Open Post: La savate et le chausson

[futaille]

Much to his satisfaction, Grantaire has been able to keep up with many of his hobbies unabated during his time at the mansion. Not all of them, though, mostly because they were ones he'd go to specific spots for, and with those spots not being here in addition to an abundance of his other hobbies, they more or less fell by the wayside.

However, a recent chat with Dionysus has reminded him that he has very much neglected his 'hitting things' level. Although he didn't find a crash test dummy, the thought being on his mind ended up in him stumbling upon a small gym tucked away, complete with some equipment including a standing punching bag.

So he's discarded his waistcoat and cravat over a bench and is practicing his savate¹.

¹French kickboxing! During R's time it was basically for streetfighting, and just beginning to get formalized, but there are some cool vintage videos on youtube (Here and here) to give the... vibe.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

"Nor on mine," he says. Hauntings happen, and spirits become restless, and their energy becomes corrupted, and the dead speak or walk. But they do not return whole and alive, and he never anticipated that Wei Ying might. It was waiting only in retrospect. At the time, it was mourning without any anticipated end.

[futaille]

"You got a miracle, then. I'm fairly sure those are rare on any world out there. Well, more than fairly sure, as miracles are by definition not exactly common. I'd say you both deserved it but I'm hardly an expert on the deserving."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji might object, and nearly does, but describing the circumstances to Grantaire is an unappealing prospect. He only directs another sharp look at him, then. "Because you think yourself undeserving?"

[futaille]

"Because determining who deserves a miracle is the domain of whatever force distributes the miracle, and far be it from me to speculate on the criteria."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." They have strayed from the original debate, but Lan Wangji suspects it might be an unwinnable argument. He doesn't need to convince Grantaire of what is true for him for the truth of it to remain. "I am unsure fate has such clear intention."

[futaille]

He shrugs amiably. "That's perfectly fair. I wouldn't say I'm sure of anything, so I certainly don't expect anyone else to be. I'm just tossing thoughts to the wall and seeing what sticks."

[lightbearinglord]

"You are sure of nothing at all?" Again, Lan Wangji is almost blatantly skeptical.

[futaille]

"I am somewhat confident that one added to one is two, so I suppose that was a slight exaggeration, but I have carefully honed my skepticism over the years."

[lightbearinglord]

"Are you not sure of your feelings for the young master Enjolras?" It's a somewhat pointed question, but also one prompted by genuine curiosity.

[futaille]

His eyebrows shoot up. "That doesn't count. Enjolras is... Enjolras."

[lightbearinglord]

He understands the fundamental sentiment, but not what seems to stem from it. If Grantaire is sure of Enjolras, then he would expect other certainties to build themselves around that. Enjolras is Enjolras is meaningless; he frowns and waits to see if Grantaire will explain.

[futaille]

"Right, that's a bit tautological. It's just that... He's the exception to everything. What belief I can muster has been spent on him. He just has so much of his own that it draws it out."

[lightbearinglord]

"Believing in him doesn't bring you to believe in other things?" An obvious question comes on the heels of that one, but he holds onto it for the moment.

[futaille]

He shrugs. "It's easier not to. Leave it to the experts, so to speak."

[lightbearinglord]

There comes that small, sharp frown once again. "And you are not an expert."

[futaille]

"That's not... All right. For the sake of argument, say I had been a firm believer in their cause. That I went in lockstep with them at every turn and had that fire that burns so bright in Enjolras. It wouldn't have changed anything. You could argue it would have gone worse. They would have had another fighter, who would have been using ammunition that was already not exactly in the greatest of supply. They would have run out of it even faster than they did, the barricade would have been taken even quicker, and to a man, we would have died even earlier than we did. Oh, what glory that would have been to witness."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji listens, externally placid. Beside him, the punching bag has lost the last of its residual momentum from his efforts and come to stillness. "I wasn't asking whether believing in Enjolras brought you to belief in every particular of his cause. Only whether it brought you to convictions of your own."

[futaille]

"Not any important ones, certainly. What sort of self-respecting skeptic would I be if I grew convictions?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doubts very much that Grantaire is self-respecting at all. He doesn't care to be quite that cutting, however. He looks Grantaire over, seeing for perhaps the first time just how careful his carelessness is and how diligently he strives to convince not only others, but also himself that he is a being of pure frivolity, without substance. "Mn," he says, with no particular inflection.

[futaille]

He intuits that that was not exactly agreement, and quite possibly nowhere near it, but he's perfectly willing to pretend. "Precisely. Therefore, I am well-versed in any number of pastimes and thus a pleasure to be around."

[lightbearinglord]

"Do pastimes come at the expense of conviction?"

[futaille]

"I suppose it depends on how one defines a conviction. It could practically be classed as a particularly strong opinion, of which I have several, many in fact related to those pastimes, but on the other hand, how much of a conviction is it when one is perfectly willing to be proven wrong on them?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji puts a little effort into controlling his expression, then. Grantaire has begun, almost without warning, to strike him with a sort of subdued but profound sadness. "Not much at all."

[futaille]

"Precisely. I don't know that I have a temperament suited for much in the way of stone certainty. Dancing on the ever-shifting sands of possibility, on the other hand..."

[lightbearinglord]

Again, Lan Wangji keeps his face smooth and unrevealing, which is a simple feat for him. It couldn't be more obvious that expressing any of his sudden swell of concern would go poorly, and that Grantaire would use those same sands of possibility to dance away from his worry. "You have perfected that art," he finishes.