mjolnir_retriever | (no subject)

Javert, of course, does not know he is being sought, and even if he did would not hide. Being at complete ease with his conscience regarding the Harry situation, he is in the bar, sitting in his usual far booth. He is engrossed in modifying the last few details for the stained-glass windows of the church and as such, the table-top is covered with coloured pencils and one great book, showing an illustration of one of the scenes from the tale of Noah.

Hmm. That guy looks familiar; he's seen him in passing in the Security office, and it matches with his hazy idea of who Javert is. All the same, Thor pauses long enough for a murmured conference with Bar, before he makes his way over.

"Are you Javert?"

Thor is wearing his Security badge. He's also wearing an air of thoughtless authority, draped about him like a cloak, but right now it's genial.

(The cloak that is draped about him is more like a poncho, of navy fabric heavily embroidered in multicolored motifs, which to Thor's eyes make it into something quite astoundingly unfashionable. But the whole point of a dare is upholding your end, and a side effect of being a lifelong celebrity is having the chutzpah to carry off horrible fashion on a dare. Anyway, it probably doesn't look bad at all, to anyone who doesn't know Asgardian fashion trends. It's as rich and color-saturated and shiny as the rest of him.)

Javert looks up, and blinks.

Well. This is a...man. A strangely dressed man, but...very definitely a man. Wearing a Security badge too, but even without that his air of authority would be unmistakable. Javert is used to noticing these things.

He also believes he knows who this might be, given his time working in the office. But he will not presume, and gets to his feet to say, 'yes, I am he.'

"I am Thor, son of Odin."

Nice to meet you! Well, it is, awkward circumstances or not. Thor likes meeting people face to face if he knows their name, or reads their notes about paperwork, or -- well, basically in general, Thor likes meeting people.

"I'd like to speak with you about the recent dispute you had with Henry Percy, called Hotspur."

Oh.

He blinks again, then gestures at the seat opposite.

'By all means, monsieur.'

There is no outward sign of injury on his face, save perhaps a slight redness showing on one side above the line of beard. The blood came from cutting the inside of his cheek on his teeth.

'Is he freed?'

He has no idea how long he was locked up for, and does not much care.

Thor sits, as invited. He was going to ask if Javert wanted to take this elsewhere, but okay, fair enough.

"Not yet. He was given three days."

A sentence is no secret, to Thor's mind. It goes into the report, and a prisoner's friends are alerted, and so forth.

"I've heard his side of what happened. I would like to hear yours."

'...very well.'

Javert sits too, visibly confused but amiable enough.

There is a pause.

'Forgive me, I thought Teja was in charge of the case.'

"He had the first handling of it," Thor agrees.

Without censure, at least not yet. He needs to get all the facts, from everybody, before he knows whether he thinks Teja erred or just wasn't told something important.

"But I have promised to look into some details that came to light after."

Javert looks at him for a long few moments. His confusion does not appear to be going away, and he takes the time to consider what details could possibly have been omitted. It is only after he has satisfied himself that nothing was left out, does he realise that Harry must have raised complaints. He is the only person who would bring it up again after sentence was passed...unless his friends are behind it.

'Details from where, monsieur? I assure you, Teja had the full tale.'

"From Hotspur's account, when I asked him if he wished to recount it."

"There's no justice in hearing only one half of a quarrel. That's why I ask to hear your account as well."

But why would he ask him to recount it? Javert worked in the office for months, he has read every report in the place. He is only aware of one situation where one Security member took up a case over the head of another; it is not the convention here, and more, there is no justification for it.

It is this last that reminds him to speak: there is no justification for it, and this man is on Security and some powerful being in addition to that; no, there is no reason not to do as asked.

'Very well,' he says, neatly.

'I had been out exercising the horse I have in my care. I do not own him, but am responsible for him. We had been for a long gallop, and I put him back in the stable with his food. On my way back to the bar I was overtaken by Sir Harry, who had taken him without permission and was trotting him out.'

He ignores the stab of anger at the memory. The way the man had grinned, insolent as a child.

'He and I had had strong words just recently, and he made no bones about the fact he was trying to rile me. I had refused his challenge you see, and it insulted him. Well! Of course I told him to get off the stallion. Five times I said it! Five times, he refused, and took a hold of the horse's mane to ensure he would not be removed. I told him quite clearly I would take him off; as I said, the horse does not belong to me and he was fatigued besides. I was concerned for him, and knew quite plainly that the man was trying to goad me to fight, as he had before. He is friendly with some people here, you see, people from my world who do not like me, and whom I do not like.'

There is nothing particular to mark this last as an understatement, save perhaps a small curl of his lip.

'He called me names, insulted me, much of a nothing. I pulled him off, as promised. Acajou was left running free - it took a full two hours to find him afterwards, and get him settled again. When Sir Harry was grounded, I untangled the saddle from him - something he did not make easy - and then ignored him as I set it to rights, at which point he pushed me onto the ground, and ranted more. According to him I have no spine; such is his view of honour, if one refuses to brawl like a drunkard in the street. He challenged again, I refused quite strongly. He became further enraged at my lack of violence, and at that point backhanded me across the face.'

He says all this quite clearly, with good recall and an easy manner. There are moments when anger at the encounter shows through, but he is collected throughout.

'As he had now assaulted me for the second time, if you count in the push, I informed him he had broken the rules and would alert Security. Further challenges, further insults, I need not explain each one from his mouth. His time and country dictate matters be settled with duels, I believe; where I am from such things are illegal, and considered the base indulgence of primitive urges, of course I was not going to agree. There are rules in place to deal with such things; I used them. I told him I would find Teja and he would be arrested, at which point he said he did not trust me, and accused me of going behind his back, even though I had just stated my intention clearly. Thrice I had asked him if he was finished, having the intention to leave - thrice! That was before he hit me, but he would continue the dispute. In any case, he elected to come with me to find Teja, we came across him in the office, I recounted this to him and Sir Harry was arrested. That is all.'

Edited 2015-08-25 19:43 (UTC)

...Javert is so much better at explaining events than Harry Percy.

This isn't hard. But still.

Thor listens to this whole account seriously, and intently. This is one of the few times when he actually has a poker face: he barely reacts to even the base indulgence of primitive urges, because his role here is to mediate and to pass judgment. (And this is nothing that touches on his own temper, which... sort of bypasses his sense of responsibility sometimes.) Thor is never really a private citizen, but less than ever right now. It's a side of him few people at Milliways have seen.

At the end, he nods, and spends a moment in thought.

Javert is a serious man, clear, full of words. An old scholar, by temperament if not necessarily wisdom or learning, if he speaks so dismissively of honor and brawling, but there's respect due old men and scholars both. And he's not a Security member, but he's trusted enough to see their records and do as he wills with them. That deserves a certain degree of respect too.

"Here is my concern. Sir Harry provoked you with a foolish prank after a prior quarrel. Not against the rules of Milliways, but no honor to him, and worth anger. You escalated the quarrel to violence and threw him from the horse, he struck you in turn."

"As it stands, only one party has been punished for violence in a private quarrel, even though Security was called upon to judge and redress these deeds. Is that correct? But there's no clear self-defense here. You were badly provoked -- but still, you turned the quarrel to blows, and struck first."

Javert blinks once more. It takes a moment for these words to sink in, and then another one or two for their meaning to become clear.

...except no, they do not become clear. He turns them around a few times, frowning a little, and then shakes his head. Thor must not have clear recall of the start of the tale, and have forgotten by the time he reached the end.

'No, monsieur. I did not turn the quarrel to blows. I informed him of my intent, and he had the option to dismount, as I said. If you recall, I asked it of him five times, and he refused. The alternative being clear, I removed him by unsaddling the horse. I did not strike him. I reclaimed the property I am responsible for, that had been taken without permission. If I may add, it was also not being relinquished. What would you have me do, monsieur? What would you have done? Allowed the man to ride free, on a beast that needed rest?'

He chuckles - the noise only a little tight - because no man would do that.

'Sir Harry believes me without honour, but it is not the truth. If the stallion had been hurt due to his foolishness, I would have had to explain to his owner. What man with responsibility gives it up because a thieving fool decides to help himself to another's property? It would not have been good of me to walk from that, I should have been ashamed of myself. I do admit to being angry - who would not be? - but I did not strike him, and refused all invitations to do so thereafter. I caused him no injury.'

There. All clear.

Are Midgardian horses really that fragile about tiredness too? He asked Bar about the potential injury risks of a human falling off a horse from a halt or a slow speed, and the dangers to a horse of it spooking, but he didn't think to ask about fatigue.

"Were you truly worried that the horse was about to be hurt?"

It's a serious question. It seems excessive to him, and they did have a prior quarrel -- the horse was a pretext for both of them, said Hotspur -- but it matters, whether he struck out in temper or in fear for another.

It is treated as a serious question. Javert thinks about it, but already knows the answer. And as ever, he will not lie.

'I did not think he would maim him. But a horse may trip when tired, surely you know this? And he was behaving badly.'

A beat.

'Sir Harry, that is, not the horse.'

"That I won't deny."

There's some humor in this. Thor has sympathy for childish, restless pranks aimed at annoying people into a reaction! But it was still a jerk move, and Harry's reaping the consequences for that. If you're going to play childish pranks on people, that's what you're signing up for.

"Did you think to look for aid? Either as intercession in your quarrel, or someone with powers to get him down with less risk to all parties?"

He's including the horse in that. A tired horse is not less likely to trip when you unbuckle his girth, send an adult human flailing off his back, and spook him into bolting and jumping a fence.

Javert looks blank.

'No? If I had done that, monsieur, it would have meant leaving him alone with Acajou.'

It had truly not crossed his mind.

'I believed myself capable of restoring order, and so it proved.'

There is no outward show of pride at this, it is simply a statement of fact. Javert is good at keeping order for the most part.

'In addition, I will point out that I had no wish to resume any quarrel. Indeed, I did not start it to begin with - he began that by knocking into me and spilling my dinner, with very little apology. He is offended by me because his friends and I are from the same world. I did not seek him out to begin anything; as I said, I put the horse away and was merely returning to the bar. It was he who chose to intercept me.'

Edited 2015-08-26 16:36 (UTC)

Thor raises his brows slightly at capable of restoring order.

"You threw a man to the ground, and spooked the horse whose fatigue concerned you. Provoked though it was, the first violence was yours."

'Monsieur-'

It is, perhaps, the eyebrows that give the first hint at Thor's intentions; the first clue that maybe a clear recollection of this tale was not the only reason he came to speak. Javert keeps very still, a curling tendril of unease making itself known in his belly. He turns his mind from it. It is a stupid thing.

When he speaks his tone is very calm, with only the slightest undercurrent of tension.

'I was in no way violent. I unbuckled a bridle and girth to reclaim my horse, which had been taken.'

"If someone unbuckled the bridle and girth of a horse you were on -- regardless of your right to the steed -- would not you call it violence done to you?"

Again, still, it's a serious question.

Hotspur's sense of honor Thor can understand intuitively, even when it leads him into stupidity. (Thor... can intuitively understand that part too.) But there's clearly a much bigger culture gap between him and Javert. He wants to be clear.

'I,' he says, quite precisely, 'would not be in such a situation. Yes, if it were done to me unjustly, I would call it violence - men are unhorsed in battle constantly, and it is surely dangerous. But that is not the same as this, where there were no other choices available to remove Sir Harry. Save just give up the horse and let him ride him as he pleased.'

He eyes Thor even as he concentrates on keeping his breathing steady, and asks his own serious question.

'Would you have done so? Left him to ride, and taunt, and sneer?'

Would it have been honourable? No, he thinks not.

"I would have pulled him from the horse's back," Thor admits, readily, and with a half-smile to acknowledge the point.

"My father would call it temper. My mother would tell me to find another with power to lift him off harmlessly, or a friend to persuade him to leave off his childish prank without turning it to a brawl. But temper's always been my besetting flaw."

"I'd have pulled him from the horse's back, turning a prank to a bout, and if he struck me in return for my blow I'd count it fair. It would be a matter between us."

"A quarrel like that, outdoors, away from bystanders -- as Security for Milliways I'd overlook it, unless it was brought to me. But if it's brought to Security, we must look at the deeds of both parties. Otherwise we're nothing but attack dogs, leashed at the heel of an accuser."

We must look to the deeds of both parties.

The tendril of unease branches, starts to seep through the nerves under his skin. Javert leans back in his seat, his arms straight, palms flat on the table, and regards Thor with his steel gaze as if that will hide the quiver inside.

'It was brought to Security because he broke the rules. Teja himself said he was not being held to account for taking Acajou, as that is not expressly forbidden. He was held because he used his fists.'

There is a large part of him that cannot believe this conversation is happening at all. And no part of him will countenance further than that.

'You are saying, monsieur, that you would have accepted his challenge and left it at that; that you would brawl as he does. Well enough, if that is your way. But it is not mine. I do not suffer from temper. I adhere to the rules, as they are written here. That is why I alerted Security.'

There is no hiding how tight his voice is now.

Thor returns that steel gaze calmly. He's the son of Odin, who's reigned in Asgard for centuries upon centuries, and the son of Frigga, wise and learned queen for just as long, and something between liege-lord and student and comrade to Heimdall, who sees all in the worlds. He's very difficult to disconcert.

"He did break the rules. He's being punished as he should be. I am saying that you broke them as well."

He lets those words sit between them a moment or two longer. Thor is all ruler now, calm and compassionate and implacable.

"You were also provoked. It was not self-defense, nor an effective defense of a horse who was spooked to two hours' wandering by his defender, but you were provoked by a great deal of childish taunting. I am not going to arrest you for it. I considered it. But under the circumstances -- no."

"Still, take this as a warning. If Security is asked to look at the deeds of one, we must look at the deeds of the other. If you do this again, be prepared for the consequences of it."

As far as Thor's concerned, that's just decency -- honor by any reckoning, whether a warrior's or anyone else's. Do what you're going to do, and stand behind it. If you're not willing to face what might come of a deed, don't do it.

Granted, he's not always great at foreseeing that 'what might come' part. And he's been known to argue against consequences with more temper than stoic dignity, now and again. (Often.) But expected or not, he does believe in meeting those consequences squarely.

Javert also believes in facing consequences - just consequences, that match the action. He has held himself to account before. What is worrying about this situation is that he did not foresee any need for it whatsoever.

'You considered arresting me.'

It is not a question, and is delivered in a tone so hollow it practically echoes. He does not know how white he has gone, but can feel a tremor in his fingers which is not calmed by the flush of relief running through him. Relief he had no idea was necessary.

'It would not have been just.'

This comes without consideration but now it is said, he feels no need to apologise for it. It is the truth. And it is not spoken arrogantly; just a low mutter, almost to himself.

Thor eyes him with a certain degree of concern.

The cells aren't that bad. Javert has worked for Security, and he's been coming here a long time; he knows that. Bad experiences in the past? There can be alternate sentences, kitchen work or the like, and he'd know that too. He's seen it given to people before.

And, again: if you can't deal with the cells, maybe don't knock people off horses in a place with a no-violence rule and cells as the standard punishment for breaking it. This is a wake-up call, then, maybe. If so, Thor is glad he opted for the warning instead of the arrest.

"Sir Harry was being an idiot," he says, not unkindly. "I've told him so, and I'll tell him again."

"But next time, unless you are worried about a maiming, perhaps consider seeking aid before you unhorse even a young idiot who's asking for a spill in the dirt."

He rises.

He does hear these words, but does not know how to respond. In the end he settles for a dumb nod, unable to unbend his arms or even look up at the man.

Thor was planning to arrest him. He does not know how to cope with that. It is everything he has spent a lifetime working against; it matters not that Milliways is not real jail, it is jail, it is a cell, and that is bad enough.

'I will remember, monsieur.'

He will not be able to forget it. He is full of horror that it was considered; the idea of how much worse it might have been leaves him numb.

'Thank you.'

Thor gives him another concerned look, and for longer.

But, well. There's nothing else he could justly have done but pursue this.

"If I'm here, you may certainly call on me. I'm happy to mediate, as a Security member or merely myself."

And... yeah, that's really about all he can offer to help soften that horrified look. He's not Javert's friend, and he came here in authority, and passed down the judgment of that authority as mercifully as his oaths to Security allowed.

"Or merely to drink together and speak of friendlier matters. Good day, monsieur."

That title has the sound of a quote, carefully repeated, with the slight question of one who's not entirely sure it applies. He doesn't know the status nuances, okay? But he's pretty sure it's not a dire insult even if it's a slight error.

He offers a hand. No hard feelings, right?

He draws his eyes up, first to the hand and then up to his face.

He has no answer. For a moment, he just holds eye contact. Then he nods again, and shakes the hand because it is there, and it is the custom of some people.

He nearly got arrested. He will not be saying much for a while. He takes his hand back and sits in silence, staring at his half-finished work.

"There," he says, "it's done. We'll speak no more of this on my account."

And with that, since Javert seems disinclined to speak further -- indeed, seems struck far deeper than anything Thor can see to warrant it in this conversation, which means he's probably not the right person to be imposing further -- he takes his leave.

If Thor knew who Javert's friends might be, he'd look for one now to tip a word in their ear: no details of the cause, but your friend could use a friend's company, I think.

But he doesn't. And some men, unaccountably, prefer solitude when their hearts are heavy; he doesn't know that about Javert, either.

He speaks to Bar, all the same. He leaves no note, but he does tip a word in her ear: if, in her judgment, Javert would benefit from company now, she might wish to advise one of his close comrades so if one comes by while it's still relevant.

That done, he takes himself off to leave a note for the rest of Security, as an addendum to Teja's report.