InsaneJournal

Who: Team Victor Hugo
What: Grantaire has isolated himself again, Esmeralda goes to drag him out again
When: 13 August 2017
Where: Grantaire’s apartment
Warnings:
Status: Log | Complete

Between not having seen Grantaire at the Court, and then no word from him after the Court had remained closed following her being attacked, Esmeralda was worried about her friend. Because even if he didn’t show up everyday, enough time had passed without seeing or hearing from him that she had pieced together that he had once again fallen into one of his moods, the ones where no matter what he said, he needed someone to show up and stubbornly refuse to leave. Things Esmeralda was good at and had done a number of times already.

So despite Clopin’s concern (she’d be fine, it was daytime and she wasn’t one to be afraid of living her life), Esmeralda left the Court and headed to Grantaire’s. Her movements were slower than usual and most of her body still felt stiff and the bruising wasn’t completely faded, however that really wasn’t of concern to her right now. Her concern was Grantaire.

Arriving at his apartment, she once again picked the lock before letting herself in and headed to his room, knocking on the door as she opened it.

“Grantaire?”

***

“Mmmf.” Grantaire didn’t bother to pick his head up from his pillow. It wasn’t late enough in the day for him to be awake and he didn’t much care for the interruption. But he peered out at the intruder - ah, Esmeralda, he should have known. “Hello, my friend,” he said to her, in French as per usual. “You haven’t come to drag me out into the sunlight in so long, I thought you might have forgotten me. I don’t blame you.” He reached over to turn on the lamp beside his bed (since the blackout curtains he’d hung were still tightly closed), and frowned at her appearance. ”My dear, if you don’t mind me saying so, you look like shit. Come here.” He sat up and scooted over on the bed so he could look at her with a critical eye.

***

Despite the darkness, Esmeralda’s eyes had managed to adjust to the darkness. Then again it wasn’t all that uncommon when she’d move around the Court in the dark either, so it wasn’t as if it were that hard to do. “I seem to have gotten busy, but I’ve never forgotten you.” That was an understatement. But clearly something had happened, because while Grantaire hadn’t been in the best of spirits (for him), he’d still been getting out more in the past month or so since he had dreamt of his death and woke up with the bullet in his mouth.

And there was that look. Which she probably should have expected. She’d already dealt with Peter’s concern, let alone the rest of the Court and she probably should have figured it would come again.

“I don’t feel it much.” However she did go to the bed and sat down on the spot Grantaire had made for her, movement still slower than it would have been normally.

***

“Do not take yourself away from business to deal with my depressed ass, I’m not that important.” But so long as she was here, and sitting with him, he could cooperate. He knew that she wouldn’t leave because he told her she could. Hell, that would probably just make her stay even longer. He gave her something approximating his usual flirtatious smirk - the one that had gotten him smacked countless times, called a letch and even worse. “Do you know how long it’s been since there’s been a woman in my bed? And a beautiful one such as yourself at that! Think of the things we two could do to each other.</i>”

***

“Well even if we haven’t been closed the past few days, I’d come to see you.” And the admission that the Court hadn’t been open. The last time that had happened was after the pyre incident. Still, she wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Esmeralda was more concerned about Grantaire than she was about herself at the moment. Lucky for him she knew he wasn’t serious about innuendo and she appreciated the normalness of the conversation, even if she’d come here to get him outside again. “I’m sure you’ve managed just fine without a woman in your bed.”

***

That got Grantaire’s attention, and he sat up a little straighter. “You’ve been closed?” The Court closed for nothing (or nearly nothing, anyway; the incident with the pyre flashed in his mind, of course, but other than that…). “It seems like it’s a good thing I didn’t try to go out, then. The other bars would charge me too much, I’d drink myself poor.” He chuckled, or tried to. What else had happened while he’d been lying around feeling sorry for himself?

“There haven’t been men, either. Just myself. It’s been terribly lonely.” He batted his eyelashes. “I’ve had to resort to reading of all things, can you believe it? I didn’t even know that I could read!” The laugh was a bit more real this time. The book that Eliot had given him was...well, put politely, boring as shit, although it had gotten slightly more palatable when he’d found a French version. He had yet to meet his literary cousin yet, though flipping through the pages he’d seen the name Grantaire pop up so he knew that this man existed. For some reason, and completely against his instant-gratification nature, he hadn’t skipped ahead to the parts about this other Grantaire; he had started at page one, and he had continued from there. It was very unlike him, but there was something that made him feel almost...uneasy about this story, that made him hesitate to pick up the book sometimes. But he was working on it. Slowly. It was better than lying around all day doing nothing, but he doubted “I read a book today” would be enough for Esmeralda.

***

There was a reason Esmeralda looked like shit as Grantaire had said when he actually saw her thanks to the bruises along her face and neck and the stiff walking, and that was the same reason as to why the Court had been closed. “That we have. I’m not sure for how long. Hopefully we will open up again soon, there are people who rely on us for more than drink and entertainment.” Because with Clopin, if he felt they were under threat or any of them were, then he would close ranks. Because she’d been attacked, his concerns were realized. But it wasn’t fair to those who came to the Court for help in seeking their own form of sanctuary and need for papers or escape.

“Reading you say? Anything interesting?” No, reading wouldn’t be enough all things considered given she knew Grantaire had been locked away again as he hadn’t been at the Court before it closed and hadn’t noticed it closed and had straightened up when she mentioned it. But it was still something and if he wanted to joke around about the shock of his being able to read then she would go along with it. He was at least talking and holding conversation instead of mumbling and trying to fight her on getting up.


***

“Although the drink and entertainment are some of the best reasons to go,” Grantaire said. That, and the atmosphere - not exactly welcoming, or homey, but something that could be either or both, if your definitions were kind of fucked up. R’s were.

He scoffed. “Hardly. The writer is very French. Lots of rambling and focusing on unimportant details. I now know far too much about a fictional bishop’s accounts and living situation. And far, far too many puns - and if the Grand R is saying that, you can imagine!” He chuckled and shook his head. “But...you’ll think I’m crazy for this, but I feel like I have to read it, for some reason. I only started because someone told me that a man with my name was in it, but now that I’ve started I feel that I can’t stop.” It was a worrying feeling, but, well. R was good at ignoring those. “I don’t think I would recommend it. It might be one of those magic things this place seems so good at cooking up. A book that hypnotizes you into reading it.”

***

“I should hope so.” Though Esmeralda would always prefer the helping those in need part of the Court, she knew that the main appeal was the drink and entertainment. It was just those in need that she worried about while they were closed on her account.

“I never thought I would hear the day something had too many puns for you.” Really, of all the things that could happen, a book with too many puns? Though the rambling and discussing things such as a bishop did sound rather… odd. But depending on when it was written, she was sure it was a matter of needing things to do so reading such a long book? Why not. “I wouldn’t think you crazy. Look at where we are, it sort of is normal that strange things like that would happen.”

True, she couldn’t quite figure out why someone would feel compelled to read a book, but it wasn’t the strangest of things that had happened in the place since she had arrived.

“And a book that hypnotizes you into reading it can not be up to any good.”

***

“Very true!” R said. “This terrible place certainly knows how to make our lives more terrible, in increasingly strange ways.”

But, all that aside, R heaved himself to his feet with a sigh. “Well, if you’re here to drag me out, I should let myself be dragged. I’m going to be difficult and refuse to shower, though. You’ll have to deal with me in my unwashed state.” After all, if Esmeralda had made herself come here, in the state she was in, it was the least he could do to bend to her wishes.

***

“I think it’s best to not question the how, it just leads to headaches.” Esmeralda would always remain an optimist and believe in the best of people and change, but she also was all too familiar with the things that got thrown at them because of Orange County being, well, Orange County.

“I’ll manage.” Because it was something. So standing up after Grantaire she nodded towards the door.