Trundling

[merryeccentricities]

​(carrying on from here)

Bahorel rolls his eyes hard at it's Shakespeare and mutters something about grandmothers and eggs while handing the coat-wrapped beetle to Joly. Joly ignores him and carries the beetle over to the bed, leaning against Bossuet while unwrapping the beetle like an unusually chitinous gift box.
​
"Were the cats very dramatic?-- Look!" Joly unties the beetle's shell. It flickers its wings out twice, briefly, rises as if to fly off--

--and then tumbles to the floor, where it begins placidly trundling about the apartment.

Comments

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Whatever you do with your grandmothers around Lyon, Bahorel, keep it to--"

Oh dear God.

The kittens don't know any better than Bossuet what to make of the--thing. They had scrambled frantically off the bed, one of them gouging Bossuet's leg as it went. Now the two of them are creeping stiffly towards the new monster, spitting and angling their backs and tails. It seems unconcerned.

It does look very much like a beetle.

[clayforthedevil]

Tarsal attacks first, leaping onto the beetle's back--and promptly sliding off, her claws not even making a dent in its shell. Meta swipes at the bristly legs, and the beetle pauses a moment, takes another kitten-swipe to the foreleg, and then turns and starts trundling casually in the direction of the liquor cabinets and, coincidentally, Bahorel, who laughs and nudges it away with his boot.

"Go consult your physician, friend beetle, and ask if you're allowed spirits."

The beetle might or might not want a drink, but Bossuet certainly looks like he could use one. Bahorel pours another glass from the brandy bottle he's helping himself from and strolls over to the bed ahead of the beetle to hand it over. "You need not fear an intrusion; despite the soldier's armor, the beetle appears to be a fine fellow citizen; he, or I suppose she, put up a fight when in bonds, but is clearly peaceable now that freedom is at hand."

[merryeccentricities]

Joly gives a small cry and gets up to gather the cats,startled and angrily puffed up as they are. They don't seem hurt, although they do scratch him a few times in confusion. "Don't be upset, dears, it's not really a danger--" he looks up to catch Lesgle's eye. "It's really not, we carried it all the way here and it fell on us in the Cretaceous and it didn't bite or anything--"

All right, maybe a giant beetle is a bit much for a wake-up call, even if it is --he looks at the clock on the wall-- "Five? it can't be five, I left at five, I was hardly gone-- oh,no.We must have lost much more time than I thought when we went to the Cretaceous. I am sorry to wake you. Ah-- coffee?" He's putting the cats down and moving to their little stove-top already.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Lesgle gives up on dabbing his bleeding shin and takes the brandy instead. "I am unfamiliar with the Cretaceous. I would ask, faux-naif, is that the new café that opened by the opera, but I don't have the energy for naiveté. I am worn thin with pining for you. --For you both, of course; no need to look so jealous, Bahorel."

He scrubs the top of his head vigorously, blinks a few times, and downs the rest of the brandy. "Well! So you went back in time and came back with a very large beetle. Yes?"

[clayforthedevil]

Bahorel, still in possession of the entire bottle, refills both their glasses. "Yes, I see you're growing lean and losing hair in your distress. -- And that does seem to be the order of things, though of course we are no scientists and may be using the incorrect terminology. Oh, also there was an Olympian combat of wills between Enjolras and Combeferre over who would take charge of the beetle. Your house was nominated for the peace of the nation and the good of all."

Okay, Enjolras and Combeferre made mutually apologetic expressions at each other while Joly fawned over a giant beetle. A giant beetle deserves a grander story. He finishes off his second glass. "I shall tell you of the dire combat at some other time,when we both have full glasses and a full bottle, instead of this sad moment, when only one of those three requirements is met. For more prosaic explanations, you might look to Joly.-- Joly, explain yourself, but not until the door closes behind me, I have heard too much of your mysteries lately as it is."

With that, and with the empty bottle still in hand, he bows and leaves the room.

[merryeccentricities]

Joly, measuring out coffee into the press, waves a distracted farewell. "Yes, that's about it. --I mean about traveling in eras. We weren't trying to, I would definitely tell you if I were trying to go back to the Cretaceous. But Combeferre had his pterodactyl, and we started talking about the idea of transference between universes, and we thought possibly we could create a sort of connection-- oh,I make it sound like a myth about an alchemist, trying to summon creatures from other worlds. Still, if you'd heard Combeferre, you'd understand the theory did have some promise-- of course then Bahorel showed up. And Enjolras. But Enjolras didn't poke at the experiment."

Whatever oddities of time may exist in Milliways, water still boils in keeping with its own schedule. Joly goes to sit on the bed again until it's ready. "And then we were in the Cretaceous. That must have been when we lost those-- hours?" Surely, just a few hours. "And now, yes, the beetle." Which is currently rolling a loose sock into a ball while Meta sits on its head. "I thought we could make a little pen for it, so it's not always underfoot...Er. Do you mind?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Lesgle accepts his refill wordlessly, and when Bahorel is gone, raises his eyebrows at Joly, still wordlessly, through the explanation. And then blinks.

"But you do realize you've been gone for days, don't you? It's a fine beetle--I've never seen one quite like it, most prodigious--but Joly--"

He frees himself from a tangle of sheet, and scoots over to sit beside Joly, nudging their knees together. "--The cats did miss you, you know."

It's quite a beetle. Not at all concerned about the cat on its head.

[merryeccentricities]

Joly winces. "Days? I really had no idea. I was only working with Combeferre for perhaps an hour or two, and then we weren't in the Cretaceous for long enough to even draw a full breath." It's a disconcerting thought, and something he'll have to consider in the future.

For now he smiles and reaches out to smooth down Lesgle's hair. "I am sorry to leave you to explain things to the cats. I know they're a very demanding audience."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Lesgle makes a noise not unlike a purr, and leans against Joly. "Days," he says in a doleful voice. "Days and days. And I did pine. Terribly."

He's not actually sure how long it was. But days, for sure. "--Your beetle is preparing for flight, Joly." With the cat still on it.

[merryeccentricities]

Joly pulls Lesgle closer and watches the unfolding animal drama."It shall be an interesting experiment in aerodynamics. It would never work with a bird--ah, and not with a beetle either, I see." The beetle folds its wings in again while the startled cats circle it in preparation for another attack.

"They'll get used to each other," Joly decides "and we can put up a pen for it today. And thank you. For not minding about the beetle. I-- ah! The water's boiling."

Time in Milliways is a strange thing, and maybe even dangerous, and will need to be studied. But right now is breakfast- time, and that Joly can manage.