It was bound to happen some time - OTA

[averygoodshot]

Aramis keenly remembers teasing Porthos when he had stepped through the door and become a woman. He had teased d'Artagnan and even Athos.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. He had not intended to do anything, really. He spent a good deal of his time praying, a good deal of time trying to atone for his sins.

Instead, this is what happens.

Much as his friends had, he has hitched his clothing tighter so that it may not fall down, and has fashioned something of a harness for ... well, for his new developments, as it were. He knows he could seek out Constance or even, if he was desperate, Milady, but he is not that desperate. He simply makes do and tells himself that God has a reason for everything.

He has always appreciated women and so maybe this is to test that? Who knows. Aramis does not question, at least not much. He is aware, though, that he looks a little foolish, his hair tied up, his clothing, baggy on him as a man, is like a series of large sacks on him, his boots far too big as he makes his way down the hallways. He smiles, though, not having a hat to tip, as he greets people. He knows he's not the only one who's suffered thusly. That's something anyway.

Comments

[averygoodshot]

"Such kind words," Aramis teases, grinning at the note. He rolls his shoulder though; it shall be complaining soon of what they've been doing. "Shall we celebrate my adequacy with some wine?"

[praiseandglory]

"I'll never turn that down," Porthos confirms, and sheathes his sword. Then he claps his hand on Aramis's shoulder the way he always does, as they fall in stride, headed back for the main building. "You're picking it up faster than I did, for what it's worth."

[averygoodshot]

"Well, in your defense," Aramis notes, "you went from being quite a bit bigger to what I am roughly now. That's more ... breadth and height to adjust to, I suppose."

He smiles up at Porthos. "You were quite striking though. Not at all difficult to look at."

[praiseandglory]

"None of us have made ugly ladies," Porthos agrees with a grin, a lot more able to handle that sort of compliment now that he isn't currently in a woman's body.

[averygoodshot]

Porthos speaks the truth. No offense, either, but Aramis does think that Treville would make an ugly woman. He hopes not to find out, actually.

Anyway.

"Have you found someone, Porthos?" he asks, either of this place or of any other for that matter. Porthos deserves to be happy, after all.

[praiseandglory]

That's a bit out of the blue, and Porthos shoots his friend an amused look. "I hope you're not thinking of volunteering. You're very pretty, but I prefer my women to actually be women."

[averygoodshot]

Well, drat. Aramis grins, miming that look of disappointment. "I suppose if it cannot be me, I do hope there is someone else?"

[praiseandglory]

"I did meet a lovely woman, although she hasn't been around lately," Porthos tells his friend, fondness clear in his tone and gaze as he speaks of Phryne. "From the twentieth century, a land called Australia - New Holland, I think. But I'd no more take her away from her adventures than she'd take me away from my soldiering." Since Alice, he's resigned himself to not settling down. He knows who his true love is.

[averygoodshot]

"But while you're here, you can, at the very least, enjoy each other's company whilst in the hotel?" Aramis asks. Athos has his wife, d'Artagnan his, Aramis cannot be with the woman he loves ever, so ... why should Porthos not be happy?

[praiseandglory]

"That we do," Porthos confirms with a rakish grin. He drops his voice as they reach the hotel, and walk into the building. "You would not believe what she can do in bed. Or out of it, for that matter." But there was a lot more than that to his friendship with Phryne Fisher. She had let him have at those slavers when he needed it the most, for one thing.

[averygoodshot]

Up goes a brow as Aramis grins in reply. Ah, good, then. That's very good.

He squeezes Porthos's shoulder as best he can. "I am glad for you, my friend," he tells his friend.

[praiseandglory]

"Thank you," Porthos tells his friend with another grin. "But what of you?" He would welcome the news that Aramis sought to forget the Queen in another woman's bed. Or several women's beds, for that matter.

[averygoodshot]

"There is nothing to be said," Aramis notes, shaking his head as he looks down at the floor as they walk. "I still mean to be a monk or priest, but ... this seems reluctant to let me be in the monastery. I shall, then, do the best I can here."

[praiseandglory]

That's the first Porthos hears about this in a long, long time, and he can't help but frown. "You'd leave us?"

[averygoodshot]

Aramis winces. He hadn't been thinking that Porthos might not have come from the same time he had.

He stops, turning to face his best friend. "I would not leave you, per se. I would simply be ... elsewhere."

It's a strange and nonsensical distinction, but a part of him would always be a Musketeer, after all.

[praiseandglory]

"In a monastery," Porthos clarifies, not sounding any more favourable to the idea.

[averygoodshot]

"... yes," Aramis admits, looking down, then back up at him. "I needed to, Porthos. I made a promise to God."

[praiseandglory]

"What promise?" Porthos asks, still frowning at his friend.

[averygoodshot]

"That if I somehow got out of the prison Rochefort put me in with my life, I would devote it to Him. Porthos," Aramis sighs. "I have done some ... regrettable things. I must atone."

[praiseandglory]

"You've done some regrettable things all right," Porthos confirms gruffly, and of course he can't object. Aramis has made a promise to God. But he can't bring himself to approve, or support that decision, either. Just accept it, and he nods, holding Aramis's gaze.

[averygoodshot]

"It's why I have been mostly in my room," Aramis says. "I only meant to try to return to Paris, and .... " he gestures down to himself. This is what happened.

[praiseandglory]

It's stupid to feel hurt that Aramis would have tried to run back to Paris, and off to the monastery, without seeing him first. It's stupid, because Porthos knows that he is in Paris, too, and trusts that his friend would not have gone without saying goodbye. But feelings don't listen to logic, and he's hurt all the same.

Still, he knows it is stupid, so he locks that hurt away and turns it into a joke, as they walk into the Smoking Room. "Well, that'll teach you to try and run off without a word, won't it?" He smiles at Aramis, as if all this news hasn't shaken him. "I'll get the wine."

[averygoodshot]

If there are two people who know each other than Aramis and Porthos, Aramis doesn't know who they are. And he knows Porthos is hurt and rightfully so, really. Aramis kept secrets, he deceived everyone, he endangered everyone.

"Porthos - " he starts, then pauses, unsure how to continue.

"It was not my intention to hurt you," he finally says.

[praiseandglory]

Porthos puts his hand on his friend's (slimmer) shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. "I'll get the wine," he repeats, because they do know each other that well, and they don't need to hash it out.

They mostly need to get drunk off their heads, if you ask Porthos.

[averygoodshot]

That in and of itself might be the very best or the very worst idea. It remains to be seen.

Regardless, Aramis nods. He will go with Porthos and drink wine because it needs to happen.

That, and they're still here. Together. Perhaps it is a message bigger than Aramis's own.