(Long) Weekend entertainment, part 1: Test Drive Meme

[havetubawilltravel]

It's an app_this_plz weekend, so it's time to break down the walls and let in the new, the departed, and the already here with a Test Drive Meme!

H O W T O P L A Y:

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Comments

[dreamed_a_dream]

Fantine looks around. "So, what is this place, then?"

[claudiometer]

"Bar at the end of the universe. And the swankiest interdimensional space you'll ever see."
This from a girl with some kind of mechanical project going on the table in front of her. And short hair, but not viciously cut. and a blue streak (today) in said hair. And trousers.

[dreamed_a_dream]

"Interdimensional space?" Fantine blinks a few times. "What does that mean?" She pulls a threadbare shawl closer around her shoulders, shivering a bit. She's not sure what to do with this girl, but there's some... life about her that Fantine is drawn to.

Her own hair is roughly cut short, her dress was once nice, but dirty and threadbare, and she is almost painfully thin.

[claudiometer]

...oof. Claudia's thinking this looks like a job for spaghetti, but she'll wait until they're actually having a conversation for that one.
"It's... in between places. Not where you came from, not where anyone else here came from, but a few people do call it home now."

[never_shall_yield]

Javert glances over, away, looks back. And rolls his eyes.

'Of course,' he mutters, to himself.

A little louder; 'a place for strays, it would seem.'

[dreamed_a_dream]

"Oh." Fantine shivers a bit. "Is... is it safe here?" That's something she hasn't had for a while. "How do people live here? Is there work to be had?"

[dreamed_a_dream]

"Strays, Inspector?" She straightens a bit tightening her shawl around her shoulders. "I am no stray cat."

[claudiometer]

"Absolutely safe. And I think there's work - plenty of stuff that needs doing, at any rate." Bar tends to draft bartenders, so Claudia's not sure if that's... something people get hired for. But there's plenty of other stuff.
(It's probably good for Fantine's sake that Claudia doesn't know about the brothel.)

[never_shall_yield]

'How not so? You scratch like one.'

The evidence is conclusive.

'Be warned; here, there is little chance of your saviour running to your rescue.'

[dreamed_a_dream]

"There are things I can do." Fantine is thoughtful for a moment, clinging to her shawl, as if it is the only thing she has. "I know how to be a domestic, I have worked in a factory..." She trails off.

[dreamed_a_dream]

"Even a kitten has claws, Inspector. And a tiny scratch can fell a man." There's a steel to her expression, even in her current state. "Perhaps not that savior, Monsieur, but there are others." She has yet to completely lose her hope.

[claudiometer]

"I don't know what all's here, I have to say. My job's back at home, so I get pulled in for bartending here sometimes but that's about it. But there's stuff here, I can point you to a couple people to ask. And at the very least I can get you some dinner."
Because seriously. No really seriously.

[dreamed_a_dream]

"You do not have to, Mademoiselle. I can find my own way." There's a flash of pride on her face, quickly squashing the hunger pains that she's had for a week.

[never_shall_yield]

'Oh, of course there are. And I have no doubt you will find someone immediately.'

He glances around with distaste.

'The first thought of the poor - 'how may I find help?' Consider helping yourself, woman. There is work here, I am told.'

[dreamed_a_dream]

"No, Inspector. In this, you are wrong. I was not saying that I would rely on someone to help me. I was only saying that I would find someone who would give me a chance. There is a difference, Monsieur." Her eyes flash again. "Help does not mean reliance. I have worked most of my life, Inspector, I have supported myself until the last shreds were taken away from me through things not of my control."

[claudiometer]

"Hey, I understand not wanting to rely on charity, I really do. But you're new here, and it doesn't look like you've eaten well in a long time. I can cover one dinner for you."
Really, either Claudia does it or Joshua does. It all comes off the same tab anyway.

[dreamed_a_dream]

Fantine looks at the strange woman for a long moment. "May I ask why you are insisting, Mademoiselle? You do not know me, you do not know what I have done."

[claudiometer]

"Because I know what it is to be completely on your own and not sure what comes next. I was just extremely lucky when I figured it out."
She was one crappy foster family away from taking her chances on the street (because she would have bolted, if she'd had worse foster parents).

[electro_kinetic]

"Milliways," says a plainly asian girl with a brightly dyed blue head of hair, wearing scandalously short denim cutoffs and folding dozens of sheets of rainbow-colored paper.

"...You okay?"

[never_shall_yield]

His mouth twists into something ugly.

'Not of your control. You say that in all seriousness, while the evidence rested at an inn far from you.'

'There is nothing taken from you in life that you did not sow the seeds of yourself. Still, I have no fault with you as a working woman. If you had remained in the factory, there might have been many problems averted.'

[dreamed_a_dream]

"There are those who say that women should just find a husband and be content." She pauses, then sits down at the table with Claudia. "I have a feeling you are not one of those. Perhaps I will have some dinner, but you must let me repay you somehow."

[dreamed_a_dream]

"If I had remained in the factory? How was I to remain in that place when those there threw me out like spoiled fruit? The Foreman was taking advantage of that which was not his, and the other women were wishing their own promotion at the expense of others." Her hands ball into fists, but she does not move. "Yes, I have made mistakes in my life, Inspector, but why must I be damned for a youthful indiscretion? I have worked every day since to redeem myself. Are you that sinless, Inspector, that you must remove specks from other's eyes instead of the plank from your own?"

[claudiometer]

Claudia snorts. "It'd be really damn hypocritical of me to say you should get married when I have no plans for that any time soon."
Instead of commenting on the repayment, she flags down one of the waitrats. "Double helping of Mom's-recipe spaghetti, salad and garlic bread, please?"
The rat nods and scuttles off.

[dreamed_a_dream]

Fantine is taken aback for a moment at the woman's clothing, but does not comment. "I... will be alright, Mademoiselle." She clings to the threadbare shawl around her shoulders. "What is this Milliways?"

[dreamed_a_dream]

"You seem to be doing well for yourself in that case." Fantine seems to curl in on herself for a moment. "You seem to be from a very different time than I am."