futaille | Closed Post: If at first...

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.

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From:

untamedantinous

“Do you?” He does look a little surprised. Pleasantly so. “I am pleased to hear it, in that case.”

Perhaps he was right about Grantaire, after all. It is a nice feeling, but he’s going to stop himself from saying so and perhaps ruining things by turning his attention to his coffee again.

From:

futaille

He grins. "I will point out that it's not a blanket agreement with everything, and I fully intend to disagree with you in the future. But if I didn't, I would probably be unrecognizable, and I'd like to think you might prefer if I stayed myself."

From:

untamedantinous

“I think I quite would, yes.” There’s another small smile, mostly directed at his coffee cup. “Otherwise things might get quite dull around here, and we cannot have that.”

From:

futaille

The most that Grantaire had honestly been expecting to come from his statement was a wordless roll of Enjolras's eyes, humoring him regardless. There were a number of other possibilities as well, but unqualified agreement, fond unqualified agreement at that, he was simply unprepared for. It feels almost like getting to the bottom of a staircase but expecting one more step. He has no response ready immediately, so he takes another drink to give himself a moment to come up with one, which finally finishes the bottle.

"Well, I am many things, but dull is certainly not one of them."

Edited Date: 2023-11-22 02:34 pm (UTC)

From:

untamedantinous

Now the expected eyeroll is coming, but it’s still tempered with a smile. “I don’t think we could call any of our friends ‘dull’ in the slightest. They would be quite offended if we did.” There’s a slight pause.

“The same goes for people here, I am finding. Everyone is fascinating.”

Edited Date: 2023-11-22 04:19 pm (UTC)

From:

futaille

"I think people are fascinating in general, at least individually. On the whole, humanity is ridiculous and very probably a bad idea from the start, but individually? Yes, they're excellent. And then combine them in small doses?" He laughs a bit, still delighted by this. "Well, then we have you managing to turn a prince into a revolutionary."

From:

untamedantinous

He blinks a little, setting his coffee down for a moment at that. “Laertes is not—“

It’s an easy enough deduction, since there are only a few people he has been espousing philosophy to, though, and he raises his eyebrows. “You and a prince? I suppose I should have guessed it, considering he and Laertes know each other, but—“ He honestly doesn’t know whether to laugh or be slightly impressed. Maybe it’s an odd mixture of both.

From:

futaille

Oh that's entirely too many dots for him to have accurately connected at once. Grantaire's eyes widen just a bit. "Oh, that is very much not why I brought that up and I am perfectly content to set that entire discussion aside." A pause. "You were practicing, right? You really shouldn't let me get in the way of that, I can just sit quietly--mostly quietly-- to the side if you wanted to continue."

From:

untamedantinous

He is not entirely blind, thank you. “I am not —you may do as you will, of course, I am only surprised.” (If Courfeyrac were here, he would be collapsing of laughter.) As it is, Enjolras shakes his head, hoping to the heavens that he is not turning as red as he thinks he might be.

“And what do you intend on doing? Making dry comments?”

Edited Date: 2023-11-22 06:49 pm (UTC)

From:

futaille

"I will just say I did not know he was a prince at first and move on entirely." He clears his throat. "That said, I can applaud a good hit as well as the next person. I'm not sure fencing is the 'dry comment' sort of activity, although I'm certainly willing to try."

From:

untamedantinous

“Let’s, yes, leave it at that.” Hopefully that damned blush will fade now.

“I was thinking perhaps less watching and more joining me, if you are open to it. I know fencing is not entirely to your taste, but I will admit I am very out of practice.”

From:

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."

From:

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.)

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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?"

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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.