting the delicate sticks of fans" as meaning something about him having Nice Hands, I guess.

Bahorel: scarlet waistcoats, frock coat, high energy, generally very Fashion Aware , Noticeable Gestures/poses.

Bossuet/Legle/Lesgle/L'aigle: Bald at 25, also Broke-Broke; his coat's specifically old and starting to fall apart. Usually written as cheerful/smiling.

Joly: "Joly had a trick of touching his nose with the tip of his cane, which is an indication of a sagacious mind." Sickly. Also very well-dressed, at least by 1832. Mostly smiling/cheerful.

Grantaire: ..whoo boy. "Il était laid démesurément" , or disproportionately ugly. Could also be read as extremely unpleasant/ill-favored, unsightly.. however you want to read it, generally A Mess, physically--but what exactly that means is up to interpretation. Has that one waistcoat mentioned above but doesn't wear it much. Fairly athletic.

That's it! there are suggestive context cues, like Prouvaire's medievalist Romanticism, and there's general fashions and styles of the era to look to, but nothing else really direct!

[probably-enjolras]

r.e. disabled les amis headcanons: omg please add yours

yay someone wants to hear mine! some of this will be projection on my part. i’m disabled myself, i need a cane to walk because of a condition called Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS) which is very similar to fibromyalgia. i’m also going to include some neurodivergent and mental illness headcanons, but i know some people don’t consider those disabilities, but from my own experience with them, i do, so that’s why i’m adding them!

jean valjean has chronic back pain, specifically a problem with the discs in the upper spine, from his time in prison. gradually gets worse as he gets older because of lack of treatment and him triggering the pain himself by lifting the crashes cart and then marius in the sewers. in my modern aus i like to think he gets an upper back/neck and shoulder brace that he wears, and he’s a bit insecure about it so that’s why he’s always wearing big coats even in aus where he’s not being pursued by javert

javert, marius, and enjolras are autistic. javert has known most of his life but marius wasn’t diagnosed until his late teens due to lack of familial support. enjolras would have been diagnosed as a kid but he’s afab and there’s lack of diagnosis for afab children and he doesn’t get diagnosed until he’s in his 20s after doing his own research.

enjolras, grantaire, courfeyrac, and bossuet have adhd. enjolras and bossuet have more hyperactive traits, enjolras’ manifesting in his need to constantly be doing something and chronic boredom, while bossuet doesn’t display his as physical hyperactivity but more racing thoughts and an inability to slow his mind down. courfeyrac and grantaire have more attention deficit issues. they can’t focus on one topic for a while unless they go into hyperfocus or it’s a hyperfixation. grantaire has a lot of self worth issues because of his adhd because growing up he was seen as a bad student and a bad child because of his attention issues and executive dysfunction. courfeyrac got medicated really early on in childhood. enjolras did too and it becomes a bit of an issue between him and grantaire because grantaire doesn’t start medication until he’s about 24 and enjolras has been on medication for a long time and he’s kinda forgotten about how difficult it can be being unmedicated so he thinks grantaire isn’t trying enough. that changes when the pharmacy won’t refill enjolras’ medicine and he has to go a week without it. it’s a really humbling experience he apologizes to grantaire once he’s back on meds (this is based on personal experience actually… i didn’t start meds until a few months ago and i had a friend who started meds in middle school do what enjolras did and ur sucked)

joly had to get his knee joint replaced through surgery and still can’t walk properly without pain in the area so he walks with a cane. he also has an autoimmune disorder that makes him get sick really easily, as well as chronic fatigue and brain fog that makes it hard to complete daily tasks even when he has a low pain day. he also has very bad anxiety that sometimes manifests in worrying about his health excessively and vigilance about staying healthy because he knows that if he even gets a cold, it will be worse for his body than someone without a chronic illness

cosette and eponine both have c-ptsd from living with the thenardiers, and i have so much to say about this that i’m thinking about making an entirely separate post about it. just know that both of them have trauma responses, with cosette becoming very docile and a chronic people pleaser because she doesn’t want to get in trouble even though she won’t be punished like that anymore, while eponine has become hardened by her trauma and puts up walls so she doesn’t get hurt. she also gets frequent nightmares about her siblings being hurt and wakes up sweaty and almost screaming. gavroche came home late one day and eponine was on the verge of a panic attack even though it had only been half an hour

combeferre is blind in one eye and his other eye is partially damaged so he doesn’t have very good depth perception in what he can see, and he also has very limited color vision

feuilly is deaf and grantaire is HoH. feuilly’s primary form of communication is sign language, though he can lip read but not very well. all the amis know basic signs like how to ask if he wants some water/food, hellos and goodbyes, and how to sign their names. once feuilly becomes close with them, he creates signs specifically for their names, which at least in the american d/Deaf/HoH community is very special. a very close family friend of mine is HoH and he gave me a name sign when i came out as trans (it’s a quick movement of the letters R and Y up in the position where male signs are signed like “father”) grantaire is hard of hearing and has hearing aids. sometimes when he fights with enjolras he just takes out his hearing aids and just lets enjolras keep going until he realizes what’s going on.

this next one is very personal to me and is something i don’t think i’ve ever seen before, but i hc jehan with having schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type). i personally have this disorder and i have found some comfort thinking jehan has it too. they started having mood symptoms first, which started as a depressive episode and then suddenly they felt like they had been shocked into a manic episode. once the mania started they began having delusions of grandeur and the belief that they were a prophet sent to help the world. they began thinking people were after them and they heard voices from “angels” telling them what to do. they started writing poetry as a way to get the voices out of their head and onto paper. it took two years to get a diagnosis and a some very rough nights where they weren’t sleeping and would show up to meetings with delusional ideas, and they were scared. they refused to go to the hospital but needed help, so grantaire took them to the community out reach center that he goes to for alcohol addiction treatment and jehan got a psychiatrist who started them on antipsychotics and a mood stabilizer. i like to think that jehan got better quickly, just because i’ve had this disorder for a very long time and i’ve tried almost every antipsychotic out there and im not really better, so i want them to not have my experience. they were accepting of treatment pretty easily, but they did worry that their poetry wouldn’t be the same afterwards. fortunately, they channeled their frustration into poetry as opposed to writing what they were hearing and even though their poetry changed once they got on medicine, they didn’t lose their ability to write it. they’ve also learned how to have confidence in themself and the revolution without becoming delusional, which did take time because hearing enjolras’ strong ideas, it just felt like too much for a while. but the longer they’ve been stable and connected to reality, the easier it becomes to believe that yes, some things may seem improbable, but they can still happen AND some ideas are delusions and can be differentiated between the improbably ideas

bahorel has hypermobile joints and has to be careful when boxing with grantaire because he has subluxed or even fully dislocated his shoulders, elbows, and finger joints while boxing. jehan bought him some colorful finger braces and has stitched patterns into his knee and elbow braces

that’s enough for now because this is getting really long but yeah. lots of projection on my part (whoops) but what is this blog without me projecting my issues onto les mis characters? is this not what this blog is based on 😂

[captainenjolras]

Eponine: I call big spoon!

Cosette: I call middle spoon!

Marius: I call 2nd middle spoon!

Courfeyrac: I call 3rd middle spoon!

Combeferre: I call 4th middle spoon!

Enjolras: I call 5th middle spoon!

Grantaire! I call 6th middle spoon!

Bossuet: I call 7th middle spoon!

Joly: I call 8th middle spoon!

Musichetta: I call 9th middle spoon!

Bahorel: I call 10th middle spoon!

Feuilly: I call 11th middle spoon!

Jehan: I call little spoon!

All: yay!

Jehan: wait, guys?

All: yeah?

Jehan: I wanna be big spoon

All rolling over: ok!

[ineedyouhome-webcomic]

I have a question! So I know the webcomic is focused on Enjoltaire (yay!) who else is shipped in this story? (Can’t wait to see it!)

so far, the only ships that will definitely appear are Enjolras/Grantaire and Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta. But the nitty gritty details of the plot are still being developed, so who knows what/who will crop up along the way!- Em

I am open to the possibilities! I think that as we develop the webcomic we could get some vibes off between other characters and we might develop other ships, which would be so fun!!!! -Leo

[meowriuspawntmercy]

les amis as barricade day posts

Enjolras

Credit: https://enjolrassuggestions.tumblr.com/post/185371430682/now-is-the-time-to-rouse-the-people-and-fire-up

Combeferre

Credit: https://pilferingapples.tumblr.com/post/185383921757/410-the-5th-of-june-1832-locations-part-2

Courfeyrac

Credit: https://idledee.tumblr.com/post/161464367143/a-happy-barricade-day-to-everyone-but-especially

Joly

Credit: https://queersunflowers.tumblr.com/post/185378343899/oh-shit-its-june-5th

Jehan

Credit: https://provemelovely.tumblr.com/post/185378984919/happy-not-so-happy-barricade-day-here-is-a

Bossuet

Credit: https://quixotix.tumblr.com/post/185379664111/me-has-the-first-of-several-hugely-life

Feuilly

Credit: https://grantaire-the-drunken-artist.tumblr.com/post/185327501947/half-of-me-on-june-1-pride-month-yay-the

Bahorel

Credit: https://exaire.tumblr.com/post/161457274094/we-built-a-barricade-there-were-300-tricolour

Grantaire

Credit: https://argentavis.tumblr.com/post/185378895231/when-you-havent-thought-about-les-mis-for-a-while

Bonus: Marius

Credit: https://marius-new-hat-and-coat.tumblr.com/post/185366473005/i-am-simultaneously-very-excited-and-downright

[everyonewasabird]

I saw some Courfeyrac appreciation going around earlier, and I’m piling onto it because yay for Courfeyrac.

Oh my gosh, I have so many thoughts about Courfeyrac in the Patria scene. I don’t know whether everybody (anybody?) else reads the scene this way, but--

So Courfeyrac and Bossuet are making jokes on the barricade next to Enjolras. Bossuet starts teasing Enjolras for not having a mistress. We hear about Enjolras’s whispered “Patria” and single tear, but nothing about Courfeyrac.

It just says Bossuet is still laughing when Courfeyrac points out another cannon and starts making jokes about it.

My read is that Bossuet is the only one laughing. He teases Enjolras about women while Courfeyrac sits there in silence. As soon as there’s a lull, Courfeyrac casually redirects his attention back to the cannons.

We know Courfeyrac is merciless teasing Marius about women. Marius avoids him for days over it, repeatedly.

It reads to me like Courfeyrac has specifically decided You Do Not Tease Enjolras About Women. When somebody does, he ends the situation quickly and quietly, without drawing attention.

There are so many instances where Courfeyrac is the one who takes care of people. Marius, obviously, and Mabeuf, and he tries with Madame Hucheloup, even if not very well, and he’s never going to let Rousseau live down those abandoned kids, and he’s the one who sets limits with Grantaire when Grantaire goes too far.

But this is my favorite. It’s so unobtrusive, and so gracefully done, and so kind.

[catstrophysics]

tell me about ur wip in detail

OH MY GOD PETER I LOVE YOU OKAY HERE I GO! This might be sort of long and very nonsensical but I’m presently watching Les Mis again, so you’re getting a Detailed AnswerTM. In short: My WIP is a roughly 32k-word Les Mis modern high school AU, featuring Enjolras/Grantaire and some background other ships (Combeferre/Courfeyrac, Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta, Marius/Cosette), and it’s loosely based off of a debate project I had in American Government last year. Enjolras and Grantaire get paired up to debate against Combeferre and Courfeyrac, and it starts out super awkward because they think the other doesn’t like them but secretly they both do and the misunderstanding is nearly entirely in their heads and it’s fucking SOFT and I just adore them.ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23292466/chapters/55784911

In LONG: THESE. MISUNDERSTANDING. IDIOTS. (way more below the cut)

Basically, their relationship dynamic relies a lot on Grantaire, because he sort of forgives Enjolras a decent amount of his idiosyncracies—they’re nothing all that serious, really, just really headstrong and idealistic and notably bad at processing emotions (mood), but in terms of periodically overbearing, yeah that’s Enjolras. And Enjolras is sort of considered as less seriously attached to Grantaire, and considers him more of a nuisance/someone to debate against/the non-compliant one, but in my mind he very much values having Grantaire to sort of temper him, despite their rather snippy relationship. It’s a dynamic that feels sort of wrong-footed a lot, to me. Which it is, but it’s the sort of wrong-footed you get used to. As a whole, it’s sort of working steadily from “at-odds tentative peace” to, well, a real romantic relationship (think… bkdk, but with less open animosity and less smitten Deku and less violence. so not a lot like bkdk, actually.) And it sort of starts out showing the extent of Grantaire’s attraction, which is pretty damn notable (because… Enjolras pretty,,, and yes I am attracted to men and in this case specifically movie!Enjolras what of it) and there’s sort of those little stumbling moments of “this isn’t as awkward as it should be or as I thought it should be” because to me that’s important in a relationship like theirs, which was never all that familiar to begin with but sort of distanced and prickly despite a degree of attraction. In HS AUs to me also, it’s super important to show that there’s still, like… other shit that goes on besides relationship stuff, especially if it’s a sort of slowburn. Other friends, other classes, other work, other life events. Other hobbies. And Grantaire’s sort of a laid-back jack of all trades, whereas Enjolras very much is specialized—good at speaking, good at schoolwork, and sort of decent at everything else, in my mind. Maybe an instrument (me and my marching band love). So I’ve sort of written in Grantaire doing ballet and painting, which are two things that I find temper him (also in canon afaik he’s good at dancing, boxing, and painting, so there’s that) and Enjolras surprised by this fact, never really getting the depth of Grantaire from their past interactions. Also, Combeferre and Courfeyrac are… now one of my fave couples, to be entirely honest. They’re very balanced, because that’s… how they both are, and the sort of dorky, sweet pair you can’t help but adore, and they’re very much going to have to play witness to a lot of Enjoltaire nonsense especially during this project, because… they’re insufferably stubborn and that’s fun. Also, the project they’re doing is super neat so I’m rambling about that now because it’s a driver of the story. It’s called a crossfire debate, hence the title of the fic being “Caught In The Crossfire”, and the way it’s set up is everyone gets a chance to speak and then there’s a “crossfire” where you ask whatever questions you can to poke holes in your opponent’s argument/strengthen your own. It’s super fast-paced and kind of… scripted, which is neat to me, and also means that the rehearsal scenes have the potential to get, er, heated. So I’m looking forward to that. Honestly I’m… looking forward to writing this, and I know it’s not at all one of your fandoms, so if you actually read all of this (Peter) here’s a paragraph about my BkDk plans, just because you deserve they,, as a treat. BKDK TIME YAYQuarantine fic where it’s Class 1-A having to be quarantined in the dorms because Japan’s handling it much better than the US and realized redistributing children wasn’t a great take, but if they think you’ve got the virus they quarantine you separately, and Guess Who Gets Quarantined Together First? That’s fucking RIGHT, babey. So those two, stuck alone, with Todoroki periodically covered in trash bags bringing them soup and things. So, uh, FUCK YEAH and I might write that soon-ish, if I finish the Les Mis one, or if someone’s willing to do a sprint with me and I dedicate the time to that. Love ya, man! Thanks for letting me ramble! 

[deboracabral]

We all know Bossuet is going to cause an accident in the next three seconds.

[zevlogofamiserable]

Meta #5: Fanon, canon and my own shenanigans

If there’s a truth universally acknowledged, it’s that Prouvaire is a Cinnamon Roll too pure for this world. Hugo said it himself and that’s probably the only thing on which everyone agrees. 

Jean Prouvaire était une nuance plus adoucie encore que Combeferre. Il s’appelait Jehan, par cette petite fantaisie momentanée qui se mêlait au puissant et profond mouvement d’où est sortie l’étude si nécessaire du moyen âge. Jean Prouvaire était amoureux, cultivait un pot de fleurs, jouait de la flûte, faisait des vers, aimait le peuple, plaignait la femme, pleurait sur l’enfant, confondait dans la même confiance l’avenir et Dieu, et blâmait la révolution d’avoir fait tomber une tête royale, celle d’André Chénier. Il avait la voix habituellement délicate et tout à coup virile. Il était lettré jusqu’à l’érudition, et presque orientaliste. Il était bon par-dessus tout ; et, chose toute simple pour qui sait combien la bonté confine à la grandeur, en fait de poésie il préférait l’immense. Il savait l’italien, le latin, le grec et l’hébreu ; et cela lui servait à ne lire que quatre poètes : Dante, Juvénal, Eschyle et Isaïe. En français il préférait Corneille à Racine et Agrippa d’Aubigné à Corneille. Il flânait volontiers dans les champs de folle avoine et de bleuets, et s’occupait des nuages presque autant que des événements. Son esprit avait deux attitudes, l’une du côté de l’homme, l’autre du côté de Dieu ; il étudiait, ou il contemplait. Toute la journée il approfondissait les questions sociales, le salaire, le capital, le crédit, le mariage, la religion, la liberté de penser, la liberté d’aimer, l’éducation, la pénalité, la misère, l’association, la propriété, la production et la répartition, l’énigme d’en bas qui couvre d’ombre la fourmilière humaine ; et le soir, il regardait les astres, ces êtres énormes. Comme Enjolras, il était riche et fils unique. Il parlait doucement, penchait la tête, baissait les yeux, souriait avec embarras, se mettait mal, avait l’air gauche, rougissait de rien, était fort timide. Du reste, intrépide. 

So he’s soft… soft and soft again, but suddenly manly, suddenly brave, suddenly something. He’s also said to be an orientalist (bleh) his name comes from the romantic obsession with the medieval  (“Jehan” is just the old way to say “Jean”)… but he’s also super practical and studies concrete social, political, economical issues and like everything in his description is contradictory (he’s like that, but like that) and you don’t get much from it besides, he’s an intellectual but a dreamer … erm… kinda like the others… maybe a bit more emotional.

Prouvaire the cinnamon roll

I feel like Hugo’s depictions of the ABC is sometimes too much and too little. He describes them in full detail as if they were all protagonists with many nuances and subtleties, compares them to one another as if we already knew them (you can make a Les amis scale from the romantic Marius to the intense Enjolras) but they don’t appear much and he fails at having them “show not tell” who they are, at giving a clear impression of them through their actions except maybe for Enjolras and Grantaire. He says that one is such. but such and also such: Bossuet is unlucky but joyful, Lesgle thinks he’s always sick but is joyful, Courfeyrac is… like Tholomyes but nice… Everybody is joyful… well except Enjolras maybe. But do they show who they are through their actions?… if we ignore a few lines, they’re mostly interchangeable during the barricades scenes. Be honest. They’re not types… but they’re not complex beings either… They’re… hard to grab… to be honest...I mean like real people I guess?

As I was writing my webseries, I really tried to get as many things as I could from the book, but it was both so imprecise and yet so overwhelming with timely references that I ended up reinventing the characters and some reinventions don’t match with the popular fanon, which is both based on the musical and the Brick. (And like it’s good, the fanon is interesting and a collective rebuilding of the characters and again I love some elements of it so much! Like Musichetta/Lesgle/Joly = Poly yay!)

So, rereading the book, I ended up with something like a Breakfast Club archetype list: Enjolras, mega charismatic cold leader; Combeferre, intellectual; Prouvaire,  Cinnamon Roll, dreamer; Courfeyrac, charming, sassy (he has “de l’esprit” it means sass); Lesgle and Joly,  the fun eccentric ones, work as a duet; Bahorel, bad boy who knows the real shit; Feuilly, good boy who knows the real shit; Grantaire, sassy intoxicated unreliable bad-boyish one with a heart. I already talked about the writing of Grantaire here. I replaced booze with weed. That’s the main difference. He was easy to modernize. It was more complex for Enjolras, I talk about it here.)

Courfeyrac, nonchalant! Charming? but overall sassy/salty

… And then I had to make this work with a vlog/fanfic format, to avoid the repetition of characters, to update them and to make new political agendas carried out by my activist friends fit in. But I kept some things: Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Prouvaire are very close to my original ideas of them and Lesgle and Bê (who replaced Joly) are a duet with eccentric sass (although, I’m afraid Grantaire took a lot of the eccentric).

The eccentric sassy duet Lesgle and Bê

Now… would I say that the characters I got out of the book are more accurate than the depictions I see in the fanon? Nope… but I tried to get things from the book, in my own way. And the fact that it’s divergent from common fan-readings could prove… my cluelessness and ignorance (well if I may? I don’t think so lol. I’m French and I’ve studied Hugo a bit… and scholars don’t agree on the dude’s writing goals), but also simply the fact that the dear Totor… wasn’t so “precise” in his descriptions of the ABC, which is more of a collective that he mostly fails to present as a sum of individuals because… he gives too many details about them. I really think an efficient character description, especially if there are MANY characters, is to give key elements that can structure a coherent type and Hugo… didn’t have that goal (because he was thinking of people he knew and yadi yada and it’s a respectable goal as well). Hence, diverse interpretation and that is really interesting!

Combeferre the intellectual who wants to work together!

[eirenical]

SALT ME WITH 4, 19, 22, 23

YAY, BRING ON THE SALT.  XD

[If anyone else wants to ask me salty asks, go right ahead! ^_^]

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

…I do.  And yes, they are.  -.-;;;  You know what?  I think we’re going to go behind a cut for all this.  XD

So, the big one is Jehanparnasse.  They are a HUGE NoTP for me, and these days, yeah, they’re pretty popular.  I just… don’t see the appeal.  A lot of it is that I think Jehan deserves way better, and even more of it is that I feel like he would not be able to overlook the whole cold-blooded, shallow murderer thing.  They’re each the exact representation of what the other does NOT stand for.  And not in an opposites attract kind of way.  Also, in order to make that ship work, they have to be so OOC that I just don’t see the point.  So… yeah.  Just… no.

Also, Enjolras/Grantaire are definitely at that point for me, too, and they’re the largest ship in the fandom.  And again, it’s a case of very rarely seeing them shipped without one or both of them being wildly out of character.  (And I have definitely done this, too, so my slate is definitely not clean.)  But, yeah, I have a knee-jerk NOPE reaction to them at this point, except in very specific circumstances.

In SW terms, I’m going to go with Reylo being my absolute HELL NOPE ship.  That is definitely a squicky situation for me.  Also because at this point, I’m still not seeing much redeemable about KR.  I’m a ship and let ship kind of girl, but that one is a solid nope for me personally.

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

LM: …nonbinary Jehan.  OK, lemme explain that.  I have NOTHING against incorporating nonbinary headcanons of characters.  NOTHING.  I just… it being Jehan is SUCH A TOKEN THING AT THIS POINT.  It’s just that it literally feels like people are just switching the pronoun to ‘they’ so they can check the box.

I also have a REAL problem with the fact that we took one of the two most femme-coded men of Les Amis, the one who is soft-spoken, loves flowers and looking at clouds, writes poetry, and “dresses badly,” and said, “YEP.  THAT’S THE ONE THAT’S NOT A MAN.”  I’m sorry but… yikes.

You know what I love seeing?  NB!Bahorel.  (Seriously, you will pry that headcanon from my COLD DEAD FINGERS.)  NB!Feuilly.  NB!Enjolras.  NB!ANYONE WHO ISN’T JEHAN.

SW: The hate for the prequels.  Especially when it’s revisionist hate.  Like… I’m sure you remember but when the prequels came out, we were SO EXCITED.  So many people loved them.  The fandom explosion was HUGE.  And now people go back and say, “Well, everyone always hated them.”  No.  No, we didn’t.  And we don’t.  And I will hold them up against ANY of the other trilogies and tell you that they are JUST as awesome ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

Corollary to that: the ragging on the prequels for CGI.  Like… do people have any idea exactly how FEW of the prequel effects were done with CGI?  I mean… very VERY few.  The stands in the podrace?  LITERALLY PAINTED MATCHSTICKS IN A SCALE MODEL.  And so many of the backgrounds were painted, not CGI.  So, like… every time I see someone saying how much the prequels sucked and how much they were always hated and they claim the overuse of CGI as a supporting argument?  FUCK YOU, BUDDY.

Corollary two: How fans treated Ahmed Best.  Like, literally?  Fuck all y’all that had anything to do with making someone feel like that.  And Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen while we’re at it, but particularly Ahmed Best.

So.  Yeah.  Those things.  *nodnodnod*

22. Popular character you hate?

Got this one here.

23. Unpopular character you love?

SO FUCKING MANY I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START.

LM: FEUILLY.  FEUILLY FEUILLY FEUILLY.  I mean, it’s not like people hate him.  They don’t.  He just… often gets forgotten.  And when he isn’t, it’s often a case of character bastardization.  The whole “lower/working class = rude, uncouth, swearing up a storm, brawling, smoking cigarettes” stereotype.  Like… NO.  Fortunately that stereotype seems to have mostly died down, but it still rears its ugly head in places.

Also, Joly and Bossuet.  I love them to BITS and they also seem to get left by the wayside sometimes.

It’s not that any of the three of them are UNpopular, though.  They’re just… not AS popular as some other characters.

SW: Again, I don’t think any of the characters I like are straight up unpopular?  Just less popular than some other characters.  And even then, it depends on the fandom circle you’re running in.  Like, I have a HUGE soft spot for Bail and Breha Organa.  (And Jango Fett.  ^_~)  But they don’t really seem to always catch the fandom eye.

[akallabeth-joie]

Brickclub 4.12.2

It was the best of chapters, it was the worst of chapters...

Bossuet and Joly are sort of very much my favorite Amis.* I love their wordplay and gaiety. This is the longest interaction/info drop we really get with them. Yay! Everything gets real and Vicky's about to kill all the characters. Not yay. 

Grantaire is in a mood. And has possibly been wandering all night getting upset about his friends' immiment life-endangering plans. As much as I feel bad for him (for all of them), the Floreal rant really doesn't sit well with me. Will need to revisit that when I'm awake.

The guys gossiping about Marius is a nicely mundane moment, and a reminder that he's a friend of theirs. It is interesting how Grantaire's snarky comments so closely parallel the narrative's very serious descriptions of Marius and Cosette's interactions in the garden.

I also wonder how often Bossuet and Joly take breakfast at the Corinthe, since Grantaire happened upon them there, and Enjolras sent the message. In the intro, it was indicated that the Corinthe was convenient to the working men who were part of Les Amis de l'ABC, while the Musain was closer to the students. Joly and Bossurt are/were the latter (and thus probably live nearer the schools and Musain), but it's the Corinthe they chose today. Intentionally planning to be near the parade route and/probable riot zone? Have they, perhaps, relocated for political reasons like Courf?

Speaking of The Center, I love Bossuet and Courfeyrac's conversation. Why not there? The tone is just so casual, contrasting with the deadly earnest activity they're about to undertake. 

For those keeping track at home, over the 5-hour breakfast, Grantaire just drank almost 3 francs worth of wine, ie, Feuilly's whole day's wage.

And remember, always tip your message-gamin.

[The guys address eachother, and little Navet, with 'tu'; Grantaire also uses the informal for Mere Hucheloup, though I'm not sure whether his familiarity is warranted--he's sort of being a jerk in that line anyway.]

*I will also confess to being a ride or die JBM shipper, as I have never been nor ever again will be for any other ship in any other fandom. 

[sovinly]

JMB and cooking?

(Thank you so much for your patience, I know it has been forever. Thank you also for an awesome prompt!

1.

“It will be fun,” Grantaire had said. “It’s beer-and-cheesenight, it’ll be totally cool.”

And sure, everyone has been lovely, both the handfulMusichetta already knew and the handful she didn’t. And sure, the food has beenutterly delicious, generous and rich servings of raclette complemented by the eclecticsampling of beers everyone’s contributed to.

And sure, Joly has adorable springy curls and a charminggrin and dimples and makes rapid-fire puns. And sure, Bossuet is tall and baldand endearing and is wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon whale and also makesridiculous puns. And sure, they’re criminally adorable together and keep kickingone another’s feet and she’s already sure they’re all going to be the greatestfriends, and that’s fantastic, but.

“Oh no,” she whispers, when the door finally closes behindthem, “they’re hot.”

Grantaire laughs, the bastard.

2.

“… All I’m saying is that if your superstrength isn’tconsistent, there should be a good reason for it, because, like, at least giveyour narratively-convenient variations a cool alien name or something,” Bossuetsays, not looking up from the onion he’s julienning while also somehow absentlyleaning against the counter. That seems patently unfair, as Musichetta can’tabsently julienne onions.

Musichetta nods, even though he can’t see, and shimmies tothe side so Joly can reach around her for the spices. “I mean, yes, that’strue. But also, if your moments of narrative requiring disappearing skills areall for damelsing your ladies, you maybe have a bigger problem.”

“At least be up front about it,” Joly agrees, stealing oneof Musichetta’s carrot chunks as he ducks back. He’s wearing skinny jeans today,new and a flattering deep maroon, and they do wonderful things to his calves.It’s very distracting. “Damselium. The Curse of the Heteropatriarchy. Themysterious Shitty EXcuse Implying Stereotypical Things gene.”

She snorts at that as Bossuet’s witty retort seems to be cutshort, delayed in favor of whirling around to give Joly a high-five for theimpromptu wordplay, and as much as Musichetta is looking forward to theirevening of shitty superhero films and dinner, she’s having the time of her liferight now.

3.

It doesn’t seem like it’s as much when they all live in thesame house, really, because there’s always something on hand and someone to goget take out if necessary. That’s one of the benefits of roommates andboyfriends. That’s also the benefits of lots of friends, because someone alwayshas a minute to run by at least with some noodles and tea.

Still, though, Musichetta hopes it still counts, as littleas this is. That’s why she runs to the store three times when Bossuet andGrantaire realize that they’ve forgotten some vital ingredient or that Bossuet’sjealously horded sausage from Bahorel has succumbed to abrupt freezer burn. It’swhy she shifts foot to foot cooking down lemon curd for the better part of anhour because anyone who says desserts aren’t a vital meal component is wrong.

And it’s nothing fancy, and it doesn’t feel like enough tomake up for the everything else, for the way that she can’t do more to ease Joly’spain or help his joints settle or make his doctors listen as thoughtfully asJoly would to his patients. But thenJoly stumbles from the bedroom, leaning heavily on his cane and banded aboutwith braces, bent with pain and restless with boredom. Then he sees the fullystocked fridge with portioned tupperware, each labled with a pun or a doodle, andhis eyes well up with easy-coming tears as he blinks, and his voice breaks alittle as he helplessly says: “You guys.”

And then, it feels like it just might be enough.

4.

Musichetta feels silly and hopeless, standing in thekitchen, her fingers coated with ginger and lemongrass as she attempts to blother tears against her shoulder. She hasn’t cried all day, and even now it’s notthe ache of missing that’s brought her to tears, just the half-made soup thatshe’d really love to finish once her vision isn’t so blurry again.

It’s not even that her grandfather is gone, because she’s happy he’s not in pain, it’s just. It’s just.It’s the story her grandfather told them all, every time he ever cooked, thefamiliar cadence of the words, of the not-quite-trite story of how he didn’tknow how to cook when he’d married her grandmother, how it took her falling illfor him to realize how much she did, how much he took for granted. It’s the wayhe would always cup Musichetta’s face in his rough old-man hands and say “Lovesomeone who is humble enough to be wrong, and more than that, love someone whowill learn to make you soup when you’re sick.”

And she does, she does, she has two people who are humbleand kind and never take her for granted and she makes them soup when they’resick and they do the same for her, and she never got to say. And now all she has is half-made breakfast soup and a pot ofpepper she can’t blame for her red eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” Bossuet says, careworn and gentle around theedges from his own losses, enfolding her in his arms. His cheek rests againsther head, and he only holds her tighter when her messy hands clutch helplesslyat his threadbare hoodie.

“How about I keep working on this, and you hug Lesgle and tellme how not to do it wrong?” Joly offers very gently and kisses the back of herhead.

Musichetta’s heart aches.

“Okay,” she says, and lets them help.

5.

“I hear no one felt like cooking,” Bossuet calls, stompinghis boots free of the last traces of snow by the entryway. There’s the faintrustle of plastic bags, too, and the scent of warm spices begins to permeatethe air. “So I brought falafel and chicken wraps because I love you.”

“We love you too,” Musichetta sings, drizzling dishsoap inthe last of the bowls and setting it to soak. She dries her hands on the toweltucked into her belt and tilts her head towards the door. “You should come giveus food and also kisses.”

“We’re just wrapping up in here,” Joly adds, flourishing hisspatula and sending light gleaming across his splint rings, as Bossuet pokeshis head in. “I’d feel falafel if we ruined our appetites with dessert first,but thankfully you’re right on time.”

“It’s chickpea-k baking time in here,” Musichetta agrees,giggling at Joly’s puns even as she goes to tiptoe to kiss Bossuet. His cheeksare flushed red from the cold and there are little melting ice crystals dottinghis hat – her hat, technically – but his smile is warm as they break apart. “Ican’t believe you chickened out of it.”

“Don’t grill me on my life choices,” Bossuet complains,kissing her forehead before setting down his bags. “Besides, Bahorel and I wereon the lamb, there was a law school alumn event.”

Joly and Musichetta make a simultaneous noise of amusementat that. Still not abandoning the spatula, Joly coaxes Bossuet down for a kiss,kissing the tip of his nose after.

“Well, you’re safe from the law for now,” Joly informs him,going back to moving cookies from the baking tray to the arrangement of platesholding the rest of their endeavors. “But not safe yet, because you are doomedto an evening of cuddles.”

“It’s true,” Musichetta agrees. “After dinner, I’mma makechocolate and Courfeyrac has finally given us her churro recipe, and also thereare so many cookies.”

“Oh man, and it’s snowing outside, big lovely flakes.”Bossuet kisses Joly’s ear before turning to get plates and silverware, just asMusichetta’s stomach starts to grumble. “Grantaire may even be seduced home forchurros and cookies and cakes, but I feel like he’d be even more enticed if wethrew in romcoms.”

“Musical romcoms,”Joly pipes up, eager.

Musichetta hangs up the handtowel again and props her handson her hips. “I can’t even believe you’re trying to use R as an excuse, musicalromcoms are always the right answerin this house, especially if they come with baked goods and falafel-”

“- and fries-” Bossuet adds.

“- and fries,” Musichetta amends. “Also cuddles. Because it’smotherfucking winter.��

“I love you guys so much,” Joly sighs. “C’mon, c’mon, I amsore and starving and am too adorable to go uncuddled for this long. I will getblankets if you carry everything out to the living room.”

“That we can do,” Musichetta agrees, and feels like singing for all the warmth in her heart.

[a-heart-full-of-dumb]

I posted 610 times in 2021

38 posts created (6%)

572 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 15.1 posts.

I added 215 tags in 2021

#les mis - 41 posts

#les miserables - 40 posts

#neurodivergent - 24 posts

#enjolras - 23 posts

#grantaire - 22 posts

#les misérables - 16 posts

#les amis de l'abc - 15 posts

#nonbinary - 13 posts

#actually neurodivergent - 11 posts

#witchblr - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 116 characters

#gotta love being a tiny (somwhat) trans masc person in a country where the average height for men is like 6 feet. /s

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Red - barricade day

Red, the colour of the street where they lay.

red, still flowing out of their bodies.

They were students… one was a child.

A revolution that had been so carefully planned out, ending with the same colour that started it. Red.

The colour that had once been the colour of 'a world about to dawn' was now the colour of flowing blood and a plan that led to nothing.

After all, who would care to remember a bunch of students and a child? Their bodies would be disposed of, the rain would wash away their blood and with that all traces of the battle that had occurred.

Would their bodies painting the world red really be for nothing? Would the world return to black once more?

Or would their determination and laughter carry on? After all, one of them still remained.

Maybe nothing changed that day but if their story lived on, if their names didn't go forgotten, then maybe, red would become the colour of hope once more.

My contribution to barricade day I guess.

I'm in no way a writer and English isn't my first language, but I tried my best.

25 notes • Posted 2021-06-05 16:00:05 GMT

#4

Some people hoard genders or pronouns (which is cool af btw!!)

I, however, hoard names. And it's very fun confusing people by responding to a whole bunch of different names. Especially the ones that are usually just seen as words.

26 notes • Posted 2021-05-07 15:59:35 GMT

#3

I just found out that there are versions of Les Mis (the musical) where Grantaire and Enjolras FUCKING HUG after Grantaire's depressing solo in Drink With Me and I'm an absolutely sobbing mess.

Idk why I didn't find out about this earlier but omg I'm so happy I did now.

Grantaire is a huge comfort character and omg I cannot handle this.

I am so so emotionally attached to him.

44 notes • Posted 2021-05-27 15:20:36 GMT

#2

So I've been seeing a lot of Les Amis teacher related stuff on here lately and I walked into 3 of my old highschool teachers today (yay /s). So I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Les Amis as things my teachers have said or done:

• Enjolras: put up polls all over school during pride month to see if lgbtq+ kids felt safe (and how they could make sure people did feel safe) at school and would verbally destroy anyone who said something insulting. As well as inviting lgbtq activists to his class to make sure people got the proper education.

• Combeferre: gave a 15 minute speech about the differences between bees and wasps and why they're both important after someone killed a bee in class and called it a wasp. Or alternatively, took revenge on the student who pulled pranks on him for years by calling him in the last minute he was supposed to call people who didn't graduate and told him "I have bad news for you... you'll have to wait another minute so I can tell you you graduated."

• Courfeyrac: showed up to school with a Spice Girls shirt under his more formal attire one day. He was so exited about it he was practically jumping around when he showed us and dramatically danced to some songs before starting his class.

• Joly: that one overprotective teacher who'd constantly check if you're okay and made a fuss out of everything (they mean it well though).

• Bossuet: send an email 10 minutes before the class had started to tell us that they were gonna be late cause her dog ate their husband's hearing aids and her son had broken his arm and their bike had issues and they'd nearly fell down the stairs. Or alternatively, showed up to class with half of his face covered in bruises, a broken arm and a concussion cause he fell off his bike.

• Grantaire: often disrupted other classes with the weirdest stuff. Like this man would just randomly walk into a different class, look around, just go "just wanted to see how you guys are doing" and leave. He would also just walk in purely to start a discussion with the teacher giving the class, usually throwing in at least one reference to a book or movie. He's also walked in just to put a broomstick in the middle off the class, straight up supported by nothing and left without saying a word. (He also made jokes about his name a lot as his name was [first name] Engels, which translates to English and that's also the subject he teaches.)

• Jehan: made you deal with difficult situations by writing them down and doing music (usually group) related exercises to help you cope and calm down as well as teaching you to work together.

• Feuilly: could give you incredibly detailed speeches about almost every art supply the school owned and what you could do with them.

• Bahorel: gave a whole speech about how cool it would be to be alive during the apocalypse, because "I could say I was actually there when the apocalypse happend! That would so cool" And after the class pointed out that there wouldn't be people to tell this to after the apocalypse cause there wasn't really a society anymore he just went "I could fight zombies though!"

Bonus:

• Marius: filled half their class with a speech about Napoleon.

This was a lot harder than I thought so I'm sorry if some are a bit out of character.

49 notes • Posted 2021-10-07 15:06:18 GMT

#1

Okay so you know how Bossuet isn't bald in most adaptations of Les Mis?

It's because he stole one of the wigs from Valjean's collection. He started wearing it as a joke but it kinda grew on him so now he just kinda wears a wig.

That's the only explanation I'll ever accept.

96 notes • Posted 2021-09-06 12:14:50 GMT

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