Let's Put On A Show!

[merryeccentricities]

Joly is feeling grounded again- emotionally at least. Physically, he's already beginning to wonder if he couldn't move his leg around more safely if he made some sort of skate, and he's got a little toolkit with him to work on the idea down in the main Bar. He sets it up on a likely table near the fireplace.

Hopefully, he'll run into Autor while he's there, and get to smooth over any awkwardness, and to plan.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

He does run into Autor, who cocks his head at the man and his assorted skate-making tools. "Hello, Joly," the boy says, raising his hand in a wave. "What are you working on?"

[merryeccentricities]

Joly grins. It worked!

"A new design for a skate,actually-- see, the center's wider and flatter. I thought I'd try a little hair of the dog;if I can rest my leg on something that rolls, I won't have to move the knee so much, and the sprain will heal faster."

"I'm glad to see you- I was sorry to end our conversation last night. Especially so quickly. I promise I'm not usually so abrupt." To say the least.

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, interesting. That might just work," Autor says, knowing little about skate design. "Don't worry about our last conversation; we can always have a new one."

He tilts his head, and pulls a piece of paper out from his pocket to offer Joly. "Speaking of new conversations, I've been planning for the theater, and I was hoping to talk to you about it."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly studies the list with interest that quickly changes to delight.

"Are you always so quickly organized? These are most of the questions, aren't they?"

He mulls it over a little bit. "As to the questions about how to advertise, how to find an audience; I don't know the population here at Milliways very well. I'm sure you have a better idea than I do of the way events typically get planned, if there's any planning at all-- I've only seen the dance, and that seemed to happen almost like emuete. Construction and casting, all these things,I think we'll need to wait until we see who we can recruit to the project.

But as to running the theater-- I have been part of large projects before" --large, to say the least-- "and I find they work most smoothly if there's a few people everyone knows who can organize things; it cuts down on confusion, and that is rampant in theater, I have heard." He laughs a little. "At length, in fact, from friends who were involved with it. And it helps to have one person who can have the final say--though he must be always answerable to everyone."

Joly looks at Autor frankly. "Would it bother you, if the troupe elected someone besides either of us for that?"

[herr_bookman]

"Events typically get posted onto the bulletin board about a week before," Autor says, nodding. "It's an easy way to communicate to everyone in the bar--well, everyone who reads it, anyway. And you're right in that a lot of these questions depend on who we can recruit."

The boy considers Joly's question for a long time. Would it bother him? "I'm not sure," he finally answers. "I don't think so. I... I confess I like to be in control of projects, but with this one, there's so much to do, and I have so little experience in the area, that it might be best to bend to someone else's expertise."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly nods. "I'm perfectly happy to step aside if others will step up- and I certainly hope we can find someone with more experience in theater than me! But we will find our own way regardless.

Now, as to budget-- is that really a problem, at Milliways? I've never been asked for money here."

[herr_bookman]

"We will," Autor says, nodding in return. "And oh, yes, regarding the budget - I believe people in your position don't need to pay a tab, though that's something you might have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me about. I know I pay to one, though. I don't mind purchasing supplies."

[merryeccentricities]

"I will." It's a good question. Visitors pay, residents don't? Is it about conservation of mass, then? He knows Bossuet has a tab he never pays off, and he keeps expecting to get his own bill-- but he's never seen Grantaire behind the bar, or Enjolras, or Courfeyrac.
...Is Bar flirting with Bossuet? The thought makes him grin a little before getting back to the theater list.

"All right, Bar should of course have her due- though if it comes to that, I don't expect anyone to pay for the whole venture. I understand the troupe will change in shape and membership, but I think-- for what we mean it for-- that it would be best to have it be a cooperative venture, not something done for profit. Something we can all give ourselves to."


((...Run, Autor, the Spectre of 19th Century Rhetoric looms! Or at least let me know how much of that sort of thing you want to face.:P))

[herr_bookman]

"I agree that doing this for profit would be a disaster waiting to happen," Autor says, wrinkling his nose. "I don't think anyone would want to pay for such a venture, with amateur actors besides."

He adjusts his glasses. "I am a bit concerned about the pieces we'll be able to perform, though. Shakespeare might be too complicated, and have too many characters. But I suppose that will have to wait until after we figure out who we're working with, and how many."

[OOC: Anything Joly wants to throw at him is fine!]

[merryeccentricities]

"Good. I don't know that I could do this any other way." But since there's no disagreement, there's no need to argue. Joly moves on.

"Ah- I don't think we need a new actor for each part. At any rate... well, I visited the theater of course, but you must understand, in my France, we were only beginning to open the arts to the world. So those are the plays I know. But as you say-- best to choose that after we know our crew."

"But the theater itself-- you have ideas for how to build it?" He accepts without blinking that it can be a buildable thing. "What is Earthbending?"


((ooc: Agh, I'm fading out! But I'll tagback when I can. Also: aww, your lovestruck pup in his other thread. <3))

[herr_bookman]

"You couldn't charge for profit? Really?" Autor asks, blinking. "And earthbending is amazing - people move the dirt with the power of their bodies. They could easily sculpt out an amphitheater with seats enough to fit everyone in the bar, and a stage. Unfortunately there are only a few benders that come to the bar anymore, and I haven't seen them in a long time, so we may have to drum up other ideas."

[OOC: Sleep well! And, ahaha, thank you for reading. He's a goof.]

[merryeccentricities]

"People here have such amazing abilities-!Well, ahah, perhaps people not here. But to know anyone can do such things!"

"As for profit--aside from the practical issues, on which you may well be correct--why, I suppose I am doing this for profit, in a way. It will give me pleasure to do it, and help me to meet others here, and I will learn about this new world of mine, and probably many more besides. And in the end, we will have a theater, and that will be a fine thing too. But as for charging! My baser needs are more than answered for, I can imagine no other profit worth seeking-- and as all that is being given so freely, what sort of man would try to tear more than luxury from others, when it may be to their expense?"

He shrugs. "In my own life, of course, I would have had to find some way of earning money. If anyone who would join us needs support in that, of course they should have it. I speak only for myself in saying, I have no need and thus no desire for it. But that was a flaw of our society; and I always wished I could live in a time when men could give freely to their society, and trust it to do the same. Here that seems to be the case; how could I ever want to undo that balance?"


((ooc: I am so sorry. Autor did ask.:P))

[herr_bookman]

Autor blinks. And blinks again. "That makes utter sense to me, Joly," he says sincerely. If he were a different man, he'd clasp Joly's hands and stare directly into his eyes. But Autor's a bit more reserved, so he doesn't move.

"Were I in charge of the world, I'd figure out some way for healthcare, education, and child labor to be worries of the past," he says earnestly. "To construct a society which cares for its members and then relies on the productivity of them to continue would be a dream come true."

[OOC: No apologies! I knew what I was getting him into, even if he didn't. *grins*]

[merryeccentricities]

A-ha. Joly is not so reserved, but he has learned to respect it in another. Still he leans forward, putting down the paper for the moment, his own eyes brighter.

"Yes, that's exactly how it should be-- how it must be, in the end, for no other society will ever endure. How can it? A society that makes men see each other as profit- as resources to be used-- it can only drain itself.

But when a man knows, he does not need to fear being abandoned-- that his neighbor's house is his house, his family is safe even if he should die for his country, that no accident can ever make him less in the eyes of his brothers-- then he can act as his best impulses move him. And when he knows these guarantees are given, not out of pity or charity, but because those around him know him, and regard him as a friend and brother, then he can't help returning that feeling; and then one doesn't hesitate to share, one is strengthened by it. The difference between knowing one serves a friend and knowing one serves an oppressor, it's the difference between a drink and drowning."

"It will happen. In any world that humans live in- that people live in- it must happen." and it is so that it may come, that we are going to die...

"Is the struggle to see it come about sooner still happening, on your world?"


((ooc: oh. my. WORD. XD))

[herr_bookman]

"Yes," Autor says, his eyes just as bright. "If we can aid people to stand securely on their own two feet, helping when they can and being helped when they need it, then their contributions to their community will no doubt outweigh the struggle to get there."

He frowns a little at Joly's question - not at the man, but at the woeful situation his world is in. "My world is quite the mess, and needs adjustment. I've read that laws governing the pitiful state of child labor will be posted about a hundred years after me, but if there's anything I can do to engender a quicker result, well, then I have to try."

[OOC: Forgive me my cackling. These two.]

[merryeccentricities]

Joly does not punch the table for emphasis, because he is not a punching-things sort. But his fists clench anyway.

"Of course you do- no one with any understanding could willingly stand by and wait. I hope the laws of your world are kinder than the ones in mine were-- but no child should have to work for their survival, whatever the laws. It's a time for learning."




((the painful earnest dorkery of it all, yes XD))

[herr_bookman]

And Autor's clenching his fists right along with him. "Yes! Childhood should be preserved, not forced into a role where they must work for their food," he says passionately. "I simply must get into politics before the war comes, so that I can start working on a difference for my fellow human beings."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly blinks. "You-have a war coming? You are sure of this? This-- it's a thing you read in the Library, maybe?"

He's stunned a little by the thought of it. Of course, Autor can move freely-- and what could the Library, with all its foreknowledge, mean to a man who can still act in his own world?

"You are quite sure it is the history for your world?"

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, um," Autor starts. He's not sure why he's shy about this with Joly; it's just he's been carrying this secret around for such a long time. "Quite sure. I've read it in the library, and other people have heard of it as well from other versions of Earth. I assume it's on mine."

And that it's close. He knows when the war is, but doesn't know when he is yet, but he's assuming he's only off by a year or so, based on the clues he can glean here. As soon as the Story ends, he might be caught up in it.

"But, um, we should probably get back to talking about the theater."

[merryeccentricities]

"The theater-- yes, but-- but if you know there's a war coming, is that not more urgent? How much time do you have, then? Does it hold still for your world, while you're here?"

...in which case, he could understand Autor choosing to spend a very long time in Milliways indeed.

[herr_bookman]

Autor holds his hands up, seeking refuge in the deluge of questions. "So, that's actually quite complicated, because, you see, I know when the war is, but not when I am. I've gathered from clues here that it's sometime between 1905 and 1912, whereas the war is 1913. Time holds still for my world while I'm here, yes."

[merryeccentricities]

"So you might arrive on the very eve of the battle- or with years to try and change its course."

He sighs, and lifts his glass."May you find all the time you need, on both sides of your Door."





((oom:gonna be scarce the rest of the night, but I'll tag back tomorrow!))

[herr_bookman]

Autor chides himself for giving away two of his big secrets, but he supposes Joly is a good person to give them away to. He inclines his head to Joly's salute. "Thank you. That's an excellent wish for me, and I appreciate it."

He straightens his uniform, still calming down from his earlier fit of idealism. "Did we have anything else to discuss on the theater?"

[OOC: Sure! See you tomorrow!]

[merryeccentricities]

"I don't think we can do much more planning, until we have a better idea of who we might be working with. I do like the idea of the ampitheater, though-- that could be useful for more people than just our group, too. Ah, and I believe I can answer your question about seating-- people brought cushions, you see, and there were awnings overhead. A very nice place, really, if the weather was with you."

He shrugs. "I did have friends who were much more devoted to the theater and her history."


((ooc: actually this looks like a good place to do a fade? They can probably talk sundries for a while, but I don't think we can do much else ourselves for a bit.))

[herr_bookman]

"Very true, and for that we'll have to do a casting call. Well, I shall ask around," Autor says, smiling a little. "I'm excited to start this venture with you, Joly."

[OOC: Sounds good to me! Thank you for the oom!]