of others, of whom we must think

Joly hasn't been waiting for Marius to come back to Milliways with news of Paris. Joly has been, with dedication and great focus, Not Waiting At All, because of course who knows when it might happen, waiting would be foolish. He has put it entirely out of his mind, several times a day.

So when he sees Marius in the Library, he doesn't quite throw himself into the chair across the table. It's only a reasonably fast sitting-down. The chair barely rocks on its legs at all.

"Marius! You're back! Well, of course you're back, or I couldn't be greeting you, that's--how long has it been, on your side? Have you had time--did you manage to see Musichetta?"

It's okay if you didn't, Marius! Joly will probably only implode very slightly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

heartbeneathastone

"Oh! Joly, hello! How, um, how do you do?" He carefully closes the book he was looking at. (In fact, he's not entirely sure what the book was-- history, possibly, of a time long after his own.)

"Yes, I did."

From:

merryeccentricities

It's not really possible to say ???, but Joly is probably expressing it pretty well all the same.

"Is she--" What? Alive, well, ill, married to a lawyer, training large cats for the circus? Too many options! "How is she, how was--everything?"

From:

tire_moi_mes_bottes

"Marius! Marius Pontmercy, present and accounted for."

Lesgle hadn't been far off in the stacks, and as soon as he hears their voices--hears Joly's voice and Marius's murmur--he comes loping along with a look of casual interest.

(Casual only because he does everything casually, of course: in fact his eyes are fixed quite sharply on Pontmercy's face, trying to read it.)

From:

heartbeneathastone

"It, it-- it was all in order. She seemed-- well?" She wasn't obviously unwell! Hopefully Joly wasn't counting on Marius having an in-depth conversation with his dead friend's mistress.

From:

merryeccentricities

Well...sort of? At least some conversation? If Joly were in Marius' place, it would never occur to him to not have as much of a conversation as he could, to offer whatever sort of friendship and company might be accepted. That Marius might have an entirely different approach to the matter is something he hasn't really considered. Which probably accounts for his slight confusion in the face of Marius' brief answers.

Confusion, and worry. "--Only well?" What's he missing? "Is she-- Marius, was there something wrong? Is she-- was she not happy, well, reasonably happy? Was there--oh! Bossuet!" The thank god in the greeting is only implied.

From:

heartbeneathastone

"What? No, she's fine, she-- Lesgle, hello."

From:

tire_moi_mes_bottes

"Marius, my dear fellow! Now, you must be kinder to Joly than that, you must give him a word or two more. Was she at the print shop? Had she two hands, two eyes? One head?"

From:

heartbeneathastone

"What?" Marius blinks. "Yes, of course she did. I don't know about-- I went to the address you gave me and she was at home. I introduced myself as a friend of yours, and that you had once asked-- as I am a lawyer-- that I ensure that all had gone smoothly with your-- um, bequests. And she said all was well, and I-- I told her that I hoped if she ever required any help, she would not hesitate to call on me. And she said she would be sure to do so if she ever had need, and then I left."

...sorry, Joly. You're stuck with a very useless messenger.

From:

merryeccentricities

Joly takes Bossuet's hand as he reaches the table, grinning at the joke. It's an easy grin, even, unplanned and unforced. Legle has that effect for him.

"Thank you, Marius, that's--well. At her old apartment, then? I suppose that means she didn't--that there wasn't any delay, in things being set right for her. That's good. Was she--had she been able to keep living alone, with no, er, roommates? I know she didn't want to--to end up sharing rooms."

With another person, one more open, one who'd shown any understanding that a man might want more word about his mistress than "she's fine", Joly would be a little less delicate in asking the obvious, the most pressing question- -was there a child, an unexpected final tie beyond his own selfish feelings, a real duty he'd be bound to answer for even from Milliways, if he could. But Marius' apparent disinterest in the matter--maybe natural, he'd never been interested in anyone else's romances, after all, didn't know Musichetta herself before this-- prompts a little of the old caution about opinions and social judgements, not for Joly's own sake, but for Musichetta, now.

Still--even if Marius didn't make the connection, he'd have noticed a child in the apartment, surely. It's simply not big enough to miss such a thing. So hopefully that's enough of a prompt.

From:

heartbeneathastone

The hint appears to fly right over his head, which is probably as good an indicator as any that there was nothing of the kind to comment on.

"Roommates? I don't know. Perhaps? She was alone when I arrived."

From:

tire_moi_mes_bottes

Lesgle gives Joly's hand an answering squeeze under the table. It's Marius, this is what you can expect. But he'll be able to sort out any legal tangles. "It's a relief to hear she's in good health--and that she received what was meant for her. She wasn't wearing mourning or anything like that, was she?"

From:

heartbeneathastone

"No, no. She certainly wasn't wearing-- well, not full mourning, I-- I suppose she may have been wearing grey?" what is clothes help "But that may have just been... I don't know," he concludes. "I don't believe she was."

From:

merryeccentricities

That was a right question, and the answer Joly would have hoped for. Thank you, Bossuet.

Joly's smile is small but genuine. "That's all right." She's all right. "--No, that's not mourning, it's just what grisettes wear. Good--good!" He means it, more than he can really express or even let himself feel yet.

"Thank you, Marius,truly. I'm glad to know things are--are settled fairly for her."

He still hasn't let go of Bossuet's hand, but his grip is lighter, now.

From:

heartbeneathastone

Marius nods, frowning slightly. He's realizing, belatedly, that he probably should have asked more questions, brought back more information.

"Of course. I was very happy to do it."

From:

merryeccentricities

"It means a great deal, to know she's well." But he and Bossuet can talk about that more later, with each other and with other friends who have a better understanding of the situation.

But quite reverie has never been Joly's style, really, and he brightens up now. "Ah! But you're married now, you understand. And you must think I'm very rude, interrogating you without so much as asking how you've been--but how have you been, you and your dear wife? If Monsieur Fauchelevent still doing well, in Paris? No relapses, no further illness?" The last is professional concern, as much as friendly chatter.

From:

heartbeneathastone

"Not rude, not at all," he protests quickly. "Cosette's father is very well, as is she. You-- this place-- did wondrous work."

From:

merryeccentricities

"Oh, it was really the tools I had here-- any doctor might have diagnosed him back in Paris, but not had the equipment to treat him. I saw several such cases myself, you know, when I was studying. Oh, what I'd have given to have half the equipment Milliways does--or be able to share it with everyone there, now, somehow." He huffs , frustrated. "I know I couldn't even do more than, than pass on a few basic principles, to a city without even electricity yet--they could never make some of these machines, or keep them running." In a word, arrgh. "But others could be made in a way with the tools we have--if only anyone with the power to put the idea forward would!"

This is not a suggestion, or demand, only familiar frustration, from his experiences in Paris and Milliways both.

From:

heartbeneathastone

"I would I could help," Marius says earnestly. "But I am certainly in no position to offer such advice-- no one with any sort of medical training would have any cause at all to trust me, and nor should they."

From:

merryeccentricities

Joly laughs, rueful. "Those of us with medical training would have a fine fight to advance these things. So long as our scientific establishments are run the way are, it's very few men indeed that hold such a position." And only men, at that-- a thought that doesn't yet entirely bother him, but does occur to him, now, where it would not have two years before.

"I should hardly be impatient for not knowing how to change from beyond the grave a situation that frustrated better minds than mine in life." He reaches out quickly to press Marius' hand, in thanks and reassurance. "Thank you for everything you have done."