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Post by followedmyheart on Mar 17, 2013 22:08:48 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 340px; background-image:url(http://i56.tinypic.com/20gfl1v.jpg); padding: 30px; border: #2D2729 solid 30px; ]like ships in the night  I'm gonna find my way back to your side
Cosette loved to dance. It was an outburst, a reflection of the music that sang within her. May Day was the best time for dancing. No longer was Cosette confined to her backyard garden, or simple twirling down the empty hallways of the home shared with her father. She was out in the sunlight, with others who loved dance just as much as she did. Maybe they were young, maybe they were elderly, but they were filled with the same vibrance and love that she was.
Naturally, the Map Pole dance was in the morning, so that the pole would be decorated for the rest of the day with the bright ribbons that the dancers would interweave. Knowing that she would be on her feet all day, Cosette had foregone her every day heels and had instead opted for her simple flats. Her father had bought them in the heart of Paris and they were her favorite, comfortable pair of shoes.
She pulled her loving father behind her by the hand, too fast, towards the May Pole. He could barely keep up as she ran towards her favorite spot of the day. Cosette's eyes flickered behind her and she slowed, settling into a fast pace walk instead of a run. Her father's laugh beside her told her that he could easily read her impatience. Patience was a virute however and she had to be true to that which the Good Book told her.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spotted the pole. Her father released her hand she she happily skipped off to join the others gathering around it, grabbing a bright pink ribbon to mark her place. The spots were quickly filling up and soon the music began. It was a light tune, one that instantly brought a smile to her face.
Cosette was a practiced May Pole dancer, so it came as a surprise that upon her first step she collided with the girl to her right.
"Pardon!" Cosette's apology tumbled from her lips instantly as she quickly regained her grace before the other dancers trompled over herself and her victim.
The other girl was quite pretty. She had long brown locks that Cosette found herself envious of. She had often wanted dark hair, even though her father said she was perfect as God had intended. Even her eyes were dark, the color of warm coffee and probably inviting when they weren't thrown off in surprise at being knocked into. Having seen the signs of street hunger however, Cosette could easily tell that this girl did not live the same life she did. Her clothes were tattered and stained, but she was still beautiful. She looked faintly familiar, but Cosette had no recollection of having ever met her.
"I'm usually more graceful," she confessed as she weaved past the girl and then another.
you keep passing me by |
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Post by EPONINE THENARDIER on Mar 21, 2013 10:15:10 GMT -5
Eponine had never been very good at dancing, her malnourished limbs never responding the way her mind told them. Ask her to dart past police and quickly scuttle down a maze of alleys, she was as graceful as the prettiest ballerina. But when presented with the opportunity to pirouette and twirl about, Eponine felt her feet tangle in her skirt and her arms became all elbows. Still the draw of the Maypole was strong, for reasons she couldn't quite pin down. Perhaps it was because the girls gathering looked to be more her station than the aristocrats and bourgeois that usually populated other dances. Perhaps it was because the carefree dance reminded her of happier times. Perhaps she simply wanted the distraction.
Whatever the reason, Eponine quickly found herself smiling and scrambling for a ribbon. She settled on a pale blue one, the same color of her favorite childhood bonnet. Gazing around at the other girls, her plans for the day dissipated like the morning mist. She could likely use the day to gather some ill-gotten coins to sustain her for a little while, but as the music began, it was the furthest thing from her mind.
But Eponine's happy mood was almost immediately shattered by a collision with the girl next to her. She turned to apologize and was struck dumb by the smiling face before her. Clear skin, blue eyes, blonde hair. The Lark. Cosette was saying something, apologizing for crashing into her before moving on. "I- It's alri-" But Cosette was already off, caught up in the dance. Eponine became aware of the girl behind her telling her to get going and she shook herself out of her daze, scurrying to catch up. Did Cosette not recognize her? It wouldn't surprise her, since she looked nothing like the spoiled little girl she used to be. Apprehensive about the sudden appearance of the blonde, Eponine darted around the dancers ahead of them, weaving her blue ribbon over yellow one. Each time she got close to the little Lark, Eponine tried to study the girl's face, to read her expressions. How do you approach someone you used to treat as a slave?
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Post by followedmyheart on Apr 8, 2013 21:56:10 GMT -5
Cosette allowed her eyes to trail back to the girl that she had bumped into. She still appeared to be in a state of surprise. Cosette's forehead crinkled in worry. Oh dear, had she jostled her that hard?
Focusing on not bumping into anyone else, she happily twirled and ducked, allowing her ribbons to weave over the others. The pretty pink was bright and easy to pick out among the red, yellows and greens. All too soon however, Cosette was no longer distracted by the ribbons and her thoughts floated back to the other young girl. Was she alright?
Her blue eyes searched the girls around her and on the opposite side of the May Pole as they twirled around it. All too soon however, the musical slowed and the dance was complete. Applause surrounded the young women, but Cosette was still searching.
The last place she checked was by her side. Ah! There she was.
"Oh!" Cosette beamed, that girl was quick to catch up with her during the dance, "I'm glad I did not knock you out of the dance completely. I would have felt wretched."
Dark eyes and hair, olive skin and a youth that shined through her; Cosette found someone familiar in this other girl. She carried with her a sense of deja-vu. A feelings that Cosette felt crossing the street or when she was speaking to her father. She had never found it in a singular person before. Perhaps they had met when Cosette passed out alms, or she saw her through her garden gate.
"Have we met before?" Cosette tilted her head to the side slightly as she finally voiced her question, her eyes still searching this other young woman for any memory, anything to give her an answer, "You seem familiar. I live at Rue Plumet with my father. Perhaps you've passed there before?"
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Post by EPONINE THENARDIER on Apr 14, 2013 14:20:45 GMT -5
How she had managed to stay in the dance through the whole thing, Eponine would never know. Every time she passed Cosette, her stomach would drop and her mind raced. After all the things she had done to the girl as children, Cosette didn't recognize her. She should be furious with Eponine, calling her out on her terrible treatment while they were young, rubbing their newfound statuses in her face. But instead she was apologizing for running into her, saying she was happy Eponine had gotten to dance. "I- No. It's alright. No harm."
Now that the dance was over, Eponine found that Cosette was regarding her more closely, searching her features. She had to force herself not to make some excuse and flee. If Cosette recognized her and released all the anger she no doubt had built up over the years of mistreatment, Eponine knew she deserved it. In fact she was convinced that Marius falling head over heels for the very girl Eponine knew as a child was a cruel trick of fate, punishment for all of Eponine's misdeeds. Cosette had been a quiet, kind girl, even in their youth, and now she wore beautiful dresses and shone like the sun. Eponine had followed her parents' example and been drug down into the gutter with them.
Eponine's eyes met Cosette's as she asked if they had met. Eponine opened her mouth to answer, to tell her the truth, about who she really was. But fear silenced her voice. What if Cosette told Marius? Eponine had never been totally truthful about her past with him, and finding out how cruel she had been to the woman he now loved might shatter the friendship they already had. Forget ever having a chance with Marius, he might not ever want to see her again. In an effort to find her voice again, she cleared her throat. "I live down on Rue Saint-Denis. Rue Plummet is very far above my station, mademoiselle."
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Post by followedmyheart on Apr 19, 2013 21:30:37 GMT -5
"Oh," Cosette blushed, feeling as though she had terribly offended this young woman. Rue Plummet was in a nicer district than this other girl appeared to be from. Cosette felt cruel for bringing it up. Her pale hands fluttered like birds as she tried to right the situation.
"You can visit any time you like! We don't have many visitors and it gets awfully lonely..." the gardens were her escape but it was the truth, they rarely saw anyone at Rue Plumet besides the cook. Cosette had grown up a lonely child and was now a lonely woman. Her father was loving and kind, but he was one of the only people she talked to. As odd as it sounded, Cosette found herself pining for the convent. At least then she had the nuns to talk to.
"Actually we don't have any visitors." Her long eyelashes brushed her cheeks as she dropped her gaze, the reality of her quiet life sitting in. It didn't matter her status, this girl in tattered rags probably had a much more exciting life than Cosette did. She no doubt had friends and a lover, maybe even both parents.
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Post by EPONINE THENARDIER on Apr 22, 2013 14:10:09 GMT -5
Eponine watched Cosette as she nervously fidgeted, trying to read her face, her body language. It seemed she had kept some of her tendencies from childhood. Eponine had seen her wring her hands like this so many times before, when her mother had yelled at her, scolded her for not doing her chores. Eponine had even been the cause of some of the nervous fumbling and stammering, getting in cruel words learned from her parents or tattling when she found Cosette playing with her toys, despite the other girl having none of her own. Each time Cosette fluttered her hands, memories crashed back to Eponine, making her inwardly wince. She couldn't even fool herself into thinking she was in the right anymore. She had been a child herself, yes. But even then she knew she knew treating the blonde girl like that was wrong. Such is the way of things when you have parents like Eponine.
Looking up at the Lark, Eponine tilted her head, measuring the words she had heard, the emotion behind them. Cosette wanted her to visit. More than that, she was sad, quietly upset that she had no visitors. It was so far from what Eponine had expected to hear from Cosette. She had imagined so many times what Cosette's life was like since she left the inn, and even more since Marius had fallen for her. She had always pictured smiles and dances and swirling dresses made of fine silks. Her mind had constructed a big beautiful house where dinner parties were held and men who did more than play at being gentlemen vied for Cosette's attention, while she tittered behind a fan or a gloved hand. Never would she have guessed that Cosette's new life was little more than a gilded cage, comfortable but lonely.
Eponine's mouth turned down in a frown, guilt getting the better of her again. "I don't think I'd be welcome on Rue Plummet. I'd stick out like a sore thumb." Eponine gestured down to her rage again, trying to smooth out her skirt, dust floating off as her hand passed over the fabric. Heading to that area of Paris would no doubt land her in a jail cell, whether she was there for honest reasons or not. Being struck with a thought, she looked up at Cosette again. "No visitors? At all? Not even suitors?" Maybe she had a love already. Maybe she didn't feel the same way about Marius as he did her. It would break Marius's heart for sure, but Eponine would be there to help pick up the pieces. She was always there for him.
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Post by followedmyheart on Apr 23, 2013 19:41:08 GMT -5
"You would have no one to be compared to." Cosette said more to herself than to Eponine. Who would notice this other girl? In the deserted palace that was Rue Plummet, an empty skeleton with no beating heart. Only Cosette and her father, the dust that gathered on her mantels and the shadows of the past still haunting her father. He talked in his sleep at time, shouting names and words she didn't understand. Cosette longed for someone to talk to, to pass the days with. She had once hoped it would be the boy whom she had spotted across the street - Marius - he had been called by his friends. Having not met him again, that dream was quickly disappearing. Maybe God truly wanted this girl to be her friend instead.
Though they came from different lives, they shared more in common than one would think. Were they not both girls, did they not have dreams and ambitions? Maybe this wayward young woman was just as lonely as she was, longing for a friend. Or maybe she was unlike Cosette in every way. Perhaps she had loving parents and a warm home to return to. Despite her rags, she might have a lover and a marriage approaching. She may even win May Queen. Cosette realized it was wrong for her to assume anything about this girl. Her life was the only one she could be certain of.
The young blonde turned bright pink at the mention of suitors. Handsome young men knocking at her door? Bringing her flowers and calling her sweet names? Alas no...Cosette had none. Her father had shrouded her in solidarity, thus cutting her off from the view of young boys around her entirely. She thought of Marius and when she first sighted him across the street. How beautiful he had been, strange and foreign. Perhaps this young woman knew him?
"There's one boy," Cosette finally confessed, "but...he seems more of a dream than any reality. He is most likely in love with some other girl, living a life far from my own." She sighed, folding her hands together in discontent at a life she could not alter simply with will. "What about you? Has a young man stolen your heart this May Day?"
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Post by EPONINE THENARDIER on Apr 24, 2013 13:33:13 GMT -5
Cosette seemed determined to get Eponine to visit her fine house, and Eponine couldn't help but wonder if it was to rub her new life in her face. 'Come see all the beautiful things I have now. Aren't they so much finer than the things you had and denied to me as children?' Eponine crossed her arms, rubbing her hands over them tensely. Part of her wanted to believe that Cosette could never be that cruel, not the quiet, pliable girl she had known. That girl had never raised her voice or shown any hint of hostility towards Eponine or her family. But then, they had not seen each other for such a long time, and any cruelty Cosette decided to heap on Eponine would be payment in kind, much deserved. "Surely you have plenty of friends. Parties? Trips to the market?"
Eponine's breath caught in her throat as Cosette mentioned a boy in her life, that he was more of a dream to her than anything. It was a feeling Eponine was too familiar with. She'd walked through the streets of Paris with a dream of her own, night after night. Brown hair and freckles and a wide smile. That sort of dream had kept her warm on many a cold night. "Oh? So there is a young man? Who is he?" Surely it couldn't be Marius. Maybe Cosette hadn't seen him, or her heart already belonged to another. Perhaps a boy from her own past, one she longed for almost as much as Eponine longed for Marius. Eponine shook her head quickly, raking her hair out of her face as she did. "No. No suitors for me." Could she tell this blonde girl the inner pain she held? Could she possibly explain that she might have had a suitor if only Cosette hadn't stolen his heart? She feared if she began speaking of the boy she loved, she would not be able to stop herself.
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