Fandom Boardwalk, Wednesday, 3PM through 4PM

[jaegerborn.livejournal.com]

At 3 PM, Wednesday afternoon, a warm breeze blew over the boardwalk. It was warmer than likely this time of year - in fact, both the smell and the temperature evoked something of the height of summer.

Soft voices whispered and sang, sometimes audible, sometimes not. "...de chansons du ciel..." they whispered. "... chantiez avec voix enfantine... ...des chansons de la terre... votre choix..."

Once or twice, they were joined by snatches of a familiar tune through an unfamiliar instrument.

An hour later, the warmth lifted and the voices faded.

[[ open. ]]

Comments

[wildandbrave]

Well, how was Cosette not to notice something was different, if not necessarily amiss, when the breeze had the unusual effect of warming her face? She'd only meant to take a walk around some parts of the island she hadn't yet gotten the chance to see -- being able to wander about on her own was new, freeing, and incredibly satisfying, so she'd grown quite fond of the practice -- and, spotting the boardwalk, naturally had to take a walk across it.

She stood for a while, breathing in the scent with her eyes closed as if trying to hold on to the unexpectedly summery moment. It was a minute or two before she became aware of the voices, and another before she was able to make out any of what they were saying and she opened her eyes with a soft noise of surprise.

Not that she recognized the song, but she certainly recognized the language.

She'd had a vague dream about her mother the night before; there was something about the otherworldly quality of this encounter that made her recall that, and she looked out over the water with an unfocused, slightly dreamy expression until she seemed to remember herself, at which point she took a breath and resumed her walk.

[filleauloup]

Éponine, who just happened to be taking the same path as Cosette had down the boardwalk a few minutes later, noticed too.

"Well!" she exclaimed softly to herself when she stepped into the warmer air and took a deep breath. "There's a bit of sunshine; how d'you like that?"

She closed her eyes, set her mail bag down at her feet, and stretched her arms out to enjoy the temperature with the eagerness of a girl long accustomed to hoarding any bit of warmth she might happen across. Without realizing it she'd started humming, a rough and somewhat broken approximation of the melody audible in the vicinity, but she stopped short to listen once she realized she could hear voices she couldn't dismiss as part of some hunger-induced hallucination.

Of course, as soon as she noticed that, she had to stop and listen to what they were saying; her head was tilted slightly to one side and she stared distractedly at nothing as she strained to discern the words.

Finally she interrupted her own reverie with a harsh laugh and bent to pick up her bag again.

"Mais que du bonheur les instants sont courts," she sang back to the empty air with a sad little smile, then turned to walk away.

[[I could not possibly resist having them both react to this one . . .]]