Closed Post: If at first...

[futaille]

Grantaire has seen the coffee maker being used in passing. He has not had to use it himself, as usually when he's in the kitchen, he opts for other beverages. But he knows he really should speak to Enjolras. And he also knows that even if Enjolras already has coffee, that coffee will probably either be horrible or it will have congealed into unrecognizable sludge that he will still somehow be attempting to drink, and that's just not acceptable.

So he's bound and determined to make Enjolras some coffee. It can't be that difficult, right? He grabs a bottle of wine, just to sip at while it brews. (Also, to fortify his courage. He's surely going to need it.)

On his first attempt, he has no idea what happened. Cleanup is a chore, but he actually gets assistance with both cleanup and strategy from a helpful mademoiselle with quite a bit of hair who explains the need for coffee filters, as well as the general steps one needs to take to brew the coffee in this thing. She's apparently taken one apart.

The second pot actually manages to brew into actual coffee without grounds everywhere. But upon tasting, he didn't use nearly enough coffee. Rejected.

Third pot? Too much. Rejected.

The fourth pot looks promising but the coffee is just nowhere near as good as he wants to present to Enjolras.

He finds a different variety of coffee for the fifth pot. It looks much more like it. But that sets the ratios all askew again.

Finally. Finally, pot number six turns out to be what he was looking for. He pours it into a large insulated mug that he finds in a cabinet, puts the lid on tightly, and heads off with a large mug of hot coffee in one hand, and a (now...) half-bottle of wine in the other.

There's a conversation that needs to be had.

Comments

[futaille]

"I'm a singlestick fighter, not a fencer, and I have a bottle of wine in me besides. You'll dismantle me in a heartbeat." Still, though, he stands and sets his empty bottle down. "But if you insist."

[untamedantinous]

“At least give it a try, hmm?” He does insist, clearly. (Also, he is not entirely willing to give Grantaire a free show. If it were a few days prior, he would hardly even have noticed.)

[futaille]

"Yes, yes." As Enjolras asks, so Grantaire will do. He crosses the room to grab a sword of his own, lifting and testing the heft. "Oh, this will take some getting used to."

[untamedantinous]

"Oh, come, it's not that bad. Metal as opposed to wood, it's basically the same thing." He stands to get his rapier again, taking a moment to stretch out.

"Come on then, try a pass."

[futaille]

"Basically the same thing. Heavier, weighted differently, and flexible, but yes. Same general shape."

Still, though, he keeps his eyes on Enjolras as he stretches and stands in a loose ready position. "Ready?"

[untamedantinous]

"I have faith in your abilities. If you can handle a stick, you can handle a rapier." with a little wry lipquirk. Certainly a marked change from Paris, but perhaps a welcome one. He has, indeed, tried to make a new start her.

"Whenever you are, yes." And he goes in to his own ready position, waiting.

[futaille]

A marked change from Paris indeed, and it's one Grantaire can't help but notice. It's such a small thing, but he wants to at least partially justify the offered faith. This time, anyway.

He takes a breath and nods, adjusting his grip and shifting his weight a bit before he darts forward, feinting at shoulder height before swinging his sword to Enjolras's leg.

[untamedantinous]

If he's moving like he would with a singlestick, then Enjolras blocks it fairly easily; and parries it with a quick thrust.

"See? I told you it wouldn't be so hard."

[futaille]

He is indeed, out of practice. He manages to jump back out of the way of the thrust, though. "No point, though, so it was hard." He's grinning, though.

[untamedantinous]

"I told you I needed practice." There is a brief grin back, before he readies himself for another pass. He considers for a moment, then feints to Grantaire's right before attempting to circle back to come at his left side for a hit.

[futaille]

He manages to get his sword up to block the hit, but it's a near thing, and he doesn't have the leverage for a counter. "Close one."

[untamedantinous]

“Well, you are a bit harder to hit than, uh, the undead. Somewhat faster.” That grin might be called teasing, if one was feeling charitable.

[futaille]

"I can shamble around if you'd like. Make it simpler for you." He sets up for another pass himself and just tries for a direct center thrust.

[untamedantinous]

“No, you’ve only had one bottle of wine. Not nearly enough to shamble.” He’ll be easily side stepping that, in that case.

[futaille]

Grantaire can't help but laugh. There are a lot of things he can't help in regards to Enjolras, and this new facet of him, playful and teasing, is making nearly every single one of them worse.

"You're right. I would need several more for a creditable shamble. I could go retrieve some if you'd like." He doesn't even pretend to actually leave to do so, instead shaking out his limbs and standing ready for the next pass.

[untamedantinous]

He’s truly not intending to make it worse; but he is pleased with how well this has been going so far.

“And give you an excuse to quit? I think not,” primly, but he’s still grinning as he goes into another feint before aiming for a center thrust of his own. “The exercise will do you good, Joly would say.”

[futaille]

He overcommits to the feint and Enjolras manages to land the first hit. "Ah! Point to you. Also, Joly would say no such thing. Joly would say 'But what sort of diseases can you get from a dragon?'"

[untamedantinous]

“Well, Joly has not met our dragon; and he is delightful and likely does not have any diseases. How many points shall we go to?”

[futaille]

"Oh, I don't think the dragon has diseases," he replies a touch wryly, "just that Joly would worry. And I'm assisting in your practice, so I'll go to as many points as you wish."

[untamedantinous]

“Of course he would,” a little fondly. “…I don’t know. How does three sound?”

[futaille]

"Three it is." He smiles a bit, a thought occurring to him as he gets back into ready position. His next pass imitates Enjolras's feint into center thrust that scored the first point.

[untamedantinous]

“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” grinning, as he maneuvers to slide Grantaire’s blade to the side.

[futaille]

"I don't know," he says with a shrug. "I've already lasted longer than I thought I would, so I'd say I'm doing quite well."

[untamedantinous]

“I told you it wasn’t so hard.” He settles back into a guard position, considering his next move. After a moment, he starts to feint to the right and then attempts to veer around to the other side. It may or may not work, depending on how well one judges Enjolras’ body language.

[futaille]

Out of the things that Grantaire has made himself familiar with over the years, Enjolras's body language is somewhere near the top. He parries the strike and takes the opportunity to try a quick answering thrust of his own.