ataraxionlogs | & i'll send it up to see

CHARACTERS: Eponine, Laura and Selina, also you.
LOCATION: All around the place.
WARNINGS: tbd
SUMMARY: catch-all for July!
NOTES: Write your own starter, plurk me or PM me for one, whatever floats your boat! This is super bare-bones to begin with as I assume more will come later.

For the first part of the month, before the jump, Eponine can be found laid up in the med bay, a result of her being, well, herself. Later on, she'll be focusing on trying not to manifest bottles of wine at every opportunity. It takes a lot of work to not be drinking all the time. Not to mention, there's a lot of trying to sort her relationship with Combeferre out. Happy anniversary?

Laura, for her part, can be mostly found in comms working. When she's not there, she's taken to jogging again to keep her health up. Additionally, she's planning a dinner for all of her lovely Colonials. It's about time they had some sort of celebration, don't you think?

As for Selina? She's getting into trouble, figuring out all she can about the Gotham that most people here seem to be familiar with, and oh, right, at target practice. Thanks for the gun, Dean. You are extremely missed.

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"Oui," she says blankly. "It is- in this world, the unicorns can disguise themselves as humans. Only in direct sunlight can their horns be seen. It's a strange sort of thing, I suppose, but they are unicorns and not horses. If you read it, you will understand." Though it was so probably not his style, come to think of it.

"But it is a good book. My boyfriend has also given me books by Jane Austen! She is lovely! So many wonderful women writers!"

You wouldn't think that kind of thing would be Murphy's style just by looking at him, but you'd be surprised. He's actually been pretty roped into cheesy space soaps for some time now.

"Ah, Jane Austen... Never did give any of her books a shot."

(And he probably never will.)

He then gives her a peculiar look. "Not many women writers where you're from, I take it?"

He does recognize the accent she speaks in somewhat. Is it... what? French?

It took her a moment, but Eponine's face fell. "Oh- no. Not that I know of. Or read." She read whatever she could get her hands on, in Paris, but often enough they were burned for warmth. Things like women authors were uncommon. And certainly not something that would fall into her hands.

Though it's not as if she read anything too fancy. Her mother read her harlequin novels. Eponine did what she could with those, or the papers. But it was never much.

"There must be, after my death, to have writers like these." She gestures at the books. Austen was already published by the time Eponine was old enough to read, but it was unlikely that the French girl would have even heard of her.

"But in my Paris, no."

"After your--"

Murphy interrupts himself before he can finish that sentence. Of course, he's not as surprised as most people would be after hearing something like that, but she's definitely not the first person he's seen talk about having died before coming here.

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry. 'Bout the dyin' and... the other thing."

The not-having-women-writers-in-whatever-time-you-came-from part, that is.

"It was what I wanted," she said kindly. SHe'd wanted death. And here, she'd nearly found it time and time again, but she'd found so much more than that. She'd found friends. Reclaimed her relationship with her little brother. And she'd found Michel Combeferre.

"Death was good for me. I wound up here."

Murphy opens his mouth, and then closes it, his brows furrowing as the only thing he can manage is a perplexed look. Not because what she's saying doesn't make sense to him (actually, it does), or that dying to her was a good thing (sadly, he can understand that, too).

On the other hand, he just can't see death as a good thing. That is, if the person isn't deserving of it.

"Well, you don't have to die in order to come here. I didn't, and I've made a life here."

He pauses.

"I guess that's kinda the silver lining of this place."

"I know," she said softly. "Many I've met here, they have a life to return to. But those I care the most about here? They do not." Courfeyrac was dead. Who next in their group? Jehan? Feuilly? Bahorel? She prayed it wouldn't be Combeferre or worse, Gavroche.

"We've made our lives here as well. It is awful here, yes, but... I have had a second chance, got to know people I died with. People I never would have met before. And I have a boyfriend that loves me." He still brought her poptarts.

"I would not change that for anything." She takes a few steps from the shelves, walking around him in a half-circle. "What is your name, m'sieur?"

More understanding than most would be when it came to preferring life on a hellship, Murphy nods. "I get that. I'm not dead back home or anything, but... there's not much for me there, either."

At least here he's not on the run. He doesn't have to spend every day watching his back or ducking his head to hide his face at every siren the passes by. Murphy Pendleton can even use his real name without worrying about somebody ever recognizing him.

"Er, sorry. It's Murphy. And you're...?"

"I am sorry to hear that," she has to say. That's proper decorum, she's learning. For most of her life, social cues were abandoned in favor of anything you could do to get money, to get food. Such a life, such awful conditions and no one to care about her had turned what had been a beautiful girl, full of life, into a hideous monster of the streets, all teeth and nails. But here, she was softening, allowing herself to be vulnerable.

But even that had gone far beyond her control. The abject horror on Michel's face... The pitying way he looked at her...

"Murphy, hello. I am Eponine."

"Don't be. It's not always sunny here, but I've at least got people I can call friends and family."

Which is more than what Murphy can say he has back home. But he can understand where Eponine is coming from when it comes to niceties. Between the orphanage, the divorce after his son's death, prison and the things that happened to him there... It took a long time for Murphy to remember how to behave around people again.

But he can behave. He can be nice. Hell, he's not even as much of a bumbling idiot like he used to be.

"Ah, Eponine." That's an interesting name. Never heard that one before. Definitely foreign. "Nice to meet you. And, er, thanks for the recommendation."

That, at least, is good news. She tends to get worse around bumbling idiots. Especially if they're well-meaning and painfully awkward.

"You are welcome, Murphy." She smiled at him still, wavering slowly from side to side, as if her body was trying to decide for her what to do.

& i'll send it up to see

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