[Open Post] ..Tuesday afternoon..

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot feels that things have been a strange mix of tumult and routine. This is probably because they have. But today, so far, is routine in all respects. His day has proceeded apace through his usual steps -- drills, tending to Rivelin, coffee, lunch with Susan -- and the afternoon is now stretching out before him in a very satisfying way. He feels good, settled.

And so it is that he's in the café, reading (or mostly reading), with more coffee at hand. Given that he seems to be splitting time equally between having his eyes on his book and gazing out the window, he will not be bothered if anyone comes to chat.

Comments

[futaille]

"No, no, I have an idea." Once the chairs are out of the way, he then starts pushing the tables against the wall, their legs scraping against the floor.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"That much is obvious."

[futaille]

It takes a moment, but eventually the collection of tables against the wall satisfies him and he arranges the chairs facing them. "For audience seating, obviously." He then heads back to the tables, pulls off one of the tablecloths, and climbs up onto the table.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot rises and comes to sit in one of the chairs in front of the 'stage'. "Dost know," he says lightly, "thou'rt a madman."

[futaille]

"No more mad than any other man, I think, but certainly more of a fool. Now." He holds up the tablecloth at arms length in front of him. "Envision a curtain covering the stage as you wait for the play to start. Perhaps some music playing, if it's that sort of production."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"All right, aye." He gives Grantaire a warm grin.

[futaille]

He lifts it so that he's hidden behind the cloth. "Ladies and gentlemen, your humble company is pleased to present the Tragedy of the Noble Young Jean... Baguette." In the absence of a method to raise the 'curtain', he drops it instead, before swiftly picking it up and throwing it over his shoulders as a makeshift cloak, stepping to one side of the makeshift stage. "I, the noble young Jean Baguette, am off to seek my fortune!"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot stifles a laugh -- he has been told this is a tragedy. While his look is glowing with humor and affection, he makes an effort to look seriously considering.

[futaille]

Grantaire promptly treks in a loop across several tables. "Oh, who is this I see before me?"

He quickly moves a couple tables down from his spot, shifting the tablecloth around his waist as a makeshift skirt and adjusts the pitch of his voice upwards. "Oh noble young traveler, perhaps you can help an old woman lost in these woods."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He nods, still managing not to laugh -- perhaps starting to wonder about the next beat of the story.

[futaille]

He returns to Jean Baguette's spot, and the skirt becomes a cloak once again. "Of course, dear lady, I was passing through these woods in search of my fortune anyway. It will surely be no trouble to bring you with me until we leave them."

And then he goes back opposite himself with another costume change. "You truly are a noble young traveler. I am ever so grateful." And then he returns to traveling in several loops around the tables, swapping his costume and gait to match every few steps.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"'Tis a quest," Lancelot says, quietly appreciative. He settles back, well invested now.

[futaille]

Eventually, he stops again and makes sure he's becloaked before speaking again. "We've reached the edge of the forest, as you see. It has been a great pleasure to assist you."

Another switch. "Of course, you good noble lad. Please, I am an herbalist. Accept this potion. If you drink it on top of yonder mountain, surely you will find your fortune."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He's still amused, but now he's also invested -- moreover, this turn makes sense to him. (Though he himself would be cautious about the potion.)

[futaille]

Apparently he would be right to be cautious about the potion. This is a tragedy, after all. Jean Baguette continues onward, becloaked, and Grantaire steps away and changes back to the old woman... and suddenly stands straighter and laughs, sinister. "Ah, that fool boy. Little does he know that I'm a wicked sorceress in disguise! And in recompense for a slight his grandfather did to me oh many years ago, he will die on yonder mountain!" Another, even more sinister laugh, before a quick return to our ill-fated protagonist, still walking in circles around the tables, only they're clearly intended to be steps up a steep incline.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot shakes his head, grinning a little -- he's absolutely not going to stop Grantaire now.

[futaille]

After several more loops around the stage, each step clearly more treacherous than the last, he plants himself firmly in the center of it. "At last! I have reached the summit of the mountain! I will at last find my fortune!" He makes a show of drawing out an invisible bottle and pulling off the stopper. He pauses dramatically and looks around. "It's as if I can see the entire world from here! What a wonderful view to receive such a gift!"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I rather think," quiet but audible, "you should not drink that."

[futaille]

He doesn't miss a beat. "Ah, if only I could hear a well meaning voice of wisdom from my spot all the way up on this mountain!" He promptly downs the bottle.

[lanselos_du_lac]

At this he does laugh, in spite of the tragedy, shaking his head at Grantaire.

[futaille]

He drops the 'bottle' and clutches his hands to his chest. "Oh! No! Betrayal!" He starts to stagger around the tabletops with all the enthusiasm of someone who is very well acquainted with staggering while walking. "I trusted too readily! What will become of me?!"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot has some opinions on that -- death, disfigurement, some curse that may bind him to the mountain or turn him into a beast. It does seem a tragedy, a cruel reward for helping someone in good faith, unaware of other forces at work. Anything is possible. He gives Grantaire Baguette a sympathetic look and waits to see what his fate might be,

[futaille]

"My life a waste, my fortune simply to die alone on this mountaintop!" He then promptly just cribs the reported last words of Louis XVI. "I die innocent!" And he drops rather convincingly to the stage, causing some of the tables to wobble most alarmingly, although they manage to remain upright as he sprawls across them.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot can't help but laugh, though of course the tale is a tragic one. He rises and applauds.

[futaille]

He promptly climbs to his feet and takes a bow. "Thank you, thank you." He then promptly hops off the stage. "Now mind you, as plays go, I would hardly class that among the finest, but it's at least a general idea of how it works."